Alistair finally managed to rip the wad of gum from his hair and stuck it on the arch, he then slid down and knocked his friends over.

“HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING BIGFOOT!” Elyan screamed, pushing him off of her. The trio got up and brushed themselves off. Max brought a finger to her lips to silence her.

"Where are all the mages?" Alistair wondered aloud. He could feel a hand rustling through his hair, looking up he saw their teacher, Lance.

"They stayed behind to fight." he said with a somber smile, "Those men chose to give their lives to help their families escape. It had to have been a massacre in Bellmare. These people are lucky to have escaped with their lives."

"Can't they start their own city somewhere else?" Elyan whined.

Lance gave her a slightly bemused look. "That’s easier said than done, cities can’t just form overnight. Besides Elyan, Bellmare was our greatest ally. If Doveport was destroyed and we had to leave Bellmare is the first place we would go to seek help. Helping our allies can only strengthen ourselves in return." He stroked his chin and his eyes narrowed. “And it would be rude to turn away such beautiful women.”

Alistair looked back to the refugees below them. A group of children were separated from the other refugees. Alistair frowned and pointed to them. "What's going to happen to them?"

"They must be orphans,” Lance shrugged, “I guess they'll be looked after one way or another."

That didn't sound particularly reassuring, but then Alistair didn't have to think too hard what it must be like with no family to look out for them. Alistair’s mother died during childbirth so he lives with his father, but he’s pretty much been fending for himself since he was three.

Lance continued, "They'll probably be enrolled in the academy. Some of them may even be in your classes."

Elyan made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat as if this was some major offense, while Max smirked at her, but Alistair stared at the kids in wonder. They were potential friends, competitors, and rivals. There could be someone down there who was just as good at combat magic. Despite not even being an official apprentice, no apprentice in the entirety of Doveport could match Alistair's skills in any area. He wondered how strong the apprentices of Bellmare were? Alistair didn't know much about that place other than just off the coast swirled the most dangerous whirlpools in the world. He wasn’t sure what a whirlpool was, but he knew they were big and often dispelled magic. But even then he probably knew more about the whirlpools than the people who lived around them.