The office of Headmistress Vinson’s office could be described with a single word: elegance. The intricately carved wooden accents complemented the equally intricate furniture filling the room. From what she’d been told, it had all been imported from England in the nineteenth century.

Out of all the years she’d attended Lilith’s, she’d only been in this room twice, when she was praised for her high marks and encouraged to continue doing well. Feeling the wrath of her Headmistress was something she was thankful for never having experienced.

Now she stood facing a Magister and Magus Stone. The events of the past 24 hours appeared utterly ridiculous on paper, and the fact they’d actually occurred was even more shocking. Their actions would have consequences, and they were about to find out what those consequences were.

To her left were Eriza and Ren. On her right, Julia, Iris and Zoey. A look of shame was covering the fiery Magma mage’s face, much like Iris’ one of regret.

The silence of the current moment felt almost surreal.

“I don’t see any point in approaching this gently, seeing as how you all seem to understand the gravity of your actions,” Magister Ferris finally spoke up.

Luna wanted to take the blame, but Iris was refusing to share it. She could get away with it too, because why would the Magus and Magister let her share it with everything the past her adoptive sister shared with them. What was done was done, and now she and Julia were going to take the consequences while the rest of them were made to watch.

“Who would prefer to go first?”

“Allow me to ma’am,” Julia spoke up as she bowed deeply.

Iris didn’t respond, but from the way she was biting her lip Luna could tell she wanted to go first. Rarely did she get anxious, let alone show it. Right now, she was wearing it as if it were a piece of clothing. The gravity of the current situation was bearing down like an anchor unable to find the calm silt of a lakebed.

“Very well. Julia, you killed the majority of the mages out of the six of you. However, Mildred has agreed to pay a CC penalty for you to avoid being given a record. In addition to this, she has agreed to give you a proper punishment which she’ll decide upon once both of you return to Rosebay. Additionally, until further notice you are forbidden from polymorphing into your Wyvern form until we’re certain you can manage to keep yourself under control,” Magister Ferris stated as if she were reading from a prewritten cue card.

If Julia’s punishment wasn’t as severe as Iris’, then this was going to be horrifying. They had no CCs to pay, which meant she’d now probably have a record. That would heavily interfere with her becoming licensed, and might even disqualify her from the Inter-High tournament, something she’d been looking forward to for almost eight years since seeing Eden participated in it.

“I understand ma’am,” Julia said before rising up and pausing, her face now full of conflict. “Thank you for your leniency.”

The Magister nodded at the girl and then turned her attention to Iris.

“Now onto you, Iris,” she continued on the same monotone voice as earlier.

Collectively, she and the others barring Iris sucked in a deep breath. Iris herself remained still as a tree, appearing to gaze out into the far distance through the ceiling to floor windows behind the Magister.

“Do you still wish to take sole responsibility for your party’s actions?”

“Yes ma’am. I would like to petition you once again to take the responsibility from Julia as well,” Iris said whilst bowing deeply.

“This again? Why should you be responsible for her actions? Julia made the decisions she did on her own, not because of you,” Magus Stone spoke up. “You’re just trying to baby her.”

“Magus Stone, have you not noticed that even when Julia is angry she still listens to me?”

The Magus paused for a second, raising her brow.

“I do.”

“I had the power to stop her the moment she emerged from Nathaniel’s house and yet I hesitated because I was so worried for Zoey’s safety. If I would have told her to stop we likely could have convinced the mages fighting us to surrender. Because of my failure as both a friend and a leader, Sydney has lost almost a dozen mages capable of defending the city.”

The Magus seemed to mull over what she said as if she was reluctant to admit Iris was right. The depth that separated the two was truly stunning. It had to be for the woman to not willingly shift the blame onto Iris immediately.

“The girl has a valid point Mildred. While I hadn’t seen much of their fight myself while aiding you and your team, I can sense the genuineness in her words. I can sense the honesty in her voice,” Magister Ferris commented.

Magus Stone looked to Julia, shook her head and sighed.

“Very well, if Iris wishes to bear the full responsibility of what happened then I won’t stop her. I will, however, see to it that Julia is punished to some degree for acting as reckless as she did.”

Julia appeared to move to protest, but a look from Magus Stone immediately silenced her. The conflict in her expression grew as she looked to be on the verge of tears at this point. At the same time, there was a hint of unbridled rage as well, barely held back by her willpower alone.

“Mistress Stone you can’t-“

“Enough Julia.”

