(Alex, 16)

I feel myself tense up at Miranda's question, and notice Sage Elena doing the same. Jason himself looks rather relaxed, but I'm staring at Miranda, so I can't be too sure. She just asked Jason if he would like to come home with her.

He's mentioned before that he wonders what it would be like if his birth family wasn't just his mama and papa, but more. If he had more family alive. And now he finds out he has a brother and a grandmama, and they're asking him to come home with them.

Yeah, she said 'for a time', but the implication there is that it's not a short time. Jason wants to know his blood family, I know he does. How long will he be gone? We just got him back!

"I would love to," Jason says, and I feel my heart sink as Sage Elena looks ready to cry. "But I have a rather full schedule. In addition to my work with Sageson Magical Technologies, I also have university – this week starts study week, with current students taking the exam to find out which courses they're taking next term and which class ranking they're in on Sorday. I also need to start on making up the work I missed these last two weeks. The Twelve Honors begin Tuesday of next week, and my training group is undergoing a training session starting from then and ending on the Twelfth Day of Honor. We'll be leaving on Monday next week for that, and we won't return until Sorday of the week after that, since the Honors end on the Friday of that week."

Jason looks at me.

"By the way," he says. "It is weird, calling the day before the last day of lessons 'Friday'. If you'll remember correctly, the weeks on Earth only had seven days, and Friday was the sixth there and here."

"What interests me," I tell him. "Is that six of our days of the week have the same name as on Earth."

"That might have to do with that line of reincarnates Her Majesty did," he says, then looks at his grandmama once more. "And then lessons begin again the Monday after that. As you can see, I have a pretty full schedule, and that's just with lessons and training. I also teach some Marrans magic, though they may manage to pass the tests for attending university, with only a minimal language barrier between them and their instructors. For the ones who don't, or if they don't apply for next term, I'll still be teaching them. Then, again, there's my work for the family business – my adoptive family's business. It wouldn't be fair to my obligations and my studies to simply abandon them.

"That said," he says as Sage Elena starts to calm down from her panic. "I would be willing to visit the Delvarkari, now that the branding of Traitor is gone. It has been far too long since I could visit."

"Thank you," his grandmama smiles.

"Now," Jason frowns. "Where did the simulacrum go? I can't sense him in my scanning spell."

"The simulacrum?" I ask.

"Yes," he points at his brother. "Jarenidis is an actual person and blood relation to me. The other man was a simulacrum, a fabricated person forged of magic. Grandmama was sustaining him herself, but I don't sense him anywhere."

Simulacrums? Those are only myths, and I never really looked into them. Artificial bodies made of magic and controlled by a mage, and that's about the limit to my knowledge of them.

"I forgot to recreate him after Jarenidis left," she says. "I always dismiss him for a few hours each night, but my worry as Jarenidis spoke with the phoenixes caused me to forget."

"I see," Jason says. "Why did you have a simulacrum? For extra eyes?"

"Yes," she answers. "To have a set of extra eyes. Scanning spells are useful, but there's sometimes nothing like seeing it with your own two eyes."

"Indeed," Jason nods. "Would you be willing to teach me how to do the simulacrum spell? I don't have any memories from my life as Nolan where I finished figuring it out, and I didn't get to observe him enough last night to figure out the magics involved."

"Please do not," Sage Elena says, and I chuckle.

The mischief Jason gets up to already is likely more than enough for the world. Having Jason and a simulacrum of his in the world? Well, we should avoid that as much as possible.

Jason and Miranda speak in the tongue of dragons again, the two of them smirking as they do, and Sage Elena sighs. They are definitely making plans for him to learn it. They're conversing for awhile, though. What are they talking about, now?

"Okay," Jason switches back to Varilan. "I am tentatively going to visit next Felday. I would like to go right now, but I know that everyone is going to want to talk with me. Such as Jacob, Lina, and Uncle Zach."

"They're here, aren't they?" I ask, and a moment later, there's a knock on the door.

"No," Jason says as the butler moves to answer the door. "That's Niko. But I've known Uncle Zach since I was little, and know that he gets concerned when I'm not doing well, so it is likely he will be here soon."

Niko enters the house and approaches us, giving Jason a hesitant look. Jason shakes his head, just a little, and Niko seems to deflate some. Connor and I exchange looks. He's been quiet since we arrived, mostly watching from the corner, but he noticed their strange actions as well.

