Sydney.

Deciding to distract themselves with training seemed like a good idea when they started. As it turned out, endurance CQB training in the broiling summer heat was a horrible one. But because they were too stubborn to admit it was a bad idea, the pair spent most of the day brawling. Now they were trying to recover.

Inside the glyph cooled dorm room, the duo lounged about. Iris was curled up on her bed, twiddiling her Message device about in her fingers. As for the Ice Evoker, she was in a chair cuddling up to a bestiary book, studying the various nearby fauna in hopes of perhaps gleaning information about where an Enclàve may be located.

If she could deduce the location of one, perhaps she could find an elf who’d be willing to give her some answers about her current situation. The likelihood of that happening was low, but it was best to be proactive in case Polaris wasn’t forthcoming with her.

In all honesty, the bluette still didn’t know whether or not she could trust the woman. While she wanted to do so, the fact that she’d popped into her life and then vanished so quickly was concerning. Then again, she’d given her advice on how to begin cultivating the elven part of herself. So who was she to say the woman had ill intentions? If anything, she owed the woman for that.

The sound of Iris’ Message device softly thumping as it hit the floor distracted her from her thoughts. Sheepishly, the girl gave her an apologizing smile and picked it up.

It was easy to guess what she was thinking of. They were the reason why she started reading the bestiary in the first place.

“They’re going to be alright you know.”

“I know but I can’t help but worry. It’s in my nature; I’m too caring for my own good,” the Water Sorceress replied.

Sentimentality was one of the few things in this world that more people needed as far as Luna was concerned. While too much of it was bad, too little of it made one no different from the mindless demi-humans the plagued the world.

Not that it could be helped. For mages in the Frontier, it felt like everything could kill them. The constant fear of a mermen invasion was always a concern in Sydney. Thankfully, the shield barriers helped alleviate those fears and give a sense of security.

Perhaps that itself was dangerous. If the shield barriers failed for some reason, then would the denizens of the city be prepared to protect themselves?

Luna chuckled to herself, she was just a girl. Such things were well beyond her understanding. And with the Scarlet Sorceress out there, they were undoubtedly safe, regardless of whether the shield barriers fell.

“Something funny,” Iris asked in confusion, likely believing the elf was giggling at her.

The timing of her thoughts wasn’t all that great. Now she’d managed to confuse her adoptive sister, who understandably felt insulted.

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking about something else. Anyway, I’m certain it won’t be long before we hear something from them. I bet they’re more than a little excited to see us.”

The Abjurer gave her a half-hearted smile before looking out the window and sighing.

Perhaps changing the subject would be for the best then? The Ice Sorceress already knew what Iris thought of Polaris, so there was no use delving into that topic again, and she certainly didn’t want to talk about Felicity, so that was out as well.

Perhaps it was best then to discuss the inter-high some more. In the past week they’d barely spoken about it. The girl likely had come up with some sort of training regime in preparation for the upcoming tryouts, though those were mostly for show. Her circle of friends’ places on the 5v5 team were all but sealed, waiting for them to accept the placement.

“So, Iris, do you have a plan for how you’re going to prepare for the inter-high yet?”

In response, the Transmuter flashed her grin. It was almost as if there was a secret being held back. Iris wasn’t the kind of person to keep secrets, but just the sight of her looking like she had one was unusual.

“I might,” the girl teased.

If the girl wanted to play that game, then she would play it as well. There were ways of messing with her adoptive sister to get her to elaborate further. Most notably, striking where it hurt. That usually seemed to get her to open up.

“Please tell me that it involves improving Blink.”

“H-Hey,” the dirty blonde stammered. “Listen, I know it’s not the greatest but it’s no the worst either. I promise I’ll dedicate myself to honing it more, so ease up, okay?”

Chuckling, Luna closed her book and turned the chair to face her sister.

“Alright, then tell me your plans. You’ve had a week, so surely you have something by now.”

The other Sorceress nodded and stowed her Message device in her storage ring.

“I do have a plan in mind. But I’ll need everyone to be here to make it work, you included. I need to get better at CQB, that much is obvious. You kicking my butt earlier today proved that. So, I’m going to need you, Eriza and Zoey to constantly push me to my limits when we train. The only way I’m going to get better is if you all force me to get better.

“In addition that, I plan on honing Blink more, because you’re right, I need to be faster at it. I also need to improve my mana efficiency while casting a spell and simultaneously having my shield up. I burn mana far too quickly with my offensive defense tactics, after all. What do you think, that sound good?”