Julia backed down, though it was evident her mental state was becoming increasingly unstable. Luna felt the same way. Why did Iris have to shoulder all of the blame when they were all at fault?

“It’s settled then. Iris, your punishment shall be more severe than before then, as you’ll now be bearing the facing the same punishment that Julia was going to face. In addition, because you’re shouldering the burden of your friends’ punishments and the families of the dead are demanding the strictest punishment be delivered, I am not able to be lenient with you.”

“Magister Ferris, please allow us to take responsibility for our actions. We’re just as responsible as Iris is,” Zoey desperately interjected.

“It’s not entirely her fault, I personally killed at least two of them myself,” Eriza tagged on.

“You shouldn’t place all the blame on her. It’s not fair to her nor to us. Let us take responsibility as well,” Luna pleaded. “It-“

“Enough,” Magus Stone interrupted her. “My Master’s decision is final and that’s that. Any further outbursts and the severity of Iris’ punishment on will be increased.”

Luna wanted to snap back at the Magus but with what that meant for her sister she couldn’t bring herself to do it. It wasn’t fair. Why were they being so harsh?

Magister Ferris waited for a brief moment, likely to be sure that there wouldn’t be another outburst. She gazed at each of them, but there was no malice within her. Instead, there was oddly enough a sense of pity. Eventually, she turned her attention to Iris again.

Luna glanced to her side and could see Iris still standing nearly motionless, while Julia had wrapped an arm around one of hers and was lightly shaking. There was something unusual about Iris that ripped her heart in half though. Iris, who never shedded a tear, was crying.

She had to do something to avert whatever disaster was coming, even if it wasn’t pretty. She owed that to her sister.

“First, you will forfeit all of your crystal assets to the Tower to be distributed amongst the families of those who lost their loved ones. You will be gaining a record as well and with how sizeable it is, it’s unlikely you’ll ever become a licensed mage. Finally, and though I already regret having to do this, starting today you will spend the next five years in sta-,” Ferris explained before suddenly freezing up, an expression of fear overcoming her face as she began to quake.

An unsettling wave of mild discomfort passed over Luna. She noticed out of the corner of her eye both Eriza and Ren were backing up. Eriza had uncharacteristically scrunched up as if she were in fear of being attacked. Quickly turning to her right and readying Ice Flex, Luna found herself caught off-guard as Magus Stone, Iris and Zoey were slowly backing away from Julia. Like Eriza and Ren, they appeared to be full of fear, especially Iris.

“You will not do this to her,” Julia growled coldly. “I will not allow it.”

It took a moment for the pieces to click into place, then the elf realized what exactly was going on. Julia was likely using dragon fear, something which she personally hadn’t thought possible given Iris’ friend wasn’t able to conjure her Spirit. For some reason, it was affecting everyone more severly than herself, and instinctually she knew it was best to take two steps back as a matter of self-preservation. That way Ferris and Stone wouldn’t suspect her.

After keeping up the intense pressure for a moment, Julia seemed to come to her sense, a look of horror overcoming her face. Immediately, she took a deep bow.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” Julia apologized and began to nervously sweat.

Silence reigned in the room as everyone visibly relaxed. Zoey appeared to be wary, and Iris looked as though she was in complete shock, given what Ferris had just told her and then the sudden rush of dragon fear overcoming her. While Luna herself wanted to protest, she knew the more pressing matter at the moment was that uncontrolled burst of dragon fear.

A mage who couldn’t control their powers well was a liability to both themselves and those around them. All it would take was one wayward spell and suddenly your best friend was lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

In front of them, Ferris, who’d regained her faculties slowly, turned to Magus Stone.

“Is that enough for you Mildred?”

Stone appeared to still be in shock. She slowly nodded at the Magister, not taking her eyes off of her apprentice.

“It is. I shouldn’t have doubted you when you said you didn’t have full control of your Spirit,” the Magus said slowly and in a somewhat apologetic manner. “Nor should I have doubted you, Master.”

The sudden turn of events only served to confuse the elf. Were they not in trouble then? Was what just happened all an act?

After gazing at her apprentice for a moment, Magus Stone turned her attention to Iris.

“And I suppose,” she begrudgingly admitted whilst turning her gaze toward Iris, “that I owe you an apology.”

Iris didn’t respond. She appeared to still be paralyzed from everything that had just occurred and was likely also in disbelief of what would come next.

“That however, seems like it won’t be easy,” the Magus said, noting the girl’s state.

