“Niko, what did you say Fionn’s surname was?”

“I didn’t,” Niko replied, bassy voice strained. He huffed, waved his hand, and a burst of green sprouted from the wooden desk. A miniature hedge of holly began to grow upwards, slowly blocking the figure beside him from view.

“H-hey! Niko!” Laurent screeched, standing if only so he could try and keep his head above the steadily growing shrubbery.

Niko ignored him, twirled his pen in his hand, and looked back down at the half-plotted essay he’d been working on about the importance of natural material in Earthen arcana. He admittedly chuckled and glanced over to the hedge that had grown well beyond his planned outcome. Shit, he’d have to pay for that, and his father would be pissed. However, he had just proven the whole point of his essay topic. He was arguing that Earthen spells worked best when they had naturally occurring foundations versus conjured ones, and that emotions played a large part in how effective a spell was.

The desk was made of Oak, was old, and already had termites living in it, as evidenced by how easily the wood splintered and gave way to his seedling. It was the perfect base for a spell to say … grow a hedge to keep a classmate from asking you the same question that you had been asked for weeks in a different font. This led to the other part of his argument—emotions. Annoyance was prime fertilizer for spellcraft, and holy shit, he had enough of it to go around. Plenty to cultivate a whole army of misplaced shrubs if he were being honest. It had been building up, word by word, every time someone asked him who Fionn was.

He knew who Fionn was—his friend. His best friend. Fionn was the redheaded brat who beat the shit out of a bully when he was thirteen and had been glued to his side ever since. Fionn was kind, albeit impatient, liked astronomy, flowers, books, and hot cocoa. Fionn was the person he told his secrets to and one of the few people, other than his mother, who had seen him cry. Fionn was …

Niko’s thoughts drifted, and his blue eyes settled on the silver ring around his left pinky. “Gods damn it,” he hissed, closed the two books he’d gathered from the library, and started rolling up the parchment he’d been scribbling away on. No, it wasn’t possible. Fionn would not keep that kind of thing from him. It was all bullshit—gossip—meant to try and stir up trouble. Fionn was nothing like that Blood Mage who had done everything in their power to destroy the natural world. Fionn loved the natural world.

Niko stood abruptly, ignoring the looks he got from the other students scattered around the library, and the distasteful one he received from the Librarian. He bypassed another round of questions from Laurent, waved his hand, and the hedge he'd grown between them wilted and decayed like flowers in Winter. He shoved his things in the bag he'd thrown over his shoulder, aimed for the front desk, and dug into his pocket for a scrap of parchment to write on.

"I'll pay for the desk. How much is a new one?" Niko asked, eyes lifting to meet the severe beady set behind half-moon spectacles.

"150 gold coins," Marianne, the Head Librarian, replied. She'd barely looked up over the book she was engrossed in.

Niko scribbled the total down, nodded, and said, "I'll bring it by later this week."

He didn't wait for a reply or a dismissal; he turned and practically ran out of the massive double doors leading into the central corridor. He didn't know if he was trying to outrun Laurent or his own thoughts, and he knew the latter wouldn't work, but be damned if he wouldn't at least try. Somehow, a migraine had already started teasing his temples like some egregious foreplay. Couldn't outrun that, which meant that he couldn't outrun the thoughts urging it on. Unfortunate.

Niko pressed his tongue into the roof of his mouth and started applying pressure in a circular motion at the center of his head. He'd been told to do that to help with headaches by his mother when he was a kid, and he didn't know if it actually worked or if it was some placebo effect that numbed the pain. Either way, it helped marginally, at least enough for him to attempt to think straight about where he was going and why he was in such a hurry. Right, afternoon lecture, and if he hurried, then he could grab a spot in the back and hopefully avoid anyone approaching him. Plus, if he were in the back, then Fionn would be able to find him more easily, and both of them could avoid the gawking eyes at the backs of their heads.

Niko took a corner sharply, already preoccupying his hands with his long black hair and trying to pull it up into a messy ponytail. His father complained about it, always told him to cut it, but his mother had always liked it long, so he kept it that way. He hadn't cut it in ... eight years? Not since she died.

"You want some help?"

"Yeah," Niko replied absentmindedly, stopping and stepping over to the left so he could linger in the alcove beside a bronzed statue of a cat with wings. He spoke, acted, before he thought, and his brain didn't kick into gear until he felt hands in his hair, carefully trying to tame the windblown strands. Fionn. Fionn was the one helping him, and where exactly Fionn had come from, he didn't exactly know.

"Were you in the library?" Niko asked.

"No, but I'm assuming you were," Fionn replied, laughing. "I was diligently studying the proper way to mix reagents, and saw you barreling by like an ivy trellis," he said.

"What?" Niko asked, laughing despite himself. He felt a small tap on the back of his head and turned when his hair was carefully parted and left to fall neatly over each shoulder.

"Well, you don't really dabble in weather, so ivy was the angriest plant I could think of," Fionn replied, grinning so large his dimples flared.

"You do realize that ivy usually symbolizes the opposite of anger, right?" Niko teased, shoved the redhead playfully, and then started walking as soon as Fionn locked arms with him.

"True, but certain species of ivy are highly invasive and aggressive. My point stands," Fionn replied, grinning, and hiked the bag farther up on his shoulder. "Won't we be a bit earlier than usual for the afternoon lecture?"

"Preferably. If Laurent gets out of the library, I don't want him to catch up and start asking me stupid shit again," Niko sighed, eye twitching, and he instantly regretted saying anything.

Fionn got quiet, stiff, and he noticed that the redhead was purposefully not looking at him. Right, Fionn wasn't ignorant of the rumors... people just didn't ask him about it outright. They either didn't say anything at all and just avoided Fionn, or they made comments as if they were trying to elicit a reaction that would serve as definitive proof that Fionn was who they wanted him to be.

Niko frowned, brow furrowing, and then nudged Fionn with his shoulder. "Hey," he said.

Fionn looked over, green eyes wide. "Yeah?" he asked.

"What if we skip the afternoon lecture, get some grub, and then go to the observatory instead? That meteor shower is happening tonight, right?" Niko said.

Fionn's face lit up, and he grinned. "Really? Won't your Dad complain about your perfect attendance?" he asked.

Niko felt this weird twist in his stomach, and he swallowed as if more saliva would somehow help his stomach acid digest it faster. Probably, but he hadn't seen Fionn's eyes so joyfully green in weeks, and that was worth at least a fifteen-minute yelling match with his old man. Niko shrugged, nudged them down a side hall, and started aiming them for the front doors of the Academy. "Probably, but he won't get any updates for a few months, so I'll worry about it then," he said.

Fionn gasped and said, "Do my ears deceive me? Did I hear Niko Harding, eldest of one of the oldest families in High Elf society, and heir to the Nyx Enchanting throne, say he would worry about his father later?"

Niko rolled his eyes. "I know, the world may very well be ending," he said.

"I couldn't think of a better place to be than here, then," Fionn replied, and shoved open the door for them.

Niko fell quiet and focused on shoving that warming sensation that had settled in his chest down. Away. Gone. Get rid of it. Heartburn, it had to be, and he was too young to have heartburn. Maybe he shouldn't have eaten something with garlic sauce at 1 AM? Right, don't do that again. He avoided Fionn's gaze, focusing on the path ahead as it led into the school gardens, then veered into the city of Stolinast.

"What food do you want?" Niko asked.

"Oh, can we go to that bakery that makes the hot cocoa with the animal marshmallows?" Fionn asked.

Niko didn't say anything; he nodded and then started leading farther into the garden.