Carmine fastened the vine around her forearm, and looked up at the tree hanging over her house. She raised her off hand to aim and readied herself.

Aim for the thickest part of the branch, she told herself, where it can hold your weight.

She yelled out with exertion, throwing the vine at her target, propelling it with a force spell. Evidently too much force. The vine sailed over her target tree in totality, landing far beyond her sight.

"Damn it, not again," Carmine grumbled. By the time she would finally pull off this little trick she'd be an expert in coiling vines. If the issue with the archive taught her anything, it was to avoid creepy tombs filled with skeletons and desperate mages. An important lesson, but the second thing she learned was that there are much better ways to get around than walking along the floor. While couldn't really solve all the dank tombs of the world, she did have an idea for getting around a little quicker.

Unfortunately, that idea relied on Carmine having better aim than a blind elephant, which, at this point, insulted elephants

With her makeshift rope all coiled again, she gave it another try. This time the vine barely skimmed the branch's edge, but that was all Carmine wanted. Before she even allowed herself to celebrate, she switched focus to the vine, muttering a second spell. She asserted control over the plant, commanding it to coil around the branch before it fell too far. Once the vine went taught, it tugged on Carmine's arm, pulling her up towards the tree a little faster than she wanted. As she swung closer, Carmine came to a worrying realization: she hadn't planned on how to stop.

The tree trunk greeted her with an aching crash, sending her dangling by the arm from its branches. The picture of dignity.

"Still...a success," She muttered to herself in hollow victory. Her side ached, but not badly. At least it worked. Now she just had to refine the idea. First improvement to the process: refine ideas before attempting them.

While she considered the better aspects of planning, a familiar snap caught her attention around the side of the cabin.

Oh no.

She wiggled her arm, trying to get the vine to come free, but it was too late.

"What are you doing up there," Nicholos asked, stepping out from his portal.

"The tree started it," She returned, her voice flat to hide her shame.

Nicholos just smirked and leaned against the side of the cabin.

"Trying something new are we? Playing the part of live bait for the bears, or just getting used to living among the trees?"

"You're hilarious."

"Correct. Get down from there. I've got something to show you."

Carmine looked up at her coiled vine and commanded it to unwrap. Slowly. She landed back on solid soil, shaking off the vine and aches both before giving Nicholos her attention.

"What's new this time, Nico?" She turned up to his face, suspicious of the barely contained grin. "Happen to make some new flavor of self-sweeping broom?"

"Nooooo," He harmonized. Carmine noticed he held something behind him. "Guess again."

"No!"

"Oh, you're no fun." Nicholos said as he pulled an opened envelope from behind his back.

"Did you get a pen-pal? Vale always said you needed more friends."

"Carmine, you wound me. I have plenty of friends-"

"Ruins don't count."

"Oh, fine. Listen here you." Nicholos pulled her in by the shoulder. He pulled a note from the envelope, one with an extravagant crest emblazoned at the top. "You really handled yourself well at the ruin, and with the exorcists. What's more, you've exceeded your studies in more ways than I could have hoped for. I'd say that counts as being a great student."

Carmine furrowed her brow, searching Nicholos' eyes for his point when it dawned on her: a promise made a few years back.

"A-are we going-?" She stammered, her words falling to excitement.

"I have here three tickets for entry through Edrinock's waygate. Vale's already on her way here." Nicholos' eyes lit up, matching Carmine's. "How'd you like to see the capital?"

Within the hour, Carmine cleaned up and returned to Nicholos with her best coat on, her reddest scarf around her neck and a journal under her arm. Everything new had to be noted down and studied for later sights, sounds, events and the capital's food. Especially the capital's food.

Vale had arrived while Carmine prepared, and now all three stood together.

"What are we waiting for?" Carmine said as she bounced closer to the pair. "Let's go!"

"All right, you crazy kid," Vale said as Carmine pulled her towards the side of the cabin. "You'd think you'd been locked up in that house all your life. Nico?"

"Just a moment," Nicholos replied. Concentration furrowed his brow as he focused on the wall he used to get to and from his shop. He started the portal's incantation, one he wouldn't teach Carmine yet because "oooh dangerous". She tried to listen to pick up the words, but her own attention was too focused on whatever would be on the other side of that portal. What grand castles? What magic towers? What colossal walls?

The familiar snap of the spell linking to its end point rang in Carmine's ears. She leapt through as their destination came into view.

