{Friday}

With Xhez resting throughout these last few days, Rin's preparations for her final mission before officially beginning her career as an adventurer were... somewhat lonely. Sure, Eve and the rest of Rin's classmates were there to provide some level of company while they prepared as well, but for the most part, this week had been a constant repetition of trying to remember what she was told in class and training with Maria.

A routine that was about to break today, as Rin was going to go back to her "duties" as Triss. One small part of Harriton's earlier announcement that maybe the others hadn't made much note of but Rin certainly had was the fact that she would need to pay for the next term, just as she had for this one. Of course, this led her to check how much money she actually had and she found that she was only shy of a few gold coins from being able to do so.

Thus, she planned to have another night of secret passion and, next week, she would also be paying the Arena another visit.

It was with a small amount of guilt that Rin tapped on Xhez's water bag and made the sprite stir. Elisa wasn't here, as the moonlight poured in through the nearby open windows.

"Hey, Xhez," Rin muttered.

"Hua-wha?" Rin heard Xhez say from within the bag, before letting out a cute yawn. "Rin?"

"Yeah," the adventurer replied. "Sorry to wake you, but, I need some help."

"O-Oh?" Upon hearing that, the sprite seemed to get alert. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no. I just need you to do the usual illusion thingy."

"Oh," Xhez noticeably calmed down. "I see. Give me a moment. I will jump out."

"Gotcha."

And so, a few seconds later, a naked water sprite was soon standing in the center of Rin's room. The raven-haired girl's amber eyes roamed over Xhez's body of their own will as the sprite stretched her arms.

"How long have I been asleep?" Xhez asked.

"A few days," Rin responded, crossing her arms and smiling. "How are you feeling? You've been doing so much lately, I figured you should get as much rest as you can."

"I agree," Xhez said with a giggle. "I feel well. My Spirit has recharged. And..."

"Yeah?"

"I..." Xhez looked away. "I dreamt about my mothers."

Hearing that made Rin's eyes widen.

[Wait, shit. Right, her moms!]

"I promised them I would not be gone for long, but... It has been quite some time, has it not?" Xhez asked with a slightly sad smile.

"Uhm... Do you want to go back to them?" Rin asked.

Admittedly, a small, rather selfish part of her wanted to hear a firm "no" to that question. However, if Xhez did want to return to her home then Rin wouldn't deny her that. Even if she didn't like the idea.

"I would like to see them again," Xhez replied. "If anything, just to let them know I am doing well. I... I have not seen enough of humanity yet, however. My 'mission' is still not complete. I do not know if I want to stay with them."

Rin held back a sigh of relief. She didn't want to make herself that obvious.

"Okay, well," she began to respond, "I'm gonna be on break pretty soon. We could, maybe, go see them then."

"What?" Xhez asked, perking up. "On break? What does that mean?"

"Uh, my classes are going to stop for a few weeks. Maybe we could go see your mothers in that time. Does that sound good?"

Once what Rin was saying became clear to the sprite, she nearly started glowing with excitement, putting forth a beaming smile.

"Yes!" She all but cried out. "That would be wonderful!"

---

Once Xhez cast her illusion spell on Rin, the adventurer was soon out of the academy while Xhez was soon back in her bag.

Rin walked in a slight hurry.

[Hopefully, I can get this out of the way soon enough so I can get up early tomorrow and keep training.]

Maneuvering through the streets of Libera, eventually, Rin found herself at the train station. She didn't know who she would be seeing today. Maybe Gwen would make another appearance, maybe someone else. However, the answer she received as she arrived was not one she'd expected.

[Huh?]

No one. No one at all showed up.

The area was completely vacant. There weren't even any officers around. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Rin's heels tapping along the concrete as she made her way over to the bench where she usually found people at.

[Uh... Maybe I should just wait? Someone might show up, I guess.]

And so, she did just that.

For about an hour, Rin sat there. Eventually, a few guards did show up, roaming the area and looking around. Though, no actual customers did. It was the first time since Rin had started doing this that this had happened, and she didn't really know what to think about it.

[Well,] she quickly said to herself, [it was bound to happen at some point that there wouldn't be anyone here.]

Keeping her head low, slightly disappointed, Rin stood up and was about to make her way back to the academy when she remembered:

[Oh, shit. My disguise.]

It wasn't because she was afraid of any teachers or classmates seeing her like this. That had happened a few times, naturally, as she wandered the halls to leave whenever she did this. Those few times that it did, they figured she was just another student, albeit a familiar-looking one. No, it was because she didn't want to risk Elisa specifically seeing her like this.

Sure, based on how it went when Rin stumbled across her during one such previous Friday night, she could guess that Elisa already suspected this was her. However, there was no need to solidify that suspicion and turn it into full-blown knowledge.

Because of that, Rin did a 180, walked right back to the bench, and sat down again.

[... I, ehm, sure hope Xhez didn't recharge *that* much Essence.]

...

Another hour passed and it didn't seem like Xhez's spell was going to wear off anytime soon. With it being the middle of the night, and with Rin starting to get quite bored, she decided she might as well head downtown to get a drink.

Ironically, it looked like tonight she would be spending money rather than earning any.

The adventurer paced through Libera's streets once again, only now it looked like there were actually people around. The amount of them increased as she got closer and closer to the same bar that Eve had taken her to earlier on in the semester.

Here, Rin sighed as she walked into the establishment and made a beeline for the counter. She didn't look around to see who else was there, instead, she just noted that the bar was busy tonight.

"Can I get some liquor?" Rin asked with a tired voice.

"Sure, what do you want?" The bartender, a young man this time, asked.

"Anything, honestly."

She was handed a cup that fulfilled that requirement and paid up before she drank the contents of it, feeling the familiar burn of the alcohol sting her throat.

[... It's been a while, huh?] Rin thought as she smiled to herself. Her days as a veritable alcoholic loomed in the background of her memory.

Her plan was simple. She'd sit here and drink until she felt like the illusion was about to give out, at which point she would head back to the academy and prepare herself for tomorrow.

She didn't expect someone to call out to her, though, which someone did.

"Triss?" A shy voice asked.

[Huh?]

Rin turned toward it and found a young beastborn girl with a pair of wolf ears on her head and a timid expression.

"Kate?"