(Niko, 16)

"Why were you all in trouble this morning?" I ask Lina, who groans.

When I came out after the alarm went off this morning, Lina, her guards, Jacob, his guards, and Alex were scrubbing the dining room floor, tables, chairs, and walls. By hand, without magic, as Sage Elena watched. It was strange, but I did not feel comfortable asking them then why they were doing such a thing.

"Sage Elena caught us up during the night," Lina informs me. "We had all sensed Jason being awake, I suppose, and went to investigate, then stayed and began talking."

"You walked through Sage Elena's alarm spell," I realize.

"You know about it?" She seems surprised.

"Yes," I answer. "I noticed her enchantments the first night. You all must have come down after I returned to bed. I take it Jason was not in trouble after explaining why he was awake?"

"He opened a gate back to his room before she showed up," Lina groans once more. "So we were left to face Sage Elena without him."

"He didn't fully escape trouble," Jacob chuckles as he sits across from Lina. "Sage Elena guessed that he was down there. I am uncertain as to what his punishment was, but I hope it was gentle. He seemed to not take what happened well."

To have one's brain play tricks on them because memories feel out of place cannot be pleasant. Oh, I forgot to suggest that to him. I am sure he determined that as the most likely cause, though.

"How long have you known about it?" Lina asks. "Jason mentioned that he knew you were not suffering this, so we know he at least mentioned it to you."

"I do not remember," I answer. "I believe… a month? Maybe more? He asked me after it occurred the second time, but I do not remember how long ago that was. I have been so busy with things that time slipped away from me."

There has been university, speaking with the professors and Jason regarding points I did not understand or was unable to translate, my official duties as a Marran prince in Varil, the training group, assisting Jason in the setups, being trained by Jason, dealing with the guests here from Mar to learn magic, and other stuff.

"Does anyone know where Jason has been all day?" I ask.

They had to split one of the training groups up into the other four because there was no training under Jason today, and he was not around for any of the meals. Jeddy had to help Sage Elena for all of the meals, and he looked a little overwhelmed when I saw him working on dinner with her.

I was wishing to speak with Jason about something in private, though. It is not too important, but I hope he returns before we return to university on Tuesday, so that I can discuss it with him before we leave here.

"I think he went to the house he grew up in," Alex sits besides Jacob. "I overheard Sage Samuel telling him he needed to speak with his Mama Elizabeth and get some rest. I hope he's doing okay."

Jacob opens his mouth, likely to start one of those comments of his, but before he does, Alex jumps to his feet.

"Jason!" He calls out, and we look over to find Jason stepping through the front doors to the dining room.

(Jason, 16)

"Mama Elizabeth," I stifle a yawn as I walk over to her, where she's weaving thread into a sheet of fabric.

She wasn't here when my other papas and mamas sent me here, and based on how much of the fabric she's spun, she's probably been at it for an hour or two, so probably returned around three hours ago.

"Samuel told me he sent you here to sleep," she said. "And that I should talk with you."

"Yeah," I nod. "I didn't realize I'd sleep through the whole day. I suppose that's because I made up a sleeping potion, though. Thankfully, I didn't have any more of those dreams."

"Yes," Mama Elizabeth frowns a little, then gestures to the chair sitting beside her. "Come on over, Jason. He said that you should tell me about what happened."

"With the dream last night?" I ask, and she nods. I sit beside her and tell her about the dream, and as I do, I rub my chest where the sword went through me. I can still feel it, and it makes me shudder to think about. I tell her the theories we came up with, too. "It's just… confusing."

"It's confusing to us as well," she tells me. "Do you want to know a secret I never told your other papas and mamas until after we learned you were reincarnated?"

"Sure?" I shrug. "But how did you have a secret they didn't know for that long?"

"Because they never saw my Crystal Crest," she summons hers, handing it to me.

