On Mayuree's advice, they chose to stay rather than leave, betting that the Hyatt offered far more protection than an oyster-shell restaurant somewhere. The group loitered in the lobby until they met with Mayuree's brother exiting the theatre. To their surprise, the offending sibling's parting gesture was a greeting and a farewell, to which Gwen's party failed to reciprocate.

When the convoy of dark sedans departed, the group breathed a collective sigh of relief. Gwen then turned to her companions and explained her newfound rapport with Mayuree.

Richard cared little, informing Gwen he'd be alright with whatever decision she made.

Mina politely withheld her tongue, likely because she was well-mannered and knew when to say nothing at all.

Tao loudly proclaimed he would treat Mayuree as one of the 'crew' should Gwen desire, even allowing her to participate in his projects.

Kitty, Mayuree's faithful companion, rejected any desire to join a 'crew' in which Tao Wang took part but conceded that Gwen and Mayuree necessarily benefited from each other's company.

Outside, Gwen gave Mayuree a friendly hug and promised her that they would see each other again in Fudan, and then the Song's crew went on their way.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Mina questioned Gwen as their sedan pulled onto the orbital highway. Despite Gwen's assurance, her cousin remained irresolute about Gwen's decision, preferring that she had left Mayuree well alone.

When Gwen explained the undeniable benefits of having someone so intimately connected to the House of M on their behalf, Mina conceded that Mayuree was indeed a helpful friend. After all, one could hardly repudiate gaining access to a network of Mages willing to trade rare ingredients for non-CC based currency and vice-versa.

"I would still be cautious. That brother of hers looks like trouble from his slicked hair down to his Oxfords," Mina warned her, wagging a disapproving finger. "Still, who'd thought, huh? Little Mayuree, connected to the mysterious house of M. Did she say third-in-line? She was quiet as anything back in school. She was socially illiterate then, and she continues to be now. Red Stars, if I wanted to be your friend, Gwen, we'd be arm-in-arm by the second cocktail."

"Mia's an alright sort, isn't she?" Gwen chuckled. "Now that brother of hers, he looks like a character."

"I, too, am interested in this Marong," Richard spoke beside them. "Were it not for Magus Yuu and the circumstances of the hotel, I would have loved to meet him in person."

"You'll get us all arrested if your' meeting' is what I think it is," Mina quipped. "Never pick a fight in a place that has more staff than guests."

"Sometimes, a meeting is just a meeting," Richard stated with ambivalence.

"Whatever the case—thank you, Richard," Gwen replied warmly. "We were fine. Marong didn't even lay a hand on us. I think the brother was just curious as to why his sister was so interested in me."

"You said he was going to make you both stay." Mina pointed out. "That sounds plenty dangerous to me."

"Only if you say it like that," Gwen replied. "I mean, if some Mage suddenly had your sister tied around his or her fingers, I'd be worried too."

"About that, what happened between you and Mayuree? Surely you did more than just kiss and makeup," Richard pursued Gwen's line of logic.

"I'll tell you what I can." Gwen relented after a moment of contemplation. With considerations for privacy and disclosure, she carefully illustrated Mayuree's panicked self-diagnosis to her companions.

"See? That's why you stay away from fortunes!" Mina pointed out triumphantly. "Divinations is nothing but trouble!"

"Now that's interesting." Richard nodded. "On the other hand, what of Ariel? What did our penultimate winner attain?"

"Well, I don't know." She had no intention of testing out her familiar in the car. She couldn't, at any rate; Ariel appeared dormant. "Also, does anyone know what an Eland is?"

"It's a huge goat." Tao surprised them all with the factoid. "Huge mofo with twisted horns and stripes. Enormous cock, used in medicine."

"A goat…" Gwen dispelled the prospect of Ariel growing a colossal dong from her mind. Did that mean Ariel would grow larger? How could she share a pillow with an antelope-sized Ariel? What if its new horns snagged her clothes? Maybe she could ride it? Gwen tried to imagine herself riding a lightning-wreathed billy goat into battle, finding the illustrated fantasy rather more 'Heavy Metal' than she'd hoped.

"What's the marten doing now?" Mina asked.

"Asleep." Gwen checked her Pocket Dimension. "Indigestion, perhaps? Richard, you're the Conjurer supreme here. What do you think would happen?"

Richard's self-satisfied expression told Gwen, 'you came to the right guy.'

"Well, academically, when a lesser Elemental consumes greater Elemental's core, it takes on some of its power and characteristic. Although the phenomenon isn't familiar to us, Mages stationed in the Wildland report that this isn't unusual. Some breeds such as Draconids specialise in consuming others of their kind. As for Ariel, I can only speak from experience."

"Go on." Gwen was all ears.

"Before I found Lea, or, I should say—Lea found me, my Familiar was a Monotreme Platypus."

"Puahaha!" Gwen riotously snorted while Mina looked on with incomprehension. The vision of Richard standing as cool as a cucumber, looking as stoic as a glacier while accompanied by a waddling platypus, was too much for her overtired mind to handle. Mayhap the creature even held its head and suffered from a constant headache.

"What in Mao's Army is a platypus?" Mina asked.

"Lea, if you please," Richard requested his Undine familiar.

A transparent model of a bird-billed beaver quickly formed, possessing the head of a duck, the body of a seal, webbed feet, scales on its lower back, and a waddling paddle for a tail. To Gwen, it was as though the Creator had taken all the spare parts of animals he had leftover and then said, 'fuck it, I break on Sundays.'"

"Isn't that a Dobhar-chú?!" Mina beamed. "An Australian Dobhar-chú? Those are incredibly powerful!"

"The Platypus a water elemental in the semblance of local fauna," Richard corrected her. "A native creature of the estuaries and rivers of NSW. A noble member of the local legends."

"Hahaha." Gwen was beside herself with tears. "I- I can't believe your spirit animal is a platypus!"

It suited Richard perfectly, Gwen thought. She could never make heads nor tail of her cousin, his incredible competence, his cold and hot demeanour, his abrasive social behaviour and stoic charm; the uniqueness of a platypus was an apt metaphor.

"… Anyway," Richard continued, ignoring Gwen. "I managed to win the core of a lesser sea dragon in a bet—no, not a real one—its a seahorse, by the way, a pseudo-dragon at best, and then my Platypus became like this-"

The model changed until they saw a strange chimaera creature covered from head to tail in scales. It had the look of an aquatic pseudo-dragon, a form of water fey—only it wore a duck's bill and a paddle-tail.

"Oh, Gods!" Gwen fanned herself with her fingers. "A pseudo platypus! Oh, Richard, you should have stuck to the original form!"

"I think it looks very handsome." Mina glared at her cousin with critical disapproval of her sudden hysterics.

Gwen quickly checked her offensive merriment, but another glance at the duckbilled-dragon-beaver sent her into a second fit of belly-aching laughter.

The watery construct faded to be replaced by Lea's scandalous torso, wet and shimmering with beaded water as her upper body materialised. Her gemstone eyes regarded Gwen with curiosity.

"Gwen?" Lea asked quizzically. "Are you in pain?"

"Sorry, sorry!" Gwen finally pulled herself together. She extended a hand toward the water sprite. "Here, a reward for that lovely blast from the past."

Straining her mana conduits, she congealed a mote of Almudj's mana on her fingers. Lea eagerly took it in her mouth with a delightful moan with a squeal of pleasure.

Besides them, Mina's lip fell half-open with wordless scandal.

Tao's eyes opened so wide they glowed.

Richard chuckled.

Gwen retrieved her finger, realising only now what Tao and Mina might think of her nonchalant feeding. It was something she had done for Sufina and Lea many times, though the process must seem all so strange to her cousins.

Time to change the topic, Gwen thought tactically. Whatever Richard's opinion, the platypus-drake now needed to make another appearance.

Klavdiya was waiting for them when they arrived.

"How were the exams? Did you have fun at the auction?"

"I think we both went well, Babulya." Gwen ran in to embrace her babulya. "And yes, it was fun!"

Once her party settled in, Gwen regaled what had transpired, what she wrote, what went wrong with Caliban and what she told the interviewers, hiding nothing from her family. She furthermore added the encounter with Mayuree, her decision to befriend the Diviner, and her confrontation with the brother.

Encouragingly, babulya told her to pay the brother no mind. Furthermore, her grandmother stated that the House of M was a merchant family tied to a foreign Clan. An "overseas" tiger they may be, they would not dare to pull the whiskers of the "local" dragon known as the PLA.

Klavdiya's gesture of confidence made Gwen feel immensely comforted in knowing that Marong couldn't just spirit her away.

Richard then repeated his side of the tale without so much flair.

"Mao above, that's terrible!" Mina sucked in a breath of cold air when Richard outlined his 'Centaur' strategy.

"Stone cold!" Tao was as impressed as he was disgusted, so much that he had to repeat his overly fond expression. "Stone cold! Bro!"

Gwen measured her cousin's strategy against her own. She became reminded of a particular string of retaliation following the 1972 Munich Olympics. Or perhaps the Russian operations during the Nord-Ost siege, both of which were an eye for an eye.

Though he might be a little extreme, Richard was a man born at the right time, in the right place.

"I can guess how well that's going over with Liwen and Gillian," their babulya mused. "James probably swallowed his tongue when you proposed the hoof-collection."

