She stopped a few feet away and cleared her throat. Damien and Sylph both sat bolt upright, flushing.

“Princess Yui?” Damien exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

Henry, why didn’t you tell me she was coming?

“I was giving you privacy,” Henry replied with a smug laugh. “You did ask for it, you know.”

He couldn’t argue with that. Damien tried to force the red from his cheeks, but judging by Gaves’ bemused expression, it wasn’t working.

“Do you have any idea how hard it was to track you down?” Yui asked, shaking her head. “I tried to find you after the tournament at Blackmist, but you’d gone off on vacation in the middle of the school year.”

“It was mandated by our professor,” Damien defended. “But why were you looking for me?”

“It’s of private nature,” Yui said, her lips thinning. “I was originally looking for your professor on suggestion of my mother, but he said you’d be more appropriate to help me since he was busy.”

“Anything you tell me you can tell Sylph,” Damien said flatly.

“Oh, I gathered as much,” Yui said. “But we’re in the middle of your city. We really need somewhere a little more secluded. This is not something that we can have floating around in rumors.”

“Oh,” Damien said. “Well, we can go to my house I guess. There’s a shed in the back that’s pretty secluded, and I can put up a sound ward.”

“That works,” Yui said. “Please lead the way.”

Damien and Sylph rose and headed back toward their house with Yui and her associates in tow.

If they were looking for Delph, does that mean the Corruption?

“Or the Void,” Henry said. “It Who Stills the Seas is out there, and a fair amount of time has passed. It may have begun preparations. I haven’t noticed anything, but my senses are far from what they once were.”

Damien bit his lower lip. Sylph shot him a concerned glance and he gave a one-shouldered shrug in response. He wasn’t about to tell Yui anything she didn’t know. She was polite, but who know what her true goals were or how she’d take knowing that he was carrying a Void creature around inside him.

They reached the shed a few minutes later. Damien pulled open the door and was greeted with stale air and darkness. Yui raised her hand behind him, summoning a small sphere of fire in her palm to illuminate the room.

Everyone stepped inside and a strange sense of nostalgia washed over Damien. He hadn’t been back in the shed since he’d first summoned Henry. His mother had cleaned out the bloodstains and chalk, but it felt as if nothing else had changed.

Gaves shut the door behind him. “The sound ward, please.”

Damien shrugged and sent the request to Henry. A ripple of purple energy spread out from his body, reflecting against the walls of the shed and filling it with faint purple light.

“There, nobody should be able to hear what we say in here,” Damien said. “What’s so important that you needed to find us?”

“A strange monster turned up near Goldsilk during the tournament,” Yui said. “It bled green acid and was almost completely immune to normal forms of attacks. It just healed from everything the mages fighting it tried. These monsters have been popping up around the kingdom for some time now, and Mage Delph has been hunting them according to my mother. Unfortunately, there are too many monsters for him to handle at once.”

“Okay,” Damien said. “So he sent you to us?”

“He said that he taught you how to fight them while you trained over summer,” Yui explained. “Since he had too many monsters to fight, he said you could show us how to deal with them. You wouldn’t actually have to fight any yourself, don’t worry. Your teacher was pretty strict about keeping you and Sylph from any actual fights.”

Damien rubbed the back of his head. “I guess we could help. It’s mostly mental energy. You need a fair bit of it, though.”

There was a knock on the door before Yui could respond. They all paused, turning toward it. Ether sparked in Gaves’ hand as the door swung open, revealing Nolan.

“Damien! There was a group looking for you in Blackmist, you need to get out of here before–”

The words died on his lips as he spotted Yui and her attendants a few feet behind him. “Ah. I see I’m late.”

Henry let the sound ward fall.

“Hello, Nolan,” Yui said with a bemused grin. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Did you think I meant Damien and Sylph ill?”

“Of course not, Princess,” Nolan replied. “I never saw who was looking for him. I just came over here to warn him in case it was someone with bad intentions. It’s a relief to know that it was you.”

“An understandable mistake,” Yui said. “Although travelling all this way just because someone was looking for Damien seems a little excessive, doesn’t it?”

“Better safe than sorry, Princess.”

“I’ve told you to call me Yui,” she said.

“More importantly, how did you find us?” Gaves asked. “There should have been a ward blocking out the sound from within the building.”

