Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alain Prost is not supposed to be at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. The Prosts are Mumple People. His mom went to Mumple. His dad went to Mumple. Sure, Daniel had dabbled in wizardry, but when his time came, he went to Mumple too.

Waiting for his first day at the Academy to start, Alain questions whether he should have gone down that route too.

Everyone else seems to know what they’re doing, where they’re going, even before the first bell rings. And no matter where Alain stands, he seems to be getting in the way. He’s used to being small, even for a halfling, but there are far more people here than at his old school, most of them towering over him. He’s pretty sure if one of the older students trips over him, they could kill him. But even as he tries to back away from where most of the students are congregating, an overly confident half-elf knocks him out of the way as he strides through the crowd.

Alain glares at the back of the kid’s head. It’s instinctive, the way his hand reaches into his pocket for his spellcasting focus. But even as he prepares to cast a spell, the half-elf throws a punch at a random half-orc. His eyes widen and he scrambles backwards as the other students surge forward. 

“Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Alain raises his arm over his face, as if that’s going to stop him from being trampled, and winces in anticipation. But rather than a hundred feet stomping into his kidney, he feels something tug at his backpack and he’s dragged backwards.

“Are you alright?” 

A girl with short brown hair looks over him, concern covering her face. Alain rubs his head, still a little worried he might be dead, but nods.

The girl smiles and helps him stand. “Roseanne,” she introduces herself. “Is it your first day too?”

Alain nods again, realises he hasn’t said anything and suddenly worries that he’s coming across as very weird.

“Alain,” he says, partially to fill the silence. “And yes, first day. Here and… ready to learn.”

Alain mentally groans. If he can make it to the school bell without saying anything else weird, maybe he might be able to salvage some kind of a reputation.

He’s still trying to figure out how to save the conversation when Alain’s pushed aside again, this time by the vice principal rushing forward to break up the fight.

“Come on,” Roseanne says, catching him. “I told my boyfriend I’d meet him in the cafeteria.”

It still gives Roseanne a tingle when she says that.

From the moment Nigel Mansell had shown up at Oakshield, Roseanne knew there was something special about him. It isn’t unusual for new kids to start at Oakshield. Lots of families move to Elmville a few years early in the hopes of getting their kid into the best adventuring school in the country. But there was something different about Nigel.

Nigel didn’t make much of an effort to make friends. From what Roseanne could tell, it didn’t look like he had any plans for making connections at all. He was good at football, good at sports, and that should have won him friends. But there was something about Nigel that kept him from joining the other boys after games.

Whatever it was, Roseanne found it fascinating. 

Her friends thought she was insane. Sure, they’d slowly come round to the idea that not all boys were smelly and gross, and dating wasn’t entirely out of the question, but someone like Nigel Mansell definitely was.

Roseanne hadn’t listened to them. When Roseanne decides she wants something, she’s going to get it.

She’d found out it was one of the things she has in common with Nigel.

Nigel needs someone to keep him cool, stop him from pushing himself over the edge but doesn’t hold him back. That’s Roseanne’s job, one she hopes will get easier now he’s in monk classes.

The lunchroom seems to be empty when Alain and Roseanne arrive. It’s quiet, the only noise coming from the kitchen where the lunch lady already seems to be working on their midday meal. Even the sound of students in the rest of the school is muffled by the cinder block walls. There’s no sign of Nigel, or anybody else for that matter. 

Alain takes a seat at one of the tables. He leans his chin against his hand, only for his elbow to slip on the apparently freshly waxed table. He faceplants the table hard, biting his tongue and fracturing his nose.

“Sol Above, you’ve not got a good constitution, do you?” Roseanne touches his forehead, a pale green light emitting from her fingertips. Alain’s nose shifts back into place with a loud crack and the iron taste in his mouth fades.

“Thanks. I, er, I’m mostly good when I don’t get hit,” Alain says quietly. He runs his finger against the table again. Yes, definitely recently waxed.

“Wizard?” Roseanne asks.

“I don’t know if I should be offended,” Alain laughs awkwardly. “Yeah. Used to want to be a fighter but, eh, you see the problem.”

“Yeah, it’s no good trying to roll with the punches when you can’t take one,” Roseanne says. She looks around again, then checks her crystal. No texts from Nigel. She hopes he’s not having second thoughts about coming here. Again.

Just as she’s considering texting Nigel again, the cafeteria doors open. 

Nigel had hoped his first day at high school would go a little better than his first days at middle school. He isn’t the only person new to the school, he already has at least one friend, and he lives down the road so even missing the bus isn’t an issue. But in the 15 minutes he’s been on campus, he’s been hit by three water balloons and a frisbee. He’s pretty sure only one of those was an accident.

“Nigel? Why are you wet?”

Roseanne jumps up as Nigel comes over. The water in his hair is already starting to evaporate, but that’s only a sign that Nigel’s about to explode. Roseanne starts to take deep breaths, coaxing her boyfriend into following along.

Nigel closes his eyes. Inner focus. There are 1440 minutes in a day. He isn’t going to let a bad ten minutes ruin the rest. Inner focus.

A blast of cold air hits Nigel in the face and he stumbles back a little.

“Sorry!” Alain calls. “I was trying… sorry.”

Nigel’s hair is dry now.

Eleven bad minutes.

“This is Alain,” Roseanne introduces. “He’s a wizard.”

“Yeah, right, sure,” Nigel mumbles. “Well, nice to meet you.”

He takes Roseanne’s hand and pulls her out of the cafeteria so he can find that inner focus again before the bell rings.

Chapter Text

Late on his first day of school. Ayrton can’t believe it. It’s not his fault. His mother had insisted on photos of him and Viviane before his first day, and wanted them in the matching outfits she had bought. Viviane had point blank refused to wear the beige cardigan that matched Ayrton’s sweater vest and it was a battle of the wills to get the photoshoot done. Their mother had won, of course. Neide Senna always got what she wanted, one way or another. 

Viviane, two years older, no longer appreciates the importance of punctual attendance, but Ayrton does. He’s already late, yes, but that doesn’t mean he wants to be any more late. So he’s running through the halls, dragging a sword behind him that leaves a mark on the linoleum flooring as he tries to find the assembly hall.

“-engaged in all matters of tomfoolery and shenanigans, sometimes violent, sometimes fatal…”

Ayrton slips into the back of the assembly hall. All the benches are filled, and most of the students are left standing around the sides of the hall. Ayrton can’t see who they’re listening to, but the elderly wizard’s voice echoes around the room.

“...and what is a party? A gathering of friends, perhaps with some alcoholic beverages, some fun music? Hahaha, a jape!”

Viviane has told Ayrton that Arthur Aguefort is… well, the words she uses aren’t exactly ones Ayrton likes to think about, but “odd” is a fitting substitute. Ayrton’s not sure if he missed something important at the start of the speech that might give context, but looking at the other students he’s not the only one that’s confused.

He moves through the crowd, hoping to blend in better so nobody notices he’s late.

“A party is composed of those who have sworn themselves to each other, to make themselves greater than the sum of their parts.”

A party. Viviane’s told him about this too. The Aguefort Adventuring Academy isn’t a typical school. It wouldn’t be the premier highschool for heroes if it was. A student’s academic career at the school starts with forming a party, a group of fellow adventurers to complete assignments and quests together. 

It seems like a big commitment to Ayrton. His sister’s party already almost broke apart once when the wizard and rogue temporarily broke up. That’s why he’s making a no-romance rule for his party. They’re going to focus on adventuring, and maybe a few side quests when they don’t have schoolwork. But nothing else.

Ayrton is already a step ahead of most of the class. He spent the summer at adventuring camp. That’s where he met his new best friend, and the first member of his new party. Now if he can just find the kid…

“Never forget that the greatest magic of all is chronomancy, the magic of time. Welcome to your first year, freshman, at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy!”

Ayrton reaches the front of the crowd just as the school principal turns to light and disappears. 

The dragonborn vice principal, Goldenhord, returned to the stage to talk about orientation classes. Ayrton’s listening - being a paladin, one of Helio’s own soldiers, means committing to a lot of work after all - but his focus is on scanning the crowd for a familiar face.

He feels someone tug at his sweater. “Didn’t think you were going to come.”

Ayrton turns to find a dark haired wood elf with a mischievous grin standing next to him.

Gerhard Berger hadn’t been Ayrton’s first choice of partner at the adventuring camp. Ayrton had put a lot of work into his projects. His sword-play was masterful, his footwork was flawless, and his spell casting… ok, he didn’t have any spells at the time but he’d been practicing the somatic components and he was ready. All the camp counsellors told him he was impressive. The praise filled a void in his chest. Who needs a present father when you have a book full of gold stars?

But being the counsellor’s favourite meant he was also the perfect person to partner one of the more… disruptive members of the group. 

It wasn’t Gerhard’s fault he was the camp clown. He’s a bard - or that’s what he told Ayrton - he needs to be entertaining. 

But even so, it was a partnership that shouldn’t have worked.

The day at the lake had proved Ayrton’s doubts wrong.

“Sorry I’m late, I got caught up with stuff at home,” Ayrton whispers. “Did I miss anything?”

“Two kids got in a fight,” Gerhard says. “I waxed the cafeteria table and hit a kid with three water balloons. Nothing else, not that I know of.”

“Why did you wax the tables?” Ayrton asks, as if the rest of the events make sense.

Gerhard shrugs with a grin. “Why not?”

The grin is almost infectious, and Ayrton can’t help but smile back.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Gerhard asks.

“Well…” Ayrton takes his planner from his backpack. He already has his regular schedule, but the first day of term is a little different. “I have an introduction to the paladin class, then I’m going to meet the religious studies teacher. And then I have a meeting with the fighter teacher to see if I can get extra sparring lessons.” 

The martial elements of being a paladin are the areas where he’s strongest, but it’s also the part of the role that isn’t limited to only a few actions in a day. He might as well practice what he can.”

Gerhard groans. “I thought you said you weren’t going to be a dork.”

“What’s dorky about learning to fight?” Ayrton asks.

“Ayr, you’ve got four years to learn how to fight, but you’ve only got one day to decide who you’re gonna spend those four years with,” Gerhard points out. “We need to make a party.”

“Yeah, we’re going to do that this afternoon?” Ayrton says. The afternoon is blocked off as a Day of Fellowship, which is why he has to pack so much into the morning. 

Gerhard rolls his eyes. “All the best kids are going to be gone by the afternoon.”

“Well, I’m the best paladin and I won’t be gone,” Ayrton says. “So I guess there’ll be lots of students who take their craft seriously who won’t have a party yet.”

Gerhard gives him a perplexed look, but Ayrton doesn’t know why. He’s talking perfect sense. He places a hand on Ayrton’s shoulder, but takes a few more moments to figure out what he’s going to say. Ayrton expects something inspirational. Gerhard’s a bard, after all.

“You’re an idiot,” Gerhard settles on.

“What?”

“At least come to bloodrush tryouts before lunch,” he says. “Bound to be some decent barbarians there.”

“Why would we want a bloodrush player?” Ayrton asks. “We want someone dedicated to adventuring, not an idiot who’s going to waste their time playing a ballgame.”

And if they’re going to be playing any ballgame, it’s going to be football .

“Then we’ll see the rejects,” Gerhard tries. “Please. It’s like one hour.”

“Fine.” He’ll have to see if he can rearrange his meeting with Miss Jones…

Chapter Text

The bloodrush field is another place that Alain probably shouldn’t be, but this is one place at least where he feels comfortable.

Before he’d wanted to be a wizard, he’d wanted to be a bloodrush player. It was always hard to find an idol that looked like him. Most of the players in the professional league are orcish or have giant heritage in some way. But there were enough smaller players to convince Alain it was possible. Gnomish superstar Juan Manel Fangio had made it work, so could he.

Before the summer, back when he’d assumed he was going to Mumple, Alain had met with the Mumple coach. He was already pre-selected there, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t do just as well at Aguefort.

When Alain arrives, the coach is already in a conversation with two seniors and the half-elf kid who had knocked him over early. Fabian Aramais Seacaster. The school year started less than three hours ago and Alain has already heard more than enough about Fabian Aramais Seacaster to last a lifetime. A rich kid who introduces himself as the son of his father. Alain tries hard not to prejudge, even someone who pushed him out of the way to go hit another kid, but he’s already decided he’s not going to be asking Seacaster to be his party mate. 

If Seacaster asks him , that’s another matter…

The coach, a human who looks like he’s trying to hide a receding hairline, doesn’t seem all that impressed with Seacaster either. It makes Alain smile. If an athletic half-elf isn’t what the coach is looking for, maybe he is?

Coach Daybreak looks down at the new students hoping for a place on the team with a grim face. 

“We’ve got a tough year this year. The Aguefort Owlbears may have beaten Hudol 12 years in a row, but I’ve heard they’re using their witchy magic to make the 13 try a charm. This year is not going to be the year I give up my unbeaten record. I want the best of the best, the boys prepared to bring the end of the world before they let those Hellions win.”

The students cheer. Roars of the Aguefort chant “Hoot! Growl!” ring out.

“Right, we’ll start with some running drills.”

Alain can’t stop himself from grinning. This is the part of the game he’s good at. Bloodrush isn’t about being the biggest kid on the field, or the one that can throw the strongest punch. It’s about getting the ball from A to B. It’s about moving .

Alain isn’t the fastest kid on the field. Seacaster has them all beaten by about a mile. But Alain ducks and dives through the crowd of students, running alongside the seniors who already made the team. Running feels good. The ground springs up to meet every step, pushing him forward. 

Running. Now what does that remind me of? Or who?

