Everyone headed out of the Transport Cannon. Noah wanted to hang back to speak with Tim, but he didn’t have any way to do it without coming off as suspicious. He’d have to pick the time he chose to repair the rest of the man’s runes carefully. There was a good chance someone from the Enforcers would be watching over him in the near future.

He headed off across the grass alongside Brayden while the others all split off in separate directions and Tim remained behind, presumably to explain that the cannon was temporarily out of commission to anyone that came by to use it.

“So,” Noah said after a few seconds of walking in silence. “Now that Wizen managed to steal what he wanted and you don’t have anything that needs to be guarded, what’s the plan?”

“Help the Enforcers figure out what he’s doing, I suppose,” Brayden said with a shrug. “Father told me to interfere with Wizen’s plans. I would have preferred to cut them off at the head, but I got too cocky. You were right. I should have tried to work with you,” Brayden admitted with an embarrassed sigh. “I thought my Runes would let me handle whoever Wizen sent. I just wasn’t expecting them to have backup in the form of a healer.”

I know Space Runes are strong, but I wonder if I’ve been seriously underestimating them. Brayden was able to hold off someone a whole rank above him – and he nearly won the fight. To do that without Sunder or any of the other unfair advantages I have… damn. I think I know the direction my next rune is going to go in. Some form of space-related disaster, perhaps?

“You did better than anyone else in your position probably would have,” Noah said. “Nobody could blame you for that. But does this mean you’re going to stop avoiding me now?”

Brayden let out a snort. “Has anyone ever told you how much of a little shit you are?”

“Moxie tells me all the time.”

“Never thought I’d say this, but that Torrin has a good head on her shoulders,” Brayden said. “And yes, I’ll be around. You lot always seem to have something interesting happening. Wouldn’t mind swinging by some of your classes to see how those kids of yours are doing. Isabel and Todd were pretty interesting. They’ll be good mages one day.”

Noah nodded in agreement. There was a note of awkwardness to both of them that hadn’t been there the last time they’d truly spoken, but if anything, Noah was surprised it wasn’t worse. They hadn’t truly had a chance to interact ever since he’d revealed that he wasn’t actually Vermil and was actually just puppeting his body around.

I’m really glad Vermil was a burning piece of shit. If I’d taken the place of somebody who was actually a good man, I don’t know if I’d ever have been able to forgive myself.

“You’re more than welcome to swing by a class. The next one will be tomorrow. It might be a bit of an odd once since we normally use the transport cannon to get around. That obviously isn’t going to be happening.”

“Probably not,” Brayden agreed. “I’ll come back tomorrow morning, then. Until then, there’s still some work I need to handle for Father. I’ll have to let him know what happened as well. What a bother.”

“Good luck with that. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I have a way with Father.”

“A way with pissing him off, more like.” Brayden snorted and shook his head. “I can handle him myself, I think.”

Fair enough.

“Good luck, then. You know where to find me. Oh – go to Moxie’s room, not mine. I kind of gave mine to Contessa and Karina.”

Brayden started to nod, then froze. Confusion passed over his features as he did a double take and turned to fully face Noah. “You what?”

“Oh, did you know them?” Noah asked.

“Yes,” Brayden said, his voice taut. “I know Karina. Why in the world is she staying in your room? Did Father not let her out of the contract? I’m surprised you’re tolerating her presence.”

“Oh no, he did. I’m not entirely sure why she’s sticking around,” Noah admitted, rubbing the back of his head. He shrugged. “I don’t really care, though. She and Contessa seem to get along well enough. I’m already letting Contessa use the room, so there’s not really a reason to complain if someone else is as well.”

“And who is Contessa?”

“Moxie’s handler and go-between between her and Evergreen. Well, she was. That was before Evergreen met her, ah, untimely end.”

Brayden’s eyes narrowed. “I heard. The news of a Linwick that just happened to be visiting Blancwood being the reason that a coup failed wasn’t as suppressed as they would have liked it to be. What a… beneficial coincidence for you and Moxie.”

Stolen story; please report.

Noah just grinned. “She won’t be missed.”

“No, I don’t suppose she will be.” Brayden shook his head and let out a laugh. “Sometimes it baffles me that Father tolerates you when he’s had people ripped limb for limb for doing half as much as you do. Then I remember that you somehow walk out of every situation with the upper hand. The more I learn, the less I think I actually understand.”

“That tends to be how knowledge works anyway.” Noah shrugged. “Generally, I’ve just found that bullshitting through every situation ends pretty well for me. It’s an effective strategy.”

“For you, maybe.” Brayden looked at Noah out of the corners of his eyes. “The rest of us aren’t insane.”

“Well, you should give it a try sometimes. It seems to work pretty well. By the way – unrelated question. Is it really that hard to successfully combine Space Runes?”

