I walked to the door and Beth, Rinko, and I left, headed back to the tavern. I listened as they told me of their adventure for the day. How they’d gotten some time off and wanted to come find me, since I’d left the tavern before the sun was even up that morning. I’d wanted to enjoy my last day before I had to leave, so I’d gone to my cave and made myself a wand just because. Mostly to keep myself busy and because I’d read that wands were used to help stabilize spells. There were a few spells I’d had a hard time with and wanted to see if a wand would help me.

  I was so ready to leave for the capital, but the hours ticked by slower than ever. It was still early afternoon and there wasn’t a whole lot to do. I ended up asking Torgrud several times to give me something to do even though he kept insisting that I enjoy my last few hours. He’d given in after a while, and had me rearrange the tables out on the floor. We’d had an influx of customers and needed as much table space as possible. After a few unwanted suggestions from a few of the drunken hunters, I’d pulled out my new wand and used my magic to make the entire tavern much, much bigger. Being on the edge of town, there wasn’t much else around us except the other guild halls, but there was plenty of space between the tavern and the next buildings over.

  I added a third floor of rooms to the top, lengthened the bar and the back rooms, the outer walls, and even the cellar. I slid to my knees when I finished the spell, drunk on my own power, and laughed.

  “Rivienne! What is wrong with you?!” Shalana barked, as she knelt down, putting her hands on my shoulders. Her voice was muffled in my ears, but I knew she was beyond angry with me.

  “I made it bigger, there wasn’t enough room for more tables and we needed more.” I shrugged, my entire body rattling from my mana depletion. I laughed nervously, holding my hands up to look at them. I couldn’t see straight, but I felt good, giddy even. “What do you think, Torgrud?” I asked, stupidly attempting to stand up. The only reason I didn’t land on my head was because Shalana held me up and sat me down in a chair.

  I jerked my head back as I felt a sharp slap to the face from her.

  “Pull yourself together.” She said as some of her mana flowed through me, effectively sobering me up. I’d never used that much magic at once before, but… part of me wanted to do it again.

  “What were you thinking?” She asked, when I was thinking a little more clearly.

  “Like I said, we needed more space.” I shrugged, finally noticing Torgrud out of the corner of my eye, a deep scowl on his face.

  “Your reckless abuse of magic is going to one, get yourself killed and two, give the Order another reason to come back out here. Is that what you want?” She said, angrily.

  “Of course not.” I shook my head. “We’re beyond the veil, they won’t bother us anymore. Especially not with Lady Emilia’s creations blocking the way.” I said, referring to her mechanical and rock golems she had placed along the border.

  “That’s not the point.” Shalana snarled. “You don’t know your limits and the Order isn’t afraid to march back out here.”

  “So, what, we’re supposed to live out here, cowering in fear of what they might do?” I responded angrily. “If they want us to stop using magic, then they’ll have to kill all of us. I highly doubt they’re stupid enough to risk the wrath of the entirety of the Deepwood Forest again. Have you seen what the fae are capable of? The dragons? The witches? The elves should they come out of hiding?”

  “They already have. Remember what happened before they put up the veil, hm? Are you willing to risk losing any more of our people for you foolishly playing around with something you yet fully understand?”

  “You said it yourself, there’s already a rebellion rising up in the shadows.”

  “Yes, but we’re not ready. If you continue to recklessly use your magic like you are, the Order is bound to notice and return before we can gather up enough might to counterattack. Alot of this hinges on you being able to have a decent amount of numbers on our side within the capital. Rivienne, I thought you were smarter than this.” She waved her hand at me before standing. She shook her head at me before leaving the tavern, the door slamming behind her, making me jump.

  “This is not even remotely close to what I wanted when I asked you to rearrange the tables.” Torgrud said, gruffly. “You’ve done enough. Go nap before you leave.” He said as he walked behind the counter to the back rooms.

  “We’ll… uh, take care of the tables.” One of the hunters said from just behind me.

  I nodded and stood, walking up the stairs to my room, not looking anyone in the eye. I felt like a child, mad at myself for making them mad at me. I really thought it would help.

  I walked to my room and opened the door, walking to the window and opened it. I pulled myself through the window, gasping as I slid on the slick moss on the windowsill and almost lost my balance.

  I sighed in annoyance when I remembered I’d added another story to the tavern and could no longer climb onto the roof easily. I looked around for another handhold in the stone and grabbed onto it pulling myself up, before grabbing the next handhold. My foot was leaving the ledge when I felt someone grab it. I shrieked as my hand slid off the wet stone and I fell, grasping at anything I could grab onto.

  I grunted as hands grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back into the room and dumped me unceremoniously on the floor.

