"Ah ha!" Fern cheered, her voice echoing from the marble and polished hardwood walls of the secure castle study. "It was a mana quake that startled those fey into stampeding, and we can locate the epicenter!"

Milo and the two other mages in the room all flinched at the sudden noise and looked up from their research into the event. Collectively, they made up the special team to track down the stampede's cause. Milo closed the book he'd been reading and moved to stand next to Fern's table. "What makes you so sure?" he asked. His tone was only slightly accusatory.

Fern waved a paw-like hand at the brown-haired woman seated to her left. "Janine here said she was casting a spell here in the city that morning and she felt her mana get pulled to the northwest." Fern pressed the paw to her chest and added, "And I felt a pull too, just before the stampede. Did you, Milo?"

Milo hid his hands in his robe's sleeves. "Uh, I think I was asleep. Sorry."

Fern's enthusiasm was unaffected. She quickly said, "No problem. Let me see your wand again."

Milo handed it over, very conscious of the looks he was getting from the other mages. Letting someone else use your wand was usually frowned upon, since wands adapted over time to their owner's mana flow and sharing could undo that natural fit. But Fern couldn't cast a spell through Milo's wand if she wanted to. As far as Milo could tell, Kobolds couldn't use magic the same way humans did, no matter how much they tried.

Fern held the rainbow-colored rod daintily and gave it a long sniff from end to end. "As I thought, the internal lattice shifted a bit since I last handled your wand," Fern mused, oblivious to the suggestiveness of her phrasing. "But I can't tell whether it was caused by the quake or by heavy mana exposure during the fey stampede."

An older man at the back of the room raised a hand. He had thin brown hair and a blue robe with an eagle embroidered on the breast. "I was on a mission near the northern border and I also felt the pull of mana, almost directly west."

Fern grinned broadly. "That's great news, Frederick. It proves we're on the right path, though we'll still need some more rigid landmarks to be able to triangulate the exact epicenter. Does this castle have any stationary mana crystals? I want to examine their interior alignment."

After that, Fern ran around the castle inspecting every mana crystal she could find while the three mages just tried to keep up. The way she interacted with magic was very different than the human mages were used to, which they found fascinating.

Having smelled all the crystals in the armory and the scrying room, Fern took off again at a speedy jog. Janine hiked up her robe and ran to keep up, but Frederick pulled Milo aside and said, "You've changed, Milo."

Milo glared down at the shorter man, getting a good view of the bald spot he'd tried to hide with a comb-over. "How so?"

Frederick smiled. "You've been clinging to her every word. You never paid that much attention in my classes. It's nice to see you passionate about magic again."

"That says more about the quality of your teaching than it does about me, old man. Good call, retiring from education and returning to the Eagle Society," Milo said, then he started away down the hallway, following the sound of Fern's cheerful voice.

Frederick just shook his head and grinned. Too quiet for Milo to hear, he whispered, "Love can soften even the hardest hearts."

"Everyone, this is Alexia," Fern said with an exaggerated wave of her arm. "She protects the Princess, and she was there with us during the fey stampede."

Alexia took in the three mages in the study, then nodded curtly. "Nice to meet you all. Now, what is this I heard about you going on an expedition?"

Fern bounced on the balls of her feet. "We're all going to investigate the epicenter of that mana quake. It's the biggest one on record and we owe it to both our peoples to document the quake and its cause."

Janine spoke up, "I think there's a chance it was caused by a powerful spell, likely ritual-type spellcasting by multiple mages at once. That could spend enough mana all at once to leave a void that would collapse inward and cause the pull we all felt."

"That would mean elves," Frederick said with distaste, "since very few humans have the level of mana control to manage it." Even he, a professional battlemage with two decades of experience, had never participated in a ritual spell. The King had the necessary mastery, of course, and maybe Milo after a few more years of diligent practice. On the other hand, it was believed that most elves were born with that level of talent, thanks to their deep and ancient connection with magic, the same connection that warped them into vicious monsters without human decency.

Alexia turned to Fern. "You want to just walk into an elven ritual site? I won't let you kill yourselves like that."

Fern was immediately defensive. "But we need to learn—"

"That's why I'm coming with," Alexia interrupted.

Fern blinked her wide eyes and wiggled her nose. "You are?"

Alexia nodded and said, "Along with some Guards, yes. I agree that we need to investigate this, for the safety of the human and kobold kingdoms."