I examine it, rubbing the griffin imprinted on it. As with all Crystal Crests, the beast itself is unique to her, no two griffins the same. It's a side view of the griffin, both wings visible, the tail curling underneath it as the head looks at me. The three destiny runes are set to either side and beneath it. Sage. Healer. Crafter.

The part that's different, however, are the pair of runes above it.

In addition to Elizabeth, there is also Tiffany.

"I was born May 7th, 1902," she tells me as I realize just how easy it could have been for her to hide her secret. "In a little town in Illinois on Earth. My dad was a farmer who got drafted for a war, then died in it in 1918. My mother moved us to Chicago, a city in Illinois, and found a new husband, and when I was twenty-eight, I died during a robbery at the club I worked as a dancer at, and was then reborn here into Midlaris."

She shakes her head.

"I've been here for eight decades, now," she says. "And I've never once experienced what you're going through, Jason. Reincarnation is as you theorized initially. You retain your memories, but that is it. Any knowledge you have from them, you have from interpreting those memories. Your personality, your experiences, none of that moves on with you.

"What you're going through," she tells me. "May deal with you having been from Midlaris in addition to whichever other world you've come from, but I doubt it. I am old, and I am powerful. Should that not have begun to happen to me with my memories from Earth? Why would it be selective to the world?"

"I… don't know," I admit. "So there's something different with my reincarnation, then? And you're reincarnated?"

"Yes," she nods. "I am reincarnated. And I am not the only one who came before you, Jason. Your Papa Samuel's great grandmama was reincarnated from another world, too. Not Earth, she came from a world whose name I can't recall at the moment."

"Which great grandmama?" I ask. "He has four of them."

"Natalia," she tells me.

"Okay," I say. "So this is definitely something with my own reincarnation, then?"

"Yes," she nods. "I would guess it is the same as your friends suspect, Jason. It is most likely to be your mind playing tricks on you."

"I wish it wouldn't," I tell her. "Do you have any idea what it's like to have a sword run through your chest?"

"Yes," she tells me. "I do, actually. It was how I met your Papa Michael."

"He stabbed you?" I ask in shock.

"No!" She laughs. "He saved me from the person who did stab me. By then, he and Samuel were already friends, and were traveling with a merchant – your Papa Harold – who they were accompanying on a trip to another town to meet his supplier of certain potions – your Mama Elena.

"When they found me," she continues. "They hurried to the town, with the merchant promising he knew a healer. Elena helped nurse me back to health, and Samuel and Michael checked on me when they passed through town again. We spoke a few more times, becoming friends. They helped me and your Mama Elena acquire many of the materials that helped us turn into the Sages."

"That sounds like fun," I tell her.

"It was," she ruffles my hair. "Are you feeling better?"

"A little," I tell her. "Thanks, Mama Elizabeth. I guess the meddler's been doing some reincarnations, but it's been kept secret."

"It has," Mama Elizabeth smiles. "Natalia and I were part of an order, passed from reincarnate to reincarnate."

I frown.

"Yes, Jason," she smiles. "There is an entire line of us. According to Natalia, we're made aware of when and where the next will be born. Of who they are. My papa and mama here were commoners, but I was raised as a lady, taught about the order."

"Why?" I ask. "Does that mean the Queen of the Gods had been interacting?"

"Yes," she nods. "But only to our line. We were sworn into an oath of what knowledge we could share to this world. Our main purpose is to look out for a certain person. On the night of our coming-of-age, we each would have a dream, a vision of her giving us a message. Telling us our duty. We believe that it was a memory of when we had accepted – that we had spoke with her and agreed to it between death and rebirth."

"Look out for a certain person?" I ask, suspicious. "Who?"

"We were never told," she shakes her head. "But we are a line of women who were reincarnated dating back to the war. Even we somehow lost the full details of the war. All we know is that we were here on this world for the preparation of a single person's coming.

"That," she says. "And the Gathering that would follow his arrival."

The Sages have known about the upcoming Gathering. That would mean they were here for me, then. And considering that the Sages were the ones who raised me, including the latest member of the line, then the meddling Queen of the Gods put me in Papa Samuel's path intentionally.