"Alas, it's out of my hands now." Richard's calm demeanour matched his expression.

"At any rate, well done," babulya commended the both of them. "I am confident that the both of you will pass muster magnificently."

"Thanks, babulya. What do you think we should do for the intervening month?" Gwen requested. For now, at least, all her labours seem at an end. More importantly, was there some way they could pay back her grandmother for her tireless efforts? "Babulya, is there anything we can do for you?"

"Now now, you just rest." Babulya patted her shoulder assuringly. "As for doing something, I do have someone I'd like you to meet tomorrow. Someone who will need your help and be of immense help to you."

Gwen wanted to ask who, but her babulya insisted they proceed straight to bed.

"Where's Percy?" Gwen changed the subject. Her brother had not come out to greet her.

"Percy is asleep already. His training is taking its toll," Klavdiya informed her. "Your brother's fine, don't you worry. Guo will let nothing but good things happen to his boy."

"His boy", Gwen allowed the word to roll over her tongue, wondering what her mother would think about that. As for Helena, Gwen reminded herself, a visit should probably be in the works once the Fudan ordeal settles. Though she wanted as little to do with the woman as possible, Helena was still her mother, meaning it would ease Gwen's mind knowing that her mother was living a life of material comfort, if nothing else.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

In the middle of her thoughts, Tao and Mina bid them goodnight. Before she left, Mina left the additional 3000 HDMs with Gwen.

"You'll likely need it." Mina tapped the triple-stack of 1000 HDM cards left in her cousin's hand. "Don't worry, if there's one thing the Wangs aren't short on, its crystals. Let me know if you have trouble finding a place to stay. Dad owns a few apartments not too far from Fudan."

Gwen hugged her cousins as they left, with Tao promising he'd show Gwen his latest project soon.

"Go to sleep!" Their grandmother henpecked the children. "Why are you still up! It's almost eleven!"

Thus bathed in the strange joy of knowing someone gave a shit about her health, Gwen washed up and slipped into bed, wondering what tomorrow would bring, pondering of the prosperities gifted by Mayuree's prophetic vision.

Gwen woke with a start when someone pressed a finger against her temple.

"For shame! Gwen," her babulya remarked critically. "You should be training from 7 AM! Meditating! Not sleeping until 10!"

"I feel so tired," Gwen murmured, feeling exhausted even after almost ten hours of sleep. She figured that the consumption performed by Caliban's unbidden new form was likely the culprit.

The weariness of the Void was one that no sleep could replenish. Only higher concentrations of Almudj's mana could help, but even so, she was always short on that precious resource. She would have to find an Alchemist to work her remaining two Fructum Vitaes, but that would be a future endeavour. Assuming Mayuree was genuine about her offer, she could probably afford a few more favours with the House of M.

"Up! Up!" babulya peeled back Gwen's blankets, expelling the cosy interior. "You'll be late! Richard's already gone on his errand."

"Aiee!" Gwen clutched her small clothes against her shivering white figure, yelping at the sudden chill. She stumbled from her bed and found a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt left by the bedside. A discovered scrunchie helped her tie her frizzled hair into a ponytail. "What are we late for, babulya?"

"Your tutor. Seeing as you're woefully underprepared for University level theory, I've asked someone to help you out," babulya informed her. "There is a cost to your private tuition; however—your teacher wants to see your Void Magic."

Gwen furrowed her brows. She trusted her babulya implicitly, but was it wise to flaunt her magic so openly? Put it on such a public display?

"I know what you're worried about," Klavdiya comforted her. "Worry not; it's someone we can trust."

"Okay." Gwen left the bedroom to wash her face. "What should I wear?"

"Whatever you like, dear," Klavdiya replied. "It's at the university. Be fashionable like the other kids, but don't show too much skin! You'll catch a cold!"

"Alright!" Gwen studied herself in the mirror as she brushed and rinsed. Her complexion had lost its supernatural lustre. The tender, moisturised paleness prized by her Asian counterparts now took on a sickly pallor. It was evident that she had been far too liberal with Caliban, as well as her Void capabilities. If the future allowed, Gwen promised herself; she would have to experiment with long-term abstinence of her Void powers to see if Almudj's life-force could help her ping-pong back to good health.

As for now, she had to worry about her attire. Late April in Shanghai meant the city suffered from high humidity and intermittent heat waves, made worse by the pollution of magical smog that trapped the heat under a thick blanket of mana particles.

Unlike the industrial part of the city, Fudan was a cosmopolitan university with an upper-class population of young men and women, which made it a mecca for adventurous and experimental fashion.

The male students usually wore mute coloured jackets in maroon, white, or olive over loud shirts with flared collars. For pants, ankle-length chinos and skinny jeans were ubiquitous, for the Chinese had slim builds that disfavoured the heavy cotton or straight denim so popular in Australia.

The girls were far more grandiloquent and varied in their attires, with everything from flared, tapered, loose, tight, mid-riff blouses to shirts, tees and tops, matched with skirts of all lengths, though the preference in spring was for high-waisted shorts and mini dresses.

A dozen combinations flashed across Gwen's mind as she dug through her wardrobe and found a loose hanging antique-white collared blouse to go with a buttoned blue skirt.

The look was clean, fresh, and breezy enough for spring—and it was sufficiently non-scandalous for her grandmother to approve with a nod.

"Ah, if only I were younger!" Klavdiya mused tenderly.

"Oh, Babulya! You've plenty of youth in you yet! I'll be more than happy to dress you if you like!" Gwen gushed, hugging her grandmother tightly. "We can go shopping, just the two of us. It'll be fun!"

"Of course, when we're both free," her babulya replied with a smile. "You know, I can't remember the last time I was in a clothing mall. They must be gigantic by now."

"More than you know," Gwen teased. "The shop assistants would think you're my mother!"

Babulya laughed. No woman wouldn't want to be seen younger, not to mention Klavdiya had the natural blessing of being a healer. Gwen was serious, however. If her babulya dressed the part and discarded her love of militant olive, she would look not a day over forty. It was the blessing of the Healers, Gwen supposed. Strangely. she also found comfort that her angelic Evee would be laughing well into her fifties while she became sans perkiness, sans moisture, and aged into a prune plum.

"Alright, enough wasting of time. We need to go." Klavdiya urged Gwen. "Go get a bite to eat. We leave in thirty minutes, no more delays."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

By the time she emerged, breakfast in the Song household was long over. Gwen went to the kitchen, seized several left-buns from the morning, and then washed the lot with cold milk. She then swung by the main house to see if Percy was in, but the boy was gone along with Guo. Feeling miffed that she'd missed her brother yet again, Gwen found her grandmother waiting outside by the gate and announced herself ready to depart.

"Where's Richard gone?" Gwen asked as the car moved out from the Song compound.

"I've sent him to see a few old contacts, get him acquainted," Klavdiya replied. "Worry not. That boy's far more capable of taking care of himself than you!"

Laughing, Gwen took the injurious indignity to her pride in stride, turning instead to strap on her Message device, which she'd promised Richard she'd wear at all times should they be parted.

The chauffeur took the family across the second orbital highway and onto the third before reaching the campus grounds, eventually parking in front of a salmon-on-white building with an architectural facade taken straight from the 1930s. At its entrance, two mock-Roman pillars held up six floors of brick and mortar, with two wings splitting north and south.

Gwen stepped from the vehicle and moved to aid her grandmother, who took her hand and lifted herself from the soft cushions.

"Where are we?"

"Henglong Research Building," her grandmother informed her. "Come."

Gwen followed her grandmother until they reached the interior.

"No levitation platforms?" Gwen looked around the dated interior.

"It's an old structure." Her babulya chucked. "Over here, I remember it well. I used to study here, on the top floor."

They proceeded down the north wing until stairwells took them to the sixth floor. Gwen's grandmother was proved sprite for a woman of advanced age, which she again attributed to her babulya's affinity with Positive Energy. In consideration of the fact, Gwen also wondered if her Void channels aged her body or if Negative Energy Mages were incidentally short-lived. Unhappily, she recalled that Elizabeth Sobel was almost sixty—yet her Master's murderer had not looked a day past her twenties.

"We're here!" Her babulya knocked on a set of paint-peeled double doors.

"Gwen! Babulya!"

The voice that greeted them was music to Gwen's ears.

"Petra!" Gwen embraced her cousin.

The girls parted after an informal cheek-to-cheek, with Gwen stepping back to examine her talented, older relative.

As usual, Petra looked effortlessly stunning, her naturally voluminous lashes framing her sky-blue eyes in a way that made them the most striking features on her sculpted face. More impressively, despite winning nature's genetic lottery, Petra wore a set of baggy lab-overalls, what looked to be rubber boots, and had her hair loosely coiled in a bun hidden underneath the transparent film of a hairnet.

"Don't you look nice!" Petra spun and twirled Gwen over, taking in her ensemble. "Very nice!"

"Thanks, Pats." Gwen allowed Petra the pleasure. Perhaps stimulated by Gwen's juxtaposing chosen attire, Petra quickly changed the subject and invited them in, undoing her cap as they entered, allowing her hair to cascade like an auburn waterfall.