Alain stumbles a little as an unfamiliar voice enters his mind. He looks around, trying to find the source of the noise. Coach Daybreak and the older students seem to be focused on Seacaster, whose showboating is beginning to grind on everyone. There are a few students sat in the bleachers, but none of them are paying him any attention.

There’s no one here. No one who would even know about what happened.

Alain tries to focus again as Daybreak sets up the next trial. It’s a basic play, the students line up for a scrimmage and Alain prepares to dart forward. It’s something he’s done hundreds of times before. 

Of course, the first person he did this with was his brother.

Alain’s reactions are a little slow when the whistle blows, but no worse than anybody else. He gets into position, ready to receive a pass from Seacaster. A to B. Just got to get the ball from A to B.

The ball hurtles towards him. The only problem is, Seacaster still has hold of it. The half-elf dives between a break in the line and doesn’t even seem to see Alain as he dodges and weaves between the other students. Alain jumps out of the way to stop himself being thrown to the floor again and stares as Seacaster reaches the end zone. He gently places the ball down and looks back at them all with a grin.

Alain rolls his eyes, but waits for the praise he knows is coming. Nobody showboats like that without getting praised. 

“The hell? You didn’t throw the ball dude?”

Alain turns to see one of the seniors approaching. He’s not looking on with awe or admiration. He seems… upset.

“Well, it worked out best, I thought, for the play,” Seacaster says, confidently.

Another older student, a half-orc that looks as if he could throw Seacaster to the other end zone from here, joins his friend.

“Yeah, you know what? You didn’t throw the ball because you have bad thoughts about what to do.”

Alain backs away slightly. He’s not getting praised. The other students don’t like this. 

Everything Alain thought he knew about this school is turned on its head. His tutor, an older wizarding student, had always said that Aguefort ran on the rule of cool, that if you acted confident and got the job done, it didn’t matter how you did it. Aguefort doesn’t reward hard work, it rewards results. 

But maybe that’s not true.

Seacaster is sent back to the changing rooms and Alain stands a little taller, waiting for the next trial. 

There are three other freshmen waiting with him, a tall firbolg wearing sports goggles that take up her entire face, a human still nursing a graze from where he tripped up on their run, and a tiefling who looks like they’re halfway to being bored to death. Alain can’t stop himself feeling a little confident as Coach Daybreak approaches.

“Right, we only have one position left for a freshman to fill,” he says, looking between a clipboard and the students. “You all showed good hustle and a lot of heart out there. I wish I could make you all owlbears. But I can’t, and I don’t really want to do that.” He looks at the clipboard again, then at the students. “Piquet?”

The tiefling sighs. “Yes?”

“You’re on the team.”

“What?” Alain rushes after Daybreak as he goes to walk away. “But… what? Don’t you want to do another drill? Or… Coach Toddswell at Mumple thought I was great…”

“Look kid,” Daybreak crouches down and Alain almost recoils in embarrassment. “You probably are great, for a Mumple student. But you're a wizard, and I need someone who will survive a game.”

“But- but- but-.”

“My decision is final,” Daybreak says, standing. “Now you can keep arguing if you want, but I’ve got plenty more detention slips here if you want one.”

Alain stares at Daybreak for a moment, waiting for him to start laughing and reveal it’s all a joke. But Daybreak doesn’t look like he’s ever told a joke in his life. 

“Yes sir,” he mumbles, heading off in the direction of the changing room.

Ayrton cannot believe Gerhard dragged him to this. They’re sitting in the bleachers, watching a bunch of sweaty kids run around. Or, they would be watching. Ayrton is struggling to keep his eyes open and Gerhard seems much more interested in something in his bag.

“This is a waste of time,” Ayrton complains. But even as he does, his eyes follow one of the students trying out. It’s not a race, or not that Ayrton can tell, but it might as well be the way some of the kids are running. One shoots off into the distance, the rest of the group lagging behind. Ayrton ignores him. He’s bound for the team, and Ayrton has no use for someone with split commitments.

But there’s another kid in the group. He’s not as fast, but the way he ducks and dives through the crowd of students catches Ayrton’s attention. 

“Less wasteful than talking to a teacher would be,” Gerhard says.

“Excuse me, gentlemen.” 

A halfling girl walks between the rows of seats in front of them. Her hair is tied up in two pigtails, her shirt looks like it was freshly ironed fifteen minutes ago, and she carries a flip chart that looks taller than her. The girl stops in front of them and stands the chart up, confirming that it is, in fact, taller.

“Kipperlilly Copperkettle,” the girl introduces herself. She turns the page on her presentation. “I’m a freshman rogue, looking for a group of like minded individuals who have come here to be the best adventurers of our generation. If you need someone who can turn invisible without the use of magic, I’m your girl. If you need someone who will commit to do whatever it takes to achieve our goals, I’m your girl. If you need a rogue-”

“No thanks,” Gerhard cuts in. “We don’t need a rogue.”

“Why not?” Ayrton and Kipperlilly ask at the same time.

Gerhard shrugs. “We just don’t.”

“Actually, a rogue can make or break an adventure,” Kipperlilly continues, flipping a few pages forward in her chart. “Fighting, smashing, casting spells, they can all be useful. But as you can see, sometimes the best adventurers are the ones you don’t even know exist.”

“Yeah, I know rogues are good, but we don’t need one,” Gerhard says. 

Kipperlilly narrows her eyes a little, inspecting Gerhard. Gerhard just leans back, his arms crossed and a smile on his face. 

Ayrton feels like there are at least three things he’s missing, and that’s not including his meeting with Miss Jones.

“Fine,” Kipperlilly says, returning to the first page of her presentation. “I’ll be sure to see you around. What did you say your name was again?”

“I didn’t,” Gerhard says.

“Right,” Kipperlily says, somehow not moving the smile on her face as she does so. She takes the presentation and, with a nod to Ayrton, continues down the row to find another group of students.

Ayrton watches her go, a small frown on his face. He’s about to ask his friend what that was about when something on the field catches his eye. 

Two of the freshmen students are walking, disappointed, back to the locker rooms. A third, the halfling Ayrton had noticed earlier, seems to be arguing with the coach. 

Ayrton swallows. 

“Looks like Seacaster didn’t make the team,” Gerhard says, shielding his eyes as he looks down at the field. “Or he got picked already. Damn, I didn’t see.”

Ayrton doesn’t say anything, already gathering his belongings together and trying not to trip between the rows of benches as he rushes down to talk to the rejected student.

Alain is muttering to himself as he walks away from the field towards the showers. His parents hadn’t wanted him to come to Aguefort. They are Mumple people. He’s a Mumple person. If he were at Mumple, he’d be on the Bloodrush team. If he were at Mumple, he wouldn’t have this pit in his stomach, growing in anticipation of the next rejection. If he were at Mumple…

Alain almost walks straight into another student. It’s not one of the players, or anybody else that had been trying out for the team. Alain doesn’t recognise him and is about to mutter an apology when the boy sticks out his hand. 

Alain looks at the hand, then at the boy’s face. His mouth is moving, but there doesn’t seem to be any sound coming out. A look of panic crosses his face and Alain is beginning to think he might have had Silence cast on him when he turns and calls for another student.

“Gerhard!”

Another boy in the bleachers makes a confused gesture.

“Is there… something wrong?” Alain asks. 

“Yes!” the boy says, his voice a little higher now as he turns back to face Alain. “I just wanted to say you seemed really good out there.”

“Thanks,” Alain says. “Coach doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Well what does he know?”

“I mean, a lot. The Owlbears always win,” Alain says with a shrug. He knows he can’t get caught up on this. So what if he’s not going to be on the bloodrush team. He has other things to be focusing on. 

“Oh, yeah, I guess,” the boy almost squeaks, speaking quickly. “I still thought you were good. Are you a freshman? They should give us all wrist bands or something that show if we’re in a party or not. I guess if some kid walked up to a junior they’d be pretty offended right?”

Alain looks up at the boy, a little bewildered. He seems nervous, though Alain has no idea why. He looks past him to his friend, presumably Gerhard, as he makes his way over. Alain is looking for any sign that this is a prank or something. There doesn’t seem to be an obvious sign, but he’s been wrong before.

“Are you asking me to be in your party?” Alain asks.

“No!” the boy says, quickly. “I mean, I want you to be in my party but that wasn’t me asking, that was just me thinking aloud. This is me asking. Do you want to be in our party? I mean, as long as you’re not a paladin or a bard. We have those. Or a rogue. Apparently Gerhard doesn’t like rogues.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like them, I said we didn’t need one,” Gerhard says, finally reaching them and patting his friend on the back. “I’m Gerhard.”

“Alain,” Alain introduces himself. “And I’m not any of those. I’m a wizard.”

“Wizard? Why are you trying to play Bloodrush?” Gerhard asks. 

Alain frowns. “I was playing Bloodrush before I could cast spells.”

Gerhard raises an eyebrow, then shrugs. “So are you in the party or?”

“I know nothing about you guys and you know nothing about me,” Alain points out. “What if next month we decide we hate each other?”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” the other boy - the one who still hasn’t given Alain his name - says.

“We can spend the afternoon bonding or whatever,” Gerhard says. “And if you still like us then, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Alain can think of a lot of pretty terrible things that can happen after getting the wrong first impression. He decides to not mention that.

“Fine, I guess I’ll join your party.”

The unnamed boy beams. He awkwardly shakes Alain’s hand, seems to realise that’s probably a strange thing to do, then puts his hand in his pockets.

“I-I-I should go,” he stutters. “I have a meeting with Ms Jones.”

“Ayrton, you don’t need to do this,” Gerhard says.

“I’ll be back by lunch!” Ayrton promises, and sprints off before Alain can say anything.

Chapter Text

There’s another assembly before lunch and Ayrton is running late again. Not as late as he was in the morning, but most of the other freshmen already seem to be gathered by the time he arrives from his meeting with the fighter teacher.

It went well, he thinks. No, he’s not thinking about multiclassing. At least not yet. For now he just wants to be the best paladin he can be. That doesn’t mean he can’t look at the fighting techniques and figure out what works for him. It would be stupid not to.

Moments after Ayrton enters the assembly hall he feels a hand on his shoulder. A shudder runs up his spine as he braces himself for a scolding for being late. But when he turns around, he finds the Bloodrush coach smiling at him.

Ayrton vaguely knows Mr Daybreak from church. They’ve interacted a few times, especially when Ayrton’s father mentioned him going to Aguefort. But everything Daybreak said seemed to be wrapped up in some sports analogy Ayrton did not understand. He seemed disappointed when Ayrton told him he had no interest in joining any sports teams, and it quickly became clear that Helio was the only thing they had in common. Even that, Ayrton thought, seemed weird. He much preferred Mr Daybreak’s sister who had taught the Sunday school back when he was at Skullcleaver’s.

“Hey, Ayrton, I thought I saw you in the bleachers earlier.” He smiles, his tone is warm. “Good to see you made it through that camp this summer.”

“Oh, yeah, camp was great,” Ayrton says awkwardly. He doesn’t do anything about it, but Daybreak’s hand on his shoulder feels heavy. “I was just taking a look at the students, you know. Trying to find the right people for a party.”

“Of course, of course,” Daybreak says. “Best place to recruit from, right? I always said you had a good head on your shoulders. I actually had an idea I thought you might like.”

“Oh?”

Ayrton prepares to politely decline whatever invitation to the sports team Daybreak is going to offer. Because that is definitely where the conversation is going. 

“Yeah. Well, you know Kristen, right? Kristen Applebees. She’s in your year, cleric of Helio. Now, I don’t know what Mr St. Croix has already told you about oaths and everything but being a paladin of Helio, you’re going to want to protect his Chosen right?”

Ayrton can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. It’s stupid. He knows it’s stupid. Helio chose Kristen Applebees for a reason and he’s not going to doubt that. And from what he’s seen, Kristen seems to love Helio. Being a cleric wasn’t what he was meant to do anyway. He was always supposed to be a fighter, a protector. He can feel close to his god through his actions, not his words. And that’s all fine. Great, in fact. He doesn’t need to feel jealous.

He’s been quiet for too long. 

“Yeah…” he says, slowly. “Yeah, that would… probably be good, if she wants that. I’m, you know… I don’t know. I actually have a few party members already so if she wants to join us, that’d be great.”

No, no it wouldn’t.

Daybreak raises his eyebrows. “You already found party members? Well, ok, that’s great. Who are they? Kids from church?”

“Um, no I don’t think so,” Ayrton says. When he’d asked Gerhard about religion he’d pulled a face that told him everything he needed to know. And he hasn’t had a chance to ask Alain… pretty much anything. “Actually one tried out for the bloodrush team, but he said he didn’t make it. Which was surprising. He looked good.”

Daybreak frowns before realising who Ayrton might be referring to. “Oh, the little wizard kid? Yeah, you know, I feel like it’s like what they say at church. You’re given your lot in life and it’s against Helio to try and step out of that, right? Bloodrush is for martial kids, tough kids, you know? We didn’t win the title 12 years in a row by letting any kind of person in, right?”

Ayrton’s eyes narrow slightly. “Right… well, if Kristen wants to join us let me know. I’m going to… going to find the rest of my party.”

He’s thankful that Daybreak lets him slide away into the crowd of students. He knows his bad feelings about Kristen Applebees might just be childish jealousy, but he’s pretty sure that the bad vibes he’s getting from the coach are something more.

As he lines up for the cafeteria lunch, Alain is regretting not letting his mother pack him something. Whatever creamy tuna monstrosity the other kids are eating, Alain cannot imagine it would taste better than home cooking. He notices it’s mostly the younger students that seem to be eating the cafeteria food. The returning students seem to have learned their lesson. He hasn’t even got to the lunch lady serving the “meals”, but he already knows he’s not going to make this mistake again.

