The Burning Quill was well attended that evening. Students were celebrating the end of exams, saying goodbye to friends or drowning their disappointment in ale and fire tongues. The smell of roasting meat and spicy sauce drifted from the kitchen into the bar.

  Valentina, Innogen and Crispin had managed to get a quiet table in a corner. Wilbur, the innkeeper, had served them his best lamb chops and even brought a bottle of wine from his private cellar. Innogen's name and money made it possible.

  "Here's to us!" shouted Innogen, raising her glass. "The most brilliant first-year students Bridgewater University has ever seen!"

  "Definitely the most modest ones," laughed Crispin. His curls fell into his forehead and his cheeks were already red from the alcohol.

  "It's really heartbreaking," commented Vyxara. "You could almost forget how many secrets there are between you and your friends."

  Valentina ignored the demon and sipped her wine. It tasted of summer fruits and distant lands.

  They ate and drank and reminisced. With every glass of wine, the stories got wilder and the laughter louder.

  "And what do you do in the summer?" Valentina finally asked.

  "I have to go home," sighed Innogen. "Father insists I attend the summer receptions. Negotiations, potential marriage alliances and all that." She rolled her eyes.

  "I'm staying here," said Crispin. "Professor Veilford has offered me a position as an assistant on his research project. Originally, I wanted to go home and then study in the library of my father's liege lord, the Duke of Mirkshire, but Professor Veilford's offer is just far too good."

  "That's wonderful!" exclaimed Valentina. "You deserve it."

  The evening was drawing to a close. Most of the guests had already left, only a few night owls were still sitting in the tavern.

  "I should go to bed," yawned Innogen. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

  They paid and stepped out into the warm summer night. The moon was high in the sky and bathed the streets in silvery light.

  "Wait a minute," Valentina said to Crispin when Innogen had already taken a few steps ahead. "I... I have something for you."

  She pulled him into the shadow of a doorway. His face was barely recognizable in the moonlight, but she sensed his nervousness.

  "I know I probably shouldn't be doing this and maybe it's the wine," she whispered, standing on tiptoe. Gently, she kissed him on the lips. "Don't forget me, will you? And take care of yourself. Even though we're just friends, you really mean a lot to me, okay?"

  Crispin stood frozen. "Val, I..."

  "Shhhh," She put a finger to his lips. "Let's leave it at that."

  He nodded silently, tears in his eyes. With a final smile, she left him and hurried after Innogen.

  "That was cruel," Innogen said quietly when she had caught up with her.

  "I know." Valentina sighed. "But I wanted to show him, to make him understand, that I really like him – just not in the way he wants."

  They reached Innogen's room. "Come in for a moment," her friend asked.

  Innogen's room was immaculately tidy as always. Only a few chests and bags showed the preparations for departure.

  "So... Dusktown." Innogen sat down on her bed. "Be careful there, will you? Make sure Duke Cosimo doesn't... take you over completely."

  "I know what I'm doing," Valentina assured her.

  "Do you?" Innogen looked at her piercingly. "Val, I respect you, but I can't get out of my skin. I'm worried about you. This thing with Professor Horne, how fast you changed..."

  "She's smarter than most," Vyxara commented approvingly.

  "I'll be fine," Valentina said softly. "I really am. And I'll write to you every day."

  "Just promise me one thing," Innogen said seriously. "If you ever need help – of any kind – then get in touch. Immediately. I'll drop everything and come to you."

  Valentina hugged her friend tightly. "I promise."

  They held each other for a long time, both with tears in their eyes.

  "Do you remember what we promised each other?" Innogen whispered. "That we would always be friends, no matter what?"

  "Of course." Valentina swallowed hard. "That's still true."

  "Good." Innogen broke away from her and wiped his eyes. "Now go, before I cry even more. I'll see you tomorrow when you leave."

  On the way to her attic room, Valentina thought about the evening. About all the unspoken truths between her and her friends. About the future that lay ahead of them.

  "You have good friends," Vyxara said surprisingly gently. "Hold on to them."

  "Would they still like me if they ever found out the truth?" Valentina asked quietly.

  "Who knows?" purred the Demon. "But that's a problem for another day. Now you should pack."