"Please come throu-" A voice on the other end started as Carmine's feet hit the floor. She looked across to a man sitting behind a desk blocked from the room by a pane of glass. His bagged eyes heaved up from an intimidating stack of papers to stare at Carmine. His exasperated glare lingered longer on the scarred side of her face than the other. Carmine turned her face away, pulling her scarf over her burn. "Please wait for proper instructions before entering." He sounded like he hadn't slept in days.

"S-sorry." She straightened up, clutching her journal a little tighter. The small room where she landed looked as plain as plain could be: featureless stone walls, a cheap rug thrown over the floor and not even a single place to sit. Not the most impressive welcome.

"Remember what I said," Nicholos mumbled as he entered behind Carmine. "People here are a little...wound up."

"He means they like their rules." Vale corrected. "It's not like home, Red. They have a rule for everything here."

"Please keep chatter to a minimum as your visit is processed." The man behind the glass droned on, face glued to his papers.

"See?" Vale pointed.

"Sir Nicholos of Louis Port?" The clerk called out.

"Aye, that's me." Nicholos stepped forward.

"These two are your companions as expressed in your requisitioned portal tickets?" The clerk's voice drained Carmine's excitement by the word.

"They are. These are-"

"Please state your names for the chronicle and whether or not you have visited Edrinock before."

Nicholos clenched his jaw and looked at Carmine. He nudged her towards the clerk with apologetic eyes

"I-I'm Carmine F-Felis," she started. The blank walls of the room and the clerk's disinterested stare made her feel like she was in trouble. "I've...uh...n-never been here. Before."

"Thank you," the clerk replied without a hint of gratitude, his pen scribbling away. "And you-"

"Valentine Verdania," Vale exclaimed, leaning closer to the glass. "Yes, I'm a faun. No, I am not arriving from Reala. No, I've no weapons to declare. My herbs are medicinal, not poisonous, and yeah: I've been here before."

The clerk looked up from his paper, a bead of sweat dropping from his bushy brow. He reached into his desk and searched around before finding a large file. "M-miss Verdania, of course," The clerk sputtered. "You are on the approved list, please enter!"

The clerk pressed a button on his desk and the waiting room's door popped open. He put on his best fake grin as he motioned for the three to leave.

"I love it when you do that," Nicholod said to Vale as they walked.

"Believe me, portal customs loses its charm after the dozenth time." Vale eagerly left the room, no mirth on her face, leaving a frown on Nicholos'. Just like with the exorcists, Vale's attitude soured around empire folk.

"H-have you been here a lot, Vale?" Carmine sped up to catch to her doctor before she walked through the door, only to find a corridor as boring as the room they just left.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Vale replied. She smiled as she spoke but the creases from her brow stayed deep. "I've had to come by a few times recently. I'll tell you about it in a bit."

"O-okay. You...answered a lot more questions than Nico and I."

"Don't worry about me, Red, I've dealt with 'extra precautions' for a while now." Vale rolled her eyes and kept walking. "It's part of living in Vembris when it has gripes with your home nation. If it were different, it would be the Aevans or Vulfans they'd harass.They worry anyone is a spy, but of course Arova and Creed don't share a border with Vembris...So it's fauns they bother. But hey, don't you worry about that, alright? The rest of the city is just fine."

"Are we gonna see it soon?" Carmine asked, raising her arms at the corridor. "All I've seen so far is a boring room and a very sad man."

"They do that for security," Nicholos explained. "Anyone trying to get in this way without permission will get trapped back there. And look," Nicholos pointed ahead, "there's our exit."

The hallway ended in a pair of massive double doors, made of metal! Carmine didn't even see a way to open it, but as she stepped in front of them, they began to move on their own.

Through the widening gap between them, Carmine saw a city sprawling across, and above the land. Below, she saw a sea of grey buildings, bunched together, surrounded by roads all over. Among them, some towers rose up into platforms, looming over parts of the city as whole districts sat atop them. More spires raced ever upward, even piercing the clouds as a network of interconnected bridges linked them all together. Carmine noticed a familiar blue shine run under the bridges, like the one she'd seen in the ancients' archive. She saw it again, attached to the bottom of a tower that floated unbound midair! If that didn't shock her enough, she saw sailboats with weird spinning sticks attached behind them flying, really flying, from platform to platform. It didn't even wobble! Carmine couldn't even fly herself yet.

