I never overheard the conversations between Daphne and the assistant coach, on day during practice, but Daphne came up to me during a break and told me herself.

"They keep telling me there's not much I can do to defend against the trophies," she said to me. "You're just too quick on the bike with your spins, twists, and pivots. They said I'm doing a really good job, even though you keep beating me." Daphne was about to roll her eyes, but she followed it up with a smile. She played it off like it wasn't a big deal, but I could tell it was getting under her skin.

Occasionally, when I was performing drills with the rest of the team, I noticed Edna and Clark getting along swimmingly with everyone. Not wanting to make a fool out of myself, I felt it was better not to say anything to anyone at all. The last time I tried that at Attleton, the whole team ended up hating me, and I didn't want that again. I kept to myself, and no one really approached me except for Clark, Edna, and Daphne, but I already felt like I was friends with them.

"All right, everyone!" Coach Cambridge yelled at the end of one practice. "We are going to vote for our team captains. At the beginning of the week, we had people put their names in for consideration. For captains of the team, your options are Clark, Edna, Daphne, and Rollie. You will all vote by holding up your hand to this arcane cube. Whoever gets the most votes will be captain, and whoever gets the second and third most will be assistant captains. Any questions? Good, let's take the poll!"

Everyone passed around a black cube made of a lightweight metal, but it was durable. Unlike anything I had ever seen back in Ohio. I wasn't sure what to do once it was handed to me.

"How do I work this thing?" I asked.

"Oh, that's right, nominees don't get to vote. But, you would just think of the person you wanted as captain and then let the arcane magic flow into the cube until it turned green. Did everyone get the cube?" Coach Cambridge asked.

All my teammates nodded.

"Very well! Let's see here..." Coach Cambridge stared at the top of the cube, and the list of three names appeared. "Congratulations to Daphne and Rollie! They will be our assistant captains for the team this year. And a special congratulations to our main captain, Clark Gumbel!"

Everyone clapped for us, but I felt terrible for Edna. I immediately looked at her through the crowd of teammates, and she clapped, but she wasn't smiling, which broke my heart. I hadn't known her for long, but I had never seen her look so morose.

After practice let out, I wanted to run up to Edna and check on her, but Coach Cambridge asked the captains and the assistants to stay after. We ran up to Coach Cambridge as soon as everyone else was dismissed, and she held out a pink foam pad that fit the palm of her hand.

"I just need each of you to give me a handprint, and this will give you access to the Captain's Spa if you hold your hand out in front of the arcane cube."

We each pressed our hand on the pink foam Coach Cambridge presented, and then we left.

"See you there, eh?" Clark said to us.

"I wasn't planning on going right now, but I guess we could?" Daphne said.

"I can check it out later." I jogged out of there and tried catching Edna as she reached the common room.

Edna heard my rushed footsteps and turned around. "Rollie? What's the hurry?"

"Hey, I, uh, just wanted to say that I'm sorry you didn't become captain or assistant captain. You seemed pretty, uh, disappointed." I felt my skin crawl from the awkward conversation, but Edna smiled, and it felt normal.

"It's all right, Rollie, I don't mind. It was disappointing initially, but at least I'm on the team! Bran is the one we should really feel sorry for. He'd kill to be on the team." Edna chuckled.

"Well, good, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Edna beamed. "Thank you very much, Rollie. I appreciate that a lot."

The following day, I grabbed my mail from the front desk worker in the common room. I had one letter, and I opened it up and immediately recognized my grandpa's handwriting.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Rollie,

My goodness, congratulations on joining the Dragonstryke team! Know that your ancestors are singing your praise loudly! I'm so excited to come see your first game. What's your game schedule like? I can't wait to attend! Give yourself a treat, do something fun, yes? You deserve it!

Regarding your inquiry on Zane, he has been a good friend of mine all my life. He is a Glacien, but we had some classes together when we were young and shared a similar sense of humor. As we grew up, we lost touch and started our own lives, but we would write letters to each other occasionally. It was complicated staying in touch since we married shortly after graduating from Loxton.

Zane took a job at the Mage Force Asylum, of all places, and I believe he worked in their processing department. He's come in contact with some of the most dangerous mages you could think of, filling out their profiles for their paperwork and working with the communications department. I've never asked, but I believe he knows how to wrangle those dreaded hellions. I keep saying I believe because he has only gone into little detail about his skill set and his work. Zane said he had to keep a lot of his information private. So, I never pressed him about it.

