(Jacob, 17)

"Papa," I approach Papa now that the festival celebration has finally ended.

He looks exhausted, though I understand the feeling, the festival takes a lot of energy.

"There you are, Jacob," he looks at me, then frowns. "You changed."

"Yes," I answer. "Jason has ordered me to go on a rest. He says it differs from his rest in that his was for his physical health and mine is for my mental health."

"You do need a rest," Papa says. "We can lighten your workload, Jacob. You do put quite a lot on yourself lately."

"No," I tell him. "I arranged for everything for the next week to be removed from my schedule. Jason put a curse on me to block certain magics of mine starting at midnight until the end of the rest. I am forbidden from communicating through the comm devices as well, to ensure I do not learn of situations occurring here that may only cause my tress levels to increase. I feel confident that should I ignore his orders, he will stick me on a remote island and block all of my magics instead."

"He told you to go somewhere?" Papa asks.

"Yes," I answer. "I need to leave by midnight."

"Guards?"

"Only one person knows my identity there," I tell him. "It is not a place we visit often, nor a place where people often leave."

"Jacob," Papa says. "You cannot go off without protection. You are the Crown Prince."

"It is a remote location," I state. "Where no one knows my identity save for someone who is trusted. The strongest person there by several magical power levels will be me, and protections are set up to prevent tracking spells from finding me. In addition, I will have Griffin Alpha watching me. A repeat of Eric's actions will not occur."

Papa looks like he wishes to argue further, but he decides against it.

"Very well, then," he says. "I will see you when you return. Have you already spoken with Tasha?"

"Yes," I answer. "I informed her of Jason's orders. Goodbye, Papa. I will see you next week."

"Goodbye," Papa says.

I return to my quarters, then tell Griffin Alpha to go into sleep mode, before setting him on my bed. Jason promised to take care of the griffin cub for me, which I believe means pawning him off on another creature, though I cannot be too certain.

After some thought, I understand why Jason views the rest he ordered me into and the rest his mamas and papas ordered him into differently. The rest for me is to move me away from the stress that I go through due to my workload. The rest for him was to allow him to physically recover.

Once his body recovered, it was recovered, and he already takes things easy, as he said. It is only when something major occurs that he feels any pressure. As for me, a week of rest is necessary to allow my mind to recover from everything.

Even if I do recover within four or five days, the extra few days are not just to alleviate the stress, but to allow my mind to fully relax and have additional time relaxed before returning to the stress. With Jason, it might take months for him to need to do something that intense with his body once more.

Because of that, their ordered rest really was excessive. He broke it to rescue me and destroy Lreth Prison, but what has he done since? Things he enjoys. He is essentially still in his rest. He only took a momentary break to rescue a fellow Magus.

To Jason, training is relaxing and fun. They probably put him under a lot of stress by forbidding him from doing so. Honestly, he most likely finds himself relaxing more now than he did while on the rest.

Speaking of the rest, midnight approaches quickly. I open a gate up and enter the church, stretching out my scanning spell. Reid seems to be asleep at the moment, though Grandpapa is still awake and in the sanctuary, putting out the candles.

I close the gate and enter the church, and Grandpapa looks at me, surprise on his face.

"What brings you here this late?" He asks.

"Jason has ordered me to take a week-long rest," I answer. "I am forbidden from being anywhere near Varilsy during it and cannot perform any of my princely duties. If you are fine with it, I wish to spend that week here.

"You are willing to work for a church you do not worship in for a week?" He asks.

"Yes," I answer. "It means spending time with my grandpapa and younger brother, and the change of pace will help me relax. Jason has a point when he says I put too much on myself."

I suppose like him, I needed a shove regarding that. I understand why he wishes for me to completely remove myself from my work at the moment, too. If I remain working, even with a lighter load, then my stress will not decrease much.

"That's fine by me, Jake," he approaches me and wraps me in a hug. "Reid will be happy as well. Why don't you go on back to the dorms and get some sleep? We can talk more in the morning."