“I asked Damien’s mom after I had a teacher at Blackmist teleport me here,” Nolan replied. “She saw him heading into the shed, but neglected to mention that there were more people than just Sylph with him.”

“Thanks for coming to try to warn me,” Damien said. “The thought is appreciated. Have you eaten? The least I could do is get you a meal.”

“Ah, I have not,” Nolan said. “That would be fantastic.”

“Hold on,” Gaves said. “We aren’t done here.”

“Do you expect me to teach you everything now?” Damien asked. “It takes practice. There’s no immediate rush, is there?”

“The sooner this task is accomplished, the better,” Bella said, speaking up for the first time that day. “But not all of us are present. We have to retrieve a few more people, so a short delay would not be a major problem.”

Gaves clicked his tongue and dismissed the magic in his hands.

“It’s fine, Gaves,” Yui said. “We don’t want to impose, so we’ll go get the last few people that need to learn how to fight these monsters and meet you at your house. Does that sound okay with you?”

“That works,” Damien confirmed. He and Sylph left, heading into the house with Nolan.

“Did something happen at Blackmist?” Damien asked as soon as they were inside.

“I saw the Princess asking around for you,” Nolan said. “She never looks for people unless she needs something from them, so I asked Auntie to teleport me to where you lived so I could warn you before she got here. Clearly, the Princess got here first. Do you need to make a run for it?”

“I think we should be fine,” Damien said. “She came here because Delph sent her. He taught me and Sylph some magic that she needs to know on command of the Queen. It should only take a day or two, and I don’t think Sylph or I are in any danger.”

“Oh,” Nolan said, rubbing the back of his head. “That’s awkward. I thought – ah, never mind. Just be careful around the Princess. She’s very polite, but she carries enormous political power. I’ve seen her at the courts when I was younger, and she’s every bit as ruthless as her mother. She’ll make a great Queen, but you should be wary of her.”

“Thank you, Nolan,” Damien said, grabbing some fruit and setting it out on the table. “We’ll keep that in mind. By the way, aren’t you supposed to be on a quest right now with Reena?”

“We got our quests done already,” Nolan replied. “My father pulled some strings to let us access a few extra ones over summer so we wouldn’t have to worry about it during the school year. Reena is back home.”

“Well, we appreciate your help,” Sylph said. “Even if Yui beat you here, your attempt speaks a lot for you.”

“Thanks,” Nolan said with a wry smile. He took a berry from the plate of fruit that Damien had set out and popped it into his mouth. “Uh, so are you two…”

“Yeah,” Damien said, reddening. “But how did you know?”

“Well, aside from it being obvious for the past year or so? Your mom told me. She’s a nice lady. Said she saw you sitting together on the bench through the window.”

Damien slapped himself on the forehead. “I forgot that you could see it from here. Eight Planes, that’s embarrassing.”

“Not as embarrassing as Yui walking up on us while we were there,” Sylph muttered.

Nolan burst into laughter. “She did? That’s rich. I wonder if she was jealous.”

“Jealous?” Damien asked. “Why?”

“She isn’t allowed to have any sort of romantic relationship,” Nolan replied. “Not until she takes the Crown. The Queen ruled it to keep her focused on her studies, supposedly. All the major noble houses were informed to keep anyone from trying to pursue her.”

“Supposedly?” Sylph asked. “Are you sure the Queen didn’t just say that to keep a bunch of sleazy nobles off her back until she was actually interested in someone?”

“It’s possible,” Nolan admitted. “But unlikely. She’s already got a betrothed, actually. Their marriage just isn’t ratified until she becomes Queen.”

“That sucks,” Damien said, and Sylph nodded empathetically. “I’d hate to be forced into something like that.”

“It’s no matter,” Nolan said. “I’m glad that things weren’t as bad as I thought.”

“Well, now that you’re here, you might as well join in on the training we’re going to give Yui,” Damien suggested. “There’s a fair chance you’ll need it sooner rather than later.”

Nolan cocked his head. “Now that’s ominous. Sure, I’ll stay. More training couldn’t hurt, although I do wonder why Delph can’t just teach us himself.”

“It’s Delph,” Damien said. “That’s probably explanation enough. He’s also busy hunting the monsters that he wants me to teach you how to fight against, so he probably doesn’t have time to do anything else.”

