The m, Emily wakes up an hour before her departure. She slides out from under Juliana, leaving the peacefully sleeping girl alone before climbing into the shower. She stands uhe warm stream of water, letting the calming flow wash away her doubts about the ing goodbyes.

  After a few minutes, she leaves the shower, drying herself off before equipping herself with armour and ons, this time without her robes, with her new scarf ed tightly around her nestead. She steps out of the bathroom to find Juliana sitting on the end of her bed, fully dressed and staring at her with a wistful smile.

  “Is it time?” she asks quietly.

  Emily walks over and pulls her into a hug, nodding her head as Juliana’s arms around her waist.

  “Yes. We should go,” she says, holding their embrace for a few moments before pulling bad Juliana her hand.

  She pulls the girl onto her feet and leads her to the door. Taking o gnce around the almost empty room behind her, ign the case the Mandragos sent her with, Emily steps out into the corridor. They quickly head for the transportation circle at the end of the hall, taking a short jump to arrive at the exit hallway leading to the station.

  They run into Ivor before they make it out of The Dome, and he joins them without a word as they leave. Iation, they find Enzo and Dante, who both quietly nod in aowledgement whehers enter.

  Nobody speaks as they stand together oform, waiting for the train to arrive with an air of morbid anticipation. It’s not until the train slides into the station a few mier that the twins arrive, running into the hall and frantically looking for the others.

  “Thank Goddess,” Hester mutters with a sigh of relief, casting a disappointed gre towards her brother. “I thought we might have missed her because of your stupid sleeping habits.”

  Emily ughs at their entrance, releasing the uension that held the group's silence.

  “You’re certainly cutting it close. Am I not worth losing your beauty sleep over?” she asks Tom with a teasing tone.

  “Of course you are!” Tom jumps to defend himself. “But that doesn’t mean I’m aer at getting up in the m.”

  Emily chuckles, turning and leading everyoo the train. They settle down in a private booth and fall bato silence as the heavy mae carries them though the city to the wall. No one speaks much during the ride with everyone waiting for Emily to initiate the versation, which she never does.

  The train arrives at the docks a few minutes before eight, and Emily leads her friends off. The moment she steps onto the ptform, Emily immediately spots Anton waiting for her. He notices her as well, sharing a nod of aowledgement before heading towards her across the busy ptform. Emily turtention to her friends as he approaches, taking a deep breath and finally speaking to them.

  “I guess this is goodbye,” she says, watg the plicated expressions on her friends' faces. “I’ve never really had many friends before, but I’m gd you guys are on that short list. If it wasn’t for you… Well, it’s thanks to you that I’ve enjoyed my time in The ant. Thank you!”

  Emily’s friends all start with surprise, caught off guard by her sudden siy. Dante recovers first, stepping forward and pulling Emily into a firm hug.

  “It’s been an honour to fight with you,” he says before forcefully patting her bad pulling away, fshing her a wild grin. “I’ll miss blowing things up with you.”

  “Me too,” Emily says with a matg grin. “Also, your fire’s gotten hotter since I met you. Focus more on your mana manipution. I don’t think it’s your mental image that’s holding you back right now.”

  “Okay,” he says, stepping bato the group with an appreciative nod. “Thanks, Emily.”

  Enzo steps forward and offers Emily his hand. She shakes it firmly as he speaks.

  “It’s been an honour to see yic first-hand. I look forward to hearing about your future achievements,” he says, drawing an eye roll from Emily.

  “You’re so oddly rigid at times,” Emily says with a chuckle, patting the back of his hand. “It’s good. I think it suits you better. You should focus more on your mental image. If yoing to specialise iraining and trolling, you should specialise your image of earth first.”

  Enzo nods thoughtfully, giving Emily a small bow as he steps bad thanks her for her advice. Tom steps forward , pulling Emily into a hug with tears f in his eyes.

  “I’ll miss you,” he says quietly before pulling autting on a foolish grin. “Got any magical advie?”

  “Haha. Learn to shut up,” she replies with a teasing grin. “In all serioushough, if you work out how to present as a bit less of an idiot, I think a leadership role would suit you. Yood at reading the room, I think you’d manage people well.”

  Tom nods, a thoughtful yet slightly disappointed look crossing his face as he steps back.

