Waking with a smile, Gregory silently thanked Grandmaster Pan for giving them the extra day off. They’d finished off their other day with a normal schedule— yesterday had been a full day of training with the clan, and Gregory had sent messages to arrange what he wanted to do today.
Jenn stirred, blinking slowly as she came awake. Her lips quirked into a smile when she saw Yukiko still asleep across from her. She glanced up and found Gregory looking down at her. With a wink, she shifted enough to kiss him.
Gregory kissed her back, glad to have her with them, marveling at how lucky he was that Yukiko had accepted Jenn. “Good morning,” he whispered. “Are you ready for today?”
“Yes. The gifts are at the manor already,” Jenn nodded. “Velma told me last night.”
“Good.”
“I’m sad we don’t get to spend the night at the manor,” Jenn sighed. “We’ve already been told we have to return tonight.”
“Is it time to wake?” Yukiko mumbled as she kissed Gregory’s chest.
“It should be,” Gregory replied, kissing the top of her head in return. “Happy birthday, my heart.”
A pleased sound came from Yukiko as she kissed his chest again. “Thank you, dearest.”
“Happy birthday, my dearest friend and wife,” Jenn said, leaning in to kiss Yukiko.
“A good birthday, indeed.” Yukiko sighed contentedly when Jenn pulled away.
“We should get up,” Gregory said. “There are things to do today.”
“Hmm… you two have kept it a secret from me, but I’ll be upset if we don’t see the children,” Yukiko said as she stretched.
“We all want to see them,” Jenn said. “Besides, the novices will be going there to train today.”
“There is that,” Yukiko said, getting out of bed.
Gregory watched his beautiful wife walk away, her naked body nearly shining in the pale moonlight coming through the window. That view was briefly obstructed by Jenn as she climbed over him, sliding her nude body against his. She gave him a knowing smile when she felt his interest, but she didn’t stay to tease him. Exhaling a deep breath, he watched his smaller wife follow Yukiko.
“Dearest, are you just going to lay there and ogle us?” Yukiko giggled. “Your problem will only become harder to ignore if you do.”
“Can’t get much harder…” Gregory mumbled as he got out of bed.
“Might be right. I did tease him a little when I got out,” Jenn winked at him, her eyes dipping to see him standing proud.
“We’ll make sure to repay that tonight,” Yukiko said as she opened the armoire and pulled out her clothing for the day.
Gregory took a deep breath as he went to dress.
~*~*~
The group was excited as they left the clan hall. Ling and Clover were smiling just as broadly as the novices, happy they’d been invited.
“We still study first?” Ling asked as they walked to the archive.
“Yes. We study as often as we can right now. Our chances to study will be limited next year and beyond,” Yukiko said. “The Peaceful Fist will help keep the other two paths steady and moving. Books will be much harder to come by regularly.”
“Even for those of us with storage items,” Jenn said. “Yuki, we should see about stocking up before the end of the year.”
“I was planning on it,” Yukiko replied.
“That’s a good idea,” Nessa said. “We should see about setting aside more of our stipends for that.”
“Agreed,” Victoria nodded.
“Without storage, books will be a problem,” Daciana pointed out.
“Yeah, it would be. Space and weight,” Clover agreed.
“We’ll have to see what the end of the year brings,” Yukiko said, wondering if Lightshield had seen this far ahead.
As they approached the archive, Gregory saw Walun standing outside the building. “Good morning, Walun.”
“Good morning,” Walun said, bowing his head to them, his eyes on Daciana.
Daciana’s smile slipped and she looked at Nessa, who gave her a small nod.
“Yuki?” Nessa asked.
“Yes, of course,” Yukiko said. “Greg, we’re going straight upstairs today.”
Gregory looked at Walun, then at Daciana, before nodding. “Okay. Have a good day, Walun.”
“Thank you,” Walun said, glad that the older magi weren’t going to be sitting with them today.
