Aisling would have led Velia, Solveig, and Sibius to the tablinum, the family's shared space, if it hadn’t already become their usual gathering place throughout their sixteen years of schooling together.

  Aisling and Velia waited for Sibius and Solveig, who arrived shortly after Sophia's group had left. They were admiring the fresh flowers placed on the Ancestors' Altar.

  Sibius and Solveig were not only mentor partners, friends, and companions but also bore a resemblance to each other. Though Sibius had long brown hair and Solveig had long golden-blonde hair that she always arranged in braids, both had oval faces with prominent cheekbones. Solveig's blue eyes were only a shade lighter. Both were tall, slender, and athletic.

  Solveig and Sibius both loved simplicity. The Lombard girl's simple, long, light-colored dresses were almost always adorned with subtle floral patterns. If she chose jewelry, those, too, had floral motifs.

  The Roman-Ostrogoth boy also favored light-colored tunics, but instead of flowers, his were decorated with sea-blue Roman motifs.

  "Would Solveig ever walk past flowers without stopping to admire them?" Aisling smiled at Velia, her best friend.

  "How beautiful and perfect they are," the other girl marveled.

  Velia's admiration wasn't unfounded. Among their circle of friends, Solveig and Sibius were the model couple. Solveig had initially been sensitive and easily offended, mostly due to a lack of self-confidence. But with Sibius, she had nearly overcome this bad habit. The boy himself had grown less lazy over time. They weren't perfect, but they were the kind of couple who brought out the best in each other.

  "Did you make any progress with the discussions after I came home to study?" Aisling inquired. As her gaze drifted from the flowers on the Ancestors' Altar to the floral designs on Solveig's dress, an unsettling feeling crept over her. As if she was supposed to recognize something.

  "Opposites and balance. What a parallel! The altar holds living flowers, while Solveig's dress bears stylized ones," she pondered, focusing on contrasts.

  Velia's mildly impatient sigh interrupted her train of thought before she could delve deeper into her impressions.

  "Oh, we stuck with the same idea we've been discussing since the beginning of the year," Velia waved dismissively, almost bored-not that she wasn't interested in the mentor farewell itself.

  "And we're keeping it," Solveig declared firmly, standing a few steps away from them. "We've thought about it long enough. It's time to start preparing for the mentor farewell."

  "So, we pick a younger student as our mentee, embody them, and present that as a gift to the younger students?" Sibius asked with mild sarcasm as they all headed toward the Blue Room.

  "What if we show that while we are finishing our mentoring, it also completes a perfect cycle?" Aisling suddenly proposed.

  In the subdued lighting of the Blue Room, six curious eyes fixed on her.

  "That's better than anything we've come up with before. But how do you envision it?" Sibius asked as they settled around the simple, comfortable table. Since their first school year, they had always gathered around the smaller table.

  "You know what I noticed today? The number twelve follows us throughout our entire school journey. In the first year, we were only mentees; in the last year, we are only mentors. But in between, whether in our mentor or mentee roles, we were always twelve. We could start with this concept of beginning and end, something abstract, something symbolic," she explained timidly, almost blushing.

  They had been planning the mentor farewell for an entire school year, but no idea had pleased everyone yet.

  "If we can figure out how to execute this, I support the concept," Sibius unexpectedly accepted the half-formed idea. Of the four, he was always the one to shoot down proposals. He himself was too lazy to come up with one.

  "I think we can take it in a more abstract direction," Velia chimed in immediately.

  Nyx, one of the family's shared pets, instinctively jumped into her lap. He always chose Velia. The other cat, Astra, was probably wandering outside among the guests in the peristylium. She preferred Baal's company.

  "Alright. Let's each quietly think about how to implement this idea for the entire week. Then on Friday, exactly at the Millennium Oak, at exactly 3:30 PM, we'll sit down and discuss all the ideas," Solveig agreed to the possible realization of the idea.

  They were so absorbed in their discussion that they only noticed Lady Livia when she spoke.

  "Greetings, young ones! Have you seen Rhys anywhere? And why haven't you come out to the peristylium yet? Everyone is already there."

  The discreet lighting of the Blue Room harmonized with the woman's composed appearance and measured nature. Her simple, snow-white tunic drew no attention, and as always, her snow-white hair was arranged in an elegant, high bun. Her sister-in-law, Daphne, was the embodiment of constant change, bustle, and energy, while Lady Livia was stability. Yet, beyond their familial bond, they were also comrades.

  Aisling once again felt a surge of frustration over what her mother and Daphne were accusing her of. She pouted, searching for a biting retort, when Rhys appeared on the steps leading to the Ancestors' Hall.

  "He always shows up when someone is looking for him," she finally answered peacefully, gesturing toward the stairs. Daphne had been looking for him earlier, but he had been changing at the time.