  “I swear, it’s always something with you.”

  I looked up as James was shaking his head at me, an amused glint in his purple eyes.

  “What the hell,” I growled. “I was fine until you grabbed my foot.” I sat up, pulling my knees to my chest.

  “Sorry, but Torgrud sent me to find you and I was not climbing up after you.” He sat next to me, leaning against the wall.

  “Lemme guess, your brothers will be up here soon to yell at me too.” I rolled my eyes and sighed, resting my cheek on my knee. “I would deserve it, of course, but I really thought… mm, no, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “Yell at you for what? Improving the tavern? No, they were actually really impressed. Doubly so when Torgrud said it was you.”

  “If only Shalana and Torgrud shared their enthusiasm for it.” I leaned back against the wall and stared up at a spot on the ceiling.

  “They do, but apparently you really scared Shalana. Again.” James snorted. “It takes a lot to do that, consider me impressed. Anyway, what were you planning on doing on the roof?”

  “Sit up there and listen for the dragons’ song like I usually do and watch the sun set.”

  “It’s still really early for the sun to be setting.” James bumped shoulders with me.

  “Ugh, fine. I just wanted to throw a temper tantrum and admire my new view. I have no idea. Anything to get out of this stuffy tavern.”

  “Why not just head to the capital? Rhett said he wouldn’t mind going with you if you wanted.”

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  “He doesn’t have to be back for another few days, though.” I sat up and leaned back against the wall, stretching my legs out.

  “He knows, but, well, you know how he is. Overprotective as always.” James smirked.

  “I don’t need his protection, but… maybe having someone to travel with would be nice for once.” I sighed.

  “Oh, we’re well aware of how capable you are, we’re just worried about what Elydir might do when you get to the capital. You’re also not exactly the most patient person, nor are you good at talking your way out of anything.”

  “Don’t remind me.” Thinking back to the many times Elidyr and I had gotten into an argument and she’d always walk away with an even bigger chip on her shoulder knowing she’d won the argument even if she was wrong.

  “There are other things you’re good at. Don’t get caught up in what you can’t do.”

  “Gods, you sound like Torgrud.” I grumbled, knowing he was also right.

  “Sorry.” He grinned sheepishly.

  “No, you’re not.” I rolled my eyes, before leaning my head on his shoulder. We were quiet for a bit, listening to the birds chirp in the trees outside the window.

  “Do you think I’m doing the right thing? Joining the knights and all that.” I asked, sure he and the others were sick of me questioning my own decision all the time.

  “You’ve always had this dream of becoming a magic knight, ever since I met you. It was one of the first things you talked about, actually. Remember when you fell out of the tree and yelled “Magic Knights don’t cry, so neither can I!”?

  I laughed, more from embarrassment of that day than anything. “I do remember that. I’d gotten so sick of Elidyr calling me a cry baby.” I shook my head, remembering how James and Rory had all but jumped out of the tree to make sure I was okay. Luckily, I’d only managed a few scrapes on my palms and elbows, but I was fine.

  “I miss when she was fun to hang out with. The adventures we’d go on.”

  “You and me both. I wonder what happened to her to make her such a stick in the mud.”

  He nodded in agreement and we fell silent again. I shivered in the cold air from outside so I stood and closed the window. I sat back down and leaned my head back against the wall.

  “The magic knights are no longer part of the army, since their imprisonment, but maybe there’s still something I can do until I’m eligible to become a royal guard.”

  “Executed, actually.” James said, so quietly I almost missed it.

  “What?” I snapped my head to look at him.

  “They were all executed not long after the veil was put up.” He glanced down at me before looking away.

  “All of them?” I whispered, thinking of Odelia, one of the most powerful mage knights in Reilu Tuuli.

  “All of them.” He said quietly. “I thought Torgrud or Shalana had told you, I’m sorry.”

  I felt sick to my stomach, despair threatening to swallow me up. Executed. For what? I took a deep breath and held it, willing my racing heart to calm down. There wasn’t anything I could do to bring them back.

  “You see why we need you in the army?” James said, laying his hand on my shoulder. “We need an inside person, someone without loyalty ties to the Astral Order.”

  “It won’t work, Elidyr is part of them now, they know who I am. Besides, how many people do you know that have green hair like mine?”

  “It will work. The Order will probably never trust you, but if you can prove to the army that they can trust you, you’ll be able to climb the ranks and gather enough knights loyal to our cause.”

  “You do realize they’re being called the King’s Cowards now, right?” I muttered. The hunters had been talking about it, people blaming the knights for not standing up to the Astral mages. What could they have done, though.