“My sister says we should have a healer, a spell caster, someone who can hit, someone who can take hits, and a support caster,” Ayrton says. He hasn’t talked about anything other than plans for the party so far, and Alain isn’t quite sure what to make of that. He seems enthusiastic, focused. That has to be a good thing. But judging by the look on Gerhard’s face, it doesn’t seem like he ever switches off. At least not without help.

“Ayrton has a hot older sister,” Gerhard adds helpfully.

“You’ve never met my sister,” Ayrton protests.

“If your friend has an older sister, she’s automatically hot,” Gerhard says. “It’s the rules.”

“So is your older sister hot?” Ayrton asks.

“You don’t call your own sister hot, that would be weird,” Gerhard says.

Ayrton huffs, unable to think of a comeback. They shuffle a few steps forward and he seems to remember what he was talking about before his friend’s addition.

“Alain’s the caster, obviously. Gerhard will be support. I can heal and I can fight but it would probably be better if we had someone who could focus on one of those.” 

They finally get to the front of the line. The lunch lady dumps a ladle full of “tuna surprise” on each of their plates. Ayrton looks just as disgusted as Alain feels. 

“The food fights here are going to be disgusting,” Gerhard says with a grin.

Alain turns to the hall of students, looking for any spare seats. It’s hard to make out much from his position and the cafeteria doesn’t seem big enough for the amount of students that are eating here. He’s about to suggest they eat outside when he spots a familiar face making her way through the crowd. 

“I think I might know some people who could help us.”

Nigel eyes Roseanne’s plate suspiciously as she sits down next to him at the end of a long table. He’d been embarrassed when he’d pulled his mum’s sandwiches out of his school bag, wrapped in clingfilm and squashed, but now he’s grateful he has something edible.

“This is what they feed adventurers, is it?” 

Roseanne smiles grimly, poking the food with her fork as if it might turn into some kind of corn monster and attack them then and there.

Nigel looks from the plate to his packed lunch and sighs.

“Here.”

He pushes the sandwiches towards Roseanne and takes the tray from her. He’s staring glumly at the corn-infused tuna when he feels a kiss on his cheek. It immediately feels as if the temperature in the canteen has increased and Nigel feels his cheeks burn red.

He’s just started to eat the tuna surprise when three of the empty seats around him fill. Nigel immediately tenses, sitting up a little straighter and preparing himself to act. He doesn’t recognise either of the boys sitting opposite him. They shouldn’t have a reason to pick a fight with him. But Nigel knows there’s something about him that makes people want to pick a fight anyway. 

Roseanne places a hand on his. It’s somehow cool, and Nigel feels himself calm a little. His heart is still beating hard in his chest, ready to enact fight or flight, but its not going to overpower his mind. He is in control of himself.

He looks over to the third boy, realising this is a face he’s seen before. Moments before he was blasted in the face by magical wind.

“What’s… going on…” he asks slowly.

“Hey Alain,” Roseanne says with a smile.

Alain smiles and gives a small wave. Nigel shifts a little closer to Roseanne.

“Hi Roseanne,” Alain says. “This is Ayrton and Gerhard.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Gerhard says, a wide smile on his face. “How have you been finding your first day at Aguefort?”

Nigel looks at Gerhard closely. There’s something about him that doesn’t sit right, but he’s not sure what exactly. Roseanne would tell him he’s just being paranoid, and she might be right. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

“It’s been great so far,” Roseanne says. “You know, it doesn’t feel like an actual school. I don’t know if this is just how it is or if we’re just getting a positive first day experience.”

“I know what you mean,” Gerhard says. 

“What do you do?” Ayrton asks, bluntly.

“He doesn’t do small talk,” Gerhard says in way of explanation.

Roseanne just laughs. “It’s fine. I’m a druid. So we spent most of this morning outdoors. I met a bear. I’ve never met a bear before. So that was interesting. Oh, and Nigel is a monk.” 

She places a hand on Nigel’s arm. Nigel smiles awkwardly, blushing as he looks between the three boys to get their judgement before looking back down at his food. None of them seemed to react negatively to that. Ayrton looked surprised to see there was even another person sitting there, and the grin on Gerhard’s face didn’t change. 

Ayrton nods as if confirming something to himself before speaking. “Yes, I think that’s good. So two martial people, primary spell caster, healer, and support. This is good, I think. If you’re any good, but I trust Alain’s judgement.”

“What is going on?” Nigel asks.

“Ayrton, you need to ask people,” Alain points out. “You can’t just assume they’re going to be in your party. I’m sorry.” He offers an apologetic smile on Nigel and Roseanne.

“We’re fine thanks,” Nigel says before Ayrton can say anything.

Roseanne looks at Nigel, confused. A moment later, a familiar Message enters his mind: What’s wrong.

Nigel tries to keep his face neutral as he responds. I don’t trust these guys.

We don’t even know them.

Exactly.

We need to form a party, Nigel. And better people we don’t know than people we do. Fresh start, remember?

Nigel doesn’t respond to the message. He knows Roseanne is right, but he still doesn’t feel good about this. He’s not going to let his guard down, but he’ll go along with it. They do need to form a party.

“Sorry about that,” Roseanne says, as if it wasn’t obvious they were Messaging one another. “Um… yeah, a party would be… the classes are fine? I know Alain’s a wizard. You two are…”

“I’m a paladin, Gerhard’s a bard,” Ayrton says. 

Nigel catches the way Gerhard’s smile twitches a little at the statement.

“I’m actually the best paladin in our year,” Ayrton says. “So it’s actually a really good idea for you to be in our party.”

The statement doesn’t come across as a boast. It’s almost as if he thinks that he’s being helpful. Nigel gets the feeling he isn’t going to be the weirdest one in their group.

Alain can’t help but feel pleased with himself as Nigel and Roseanne join the party. There’s still an entire afternoon to go, this could still go horribly wrong, but he has a good feeling about this. He managed to get picked for a party, and make a suggestion that was accepted. It was more than he’d hoped for when he arrived this morning.

Ayrton is talking and he should probably listen. The boy might not be able to switch off but he at least seems to have some idea how things are supposed to work here. Or at least he thinks he does. The older student who spent the summer tutoring Alain had said a few things about Aguefort, but Alain can never tell when Niki is being serious or if he’s degrading something affectionately. He hadn’t said anything about the food, so Alain’s beginning to think there’s a few things about Aguefort Niki wanted him to find out for himself.

“And that’s why we need a party name,” Ayrton finishes.

Nigel and Roseanne look at Ayrton, dumbstruck. Alain can’t help but smile a little. 

“Maybe we should get to know each other before we pick a name,” he suggests.

“Or we could just be Gerhard and the Hard Ones,” Gerhard says, inspecting the table closely. 

“I just think it would really unite us,” Ayrton says, disappointment tinting his voice a little. “Something that when people say it, it refers to all of us. Something we can belong to.”

“Why don’t we do initials?” Roseanne suggests. “That’s something that would represent all of us? And if we find out later we all, I don’t know, really like cheesecake we can change it to the Cheesecake Champions or something?”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Nigel says. “So what? RAANG?”

“I was thinking Ragan?” Roseanne says. “It sounds like an actual name.”

“It should start with A,” Ayrton says. “I mean, there are two of us so it would only be fair.”

Nigel huffs a little but it doesn’t look like Ayrton notices. Or Gerhard, who is still focused on the table.

“Ok,” Roseanne says slowly. “Argan?”

“Why am I last?” Nigel says. 

“Because Angar is a shit name,” Gerhard says.

“What about just Team?” Alain suggests. Suddenly all four of his new party members turn to him, confused. Alain shrinks back a little. “Or maybe not.”

“No we can work with that,” Ayrton says quickly. “Team Argan? 

He smiles at Alain but it somehow almost looks like a question. Alain smiles and nods back.

“Team Argan it is,” Roseanne says. “Unless Gerhard has any objections to that.”

Gerhard shrugs. “It’s a type of oil, but I don’t think that’s a problem,” he says. “I think I need to wax these tables again though.”

“Why do you need to wax the tables?” Roseanne asks.

“Someone has to cause a little chaos around here,” Gerhard says. “If you don’t do it yourself, someone else will do it for you.”

Chapter Text

Alain has been a student at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy for a week. It still feels weird to think of himself like that. He’s an adventuring student with an adventuring party and a spellbook and potential. It’s exciting, but weird. 

His parents haven’t said anything, but he gets the feeling they’re still waiting for him to call it quits. His mother should know by now how stubborn he is - he gets that from her - but whenever Alain gets home from school she still has that look of expectation on her face. This is going to be the time that he gives up. But it never is. 

Alain doesn’t think his parents want him to give up exactly. They want him to be happy. They just don’t believe he can be happy at Aguefort.

But he is. Or, at least, he thinks he is. So far there haven’t been any problems. The headmaster, the guidance counsellor, and the lunchlady all got killed on the first day, but Alain wasn’t involved in any of that. He wasn’t going to need to go to the guidance counsellor anyway and he was already planning on taking his own lunch from home. It was weird, going in the day after the “incident” but Alain doesn’t feel unsafe. 

No less safe than he did before he started Aguefort, anyway. 

He has friends now. Sort of friends. He’s still not sure the others would class him as their friend, but he’ll take it. And his magic is coming along, even if the teacher is making attempts to suck the fun out of it. It’s been good.

He’s still feeling good as he comes down for breakfast on Saturday morning. His dad is already at the kitchen table, fiddling with some kind of contraption that Alain knows his mother will take off of him when she’s finished dishing up the crepes. 

There are still four chairs at the table. Only three of them have plates in front of them. 

Alain swallows, his mouth very dry, and sits adjacent to his father.

“Do you have to do that at the table?” Marie-Rose asks, placing food in front of her husband before going to Alain.

“Well you won’t let me eat in the garage,” Andre says, barely noticing the food.

Marie-Rose rolls her eyes, serving her son breakfast with a kiss on the top of his head. 

“Are you going to be like this when your mother gets here?” she asks, taking a seat opposite her husband.

“You know my mother will complain no matter what I do,” Andre says. He looks up from the box to smile at Marie-Rose. “So yes.”

Marie-Rose reaches across the table and takes the box.

“Grandma is coming?” Alain asks.

Marie-Rose’s eyes widen a little as she realises what she said. She shares a look with her husband and Alain has to stop himself from groaning.

“Yes, she’s coming to stay for a little while,” she says after a moment.

“To stay?” Alain repeats. “Where is she going to stay? We don’t have a spare room?”

“Well…” Marie-Rose looks to Andre for support, but Alain’s father is now intensely interested in the crepes. “We have the room next to you.”

“Daniel’s room,” Alain says as soon as his mother finishes the sentence. “We have Daniel’s room. That’s not empty."

“Daniel’s… not using it right now,” Marie-Rose says, carefully.

“He might be using it when she’s here,” Alain says. “He might come back tomorrow. He might come back today .”

Marie-Rose rubbed her head, partially hiding her face. Alain knows she’s trying not to cry, and he knows he should feel bad about that. But he doesn’t. 

“You’re giving up on him,” he says, standing. “Just like the police. He is not a pretty girl so they don’t care, they don’t look for him.”

“We’ve not given up Alain,” Andre says with all the sternness he can muster. It’s not much. “We just…” What little he has breaks a little. “We can’t stay on pause until he comes back.”

“We shouldn’t be on pause, we should be doing something,” Alain snaps. “Why am I the only one trying to do something?”

He pushes his chair back and leaves the breakfast untouched. His mother calls after him as he marches out of the house with only his crystal and his focus, but she doesn't follow.

A small stream runs through Littlebranch, rushing over little stone waterfalls before it disappears to connect with the Marigold River underground. It’s peaceful here. Trees cover the river banks, their canopies hiding the water from above. 

Daniel used to bring Alain here a lot, when he was younger. They’d stand in the stream, the water up to their waists in places, looking for mithril nuggets that might have washed down from the factory. Now he’s older, Alain’s pretty sure it wouldn’t even be possible for mithril to have ended up in the Littlebranch ford, but he’s sure Daniel knew that. Daniel knew everything.

Knows .

Alain glares bitterly at the water as he sits on the riverbank, hidden by the trees and the low bushes. He doesn’t know if he wants to cry or not. It feels like something he should cry over, out of frustration if nothing else. But the tears don’t come. His face feels red hot and his eyes sting, but he doesn’t cry.

It’s been months since Daniel disappeared. Longer than that. Alain has been thinking of it as “months” for months now. It’s almost closer to a year. It feels like forever and no time at all. It was yesterday, but it’s been yesterday for a while.

And nobody else seems to care.

A branch snaps behind him. Alain whips around to see a familiar figure making his way down the riverbank.

Niki stops and holds his hands up. “They didn’t send me after you. I came myself.”

Alain sighs and turns away, letting Niki come to sit beside him.

“Your parents called to ask if you were with me,” Niki says. “I told them yes.”

Alain doesn’t say anything. He’s back to staring at a tree across the river, as if he might be able to burn a hole through it with his mind.

He’s never been particularly popular, but he used to have a few friends, back in middle school. Then things started to happen, and people started to keep their distance. Not Niki, though. Niki had been to hell and back at Aguefort. Alain still isn’t sure if he means literally or not. But there’s little that can keep Niki away.

“So what happened?” Niki asks after a while.

Alain shakes his head, chewing the inside of his lip. He doesn’t know if he can explain properly. 

“It’s like nobody else cares about getting him back,” he says quietly.

Niki sighs and nods, not that Alain has taken his eyes off of the tree.

