His hopes were unfounded, leading to Adelwulf not speaking unless asked a question and Ibery putting on a false calm.

He could keep avoiding bad questions, he could pretend that everything is ok, he could hope that they would just warmed up to him. But Harlan went with the boar loose in the blacksmiths shop strategy. Either he gets out unscathed or the blades on display cut him to pieces.

“So, why are you two are so afraid of me? I am Ibery I understand, very shortly after meeting I did threaten, very seriously, to kill her. But I haven’t done anything to you, unless it is just the Fomorian thing? But I hope you being friends with Amber would give me some benefit of the doubt.”

Amber wasn’t happy, Bojana wasn’t happy, Tau was dipping his cookies in his tea. The others were just silent.

“Yes, it is because of what you are. No, I am not going to talk about it.”

“Fair, I’d rather an honest response over pretending you aren’t afraid of me.”

“I am not afraid.”

“You can’t pretend to hide it, not from me. Amber knows.”

“Well… Yes he can do know that.”

She was uncomfortable answering, but she was trying to go along with Harlan.

Adelwulf simply narrowed his eyes.

“I will not be called a coward.”

He stood to leave.

“Oh, so you are an idiot?”

Amber was about to yell at him but he put up a silencing veil on her.

“You aren’t a coward for being afraid, even if it doesn’t make sense. But you are an idiot for thinking you are a coward for being afraid at all.”

He tried to give a response but simply turned and left.

Amber slapped him and he dropped the veil.

“What is wrong with you? You can’t just talk to people like that.”

His cheek barely stung, she hadn’t put real power behind it and he was stronger than he looked.

“I don’t want to sit around with someone who just silently broods instead of doing something. If he hates me for who or what I am, I’d rather he just say it.”

“There is some sense in your words. But you should understand, if you can truly sense emotions, that some wounds are deep and illogical. Action for those is just as sensible as the wound itself. I have heard of you, do you not hide your own wounds?” Tau butted in.

“I have things I don’t want to talk about, but I’m not the same, I’ll voice that I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Think on my words. You believe yourself iron, but you must understand some are clay, not yet formed and hardened. I am hoping for peace between all of us, Ibery, would you like to talk about what happened between you? There will be no judgment from myself or from him, he is simply a confused child, try not to hold his words too strongly against him.”

“Well… I am not worried about the original threat. It is something he said to my great aunt.”

“The genocide thing?”

Tau spit his tea out in surprise before Harlan could finish.

“As I was saying. I am sorry for that, I realize how it sounds now, I saw a man burned inside out...

Tau was starting to think maybe Ibery was right to be afraid.

"I realize how much of an idiot I am for thinking I could do that to everyone, people I don’t even know. Just for things done to my… To other people who I also don’t know.”

She made a warbling sound, which Harlan believed was a contemplative hum.

“This is good tea. What kind did you say it was?” Tau felt the discussion was done, and better topics could be spoken of.

“Vanilla, I heard it comes from a bean grown on an island off the eastern coast that is added to the tea and dried. It always calms me.”

“Well, it is very soothing. Did you make the cookies? I can taste the love in them.”

Bojana snickered at his words.

“My maid made them. I think they are made with a recipe from her mother. That could explain the feeling of love from them.”

Bojana lost it, laughing loudly for a time

“You go along well with the bull. Slipping from acting serious and wise to children at the drop of a hat.”

“I also think I can taste the love in them.” Ibery chimed in.

“Agreed. You and Isha aren’t… I mean it is an age gap, and she didn’t get a husband at the maiden festival. I guess if you waited a few years…”

“Are you trying to pay me back for the Ibery thing? It was funny and I refuse to say otherwise.”

“What is this between you and Ibery?” Bojana asked with a wicked smile, she say a barely contained laugh from Amber and a look of embarrassment from Ibery, so she felt there was a good story.

Harlan started to explain the story much to Ibery’s dismay and Bojana’s joy.

Even Tau teased her once he decided that it was simply ribbery and not ill spirited bullying.

Eventually this led into other stories shared between them, the time Ava tried to exercise with him, the time he controlled the slip ants, and more lightheaded times with Relly and Zella.

