The two young witches raced out of the greenhouse and back to the castle. Their feet thumped against the path as they did, the sound of their racing steps echoing their heart's quick, nervous beatings. The school was in danger, and with the Hawkswood students there as well, even more, people were at risk. Beatrice held her hand out to Nova, who took it quickly. The faster Asian witch, with her longer legs and natural speed, quickened her pace and helped Beatrice along as they ran. The rose-bricked castle loomed above them, and the shadow that it cast now looked more sinister than it ever had before.

"We have to tell the Headmistress!" Beatrice said between gulps of breath.

"We don't have any evidence," Nova said, starting to sound just as winded.

"We have to try. Professor Meowstaff can vouch for the missing Lullabyes!"

The two slowed to a jog, then a walk, once they approached the courtyard and the raven fountain. The earth witch gazed up at the stone bird, looking into its still and static eyes for any hint that the Headmistress was watching. Even as she stared, nothing happened, and the statue remained still. Nova led her roommate gently into the castle, getting her back on track.

They hurried down the hall at a quick pace but stopped once they reached the main hall. A tall and imposing man with dark hair and dressed in a fine dark suit was talking to the head cook. The dour older witch that the first-years had affectionately and jokingly referred to as the Sandwich had her arms akimbo and was staring up at the wizard with an expression that was getting angrier and angrier.

"How dare you imply that I am not giving my students the best, most nutritious food?" She bellowed, glaring at him. "I have been planning, preparing, and cooking all the dishes at Ravensburl since the school was founded! How dare you come to my school and tell me how to do my job, Mr Hawkswood!"

Godwin Hawkswood, the Headmaster of the rival academy, stared coolly back at the lunch lady with pale eyes that mirrored his daughter's, but there was not even a hint of expression in them. They were cold and humourless, and Beatrice shrank back. "All I am saying, Miss Pamela, is that there is room for improvement."

"Room for improvement!" The lunch lady guffawed. "What then? If you're so smart, then you do my job!"

"I fully intend to." Hawkswood replied with a flat tone. "I have discussed it with the Headmistress already and have her permission to do a full inspection of the kitchen."

"Hmph!" Pamela folded her arms over her chest and snorted defiantly. "Snoop all you want, you won't find anything but the best in my kitchens!"

Hawkswood's lip raised slightly into a sneer as he walked past the insulted chef and strode into the dining hall. "If I find the nutritional value of the food you serve lacking, I fear I may need to introduce a supplemental regiment into the student's diets."

"Excuse me? Supplements?" Pamela protested, hot on his heels. "You wouldn't dare touch my food!"

"We shall see, Pamela."

The two proceeded into the dining hall, with the lunch lady protesting every step of the way. Beatrice and Nova shared a look, surprised at the encounter.

"That was weird," Nova said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with the food. If anything, there's so much variety every day that I sometimes don't know what to eat."

"I know what you mean! But I think it's nice because I can try so many foods from different cultures." Beatrice said as they continued down the hall, but as they walked, she couldn't help but think about what they had just seen.

"Bee?"

"Yes?"

"You have that expression again. What's on your mind?"

"I don't know..." The earth witch trailed off. "The Headmistress has always been so careful with everything that goes on in the school. It's her school, after all. So even the food should be properly made, nutritious, all the things that the Headmaster was worrying about."

"Where are you going with this?" The tech witch raised a brow. "Maybe he's just mad because Ravensburl is so different from Hawkswood." She scoffed. "I bet their food is worse than ours."

"I don't know," Beatrice said again.

The two walked on, with the earth witch still deep in thought and her roommate gently leading her as she usually did when Beatrice was too far in her own head to watch her feet. They were up two flights of stairs towards the Headmistress's office when the woman herself met them on the stairs, seemingly in a hurry.

"Headmistress!" Beatrice said. "We need to talk to you about-"

"Miss Gaia, Miss Nova, I appreciate your concern, but I will have to address them another time." Headmistress Cherith said quickly as she hurriedly walked down the steps. "I've just received word that the Headmaster of Hawkswood is trying to upend the entire cafeteria system!"

"Yes, we saw him talking to the lunch lady," Nova added.

"Well, I don't know how he got around saying that he has permission when he most certainly does not!" The Headmistress's expression was of pure insult. "I apologize to you both, but I will have to deal with this first. Please head on to bed, both of you. See me in the morning."

"Yes, Headmistress-" Beatrice started, but the Headmistress had already reached the next landing and sped out of sight. "And she's gone. I guess there's nothing else to do but head to bed."

"Come on, Bee. I'm sure it'll be handled in the morning," Nova said. It did nothing to assuage Beatrice's fears, but hearing Nova say it did help. The two walked on together through the castle.

Suddenly, Nova pulled Beatrice to a halt.

"Huh? What's happening?" Beatrice muttered. On the way back to their dormitory building, they were in the west courtyard when Nova spotted a lone figure sitting at the Skeet-Shooting bleachers. It was Circe.