"Yes, Grandpapa," I say.

He releases me, then I make my way to the dorm and pick out a room, changing into a nightshirt before climbing onto the bed and lying down. The next thing I know, it is still dark, and there is a small form in the doorway to my room, the presence having woken me up.

"Reid?" I ask quietly.

There is a shuffling as they come closer, making sure to quietly close the door behind them, then he climbs up onto my bed. I feel certain it is Reid, even without being able to see him outside of the scanning spell, due to the spell picking up the stuffed moose in his arms.

"You okay?" I ask him. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"I had to pee," he whispers. "Hi, Jake."

"Hi, Reid," I say. "You want to sleep with me?"

"Pwease?"

"Go ahead," I say, and he curls up against me.

I adjust him a little so I can pull the blanket over him as well, then I close my eyes, falling back asleep. When I wake again, sunlight streams through the curtain over the window, and Reid is staring at me. Along with the moose, which he has moved specifically to have it staring at me.

"Good morning, Reid," I say. "No bad dreams?"

"Mr. Moose dwives them away."

"Does he now?" I ask, and Reid nods, moving the moose's head so that it nods as well. "Well, then. Mr. Moose, thank you for protecting my little brother."

Reid turns the moose so that they are looking at each other, then he looks at me.

"He says 'you're welcwome."

"Can you say 'come', Reid?" I ask.

"Come?" He asks.

"Good job," I tell him. "Now say 'well'."

"Well!"

"Good job," I sit up, and he sits up, setting Mr. Moose on his lap. "Now say 'come' again."

"Come again!"

"Okay, I did say that!" I laugh. "Now say 'well', Reid."

"Well!"

"Okay," I say. "Now put those two together, Reid. 'Welcome'."

"Welcome?"

"Good job!" I hold up a hand. "You said it right this time. Give me a high five."

Reid looks at my hand, then looks at his, then holds up his hand, a small expression of confusion on his face. I take his hand with my other one, and bring it up to tap mine.

"Like that," I tell him. "That is a high five."

"Okay!" He looks happy. "I said welcwome bad?"

"You said it wrong," I tell him. "But that is okay, you will learn. Try it again. Say 'well', then say 'come'."

"Well… come!"

"Yes!" I say. "Now say them together. 'Welcome'."

"Welcome!"

"Good job!" I hold up a hand. "High five again, Reid."

Reid gives me another high five.

"Alright," I say. "Go back to your room and change clothes, then we will eat breakfast."

"Me need help changing," he tells me. "Me always fall and hurt me."

"Okay," I tell him. "Let me change, then I'll help you."

I climb off my bed and open up the wardrobe, which has several sets of acolyte clothes in it, all in my size. How did Grandpapa put them in here without waking me up? I know he must have done so after I went to bed, because I did not sense them in my scanning spell until I woke up this time – they were not in there when I went to bed, nor when Reid joined me.

I change into the acolyte's garb, then lead Reid back to his room. It becomes quickly apparent to me that his issue only comes with putting on his pants.

"Okay, Reid," I say. "A trick to putting on your pants properly without falling is to sit down."

"Sit?" He ask.

"Yes," I answer. "Sit down and pull your pants onto your legs, then pull them up. When you need to move it over your butt, make sure the bottoms of your pants are above your feet, then stand back up. That will make it a lot easier for you."

I guide Reid so that he can do it on his own, and once he finishes, a smile of pride fills his face.

"Good job!" I congratulate him and hold out a hand. "Give me a high five!"

Reid does, then he pulls on his tunic, then his boots. He put them on the correct feet, though he cannot lace them up, so I help him with that. With Reid dressed, we make our way to the kitchen, where Grandpapa prepared breakfast for us.

"I went to put the clothes in your wardrobe a little bit ago," Grandpapa tells me. "And found Reid in your bed. Did he wake you when he came in?"

"I usually wake anytime someone enters the room I am in," I inform him. "There are exceptions to that, though."

