As it turned out, when Yui said that she knew of a restaurant, what she meant was that she walked them up to what looked like small, four story palace. Tables were lined along large balconies above them, but only the bottom few floors had anyone in them.

A waiter at the front of the restaurant spotted Yui and his eyes widened for an instant before he gathered himself with a surprising level of professionality. He adjusted his Kingsfront-colored suit as he walked up to them and dropped into a low bow.

“Princess. How may I serve you today?”

“A private table for my friends and I,” Yui replied.

“Of course. We have a spot at the top room waiting for you. Will you be expecting any more company?”

“No,” Yui said. “Please ensure that we are not bothered for the duration of our meal.”

“Of course,” the waiter said, rising from his bow. “Please, follow me.”

He led them through the large, marble archway and into the bottom floor of the restaurant. Most of the tables were empty, but the people that were there all wore extravagant clothes. The majority of them looked more like professors and visitors rather than students.

The waiter led them past red-clothed tables and up to a small platform in the back of the room. It gently lifted them up, passing several floors before coming to a stop in a large glass bubble.

A single, large table sat in the center of the bubble, draped in beautiful velvet. Four sets of crystal goblets and gold-covered plates with matching utensils had already been placed around the table. Damien wasn’t sure when they’d had time to set anything up or how they knew how many of them were coming, but he didn’t question it.

Yui at down in one of the carved wooden chairs. Sylph sat beside her, saving Damien from trying to figure out their arrangement. He sat across from Sylph, beside Carson. Through the dome surrounding them, Damien felt like he could see all of Kingsfront.

I probably can, actually.

“Can I get you anything to get started with, Princess?” the waiter asked. “Or are you already prepared?”

“The usual is fine,” Yui replied.

“Of course. It will be right out.” The waiter bowed, then slipped away back down the stairs.

From where he sat, Damien had a view of an enormous, gold laden building. Two massive dragon statues wound up its sides, meeting above the building in a vicious fight.

“That’s our Treasure Pavilion,” Yui explained, following his gaze.

“Ei – ah, Seven Planes,” Damien said with a whistle. “That’s got to be at least three times bigger than ours. Wait, Sylph, don’t we have a bunch of contribution points we haven’t used?”

“Yeah,” Sylph. “I honestly forgot about it when you and Henry broke my core and I didn’t really need the dagger anymore.”

“You… broke her core?” Carson asked, his eyes going wide. “Why?”

“Damien can get quite violent when he’s mad,” Yui said, causing Carson to scoot his chair slightly away from the other boy.

“Stop that,” Damien said, rolling his eyes. “Sylph technically broke her own core by trying to draw too much Ether. Henry just had to break it even further and then put everything back together to keep her from dying.”

“If you explain things like that, it takes the fun out of them,” Yui scoffed. “I appreciate you and Sylph doing this, by the way. Don’t get me wrong – I like Gaves and Bella, but they can get a little stifling. I just want to live sometimes.”

“I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of your position,” Carson said. “The kingdom only has one princess, after all. It seems really rough to deal with constantly, though.”

“You have no idea,” Yui said with a sigh. “Does your family not do anything like that with you? I know even Nolan and Reena had personal guards at one point.”

“Me?” Carson let out a bark of laughter. “No way. I think they were thrilled when I went to a Mage College. My dad wanted the best for me, but they’re all busy with their own things. Nobody has time to worry what I’m doing.”

“It sounds like you don’t enjoy it all that much,” Yui observed.

Carson waggled a hand from side to side. “I guess. It’s hard to say, you know? It would be nice to know they cared every once and a while. Maybe not with a constant guard set on me, but a response to my letters would be nice. What about Damien and Sylph?”

“Huh? Me?” Damien asked. “I’m pretty sure I can beat my dad now. With Henry, I should be strong enough to take him out, so no issue there.”

“I already killed the man that raised me,” Sylph put in. “No family problems here either.”

Yui and Carson stared at them.