Past it all, one building put all others to shame. A massive palace, it had to be the palace, stretching from the ground level, all the way past the tallest spires. Carmine couldn't even see where it ended. Every person in Rolderston could move their whole house inside and there would still be room left over. How was such a structure even built?

"Careful Red," Vale pointed at Carmine's open-mouthed expression. "Don't want a bird to nest in there."

Carmine clenched her jaw, embarrassed. There was so much. "T-this city is so big." She said, opening her arms wide. "What do we even do? Where do we start?"

"I knew this would be a lot to take in," Nicholos stepped to the edge of their platform. He took Carmine's shoulder and pulled her with him. In that second she realized; they weren't on the ground level either. Dizziness gripped her as she stared down at the ant-sized people a long way below them. It was then she noticed the guard rails and how glad she was for them.

Vale snorted behind her. Carmine glared back. It was no laughing matter!

"See that platform over there?" Nicholos pointed across the city to one of the few bits of colour that stuck out; a tower with long colored strips of cloth tethered to the edges of its district. "It's one of the city’s leisure districts. They have all sorts of shops there, and games, and-

“Uh, Nico,” Vale cut in, “That’s...not the leisure district you want. It's that one.” Vale pointed at another platform, equally as colourful.

“Oh...they pretty similar.”

“What’s the other one then,” Carmine asked Vale.

For some reason, Vale looked away, starting to look a little embarrassed. ”Dunno if I should say.”

“Vale, what’s the other district?” Nico repeated the question, just as curious.

“Nico, its banners are red.” Vale said, shooting him an incredulous look.

“Oh.” Nico’s eyes went wide and his face turned red.

“So what,” Carmine turned her attention to him. He knew something. “What does that mean?”

“I’ll, uh...it's a place where...adults...go to meet each other to...engage in...uh...” Nico let the silence hang too long, so Carmine turned to Vale.

“Brothels.” Vale said plainly

Carmine blinked, her ears going as red as Nico, but the old wizard had one more question.

“Wait, how do you know-?”

“BUT, we’re here for the restaurants.” Vale spoke over him, without a hint of shame.

"I never forgot what you said about the food here." Carmine replied, turning her attention to the first new subject to arise.

“Aye...right,” Nico composed himself. “We’ll be there before long. Excited?”

“What do you think? Of course!”

No such excitement accompanied the arrival of their taxi. Moving from district to district happened one of two ways, according to Nicholos. Either they took a lift down to ground level and walked through crowded streets and city blocks, an endeavor that Vale claimed would take literal hours, or they took one of those flying boats. An airship, Vale called them. Terrifying, Carmine called them.

"You sure it's not going to fall?" Carmine lingered at the edge of the small ship like a tree rooted to land. Seeing Nico and Vale already on the thing tried her heart enough. It would fall any moment, she knew it would!

"It's fine, Carmine, these ships have been in use for decades," Nicholos held out his hand, coaxing Carmine as though she were a skittish deer. Her eyes certainly looked the part.

The young mage leaned towards the lift, her eyes catching the smallest gap where the platform ended and the ship began. So small that not even a pen could fall through it, but on the other side the drop waited.

"Nope. No. No, no, no. Not happening." Carmine took three life preserving paces away from the edge and turned her back to it. "Walking. On land. Let's go."

"Okay. If that makes you feel better, Carmine." Nicholos stood up, acting like he would leave, but she knew that voice, that lofty tone. She crossed her arms and guarded herself. "We can walk sure, but- oh!" He turned to Vale. "We'll be late for our reservations at The Epicurean, won't we?"

"What? What is that?" Carmine sneered over her shoulder, but they both acted like they didn't hear.

"Aw, you're right Nico." Vale sunk back in her chair aboard the ship, disappointed- no, feigning disappointment. Carmine caught that underlying smirk, she knew better! "And I was just so looking forward to going there." Vale pouted over the city, a wistful look in her eyes.

"Hey! Stop ignoring me!" Carmine stormed back to the threshold. Not even their goading would trick her to step on. "What is this 'epicurean' thing?"

"Just a modest eatery," Nicholos explained, shrugging his shoulders. "One that's a little hard to get into. People wait months just for a taste of the masterpieces that come out of their kitchen."

How dare you, Carmine thought, squinting her eyes at Nico. He couldn’t do this

"I got pretty lucky too," Vale added, curling her obsidian hair around her finger. "A friend gave me their slot since they couldn't make it. Guess we'll have to find some other place. Maybe something closer, quick and cheap-"

Carmine dropped into the chair between them, arms still crossed against her chest from both fury and anxiety, but...she was getting hungry.

