It took around an hour to herd up all the students from the various locations they were training in, but Noah managed to gather everyone. That came with the slight added problem of actually finding somewhere they could eat and talk without anyone overhearing what they were saying.

The solution turned out to be sending a food cart vendor home early for the day after buying just about everything he had. They brought everything over to Moxie’s classroom and laid it out on the tables while setting aside around half of it for Lee.

Noah let everyone have a few minutes to eat before he got things started properly. The kids already knew a fair bit about the situation and there really wasn’t anything that was much of a surprise.

They already had a plan from the previous meeting that had worked quite well. Verrud and Jakob had broken off their attempts before they’d used up every strategy they had, which was quite convenient. It meant they hardly even had to do any extra planning.

The most important thing they could do was to keep anyone from getting close to Isabel and Emily. While Noah hadn’t told anyone about Isabel’s secret, it was pretty clear that she’d mentioned something to the other students. Noah didn’t press to find out.

The kids trusted each other. That was all that mattered. He didn’t need to know every detail of what they’d spoken about when the results kept them safe.

Moxie and Lee went back over some of the strategies that they’d yet to employ throughout the rest of lunch. Chances were that nobody needed review, but being prepared never hurt.

Eventually, the food and conversation ran out. There was only so much detail that they could go into preparations without knowing what Verrud and Jakob would actually try to do. All anybody could do was be prepared to adapt.

With that, Noah gave everyone the next class off to prepare for the advanced track meeting the following night and dismissed them. The kids filed out of the room, thanking Noah and Moxie for the meal as they left.

“That was nice,” Noah said, sinking down in his chair with a sigh. He rocked it onto its back legs and patted his stomach. “And I think I ate too much.”

“You need to train your stomach muscles better,” Lee advised. “Every time you eat is like lifting a heavy weight. The more you use your stomach, the stronger it will become.”

“You know what? I don’t think that’s how it works for humans,” Noah said with a laugh. Moxie walked up behind him and put her hands on the back of his chair, steadying it. Noah craned his neck back to look up at her from below and she leaned down to give him a kiss.

“You taste like meat pies,” Moxie informed him as she pulled back.

“What a coincidence. So do you.”

Moxie laughed and pushed the chair forward so it was upright again. “Don’t go breaking the chairs in my classroom. They’re meant for kids, not an adult.”

“Bah. You don’t even use the thing anymore. My windy old crappy room is far more picturesque.”

“More spots to hide there too,” Lee added. “I like the holes in the ceiling. It’s easy to sit in them and watch what people are doing below you.”

“There are holes in the ceiling?” Noah asked, blinking. “More than the one in the center of the room?”

Lee grinned in response. “I’m not telling you where. They’re mine.”

“Well, I suppose it hardly matters. It’s not like anyone else can use them and there’s no way Arbitage is going to repair the old place. They’d have done that already if they were planning to.” Noah waved a hand, then pushed himself to his feet with more than a little effort. He’d definitely eaten a few too many meat pies. “Is there anything we’ve got to cover for the meeting tomorrow that we haven’t already done?”

Moxie shook her head. She started to gather the leftover paper from all the food. Noah and Lee joined her, though about a quarter of the papers Lee picked up vanished into her mouth when the others weren’t looking.

Once they’d gotten everything that Lee hadn’t eaten, Moxie took it and scrunched it into a ball. Her brow furrowed in concentration. A second later, the paper started to crackle. A stem rose up from it.

It grew thicker and the amount of paper shrank, flowing into its stem. The flower grew to nearly two feet, forming a white bud the size of a head. It bloomed open as the last of the paper vanished into it, then withered away in Moxie’s hands until it was nothing but a dried stem.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Convenient, huh?” Moxie asked, holding up the stem. She slipped it into one of her shirt sleeves. “I’ll study this more later. As for tomorrow’s meeting, I think there’s only so much prep anyone can actually do. Unless you’ve got Mind Runes, we can’t read Jakob or Verrud’s minds.”

Noah grimaced and went about returning the chairs in the room to their proper places. “I think I’ll pass on a Mind Rune. Just having one seems disgusting. I’ve got no interest in that kind of power. You’re probably right, though. If there’s nothing else we can prepare, how about we head back to your room and practice? Your new Rune is, as you mentioned, really suited to your pattern — and I haven’t had a chance to play my violin recently.”