When their little party ended Harlan realized he didn’t know any of Zella’s friends from the academy, only that she also hung out with Amber’s group. He hoped that she had a group of friends in her year.

He looked over the damage to his room, 40% of his cookies were gone, along with 10% of his tea. He realized if he keeps having people over he will run through his stockpile very quickly. The cookies are no loss, they would go stale in another few days anyway, the tea was more expensive and time consuming to acquire.

“They are fun.”

“Why didn’t you join in? I’m sure they would be fine with you.”

“I like watching, I don’t want to say something weird. You always do that, but you fix it sometimes too.”

Harlan winced at the dagger thrown directly at his soul.

Shortly after he was done cleaning someone knocked on his door.

“Sir Fomoria. Dinner service will be starting soon.”

“Thank you, I’ll be there.”

The man walked away, Harlan forgot that the room was set to let noise in but not out. Making him feel silly for even answering.

He checked his map, memorizing his path to the cafeteria, to him it was likely the path he would most often take.

There was a park between the main building and the dorm room. He avoided going through the grass, instead using the paths as most others did.

He tried looking for familiar faces in the crowds moving to the main building. Seeing the vampire boy from earlier he moved in for the kill.

“Hello.”

“Oh, you are from earlier. The one with all the rainbows.”

“That is correct.”

“Do you need something?”

“Just making small talk. Trying to make friends.”

“I’m Henick. I heard you are working with the NIghtwatchers. Are you planning to join them?”

“Maybe, I haven’t thought too much about it. But I’m sure they can always use more people who aren’t connected to Aine. Is it true that silver is really bad for you guys?”

“Yeah. Something about it being Aine’s favorite metal but we aren’t on Aine.”

They went through more small talk as they walked in, but both of them agreed they weren’t clicking, Harlan thought he was a bit too childish, Henick thought Harlan was too low energy. No hard feelings between them as they went different ways.

Harlan got his food, the first serving was free, with more costing extra, but it was still cheap for what it was considering portion size and highly trained chefs were preparing it.

The dinner was roast beef with baked potatoes and some little fluffy yellow things the chefs said were cooked in beef fat which Harlan liked. As he walked to an empty table in the corner he saw the students of Aine had extra bloody roast beef made for them. Rand explained that they could get some of what they needed from eating, not unlike how normal people got a lot of water from their food. He still needed to drink blood to live but to him it was a bland and joyless meal, he would say blood to live and good food to make it worth living.

He sat at his table and split the potato and mashed it in the skin using air magic to form small high speed pockets of air. Using with water magic to control the added butter and cream and prevent spillage. adding salt and pepper before using a little bit of heating magic to form a skin on the potatoes. He wouldn’t call himself a great cook, but what he had seen done normally he could replicate with a bit of creative magic.

He thought about how some things could be controlled once they got into a liquid state and some couldn’t, like tea was still water, mud was half and half, but molten metal was purely earth magic.

As he thought over this oddity his table began to fill up, what he found odder than his liquid magic question was that his table was a collage of colors instead of more or less self segregated by nation like many other tables.

He was pretty sure he knew what was going on.

“So most of you are spies. Right?”

Of the 7 near him 4 left instantly, 2 from the confederacy, one from Reino, one from Ragne.

The remaining 3 were a girl in a white robe with large glasses so dark he wondered if she could see at all and twins, just judging by one with white hair and one with black he had an idea who they might be.

“So the rest of you aren’t spies?”

“Oh I never said that.” The girl in the white robe answered

“My reports say you like honest people, with many other things falling to the wayside as less important. You are friends with the Tytoan spy are you not?”

“Yes, I am. Though she only admitted it when I threatened her.”

“Well, you will have no such issue with me. Now you know from the start.”

“You here to kill me or take secrets about soulsmithing?”

“You scared our Grand Saint quite strongly. She asked for someone to keep an eye on you.”

“Yeah. I got a weird feeling from her. Though I do wonder if you still aren’t here to kill me, I hear your people get very upset when people insult your holy figures.”

