California reminded her of Tērragoñh.

The sandy beaches, the cold water, heat and palm trees, birds that would steal what you were eating if you were too careless. It was perfect.

"You're a dragon," said Ryan tiredly, hoisting himself back onto the yacht they'd stolen to carry them deeper into the sea. "How are you not bothered by the water?"

"Why should I be?" she said, wiggling her feet. "I was built for everything."

"Well, last time I read something about a dragon in the water, it did not go well."

She began to swim back to him, pulling herself up and resting her chin on the edge of the boat. "Maybe I should've been a mermaid," she cooed. "Or a siren. Then my singing could lure you back in."

"Oh, you don't need to be a siren to convince me to get back in. I'm just struggling to breathe. I may not be able to die permanently but I can still drown if I give up. Jeez, Rhysaenya, give a man a chance to breathe."

She reached out to hold his hand, tracing her fingertips over the lines on his palm. "This is fun, you know? Just hanging out here, no responsibilities, Triad money to burn..."

"You are so lucky I remember those passwords and that Triad is basically... my inheritance. As soon as I jump through a few hoops." He flipped her hand to kiss it. "I'm having fun, too. I can shamelessly admit that seafood is my favorite and this is just about the best vacation I've ever been on."

"I love it, too. Ah, I think I sense one..." she gestured beside her. "Aim the spear right over–"

He slammed it in, ripping it out and pulling up a fish. "That makes ten. Enough for our contest."

"Which I'm totally going to win, by the way."

"You underestimate how much I can eat."

Their contest was held right at the pier, under a string of lights that illuminated only their little table, the fish prepared perfectly to their liking with an expensive bottle of white wine they found in the yacht. Rhysaenya had, in fact, believed her stomach to be capable of more than Ryan's, but as it turned out, that was a complete lie. Golems could be just as carnivorous, not to mention their lack of a normal digestive system meant they didn't feel pain when they ate too much.

"Are you happy here?" he whispered, resting his cheek against hers as they danced, listening to the live music on the boardwalk. They swayed slowly, letting the breeze caress them as they danced.

"Very," she replied. She drew back to cup his face. "Word from back home is that Dr. Saltzman is considering a longer break. A month instead of two weeks... to give Josie time to get better... so we can start with both him and Caroline running the school. We could do this for a while longer. Every day is a new adventure. Good food we make together. And at night..." she looked up, "dancing under the stars by the sea before we take a ride over the water where no one can see us. Then run back to the hotel to fall asleep in beds that are unbelievably fluffy. If this is what dating is like, I enjoy it."

He smiled. "One of the nicer aspects. It's much more complicated than this, long term. A few weeks aren't enough to show you just how wonderful it can be, and they certainly aren't enough to show you what else relationships entail. Some days are boring, some days are tough. I do promise, though, that I will make sure every day is good for us. Even if we're not together, we can have fun... we can find meaning in the little things."

"Then I look forward to that," she whispered, closing her eyes when she felt him leaning in to kiss her.

As soon as the extended vacation was approved, they moved on from California, making the eventual return to Mystic Falls a road trip. Rhysaenya got to bowl, golf, see monuments and beautiful national parks, and try foods that she swore were too good to be true. Every moment she spent with Ryan made her crave what she had at the Salvatore School less and less. She still texted her friends nearly every day, and everyone seemed to be doing well enough on their own. In fact, it was as if they all enjoyed this a lot more. Anything probably felt better without the added burden of schoolwork.

"What if I just didn't go back?" murmured Rhysaenya, cuddling next to Ryan as they watched Mean Girls. "I mean, what else is left now? I stayed to help my friends. They're fine now. As we've seen, I'm capable of doing a lot of things. I can still do the things I love and help the world somehow."

"I just don't want you to make this decision because you think I'm lonely. I'll be fine on my own for a bit, Rhysaenya."

"Except you're not." She clicked the remote to pause the movie. "I can hear you at night, the walls are thin. You have nightmares, too. You wake up and you pace around. You get anxious being alone."

He looked away, perhaps thinking she hadn't and never would've noticed it. "It's fine."

"It's not fine! I never realized it because in the prison world, we always slept across from each other, we were never really alone, and you were so worried about me that I never thought to pay attention but I notice it now and I can see that you're worried about being alone. Ryan, talk to me, please. What is it?"

