“I see you!” Otto shouted as they rode up to the manor’s outer gates.

They arrived back home long after dusk, and without prior notice, no one was there to greet them.

Julius came out of the doors holding a lantern as their carriages came to a stop in the front yard, apparently having heard the commotion.

“Thomas!” Shouted Julius.

“Julius,” Thomas replied with a bow. “We’re back for a while, we’ll be going tomorrow morning.”

Though the two had parted after an argument, it seems that the hostility has all but gone after just a few days. After all, they've fought side by side their entire lives.

Idris got off the carriage after Saya, looking around at the familiar front yard of his home. Boxes and packs of stuff lay around place, probably preparations for their next contract.

“How’s the next contract?” Asked Thomas as Julius opened the doors to let them inside.

“On schedule. Not as much preparation needed as the first,” Julius replied. “Just a regular infiltration, the logistics itself is more difficult than the actual contract.”

The entrance hall was dark at this time of night, most inhabitants having already retreated to their dorms to rest. The shock of their previous failure has already worn off somewhat, and now they are back to full steam, ready for whatever comes next.

The master apprentices, together with Otto, headed for the store room to pick up any provisions for their journey, while Idris and his friends headed to the apprentice’s dorms to rest and have a chat with their friends.

“Idris!” Kaen called out happily as they entered the room. “And Andrei!”

“Hey,” Idris replied.

“Hi dad!” The younger apprentices replied in synchrony.

“Hello,” Andrei replied.

“I thought you went off on a special mission?” Kaen asked, coming over from his bed to greet the two. “How’s it going?”

“We’re stopping here for tonight before heading to Kingston,” Idris replied.

“Kingston? That’s where we’re headed for our next contract as well,” said Kaen as they walked over to Idris and Andrei’s beds. “We’ll be leaving in a week or so too.”

“That soon?” Asked Andrei as he dropped his pack next to his bed. “I thought the next contract wouldn't be for another month.”

Kaen nodded. “It is, but Julius wants us there sooner to do more surveillance and security, since you know…” He paused a little and lowered his voice. “Since what happened last time.”

“Yeah…”

Though not uncommon, the death of a family member still weighed heavily on their minds, especially considering the circumstances under which it happened.

Thomas’ arguments, while not enough to fully persuade Julius, has clearly had some effect on the seasoned assassin. Heading to their destination many weeks early to conduct surveillance is rarely done, only during extremely difficult contracts or at very distant destinations.

“Anything interesting happening back home?” Andrei asked as he placed his short sword into his wardrobe.

“Hmm…” Kaen thought for a moment. “Not much really, just the usual training and preparations for contracts.”

“How are the newcomers?”

“Oh, they’re doing fine. They’re at their beds, reading a book right now,” Kaen nodded his head towards the two newcomers in the corner, huddled together, enraptured by a thick book in their hands. “Noah! Menino! Idris and Andrei are back!”

The two perked up, and quickly bounded over to them. They seemed to be happy and cheerful, their original wariness no longer pulling on their faces.

Idris smiled at their almost silent footsteps, the training is coming along well.

“Idris! Andrei!” Noah yelped happily. “How long are you staying for?”

“Just tonight.”

“Aw… ok…”

“How’s the training coming along?” Idris asked.

“Good!” Answered Menino. “Noah saved a rabbit the other day with his magic, and I can now shoot big puffs of fire!”

“Don’t forget who helped you practice,” Kaen interjected, winking at the excited young fire mage.

“Of course not!”

Just then Idris noticed something a little off. “Where's Marcus?”

“Marcus? He’s probably outside looking at the stars or something, he’s been doing that a lot, ever since he came here,” Noah answered. “I think his telepathy is a little hard to control, and constantly being around so many people makes his head ache a little.”

“I see…” Idris muttered. “That does happen sometimes…”

Kaen chuckled. “Hey Lucifer!” He shouted across the room. “Remember the fires you had to put out when I set my bed on fire?”

“Hm? Oh that, yeah I do,” a boy with white hair replied. “I’d much prefer if you’d just wet your bed normally.”

Many mages, especially gifted ones, often struggle initially to fully control their powers. Especially at Rose, under the powerful effect power of the rich deposits, this can sometimes cause one’s powers to go haywire.

In the past, a few small fires have been started by young fire mages losing control of their powers, but all were quickly put out by the three resident ice mages, Rin, Lucifer, and Krystal.

“Idris,” said Andrei after he finished tidying his stuff. “Let’s go take a bath, I’m sore all over right now.”

“Sure,” Idris replied, turning to the others. “Go get some rest, we can talk more tomorrow morning.”

“Ok…” Noah sighed. “Leaving so soon…”

Idris smiled. “We’ll meet again soon enough.”

