Fiona hardly slept a wink that night. She had spent most of the evening with Darren, only slipping back into her room an hour or so before sunrise. She stared out the window looking out over the moonlit field. The sky was starting to lighten, and the sun would be rising soon. Her heart picked up speed with excitement. She wouldn’t be spending the night here, in this room. Rather she would be spending it in a tent, somewhere in the mountains, with Darren…

...and Sam.

Her stomach sank a bit but she shrugged it off. She had convinced Carter to let her group bring two small tents, instead of the suggested single large tent. Sam could have a tent all to herself. She lit a small candle, filling the room with a dim, eerie flickering. She began to rifle through her belongings, finding any odds and ends belonging to Freya that she’d need.

By the time she had finished, she had added a small collection of various charms, her journal, and a small quill to her travel pack. She smiled, looking out the window as the sun began to rise. Today was going to be amazing.

---

The castle was aflutter. Aaron rushed through the halls, looking for Patrick or someone who could help find him. After checking rooms, armory, dining hall, Aaron stopped, halfway up another flight of stairs, sighing loudly, realizing exactly where Patrick was.

He found the small man in the library, perusing through books. Aaron cleared his throat, but Patrick didn’t turn.

“We need to talk,” Aaron said.

“She’ll be fine you know.”

“Patrick.”

Patrick turned to look at Aaron, a smile on his usually serious face. “She’s not twelve anymore. She’s a damn good fighter.”

“Just keep her safe. She’s gonna try to protect Bastian,” Aaron wrinkled his nose, “so someone needs to watch her back. I’m going north to the Binnbael Order, so it’s gotta be you.”

“You’re not the only one who’s adopted Violet,” Patrick said, resting on the bookshelf.

Aaron nodded, the knot in his chest relaxing a bit. “As I recall, the Desa family ‘adopted’ you.”

Patrick grinned. “Sure, which makes me her older brother.” Then his face grew solemn again. “I’m serious though, if things get hairy, we’re backing out. This is a test, not a mission.”

Aaron liked this and filed it away for later use with his problematic group. “Alright. Alright, I’m going to find Darren.”

“To look after Fiona and Sam?”

He shrugged, unashamed at the note in Patrick’s voice. “Someone has to look after them.”

Patrick scowled. “Then are you going to warn Zack to look after Morgan and Amanda?”

Aaron tipped his head, teasing out Patrick’s implications. “Of course not. I’m going to tell Amanda to look after Zack and Morgan to look after Amanda.”

“Alright,” Patrick said. “Alright, that’s fair. It looked like-”

“I know who can handle themselves, male or female.”

Patrick nodded. “Ok. I’m gonna finish up here and then meet people at the stables.”

---

Violet was downstairs helping Sam saddle up the horses. “How do you know so much about horses?” she asked.

Sam blushed. “I kinda based Feng off an ex, who was a horse girl. We broke up after I submitted the backstory, so I’m kinda stuck with it.”

Violet didn’t even try to suppress a laugh at Sam’s expense. “And you got custody of the fictional horse.”

“I do like horses!” Sam said. “I learned a lot about them over the whole thing. I’m not unhappy that I have Allyna.” She stroked the mare’s mane. “Just a bit weirded out by it.” Then she turned it on Violet. “I bet everyone who was a camper here is pretty squicked out thinking about all the things they did as heroes.”

Violet grinned, but her laugh was a tad uneasy. She was spared responding as more CITs filed in. They set about saddling up their horses, with Sam’s guidance. She showed them how to walk the horses, the commands and signal they might use to control the animals, and much like with their other talents, they picked up on it very quickly. Even Meredith with her proclaimed dislike of horses and Jake with his wonky saddle, custom-built for his legs.

Carter was in the middle of a headcount when he heard footsteps-Shawn bolted in, breathing heavily. “I-I saw the others riding horses, and I realized the castle was empty,” he panted. “I thought you had left us behind.”

The last to enter were Weston and Navin. Navin went straight to his horse, not making eye contact with anyone, but Weston was very loud with his discontent.