"I see your frown," she touches my chin, tilting my head up so that I can look into her eyes. "You know something, don't you?"

"I know what the Gathering is," I tell her. "I'm not sure why the Queen of the Gods would want this line to exist, though."

I shake my head.

"She's a strange one," I say. "Her intentions aren't always clear, her motives often a mystery."

"What is the Gathering?" She asks, and I debate on if I should tell her or not. "Jason, the only god to interact with Midlaris in thousands of years – the same one who has reincarnated a hundred women from other worlds and the twelve of you – has warned of its coming. What is the Gathering?"

Sighing, I stand, feeling myself standing in the role of the High Magus, King of Magic. A few memories return to me as I speak, and they only strengthen this feeling within me.

"The Gathering," I say. "Is the Gathering of Power. It is an event when the magics of the universe enter into a state of total alignment. When that happens, all magic becomes one, and the truest masters of magic can make literally anything happen, and it lasts for exactly twelve days in Midarlis time. The last Gathering of Power was three thousand years ago, and it was the day the Twelve Magi destroyed the passages to the heavens and the underworld using that unification of power. It was the day when I, Alorovos, Traitor of the Delvarkari, laid waste to the Delvarkari and the dragons who ruled over them when they sought to use the unification of magic to kill me."

Mama Elizabeth stares at me with wide eyes at my statement.

"So the Gathering," I tell her, allowing myself to deflate as the feeling begins to fade away. "Can be good, and it can be bad. Only those with grey magical power can use this unification. To all others, magic will be unusable.

"Enchantments will work," I hold up a hand to stop her from asking about those. "But if someone has to activate it with their magic, it won't. So things like the comm plates will be useless, but the plumbing systems and wards will continue to function. At least, as far as I know. We have time to prepare in case we have to shut everything down and increase guards during that time."

"How long?" She asks.

"Several years," I answer, and she sighs in relief. "Anyway, I should be returning to the training facility, some of them are probably worried about me, and it's dinnertime."

My stomach rumbles in agreement, and Mama Elizabeth laughs.

"I'll need to be heading there soon, too," she says. "Jeddy helped with the dishes earlier, as your Papa Samuel wanted me here to watch you, in case something happened because of that dream."

(Alex, 16)

I was able to play off my outburst as being concerned about him after what happened last night, and the others agreed that they were as well. I know Jacob wanted to make a comment, but I guess he was just as worried as I was, because he didn't.

Now, Jacob, Niko, and I are in Jason room with him. Jason's sitting on his bed, I'm sitting on it as well, but a safe distance away. Niko is leaning against the wall across from Jason, and Jacob is standing beside the door.

There really isn't that much space in here.

"So Sage Elizabeth is a reincarnate?" Jacob asks after Jason finishes telling us why his Papa Samuel wanted him to speak with her. "From Earth, too? Her past life was from the same world as your second life? As part of some sacred order the Queen of the Gods had?"

"Yeah," Jason nods. "Your great-great grandmama was a reincarnate, too, she was Mama Elizabeth's predecessor and mentor in it."

"Who?" Jacob screws up his face in confusion.

"Queen Natalia Varil," Jason tells him. "She was the daughter of a noble family who married King Michael Varil II. Don't you know your own lineage?"

"Jason," Jacob gives him a 'don't be stupid' look and tone. "My great-great grandmama is four generations back. That is eight great-great grandmamas. Or something like that. Also, Natalia was my great-great-great grandmama. Five generations back."

Jason counts on his fingers.

"Right," he says. "It's Uncle Zach who's my third-cousin, not you."

We all stare at Jason, and Jacob seems at a loss for words.

"What?" Jason looks around, a little confused.

"You and Papa are third-cousins?" Jacob asks. "How?"

"Papa Samuel is the bastard son of Prince Ferdinand, one of the grandsons of Queen Natalia and King Michael. Papa Samuel and Uncle Zach's papa were second cousins."