He headed towards the bathhouse with Andrei, carrying a set of clean clothes in their arms. Even at this hour the pools are steaming, the gemstones submerged within constantly supplying it with a source of heat.

The warm, bubbly waters cleansed the soreness right out of his tight muscles, gently caressing his body in its comforting softness. Water in the baths are sourced directly from underground streams, and as such are rich in minerals and magical power, which they picked up from their paths through the gemstone deposits. A good bath after a tiring day of training can easily refill one’s supply of mana.

After bathing, he and Andrei got dressed into clean clothes, before leaving the steaming changing room and shivering in the relative cold of the manor.

“Idris? Andrei?” A familiar voice called out as soon as they stepped outside.

Saya and Nina had just left their changing room too, their dirty clothes in their hands.

“Oh, hi,” Idris replied. “Did you two just have a bath as well?”

They nodded.

Together they dumped their dirty clothes in the laundry baskets, and began heading back towards their dorms. Even though the time was getting late, Idris really didn’t feel like resting.

“I want to take a walk,” said Idris. “Any of you feeling sleepy right now?”

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They exchanged glances, and all shook their heads.

“Want to take a stroll outside?”

They exchanged glances again.

“Sure.”

The four of them left through the front doors of the manor, stepping through the whispery night breeze. Idris and Saya walked ahead while Andrei and Nina trailed slightly behind, conversing cheerfully. Those two have been getting along quite well after the dance.

Tonight there are no stars to be seen, the clouds just a little too thick for their dim light to poke through. The moon shone brightly enough though, forming a ghostly white halo around it through the clouds, illuminating the land just brightly enough for them to see.

They walked a wide path around the manor, through the grassy meadow, listening to the cries of crickets and distant howling of wolves.

Animals and insects are instinctively attracted to this area because of the rich magical deposits. Packs of wolves and herds of deer can often be spotted wandering through the edges of the meadow, sometimes even walking up to the manor to feed, only to be scared away when the perception altering magic lifts, and the manor suddenly appears. At the correct times of year the meadow is filled with fireflies, making the grass a sea of shimmering green at night.

“Shame there are no stars tonight...” mused Saya, walking besides Idris. “Would be perfect if they came out too.”

“Yeah…”

“Do you really think our mission will work out?” Saya asked after a moment of silence. “I mean… It just seems so far fetched.”

Idris didn’t answer.

They’ve only just started out, and so far, it’s been going pretty well. Though it might seem difficult, he has faith in their abilities, and more importantly, they are dealing directly with the safety of Rose, so far fetched or not, they better succeed.

“Even if it seems far fetched, we must go through with it,” Idris answered. “It’s the safety of our family we’re talking about. The safety of me, of you, of Andrei and Nina, of everyone.”

“So you’re thinking about me?”

“I mean… I guess.”

“Hehehe…” Saya giggled, grinning widely at Idris. “I care about your safety too.”

“Thank you.”

“Wait, is that all??” Saya exclaimed. “Such a boring reaction…”

But Idris didn’t sound cold to be mean, he was simply deep in thought. Some things weren’t making sense in his mind.

Quick footsteps approached from behind as Andrei and Nina caught up to them.

“How’s your night?” Nina asked.

“Good!” Saya replied.

While not previously a close member of their friend group, Nina has quickly become a part of it since that night. Though a year below them, she is still a skilled telepath and healer, filling in some of their missing abilities. Unlike Saya, who’s telepathy is flawed, Nina’s is far more powerful, capable of reading and communicating thoughts to others when close, and even limited mind control. Thomas has said that, if all goes well, they four will likely be grouped together in the future, as they cover all of the important abilities needed on most missions.

“Didn’t think I’d get paired with my upperclassmen on such a special mission,” said Nina with a chuckle. “Some of the younger girls are a little jealous.”

“You’re barely below us in terms of ability,” Andrei replied.

“Technically still my upperclassmen, though.”

“Wait, why are they jealous?” Asked Idris.

Nina chuckled. “Because I get to work so closely with my upperclassmen and master apprentices. Saya has quite a reputation for being incredible at combat and interrogation.”

“Hum hum,” Saya puffed her chest out. “My fans number in the hundreds.”

“There’s barely a hundred total at Rose…” muttered Idris, rolling his eyes.

“And plus,” Nina dropped her voice a little. “Idris and Andrei have quite some admirers among the girls.”

“Hum hum...” groaned Saya with a pout. “They can admire him all they want.”

“Saya, are you jealous?”

“No.”

Just then they heard another set of footsteps approaching from in front of them, too dark to make out who the silhouette belonged to. Andrei held up a warm orb of light in his hands, casting it on to the person in question.