"I was always surrounded by people," he muttered. "Malivore, my other siblings, those who followed my father and those who followed me. The people of Triad. Then I went into the pit and it was... pure nothingness. You know how it can be, how alone you feel. In my quest to bring back Malivore, I always had something to do and technically golems don't need sleep so I didn't. It wasn't until the prison world that I really got the sense that the only one I could rely on was me. For the first time in a thousand years, I didn't have a mission. I had nothing that I could use to distract myself, nothing to occupy my mind when it wandered to dark places. With you there, I had someone I could help and protect. Without you, I felt... isolated. You're the first person that I feel has really seen me. As more than just a tool or a worker. You valued me and when you were gone, I couldn't make myself think that I should be happy for you, I just felt miserable. I dream of the pit, I dream of you getting hurt, I dream that one day I'll go back to having no one that even cares about me. I have you now and I fear that it won't last, that I'm doomed to lose everyone."

He continued, holding her chin, "That being said, I refuse to let you follow me just because you want to keep me company. I can't hold you back, I will hate myself for it and I know you'd come to resent me. So if you stay, if you make this vacation longer than a few months, I want it to be because it's what's best for you, because you think this is where you're meant to build your career and settle your life. Don't stay for me. Stay for you. Let me be a happy consequence of your choice, not the reason for you to go."

"I love my friends, I do," she said firmly. "There's a lot to love about the school, too, but I need a break from it. I can still go back, eventually, I don't think they'll turn me away. I want to explore myself before I return. I had a bit of it before, in New Orleans, but this is different. This is... no longer a girl learning about a new world, it's a girl learning how to live with who she wants to be. The choices I've made caused me a lot of problems and I haven't really had a moment to process it, or who I have become in this new context. I don't know if I'm still meant to be a student or if it's time to make an impact where I see fit. Think you can tolerate me for four months?"

He smiled shyly. "I think so."

"Good." She moved to sit on his lap, running her fingers through his hair and looking into his eyes for a moment before she decided to kiss him.

The movie was forgotten.

Hope's face jumped into her mind again, when she was curled up beside Ryan, resting her head against his bare chest so she could listen to his heartbeat. She'd just been imagining herself happy, wondering what her friends were up to, and there was that face. She noticed it was happening more often, and she didn't know what to make of it. She wasn't sure she should even be thinking about it for an extended period of time.

Maybe she was breathing life into something that was just a passing thought, thinking too deeply about a small experience that meant nothing. Was it guilt that she was there, having the time of her life with Ryan, deciding she wouldn't return to her friends, namely the girl who opened her home to her? No, that couldn't be. It was absurd. She'd understand better than anyone. That moment was something small, it didn't mean much. Hope had probably forgotten about it the second after it happened.

-

"You're distracted again."

"No, I'm not," said Hope, twirling the staff and nearly denting Alaric's skull. "You're just getting bad at this."

He blocked another hit. "Well, I haven't been your sparring buddy in awhile. You've been training with Rhysaenya for months."

The mere mention of her name made Hope falter, letting Alaric hit her in the leg. "She's not here," said Hope flatly. "So focus."

"Is this about her not being back?"

Hope threw the staff to the floor. "Everybody is gone. Raf already told me that seeing his mom didn't go all that well but he's still gone. Suddenly he doesn't know how to communicate! I had to hear from Landon that neither of them is sure about coming back to the school, which is the same thing Rhysaenya told MG last I heard. She's off in stupid California or wherever with Clarke and I guess she likes it."

"Let me blunt, you sound upset about what she's doing. So, tell me, are you annoyed because you feel that she left you like others in your life have, or are you annoyed because of what she's doing and who she's with?"

Hope sighed. "A bit of everything, I guess. She hated him. One second she hated him and she wanted him dead and now she likes him. Likes him enough she'd choose not to return. I want her to be happy but... not with him."

"Do you not trust him?"

"I put a Truth Spell on him and I created his new body. I know I can trust him. He would never hurt her. Which is the problem. She... she..." Hope turned away. "Why am I even talking about this with you?"

"Oh, Hope," said Alaric quietly. "Are you jealous?"

"No, I'm not!"

"I've had plenty of experience watching Lizzie and Josie want what they can't have."

"I'm in a relationship with Raf, that's absurd."

"Raf, who according to you, isn't putting in the same effort into your relationship since he met his mom."

