I was feeling a bit better now that we had a plan. That we were going to do something about this. Maybe we could prevent anyone from getting hurt after all. Perhaps when Red finally joins us we'll have changed her fate. The future wasn't like the past, it wasn't set in stone.

No one had to die.

But we also needed to think about the now.

The others were looking over and comparing schedules, trying to see what classes they had together. It was interesting that they seemed to try and give us as many classes together as they could. Was that a first-year thing or just the general practice?

Either way was good with me, I supposed. It was nice to be guaranteed one familiar face in each class. A hint of the familiar in the chaos of all the new.

But the schedules weren't all that I needed to share with them. "We're also supposed to go over emergency stuff," I told them.

"Pretty sure we know more about that than you," Jarec commented as Celica reached over to grab the instructions out of my hands.

I let her take them, as long as they had the information it didn't really matter where it came from.

"Think they always do this every semester, remind us of where to go if the school is attacked? Or do you think someone higher on the chain is worrying too much?" Fethris pondered as Celica shared it around the table.

I shrugged, "I have no idea. I was given orders and now they've been followed."

"Grandmother might be worrying, she's been trying to hide it but she's been on edge for a while now," Jarec said.

Russel tapped his fingers on the table, "She's not the only one. By the way, did we ever find out what the deal with the 'Echo Chamber' was?"

"Nope. Still have no idea where it is. It's been kind of a lower priority, but we can still look into that."

Maybe if we could circumvent Red's fate, we wouldn't need to. But not finding it could be a mistake.

I tapped my fingers on the table in that ancient pattern. One, pause, three, long pause, two. Jantres and Malcarg had used it ages ago, but maybe it could be like a good luck charm for us. We were figuring it out. All of it.

(*********)

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I didn't need to be able to see the future to know to bring my class schedule with me to dinner. Angelina was practically vibrating where she was standing by Jade and Albenion.

"Oh no," Celica said in a low voice. For a moment I had a burst of panic, but then I noticed the very tall figure standing nearby. Long silvery hair just like Celica's. It was one of her brothers.

I had no idea which was which out of uniform.

"Vulmar," Celica greeted with such little inflection I became instantly worried. Classes hadn't even started yet and we were at risk of drama.

There was a moment of very tense silence as Celica and her brother just looked at each other.

"Just, remember what we said, alright?" Vulmar might have been trying for gentle, but I doubted its effectiveness.

"I heard you the first three times," Celica complained as she put her hands on her hips. I felt a lot better hearing her go back to her usual self.

Whatever their standoff was about, Vulmar must have lost it because he left with a lingering look at all of us.

Welp. That was weird.

"Do we even want to know what that was about?" Jarec asked after a few moments of quiet.

"Older brothers, they're a pain in the ass," Celica grumbled as she practically stomped towards her girlfriend.

Fethris' face did something interesting in response to that.

Angelina barely seemed to notice Celica's extra grumpiness about the whole thing. Or maybe she did and thought the best way to fix it was a big smile and a hug.

And it actually worked, somehow. Celica relaxed a little, and Angelina hooked her arm around Celica's. "What classes are we all taking?" Angelina asked as she pulled her girlfriend over towards the table with the others.

I pulled out my schedule and unfolded it, handing it over without much fuss. "It's good to see you again," I greeted as I sat down across from her. Jarec was on my right and Fethris was on my left.

Angelina grabbed it, "Ooh. We have two classes together, we've got Spellcraft and Geography."

"That'll be fun." I did mean that, it was something to look forward to.

"You took Geography?" Jade sounded very confused, and to be fair I might not have taken it without the curse restricting my class choices.

I shrugged, "It's all about balance. I think I'm looking forward to Brewing the most."

"You guys will like Carmine, I think. He seemed pretty nice when I took his class last semester," Angelina said.

"He seemed…a bit eccentric," Jade commented.

"He was," Jarec agreed. "It's a good learning experience though, right?" He aimed the question at his boyfriend.

"A lab class with you was the experience," Albenion responded. It didn't sound like it was a good experience, but I had no idea what labs were like with Jarec.

Jarec didn't even look upset, he was grinning. "I don't know what you mean, it was a great time."

I wasn't sure how to respond to any of that, so I ignored it.

"What are you guys looking forward to this semester?" I asked the table. Just to fill the silence.

"I'm looking forward to the Founder's Trials," Russel commented.

Jade seemed a little confused, "Are you planning on participating?"

I hadn't even thought about it. Would we even be allowed to compete? I would need to go over the rules. And maybe talk about it with everyone. I wasn't Mom, I wanted to at least ask before signing people up for things.

"Are we?" Russel asked me.

"Um…I mean…if you guys want to," I told them.

"Is that safe?" Angelina asked.

I shrugged, "Only one way to find out."

Maybe it was a bit reckless, but if we never pushed ourselves we would never get better.

It was kind of exciting to think about it. Another chance to try and just maybe not humiliate myself this time.

But that was for later in the year, we had other things to think about. Like the start of all those new classes we were taking. A lot of good first impressions I wanted to make.

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