“I would definitely stab Andrew first.” Victor confirmed.

“But why?!?” Andrew asked.

Victor shrugged. “Because it'd get the best reaction. Greg would just laugh it off, Tori would take it way too personally, and Chris would just stare at you like you'd told a joke he didn't get. You're the only one who'd have that ‘ah, what the fuck, why did you stab me’ reaction, which is really the only thing I'm looking for if I'm stabbing someone for no reason.”

Chris scratched his head. “I think I'd at least ask why you'd just stabbed me…”

“Kinda proving his point, man.” Derek rolled his eyes. “But he missed the fact that you'd probably start thinking that's how you're supposed to say hello and just start stabbing everyone.”

“Not everyone.” Thad corrected. “Just the person who stabbed him. Chris is a big believer in reciprocation, like how he and George always punch each other in the arm when they see each other.”

Chris paused. “Should I not?”

“No, it's just what the two of you do now, so it's fine.” Thad assured him. “Just don't randomly start punching anyone else.”

“Noted.” Chris agreed, giving him a thumbs up.

“So what I'm hearing-” Andrew interjected. “-is that I'm the most stabbable because I'm the most normal?” He paused for a moment. “I can live with that.”

“I'm pretty sure Tori's reaction is the most normal one.” Casey retorted. “At least I know I would take being stabbed very personally.”

Victor raised an eyebrow at her. “And what makes you think you're normal?”

Casey narrowed her eyes at him. “I will burn your eyebrows off again.”

“And I'll hide all your favorite clothes again.” Victor retorted with a grin.

“Nooo.” Casey groaned. “It took me a month to find them all last time! I still can't figure out how you managed to get my favorite fluffy socks inside my pillow! There wasn't even a zipper! I had to cut it open and sew it all back up!”

Victor cocked his head at her. “Do you think you're the only one who knows how to sew?”

Chris glanced at Greg. “Are all the relationships in your reality this… antagonistic?”

“Well… hate is an integral part of any decent friendship.” Greg chuckled.

“It is not!” Casey immediately snapped. “It's only necessary when it comes to you two idiots!”

Penny eyed Chris cautiously as a thoughtful look crossed his face. “Chris, no. Hate is not a part of being someone's friend!”

Chris shook his head. “No, of course not, but there may be something to be said about behavior that seems like hate from the outside. For example, hiding all of someone's favorite clothes. That takes true knowledge of a person, not just to pull off but to know how far you can go without breaking the relationship. You need to be incredibly comfortable in a relationship in order to pull something like that off. So no, I wouldn't say hate is an integral part of a friendship, but a certain amount of apparently hateful behavior is certainly the sign of a healthy one.”

Victor grinned, wrapping an arm around Casey's shoulders. “Ya hear that? We have a healthy friendship!”

Casey rolled her eyes. “Joy.”

“Watch out!” A shout came from down the hall, everyone turning to see a ball bounce into the room, Kate chasing after it. “There's a lamp- painting- TV!” She exclaimed, her voice tinged with panic as the ball barely missed the various fragile objects around the room.

Chris sighed, opening a portal below the ball and letting it plop into his arms, where it quickly formed into a giggling little girl. “Jello, are you being a nuisance?”

“We're playing tag!” Jello replied excitedly. “I'm winning!”

Chris raised an eyebrow as Amy, Sarah, Calvin, and Vicky made their way into the room as well, at various speeds and levels of exhaustion. “Not exactly a fair competition, is it? Seeing as the rest of them are all baseline human.”

“Hey! We were this close to catching her!” Kate protested. “If someone hadn't tripped…” She shot Calvin a look as he flushed in embarrassment.

“How about you guys play something like hide and go seek instead?” Tori offered. “With the understanding that Jello will remain in her human form. That way physical advantages won't matter.”

“Fine.” Kate huffed. “Come on guys, I know a great place to play! I'll be it first!”

“Keep it in the territory!” Andrew yelled after her as they all rushed off again. He paused for a moment, before shaking his head. “Damn it, now I feel old. Why do I feel old? My older sisters were playing!”

“Hey, no one said you couldn't go play too.” Greg pointed out.