"I-I guess I just thought we had a moment! When I thought she might die, when I saw her cut by the black magic then shooting fire uncontrollably, I was scared. I'm no stranger to loss but when I considered that I might have to come back here to bury her after I'd already felt myself falling apart when I thought she was dead while in the prison world... I just couldn't do what she asked of me. She wanted me to go save Josie and would've let herself die to protect us all. She made the choice for me, she put herself on the line. But I went back. I couldn't pick Josie and Lizzie over her. Even though she wanted me to pick them. Anyone would've; their situation was more dire. But I thought about what would happen if I lost her and I just couldn't imagine the world without her." She scoffed. "It doesn't matter. She doesn't feel this way about me, she's not interested..."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"She's not here, is she? She's with him. Months ago, she was in New Orleans spending every day with me. Even my aunts and uncles were telling me how lucky I was to have her, that she had the mark of a true friend, that they hadn't seen me that happy since I was a kid. Five years old and thinking that we were going to have our happily ever after in that safe house where my dad painted with me for the first time, where I saw my mom smile and tell me that everything was going to be okay; we were safe if my dad and Uncle Elijah had come home."

"Have you considered that she's there because she doesn't feel she needs to be here? Because she doesn't feel she's wanted here?"

"That's absurd, she should know that we want and need her, she's our friend."

"She threatened to leave the school after we emerged from the prison world, because of me. You know who convinced her to stay? Clarke. And a bit of Dorian. More than anything, the promise of being near all of you. She wanted to be there to help in the moment we most needed her. And with everyone else off discovering themselves in one way or another, she thought of you as her first choice. You were her safe space, you were the one she knew she could rely on to feel better about this whole situation. Tell me, do you really think she asked what you'd be doing over the break because she was only curious or because maybe, she hoped you would want to spend time with her? Do you think maybe she only said it was out of curiosity because she didn't want to sound like she was taking advantage of you? Of your family's generosity?"

"She knows that my family isn't going to be troubled by giving her everything she could ever need, they love her! My Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Kol were very clear with her; they'd always be willing to help her and any of my friends, should they ever need money or a place to stay. She understood that."

"Then maybe she was hoping you could both leave together and be happy elsewhere. When she learned you were staying... her desire to get away from here was stronger than her desire to stay with you. And because she didn't seem to think anyone was going to miss her, that anyone really wanted her here by their side... she made sure to attach herself to someone that would undeniably make her feel wanted. Clarke has been alone for a long time, too. That's why they bonded."

"That's why we bonded. We have so much in common. Dads that everyone was afraid of, moms that the world loved. Loss and loneliness. The only difference is that he told her immediately that he felt something more. How– how could I have done that? I didn't even know, I wasn't thinking, I was focused on Landon then on Raf, it's not until now that I can even consider that maybe... oh my god. All the little jokes she made when we met, her insistence to not be in a relationship... did she like me and I just didn't realize it? Did she give up because she thought I wasn't into her?"

"Misunderstandings happen. It's not too late. You can ask her to come back. You can tell her that you feel something."

"Yeah, sure, great idea," she said sarcastically. "Call her while she's already enjoying her time with Clarke and blurt out that I think I have a crush on her and want her to come back as soon as the break is over so we can figure it out. At this point, she won't feel anything for me anymore, she'll think I just want to ruin her relationship because my own is falling apart. I can't do that to her. I can't butt in when she might actually be happy with this guy. Whatever she sees in him, it's something. Rhysaenya isn't an idiot, she has standards, she wouldn't be with someone mediocre. I... I'm too late. I have to wait and let her play this out."

"Hope," sighed Alaric, "it's not going to be any better if you bottle it up and try to carry out your friendship with hidden feelings. She'll think everything is fine and she might tell you about him, and if you get upset..."

"I don't need to be reminded. Just... let it be. This is what has to happen. I took too long to see it. The chance came and went. I have to deal with the consequences."

-

"The break is almost up," murmured Ryan in late December, making Rhysaenya open her eyes, having had her head tilted back, relaxing in the bathtub they were sharing.

"Mhm," she said, rubbing her eyes. "And it seems a lot of people aren't going back. Mostly the younger children who have been put in danger time and again. Some of the older students decided they're going to finish off their education at a public school and head off to college. The vampires and wolves especially all have their abilities under control, they really don't have anything left there... it's the same curriculum as anywhere else except with a few added classes. The only ones debating more are the witches, but I bet even they will choose not to go back. Josie killed one of their own. That puts a significant damper on things."

"Well, if enrollment drops below thirty people, the school would have to shut down."

"So I heard. They'll have a few, mostly those with nowhere else to go. Hope, MG, Jed... Kaleb will probably stay because he likes it there better. Lizzie will stay, Sebastian is there for her, Josie will come back eventually. Nik Mikaelson-Malraux and Stefanie Salvatore will totally stay there. Landon and Raf, though, don't seem to want to go back. Jeez, that's not even ten guaranteed. The consequences of everyone's actions... whatever. They're trying to draw people back with all those recreational activities and promising a pool and keg party after the break. But with Caroline still in Europe, no one seems to have faith in Dr. Saltzman to bring the school back to glory. Not my problem anymore."

