Cale had retired to his study and after a few minutes in the bathroom Grischa had joined him. He took a seat in the vacant chair and checked what his friend was working on without making a sound.

"How are you feeling?", Cale hesitantly asked, holding his hair out of his face with one hand. He had wasted the break he had intended to take for completely different purposes than he had originally planned. Inwardly, he was a little grumpy about the situation, but not too sad about the loss. On the contrary, finally being able to talk openly with Grischa again had brought some fresh air into his situation.

"I'm fine. Really", Grischa explained calmly.

"Do you even remember... the pain?"

Cale was a little wary of the question, but decided to trust his friend. The 1st seat, on the other hand, had leaned against the chair and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, I remember. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps and makes me sick right away", he finally confessed, causing Cale to turn his gaze back to the documents. "I'm sorry I made you go through all that."

"There's no need to apologize, you would have done the same for me", Cale replied, without letting the work distract him much.

"You bet I would", Grischa countered with an amused undertone. He could understand by now why Cale had acted the way he had so far and was glad to have found such a friend. Even if the world wasn't real.

"What are you going to do now", Grischa added after some time and opened his eyes again. His head hardly hurt anymore, but he felt an unfamiliar exhaustion catching up with him.

"I'm not sure. For now, I will keep contact with the dragons upright and inform the residents about the creatures as planned. Once the New Year's festivities are over, I will begin to think of ways to break out of the cycle."

Grischa watched with admiration how the High-Magician, who was physically 20 years younger than him, did not turn away from the documents for a second as he made his statement. So Grischa could only smile. This passive, focused demeanor was exactly why he always felt that Cale would be better suited to be the Eldest's right-hand man. The black-haired man was always extremely calm and always had a solution ready over the years. He didn't let others irritate him and presented the facts, which is why Grischa couldn't help but admire him for his intelligence.

"How do you progress with the flight crystal?", Cale suddenly interjected, causing Grischa to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Not well. I can't find an alternative way to control the direction without ending the lift. Tell me, what's the solution."

"There is no solution", Cale replied dryly, jotting down some data in his little book.

"Excuse me?"

"There is no solution. If I remember correctly, you didn't find an answer for this in my past lives."

"Then how did I manage to get ships into the air and steer them, if that's not possible?", Grischa asked confused.

"Well, how do you control ships on the sea?"

Perplexed, Grischa paused. At the same moment that he wondered what Cale was getting at, something suddenly clicked. He understood, the last piece of the puzzle to the mystery he had been missing.

"Wind?"

"Correct", Cale replied, reaching for some blank sheets of paper as well as a pen before handing them to Grischa. The 1st seat didn't hesitate for a second and began drawing and jotting down his ideas while Cale continued to work on the creature information.

"This might actually work if I... and...", Grischa muttered, delving into his thoughts, which caused him not to notice the brief, satisfied look on Cale's face.

The two High-Magicians thus spent the rest of the night together. Just like in the old days, the two men worked together and kept exchanging suggestions with each other. Grischa pointed out things to Cale that a normal mage could not know about the creatures, while Cale gave him answers about the crystal. He couldn't answer all of his questions, but the rough idea was enough for Grischa to come up with ideas on his own.

By daybreak, Grischa had misappropriated two pure magic crystals and a thick book from Cale and was squatting on the floor trying to put his theory into practice. Cale, on the other hand, looked at the notes in his hand with satisfaction. He was as good as done, which was why he had also begun casting magic. Carefully, he made a large amount of soil appear before attempting to use his shapeshifting abilities on it.

"Hey, Caleb. Did I ever develop a way to store multiple formulas in the same crystal? So combining both levitation and propulsion into one?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Do you think it's impossible?" raised Grischa questioningly, prompting Cale to step away from his tests and look at him.

"I wouldn't consider anything as impossible, but the question is more like, what do you think?"

"The same as you", the first seat remarked with amusement. Just because no one had ever managed to merge two different kinds of magic didn't mean it couldn't be done. Grischa's fingers tingled just thinking about trying to find a solution to the problem.

When Cale noticed Aletta start moving a floor above them, he only realized it was already morning.

, he addressed Fengari, who had made no comment after all these hours. She had left the High-Magicians alone and left for the city, but in the form of a bird.

, Cale countered wryly, making the earth masses disappear and straightening up. While Grischa continued to play with his tools, Cale went into the kitchen and made two cups of fresh tea. Judging by the movements, the others seemed to be slowly waking up as well, before the healer's head appeared on the stairs.

"Your hair still looks disastrous", she reported flippantly, causing Cale to turn to her in surprise and laugh afterwards.