  “Leadership is a talent, Tom. I mean it,” Emily says quickly, notig his mixed feelings. “It’s not one I have either. You’re the one who kept everyone’s morale up in The Gde. Don’t uimate yourself.”

  Tom’s shoulders rex a little as he fshes Emily a warm smile.

  “Thanks.”

  Hester steps forward , meeting Emily in a hug.

  “I’ll miss you,” she says as she squeezes Emily before whispering into her ear. “I meant it by the way. Even if you bee a fugitive, you’re wele in our home.”

  Emily pulls bad smiles.

  “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you. I never would have made it this far this quickly if you hadn’t takeo The Gde.”

  “You made the most of that experien your own, I ’t take much credit. Stay curious, Hester, and questiohing. I believe it’s an important trait for a mage. Oh, also give runes a closer study. I think you’d be good at spell creation.”

  Hester nods and steps back, giving Ivor access to Emily. He steps forward with tears rolling down his cheeks, clutg the book Emily gifted him on Alchemy to his chest with one hand while the other.

  “e here, big guy,” Emily says, rolling her eyes and using his hand to pull him into a hug. “I’ll miss you.”

  She pulls away, releasing the tall man from her grip and smiling at him with tears in her own eyes as she switches to sign nguage.

  “I hope the book serves you well. Please look after J for me.”

  Ivor nods, a firm resolutio on his face.

  “Good luck,” he signs before stepping back.

  Emily finally turns to Juliana, her heart ag as she looks at the tearful girl who steps forward with purpose. No words are needed as they meet in a tight embrace, burying their faces into each other’s shoulders o time. They remain locked together for a short while before Juliana pulls bad lifts a hand to gently stroke Emily’s cheek.

  “I’ll never fet you, Emi,” she whispers, biting her lip and trying to keep her pain from her voice.

  “Nor I you,” Emily says, lifting a hand to hold Juliana’s against her face. “Goodbye, Jules. Thank you for loving me.”

  Emily steps back, Juliana’s hand following her for a moment before slipping away as she turns and walks towards Anton, who’s waiting patiently for her to finish her goodbyes. He tactfully chooses not to say anything as Emily walks straight past him, turning on his heels to quickly follow her.

  As they disappear into the crowd, Emily wipes the tears from her cheeks and casts a final gaze over her shoulder at her friends. She waves goodbye before turning back to the front, the image of Juliana weeping into Ivor’s shoulder burned into her mind.

  It’s not until they reach the far wall, covered in passages to different hangars, that Emily finally pauses and addresses Anton.

  “Where’s Calypso?” she asks quietly, making eye tact with him, her cold gaze sending a shiver down his spine.

  “Hangar eighteen,” he says pointing towards one of the small doorways a short distance away.

  Emily nods, her gaze warming a little as she fshes him a weak smile before turning and walking over to the indicated path. She steps into the narrow metal corridor with Anton close behind, leaving the bustling station.

  “You don’t seem like you pn on ing back,” Anton says cautiously after a few minutes, as they reach a stairwell sinking into the wall.

  “I don’t know what I pn on doing,” Emily admits as tears form in her eyes again. “I might e back, and I might not. I decided it best to give my… final goodbyes. In case I don’t.”

  Anton nods in uanding, giving her a supportive pat on the shoulder and not pushing any further, giving the girl time to process her emotions. They tinue dowairs in silehe sound of their feet hittial their only pany in the narrow chute. It doesn’t take long for them to reach the end of the passageway, and it levels out as it opens up inte, open hangar.

  Sitting in the tre, exactly as she remembers it, is Calypso. Emily’s eyes ruhe smooth metal panelling, lingering on every dent and scratch that only add to the beauty of the craft as methods to fix them quickly run through her mind regardless.

  Anton walks past her as she pauses to take in the ship, gesturing for her to follow. Emily pulls her focus away, notig a young-looking boy, probably fourteen or fifteen, frantically cirg the ship with a clipboard in hand. The moment the boy notices Anton, he runs over to meet them excitedly, his choppy blonde hair boung with each step.

  “Everything is in w order!” the boy announces proudly as he stops in front of the pair, failing to hide his curious gowards Emily and her gear.

  “Good job,” Anton responds, pointing to Emily. “This is Emily. She’ll be joining us for our trip to Eimdon. Treat her with respect, she’s a guest. Emily, this here is Podrick. We picked him up over in Folkard on our st major trade run. His dad runs one of the shipyards up there and wanted him to get some hands-on experience maintaining a w trade vessel.”