“Adults…” Niki looks up at the canopy as he searches for the right word. “I have a theory about why we have this adventuring school. It is because adults don’t have time to solve their own problems. All these times that there has been a mummy’s curse that is plaguing the park or whatever, they’re all times when an adult should be solving the situation, but then we are called in to do it. They are so busy working and buying food and paying bills and everything, they don’t have time to deal with this. So that’s why we step in.”

“So they’re too busy to care?” Alain asks.

“Maybe they’re too busy to show it,” Niki says. “I know your mother, I do not think she would stop caring after nine months.”

Alain winces as Niki puts a precise number on the length of time. It was yesterday. It may have been nine months since yesterday, but it was still yesterday. 

“They’re putting grandma in his room,” Alain says. “It needs to be there, for if he comes back. And if they don’t think he’s going to come back they need to be out looking for him. What are they doing? What are the police doing?  They don’t care. All those girls from Aguefort go missing and the police are looking for them. But we’re Mumple People, so they don’t care.”

His hand grips onto his crystal focus in his pocket, the sharp edges digging into the meat of his palm. But there’s no magic that can fix this. There’s probably a spell that can locate him, but Alain’s not strong enough, not good enough to be able to figure it out.

“The police station is on fire more often than it is not,” Niki says. “Our ranger has been using the smoke like the fucking North Star. The police are not going to find those girls unless they are at the bottom of a box of donuts.”

“Yes but at least they’re pretending to try,” Alain snaps. “They’re in the papers. When was the last time you saw Daniel in the papers? Everyone thinks he ran away, and there’s no point looking for him. But I know Niki. I know and we need to find him.”

NIki’s grin falls and he puts a hand on Alain’s shoulder. Alain leaves it there. He knows it’s supposed to be comforting but it isn’t. What would be comforting is someone doing something to help him. 

“You’re going to find him,” Niki says. “I don’t know what anybody else is doing, but I know what you are doing. You’re looking for him and you’re going to find him.”

Alain doesn’t say anything. His gaze has turned from the tree to the water, watching the babbling stream tumble over the stones. He feels cold, like a chill is emanating from his bones. It happens a lot, now, when he thinks of Daniel, about what he has to do.

“You’re in a good party,” Niki says. “Or from what I have heard from Viviane. Her brother talks about you a lot.”

The comment snatches Alain from his thoughts. “Ayrton talks about me?”

Alain hasn’t heard Ayrton talk about anything except adventuring and how to be better at it in the week that he’s known him.

“Oh for sure,” Niki says. “He is doing psychic damage to Viviane, the amount he talks.”

Alain feels himself blush. “Yes, well… it is a good party. But I don’t know… I don’t know if they would want to help.”

“Like I said, they made this school so they could have us solve the problems the adults don’t have time for,” Niki says. “If they care about adventuring, they will want to help.”

Chapter Text

“We’re gonna start off with a simple question. What does being an adventurer mean to you?”

Nobody says anything, but judging by the looks on the other students’ faces, they want to groan as much as Ayrton does.

The Freshmen are gathered for their first Introduction to Adventuring lesson. Ayrton’s not entirely sure why this wasn’t held during the first week, or on the first day of class, but he has to assume that the school knows what it’s doing. 

They sit in the sorcery classroom, each adventuring party forming semi-circles around their own tables while the teacher leans against his desk, casually tossing a juggling ball back and forth.

One table is empty. Kristen Applebees is missing, Ayrton notices. He’s not entirely sure what happened on the first day of school. There were rumours that she had unfairly been given detention and Helio had come down to enact punishment. That’s why Arthur Aguefort, the guidance counsellor and the lunch lady are dead. 

Ayrton’s only mostly sure that’s not true.

“Don’t think about it too deeply,” the teacher, Mr Stardiamond, says. Ayrton thinks he’s never thought too deeply about anything. “I’m going to toss this to someone. They’re going to catch it, and say the first thing that comes to mind, and then they’re going to toss it to someone else.”

As soon as he finishes speaking, he tosses the small ball to a frost genasi girl at the next table. The girl panics for a moment, looking around the room for help before speaking.

“Helping people?” she almost squeaks. 

The answer gets a reassuring nod from the teacher and she tosses the ball to the halfling girl that had given Ayrton her presentation the week before. Kopperlilly? Kimberly?

“Being a hero.”

Kimberly looks around the room. Her eyes narrow when they land on Gerhard and she smiles before tossing the ball to him.

Gerhard smiles back. “Doing cool shit.”

Ayrton’s head whips round to the teacher, expecting some kind of punishment. But Stardiamond doesn’t seem to care, just nodding along. 

Gerhard tosses the ball on and it continues around the room. Ayrton begins to feel lightheaded as more and more students take their turn, each coming up with something new and unique. The obvious answers go quickly and Ayrton soon realises he doesn’t have anything to say. What does being an adventurer mean? There are only so many answers to that and they’ve all already been given. But apparently his classmates can come up with more, with better answers, when his mind is just blank.

“Not being a pussy.” The tiefling boy, the one from the bloodrush tryouts, pulls his hand back and launches the ball at Nigel. It hits him square in the eye.

“What the fuck!” Nigel jumps up and almost launches himself over Alain to get to the boy.

“Oh no, Meathead Mansall is after me,” the boy laughs, leaning over in his chair.

“Can’t be much of an adventurer, can you, Pussy Piquet?” Nigel snaps. Roseanne tugs on his sweater, holding him back.

“Hey, hey, that’s enough,” Stardiamond steps forward, holding out both his hands. Ayrton’s pretty sure no magic is being cast. “I can see there’s lots of tension here. That might be something you want to talk about with Mr Gib-.” He stops, the colour draining from his face. He stares off into the distance for a moment before blinking back to the present. “To the guidance counsellor. When we get a new one. But for now let’s not attack other students.”

He sends out a Mage Hand to collect the ball. 

“Ok, something a little less physical. I’m going to hand out notecards. I want you to write down why you want to be an adventurer. There’s no right or wrong answer, this is just about you and how you feel. And if you don’t want to be an adventurer, that’s ok! You can just write about why you wanted to come to this school. You don’t have to share these with the class, but the idea is that you can look at what your party mates want and see how you can connect.”

“Wouldn’t this have been a good thing to do before we picked our party mates?” Piquet asks, his arms folded and swinging back in his chair.

Stardiamond sighs and looks down at the notecards. “Maybe, but hey, if you want to change the way the school runs you should talk to Arth-.” The same distant look comes over his face for a moment, then swallows and continues to hand out the cards.

Ayrton takes a card without saying anything. Around the table, the rest of Team Argan start writing. It takes Nigel a few moments to calm down and think, but he soon starts scribbling words onto the notecard. Alain looks like he’s writing an essay.

Ayrton looks at his own notecard. Why does he want to be an adventurer? That feels like it should be an easy question to answer. He does want to be an adventurer, he knows that much. It’s the only thing he can imagine doing with his life. But why ? He wants to be the best paladin. He’s going to be the best paladin. That doesn’t seem like much of a reason. It’s the same as saying he wants to be an adventurer. Is “because I want to” a good enough answer?

He can feel tears beginning to swim in his eyes as he glares at the small piece of paper. This is stupid. It should be easy. He just needs to write something down. It doesn’t even matter, this class doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what he writes down. He could write down anything. It doesn’t matter .

“Hey kid.”

Ayrton almost jumps out of his skin when he realises the teacher is now crouched beside him, talking quietly.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I just have a headache,” Ayrton lies. He knows he shouldn’t, but he’s not about to tell anyone he’s crying because he can’t fill out a stupid notecard.

“Oh man, that sucks. Why don’t you take a minute, go out and get some water, that might help.”

Stardiamond smiles as he stands and pats Ayrton on the back. Ayrton just nods, doing his best to quietly slip out of the classroom without anyone noticing. 

Alain does notice. He’s not sure how much detail he’s supposed to go into with this thing, but he’s written a fair amount when he sees Ayrton almost slide out of his chair and go to the door. Alain watches the teacher go off to another group of students. The only other person who seems to be paying attention to Ayrton is Gerhard.

“Should one of us go after him?” Alain Messages Gerhard. It’s clear Ayrton didn’t want to draw attention to himself, so Alain isn’t going to do that for him.

“Probably.” It’s strange, seeing Gerhard look serious. It doesn’t look like he thinks his friend is in mortal peril, but there’s concern there.

“You should go. You’re the sneaky one, right?”

“How am I sneaky?”

“You’re a rogue,” Alain Messages.

The edge of Gerhard’s lip tugs a little, almost as if he can’t stop himself from smiling. “I’m a bard, Alain.”

Alain rolls his eyes. “For sure, you are. I’ll sneak out then. You create a distraction.”

Gerhard nods. He reaches into his bag and pulls out what looks like a snowball. Part of Alain wants to ask why or even how he has a still frozen snowball in his backpack, but there’s no time before Gerhard launches it across the room. It hits the back of Kipperlilly’s head.

Kipperlilly turns and glares at Gerhard, who is back to his usual grinning self. “Teacher!”

As the teacher rushes over to see what the fuss is about, Alain quietly follows his party mate out of the classroom.

He finds Ayrton a little way down the hall, sitting next to a watercooler with a small paper cup in his hands. He seems to be in his own world, and doesn’t notice Alain until the halfling hops up onto the bench next to him. Ayrton quickly wipes his eyes, almost spilling his water with the effort.

“Sorry, headache,” he mumbles.

Alain nods. “Isn’t there some kind of healing paladins have that could help with that?”

The question earns a scowl from Ayrton. For some reason, the look almost makes Alain laugh. Almost. He manages to hold it back. Adventuring is serious business, he gets that, but nobody else in this school seems to take it as seriously as Ayrton, and the idea that Alain might know more about Ayrton’s own magic than he does is obviously upsetting.

“Ok,” Alain holds his hands up in surrender. “I just wanted to check on you.”

“I’m fine, really,” Ayrton says quietly. He glances over at Alain, then back at his water. “I don’t know.”

Alain frowns. “You don’t know… what?”

“The answer,” Ayrton clarifies, without clarifying anything. “Why I want to be an adventurer."

Alain tries hard not to let the shock appear on his face. He doesn’t know how it’s even possible. Ayrton seems to have a step by step plan for how to become an adventurer, complete with plans for all the rest of them, and he doesn’t even know why ?

“Well…” Alain says slowly. He doesn’t really know how to help with this question. The answer is obvious for him. He imagines he might have the easiest response of any of them, but it doesn’t really help someone like Ayrton. “When did you first decide this was what you wanted to do?”

Ayrton sighs and leans back, looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I guess, you know when you’re a little kid and you play adventurer games? Knights and dragons and castles and stuff? I was always the knight, you know? I was always the one saving the day. But I don’t… Hmmm…” He closes his eyes, resting his head against the wall behind him. “That’s not… I don’t think that’s what I’m supposed to do.”

Alain looks over at his friend, trying to come up with something to say here. He can see Ayrton is thinking, practically hear the cogs whirring in his brain, but it seems like he needs help. He needs someone to say something that will make those cogs fit into place. But Alain doesn’t know what.

“What are you supposed to do?” he asks.

Ayrton presses his lips together, then sits up straight again and rubs his face. He looks at Alain with a small smile and shrugs. 

“Do you go to church?” he asks.

“On Solstice,” Alain says.

Ayrton nods slowly, as if it takes time to process that information, then speaks. Each word seems to be carefully considered. 

“We get told all these stories about Helio,” he says. “He’s just so… good . Good and kind and loving. He can be forceful in giving his messages, but the messages are all about love and acceptance and… unity? Between all people. H-He’s amazing, and I wanted to be like him. Not just to proselytise but to… be him. And I told my Sunday school teacher this once and she laughed. And she said that everyone wants to be like Helio but most people can’t. Even most people that believe in Helio can’t and they shouldn’t try because that’s not… our place. I wasn’t chosen to be like Helio. And it’s disappointing but I guess not everybody can be the hero. But I can protect the people who are, who are going to do these great and amazing things and…” He pauses again, staring off at the wall opposite him. “Maybe nobody will remember me, but that’s ok because I helped make the world a better place.”

It’s Alain’s turn to sit in silence, slowly processing what’s been said. He swallows, trying to come up with words, then swallows again. 

“Well…” he says slowly. “That’s definitely more than a notecard.”

Ayrton smiles. “I guess you’re right.”

“Well the last part, or not exactly the last part, the part about protecting people that do great things,” Alain says. “That’s your reason, right?”

“Boys? What are you two doing out of class?”

Alain looks up to find Coach Daybreak striding towards them. There’s a hint of a smile on his face and Alain can’t help but narrow his eyes a little.

“Oh, Ayrton needed to step out to get some water,” Alain says. He doesn’t know why he’s talking for Ayrton, or why he feels like he should be putting himself between his party mate and the adult. 

“Did something happen, Ayrton? Do you need help holding water?” Daybreak asks.

“No?” Ayrton says, confused.

“Well I don’t see why you’re out of class then,” Daybreak says, addressing Alain. “Why don’t you head back. I’m sure you’re missing something…” He glances over at the classroom door. The smile gets a little more pronounced. “ Important. ”

Alain glances over at Ayrton. He wants to send a Message, but he’s pretty sure the coach would see the gesture. He just has to hope Ayrton understands what he means.

Ayrton gives a small smile and nods. 

Alain still isn’t sure if this is a good idea, but he gives a nod back and heads back into class.

Chapter Text

It’s loud in the forest. The trees creak and shift, even though there doesn’t seem to be any wind. Leaves, just starting to dry out as summer turns to autumn, rustle overhead. There’s a skittering of rats darting between bushes, trying to stay out of sight.