He sat up, pulling her toward him, soapy hands cupping her face and nearly making her sneeze. "Each day, you talk about them all less and less. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

"What's there to say? Jed and Ethan are happy– unfortunately MAya and her girlfriend broke up, but they're human, so what– Alaric and the Sheriff are apparently shacking up, and Lizzie is considering a throuple with MG and Sebastian. Oh, and she's actually entertaining the idea of becoming a Heretic so she doesn't have to worry about the Merge. They're handling things. And so are we." She kissed him firmly. "I don't want to worry about anything else. It's tiring enough welding all morning then fixing machines in the afternoon. I just want to relax here, with you. And give you another back massage, because I can feel your shoulders are tense again. Are you sure you're happy with a desk job?"

"It's normal. I like normal."

"Ah, normal is nice until you want to make crème brûlée and need your dragon girlfriend to top it off."

He blushed. "You know what I mean. It's fun, we each have our own places and our own space, we have jobs that are mundane yet enjoyable, and we have the free will to go on dates and just relax together in a bathtub that is way too small for two people with really long legs."

"It is," she murmured. "But why do I feel like something is missing for you?"

"Nothing is missing. I have you, it's all I could ever want. Plus, the guy in the cubicle next to me is finally inviting me for a drink with the rest of the coworkers. I'm making friends."

"Be honest with me, Ry, I know when something is up."

He leaned his head back, debating whether to be honest or not. "Well... we've been together for several months. It's getting pretty serious. And I'm just not sure when is the right time to reach out to Hope and say if I want a mortal body or not."

"Might be a little soon for that," she admitted. "Not because I don't intend this to be long-term... trust me, I like the idea of dating with the idea of this being a forever thing. But it's so soon. Things can still be turned upside down for us, we may yet encounter someone who tries to hurt us and if you're not immortal... there's only so much I can do to protect you. Besides, if you become mortal, there are other associated risks. I don't get sick, but you would be able to. What if you catch some virus that paralyzes you or what if you're in an accident and lose all your memories? There can be things worse than death. Right now, if you even get a paper cut, killing you can bring you back fully healed. You don't get colds, you don't suffer any long-term damage no matter how excited you get playing air hockey. And we have uh... well, we've been having a lot of fun in risky ways that don't bode well for mortals."

"You're right," he realized, not having considered it. "Right now, I'm sterile, but if I were mortal... I probably wouldn't be. This is going to sound really mean but I really don't want kids. Never have, never will."

"Why would that sound mean? I understand that. Malivore created you with the intention of using you to further your species."

"Yeah... admittedly, after being used that way, I can't see myself wanting to create life and ever managing to think of it in a positive light. I just don't feel... anything... when I talk to little kids. I'm nice, of course, but they annoy me... I haven't had any experience of 'baby fever' in my life. I don't see myself becoming a dad." He frowned, noticing she wasn't nodding along. "But you... you do. You see yourself being a mom."

"I can live without it. I swear, I can. I don't believe the idea of anyone feeling they were born to have kids or anything like that. I just... think it would be nice, eventually, a long time from now."

"I can't ask you to give up on what might be a nice idea for you to accommodate me and my trauma."

"Ry, don't say that. I can be happy with it being just us. I don't need to have kids to be fulfilled. Besides, I don't know if I even can."

"Well, considering your mother was able to have you even when the other dragons were sterile... there's a chance you could have a kid."

"And maybe that's interesting to me but it's not a requirement– nothing is. I want to be with you, with everything that comes along with that. Kids or no kids, I will be happy. It's just a risk that needs to be discussed."

"If I become mortal, there are procedures to ensure I'm sterile again. And if I get sick, there are great medicines. We'll both be careful. We'll take care of each other."

"That's a promise," she agreed, kissing his cheek gently. "We can talk about it whenever you're ready. When you are ready."

"You're right, though, it may be too soon. Let's see if we can reach... a year of peace. Of happiness. Not just with each other but in this world in general. If we can do that... we can talk about it again."

"That sounds perfect to me."

Enrollment at the Salvatore School was terrible. Were it not for a few new students arriving, they would never have reached thirty students. Caroline had brought Josie back, but she hadn't enrolled back at the Salvatore School, rather, as a normal student at Mystic Falls High. On top of that, she'd be staying with Damon and Elena Salvatore in the meantime, which no one really understood, least of all Lizzie.

"And that," said Lizzie, after a long-winded rant over FaceTime while she watched Rhysaenya using her fire to weld together a series of small sheets of metal to make a rose for one of her customers, "is why you should come back."