  “Hello, Emily!” Podrick chirps, her a quivering hand. “Wele aboard.”

  Emily raises a brow, reag out and g his hand, holding it steady as she slowly shakes it.

  “Hello, Podrick,” she says calmly, without a hint of emotion on her face. “Have you been enjoying your time on Calypso?”

  “Yes! It’s been very iing. She’s a wonderful ship.”

  “Indeed she is,” Anton says with pride, stepping forward. “Now let’s board her. It’s time to leave.”

  Emily follows, walking beside him without missing a beat, and Podrick gs behind a step, hurrying to catch up and walk on Anton’s other side. They approach the lowered steps onto the ship and climb up, entering the side of the hull.

  “You’ll be staying in the same room as st time,” Anton says to Emily as he shuts the hatch behind them. “ you remember the way?”

  Before Emily answer, Podrick eagerly offers his services.

  “I show you if you want.”

  “That’s alright,” Emily dees, stepping past him towards the crew’s quarters. “I remember the erfectly fine. I’ll join you guys on the bridge after dropping off my bag.”

  She quickly makes her way through the ship, the pathways as fresh in her mind as if she had explored them yesterday. Heading up the stairs to the crew’s quarters, she heads straight for the far end, opening the door to the room she used st time and slipping in.

  She shuts the door behind her and tosses her bag onto the bed before reag into a pou her belt. She pulls out a small metal box with a few air runes carved into it and a pin stig out of the top. She holds it against the wall beside the door and uses a light touetal and fire to fuse it in pce.

  ˉˉˉˉˉ

  [Screamer’s Surprise]

  [Rank:] E

  [Description:] An artefact made from a screamer’s voice box to warn the user of a break-in.

  [Effect:] When the pin is removed, releases a sonic attack to stun intruders and alert the user.

  _____

  I pity the bastard that sets this thing off without prote.

  Taking a thin wire from her belt, Emily ties it between the pin and a scrap pieetal before she slips out of the door. She closes it until only a gap narrow enough for her arms is left, and pces the metal scrap against the inside face of the door, fusing it in pce as well.

  Satisfied with her makeshift defences, Emily makes her way to the bridge. She hears a loud screeg whistle outside and feels the ship shiftih her as she leisurely strolls through the narrow corridors, taking a long route to waste some time as the crew prepares to depart. She walks past a few ste rooms, peeking in to see stacked crates and barrels held down by fabric straps, and she even pokes her head into a crawlspa the ast, hearing shuffling within and spotting a pair of legs crammed between two pipes deep inside.

  By the time she steps into the bridge, Calypso is already sliding forwards and up, leaving the dock’s mountings with graceful ease.

  “Hey, kid. It’s good to see you again,” Ange says, spinning in her chair to face Emily.

  “Hey, Ange,” Emily responds with a subdued smile. “It’s been a while.”

  “Sure has,” Ange responds, raising a curious brow as she looks Emily up and down. “You expeg a fight? That looks like some quality gear.”

  “Nah, not unless you really annoy me. And thanks. I made it all myself.”

  Ange whistles in an impressed tone before spinning back to che the ship’s surroundings through the periscope.

  “So cool!” Podrick squeaks, drawing Emily’s attention to him, standing beside Anton’s chair.

  “aker turned on smith, ey?” Anton remarks with a grin, not looking away from his trol panel. “Is that why they sent you to the capital?”

  “Something simir,” Emily says dismissively, approag the wide gss window spanning the front of the room.

  She gives Tony a polite nod as she passes him, receiving a light smile in response. She stands in the window, admiring the view of the stretg pins from above for a few minutes before turning back again.

  “Wanhe city o time?” Ange asks, spinning the periscope to face her.

  “Yes please.”

  Emily leans into the viewing lens, finding it already set to a rear view. She takes in the sprawling city of metal and steam, her gaze drifting from the high wall and the pilrs of smoke to the rge Dome he tre, a pang of sadness squeezing her chest.

  A tear rolls down her cheek as she pulls away, lifting the scarf around her o take a shaky breath, breathing in the painfully familiar floral st before she turns to leave the bridge.

  Goodbye.

  KeroKeron