{Cara}

It didn't happen too often that Cara spent time with the other teachers. Mostly, she preferred to sit in her office and get some paperwork out of the way or spend her time downtown drinking wine by her lonesome in a dingy bar. Today, however, Harriton had other ideas.

A couple of knocks on her office door made Cara's head snap up.

"Come in," she said.

"Hello, hello," Harriton greeted her with a charming smile as he swung the door open.

"Hm?" Cara raised a brow. "Good evening."

"Good evening!" Harriton said, before leaning against the door. "Did you hear about that new Cardanian restaurant that just opened up?"

"No."

"Well, how about we go check it out?" Harriton asked.

"Hmm... I don't know," Cara muttered.

"Come on, I heard Cardanian dishes are absolutely amazing. Plus," he gave her a slightly concerned look, though he kept that smile up, "you gotta take a break sometime, right?"

At that, Cara paused. Almost as if agreeing with him, her stomach growled and Harriton chuckled. Cara let out a big sigh and stood up, sliding her chair back.

"Fine."

"Aye, there we go!" Harriton cheered as he walked out into the hall.

Following him, the two teachers exited the Academy. A couple of second-year students greeted them as they made their way out the gates.

"Did you hear about the grandmaster's ideas regarding our young talent?" Harriton asked.

"Yeah," Cara nodded. "I don't like it."

"Same," Harriton replied with a nod. "I can understand where she's coming from, but, I feel like some of the students are still getting their nerves out. Some of them are absolutely ready, though," he countered, "we can't ignore them. Sara, Seth, Elisa, Dylan. You put any of them to work right now they'd make a few varols. The others, though, I feel like they need a little more time."

"I was thinking of sending her a letter," Cara stated. "Might just get me fired, though."

"Nah," Harriton quickly shook his head. "She's headstrong, but she's not stupid. Still, I have to wonder if things are getting bad enough up there that they feel like they need more hands."

Cara could definitely believe that. It felt like every day she was hearing about how some farm got attacked, or some travelers were taken right off the roads. There was too much activity occurring around the world, and not enough adventurers to deal with it all.

"It'll only get worse if they send people in before they're prepared," Cara mumbled in response.

They soon reached the restaurant Harriton had in mind. Cara didn't know too much about Cardana, but if what Rin told her about the knife a couple of days ago was any indication, it seemed black and gold was just their preferred aesthetic.

[How exactly did her brother end up with that kind of thing?] Cara wondered before the two teachers walked in.

It was packed inside, with most of the customers of this new establishment being upper-class types wearing gaudy suits and vibrant skirts. Harriton and Cara couldn't have looked more out of place if they tried, with Harriton's casual jacket and Cara's leather top and jeans.

Whether they had the money or not to be here, however, was undeniable. So, as the man at the front desk charged them for a table, the two of them produced a gold coin each and were taken to their seat by a waitress.

"Fancy, ain't it?" Harriton asked.

"I guess," Cara replied as she looked around.

"I had heard Cardana was a bit more rural than this kind of look would have people believe, though. I wonder if we actually went there, would we find any places like this?"

"Not enough people have been to that city to know," Cara shrugged.

"That might just be the point," Harriton chuckled.

"Hello, how may I help you this evening?" The same waitress returned to their table and asked, cutting their conversation off.

A few moments later, the two of them were looking down at some strange-looking food on their plates. A few thin white strips of meat next to what Cara could only describe as red-colored lettuce. As she cut a piece of it off and lifted it up to her lips, she found that the taste was absolutely spectacular. It carried a flavorful sweetness to it that Cara instantly fell in love with.

"This is good," she remarked quietly. "Damn good."

"Agreed," Harriton said with a closed smile as he chewed on it. "Can't say I've tasted much like this."

"Same."

The contents of their plates slowly vanished, but before they could, Cara spotted someone. Sitting just a few tables away, behind Harriton, was a girl with amber eyes, black hair, and a kind smile aimed at the woman in front of her, who she was sitting with.

Instantly, Cara thought of Rin, but as she looked down at her body she saw that this was her sister, the girl Rin dragged around the Academy sometimes. Cara narrowed her eyes at her. There was something off about this girl, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Whenever her eyes fell on her, here or at the Academy, something would flare up inside of Cara that told her she was weird.

[... Whatever,] Cara thought, putting that matter aside.

"Is anything wrong?" Harriton asked.

"Hm?"

"You seem a little, em, shaken if you will," he said with a smile.

Cara snuck another look at the girl behind the mage. Then, she shook her head.

"No, no, I'm good."

---

{Earlier}

{Xhez}

"By the Divine, it's good to see you again!" June said as she wrapped her arms around Xhez and pressed the sprite against her chest. Xhez returned the hug, taking in her warmth. "Oh, did you walk a long way?"

"Hm?" Xhez tilted her head.

"You're a bit sweaty, darling," June said with a chuckle. "Come on, let's get you dried up."

"W-What?" Xhez asked, but the woman was pulling her deeper into the building before she could get any sort of explanation.

They went into one of those moving, cramped, rooms Rin called elevators. Xhez preferred the stairs, though. These rooms always made her feel a little dizzy as they started moving. Eventually, they came out to a hall with a red carpet on the floor and art on the walls. Art was a concept Xhez didn't have too good an understanding of, only hearing it in passing in the books she'd read.

Regardless, June opened up a door at the end of the hall and pulled Xhez in.

"Ta-da~," June said as she did a flourish with her hands, gesturing at the inside of the room. There was an emerald-colored bed along with some drawers, a huge mirror, and some strange mechanical equipment sitting at the corner near the door. "How do you like it?"

"How do I like what?"

"My room," June replied, with a bit of a grin. "It's not much, but... Well," she smiled as she looked around, "there was I time I thought I'd never even see a place like this. Much less actually be able to spend money on one and be in here."

"I suppose it is nice," Xhez replied. It was hard to gauge whether she liked one room more than another. As long as it didn't move around like those elevators, she was fine with whatever.

"Sheesh, you're a hard girl to please," June told her with a laugh.

[Am I?]

To Xhez, it felt like the opposite. All she'd done since she'd arrived at Libera was look for things that she liked and learn about them.

"Make yourself at home," June told her, "you don't have to stand there like that. I won't bite... Unless you want me to," she winked.

Taking that advice, she walked in and sat down by the woman's side, on the bed.

"Oh, we should probably get you cleaned up, though," June said, before reaching for a nearby towel wrapped over a wooden chair.

She then shifted a little closer to Xhez and took her towel and passed it over Xhez's arms, forehead and shoulders. She didn't really enjoy the feeling of that thing sliding over her skin. It was strangely rough.

"Hm?" June tilted her head, a little confused. "You're still sweating a ton. Are you that nervous?"

"Um... I-"

Before Xhez could form any sort of an answer, June leaned in and pressed a little kiss against her lips. Xhez was caught by surprise, and she felt shivers go down her spine.

"If you're just concerned I don't like you anymore or something, well, all I can say is that is certainly not true."

Xhez took a deep breath. She reached up and touched the center of her chest, where her heart was. It was beating quite rapidly right now.

"Can we do that again?" Xhez asked June, and the woman barked out a laugh.

"Sure, sure," she replied, with a dimpled smile, "later, though. For now, I actually wanted to go grab a bite to eat. Care to join me?"

"Of course," Xhez nodded.

"Wonderful. Come on, then. It's this new Cardanian spot one of my bandmates told me about. I've heard good things about it."