Chapter 71 - Home, Sweet Home

In the hall of Alaric Morsin, whose wealth was vast but heart withered, came Maid Rose, whose beauty shone like moonlight on new-forged steel. Fair of face and fey of blood, she stirred the ghost of his first love, long cold in the barrow-mound.

Alaric took her to his bed, scorning vows and kindred. His hearth-wife raged like the sea in storm, and his blood-sons - most bitterly Dorian the Grim - spoke of blood-price and shame.

But Rose, though touched by witchcraft, held little power. “A weak seidr-woman,” they whispered. “Easily swept aside.”

The Saga of Bjorn, Verse 1

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“All students, we are on final approach to the Port of Dreams. All students, we are on final approach to the Port of Dreams. Please prepare yourselves. Thank you.” The unknown professor’s voice snapped off, and Erik shrugged his violin off his shoulder.

“Aww, is it over already?” Vivian pouted. 

“It was beautiful.” Hazel softly contributed.

Alex looked like the cat who’d gotten the canary. Felix didn’t look up from his books. Sora was, naturally, still outside, flying as free as a bird.

Erik flashed a smile, one that would reassure his friends but didn’t match what he was feeling.

“Sorry all! Maybe once we’re settled in Dublin we’ll be able to find some time.”

It was a soft lie. Erik knew his every waking minute would be filled with lessons of one sort or another, or preparing to perform their coven ritual. It was deeply unlikely that they’d have enough time for something so ‘frivolous’. It wasn’t a total lie - he wasn’t committing to anything, he did want to play for them again, and it was very possible that there would be time after the coven formed to celebrate, and he could play for them then.

It was a furious 15 minutes as everyone except Hazel packed away their stuff. How they’d managed to get so spread out in the short time they were here, Erik would never be able to figure it out. Only Felix and Hazel didn’t need to run around. Felix, because the boy barely had anything and religiously took care of it - if a book ever wandered away from him, Erik would call for an ego check - and Hazel because she didn’t have anything in the first place!

As soon as Vivian made her way over from Paris to Dublin, he’d make sure she went shopping with Hazel on his denarii. Maybe even earlier - it could be a good way to show Alex around town. Depending on when everyone showed up. He’d have to think about it more. 

“See you Saturday!” Erik cheerfully reminded everyone.

“Write or communicate if something happens.” Alexandria whispered.

“Um…” Felix awkwardly raised his hand. Alex rolled her eyes.

“Yes, yes, it’s hard for you.” She whispered. “We know. Send a message with the Praetorians.”

Sora chose that moment to burst through the door, a giddy smile still on her face as she wobbled around, holding her broomstick like a lush holding a drink.

“Best. Trip. EVER!” She shouted, dancing around the room with her broom held high overhead. 

“How you’re going to survive a week in the noonie world without a broom, I’ll never know.” Alexandria snarked in a whisper.

Sora waved her off.

“Eh, they’ve got their own air thing to fly in. I’ll just use one of those.” She said.

“Air thing… do you mean airplanes?” Felix asked incredulously.

“Yes! One of those! Do you have one?” Sora asked.

Five identical slaps echoed around the room as everyone facepalmed.

“What? Was it something I said?” Sora asked.

“Broombrain…” Erik said helplessly. “Broombrain, I would struggle to get an airplane, they’re fucking expensive.”

“Uh. How bad could it be?” Sora asked.

“Try two million aureli.” Felix said, quickly doing the conversion in his head.

Sora’s jaw dropped open.

“No.” She said. “You’re kidding, right? Right?”

“Sora, love, I’m afraid you’re missing a critical component between your brain and your mouth, namely, the rest of your brain.” Vivian sweetly informed the shorter girl.

“Broombrain.” Hazel said, getting in on the razzing.

“It’d cost a dozen aureli just to fly on one.” Felix said. “By all accounts, they’re boring, cramped, and uncomfortable.”

Felix had never flown before. Had never been rich enough to properly leave Sacramento. The one time his school had done a field trip ‘only’ to San Francisco, the cost had been too much for them. Until he’d boarded The Prydwen, he’d never gotten a chance to leave town.

Sora threw her hands up in the air.

“Everyone’s a critic! It’s pile on Sora day!” She yelled.

Erik grinned.

“It is!” He agreed, glomping onto the girl.

“Pile on Sora!” Vivian hugged Sora’s exposed half, and soon everyone except Hazel was getting in on the giant hug pile.

“NOT THE BROOM!” Sora yelled, valiantly holding it above the pile.

“Can it lift all of us at once?” Felix asked.

Erik knew the answer was no, but let Sora strain against it for a moment.

“Fine, fine, you’re all the best friends a girl could ask for.” Sora grumbled. “Now gerroff, before we’re late and unpacked.”

The entire ship stopped with a lurch, the coven pile barely moving. Hazel, on the other hand, was thrown into the group, where Alex and Vivian included her in.

“We’re all here!” Erik said with one last squeeze.

The six of them broke apart, and in a predictable flurry of last-minute packing, all ended up leaving The Prydwen. Fortunately not last - that honor belonged to some of the boys that had been playing Monsters and Magic until the very last second.

They broke up into three groups. Erik was with Hazel, Alexandria and Vivian were together, and Sora was going with Felix to Sacramento so she could visit the noonie world. Walker and Jones were going along, and Erik was half-tempted to say ‘fuck it’ and vanish through the portal to Sacramento, just to see how the two of them did. Sadly, he’d have to rely on Felix’s storytelling prowess.