"How are you, Niko?" Jason asks.

"I am doing well," Niko answers. "I was returning from lunch with Lina and thought I would see if you had woken yet. How are you doing?"

"I am well, as well," Jason answers. "At least, as well as I can be, with my healing going on. You might want to undo that adjustment you made, I don't think it will work that well."

"I noticed issues with it," Niko nods. "I was heading home to fix it."

Fix what?

"Okay," Jason says. "Do you want to do that here?"

"No, thank you," Niko responds. "I will do it when I return home. I need to change pants, anyway."

Jason raises an eyebrow.

"One of the servants spilled wine on them," Niko moves so we can see the spot on his right leg. "So I am returning home to change them. I will do the adjustments there."

"Okay," Jason says. "You might want to be going, Niko. Get that adjustment taken care of."

"I will," Niko nods. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Jason, Alex, Connor, Sage Elena, Miralandis, and Jarenidis."

We bid him a good day, and he leaves. I look at Jason.

"Adjustment?"

"Private thing," Jason tells me. "Don't worry about it. Cecilia, would you mind making me some more food? I'm still hungry."

You had enough food on that tray to fill me twice over, Jason! How could you still be hungry? Well, I suppose his healing does play a part of that. He did mention his body would burn through the food to convert into fuel for his recovery, and I vaguely remember us needing to eat a lot anytime we sustained serious injuries back during the war.

"And don't forget some cookies!"

"No cookies!" Sage Elena calls.

"Extra cookies!" Jason responds, and Jarenidis chuckles.

"He has the family sweet tooth," Jarenidis tells his grandmama.

(Niko, 16)

As soon as the carriage is stopped, I exit it, not waiting for my valet to open it. I should have just opened a gate back, but did not want to simply abandon my carriage and valet. Limping, I make my way inside the mansion. Eli, one of the other teens from Mar, is reading in the living room off the foyer.

"Hello, Eli," I greet him as I pass by.

"Hello, Your Highness," he responds stiffly.

I wish I could get him and the others here to treat me the same way Jacob and Lina have managed to convince a few others treat them. Jason says it will take time for that, though, and I know that. But it still frustrates me, because right now, my only friends are the Magi. It is difficult for me to just talk with other Varilans here.

As I reach the stairs, my left leg freezes up entirely, and I fall to the ground, my leg stuck in a bent position. This is not good. At least I was able to catch myself before slamming face-first into the stairs, that would have been even worse.

"Your Highness!" Eli jumps up and runs over to me. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine," I tell him. "Just having some troubles with my leg. It didn't heal quite right. I should be fine in an hour or two."

This is bad. This is very, very bad.

"Here," he seems flustered. "Do you mind if I help you to your room?"

"Please," I groan. "Mind the leg, though."

"Yes, sir," he says. "I will summon a healer as soon as-"

"No," I interrupt. "I can manage my leg on my own, I just need to reach my room."

"Yes, sir," he helps me up.

Part of that involves him touching my leg, and I notice his frown. Do not think much of that, Eli. Do not think much of it at all."

Eli allows me to use him as a crutch, so I lean on his shoulder, and he helps me up the stairs. Thankfully, none of the others are around right now, it seems. I stretch out my scanning spell. Two are in the library, two are out back, and three are in a training room. So two of them must have left the mansion.

Focusing on that allows me to bear with the pain that comes with the stiffening of my leg. I am not sure which ones are here and which left, but if I could put more focus into it, I would be able to discern that based on a few things.

We reach my room, and Eli helps me to my bed.

"Sir," he says. "Your leg felt quite… hard."

"Yes," I tell him. "I can manage it on my own, so do not worry for me."

"Sir," he closes my door. "I understand not wanting word to go around about a serious injury, and I will not tell anyone, but please allow me to assist you. I do know some healing magics, I have been studying them."

I contemplate it for a few moments. Eli does not seem as if he wishes an advantage or something, but more like he is genuinely worried for me. He does study healing magics, though, so I may have had a small bit of bad luck there. What would Jason do? What would he say in this situation? He knows how much I want to keep this a secret until we can properly regrow my leg. It sounds like only turning grey in magical power will fix that, though.