"So we actually are cousins?" Jacob asks Jason in shock.

"Yes," Jason nods. "I never told you that?"

"No!" Jacob exclaims. "You always just said that my papa being your uncle made us cousins!"

"Oh!" Jason grins. "Well, it does. Calling Uncle Zach my third-cousin was tedious, and I always thought of cousins as someone not a generation older than me, so I just called him Uncle Zach."

Classic Jason.

Jacob groans as Niko chuckles.

"So," I say. "You have several friends who came up with the same theory that a Sage told you. Think that's probably what it is, now?"

"Yeah," he nods. "That has to be it. It's frustrating, though, and I need to find a way to give my brain a pep talk about this. If it's going to do it: pleasant things only. Also, Papa Samuel and Mama Elena both gave me that theory without being told it, so we can make that three Sages."

"Alright," Jacob says. "Now that we have finished making discovers about familiar connections that certain family members were not aware of, should we join the others for the bonfire? They are doing the family and love stories."

"No apple-bobbing?" Jason asks.

"No," Jacob answers. "Because of three royals being here, it was decided that even if everyone can be trusted, best not to do that just in case. Better to avoid having us left out than to risk us joining in out of invisible pressure."

"Aw," Jason looks disappointed, making us laugh. "Anything else that happens on the third night?"

"Not unless you wish to go into town or something," I tell him. "Most festivities are done on the streets. Feasting, drinking, partying, mingling, dancing… though we are doing the finishing ball tomorrow, yes?"

"Yes," Jason nods. "There will be the sending dance tomorrow, we'll be moving the tables and benches in the dining hall for it. Alright, let's head out to the bonfire. The malevolent spirits have mostly left the area, so it should be more comfortable for us Magi, even if we'll still be a little overwhelmed and bothered by the presences of those spirits which remain."

Mostly? There are still some around? Strange.

"Jeddy's sensitive to spirits, too," I tell Jason. "Even though he's not one of us. Thankfully, it's not as bad as it is for us, and he's enjoying how much gentler their presences are here than back in Varilar."

"I'm glad," Jason nods, then looks at Niko. "How are you handling it? Are the presences light enough for you? Or would you rather stay inside?"

"I can join you," Niko tells him. "But I may return inside sooner. I am attempting to resist the urge to panic because of the bad memories from the castle's Festival of Spirits' level of spirits."

"Okay," Jason stands.

"Before we go," Niko says, his face flushing. "I wanted to talk with you, Jason."

He glances at Jacob uncomfortably.

"But I wanted it to be alone," he says.

"You mean without me," Jacob says, and Niko's face reddens even more. "Does this deal with Lina?"

"Yes," Niko answers quietly, looking at the ground.

"I promise," Jacob tells him. "I will not be upset with you. You can say it with me here. I may even be able to assist you with some advice."

Niko thinks it over for a few moments, then comes to a decision, looking up and taking a deep breath before speaking.

"Even though there have been several acceptable occasions for it," Niko tells us. "I have yet to kiss Lina."

Right, nobles and royals have to abide by certain rules of etiquette even to kiss their loved ones. That is why we'll rarely ever see nobles or royals kiss in public, that usually doesn't count as something they're allowed to do.

"Is that a problem?" Jason asks. "I mean, I know it's been a couple of months since you first met her, but I'm sure it's okay."

"No!" Niko says a little loudly, then lowers his voice and shakes his head, his face turning redder still. "Jason, I am scared. What if I kiss her and it is not good? Do I kiss on the lips or the cheek? What if she does not like the kiss because I am an awful kisser? What if my breath stinks? What if-"

"Niko," Jason interrupts him, and the Marran prince stops, looking down. "Jacob has yet to start interrupting people when in a casual situation, even though it's perfectly acceptable among friends. We'll eventually beat that royal etiquette away when he's not acting as a prince. Jacob, your turn."