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“Before we get to that, allow me to clarify a few things. No, none of you are in any trouble. After it leaked to reporters that Nathaniel not only ordered Ren to be molested, but then proceeded to kidnap an anonymous underage girl, the families of the dead were quick to disown them. I suppose keeping up one’s image is important regardless of one’s standing. This means you and your friends along with my Grand Apprentice will not face any disciplinary actions,” the Magister said matter of factly.

A collective sigh of relief filled the air. Next to the elf, Julia and Iris embraced each other tightly, both giving out a cry of joy.

With the stress in her body quickly fading, Luna allowed herself to relax a little, though the question remained as to why she was completely unaffected by the dragon fear.

“So Iris won’t be put Stasis then,” Zoey asked for confirmation.

“No. I apologize for deceiving all of you, but I needed to convince the Mildred that Julia indeed isn’t in full control of all her Spirit’s aspects. While I was hesitant to believe it at first myself, I eventually realized sometime halfway through the night that it logically made sense. My Apprentice, however, found greater difficulty in coming to accept the reality presented before her. Please do forgive her, we all overestimate our apprentices at some point.”

Luna felt like she could relate to the sentiment of overestimation. She often believed Iris was much stronger than she was, and forgot that she was still just in the early stages of becoming a mage.

“So what happens now then,” Eriza asked, seemingly unconvinced by the Magister’s words.

Out of all of them, it was between the Lightning Evoker and herself to make sure that everything would work out well. Iris was understandably in no shape to think straight, so someone had to step up and ask the questions that needed to be answered.

“Now we move on and hopefully everything works out well. Don’t worry about Vincent either; most of his allies have abandoned him after he came to his brother’s aid, though that happened in part because of your own actions. I suggest keeping a low profile for the next few weeks. Enjoy your break, your last year of high school is coming up soon.”

That break came at the right time. They could all use it after everything that had happened during the past few days. Now that she thought of it, Eriza, Zoey and Ren had barely had anytime to rest since returning from their trip.

“And what of Julia,” Zoey asked. “I assume you have a plan for her to learn to harness her Spirit fully?“

“Indeed. There is another mage in the Tower who possesses a draconic Spirit. However, I’m hoping to find her a more suitable instructor that matches the type of draconid she possesses. I must say, it’s incredibly unusual for Julia to possess any draconic essence given her age. Normally it would take years for one to cultivate their draconic essence to the point where they can manifest dragon fear. Though I could also be overestimating since I’ve never experienced such a thing before,” the Magister explained.

Next to her, Julia and Iris separated from one another and faced the Magister and Magus. Iris was still shaken, but she also seemed like she was beginning to recover from the shock.

“Mistress Stone, does this mean that I can spend time with Iris again,” Julia carefully asked.

“You may,” the Magus nodded. “But there are a few conditions that Iris will have to agree to.”

“What are the conditions,” Iris cautiously asked, wiping away the tears that had been streaming down her face.

Julia wrapped an arm around her adoptive sister’s back while staring intently at her master.

“There are three conditions,” Magus Stone said. “The first is that you don’t cause trouble around Rosebay anymore. I can’t have you starting fights with others as you please, including Laila. Though if Laila starts it I’ll stay out of it until either of you draw blood because she ought know better.”

“I understand ma’am, I assure you I will not cause you or any of your students any trouble in the future, including Zoey’s cousin.”

Magus Stone’s expression remained her normal one as she continued on. As for the Magister she merely watched as the two negotiated with one another over what would come in the future.

“The second is that you watch Julia when you’re with her. While I have no doubt she can control herself, I’d be at ease knowing someone is making sure she keeps calm and doesn’t leak out dragon fear.”

“Easy.”

“And the third is that you’ll face her in the Tournament of Orchids. I believe it would be delightful for everyone to see the two of you clashing as you both rival each other in schools and affinity, even though Julia experiences a boost from her Spirit.”

“Julia is that alright with you,” Iris asked.

“I’m fine with it so long as you are. We’ll have the chance to flaunt our abilities in front of everyone before the Inter-High. Who knows, we might even scare some challengers off. After all, it’s between us at Rosebay, Joseph Banks ESM and Lilith’s this year.”

“Alright, then I accept your terms, Magus Stone,” Iris stated before bowing deeply.

The Magus studied her adoptive sister carefully for a moment, looking her and Julia over before nodding to herself.

“Then so long as you don’t cause any trouble together, you two may visit and play with each other again,” the woman acknowledged with a hint of reluctance.