Andrew sighed. “I know. It just- it feels wrong for some reason. Like I should be past that stage of life. And that makes me feel old.”

Everyone shared a few looks then Greg snorted. “Fuck it, I'm not too old to play hide and seek.”

“Hide and seek is basically what I do.” Victor agreed with a chuckle.

“No cheating with your ability!” Casey warned him.

Derek glanced at Chris. “I'm down if you are.”

Chris nodded. “I'll get Beth and the other three.”

“Wait, are we really doing this?” Andrew asked hesitantly.

“Damn right we are.” Tori confirmed, cracking her knuckles. “Your little sister called out my brother. Now she has to go down.”

*

“Are the children under the house?” Stephen asked tentatively, not sure if he trusted what his emotion sense was telling him, particularly not within the territory with its strange geometry.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“They are.” Ertemis confirmed. “It appears Greg has created some sort of labyrinth down there for them to play in.”

Albert frowned. “They're playing?”

“As they should be.” Helen replied sternly, giving him a serious look. “Despite what they've been through, they are still teenagers, and they should be allowed to play as such.”

Melissa smiled. “I agree. Tori in particular could use a bit of… unwinding.”

“I think they all could.” Mrs. Richardson sighed. “They've all been forced to grow up so fast…”

“True… unfortunately there isn't much we can do to prevent it.” David commented. “The things they're dealing with… there's no one else who can take their place. They're simply too… unique. I wish I could send a platoon into the Maze to hunt for Chris and deal with these ‘Kin’ but they've gone so far beyond what any other force is capable of, the only thing it would accomplish is getting my people killed, or worse.”

Albert sighed. “We're in a similar position. The only reason the sect has even considered us is because of Tori. Without her, we'd simply be another obstacle for them to roll over, and there's nothing I can do to change that.”

“Well, thankfully Andrew hasn't found himself dealing with anything like that yet.” Stephen muttered. “Still, simply the pressure of being different has made it difficult for him to engage normally with others. And this territory business hasn't made it any easier.”

“Which is why it's so important that we give them opportunities like this.” Helen replied. “Time to play and relax, to be themselves, instead of what the problems they face require them to be.”

“I take it you think we should do this again then?” Salvador commented.

Helen nodded. “I do. For many reasons, including the one I just mentioned. But the most important one is that those four need a support system, people they can trust and depend on, and if not us, then who?”

“I couldn't have said it better myself.” Arose agreed. “Though we may want to bring in a few others if that's our goal, including Palomata and that traveler woman.”

“Isn't Palomata here somewhere?” Jo asked. “She's at least in the territory, I know that much. Otherwise Albert and Melissa wouldn't be able to understand us.”

“She is, but apparently Greg didn't think to invite her.” Stephen explained. “He said he thought it was only for family and close friends, and he didn't think Palomata counted… Admittedly, I'm not sure he even knew her name was Palomata, so it's hard to argue that point.”

Jo blinked. “Wait, he's her apprentice and he didn't even know her name?!?”

“I'm not certain, but he didn't respond to her name until I mentioned she was the Archmage as well.” Stephen replied.

Jo looked outraged for a moment, until Salvador patted her knee. “Maybe apprenticeship is different in their reality? It isn't necessarily a close relationship like it is in ours.”

Jo frowned. “That's possible… but for some reason I don't think Palomata would see it the same way.”

*

Palomata did not, in fact, see it the same way, and was quite frankly feeling a bit hurt that Greg hadn't invited her to the gathering. She attempted to mollify her emotions by accepting that her relationship with Greg was still relatively new and admittedly they hadn't done much to develop a true bond before the Technos assault, but even with that, she couldn't help but feel that all the support she had offered him should have merited something. At least an acknowledgment that she could be considered for the gathering, right? But he told her about it as if it was obvious that she wouldn't be coming! There was no attempt to hide the gathering or do anything that might spare her feelings, he simply… hadn't considered her attendance as an option. So, when Jo found her after the gathering to suggest she join the next one, she knew she needed to have a discussion with Greg.

She caught Greg as he was returning to his room in the territory, after sending Tessa, Victor, and Casey back to their reality. “Greg, can we speak for a moment?”

