"I regret to inform all of you that the new physical prime admin cannot join us for tonight's bi-annual meeting." Pearl stepped into the center of the huge meeting room, where a barely elevated circle-shaped stage stood.

Around the stage a couple hundred long tables were arranged, all filled with aspiring new admins and powerful older ones. The level nines were all at a single table closest to the front. There weren't many, only about nine in number.

The rest of the levels all had a column. There were eight columns of table arranged evenly in a circular pattern around the podium. That meant Grian's column was next to the level twos and the level eights. The level one column was considerably fuller than the level eight, which left fifteen tables empty and only two tables at the front full of powerful admins.

Grian had arrived early, and now he was seated close to a level eight admin Grian recognised as Xisuma Void. "Hey!" Grian waved, relishing the newfound freedom to talk with anyone. To not have to be perfect and quiet. A shadow.

"Hello. Are you new?" Xisuma smiled.

"You bet I'm new! I can't wait to be a prime admin!" Grian snickered. Xisuma laughed.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, newbie." Xisuma was stull chuckling, "it'll be a few years yet before either of them take apprentices, so if you work hard you might have a shot!" Xisuma grinned.

"Oh yes! But I hate working hard." Grian could barely contain his laughter.

"Well, if you want to be a prime admin you'll have to work harder than ayone else!" Xisuma smiled warmly at the wide-eyed level one.

Suddenly Grian's smile vanished. His face turned pale. A tall, moustached man with slick black hair and a familiar smile was walking towards him. Not him, Xisuma.

Thankfully Xisuma had noticed the stranger, too, and wasn't looking at Grian. "Hallo, Mumbo!" Xisuma stood up to hug the tall man.

"M-Mumbo?" Grian gasped.

Mumbo looked down and paled. It looked like he had seen a ghost. "X-" Grian quickly flicked his fingers behind his back and performed a rather complicated mind muddle. But as prime, he was more than capable. "G-Grian?" Mumbo gasped his new alias's name.

"Do you know eachother?" Xisuma frowned.

"GRIAN!" Mumbo cried, embracing the surprised admin.

"Mumbo!" Grian hugged him back. He could feel Pearl's confused gaze on his back, sharp as a dagger. He quickly released his childhood friend. Mumbo was over a foot taller than Grian, and he looked overjoyed, confused, and in awe all at once.

"Mumbo, it's so good to see you - I - I-" Grian started, but Xisuma quickly interrupted.

"Shh, it's starting!" Xisuma whispered harshly. Mumbo slid into the seat next to Xisuma reluctantly and pulled out a book and quill. He must have been volunteered to be the tier eight scribe this meeting, because Grian could easily sense everyone's power around him and Mumbo had no aura at all.

The only aura he had was a slightly burnt smell, one that reminded Grian a little of his former mentor. And... redstone. Grian grinned, his friend must have become a redstonist just as he had always wanted.

It had taken a while for all of Grian's memories to resurface, but when they had Grian had missed his childhood friend with an aching emptiness that comes with losing a brother.

Grian was barely listening as his prime partner rambled on about respect, battles, watcher nonsense and new reports. All he could think of is how he could explain his absence to Mumbo... and maybe get his best friend back.

When the meeting finally finished, Mumbo and Grian exchanged a wordless glance and hurried out of the room and into the empty hallway. Grian quickly took the lead (he knew the admin HQ as well as the back of his hand, after all he had trained there for six years with Prime 1) and brought them out onto a balcony.

"Grian..." Mumbo finally spoke. "You seem to know this place well," was all he said.

"I - I've been here a while." was all Grian said. Say something, idiot! Grian's heart pounded. "I - I... well, I've been gone a while."

"I know." Was all Mumbo said, his eyes sizing up his friend. There was something different about him... "We all thought you died. When - when I-" Mumbo's voice broke, "when I found the blood on the floor." Mumbo coughed.

"Oh no... Mumbo..." was all Grian could say.

"Where were you?" Mumbo asked suddenly, "why didn't you come back? Why didn't you let me know you were okay?" Mumbo met G's eyes, but he couldn't meet them back. Grian decided to tell a version of the truth.

"Mumbo, some criminals killed my parents and abducted me. I was locked up and unable to come back for four or five years... then I was rescued. By an admin here. I've lived here ever since... recovering. I guess I never thought you'd still live in evo... I didn't know how to contact you-"

"I don't." Mumbo said suddenly. "I don't live in the evolution server anymore. It crashed years ago, and everyone had to evacuate. A few people perma-deathed. My parents." Mumbo looked away. Grian placed a hand on Mumbo's shoulder.

"So you're an admin?" Mumbo asked suddenly.

