6th Interlude: Happy Memories

"Well, you need to get married too, Konrad, or you'll be missing out! There are marriages everywhere! Even in my dreams!"

She points at Nick and Anne sitting at the end of the long table, smiling at each other while the fairies return to their seats to enjoy the rest of their meal.

Suddenly, Edward rises from his seat and taps on his glass with a spoon to grab everyone's attention. The people quickly quiet down and the red mage lets several seconds of silence pass before he speaks.

"I don't want to take too much of your time, so let me be brief. First of all, I would like to congratulate the couple of the hour. Although we haven't known each other for that long, nor have we been particularly close, believe me when I tell you that I wish nothing but the best for you two. Which is why I am offering you this."

Edward then pulls out a large envelope from his coat pocket and hands it to Nick.

"She knows you mean well, but hearing her story might change your mind."

Breeze looks around to see if the mysterious Jasmine is going to show up, but she doesn't.

Meanwhile, Nick and Anne read the pieces of paper that Edward has handed to them, and they discover that it's the deed to a house in a rural area of Lofell. A large one that.

Anne widens her eyes in surprise, stunned by the generosity of Edward's gift.

"Wait, what is it?" Gab asks.

"Yeah, what is it?!" Breeze adds.

"A deed to a house in Lofell," Edward answers.

This sparks a conversation at the table, and Anne rises from her seat to thank the red mage as well.

"Thank you," she says. "That's... you didn't need to do that. But thank you."

"My pleasure," he says with a smile before raising his glass in the air. "To a lifetime filled with happiness and love!"

"To happiness and love!" the others repeat.

Everyone raise the glasses and cheer for the newlyweds.

"Yay!" Breeze exclaims. "That was so nice of him! Wait, isn't that the same Edward that did those bad things to us?"

As she ponders the question, the environment around the adventurers begins to change as pieces of furniture disappear one by one, and even Konrad's glass evaporates out of his hand.

As the glass disappears, Konrad's hold on it overcompensates, and he lowers his hand.

"The Sam inside my orb is very keen on trying to get through to Edward. That, and finding their son."

Steve looks over at Konrad and sighs, before saying, "That's a big ask about Edward. His copy in Wanda already insisted on fighting to the death. What makes her think Edward Prime will be any different?"

Before Konrad can answer Steve's question, the people in the room begin to fade away as well. The first are Nick's and Anne's families, followed by Ingeburg and her closest colleagues, the fairies, and then the squad members. The whole room morphs into a new layout that's completely different from the mansion from before, and after a few seconds of architectural reshuffling, the adventurers find themselves into an empty classroom with windows that give a view of the sea and the Dome beyond it.

Steve is very familiar with this view. This is the classroom where he studied the introductory course about weaving.

Steve looks around in horror and says, "Oh fuck."

Konrad approaches a desk and wipes a finger on it surface to check for dust.

"What? What is this place?"

Mihai finds the door to the classroom open. Beyond it is a large stone hallway that leads to other classrooms, and farther away, he can hear the distant sounds of conversation.

Konrad finds no dust on the desk. The whole classroom looks quite clean in fact.

"What is it?" Breeze asks Steve, worried. "Do you recognize this place?"

Suddenly, the adventurers all hear the chiming of a bell ringing on the whole floor. Maybe the whole building even.

Steve is pale. "We're in the Citadel. The weaving department to be specific. This is the "Introduction to Weaving" classroom and lab. This is where I met Goodman for the first time."

Breeze looks at her friends, a little confused.

"Oh, I see. Why don't we leave this room behind, and you can show us around?"

Steve notices Breeze's confusion and says, "Goodman is a master weaver who was my first and last Weaving instructor. He was arrogant and cruel, and was using his position to abuse me and the other students so I got rid of him. It's how I earned the sobriquet 'The Devil of the Citadel' in the first place. We found out later on Myr he was conducting immoral weaving experiments on people."

To Konrad he says, "I'm not sure where Jasmine wants us to go but I guess we can wander about. The Citadel follows a fairly predictable layout. Wizards tend to be particular about how orderly things are and Weavers doubly so." He steps out into the hallway, where he notices the distant conversation and starts leading everyone that way.

Breeze follows Steve into the hallway, a somber expression on her face. "I sure hope he got what was coming to him then," she says before sitting on his shoulder and grabbing onto his earlobe. It's been a long time since she last did that. "But this is your home, right? So why did Jasmine bring us here?"

As the adventurers head down the hallway, they see the first students walk towards them. They're all around eleven to thirteen years old. One of them is a young raven-haired girl who looks strangely similar to Breeze. Dressed in the traditional Citadel uniform, she anxiously looks at the signs above the classrooms while holding tight onto her little bag. Unaware of her surroundings, she nearly collides into Steve, but stops at the last second and says, "Oh, sorry."

She then walks around him while avoiding his gaze and continues towards the weaving class.

"Steve, do you remember seeing that girl before?"

Steve quietly says to the others, "Yes, it's Jasmine when she was a student here at the Citadel. This would be before my time though." He moves to follow her if she doesn't stop.

Now standing in front of the door leading to the weaving class, Jasmine is initially startled by Mihai and she looks around to make sure he's not talking to someone else. "Yes?" she says.

Only now do Mihai, Konrad and Steve realize that their appearances have changed and that they've reverted to their preadolescent selves. Not only that, but they're also wearing the Citadel uniform as well.