It's on Wednesday that a terrifying pitch-black crane swans into the Great Hall and drops off a letter as she flies past, the paper landing with a graceful slide and impeccable aim on the table between Nicholas and Luca.

It's already too late but Nicholas snatches it off the table and tries to stuff it into his pocket.

An InCore year-nine leans over from where he sits closest to Rafael on another table nearby, eyebrow raised. "What's that you're trying to hide, Ayad?"

"Your mum's address," Nicholas retorts instinctively.

Stavros chokes on his water and cracks up because he just really wasn't expecting that. Luca smiles into his toast and Rafael turns away to clear this throat. Unfortunately this also attracts more attention from the students sitting around them.

The year-nine sits up straighter because a problem with being brave is you don't know when to shut up for your own good. "It's from the high mage, isn't it?"

"Is your sister gonna be home too?" Nicholas continues with a smirk.

"My sister is six, you asshole."

Nicholas makes a high-pitched, strangled sound in the back of his throat because he knows he shouldn't but it's such a good set up. "They grow up fast these days, huh?"

Several people start booing Nicholas jokingly but he's too busy sniggering to reply. That wasn't even his fault, he was practically baited into it!

The year-nine scowls. "When you disappear every month, is that also for the high mage?"

Rafael’s eyes dart from Nicholas to Stavros. Luca half leans forward. Nicholas laughs to stall, tries to think.

"You mean the orgies?" Stavros deadpans.

All the eavesdroppers crack up, rippling out to the other table who turn to look. Nicholas and Luca are sitting with their back to the main part of the room but Stavros grins over their shoulders at the crowd and suddenly this becomes a performance.

It can't be anything else, not when the year-nine clearly isn't going to drop it. That's fine, they've gotten enough suspicious questions over the years that this settles into the three of them like an old joke.

"Those centaurs really know to party!" Nicholas cheers and gets cries of horror.

Luca is pretending he isn’t a part of this.

Rafael shakes his head sadly. "I'll never look at a unicorn's horn the same way."

"Okay!" Mrs Saad yells above the shrieking laughter. "Thank you, I think we can stop now."

Stavros cackles and just gets louder. "I haven't figured out how to fuck a joro spider yet but mama didn't raise no quitter!"

Nicholas is crying at that, he's half-hysterical as he folds over his plate, accidentally putting an elbow on the edge of Luca's plate and almost upending the whole thing as the dining hall just descends into chaos.

The year-nine is glowering, trying to nudge his laughing friends. What a joke, thinking he can take on the likes of them.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Stavros will find him later to have a talk.

----------------------------------------

Nicholas and Luca wait outside the school wards because the letter says Haochen expects them to have two days free. They technically don't have permission from the school but Nicholas' parents did get a letter to warn them so that's something at least.

Specified in the letter is that Luca should bring the grimoire.

Luca can sense now that the book is heavy with magic, an almost tangible pulse that Luca feels through his bones when he holds it. Luca hasn’t become lethargic or tired but he has quite a bit of excess for Wei to take so it hasn’t affected him as much as Wei’s other anchors in that past-future timeline.

Ever since Wei started growing stronger, Luca has kept the book in an empty classroom, hidden behind glamour and misdirection wards to hide it - this was after a bit of a hiccup when the other three boys immediately found it because of course Nicholas wants to find a secret trying to be hidden and of course Stavros tears down the wards and of course Rafael humours them.

But it was hidden again after that and Luca was worried he’d have to smuggle out a fully formed Wei, so he’s actually relieved Haochen is calling for the book back. Luca isn’t sure how Wei would come out either, he never learned how that worked since Wei was already formed when they met.

Luca goes into this…hesitantly optimistic. Wei and Nicholas have already formed a bit of a rivalry -Nicholas out of amusement at bullying a book- but it’s okay, Luca knows how to calm them both down. Wei is a force of nature but he has rules he follows and Luca knows how to work with him. They used to be friends after all, even though Wei was faking it.

Exactly on time, the teleportation circle pulls them away and deposits them in the transport room.

Haochen is waiting for them and instead of just letting them wander off like normal, he leads them to a large sitting room in warm rusted tones and with high, large windows to let in the sunlight. He points to a desk and chair combo with ink and a fancy brush already set up. "Write."

"Is it almost done?" Nicholas asks. "Does it come out like origami or like spit balls?"

"Nicholas," Luca begins.

"It's a valid question-"

"Nicholas," Haochen states and that's very final.

Nicholas rolls his eyes.

Luca takes a seat and Nicholas flops over an armchair closest to Luca's table. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, Haochen also takes a seat further off and picks up a book left on a small round side table.

Luca opens the grimoire and it's already waiting, a sentence bleeding into the paper.

[knock knock Luca]

"Is it always that creepy?" Nicholas asks with a grimace. Darts a glance to Haochen. "I mean, charming and intelligent. What a fantastic grimoire, must belong to a great man."

"He's doing it on purpose," Luca mutters and picks up a brush -thankfully with short bristles and he’s had practice writing eastern talismans before- continuing to write the joro story about Nicholas because he only writes about Nicholas (and Wei Zhang is getting real sick of it).

Half an hour goes by and a large crane enters gracefully on long legs with a fancy looking letter in its mouth and hands it to Haochen.

"He knows how to play fetch?" Nicholas asks excitedly.

"She," Luca and Haochen both correct at the same time.

"She," Nicholas echoes. "Who is this one – Julianne? Rosemary? Florene?"

"I have no cranes by any of those names," Haochen rejects. "Her name is Daiyu."

"Wait, the big crane I saw before? Why is Dai baby so tiny?” Nicholas coos, clambering off his seat and sliding over to sit by the crane.

Luca half rises out of his chair. "Uh, Nicholas."

Daiyu squawks and Nicholas squawks back, trying to copy her. Daiyu finds this hilarious and makes a rattling hiss noise.

"Do you know Greek?" Haochen asks Nicholas, refolding the letter.

"I'm fluent in modern and ancient," Nicholas admits, looking up because he's actually sitting at Haochen’s feet to harass the crane. "That and Mandarin, Ancient Egyptian too, Latin of course. All the powerful spellcasting languages."

Luca puts his head down and scribbles madly in the grimoire, who's mocking him for being such a disappointing heir who still fumbles with English as his first language - well fuck you too Wei what have you done for the Crane Sect.

"Good, then you'll play translator when I meet a liaison from Greece tomorrow," Haochen announces.

"There are translation potions-"

"I'm fluent," Haochen corrects, staring down at Nicholas. "You're supposed to be cute and trying to help me out of the goodness of your own heart."

"My heart always has room for you," Nicholas says and gets slid back across the floor to his armchair by Haochen’s magic. "Too much?"