roll a performance check

She said nothing as she fiddled with the small pouch she had been carrying, and Callum tossed another book into a bin of things to dispose of. It had been a long day for both of them. It had been a long month, really. 

A few days after returning to the castle was when Callum first ventured down into the space under Viren’s study, and he’d quickly forbidden Ezran and Rayla from entering. He didn’t want to go down there himself, after seeing the disassembled, magically preserved body of Rayla’s friend—Callisto, she’d called him—on a table in the center of the room, surrounded by jars that contained different pieces of him. For a long while, Callum could only sit on the stone steps, unable to tear his gaze away as his stomach turned over, unsure whether or not it was going to rid itself of its contents.

He got help with removing the body and putting all the pieces in a casket. Only once it was contained, and the casket nailed shut, did he tell Rayla. They spent that day transporting Callisto outside the castle walls, and digging a grave for him. He held Rayla as she cried, and knelt next to her as she planted a lunabloom seed above where Callisto rested.

As the days wore on, and they both let themselves feel the loss of their loved ones, Callum became less convinced that the grief of losing Callisto was the primary thing bothering Rayla. So it was that, while she sat with him in the office that night, he simply asked her what was wrong.

She only spent a moment visibly trying to hold herself together before it all came tumbling out between gasping sobs: the mission and disappearance of the Dragonguard, the banishment spell, the coins, and where Claudia had found them.

Callum abandoned his task of sorting through books, and stood at the desk where she sat, enveloping her in the tightest hug he could manage. Her small hand clutched the coins that contained her parent’s souls. Was it even possible to undo the spell? It was no small piece of dark magic that put them in there. Callum barely had any idea where to begin to learn how to get them out.

“We’ll figure it out,” he assured her, gently wiping a tear off her cheek. “I swear, we’ll get them back.”

“Dunno how,” she replied, taking a deep, shuddering breath, and returning the coins to her pocket. “Claudia thinks it’ll take a lot of dark magic, and you gave that up.”

Technically, if he cast one powerful spell, then it would only tighten their chains once, and since there was no chance she was going to break her vow not to kill, they wouldn’t die if he did just one more spell—

He winced at the thought. As convenient as dark magic could be, he knew it was wrong. He’d grown too reliant on it. There were almost always better ways to go about the things that dark magic made easier.

“I don’t know how either,” he admitted, “but I won’t stop searching until I find a way. You will see your parents again.” 

He had lost three parents, all definitively dead. As much as he may wish that he could see any one of them, there was no way for them to come back. Freeing trapped souls, though…that was something he might be able to do. Somehow.

Leaning her head on his shoulder, Rayla asked, “Seems like trying to accomplish the impossible is a common thing for you. Does it ever occur to you that things might be hopeless?”

“Nah,” he said, letting his arms wrap around her waist. “I don’t believe in sensible rules. Won’t believe what sensible people say. Not sure what that makes me, but hey, sometimes it works.”

“It makes you a…a daft, dewy-eyed dope.” She sat back up, a teasing smile overcoming her tears of grief as she set one hand on his shoulder, and the other against his cheek. He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. “But because you keep building up impossible hopes, impossible things seem to be happening every day.”

Leaning closer to her, he asked, “Impossible things like you living here, in the castle? Like us living in a world where we’re allowed to love each other? Where I’m allowed to do this?” He caught her lips in his, and she gave a pleased hum, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck.

"Like that," she whispered. "Never would have thought this could happen. Sources, it was only a month ago that I told you in the garden at the ball that there was no way we could be together."

"Mostly because you were there to kill me," he pointed out lightly.

With a roll of her eyes, she said, "Yes, but also because of the way the entire world has been for a thousand years. I didn't exactly expect that you and I would be changing the world together."

"Yet here we are." He leaned his forehead against hers. "Is this even real? It's hard to believe it sometimes." 

She shrugged, and said, "What's reality? Does anybody know?" before vanishing from in front of him.