And there’s the noise of Nigel’s party mates arguing.

Nigel closes his eyes and tries to ignore the last part. He’s not sure what the argument is about. Something about spell components which has got Ayrton and Alain equally worked up. The last he paid attention, Gerhard had been egging them on while Roseanne, bless her heart, tried to stop them. 

Nigel leaves them to it. He should have known things were too good to be true when the first week went without any problems. It’s probably nothing too serious, nothing they can’t all forget about over lunch. But if it was up to Nigel they’d be having these arguments when they aren’t in the woods, fighting enemy combatants and potentially risking their lives.

Ok, not really risking their lives, but they can get hurt. 

So he probably shouldn’t be wandering away from the group too far, but if they’re not going to let him train near them, he’ll train elsewhere.

The rats aren’t a challenge. They’re big, bigger than any normal rats, and it takes Nigel a few strikes to take them down. Each time, he challenges himself. To do it quicker, to do it a different way, to try to go between a few at once. He wants to go off and fight something bigger, something that might hurt him as much as he hurts it, but it’s probably better to perfect what he can. At least while the party healers are caught up debating… whatever it is.

Nigel takes out two rats at once, his heart breaking a little at their last squeaks. Professor Moondaughter said there was some magic in the forest that brings them back. That’s why there are so many rats. But it still has to hurt. 

Nigel relaxes a little, wiping sweat from his brow. He’s never realised before just how hot it can get under the canopy while fighting a dozen rodents. He goes over to where he left his pack and takes his water bottle.

It’s gotten quieter, he notices as he takes a swig. Maybe they’ve finally stopped arguing. Or he’s wandered far enough away from them to not hear. 

What he does hear is the snap of a twig. He turns to find a very large, very annoyed looking frog.

“Well, this is new.”

He puts the bottle down but, before he can prepare to attack, the frog’s tongue darts out of its mouth. It stretches across the ten feet between them, hitting him in the face and making Nigel stumble back a little. 

Definitely new.

Nigel readjusts himself and is about to attack when a burst of piano shook the forest noise. A white light shoots out from behind another tree, hitting the frog with a splatter. 

The frog's eyes rolled lazily to the source of the spell. It pauses for a moment, and if Nigel didn’t know better he’d guess it was weighing up its options, before deciding to hop away. 

Nigel follows where the frog had been looking and finds another student emerging from the trees. A student Nigel is sure he recognises.

The other student’s eyes widen when he notices Nigel approaching, before a very familiar smile stretches across his face.

“Nigel?”

“Elio? What are you doing here?”

Nigel spent most of his elementary and middle school years bouncing between schools. Whatever it was that made the other kids pick on him at one school didn’t magically go away when he arrived at another. In fact, the fact he was new only made things worse. By the fourth or fifth time, Nigel had learned to roll with it. He’d get into a fight, his parents would find him a new school, and the process would start again in six months. He’d never bothered to start trying to make friends.

But when he arrived at a school just outside Ashgrove in the sixth grade, he hadn’t been the only one. There had also been a new boy moving over from the Baronies who attracted a lot of attention. Between his weird accent, pretty face, and the fact his family apparently had money, Elio was an easy target. Nigel could have changed his life then. If he’d joined in with the others, he could have actually made friends. Or at least allies. Maybe he wouldn’t have to move schools again.

But damn, Elio had just been too easy to like.

“I thought the grounds of an adventuring academy would be a great place to walk,” Elio says with a grin. 

He sprints over and puts his arm around Nigel. 

Nigel rolls his eyes but accepts the embrace. “I just never realised you went here. I thought you’d be at some snotty wizard school or something.”

“Oh because I have money I’m a snotty wizard,” Elio says. 

Nigel is about to apologise for the offence when he sees the smile on his friend’s face hasn’t fallen.

“I’m sorry, snotty barbarian,” he says instead.

“And to think I saved your life,” Elio says. “That frog would definitely have killed you if I had not convinced it otherwise.”

“Oh for sure,” Nigel says. He leads them back to the tree with his pack and sits down. Elio takes off his cloak and sits on top of it. 

“Hey,” Elio says, noticing Nigel’s grin. “I may not be a snotty anything, but you know my mother…”

“I know your mother, yes,” Nigel says. “Surprised she lets you come here.”

“Well, she doesn’t know entirely what an adventuring academy does,” Elio confesses. “I go to bard class, I play the piano, I’ll learn great music. She doesn’t need to know I make that music to kill rats and frogs.”

Nigel nods. That explains the weird keyboard instruments strapped to Elio’s back. It’s not surprising, really. Elio had always been good at music. Another reason for the boys to bully him. He’s more surprised Elio isn’t in some fancy academy for it, but maybe that’s just what his mother thinks this place is.

“And you?” Elio asks. “Fighter?”

“Monk,” Nigel corrects him. 

Elio snorts.

“Oi!”

“Sorry,” Elio says, trying not to laugh. “I’m sorry, I am just imagining you with one of those monk haircuts like they had back home. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I’ll shave the top of my head and you get one of those stupid wizard hats,” Nigel laughs. He sighs. “Damn, I wish I’d known you were coming here. I would have looked out for you when we made our party.”

It’s not that he doesn’t like his party - Team Argan. When they’re not arguing they can be… well, fun might not be the right word, but they’re interesting. But Elio is fun, and Nigel’s cheeks hurt from smiling. 

“Yeah, me too,” Elio says. “I went to, um, adventuring summer camp? Thinking maybe I would meet some good people there who I would get into a party with. I met the most annoying boy I have ever met. I believe perhaps Sol put him on Spyre for that purpose. But there were some nice girls who came here so it’s not a bad party.”

“Ay up, ladies man.”

“It’s not like that,” Elio says quickly. His face is approximately the colour of a strawberry, which makes Nigel laugh. “It’s not like that!” he insists again. 

Nigel holds his hands up in surrender. “Ok, ok,” he says. “I wouldn’t judge anyway. I’m in a party with my girlfriend.”

“You? Have a girlfriend ?” Elio doesn’t even sound like he’s trying to pretend to be mocking, just surprised. 

It’s Nigel’s turn to blush. “Her name is Roseanne. Don’t be weird about it?”

“I’m not being weird,” Elio says, although his voice is definitely a few octaves higher than it normally was. His mouth moves for a few moments while his brain tries to supply words. “Well done?”

“You’re being weird,” Nigel warns him. 

“I’m not, I’m happy for you,” Elio says. “Just… surprised.”

“Well… thanks,” Nigel says quietly. “She’s great. Really clever, really kind, not afraid to tell you if she thinks you’re an arse. She’s a druid and I know when she gets to turn into a bear or something she’ll be terrifying.”

Rosey’s good at support, at healing, at keeping everything calm, but Nigel knows she can defend herself, can fight back. He hopes he gets to see the looks on the rest of Aragan’s faces when they find out. 

“That’s sweet,” Elio says. “So is it just you and her?”

“No, some lads too,” Nigel says. “They’re fine. I thought one was going to throw a tantrum when he found out me and Roseanne were dating though. Apparently something about being distracted and if we break up what then? Well we just carry on like friends. What happens if two friends have a falling out, you know? He’s an idiot but he’s mostly harmless I think. To the group, I mean. They’re all good at their class stuff, when they get round to it.”

“Yeah, adventurers can be weird sometimes,” Elio says, quietly. 

“Hey Elio! We could use some of that inspiration around here,” a girl called from somewhere deeper in the woods.

Elio sighed. “I should probably get back. Our cleric got poisoned on the first day so she feels like she’s got something to prove.”

“I heard that!”

“Now you got me in trouble Nigel,” Elio says. He stands, brushing grass off his pants. “We will have to catch up properly some time. I need to meet Roseanne.”

“Definitely,” Nigel says. “I should probably get back to them. Make sure nobody’s killed Ayrton.” 

He doesn’t know what the argument about spell components was really about but he’s about sixty percent sure Ayrton caused it.

Elio’s face freezes. It’s a look Nigel knows. He’s thinking about his smile now, making sure his emotion doesn’t show on his face. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Ayrton… Ayrton Senna?”

“Yeah…” Nigel says slowly. “Why?”

“Oh.” Elio presses his lips together and nods. “Well… he probably calmed down a little after the lake incident. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Lake incident?” 

“Elio!” the girl calls again.

“Coming!” Elio calls back. He gives Nigel another wave and disappears in the direction of the call.

Chapter Text

Nigel is experiencing a feeling he has never had before. For the first time in fourteen years, he’s actually excited about going to school. He knows now that his best friend goes here, he was already aware of the fact that his girlfriend goes here. And he has a group of people he can hang out with who don’t make him want to burn the school down.

And, he’s not bad at his studies, either. It’s not as easy to tell how far he’s progressing compared to the rest of the party. They’ve all learned new spells and it’s obvious they’re better at what they’ve been doing. Nigel can only judge himself against how the rest of his class are doing, but based on that he’s… well, he knows what he’s doing. It’s good, great. Sometimes he feels like can almost fly.

He’s almost smiling to himself as he heads up the steps with the intention of getting to class early when-

Splash.

A balloon hits him directly on the head and explodes, water going everywhere. The hint of a smile is gone in an instant; the water almost immediately boils off his skin as his face goes red. He takes a step back to look up to the school roof and the source of the water balloon.

Gerhard grins down at him.

“What the fuck?”

“Sorry Nige!” Gerhard calls. “Didn’t realise it was you!”

Gerhard’s face disappears over the lip of the roof and a moment later he appears with a puff of air next to Nigel.

Nigel is still trying to calm himself down. “What was that?”

“New shoes, do you like them?” Gerhard says, showing off a pair of wing-tipped sneakers.

“The water balloon, Gerhard,” Nigel says. 

“Oh, right. I thought you were someone else, my bad,” he’s still smiling. “I know a spell that can fix that, if you want.”

“Don’t,” Nigel warns. He doesn’t need to be blasted in the face with cold air again. He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. It’s not personal, this is just how Gerhard is. 

They’re a weird bunch, Team Argan. But then, most of the parties are. They were all formed on the first day of school and, while a lot of people carried on in friendship groups formed in middle school, most had befriended kids they’d never met before. And quickly worked out they did not get along as well as they thought they were going to. 

Nigel doesn’t think they’ve gotten as bad as some of the other parties he’s seen. Yes, there have been arguments over stupid things, but they work well together, most of the time. They balance each other out. Nigel likes that, he likes the balance.

But that does start him thinking about something he’s been meaning to ask.

“You went to that adventurer camp with Ayrton, right?”

“Yeah,” Gerhard says. “Would have been a complete waste of time if I hadn’t met him. Barely learned anything.”

“What was the lake incident?”

Gerhard’s face changes in an instant. Nigel has never seen him look this serious before, eyes normally full of mischief now glaring at him. His entire body is still, which scares Nigel more than anything else.

“Where did you hear about that?” Gerhard asks quietly.

Nigel shrugs. “A friend.”

Gerhard bites his lip, looking for any other answers in Nigel’s face, then looks down at the floor. “It was nothing, really. Just don’t bring it up with Ayrton. It was just something he’ll find embarrassing but it was nothing.”

“Ayrton has enough self-awareness to be embarrassed by something?” Nigel says, almost laughing.

“Hey.” Gerhard pushes Nigel. It’s not hard, but it’s so surprising it catches Nigel off guard a little and he stumbles back a step. “I like you Nige-”

“You like me?” Nigel repeats before he can stop himself.

“Yeah?” Gerhard says, confused. “Why wouldn’t I like you?”

“I don’t- well… anyway, I think you were threatening me?”

“Right,” Gerhard says, getting serious again. “I like you. But if you bring up the lake incident with Ayrton, we’re going to have problems.”

Nigel holds up his hands in surrender. “Alright! Ok, I won’t say anything.”

“Good.” Gerhard takes a step back, and then his face relaxes back into its normal grin. It’s so quick it almost scares Nigel. “I think we’ve got a couple of minutes before Piquet gets here. I’ve got spare balloons.”

Ayrton doesn’t know if he asked to meet here on purpose. If he was in the other position, he would. He knows the psychological effect this is having, knows it’s making him more vulnerable. But knowing that doesn’t exactly stop it. 

He stares at the cleric studies classroom door. Ayrton doesn’t know what class is in there now. He has a break, so he assumes the other freshmen are also on breaks. It isn’t a freshmen cleric class inside, being taught how to do their god’s bidding and spread their will. It isn’t Kristen Applebees. But if he were here at another time of day, it could be.

Ayrton doesn’t know where Kristen is. There are a lot of rumours beginning to spread about her at school. So far, none of them have made it to the church. Or, at least, they’re not being spread at church. But from the rumours Ayrton has heard at school, Kristen isn’t following the path that’s been suggested for her.

That’s fine. 

If Helio had followed the path laid out for Him, where would they be? Damned. Kristen isn’t Helio, but she is His Chosen, and if she follows a different path then she follows a different path, and that’s fine. 

And if Kristen asked him to defend her while she took that path, he would. Begrudgingly, maybe, but he would. Because that’s his job. But Kristen Applebees hasn’t asked her to defend her. Kristen Applebees doesn’t know anything about him.

It comes. The hand on his shoulder, far too firm to be comforting. Ayrton’s been waiting for it for a while, so it’s not a surprise. He still isn’t sure how he’s supposed to look though, so he turns to Daybreak with a blank expression. 

Daybreak smiles and there is nothing about it that is unsettling other than the fact it is. 

“Good to see you kid, good to see you,” he says. “Want to walk and talk? I’ve got some paper work I need to be filling out.”