"What is she doing there all alone?" Nova said in a low voice, squinting in suspicion. "She doesn't even have those two witches that were following her. Oh, what if they abandoned her after the duel? That'd serve her right."

"Nova," Beatrice said gently. "You go ahead to the room, I'll catch up with you later."

"You're not going to talk to her, are you?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do."

Nova shrugged and put her hands in her pockets. "Alright, I'll head upstairs and feed your mandrake. Just don't take too long, alright? Laurence would still be hidden somewhere, and I’ll be worried sick without you in my sight.”

The earth witch giggled and stood on her tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on Nova's cheek. "You're adorable. But please don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Besides, I won the duel, right?"

A light pink blush spread over Nova's cheeks and the smile she had was playful. But the light expression quickly returned to worry. "I know you did, but there were people watching and rules in place. Just be careful, alright? I'll be waiting."

"And I'm sure that if I don't show up soon, you'll come looking for me."

The tech witch nodded. "Got it in one." It was Nova's turn to kiss Beatrice, but now tenderly on the lips. There was a softness there, a desire to care for the headstrong druid, that spoke of treasures found and unwilling to be lost again.

Beatrice smiled, her heart fluttering. "I'll be alright, Nova. I promise."

Once Nova's fears were assuaged, Beatrice bid her good night and headed off towards the arena bleachers. Nova stood where she was, watching Beatrice till she got to the bleachers and lingered there for another few moments. Nothing seemed to happen, so with a cautious, anxious air, the tech witch moved on to return to their shared dorm room, hoping that Beatrice would indeed be safe.

"Circe?" Beatrice called out softly. She climbed the few steps of the bleachers to reach the level the Hawkswood scion was on, closer to the top of the bleachers than Beatrice thought from the ground. The girl was completely alone and was simply sitting and staring off into the woods.

"What do you want, Gaia?" Circe replied after a time. Her voice was hoarse, and she kept her face turned away from the earth witch, even as Beatrice sat beside her. "Don't you have a victory to gloat over? Tell everyone how I'm wrong and you're right?"

"No," Beatrice said simply, calmly and without venom in her voice. "I just saw you here all alone. Are you alright?"

Circe said nothing. She made no biting comments, no sideways glares, no sneers. She only sighed and returned to silence.

"Circe, I know you're upset." Beatrice started softly. "There was a lot of pressure on you."

"What would you know, Gaia? You don't know anything about me."

"I might not, but you said it yourself, we're both from powerful families, and there's a lot of pressure on us to uphold those familial ideals."

Circe fell silent again, giving Beatrice the cold shoulder as she stared off into the middle distance, lost in thought. The young druid traced her gaze and looked at the treetops of the woods surrounding the castle's fields. There was a slight danger of falling off a cliff if one wandered too far into the woods, but Beatrice imagined the Headmistress had thought of measures to prevent that years ago.

"I saw your father talking to you after the match," Beatrice said quietly after a while.

The Hawkswood witch whipped her head around in surprise. Her eyes were wide but still puffy from crying. "You what?!"

"I hope he wasn't scolding you too hard. But for what it's worth, you're a brilliant duelist, Circe. You had an answer for everything I had, and your mastery of fire and air is incredible." The young druid couldn't help but sheepishly smile as she thought back to their fight. "The flaming cyclone scared me so badly I couldn't think!"

That got a smile out of Circe. If there was one thing she was proud of, it seemed to Beatrice to be her prowess with magic. "I practiced that extensively, but the fire was a surprise, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"The Hawkswood family's forte is air magic, just as you Gaias have control of the earth. Father always believed that mastering just one type of magic opens us up for weakness further down the line, so I had to learn so many spells." Circe looked out towards the woods again, but she kept speaking. "The elements came easiest to me, so I focused on Destruction magic to make use of them to the fullest. Fire was easiest after air, but I never managed to mix the two till our duel."

"What!" Beatrice chuckled in disbelief. "It looked like you had been casting it your whole life!"

Circe laughed softly. "I wish I could say I had, but it was a lucky coincidence. And you, those giant flowers? How did you think of that?" The Hawkswood witch looked over at Beatrice, and for once, there was no malice or negativity in her pale eyes, just curiosity and fascination.

"My mother had a spell that she would use to grow herbs quickly and in large sizes for whenever we ran out of potion ingredients but needed more right away. She taught me how to do it, but I never thought of using it like that either."

Circe chuckled, amused. "I guess we learned a lot about our own magic, didn't we, Gaia?"

"We did, and it was a stunning duel, Circe." The earth witch smiled. "Why don't we have duels like that again? But more friendly this time, with less stakes."

"Just magical sparring then?" Circe replied, but her mood visibly fell when Beatrice mentioned the staked. "I would accept, but I doubt I'll be seeing you again."

"What do you mean?"

"Aside from being grounded at Hawkswood for my spectacular failure at our duel," Circe hissed, her voice dripping with disdain, "You'll be staying at Ravensburl as per our agreement. And besides, Hawkswood is miles away. We won't have much reason to see each other."

