They’d done it. After all this time. They’d finally reached Edinar.

‘Oh don’t be so dramatic,’ Harmoni scolded with a smile.

They were close to the town of Edinar now, North of the school.

They still hadn’t used one of the horses. They’d walked the longish distance to Edinar. Fleck had done more of the walking. Harmoni had ridden on top of him for a brief while. He was big enough she could theoretically do that, but small enough they couldn’t do so for long. And that said nothing of Harmoni’s own height. She’d looked into it after Fleck pointed out her growth spurt. She was approximately 183cm.

So she could feel bad, but she knew how tired he really was through their connection. He was, in fact, just being dramatic.

‘Yeah yeah. Should we get on with it?’

Harmoni smiled, even if it was a little strained. ‘Right.’

They weren’t here for pleasure. Well, maybe they’d have some fun eventually. But right now, they were here to work. There was a holiday tonight and tomorrow, some sort of lantern festival. Harmoni and Fleck were supposed to help, as part of staying at the magic school for free.

Harmoni turned ahead. It was sort of hard to tell where the town was until you were on top of it, built into the forest as it was. Fleck had, as usual, helped guide her, but they had arrived now.

There were buildings on the ground, built between or below trees. A large round one sat near the center. (At least Harmoni assumed that was the center.) But the town was built in the treetops as well. Harmoni could see a staircase built into one of the nearby trees, another with a staircase spiraling outside the trunk, and a third that had a ladder going up. Above, she could see bridges, and buildings wrapping around trunks. Someone peered over a platform, down at Harmoni.

Harmoni’s own eyes got a little wider. The ledge had a railing, but still.

The trees here were a taller and thicker than the ones in Ovant, so building up them was probably more practical.

The leaves were all an orange, red, or yellow, as they tended to turn when it was fall. They were all like that. Harmoni didn’t see any brown leaves. She did see one with two colors on the side of the path that made her gasp.

This was completely new to Fleck. Trees didn’t lose their leaves on Xentron. He might not be good at seeing green, but these colors were great.

On one hand, it did make the path and the leaves on the trees very pretty. Some of the leaves were even piled up on tables as a display. On the other hand, Harmoni could see more dead branches than you’d get in the summer. It didn’t really help the aesthetic.

Fleck just shook his head. ‘We’re supposed to meet someone in the capital building, right? Want to bet it’s the big round one in the middle?’

‘Probably.’

Harmoni walked further down the path. The trails were a bit clearer here than on Ovant. There were lights strung between trees, small lanterns that seemed to be made out of paper, with something glowing in the middle. There were the tables with the leaves set up, but some of them had other things as well. One had a larger, cylindrical paper lantern sitting on the edge. (The ones strung across the trees were round.) Another had, currently empty, plates set on it.

Fleck could smell food from the buildings they were passing. Seemed people were still cooking.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

'Do you think it'll be good food?'

'Well I don't know. It's elvish food. And we don't at all have the same diet.'

Then they reached the round building near the center. There was a sign up front that labeled it as Edinar’s city center. It was written in Elvish, but that wasn’t a problem for Harmoni.

She tested the door. Unlocked. She was in a hallway. There was a sign, again in Elvish, telling her where to go for the front office. Dead ahead. The office was in the center of the building.

Harmoni opened the door to find the man at the front desk already talking to someone. Someone familiar.

“Eddie?”

Eddie smiled at her. “What? You didn’t know I also need community service?”

She apparently wasn’t paying for her stay in the dorms. From her tone and expression, Harmoni couldn’t tell if she was teasing, or if she was being intimidating. Looming over Harmoni and shaming her for not knowing. Or daring her to comment. Something.

Normally Fleck would say Harmoni was being paranoid. But he was having a hard time as well.

“Ah, another one of you,” the man at the front desk said. He was speaking Standard, and had the best accent Harmoni had heard on this planet so far, if she was being honest.

‘What about Tolith?’

‘Right. I guess Tolith is better. But I did first meet him off the planet.’

The man at the desk gestured for her to come over. “Edith here was just telling me what she might be suited for. What about you? What are your skills?”

Harmoni briefly glanced at Eddie. Edith? Well, she supposed that made sense.

But right. Skills? “I-well-er.”

Eddie put a hand on Harmoni’s shoulder. “What work do you do at the school?”

“I, uh, clean the stables?” With a little nudge from Fleck, she added, “I’ve cleaned other places as well. It’s probably my best skill.”

“Hmm.” The man up front stroked his chin. “Tell you what? You should go to the room down the hall, and help make more lanterns for tonight. Then, tomorrow morning, you can help clean up the night’s festivities. That should give you some time to enjoy them in between. It’s not far between here and the school. . .” There weren’t any windows in this part of the building, but his gaze did slide down the hall. “But if you really want, you can also spend the night here.”

“Thank you,” Harmoni said.

Eddie nodded and headed for the door.

Harmoni wasn’t quite done. “That’s very kind of you,” she added, a bit quieter and twiddling her fingers together. It was, in her opinion, nicer than most people had been so far.

“Of course, I’m always happy to help the new students,” the man said. Eddie had left the room by now, but the man also got a bit quieter for the next part. “Besides, I think we have some things in common. Don't we?”

He pushed some of his hair to the side as he spoke. As he did, Harmoni got a view of his human, rounded ears. Harmoni actually gasped, before nodding along.

He must’ve been half human. Unlike her, whose rounder features and taller height were obviously mismatched, he wasn’t nearly as obvious until she saw that. Then again, he was sitting down, so Harmoni couldn’t see all of him.

“Name’s Ryo. If you have trouble, you can come to me sometime.”

Harmoni nodded again, vigorously. But now it was time to get to work.

She left the office, and almost slammed into Eddie. She was still waiting out here?

“Thanks,” Harmoni said. “For uh, the work question.”

Eddie smiled, but it seemed . . . strained? No. Pained. Like she had been stabbed in the guts, but also sincerely wanted to smile, for some reason.

“Of course.”

They headed down the hall together. Of course, they wouldn’t stay that way. The lantern making was happening in another room in this building. Eddie and Ryo had been talking about cooking when Harmoni had come in. She knew that wasn’t in the same building, much less the same room.

“So, your name is Edith?” Harmoni asked, as they approached the front door.

“It is. But stick to Eddie. Edith is . . . pretentious.”

Interesting.

They stopped at the front door. Eddie was supposed to go out it, while Harmoni was supposed to turn to the left. They didn’t right away. They paused and stared at each other. Eddie glanced at Fleck a time or two, though it seemed she was trying not to.

Harmoni rocked on her heels a bit. “Well. I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Hold on,” Eddie said, before Harmoni could finish turning away. “Can I ask you something?”

‘You just did,’ Fleck thought.

Harmoni mentally rolled her eyes. She hummed at Eddie, an acknowledgement to keep going.

“Why are you learning about magic?”

Harmoni blinked. And stared. It took Fleck literally nudging her, bumping his snout against her leg, to remind her to actually answer the question.

“I didn’t expect you to ask that,” Harmoni said, explaining her silence in total honesty, “I mean, no one’s asked why you’re here, have they?”

“I have a slight understanding of magic already. I’d like to gain better control,” Eddie said, answering her own question.

“You could say the same is true for me,” Harmoni said quietly.

“Hmm.”