Ayrton nods and stands. He doesn’t know why Daybreak didn’t ask to meet him at the locker room, or teacher’s lounge, or wherever it is Daybreak is when he’s not coaching. Well, he does know. It’s to get him thinking. He doesn’t know the official reason though.

“I’m really glad to have you on board Ayrton,” Daybreak says as they walk. “You see it, you figured it out yourself. You’ve got a good head on those shoulders.”

“Thank you,” Ayrton says, quietly. 

“Not a problem. So, there are a few things we’re doing right now, to help… not just The Chosen but, you know, the ones that have been chosen to… like you said, right?”

Ayrton nods again. On paper, this all sounds perfect. This sounds exactly like what he wants. And maybe if it were anybody else giving him this opportunity, he’d be grateful. Excited even. But not with Daybreak. He can’t feel excited about this, even if he knows it’s the right thing to do.

“The thing is, we have to keep a lot of it… out of sight,” Daybreak continues. “You know, people have always been trying to stop what Helio’s people have been doing. And we live in a place with all sorts, so it’s not safe for us. You understand that.”

Ayrton doesn’t say anything. That hasn’t been his experience. He’s never felt unsafe, not for being Helioic anyway. But he’s fourteen. He doesn’t know everything, no matter what his sister says he thinks of himself. He wouldn’t be at school if he didn’t have anything to learn.

“And it’s about humility too, right,” Daybreak says. “You look at the book and it says ‘oh Helio went to this place on a boat and He did this really good deed and there was a ship waiting for Him on the return’. And people made that happen, right? People went out and got the ship ready for Him, and He didn’t have to worry about it. They didn’t ask for any praise but they knew they were doing the right thing. So that’s us, right. We make sure they don’t have to worry about anything.”

Ayrton needs to read his Bible again. He doesn’t remember any story like that.

“So that’s why we have to keep this quiet. To keep ourselves safe, and to make sure nobody important has to worry about it. Right?”

Ayrton nods again. It makes sense. He doesn’t like it.

“And I’m not going to ask you to do anything too hard, right? You’re young, you’re learning. I just need you to pass on some messages.”

They go down the main corridor, past lockers and a few empty classrooms. Daybreak jerks his head in the direction of a student they pass. It’s an older boy, Elven, dressed all in black with chains for belts and weird fishnet gloves. 

They don’t stop to talk to him. The boy doesn’t even acknowledge them as they pass.

“Zayne’s been… helping us out,” Daybreak says, speaking quietly and carefully. “He might not look like much but he’s useful. But image and everything… it’s not the best I talk to him. So that’s where you come in.”

“You want me to pass messages between you two?” Ayrton asks, desperately resisting the urge to turn and look at Zayne. It doesn’t exactly sound like the sort of thing he’s training for. He’s a fighter, a healer, but not a messenger. 

“Just for now,” Daybreak says. “There’s a lot going on, some dangerous stuff going on.” They turn a corner to an office that Ayrton assumes is Daybreak’s. He stops, and there it is again. That hand on Ayrton’s shoulder and he wishes he had… something that would make Daybreak stop doing that. But he doesn’t, and he lets the hand sit there. Daybreak’s voice is low again when he speaks, serious. “There’s a lot riding on this, Ayrton. We’re going to make real changes. We’re going to make the world one that Helio would be proud to look at. But that does mean, you know, breaking a few eggs. And eggs have been broken. I don’t want you to be one of those eggs if I can help it, so I’m going to keep you safe, right?”

Daybreak holds his eye. Ayrton realises that’s it, what’s wrong with the smile, what’s wrong with all of this. His eyes. Daybreak is on the edge of something, or thinks he is. He’s at the edge of something big, that’s he’s been carefully walking towards for… longer than Ayrton can know. Ayrton wouldn’t say there’s a crazed look in his eyes, but there is something more than determination. Daybreak looks like he’s either going to make this plan happen or, as Viviane would say, end up on the news.

He swallows and nods. “Right.”

Daybreak smiles again, and Ayrton knows he’s right. It reaches his eyes, their intensity shifts, but it’s not to joy. 

“You’re a good kid, you’re going to go far,” he says. “And you’re going to take your party far too. We’ll make sure of it.”

Chapter Text

It’s quieter in the cafeteria now. Alain isn’t sure that’s because everybody figured out that bringing food from home was probably the better option, and it’s still nice enough to sit out on the grounds, or if it’s the unseen servants temporarily serving as lunch ladies that is putting people off. But it does mean Team Argan can get a table for themselves inside.

They’ve all brought food from home. Alain looks down at his meal, lovingly prepared by his mother that morning. When he’d suggested he try the school meals when he first came to Aguefort, she’d looked so disappointed. Alain doesn’t think he’s ever made her happier than when he asked to switch back to her own food. It’s taken her a while, to adjust to cooking for a family of three instead of a family of four. They still have leftovers every night and that’s what he finds in his lunch most days. Alain hopes it won’t take her as long to readjust to the extra mouth to feed when Daniel comes back.

When he finds Daniel.

Now’s as good a time as any to start that journey.

He clears his throat awkwardly. “I’m looking for someone.”

“About time,” Gerhard says. “There is a gnome in bard class I think you would get along with.”

“No, a specific someone,” Alain clarifies. “My brother. He is missing.”

Some of the other adventuring parties had shared their reason for being here with one another, but Team Argan haven’t gotten around to that. He knows Ayrton’s reason, and he wouldn’t be surprised if Gerhard knew, but Alain hasn’t shared his own goals with anyone. Until now.

There’s a moment of silence. Alain looks up from his food to find all four of his friends watching him, a mixture of shock and sadness on their faces.

“Alain,” Roseanne speaks first. “I’m so sorry.”

“How long?” Nigel asks.

Alain sighs and puts down his fork. “Ten months now. Yesterday. He went out for a bike ride and didn’t come back. The police… they say he ran away but they do not know. If Daniel planned to leave, he would have told me.”

Alain knows that. He’s more certain of that than whether the sun will rise tomorrow.

“The police here are useless,” Gerhard says. “Why do you think they built this school?”

“That is what my neighbour says too, and worse,” Alain says. “So I have to look for him. And I hope you all will help.”

He looks at each of them in turn. It’s a quest. This is the sort of thing that they’re supposed to be training for. Alain hardly thinks Daniel went and got kidnapped by a dragon. Dragons do not go about kidnapping children in Solace. But he does know something bad happened to him, and adventurers are supposed to help people like that. At least, that’s how he understands the school.

“Of course we’ll help,” Roseanne says. “It would help if we had a rogue.” Alain notices her glance in Gerhard’s direction. “But I think we could do this. If you know where he went riding maybe I could… I don’t know, talk to the squirrels there or something?”

“Do you think it’s related to those missing girls?” Nigel asks. 

“I do not know, maybe,” Alain says. “But they are all girls and he is not. And he is not an Aguefort student. He studied at Mumple.”

Alain is certain that’s why he’s still missing. He tries to remind himself that the girls are still missing. One is the daughter of the most famous adventurer in the city. It doesn’t matter how much attention a case gets, the police here could not find a clue unless it was located at the bottom of a donut box. But he can’t stop himself from thinking that, maybe, if Daniel had gone to Aguefort, they would have at least found something by now. 

“Maybe we should focus on school work,” Ayrton says, quietly.

Alain frowns. “This is more important than my school work.”

“If the police haven’t found him we will need more than four spell slots between us,” Ayrton says. His gaze drifts over Alain’s shoulder for a moment before he refocuses. “And besides, they are probably right. He probably ran away.”

“He did not run away,” Alain snaps. “You do not even know him.”

“How well do you know him?” Ayrton asks.

“Well enough.” Alain is trying not to get angry, but he can’t stop himself. He knows Ayrton has this thing about being focused, about how even Nigel and Roseanne dating could be a problem, but this is ridiculous. 

Ayrton shrugs. “You can do what you want, Alain, but being a better wizard will only help.” He winces and stands. “I need to go.”

“You’ve barely eaten,” Gerhard points out. 

“I will eat later,” Ayrton says, shoving his lunch back into his bag and leaving.

Gerhard, Roseanne and Nigel watch him go. Alain glares at the table as if it personally offended him.

“I’ll talk to him later, when he’s calmed down,” Gerhard says. “He’s probably worked up about something completely unrelated. You know how he is.”

“I don’t think I do,” Alain says quietly. 

“I think Roseanne’s idea was good,” Nigel says, trying to change the conversation. “And maybe there is some spell that would help. I don’t know magic but a sort of ‘find this guy’ spell would be useful.”

“There are some spells, but I am not nearly good enough to learn those yet.” Maybe Ayrton is right in that regard, but he is not going to sit around putting spiders to sleep until he’s perfected the techniques enough to learn them. 

“Well most of my classes revolve around learning to find someone,” Gerhard says. “So we are going to find him.”

“If the police haven’t found him we will need more than four spell slots between us.”

“Tell Coach that Johnny Spells is alive and messaging me.”

Ayrton’s eye drifts over Alain’s shoulder. Zayn Darkshadow stands near the tray return stand. He isn’t looking at Ayrton, but Ayrton knows that’s where the Message comes from.

“And besides, they are probably right. He probably ran away.”

He tries to focus on the conversation he’s having. Ayrton doesn’t know who this Johnny Spells is. It’s not someone Daybreak has mentioned to him before, but Daybreak hasn’t mentioned much. The less Ayrton knows, the less danger he is in. Ayrton knows that. But Zayn doesn’t look as if the world is collapsing, so Ayrton decides it’s probably better to be discreet than to rush to pass on the message.

“You can do what you want, Alain, but being a better wizard will only help.”

“I thought you were a messenger. Go and tell Coach that Johnny Spells is alive and messaging me.”

The next Message comes with a burst of psychic energy. It’s barely enough to hurt him, but it sends a message words can’t. Maybe Zayn is a better actor than Ayrton judged. Whatever this is about, it’s far more important than the older boy is making it look.

“I need to go.”

He rushes to put his things back in his bag and brushes off Gerhard’s comment. He will have to come up with an excuse later. Gerhard will inevitably want to know what’s wrong, and he’ll have to lie to his friend. But it’s for Gerhard’s own good. Daybreak has sworn him to the utmost secrecy about this plan. Gerhard would understand that, and when this is all finished and they’ve done their jobs, Ayrton will be able to explain properly to him.

He rushes out of the cafeteria and down the halls to Coach Daybreak’s office, still trying to come up with an excuse for his departure. 

He’ll also have to explain why he doesn’t want to go ahead with a search for Alain’s brother. That would be easier to explain. He feels bad for Alain, of course. Ayrton doesn’t know how he would react if Leonardo went missing. He knows he would want to find his brother, but he also knows he’s not ready for that yet. If Leonardo was missing for ten months, it would only be because he couldn’t come back, and Ayrton isn’t ready to save someone yet. He needs to get better, to focus on becoming the best he can be so that if something bad happens to anyone he cares about he will be ready. 

That’s easier said than done, he knows, but they cannot start throwing themselves into quests they’re not ready for. If they let their emotions get the better of them, it will only end badly.

Alain will understand that, when Ayrton explains properly. He just didn’t have the time.

He knocks quickly on Daybreak’s door and looks around. There are a few students hanging around, but none that he recognises. He’s not really worried about being seen with the coach. They go to the same church. They worship the same god, the same god that Ayrton has devoted himself too. It’s normal, to go and talk to him.

Ayrton enters when he’s called and closes the door behind him. Daybreak sits behind his desk, protein shake in hand.

“I… I have a message,” he stutters.

Daybreak raises an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

“Zayn said to tell you Johnny Spells is alive and messaging him.”

The shake almost falls from Daybreak’s hand. Yes, this is more than Zayn was letting it on to be.

“What? How? Did you see him?”

“Zayn?”

“Spells,” Daybreak says, his voice rising. “Did you see Johnny Spells?”

“I-I don’t think so. I don’t know who that is,” Ayrton says, taking a step back. “Zayn didn’t give me any more information. He just said to tell you that.”

“For Helio’s sake, do you boys not think I might need a little more information?” Daybreak snaps. He rubs his forehead as Ayrton takes another step back, one hand reaching for the door handle. 

“I can go and ask him if you want?”

“Having you run back and forth kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it, Ayrton.” 

Daybreak closes his eyes. Ayrton still has his hand on the door handle, waiting to run. Hopefully to run and do whatever the coach tells him to do. He doesn’t want to think about any other reason why he might need to run.

There’s a few minutes of silence. Ayrton watches the coach work through something in his mind before speaking again.

“If Spells was here, you’d know it,” he says, quietly. “You might not know what he looks like, but enough people do that you’d know something was happening. Tell Zayn to tell Spells to meet at the Pit instead of Tea Time. I’ll sort things out from there.”

“The Pit? Tea Time?”

“Zayn will know what that means, you don’t need to worry about it, Ayrton,” Daybreak says. He looks at Ayrton and smiles. “I’m sorry for getting angry. It’s not your fault, you’re doing the best you can, right?”

Ayrton nods. 

“You’re a good kid. I know I can trust you. I think… a lot’s going to happen real soon. I’ll have to start thinking about your reward.”

“I don’t need a reward, sir.”

“You shouldn’t be so selfless, kid,” Daybreak warns. “It’ll make it easy for people to take advantage of you.”

Chapter Text

“Mom!” 

Neide Senna scrubs at a smudge of dirt on her son’s face. A smudge of dirt Ayrton cannot see and is sure doesn’t exist.

“I go to a school for adventuring,” he complains as his mother turns to fussing with his hair. His sister stands to the side, trying to hide the grin on her face.

