The student dorms were busier than normal for this time of day, as was to be expected from the rain driving most to shelter inside. “Most” not including the number of nymphs, sirens, merrow, and an assortment of non-aquatic students who simply enjoyed the tropical rain. Which left the common rooms crowded with all those who weren’t like Isak who saw no problem in using his own room as a meeting room. The crowded halls and common rooms reminded Isak of navigating the city portal hubs when he first ventured forth to Black Reef Institute and dealt with crowds of a size he had never experienced before.

As the group of friends and their familiars made their way up to Isak and Zyn’s room, the human found himself growing a bit more at ease as the number of students thinned.

“Are you well, Isak?” Tonauac asked with a tiny bit of concern showing in his eyes.

“I’m still adjusting to how many people there are here.” The human responded as Tonauac and Zyn both nodded in agreement. “Waaay too many.”

The other two boys shared a look the moment after their nodding and agreeing came to an abrupt stop, as even their familiars seemed to share in the four way stare of empathy. Zyn was the one to ask “Right, small town. I forgot for a second and thought I could relate.”

“Yeah, there’s far too few people here!” The lizardfolk lamented as he waited to the side of Isak and Zyn’s door, waiting for Zyn to stop rolling his eyes and unlock it.

“Okay, nevermind.” He said as he clicked the lock open with his key. “All sense of being able to relate has been retracted. Isak is used to way too few people and Tonauac is used to way too many. Xoco, any chance you can back me up here or…?”

The tall troll girl averted her eyes as she gave gentle scratches to Nelli’s neck and hung to the back of the group near Isak and gave him a weak smile. “Actually I prefer small groups of people I’m close to over numerous people I don’t know.”

Zyn threw his hands in the air as he led the way into their dorm, with Ozzy throwing a few tentacles in the air as well. “Yup, I knew it! It’s just me and you, Ozzy.”

“Heh, yup. It suuure is.” Isak said as he hung back as the others entered, lingering on that smile that Xoco had given him and what she had said before he ushered even Vidal ahead of him so that he could give a final glance up and down the hallway before darting in and pulling the door shut behind him as he pressed himself with his back flat against the door with an ear pressed to white painted wood to listen for any sounds from just the other side.

When he had confirmed that there was nothing lurking out there, or at least nothing audible, he turned back to his terribly confused friends, then to a resolutely staring Vidal who of course showed zero reaction. Which was at least enough confirmation that there was likely no danger.

“Okay...I can explain.” Isak said while brushing a still damp black lock of just-starting-to-be-long hair out of his eyes.

“You’re not an assassin, are you?” Xoco asked after having already taken a ready stance despite the apparent lack of a weapon.

“What?!? No-”

“Nah.” Zyn scoffed as he took a seat on his own bed, letting Ozzy scuttle down and over to a clay jar the drow had obtained for him to use as shelter. “I was working on homework the other night and he fell asleep before me. A real assassin would never be the first to sleep.”

“Hey!”

“Thank The Tetrad!” Tonauac gave a relieved sigh as he pulled up a chair and flopped down into it as Patli flapped onto the arm. He shifted around until his tail was in a comfortable enough position before casting a light spell in his hand to illuminate the dim room. “If one of my new best friends turned out to be an assassin I just don’t think I’d be able to defend myself through the tears.”

“I-...that’s kind of a lot to process but we’ll circle back to it eventually. After I finally tell you all why I brought you here!” Isak said, raising his voice and shaking his hands like he wanted to throttle the next person to interrupt. He steadied his breathing and gave a stern look to Vidal to confirm that everything was just fine and no one needed to have their windpipe crushed by a pair of stone hands today. The human looked around from Zyn remaining silent though suppressing a chuckle to Tonauac quietly sitting and smiling and finally to Xoco sitting on Isak’s bed with Nelli curled up in her lap. “Xoco uh...you good?”

“You said you were not an assassin so I believed you.” She said with a smile. “Also I didn’t want to be rude and interrupt as you were trying to explain yourself.”

The lizardfolk and drow both slunk down in their respective seats, Ozzy scampered into his hiding jar, and even Patli decided to hop back along the armrest away from the subtle yet savage blow that had been dealt.