"You. Are. Both. Awful." She growled through grit teeth, her stomach following suit.

"The worst." Vale agreed, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Off we go then," Nicholos stepped to the front of the ship. A crystal pane brightened to life, just like the ones in the ruins. At Nico’s touch images slid across its surface. Carmine couldn't be sure, but it looked like a map of the city. While Nico messed with the pane, something else bothered Carmine.

Where was the driver? Where was the wheel, or the rudder, or whatever was supposed to control the ship? How was it supposed too-?

Without warning, the boat lurched from the platform, the weightlessness that accompanied falling not far behind.

"We're going to crash!" Carmine cried, squeezing her eyes shut, and digging her nails into her chair.

"No, no we're fine," Nicholos tried to calm her. "That's just how these things work, they can be a little...bumpy, that's all. Look...we're flying."

Carmine slowly opened her eyes, knowing the ground would be right there, waiting to slam into their little raft. Instead, the sky spilled out before her to the horizon. Air flowed all around them as they sailed through this empty ocean. Carmine stood, her legs a bit wobbly as her scarf danced in the breeze behind her. She leaned on the edge of the ship, looking down at the city passing below them, and the welcoming clouds above. Even after all she'd learned, nothing compared to this sense of wonder, of freedom.

"How is this possible?" She asked, not daring to tear her eyes away from the view.

"A lot of study in both science and sorcery." Nicholos answered. "Take that glowing stone on the underside of that tower." Nicholos pointed at one of the keeps floating higher than the ship. "This ship has the same thing inside it. It's called arkanite. The ancients used it in their buildings. Remember how some of the objects in the archive could cast magic? Well, some folks smarter than me figured out how to use stone like the ancients did. They figured out how to imprint energy and intent on the ore and from there it just took some imagination, and they built all this." Nicholos waved at the city below them.

"There's nothing even close to this in Rolderston, or any other town I've seen." Carmine stared at the towering spires again, this time noticing faint blue glows in their construction. Not a one swayed in the wind.

"And you won't see much outside cities," Vale continued. A scowl crawled over her face, landing on the palace. "Arkanite’s a precious resource to Vembris, but that 'emperor' would rather spend it on making weapons and armor for his armies than bettering the lives of his people."

"It's not that simple," Nicholos doubted.

"Maybe." Vale rested her chin on her hand and stared into the sky. "We can debate that another day." Vale turned her attention to Carmine. "Ever been to a carnival?"

"Once," Carmine answered. "On the eve of a harvest one year, some traveling performers came through town. They threw a big party to help us celebrate." Carmine smiled behind her scarf and bitter nostalgia. "M-mother baked a lot of sweets while Father let the other kids ride our horses."

"Carmine," Nicholos reached out, but she stopped him.

"I'm okay." She answered. "It...it was fun."

“Welp, get ready for some more,” Vale warned, “Our dinner isn’t until evening, and this place has a bunch of games to kill the time. So I say we blow Nico’s money on some games for ourselves. You and I could turn a few odds in our favor and win-”

"Don't cheat please." Nicholos sighed at her.

"You know these games aren't fair." Vale retorted as she spoke in Carmine's other ear. "You know Red, they'd never suspect a kid like you witching a few things-"

"Don't you dare." Nicholos warned again.

"Just think about it," the faun whispered, feigning defeat to Nicholos as he glared like a grumpy dad. They both knew Vale never gave up anything so easily. Carmine laughed at them both.

The ship swooped next to the new platform, and Carmine leapt to be on solid ground once again. Before she even took another step, color assaulted her from every direction. Every one of the buildings here ran awash with different hues. Whether it be dyed cloth draped over each wall, or paintings soaked into the stones, each stall, house, and light post spited its own grey upbringing. It treaded back and forth over the line of tasteful to garish.

The sounds overwhelmed Carmine's ears just as much; music, crowds laughter, it all blended together into discordant noise. She didn't know whether to be nervous or mesmerized.

"Well, what do you think," Nicholos nodded ahead.

"Whoa- it's loud." Carmine took in the surrounding chaos.

“Yeah, that seems right.” Nicholos chuckled and walked her forward. “Come, let’s find a game.”