Fern raised one finger. "We aren't actually a kingdom. It's more of a convention of councils, each democratically elected by the…" This time Alexia's intense stare was enough to stop Fern's rambling.

"We don't have time to waste. I assume the evidence of that ritual will fade with time?"

Fern kept quiet and merely nodded while Janine said, "Yes, but we've already calculated the location, so we don't need to follow a trail. And it isn't very far away, less than a day's ride to the northwest."

Alexia said, "Good. Now I need to know, have any of you ever seen an elf in person?"

Only Frederick raised a hand. "I saw a dead one, about ten years ago. It was discovered frozen far to the north and it was brought to the College for study."

Alexia sighed. "I cannot stress enough how dangerous elves are, even in small numbers. They are stronger and faster than you, and their mages are also better at magic."

Milo scoffed and Alexia snapped around to look right at him. Her tone grew even more serious. "There's a reason they've survived all this time in the wilds. The only thing keeping them from wiping humanity off this continent is their low numbers and cautious attitude. For whatever reason, they reproduce much slower than humans, so they don't like to risk even a single death. Of their own, I mean. They have zero qualms about killing humans by the hundreds."

She took the time to look each of them in the eye, then said. "If we see an elf, even just one, we retreat. Is that clear?"

Fern, Janine, and Frederick all nodded solemnly, and after a pause even Milo said, "Clear as a freshwater spring, Alexia."

"Good. Start packing. I'll handle getting the King's approval."

At King Gildahart's request, security in the castle had been heightened, particularly around Princess Evelyn while Alexia was away. The Princess was always accompanied by at least two maids and one guard. Even when she bathed, a female guard had to be present, and Evelyn found it stifling.

Meanwhile, Zach hadn't flipped in three days, despite his best efforts. He refused to give up on returning to his world, but it definitely seemed that it wasn't happening any time soon. He started sleeping in Riley's bed again, but they didn't bother tying their hands together, in hopes that his ability might return.

"I want to research this," he said as he stared at the dark ceiling one night.

"Your flipping ability?" Riley asked. She was cuddled up against his arm, but Zach was too distracted to return the intimacy.

"Yes. As much as I like this world, I don't want to be stuck here for ten years like Evelyn was. And I barely scratched the surface of what that ability could do for our worlds. There's so much knowledge I could still share, like my world's medical advancements, electricity, or maybe even this world's magic." He let out a heavy sigh. "If I'd known I'd eventually lose the ability to flip, I would have done things differently…"

Riley squeezed his hand and said, "Don't waste time on what-ifs. Move forward and do that research. I'll help wherever I can." She paused for a fraction of a second, then added, "And please stop saying you're stuck."

"I don't even know where to start."

Riley hummed a little tune that Zach didn't recognize while she thought, then she said, "I know a few people at the Mage College, but they're more focused on applying existing magic than exploring new things. But there is a professor who was always a bit strange, performing experiments and combining different schools of magic. I can reach out to her, if Alexia gives me permission to tell her about the other world."

Right. To the people here, my world is the 'other world'. Zach turned and looked Riley in the eyes, or at least where he thought they were in the darkness. "That would be wonderful. Thank you so much. You're the best, Riley."

"I know," she said as she rolled on top of him and planted a kiss on his lips. "You're pretty good yourself."

The expedition consisted of three armed Guards plus Alexia, Milo, Fern, and Frederick. Janine had been understandably scared by Alexia's warning and backed out. She was just a researcher, not a battlemage, and she would have held them back in a conflict. A Rider took them as far as possible into the foothills, leaving just a one-hour walk to the destination, assuming that their calculations were correct.

The sun was high overhead, leaving the group a few hours to work before it would set behind the mountains. They had no interest in staying out past dark and not just because of wild monsters. Elves, whether through magic or natural ability, seemed to have flawless night vision.

Alexia look the lead, walking at a steady pace with her short sword drawn. She wasn't wearing full plate armor since it would only slow her down; her fighting style focused on mobility and reaction speed. She turned back to the others and said, "Keep your eyes and ears open. If the quake was indeed caused by elves, there's a chance they haven't moved on yet. It's been a week, but we can't be too careful. Let me know if you see any sign of recent activity, even something as minor as a broken branch."

"Understood," said one of the guards, a woman with curly red hair and a heavily freckled face. The other guards kept quiet, likely having a harder time accepting being led by a civilian, and a woman at that. Alexia had requested Randolf and Arko for this mission since she had worked with them on the trip to Sunrise and she respected their skills, but their commanding officers refused, claimed an encounter with elves was unlikely and gave her inexperienced guards instead. It was likely a power play, to show that a civilian like Alexia couldn't order the Guard around. She hadn't let it show at the time, but it had gotten under her skin.

