“And that’s that, she’s one of us now”, Crystal Thornheart said, explaining to Adrienne and Arthur what happened on Macedon between Princess Athena and Emperor Alexander.

“Wow…”, Arthur said, absolutely stunned.

“I can’t believe that he…well, you know…”, Adrienne said, equally as shocked.

Princess Athena sat in the corner of the room, her head hung, eyes looking directly to the floor. She hadn’t said a word since they got back.

“I just feel so bad for her…”, Adrienne muttered to the rest.

“Her life as she knew it basically ended…”, Merlin said. “It’ll take her some time to adjust, but I think…I hope she’ll be okay…”

“Well, there’s nothing more we can accomplish for tonight”, Crystal stated. “Adrienne, Arthur, you two should head home. Merlin, you stay here for now.”

Adrienne and Arthur both departed, leaving Crystal, Merlin, and Princess Athena in the mission briefing room. Merlin looked at the Princess, who still hadn’t moved or said a word since they escaped from Macedon. Her pitiful state saddened Merlin. All she had wanted was some freedom, some adventure. She never could’ve known that sneaking out of the castle that morning would lead to where she is now.

“So, Mom…why did you want me to stay…?”, Merlin asked.

“Because I don’t want to leave her alone”, Crystal said, gathering her belongings. “You’re the one she trusts the most. So, stay with her until she’s ready to turn in for the night.”

“And…where is she staying…?”, Merlin inquired.

“Until we can get her situated, she’ll stay with us. She can use my bed, and I’ll sleep in the den”, Crystal answered.

Merlin nodded his head as Crystal departed, leaving him standing in the middle of the mission briefing room, as the Princess continued to sit in silence. Merlin looked at her for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. He decided to pull a chair up across from her and had a seat. She still didn’t look up. She didn’t even acknowledge that they were the only two still in the room.

“Say uh, Princess…”, Merlin said awkwardly. “Why don’t we head out. You can get some food and a bath, then get some sleep.”

She didn’t respond. Merlin sighed quietly, not wanting to press her too hard, but knowing that they couldn’t stay in the mission briefing room all night. “Princess-“

“Athena…”, she mumbled quietly, interrupting him.

“Huh?”, he replied, confused.

She finally looked up at him. Tears pouring out of her blood red eyes. “I’m not a Princess anymore…I’m just Athena…”

Merlin put his uninjured hand on her shoulder, attempting to comfort her. “Hey, you’re not ‘just’ Athena! You’re one of us now! And you saved my life! As far as I’m concerned, you’re a hero!”

She laughed just a bit, smiling slightly even as her tears kept falling. “You practice that one earlier?”

“I’m serious!”, he responded.

“Thanks…Merlin”, she said, sincerely.

“Hey wait a second…”, he said. “That’s the first time you’ve called me by my name! Not ‘mage’ or ‘hey you’!”

Athena started laughing again, wiping her eyes with her hands. She was finally beginning to calm down and open up to Merlin…

“You know you called me by my name once”, she responded.

Merlin thought back, trying to recollect when he had referred to her as simply, ‘Athena’. “When??”, he asked, unable to remember.

“When we were hiding behind that rock! I was freaking out about the whole magic thing and you were shaking me. Quite violently as I recall…”, she explained.

“Oh…yeah…”, Merlin replied, embarrassed. “Sorry about that!”

Athena chucked in response. “It’s fine!”, she said, pushing her strawberry-blonde hair behind her shoulders. “It’s more embarrassing for me to have a man my age calling me by just my first name. But I guess I’ll have to get used to it…”

“I’m four years older than you…”, he interjected.

“It’s just, all my life I’ve been raised to be one thing”, she continued, ignoring Merlin. “And now that’s all gone…”

She was beginning to return to her previous state. Merlin spoke again, trying to keep her cheerful. “But you’re not alone! I’m here! And Adrienne and Arthur are great too! I’m sure that once you’ve gotten some training you can join our team!”

Athena looked directly into Merlin’s eyes and smiled. For the first time since he met her, Merlin took notice of her beauty. The way she looked at him in this moment, he could feel something fluttering in his chest. “What’s wrong with me??”, he thought to himself.

“So you mentioned something about food??”, Athena asked, shaking Merlin back into reality.

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“Huh?! What?!”, he yelled back at her, embarrassed, as she backed away in surprise due to his sudden increase in volume.

“Y-you mentioned something about food earlier…and I’m pretty hungry…”, she replied.

“Oh…ha…right…!”, Merlin stated, trying to play it off as he rubbed the back of his head.

The next morning, Adrienne, Merlin, Arthur, and Athena stood before Crystal Thornheart in the mission briefing room. Athena no longer wore her Macedonian armor or crown tiara. Instead, she now wore a standard blouse and long skirt of a commoner. Her demeanor was more cheerful than the night before, but still subdued.

“So, Princess-“, Crystal began.

“Excuse me, ma’am”, Athena interrupted, as Crystal raised her eyebrows. “I’m not a princess anymore! S-so from now on…All of you please call me Athena!”

Adrienne and Arthur both gave her nods of affirmation, as Crystal smiled at her. “I see. Very well then! So then, Athena, we‘ve established that you have the ability to use magic”, Crystal said. “Now tell me, what all do you know about magic?”

Athena’s eyes widened and she appeared to be overwhelmed by the question Crystal had posed. “Um…basically nothing…”, she replied.

“So you’re a clean slate then!”, Crystal exclaimed. “I’ll do my best to keep this brief. You, like all of us here, were born with the ability to produce and manipulate magical energy. Magical energy is what we use to cast our spells.”

“Does that mean that someone in my family also had magic?”, Athena asked.