  Vyxara was right – it really was amazing how many things had accumulated in a year. Books, banned books, notes, Essence Weaving utensils – everything had to be sorted and packed.

  "Amazing," commented Vyxara, "how much more you have now than when you arrived."

  That was true. Back then, Valentina had only had a worn-out travel chest with the bare essentials. Now her belongings filled the chest and several bags.

  She picked up a tattered textbook. The pages were full of notes, some in her own handwriting, others by Crispin or Innogen. She placed it carefully in the box.

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  Next, her old red dress appeared – the one she had worn on the first day. It was even more faded and patched than it had been then. Next to it hung Innogen's magnificent red velvet dress.

  "Isn't that a perfect metaphor for your development, little Weaver?" purred Vyxara.

  A stack of letters from home, tied together with a ribbon. Her Greystone Competition medal. A bottle and a few vials with the rest of the stolen Distilled Essence.

  "I feel as if it all happened to someone else," murmured Valentina.

  "That someone else no longer exists," Vyxara agreed. "You have become so much more."

  Valentina continued to pack methodically. Every object brought back memories – both good and bad. The notebook in which she had recorded the forbidden Essence patterns. The secret notes Professor Horne had given her after one of their 'private lessons'. A dried rose from the garden.

  When she was finished, the room looked frighteningly bare. Only the furniture remained in place – the rickety table, the narrow bed, the old wardrobe. Like a ghost of herself.

  "Time for one last tour of the university," suggested Vyxara.

  Valentina nodded. She wanted to say goodbye to a few more places.

  The corridors of the university were silent at this late hour. Her footsteps echoed off the stone walls. Every now and then she came across a student who was still busy packing or who also wanted to say goodbye to their beloved place of study.

  The library was already closed, but she could see the familiar bookshelves through the high windows. How many hours had she spent here, bent over old texts? She would have liked to say goodbye to the librarian, Matilda Ravencroft, too. Some weeks, she had seen her more often than her friends.

  The large lecture hall was in darkness. Valentina quietly opened the door and entered. The smell of slate and old wood hung in the air.

  "Valentina?"

  She flinched. Professor Horne had entered behind her.

  "Excuse me," he said nervously, "I didn't mean to scare you. I... I saw you go into the lecture hall and I thought..."

  "I just wanted to say goodbye to this room, a little sentimental, I know," Valentina said quietly.

  They stood there in silence for a moment, both lost in memories.

  "I'll miss you," Horne finally said. "I... I wish you all the best. For your stay. In Dusktown, I mean."

  Valentina just nodded. What else was there to say between them?

  "He can't stand the fact that his little toy is threatening to slip away from him," Vyxara mocked.

  Valentina left the lecture hall without another word. Her steps led her to the stairs of the Burning Tower. The eternal flames at its top danced against the night sky.

  She sat down on the top step and looked out over the university courtyard. From here she could see everything – the gardens, the lecture buildings, the path to the gate. Her whole year was laid out before her like a map.

  "Wistful?" asked Vyxara.

  "A little," Valentina admitted. "I've learned almost everything I know here – about Essence Weaving, about the world... about myself."

  A warm night breeze brushed Valentina's face. Life in Bridgewater would go on, with or without her.

  "I should go to bed," she finally said. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

  She stood up, put her head back and took one last look up at the Burning Tower. The eternal flames seemed to be reaching for her.

  "This is not the end," Vyxara said gently. "It's just the beginning."

  On the way to her room, she bumped into Edgar, who wanted to return his books to the library and was annoyed when Valentina told him that it was already closed. They wished each other a good journey without saying much.

  Back in her room, Valentina lay down on her narrow bed. For the last time for many months, she would fall asleep here, under the sloping roof, looking out of the window through which she had so often watched the stars. It was small and shabby, but she would miss her own little realm up here – the first room she had ever had of her own – very much.

  ~

  The morning was cool and clear, dew glistened on the cobblestones of the university courtyard as Valentina left her attic room for the last time – at least for now.

  Students were loading their belongings everywhere. Carts and trolleys clogged up the courtyard while porters dragged suitcases and boxes. Tearful farewell scenes took place between the pieces of luggage.

  "A bit theatrical, don't you think?" commented Vyxara. "As if they'll never see each other again."

