The rest of the expedition turned out to be pretty uneventful. Arrieta and Neidr played and ate together, while Liam and Lizzy stewed in their own emotions. The rest of the days passed like a haze of calm. When Neidr's vision went black, and he appeared before Zalar's old, wrinkly visage, he didn't know whether to laugh or to frown. He was finally back, all of the others that made it had appeared beside him at the same time he had arrived. 

The old, familiar platform from where they had originally left become populated again in just a matter of seconds. Zalar let out a satisfied grin, seeing the numbers of peasant drastically reduce. Then, he looked at Arrieta and Neidr and snarled. He spoke in a booming voice, 

"Have you killed members of noble blood for their bracelets!?"[Zalar] Neidr leaped in shock and asked with worry,

"Do I have someone else's bracelet?"[Neidr] Zalar rolled his eyes and spat out, 

"Don't pretend you didn't steal it from Isaac!"[Zalar] Hearing this, Neidr's face went pale, he looked at Zalar and screamed hurriedly,

"Is Isaac ok? You said he was dead, did he not grab a bracelet in time? No, no, I'm sure he's alive!"[Neidr] Neidr's face became determined as he sternly shouted,

"We need to go back for him, a nobleman should not leave a another behind!"[Neidr] Zalar started to feel he and this kid were in two different conversations. Zalar couldn't help but ask,

"What are you talking about, recruit?"[Zalar] Neidr wiped the tears from his eyes and spoke slowly, his voice cracking.

"Isaac told me that guards from Cassalin were monitoring our bracelets, so we decided to hide them in the forest and go play without being watched. When the time came, we would grab a bracelet and wear it to be transferred back."[Neidr] Zalar's eyes sho wide open in fury, he yelled,

"Isaac would have no reason to do such a foolish thing, you're lying!"[Zalar] Neidr looked at the ground and spoke in a voice that was almost a whisper,

"He said, the guards would ruin his alone time with Susan."[Neidr] Hearing this, Zalar immediately covered his face with his palm. That actually sounded likely. That damn possessive pissant would be the ruin of him. He probably didn't put the bracelet on on time because he was too busy fooling around. Zalar started shaking from rage. Once he saw Neidr come back with Isaac's bracelet and Isaac himself nowhere to be found, he had thought the son of one of his close allies was killed in the expedition by Neidr, that impertinent brat.  Thinking it over, though, Neidr had no magic. How was he supposed to kill Isaac? Zalar swore that he would teach Isaac the meaning of pain once he found him. Zalar muttered something and dismissed the initiates to go back to their dorms, before teleporting, presumably to look for Isaac.

Everyone went their separate ways, carrying their newly found gains to their rooms. Neidr walked steadily back to his room, thinking that all his years in drama had done well for him. For the first time in a long time, Neidr laid down in his bed and relaxed. The next day was training as usual with Laszlo. 

Upon seeing Neidr alive, Laszlo let out a bright smile. He clapped the young man on the shoulder and said,

"Well done, you survived. "[Laszlo] Neidr gave a small smirk, but didn't respond, Laszlo continued,

"I think it's finally time to start teaching you the blade."[Laszlo] Laszlo pulled out two wooden swords, throwing one to Neidr, Laszlo adopted a one-armed sword dueling stance, saying curtly, 

"Adopt my stance."[Laszlo] Neidr did so and Laszlo went about explaining various guards and their uses. Adopting each guard as he spoke of it and asking Neidr to do the same. After a few hours had passed, Laszlo asked Neidr to strike at him with the sword, Neidr obliged. Every attack would be caught or deflected. Then, he would ask Neidr to defend, Neidr was successful at first. As Laszlo started to swing faster, there was less and less time to think about how to deflect the attacks, and strikes got through.

Satisfied, Laszlo dismissed Neidr. Sore, Neidr returned to his room in the hopes of securing rest, but rest would not be found. Azalea stood in front of his door with her arms crossed, tapping her foot. Apparently awaiting his arrival. He didn't know what he did to piss her off and frankly, he didn't care. He just didn't want to deal with it right now. Fortunately, she hadn't seen him yet, so he turned around and walked to Arrieta's room. Surely, she would let him crash there.  

***

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'Calm down, Azalea, calm down.' Azalea scanned the hallways, checking one side and then the other. News had gotten around that Neidr was on good terms with Isaac and thus the Cykes family. Those pieces of sh... hmmm

Those people who were not very pleasing to Azalea's eye. Thay had stolen countless subordinates from her, and she felt that she was about to lose another. She had to put her foot down and make it clear, those under house Cerns will have nothing to do with those reprehensi...

Esteemed nobles. She had made her way straight here in hopes to set things straight as fast as she could, it turned out that Neidr wasn't home though. She imagined he was taking some nonsense class, truly a waste of his time. The thought of swordsmanship made her want to scoff. She waited and waited. Day turned to night, and he still wasn't here. Azalea felt like she was about to tear her hair out.

How long could a class be? Then a fire started burning in her palm,

"Is he avoiding me?"[Azalea] She snarled, and thought to herself,

'Where would he hide?' She spoke one word and rushed down the hallways,

"Arrieta's"[Azalea]