Find games they did, but how to choose? She could hit targets with a toy bow, knock over targets by throwing a ball, or try to win a prize at the ring toss. So many options...she would just have to do them all, starting with the horse rides.

She missed caring for horses the way she used to. As much as Carmine loved learning magic, remembering how she helped look after Mother and Father's horses always brought a smile to her face. Sitting in a saddle again took her back years. Even on a horse whose name she didn't know, even on a small track just to trot in a circle, Carmine could clear her head and enjoy the rhythm of the horse's steps.

Unfortunately, the rest of the games were not so peaceful. There were shenanigans afoot, she knew. Some of these "games" were rigged! Had to be! The rings in the ring toss were too small, they bounced right off the bottles. And another thing: when she had to knock over targets with a ball the ball may as well have been made of clouds! She'd have better luck breaking the targets with her angry thoughts than the stupid thing!

"You'll get it Carmine," Nicholos consoled her after her latest failed throw.

"Maybe if I was given a fair chance," Carmine grumbled back.

"Remember what I told you," Vale whispered, avoiding Nicholos' narrow eyed stare.

"That will be another five pennies if you want to try again," the game attendant explained, holding the next batch of spongy lies for Carmine to throw.

"Five!?" Nicholos' attention snapped back to the attendant like she was a yarish archive. "It was three just a second ago."

"The first couple of tries are at a discount." The attendant tried to explain. They went back and forth, the attendant explaining policy and Nico taking exception to it. It would have been funny if Nico hadn't already done it at nearly every other game so far.

Please Nico, Carmine thought as she averted her eyes, trying to disassociate from the embarrassment. She almost flinched when she found someone else's eyes staring back at her. A boy, younger than her, attached to his mother by the hand, had his frown fixed upon Carmine until he realized Carmine was looking back. He hid behind his mother, tugging on her arm and whispering a question he didn't think Carmine could hear.

"Mom, what happened to her face?"

The mother turned to see what her son was talking about just to be met with the same sight. She quickly turned back to her son, hushing him, telling him not to ask such questions.

Carmine pulled her scarf back up over her nose, shame creeping up from her stomach to her heart. Nicholos and Vale saw nothing, heard nothing, as the former kept arguing with the clerk. It dawned on her there; every game she went to the clerks and other customers all avoided her eyes. Not one spoke to her, preferring to leave all their words for Nicholos or Vale. Even now the game clerk never even looked at her.

Fine! If they wanted to pretend they couldn't see her, then she'd pretend they weren't looking. Carmine stole one of the balls from the clerk's desk. She hid a brief incantation under a yell as she threw the ball towards the shelf packed full of targets.

It impacted with far more force than it had any right to, and the shelf wobbled back and forth, spilling every target to the floor to shatter. As the shelf landed on its back, every eye turned towards her, confused and awed.

"Ha! I did it! I...uh…" As her excitement faded, Carmine remembered how awful being the center of attention was. She pulled up her scarf even higher and threw her hood over her head, keen to go back into hiding. Too bad Vale didn't let her.

"Well, well, seems Carmine has quite the arm on her," Vale stepped beside her, holding Carmine by the shoulder and giving the clerk her most smug, satisfied grin. "Seems she hit one, two…every target. So that's the main prize right?"

"Uh...well," The clerk took their head in her hands, staring at the shattered clay mess Carmine had made. "You…you didn't pay-"

Coin hit the desk at those words. "There." Nicholos pulled his hand back from five dirty copper pennies. His stony eyes left no room for debate.

"But you...fine," the clerk sighed, flailing their arm at the prizes hanging above the game.

Carmine looked up at stuffed toys, cheap jewelry, and collections of candy larger than she'd ever seen, but none of them mattered right now unless they could make everyone stop staring!

She pointed to the first expensive looking thing she saw: a fine black coat with patterns in the fabric.

“That?” Vale raised a brow. “I think that’d be a bit big for you.”

“Good it can hide me,” Carmine replied, grabbing the coat from the clerk’s hand and putting it over her head as if she were hiding from rain. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Fair enough, Red.” Vale pulled Carmine along. “You know, i’m proud you took my advice-”

“Magic shouldn’t be used to cheat Vale,” Nicholos mumbled so the crowd couldn't hear.

“That wasn’t cheating, that was just making it even. You know the games here aren’t-”

“Can we just go eat please?” Carmine interrupted their squabbling before it really started. As fun as the games were, she’d seen enough crowds for one day.