Next to Luna, Iris and Julia embraced one another. Zoey seemed to relax, now that the situation had mostly smoothed out.

“There is something else that I wished to discuss with you all before we dismiss you. As of last night, your Headmistress was officially removed from her role as Headmistress of Lilith’s College for Girls as she had a role in yesterday’s events that I’d rather leave unsaid. Unfortunately, it may be a few weeks or so before a replacement is found. So do try to make it easy for Magus Burke while he’s here in the interim.”

Ms. Vinson had a part in what happened yesterday? That would explain why she’d been so quick to respond to what happened yesterday. Luna admonished herself silently. She should have known better than to put any trust in their headmistress. The woman was absolutely awful when it came down to it.

“Magus Burke? He’ll be our headmaster for the next few weeks,” Iris asked, hiding her rising excitement as best she could.

“Temporarily yes. He’s well-liked by all the factions within the Tower. I presume you’ve met him?”

“Yes, Magus Burke is the reason I’m still here today. Unfortunately I’m unable to discuss why, but I agree, he’s an excellent choice because he’s incorruptible.”

“Is that so? Well, that puts me at ease. He is a man after all.”

“As long as Ren and all the other girls are safe, that’s all that matters,” Eriza chimed in.

“I’ll stand behind the decision so long as my friends do,” Zoey noted. “Also I’m terribly sorry about the mess my father has caused you Magister. I know it’s certainly not easy to deal with given how deep it goes.”

“There’s no need to apologize for your father dear. There is something I would like to ask you though. After hearing Julia’s account of what happened I’m concerned that you’re thinking about committing a terrible sin.”

Zoey shook her head, looked down for a moment and then back up, an expression of remorse covering her face.

“The truth is I blamed myself for not being strong enough to stop what was happening. At the time I’d hoped that perhaps Julia could stop my father, but when Julia responded as she did I realized that I was just running away again. I thought that was all I was capable of. That I was a complete failure of a student, and so at the time I made what I considered my last request: for Julia to burn his house down along with myself. That was wrong of me though. I know now was still running away.”

Magister Ferris appeared to analyze Zoey with her gaze as the girl spoke and nodded along.

“And are you still running away,” she carefully inquired.

“No ma’am. The issue now is that I’ve run away from my problems for so long that I’ve lost sight of who I am, so I’m relying on my friends to help me find myself again, if that makes sense.”

“It does. For the future, should you ever consider asking someone to take your life think of what would happen to the friends who rely on you,” the Magister said whilst gesturing to all six of them.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good,” the Magister said as she glanced over toward a clock. “I think now is as good a time as any to dismiss all of you. I still have yet to sleep after last night’s events.”

“Actually I have something that I would like to add as well before we go,” Magus Stone spoke up. “Unfortunately LRC calls can be finicky so I wasn’t able to capture the conversation I had with her, but I received a call from Felicity earlier this morning.”

Felicity called Magus Stone? Where did she get the glyph to do it?

Luna was almost in disbelief. Just how did Magus Stone and Felicity know each other well enough that Felicity knew the Magus’ LRC glyph. Where did Felicity even find access and funding for an LRC device. As far as Luna and Iris knew, Arthur and Elsie were holding their sister close to their chest. So for her to not only make an LRC call, but one to Australia was entirely unexpected.

“You talked to my sister,” Iris asked incredulously. “Is she alright. Wait how does she even have your glyph?”

“Indeed. She told me to tell you that you need not worry so much over her, as well as share the LRC glyph of the person she’s currently staying with. I don’t know what the situation with your family is and nor do I intend to get involved. However, she did request that I make it possible for you to call her this coming weekend at some point. Though since you’re acquainted with Magus Burke it seems there’s nothing to worry about.”

Luna wanted to protest that Magus Stone could be trying to deceive them, but that wouldn’t make any sense for a few reasons. Most notably, the Magus seemed slightly bewildered by the sudden turn of events, conveying that she hadn’t expected the call either.

“Thank you for letting us known, Magus Stone,” Luna said, nodding at the elderly sorceress.

“I-I don’t know what to say. Th-thank you, Stone,” Iris stammered a response, her heart aflutter from the good news.

“I’m just relaying the message for her,” Magus Stone said as she walked over to Iris and discreetly shared the LRC glyph with her. Her adoptive sister got to work memorizing the glyph presented before her. When she finished, the elder Sorceress returned to standing next to her master.