Milo was near the back with another guard, a flicker of flame idling near the tip of his wand. He wanted it ready at a moment's notice in case of ambush. He was also on the lookout for any sign of startled fey; he had no desire to get trampled like Riley had been. He still had nightmares about the bone jutting out of her arm, and her screaming that just wouldn't stop.

"It's not far now," Fern whispered to Milo as they passed under a large tree and stepped over its gnarled roots. "I can smell a heavy trail of mana here, smeared across the land as it was pulled toward the clearing up ahead." She sniffed the air, then repeated it a few more times. "That's odd. I don't recognize that smell at—"

"Elf ahead!" Alexia yelled as she dropped into a combat stance, knees bent and both hands on her sword. Thirty feet ahead of her was a single person in a dark green cloak that obscured its face and figure. There was no doubt to its intentions, however: it held a wickedly curved blade in its right hand that swayed menacingly as it approached.

"Another back here. Just a swordsman," said one of the guards. "They must be trying to keep us away."

He didn't sound nearly concerned enough. Alexia thought his name was Tal or Tell or something like that, but she hadn't seen it written out. She had to admit she hadn't put her normal level of effort into reviewing her team, with how flustered those officers' refusal had made her. She'd been secretly hoping they wouldn't have to fight, that the quake's cause would have nothing to do with the elves or they had already left, like that camp with the poison vials. No such luck.

"Make a fighting retreat," Alexia ordered. She wanted to take stock of the situation and look for any other elves, but she didn't dare take her eyes off the one before her. "I'll hold this one. We need to push through the other." She didn't know whether these elves understood King's Speech, but she couldn't worry about that right now.

The instant she finished her command, the elf launched forward with inhuman speed. She barely had time to bring her sword between them before the scimitar-like blade crashed into it with a painful CLANG. The elf bounced backwards, using the force of the blow to reclaim some distance. Its leather boots bit into the sandy soil, then it leapt forward again, blade first.

Alexia had trained for this. While most guards chose to focus on monster-fighting techniques, she had never slacked in her swordsmanship. During her time in the Guard, she trained every day and quickly rose to the top of her unit. Whether with practice swords or live steel, she outpaced even her seniors, who were all men. It had earned no small amount of hostility from her peers and officers, but the more they hassled her for it, the more she was motivated to practice and the stronger she grew. When someone pushed Alexia, she pushed back.

"Hyaa!" she screamed as she deflected the incoming blade. With elves' superior strength, there was no way she could hold out long if she blocked the attacks directly. She needed to dodge or parry, and the elf's speed made sure that was no easy task. She backed up two steps, trusting that the other guards and mages were keeping the other elf busy, and hoping against hope that no other elves arrived.

The elf stepped forward to close the distance and Alexia struck out. She lanced forward, pushing off with her back foot and aiming for the center of mass. Her attack was fast, but the elf was as well. It sidestepped just in time and her sword only caught its cloak. The steel blade sliced cleanly through the rugged fabric, but the elf was unharmed.

The bottom third of the elf's long cloak hung limp, catching on its legs, so it tossed the entire garment away. Alexia got her first good look at the elf's face, but she still wasn't sure of its gender. It had tanned skin, dark brown eyes, high cheekbones, narrow chin, and long pointed ears. Tight braids of brown hair ran back along its head, decorated with feathers and colorful stone beads, and its body was fit and slender, wrapped in tightly tailored brown leather. By human standards the androgenous elf was certainly beautiful, but in Alexia's eyes it was just a monster, no more worthy of her praise than a direwolf or yeti.

Alexia expected a counterattack, but instead the elf stopped, reached behind its back with its left hand, and drew something from its belt: a short dagger of polished steel. The sun glinted off of it with an odd green sheen and she knew it had been coated with poison.

"Shit! They've got poisoned daggers. Be careful!"

She didn't get a chance to see whether her warning had been heard because the elf attacked again, swinging its sword with the dagger ready and waiting for any opening. She dodged and counterattacked where she could, but the elf kept pressuring her and she couldn't risk even a glancing blow of that poisoned blade. With safe retreat as her only goal, Alexia was willing to give ground, at least until she heard someone cry out in pain behind her.