Leave it to Jason to be so blunt!

"Thank you, Jason," Jacob chuckles. "Niko, Lina has been wondering why you have not kissed her yet. For the breath issue, most of the time, it does not matter. Try to eat something sweet before, or take a mint. Most of the time, you should kiss on the cheek. If it is a romantic scene, such as a picnic lunch, you might kiss on the lips.

"As for whether or not you are good at kissing," Jacob tells him. "Just kiss her! Everyone has a first kiss, Niko. It takes practice and experience to kiss 'well', by the standards you read about in love stories."

And sometimes, it takes a lot of practice. Jason still kisses by the book, and it has been more than a month since we became boyfriends.

"Come," Jacob opens the door. "Let us join the others at the bonfire. You may even manage to steal a kiss while there."

"You two go on ahead," I tell them. "I want to talk with Jason about something for a minute, too."

"Okay," Jacob gives me a sly look, and I shoot him back a glare.

He laughs, then leads Niko out, and once Jason's door closes, I shake my head.

"He's ridiculous."

"How do you think he'll react to when he finds out we're already dating?"

"That will be hilarious," I look at Jason. "Are you really doing better?"

"A little," he rubs his chest for a moment, then scratches the back of his neck. "I just wish my brain knew what an acceptable level of realism was."

I laugh, then hold out a hand. I learned fast not to just grab him and pull him to me, because he has a tendency to flip me onto the ground and put me into a headlock if I do that. So when I want to signal I want to do that, I just hold out a hand.

He takes my hand and allows me to pull him to me, then I kiss him on the lips. Jason returns the kiss, and we stare into each other's eyes. They're so beautiful, both as the grey they sometimes take and the blue they are right now. I could probably stare into them forever, the way they hold such infinite depths of knowledge and mischief.

"I think Niko wanted to talk to you or us alone so he could ask if he could practice kissing with us," Jason tells me, and I laugh as I push him away. His face screws up in confusion. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Way to ruin the moment," I gently push his chest. "And there I was, thinking how much I loved you and your eyes."

"Sorry," his face reddens just a little. "It just popped out."

"Yeah," I snort. "And I agree, Niko was probably hoping he could get some practice in before kissing Lina for the first time. He probably felt comfortable with asking you because you're the closest friend he has."

"Probably," Jason shrugs. "Come on, I want to join the others before all the cookies are gone."

I laugh, but follow him outside, feeling the brush of spirits in the air. They're much gentler than they were the last couple of days, thank goodness. I was starting to want to avoid going outside because of it.

Jason walks over to the table with the treats and piles up a plate with cookies, then offers me an empty plate, signaling that I probably won't be able to steal any cookies from him tonight. If he doesn't directly hand me a plate or something to get my own snacks with, I can usually steal his, which I do when we're at the house and not with others.

Our snacks obtained, we look for a spot to sit, and spot Niko and Lina sitting on a bench in the back row, talking quietly. No space over there, and we should probably let them talk alone about whatever they're discussing. It might result in Niko receiving his first kiss.

Jacob and Tasha are seated so that they can see Niko and Lina without being obvious about it, and we find a spot by Adam and Elise, which means we'll have to turn our heads pretty obviously to see the pair. Unfortunately, it's the only spot where we can sit together, since we took so long to come out here.

"Are you doing okay?" Adam asks Jason as we sit down. "We noticed that you weren't looking that good when you woke up earlier in the morning, and thought you might be going for a walk to clear your head or something."

Did all of the Magi wake up when Jason had the dream?

"I'm doing better," Jason tells him. "It's just my brain having fun with my past memories and making me dream them as if I were experiencing them. Not fun."

"Don't worry," I tell Adam and Elise, who look concerned at Jason's comment. "We're giving his brain some rules about what memories it's allowed to do that to."

They laugh, and the chatter starts to quiet down as Sage Samuel walks up to the front to start the first tail of peace and family, which is said to make the remaining spirits happy.

