“...And I expect great things from all of you, to represent the Central Authority with all your talents. Dismissed!” The Headmaster’s voice rang out over the crowd of students. All those participating in the Tournament had gathered for a final speech before heading out. It was a smaller group than Caeden had expected. After all, even those who weren’t confident in their combat prowess could join in on other events. The rewards for even the least of them were still worth it.

But after a hushed discussion with Lily, they had come to a conclusion. The families. The ones most qualified to participate were the young family members, and their parents weren’t letting them go. They were skittish after the attacks. Putting their young scions, their families futures, in front of foreign powers when they were already so vulnerable was too daunting. It was patently stupid, as hiding their children would only increase the likelihood of an invasion. But Caeden would never accuse any of them of an overwhelming amount of intelligence.

It seemed to him that the surplus of power the families held, both in personal power through their shrouds and through the vast and far-reaching power their wealth and influence provided, tended to breed a certain kind of attitude. One that was overbearing when presented with a weak target but quickly fled at the first sign of trouble. Cautious and arrogant in equal measure, but neither in any way that was helpful. Time and again, he’d seen them act in ways that were contradictory or self-defeating. But they had the power to get away with such idiocy. So they did.

He was just happy he wouldn’t have to deal with them for the week-and-a-half journey to the Tournament. Caeden and his team had received special permission to take the Hearthhome instead of relying on the military vessels many students would be going by. Of course, they weren’t the only ones. Though most family children had decided not to participate, that didn’t mean none of them were coming. Those that did would also travel via family etherships rather than move with the rest.

Either way, it had no influence on them. All the preparations were done, and the training complete. Their teamwork was polished and refined, building off what they had learned together under Black Reach and across that whole continent. Erik had taken to his shrouds like a danger-prone fish to water, and Asherta was practically speaking normal sentences.

Caeden was ready to relax.

{}

Lily sighed. She shifted, settling deeper into the comfortable cushion. By a unanimous decision, the group had decided that the trip from Central City to the island city built for the Tournament of Powers would have as little training as possible. They had all been running ragged since they arrived from the dragon continent. Honestly, they had been running ragged since long before that.

Reflecting, Lily realized that the entire time since arriving at the Academy had been a mad scramble to get stronger. Each for different reasons. Caeden wanted to slip the noose created by Unc’s injuries and gain enough power to be free. Erik was fighting his ‘bad luck’ in an ever more dangerous set of circumstances. And Cat desperately wanted to stand tall in the massive shadow cast by her grandfather.

And Lily…Lily wanted to reach a point where no one could tell her she couldn’t help people. That it was dumb and foolish to care. That she didn’t deserve the privilege of kindness because mercy was the domain of the strong. She wanted to be a positive influence, to do right because it was right.

And now here they were. Each and every one of them was far more powerful than most anyone within a hundred years of their age. It was intensely gratifying to look back at where she had started and see just how far she had come. From a starved, abandoned girl treated like an object by her own brother to someone he could never even dream of challenging. There was a little bit of vindictive glee in that thought, but Lily let it sit. Ander deserved her scorn.

“Ah, there you are. I should have guessed.”

Lily looked up from her slate. She was in the Hearthhome’s library. It contained some physical books, but most of the knowledge was on a more advanced version of a CV. With a little help, she had figured out how to transfer over books from current technology to this hyper-advanced, ancient stuff.

Caeden was standing in the doorway, short, dark hair wet with beads of water dampening the towel slung around his shoulders and the fluffy white robe he wore. She could feel her face heat up slightly. There was no denying that Caeden was a handsome man. To her, at least. No doubt some would not appreciate his thick, muscular build. It was the muscles of a man that worked, rather than the sculpted and refined perfection she’d seen in many family scions, who bought their physiques from Body Sculptors.

Lily more appreciated the honest, hard-won muscles Caeden carried. They had purpose beyond just looking pretty. He used them. No doubt he had just finished up some time in the forge, making up for lost days with his uncle.

“Just going to look at me?” He smirked.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Just checking to make sure you didn’t smash your other hand. I can never be too careful with you.” Caeden had told her the story of his maimed hand, now repaired after he achieved Embodiment.

“Hey, now!” Caeden raised his hands in protest.

“Don’t even try to tell me you’re better now. You do reckless things all the time!” She glared at him, though there was no heat in her gaze or her tone.

“Oh, come on. Name one time I was reckless.” He challenged.

“Fighting all of the Solar Radiance students in the faction tournament.” She raised a finger.

“Well, that was because you-”

“Pushing the sword into the Heartstone.” She raised another finger.

“I’m pretty sure we all agreed to that one-”

“And fighting an adult dragon on your own.” She raised a third finger.

“He started it!”

“Caeden, you’re not five. That’s no excuse.”

“Welllll…”

She laughed. “Face it, Cae. You have no idea how to properly manage danger. Honestly, I’m not too good at it, either. The star incident comes to mind. It’s too bad that the others don’t notice and just follow along with us.”

