The morning of the duel arrived all too quickly.

While most of the campus had been celebrating or commiserating over their final exam scores, I'd spent Friday cramming in every possible bit of preparation that I could. I'd created spellglyphs until I'd passed out from the blood loss and Jackson had been forced to heal me. I'd practiced Summers' inversion on both my bloodline and ether pool, had practiced my spells until I was dry on ether, then done it all again. I'd checked my Etherius locker's contents, meticulously organizing everything I possibly could.

At the insistence of Yushin, Jackson, and Salem, I had taken Saturday off. I'd slept in until ten in the morning, far later than I usually slept, eaten good food, and spent the day lounging about with them. Yushin had paid to take us all out to a theatre show, one that told a classic tragedy and love story,

And now it was time. I was woken by a knock at the door, and opened it to see a tall, well dressed official looking woman in traditional military uniform.

"Emrys of White Sands?" she asked.

"Yes," I confirmed.

"You have an official Holmgang in three hours. I am here to attempt to resolve this peacefully. The Dreki family is willing to withdraw from Homlgang if you are willing to return home."

"I am not."

The official's lips thinned, but she gave a concise, jerking nod.

"Very well. Gather whatever components you need and return any that do not comply in your room, then come with me. Be warned that you will be checked by a diviner, and if you bring any items into the arena that have not been cleared by the rules of Holmgang that you will be held in contempt of the High King."

She turned on her heel and stepped into the common area, clearly waiting for me. I went to the bathroom and ran through my morning ablutions, then went into my ritual room, just to check and make sure that it hadn't spontaneously generated a hundred pounds of ether crystal or something like that – not that it would have done much good at this point.

I reached into my Etherius locker and withdrew the hydra dagger and the healing potions, then placed them on the desk, before checking to make sure that all of the materials in there were in compliance with the rules.

Once I was absolutely sure, I changed into my best pair of clothes, the ones that I'd upgraded with spellcraft, and strolled out to meet the woman in the common area. I found all three of my roommates, along with Yushin, waiting for me.

Wesley was the first to move, stepping close to me and glowering.

"Do not lose."

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose, but he had already been shoved aside by Jackson, who wrapped me in a bear hug tight enough that I thought even my draconic bones might have started creaking.

"Ignore him. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thank you."

Yushin was next, extending a hand for a handshake.

"I did what I could," she said. "Best of luck."

"It's thanks to you I even got the duel. Thank you."

That left Salem, who gave me a very awkward hug, and whispered into my ear.

"If you lose, try and run to Hydref, and ask for Elder Tywyll. She's not a fan of your family, and might be able to shield you. Tell her it's a favor for me."

"You don't need to do that. But… thank you."

He let me go, taking my hands and squeezing them once, before letting go. The official pulled out a pocketwatch and glanced at it.

"We had best be going now."

She pulled a wand from her own storage space, snatched my hand, and waved it. A moment later, we were washed in purple light, and stepped out of her spell into a room I didn't recognize. It was sparse, with lockers that had all been opened, low benches, a stairwell on the far end of the room, and showers on the other end.

The woman who'd teleported me here vanished, leaving me alone in the room, though I wasn't alone for long. Two men walked down the stairs, one of whom was dressed quite comparably to the official woman who'd brought me here. The other was wearing bright green and pink robes that seemed to swirl in nonexistent winds, and had a diadem on his head set with a vibrant purple crystal.

"Hello my dear!" the brightly colored man announced. "I am second to court mage Syn Fremtid, but you can call me Syn."

It had been a long time since I'd been drilled on etiquette, but I hadn't totally forgotten everything. The court mage position was a high one, especially in a place like this, and even the second to one had a good bit of political power. On top of that, he could likely stretch to cast eighth circle spells, or even a single ninth. I might have gotten slightly inured to seeing that sort of power from my professors, but it was still due respect. I bowed deeply in as courtly of a bow as I could.

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"An honor to meet you, sire," I said.

"Pah, no, no. None of that. You've also found work at the Charm and Fable. I worked there myself when I was a student. How are they?"

"Doing well, as best I can tell, sire," I said, straightening to meet his eyes. He might have said to dispense with formalities, but that only extended so far. "Might I ask what one as powerful and illustrious as you is doing here?"

"Oh, that's quite simple," Syn said, smiling. "I'm the diviner who will be checking you and Gerhard for any foul play."

My mind raced at the implications of that. The Dreki family and Cendel were at war, so it made sense they'd want to actually make sure things went well. This fight was probably being used as a point of political tension, then, just like the duels back home had been designed to show off the superiority of dragon blood.

Cendel had two Erudite Colleges. If a first year mage could publicly defeat a high ranking member of the Dreki family, then they could leverage that to get resources in their war, and to put pressure on the Dreki family.

I didn't say any of that, but the message was clear. The High King had a vested interest in this duel.

"Of course, sire," was all I said.

Syn waved a wand, one made of a shifting, shimmering silver that seemed to flow with ever-changing runes and lines, tipped with a sapphire, over my head. There were a few moments of silence, then a positive ding rang in the air. Syn raised an eyebrow.