As the stories go on, I notice Jason looking over a few times and chuckling, and eventually, I notice Jacob and Tasha both subtly attempting to get my attention in a frantic, yet calm way. That looks really weird.

When I look at them directly, they point towards where Niko and Lina are sitting, and I look over.

(Niko, 16)

Am I sitting too close to Lina? There is a small gap between us, so it is not considered inappropriate. I want to sit right beside her, like I see some couples do at restaurants. Or like how seating is at the amphitheater.

Okay, maybe not as tight as the amphitheater can get, and I am grateful to Jason for finding us a spot where we are not sitting as tightly-packed as it can be on the benches. I know he uses magic to ensure the two of us have a little bit more space than others, though he thinks I haven't realized it.

Lina and I have been talking for awhile now, and I wish to kiss her, but I do not know if this would be considered an acceptable time. My mother and father were never really that interested in teaching me all of the proper things, because of how much of a disgrace I am.

Was. How much I was. They have changed their ways after seeing the power of magic. It will probably take me a long time to accept their changed view, though. They way they have treated me so far has been awful, and it has left what Jason calls deep emotional scars.

Maybe I should just kiss her? But Jacob said to use a mint or something first, if I want to avoid bad breath. Is my breath bad? Maybe. I have eaten several times since cleaning my teeth this morning.

I do carry mints on me, though, so I pull one from a pouch on my hip and pop it into my mouth. Just in case I decide to kiss her. Lina gives me a strange look, but returns to talking about what they usually do for the Festival of Spirits.

Not much, it seems, but when they were younger, she and Jacob would do what children do and play around the house they were moved to for it, using the servants and guards as 'minions' on their quests.

"Niko?" Lina asks a few minutes after I finish sucking on the mint. "What are you thinking about? You have seemed a little distant since you sat down."

I look at her, and decide then to kiss her. I want to kiss her on the lips, but think that the cheek would be more appropriate, and my indecision causes me to kiss her half on her lips, half on her cheek. I feel my face heat up when I do that, and I look away.

Lina laughs, and my face heats up even more.

"I apologize for that," I tell her. "That was awful.

"That is what you were thinking about?" She asks, and I nod, wishing I could simply hide right now. "Niko, look at me."

I look at her.

"It would have been on the lips," she tells me. "Like this."

She kisses me on the lips, then pulls her head back.

"But usually not with so many people around," she adds, a twinkle in her eyes. "And did you put the mint in your mouth because of that?"

"Yes," I confirm.

"Usually," she tells me. "You would use the mint before seeing me, so that there is only a slight hint of it in the kiss."

"Sorry," I feel my face heating up again.

"Do you want to try doing that kiss over again?" She asks.

I would like that very much, so I kiss her again, this time managing to kiss her lips properly. At least, I hope it's properly. Pulling my head back, I see her smiling, and she scoots so that we are touching, taking my right hand into her left.

Her hand feels so soft and delicate. A proper lady's hand. I reach over my lap with my left hand and take her left hand with it, rubbing it a few times before slipping my right hand out of her hand and reaching behind her so that I'm holding her right side with it. Lina looks at me and smiles, and I kiss her again.

"I like sitting like this," I tell her after a few minutes of us listening to Kyra telling a story about a pair of brothers who fell in love with the same woman, only to later learn they were talking to identical twins, but only ever saw one at a time.

I can see how learning she was two people could be confusing. If there was a mention to whether or not they confused her, then I missed it.

"It is comfortable," Lina tells me. "We will not be able to sit like this often away from here."

This is an inappropriate way for nobles and royals to sit, especially when they are only betrothed. I do not understand the rules, as they do not apply to commoners. Many commoners might follow the customs, but not as strongly.

"Indeed not," I nod. "But we can find time, yes?"

"Yes," she smiles at me again. "We can make opportunities for this, and I have a feeling we will be back here on more than one occasion, too."

She kisses me again, and I return her kiss this time.