Greg paused, cocking his head. “Sure? What's up?”

“Would you mind if we adjourned to a more private location?” Palomata asked.

“No?” Greg agreed tentatively, following her to one of the small meeting rooms he'd made. “So… is this about us not having lessons for the past week?”

“No.” Palomata shook her head, before pausing as a thought occurred to her. “Or maybe yes. Greg… do you want to be my apprentice?”

Greg blinked. “I- yes? I mean, why wouldn't I? Particularly since we don't have access to the network anymore… you're really the only option I have to grow as a mage.”

Palomata frowned. “Is that all?”

Greg scratched his head. “What else is there? I mean, that's the point of the whole apprentice thing, isn't it? To learn how to do magic? I mean, sure, there's the factor of personal spells and inheritance, the responsibility of not abusing the magic you teach me, but… I'm not sure what else there is to it.”

Palomata blinked. “Ah… I believe this may be a cultural misunderstanding. In mage culture, taking someone as an apprentice is similar to taking an almost parental role in their life. In the same way your parents raise you physically, it is my responsibility to raise you magically, and it isn't one I take lightly… as you seem to.”

Greg stared at her blankly for a moment, a bit lost. Palomata considered herself as some sort of parental figure for him? That- actually made sense, now that he was thinking about it… she was really invested in his education. In the same way that he felt he'd be able to bring any life issues to Uncle Jonathan, he felt he could bring any magic issues to the Archmage. There was just one problem… he still couldn't trust her completely. “Alright, I think I get what you're saying.” Greg sighed. “But- I need you to answer one question for me.”

“Yes?” Palomata asked as Greg hesitated.

Greg grimaced, not sure if this was exactly the right time to ask this question, but it was at least better than earlier, when the ship was still fully powered. “I just need to know… why- ugh, why did you kill all the non-mages?” He finally spat the question out, fixing her with a serious look.

Palomata froze. “You- how do you know about that?!?”

“Pfff.” Greg waved dismissively. “Smoke man, remember? I didn't register as a mage when you picked everyone up, so I got sent to the other place, whatever execution room you put them all in. Thankfully I had some smoke with Tessa and a few others, so I wasn't stuck in there, but I still got to watch everyone die. So why?”

Palomata sighed. “Because they were monsters. Or at least they would be.”

Greg blinked. “Eh?”

Palomata’s expression twisted. “When mages absorb mana naturally, they filter it, only using what matches their own nature and ignoring the rest. However, non-mages lack this filter. They take all the mana around them in, the good and the bad, and it warps them, driving them insane. Let me emphasize. It drives them insane. It doesn't make them any less intelligent. If anything, they become smarter, insidiously so. Worse, this lack of a filter is the only difference between a mage and a non-mage, so they still have access to mana. They can use magic and grow stronger, just like anyone else. They are the primary reason every species fails to survive awakening without intervention, with very few exceptions. And that is why we killed them.”

“Huh.” Greg grunted. “Okay, cool, thanks. I figured it'd be something like that.”

Palomata blinked. “You- what?”

Greg shrugged. “None of you really strike me as mass murdering psychopaths, so I figured you had to have some reason to do it. I was kinda worried it had something to do with racism, some kind of mage superiority complex or something, but you'd think something like that would filter up to archmages as the ‘superior’ mages, and I really didn't see any evidence of that. Sure, people respect you, but they don't seem like they're oppressed by you. So yeah, this makes sense. Plus, I met one of the ferals out during the day back on Earth… that dude was definitely insane.”

“I see.” Palomata muttered. “I'm glad you're satisfied then.”

Greg nodded. “Me too. Though, I'm going to have to warn you, it may take me a bit to get used to treating this whole ‘magical parent’ thing seriously… I appreciate the idea, I'm just not sure I really have the feel for it.” He paused. “I guess I'm just not sure what something like this is supposed to look like? Beyond, you know, learning magic.”

Palomata considered it for a moment, looking back on her own apprenticeship. “I think I would be satisfied if you simply acknowledged the significance of it. I don't appreciate my efforts being taken lightly.”

Greg hesitated for a moment, before letting out a sigh. “I'll see what I can do.”