"Is Marie in?" Klavdiya stepped through the threshold and took a gander around the corner, where a lab choked full of magical experiments rested in organised chaos. "She should be expecting us."

"Master got delayed, but she'll be back in a few hours," Petra replied. "Come in! Come in! I've cleared a space."

Inside, the three found themselves in a private area of the laboratory safely segregated from the main working area.

"So." Her babulya turned to Gwen. "Meet your new tutor."

"That's right." Petra laughed at Gwen's stunned expression. "I'll be your tutor from Tartarus."

"More like I am your student from the seven circles." Gwen shook her cousin's hand. "Thank, Pats. I know you're awful busy."

"It's nothing. I wanted to do it. I wouldn't trust anyone else." Petra cooed at her. "Master wanted to speak to you as well, but we can start first; I want a full rundown of your curriculum and what you have completed at your Frontier school."

"You two have fun." Seeing that the girls had settled in, babulya retreated from the room. "And as Marie is busy, I am going to see some familiar faces and catch up with some old friends. I'll swing by later. Message me if she's back before dinner."

"Thank you, babulya." Gwen thanked her grandmother earnestly. "I'll be sure to absorb everything Petra teaches like a sponge!"

"I am counting on it." Her cousin straightened herself, then abruptly materialised textbooks, pencils, and a set of data slates across the table. There was even a tea warmer and a mug set. "Alright, lets' begin."

"How are you even casting tier 4 spells?" After questioning Gwen about her past, Petra could not help but chew her pencil, indenting the wood with punctuated teeth-marks. "You don't even know Gainsburrow's four-tier algorithm for hextogramic formation!"

"My Master taught me through the Cognisance Chamber," Gwen confessed nostalgically. "I followed his instruction directly."

"Your Master…" Petra felt her academic mind broil with longing and commiseration. "Magister Henry Kaine Foster Kilroy."

"The very one." Gwen felt her chest constrict every time she thought about Henry. Henry and Sufina, who for a year had treated her like their closest family: dispensing advice, resource, compassion, and comfort with absolute liberty.

But now her Captain lies cold and dead in the Grot, his Dryad companion the guardian of his mausoleum, growing more alien with every passing anniversary.

"You realise Magister Kilroy is one of the founders of the original Tower system in the 70s, don't you?" Petra tapped her pen against the slate. "He's not an active member, but by God—A founding member of the Towers! A legend! Deathless Henry! Oh, to think I could have met the man in the flesh."

"How I wish you could." Gwen swallowed the taste of iron filling her mouth, feeling her throat constrict involuntarily.

"Sorry." Petra reached over the desk and touched her hand.

"I am okay." Gwen pressed the welling emotions back down the rabbit hole of her memory. "I know who murdered him. Me, Gunther and Alesia, we all know. We'll be getting our satisfaction one day. Until then, it'll be something that drives me. It's my strength."

When Petra pursued the matter out of curiosity, Gwen told her roughly what had transpired.

"Wow—to think Elizabeth Sobel was alive," Petra marvelled at the account with a click of her tongue. "By St Augustine— what a mess. I am sorry you had to experience all of that. Do you need a minute?"

Gwen shook her head.

"No, I am alright."

"It's okay if..."

"I am fine, Pats. Thanks."

"Okay, back to your Spellcraft." Petra took up the slate again. "I'll be honest with you. It's horrible. Your theory is all over the place. The content they are teaching you in the Frontier is half full of shit and conjecture. Your curriculum is lagging by a decade!"

"But…"

"Which is why, I am assuming, your Master taught you himself through the Cognisance Chamber. His algorithms are perfect, simplified. Your Dimension Door manifests at half the time it takes for the textbook version! Your initial Summon Familiar virtually costs no mana! Your Evocation spells are probably your weakest link. Compared to your Conjuration, they're all over the place. Some of the core ones, like Lightning Bolt, use Signature incantations from Alesia de Botton. Your regular spells, like Magic Missile, are self-taught while spells like Lightning Whip or Lighting Blast hardly synergise with your existing repertoire of Spellcraft theory."

"Damn…"

"You and I are going to have a busy month ahead of us. I shall speak to your advisor when you eventually get one. I recommend we work towards Conjuration as your Major, Evocation as support while working on specific spells from Transmutation and Divination. As for your Minor, I suggest holding off on that until you specialise in the Second Year."

"What about Abjuration?"

"You'll choke if you try to eat too many dumplings at once," Petra advised. "Work on your Shields, but the upper branches of Abjuration, like Dispel, Remove Enchantment, Wards and Protections are a whole world unto themselves. How many lifetimes do you want to dedicate to this, anyway? I have a spell that takes away the need to sleep, but you'll be in hysterics within the week."

"Well, Pats." Gwen made a mock gesture to offer her body. "I am in your capable hands."

"At my mercy, you mean." Her cousin chuckled. "Jokes aside, I AM going to have to drill you like a conscripted farmer just joining the Long March."

Gwen sipped her tea miserably. She had no idea her Spellcraft theory was nincompoop in comparison. If so, the loss of her Master was more significant than she had first anticipated.

"Anyway," Petra continued. "Conjuration 1001, Bestiary and Care of Familiars FAM102, plus Supplementary Conjuration as your mainstay. Evocation 1001 and Advanced Spell-shaping ASP101 as support - that makes Five. Individual spells I'll sort out something with babulya, which means you have one more course of your choice, and two General courses."

"I was thinking Economics and Management, for you know… reasons." Gwen couldn't explain that she was probably more knowledgeable than her tutors, albeit what she lacked was context.

"What about your final Spellcraft course?"

"Are there any more Conjuration courses I could take?" Gwen enquired. "I need to get a hold of Caliban before its leash becomes too short for either of us."

Petra shook her head.

"That's a miscalculation on your part, I am afraid." Petra shook her head. "This isn't a time-sink issue. You can't just 'power up' a School of Magic. One becomes more proficient over time, becoming aware of the complexities of the Sigil, stacking exponentially into more powerful invocations and incantations. By the time you exceed Tier 6, you would need a knowledge of Mandalas and Glyphs to assist non-localised castings. Do you recall the motto in the Exam Hall? 'There exist no shortcuts on the winding path of Spellcraft; there is no shore when sailing upon the seas of Arcane knowledge.'"

"How can I raise my Conjuration to tier 5 as soon as possible?" Gwen asked. "It's urgent. I can't temper Caliban if I can't trust my ability to set its boundaries."

"According to Babulya, you're sitting on 4.05 on the inference scale, so I'll be candid."

"Okay."

"Assuming you're the top 0.1% of individuals gifted for Conjuration, it'll take you a year."

"A year!" Gwen spluttered. "But I went from 1 to 4 in twelve months!"

"Well, now our genius is at a bottleneck!" Petra indicated with an expansive wave of her hands. "You need more than just knowledge of spells to weave more complex incantations. You need to understand Planar Theory, Elemental-energy Theorems; you need to study the Void and brush up on your Quasi-Elemental Lightning affinity. There is no way we are going to finish in a month. For now, we'll be seeing each other for the entirety of your first year. Both me and my Master are going to take turns getting you up-to-date with Advanced Spellcraft."

"Oh." The books in front of her made Gwen feel like she was staring into an abyss.

"Chin up!" Petra touched her chin and lifted her despairing face. "Don't worry. I'll make a Mage out of you yet!"


By the late afternoon, Magister Roslyn-Marie Wen returned.

Petra ceased her delivery of Gwen's bridging course and moved to aid her Master in rearranging newly arrived magical materials into the central laboratory.

Gwen moved to help, though all she could do was watch. In the aftermath, Magister Wen turned to Gwen with the same curiosity of a scholar examining a rare and unusual specimen.

"So, you're Gwen Song." The bookish Magister shook Gwen's hand with cold, skeletal fingers.

"It's good to meet you, Ma'am." Gwen bowed after they shook. "Petra has had nothing but praise for your expertise and your care."

"She's an able student." Wen glanced at Petra with amusement, drawing a rare blush from the laconic Mineral Mage. "Though I did not know she was also a flatterer."

Gwen nodded, reading from Wen that the scholar was likely not built for humour.

"At any rate, we're not big on formality here. Just call me Wen, no need for Mage titles."

"Thank you, Ms Wen." Gwen curtsied expertly, taking on the offer of intimacy but maintaining a respectful distance.

To her eyes, Magister Marie-Roslyn Wen appeared a bookish Enchanter-Transmuter who, like Petra, had a rare affiliation with the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Mineral. She was ethnically Chinese, but her Affinity with the Mineral arts had tinted her once dark eyes with the likeness of clear crystals, giving her classically Han facial structure an alien appearance. Starkly, the Magister stood a head shorter than Petra, accentuated with a slight stoop to her spine in a rigid, compact body.

According to her introduction, Wen was also an expatriated scholar, having grown up in London as a child, and then arrived in her "home" country to teach, hoping to return to London with enough clout to work under Cambridge or Oxford.

When the polite small talk had ceased, the trio sat down to some tea, with Magister Wen combing over Gwen's file with an expression of delight.

"Klavdiya's right. Your cousin does appear as though four Acolytes crammed into one," Wen mused as she scrutinised the thickly annotated bundle of Gwen's admission papers. "Petra has her work cut out for her. Did your grandmother explain the cost of your tuition?"

