The Awakening.
Rune's eyes snapped open to a nightmare: the gaping, tusked maw of the Squire-class boar was inches from his face. He scrambled back with a yelp, only to realize the beast was already a lifeless heap on the forest floor.
He looked around, hoping for a hero's welcome, but found only the terrifying, silent statue of his mother and the downcast, trembling forms of his friends. Erik stood nearby, his sword already sheathed, his face unreadable.
Rune tried to stand, inching toward the forest exit.
"I'll just... head back now..."
"And where do you think you're going, young man?"
Ravina's voice was sweet—far too sweet.
The "playful" smile on her face sent a tectonic shiver down Rune's spine. With a flick of her wrist, Ravina seized the very air. The five children were hoisted into the sky by an invisible force, drifting through the canopy like leaves caught in a gale.
One by one, they were delivered to their doorsteps, with Ravina ensuring every parent was briefed on the "little incident."
The Punishment.
Back at the manor, the "hero" was brought low. Rune was forced to kneel on a mat of coarse salt. To ensure he felt the full weight of his actions, Ravina fitted him with a heavy suit of dampening armor that severed his connection to the Ether, turning him back into a mundane, vulnerable child.
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
Ravina asked, her tone chillingly neutral.
The salt bit into the scrapes on Rune's knees like a thousand needles. The pain was so white-hot he could barely process her words.
"Since you are a Squire now," Ravina continued, "and clearly feel old enough to lead a war party, you shall remain there until the moon reaches its zenith. If you faint, I will simply wake you up."
Hilda watched from the shadows, her heart breaking for the boy, but she dared not cross her mistress. All she could do was offer him sips of cold water to keep him from slipping into delirium.
When the moon finally reached the highest point of the heavens, Rune was a broken shell. Hilda carried his limp, bleeding form back to his room.
"Rest, Little Master,"
she whispered.
"The Lady will speak with you in the morning."
The Morning Grace.
The next day, Rune stood before his mother, his knees heavily bandaged.
"Do you know why I punished you so gravely?"
Ravina asked.
"Because I let my pride put my friends in danger," Rune said, his voice small and genuinely contrite.
"I was reckless."
Ravina's stern expression finally melted. She pulled him into a fierce, warm hug.
"Good. Since you've learned your lesson—and survived—I want to say how proud I am. You defeated a Flame Mane and ascended to the Squire class on your own. That is no small feat."
She kissed his forehead.
"Go find your friends. I suspect they had a long night as well."
Rune found them at the park. Amery and Siggy looked fine, if a bit shaken, but Tove and Thora were sporting fresh bruises and mournful expressions.
"You two look like you've seen better days,"
Rune teased weakly.
"My old man almost ended me,"
Thora groaned.
"You got off easy,"
Tove snapped.
"I didn't get dinner and I got a thrashing. What about you, Rune? You look perfectly fine."
"Fine?"
Rune lifted his pant leg to show the blood-stained bandages.
"I had to kneel on salt in anti-magic armor. I only look okay because my new Squire-level Ether is healing me. I had to be carried to bed!"
"I guess we all paid the price,"
Tove sighed.
"Except us,"
Amery said, sticking her tongue out.
"Fathers take much better care of girls than boys. We just got a long, boring lecture."
The boys groaned in unison, but as they sat together under the Midgard sun, the shared trauma of the Evergreen didn't pull them apart—it forged them into a pack.