I hope that doesn't taint your perspective of him, but he's really a swell lad. He has just been a bit of a quiet fellow recently in life since, much like me, his wife passed away.

Anyways, why the curiosity?

Have you made any friends yet? I know you love your British music. Has it helped you meet others?

As always, it's great to hear from you. Have fun at Loxton, Rollie, take care.

Love, Grandpa.

"Rollie! Any word on Zane?" Bran asked.

"Here, check it out for yourselves," I handed them the letter.

Edna, Bran, and Daphne took their turns reading it in the blink of an eye.

"Your grandpa seems like such a sweetheart." Edna smiled.

"By the way, it sounds like that book will be available next week," Daphne said. "The one about the infamous mages in Lementum. But I can't take it out of the library. Would you want to come with me when I check it out?"

"Do you think we'll ever find anything?" I said.

Daphne shrugged. "Maybe he used to be in the Mage Force Asylum before he started working there?"

"Worth a look," I agreed.

Later that evening, I wrote back to my grandpa, explaining that I had a nightmare about Zane. Even though that was a lie, I was truthful in admitting that Zane's demeanor when I met him was unsettling. I also included the details of when the first Dragonstryke match was with the Aquasos.

On Saturday morning, after breakfast, Daphne arranged a Dragonstryke meeting with Coach Cambridge. Bran and Edna said they wanted to work on their homework right away, but I told them I couldn't start that until Sunday evening. I found procrastination was when I handled my work motivation the best.

During that time, while everyone else was busy, I threw on my denim jacket and took a stroll outside on the campus grounds, around the area of Professor Matlock's charming classroom structure. Smoke billowed out from his little chimney, adding to the peaceful scenery. A layer of trees stood at the edge of the grounds, a reasonable distance before the Loxton Woods began; one of the trees had buds that sat a little lower, so I took it as an opportunity to climb it and nestle myself in the crook of two branches.

The tree's interior was spacious since the branches formed a spherical shape; I lay on one edge, and across from me, I spotted a slender golden-colored bird. I had never seen anything like it.

"Hey, little guy," I whispered.

The bird glanced in my direction and hopped over a few branches, investigating me. Then, it fluttered up to me, landing directly on my finger. My heart skipped with delight.

It reminded me of a blue jay but with golden feathers.

I froze up as the beautiful bird locked eye contact with me, tilting its head to the side.

It reminded me of when other people at Attleton were so impressed whenever any birds came up to me. But then that inevitably led to thoughts of Farrah.

My chest had that empty, sinking feeling.

I need to think about something else. This beautiful bird is in front of your face, and all you can think about is--

"We really shouldn't be out here going this deep," a familiar voice came from the thick of the Loxton Woods.

"Oh, hush up, will ya? Aren't you curious what's going on over there? What are they hiding?" a harsh voice replied.

Footsteps on the grass swished closer, and the golden bird flew out of the tree. The two of them were to my left, going back towards the school.

"They're not hiding anything. You sound like a stupid git!"

"What did you call me?"

The footsteps halted. Peering through the leaves, I saw Oliver gripping Magdalene by the arm, glaring at her with fire in his eyes. Magdalene scowled back at him, then pulled her arm away, spotting me in the tree. Her eyes widened.

"What? What're you looking at?" Oliver spun around and located me; he furrowed his brow. "What the hell are you doin' up there, Yankee? Spying on people is rude here in Englaria." Oliver dropped Magdalene's arm, picked up some nearby stones, and hurled them at me.

His aim was terrific as rocks came directly at my face. I blocked it with my arm, but it knocked me off balance. He pelted another stone, and it was enough to push me over the branch. As I plummeted, all I could hear was Oliver's howling laughter.

Magdalene threw out her hands, and then I hovered above the ground just as I was about to break my back. She lowered her palms, and I landed safely on the grass.

Sitting up, I looked at her with my brow arched.

"What the hell ya lookin' at, yank?" Oliver marched over.

Magdalene clutched his hand and tugged him. "How could you do that?" she scolded, dragging him away.

"You're lucky she's here. You shouldn't spy on people, Yank!" Oliver turned the other cheek as his girlfriend hauled him along.

Magdalene stole one last glance back at me with a look that said, "I'm so sorry."

I picked myself back up and watched them leave.