“I think you’re both the definition of family problems,” Carson said when he realized that neither of them were joking. He did a double take as a thought struck him. “Wait, Damien. You said your father was Stormsword.”

“Yeah. What of it?”

“The main thing that comes to mind for you when talking about your dad is that you can beat him in a fight?”

“Actually, I can kind of see that,” Yui muttered. “He can be a little…difficult.”

“That’s an understatement,” Damien said. “But we’ve got an understanding now. It was rough for a little while.”

“That’s good. How’d you do it?” Yui asked. “I appreciate all the work your father does for the crown, but I swear he thinks that I’m going to kill myself if left alone in a room with a sharp object.”

“I told him I’d kill him if he ever came for me or Sylph again.”

Yui cleared her throat. “Right. That probably won’t work in my case.”

“Actually, it might,” Damien said, scratching his chin. “He cares about the kingdom more than anything. If you told him to do something, I bet he’d do it as long as it wasn’t directly against the Queen’s words.”

“I am now becoming more happy that my family isn’t involved in this stuff,” Carson said.

“If we’re going to try things out between us, you better get used to it,” Yui warned. “Especially in the beginning. You’re going to get a lot of scrutiny.”

Carson pressed his lips together. “I knew that. That’s fine with me. My family won’t care, and I’m confident enough in my own abilities to fend for myself.”

The waiter strode up the stairs, carrying a large domed platter and pausing their conversation for a few moments as he walked between them, pouring a sparkling amber liquid into all of their goblets. He set the platter down on the table, then removed the dome and disappeared back down the stairs without a word. The platter held a small but expensive looking board of meats and cheeses.

“Apple cider,” Yui explained at Damien’s curious glance. “I don’t drink when I can avoid it. A drunk princess would not be a good look for the kingdom.”

“It’s not a good idea to lose control of yourself anyway,” Sylph said with a shrug. “Although practicing fighting while intoxicated is an important skill.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Yui said, taking a small sip from her glass.

Henry slipped out of Damien’s shadow and snuck a tendril up to the table, gently lifting his goblet. Damien sighed and pretended not to notice as his companion drained half the liquid and set it back.

“Bleh. Spicy,” Henry said. “Why is your juice spicy? It tastes like sad, depressing alcohol.”

“Because it’s apple cider,” Yui replied. “And it does not taste depressing. It’s very good.”

“Whatever you say,” Henry said, waving a tentacle dismissively. “Say, you think these folk have any goats?”

“Please don’t torment the waiters of my favorite restaurant,” Yui said. “I’d rather not have to change locations.”

“Hmph. I’m going to go bother those tagalongs of yours, then,” Henry said. Before anyone could say anything, he vanished with a pop. Yui turned an eye on Damien.

“Don’t look at me. I don’t control him.”

“You don’t?” Yui asked. “I thought you just kind of let him have free reign.”

Damien cleared his throat. “No. We’ve got a… unique contract. He can basically do whatever he wants.”

Yui groaned and rubbed her forehead with her palms. “The Mortal Plane is doomed.”

“You have no idea,” Damien muttered.

Carson took a piece of meat from the board and ate it, speaking once he’d finished. “What is your companion anyway, Damien? I hope you’ll forgive the rude question, but I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“An undiscovered one from the Plane of Darkness,” Damien said, grabbing two pieces of meat and offering one to Sylph, who plucked it from his fingers with a burst of wind. “Trust me, you don’t want to know more.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Carson said.

“Let’s switch topics,” Yui suggested, claiming some food for herself. “Damien, you’ve already found out what Sylph has been up to, but you haven’t said what you’ve been doing at Mountain Hall. How was it?”

“Interesting,” Damien replied, tapping his chin in thought. “When I showed up, I had to fight off a group of students that thought I’d be easy pickings.”

“How many?” Sylph asked. “And what Year?”

“I don’t remember to be honest. Probably half a dozen? And they ranged from One through Four.”

“Wow. That’s a rough way to start a transfer.” Carson grimaced.