"A new one." Grian lied, "I'm not very good yet." Even after all these years Mumbo seemed to be able to tell when his friend was lying, because his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Well, actually I'm...contained." Grian said suddenly, "It's an admin term for when an admin isn't capable or can't shine or use magic." Grian told a version of the truth again. He really couldn't shine or use his magic - the gold would give him away.

"Mumbo?" Xisuma peered around the corner, "I couldn't help overhearing that last bit... you're a contained admin?" Xisuma frowned. Grian was thankful for the interruption.

"Yes, unfortunately." Grian spoke truthfully. He wished he could tell them. But even if he could, then Mumbo would treat him differently... and so would Xisuma. Maybe he wouldn't even if he could.

"I could train you." Xisuma offered generously, "I was contained at level four for a while, before my mentor helped me." Grian couldn't help smirking at Xisuma's offer since he knew how much more powerful than him he really was, but Grian politely declined anyway.

"I'd rather focus on... building." Grian rambled.

"You're a builder?" Xisuma questioned.

"Yep, Gri's a great builder!" Mumbo piped up. Xisuma gave another confused look.

"I've never heard you mention a Grian... how do you know each other?" Xisuma frowned,

"Mumbo an I were best friends when we were kids." Grian put his arm around the taller redstonist. Mumbo smiled, happy his friend was back even though the circumstances were strange. He still wasn't totally convinced with Grian's story.

"You were best friends...?" Xisuma shook his head. He had been good friends with Mumbo for the past five years on his server, Hermitcraft. Mumbo had never once mentioned a 'Grian'.

"Well... it was kind of painful to talk about him... since I thought he was dead." Mumbo spoke softly. Xisuma's head jerked up and Grian studied the floor.

"But I'm not and I just couldn't contact Mumbo," Grian explained. Xisuma looked more than mildly suspicious, but the level eight admin said nothing instead he asked,

"Can I see some of your buildings?"

"They were all on the evelution server when I was eleven or twelve. I can show you them in my mindspace, though." Grian offered. Xisuma nodded and took Grian's right hand. Mumbo took Grian's left.

Grian willed them into his mindspace. "That's the mansion I built for Mumbo and I's clubhouse when I was ten," Grian smiled fondly, "was that...?"

"The first piston door I ever built." Mumbo grinned, reveling in the old memories. Xisuma was starting to believe that they were really childhood friends. Suddenly the admin looked up and realised how bright... and big the level one admin's mindspace was... in fact, how did a 'contained' level one admin bring both of them to his mindspace?

Grian quickly notices X's confusion and jerked them out of the mindspace before X could ask to explore at all. "What do you think?" Grian asked sheepishly.

"I think they were amazing. Why-" Xisuma started but Grian interrupted,

"I don't bring people to my mindspace often... all the bad memories... didn't you wonder why it was so big? It's all the trauma I've had to stick in there..." Grian shuddered, his performance not entirely accurate. He hoped it would deter Xisuma from asking anything else. It seemed to work.

Mumbo looked concerned, "I'm sorry, G." Mumbo hugged his friend again. Grian hugged him back, happy to be reunited with his bestie at last.

"Do you want to have tea sometime?" Mumbo asked as he realised that all of the other admins were filing out of the building.

"I'd like that. At your place?" Grian quickly added.

"Sure." Mumbo shrugged.

"Where do you live now?" Grian furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hermitcraft." Mumbo grinned. "Xisuma can tell you all about it, it's his server."

"I'll whitelist you." Xisuma agreed. "We're currently running season five. Version five, whatever, we revamp the server once every year or so." Xisuma added. "Less lag and stuff. New adventures."

"Sounds cool." Grian slid his hands into his pockets. "Can't wait to see it. How many players are there?" Grian asked coolly.

"We call them 'hermits'. There are about twenty-five, roughly." Xisuma answered, "So do you live here?" He asked, cocking his head.

"Yea. I don't have anywhere else I can go, really." Again Grian told a half-truth. As one of the two prime admins, there really wasn't anywhere else he could go. He had to be there to watch over the headquarters.

"Well, you're a great builder," Xisuma commented then hesitated, "You're welcome to join us for our next 'season'. It'll be the sixth remodel. Living here all the time sounds like a drag." The admin offered. Grian really wished he could've gone to hermitcraft, been neighbors with Mumbo again, been normal. But he couldn't.

"I'm not sure... probably not." Grian shook his head at last. Mumbo looked crestfallen. "See you for tea?" He quickly added.

"Tomorrow?" Mumbo questioned.

"Er... maybe not tomorrow howabout in three days time?" Grian suggested. Xisuma's eyes narrowed,

"You're busy?" He asked in a surprised tone.

