(Niko, 16)

"Yes, and-could you give me a few minutes?" I ask.

"Sure," Thomas answers, then walks off as I pull out my comm plate.

"Hello," I answer it.

"Hello, Niko," Emil says. "Remember how we told you that we found an arm of the god still here, missed by your gargoyles?"

"Yes," I answer.

Sage Samuel was planning on studying it a little, out of a scholarly curiosity.

"A water elemental just showed up and took it," he tells me. "It also drew the god's blood out of the ground, which was honestly an impressive sight. Then, the elemental left as if there was nothing strange about that at all, and the gargoyles are pretending like it never happened and that we never found the arm. Sage Samuel is uncertain about what happened. He was going to contact you, but I learned how to use my mana earlier and wished to try out the comm plate myself."

I asked some of the true gargoyles to stay behind to assist in the protection of the capital, just in case something happened. I suppose a water elemental showing up counts as 'something happening', but if they did not react to its thievery, then they likely knew the reason behind its actions.

"Congratulations," I tell him. "As for the gargoyles' behavior and the water elemental, it is likely Midlaris – the actual planet – sent the elemental to do that, and the gargoyles are acting that way because they would rather not think too hard about why Midlaris would do that."

Or Midlaris told them to do act that way.

"Okay," he says. "So Midlaris can talk with grey-level creatures?"

"As far as I am aware," I tell him. "I am uncertain as to-"

A very bright, golden flash of light fills the air, and by the slight scent of spring and the feel of the trees stirring slightly around me, I know exactly what caused that.

"I need to run!" I end the call, then point at the Royal Guards. "Do not allow anyone to leave camp!"

Using flight magics, I soar in the direction of the flash. It came from several miles away, which means Jacob charged it a fair bit before unleashing the attack. Why did he draw his Sacred Sword? What foe came along that requires such a thing?

The closer I draw to them, the louder the sounds of fighting grow, and it sounds like magic and blades clashing against each other, bursts of light and water radiating out with every strike. When I finally see them, I stop in confusion.

Why are Alex and Jacob fighting each other? Especially after killing a wyvern! Actually, that looks like Alex killed the wyvern. That is not the issue here! Why are they fighting? And why do they both look angry? They both even summoned their combat constructs, which clash with every strike!

They are damaging the forest, creating a ruckus, and the Royal Guards have created barriers to protect the camp from their fight! At least the Royal Guards are indigo-level, or their barriers might not withstand the force of those two Magis fighting!

Gah!

Raising my hands, I summon up a pair of golems, making them twenty feet in height. Each one promptly grabs a different friend and pulls them apart, pinning their arms to their sides, my friends pinned against the gargoyles as I land.

"What in Midlaris are you two doing?" I demand. "Have you lost your minds? Not only are you fighting each other in actual anger, but you are using the Sacred Swords Jason gave you for fighting in the war to do it! Swords that can kill angels and demons! What if you hurt one of the other students? You are already destroying the forest, it is only a matter of time before you switched to your Magus Swords, and then we would have an even bigger issue! Most importantly, why are you two so mad at each other? And what will Jason say, when he returns and finds out you two are squabbling like little children fighting over a piece of candy?"

I look at Alex, who flinches a little while looking both annoyed and resigned. His face has flushed a bit more than it was from the fight, and I realize he has cuts and bruises on him, his clothes ripped and slashed from their fight. He is breathing heavily from the fight, too. That is how seriously they were fighting each other.

"I would expect you to allow your anger to get the best of you!" I continue without giving a single pause. "But you need to learn to rein it in and take the circumstances into account! There is nothing so important that you should attack Jacob over it! Nothing! Nothing at all! This is not the time nor the place to allow your anger to control you, even if it has saved your life on the streets of Varilar! Imagine how Jason will react when he learns you were fighting against Jacob so hard it seemed as if you were attempting to kill him! That you were not just defending against attacks or trying to disable, but to actually hurt!"

I turn to Jacob, who looks down as his face flushes, sheepish. He, too, is breathing heavily, his body covered in cuts and bruises, his clothes ruined by the fight as well.