"I had hoped I didn't wake you," he tells me. "After breakfast, Jake, would you mind doing the laundry? I was going to do it myself today, but as you are here, acting as acolyte, the duty falls to you."

"I will do the laundry," I tell him. "Do you mind if Reid assists me?"

"I do not," he answers.

We finish eating breakfast, then Reid and I collect the laundry basket and supplies, then make our way outside. It takes us around half an hour to clean everything and hang them up to dry, then I lead Reid back inside. We put the stuff away, and as we make our way back to the sanctuary, I sense three people entering it.

Their readings on my scanning spell feel familiar, but with Reid distracting me talking about the laundry, I do not realize until we are at the door to the sanctuary who they are.

"Hello, Alexander," I hear Papa say through the door.

Papa figured out where I went? How upset will he be over my presence here?

"Zachary," Grandpapa says, his tone curt. "It has been four years since you last spoke with me. What brings you here?"

"It has come to my attention," Papa says as I quiet Reid. "That recently, what we now believe to be remnants of the Order of the Risen Queen were slain."

It does not surprise me that Papa learned of this, though I might be the reason it took him longer than it should have.

"I have been here for the last four years," Grandpapa says. "As I'm sure you know."

"Yes, I am aware," Papa tells him. "I simply wished to inform you of this, Alexander, as I know you believed you had killed them all, and it turns out that might not have been the case. I believe it may have been Jacob who performed the kills."

"Really?" Grandpapa asks. "How could Jacob have done such a thing without you noticing sooner?"

"He's grown to be quite powerful," Papa says. "You know of the Kings and Queens of Power, yes? Jacob is the reincarnation of the King of Spring."

I was hoping to keep that from Grandpapa, how would he react to knowing this? To knowing I am an object of worship not a god?

"So you have found that he's beyond your ability to control, being the reincarnation of an ancient deity?" Grandpapa asks.

An ancient deity? The way he says that, he knows what the Kings and Queens of Power are. He knows we are the reincarnations of gods. His wording suggests that he knew about me already, too.

"You knew?" Papa asks.

"Yes," Grandpapa answers. "Of course I know what my grandchildren are, Zachary. You may have forbidden them from seeing me after my rampage four years ago, but that doesn't mean I haven't kept tabs on them."

William, the Royal Mage who acts as one of the personal guards for Papa, suddenly turns his head to this door.

"We are being observed," William says. "Two people, one grown, one little. They are beyond that door, and have been since the conversation began. If we continue-"

"It is fine," Grandpapa says. "It is merely an acolyte and a young orphan boy I have a taken in. The acolyte knows who my daughter had wed. If he heard your name, he no doubt realized who was here, and does not wish to be rude to the king. Your list of chores for this morning are on the kitchen table."

I lead Reid away, then locate the list of chores, beginning to work on them. Papa leaves after a few more minutes, and Grandpapa and I do not speak until lunch.

"You knew I was the King of Spring," I say. "Yet you still voiced dislike of my church when I told you I was part of it."

"I was not aware of it when you first told me about which church you followed," Grandpapa says. "However, my friend informed me after you delivered Reid here."

"After I brought Reid here?" I ask. "He visited you that night?"

"Yes," Grandpapa tells me.

"You trust him enough to believe such an absurd claim?" I ask. "Most people, upon hearing a trusted friend say someone is the reincarnation of a King or Queen of Power, would believe their brains to be addled at least some."

"Perhaps," Grandpapa says. "But when the claim was made by the King of Magic? It is quite believable."

"The King of Magic?" I ask, then look at Mr. Moose. "Moose Alpha?"

"Reporting for duty!"

Reid giggles at Moose Alpha's response, telling me he knew already that Moose Alpha was more than just a stuffie.

At least now I know why the stuffie seems like something Jason would make. He did make it.

"How long ago did Jason begin visiting you?" I ask Grandpapa.