"Yes," Gwen replied. "You wanted to study my Void Element?"

"'We' wish to, dear. Petra and I, and you as well, I'd imagine." Wen sipped her camomile gingerly. "You are not averse to exercising your affinity, I presume?"

"No, it'll be my pleasure to assist you, Ma'am," Gwen said demurely, choosing a display of modesty. "So long as my health can keep up."

"Good, though no one ever said the academics was easy—" Wen's assurance was ambiguous. "Of course, we shall endeavour to err on the side of your preservation and safety. Numbers aside, I am interested in how Void manifests in consuming Affinity. The fact that you're well-versed in Conjuration, Evocation, Transmutation and Abjuration makes this beyond perfect. Say, you're not interested in taking on some Enchanting, are you?"

"Not at the moment, Ms Wen." Gwen felt a tingle of premonition tickling the base of her spine. If she were to covet the talent, it would mean feeding Caliban an Enchanter. In that regard, she had no desire to become another Elizabeth Sobel.

The trio took their time having tea until Petra professed that she had to return to her laboratory work. Knowing that she had overstayed her welcome, Gwen bid the two Mineral Enchanters goodbye with the promise of daily lessons and the satisfaction of Wen's curiosity.

The moment she exited the labs, she ran almost head-first into a young man who looked to be in his twenties, holding a bouquet of springtime flowers in the corridor.

"Is… Ms Kuznetsova in?" The young man asked nervously, his eyes widening with panic as his gaze fell upon Gwen. "Oh, S-sorry! My name is Baili. Has her lab work finished for the day?"

"Pats!" Gwen called out into the lab, her mouth grinning broadly. "You have an admirer here!"

"A-admirer?!" Baili looked stunned. "I suppose… yeah. That's it exactly! I am an ardent admirer!”

Petra came stomping from the lab in her white coat, her face more annoyed than happy.

Oh no, Gwen winced.

Her cousin confronted the young man quaking in the girls' presence.

"Bai, I told you."

"Petra..."

"No. I don't date."

"But… I am just an admirer!" Baili seemed to relish the new moniker he'd acquired. "Please accept this gift. That's all I desire. From your admirer!"

Petra reached out and plucked the bouquet from Baili's hands.

The vibrant flowers passed under her nose.

Petra regarded the flowers coldly, her eyes as hard as the crystals that made up her element. And there it is, Gwen winced again. A second later, Petra pulled her face away from Baili's gift with a look of annoyance.

"Are the flowers not to your liking?" Baili gulped. "I can get more expensive ones."

With a thump that might as well have left a trail of blood on the wall, Petra threw the bouquet against the top of an open bin in the corridor. The flowers lingered for a vertical moment, then slid home into the darkness.

"Don't bother me again," her cousin stated coldly before turning to Gwen. "Gwen, check your Message device. Babs said that she's organising a banquet tonight and has invited everyone. She'd gone home now to prepare. I'll meet you here at 1800, and we'll go together."

"Okay, thanks, Pats. Is Babulya not meeting your Master?"

"They'll catch up later, likely to discuss you."

Nodding, Gwen checked her Message device. Sure enough, a recording had just come through.

"See you in a few hours," Petra said to Gwen. "Don't interrupt me with trivial stuff like this next time."

Petra closed the door as though her admirer was nought but air. Gwen breathed out and turned to regard the stricken Baili. Ah, she waxed sentimentally. The sorrows of youth and love; won and lost.

"I should go." Baili looked as though someone had pulled out his spine and beat him bloody with it. "Goodbye."

Gwen followed the young man as he descended the stairs with a Prufrockian air. She felt such sympathy for the love-struck fellow while feeling nostalgic for the university life she once had. Unlike her horrid high school days, Sydney U was a highlight. On its ancient campus, she had made friends, attended classes with the best and the brightest, partied hard and studied harder. She found her earliest taste of love there as well, meeting a bevvy of admirers ranging from adventurous to academic, lads to lasses.

But those Halcyon days were now as far away as a dream. Sometimes, Gwen began to wonder if her old life was just that—a pleasant, midsummer night fantasy.

It was crazy to think that now, in her new life, her five-year plan involved the best way to approach the cold-blooded execution of her Master's ex-wife, carefully coordinated with a thirty-something woman who summoned meteors from the sky and a man who was the avatar of the Sun God Apollo.

And yet—things could have been worse.

Feeling great sympathy for the young man, Gwen thus took the courage to tap the stranger on the shoulder.

"Yes?" the man turned to her with swollen, reddened eyes.

"Say, wanna grab a coffee?" Gwen smiled at the young man, blinding him with her dazzling teeth. "I want you to tell me all about Petra."

"… and that's about all I have to say," Gwen concluded her sagacious advice to Baili. 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,' she had told him, a point the man appeared to have taken to heart.

Since the man was kind enough to shout her desert, she had used the temporary companionship to glean information about Petra's social life and life on campus in general.

According to Baili, Petra stood as the top belle of the school since she arrived two years ago. Her looks, her talent, and her unique magic all caught the attention of the university's Student Committee, who wanted her as a poster-child for promoting Fudan.

Yet, to the surprise of all involved, Petra refused, citing her work at the laboratory. Nonetheless, the lumen-pics of her visage had already become famous around the campus. Since then, Pats had endured an endless stream of pursuers, ranging from delightful to forceful to outright possessive, becoming unbidden prize of many a manly duel.

Concurrently, her conversation with Baili also provided much insight into the student body of Fudan; chiefly split into several sub-groups:

The Little Gong-zi, or Gong-zhu, were the privileged "young masters" of Clans and notable houses, typically equipped with an entourage of lackeys. These pupils often knew one another from Clan gatherings outside the university, forming their little cliques based on their Sects. Of the men she had beaten up, Frederick Lin, Tao' nemesis, was one of these.

Conversely, an equally dangerous group was the Guan-er-dai, more accurately known by the officious moniker of the Political Progeny—descendants of officials in the PLA. These men and women, typically sons and daughters of the officials that ruled Shanghai and its surrounding Frontiers, were afforded special privileges by their parents' power. Her old nemesis, Dai Fung, was one such member of this austere group.

Finally, these were joined by the Fu-er-dai, the Progenies of Prosperity, referring to the sons and daughters of influential business leaders, who are similarly afforded great opportunities. Comparatively, these were the most harmless. Tao and Mina belonged to this group, though they were wealthier and more influential than most.

Below the triad of the well-inherited, the politically advantaged, and the resource-rich were the regular students like Baili. As invisible as these students may be, it was they who would form the backbone of Chinese society, becoming its Administrators, District Officials, Fabricators, Army Lieutenants and the glue that held the rare few at the top and the burgeoning bottom together.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Finally, Fudan's creme de la creme was the Scholarship students—commoners who had risen above the masses and whose ambition made them perfect Tower Mages. Petra was technically one of these, as well as herself and Richard.

According to Baili, life on the campus was incident-free as long as one did not involve oneself with the "entitled" triad. For someone like Gwen, a general summation of the social stratum was that the Clans were wary of the Officials, the Officials were suspicious of the Industrialists, and the Industrialists loathed the Clans.

A more discerning observation was that all three were all ferrets of the same den, and all of them saw commoners as egg-hens inevitably destined for the plucking. Unlike during the Second Beast Tide, intermarriages and shared interests had made relations ambiguous indeed, causing no ends of headaches for the Community Party's desire for unchallenged power.

To Gwen's delight, Baili also volunteered his observations on the world outside Shanghai, speaking of his longing for a scenic holiday in the Frontier.

The 'Scenic Frontier'! Gwen had laughed uproariously when the man delivered his rose-tinted view of the Wildlands. She was just about to tell him of the milling millions of Mermen baying for human blood when a call came through on her Message device.

"Hello? Babulya? It's Gwen," she answered the call. "Okay. Yes, I know, Petra told me. Alright, see you soon!"

Apologising, Gwen exchanged Glyphs with the now spirited young man, to whom she'd promised to deliver a good word with Petra, then set off to find her cousin.

When they met at the bottom of Henglong Laboratory, Petra suggested they take the public transport so that Gwen would later know how to get home herself.

Perhaps influenced by Gwen's choice of attire, her cousin now sported a thin fleece and contoured pantaloons, all of which accentuated her height and slimness. Combined with her tall ponytail and military-issue boots, her cousin appeared intimidatingly attractive and aggressively eye-catching.

Was Petra good or bad at choosing her clothes? Gwen began to wonder if her cousin's appearance was intentional. After all, wasn't Petra trained for espionage at Moscow Tower?

As they made their way down Fudan's shaded lanes, Petra showed not a single sliver of skin beyond her face and hands and yet, had attracted so much attention that Gwen was sure Baili would have fallen to his knees and wept like a child, becoming the first of many disciples under the queenly rule of Saint yoga-pants Kuznetsova.

Plum-blossom Village.

The Song Compound.

The banquet was set as before, with her grandfather presiding at the head of the twelve-strong table.

Clockwise from her babulya sat Jun, followed by her father, who'd returned from his mysterious 're-education', followed by aunty Nen. Besides them, there was a new face Gwen had never seen before next to Nen, whom she could only guess as Tao and Mina's father, beside which sat his children. Uncomfortable for Gwen, Percy sat next to Guo, which meant she had to sit next to Percy, nearer to the head than she'd like.