"Well, not exactly - I agreed to meet with a few friend for a... trip. It'll be over by the time we have tea." Grian flashed Mumbo a smile. He could see in Mumbo's face that the taller hermit knew he was lying. And Mumbo looked rather hurt.

"Hey, see you then!" Grian clapped Mumbo on the back and quickly rushed inside and down a few winding hallways before running into an empty study and transforming back into his prime admin robes. His markings came back, he grew half a foot taller, and his eyes shifted back to their natural purple.

Actually, Grian's natural eye color was blue, but as soon as he'd been exposed to watcher magic they'd gradually morphed to a deep violet.

He felt bad about lying to Mumbo again, but he had some prime business he had to take care of and he didn't know if he could get out of it until three days' time was up.

The prime admin quickly stepped out of the room and paced down the hall to the prime admin quarters. As soon as he entered he saw Pearl waiting expectantly on the large golden couch that sat in the main room. Two double doors were neatly closed on opposite sides of the entrance room. Each door led to their respective quarters.

"Who was the fellow in the suit?" Pearl looked incredibly confused. "How on earth did you know eachother? He's not even an admin."

Grian sighed wearily and massaged his forehead as he took a seat opposite to Pearl and allowed his hood to fall from his face. "He was someone I knew from my childhood." was all he disclosed.

"Your childhood... so you really did have a life before you came to the headquarters." Pearl mused. Grian scoffed, but he smiled widely all the same.

"Gosh, Xelqua... I've never seen you so happy." Pearl looked aghast, "who is your childhood friend?"

"Mumbo Jumbo. Don't laugh at the name." Grian warned. "He and I were neighbors until I turned twelve or so. We were best friends." Grian still smiled, his grin never faltering as he replayed all his childhood memories with his moustachiod friend mentally.

"Where did you live?" Pearl was finally getting some answers to her age-old questions.

"Geez, Pearl. Nosy." Grian laughed all the same. "Xisuma Void - the level eight admin. You know him?" Grian asked. Pearl sighed, realising she wouldn't get anything else out of him.

"Yes, I know of him. He runs a great server - quite talented. I hear the server's quite exclusive."

"He invited me to it." Grian spoke suddenly, "I declined of course," Grian's grin faltered and Pearl studied him, eyes squinted.

"You want to go." Pearl stated. Not questioning.

"I - well-" Grian squirmed.

"It's okay. Sometimes I wish I could get out of all this responsibility, too." Pearl admitted, "And you're even younger than me... you're only twenty-two."

"How old are you?" Grian looked surprised. He couldn't believe he didn't know.

"Twenty-six." Pearl smiled. "You really love that guy. If you weren't completely different looking you could've passed for brothers. And I can tell you like Xisuma, too." Pearl laughed. "Do you want to live in Hermitcraft?" She asked, suddenly serious.

"I have too many duties - there's the meetings and the watchers and the-" Pearl cut Grian off,

"Xelqua, you're not answering my question. Do you want to live in Hermitcraft?"

"I - but... yes. But I can't." Grian's tone was finite.

"Then maybe you can." Pearl ignored Grian as he tried to interrupt, "Listen, I'll take care of your duties. I'll go to all of the meetings and speak for both of us. I can deal with the watchers. I just need you to do something for me." Pearl offered.

"What?" Grian asked wearily, hoping with all his heart she waasn't going to ask him to disclose his past. He couldn't do that, it would put everything in jepordy. Yet he longed for Pearl's offer to be real, he longed to be... Grian. Responsibility-free level one annoying admin Grian. Mumbo's friend, Grian. A Hermit on Xisuma Void's server.

"I need you to go to the bi-annual meeting rehearsals. And all the other important ones if they come up ahead of time." Pearl grinned sadistically.

"Noooo..." Grian moaned. "I mean yes but nooooo..." Grian could almost feel his eyes filling up with tears. He hated and loathed meeting rehearsal. He had managed to weasel out of the past ones, but they were so insufferably boring.

"Good. Is there a way you can contact Void?" Pearl asked.

"He whitelisted me on his server, I'm supposed to have tea with Mumbo in three days' time." Grian admitted.

"Then go a bit early and visit Xisuma along the way. I'll let you use my spare communicator, it'll let you message all the server members. That way it won't be suspisious if you're sending messages with your magic and you aren't wearing a communicator." Pearl was generous.

"You really mean it?" Grian shifted in excitement and disbelief.

"It'll reduce my sleep-work quota substantially, but I'll do it. Remember - meeting rehearsals." Pearl reminded Grian of his pet-peeve.

"Okay." Grian said brightly, too happy to care. Pearl was touched by how joyful her partner looked. She had only ever seen him give an occasional smirk or an unconvincing half-smile.

Then it suddenly dawned the technological prime... what on earth had Pearl gotten herself into?