Isak, while appreciative, was now very aware of having no idea what to do with his hands as he failed at a number of gestures while looking around the lit only by Tonauac’s light since of course his drow roommate never bothered with the lights.

“Uh, yeah. Thank you.” he mumbled as he turned to rectify the light situation.

His hands having purpose again, he tapped at a sigil on one of the sconces near the door to cast a pale glow over the room of his now patiently waiting friends as Tonauac extinguished his now unneeded light.

“Okay, right.” He took a seat on the bed next to Xoco, with a perfectly respectable distance between the two remaining because they were friends and this was no time to make it weird and the tiny smirk that Zyn was shooting him was fake and didn’t exist even though Isak’s two seconds of intense glaring back at him was very real. “So I have Vidal news and Isak news, let’s get to the Vidal news first!”

The human spent a short time explaining the recent discovery about Vidal, down to every last detail of what had led to that discovery. From there he broke into a good amount of theorizing that was tinged with more than a little bit of wishful thinking that they may finally have some solid lead into the giant bag of mysteries that the rock man was turning out to be.

“In summary,” Isak concluded “I’m open to ideas. I’ve got a few, but I want to hear some of yours.”

Tonauac’s hand raised after a few moments of looking around the room. Isak sighed as he called on him.

“This isn’t class, you don’t have to raise your hand.” He said as he shook his head. “But go ahead.”

“Sorry, I now realize I was being rude earlier so I wanted to be better about that.”  The lizardlad said with clear hesitancy and drooping yellow eyes.

“That’s very thoughtful of you and I am not mad.” Isak said, offering a reassuring smile. “Now, what was your idea?”

Tonauac stood while he gestured for Patli to stay in place. He walked over to Vidal and studied him for a moment. “Vidal you don’t have memories of anything before Isak brought you to life, right?”

“That is correct.”

“But you do have...hang on...hang on what’s the word uh…” The lizardfolk turned to the group who were equally as lost as he was and shrugged back at him. “Instincts! That’s it! Instincts to protect Isak! Wait, no. That’s probably just the runes. Nevermind guys, I’ve got nothing.”

The lizardfolk slumped his shoulders before shuffling back to sink back down into his seat in defeat. All others were silent in thought as they focused on Vidal. 

Zyn was attempting to lure Ozzy back out of his hiding jar when he hopped to his feet and snapped. “Wait, wait you might be onto something!”

The group looked up at him as Isak motioned for him to continue.

“Remember how I said The Queens would use control tattoos on their slaves? Well those tattoos didn’t work on corpses or those who had their minds erased!” Zyn said with a triumphant smile as everyone grimaced in horror.

It was Isak’s turn to raise his unsteady hand and Zyn’s turn to call on him. “Yes, Isak?”

“What uh...what exactly was the purpose of keeping someone alive but with an erased mind?”

“Do we want to focus on something really disturbing or the cool rock man?” Zyn asked with a grim stare.

The entire group hastily pointed and waved at Vidal with urgency in their eyes, even Ozzy finally emerged from his hiding jar to point a tentacle.

“Right, so those tattoos even worked on beasts so unless Vidal is just some completely weird thing that’s beyond the work of even The Old Masters he’s gotta have some kinda base personality or instinct!” His fist was held aloft in triumph for a moment longer before it fell to his side. “Hey Xoco, if I got you some of those tattoo designs do you think you could check them for any similarities to Vidal’s runes?”

“You mean the highly illegal ones?” The jungle troll said, reeling back.

“The very same.”

“Um, yes?” She said, now petting Nelli faster out of clear nerves, though the feathered serpent didn’t seem to mind and only blithely flicked her tongue out.

“Great! It will take a while, so Isak what was that idea you had in the meantime?” Zyn asked as he returned to his seat on his bed next to Ozzy doing his best hermit crab interpretation.

“Oh.” The human boy cleared his throat. “I was just thinking that I’d get a journal to always keep on me and take notes whenever a question comes up that Vidal gives another suspiciously vague answer to so that I can try to piece together a picture of...I dunno, like a past life? Hidden knowledge? A bit boring but..yeah you know what it’s a du-”

“Fantastic idea!” Xoco said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Evidence gathering is critical to greater understanding!”