“It was,” Damien agreed. “I nearly killed a few of them on accident. I didn’t expect them to be so weak. I ended up getting one of them booted from Mountain Hall because of how badly she lost.”

“Damien,” Sylph said crossly. “Seriously? What happened to her?”

“Oh, I felt bad so I let her move into my room as a fake maid. A bunch of the other students were apparently waiting to attack her, and she had nowhere else to go.” Damien shook his head. “I hate the environment there. Everyone was constantly waiting for an opportunity to bring others down.”

“Ah. Good job,” Sylph said with a nod.

Carson and Yui exchanged a glance.

“Sylph isn’t annoyed that he had a random girl staying in his room for a month or two?” Carson asked quietly.

“I told you – they’re weird,” Yui replied. “Don’t question it. And don’t let me catch you with a random woman sleeping in your room.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“So what happened with her?” Sylph pressed, claiming more food for herself.

“She got attacked. Henry warned me before it got too bad,” Damien replied. “I realized I had to put a stop to it or I’d constantly be getting bothered by people attacking her.”

“Good idea,” Sylph said approvingly. “What did you do? Make an example of one of them?”

“Pretty much. I ripped one of their arms off,” Damien said. “That worked pretty well.”

Sylph nodded. “Good. I would have just gotten rid of a few until people got the message, but that’s probably a more effective method.”

“Thanks,” Damien said. “But the main reason I went to Kingsfront was to find Quinlan. I ended up finding her room, but she wasn’t there. It turns out, the whole reason that she was trying to learn Rune Crafting was to help free her sister, who was locked in stasis by a botched companion summoning.”

“You found the sister?” Sylph guessed.

“Yeah. She was in a coffin of some sort,” Damien replied, taking a sip of cider. It really was quite good. Henry was just a complainer. “Henry and I got her out, though.”

“Figures,” Carson muttered. “You know runes as well?”

“I wanted to be a researcher before I became a battle mage,” Damien said with a shrug. “They’ve been fairly useful. It’s nice to be able to make my own magic instead of just memorizing spells that other people have created.”

“I’d love to do it too if it didn’t have such a sharp learning curve. I’d be thirty by the time I graduated,” Carson said, shuddering. “I’ll stick to using spells like a normal person.”

“Where was Quinlan?” Yui asked curiously. “Its hard to believe that she’d leave her sister just sitting around in stasis.”

“She was wrapped up in some business with a monster,” Damien said, not wanting to mistakenly reveal too much. Sylph could be filled in on the gaps later. “I killed it – oh, this part is more interesting, though. I found one of Delph’s students teaching a class!”

“Really?” Sylph asked. “Which one?”

“Kat,” Damien said. “Have you heard of her?”

Sylph shook her head.

“Well, you’d like her. She used some sort of body modification magic and was incredibly fast. Faster than you, I think.”

“I want to spar her,” Sylph said, her eyes lighting up. “She’s in Mountain Hall?”

“For now. When she confirmed Delph was at Blackmist, she decided to go on a trip. We’ll probably meet her when we go back.”

“Oh, fantastic,” Sylph rubbed her hands together. “That will be fun.”

“I’ll have you know that Henry managed to defeat her,” Damien said. “So he’s going to hold this over you forever if you lose.”

Carson choked. “Your companion beat a professor? On his own?”

“Yeah, but she wasn’t going all out,” Damien replied. He decided not to mention that Henry probably could have defeated her, even if she had been.

Carson sighed. “I am starting to understand what you meant about them, Yui. Do you think there’s even a point in asking them to spar to see where I can improve?”

“Probably not,” Yui replied. “You can spar with me or Gaves instead. That’ll be more useful.”

“We’re right here, you know,” Damien pointed out.

Yui just cocked an eyebrow. The waiter emerged once more, this time carrying several platters piled high with salads, thin cuts of meat, and pasta. He set everything down with a flourish and departed once more.

Everything smelled delicious, and that marked the end of their conversation. They all dug in, and the rest of the meal was spent stuffing their faces.