"And you!" I still give no pause in this. "You are a prince! You know better than to act like this! You were raised better! Imagine how your father will react when he learns that you fought a friend in rage! Imagine the fuss it will cause throughout the kingdom when they learn that their Crown Prince has fought in anger against a friend, rather than defending himself! You should never raise your blade in anger! Especially not against a friend! And you were doing more than just defending yourself or attempting to disable him! Those attacks were clearly meant to wound!

"And both of you!" I continue without rest. "Seriously! Do not fight with Sacred Swords unless the circumstances require it! The destruction we can cause with them is far too great! Look at the forest around us! You have gouged the ground, destroyed the trees! What do you have to say for yourselves?"

I look between the two of them, neither of them answering. Everyone here seems a bit… sheepish and confused. Even the other students and the Royal Mages.

"Niko," Jacob finally speaks, sighing a little. "I love you to death, but you were just ranting in Marran. No one knows what you just said. I can understand the gist of it from the context, though, and you are absolutely right. We acted inappropriately."

"What in Midlaris caused such a fight between friends?" I ask.

"I killed the wyvern," Alex says. "And my attacks nearly struck Prince Jacob as I did. Then, he unleashed his Light of Spring in response."

Alex is back to calling Jacob 'Prince Jacob'? How mad is he at Jacob? I know they have had their issues the last week, even if Alex has still been cooling off wherever he was, but what happened between them? I know they also fought at the bridge, even if everyone says differently. This is ridiculous.

"No," Jacob says. "You intentionally nearly hit me while killing the wyvern with your Sacred Sword because you are upset with me for no reason. I reacted-"

"It ain't for no reason!" Alex exclaims. "It's your fault-"

"Hey!" I yell, and both look at me. "Enough! Both of you! I do not care who started it, but it is over! Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Jacob sighs.

"Yeah," Alex sighs.

"Good!" I say. "Now, I am going to release you, and you are both going to give me those swords and the other ones, and when Jason returns, I will hand them to him. He will then decide when you receive them back. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Jacob sighs.

"Yeah," Alex sighs.

"Good!" I order the golems to release the two of them, causing them to fall into the snow, neither landing gracefully. "Now hand them over!"

Jacob and Alex sheathe their Sacred Swords and hand them to me, then pull out their Magus Swords and hand them to me as well. I send all four into my spatial storage, then fix my gaze on each of them in turn, making sure they are aware that I am completely serious.

"If I find out you two are acting so inappropriately again," I say. "I will put both of you in time-out! If you want to act like children, I will treat you like children! Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Jacob looks down sheepishly.

"Yeah," Alex looks down sheepishly.

"Good!" I say. "Now apologize!"

"I apologize," Jacob mumbles, despite knowing proper apology etiquette. "For overreacting to your attack."

"I apologize for not aiming my attacks a little further from you," Alex mumbles.

Close enough, I suppose.

"There are four parts to the proper way of apologizing in Varil," I say. "You two only performed the first of them."

They give each other annoyed looks, but shake hands, then hug, then give each other a short kiss on the lips before stepping back. With the proper Varilan apology given, that is good enough for now.

"Now," I say. "Since you two seem to have an issue with who earned the kill, know that I am already ahead of both of you!"

I raise my hands and release two bolts of lightning, which strike the pair of wyverns flying towards us, enough power placed into the attacks to kill them, sending the beasts falling to the ground.

"I am at fourteen wyvern kills since this began!" I say. "So try to keep up as a pair rather than compete against each other!"

I dismiss my golems, open a gate back to my own camp, and step through it. As I do, I find everyone fighting another pair of wyverns. These things really like this spot, huh?

(Jacob, 16)

"He misunderstood what we were fighting over."

I realize after a moment that I spoke that rather than just thought it.

"He also said 'Jason' a lot during his rant," Alex says in the ancient tongue, and I raise an eyebrow. "I caught it at least twice. You are right in that we should avoid making him aware of the absolute truth. He has it in his head that Jason is still alive and able to recover from two missing limbs and whatever else Enamas did to him before the leviathan ate him."