Brayden came to a stop and Noah did the same.

“Why do you ask? Planning on trying to form some yourself?”

“I’m strongly considering it. You’re an absolute menace. I don’t think I’d try to form the exact same ones since they probably wouldn’t fit my current path, but adding space to my abilities would definitely be useful.”

“It’s a very powerful form of magic, but it’s every bit as difficult to combine as people say. Think about it this way – can you think of fire in your head? Can you picture it and what it does? What causes it, and what makes it snuff out?”

“Yeah.”

“Now do that for space. What is space?”

That… huh. I don’t think he just wants me to say something that literally just takes up space. How would one actually describe space, not something that takes up space?

Noah’s brow furrowed as he thought. A few seconds passed as he dug for the words to answer Brayden’s question. It was surprisingly frustrating. He knew what space was. Everyone did. And yet, despite that, he couldn’t actually find words to describe it. The harder he thought, the less he could actually explain.

“Okay,” Noah admitted. “I think I see what you’re getting at. I’ve got no damn idea what space is.”

Brayden chuckled. “And that’s the problem. I could tell you. It wouldn’t change much. Logically knowing something isn’t quite enough. You have to completely understand it. That’s why space runes are so difficult to form.”

“So how in the world did you figure it out?”

Brayden’s grin faded. “Practice. A lot of it. Father wanted to see what would happen when someone grew up entirely focused on understanding a rune that few could completely comprehend. I’ve been learning about these runes since I was a child, but even that has only taken me so far. I’m not sure what I’ll do at higher ranks. I’m reaching my natural limit.”

Sunder could help a lot with that. Even if you don’t perfectly understand what you’re doing, you could just put them together and break them over and over.

“Where do you think that limit is? Rank 5?”

“Probably. I suppose I’ll find out when I reach it. I’m not too far from forming my last Rank 4 Rune. I’ve been taking it pretty slow to ensure my understanding of everything is as extensive as possible. That said, are you still considering getting into space magic?”

“Probably,” Noah said.

“I’d warn you off of it, but somehow I doubt that would do anything. Feel free to ask me if you need help with anything, but I suggest you try to test things out a bit yourself first. Buy a Rank 1 Space Rune and feel it out. If that doesn’t completely turn you away from the idea, then talk to me again.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Noah said with an appreciative nod.

Brayden clapped him on the shoulder. “I don’t doubt it. Until tomorrow, then.”

“Just not too early. I’ve got a date with Moxie, so I’ll be busy in the morning.”

Brayden snorted. “Rub it in, will you?”

Noah tilted his head to the side. “Wait, are you looking for someone? I never really thought about it, but…”

“Don’t try to set me up.” Brayden’s eyes narrowed. “I am more than capable of handling all aspects of my love life myself.”

“Right,” Noah said. “Well, I won’t push. I don’t think I really know that many single people anyway. You could try your luck with Contessa or Karina, but I’m not so sure–”

Brayden blanched before Noah could even finish the sentence. “I think I’m quite all right. I’d sooner pursue a leprosy-ridden lizard than Karina.”

Ouch. Cold. Not that I blame you, but cold.

“Not Karina, then. Well, maybe Moxie knows someone.”

“I already told you that I don’t need any help in my damn love life. Go back to focusing on those space runes, will you? That’ll be a better usage of your time. Or, more accurately, you might want to try to start saving up. Space Runes aren’t cheap. I could probably part with one of mine, but–”

“No, it’s fine. You already gave Lee one, and she really needed it. This is just passing fancy for me, so I don’t want to take your hard-earned energy.”

It wouldn’t feel right just constantly using Brayden for free stuff. Besides, I can just wait for that bloke who bought the last Monster Rune from me to reveal himself so I can scam the bugger for another shitload of gold. That’s just as easy and it gives me time to think about what kind of rune I’d actually be making with space in it.

“If you’re sure.” Brayden shrugged. “Good luck. Feel free to change your mind and let me know. It really isn’t that much of a hassle.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for all the information.”

“No problem. Just don’t waste too much time on this stuff until you’re completely certain it’s right for you. Space Runes aren’t rare for no reason.”

When it comes to Sunder, I don’t think there are a lot of Runes that can really cause me trouble. But now that Brayden’s hyped these things up so much, I think I’ve got no choice but to find out. I think Lee actually said that she had some space runes she could share with me at some point. I’ll see if I can take her up on that.

Noah nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. Until tomorrow, then?”

“Tomorrow.” Brayden raised a hand in farewell and headed off toward the center of campus while Noah made for the T building to meet back up with Moxie.

Space Runes were important, but there was a more pressing matter that had to be handled first. He had to find out how to explain to Moxie that he’d somehow managed to get into a fight with one of Wizen’s people just hours after heading off without her.