Sarrah is reposing on the chaise longe when Allia descends the stairs, soaking in the morning light which she uses to read some history text, lazily flipping through the pages.

  “Hey,” Allia calls.

  “Hey,” Sarrah, calls back, glancing up from the text. “You woke late. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yeah,” Allia stretches her arms back to shake out the last bits of grogginess. “It’s a good mattress. You?”

  Sarrah shakes no. “I woke up early. Kinda trying to bore myself back to sleep with this thing.” She wriggles the book. “Not working. Anyways, I talked with mom and dad about last night. It helped. I’m a bit more relaxed today, I think.”

  “What’d you talk about?” Allia asks.

  “Oh, you know, about us rescuing J and the fighting we had to do. They were a bit stressed about it, though they tried not to show it. It upset them that we went after her, but they couldn’t fault the reasoning. They were supportive though when I told them about trying to kill the ice mage, and the people we saw die. Said it was okay not to be okay, and that helped. Said a few more things too. Helpful, but not like instantly everything’s fine or anything.”

  “Well, the school will probably assign us therapists. That should help too.”

  Sarrah closes her book, setting it on her chest and stares silently at Allia, hesitant to speak but eventually does. “Do you want to talk with them?”

  Allia sighs and plops down in a wingback chair facing her friend. “I don’t know. I mean, I think I’m fine, and what part of me wasn’t fine, talking to you last night helped. It’s not like I’m unaffected by what we went through, but I think I’ll be good until I can talk with someone professional. No offense to your parents.”

  Sarrah shrugs and picks her book back up. “I’m sure they’ll understand. I’ll tell them they don’t need to worry about you for now… and I’m glad I helped. Talking last night helped me too.”

  “Oh, good…” Silence as Sarrah goes back to her book. Allia bites her lip and leans her head against the chair wing pensively. “… I mean, what would we even talk about? It’s not like they’ll say anything novel, will they?”

  “Novel?” Sarrah turns from her reading with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah, you know. Other than the normal lines. That ‘I did what I need to’, ‘the situation wasn’t our fault’, ‘we did the best we could’ and other stuff like that.”

  “Probably not.” Sarrah admits with a shrug. “But I think sometimes what is said is less important than who says it. You know, a reassurance that how they see you is still in line with your self-concept. I know talking with them won’t be the same as it was with me, but they just want you to know they’re available since your parents aren’t around to do the same. But I know they’ll understand if you don’t take them up on it.”

  Allia shifts in her chair to lean into the other wing. “…I guess I can give it a shot then, if you put it like that. Your parents are some of the most ‘adult’ people I know. Besides, I may have been downplaying some of it a little. The not knowing if I killed some of them, I mean. Heh. It’s funny. I think I would be less bothered if I had deliberately killed them. At least then I wouldn’t have to wonder.”

  “I’m sure you don’t mean that,” Sarrah takes a sterner tone suddenly, with a trace of worry.

  Allia looks at her friend then laughs to brush it off. “No, you’re right. Of course it was best to try to have restraint. I was just… I don’t know, trying to brush it off.”

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  “…Right… Oh, speaking of your parents, did you let them know you’re okay? It’s probably best to let them know before the news gets to them.”

  “Hum? Oh, yeah. A sprite was sent last night. Anyways, what are we doing today?”

  “Oh, right.” Sarrah says, swivelling around to sit up on the chaise. “We got some sprites earlier. Ones from the school, saying that classes are cancelled for the rest of the week. There’s an assembly Friday though, to go over everything, and there should be a printout in the mail tomorrow. J also sent a sprite saying to meet at her lab after the assembly. Then she sent another asking about you since she didn’t get a response from the sprite she sent to your place. I sent it back saying you were here. Alex and Emil sent similar messages, but I didn’t reply yet.” Her tone shifts to annoyance for the last part.

  “Oh, thanks. I should probably stop by my place to clear my feeder.”

  “Yeah. Oh, mom said to invite you to keep staying the night if you want. At least until school starts back up. Said you could redirect sprites to our feeder too.”

  Allia shifts nervously. “I don’t know. You guys have already shown so much hospitality. I wouldn’t want to strain it.”

  Sarrah laughs. “Allia, you could stay the whole year and not strain hospitality after I told them you saved my life last night.”

  “I’m not sure I did. I mean, the demons thought you were already dead by the time I got there, right?”

  Sarrah makes a wishy washy motion. “Well, you got me out of the crossfire at least. Besides, you got wounded helping me. I think that’s enough… By the way… Mom asked about your barrier. She was a bit worried that you kept it up during dinner, but I explained that J recommended it. Though of course not being able to tell her why made her more worried. So, it’s probably good that you have it down now.”

  “Hm?” Allia scrunches her face questioningly and examines her arms. “Oh! It’s actually still up. I guess it becomes less visible after settling enough. Interesting. I’ll be sure to mention it to J. Convenient.”

  “It’s not bothering you?” Sarrah gets up to examine the invisible bubble, poking to find that it’s indeed there, then again to discover that she can pass through it after Allia lets her through.

  “I don’t even feel it. Physically or magically, at least if I don’t focus. Honestly, I don’t think it’s even causing any discreteness at this point.”

  “Uh… That’s certainly convenient… and potent. You should experiment layering them over you.”

  “And other people. In fact.” She waves her hand at Sarrah and a glowing bubble appears outlining her form.

  Sarrah goes perfectly still, then moves a bit to examine the protection around her before turning sternly at her friend. “Undo it, Allia.” She commands.

  “What? Why?” Allia asked, completely baffled by her friend’s reaction.

  “Sigh.” Sarrah rubs her eyes in exasperation. “Allia, you’re one of the smartest people I know, but you can be so dumb sometimes. If the army finds out you can create permanent, personal shield effects at will, they’ll hound you to join them. The league and the corps too, but the army will put more pressure into it. You can put one around me later, but not until we have enough time for it to… settle, as you call it.”

  “Oh… Yeah. Makes sense.” Allia dismisses the barrier with a wave. “Were you going someplace then?”

  “Hm, oh, um, well, I at least wanted to go with you to deal with your feeder. You know, just in case… and… after that I was thinking maybe going to Crystal Point.”

  “Crystal Point?” Allia raises an eyebrow. “I would have thought you’d want to rest, not run off into more danger.”

  Sarrah laughs. “It’s hardly that dangerous. In fact, you could say it’s the safest place in the chain this time of day, ironically. Besides, I’ve always wanted to go, and I can now that I’m a proper mage… even if I don’t know what kind yet.”

  Allia stares at her friend questioningly, the bursts into a smile. “Sounds great! I’ll grab my suit at my house. Oh! We can stop by the plaza and get some gelato!”

  Sarrah laughs. “Of course we’re getting gelato. You can’t go to the beach and not get gelato. Pretty sure it’s a law. But, you’re sure? It’s not too dangerous for you?”

  Allia laughs back. “For me? Of course not. I was just worried about you. But I don’t need to. I’ll be there to protect you.”

  “Well, you can protect me from any stray monsters and I can protect you from … well, everything else.”

  “Oh, you’re going to wear a wand?”

  “Hm? Yeah, I think I will. I’ll borrow one from mom. It’ll match my suit I think… actually, I think it’s required for passive powers.”

  “Yeah? Maybe I should wear on too.”

  “Hm… Maybe. No, you’re too tall. It wouldn’t be bad, but clean lines would be better.”

  “I’ll trust you then.”

  “Well, we can bring one and see how it fits with your suit. Come on, we can eat on the beach. I’ll tell mom and we can get going.”