"Around the time the plague began affecting this area," he answers. "Sage Elena brought him with her when she came to deliver the potions for it. He began visiting once a week."

"He is the one who brings you the teas," I realize.

"Yes," Grandpapa answers. "And Reid the cookies."

"You said," I look at Moose Alpha. "That he gifted you the stuffie months ago. He knew the same day I visited you the first time that I came here."

"He did," Grandpapa answers. "He visited me after you left, in fact."

Jason knew I would take my rest here, and with Moose Alpha around, there is no danger to me. That is why he wanted me to leave Griffin Alpha behind. He knows about Reid, too. Yet he has told no one. I suppose Jason realized I want this to be kept a secret.

I make a mental note to thank Jason the next time I see him, which might be this weekend. If I am right, then Grandpapa would not have informed me about Jason being his friend unless Jason gave him permission too.

"So," I say. "What do you think of me being the King of Spring? Just how much did Jason tell you?"

"He told me long ago," Grandpapa says. "About being the King of Magic, as well as what the true nature of the Kings and Queens of Power were. Magi, the most powerful mortals to ever exist. Beings sent by the Queen of the Gods to end the war."

So he does not know that we are the reincarnations of actual gods. Then he called us deities because of the version Jason told him. I suppose it works, and does hold truth to it.

"As for what I think of it," Grandpapa thinks for a few moments. "I think you should teach me some gardening spells."

(Jason, 17)

"Do you want to see something really cool?" I ask Cody, who nods.

I raise a wall of stone a few inches thick, four feet wide, and ten feet tall, and Cody gives me an unimpressed look.

"Go to the other side of it and wait," I tell him. "I'll show you the cool thing then."

Cody gives me a skeptical look, but goes to the other side of the wall. I remove my tunic and jewelry, setting them on a stone table I raise beside me, then I phase my head, shoulders, and upper chest through the wall, along with my right arm so I can wave at my wide-eyed brother.

"Isn't this cool?" I ask, and he nods, excitement in his eyes. "Unfortunately, our mamas and papas will be really upset if I teach you how to do this, Cody, but I've got something else that's just as cool to teach you."

I pull back and pull my jewelry back on, Cody rejoining me as I do. While he waits for me to finish, he pokes at the wall, as if trying to see if it's an illusion, but it's not, so he does just poke the wall. Once I pull my tunic back on, I push the wall and the table into the ground, then wrap myself in a light spell to hide me from sight.

"I can teach you how to do this, though!" I tell him.

"Please!" He exclaims.

I release the spell, then guide Cody through how to wrap himself in light in such a way that no one will see him. At least, no one using a scanning spell or able to read magic.

Unfortunately, my mamas and papas always have bad timing with this, and as Cody practices moving around with the spell on, Mama Elizabeth shows up. She takes one look at where Cody is, notices his presence through her scanning spell and ability to read magic, then gives me an unimpressed look.

"Jason," she says. "As you well know, that spell is forbidden."

"In other countries, maybe," I say. "But here? Not so much. Plus, it's just-ow!"

Mama Elizabeth grabs my ear and pulls on it.

"It keeps him happy and entertained!" I exclaim. "Learning neat spells like that! I couldn't teach him how to phase, so I went with illusions instead!"

I teleport out of her grip, and she glares at me.

"So what did you come here for?" I ask. "I'm not sharing with you any of the sweets I took from the party."

"You put Jacob on a rest after breaking yours?"

"They're two different types of rests," I point out. "Mine was for my body, his is for his mind. My body recovered, and if you want my mental state to suffer, then try to force me back into a rest where I can't do anything that actually relaxes me. Jacob can still use magic, but he's forbidden from training, which is one of the things that's been stressing his mind. You forbid me from magic entirely, which resulted in stress."

"Do you know where he went?" She asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "He's somewhere with another stuffie golem, that's why he left Griffin Alpha behind."

Though I had to wake Griffin Alpha up, Jacob misunderstood me and sent him into sleep mode. Griffin Alpha's acting as additional security. The Betas are decent, but an extra Alpha patrolling the palace is always useful.