Startled, Callum stepped back, blinking hard at the spot where Rayla had been sitting. Where did she…?

As she reappeared, smirking, he mentally kicked himself. It had been a month since the ball, which meant tonight was a full moon. He needed to get used to the fact that she could just vanish for one night each month.

"This better be real," he chuckled. "Or else I've got a whole new set of problems on my hands."

Taking his hands, she guided him back toward her, put his arms around her once more, and teased, "I guarantee, you've got your hands on a whole lot of problems right now."

"Mm, but you're my problem, and I'd very much like to keep it that way."

She grinned, and he felt her hook one of her legs around his as she pulled him into another kiss.

Kissing Rayla, he had found, was its own kind of magic. The kind of magic that stopped time, and made everything around them melt away. When he kissed her, the only things that existed were the warmth that spread from his chest through his veins, making him light as air, and the strong, all-consuming, intoxicating presence of Rayla. She was all he wanted. She was all that was. They were all that was.

When they separated only the slightest bit, Callum enjoying the tickling feeling of Rayla's fingers in his hair, he breathed “I love you” against her mouth, and he felt her smile.

“Sap,” she murmured, then stole one more kiss. “Next thing I know, you'll be reciting poetry and drowning me in roses.”

Lucky for him, he had all of his dad's poems memorized. 

Unable to suppress a smirk, he peppered kisses along her cheek, ghosted his lips to her ear, and whispered, "So this is love. So this is what makes life divine. I'm all aglow, and now I know: the key to all heaven—"

Bursting into laughter, Rayla shoved him a few inches away with a hand on his chest, but kept him close with her leg still hooked around him. "That wasn't an invitation, dummy!”

He grinned, and continued, "The key to all heaven is mine! My heart has wings, and I can fly—"

“You are so annoying,” she laughed, gently hitting his arm. “I take back my vow, and I'm gonna finish the job and kill you.”

Her unabashed laughter, and the soft expression in her stunning eyes told him he had nothing to worry about. 

It was so good to hear her laugh. To relish in her joy. Things weren't perfect. They never would be. But if this was as close to perfect as they got, Callum would fight for as many imperfect days as he could have.  He would fight for her. Again and again if he had to. He would fight for that smile on her lips. 

Like magnets, unable to keep distance, he quickly chased after her, one hand around her waist and the other leaning on the desk while she supported herself with an elbow on the desk behind her. He reveled in the taste of her. Never before had Callum known someone he always wanted to be touching, who he wanted to lavish with kisses, to eternally bask in the warm, soft feeling of her. She was wonderful, and she was his—

The door to the study opened, and Callum jumped back, nearly tripping over Rayla's leg that held him in place. He hoped his cheeks weren't too flushed as Rayla scrambled off the desk to stand on the floor, ducking her head, and Callum could only manage the quickest of glances at the intruder—Opeli—before he looked away.

With a long-suffering sigh, Opeli informed them, tone flat, "It's the ambassador's curfew. If I'm not interrupting something important, Your Highness, I must take her from you."

Clearing his throat, Callum said, "Right. Yes. Of course. Curfew."

For as long as she and the rest of the castle were learning to trust each other, Rayla had agreed to a nightly curfew, which he'd quickly forgotten was at an earlier time during the full moon. Guards were stationed outside her bedroom through the night, just for an extra level of protection.

"Yes," Rayla confirmed, then nodded to him. "Good, uh…good negotiations, Your Highness."

It almost made him snort with laughter to hear her refer to him that way. Then, as Rayla left the room with Opeli, he did chuckle to himself as he heard Opeli say, "I'm well aware there were no negotiations happening. It's not like you and Prince Callum are very subtle."

And thank the Great Ones, the moon, and all the cosmos that they didn't have to hide it. They didn't have to run away together. With the blessing of the king, they were allowed, and encouraged, to stay by each other's side. It wasn't just the magical chains that bound them together. A piece of his soul belonged to Rayla, now. And he carried a piece of her soul within himself, too.