What decides this for me is that I will need help to get my pants off, now that my leg is stiffened. The other option is simply destroying the pants.

"Alright," I tell him as I pull off my belt and tunic, leaving them on my bed. "I need you to remove my boots, then help me out of my pants."

"S-sir?" He looks stunned.

"Fixing the issue," I point at my leg. "Is going to get quite bloody. The other solution is having to clean my clothes as well."

I will already need to clean my pants, but it takes more effort to remove blood than wine.

"Y-yes, sir," he says.

He manages to remove my boots with no issue, but my pants prove problematic, as they are not easy to pull with a stiffened knee which is bent. When he first sees the grey of the stone, he pauses, frowning again, but continues working my pants until they are off.

"S-sir," Eli stares at my leg. "What… what happened to your leg?"

"It was removed by a god," I tell him as I pull a thick canvas out of my spatial storage. "Spread this out on the floor, then help me onto it."

He obeys, and once I am on the canvas I go to dismiss my spell, then stop and look at Eli.

"As a forewarning," I tell him. "I am about to bleed. A lot. Fixing this issue with my leg requires dismissing the current one and regrowing it."

"Regr-doing what, sir?"

"This leg," I touch the stone. "Is a gargoyle's leg. It is a leg of living stone. Or at least, it is supposed to be. I made some adjustments to the spell this morning, but it seems there was something wrong with the formula. By the time I realized that, it was too late and I was already doing stuff. In order to change the leg, I have to dismiss the spell making it up. The leg will fade away. Then, I will cast a new spell to grow a new one, only without the changes.

"When I do that," I tell him. "I will bleed. A lot. It is living stone fused to flesh, fused to my leg where it was severed. It will be as if I had just lost my leg. I will be in a lot of pain, and I will be bleeding a lot."

And when I finish, I will be exhausted and low on mana. I am missing a large chunk of my mana from making the leg this morning. Doing so twice in such a short time is not a good idea, but this is more than a little emergency.

"O-okay," he says. "You said a god removed it?"

"During the fighting in Kelrar," I nod. "Only you, Jason, and Jason's grandmother know about it, and possibly his brother."

"I understand," he says.

"I am about to dismiss the leg," I tell him. "Be prepared."

He nods, and I undo my spell. The stone of my leg darkens first, then turns lighter in color, before fading altogether. I grit my teeth as pain begins to fill me, my stump bleeding. This is awful, and I hate it.

After taking a few moments to focus, I begin to weave together a new leg, groaning as it grows out of my stump, the stone flesh coming with pain. A lot of it. This leg uses the old spell formula, so there should be no problems with it.

Once I finish, I take a few minutes to collect myself, Eli simply staring at the new leg with eyes wide in shock.

"I do not know if I could tolerate that sort of pain," he tells me.

"I am barely able to retain my focus during it," I admit to him as I stand up. "After giving my new leg a few tests, I will take a shower to clean the blood off of me."

"I will take care of the canvas," he tells me.

"No," I hold up a hand. "I will clean it on my own. I have a place to do it where no one will notice."

"Y-yes, sir," he says.

"Wait here, though," I tell him as I fold up the canvas and send it into my spatial storage.

I am grateful to have purchased two of them, rather than just the one. Otherwise, he would have seen the other canvas, which was already bloody because I have not had an opportunity to clean it yet.

With the canvas in my spatial storage, I head to my washing room and take a shower, scrubbing off the blood that's on my stump, stone leg, and ass. I should probably start elevating myself and sitting on a stool or something, but that would just mean getting blood on that as well and needing to clean an additional thing.

After my shower, I dry off and put on some fresh clothes, then walk back into my room, where Eli stands nervously.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

"Yes, sir," he answers. "Sorry, sir. I was just a little worried. Will your new leg do that, too?"

"No," I answer. "I had made an adjustment to the spell this morning, and this new leg does not have that adjustment. It was the adjustment which caused it to stiffen up."

Unfortunately, it seemed that every time something impacted the leg – such as just me walking – it caused the leg to lose its flexibility and turn more like actual stone, up until it just became a leg of solid stone. Thankfully, it was still a magical construct, so canceling the spell was all that was needed to erase all signs of the old leg.

"Thank you for the assistance," I tell Eli. "It was much appreciated."