"... Dad." Gwen hailed her father, unsure if she should still be upset.

Morye looked to be in one piece but had taken on a dark tan. He also looked leaner, tighter, his body more sinuous and trained than she had ever seen in the past.

According to babulya, her father had pilgrimaged to their ancestral village in Hebei. If so, the ancestors must have been quite harsh on her father, for Gwen could see that there were now visible wrinkles around his eyes and across his forehead.

"Gwen. Your grandmother has told me all about your adventures. You've been a busy girl!" her father greeted her, his tone no less casual than before.

"Well—" Gwen kept her voice level. Previously, they hadn't exactly parted under the best of circumstances. To think that if it wasn't for him, she might be in Sydney still, training under Gunther and Alesia with her friends Yue and Elvia. But for his little escapade from the House of Song, her life had undergone an irreversible change. "You know how it is."

"Well, it's good to see you looking strong."

"Thanks, dad. How are you doing?"

"Ha!" her father glanced toward the head of the table, where Guo sat stoically. "I am surviving."

Gwen allowed her more sympathetic feelings for Morye to trump her curiosity.

"Alright, take care. I might be in Shanghai for a while; let's have a coffee."

"Sure thing, Dad."

She turned her attention away from her father and toward Mina and Tao's father, her Uncle Wang. "Hello, Uncle, it's good to meet you finally."

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Gwen. Thank you for what you've done for my children," Tao's father replied with an expression of earnestness.

"That's what family's for, Sir," Gwen returned politely. The man's handshake was firm and robust as they exchanged the greeting. Gwen clasped the man's palm with confidence, offering a gesture of equal friendliness.

The Patriarch Wang laughed. "I hope that if there are opportunities, you will take care of these two rascals again."

"I shall, Sir. Thank you for the gift."

"It was nothing. Call Mina if you need anything."

The two parted, watched by an uncertain Mina and a thoroughly impressed Tao. Gwen hailed her cousins, then turned finally to Richard.

"Dick, how was your day?"

"Fruitful, though I'll refrain from telling it for now." Richard gave her a wink.

Gwen agreed, for rare Wildland ingredients now overflowed the table with their deliciousness.

"Before we begin, there's something I would like to announce." Her babulya stood from her head of the table, her well-loved eyes surveying her closest family members.

She produced from her Storage Ring a letter embossed with the distinctive crest of Fudan University.

Gwen felt her breath catching as the familiar symbol appeared. Richard reached over and squeezed her hand underneath the table, which made Gwen realise how silly it was for her to freak. Her babulya arranged a banquet: they were in public, in front of the whole family; it was cruel and unthinkable to deliver the news of her "rejection" under these circumstances.

Babulya slipped a piece of linen-like paper from the envelope and began to read.

"'Dear Gwen Song, congratulations on your Full Scholarship Admission to Fudan University under the LCSS program! For nearly 100 years, Fudan has proudly welcomed new Mages into its fold, and we are excited for you to be part of this great tradition. As a member of the cohort of 2003, you will join a dynamic Spellcraft community in a place of endless magical opportunities—'"

The speech continued for a minute.

"—Yours Sincerely, Luo Jiang, Dean.'"

"OH MAO!" Tao let loose a cry of jubilation. "Cousin! You did it! Mao's balls! You did it!"

"That's wonderful news! Gwen!" Mina walked over and hugged her tightly, pressing her cheeks to Gwen's astonished face.

"Congratulations." Richard and Petra held their emotions in check, with the latter showing no surprise at all.

"I knew you could do it." Her babulya walked around the table and offered her the letter.

"Dean Luo personally thanked me when I met with him. You should know," her grandmother continued. "He was ecstatic. To think that in calling in a favour, he now owes us more favours, hahaha."

A round of 'woos' and 'wows' resounded across the table, with Nen and her family clapping loudly.

"Tao, sit down!" Patriarch Wang, Tao's father, slapped his son on the head before Guo could speak. "Why can't you be more like Gwen? She's from the Frontier, and she's a hundred times more talented than you."

He turned to Gwen.

"Please continue to take care of my son," Wang stated thoughtfully. "He's going to need it..."

"Oh, it's nothing," Gwen replied. Turning away from Tao's father, she opened the letter delivered by her smiling babulya and scanned the first few lines.

Gwen's eyes scanned the happy table but then stopped when she realised that at its head, Guo had grown completely expressionless and silent.

A part of her felt impossibly happy. It was finally here—her new beginning! Now, she had finally taken a step into the Path her Master had planned.

Another part of her noticed Percy's eyes flitter between his stoic grandfather and herself. Having spent enough time with Guo over the last two weeks, she knew that there was something here her grandfather did not like but couldn't understand why Guo would be displeased at her admission into Fudan.

Nonetheless, despite Guo's disapproval, her lovely brother rose from his seat and joined the celebratory hug.

"Congrats, Sis." Percy's voice carried over a wealth of emotions.

"Thanks, champ." Gwen pulled her brother in and hugged him tightly. "You'll be in university soon as well! I look forward to seeing you there in two years!"

"I am sure it'll be awesome." Percy parted from his sister, then appeared lost for words. Behind the boy, his grandfather's eyes felt like a pair of spell-wands with the crystal-ends pointed at Gwen's face.

Finally, Gwen embraced Petra.

"You knew!" Gwen accused her cousin.

"Of course, I knew." Petra chuckled. Her smiling eyes were twin pools of crystalline water. "Now, you better study twice as hard!"

A gentle cough interrupted the girls' happiness.

"Good work," Morye said proudly before opening his arms.

Gwen hesitated for a moment before allowing her jubilation to overcome her prejudice, permitting herself to fall into the rare indulgence of her father's arms. Morye's arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her closer, squeezing her against his chest. Gwen smelled the familiar whiff of tobacco on his neck and something else, something floral, pleasing and feminine. Suddenly, Gwen didn't know whether to laugh or cry—even in re-education, her father somehow managed to snag a woman.

Gently, her father's lips rested close to her ear.

"Your grandfather's up to something. Whatever it may be, keep your cool and give him what he wants. Mother will take care of you no matter what happens."

"What do you mean—" Gwen began.

"I am so proud!" Morye intoned loudly, enough for all to hear. "You make me very happy indeed."

The rest of the congratulatory greetings became static as Gwen stole glimpses at her grandfather. It was true, she realised. His throbbing temple veins had the look of a steam engine about to pop a gasket.

Klavdiya then turned to Richard and produced another letter.

"Oh, Richard! Your turn!" Gwen gushed.

"For Mr Richard Huang… a Half-Scholarship award from the Lim-Chanrol Student Scholarship prize!"

"Incredible!" Mina applauded and gave Richard a tippy-toed embrace.

"I am happy for you." Petra shook Richard's hands.

"Aw—bro! You are making me look bad!" Tao expressed his honest feelings of injustice without reserve.

But if Richard was disappointed with only the half-prize, he did not show it.

"Thank you, thank you," Richard thanked Klavdiya, making a respectful ninety-degree bow. "I am afforded this opportunity only because of you, Klavdiya. I am greatly in your debt."

He then turned to Gwen and likewise bowed.

"You as well, Gwen. Thank you for allowing me to accompany you on your journey," the young man announced earnestly.

"Richard, it was all you! I had nothing to do with it. The true gem's lustre shines unbidden. You're the one who I should thank," Gwen replied with a flustered expression, mindful that Guo was still silent.

Next, she bowed toward Klavdiya with all her mustered feelings of gratefulness. "Thank you, babulya. None of this would have been possible without you."

The gathering bathed in the mutual exchange of gratitude and congratulations.

Her grandmother watched her and Richard with eyes full of selfless kindness, holding the moment intact until their grandfather finally said his piece.

"The food is getting cold." Guo's baritone voice cut through the air like a sledgehammer.

The celebratory air hung itself as the Patriarch stood.

"Start eating," he commanded.

"Alright, alright, we can all celebrate later. Let's not waste the wonderful food the servants have spent hours on." Klavdiya urged them all to sit.

By now, Gwen knew that Guo wasn't too thrilled with her grandmother's intervention in her and Richard's affairs. Maybe the matter wasn't so bad? She wondered. She also knew Guo wasn't one for hugs and kisses. In fact, her stoic and loyal Patriarch detested all forms of emotional display.

The family returned to their seats and proceeded to work through the dozen or so dishes with polite chit-chatter. Recipes of exotic games passed to and from the Lazy Susan, diminishing until only soups and sauces remained.

Finally, after an agonising hour, Guo stood from the head of the table.

The rest of the family rested their spoons and chopsticks.

"Gwen, Percy, I need to speak to you. Come see me in my Meeting Room."

Without ceremony and with the usual laconicism of his usual self, Guo left the room. Gwen met the eyes of her family and communicated an apologetic look with her eyes before she too left the table. Percy nervously threw his napkin onto the chair for the servants to collect and followed Guo closely.

Klavdiya left her seat to escort Gwen.

"I suspect I know what he wants." Klavdiya had by now lost all of the joy she'd acquired since delivering the good news. Alarmingly, her grandmother's hand gripped Gwen's arm. "Gwen, whatever happens, it's not your fault. It's mine. I pushed for your admission to Fudan..."