Isak felt a bit of heat rising to his face as smiled and chuckled “Heh, yeah it’s a basic plan but sometimes you have to basically start with the basics. For a strong base. Of knowledge. So thank you, yeah.”

The human was now painfully aware of yet defiantly ignoring the looks that Zyn and Tonauac were giving him from just at the edge of his peripheral vision. He hopped down off his bed and rummaged around in his luggage for a personalized leather bound journal bearing Isak’s name in Lavi Wastelander. “There we go! Rock notes! Old Lady Palomba gave it to me as a thanks for the whole mome beast thing. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t really a journal type of guy but now I am!”

He took down some fast notes that he would flesh out later before setting the journal aside. “Now! Onto that other bit of news that I have! Someone was following me in the library. I didn’t get a look at them but I did know that they were there and trying to match my footsteps.”

This time, even Vidal joined in the surprised gawking. At least as much as a rock man could show shock that wasn’t literally lightning arcing over his form.

“E-excuse me?!?” Xoco was the first to make her surprise known.

“Isak you have the worst sense of dramatic delivery.” Zyn slumped over onto his side as Ozzy chirped.

“Well there’s no good way of bringing something like that up!” Isak protested with crossed arms and a scowl that shifted into raised brows as his vision landed on an unphased Tonauac. “You’re taking this well.”

Tonauac simply shrugged as he pulled a piece of dried meat from his bag to hand to Patli. “Not everything in this world is terrible, Isak. Maybe it was one of our classmates who was going to ask for some help with homework but instead found exactly the book that they were looking for. Maybe someone was curious about Vidal but lost their nerve to ask more about him.”

“Okay, but-” Isak held up his hands. “it’s probably Jearx finding a way to mess with me. Or someone else that hates humans or Wastelanders or I don’t know! I know my luck though!”

“Your luck that got you an elemental shifting pet rock and three friends at magic school in a matter of days?” The lizardlad asked in an even tone that was free of any mocking or snark.

Isak held up a finger and prepared to voice just why exactly he was unlucky. Of coming from nowhere and nothing and the other other news from today about how he was just the worst at having a link with his familiar. His hand fell to his side before he crossed his arms and grit his teeth and looked away from all his friends. “That...there’s more to it than that. But it’s something to keep in mind! The being followed thing, I mean.”

“Being followed by mysterious unknown parties with possibly nefarious goals is no joke!” Xoco wagged a finger at Tonauac who looked positively crestfallen before she too crossed her arms and looked off. “It’s a very serious matter!”

Zyn’s brows had been pressed together in concern until one raised up enough that had Isak been looking, he would have realized the look of a nefarious plot that was confirmed with a brief flash of an equally nefarious smirk. “No no, you two are right. It’s a very serious thing and you two clearly have a shared concern. So you should spend more time together to keep an eye out for each other's mysterious stalkers.”

Both heads of the stalked whipped around to gawk or glare at the not so innocently smiling drow. Several seconds into staring daggers at his friend, Isak’s vision broke off towards Vidal and his glare softened. He remembered his words from earlier, and though it perhaps wasn’t the intended application he decided to take a chance on something.

Just a little one.

“Well,” The human sat up straight. “I was going to suggest we all just hang out more when we can, and while we can still do that...yeah. You know we can spend more time together, Xoco. I would enjoy that. I mean...so long as you don’t mind-”

Zyn rolled his eyes as he accepted the minor victory of his friend being at least a little bit cool while talking to a girl he liked for almost several seconds. It was progress, he thought to himself.

The jungle troll had taken to brushing and fixing her long violet braid while Nelli stared blankly at Vidal. “I wouldn’t mind! So long as you don’t mind my possibly lethal stalkers I won’t mind your possibly lethal stalkers!” she said all at once while turning a darker green.

“I still think at least Isak’s case might not be so bad…” Tonauac mumbled from his seat as Patli nudged at his head.

Isak chewed at his tongue before sighing. “We’ll hope for that, but expect it to be worse. Like what I assume Xoco is dealing with from the sounds of it.”