"You're welcome, sir," he responds.

"We are not in a formal setting," I tell him. "Please, just refer to me as you would a friend. To be entirely truthful, it is quite exhausting to be treated as royalty at all times, even when I simply wish to relax and enjoy myself."

"Yes, sir," he says. "My apologies, sir."

"Eli?"

"Sorry, sir."

I sigh. This might be a long journey for me to be able to converse with them as I do with Jason. An idea comes to me, though.

"Would you like to play chess?" I ask. "You seemed bored when I arrived, and I have nothing further until this evening."

(Jacob, 16)

"So?" I say as soon as I find Papa. "How is he?"

"Exhausted," Papa answers with a slight smile. "All of the Sages except for Samuel and Michael were there, as they're still in Mar and Kelrar, respectively. With Miralandis and Jarenidis there, it was quite cramped. I think Jason was rather tired of having people checking to see how he was doing. How did your things go?"

"They went well," I tell him. "A report from the Mazirn Duchy came in while you were out. They seem to be facing an increase in banditry over the last few months and are requesting assistance. I looked the historical data, and it appears that the banditry has been increasing steadily over the last ten years. With the data they sent regarding the current increases, we can expect the total number of monthly banditry incidents to triple in the next four months over what it was only a month ago. Based on the sightings made and bandits captured or slain, it appears that most of them come from outside Varil, slipping through the border after abandoning their armies."

The Southern Conclave, a group of around twenty nations to the south and east of Varil, has been in turmoil for over fifty years, and are a war just waiting to happen. Some of our spies have noted that it seems the Southern Conclave's leaders may be attempting to create a cause to unite the nations under a single banner.

A reason for them to all join forces together rather than constantly conflict with each other over resources and territory. Much like the northern nations, the Southern Conclave has limited resources due to a warmer climate and less-hospitable terrain. Much of their lands are prairies and rocky fields, and even further south is a desert which borders the ocean.

The desert might be the fault of the Magi, but my memory on that is not all that clear.

If the nations would stop warring and start working together, resources would not be an issue for them. But while they are all under one name, they have many ideologies which conflict with those of other nations within the Southern Conclaves. As a result, they war over their resources rather than share them.

"My suggestion," I tell Papa as I pull a paper from my spatial storage and hand it to him. "Is to send soldiers to reinforce our borders along the Mazirn Duchy and its neighboring duchies and territories. I would also suggest putting a petition to the Hunters' Guild and the Slayers for members to travel down to those territories. Many local villages, towns, and cities will no doubt put up money to pay for the protection, and we can sponsor some as well.

"If you're concerned about doing that while we have the conflict in the northeast," I continue. "The internal bandit problem should not require too many additional forces to deal with. The paper I gave you outlines what I expect should be necessary to cut down on the bandits in that region and deter the overflow into Varil. We will still receive new deserters turning to banditry, but it will not be as high as it currently is.

"Also," I add. "Based on our intelligence, the increase in bandits and deserters is due to a new policy several of the Southern Conclave's nations implemented, including four of their nations bordering Varil. Training has been increased heavily, and soldiers who cannot keep up with it are punished severely and in a way that only results in further failure to maintain the requirements the majority of the time. It also decreases pay for any soldier who does meet meet stricter requirements. Quitting is not an option in the Southern Conclave, and their high number of soldiers makes banditry – the only option available to those who quit – nearly impossible. Odds are high other nations bordering the Southern Conclave are dealing with increases in banditry. So strengthening our borders while tackling the banditry problem should not pose too much of an issue. I would recommend, however, sending a message to our neighbors informing them of the cause for our stronger borders, and that we will return to normal once the bandit problem dies down. They will be unhappy, but it should ease some of the anger and suspicions they will hold towards us over the greater defense, even if not all of it."

Papa reads the paper as we begin walking, and I can tell by his slight frown that he wants to know my opinion as a Magus.

"You want to know my opinion on the matter," I say. "As a Magus."

"Yes," he answers.

"Right now," I say. "We only kill the bandits we cannot capture. Bandits we capture are then imprisoned and sentenced for a time, before being released. As a Magus, I would say that is unacceptable. All bandits should be executed."

"That will cause negative repercussions," he says. "Should we do something like that."