Gwen held her babulya's hand and looked across the courtyard, where the entrance of the Meeting Room stood like a gaping maw.

"It's alright," Gwen spoke with untainted compassion. Her mind might be a jumble, but she could never blame Klavdiya. "Even if I have to leave, the fault, dearest babulya, is not in ourselves, but the stars."


Guo's private study was magically illuminated, though now she approached an ominous gloom, with the dim globes drawing deep shadows across the room, accentuating her grandfather's passionless expression.

With a sinking feeling, Klavidya took her place beside her husband. When the stubborn man made a conciliatory gesture by moving a hand toward her, she stared at him starkly and placed her hands across her lap. Sighing, her husband retreated his hand and focused on the two grandchildren standing before them.

Gwen and Percy presented themselves—the boy nervously so, and the girl a little drunk from her new placement at Fudan.

A servant ventured carefully into the room and presented two jars of tea served in white-blue porcelain. Her husband took a sip, cupping one hand over the saucer while the other worked the loose leaves with the lid. Klavdiya performed likewise, awaiting Guo's verdict.

"Allow me to congratulate you on your acceptance into Fudan." Guo began, still not looking Gwen in the face. "Well done."

"Thank you, grandfather," Hai's estranged daughter replied stiffly. Klavdiya felt a slim hope that perhaps, Guo wanted to make up with Gwen, but there was no way her husband had separated her from the family just so that he could congratulate Gwen in private.

"I want to ask you a question, and I want you to respond earnestly," Guo continued.

"I shall, grandfather."

"Gwen Song, daughter of Hai." Her husband's voice dropped an octave lower. Klavdiya recognised it as the tone he used for interrogations. "What do you think of Percy inheriting the House of Song?"

"Guo!" Klavdiya felt her worst suspicions confirmed by the obtuse question from her husband. She had suspected the moment she had handed the letter of acceptance to Gwen during the celebratory banquet.

As an old married couple for almost four decades now, Klavdiya knew that her husband was a brooder and one whose fierce loyalty did not manifest in kindness. Always the laconic, Guo never complained of hardship, and when he felt the need to act, he did so without regard for his wellbeing. It was a trait that served him well the previous hound masters of the CCP, more so now as the Chairman of the Confidential Communications Committee.

By that same virtue, Guo had always respected his wife's decisions, allowing her the freedom to act as she saw fit. He loved her dearly, though he rarely made his love known for his rough and austere upbringing. Unlike herself, Guo had been a Frontierman, a first-son who chose to leave the sanctuary of his isolated village in Hebei. Klavdiya's erstwhile Clan of estranged White Russians had been dead set against her marriage to a Mage of no import, much who professed to be a farmer. Thankfully, Klavdiya had been no less hardheaded and determined than Guo. Then, during the bloody Sino War, the PLA won sweeping victories across China, allowing the couple to catch the crest of that rising power. In the aftermath, they had built something from nothing, creating a "House of Song" despite the humble origins of Guo's lost, ancient Clan in the wilderness.

However, just when the couple were happiest, the troubles began.

When Hai disappeared, Guo grew wracked with grief. Later, when they realised the corpse was not their firstborn son, but some doppelgänger he had used to escape, her husband became tyrannical and uncontrollable. It was as though something had broken inside the uncomplicated man she once knew, and the kind soldier slowly grew to his present, twisted self.

Then, some decade and a failed marriage later, they received the news that Jun was sterile. As talented as her son was, his rare Affinity exacted a terrible cost from his body, one that could not be healed by spells, items, nor Demi-human rituals. They had even consulted the Magi of the PLA, Grand Marshall Sun, at which point the God-like man had informed them that a Greater Wish might suffice. It was an answer, Guo and Klavdiya conceded, but a wishful one. No Mage would dream of begging a Magi to make a crooked deal with the supernatural Djinn, not to mention they had to request a foreign Magi from the central continent to intervene.

Her tortured husband somehow grew more bitter and removed, distracted even in the years since, placing his entire being into his work. She had tried to reason with Guo, perhaps accepting their daughter's son, Tao, as an heir, but Guo lamented that he could never return to his Hebei village and speak with the ancestors again.

With a near-madness in his eyes, Guo had professed that, under the direction of Song Guo, the lineage of Song Ying Xing, a family with four hundred years of history, now come to an end. HE was the one who had left the village to join the PLA against all advice; he was the one who told his parents that the House would thrive. Now he must return to visit those ghostly halls and tell them that the family line would end with Jun and that if Jun died, there would be no more Songs left in the world.

Klavdiya felt his pain, but she could not share Guo burden. She had given him children already, three to be exact—now, she was too old, and he was too exhausted.

Yet, fate was a funny thing.

When Guo inadvertently found Hai and Gwen and thus discovered he had a grandson, her husband was positively over the moon.

And when he found that Percy had the rarified Affinity for Salt, Guo had felt as though the ancestors' spirits had forgiven his trespass, resigning himself to repetitive utterances of, "Thank Mao… thank Mao… I can now face my father's grave."

Now, her husband had to ensure that Percy's legacy—thereby the Song's legacy, would be without blemish. On the matter of Gwen's stay in Shanghai, she was confident even an old hound of the MSS wouldn't dare violate their spoken pact with Sydney's Morning Star.

It meant that the meeting tonight had to be about that other issue that Guo had raised, one that Klavdiya had earlier persuaded her husband to leave until a future date.

The matter was in regards to an inheritance of the Song Clan.

A relic called "The Kirin Amulet".

Initially a single item, Guo had separated it to give to his two sons. According to his village's legend, the Kirin Amulet was crafted from the core of a Celestial Kirin, one of the four Heavenly-Beast archetypes of the old Dynasties, worshipped as Land Gods before the PLA forbade such nonsense. For the Songs, the amulet was an inheritance from father to son.

Jun had the Yang half.

Hai had the Yin half.

Gwen had inherited her amulet from Hai, given to her out of kindness, passed from father to daughter.

When Guo suggested Gwen give up the amulet for Percy, Klavdiya had asked Jun to intervene, for if her mulish husband listened to anyone, it was his younger son, the pride and joy of the House of Song. As anticipated, Guo couldn't embarrass his son in front of the granddaughter, leaving the matter unresolved.

In Klavdiya's eyes, the pendant belonged to Gwen. Already, the girl had been tortured, abandoned, and left distressed and afraid by her father and then her grandfather. Not only that, the girl had lost her teacher, home, and friends to Sydneys' Beast Tide. To take from her the only possession from her father would to too cruel even for Guo.

As for tradition—Klavdiya could only scoff at her husband's onset of sentimentalism. Hadn't she married him? Hadn't Klavdiya abandoned her family to join the People's Army with Guo during the Sino Wars?

Of course, the amulet wasn't just a symbol. Knowing Guo's bloodline, the boy would not need its blessings until he had children of his own, but that would be many years yet. By then, with the girl mellowing into the Song's legacy, the amulet's passing from sister to brother could be a kind and pragmatic act.

What was unexpected, Klavdiya supposed—was the sudden manner in which Gwen distinguished herself by besting Shanghai's youths at the Bund, then winning the Hengsha tournament.

Ecstatic at Gwen's burgeoning Affinity with Lightning and the impossible element of Void, Klavdiya called in a few more favours from Dean Luo and Magister Wen.

The whole process, she supposed, should have been one for celebration.

But it wasn't so for her husband.

Gwen's affirming flame was so bright, so brilliant, that Percy's talent was a shivering candle beside the furious discharge of her blinding lightning.

As for Guo's unquenchable antagonism, Klavdiya could only chalk it down to ingrained insecurity left by Hai's deceit. Another son's kind words might have swayed a better man, but Hai was not a good child, and Guo had long since given up on being a good father.

Watching her husband's eyes boring into the girl, Klavdiya made up her mind to help the girl herself, even if Guo dared to admonish her.

She did not wish to fight her husband, and they still loved one another too much to threaten a separation.

In giving Gwen every aid she could muster, Klavdiya could only hope that one day, the girl standing on the top of the world would remember them as her family, one that chose poorly—and not her adversaries.

After the first glance, Guo felt it best not to meet his wife's eyes.

Barely three weeks ago, under the hard light of a Cognisance Chamber, the foreign girl had professed to be his granddaughter, the progeny of Hai, and the single most talented youth Guo had ever seen. Within hours, Klavdiya had caught wind of the girl's existence and brought her home like a stray animal.

Then, not more than forty-eight hours later, the girl returned from some Mao-forsaken nightclub, having trounced the Lins and shamed the Fung family, flaunting her forbidden skills in an underground fighting ring, for money!

Yet, somehow, before Guo could give her a sound thrashing to remind her of the discipline her father had utterly neglected, he received a Vid-Cast routed from the Central Committee. After apologising to his superior, he was forced to confront a Radiant gweilo accompanied by a livid sorceress wearing too much red.

Klavdiya had to take his hand and calm his infernal temper. That damned scarlet woman's first words were to threaten him! Him—Guo Song! A Committee Secretary!

"Imprison Gwen again, and I'll burn Shanghai to the ground!"

Hers was a "threat" to the state's dignity, but the Central Committee had chosen to dismiss the matter out of respect for the man beside her, the new Tower Master of Sydney, Gunther Shultz.