It’s a typical morning. Ayrton’s mother will fuss over him, and Ayrton will complain about it. It’s why he insists that Gerhard not stop by to walk to school with him. But this time Viviane’s boyfriend is giving them a lift and he does not want the older boy seeing all of this.

“I don’t care if you go to a school for pig wrestling, you can at least look presentable when you show up,” his mother says. 

In fairness, this might have something to do with Ayrton coming home with clothes covered in dirt and blood one too many times. 

Ayrton sighs as his mother stands back, apparently happy with her work. Outside, a car horn sounds. 

“Are you ready, Aryton?” Viviane asks, her voice teasing. 

Ayrton shoots a glare at her behind their mother’s back. “Yes, I’m coming.”

“Tell your wizard friend to learn the cleaning spell,” Neide calls after them as they leave.

Ayrton messes his hair again as he gets into the back of Viviane’s boyfriend’s car. He likes Flavio. Flavio is a paladin, like him. His oath isn’t to Helio, or any other god as far as Ayrton knows, but that doesn’t really matter. He’s still the person Ayrton is most trying to impress as he learns his craft. He’s a few years older than Ayrton, so it will take a while, but one day Ayrton is going to surpass him and he can’t wait.

Flavio kisses Viviane on the cheek and presses his forehead to hers for a moment before he addresses Ayrton.

“Morning Ayrton. What happened to your cheek? Looks a bit red.”

“Nothing,” Ayrton says a little too quickly. “Just mom being mom.” He tries to stop his face getting any more red as he blushes. He and Flavio are almost peers, he doesn’t need to be embarrassed. 

“Yes, he has killed countless rats but he is still momma’s little boy,” Viviane teases.

“Not just rats,” Ayrton says. “I’ve killed mimics, and animated armour.” He’s pretty sure they’re going to check out some training dungeons soon too, so he’ll have even more experience. 

“They start you off simple,” Flavio says. “How have you found it? First few weeks?”

“Good,” Ayrton says. “I have a good party, they’re competent. We have Gerhard, the bard from the adventuring camp. And then Roseanne and her boyfriend. And Alain. He’s a wizard, I think one of the best wizards in our year.”

“Oh yes, Alain,” Viviane says with a grin and a tone Ayrton doesn’t quite understand.

“Yes, Alain?”

“Never shuts up about him,” Viviane tells Flavio.

“I talk about Alain a normal amount,” Ayrton says, his voice getting a little higher than he would like. 

“Oh for sure,” Viviane says. “And I talked about Flavio a normal amount.”

“He’s a good wizard, that’s all,” Ayrton protests. “What, should I just not talk about my friends, who are good at what they do?”

“You can talk about him, but I should not be able to name every spell that he knows,” Viviane says. She looks at her brother in the rear view mirror and seems pleased with the colour in his cheeks. 

Flavio seems to take some sympathy on him. “Don’t worry, my brothers made fun of me for how much I talked about Viviane,” he says. “This is Niki’s friend, right?”

“I, uh, I think so.” Alain might have mentioned Niki, the wizard from Viviane’s party, once or twice when they discussed how they started learning their crafts.

“Yes,” Viviane says. “The one with the missing brother.”

“You know about that?” Ayrton says, surprised. For as much as he apparently talks about Alain, he hasn’t mentioned anything about the previous day’s conversation.

“It was big news in Littlebranch when it first happened,” Flavio says. “That sort of thing doesn’t happen over there. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, so for someone to just vanish. They found it very weird.”

“Oh.” It’s all Ayrton can say. He didn’t know that. But how was he supposed to know that? Alain hadn’t brought up his brother until the day before, and he doesn’t know anybody from that part of town. 

“So you guys are helping to find him, I take it?” Flavio asks.

“Not… not exactly”, Ayrton says slowly. He doesn’t know what the rest of the party intend to do. He hasn’t spoken to any of them since Alain brought up the subject. He’s had too much to think about. He knows that his argument probably wasn’t very convincing, especially not for Alain. He’s pretty sure he can make Roseanne see sense. She’s probably the wisest of them all. But he’ll have to explain himself properly. 

“Really? It sounds like just the thing you would like,” Viviane says. “Save the day, get into Alain’s good books…”

“We’re not ready,” Ayrton says. He looks out the window, not wanting to look at his sister and friend judging him. “I don’t have enough healing ability if something goes wrong. And Alain doesn’t have enough magic to make sure nothing goes wrong. I’ll help find him, when we’re ready.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Flavio says. “But… Aguefort is about pushing yourself beyond what you think you’re capable of.”

“I am,” Ayrton says. He doesn’t want to argue with Flavio. Arguing with Viviane is easy. She has to love him, he’s her brother. But he doesn’t want to make Flavio think less of him. “I just… this is a step too far.”

He’d thought Flavio would get it. He’s their party healer, he knows the pressure they’re under, and he knows what can happen when things go wrong. Ayrton hears Flavio sigh, but he doesn’t respond.

“If you wait until you’re ready, the kid might be dead,” Viviane points out.

“Well in that case maybe your party should take the quest,” Ayrton says. He doesn’t mean to snap as much as he does.

“We have our own quests, Ayrton,” Viviane says.

“Yeah, like helping James get into Niki’s-”

“Flavio!” Viviane hisses.

“Get into Niki’s what?” Ayrton asks, thankful for the change in subject.

“Nothing,” Flavio says with a smile that definitely implies this isn’t nothing.

“What is it?” Ayrton asks again. He hasn’t heard much about the potential junior year quests. He probably shouldn’t be thinking that far ahead. He has to survive his first two years at the school first. But it might be nice to get a headstart in mentally preparing for that. 

“Niki’s yoghurt stash,” Viviane says, making her boyfriend snort.

Ayrton frowns. That doesn’t sound much like a quest to him.

They pull up outside the school. Ayrton gets out of the car first, trying to ignore Flavio whispering into his sister’s ear. It’s embarrassing. He knows he’ll probably get a girlfriend someday, but he’s never going to be this public about things.

Two car doors open and close, and suddenly Flavio is standing beside him. Viviane is nowhere to be seen.

“It’s ok to be worried,” Flavio says quietly. When Ayrton looks up at him, the older boy isn’t looking at him, but gazing across the parking lot at nothing in particular. “I actually think you’d be stupid not to be worried.”

Ayrton doesn’t say anything. It’s been ages since Flavio talked with him without Viviane around. Before they’d started dating, he would come to the house to hang out. Ayrton considered him a friend then. But ever since he and Viviane made it “official”, Ayrton’s had to fight for his attention, and he normally loses. He doesn’t really want to have this conversation now, but if this is what Flavio wants to talk about he’ll take it.

“I was scared before our first quest,” he says. “There’s so much that can go wrong and nobody told us what to expect. At least you’ll have that advantage.”

“I guess,” Ayrton says, quietly.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re not good enough to find Alain’s brother,” Flavio says. “By the time you actually track him down, if he’s being held by someone, you’ll be good enough to take them on. I don’t mean any offense, but he’s a random Mumple student from a normal family. He’s not going to be held by the Queen of the Swamps of Ruin.”

That does make sense. It’s not as if Alain is asking them to go into a litch’s lair tomorrow. They have to look for him first. And, presumably, the harder it will be to rescue him, the harder it will be to find out where he is. It eases Ayrton a little, but not entirely.

“But what if we’re still not good enough,” he asks quietly. 

“Then you ask for help,” Flavio says. “Asking for help, it’s not failing. Can I tell you something you must promise to not tell anybody else?”

Ayrton looks up at Flavio, confused and a little excited. “Of course.”

Flavio looks around, as if there might be someone lurking behind a car, waiting to hear his darkest secret. When he is sure there’s nobody else here, he continues. “When Niki got attacked by that wyrm in our first year, it wasn’t me that healed him.”

Ayrton’s eyes widen a little. He’s heard about his sister’s first quest, of course. About how their wizard got burned to a crisp but they scraped through by the skin of their teeth. He’d asked Flavio to tell the story multiple times, each time asking for more details. What spells were used, how did they use their inspiration, how did Flavio know when to smite. But Flavio has always been vague about just how they healed Niki after he got burned. They just “healed him up” and then carried on.

“Niki was beyond what I could heal,” Flavio admits quietly. “I couldn’t revive someone then. I had some abilities but not much. We were convinced we were going to lose him. James was freaking out. Viviane had to calm him down. I was trying to think of something. And Niki started muttering something, telling me to fuck off, telling Arthur Aguefort he could fuck himself. And then Aguefort appeared like some deus ex machina. I can fuck myself can I? Hoho, I’m afraid I don’t need your permission for that, Mr Lauda. He said something about his autobiography, and how it’s supposed to be a required reading for wizards and Niki obviously hadn’t yet or something like that. So he sat Niki up, put his hand on his chest, and told him he should use his time more wisely in the future. I couldn’t say anything. Aguefort went back through some rip in the air he’d come through and by the time James and Viviane came back, Niki was healed.”

Ayrton stares at Flavio, as if he’d just told him the most insane story Ayrton had ever heard. Well, because that was exactly what happened. 

“So… Alain needs to read this book?” he asks eventually.

“No. Well, he might. But the point is, if you’re in a really bad situation and you just call Aguefort, you’ll probably get saved.”

“But Arthur Aguefort’s dead,” Ayrton points out.

“Oh, yes… that’s a problem.” He scratches his neck, trying to find another answer. “Stock up on healing potions?”

He pats Ayrton on the back and offers an apologetic smile before heading off towards the school. Ayrton is about to follow him when a voice calls his name.

“Hey Ayrton! Catch.”

Ayrton barely has time to turn towards the voice before he’s hit in the face by something soft and bumpy. The thing flops down and Ayrton catches it out of instinct. 

A grumpy looking frog looks back at him with two beady black eyes.

Gerhard jogs over, laughing. “I did say catch.”

“Why do you have a frog?” Ayrton asks, his mood shifting so fast it would have given him whiplash if he weren’t used to Gerhard by now.

“It’s not a frog, it’s a toad,” Gerhard says, taking the animal back from Ayrton. The toad croaks as it sits in Gerhard’s hands. Gerhard tucks it into the crook of his arm, looking very pleased with himself. “He’s my familiar.”

“You’re a bard, why do you have a familiar,” Ayrton asks. 

“I’m joining a toad choir,” Gerhard says. “No, he’s going to be so useful, and so inspiring.”

Ayrton’s never heard of a bard having a familiar before, but he can’t say he’s done too much research into the class. For all he knows, most bards have little animals following him around and it’s his sister that’s the outlier. 

“What’s his name?”

“Five,” Gerhard says, proudly.

“Five?”

“Yeah, because that will make people ask where the other four are, and I can come up with fun explanations,” Gerhard says. “Plus five is Nigel’s favourite number, and it kind of looks like him.”

He holds Five up again so Ayrton can judge the similarities. Ayrton’s not entirely sure there are any.

“Anyway.” Gerhard starts guiding them towards the school. “What was that about yesterday?”

Ayrton sighs. He knew it was coming, of course, but he’d hoped he could get away without this straight away.

“Don’t worry, I’ve talked to Flavio about it,” he says, quietly. “I just… worry we’re not ready and are going to get hurt.”

“No, I meant about Daybreak.”

Ayrton stops walking, dragging Gerhard to a stop with him. “How do you know about that?”

“I didn’t,” Gerhard says. “Until just now. But I know he’s been creeping around you, and then you ran away from an argument. That’s not the Ayrton I know.”

“It’s nothing,” Ayrton says, quickly. “Just… trying to get Alain on the team, you know.”

He doesn’t know where the lie comes from. It just falls out of his mouth before he can stop it. It’s a reasonable explanation. After all, Alain had wanted to be on the Bloodrush team, and this would be a nice thing he could do for his party mate. Never mind the fact that Ayrton had been against having a Bloodrush player in the party. 

Gerhard inspects him closely, and Ayrton wonders if his friend has any mind reading spells. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t, but Ayrton doesn’t know Gerhard’s spell list like he does Alain’s.

After a moment or two, Gerhard nods. Five croaks.

“If you think Bloodrush is going to distract him from finding his brother, I don’t think it’s going to work.”

“Yeah, I know. I… I’ve been thinking. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to need to stock up on healing potions.”

Chapter Text

After oversleeping and trying, and failing, to tame his hair, Alain is running late. It’s a Saturday and normally a lazy start to the day wouldn’t matter too much. But today is the day they’ve decided to start their plan - if it can be called that. He’s going to meet the rest of Team Argan down the trail where he thinks Daniel went riding, and Roseanne is going to talk to some squirrels, or rats or whatever animals live down there. And then… well, the plan after that point is just “make a plan”. Alain would like something more thorough but they can’t exactly plan for something they don’t know.

He finds his grandmother sitting at the kitchen table when he comes down, his mother still cooking and his father nowhere to be seen.

“You are missing your birds,” his grandmother says in halfling. She gestures to her hair. “Your nest is empty.”

Alain laughs politely at the joke and shakes his head. “Good morning, mamie.”

He loves his grandmother. Of course he does. But it feels wrong, having her in the house. She’s taking up a space that isn’t, or shouldn’t be, empty. She sits in the chair Daniel should be sitting in. She sleeps in the bed Daniel should be sleeping in. If they were all being crowded in together, if his parents had set up a camp bed in his bedroom for his brother, that would be different. But it feels like they’re taking a piece from another puzzle to replace one that’s been lost. He doesn’t like it.

“Would you get your father from the garage before you sit down?” Marie-Rose says.

“I can’t stay for breakfast,” Alain says. “I will get him as I leave.”

“Where are you going?” 

“Party meeting,” Alain says. He’s sure he explained this all before.