In short, an all-around training regime. It would focus not on one singular aspect, but several. What the girl really needed was a larger pool of mana to draw from, but that couldn’t be helped. The Water Sorceress was still too young to develop that kind of reserve. Increasing her readily available mana was most certainly a possible avenue.

The most glaring issue, perhaps, was how aggressively she fought. While it worked wonders against demi-humans, who were confused by the phenomena, it was terrible against other mages. They could easily burn her mana till she was OoM and then alpha-strike her, thus ending the bout with relative ease.

“As long as you remember to manage your mana and emotions during battle properly and stick to your training, I don’t think you’ll have any major issues. All you’ll need to do is worry about winning.”

With the praise that had just been heaped on her, Iris was beaming. Praise and compliments always went a long way with the girl. Perhaps a bit too long, but it didn’t seem to hurt. Plus, a little encouragement every now and then certainly went a long way in the grand scheme of things.

Just as she was about to ask the girl what she wanted their new training schedule to look like, the sound of the lock glyph on their door unlocking filled the air. Tensing up and jumping to her feet, Luna prepared for whatever intruder was about to walk through her door.

Fortunately it wasn’t a threat.

“Honey I’m home,” Zoey exclaimed as she burst through the door and walked in. Behind her, Ren and Eriza peered in, the elder sister letting the younger one enter first.

“I’m so glad to see you’re safe and sound,” Ren said after letting out a sigh of relief.

Eriza remained mum, and instead seemed to be taking a long, hard look at the bluette. Without a doubt, the girl was one of the sharpest people Luna had ever met. Perhaps that’s why she enjoyed hanging out with the Lightning Sorceress. Seeing each other as equals in a weird sense made them feel like rivals.

For now, it would be best to tell her that they could discuss it later, as they’d appeared to have just gotten back to the dorms. It wouldn’t be fair to them to hold them down immediately for what would likely be a lengthy conversation.

“We’ve got a lot to tell you guys about what’s happened in the two months, especially the last couple of weeks. But it’s a long story, so let's wait until you’ve settled in a little first if that’s alright.”

Surprisingly, the Lightning Evoker seemed to understand the gravity behind her words. Instead of trying to inquire as to what she meant, the girl did the opposite.

“I’ll take your word for it. I look forward to hearing all the details.”

Satisified that she’d been able to stave off Eriza’s prying for now, she quickly studied the appearance of the trio. The elf could easily discern that they’d grown since their last encounter. Eriza seemed to carry a natural air of determination with now. The self-doubt that once had been a plague must no longer be such a pressing issue. At least, that seemed to be the case.

As for Ren, the changes were more easily discernable. For one, even though the girl was wearing a blouse with trousers, it was evident she’d built up her muscles, which was odd given that she appeared a few years younger than the rest of them. The same air of determination that her sister was currently exuding followed her as well.

Zoey, however, appeared mostly unchanged. And though she seemed a little learner than before, it appeared as though the last two months hadn’t affected her all that much. Which was strange considering those two months were spent in the Sakhalin Purple Zone.

“You two look like you had a good time as well. I hope Zoey was able to keep up with you two.”

“Oh don’t worry, she did great. She picked up more than a few new skills out there that’ll benefit our party in the future.”

“Is that so,” the Ice Sorceress inquired as she looked in the direction of the teenage girl.

The Water Transmuter sheepishly averted her gaze. Shying away from other’s wasn’t something the girl commonly did. Had something happened while they were on Sakhalin Island?

“I wanted to impress you two when I got back,” the girl said, rubbing the back of her head.

“Zoey worked really hard while we were on Sakhalin,” Eriza said.

Before Zoey could respond, her stomach protested that it hadn’t received sustenance yet, filling the room with its monstrous call. A shade of scarlet quickly overcame the girl’s face as she stood as if frozen in time.

In response, everyone laughed. It was the first sign of normalcy after the unpredictable past couple of months.

“We were so excited to see you two that we decided to forgo stopping to eat on the way home,” Ren sheepishly admitted.

“You haven’t eaten since you left Sapporo,” Iris stammered in disbelief.

“It takes 12 hours to get here by ISTC, and then we’re what? Another half hour from the ISTC station here in Sydney,” Luna said.

“Zoey was really excited to get here and I don’t trust the government in Singapore,” Eriza explained. “Ren didn’t want to wait around in Darwin, so we continued our jaunt all the way home in one go.”