“It’s a little concerning that the problem has gotten so bad that other people are getting involved, though,” Sylph said, lowering her voice.

“We’ll have to talk with him when he gets back,” Damien agreed. Someone knocked on the door, interrupting their conversation.

“That’s probably Yui,” Damien said walking over and pulling it open. Yui and her companions stood outside. She’d been joined by Viv, Elania, and Eve. The three Goldsilk girls were covered in small cuts and wore hardened leather clothing instead of their school colors.

“Hello again, Damien,” Viv said. “I hope we aren’t intruding too much.”

“It’s fine,” Damien said, shaking off his surprise. Yui had mentioned that the problem had been near Goldsilk, but he hadn’t expected to see these three again anytime soon. “I don’t think the table is big enough for everyone, but I guess you should come in.”

They followed him inside. Yui sat down at the table and her attendants took up position behind her. There were just enough chairs for the Goldsilk girls to sit down. Elania eyed the fruit.

“Please feel free to eat,” Damien said. “It looks like you’ve been traveling for a while.”

“Only a day or two,” Viv said, but Elania eagerly grabbed a fistful of berries and started shoveling them into her mouth.

“Why are you all here instead of fully fledged mages?” Sylph asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to send them against the monsters?”

“They’re mostly all already fighting or caught up in something,” Viv replied. “The assault on the frontlines has been intensifying as of late, so a lot of teachers have had to leave the school to keep the monsters from pushing through. The remaining ones are stretched between protecting the schools, hunting monsters, or teaching students. We were supposed to get someone called Professor Delph to teach us how to fight the monsters since he’s got experience with them, but he told us to find you instead.”

“So Yui has told me,” Damien said. “But why are you all cut up? Did you get attacked?”

Elania flushed. “No. When we dropped by Blackmist, we took turns sparring with Mark. Princess Yui told us that we had to go through a portal to find you, and we didn’t have a chance to see a healer first. None of the injuries were serious, so it wasn’t worth wasting time.”

Viv’s nose wrinkled in amusement, but she didn’t say anything to contradict the other girl.

“Well, we’ll do our best to live up to your expectations. I’m not exactly a teacher,” Damien said.

His parent’s bedroom door swung open and Hilla stepped out, pulling a coat around her shoulders. She froze mid step, her eyes widening as she took in all the people sitting around the table.

“Oh my. Damien, you have so many friends! Why didn’t you tell me they were coming over? I would have made pancakes.”

Damien bit back a groan. “Uh, I didn’t actually know they were coming. It was a bit of a surprise.”

Nolan rose smoothly from the table and inclined his head. “A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Vale. I’m Nolan Gray.”

Hilla’s eyebrows twitched. “Gray? You’re far from Kingsfront, Nolan. I hope my son has been appropriately hospitable, you’ve come a long way.”

“More than I could ask for,” Nolan said. “I’m sorry we’re all imposing on your hospitality, Mrs. Vale.”

“Nonsense,” Hilla said. “Damien has been a loner for too long. It’s good to see him socializing a little more.”

She turned to the others, starting with Yui.

“And what’s your name, young lady?” Hilla extended a hand to the princess. Gaves and Bella both stiffened, and a tiny flicker of Ether sprung to Gaves’ hand. Before anyone could react, a band of white light snapped around his hand, canceling the spell and squeezing his fingers together.

“No magic in the house,” Hilla said, piercing Gaves with a flat stare.

“Gaves!” Yui snapped. “She is our host. Show some respect.”

“My apologies,” Gaves said. “I was startled by the sudden motion.”

The band of light released him and Yui took Hilla’s hand. “I’m Yui. I’m terribly sorry about that. Gaves is a little overzealous.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Hilla said with an easygoing smile. “I knew a lot of people just like him. If he’s here long enough, he’ll learn. Just like they did.”

She then went around, introducing herself to all of the Goldsilk girls. Once she’d finished, she told them that she’d return for dinner and make enough for all of them to eat before heading out.

“You’ve got an interesting mom, Damien,” Nolan observed once she’d left. “That was some crazy fast casting.”

“She’s a strong mage,” Damien agreed, still watching Gaves warily. “I don’t know if we’ve got enough food here for everyone to eat. You guys should go check out the bakery. Sylph and I need to figure out just how we’re going to teach this, so come back in an hour or so.”