"Don't really see how that applies to me," said Rhysaenya, holding up the rose. "If Josie is happier like that, let her. She doesn't trust herself, and if she wants to be some normal boring student, let her."

"She's being stupid. She's going to hate it!"

"And that's how she'll learn that she's meant to be a witch at the school instead of some regular civilian with basically no prospects. Her solution for getting better was to do things for herself and start learning how to value herself so she doesn't have to resort to dark magic to feel seen and heard. Damon and Elena will take good care of her. And I doubt your mom and dad will go a day without checking up on her. You can always visit, she hasn't stopped you from doing that, has she?"

"I guess not." She huffed. "I just don't want her to forget that she loves us... I don't want her to forget that this is her home."

"Oh, Lizzie, she won't forget that. She's your twin. She loves you. And most importantly, she is learning to love herself. She needs this. Let it be. None of us have a say in this. The only one that gets to decide that is her."

"Can you at least help me convince her to not do it without her magic? What if something happens and she's powerless?"

"I think that's part of what she wants. You know I can't force her to take it back. No one can or should. Besides, you're close by... you won't let anything happen to her, will you?"

"You're no help."

"Then why did you call me?"

"Maybe because you also need to come back."

Rhysaenya rolled her eyes, letting her head bang against her work bench. "Lizzie, I really don't want to do this."

"Rhysaenya, we are hanging on by a thread. If even one person drops out, we're not allowed to be a school. If we had thirty-one students instead of thirty..."

"I'm happier here on my own!"

"Except you're not on your own, you're with your dreamy mud man working as a welder."

"Hey! You don't have to say that with disdain, I actually really like it. My father taught me so many things and it's coming in handy. People like me. I'm great with customer service. The only welder that doesn't need to wear eye protection and can make things no one else is willing to risk because they don't want to burn their hands."

"You sound very un-cool stringing those words together."

"Can't you accept that I'm actually happy here?"

"Well, we aren't happy! We miss you. And– and– ugh, screw Hope, I'm not keeping this a secret from you– we have a new student who was also inside of Malivore!"

Rhysaenya shot up. "Wait– wait, what?"

Lizzie groaned, covering her face. "You need to come back, because we don't understand why she's here! She's super nice and Kaleb likes her and she is like a witch but we don't know anything about her and we think you're the only one who can make her open up."

"Can you dial back to how you found out that she was released from Malivore?"

"Landon and Raf came back and she recognized the same feeling you had when Clarke was pretending to be Vardemus."

"Well, at least some things have changed and people listen to gut feelings now. Lizzie, I don't know... I am sure you guys can figure her backstory out without me."

"Rhysaenya, we don't know when she got out, but the working theory is that some monsters were released when Hope destroyed Malivore. All the human-like ones could be out there living their lives and they could be plotting against us. We really can't afford something happening at this school right now so please... help?"

"Give me a day to to think about it."

She didn't need a day.

"How did you get all this?" she asked, anxiously sifting through the papers Ryan had dropped on his dining room table. "What... what is this?"

"I've been keeping up with major events in the supernatural world," said Ryan, shoving more sheets toward her. "At first, I thought all these events were separate, but they're not. There are whispers about the tribrid, ever since the supernatural world found out about her taking the dark magic out of Josie. I mean, think about it, everyone knew she turned, they knew she rode a dragon into battle, but Alaric Saltzman made it public that she defeated Dark Josie. It's the first time the tribrid's power was truly showcased and, given her history, everyone is sure that she's going to follow in her dad's footsteps. They want her dead."

He pointed at several of the photographs on each information sheet, "All these people, they're old enemies of Klaus Mikaelson or have, in the past, been involved in attempts to kill Hope, starting when she was just conceived. Conservative witches and werewolves, psychotic vampires. Everyone knows that the tribrid can unite the factions and there is still a lot of opposition. What she did to those Nazi vampires in St. Anne's Church was only a temporary setback. Radicals like that still exist out there. Hope is in danger. People are coming for her. And if what Lizzie said is true, if there were people released from the Malivore pit when Hope destroyed my father, they could be planning something.

"This is only a fraction of potential adversaries. Hope needs to contact Marcel Gerard and find out who the hell else was involved in the infamous 'Fall of the Mikaelsons.' Her aunts and uncles need to get a headstart on going after anyone that might come for her while Hope prepares herself for battle. The radicals are talking about the 'Fall of the Tribrid.' They're coming for her, Rhysaenya. And she can't face them without you."

She gulped, pushing the papers back into a pile. "Then I need to go back today."