X Marks the Spot

A pink paper crane fluttered under the door. Mildred snatched it up, and Airi leaned over her shoulder to read it.

‘I, [Mage Hestia], hereby assign [Mildred] to [Stone Valley], for the purpose of defeating [Gold the Dragon].’

"Hahh..." Mildred's breath hissed out.

“What? Is Gold that strong?” Airi tried to recall the dragon she and Nestor had encountered beneath the Wrath Mountains. It hadn’t been particularly large or aggressive.

“Gold the Dragon is a Calamity.” Mildred noticed Airi’s confusion. “A Calamity is a monster that’s caused the deaths of over 5 mages.”

Deaths? Of over 5 mages? Airi studied the bags under Mildred’s ice-blue eyes and her solemn lips. Mildred could be the next one to die. For some reason, that thought disturbed her immensely.

The paper crane was half-crumpled in Mildred's hand. “I should’ve known she would send me. After so many died, she wants to kill Gold as quickly as possible.”

Airi smiled disbelievingly. Even Kazuko had been protective of her friends, to an extent. She’d seen them as distant extensions of herself, and therefore worthy of defending. “I thought Marianne was friends with you. She’s friends with everyone.”

“That’s never stopped her from putting us in danger.” Mildred read the paper crane one more time, as if hoping the words would change. “Yours should be on the way.”

Right on cue, another paper crane slid under the door. It unfolded into an envelope covered in Marianne's cursive: ‘Deliver this to Mage Calypso at the Flooded Garden. It’s well-known—you can’t miss it!’ She’d dotted all the i’s with hearts.

Airi turned over the envelope, looking for the mage she’d be working with, and found a single line on the back.

‘P.S. Stone Valley is on the way to Swamp Glade. Have fun <3’

She whirled to Mildred. “She’s making us go together, isn’t she? Ohh, that’s so... argh—”

“Ugh, she’s so—”

They both paused. “Honestly, I don't mind,” Airi said. “I mean, it's not as bad as it could be. Better you than Henry, anyways.”

“I don’t mind if you don't mind,” Mildred said, breaking into a rare smile. “Pack your things. I’m going to the library to find some useful spellbooks. We should leave before nightfall.”

“What’ll Marianne do if we're still here after nightfall?” Airi asked.

“She’ll knock on the door and demand to have ‘one last sleepover’ for good luck’s sake,” Mildred said grimly. “I’d rather not deal with that.”

Someone knocked on the door. Airi saw Nestor through the peephole. He looked distraught.

“Airi!” he said. “Did you hear the news? About Esther escaping?”

“Yeah,” Airi said. She sat down on Mildred’s bed. “But Esther’s not in the Lower Palace anymore. You don’t have to be scared.”

“You don’t get it! It’s all my fault!”

Airi’s head whirled. “How is it your fault?”

“I gave her my spellbook to read.”

Airi relaxed. “Monsters can’t even cast spells.”

“Yes, but listen! In the story, the river decides to go explore the world. I think... I think the story encouraged her to run away!” Nestor gasped.

Airi thought about this. Given Esther’s erratic personality, anything felt possible. After all, no matter how human she looked, she was a monster.

“...Was there any proof?”

“What? I’m telling the truth!” Nestor said hysterically.

“I know, I know. Was there any proof that you gave the spellbook to her? Like, did anybody see you?”

Nestor shook his head. “No—”

Airi sighed in relief, thoughts of expulsion and arrest evaporating. “Good; then there’s no need to worry. You won’t get in trouble. Just don’t tell anyone and—”

“Don’t you get it? It’s my fault!” Nestor said frantically. “I wanted to help people, and now all these people are dead because of me! I have to find her!”

“Shhhh!” Airi said, glancing around Mildred’s bedroom. “Okay, okay! I get it! Keep it down! You can’t help anyone if you’re in the dungeons.”

She sat Nestor down. “Look, I know you think it’s your fault.”

“It is!”

“You know what’s the best thing you can do right now? Stay here and study hard. If you go out there, you’ll end up like...” Like one of the 10 dead mages.

Nestor shook his head. “I don’t care! It’s my fault. I need to—”

“No, listen. I’m telling you, you’re not allowed to leave the Lower Palace. You’re not allowed to skip class.” Airi made him look her in the eye. “Promise me. Pinky promise.”

His eyes landed on the satchel on the bed. “Are you leaving?”

“...Yeah. But I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“Marianne gave me and Mildred a top-secret assignment. Isn’t that cool?” She’d hoped that would make his eyes light up, but he only looked even more worried.

“No, you can’t leave!”

In truth, this whole conversation felt so foreign that all Airi wanted to do was leave right now.

“I have to,” she snapped, which brought tears to his eyes. She put her hand on his shoulder gingerly, as if touching a hot stove. “Nestor, I’m sorry. But I can’t stay here forever.”

“I can’t do it without you. I can’t become a great mage.”

“You’ll just have to believe in yourself when I’m gone.” Airi touched her hand to her head, as if scooping up an invisible object, and poured it into Nestor’s hand. “Here, I’m giving you my belief in you. Take good care of it until I get back, okay?”

Nestor cupped the imaginary belief as if it were a real object. “...Okay. I’ll do my best.” He clenched his hand into a fist.

Airi lifted her hand from his shoulder. “I know you will. Go back to your dormitory. Make some friends. I’ll be back before you know it.”

After Nestor left, Airi packed her meager belongings into the satchel. Since she was going to be leaving the palace, there wasn’t a point in wearing mage robes anymore. She folded a selection of dresses into the satchel and stuffed the star shard at the very bottom, careful to wrap it in a pair of stockings in case it poked through the bag. Mildred still wasn’t back.

I’ll go look for her.

While searching for the library, Airi passed Marianne’s office. She thought she heard a faint sound from inside, like a muffled sob.

It was definitely her imagination. During the emergency meeting, Marianne hadn’t looked nervous even once.

Alone in her office, Marianne buried her face in a vase of lilies. Through spotted pink petals, her eyes fell upon the map on her desk. Mountains and lakes and plains sprawled on the parchment, dotted with Xs in red ink. She could look at each X and recall their names perfectly.

Lydia, age 23. Killed by Gold the Dragon. Her favorite flowers had been violets, because they matched her eyes.

Oberon, age 60. Killed by Charybdis. Every week, he’d walked up four flights of stairs to visit his wife in the city.

More, and more. Their faces bloomed from seeds of memory. She’d never attended a single one of their funerals; she’d always sent flowers.

Her eyes followed the Lullaby River to a spot on the map where six red Xs blotted the parchment. Stone Valley.

Marianne thought of the assignment she’d given Mildred and her non-magical friend. They were so adorable! If she could, she would grant them peaceful days in the Sunroom and long nights joking around the dining tables. But instead...

“I’m sending my friends to their deaths,” she whispered, as she had often done before. It was an odd feeling, like a part of her was marching off with her friends on their uncertain journeys, never to be seen again.