  “Rivienne. Join the army and find out for yourself what you can do.” He said, standing. “If you need anything, Rory will be around. If you want to free magic again, you have to get out of Deepwood. So go.” He held a hand out for me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up to stand beside him. “You have what it takes to make a change. Trust us. Please?”

  “Fine. I will.” I shook my head, walking to the bed to grab my suitcase and picked up my rapier from where it was leaned against the wall.

  “You’re not taking your halberd?”

  “I… don’t have it.” I shook my head in annoyance.

  “Still in your tome?”

  I nodded, turning to him.

  “Well, I think you should make that another goal. Find out where they’re keeping the tomes and artifacts and then we’ll plan a break-in.” He grinned.

  “Do you remember the last time we did that?” I snorted a laugh.

  “The time Sam’s bomb he made got confiscated and we tried to get it back? Yes, I do. We were also what, 8? 9?”

  “Meaning I was 7, so yes. It was failed from the start. We sent you up first since you were the smallest and you fell through the roof.”

  “Right onto the guy’s desk that he was working at.” I giggled, still able to clearly picture his face of surprise. What happened after wasn’t so funny, but you win some, you lose some.

  “Now that I think about it, wasn’t Alisdair able to get the bomb?”

  “I think he was, but I don’t remember who accidentally set it off.”

  “Probably Rory if I had to guess.” James snorted.

  “Probably.” I shrugged, amused.

  “Hey, if you two are done, it’s time to go.” Rhett said from where he was leaning against the doorway. “It wasn’t Rory who detonated the bomb, I remember Sam running back to us to tell us to leave.the house before it blew up.”

  “How did you manage to get out of the house? Didn’t we leave you upstairs?” James asked, turning back to me.

  “I jumped from the window when I realized you were all running outside. That was the day I found all those artifacts.” I grinned as realization dawned on his face.

  “That’s where you found them? You told us you bought them.” He burst out laughing.

  I shrugged. “I figured Elidyr and Rhett would’ve made me return them all.”

  “You’re right.” Rhett said, shaking his head at me, his green eyes glinting in amusement. “Those were worth a fortune.”

  “Even more now since they’re a black market item.” I grinned.

  “Don’t even think about it.” Rhett sighed. “You don’t have a need for gold and they’re worth more in use than being sold. Besides, you probably still don’t know their full capabilities. If you ever get the chance, take them to the artificers in the southern kingdom’s capital, Tulipalo Tuuli. I bet they would be able to help you out with their origins and purposes. While we’re on the subject, however, just how did you manage to convince him to let us off?”

  “I… rebuilt his entire house.” I said quietly.

  “So the tavern wasn’t your first time… how many other times have you rebuilt something? Do you realize the kind of power you have to have over different elements to get the buildings exactly like they were before? The kind of power you have to have to not only rebuild from nothing to-”

  “Time magic.” I squaring my shoulders. “If you want it back like it was, just reverse the time on the object itself. If you want it bigger or better, multiply what you have. Like, here,” I said, walking to the wall and tapped a stone. “If you look at the pattern here, it’s the same exact pattern as this one.” I pointed to one near it. “It’s still a lot of mana, but not anywhere near as much as it would be if I had to pull stones up out of the ground itself.”

  “How…” Rhett stood there, gaping at me, suddenly at a loss for words.

  “How long have you been able to do this?” James asked, his eyes wide in surprise.

  “I tried it the other day on a bow, which worked a lot better than I thought it would. It’s just a matter of taking runes and arranging them-”

  “Runes?” Rhett said, suddenly angry. “Do you realize how dangerous runes are without-”

  “I’m not a child.” I snapped at him. “I’m aware of the dangers and I’ve been using a lot of caution with them, contrary to what you might think. It’s no different than someone using a magic circle without knowing what each rune means or does. Now, like you said, if you’re done yelling at me, it’s time to go.” I said, storming past them, suitcase and rapier in hand.

  Throwing caution to the wind was my strong suit, but I wanted to prove to them that I knew what I was doing. Sure, I ended up using most of my mana earlier, but magic wasn’t without its risks. How were we supposed to know our limits if we didn’t test them? I had a long way to go to prove to them how capable I was. Maybe my time as a knight would help.

  I ended up traveling alone, not wanting to wait around for anyone. Not even to say goodbye. It did me a lot of good, walking in silence through the early spring afternoon. I felt horrendous for not even saying goodbye to Rinko and Beth, but they had enough on their plate as it was. They didn’t need to worry about why I was in such a foul mood again. Besides, I might just convince myself to stay behind and not join the army if I saw them again. I loved the peace of the forest too much.

  Knowing I had to do what I could to protect that peace, I squared my shoulders and moved on.