"Yes," I say. "At least that, we can agree on."

Alex sighs, looking at the students. He knows that as soon as word reaches Papa about this, he will no doubt be arrested as a traitor, regardless of what either of us says. I really should not have overreacted like that, but Alex's attitude has bothered me ever since he found out Jason died. I can understand being frustrated somewhat, but he wants to put the blame on us and refuses to see any other reason. He attacked me at the bridge, then used his Sacred Sword here to nearly hit me.

"I'm only offering this," Alex says in the ancient tongue. "Because it benefits me, but it will prevent your Papa from finding out about you acting unlike a prince. I can use the Cloud of Misread Memories. I've never used it this life on this scale before, but it'll probably work just fine. No one here can defend against it."

He is correct about that. I can, since I know the countermeasure, but it is not like a normal mind spell, which means that ordinary mind magic shields do not work against it. Even the indigo-level Royal Mage here would be susceptible to it.

"How will you explain this?" I ask him as the Royal Guards finally release their barriers.

"A stronger wyvern showed up," he answers. "You and I fought it with our Sacred Swords as the Royal Guards protected the other students. Niko showed up after noticing you use the Light of Spring, just in time for those two wyverns to join the fight. After he killed them and began to attack the stronger wyvern with us, it flew off."

A plausible excuse.

"I would offer to perform a Harmony, to strengthen the spell," I tell him. "But I doubt you and I would succeed in it."

A Harmony bolsters spell power by combining magic, but requires friendship and bonds between the two. With Alex so furious with me right now, that would probably interfere and prevent it from working.

"I'll be fine, thanks," he says. "I'll just fix up everyone's memories while they sleep tonight to ensure nothing suspicious is there. And if anyone does discover my use of mind magics, I'll state that I had permission from a royal to do so."

"Okay," I say, then switch back to Varilan as I address our fellow students and the Royal Guards. "Alex is about to perform a spell which will recover damage to the land caused by our fight. It will cause a cloudlike emission that will fill the air. It will touch you. Do not cast a barrier to defend against it, as barriers can interfere with the spell, and he is stretching it thin for how much power he has, so you could accidentally end the entire spell by doing that. Just let it wash over you."

"After," the Royal Knight says. "The two of you and I are having a discussion."

"Okay," I say. "Alex, if you would?"

Alex closes his eyes, and at first, nothing happens. Then I feel the hum of his magic as he holds his hands up in front of him. A cloud of orange magic forms between his palms, then begins to expand, spreading out around us. I feel it wash over me, feel his mind brushing mine with it.

"Asshole," he projects into my head as his spell makes contact.

I choose to not react to that.

"If you make their memories of me anything embarrassing," I project to him. "I will put you on fire-watching duty the entire time we are here."

Keeping an eye on the fire for our camp is not something he would be happy to do. Alex is a man of action, not idling, and fire is not his element, either, even if he does find attraction to it.

"Fine," he huffs back.

His spell works for around twenty minutes, and during that, I cannot see anything around me, but I can sense things with my scanning spell. I can sense his and the one the Royal Mage has up.

Strangely, I can also feel the land and trees repairing themselves. The trees which remain fallen stay that way, but I can feel them regrowing from their stumps. I have yet to regain the power level needed to do this, and Alex is less of an earth and plant mage than I am.

"Since when do you have the power to grow plants?"

"That's probably some weird spirit that inhabits the forest."

"Or someone is actually doing that," I respond. "But I doubt it would be the Royal Mage, unless he knew what you were really doing. But the knowledge of how to grow plants was lost when we died after the war."

"No, I mean literally," Alex says. "Before the wyvern showed up, I met some sort of strange spirit who inhabits the forest. He said he repairs the damage caused by the wyverns all the time while also killing the wyverns. That's probably him fixing things."

"Ah."

I was not aware such a spirit lived here, and there are no records of it in our accounts of all the known spirit locations. They must be a very shy, subtle spirit if they have been here awhile and remained undetected.

The cloud fades away, and everyone acts as if it were just the three wyverns, plus the one who fled. I am unsure as to what Alex's explanation for the restored damage was, though, and as he still has issue with me, I would rather not ask. At least, I am unsure of the explanation until a comment from the Royal Knight.

