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Evelyn smiled weakly at her friend, wiping her eyes before tear spilled over. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be bringing down the mood like this. I’m so glad he doesn’t hate me.” Evelyn’s hand went to grab her hair and tug—a nervous habit she had never kicked—but found no hair where she was reaching. Realizing how strange she probably looked with her hands in the air, she dropped them.

“Alright. I’ll settle,” she said, after considering it for a moment. “I’m not an entirely horrible person. But I am extremely silly, exceedingly worrisome, and occasionally completely peculiar, not to mention I let my imagination run wild. I’m so grateful to have a friend as wonderful as you.” Evelyn smiled at the High Priestess, so glad for the company.

At Lorika’s suggestion, Evelyn’s demeanor changed entirely. She started bouncing on her toes excitedly and grabbed Lorika’s hands. “Oh, do you really think that would be okay? That sounds so wonderful, Lorika! With you there, I know it’ll go smoothly. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Evelyn laughed lightly at the pirate-y banter that allowed herself to be at ease around three of the most influential people at the temple. However, that changed quickly. She squeaked and turned red at Jessie’s question, glancing away for a moment before responding. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you. And I mean thank you.”

Evelyn made a vain attempt at a carefree smile, before reaching out to touch Lorika’s arm, hoping for her to lead them to a topic of conversation.

Evelyn watched the exchange between the trio in front of her with admiration at how at ease they were with each other. She didn’t even care that she was the topic of conversation. In fact, it wasn’t until Jessie actually spoke her name that she realized she was sitting back and letting other people make her life decisions for her again. She was allowing herself to be a child again. However, she couldn’t find any reason to disagree with anything they had been saying. Maybe she should let other people make her life decisions for her more often. Or at least let these three.


“Oh, yes, that sounds wonderful, actually. It works out very well,” Evelyn said, smiling as gracefully as she could before turning to address Cressa. “And don’t worry, I won’t fall behind on my studies.”

Now Evelyn was just faced with actually sleeping and staying asleep, something she hadn’t been able to accomplish in the few days since the war. Her instructors would certainly be able to tell if she seemed too tired, and might attribute it to the double training.

Evelyn looked like she might burst—although into tears or shouts, it wasn’t clear. “They beat you…just because they thought it would make you a better fighter?”

That was the final straw for Evelyn. “Quelle cruauté! Cela ne peut être efficace!” Evelyn stopped herself before she began a rant in French. “I’m sorry, I forgot myself. I just…I can’t imagine beatings being effective.”


[Translation: How cruel! That cannot be effective!]

Evelyn stilled at Cressa’s comment. Could Cressa and Jessie really think that she disliked their culture? She had to be very careful how she phrased this. “I once had a friend who belonged to a family in which torture was very prominent, if anyone bothered to look below the surface. No, not in the physical sense, but in a deep, psychological sense. Her father was especially cruel. Even when she was a child, her father would tell her daily how worthless she was. He would tell her how she had ruined not only his life, but her mother’s as well. She carried a guilt with her that ate her up from the inside out. By the time I met her, she was literally a shell of a girl…”

Evelyn paused, silently hoping she wasn’t being too morbid. “I tell you this to prove a point. Every culture has something that seems bizarre and awful. I don’t believe in abuse in any way, but an entire culture cannot be blame for the actions of a few. Even if everyone in your culture acted as such, it still does not reflect the two of you. Cressa, I have been studying under you for quite some time, and while your methods are not exactly normal, you have never acted deliberately cruel to any of your students. And you, Jessie, I have heard many, many rumors about you—but none of them involved you senselessly beating anyone. That shows far more about your character, and thereby your culture, then anything else could have.”

Evelyn’s eyes practically sparkled as she had to hold herself together and try not to jump around in excitement. “Oh, yes! Very much! That sounds simply marvelous! I am always happy to learn something new—and of course, I’m certain Xei will be ecstatic.”

Distantly, she wondered if the blue-haired boy was even at the party, or if he was in the library somewhere with a book.

'I heard my name...didn't I? It must be like sneezing when someone speaks your name. Funny how that workOH GOD, WHAT BROKE THIS TIME. PEOPLE ONLY SAY MY NAME WHEN THINGS BREAK. Gotta get to the party. Yeah, the party. Someone probably broke that wall again. Darned finicky enchantments. Have no fear, I am coming to repair thee, wall! Huzzah! ...aww, that's right, the Portal is ruined. Well, at least I grabbed a piece of the glass. Mirror world or not, there were some cool magics tied up in that. Why am I even working on this speaker thing when I could be doin...crap, I think I forgot something. Oh, the wall, yes. TO THE WALL!'

Following the overly hyper train of thought that could only belong to one wizard, the following orders were heard: "Deskbot, fold up, I have things to do. Nah, I think it's fine that the juice is going to shrink. It should be safe. Probably. Anyway, get yourself home, it's getting late anyway, and I don't want you to be busted by some party-crazy person. Anyway, I'm off!"

Of course, this person could be no other than Xeiashi, resident Mad Mage and possible SINner, depending on who you asked first. He had been building things in the library again, this time designing a smaller-scale magic speaker that would allow for many more speakers in the dance hall, and thus much louder music. The spell components, along with scraps of wall-rubble and a few samples of seawater and tree bark (another unfinished project) was quickly folded up into the reliable DeskBot's miniaturization area and stored safely. Pausing only to grab his book and oak shard from the floor next to the now-tiny Bot, Xei rushed out of the library as fast as his weak Spellcaster-legs could carry him. A few people almost got knocked over, judging by the sounds left in his wake.

Xei paused before the wide-open door to the banquet room. The room was packed, filled even, with bodies and dancing and the occasional intoxicating beverage. Xei ignored all this and instead focused on the walls, scanning for any break in the enchantments that Thomas had put up some months ago. Nothing seemed wrong, for some reason, so Xei entered the room to better examine them.

In hindsight, this was a bad idea.

It is not often that a crowd can be described as a sea of bodies, but the phrase definitely applied here. This was a sea with a very powerful undercurrent, and before long Xei was more concerned with staying upright amongst the jostling bodies than with any broken wall. Eventually, as if it were a large beast that found him unappetizing, he crowd spit Xei out in a suspiciously empty corner...that...had....

"Oh. Greetings Priestess, Cap'n Hawk, Professor....oh, HI Evelyn!..." 'wait a second...oops'

"Did......Did I interrupt something?"

This last was said with enough embarrassment that only a conjured sweatdrop could adequately convey it, though Xei was able to stop himself from making an illusionary one to get the point across.