His dad's poetry had been right. This was the miracle that he'd been dreaming of.

With a sigh, Callum brought his thoughts back to the study. He had gone through a good half of it, at least, and thrown away dozens of dark magic tomes. Claudia had asked him to get rid of all of it, but as High Mage, there were still things he could learn, even if he had no intention of practicing dark magic again. One of these books most likely contained instructions for the spell that trapped Rayla's parents. Maybe they would have options for setting them free. He could always get rid of more things later.

Though, with the discard bin full for the night, he decided it was enough work for the day. Someone would collect the bin in the morning, and burn everything he had put inside. For now, he could wrap up, and retire to his bedroom for the night.

He tucked a book under his arm, then circled the room, blowing out candles, and closing the curtains. The room was almost pitch dark after he extinguished the last candle that sat near the door. He reached for the handle.

Then light began to return to the room. 

He stopped, turning to investigate. Was there some dark magic item that was starting to emit light? Did Viren have more primal stones? 

On the other side of the room stood the mirror that Viren had been puzzling over since returning with it from Xadia. It had done nothing, revealed nothing over the past two years. A mage who had been practicing magic since before Callum was born hadn't been able to figure anything out about this mirror. 

And now, in the dark stillness of the study, it brightened as he crossed the room, revealing that there was something on the other side. A full bookcase next to a swirling window, a desk with a matching chair, some potted plants, and a fireplace.

A lit fireplace.

Did someone live there? Where was this place?

Leaning closer, until his breath left fog on the mirror, Callum took in as much of the room as he could. There were a pair of ornate doors to the side, and it was daytime there, but the inhabitant was nowhere to be seen. Curious. 

Claudia’s voice echoed in the back of his mind. The one thing she had specifically asked him to get rid of was this mirror. But…they didn't even know anything about it. Maybe it wasn't even dangerous. He couldn't know if he needed to get rid of it until he knew more about it. It couldn't hurt to keep it around a little longer, just to investigate.

For now…it was late. He stooped to pick up the fabric cover that was laying in a pile on the floor, and tossed it over the mirror. He would study it another day. His first priority as High Mage was to start reading the book under his arm to find some way to help Rayla's parents. The mirror could be his second priority.

He left the study, locking it behind him, and ventured toward the king's quarters to check in with Ezran. Ez was aware of Callum's academic interest in some of Viren's things, and, with the promise of the binding, approved of him keeping some of it until it had outlived its usefulness. Each day, Callum updated him on his progress through the study, and any research he intended to do.

Slowly, it was becoming less strange to sit in the king's quarters with Ezran and Bait, without Harrow there. The gaping hole in Callum's chest was far from closing, but…he had grown accustomed to its presence. One day, it might not be painful to sit in his dad's room without him. As things were, he and his brother sat in that pain together as they talked about their new positions of import, and how they would work together to make the future brighter.

He didn't mention the coins. Or the mirror. Rayla had taken weeks to tell him about her parents, and he wasn't about to divulge the information to anyone else without permission. The mirror…he would share about it when he had more knowledge than "it shows another place when it's dark." By giving him the freedom to sift through the study, and research as he saw fit, Callum knew that Ezran trusted him to make the right choices, and to tell him about things that needed attention.

He felt lighter, knowing how much Ezran trusted him. Rayla, too. For the first time, he wasn't being told where to go, what to do, who to be. With his eighteenth birthday just four months away, there was no more pressure about his eligibility being a piece in politics. While Harrow had never applied oppressive pressure, there were still expectations of the kind of prince he had to be.

For the first time, Callum was in charge of his own destiny. He would help his brother rule the kingdom. He would become the best mage he could be, even without practicing dark magic. He would unashamedly show his adoration of the elf who saved his life, and showed him what his life could truly be. And the possibilities of what his life could be were limitless. He could accomplish anything.