“He’s a teenager now,” his grandmother says. Alain knows she knows Common, but he doesn’t know if he’s ever heard her use it. “You cannot keep him tied to your apron.”

“You have to have breakfast,” Marie-Rose says. “And your friends will be having breakfast too so you can come and sit down and eat.”

“The meeting is going to be over breakfast,” Alain lies. “At the diner.”

Marie-Rose looks at him, an eyebrow raised. She obviously doesn’t believe him, but there’s no evidence. After a moment or two she sighs and nods. 

“Fine, I know when my cooking is not appreciated,” she chides. “But get your father as you leave.”

“I will.”

“And make sure you are home in time to look presentable for dinner,” his mother calls as he attempts to leave. “The man from the bursary department is coming. I do not want him to think you have forgotten how to brush your hair.”

Alain rolls his eyes again but agrees. Wizarding is turning out to be more expensive than he’d expected. There are Council run initiatives for halflings trying to go from Mumple tracks to Augefort. It’s the only reason he managed to get into the school in the first place. But they’re going to need a little more support if he’s going to make it to the end of the year, let alone graduation.

He finds his father in the garage, passing on the message about breakfast before getting his bike. He’s thankful that his father doesn’t give him the third degree about missing the meal. His father might not understand wizarding, but he knows the pains of having meals disrupt whatever he’s working on. 

It’s not a long bike ride to where he agreed to meet the party. He tries not to let his mind wander as he goes, but it’s hard. Daniel likely took the exact same route he was taking. The bike tracks have long since faded in the ten months since yesterday, but he’s riding inside them. At some point, they stop though. They have to stop, and Alain hopes they can at least find out where they stop today.

He stops the bike a little way before he reaches the meeting spot, close to where Littlebranch meets Ballaster, so he can wipe his eyes. There’s no use getting over emotional about this right now.

Nigel and Roseanne are waiting on a bench when Alain arrives. Nigel is flicking water at Roseanne, making her giggle and making Alain feel like he just walked into something he shouldn’t have. Roseanne spots Alain first and elbows her boyfriend, but she doesn’t seem embarrassed.

“Hey Alain. Nigel learned spells.”

That seems to embarrass Nigel, judging by the colour of his face. He awkwardly scratches the back of his neck. 

“It’s just, you know, a couple of things I picked up.”

“Right,” Alain says, slowly. “Where are the other two?” Ayrton had said he wasn’t against trying to find Daniel, but Alain doesn’t really trust how fast he changed his mind. He won’t be surprised if Ayrton doesn’t show up. But Gerhard’s “bard” classes are supposedly all about finding people. Alain expects him to come.

“No idea,” Nigel says. “But I’m kind of expecting Gerhard to jump out of a bush and scare us.”

Alain sighs and sits next to Nigel. They don’t need Gerhard for this part of the plan, but it would be nice to have him. 

“Well, we can always get started now and see what the squirrels have to say here,” Roseanne says. “It’ll take a couple of minutes for the spell to work anyway.”

Nigel watches Roseanne hop off the bench and go to the side of the path to start casting the spell. He knows he’s probably just being a lovestruck idiot, but there really is something amazing about what Roseanne does. It’s one thing to learn magic from a book, or even to make it with music. Roseanne just seems to be so connected to the universe when she casts magic, like there’s nothing actually separating her from the magic itself. 

She’s always been the world to Nigel. Now that, that sounds like a lovestruck idiot’s thought, but it’s true. Even before they were an item, there was always something about Roseanne that made her different, special. There’s a goodness to her that Nigel was beginning to think only existed in fiction, but she’s smart too. She sees the good in people, but she knows about the bad too, and she’s not afraid to stand up for herself when needs must.

“She’s incredible,” he says quietly as a pair of chipmunks come up to investigate what Roseanne is doing.

“What?” Alain asks, shaken from his own thoughts. “Oh, yeah. It’s really good.”

“It’s alright, I know I’m being an idiot.”

“No, no, it’s good. Good you have someone like this,” Alain says. 

“What about you?” Nigel asks. “Anyone you’re going to annoy Ayrton with?”

Alain looks at Nigel blankly. “Why would Ayrton be annoyed if I was dating someone?”

“You know, his whole ‘no distractions’ thing,” Nigel says. 

It was one of the only arguments at Argan that Nigel has been really invested in, and the only one where he saw Roseanne come close to losing her temper. It wasn’t so much the relationship that Ayrton seemed to be worried about, but what would happen if it ever ended. Which seems like a stupid worry to Nigel. It’s not going to end, and surely the thought of Roseanne dropping everything to rescue him instead of completing the quest would be more of a concern for Ayrton? 

If something unthinkable does happen, Nigel thinks he and Roseanne are both mature enough to work together as friends. They were friends before they were dating. 

“Oh.” The look on Alain’s face suggests that hadn’t been where his train of thought was going before Nigel corrected the course. “Right, yes. No, no dating yet. Maybe it will happen, but I have not seen anyone.”

“Well if you need a wingman,” Nigel jokes. 

They fall back into an awkward silence. Or, at least, Nigel thinks it’s awkward. Alain seems to be lost in his own thoughts again. Nigel knows he should probably leave him there, but this is the first time they’ve hung out outside of school. The first time he’s hung out with anyone other than Roseanne outside school. Friends talk when they hang out, right? 

The silence is broken when Gerhard appears on the bench beside him in a small puff of mist. “Sorry we’re late.”

Five croaks apologetically. 

“Where’s Ayrton?” Alain asks. 

Gerhard nods his head over to where Ayrton is hurrying down the path about thirty feet away.

“You guys made it then,” Roseanne says, coming over as the two chipmunks scamper away. “You didn’t miss too much.”

“Sorry,” Ayrton says as he arrives. “But we bought something that might help.”

He opens his bag to reveal a collection of plastic bottles filled with a clear green liquid. Healing potions, and a lot of them.

“Damn, this must have cost a fortune,” Nigel says, taking one of the bottles. When he’d first started martial arts class, his teacher had shown him one bottle of healing potion they had behind glass next to the fire extinguisher, just in case of an emergency. It cost more than any of their lessons, and if it was used in a non-emergency their parents would be paying for it.

“Did you steal these?” Roseanne asks suspiciously.

“What? No!” Ayrton says. “We went to a wholesaler. It comes from my allowance and Gerhard brought some money too.”

“It would take me a year of allowance to buy one of these,” Nigel says, looking at the bottle. “Maybe.”

“I bought healing potions for everyone, I thought this would be a good thing.” Ayrton seems genuinely hurt. Nigel would apologise, but he can’t imagine just being able to buy something so expensive. 

“It is a good thing,” Alain says, patting Ayrton’s arm. “I’m glad you came.”

Ayrton blushes, zipping up his bag again and slinging it over his shoulder. “I still do not think we’re ready for this, but sometimes you have to take risks.”

Alain smiles, then turns to Roseanne. “What did the chipmunks say?”

“Well I think they knew who I was talking about,” Roseanne says. “But they haven’t seen him around since before the last snow. But they did say some squirrels who live further up the path saw something strange around that time. They’ve gone to get them.” 

“Do you think all animals can talk to each other?” Gerhard says. “Kind of messed up that we’re left out of that. Imagine the gossip.”

“Maybe they think the same about us,” Nigel says.

They begin to walk down the path in the direction the chipmunks had run down. Nigel swirls the bottle of healing potion he’s carrying. It seems unlikely they’re actually going to need something like this. Roseanne has some healing abilities, and he knows Ayrton does too. He’s pretty sure Gerhard could heal if he wanted to. But more than anything, he doesn’t think they’re going to find themselves in a situation where they’ll need healing. Not this badly, anyway. It’s probably just Ayrton worrying over nothing but… 

They stop when the two chipmunks cross their path again, this time with a nervous looking squirrel. Roseanne crouches down and starts chittering. The squirrel responds with a weird croak Nigel thinks almost sounds like a crow call.

“When you look at them, they’re like rats with fluffy tails,” he says quietly to Gerhard.

The squirrel’s head immediately twists and it begins to make a low grumbling sound.

“Nigel,” Roseanne hisses. “Don’t be rude.”

“Rats are cool,” Nigel says, defensively. “Sorry. I didn’t know there was rodent racism.”

“Speciesism,” Gerhard corrects him. “Because they’re not the same species.”

Five croaks in agreement. 

“Do you really think this squirrel knows what happened to your brother?” Ayrton whispers.

Alain doesn’t say anything. He’s staring at the ground. They’re along a dirt path in a part of the town Nigel doesn’t know well. They haven’t seen anybody else out here so he guesses it’s not exactly popular, but it’s not overgrown either. It’s not as if they’re about to find ten month old footprints that can lead them to this kid.

He looks at the longer grass on the sides of the path. It doesn’t look long enough to hide a body in, at least not for months, but he’s not exactly an expert on that.

The squirrel chitters on for a while longer and Nigel’s sure it’s using its front paws to help explain something. It does look like a rat, no matter what it thinks about that.

When Roseanne stands, Nigel’s sure she looks a little paler than she did before.

“He says he saw the boy before it started snowing last winter,” she says. “Some men or maybe elves came in a black van and dragged him into it.”

It’s late by the time Alain gets home. He still feels faint, like any step he takes his legs might give out from under him and he’ll collapse into a puddle. But he kept walking, the bike alongside him, round and round in circles until he realised that wasn’t going to help him.

He knew it. He’s always known it. Daniel was kidnapped. Daniel wouldn’t just leave him, no matter what anybody else thought. He’s in trouble, and he needs Alain’s help. Or someone’s help. Now they have evidence. Or… well, he doesn’t know exactly how he’s going to go to the police and say “a squirrel told me” but it seems like evidence enough to his friends. Maybe it will be evidence enough for his parents. They can get back out there and look for him again, not sit here and just wait…

Voices drift in from the hall as Alain comes in through the garage. His mother, his father and…

“Shit.”

“Alain? Are you home?”

Alain puts on his best apologetic face as he walks into the living room where his parents sit with their guest. 

Mr Balestre looks like he should be in one of those crime movies, Alain thinks. As far as Alain knows, he’s just an ordinary government worker, and he doesn’t dress like anything else. But there’s something about him that makes it look like he’s going to pull out a gun and start shooting. Or order someone to go sleep with fishes without water breathing. When he smiles it looks unnatural, but Alain smiles back. After all, without Mr Balestre’s support, he probably wouldn’t be at Aguefort at all.

“Sorry I’m late,” he says, accepting Mr Balestre’s hand when it’s offered. It’s weird, being treated like an adult. Not sinister, he reminds himself. This is all above board. “I was with my party.”

“I’m glad you’re settling in so well at Aguefort,” Mr Balestre says. “There were people who worried about the late application but-” he wags his finger as if he’s telling off some invisible bureaucrat. “I knew it.”

“We told Mr Balestre how you’ve made friends,” Marie-Rose says. “Over dinner, which you missed.”

She’s trying to hide how annoyed she is in front of a guest, but Alain knows he’s going to get an earful as soon as Mr Balestre is through the door.

“I’m sorry,” he says again. “It was very important. About a potential quest.”

“Don’t worry, this is exactly what we want,” Mr Balestre says. “Although your parents, if you’ll forgive me Mr and Mrs Prost, were not so subtle in hinting that the bursary may not be enough for all your supplies.”

Alain rings his hands together. He really should have prepared some kind of speech for this. He’d done so well when presenting himself to the bursary fund to get it in the first place, but now he’s asking for something that isn’t explicitly being offered. He’s thought of some points, but Alain’s not confident in his political ability.

“Well, wizarding is expensive,” he says, slowly. “And I want to prove that the scheme is… good and useful so I don’t want to fail or do things half-heartedly… so I’m dedicating all my time into doing this which means that I cannot at the moment fund myself and my mother and father have been so supportive but there is only so much I can ask from them, you know…”

Mr Balestre holds his hand up to say he’s heard enough. Alain falls silent, putting his hands behind his back. He really wishes he’d taken the time to sort his hair out this morning. It seems unlikely that would make much of a difference, but every little helps. 

“Mr and Mrs Prost, may I speak with Alain alone?”

Alain’s father nods. He looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. His mother doesn’t look so certain. Mr Balestre has only ever helped them but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a danger. But when Alain nods it seems to convince her and she follows her husband out of the room.

Mr Balestre puts a hand on Alain’s shoulder. “I understand wizarding is hard.”

“It’s not… I mean, it is hard but I can manage it,” Alain says. “It’s just… so expensive. My spells so far, they’re not much. But I’ve been reading ahead. Magic Circle costs a hundred gold pieces a time. The pearl for Identify was a birthday present and I can’t… you know, keep asking them. Especially not while they’re worried about Daniel.”

It stings, to use his brother like that. But this is for Daniel. Ayrton’s right about them not knowing many spells yet but by the time he does learn more spells Alain’s going to be spending hundreds of gold pieces a day.

Mr Balestre nods. “I will speak with the bursary fund about this. However, there is… another option. One that’s more sure fire.”

“What?”

“I am part of an organisation,” Mr Balestre says quietly. “We fund a few young spell casters but not in the traditional sense. Not monetary funds, but magical.”

Alain frowns. “I don’t understand.”

“Warlocks may not be as glamorous as wizards but it is a far cheaper avenue.”

Alain’s eyes widen. “I don’t… I couldn’t… I can learn the spells. I don’t want to… I want to do this through hard work. My own hard work. I couldn’t ask you to do that, Mr Balestre.”

“I understand,” Mr Balestre says, nodding. “Consider it a last resort.” He hands Alain a business card. The blue letters FIA shine as the ink catches the light. “But let’s keep you on the wizard track for now. I’ll see what I can do.”