Gregory and the others greeted Simon, declining new books as they went to their tables. Simon was surprised when the apprentices went straight upstairs, but quickly motioned another archivist over to make sure their books were delivered.
Taking a seat on the second floor, Gregory looked over. Yukiko had selected a table that would let them look over the railing and see the novices. “Are they going to tell him today?”
“If he’d shown up yesterday, they would’ve done it then,” Yukiko said. “He didn’t come yesterday, so yes, today is likely the day.”
“I was surprised when Daciana told us what she was planning,” Ling said. “Do you think he’ll accept it?”
“It depends on if they have to do the last step,” Clover said as she worked on her Magi Squares.
“There is that,” Ling sighed, taking her eyes off the novices.
“Looks like they’re going to do their Magi Squares, first,” Jenn said as she pulled out her blank and started working on it.
“That gives us time,” Yukiko said.
Gregory watched a minute longer, then started on his puzzle.
~*~*~
Leaving the archive, Gregory noted that Walun wasn’t there again. “Breakfast with his clan?”
“That’s what he said,” Victoria replied.
“Did it work?” Ling asked. “We didn’t see any major reactions.”
“He didn’t blow up, so it’s hard to say,” Nessa sighed. “I’d thought we’d get a reaction of some kind, but he just nodded and went back to reading.”
“He was confused,” Daciana sighed. “He might back off or he might not.”
“I’m still curious what the plan was,” Gregory said.
Nessa and Daciana blushed slightly. “Well…” Nessa said slowly, “we told him that the two of us were together.”
“Oh,” Gregory nodded. “Yeah, if she’s already in a relationship…” He trailed off, thinking about how he’d felt when Yukiko and Jenn had kissed before they’d married.
“Yes, he might be thinking that he can be with both of them,” Yukiko said.
“He knows at least one man who has done similar,” Jenn said, giving Gregory a knowing smile.
“We’ll deal with it when we have to,” Daciana said.
Clover and Ling looked a little uncomfortable, but didn’t say anything.
“The carriage is waiting,” Gregory said to push past the embarrassment. “Let’s go.”
Reaching the stables next to the main gate, they found the clan carriage being readied. “Magi, I’ll be just a moment,” the driver said, his voice low and slow. “You may get in now.” The squat man had two horns that jutted out of the sides of his head.
“Thank you,” Yukiko replied.
Gregory opened the door then stood by to help the women in. Once they were all in, he frowned and looked inside. There was no other space open— as it was, the women were a little crowded. “I’ll ride with the driver.”
“Don’t you want to test an older theory on where I could sit if there wasn’t space?” Yukiko asked with glittering eyes and trembling lips.
Gregory coughed, shaking his head. “I’ll be with the driver.” He shut the door, hearing muted laughter coming from inside.
“I’ll be riding with you, sir, if that’s okay?” Gregory asked the driver.
“That’ll be fine, magi,” the driver replied. “We are good now.” He motioned Gregory to climb up.
Getting onto the bench seat at the front, Gregory settled in. “You’ll be okay coming back for us?”
“Magus Dia informed me as to what the schedule was, sir,” the driver replied. “I’ll be there to pick you all up.”
“Thank you…?” Gregory trailed off leadingly.
“Sorry, magi. I’m Rufous.”
“Thank you, Rufous. You can call me Greg. While you drive, can you explain how this works?” he motioned to the reins. “I’ve been in a number of carriages, but I don’t know how it all works.”
“It’s fairly straightforward,” Rufous said. “First, I release the brake…”
~*~*~
“Thank you again, Rufous,” Gregory said as he got down and opened the carriage door to help the women out.
“My pleasure, Greg,” Rufous smiled. “I’ll be back at the right time.”
“Thank you for the smooth ride,” Yukiko said as Gregory helped her out.
“A pleasure, magi,” Rufous replied, bowing his head to her.
Once they were out of the carriage, Jenn headed for the door. “This way, everyone.” She knocked and waited with a wide smile.
