"It was good experience for all of you," Bren remarked at the front of the mage line, trooping through the forest just outside Atlantide. Seek was at his heels, Lilly behind him, drumming her fingers against her leg, and Colin lagging in the back. He wasn't quite shuffling his feet, but he didn't exactly try to keep up.

"Yeah, yeah. Still kind of boring, just searching for an animal pack." Seek scratched the back of his head, eyes downcast while staring off into the surrounding trees.

"It wasn't that bad," Lilly said. "At least we didn't have to travel very far."

Bren chuckled. "We're almost back to the city now, then on to the guild."

"Well, you can see the pillars from here." Colin pointed out. They gazed off into the distance and sure enough, the tips of the pillars were poking over the horizon; the gray marble standing out against the vibrant orange sunset.

"I have an idea." Lilly stopped in her tracks and her eyes scanned theirs, a teasing glint in hers. "Let's race. Last one there has to clean the entire guild hall."

"That thing is massive though."

"Good thing I won't be the one losing then."

"No offense, but I'm pretty sure I'm the faster one here."

They all turned to look at Bren, like kids silently asking permission from their dad to do something fun instead of working. He huffed out an amused breath. "How about we turn it into another experience lesson? Only magic." He crossed his arms and his eyes twinkled watching them.

"Deal!"

"Lil, your magic's all offensive, come on!" Before Colin could even do anything, Lilly hopped onto Seek's back effortlessly.

"Ice make: stairs!" Columns of ice slanted up to form rickety-looking but stable steps reaching up to the sky. Lilly clung to his neck, matching grins plastered on their faces as he ran up the stairs and started across the treetops.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Colin called out, but he only got laughter in return. He smirked. Three can play at that game.

He waved his staff in a crescent and the dark goop rose out of the ground. It seeped into the grass blades to make a wide transporting puddle. He jumped in and climbed out of the shadowy goo just outside the entrance.

A side entryway into the city, but easily seen nevertheless. And he had ended up four feet from it. He snickered to himself and moved towards it. Jingling laughter rang behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Lilly hop over the gaps between trees not far away.

She was so light on her feet, her plain sailing jumps almost graceful. He couldn't help but watch her, mystified. Awe transformed his face, his mouth curving into a smile.

"I win."

Colin blinked and whirled back around. In his daze, Lilly had stepped across the final leg and now stood on the white paved road of Atlantide. She rocked back on her heels and gave him a lop-sided grin

"Oh great. I was close to winning."

Seek leapt from his final tree, landing with a thump next to Colin. "So was I! Just not close enough."

Lilly smirked. "Maybe you should learn how to make a faster bridge."

His face contorted, but still accepted it. "Tch, you know what? I'll do it tomorrow. Tonight we can, I don't know, play some games back at the guild?"

Colin scrunched up his shoulders, feeling uneasy. "Games? Not like, training games right?" Images of something akin to 'dodge the light beam' ran through his mind and he shuddered.

"Normal games," Lilly spoke up. "My dad had some board and card games he gave me. Also so we don't have to dress for the Winter to play in Seek's room."

"Hey! It's not that cold in there. If you're gonna be like that, then let's just dress for bed. We've been fighting and walking in these clothes all day."

"Uh, I don't know. I usually just sleep in stuff like this."

Seek threw back his head and groaned. "Dude, no. Dress like a normal person for bed and then we can play board games in Lil's room. Okay?" His frequent short sharp pauses made his request sound more like a demand and Bren chuckled under his breath.

"Oh, uh, okay," Colin agreed tentatively. He reached up and tugged at his collar, his fingernails briefly grazing the black spots adorning his neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bren gently opened Lilly's room door, mindful of the click of the knob, and peeked in.

Seek was sprawled across the width at the foot of Lilly's bed. His feet dangled off one side while part of his head and one arm was off the other. It didn't look at all comfortable, but he looked content. His mouth hung open and frost floated out with each snore.

Colin, true to his word, had changed out of his normal attire and into dark shorts and a shirt. Black spots littered his exposed skin, the pale of his face heavily contrasted to the dark corrupted taint-like skin on the rest of him. Bren couldn't decide if it was taint or shadows burnt into him.

But he looked peaceful enough, lying on his side, one arm settled across his stomach and the other out-reached on the pillows under his head. Laying on his wrist was Lilly's head, her light purple hair curled behind her as she also laid on her side facing Colin.

Bren softly smiled to himself and closed the door. Time for paperwork.