Chapter 62: A Place To Fall Back To.

The conversation at the table then moved onto the main reason for why they were all here, apart from establishing a good relationship between the world’s one and only resonance artifact holder.

"Now, assuming the courier wasn’t the last message," King Aurelian said, voice businesslike once the plates had been cleared and the servants had withdrawn to the edges of the room. "Assuming there’s going to be another, and more after that, and that it won’t be so distant next time. What do we do with that assumption?"

The grey-haired officer—introduced, at some point during the second course, as General Marrow—set down her glass with the crisp precision of someone too used to briefings.

"We’ve already begun building the evacuation routes for Lucenhall specifically, Your Majesty. It’s not public knowledge, not yet—no reason to cause panic over a threat that hasn’t materialized directly at the school. But if it does, there’s a route through the eastern hills that bypasses the main roads entirely. The Archmage Vale helped design it herself, some years back, for exactly this kind of contingency."

"She would have," Isolde murmured, something fond and rueful in it.

"For the five she specifically mentioned as high priority threats," Marrow continued, gaze moving to Elian, Oizys, Rudra, and—by extension, though they weren’t present—the rest of the marked group, "we’re establishing individual fallback points. Somewhere to go if Lucenhall itself becomes compromised. Princess Oizys and Lord Rudra’s positions already come with standing protocols, given their houses."

A pause, something uneasy passing through the older woman’s voice.

"The rest will need to be built from nothing, which is part of why tonight matters."

"Meaning?" Elian asked.

"For you, Lord Elian, it means the Valcourt household doesn’t currently carry the kind of infrastructure that protects people the Davidians consider valuable," She answered, bluntly but not unkindly.

And of course, Queen Isolde was already there softening the blow.

"It’s not a criticism of your house, It’s a simple fact of scale now that we’re talking in military terms. Tonight, we extends you some of ours, informally, until something more permanent can be arranged."

A pause, the Queen considering something.

She turned and whispered something in the King’s ears, one hand covering her mouth so that no one could read what her lips were saying.

The king gave her a nod in agreement, and she turned, looking directly at Elian.

"Actually, you now have a standing invitation to this palace, should you ever end up needing it, no formality required if it’s an emergency."

Elian didn’t quite know what to do with that, so he simply nodded, throat tight in a way he didn’t examine too closely.

The conversation wandered, after that, first more about the strategic details of the incoming threat and how they were planning to deal with it. Then, into gentler territory—Queen Isolde speaking at length about the old lunar rites of Selenoire, how the kingdom’s founding families had once tracked the moon’s phases as a kind of communal calendar for everything from harvests to succession ceremonies, a tradition mostly ornamental now but still observed in small ways at court.

Rudra, who was surprisingly talkative in the presence of the rulers, offered a few details of Meruvarsha’s own customs when asked—the significance of fire in coming-of-age rites there, and the particular reverence given to lightning-born nobility, which drew an unexpectedly delighted reaction from Cassian, who demanded to know if Rudra could summon lightning on command purely for entertainment purposes.

He could not, or declined to, depending on how one read his expression.

By the time the King finally rose, signaling the evening’s formal end, the candles had burned low enough that the whole room had taken on a softer, warmer cast than it had held at the start.

The rest of the table rose with the king, chairs scraping softly against ancient stone, the formality of the evening loosening at last into something closer to a room full of people simply ready for bed.

"Before you all leave," Aurelian said, pausing at the head of the table, "a few last things, since I doubt any of us will manage a second dinner like this before the season turns."

He glanced toward Marrow.

"The evacuation routes, the fallback points—all of it stays quiet for now as planned. No sense in alarming the rest of the school over contingencies we hope never to use, we will discuss the importance of making an announcement at a later date."

"Understood," General Marrow said, and Elian nodded along with her, the earlier weight of the conversation settling back over the table for one last moment before it could fully disperse.

"And all courier routes through and out of the country," The king added, "will need to be under watch permanently from here forward. If there’s a second message, we’ll know before it reaches anyone unprepared for it."

Isolde, who had been quiet through the last practical exchanges, turned to Elian directly as the others began drifting from the table, her expression softening from the composed warmth she’d worn all evening into something more private.

"Elian." She waited until he’d fully turned toward her before continuing, unhurried despite the room emptying around them. "I meant what I said earlier, and I want you to actually hold onto it, not simply nod politely and forget it by morning, alright?"

"I wasn’t going to forget it, your majesty."

"You say that now." A faint, knowing smile. "If it ever comes to it—if Lucenhall isn’t safe, if you have nowhere else to go, for any reason at all—this palace has a door open to you. Not as a favor owed, not as a political arrangement. Simply because I’ve decided it’s true, and I don’t often change my mind once I have."

She reached out, brief and warm, and rested a hand against his shoulder.

"Say it back to me, so I know it’s landed properly."

Elian managed something that was almost a smile of his own.

"If I need it, the queen has assured me that I have a place here."

"Good." She withdrew her hand, satisfied, already turning to gather Cassian by the collar before he could vanish entirely down some side corridor unsupervised.

She turned to face the table who had left there chairs, but were standing at attention for a proper dismissal.

"Now go. All of you. Before my son talks Lord Rudra into demonstrating lightning indoors after all."