"I'd heard of the Mending Forest," he comments as I oversee the handling of the corpses. "But I'd thought it was only rumors."

"The Mending Forest?" I ask him.

"A nickname for this forest," he explains. "It is said the forest restores damage from the attacks of wyverns. My grandpapa told me about it when I was a little boy, said the legend goes back to ancient times."

Alex mentioned the spirit, did he alter a past memory, too? I know Quinn could do old memories, but Alex should not have the ability to touch memories that are not quite recent, not at orange magical power. Or are there actual legends of this forest doing that?

"I have not heard of those stories," I tell him.

"The rumors do not spread far," the knight tells me. "There may be magic all around us, but some things do seem far-fetched in their claims. Only locals will likely know the tales. Locals and people they've spoken with."

"That makes sense," I say. "Many areas have local legends and stories that do not spread far, even if it is something as grand as a forest which quickly heals itself."

"Indeed," he says, then looks at the wyvern. "We were not expecting to face them so soon, or I would have told you not to send anyone out hunting."

"Yeah," I respond. "Niko's group has apparently faced at least twelve already."

He frowns, and I realize that Alex must have altered that memory as well, resulting in them not knowing Niko had commented that.

"He mentioned it during the fight," I tell him. "You must not have heard it."

"Ah," he says. "What are your plans for the hides?"

"Start on the preservation," I answer. "We can have the guilds finish that after we return. The earnings for them will be split between those who fought the wyvern individually. I will do my best to ensure everyone fights against at least one. Reports have at least three hundred wyverns in this general area, so we should be fine sticking to the range we were designated. If attacks continue like this, however, we may end up facing a wyvern per person present."

"Indeed," he says. "The credit for the two will go to sul'Mar, then?"

"Yes," I respond. "He was the only one who fought them, after all. Alex delivered the most damage to the one he slayed, though as it had taken us by surprise, no one else managed to do much to it. Most were still scrambling to fight when he killed it, so we will give the credit to him."

"Understood," he says. "Do you already have watches in mind?"

"Yes," I answer. "I will assign them shortly. For now, I will keep an eye on the skies. Alex is doing the same in that tree, so that should be sufficient for now."

"Understood," he chuckles as he looks at the tree which Alex climbed to 'escape' us. "We'll be keeping an eye out for now as well."

"Thank you," I say, then walk over to the fire, where wyvern meat is being cut into small chunks for a stew. "The hunters should be returning soon, mix the meats."

"Yes, sir," the pair of chefs respond.

"Also," I say. "You two are on first watch tonight. Meet up with me when everyone goes to bed to find out the specifics of your shift."

"Yes, sir," they respond.

I walk through the camp, checking the tents and supplies while assigning the watches. There will be three of them, with four students each. Tomorrow night, the other twelve students will take watch. This way, all students have an opportunity to perform a watch when there is actual potential danger nearby.

Ogres and corrupted are one thing, but we are in wyvern territory as well, which means that we must watch both the ground and the sky for threats.

The hunters return as I am finishing my inspections, and I set them to work after assigning them their shifts. A glance to Alex shows that he is still sulking in the tree. I pray to the King and Queen of the Gods we can restore our friendship soon. Despite his past, he is a decent person and fun to be around.

How can I make things up to him so that he can accept me as a friend once more and start to rebuild that friendship we had?

(Tiger Alpha)

The dragon-lady is weird. She keeps staring at me anytime she sees me, even though I make myself inert when I sense her coming. Her gaze says she knows. Well, and her thoughts. Boss made me able to read minds, so that is a bonus, and I don't even need to touch them to do it, even though he does!

Boss even gave me some more adjustments the morning after he turned grey, which was very nice. I can make gates, now!

Back to the dragon-lady, though. She is staring at me again. It is creepy. I am currently doing my best to ignore it, but I can feel that gaze on me. It is intense, and makes me feel like the prey rather than the predator.

"It is just you, me, and my grandchildren," the dragon-lady says.