  "Some won't," Valentina muttered as she carried her own suitcases to the waiting car.

  The carter, a weather-beaten man named Thomas, helped her load the cart. "To Palewood? That's going to be a long journey."

  "I know." Valentina fastened the Greystone brooch to her traveling dress. "But for now, only as far as the crossroads at Five Ashes. From there, I'll take the messenger cart of the royal mail."

  Innogen and Crispin came hurrying across the courtyard. Crispin was carrying an extra bag of books that he wanted to give Valentina as a parting gift.

  "You'll write to us as soon as you get home?" Innogen asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

  "Of course." Valentina hugged her friend tightly. "And you write to me about every boring summer reception."

  She turned to Crispin. He looked as if he hadn't slept half the night again. "Take care of yourself," she said softly and he looked at her longingly as he nodded. "You take care of yourself too, Valentina."

  "It's really amazing," purred Vyxara. "You just keep breaking his heart."

  The carter cleared his throat discreetly. "Excuse me? We should get going if we want to reach Five Ashes before nightfall."

  Valentina climbed onto the carter's seat. From up here, she had one last good view of the university. The Burning Tower towered proudly into the morning sky, its eternal flames barely visible in the bright sunlight.

  As the carriage began to move, she waved to her friends until they rolled out of the gate and a bend in the road took them out of her sight.

  "And so the next chapter begins," said Vyxara with satisfaction. "We're finally getting out of this city and seeing something of the world. I can't wait to see what it's like for you to return to Palewood after you've changed so much."

  "We've both changed," Valentina replied in her thoughts, so as not to draw the carter's attention to her conversation with Vyxara.

  "Oh?" The Demon sounded amused. "How have I changed?"

  "You're... different than at the beginning. Less cruel. Sometimes almost caring."

  "Perhaps," Vyxara purred, "you have influenced me as much as I have influenced you. An interesting development, don't you think?"

  They passed the last houses of Bridgewater. The road now led between green fields.

  "What do you think awaits us in Dusktown?" asked Valentina after a while.

  "Power," Vyxara replied without hesitation. "Influence. New opportunities. Duke Cosimo may be a lecherous old man, but you have quite some experience by now in exploiting lecherous old men and he has connections to all the magnates and the most important Essence Weavers in the realm."

  "But that also means new dangers," added Valentina.

  "Of course." Vyxara laughed softly. "But since when do dangers frighten us?"

  The cart rumbled over a bridge. A small tributary river flowed lazily below them, its surface glistening like silver in the morning light.

  They drove on through the awakening summer day. Farmers were tilling their fields, children were tending geese by the roadside, a traveling preacher from the Church of the Martyr blessed them as he passed.

  Around midday, they stopped at an inn for a rest. While the carter watered the horses, Valentina ate a simple lunch of bread and cheese.

  "Oh, we'll have much better food soon," said Vyxara as they set off again, "in Dusktown you'll dine at the Duke's table."

  "I hope I haven't forgotten the courtly manners Innogen taught me by then," Valentina grinned.

  The afternoon dragged on. The sun blazed down from the sky and the dust from the road made Valentina's throat dry. But with every step the horses took, she got closer to home.

  "You're looking forward to seeing them again," Vyxara stated. It wasn't a question.

  "Of course." Valentina smiled. "They're my family."

  "And you saved them," the Demon reminded her, "with my help."

  "With your help," Valentina agreed. "Even if the price was high."

  "But you paid it willingly. That makes you very special," Vyxara said gently.

  The sun was moving towards the horizon when they reached the crossroads at Five Ashes. The carter helped Valentina unload her luggage.

  "The mail cart to the south will be here in about an hour I guess," he said. "Have a good journey."

  Valentina sat down on her travel chest and looked back towards Bridgewater. The town had long since disappeared behind the horizon.

  "No regrets?" asked Vyxara.

  "No," said Valentina firmly. "Whatever the future holds – I'm ready for it."

  Valentina unconsciously touched the Greystone brooch on her chest. A year full of impossible decisions lay behind her. A summer full of unknown challenges lay ahead of her.

  "We'll master them all," Vyxara purred confidently.

  "Together," Valentina said quietly.

  "Together," confirmed the demon.