Moose Alpha's already let me know that Jacob's now aware that I know where he's at and that there's a stuffie golem there, so it's also safe for me to at least mention he's still near one.

"Zachary wants to know where Jacob went," she tells me.

"I know, he called."

"And?"

"And I'm in the middle of teaching Cody some pretty neat spells," I tell her. "Actually, wait, what time is it?"

I check the time.

"Ah, crap," I say. "Hey, Cody? It's time for me to go meet up with Alex. Do you want to stay here, or go with Mama Elizabeth? I bet if you ask really nicely, she'll show you how to make a tunic yourself."

Cody gives Mama Elizabeth a hopeful look.

"Come on," she sighs, then gives me a look that tells me we aren't done with this discussion and that we'll resume it later. "Let's head back to the other house, Cody. I'm sure Jenna and Thomas will be happy to see you again."

Mama Elizabeth takes Cody's hand, then opens a gate, before suddenly looking at me.

"When did Cody hit middle green?" She asks.

"This morning," I answer, and Cody puffs up his chest in pride. "He wasn't too far from it when he first started using magic, so even his much lighter training than my other students let him reach it."

"Okay," she says. "We'll talk more later."

Not if I go somewhere you can't find me.

"Don't think I won't ground you," she says. "I know how to contact your grandmother."

"Yes, Mama Elizabeth," I say.

She and Cody walk through the gate, then it disappears, and I snort. Fael Mira can only contain me if I let her contain me. Or if I'm weakened due to something like the solstices and equinoxes. It's not like I've actually done anything bad. Cody won't abuse his knowledge for evil, and Jacob is getting some much-needed mental rest where he won't have to stress over the dozens of reports he deals with a day.

Seriously, even Uncle Zach wasn't putting as much on himself as Jacob is, and Uncle Zach is in charge of the whole kingdom. Honestly, this is for the better. When Jacob returns, I'm sure he'll take a hard look at everything he puts on himself, then realize why his papa has other people taking care of certain things.

Jacob needs to appoint a manager to handle the more minor projects, who just gives him updates and reports on how things go. He doesn't have to personally oversee every report regarding the enchanters' academy he approved being built.

Though that's going to open up a can of worms I'm not sure any kingdom is prepared to handle. There's a reason only the truly powerful have actually settled in the Unwild Lands, even if they themselves aren't aware of it.

I'm sure they've noticed one of the things that factors into it, but they don't know it. From my poking and prodding of my mamas and papas and the clans, I was able to determine their ignorance regarding anything other than the monsters and dangerous plants that live within it.

Thankfully, the true Unwild Lands do start a little further in than just the edge of the official start. So it will probably be a few years, at least, before the academy's research sends them into where it's dangerous.

Hm. Perhaps Mama Alyssa knows? She's the only one of my mamas and papas who've noticed the enchantments on my property and the training areas. The ones that I put in and concealed. I don't think she's figured out how to read them and determine their purpose, but if she's noticed them, she might have begun to suspect something.

That needs investigation, but not right now. Right now, I need to meet up with Alex, so I teleport to my washing room and take a shower, dry off, dress in nice clothes, then open a gate to Levirar Mansion in Varilsy.

I step through it and into their entrance hall, and am greeted immediately by Alex's butler, who gives me a deep bow.

"Lord Jason," he says. "Lord Levirar awaits your arrival. If you would follow me, I will take you to him."

"Thank you," I say, then follow the butler to the office Alex is inside. Connor and Pine are inside of it, probably to act as the ones there so that Alex and I aren't alone. "Hello, Alex, Connor, Pine."

"Hello, Jason," Connor greets me, and Pine waves.

"Hey, Jason," Alex says. "I wanted to talk with ya regarding the RC stuff."

"Sure," I say. "How far are you on it?"

"I'm almost done," he tells me. "With making the versions ready for sale. I-could you please ask Zevenas to not eat that."

