Vivian was frozen on the spot as she stared at the door. The knock came again, louder and insistent. Vivian's hands were trembling.

I stood up and took a long inhale before opening the door.

"Serafina!" Mom cried out before nearly tackling me to the ground with a hug.

"Mom," I hugged back.

Mom kept squeezing tighter until I let out a noise of complaint. "Let me look at you! First time seeing a Dragon uniform up close. Look at how red. And Tower Representative! In your first year! One of those things would have been impossible but all of them! My baby is awesome."

"Hello, Lucinda."

Mom stilled. I think she forgot Vivian was there. Mom straightened up and patted me on the side of my arm before facing her mother.

And the nerves were back in full force.

"Mother."

I stepped away from both of them and silently hoped this wasn't going to be a disaster.

Vivian squared her shoulders and stepped towards Mom.

Mom and her just stood there for a moment. Mom put her hands on her hips and gave Vivian a wide grin.

The smile Vivian gave her looked a bit shaky from my angle, but there didn't seem to be any immediate problems.

Then Mom's attention was back on me.

"Look at how big you are!"

"It's only been a couple of months, I couldn't have grown."

"Maybe it just seems that way because you stand taller now," Mom mused as she messed with my hair. I tried to escape her smothering but I wasn't being rescued by Vivian. She was too busy staring at my mother. It was the softest expression I had seen on Vivian's face since we met.

"It's…good to see that you're doing well Lucinda."

Mom kept poking and prodding me with little finger jabs and turned to talk to Vivian. "I am. And Victor even keeps me on time."

"It is a surprise to see you here early."

"I wanted to get here before the others," Mom stage-whispered conspiratorially. "I wanted at least a few minutes with my darling little baby."

"I'm sixteen."

"It's cute that you think that changes anything."

"Professor, save me," I pleaded with my grandmother.

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"The others will be here any minute Lucinda," Vivian tried. I appreciated the support, even if it didn't amount to anything.

Mom poked my cheek one last time before sighing like she was the one who was inconvenienced by this. Her gaze lingered on the scars under my eyes.

She stepped back and shook her head. "You're probably right. We don't want Larae to take her wrath out on you when she sees me. Assuming she's here. But you can't blame me for wanting a closer look at my baby's new trophies of trouble."

"Being cursed sucks, but I think I'm managing."

She was frowning, but there was a look in her eyes that gave me some hope.

"I know, Serafina. But I can't wait to meet all your friends. And the tour of Dragon Tower!"

The risk of her seeing an Echo felt pretty high.

Mom continued, "And my nephew! Does he look like Ruby or Ignatius? I bet Celica looks like her brothers. I'm so excited."

"Please remember I'd like to still have friends at the end of this," I begged.

"Oh hush. If they're not scared off by the curse then they can handle little old me."

Vivian was busying herself with some papers on her desk and not making eye contact.

I wasn't sure I had faith in Mom's statement either.

"You both worry too much, that's probably why you get along," Mom complained.

"Well, someone here has to," I responded out of habit.

Mom ignored me to look around Vivian's office. "This place looks the same as when I was last here. I had just found out I was going to have you," she poked me again for emphasis. "You even kept my Chaser trophies."

Wait what?

I had noticed the trophies before, but it never occurred to me that they were Mom's.

"What else was I supposed to do with them?" Vivian sounded oddly offended by the observation.

Mom shrugged, "Put them in a box to get lost in the Hearth Coven Attic?"

Vivian rolled her eyes. "Please, there's enough old junk in there. Besides, what else am I going to put on that shelf?"

"I don't know, pictures of Ruby's discoveries or something?"

Vivian crossed her arms and pointed to a framed document with stamps on it, an award of some kind.

"Okay so you found room for both."

"I always have room for both my daughters."

Mom huffed, "I know. I wasn't trying to imply…"

"It's fine, let's not do this now. Serafina is right there and the others could be here any moment. Including your sister."

"She's coming?"

"All your old friends are, I suggest bracing yourself."

"Larae's going to kill me," Mom pretended to whine while sounding excited.

"She might actually try to murder you," Vivian pointed out. "It has been a very long time."

"I've been busy. And I had a ComMirror they could have called," Mom rustled my hair one last time before moving to lean back on the one shelf that was empty. It put her facing where Vivian usually sat. "Gods, you really didn't change a thing, huh?"

"I won't deny that I've always had a hard time adjusting to large changes."

"The story of my childhood, well except for when you brought Ruby home."

"Ruby was hardly a change. More like an unexpected addition to my life plan."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Did she tell you about that? I'm sitting at home doing some school reading and Mother comes home two hours late and she says, 'Lucinda I got a surprise for you, here's your new sister.' No warning."

"And despite that your first reaction was to hug her and declare her your new best friend."

"I was eleven."

"Regardless of the suddenness you did manage to be a good older sister."

"I think if anything Ruby had a harder time going from only child to younger sister."

"She was content to follow and learn from you, you were happy to teach."

"Yeah, up until following me caused trouble."

"Ruby never blamed you for what happened."

"Let's not do this. Serafina doesn't need to hear all our family's regrets in one sitting, right sweetie?"

I shrugged, I wasn't sure what the correct thing to say here was.

"Yeah. That's fair," Mom sighed. "There's far too much for me and your grandmother to talk about. We'll work on it when you're not in hearing range. Don't worry I promise to be just as civil as she is."

A promise and a threat. Mom didn't want to start a fight, but she would fight back if she had to. She already had, hadn't she? That's why it took so long for me to meet her side of the family.

"If that's what you both want." Vivian went behind her desk and tucked in her chair. She stayed standing as a strange silence fell over the three of us.

"Before the others get here, I just wanted to say I'm glad you two are talking. I know it doesn't really change anything, but it's nice." In truth, I wasn't sure it was my place to say anything. But not saying anything was just going to keep it awkward.

"That's Victor's influence," Mom said. "If she was purely mine, she would probably be furious with you until the end of time."

"Forgiveness is always something us Hearths have struggled with."

"Lucky us she's a Stewart, or she'd be mad at me forever for letting her go here without telling her about you."

Vivian let out a laugh.

Yeah, this was nice.

There was another knock at Vivian's door.

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