Thankfully, no one stopped them when they left, and according to Vale: not getting caught is pretty much the same as not cheating at all. Nico wanted her to stop talking after that. Evening couldn’t come soon enough, and by the time the sky turned violet and the sun disappeared below the horizon, Carmine and her guardians found their table on a balcony overlooking the city.

Its grey facade fell away at night, leaving the city awash with light. Each glow signaling another life living in the city. A life with a family, a life on its own. What would Carmine be if she were one of those lights out there? Before she could think too much about it, she became extremely, and justifiably, distracted.

The aroma of fresh spices and cooking meat wafted out from the Epicurean’s kitchen turning Carmine’s nose, and thoughts, towards food.

“Uh oh, she’s drooling,” Vale teased, tossing a napkin towards Carmine.

“Am not!” She sneered back, but wiped her mouth anyway, just to be safe.

"Why not? Your nose works." Vale turned all her attention towards the kitchen exit, leaning forward on her chair. "I would trade every meal in my life for whatever comes next out that door."

"Let's not get too crazy," Nico tossed a napkin over Vale's face. "You'll get us thrown out for leering at the staff."

"They're not so bad either-"

"Vale please...we had something else to talk about."

"Right, right, fine spoil sport. Onto business." Vale twisted in her chair to look back at Carmine.

The young mage soon found both her guardians staring at her intently. She started to sweat.

"We've been thinking," Nico began.

"That's not good," Carmine blurted out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nicholos frowned, confused, while Vale just laughed.

"No!" Carmine raised her hands in defence. "I didn't mean it like that...just...you both seemed so serious."

"She's got us there Nico." Vale added as she sat up. "You looked like you were going to pass a stone. Maybe this isn't as big a deal as we think."

"What's not a big deal?" Carmine asked. It'd be great if they stopped leaving her in the dark.

"We've been thinking," Nico started over. "Maybe it's time you had a more...stable environment. As good as you did on our little adventure, leaving home behind to explore a dangerous ruin every few weeks for money isn't the best upbringing for a young lady, or a young mage."

"It...it was pretty scary," Carmine admitted. Most ruins probably didn't have shambling thralls running amok, but it wasn't something she wanted to risk twice. "So what do we do?"

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about." Nicholos looked towards Vale.

"I've been offered a position to teach at the Laval Institute for arcane studies." Vale explained. "They want me to be their expert on restoration magics and head doctor."

"That's great!" Carmine clapped her hands together. "Much better than Rolderston's dingy clinic."

"I liked dingy you know," Vale pointed back at her. "Made things even more rewarding when I fixed folks up, but this is too good a job to pass up for me. Not many places would hire fauns in such a high position."

"So...you're leaving?" Carmine's smile faltered, as happy as she was for Vale, she didn't want to see her go.

"Next year, yeah, but that's not what we wanted to talk to you about. I was able to do some negotiating and...they agreed to take you on as well."

"Me!?"

"Yep. The institute is a school. They take students around your age and help you find a future where you can use your talents. I told them that you were my protégé but also a gifted mage in your own right. They're always looking for talented students…mostly for their own reputation, but you would learn a lot."

"And be with people your own age," Nicholos added. His face lowered with sadness, aged lines digging deep across his face. "You know better than most that life can change in an instant. If...if anything were to happen to me, I wouldn't want you to be alone again. If you go, you could meet people, make friends, gain experience that will help you later in life."

"But you can't come." Carmine read his face for that detail. His silence gave the answer he wouldn't.

"It's not by his choice," Vale came to Nico's defence. "The institute has on site lodging just for students and staff."

"It's fine Vale." Nico raised his hand for her to stop. "It's fine if you want to stay. I'll keep taking care of you as long as I have strength in these bones, and I'll keep teaching you of course. I...I just really believe that this-"

"It's okay Nico," Carmine stopped him, seeing the pain in his eyes. She saw he hated the idea of separating as much as she did, but he would let her choose anyway. "I...I'll go." Her voice cracked in her throat. "If you think I can learn and...and make friends, I'll do it. I want to do it."

"Oh, Carmine." Nico circled around the table on one side, and Vale squeezed in on the other. She felt sandwiched between their embrace.

Carmine's eyes warped with bittersweet tears. "I'll- I'll be the best mage you ever heard of. I'll make you proud."

"We already are." Her guardians said at once. Their warmth soothed Carmine's anxiety at what she'd just agreed to. She would do her best for them.

Her found Father and Mother.