“Alright, now, you have your semester exams coming up soon, so let’s go back to basics and do some reviews of what we’ve learned over the duration of the course, alright?" Kevza asked his class, writing two names on the board at the front of the room before turning back to the group of brand-new first years. “Who can tell me the difference between the Meridian and the Ether? Anyone?”

            He paused for a moment before pointing to one of the students in the first row with their hand raised. “Yes, you.”

            “The Meridian is an energy field that separates us from the Ether, which is an undefined space we don’t fully understand,” the student answered.

            “Very good, very good,” Kevza nodded. “And can you tell me how that knowledge affects your alchemical studies?”

            “Ummm….” The student looked down at their notes, nibbling on the tip of their feather pen as they shuffled through them, their fellow classmates turning through their own papers.

            “Oh, I’ve got it!” another student said excitedly, raising their hand.

            “Well, go ahead and share,” Kevza said, perching on the edge of his desk.

            “The Meridian is a barrier, and when energy from the Ether passes through it causes reactions! When we handle these reactions, energy is left behind in the form of deposits, which we can then gather and use for alchemy and to better understand the Ether!”

            “That is correct, and very well put, thank you,” Kevza nodded, grinning as the student lit up with a smile of their own.

            A few students still had their hands raised, but the session dial on the wall flipped, turning from green to blue, a small bell sound indicating the time.

            “Ah, it would seem that’s all we have for today,” Kevza lamented. “Hold on to your questions for the next class.” The students started to pack up their loose papers of notes into thin leather binders, preparing to leave for their next set of lectures and training drills. “Also, so you are all aware, my squad received an assignment today, so starting tomorrow Ser Bores will be covering lectures until I get back.”

            He couldn’t help but chuckle at the loud groans that met the announcement.

            “Ah, you’ll be fine! Bores is a good teacher.”

            “Ser Bores was your teacher, Ser Kevza,” one student whined. “You have to say nice things about him.”

            “They call him Bores because he’s boring,” another whispered to their friend with a giggle.

            “Well, what do you expect? He’s old as dirt!” another said with a snicker.

            “Be nice,” the teacher warned without heat, pointing to the group who only laughed harder. “Since I’ll be gone, your study papers on magical depositories and their natural occurrences will be pushed back to the end of the month, use the extra time to catch up on any slacking you’ve been doing.” He moved to stand next to the door and usher the students out. “I expect you all to be overflowing with a wealth of knowledge by the time I come back, alright?”

            The kids filed out and dispersed, some pausing to wish him and his team well, others to chat and ask about various little things, and he waved them off with a smile.

            “A rowdy bunch, those,” a voice called from down the hall and Kevza smiled as Pasha made her way over, looking like she’d just finished with her own archery class.

            “They’re good kids,” he answered with a smile, pulling back into his classroom, and moving to organize his notes for Bores on the curriculum.

            “They like you. That’s a powerful thing for a teacher to have.”

            “I know,” he laughed. “One of the boys asked me to bring back ‘something cool’ from our trip to show them.” He shook his head with a smile. “I’ve indulged them one too many times and it’s birthed a beast.”

            “Hawthgrove is known for its deposits,” Pasha pointed out. “Maybe we could harvest some raw materials and you could let them have a look before you drop them off with the refiner’s office for study.”

            “That’s not a bad idea,” he nodded. “We’re working through the basics of depositories at the moment anyway. It might be helpful to have some tactile learning.”

            “That’s how they do it in the Coven, isn’t it?” Pasha asked, leaning against the door casually, even as Kevza tensed. “Show you the books and then toss you out on an adventure to see it all in action?”

            “Something like that.” He gave a strained chuckle. “It was structured a bit more like a field trip than an adventure, but it’s the same gist of things.”

            “Ah, that must have been so exhilarating,” she sighed, seemingly unaware of his discomfort. “But you must be busy, I’ll leave you to it.” And she pushed off with a wave.

Later that night, after dinner and his visit to the requisitioning office to request extra containment vials, Kevza sat on the edge of his bed, half-packed to leave in the morning. Containment cleanups were not too out of place in their line of work, but Hawthgrove was regularly broken through, and their guild hall should have no problem taking care of the aftereffects. But then again, there had been whisperings of various places being hit with harder and harder breaches from the Ether, resulting in larger pulls from the stronger guilds all over the continent.

            If it was true, it would be unsettling, to say the least.

            A part of him distantly wondered if the Coven had been having issues as well, but he was quick to push it out of his thoughts. The Coven was easily able to handle just about anything with their tie to the Meridian. They had the advantage of using the same direct line of power as most of their semi-monstrous opponents, instead of having to rely on second-hand magic like the alchemists.

            He shook his head, going back to packing. Pasha didn’t have a filter, he knew that, and he knew she meant nothing by it, but with her casual questions earlier, she’d managed to stir up the old memories.

            He couldn’t help it when it was brought up so brazenly. It had been years since he’d been expelled, and on most days, the matter was put to rest, but from the ages of seven to sixteen, Domen Keep had been his home, and the Coven his family. Sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder how they were now that he was gone.

            Wonder how he was, now that Kevza was gone.