Guo had almost called the woman's bluff—but for Klavdiya, he would have thrown Gwen Song back into the Sky Prison.

But that option was beyond him now. The girl, against all expectation, was a direct disciple of not just any Magister but the Mage who had founded the Tower system used by the West. Even in China, only the Marshall of the People's Liberation Army, or one of the twenty-four Secretariats of the State serving under the Supreme Leader of the Party, could have compared to the influence wielded once wielded by Henry Kilroy.

It was just as well then that the man had perished, though Guo suspected the girl had something to do with it.

Perhaps as a mutual gesture of respect, Gunther Shultz removed the offending woman in red, apparently the heroic "Scarlet Sorceress", followed by an apology on her behalf.

Guo then sat down with the "Morning Star" to discuss his wayward granddaughter.

"I do not wish to make things difficult for either of us, Secretary Song," the man had said. The implication was obvious. The gweilo Magus had indicated he 'chose' to smooth things over, meaning he could elect other choices as well.

So they negotiated, conversed in charades and bargaining with enigmatic implications until, against all odds, Guo found that he liked the man. They were military men put into enviable positions by deed and not by connections—men of competence who could find a compromise.

Soon, they reached an agreement.

Gunther would convince the mother to release Percy Song into Guo's care.

In return, Guo promised to see Gwen through university, one of the top two that could access the International University Competition, and supply her with shelter, aid and care so long as she remained in Shanghai. Finally, at her education's end, she would be free to venture out of the city, unmolested by the CCP's Party politics.

Personally, Guo couldn't guarantee their final detail but agreed to perform what was within his power because he seriously doubted anyone who wished to personally antagonise Gunther Shultz and sour the webwork of relations established by the late Henry Kilroy. Likewise, it was far easier to trade the girl to the West when the time came rather than war with the West to hold on to her unwilling talent.

However, a final fishbone in Guo's throat had to be addressed.

The girl still had Hai's ancestral amulet.

Klavdiya had convinced him to wait—until the girl unexpectedly returned from Hengsha Island as the victor. Somehow, together with the Water Mage from the mother's bastardised Clan, two nincompoops from the Wangs, and Klavdiya's competent niece, they broke the record for CCs gathered during a Dungeon manifestation.

Guo, of course, knew why the girl had won. Knowingly or otherwise, Gwen was using the Kirin amulet to soothe the life energies of the Creature Cores as they expired.

In all likelihood, the girl probably thought that was the function of the Kirin Amulet! Little did Gwen know that the pendant was far beyond a simple fetish that made currency. Instead, the Kirin Amulet was an heirloom device responsible for the survival of the Song's bloodline.

After Hengsha, all of his colleagues became suddenly interested in the girl.

"Guo! You've been hiding a gem from us!" His Politburo colleagues had joked with him. "You should let her out into society, old hound. We no longer live in the old society, you know."

Even his superior, the Secretary of the Internal Affairs Committee, had mentioned her.

"What is this I hear about a Void Mage in your family?" From his communication device had come the voice of a woman Guo respected and admired as a colleague and a patriot, and it grated his ears to hear her speak of his estranged granddaughter. "Mind bringing her in for a tour? We can maybe help her out."

He declined their offers.

Then, at the banquet, Klavdiya had surprised them all by announcing not only that she had applied Gwen to Fudan but that Dean Luo had personally accepted Gwen into a full-time scholarship.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Three weeks.

THREE WEEKS! Guo felt his world reel and turn.

In less time it took for a junior Mage to master Magic Missile, the girl had fought into the inner circle of the progenies of politics and prosperity. She impressed the scions of the Clans. She made herself known in the Pudong Tower. She acquired the lauded full-scholarship prize awarded to only six students per annum in Fudan.

And that wasn't the worst of it.

They loved her.

His family loved her.

Jun adored her for reasons he could not begin to understand.

His wife pulled in favours she had held for decades to help the girl.

The Wangs, the damned Wangs who could never see eye to eye with him, whom Guo had counted on to become a staunch ally to Percy, fawned over the girl as though she was one of their own.

Even his wife's niece, who fled from trouble in Moscow, stuck by the girl.

How was such a thing possible? The very prospect of what the girl could achieve frightened Guo.

He couldn't understand it.

Her achievements were inconceivable to him, but to watching eyes, Gwen's actions had the makings of an heir. If so, was it a mistake to make her brother the heir?

No! Guo told himself.

He rarely dared to displease Klavdiya in their four decades of marriage, but this was something he had to do. The girl was a menace; she felt nothing for the House of Song. She was too steeped in the ways of the West.

Watching the girl standing starkly in the ambient light, Guo steeled his resolve.

It was time to return Percy's birthright to the boy, else the line of Song would truly end.

"As I was saying… what do you think, Gwen?" Gwen's grandfather persisted. "About our designs for Percy?"

The ominous tension caused Gwen to stiffen further, so much that she could feel cramps developing throughout her diaphragm and abdomen. Gwen looked towards her brother, who dared not meet her eyes.

"I am overjoyed that he could inherit your austere position in time," she stated loudly, feeling the constrained emotion in Guo's voice. As polite and pleasant as she had been to her grandfather, they had remained estranged for reasons she could not discern.

"Am I to understand you support Percy's bid?" Guo reclined in his chair, touching a finger to his temple. "I wonder then..."

The patriarch's following words caught her off guard like a vicious Salt Strike.

"What would you say if I wanted you to become the Matriarch of the House of Song? Would you like to become the inheritor? Replace your brother?"

Besides her, Percy stiffened, appearing as though struck by one of Gwen's Lighting Bolts. Mirroring her brother, Gwen felt her movements petrify.

Her grandfather wasn't serious, and this was a test—that much was self-evident to Gwen, but the offer still made her dizzy with unbidden projections of the future. She did not possess the ambition to take what was Percy's, but it didn't mean that her blood wasn't boiling and her face had not taken on a glowering, presumptuous pink shade.

Guo's question hung in the air until Gwen could force her lips to move.

"You jest, Grandfather," she replied carefully. "At any rate, I have no desire to inherit. It is not my place nor my inclination."

"Good. A fine declaration," Guo replied, allowing each syllable of Mandarin to ring across the vaulted ceiling of the Meeting Room.

Percy looked as though he was already rocking back and forth from the rollercoaster of emotions and expectations. When he looked up again at his sister, Gwen could see the germination of a seed planted the day her Aussie Opa gave her the keys to the estate.

When Percy looked downcast, Gwen felt constricting guilt plugging her chest.

She had lived two lifetimes—yet, she had been an absent presence in Percy's life both times. Should she have paid more attention to her brother? Gwen wondered how differently she could have chosen until she realised her grandfather was still speaking.

"The House of Song… originated from the late Yuan Dynasty, when the people of Hebei rebelled against Mongol rule… there had been many branching sects since, but our House remained as guardians of the home front…"

She wasn't sure how to feel about Guo. Her bond with Opa had been so easy, so effortless, just like her love of her babulya. If Guo wanted to kick her out, what should she do? They said that one couldn't choose kin, but wasn't covenant of the womb a scared union, especially in the East?

Her babulya had said that she would walk the Path of Asura—if so, wasn't this just another thing she had to fight?

In front of Gwen, her grandfather continued unabated.

"When the Manchurians finally broke the Ming's back, the House chose to go underground, fighting the oppressors in another form… the village was rebuilt not once, but fourteen times! It was the darkest period of the Song's history. Song Kai volunteered for the dangerous mission—"

No, Gwen decided. Her grandfather shall have his way, but she would never give up her babulya, Uncle Jun, and the family she had found. One lifetime of loneliness had been enough.

In this stranger's land where she was a stranger, Gwen Song would carve out her piece and make it her own. Here, she would prosper, and her Master's plans would come to fruition, and then Gunther and Alesia would be proud when they came to visit.

In front of her, Guo's story was reaching a climax.

"I left the village! It was a decision that shocked them all... I met your grandmother during those dark days... The Communist party finally united China in 1949, sweeping aside the Magical Creatures, the Demi-humans, and most importantly, the foreign devils who thought themselves… which is why I hope you could come to understand why Percy is such an important part of the Song's legacy."

Gwen blinked, attempting to recollect Guo's story.

Ming dynasty?

Manchurians?

The Japanese?

An old village, rotting away in Hebei.

She could intellectually understand her grandfather's position, but how was she supposed to find inspiration or rapport? Did he expect her to swell with filial piety? Break out with patriotism when finally, Maozhidong's army pushed into Shanghai and razed the Japanese encampments to the ground?

Guo had good cause, but the man's rationales were of such pith and moment that they trumped her wants, dispelled her desires, negated her needs with the power of the sun.

"Gwen?" her babulya beckoned.

Gwen met her grandmother's soft eyes apologetically, determined to give her grandmother no trouble.

She bowed her head. "What would you like me to do, Grandfather?"

Klavidya made her unhappiness known and a long sigh.

"I shall be plain then." Guo no longer minced words. "I request the return of the Kirin Amulet. I also wish for you to renounce your candidacy as heir to the House of Hebei Song, the descendants of Song Ying Xing."

Gwen allowed the words to filter through her mind.

Surprisingly, she felt nothing.