  Solveig, Sibius, and Velia had not yet seen Rhys' peculiar attire. Though they had attended his performances before, they now stared at him intently. Rhys had not dressed up. He still wore the same stained trousers and rough shirt. But now Aisling knew what he was planning.

  In his hand was a double-piped flute carved with ancient motifs-the exact kind of flute that Kaelen had at the bridge.

  She remembered the vision she had experienced that very day. But there was no time to dwell on it.

  "Daphne has been looking for you everywhere," Lady Livia took over the conversation with a slightly reproachful tone as soon as the boy came within earshot.

  Rhys stopped across from Aisling. Without responding to Lady Livia, he gazed at the girl through his half-closed eyes, his lashes casting shadows.

  No one and nothing stood between them, yet it seemed as if his gaze rested dreamily just before her figure.

  The girl matched his odd behavior. The moment her eyes fell on the instrument, she recalled a song from the past-or from much more tangled threads of time.

  She saw the bridge again without even trying to concentrate.

  A frail, young oak tree stood beside it. And now, from the labyrinthine tree of time, a clearer impulse unfolded its wings. A flash!

  She felt that Mirael had been reached.

  Mirael had fallen, and there, sitting in the tablinum, Aisling felt all of the woman's pain.

  "Rhys... are you okay?" she asked unnecessarily, because aside from his peculiar look and strange attire, the boy stood before her entirely unharmed, in his ordinary self.

  "I need to talk to Rhys. I have to tell him what I sensed. And yes, the little tree..."

  "Aisling, Rhys, are you both alright?" Lady Livia asked, nearly at the same time as Aisling, interrupting her thoughts.

  Rhys looked at Lady Livia and Aisling in surprise. The girl's paleness worried him. He had expected reactions to his performance, but not such an intense one. Aisling looked shaken and frightened.

  This wasn't what he had anticipated. He didn't understand why they were both concerned about his well-being. It was obvious-he felt just fine. He did.

  Lady Livia placed her well-manicured, gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder.

  "I don't care how you complicate each other's lives, but there's no need to go pale and faint every time you see Rhys," she chided affectionately.

  Her tone held not the slightest hint of mockery. Her entire posture, her voice, radiated love, understanding, and concern-never anger.

  "Mom, you're misunderstanding" the girl began to explain hastily. "I know what you and Daphne are thinking. Sophia and the others were behind the swan statue and overheard you. You're misunderstanding everything. We really did overcomplicate each other's lives because you misinterpreted things. We write stories for each other. It's also related to my exam topic."

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  Rhys burst out laughing. "Now this is something! I've walked right into a full-blown family conspiracy," he thought cheerfully.

  "We've never had any kind of romantic feelings for each other. Well, except for friendship, of course," he explained as well. The baseless assumption didn't embarrass him in the slightest.

  Velia, Solveig, and Sibius watched the strange family scene in silence.

  "Sophia really wants us to invite your family, Fionn's family, and of course our own family to the Millennial Oak tomorrow. We could present the stories," she conveyed her cousin's idea, still looking pale.

  Lady Lívia still hadn't removed her hand from her daughter's shoulder.

  "That's a great idea. Tomorrow, we'll invite the others to the Millennial Oak," Rhys' eyes lit up, almost entirely forgetting about the unfounded suspicion. He loved performing his own stories and poems for his family and wide circle of friends, but he had never joined creative partners-except for Aisling. Though, he had never considered her a creative partner before. Other reasons had led them to write stories together.

  Lady Lívia nodded in agreement, then, in a serious tone, directed the young people's attention back to the misguided theory about Rhys and Aisling's relationship.

  "Look, even if our suspicion had been true, you would have had our support. From me and from Daphne as well."

  Only now did Aisling smile. Velia, Solveig, and Sibius watched them, touched by the moment.

  "It's an honor... Even though the assumption isn't true, it's an honor that you would have welcomed me as family," the boy thanked them for their support. Not that they needed it-since they hadn't secretly fallen in love-but it still felt good to experience the warmth of family.

  The others had never seen Rhys this happy before.

  "It wouldn't be the first time in this family," Lady Lívia added in a much quieter voice.

  Aisling would have liked to ask more about this. She had no idea something like this had happened before in the family. She had expected reproaches, moral lessons. Holo-mentors. She didn't know anyone who hadn't spent their life with their first teenage love.

  "We're really looking forward to meeting the new creative partners," Sibius interjected. Though he was also curious about this past family matter, he steered the conversation back to creativity. From Lady Lívia's tone, he sensed that this wasn't the right time for such a discussion.

  Velia continued to watch Lady Lívia curiously. She, too, wanted to know more about that past event, but she'd interrogate Lady Lívia separately. Tomorrow.

  "Tomorrow, we'll also come to see them at the Millennial Oak after school," Solveig promised. No one present needed a special invitation. Finding creative partners was a joyous event for the entire community.