“Meredith, Violet, this one’s on you,” he grumbled.

Violet perked up at her name. “What’s that? Where’s…”

“Oh no,” Meredith said and took off for the castle. Violet was on her heels, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Jasper hadn’t followed the rest of his party outside.

They found the door to Jasper’s room securely closed and locked.

“Jasper, open up,” Meredith said, pressing her ear against the door. “Come on.”

Violet motioned for her to step away before tapping at the door. “No one’s putting any pressure on you. We just want to talk and it’s hard to do that from outside.”

After a begrudging silence, the door’s lock finally clicked. Violet eased it open and peered into the room. Jasper was already back on his bed, head bowed.

“Nerves?” Violet asked.

“It doesn’t feel right to go,” he said. “I am sufficiently stressed out in this castle as it is.”

“Maybe getting out will ease your mind a bit?”

Jasper didn’t answer. His fingers fluttered rapidly against each other.

She sighed. “You seemed alright yesterday-”

“I’m sorry for misleading you then,” he responded. “I got lucky. Adrenaline, or excitement. “Violet,” he said, voice even softer. “I’m not going out. Can the groups reform without me?”

“They can, sure. That isn’t really the problem.” In her head, she pictured Patrick and Bastian, on their own, pictured them finding the Daisan Order, uncovering the secrets of the shadowy Order, exploring their residence, exploring the land. Then she smiled. “I’ll just stay with you. We’re not leaving anyone alone.”

As she expected, he scowled darkly. “No, I’m not making you stay. How did you think that would be a sufficient sell?”

“You can’t stay alone and I’m offering. Would you rather ask someone else?”

“I’m in the castle. This place must be safe.”

“We don’t know for sure.” Violet had to resist just agreeing with him and going. If the whole group stayed, she would have no problem working with him through his nerves, but with everyone out and exploring… “The chefs won’t be visiting for weeks. You’d have to go out to their village and find them. If something does go wrong, you slip and fall or you do some alchemy thing wrong, you’re screwed.”

“I don’t want-”

“I’ll stay.” Meredith had been very quiet up until now, fingers buried in the folds of her skirt. “I’m scared as hell of leaving cause I’m a shit fighter and I really haven’t been able to learn the magic I need to be good. I only agreed cause I thought we had to.”

Violet’s brow puckered in sympathy. “We said if anyone wanted to stay, they just had to say.”

“Yeah but, like with Jasper, I didn’t want to be alone and didn’t want to make anyone stay.”

“I don’t mind being alone,” he said, voice muffled.

“But it’s dangerous, you’ll agree,” Meredith said, setting herself on Jasper’s bed.

“Certainly, but not more so than outside.”

“And,” Meredith continued, “I do want to stay and Violet doesn’t. This seems like not even a compromise.”

Violet’s heart had picked up. “Meredith, are you sure?”

“Well?” Meredith asked, eyes fixed on Jasper.

He pushed his fingers together, back and forth, a few more times, before his lips finally twitched out of their decided downturn. “It does seem like everyone wins.”

”Good.” Meredith hopped up. “In that case, Violet and I will go downstairs and discuss how to break up the groups. I’ll be around the castle all evening, probably Mage’s Guild, so you should be able to find me.”

Violet kept eyes with Jasper for another moment. “We’ll see you when we get back.”

“Tell the others to be safe,” he said.

“You’re not coming down to see them off?” Violet asked.

Jasper shook his head.

“We’ll just say goodbye for you, like usual,” Meredith said, rolling her eyes. “Come on, Violet, before they come up here and bother us asking what the holdup is.”

As the two girls walked back to the stables, Violet spoke up. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t have offered. This… this works out best for me.” Violet did not miss the flush on the small girl’s cheeks.

She smiled. “You look after him. And thank you. Thank you so much.”

By now the two girls had, once again, exited the castle. Much of the group had saddled up, with only a few still on the ground.

“So,” Aaron asked, “did you convince him?”

Violet shook her head. “No. He won’t be coming.”

“You got lucky,” Meredith said, a wry grin on her face. “You boys get to go alone, I’m staying here with Jasper.” She tensed, waiting for a snide comment, but when Aaron spoke, it was soft and genuine.