“It is a new age for the continent. Doing things like that now would reignite the war, Fragile Peace is a pacifist by nature, believing we should wait until the gods return instead of killing so many people.”

“And you?”

“I follow what I am asked to do.”

“Alright. I won’t try to run you off. Harlan Fomoria, good to meet you.”

Harlan reached across the table for a handshake which she accepted.

“You can call me Adina.”

He ignored the odd phrasing of her reply.

“Well then, I hope we have a good friendship, Adina. You two, are you related to the Dyad House?”

“Yes” “We are.”

“Are you spies from the kingdom?”

“No.” “There is no need.”

“Well, that is nice. How are Allen and Alice related to you?”

“Brother” “Sister”

“And your names are?”

“Claude” “Claudia”

Harlan was still creeped out by the way they split up sentences sometimes, other times each just answering the question with their own thoughts. But he couldn’t throw away friends for being weird, he wasn’t obvious to himself. So he made small talk, Adina explained some things about herself. She was also 11 and was originally sent as a student but Fragile Peace asked to become friends with and spy on Harlan. Harlan didn’t believe that part, but it was a nice story at least. There was little chance in his mind that she knew much about him just from a briefing within the time between the speech and now.

Claude and Claudia were an odder story, they talked a little about their house, but mostly they came over to ask about how he did his potato, something about the smell and how he split a single potato into 2 parts appealed to them.

He had fun teaching the twins how to do it, having to teach them the signs and runes for the heat spell since doing it all unstructured like him was a harder task than it seemed.

Claude would keep it from splattering while Claudia would mix the potatoes, both of them would roast their own side of it.

As he spoke with them they became less creepy to him, they were just a brother and sister who were very nearly the same, they could answer differently for things, like a favorite fruit or color. But they also showed up as nearly the same exact mind to his senses, which is why they became less creepy, instead of not creepy. He saw people who where bright for lack of a better word, but they were almost blended together, he thought about asking if they were even capable of moving away from each other, but he realized they had to be in different dorms and the question would make him seem like an idiot.

He went for his second serving, when he returned he saw that Zella was now also sitting at the table, chatting with Adina.

“So, you are from the theocracy? I didn’t expect you would like Harlan much considering the whole Fomorian thing?”

He didn’t like how Zella was talking, he knew that most people didn’t say Reino because of the forever war and dehumanizing your enemy, but it was rude to say it right to her face. As well as accusing her of pretending, which… Well it wasn’t unfounded, but still rude. He felt her emotions as anger, which made a lot of sense.

“I am here in part as a mission, though I hope we might be genuine friends. Do you not have anyone else to go to? Is that why you are so upset with another girl being friends with him?”

Harlan jumped in, hoping to avoid Zella “losing control” of her hair for a moment.

“We aren’t like that. We have been friends for years, just friends. And I would rather you don’t fight each other. Because I will side with her. Adina, meet Zella, my best friend. Zella, meet Adina, a spy from Reino who seems nice so far. Stop the jabs and insults. You are both… Ok we are all children. But we don’t need to act like toddlers.”

Harlan felt affection from her when he called Zella his best friend, he considered that dangerous, but hopefully not. More importantly it soothed her anger.

“I can be civil.” Zella replied.

“Good, and these two are Claude and Claudia.”

“Sorry I didn’t introduce myself before, that was rude of me. I’m Zella.”

“Good evening.” “I see why you don’t trust her.”

“Zella, do you have another group of people? Or are you more part of Amber’s group?”

Pitfall question.

After profuse apologies Harlan lifted her mood again, and also managed to avoid Zella beating Adina when she couldn’t hold back her laughter at Harlan’s mistake.

He couldn’t tell if it was the start of a great band of dysfunctional friends or if it would end with bloodshed, so he rolled with it.

He walked back to the dorm with Claude, noticing how casual he became when his sister wasn’t around, and how when they were apart he looked like anyone else under mindsense.

“Are you someone who is into food? I mean that is why you came to my table, right?”