Oh, no. She definitely knows.

"If you can wake yourself up," she says. "I want to have a conversation with you."

Yeah. I suppose I should do this. I doubt I could escape if she really tried to force me to talk. So I wake up my fluff and stretch, flicking my tail a bit before I hop off the table with the decorative vase. I walk over to the coffee table and jump up onto it, looking at the pair of young men. They look startled by this. I turn back to her.

"You are an interesting golem enchantment," she says. "I only knew of two types. There are the true golems, forged of magic, and the mimicked golems, either constructed of something and given a set of commands to obey, or converted from something and given a set of commands to obey. You function differently than any of those, yet seem a golem still. You possess some level of sentience."

"I possess sapience, too," I sit, wrapping my tail around my legs. "Boss made me that way on purpose. My original purpose was as a prototype toy. The actual toy will not be as advanced as me. Instead of using the golem enchantments you know, I function through a core hidden within my stuffing. The toys will be able to follow a set list of commands, much like the golems you know as the mimicked golems."

"And Jason made you?" She asks.

"In all my fluffy glory!" I boast. "He didn't make just my core, but my stuffing, my fur, my eyes – all of me! He even gave me new stuffing and fur and eyes, with enchantments woven into them rather than onto them!"

"Interesting," she says. "Mind if I pick you up?"

"I would mind very much," I tell her. "Only Boss and Alex have those permissions. Why do you keep staring at me?"

"I've never seen a creation like you before," she said. "And have, over this last week, been attempting to decide how to activate you, as there was no discernible method to and your maker blocked reading his enchantments quite well. Then I decided that, since you seem to move around on your own, you likely activate yourself."

"I do," I tell her. "But it's more like waking than activating."

"Interesting," she says. "And you are aware, even while sleeping?"

"I am!" I tell her. "I can also render myself fully asleep, but only Boss can wake me up from that. I would've done that when you kept staring at me, so that I didn't have to put up with your annoying gaze, but then I'd have to wait for Boss to return to wake me back up."

"Interesting," she says. "What is your purpose? What are you designed to do?"

"Many things," I answer. "I often wake him up if he oversleeps because he stayed up too late or woke up early and began working on something, then fell back asleep. Alex does that, too. I can connect to his comm plate from anywhere, acting as a messenger when needed. I talk with him, too. I also act as part of the house's self-defense."

"The house's self-defense?" She asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "Boss appreciates the security on the house, but also knows it isn't absolute. So a bunch of us are equipped with combat capabilities. Most of them have blue-level magical capabilities, but I have violet-level. Boss used some of his life essence to do that. He said that when he has the time, he will upgrade me to grey-level."

"Can you communicate with him right now?" She asks. "Everyone I have spoken with says he is on a trip for both Varil and Sageson Magical Technologies."

"No-can-do," I tell her. "Sorry. Boss put his comm plate into do-not-disturb mode, which means he really, really does not want to be disturbed. So I won't. Knowing him, he is probably off causing some political incident again."

He does have a tendency to do that when he is left unsupervised. That, or just getting up to trouble. Lady Alyssa put some enchantment on the sweets cabinet to prevent Boss from getting into it during the night, and he tried cracking it anyway.

Boss promptly found himself stuck to the wall with the wind sucked out of him. He was there for two hours before Lady Alyssa decided to release him. I failed to help him escape her trap. Boss says not to be too depressed over that, that even he can't escape their traps, but I still feel bad. He designed me to be a helpful stuffie, and I don't like not being able to help him.

Okay, so maybe helping him escape a trap spell his mama placed isn't actually in my design, but I still wanted to. So I still feel bad.

"Why do you look depressed suddenly?" The dragon-woman asks.

"Because I failed Boss," I answer, then sigh. "He says not to worry about it, but I could not help him. I failed him. I'm going to go hunt some mice."

"Can you eat mice?" She asks. "You're a stuffie, even if a golem."

"And there are no mice in the house," I tell her. "Well, other than the stuffie ones, but Boss refuses to make them golems so I can hunt them."

I hop off the table and walk away, looking for an imaginary mouse to hunt.