“I want that.” Vivian pouted at the end of the dock. Most of the other students had found ways to make it easy to carry their bags across the sand. From levitating them, to hardening the ground under the wheels, to sticking them on a flying carpet and soaring over the crowd, there were almost as many ways to make transporting luggage easier than just carrying it. Only the first years were struggling - and not even all of them.

Erik set off with a cheerful whistle and a cheeky smile, turning around after a few steps.

“Want to drop your stuff off with me?” He asked. Alexandria shot him a withering glare, then pulled her wand out. His fiancee would magic their bags over now, or die trying.

Erik’s eyes flickered over to the Dublin portal, and he paled.

The Port of Dreams was filled with thousands of misty gates, each an echo of the gate built in Arcadia or Earth that was used to get to the place. When a student used a portal from their home, an echo was created in the Port of Dreams. When a student used the portal to go back home, the echo portside faded into oblivion.

However, when a student entered the Port of Dreams, but never left? The portal stayed forever, eagerly awaiting a soul that would never return.

Wixen used to horribly abuse being able to rapidly move between places, but the practice was all but dead. People didn’t like the lack of control, and argos made it possible to rapidly travel long distances already.

There were a little over 800 students at Camelot, but thousands of gates. The kindest story was people settling down in Corwin after graduating.

But every time a student died, the gate would be there, forever. Waiting for a soul that would never come. A gravestone, built out of wood, stone, or marble. Friends would add their names around the edges or leave messages behind, one last way to talk to a departed soul.

Really good friends - or really bad friends, depending on the perspective - would try to grab the soul from beyond the veil of death, and reanimate them in some way, shape, or form. 

Nobody liked necromancers. They were reviled before the Sundering of the World, and utterly hated after.

“Mike! Hey!” Erik called, waving to the 8th year that had led the Dublin procession.

“Morsin.” He politely half-bowed to the Duchy heir. “Is there something I can do for you?”

Erik nodded, slowly taking out his wand.

“Yeah. You all know the story of Maeve?”

Mike went pale. So did a number of the other students waiting by the Dublin portal, and they pulled out their wand or casting focus.

“To be clear, I don’t think there’s going to be an issue.” Erik said. “But it would not surprise me if the good Regent decided to give us a lesson on vigilance. Well, let’s be real. Give me a lesson on vigilance.”

Mike softly swore.

“With all due respect, your lordship, I can absolutely see that.” He nervously said.

Erik waved it off.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Right, we want to go now or catch any stragglers?”

Mike eyed Erik, clearly chewing it over.

“You’ll do alright.” He finally decided. “Let’s go now.”

Hazel was basically trying to press herself into Erik’s back like a barnacle as they all moved through the great archway to Dublin. The girl wasn’t holding her wand, but Erik didn’t think for a moment that she was disarmed. If anything, she was deadlier without a wand, using purely her mind magic.

There was no need to explain the why to her - she could just pluck it out of his mind. Erik wasn’t thrilled with the intrusion. All the more reason to keep working on building his mental shields. They’d be much stronger than anyone else’s with a mind mage nearby to constantly test them and see how good they were.

Hazel flicked Erik’s back at the thought.

They went through the gate of mist and… walked into Dublin. Erik and Hazel both blinked at the sudden change in light level. A number of families were waiting for the students to return home, but just as many students were simply walking off on their own, familiar enough with the streets of Dublin to make their own way back home.

The Dublin of Arcadia was dramatically smaller than the Dublin of the mundane world. Wixen had never had large populations, and The Sundering had cut their population down even further.

“Hey! Dummy!” A familiar, annoying voice pierced through the din, making Erik wince.

“Aoife, how lovely to see you.” He sarcastically answered his younger sister. She was carrying her omnipresent herb basket, filled with dozens of plants that she must’ve foraged earlier in the day. She was his little sister, he was obligated to find her annoying.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Great seeing you as well. Now come on, let’s go back home together.”

The three of them started walking back together, and Aoife started up a conversation. Trying to be a little too cool, a little too casual, Erik could see right through her. It was why he found her annoying - she kept trying to be subtle and all sneaky-like, but failed miserably at it. Maybe because she was his little sister and he knew her better than that, maybe it was because they had similar lessons and he was just a few years ahead of her. Either way, he wished she’d just come out and say what she wanted.

“Soo… this is Alexandria?” Aoife asked, skipping backwards and trying to poke at Hazel. All at the same time.

Erik laughed, and even Hazel snorted.

“No, this is Hazel, a friend I made at Camelot.” Erik explained.

“A friend, suuure.” Aoife said. “What classes do you have in common?”

Erik rolled his eyes.

“If you want to know what Camelot’s like, you can just ask me you know.” He said, ruffling Aoife’s hair.

She frowned.

“Dummy. I don’t want to know what’s going on at your stupid school.”

Hazel and Erik traded an amused look, and started to repeat a number of stories from their time in Camelot, ignoring Aoife’s voracious gaze. They made it to Dublin castle, waved hi to the guards, and Erik got Hazel settled in a room.

“Can you get Hazel a spare set of clothes?” Erik asked Aoife.

“Sure!” The girl bounded out of the room.

Erik started to leave when Hazel tugged on the sleeve of his robe.

“Yeah?” Erik asked. The girl looked out the window and fidgeted.

“Hazel? Everything alright?” Erik asked. She mumbled something.

“What?” Erik asked, coming closer.

“Did you know Aoife’s learning how to use poisons?”