“Perhaps”, Crystal answered. “It’s a bit more complicated than that. It’s possible that one, some, or none of your ancestors possessed the ability to use magic. We believe that it’s hereditary, although it can skip an entire generation, sometimes multiple. But there are also anomalies, where someone has magic but they aren’t able to track it to any known ancestor.”

“I see…I think I understand”, Athena responded, still totally confused.

“The point is, someone in your family may have possessed it, regardless of if they knew it or not. But it is ultimately of no importance. The only thing that matters is that you have it”, Crystal explained. “And within magic as a whole, there are two more broad categories of magic: Offensive and defensive. And within those there are dozens if not hundreds of sub-categories! Are you confused yet?”

“I’ve been confused since the beginning…”, Athena answered honestly.

They all had a quick laugh at Athena’s expense, as Crystal continued. “The important thing to know is that everyone who is born with magic, is also born with an aptitude for certain types of magic. Meaning that it will be easier for you to learn and effectively use certain kinds of spells. For example, Arthur here is a spellknight. In general, spellknights are born with an affinity for defensive and support magic. Meanwhile, mages like Adrienne and Merlin were born with more of an aptitude for offensive magic. Although they can generally still use defensive magic as well.”

“Ms. Crystal, may I?”, Adrienne interjected.

“Of course, dear!”, Crystal responded.

“Athena, do you remember when I was planning for our assault on the fortress and I told you to go with Merlin, because he’s better with defensive magic than me?”, Adrienne asked.

“I think I vaguely remember it”, Athena replied.

“So, Merlin has an easier time learning defensive spells than I do. Arthur as well”, Adrienne stated.

“Offensive spells don’t make any sense to me!”, Arthur commented.

“And when it comes to offensive magic, I’m better with fire spells than Merlin is”, Adrienne continued.

“I personally favor lightning and utility spells more”, Merlin added.

“This is all making my head spin…” Athena complained.

“Then I’ll wrap it up with this”, Crystal said. “What we’re going to do is determine which kind of magic you have an aptitude for. If you’re more suited to offensive magic, we’ll train you here with the new apprentices. If you’re more geared towards defense and support, we’ll send you to the Spellknight Temple for some training.”

“A-and where is that?”, Athena asked, nervously.

“There’s one on this planet, no need to worry!”, Crystal answered. “You’d actually be a great fit for the spellknights since you have plenty of martial training.”

“Alright then. I think I’m ready!”, Athena said, trying to pump herself up.

“We’ll begin testing your aptitudes shortly”, Crystal stated. “But before that, there’s something for Merlin and Arthur that’s overdue!”

“Huh?”, Merlin asked.

“What is it Ms. C??”, Arthur inquired.

“Don’t tell me you two forgot about your promotions?!”, Crystal asked in disbelief.

“Yeah guys! She told you before our last mission, remember?”, Adrienne added.

Just like that it all came back to Merlin and Arthur. The last several days were so chaotic and busy that they had completely forgotten.

“Truth be told, I received permission to promote the two of you after you killed the wyvern. But I wanted to wait because I wanted you to work hard on your first mission against the rogues!”, Crystal admitted.

“You held back on us?!”, Merlin shouted.

“That’s not cool!”, Arthur agreed.

“Calm yourselves!”, Crystal said, trying to downplay the situation. “Now are you going to kneel or not??”

They both dropped to one knee as Crystal reached under her desk and removed two cloaks. A blue one for Merlin, and a purple one for Arthur.

“Under the guidance of the Council of Sorcerers and Spelknights, I, Crystal Thornheart, Master of this Temple, promote Merlin Thornheart to the rank of Wizard!”

Crystal laid the blue cloak on the ground in front of Merlin as he clutched it tightly in his hands, pride swelling within him. He looked up and smiled at Adrienne who appeared happy for he and Arthur.

“And I promote Arthur Pendragon to the rank of Knight Sergeant!”, Crystal concluded as she laid the purple cloak on the ground in front of Arthur.

Merlin and Arthur both stood, each holding their new cloaks, and cheered as they embraced each other.

“Congratulations you two!”, Adrienne said joyfully.

“I’m not really sure what’s going on, but that seemed pretty important!”, Athena stated.

“There are ranks for mages and spellknights within our order”, Crystal told her. “I’ll give you a rundown on them later!”

Athena nodded her head as Adrienne assisted Merlin and Arthur in removing their old cloaks, and adorning their new ones.

“Well with that taken care of, I believe I still have to assign you three a new mission!” Crystal proclaimed.

Adrienne, Merlin, and Arthur all ceased their celebrations, now standing before Crystal eagerly determined to receive their next orders.

“We’re ready!”, Adrienne exclaimed.

“Very good!”, Crystal said, grinning. “In light of the success of your previous mission, I believe that your next assignment will be…to conduct easy administrative tasks here at the temple for the next week! Especially since Merlin’s arm needs time to heal!”

The three looked at each other, exchanging smiles before erupting into cheers once again.

“Oh yeah!!”, Merlin shouted.

“We get to take it easy for a whole week!”, Arthur added.

“I’ll be sure to keep these two in line, Ms. Crystal!”, Adrienne said as she smiled and bowed.

“I know you will, Adrienne!”, Crystal replied, as Merlin and Arthur exited the mission briefing room to go and celebrate. Adrienne had begun to exit herself, when Crystal called back to her.

“Adrienne, I do need to see the three of you in the morning though”, she said, her tone and facial expression having grown terribly serious. “We still need to discuss that other matter from your mission…the one about ‘she’…”

“Y-yes ma’am!”, Adrienne replied, nervously, having felt the shift in the atmosphere. She then hastily exited the mission briefing room, eager to join Merlin and Arthur.

Crystal then turned her attention to Athena. “Alright, let’s try and get a feel for your magical affinities…”