"Bandits threaten the people," I say. "They cause problems, they refuse to obey the law. Rather than attempting to start a new life for themselves, they have chosen to torment and terrorize our people. They kill, they rape, they steal. They destroy our land. If you want to minimize the negative impact, flip that paper over. It will show you the exact list of territories I have noted or suspected of having or will have increased bandit problems."

Papa flips the paper over.

"Strengthen their internal borders," I suggest. "Make banditry in those territories punishable by death under a Temporary Law of Emergency. Anyone found guilty of banditry is executed. Any who attempt to flee those territories and are caught should be tried, and if found guilty of banditry, executed. You can see on that side of the paper my estimates for the forces required for this."

"You anticipated my desire to know the opinion of a Magus," he says.

"You asked it once, you will ask it again," I state. "As the future leader of the kingdom, it is my duty to anticipate such things."

Papa sighs, reading both sides of the paper as we walk. I can tell he is uncertain as to which option to pick. Logically, he would choose the former, but the Magus way would be the 'better' one, in a sense.

I pull another sheet out of my spatial storage.

"We can also go with this option," I hand him the new sheet. "It should cause the least backlash towards us. However, it will require a little more troops to handle, and has a longer timeframe for its implementation."

Papa reads over the new paper, and I can see him thinking it over.

"The main issue with it," I say. "Is the increased number of troops required to put this into effect and how long they will be in use for. With tensions in the northeast, it may cause complications should a full war break out."

Papa nods as I notice one of my comm plates signaling me. Not my usual one, but the one used for our intelligence network. The only reason I have it is in case I need to contact someone in it for something, and that has yet to happen. I pull it out and frown. Why is one of our chief spies contacting me? Should he not be attempting to contact Papa?

I answer the call.

"Are you near somewhere private?" The spy asks as soon as I answer.

"Yes," I answer. "Why are you contacting me instead of Papa?"

"This follows up on what you were told about the conflicts in the south," he informs me. "Your Highness, please get somewhere private before we continue."

"It should take me a minute," I walk quickly to the nearest privacy room, Papa following me in. "I am in a privacy room, Papa is with me as well. I was just briefing him on the situation. Is there a status change?"

"Yes," the spy informs me. "As you know, I am down here in the Mazirn Duchy already, having been nearby when events began to turn suspect."

"This is the spy who sent the report," I inform Papa. "I suppose our contact here informed him I was the one handling the situation."

"That is correct, sir," the spy responds. "Your Highness, one of bandit groups just took out a noble not even an hour ago."

"What?" I ask. "A noble? Was it an assassination?"

"It is uncertain at this moment," he responds. "They had been terrorizing a nearby strip for a few weeks, then when the noble was passing by with a light guard, the group of bandits attacked. It may have been to steal whatever wealth they could. At the moment, I am traveling on my way there to investigate personally. One of my agents contacted me to inform me of the situation."

"The bandits?" I ask.

"Escaped," he answers. "They managed to kill the duke's guards, the duke, his wife, and their son, in addition to the servants. According to my agent, they looted the carriage before fleeing. We have guards tracking down their trail as we speak."

A duke? They attacked a duke? That means the situation has changed.

"Good," I say. "Find out if it was a targeted assassination, or just an act of banditry. There are several dukes in that region with sons. Which one are you discussing?"

"Duke Meti, sir," he answers, and I feel myself stiffen. "He was returning to his castle to prepare for his trip up to Varil City to visit his daughter at the start of next term."

Duke Meti? They killed Duke Meti?

"Are you certain?" I ask.

"I am," he answers. "My informant has already verified their identities."

I look at Papa.

"Now," he says. "We have justification for going to an extreme measure."

"Papa," I say. "I am going to Tasha, and then I am going down to the Meti Duchy."

"Jacob-"

"Do not attempt to stop me," I turn off the comm plate and exit the privacy room, feeling the wrath of the griffin rising up within me.

They killed my betrothed's family. Whether or not it was an attack on me, the kingdom will treat it as such. No half-measures can be taken when royalty or those bonded to us are struck. What I am about to do might be rash, but I am glad Papa did not attempt to stop me. He no doubt saw the Magus in me when I spoke.

As I am right now, attempting to stop me would be dangerous.

What is even more dangerous is being one of the bandits who killed Tasha's family.