“Marcus?” Idris said, surprised, before remembering that Noah had said he was out looking at the stars.

“Oh… good evening,” Marcus replied. “Sorry for being out so late.”

“Are you looking at the stars?”

“There are no stars tonight.”

“What are you doing then?”

“Just going for a walk.”

The newcomer walked past them, towards the manor, looking a little troubled. Perhaps being an assassin is indeed quite tough.

Many feel the same way after arriving. After all, the studying is tiring difficult, the training is rigorous, and expectations are very high. Though, with such a supportive family, most make it through without any difficulty, but it's not like they have a choice.

“Is he ok…?” Nina whispered.

“He’ll be fine, happens sometimes,” replied Andrei.

They continued walking, a wide lap through the meadow, then back through the front gates. Along the way they ran into Thomas and the three other master apprentices, who were returning after leaving flowers at Lilian’s grave.

By the time they got back it was close to midnight. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping apprentices, and a little enchanted by the calm night, they grabbed a few rugs from the store room, swiftly climbed up to the roof, and laid down on the grey tiles.

Sleeping on the roof is a popular pastime activity in the summer, when the nights are warm and the weather is pleasant. Being assassins, scaling buildings and rooftop-hopping is an essential skill, so they’ve all developed a liking to heights and the thrill it brings.

The clouds have cleared somewhat, and stars were beginning to peek through the little gaps. After a little talking, they all quickly drifted to sleep.

In the early morning they were awakened by Thomas, who had come out to search for them once he realized they weren’t in the dorms.

“We’re leaving soon, pack your things and load it into the wagon,” Thomas said as he deftly leapt down from the roof.

The sun was shining and the birds were chirping, little whiffs of smoke was already rising out of the chimneys as the kitchen prepared breakfast.

Saya was still snoozing away, as usual, so Idris gave her cheeks a few tugs to wake her up.

Quickly they put away the rugs, tidied their clothing, packed up their weapons, and loaded it all onto Otto’s fancy carriage.

“Morning,” said Otto, who was already waiting on the wagon, as the four approached. “Good night’s sleep?”

“Morning!” Saya replied. “Very good!”

“I miss sleeping on the roof…” whispered Otto.

Soon Thomas and the other master apprentices came out, along with Mintaka, who brought them several basketfuls of bread, meat and cheese for the journey ahead.

Before the breakfast bells rang they were off again, ridding towards that distant city with the promised answers.

They were making good progress, and as night fell, Idris could recognize none of his surroundings.

Soon darkness was upon them, but they continued through the night. With nine skilled assassins onboard, they are afraid of no bandits.

But they shouldn’t be worried about bandits.

“Wake up,” Thomas whispered, rousing Idris from his dreams. “We're being tailed, again.”

Thomas is right, Idris could feel the fluctuations in mana around him. Their tails were close, very close.

Saya, seeming to have sensed the disturbance too, was instantly awake. She lifted her spear out of their pile of things with her telekinesis, and hovered it in front of her.

“I’ll go out the back to see what’s going on,” said Thomas, heading towards the back door of the wagon. “Raina, tell Bruno and Kana in the wagon up ahead, but they probably know already.”

“Understood.”

Andrei and Nina had their weapons ready too, and were carefully peaking out of the side windows, trying to catch a glimpse of their pursuers.

Slowly Thomas opened the rear door, letting in a gust of cold air. Idris could see the dark forest rushing by outside, only dimly lit up by the lanterns on their wagon.

They stepped out onto the rear platform, scanning the forest carefully.

Their wagon jolted and slowed, coming to a quick stop in the middle of the dark forest.

One by one they leapt down from the balcony, fanning out around the rear of their wagon.

“Otto?” Thomas shouted, but got no response.

Idris thought he saw a shadow dart across the trees above him, but he barely had time to look as it came swooping down at him.

Instinctively he rolled backwards as metal clashed and sparks flew.

“Announce yourself!” Saya shouted to the assailant.

Idris looked up to see Saya in front of him, the blade of her spear against a curved sword.

Quickly he scrambled to his feet as more shadows landed besides them. Andrei and Nina stepped up, forming a protective ring behind their wagon.

“Hello there,” the man sneered. “We’ve followed you for long enough.”

“Who are you!” Thomas boomed. “Bandits?”

“Oh we aren’t bandits. Who we are is not important. What is important is you’re interfering with our operations," the man looked them up and down. "You're with them, aren't you?"

"Who?" Asked Thomas, confused.

“You’re not making it to Kingston,” the man stated blankly, ignoring Thomas.

“I don’t take orders from you.”

“Then lay down your lives!” He screeched.

A column of flame erupted from the man’s hands, setting the dark forest alight.