There was a small moment of wondering what he had gotten himself into as he actually didn’t know that situation at all and had no idea that this was even a problem that Xoco was facing. But there was absolutely no backing down now.

“Know what?” The human announced. “This is all pretty heavy. I know we said this weekend for the book club thing but why don’t we get a jump on that now?”

The group agreed to do so, eager to lighten the mood and having to substitute a talk about literature in general rather than any specific books they had read as they had not yet had the chance to get to their “assigned” reading. Isak once again found himself more than a little lost at not being nearly as familiar with the latest in literature. Instead he was able to get some raised brows for his knowledge of some more obscure classics. Which happened to be all that Isak was able to get out in his corner of the Western Wastes but that knowledge wasn’t critical. 

Time passed far too fast and Xoco and Tonauac eventually had to excuse themselves to make it back to their dorm before curfew. The lizardfolk practiced handshakes with Isak as they re-avowed their promise to meet up tomorrow for spell practice before he left down the hallway. As Xoco went to leave, she handed Isak her umbrella.

“I always keep a spare and my parents insisted I bring several as backup.” The jungle troll said leaving no room for protest, despite Isak’s clear and deliberate attempts to push it back into her hands she simply avoided his attempts and busied herself with lifting Nelli onto her neck as she stepped past the door in a long stride. “Have a good night and keep your eyes out for nefarious stalkers!”

“You too?” Isak asked as he was still in the process of getting over someone else presenting a gift to him. He supposed it was thanks for his offer to team up with her and watch out for each other's respective problem of people following them. Which, now that he thought about it, he was right back at owing her even more. Only as she was waving from down the hall did he remember to wave back before closing the door.

To find a smirking Zyn waiting for him just on the other side, causing him to jump back. “How are you so silent?!?”

“Muffle spell.” He said, red eyes looking far too amused.

“Oh. Yeah that makes sense.” Isak noted as he shot a quick glare at Vidal who had long deemed these actions by Zyn ‘technically not a threat’ so that he wouldn’t intervene. “Also shut up.”

Zyn took a step back with a gasp, flourishing his hand before holding it to his heart. “Why, whatever seems to be the problem, Isak?”

“You know.”

“I know only that my dear human friend is making progress in talking to girls!”

“Shut up!” Isak retreated to his side of the dorm.

“And this mysterious stalker, why...they might be a secret admirer! Perhaps Xoco has some competition!”

The human only groaned as he flopped down on his bed, burying his face in his pillow.

“She could even be tall!”

Isak raised his head up from his pillow to channel the power of The Void himself through his eyes to strike the snarky drow dead where he stood. He was going to study so much magic and spells so ancient and forbidden that this power would be his. Vidal too would share in this power and become a rock of death as a ward against smug drow.

Zyn deflecte these futile attempts with a smug shrug and grin as he took a seat on his bed. “But seriously though, I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“Because you’ll already be following me from the shadows?” Isak asked with a roll of his eyes.

“No, because friends look out for each other.” Zyn said as he let Ozzy crawl up onto his arm. “Also it’s a drow thing.  Friends and family keep eyes on one another in the good way! So that anyone trying to spy on you in the bad way can be found out and dealt with! Which is my way of saying sorry I was dealing with the whole…” The drow grimaced and shook his hands about. “sky water thing instead of keeping an eye on you.”

Isak stared at his friend with a raised brow, not fully certain that that was a real cultural practice but very certain that Zyn was being genuine. “Uh...it’s nothing, man. I guess I’ll...try returning the favor?”

Zyn dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “While it would be appreciated, it is not necessary. Though Tonauac has already made his effort. His poor, pathetic yet well meaning effort.”

“Fine fine I’ll spy on my friend!” Even Isak was confused by what he was saying. “Vidal, you can be sneaky right?”

The rock man looked at Isak, then down at himself that was currently making a light yet noticeable sound like that of a babbling brook or decorative fountain. “Not in this form, nor any other you have access to Master Isak.”

The two boys and Ozzy shared a look as Isak pulled out his journal to take down some notes while Zyn cheered on the welcomed progress of gathering evidence.