That their friends had forgone eating so that they could work their way through the ISTC system was touching. But still, sacrificing meals was unhealthy. The effects it had on the body were horrible. Then again, it wasn’t like they were going days without eating. Perhaps once in a blue moon it was okay to avoid eating for so long.

“How about we get takeout and catch up? My shout of course. And while waiting for it, you all can go get cleaned up and into comfier clothes than your travel ones,” Iris suggested.

“Sounds good.”

“Thank you Iris.”

“Thank you.”

Quickly, Eriza and Zoey made their way out of the room. Ren, however, lagged behind for a moment, waiting until this other two had left the room.

“I’m glad you two are alright, if anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself,” the girl quietly said.

Blushing in response, the Water Sorceress scratched the back of her head and smiled. The Ice Sorceress had also begun to blush.

Ren was always the kindest and most selfless out of the group. It was hard to tell whether it was because of the positive aura or just the way she was. But it was definitely welcome to have someone care so much about them.

“It wasn’t easy but we were able to stave off my father. But that’s a story for later. You must be tired. Go get a shower in and then we’ll talk more.”

“Thank you again, Iris.”

With that, the healer eagerly turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the Evoker and Abjurer alone.

TheIce Sorceress was ecstatic. With the return of the trio, her adoptive sister’s mind would finally be put at ease, and they could start focusing on the immediate future, with the Inter-High looming not far off.

“See Iris, they’re fine.”

“I admit you were right. Let’s focus on getting something to eat here. I bet they’ve got some great stories to tell.”

Tonight seemed like it would likely be a night they wouldn’t forget anytime soon. With the sudden return of their friends, the worries of the past night’s events felt like they’d melted away.

For now, the priority was deciding where to get dinner from. There were many choices, but few were right for celebrating.

Getting takeout didn’t take long. Iris had practically sprinted out of the dorm after deciding what to get. Roughly half an hour later, she returned with freshly cooked Auroch steaks and alongside a wildland vegetable medley. She even stopped to get dessert cupcakes for everyone from the expensive bakery next door to the college.

Zoey and Ren quickly rejoined the duo after taking their showers, while Eriza soaked in the hot water she’d dearly missed over the past couple months. When she finally returned to their room, the Ice Evoker saw her in jeggings for the first time ever. She had no idea the girl even owned such relaxing clothing.

Settling down to their meal, the quintuple began teasing each other about what they’d done over the past couple of months.

Currently, Zoey was recanting how their guide, Zhelenka, had not only beaten an owlbear into submission but managed to somehow befriend it.

“You two would have loved to see it. Zhelenka is quite an extraordinary Magus. We were hiding behind a bush, waiting for a bugbear that had been harassing us to wander into our trap when instead an Owlbear wandered out into the small clearing and began sniffing the bait we’d laid out.

“Zhelenka was suddenly gone from my side and the next thing I know he was tackling the creature at a full sprint. The two tumbled about for a moment and began wrestling, but after about five minutes he fully exhausted it. Instead of going for the killing blow, he pulled out a piece of meat he’d harvested the previous day and tossed it at the bear, promising more if it led us to something rare we could kill that was being a nuisance to the local creatures.

“So what did the bear do? It scarfed down the scrap and leads us to a Blight of all things. And that’s not the only time it did that either. It was insane, you had to be there. I really want to learn how to do it. Imagine having an Owlbear of all things as a companion. Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

The thought of an Owlbear acting friendly was utterly alien. The creatures were dangerous and known for being highly intelligent, and for mauling mages to pieces like they were little more than paper. But their feathers had some value, especially with the rarer subspecies which sometimes made going out of ones way to hunt them worth it.

Still the thought of one of those creatures being a mage’s companion was unsettling. There would be no rest for those who dare stand in their way.

“I think that’d be kind of cool,” Iris chimed in. “But it’s not as cool as what may lie ahead for Luna in the future.”

The Water Sorceress gently nudged her adoptive sister in a loving manner. It appeared it was time to divulge the events of the previous two months.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed it by now. How she appears more like an elf than before. I suppose we’ll go first in our share and tell. If that’s alright with all of you.”

“Fine by me. I’ve been curious since I saw her, “ Eriza commented before stuffing another piece of steak in her mouth.

“Likewise, I want to know what’s going on,” Zoey chimed in after her.

Ren, on the other hand, remained mum, which wasn’t unusual. The girl was often soft-spoken and tried not to interrupt the flow of a conversation.