“I enjoy food, I like different things that can be done with the same ingredients. My sister and I are the same ingredients, but we aren’t the same dish, even if it can seem like we are. We’ve always been dressed in the same colors but flipped since we were born, my hair is white so I get black, and hers is black so she gets white clothes. I am glad that the uniform for the academy is all the same for everyone.”

“Is everyone in your house like that?”

“Not everyone, the bloodline is passed down to us, the children. My mother is completely normal, but my father, Count Dyad, is linked with his sister. I can’t tell you everything, but it can be annoying, I feel… Weird when we are together sometimes.”

“If you want to hear my opinion, I can tell you in my room, or in your room, it doesn’t matter. I just don’t want to say it in the open.”

‘We may head to your room.“

When they got inside Harlan noticed that a letter had been placed on his desk, detailing his class schedule. Reminding him that not every class is as important as another and there are some repeats so he can skip sometimes. Along with instructions on who to speak with about rescheduling if he needs to.

The school worked on a 12 hour cycle of classes, night and day for those who could only be at one or the other. For Harlan this meant he could pick night or day classes unless it was a day he needed to sleep, which considering the amount of magic he would be doing he expected to sleep often.

The second day however was a free day where there were no mandatory classes, though there were more informal meet and greet classes to try and draw in more students. The free day also had the benefit of letting the nocturnal students have time to reset their internal clock since they needed to sleep, generally, twice a week for vampires, and every two days for werewolves. No longer forcing them to switch to a daytime schedule if they didn't want. Harlan didn’t know about any other peoples who might need to change their sleep, but he was certain there were more species and subspecies out there. He wondered if it would be offensive for him to ask his magical creatures teacher. Or maybe he should jus-

“Harlan? You’ve been staring at that letter for quite some time.”

“Right, sorry. I got onto a tangent in my head. What I wanted to talk about was…”

Harlan was reluctant, but the things he could learn were too great in his mind. So he spoke of his mind, specifically how he could sense peoples minds, and Claude had a clear one here, but seemed almost to be mixed into Claudia’s when they were close to each other. He left out the empathy since there wasn’t much reason to bring it up.

“Well. That is quite odd, I will think about that. Oh, before I leave, my room is 544. We aren’t close to each other, but if you want to talk I am not that far.”

“Sure. I’ll try to remember that. Good night.”

Harlan couldn’t tell if he meant not close physically or emotionally, so he didn’t think too much about possible double meanings.

Harlan read over his schedule, he wasn’t told before what classes were mandatory. But seeing it now it was, basic elements, basics of warding, basics of arrays, basic spell crafting, basic weapon training.

These all seemed normal, putting students in a wide grouping of important classes and seeing if they excelled at any of them. But what struck fear in his heart were the last 3 classes.

World history, merchantry, and etiquette.

His first thought was seeing if the letter said how many mandatory classes he could miss each year before being punished, no dice. Then he started wondering if he could take an advanced test, skip the lessons for the year by proving he knows enough. But without Balor it would just end up harder than simply showing up at the classes and doing the bare minimum to pass.

His plans were all either more work than just doing what he needed to or they were bound to fail. He couldn’t possibly make a good enough golem to sit in on the classes, he liked the idea from when he made those learning dolls, but he didn’t like the idea of his soul exploding again.

He had to admit defeat this time.

Harlan checked the map, seeing if what he was looking for was open overnight. And it was.

So went and and hopped and skipped his way to the physical training area, otherwise known as the gym.

It was one of the buildings he had seen in the distance when he went to the assembly earlier.

He was falling behind on his exercises, he wasn’t weak, but he wanted to be stronger, and telekinesis training was mind numbing for him, with training empathy requiring two people. He felt that it was the best bet.

He expected most people to have gone to sleep. Instead the gym was about half full. Some were people like Ibexians which generally needed 2 hours less of sleep each night compared to a human, but mostly it was false undead.

He saw Selen was there in tighter fitting clothes with Wulrun. He looked so delicate, like he was scared of a world of paper, ready to fall apart at his touch.

But he barely stretched Selen clothes as he pulled on them. She handed the small wolf boy a 200 pound weight, Harlan thought it was a joke to show him his limits, instead he lifted it with relative ease, leaving shallow handprints in the iron bars.