She undid her ribbon tie with slow ceremony and retrieved the amulet, still warm with her body heat from its home just above her chest. The half-amulet glinted in the low light, its jade glowing faintly, its marbled patterns appearing as though vessels of blood.

Guo continued to speak.

"There are uses for the amulet which are only known to the inheriting member of the family. Hai had never learned it; he was too young when he left. Jun has learnt it, but he has no children. Percy, however, is a perfect beneficiary of the amulet's boon. Gwen—it's useless for you because you will not learn its secrets. You will not access its greatest gift."

"Guo!" Her grandmother snapped at her husband. "Get on with it."

Holding the pendant in the palm of her hand, Gwen carefully caressed the thing that had aided her since her Awakening.

The Kirin Amulet was the reason why they won the competition. It was her ticket to Creature Cores, currency and thereby her success. Likewise, it had received Almudj's blessing, though she was thankful that Almudj's mana was spirit-bonded to her Astra Body and not stuck in this trinket.

"Alright." She spoke with trembling tenderness. There was no need for hysterics, no call for drama. What good would that do her now? She was letting go of something, but then Guo was letting go of something too. With the amulet given, she would be free of the Songs, more so than Hai.

"I, Gwen Song, daughter of Hai Song and Helena Huang, renounce my entitlement to inherit the House of Song. Likewise, I will therefore remove myself from this House, and as ask that you do not interfere with my future in any way, shape or form."

She felt her breath quicken as she starkly felt the space between her breasts, feeling as though she had removed a piece of her flesh.

"Percy, come here," she said to her brother.

"Sis, I…" Percy looked as though he wanted to refuse, but Gwen knew her brother better than that. He was an ambitious pup. Percy had always thought himself destined for greatness. Against Guo, it was delusional even to imagine her brother possessing the gall to say no.

Like in a dream, Percy moved his hand mechanically toward her as though the offending appendage did not belong to him but someone else. Gwen allowed the red strings to loosen before hanging them over her brother's neck.

Her brother's eyes reddened.

"Thank you," he muttered softly, wetting his parched lips.

Gwen forced her hand to move away from his chest and rest beside her thighs. She breathed deeply until her breath to its usual cadence before her gaze returned to the foot of the chair where Guo sat, still wearing an old, worn pair of cotton-flats, the kind that farmers wore in Hubei.

"I am glad you and I could see eye to eye." Her grandfather said. "If you wish to move away, I am more than happy to provide-"

"Guo, I'll take it from here." It was her babulya who intervened, cutting off her husband mid-sentence. She left the seat and walked towards Gwen to take her hand. "Take your grandson and go, Guo. I need to speak to Gwen."

Guo's face visibly twitched, though he said nothing as he led her brother into the private antechamber.

"Goodnight, Grandfather," Gwen coaxed her voice to retain its usual timbre. She then turned to her brother. "Congrats, Percy."

Percy said something as well, but Gwen was already being hugged by her grandmother, who led her out back to the side garden, where Jun and her father, Morye, was waiting for them.

"We heard a few words from here..." Her father began. "Well, it doesn't take a Diviner to guess what that old dog—"

"Jun, Hai, the training room." Their babulya silenced him before motioning toward Gwen's now-defunct bedroom.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Alright, Mama."

Within, Richard had already packed her belongings.

"So." He looked up expectantly. "When do we move out?"

"Richard…" Gwen felt such gladness for her cousin that she wanted to cry.

"Richard!" Morye broke the sentimental moment. "Good to see you. How are your parents?"

"In a Refugee Camp, Sir," Richard replied drily. "They lost everything during the attack. You were there."

Morye retracted his hand. "Right, of course."

"BUT—they're doing better now, waiting on some CCs for their immigration grants."

"Ah? That's good to hear," her father replied awkwardly before turning to Gwen and the topic of Guo. "Look, don't worry about the old hound, alright? Fuck him. Why do you think I left? You got me still, right?"

Gwen looked at her father's boisterous face. Was the man trying to cheer her up? Rely on him? She felt too exhausted to fight him and too sorry for babulya for having a son like Hai.

"Hai! Don't speak about your father like that!" Klavdiya chided him.

Her father scoffed. "Alright, mama. Look, I am sorry about Percy. I didn't teach that boy well. He takes after his mother, I'd say. Well, Gwen? You want a hug?"

Somehow, her father's come-what-may attitude made her feel better about the whole ordeal. "I'll be fine. I am just a little… upset."

"Don't be shy! Come on!" Morye urged, glancing at his mother as though seeking approval. "Right in here! Both arms!"

With her babulya watching expectantly, Gwen resigned herself to the unexpected filial indulgence.

She allowed her father's arms to envelop her as she walked into his embrace, feeling his hands stretch across her shoulder and waist. Morye brushed her cheeks, his stubble stabbing into her skin. She became enveloped by his cologne and odour, reminding her of Forrestville, of the daily struggle to get her out of bed. She recalled when her father gave her a birthday gift, a six-pack of Bonds underwear, only to find out later it was initially intended for one of his girlfriends.

"Thanks, Dad." Gwen pulled herself away, feeling a little dubious about the nostalgia she had just undergone.

"Red Stars, I wish I had a daughter," Jun said beside them, his eyes green with envy. "That was beautiful."

"You don't know the half of it." Morye punched his brother in the arm. "That was a highlight for sure. Most of the time, Gwen screams like her mother."

"So—" Richard stashed his backpack against the wall and faced the family expectantly. "What's the go now, Gwen? I'll go where ever you go."

"Gwen, how are you feeling?" her babulya finally had a moment to squeeze in a word.

"I am fine." Gwen allowed her grandmother to caress her tender cheeks. "I am good. I can deal with it. I AM dealing with it."

"Please don't feel too strongly towards your grandfather. He's a stubborn old man, acting out of fear and stubbornness and not malice."

Her grandmother gave her father a look that spoke volumes.

"I know that." Gwen squeezed her grandmother's hands. "I'd be lying if I said I don't feel any resentment, but I understand how and why it happened. I don't fault Grandfather for being who he is."

Her babulya sighed deeply.

"I hope you mean that, Gwen." She patted her shoulder. "It would make me very happy if you do."

"I do mean it." Gwen was beyond glad that she had the wisdom of age to face the crisis; had she been her sixteen-year-old self, an actual adolescent, she would have bawled out her eyes and accused the world of being cruel and uncaring.

"Gwen? Babulya? Can we come in?" There came a knock on the door.

The new guests were Petra, Mina and Tao.

"Sorry for intruding," Petra spoke first. "We were—"

"Shit! So it's going DOWN? Are you getting kicked out? That's fucked, dawg! G-dawg is NOT cool! NOT COOL!"

Petra pushed past her indignant cousin and gave Gwen a big hug.

"Don't worry, Gwen," Petra said seriously. "Your scholarship, your position at the school, your future. Nothing can take them away from you. Look at me! I was also away from my parents, and I survived just fine. Whatever you need, I'll help."

"Thanks, Pats." Gwen felt her depression dispel.

"Gwen!"

Lea burst from Richard and joined the huddle, careful not to wet the two girls.

"Do we have to—?" Mina rolled her eyes but relented in the end, joining the triplet array to form a foursome of bodies rocking back and forth. "Say, you want to stay with me for a while? I got a spare apartment close to Fudan, and a couch for Richard, that or you can stay with us at the estate."

Tao wanted to join in, but Richard arrested the man before he could ruin the mood.

"Give them some space," he said to his distant cousin. "This is something that girls can do that we can't because we are stoic men who check our emotions at the door. Also, spoil this moment, and Petra will kick your ass."

"Right, thanks, dawg." Tao surprised them all by staying put.

While Gwen immersed itself in the company of her cousins, her uncle Jun took the opportunity to speak to her babulya. "Well, Mum? Regretting your decision not to fight Dad?"

"Not any more." Klavdiya hooked her son's arm inside her elbows. "Do you think young Percy can ever attain this? Gwen's with us for what, two, three weeks? The girl has a talent that's far beyond magic. The House of Song would have flourished under her."

"AND she's not one to forget her brother." Jun pointed out, then hugged his mother. He lowered his voice. "Mother, perhaps I could—"

His eyes met Gwen's.

"No, you mustn't." Klavdiya shook her head and squeezed her son's hand. "You need it; it's too dangerous otherwise. Wait until Gwen's older—assuming she wants children of her own."

"I'll have it ready for her." Jun touched his mother's hair thoughtfully.

Unable to guess what the two were speaking about, she looked to her father, who appeared absentmindedly in search of a cigarette.

The girls separated.

"Feeling better?" Petra was dazzling as always.

"Never better." Gwen exhaled, honestly confessing that she felt completely restored.

"Yeah, dawg. Don't be a stranger!" Tao quipped with his usual elegance.

A stranger, she mused. Only a moment ago, she had fancied herself a stranger. Yet, no less than half an hour later, she had family again. Taking a step back, Gwen surveyed the friends and family that she had gained by coming here to Shanghai.

Babulya, Petra, Mina, Tao, Uncle Jun and Richard.

Gwen bowed deeply toward her "family", sincerely expressing her gratitude. As they say, the home was where the heart was. If the Songs did not want her, then she would carve out a place of her own—a home, a House, a demesne, a Tower!