It was a masculine sound, which meant either of the male guards or one of the mages, or less likely, the elf. The one she was fighting had let out little more than grunts and gasps so she had to admit she had no idea what their voices sounded like. She risked a glance over her shoulder to see how the others were faring and was not happy with what she saw: Tal was on the ground, clutching his stomach. The other two guards stood over him with their swords brandished at the still-cloaked elf. Milo and Frederick were several feet back and to the side, each readying a spell. Flame and smoke gathered around Milo's wand while a shard of bright blue light lanced out from Frederick's. Frost magic was difficult to weaponize, but it was efficient and deadly when done well.

In that brief glance, she saw something very unsettling: blood was dripping not from the elf's sword, but from the short dagger it held in its other hand. Tal had been cut deep with the poisoned blade and now every minute was precious if he were to have any chance of survival.

Alexia returned her attention to the other combatant an instant too late. Two blades were flying her way with the full force of a six-foot-tall elf behind them. She wrenched her blade upward and parried the dagger coming from the left, but she couldn't stop the sword. It cut into her right shoulder. At first she only felt the force of the blow, pushing her backwards and throwing off her balance, then the pain hit and her vision went white. She didn't scream, but she might have if she'd had the breath to do so. Instead, Alexia's jaw clamped down and she forced herself to stay focused through the world-enveloping pain.

Her right arm went limp and her grip on her sword weakened, so she passed it to her left. A reason she had outperformed her peers in swordsmanship contests became relevant yet again: she was ambidextrous. The elf tried to withdraw the blade, but it was stuck deep, possibly in the bone. It was a small bit of luck in the moment, but Alexia would be cursing it later. Like Riley's broken arm, damage to bones took more than just magic to heal.

With her left hand, she slashed low at the elf's stomach. It dropped its sword and tried to step away, but it was too slow. She felt the tip of her sword catch as it sliced through leather and into something softer beneath. Alexia didn't stick around to see how badly she'd wounded it. Kept upright on adrenaline alone, she spun and ran toward the others, who were still fighting off the other elf. Its cloak was singed and tattered, but it was still holding its own against the remaining four fighters who were all clearly inexperienced at fighting intelligent opponents. The uninjured male guard, whose name she'd never bothered to learn, had Tal on his feet supported by his shoulder. The woman guard and the mages were holding the elf back, but just barely.

Importantly, that elf hadn't noticed Alexia yet. She threw her sword as hard as she could with one good arm, but there was enough force behind it to cause some damage if it were to hit at the right angle. It sliced into the elf's arm a bit, then bounced away into the grass. But it bought much needed time.

"Run! Now!" she yelled, her left arm going to the curved sword still stuck in her shoulder. She didn't dare try to pull it out. She just needed to stabilize it as she ran. The rest of her group followed, slowed by Tal who was already weakened by the poison, blood loss, or both. She thanked Mana that the elves had decided not to follow. They had both taken injuries and the gut wound was at least as bad hers. With the elves' current state and their self-preserving attitude, Alexia thought they would rush to their nearest healers rather than risk a dangerous chase.

During the hike back to their rider, who waited out in an open field where even elves couldn't get the drop on him, the agony of her shoulder soured her mood and kept her wishing that she'd brought a healer along. But she knew they were too precious to risk on an expedition outside the city walls, and she could never have gotten approval from those pompous officers. That went double after this failure of a mission.

A dark cloud hung over Alexia's thoughts, even after they were safe in the carriage and returning home to the capital. A guard's life was in peril and she was in bad shape herself, and they'd learned nothing about the quake except that elves were definitely involved. There was little Alexia could have done about Tal getting injured: that was on those Guard officers for giving her an inexperienced soldier. But her own injury could have been avoided if only she hadn't wasted time checking on the others. At the Princess's repeated requests, Alexia had been trying to be more compassionate, to be more supportive and less critical of others.

Look where that got me, she thought, holding her bandaged shoulder and staring at the accursed sword that had caused the injury. It was steel, but with a strange swirled pattern forged directly into the metal, like eddies at the edge of a stream. Fern had rambled about how it looked like a blacksmithing technique to produce a stronger and sharper blade, but she had no idea how to replicate it. The implication was terrifying. The elves were already better at magical and physical combat and now their smithing skills may have surpassed those of the kobolds. And the elves were making their move, intruding into New Albion and attacking it on several fronts.

Alexia clenched her fists, ignoring the pain it caused in her shoulder. This is no longer a time for compassion. This is a time for war.