“I’m never going to say no to you playing music for me, so I’m sold,” Moxie said. “You coming with us, Lee?”

“Sure,” Lee said. “Can I eat the flowers when you’re done with them?”

“That may not be the best idea,” Moxie said with a small frown. “They could be poisonous.”

“To you.”

“Okay, fair point,” Moxie admitted. “Sure. I don’t see why not. Just do it slowly. I don’t want to find out that I’ve accidentally created demon poison.”

“The day I find something I can’t eat is the day.”

Noah pulled the door open and paused, glancing back at Lee and waiting for her to finish the sentence. She didn’t. She just stared at him.

“What?” Lee asked.

“The day you find something you can’t eat is the day what?” Noah asked. “There’s another bit to that phrase."

"Oh. Yeah, I haven’t figured it out yet,” Lee replied. She scratched at the side of her neck. “I’ll get it once I find something I can’t eat. I haven’t done that bit yet, though.”

“Huh. Fair enough,” Noah said. “Shall we? There’s a whole day ahead of us before we’ve got to put up with the idiots again.”

Lee bounced past him and Moxie followed after her, flashing Noah a grin as she passed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Moxie said. “I deal with an idiot every day.”

“You’re dating the idiot. What does that make you?”

Moxie snorted and linked her arm through his. Lee fell in beside them and the three walked back to her room together.

***

The next day flew by quickly. As Noah had suggested, he spent the entire time practicing his violin. Moxie alternated between listening and working on her own pattern, and Noah occasionally took a break from his music to give her pointers or take a look at her progress.

The Flowering Genesis Rune definitely suited the pattern really well. The only issue was that it required magic to actually use the pattern. That wasn’t the same as putting magic into the pattern, but it was adjacent.

That wasn’t as big of an issue as it might have been if Moxie were a student. She’d been using magic for a lot longer than the others had and had more than enough control over her abilities to make sure she didn’t mistakenly use power where she didn’t mean to — especially while they were in a room without any real distractions other than the occasional munching that came from where Lee sat on the bed.

But, as all things had to, it came to an end. They slept for a few hours, then resumed practice all the way up until there was only a little more than hour until the advanced track meeting was set to start.

Part of Noah wished they could just skip the whole thing. He crushed the thought. The meeting was too important to ignore, no matter how much fun he was having. It wasn’t just about the students either — Otto and several other important people would be present. Skipping out was just lost potential.

So, with just a little annoyance at having to put up with more bullshit from the idiots after his students, he set out together with Lee and Moxie to their meeting point at the transport cannon.

The kids were all already present and waiting in a small circle. Nobody else was in the area — there really wasn’t much reason for others to hang around transport cannon when its usage was restricted.

I wonder what Tim’s been up to since he can’t run the cannon as much as before. I hope he’s just messing around with his new Runes and finding other things to occupy himself, but I know how much he loved the cannon. If for that reason alone, I need to get that damn key back from Wizen.

“Is everyone ready?” Moxie asked, holding a hand up to block the setting sun from getting into her eyes. “Any questions or observations before we head out and get things started?”

“I’ve got one,” Lee said, raising her hand.

“I do not have any jerky in my bag.”

“You are lying. Front pocket. Left corner.”

Moxie reached into her bag in the location that Lee had indicated, then blinked. She pulled a strip of meat out with a baffled expression. “I didn’t put this here.”

“Oh, I know. I did,” Lee said, taking it from Moxie’s hands and chowing down. “I just didn’t want to carry it around. I no longer have a question.”

Moxie let out a sigh. “Thank you, Lee. Does anyone else have a question? Preferably about the advanced track meeting and not other topics? I’m always open to help with other matters when we’re a little bit less occupied.”

“What other matters?” Alexandra asked.

Noah bit back a laugh at the exasperation on Moxie’s face.

“Whichever ones you want,” Moxie said, rubbing her nose between the bridge of her fingers.

Lee slipped Alexandra a strip of jerky. Moxie caught the motion and narrowed her eyes, but Alexandra just gave her a small shrug and took a bite out of her ill-begotten gains.

Did Lee pay Alexandra off to ask that? She’s turning into quite the little prankster.

“At least nobody is worried,” Moxie said with a defeated laugh. “Come on, then. Let’s head over to the meeting and see how many people we can make cry before we’re done for the night.”