"I also wish you a good morning."

"I haven't seen you all day. We were afraid you'd disappeared again", Aletta reported, which made Cale remember again how they had parted ways yesterday.

"Sorry, I had a visitor and then some work to do. I didn't neglect you on purpose", Cale explained kindly, reaching for the hot cups of tea.

"It's okay, we all know you're a busy man. It's nice to see you're doing better."

Cale paused. He didn't just seem that way, he had been. The whole secrets and dangers thing was weighing on Cale more than he wanted to admit. The fact that he could talk to Grischa on a personal level again was liberating on a complete other level.

"Haaa... I wasn't myself yesterday, but thanks for your concern. I really appreciate it. How about I take you all out to dinner tonight? There's a wonderful place in town where I haven't eaten in ages."

"That sounds tempting!", Ben suddenly spoke up, appearing behind the healer a few moments later.

"Just the five of us?", Aletta cautioned, prompting Cale to nod in confirmation.

"Just the five of us, yes. Just like the good old days."

Joy spread across Aletta's face, and Cale felt the same way. He actually missed being able to spend time with everyone. Maybe he could make up for the lost break with them today?

Acknowledging, he raised the cups in the air and said goodbye to them both before going back to the study. Wordlessly, he handed Grischa the cup with the usual variety of tea before they both took a big sip from it and exhaled in satisfaction. For a moment, an unfamiliar inner peace came over Cale as he gazed out the window, leaning against the shelf. Birds could be heard chirping, a sound Cale had not heard in a long time.

But at the same moment, work reported back to them. Cale made the communication crystal appear and a few moments later the voice of the Eldest was heard.

"Morning", the latter announced, while Cale put down the cup and indicated to the High-Magician with a quick movement of his head that Grischa was present. The story about the Eldest's past had been withheld by Cale, for it was not relevant to the whole events.

"Morning."

"Leonhardt contacted me. He would speak with his son. Will you both please come to the office room?", the Eldest brought up at the same time, so Cale nodded in agreement. For a moment, he had been surprised that the Eldest called the king of Sylve by his first name, but did not question it further. He only knew in passing that the Eldest and the king were old acquaintances.

"We'll be right there", Cale confirmed, and a moment later the chairman of Altona ended the conversation. He made the crystal disappear and looked at Grischa, who looked at him expectantly.

"I don't know what he wants", Cale confessed, shrugging his shoulders and going upstairs to his bedroom. William was just lingering in the bathroom, so the mage stopped at the door and knocked.

"Will, your father called in. He wants to talk to you", Cale explained, and could feel the prince wince in surprise.

"By the gods... did he say what he wanted?"

William stepped up to the door and opened it, allowing Cale to look the tired-looking swordsman in the eye. He must have just freshened up, because water droplets were still visible on some parts of his face.

"No. We should hurry."

Nodding in agreement, the black-haired prince walked past Cale to get dressed. Cale, on the other hand, walked into the bathroom with the door open, washed his face and combed his hair before tying it into a neat braid. He could see why Aletta complained about his hair all the time. In one place they were really unnaturally short.

He then whipped out his dark uniform, pulled it on, adjusted the collar, and looked at the result in play. Cale wasn't sure if it was fade-in, but he felt like he had gotten browner.

A few moments later William reappeared, you could tell he had dressed frantically. His eyes asked if Cale was ready, so the mage nodded in agreement and they both took the stairs to the bedroom.

"I'm going to stay out for a while, Grin. Don't forget something to eat while you bury yourself in work", Cale explained as the two came down the stairs and could see that the 1st seat had made a bit of a mess in his friend's office.

"And Fengari?", Grischa raised questioningly, prompting Cale to answer his question with a tap against his head. The 1st seat just nodded before Cale walked after William and disappeared from the apartment.

The two young men walked briskly down the hall toward the stairs, while Cale, with the help of his mana, spotted Luc and Rangar. Whatever they were doing, they seemed to be arguing. Knowing the 2nd seat as Cale did, he was the catalyst for the discussion, even if he couldn't make out their voices.

"This is not how I had envisioned the morning going", William gave a serious word, a hint of anxiety discernible in his voice. "Talking to my father or being defeated by a swordmaster, my choice is invariably the latter."

"I beg your pardon?", Cale admitted in surprise.

"Ah, I guess I haven't told you that yet. Miguel Heriog has offered to teach us a little."

Cale didn't comment on this statement, he was too astonished for that. This time he didn't even have to help. Aletta's fiancé had offered to teach him on his own? How did this happend?