Soon they would be able to talk to Felicity, at least that’s what it seemed like. Luna was giddy with the thought of seeing her elder adoptive sister again. Who was she staying with though? There was no one who came to mind that would be Felicity’s ally in London. Skylar had become like her mother, and Eden had apparently abandoned them. Who else was there to turn to?

“Are there any other matters that need to be attended to,” the Magister asked.

Luna looked to Zoey, Iris and Julia who were shaking their heads. The elf then looked to Eriza and Ren, the former of which also shook her head.

“No ma’am.”

“Wonderful. It’s likely we’ll see each other before Christmas, so please try to keep a low profile so no one else gets any bright ideas.”

“Yes ma’am,” the girls replied in unison.

With that, Magister Ferris and Magus Stone took their leave, allowing Julia to stay behind with the quintet to celebrate the good news together.

“So it’s over then,” Ren gingerly asked.

“Yeah, it’s finally over,” Iris sighed in relief. “After the past day I kind of want to take a few days off. That scare was too much for me, I’m not certain I’ve fully recovered from it yet. But then again, there’s no rest for the wicked.”

“Iris has a point. Julia, care to join us for some training today? Assuming you don’t have plans later today that is.”

“I’m completely free. I expected things to get ugly between Mistress Stone and myself. She might be my Master, but there’s a saying that’s stuck with me for a while now. ‘Cherish the allies you have now, for you’ll be able to count on them long into the future.’”

“Look at you getting all poetic,” Eriza replied. “Seriously though, glad to have you back. When you’re not busy with your Rosebay’s Inter-High team training we’ll be around.”

“You can count on me taking you up on that offer,” Julia said cheerfully. “I look forward to getting to train with all of you again. It’s been far too long since I trained with someone near my level.”

Luna smiled. As far as she knew, Julia was a member of Iris’ circle of friends who rarely came around, but perhaps she’d be seeing more of her now that the dispute had been settled.

“I look forward to working with you, Julia,” she said. “I promise not to rough you up too much.”

Smiling, the Magma Transmuter turned to her and nodded.

“Alright Cloakie, let’s do some training.”

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Later that evening the group of six sat in a restaurant called The Wavebreak, known for its mana rich seafood and seaside view.

After a day of intense training, Zoey looked like she might fall asleep in her chair and everyone had to do their best to keep her awake.

Presently, they were making plans for their immediate future. Eriza and Ren made it clear they would be staying with their parents, and Zoey was welcome to stay with them as well since it would be best for her to not be alone. Zoey, though a little reluctant because she believed she could handle herself now, accepted their offer and promised to pay them back.

As for Iris and herself, they would remain at Lilith’s dorms and attempt to scout out a place where she could spend her nights meditating, a mildly difficult task but one that she wasn’t deterred by.

Presently, they were discussing their training plans for the next few months.

“So you’re free until the middle of January,” Eriza asked.

“That’s right. Mistress Stone has an idea of who she wants on the team, but training won’t begin until early to mid-January when most of the members have returned from break. So in the meantime I’m mostly free to train as I wish so long as I’m training and… attending these tutoring sessions that are being arranged.”

“Oh, that’s right. You have those tutoring sessions now,” Ren sulked.

“Barring the tutoring sessions getting in the way, you’re welcome to train with us anytime. We already know each other too well to really give up any secret tactics we might come up with.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. You guys are sure to be in the top two when it comes to raw firepower in the competition. I know that I’m not looking forward to facing you because of that and with how unpredictable Iris is, Mistress Stone says she’s unwilling to come up with strategies. At least not until it’s certain we’ll be going head to head with each other.”

Iris giggled in response.

“Are we really that impressive,” she asked in a disbelieving tone.

“You are.”

“Well I can assure we have no clue how to deal with you now that we know you’ve learned how to use breath attacks in your wyvern form. That’s going to be difficult for anyone to counter.”

Julia cheerfully stuffed another piece of fish in her mouth. It seemed she enjoyed Iris’ praises.

Though she didn’t know Julia terribly well, she could tell that the girl was, when not under stress, carefree and happy. They’d have more time to get to know each other soon. Given how everyone around her seemed so happy to be with the girl without having to worry about Magus Stone, Luna could tell they would get along well.

The question was: how would Julia take learning she was an elf?

Such a question would have to wait a while yet, but eventually her new friend would have to learn the truth of the matter.

For now, Luna was happy to dine with everyone present at the table. As for tomorrow, she was excited for the start of a new chapter.