“Sweet. You see, it all started a couple of weeks after you all left…,” Iris began, recollecting the events of the fateful night Magus Burke watched Iris’ father Arthur smack her and send her tumbling to the ground.

In tandem Luna helped her sister recollect the events of the past two months, especially the last week. The standoff at the ISTC, her ‘dream’ with Polaris, the sudden appearance of her druidic essence and how they found out the estate was being watched.

It was the encounter with Ghillana that seemed to catch the most attention. Eriza, who typically remained well-composed, looked like her eyes were going to bulge out of their sockets. Ren and Zoey seemed to have stopped breathing.

When their recollection finally finished, the trio deeply inhaled.

“That sounds intense,” the Water Transmuter commented. She’d begun to sweat just listening to their story.

“I’m glad you’re alright Luna. But I have questions for you,” Eriza said, apparently wanting to get straight to the point. “So your newfound power came because you had a ‘dream’?”

Being completely honest in this kind of a situation was for the best. Without honesty, there was no

“Yes, it shocked me that something like that ‘dream’ was even possible. I’m still not certain what to make of it yet, much less whether to trust Polaris or not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I want to trust Polaris but I’ve only just met her. For all I know, she could be trying to work me into some sort of elven plot. Ghlillana’s sudden appearance along with her apparent dishonesty does point to that being a possibility.”

“I see, that makes sense.”

“And another thing, I’m not even certain I want to learn the magic that elves possess. There’s the very likely possibility I’d have to leave you all behind, which I really don’t want to do.”

Surprisingly, Eriza didn’t immediately respond to that comment. That could be both a good or a bad thing knowing her. The girl herself originally wanted to go to Cambridge and trained ridiculously hard for it, but eventually gave up on such a dream in favor of supporting her sister and Iris. Eventually, the girl even became friends with her. A strongly bonded party increased the chances of survivability after all.

“I appreciate the sentiment Luna, but you do understand what you’d be giving up, right? You may not get a second chance. I know that I wouldn’t turn down that offer so long as I could eventually see everyone again. Well, as long as I could bring my sister along with me, that is. Anyway, just don’t make your decision lightly, okay?”

“I promise I won’t. I’ll take everything into consideration before making my final decision. Maybe Polaris will let me somehow remain with all of you, though I doubt she’d let you all come along with me.”

Visibly, the Lightning Soreceress relaxed, satisified with her answer. Now she switched gears onto another important matter, one just as important as the previous one.

“Alright, now onto my other burning question. You said your essence has restorative effects on one’s memory. Can you explain further on what exactly you mean by that?”

“Of course. As far we’ve figured out, the essence I’m able to produce has some sort of restorative effect on one’s memory. Remember how we told you about our modified memories suddenly being revealed to be fakes? That was thanks to the essence messing with our minds and apparently repairing the memories. At least it seems to be the case. As far as I can tell it’s some kind of magical energy.”

Honestly the duo hadn’t put much thought into her essence, in part because they’d experienced so little of it. The most that could be discerned about it was how it affected one’s mind and the odd dreamy sensation that came with it, thought she’d yet to learn if Iris had experienced the same such sensation.

“Strange. I know I haven’t heard of any planes with the ability to mess with one’s memory and personality. But since neither of you seem to know either, I guess we’ll just have to wait for you to meet Polaris again to find out. “

Perhaps she should sleep tonight? With all the excitement of this evening, it wasn’t unreasonable to believe she’d be tired enough to sleep for a few hours.

“I think I might sleep tonight in hopes of ‘dreaming’. It’d be nice to get more info out of Polaris, though I doubt the ‘dream’ would last long enough for me to get any real answers out of her unless she’s somewhere close by.”

“Um, if I may, are you sure this is safe, Luna,” Ren interjected.

Given the girl was the group’s healer, it was understandable she had concerns. Given nothing aside from the intense full-body experiences and overall improved memories had seemingly resulted from the essence, it should be okay to consume the essence.

But Ren was likely referring to ‘dreaming’. While she was completely uncertain about whether or not that was safe, it was something she had to do. Without the proper answers, she wouldn’t be able to make well informed decisions.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine Ren. I wouldn’t be doing it if I knew there significant risks to it, after all.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.”

“Just don’t get too crazy is all I ask,” Eriza said.

“We’ve had just as crazy before. Remember last year when you lost your gasket with that one sister after she said she was going to forcefully convert Ren from her beliefs,” Iris commented half jokingly.