“Well, that’s very kind of you.”

She shrugged, blushing.

Across the stables, a green looking Shawn was listening to Carter and William. The two were, quite loudly, unleashing a torrent of excitement over all the fabulous battles they were hoping they’d find. He grabbed her on her way to see Carter.

“Hey, maybe I should stay too.”

She blinked. “I thought you were really excited to go!”

“Yeah and then I remembered where I was going and with who and they just keep talking about all the death and fighting we’re gonna get and I don’t feel safe. They said I just needed to say I wasn’t comfortable.”

“Shawn, is it traveling or traveling with Carter and William? There are other groups with openings. You could go east with Weston and Navin, that’s healing and an alchemist, they’ll keep you safe. Or come north with Jake and Aaron! Aaron is competence incarnate and Jake’s pretty good at fighting, and you’ll get to travel with a larger group for some of the journey.”

The clouds in Shawn’s eyes cleared a bit. “That’s... not a bad idea. That’s not a bad idea at all. Do you think Aaron’s gonna mind?”

“Not in the slightest. I’ll tell him.”

Aaron did not object to Shawn ‘tailing along’ with them. He said he looked forward to giving Shawn ‘a positive and educational take' on the world.’ This sounded hilariously boring to her but Shawn was rather excited at the idea of being taken under Aaron’s wing.

Violet said her goodbyes to Carter and they exchanged a kiss. “Don’t die out there,” she said. “I’m serious. It’s dangerous. Don’t take risks.”

“I know Shawn got scared off by the bravado, but it’s just talk. You be careful too.”

“Safety first!” she laughed.

He stared at her for a moment longer, as if memorizing her face, and then nodded and rode ahead of the group.

“Alright, team!” Carter shouted. “Everyone knows where they’re going? Everyone has their food, weapons, maps, potions…” As he spoke, everyone did a brief check over of their packed items. “So, at longest we should be away for a maximum of fifteen days. If it takes you five days to get there, assume five or six back, and stay accordingly. If it takes longer or shorter, stay accordingly. Plan conservatively. There aren’t going to be second chances out here. Don’t take risks. If you feel like continuing is dangerous or risky, turn back. Don’t get lost. Don’t endanger yourself or your teammates.” He looked over at the groups. “Does everyone understand this?” His eyes lingered over a few faces in particular.

A chorus of agreement echoed over the field.

“Come back safe to us!” Meredith called from the stable doors. “I’m serious. None of you get hurt or anything!”

“Does anyone have any questions about what you’re doing or where you’re going?” Carter eyed the group. “I don’t care how stupid they are, a last-minute clarification can save your life.” The groups remained silent. “Alright then.”

The CITs all stared at him, restless and anxious, excited and nervous. There were faces ready to take on the world. The new world.

Carter’s eyes lingered on Violet’s. The two locked gazes, and he mouthed, ‘Be safe’.

She smiled back at him and nodded

“Alright then! Team, move out! See you on the flipside!”

There was a flurry of responses, echoing this back.

“See you on the flipside, Carter,” Violet said quietly to herself, smiling.

Carter gave them one last look before giving a loud call out to his horse, and he and William raced off westward. South of the castle, Morgan gave out a shriek of laughter as she led both Zack and Amanda’s horses, despite their attempts to catch up to her. The three raced across the field, approaching the desert that awaited them.

Weston looked over his shoulder at Navin who was riding after him. “Race you to the forest!” he called back. Navin rolled his eyes, an exasperated look already on his face, but he egged his horse on a bit too much for someone refusing the challenge. They spurred their horses eastward, towards the looming treeline.

Then Violet steered her horse north, along with Bastian and Patrick, Shawn, Aaron, and Jake, Fiona, Darren, and Sam.

---

Meredith watched them go, each of them off on their own adventure, and felt disquieted. She watched them ride until they were dots in her vision, racing further and further away. Out of her control. “Good luck,” she whispered into the wind, before entering the nearly empty castle and leaving outside the now empty field.