  'It's time we went back to the others," Lady Lívia suggested. "But you, my daughter, will go up to your room now and join us when you feel better."

  Aisling was grateful that her mother excused her from the rest of the evening. She wanted to be alone with her thoughts, her old book, and the past.

  In the covered area between the white marble columns, a large table had been set up in the afternoon. Ulf's cooking group had gladly taken care of preparing the food. A variety of fruits and a light, healthy dinner awaited the guests. The early evening spring sky was already dotted with stars, and the gentle, warm spring breeze carried the scent of flowers. Yet, only a few people had taken their seats around the large table.

  The breeze didn't have to carry the fragrance from far, as Sophia had arranged the small courtyard behind the swan statue to her own taste, tending to a small flower garden in this section. She had acquired the plants from her maternal grandparents, Callista and Rhesus. In Sophia's favorite place, flowers and greenery thrived in every season. The snowdrops, violets, and hyacinths had already wilted, but now tulips and daffodils adorned the area. The first lilies of the valley were also beginning to bloom beside the small lilac bushes in shades of white and purple.

  A simple gravel path led to the stone table at the center of the garden. Besides Sophia, only Ulf and Baalit were there. And, of course, Astra, the white cat, sitting next to Baalit.

  Ulf and Sophia were using their bracelets to listen in on the conversations happening in different social circles at the gathering. Conversations were always open during events like this; those present could eavesdrop and freely join the discussions that interested them.

  Baalit was playing with Astra. Ulf and Sophia were eavesdropping and observing.

  As soon as Thana returned to the peristylium with Velia, Sibius, and Solveig, Lady Lívia immediately pulled her aside. They were still sitting on a small bench behind the marble columns in the covered area, looking at various hairstyles and hair ornaments, as their bracelets displayed the exact replicas of their latest hairstyles.

  Both of Sophia's sisters had joined Aodhan and Fionn. As usual, they were talking about water sports. Tonight, their usual group was joined by Ezra, Fionn's maternal grandfather.

  "No, no, the one with the yellow badge was first," Aisling's father insisted. He was already heading to the Blue Room to fetch The History of Water Sports to prove that Fionn was mistaken. Naturally, the others followed him.

  "Well, we won't see them again until midnight," Sophia chuckled.

  Ulf was more interested in another conversation. Velia, Solveig, and Sibius had already taken their seats at the large table. They were discussing the Festival of Martyrs and Submission with Callista and Rhesus, who were giving them excellent advice. Ulf, Velia, Solveig, and Sibius were in a fortunate position-the two couples were about to complete their school years together and would fairly split a single year of submission between them. Ulf insisted that Velia should be the first to undergo the submission period.

  "Moving from a Scythian household to a Viking one is no small challenge," Rhesus mused. However, neither he nor Callista knew enough about Viking traditions for the discussion to take that direction.

  Neither couple had yet decided where they would live after the submission period or which traditions they would carry on. This decision was usually made at the end of the submission period.

  In contrast, Sophia and Aisling had already discussed with Rhys and Fionn that the boys would move here, allowing them to stay as close to each other as possible.

  "You'll move in with Velia, right?" Sophia asked.

  "Yeah, of course. They're talking about submission. Who are you joining?" Ulf asked in return.

  "Submission interests me too," Baalit noted, indicating that joining Sophia's grandparents would be perfect for her as well. Sophia's mother, Daphne, had moved into a Roman household from theirs, and Baalit was about to begin her submission period with the Fabia family in a Roman household. Callista and Rhesus could provide her with direct advice, and she was already looking forward to it.

  "I don't know yet," Sophia shrugged. "I don't want to talk about hairstyles, water sports, or submission..."

  "Aisling's grandparents are discussing sculpture with both of Rhys's grandfathers," Ulf reported what he had heard.

  Sophia's skill was geology, and her inclination was sculpture.

  "Well, then I've found my company for tonight," she smiled.

  Aisling's paternal grandparents had taken a short walk to the pond with Rhys's grandparents. Ciro and Lars had just recommended a creative sculpture circle to Aurelius and Thorsten.

  "I'll have to ask them about that myself," Sophia decided quietly.

  Rhys was engaged in a conversation with his own parents, Fionn's maternal grandmother Antonia, and his paternal grandfather Bjorn about a play. Instinctively, they began heading toward the large table just as Daphne returned from the labyrinth with a larger group. It was now certain that this year, planting and tending hedge mazes would be the new trend.

  Lady Lívia and Thana, still talking about their favorite hairstyles, took seats next to Rhys's group.

  "Let's go," Sophia suggested.

  Ulf and Baalit sat with Callista's group, while Sophia joined Aisling's maternal grandparents.

  Everyone had now taken their seats around the large table. Sophia's gaze searched for Aisling.