The mage was far from panicked or emotional.

He had welcomed Mithandra with a simple, “the admiral will be pleased to hear you are safe, my lady,” and proceed to give a vague speech to his crew about how sailing out to subjugate an unidentified pirate ship with green sails turned out to be the missing daughter.

Mith herself was calm as well. After ordering his men to hook up the sloop to tow, the mage reported to her like a subordinate, updating her on what had happened in the past year.

Driven by rage, her father had used his family's marriage connections and began waging war on all pirates, which essentially meant all of the island countries and city-states that were considered pirate harbors. After a four-month rampage, the four admirals were pushed back to Ailize by a hasty coalition of over twenty pirate fleets. Two admirals, the east and north, had perished in the retreat, and the western admiral now had a large fleet over two hundred vessels closing on her isles.

Mathias had sent his son to personally negotiate with Incanta, and to their surprise, Incanta agreed to send reinforcements with no conditions. The newest member of the council, given the title 'Mountain Bridging Gale,' had left the city with two dozen mages and a proclamation that Incanta was joining the war on behalf of their ally, giving the abduction of three mage trainees as the reason.

Meanwhile, across the Alvan Mountains, the kingdoms of the one god had began moving against the Imperium. The world, having only come to a tentative peace less than one hundred years ago, would again become engulfed in war.

The wind mage had adamantly stated the Mithandra was not to return to Ailize, as the island was engulfed in war and ships traveling to it were often attacked. He bravely volunteered his own men to take the sloop to deliver the news, and Mithandra accepted it as if she had no intention to return in the first place.

The two children were delivered to land, and the wind mage, whose name was Arlaand, personally ferried them via carriage to Incanta. Along the way, Kynos learned that the carriage was unique, a product made by Mith from pieces of recovered relics. Unlike relics that used pure mana, if wind stones were inserted into it and reacted with wind magic, it could move at speeds faster than horses by gliding over the ground.

Charlotte and Roland were waiting at the gate to the primary school, at the edge of the magic university and smack dab in the center of the city-state, to receive Kynos and Mith. Kynos had healed from his constant sunburns, and his skin was back to the normal pale white. Mithandra was sporting a healthy tan. They had stopped only to procure clothing and supplies.

Charlotte took Mith's hands with a rare look of concern, which passed as Mithandra gave her a wry smile. She stepped back and cleared her throat.

“Welcome back children. New identity sheets and uniforms will be issued to you immediately. I'm...glad you're both safe.”

Roland looked around, puzzled. “Where's Axa...” he opened his mouth to ask, and saw the look on Mithandra's face. Kynos showed no emotion, but couldn't stop his hands from twitching.

Roland closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “He will be missed.”

Charlotte's face cramped into grief for a moment, and she didn't reprimand Roland for opening his mouth for the first time in a long time.