Caeden sighed heavily, his shoulders slumped. “I know.”

He flopped down onto another soft cushion before awkwardly hopping it across the ground until his head landed on her shoulder. “I just…”

“You want to help. You were all silly, saying you didn’t want to interfere with bigger things, didn’t want to mess with the Revolution. But it all goes out the window the second you have the chance to do something. Hypocrite.” There wasn’t a single iota of condemnation in her words. Instead, they were filled with warmth, and pride.

“I’m really bad at helping, though.”

“Of course you are, you lump!” She thumped him lightly on his thick, muscular chest. “You hid in a forge and then ran away to a village in the middle of nowhere! It's a wonder you know how to talk to real people, considering how much you lived like a hermit.”

“This is true.” Caeden nodded, his hair rubbing against her cheek. They sat in silence for a while. Lily soaked up his solid, quiet presence. She loved that they didn’t have to talk. They could just be with each other. Erik and Cat couldn't go five minutes without starting up some inane conversation, and Asherta was a constantly eating loud chewer. But Caeden could be as quiet and still as stone.

Lily's head shifted, falling onto his chest. But he was considerably more comfortable than some rock.

“Whatcha readin?” Caeden slurred, his voice barely a whisper.

“Trashy romance novels.”

“Hmm, not what I was expecting.”

“A guilty pleasure. I haven’t gotten a chance to read any in months, and I’ve got a huge backlog from my favorite authors.”

“So, why this?” Caeden’s hand rose, shifting through her hair.

“I…It let me get away.” Lily admitted. “When things were bad. Which was a lot. The leads were always spunky young girls in a rough life that some shining prince would try to sweep off her feet. Only for her to turn around and do the sweeping. Finding love and power all in one move. I liked it. I still like it.”

“It doesn’t remind you of bad things?”

A fair question. “Not really. I mean, bad things were happening, but this was my escape. It let me feel free instead of locked up for my brother’s amusement and my father’s scorn. All my memories of these stories are the best ones I have.”

“Hmm.” Caeden hummed. He said nothing else.

Lily went back to reading.

{}

“OOOOOOOOOH!” Erik shouted, fists thrust in the air. “SUCK IT!”

“Shut up, you dork; I’m winning the next one!” Cat slapped him down from where he was standing on a table.

Asherta laughed through a mouthful of popcorn covered in hot sauce. Erik had managed to make another convert to his favorite food, though her choice of topping was weirding him out. Hot sauce? Really?

Reflexively, almost unconsciously, Erik arrested his fall with Binding. The awkward angle of his tumble would have snapped his neck. Instead, he did a sick flip and landed on his feet. Like a boss. “There’s no way you’re beating me!”

“Bring it, big man.” Cat laughed.

They went about resetting. Shrouded darts. Basically, it was darts, but you could use your shrouds to interfere however you wanted, so long as you didn’t destroy the board or the darts. Anything else was fair game. And Erik was killing it.

Binding was kinda a cheat. He could just bind Cat’s darts in place. Except, she caught on pretty much right away and started doing her own nasty tricks. Whenever she was throwing, she’d cover the whole room in shadows so he couldn’t see. Then, she threw her dart but also made hundreds of fake darts with Soul. She’d coat the real dart in Soul as well, and it blended right in.

Maybe Caeden or Lily would be able to spot the difference, but Erik was shit at investigative sense. He just tried to bind as many darts as he could. First, he tried to only bind those that were headed for the board. Until one swerved at a ninety-degree angle and slammed into the bullseye. Cat could control the darts freely. It was super cheaty.

So he immediately started doing the same thing, binding the darts he threw to ridiculous loops and angles at high speeds that made it freaking impossible to track. Cat kept making little spectral bugs to try and catch it while big burly undead guarded the board. Erik had to skillfully slip the dart through when she least expected it.

Basically, they were having a blast. Asherta tried to play, but after her first throw literally shattered the dart before it made it a foot from her hand, they decided she should just watch and have some popcorn. Which she was more than happy to do. Ash seemed to have no interest in the game at all. Instead, she had fun watching Cat and Erik smack-talk each other.

“When I win, you have to eat a toenail.” Erik raised the wager. They had started betting gross things the other would have to do if they lost. So far, Erik had sniffed the dirty laundry bin and licked the floor, while Cat had to eat a hair, stick her hand in the garbage, and sit in the room after Erik farted. They were going until someone broke and wouldn’t do the gross punishment.

“Oof.” Cat gagged. “Then you have to dunk your head in a toilet.”

“Clean toilet?”

“Of course. I’m not a monster.”

“Hmm. Then it has to be my toenail.”

“That’s way worse.”

“Hey! I’m a doctor. My feet are immaculate. You’d be lucky to eat these toenails.” Erik ripped his shoe off, waving his foot around, hopping after Cat as she ran away from him.

“Get that shit put away! Stop trying to put your stinky foot in my face.” Cat laughed, dodging around a table.

“The nail of this stinky foot is going in your mouth real soon.”

“I’m not losing again!”