"Zevenas, no!" I give the baby dragon a hard look, and he releases the edge of the carpet before returning to my side.

"As I was saying," Alex says as I look at him once more. "I will be hosting a party here on Sorday. It will be a small party consisting of just nobles that Connor and I have managed to befriend over the last few months. At least, if they show up. There will be maybe five to ten families, children included."

"I get the feeling I'm not invited," I say.

"Correct," Alex gives me an apologetic look. "I'd like to invite ya, Jason, but I'm going to be advertising the RC animals to them at the party. If ya are there, then they'll view it as a sale from Sageson Toys, not Levirar Toys, and we want to try to keep our company separate from yours, even if we do use your magitech."

"Understandable," I say. "It will allow you to try to make sales on your own merit, the way you are already."

"Yeah," Alex nods. "I just wanted to let ya know, Jason, about the party and how I'd wish ya could be there, but know ya won't be."

"That's fine," I smile at him. "I'll be seeing you at a lot of parties, anyway. I'll cheer you on from the sidelines."

Alex gives me a strange look.

"Ya know how to change your appearance, don't ya?" He asks.

I laugh, weaving an illusion around me to make me look different, and he groans.

"Don't worry," I say in a voice different from my own. "I won't be at the party. Someone would surely realize it's me, which would ruin the whole point."

"That is disturbing how complete that is," Connor says. "What have you done with it?"

"I've gotten up to a little bit of mischief," I say. "You do know that Jacob knows how to do this, too, right?"

Alex gets a look on his face that says he's planning on mastering light well enough to change his appearance through an illusion. Then he gets a look on his face that says he's going to try to get ahead of Jacob during this rest period of my cousin's.

Good luck with that, Alex.

"Anyway," Alex shakes his head. "That's all I wanted."

Connor clears his throat.

"Oh, right!" Alex exclaims. "Actually, there was one more thing. Connor wanted me to ask ya, Jason, but is is possible for us to arrange an exclusive deal for the use of the magitech required to make the RC toys? We know other companies will likely want to use them and come to Sageson as soon as they discover it, try to get a head start on a company which can only make them to order at the moment due to finances."

"A set period of time," I say. "Where only Levirar Toys is authorized to use our patent? Like what, a year? Two years?"

"I said five, Connor said one," Alex says. "Basically, we just want to have the exclusive right to it long enough that the toy is seen as ours. Basically, create a brand name, like back on Earth. Other companies would get it later, and might set down roots in other areas, but to those who are important, it would be a Levirar toy design."

"We can do that," I say. "Let's do three years, though know that if we set this precedence, some of Sageson's patents will have exclusives with other companies. We have to be fair in this, and it would be showing favoritism to you if we only did this for you."

"That's fine," Alex says.

"Okay," I say.

"One more thing," Connor says. "I just thought of it, but can we receive the exclusive rights for the patent you hold that's used in our game sets? While we do hold one of the patents necessary for it, other companies might use the patent you've authorized our use of to develop something similar."

"Sure," I say. "Exclusive rights to that as well, three years. We'll back-date them to yesterday, but I think we'll arrange it so that it's only for toys and game sets."

"That's fine," Connor tells me. "That's what we're trying to build ourselves with."

"But don't ask for the exclusive right for the stuffie golems you guys are allowed to use the patent for," I say. "Since we're already making them and selling them, too."

"We won't," Alex asks. "Though we haven't really touched into the stuffies yet. We did make some, but then had to focus on some other things for a bit. We're planning on resuming making them come autumn."

"Alright," I say. "Let me head back to the office and get the contracts drawn up, I want Papa Harold to help me so I make sure they're worded right. I'll return once I finish that, so that you can sign it."

"Thanks," Alex says. "And again, Jason, I'm sorry about Sorday, I really want ya to be there, but-"

"It's fine," I tell him. "You'll make it up to me by going on a date with me Felday."

"It's a deal," he immediately agrees.