“Welcome to the Watashi residence, honored magi. Please, come in,” Elsa greeted them.
Gregory gave Rufous one more wave before he followed the others inside. He was surprised to see Enzo, the oldest boy with the goat eurtik blood, in a butler outfit standing beside Elsa.
“We will start as we should,” Yukiko told Elsa. “Gather the children for the Peaceful Fist, please.”
“Yes, magi,” Elsa said, bobbing a curtsy.
Enzo dipped a shallow bow as he turned on his heel and left with Elsa.
“Starting him on replacing her,” Jenn smiled sadly. “She’s going.”
“She’s going?” Victoria asked.
“That’s a story. We’ll give you the brief version as we change,” Yukiko told her. “Greg, we’ll be a little behind you.”
“I’ll have them waiting for you,” Gregory said and started down the hall to get his gi on.
~*~*~
Gregory smiled when he stepped into the garden. The children were all lined up and waiting, even Elsa and Enzo. “They’ll be here shortly. Elsa, you told them?”
“Yes,” Elsa said. “Enzo is learning from me and will be taking over when I leave.”
Cosette, the smallest girl of the group and a partial-crocodilian eurtik, sniffled once, but clearly was doing her best to put on a brave face.
“It’s okay to be upset. She’ll be here for a while yet,” Gregory said softly. “Learn while you can and think about what it might mean in the future. Every hardship is a chance to grow.”
“We’ll do our best,” Enzo said. “If Elsa is given this chance, we might get chances of our own later if we can prove we deserve them.”
“You’re correct,” Yukiko said as she led the others into the garden. “Maybe not with my family, but with the clan, or another growing family in the future.”
Cosette swallowed hard but nodded. “I’ll do it.”
“We have every faith in you,” Jenn said softly. “Are you all ready to train?”
A chorus of agreement came from the children.
“They are precious,” Clover beamed.
“Before we start,” Gregory said, “children, these are our friends and clanmates, Clover and Ling. They’re apprentices like we are.”
The children bowed formally as they’d been taught, their left hand cupping their right fist.
“We are honored to be here,” Ling said, bowing back.
“Vicky, you lead today,” Yukiko said.
“Gladly,” Victoria smiled. “Spread out so we may begin.”
~*~*~
With meditation over, the groups broke apart to rinse off. Since they hadn’t done much, Gregory opted to just use a basin and cloth for him and the boys while the women used the baths.
“Greg, will she be okay?” Enzo asked.
“Yuki’s mom is going to have her trained as her personal maid,” Gregory said. “Her parents are kind people. They raised Yuki to be who she is. It’ll be hard work, but we know Elsa can learn quickly.”
“We have to wait,” Reno, the boy with rabbit ears, said.
“A couple of years until you’re as old as Enzo,” Gregory said. “By then, maybe you can start to train with him.”
“More years for me,” Casper sniffled. He was the youngest of the boys, and his pig eurtik blood made his sniffling pronounced.
“That just means you get to learn more as you grow, making it easier for you later,” Gregory said.
Casper blinked his beady little eyes and sniffled again, then nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
“We know,” Enzo said, “and I’ll do my best to help you. I’m not as skilled as Elsa, but I’ll be doing my best for all of us, like she does.”
“Just be true to yourself,” Gregory said. “You aren’t replacing her. You’ll have your own way of doing things and that’s fine. As long as you do your best, it’ll be enough. That goes for all of you. Everyone is different… look at me compared to the others. Each of us has our own strengths and we use them to help each other.”
The boys nodded as they finished getting dressed.
“We’re going to go celebrate Yuki’s birthday. Is everything ready?”
“Baylyss said it would all be ready,” Enzo said. “She was finishing the cake when we went to train.”
“Let’s go surprise Yuki, though I’m sure it won’t be one to her,” Gregory chuckled. “Yuki’s hard to surprise.”