The Lightning Sorceress shrunk back upon hearing those words and bit her lip. It had been a sore topic for over a year now, otherwise the girl might have become the school’s praelector. That’s not to say she was out of line either. Even the other sisters believed the particular sister that harassed Ren was out of line. But in a school full of rich girl’s, rumors stuck like nasty odor.

“Still, I think we need to figure out a backup plan in case an elf comes here looking for Luna. And Polaris’ friend seems like someone we should be wary of as well,” Zoey thoughtfully suggested.

“Zoey does have a point,” Eriza said. “ we can come up with a game plan tomorrow. I still want to grill some more, but I don’t think now’s the right time. Tonight, we’re celebrating our reunion. I have to say though, I’m quite happy for you. If this all works out, you may become stronger than a Magi. Elves are more advanced in Spellcraft than we are, after all.”

The Lightning Sorceress seemed saddened by the latter part of her statement. Was it the thought of the Ice Sorceress one day becoming so far out of reach that she’d never catch up? It was understandable why that would be terrible.

“That’s a long way off, Eriza. Again, I’m not even certain I’ll want to train under the woman. There’s just too much mystery surrounding her right now.”

The other girl smiled and nodded.

Switching the topic for now was probably in everyone’s best interest. A deeper discussion about the matter could easily be had tomorrow when they were all fully in their right minds and not exhausted.

“I’m just glad you two are beyond the illusion that you’re master and mistress,” Ren commented

“Yeah that’s permanently done and over with. Luna’s my adopted sister, and that’s all that really matters.”

“You couldn’t have put it better than that,” Zoey added on.

“I’ve got to say, Felicity’s situation sucks. If we do go to Japan, what would you do about Felicity in that case,” Eriza carefully inquired, not wanting to seem too careless but definitely concerned.

Fortunately, they’d already discussed a plan about the matter.

“The next time I see her, I’m going to ask if there’s anything she can do about our older sibling. I don’t know if I’ll be able to convince her, but I have to at least try. If not, we’ll just have to come up with a backup plan.”

That was a complicated issue though. What would they do if Polaris wouldn’t help them? They couldn’t just leave Felicity at the mercy of her adoptive parents. It wasn’t the right thing to do. If their positions were reversed, she knew Felicity would attempt to rescue her. And it wasn’t just that. A calm life is what the girl deserved.

In addition to this, it didn’t seem likely that Skylar or Eden would come to her rescue. Skylar had gone off into a path completely different than their own, and Eden hadn’t contacted them in years now.

But Ren seemed to have other ideas about the matter.

“If Polaris won’t help, then we will. Even if it means giving up on Japan.”

“Ren…,” Iris trailed off.

“We can’t just leave her behind, right Eriza?”

Eriza didn’t respond immediately. Thinking over situations was a habit she took pride in. That was why the party hadn’t sustained any losses despite having delved into Purple Zones together twice and over a dozen orange zones.

“I have to admit, Ren’s right. Not only do we owe you, but your sister’s situation is just too awful to overlook. While we live in an unforgiving world where any of us could suddenly die, doing the right thing is important when we can and I believe we have an obligation to do the right thing. However I think we can do both, so let’s do both.”

“I agree, charging in would be outright reckless,” Zoey added on.

“It’s important that we focus on finding a way to keep Felicity’s disease in check first, then we can rescue her. But in the meantime, we should also be doing our best to improve our standing in society so no one can refute our decision to bring her back,” Eriza continued.

That was a valid point. If they didn’t have a way to procure medicine that would stave off Yarnick’s Disease, rescuing Felicity would likely inadvertently kill her. That would be achieving the exact opposite of their goal.

“You have a point,” the elf sulkily admitted.

Sensing the quick downturn of the conversation, Eriza shrunk back a little bit. It wasn’t her fault, though admittedly her people skills could use some work. That was something that took time though.

“Let’s not be all doom and gloom tonight. Felicity is London, and per what you mentioned about the Towers’ agreement, your parents have an obligation to take care of her lest they want to face permanent stasis for murder. Let’s change pace. I think it’s about time we share some of our stories. There’s one in particular I know you two are going to love,” Ren chimed in.

“Oh? Do tell,” Iris inquired.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Eagerly, the Ice Sorceress leaned in with her younger sister, eager to hear about the adventures their friends had while in the Wildlands.

“This happened about three weeks ago when we were the deep inside of Sakhalin Island’s Purple Zone. It all started when Tokiwa absent-mindedly stepped on a stick.”