“Good night. Are you training him?”

“He has a hard time controlling himself sometimes. We are still teaching limits. But I know he is gentle soul, isn’t that right Wulrun.”

“Yes Selen…”

“Well, I hope that goes well. You want me to fix the bar for you?”

“No need. It’s all enchanted to return to its proper shape in time.”

“Neat. I’m going to run around for a bit.”

“Wulrun, would you like to try and run with him?”

Harlan couldn’t even hear his reply, but Selen did.

They both lined up at the start of a large marked circle around the gym building.

Harlan put up a short lived ring of light to be a counter. After his display inside, Harlan expected to need to run at full speed to keep up with the boy. But he was clumsy, his arms were as long as his legs and his back was hunched over, making his run silly looking and slowing him down.

Harlan slowed down to let him keep pace, he didn’t want to take the fun out of it by lapping a child who he was exercising with.

After 3 laps Selen spoke with Wulrun, who seemed to dislike whatever he was told.

“Harlan, could you run that with him again?”

“Sure.”

Wulrun’s stance was different, he wasn’t going to run like a man, but like a wolf.

The ring faded and they were off. Harlan didn’t start at full speed, not expecting him to be much faster. But this caused him to need 2 laps to finally pass him.

Harlan won in the end, but it took effort. He never really had a training partner for basic exercises that did that for him.

“Good race. I had fun with that.”

“Why?”

“Well, the feeling of the wind in my face, the simplicity of just running without a worry, I’m not doing it to get away from something, it is just for the sake of it. Did you have fun.”

“Yes” he answered in barely a whisper.

“Alright, how about you sit in the meditation ring for just a minute, I’ll come get you when you can come out. Is that ok?”

“Yes Selen.”

The boy went to a ring and pushed his mana in, causing a veil to pop up around him

“He is still afraid, he wasn’t always like that. He was normal once. He didn’t want to be like us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I see how gentle he is with you though, why?”

She opened and closed her mouth more than once, trying to find the words.

“The Nightwatchers, we are the guards of human from those of us who would cause them harm. Wulrun and his family… I don’t want to talk about it, but he had to be saved with the blood of a werewolf and he can’t turn back. He saw things that made him so afraid of werewolves that they can’t even get close to him without him freaking out. So I took him in to train him. His transformation isn’t linked to the lunar cycle like normal, maybe he can turn back to normal and never have to turn again.”

Harlan thought about it, sure, he had all his issues, but he still had his family, without them, who would he be? His mind jumped to the worst answer, an age of blood and death so horrible Aarde has to restart.

“That isn’t you.”

“Right, sorry Lugh.”

“Don’t be that. Stay Harlan.”

“I will. Don’t worry.”

“I believe he can do it. I think I need to believe it.”

“I didn’t mean to say he is like you. You and him are… Well not as different as some might think. He is clay still in a kiln. You are hardened steel already.” She punched his arm in a friendly manner

He bowed goodbye to her and went to start lifting. He thought more about what Tau had said. He felt like he knew he wasn’t really iron, but he wasn’t clay either. He was going through the furnace right now, and hoping he didn't come out as slag. Maybe he would come out only to break from a temperature shock.

He kept thinking about this as the gym cleared out, eventually the last beastkin left and it was just vampires, werewolves, and Harlan. Wulrun started doing whatever Harlan was doing, Selen approved, though eventually they needed to leave, instead of going to the girls or boys dorm they went to a different building closer to the gym.

Harlan noted and promptly filed away that knowledge.

Then he kept at his exercises.

Only leaving when the sun broke and he decided he needed to take a shower and change his clothes.

As he sat in his room growing wood to have some extra on hand for whatever uses he might need he heard a knock and a call for breakfast.

He was working on a simple medallion carved to look like a Canis, though he wasn’t sure if he wanted docked or undocked ears on the design, he heard it was a coming of age ceremony for them, and he didn’t want to insult him by doing either. In the end, he went undocked, figuring it was better to just replicate Adelwulf.

He finished up the details, and placed it in his pocket, hoping to give it as a peace offering.