"But we can always find a way, right? To enjoy each other's company as friends," Beatrice offered. "Maybe we can visit each other over the holidays, get to know one another? Or go down to the city?"

Circe scoffed. "Do you know the first thing about the city? Isn't it completely non-magical?"

"Yes, it is, but Nova can help us. My roommate. She showed me a delightful coffee shop that I think you would like too!"

The smile on Circe's face was so honest and vulnerable that it caught Beatrice off-guard. "I don't know anything about it either, but if you think it would be fun, then I don't see why not. I suppose we'll have to keep in touch then. The Hawkswood students will be leaving once all the Games are over with."

"So soon?"

"We were only here for the Inter-School Games, after all."

"When will you be leaving?"

"Specifically? In a couple of days, I think."

Beatrice's disappointment was disarmingly deep to hear that Circe was leaving so soon when she only now got a chance to really speak with her. "Then I'd like to invite you to sit with me and Nova at breakfast tomorrow," she said.

"With you and Nova, your roommate?" Circe stared at Beatrice with a curious expression. "Gaia, are you absolutely sure you want me there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Gaia." Circe's stared at Beatrice with a knowing look in her piercingly pale eyes. "I was trapped inside a plant, but I still saw how she kissed you in the arena. So I'll ask again, are you sure you want me there, interrupting you two?"

The blush that burned on Beatrice's cheeks could have set fire to a small pile of kindling in that moment.

"I mean, the invitation still stands!" Beatrice stuttered, her cheeks burning. "I think that some more time to talk will help, you know. Bridge the gap and..."

"You want to be friends. Is that it?"

"Yes," Beatrice chuckled. "In as many words, yes. We certainly don't have to be enemies, at least."

"Do you think your "roommate" will agree with that? After everything that's happened?"

"I'm sure Nova will come around. The Witches Three, though..."

Circe sighed heavily and shook her head. "I'll steer clear of them."

"Oh, but what happened to your friends? Misha and Lana?"

"After the duel, they wandered off to flirt with cute Ravensburl boys. I didn't have the time to find them again after," she sighed again. "But I'm sure they've left me completely after they saw I'm not as strong as I say I am."

"Hey, no, I'm sure they'll come back. Or if they're only around because you're a strong and brilliant witch, I saw you need better friends."

"And I suppose you would volunteer on that front?" Circe smirked. "Alright, Gaia, I'll take you up on your offer. Breakfast with you two tomorrow; try not to be late."

"Great! Should I walk you to the Hawkswood dorms?"

"Won't be necessary. I think I'll stay here for a while longer. This castle on a hill is actually quite relaxing, despite how disruptive the students are."

Both of the young witches laughed, and Beatrice bid her ex-rival good night. It seemed the night was going better than she thought, but there was still the matter of the missing Lullabyes, and Laurence's shady motions. But with the Headmistress busy with the Hawkswoods and the other professors seemingly tied up in minor crises, it was proving difficult to get some help.

The earth witch shook her head, Nova was waiting for her in their room. She'll worry about all of it later.

On returning to the dormitory, everything was quiet and still. Nova was pacing their room and swept Beatrice up into a hug the second she entered, and the two witches quickly turned in for the night. Surprisingly, Nova accepted Circe joining her for breakfast, though she did keep a smug expression at the thought. The two fell into a deep sleep, with the earth witch dreaming about Lullabye plants that stood up out of their pots and simply walked away.

The next day proceeded as usual, though Beatrice and Nova were late. The excitement of the previous day, coupled with Nova forgetting to set the alarm on her phone, had both witches sleeping in an hour after their usual time to wake up. The dining hall was going to serve breakfast for only another ten minutes by the time Beatrice actually opened her eyes.

"Nova!" The earth witch yelped as she saw the time shining on her roommate's smartphone. She launched herself out of bed and hurriedly dressed, the noise and urgency of all her movements startling the tech witch out of bed as well. "We overslept! We were supposed to see Circe for breakfast! Oh no, oh no, oh no..."

"Bee, please calm down," Nova said in a strained voice, her own heart hammering in a startled panic from being woken so suddenly. "The Hawkswoods aren't leaving till tomorrow, and there's always lunch. It'll be fine."

"I know, but I promised her! I invited her and everything!" Beatrice smoothed her clean dress down and swung her satchel over her shoulder. "Come on, let's go!"

"Let me put my boots on first-- Bee!"

The earth witch pulled her roommate along with her and the two sped through the dormitory room, towards the west courtyard, the west hall, and to the main hall-turned-dining. But as soon as they entered the main hall, both stopped in their tracks.

There were students everywhere. Lying on the floor, slumped over on benches, and fallen over in a heap over themselves near the entrance of the dining hall. Both Ravensburl students in their streetwear and comfortable clothes, and Hawkswood students in their uniformed dark robes, all were quiet, still, and in heaps.