"My, you must have created quite a few things for my spell to take so long to process."

"You must forgive me for not speaking of what I have prepared, sire."

"Of course, of course! We mages deserve our secrets. Well, now the only thing left is to review the paperwork."

He flicked his hand and produced a slate with a pile of papers attached, each one meticulously copied in triplicate. For a moment, I wondered if they'd used the scribe's friend spell to do it. It's what I would have done.

We worked through everything – that I was entering this fight of my own volition, the consent to have an emergency teleportation mark placed on me, the waiver that the contingency spell might not activate in time if things went especially quickly, so on and so forth. Most of it was complete nonsense legal proceedings, but it was those proceedings that kept nations from crumbling, so I accepted it.

Once we were finished, Syn slapped me on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Well then, best of luck! I'm off to speak to your brother."

"He won't be my brother for long. Not after this."

Syn nodded, smiling mysteriously, then vanished in a flash of green light, leaving me to sit alone in the room. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes started to drag on. I shifted uncomfortably, looking one way and the other, and even tried to start a conversation with the guard, but he only responded in tense, curt replies, if he responded at all.

Finally, after what felt like an entire day of waiting, he turned to me and nodded.

"It's time. Head up."

I rose and took three deep breaths to steady myself, then marched up the steps. I emerged in a ring of soft sand, with a glimmering red force magic dome fifty or sixty feet overhead. Behind the dome there was a stadium full of people, at least ten thousand, though maybe more. They were stomping, cheering, excited to see a duel between two powerful people, but I could barely hear them through the dome's muting magic.

Interspersed through the stadium were floating platforms, supported on silvery clouds, marking assorted guests. The first one I spotted was filled with people I recognized.

Yushin was sitting in one of the chairs, with Shé Rui and the woman who I assumed to be her aunt on either side of her. Jackson was there with an elderly looking man that wore the robes of Effervesce's church. Salem sat slightly apart from them, with professor Toadweather sitting on his shoulder, and they turned away from conversation as I walked onto the sands. Professor Caeruleum sat entirely alone in the corner of the box, their hands fidgeting with their amulet as they watched me. Charm and Fable were both watching, and Fable gave me a nervous thumbs up, while Charm gave me a confident nod.

I nodded to them, mouthing the words 'thank you', then let my eyes skim over to another box. I immediately spotted a man whose face I recognized from paintings and portraits. The man who had been elected unanimously for every yearly moot that I'd been alive for. Even if I hadn't, the crown of ether crystal and red wood would have given it away.

The High King himself was watching.

The Erudite sat right next to him, his eyes half lidded, as if this was entirely banal, and on the king's other side was a tall woman who obviously had a touch of giant blood and carried a sword bigger than I was. A step below the trio, a gaggle of guards, ministers, officers, and other officials were gathered. I spotted Emir and his husband, the Seven Sword Knight, standing amongst them, as well as a slender, pale woman who I thought might be a representative of the Divine King of Shen Long.

When I stepped onto the field, the Erudite's eyes opened, and transformed from muddy brown to the vibrant blue of ether crystal. He gave me a look, and I heard the words he'd once told me echo in my mind.

"If your family does try to drag you back, you will crush them, and show them what it means to learn magic."

I nodded firmly to him, and let my gaze sweep to the third and final platform, the one belonging to the Dreki delegation. My breath caught in my throat, and I stumbled in my steps for a moment. The box was filled with lesser Dreki, but none of them would have forced that reaction from me.

My mother was there.

Her human form was on the taller end, but not exceptionally so, and was immaculately put together and beautiful. She wore a dress of shimmering silver and golden threads, set with gemstones, and wore a crown I knew to be made of true-silver, and set with an orange crystal dancing with internal flame.

On either side of her were her two eldest children, the only survivors of her first clutch, each one nearly as powerful as my mother. Their own robes were nearly as resplendent as her own, and each wore lesser crowns.

My mother's eyes locked onto my own, and though her face was passive, there was a look of unbridled, primal hatred flowing through her that made my hands start to tremble.

After what felt like an hour, I managed to rip my eyes away from her, and they landed on Gerhard. He wore a finely tailored suit, and had his hands in his pockets, an easygoing grin on his face.

"I hope you're ready to come home with me, brother."

"I am not your brother."

Before Gerhard could respond, Syn appeared, stepping out of a wave of green light that materialized between us. When he spoke, his voice echoed throughout the stadium, seemingly projected from everywhere and nowhere.

"This is an official Holmgang between Gerhard Dreki and Emrys of White Sands, for purposes of determining citizenship as a member of the Dreki family, or as a sovereign citizen of Cendel. Before we begin, I give each of you one last chance to withdraw your objections. Gerhard, will you release Emrys from the family?"

"No. He has our mother's fire. He is a member of the Dreki family, and he will always be. From birth until death."

"Emrys, will you willingly rejoin your family?"

"No. I am not a Dreki, and I never will be."

"This is a duel until surrender, death, or activation of the spell marks," Syn said, waving his wand. A green mark appeared on my hand, and a mirror on Gerhard's. "I have heard your denials. With the High King and the Dreki Matriarch as my witnesses… Begin!"

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