Lith didn't have the heart to wake Solus. She had never slept before and he had no idea if it had been made possible by her improved wisp form or because of their temporary fusion. In the past, even when she accompanied him in his dreams, Solus was wide awake.

She was able to follow him only thanks to their mind link and would get no rest from the experience.

After an hour, Lith had finished planning the procedure to cure his mother and even devised contingency measures for everything that could go wrong he was capable of foreseeing, yet Solus was still sound asleep.

After s.h.i.+elding her with the Hush spell, silencing the area around the wisp, he called Professor Vastor. Over the last year, Lith had exchanged contact runes with all the Professors he had a good relations.h.i.+p with.

"Lith, my boy. Glad to finally hear from you." Vastor said with a jovial voice while twirling his mustaches.

"I was a little offended when you left without even saying goodbye, but now I understand why you did it."

"You do?" Lith had no idea what Vastor was talking about. He was inwardly cursing at himself for committing such blatant discourtesy. Between Solus and his foul mood, he had been too sick of the academy to stick around even a second longer.

"Yeah, thank the G.o.ds you left so quickly. When the rankings got out, everything went south. The whole top three in the Light department is something that hasn't happened in years.

"A commoner, a n.o.ble and an old n.o.ble at that. It sounds almost like the beginning of a joke. Too bad so many people can't see past the end of their noses. In less than an hour, we have been swamped in complaint calls and letters. Most of them are currently warming my old bones."

Vastor showed him a fireplace fueled by still closed envelopes.

"I expected to find you upset, maybe even outraged. I see you are pretty calm despite Linjos's trickery. He should have told us. It would have spared us a lot of troubles."

"What do you mean? What trickery?" Lith's surprise appeared genuine.

"Son, remind me never to play cards against you." Vastor laughed.

"You know, even if we aren't allowed to share the students' grades, we Professors do something called 'talk' about our most promising student. When I heard about you placing third, I asked Wanemyre why she gave you such a bad grade, right before she asked me the very same question.

"Bottom line, we know what happened and we understand why it was necessary. If a third place triggered such a mess, I can't think what would have happened if it was the second or the first." Vastor sighed.

"Wanemyre sure didn't take it well. When the Warden specialization Professor started boasting of their first place, she almost roasted him alive. That woman really has a soft spot for you. It makes one wonder if the rumors about you two are true."

Vastor said it as a joke, but Lith could sense it was actually a serious question.

"I wish." He replied honestly, it was the best way to avoid ruining both their reputations and tainting his achievements with false allegations.

"Don't be so impatient. I get older women are charming, but time only moves forward." For a moment Vastor seemed to be really tired.

"Soon you'll be old enough to court all the Wanemyre in the world. After that, you'll be so old they will pay you no attention unless marriage is at stake. If only there was a way to live forever young. Enough with my whining, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"I was thinking about healing cut tendons, regenerate missing fingers. Little things, just to make a quick buck." Lith explained.

"I have no idea how much I should ask for it." He wasn't worried about asking too much, but to be underselling his services. As an intern at the academy, he always did what he was asked to, without thinking about the fares.

Vastor pondered for a bit before answering.

"Skin, tendons and maybe a tooth or two are manageable for a single mage, but I wouldn't call even a finger a little thing. Without a mage providing the treatment and another the life force at the same time it's a risky procedure.

Anyway, there is no law against being young and reckless. If you were already graduated, I'd say ten silver coins to split between two mages is a fair price. Since you are still a student, one is more than enough.

"After you kill your first patient, feel free to call me or Marth at any time if you need to talk."

Since Solus kept sleeping, Lith used that time to call Wanemyre and Marth to make up for his blunder. They were happy to hear from him and wished him a good winter break.

When he could finally go back home, it was almost dinner time, but he was forced to skip it due to all the food Solus had shoved down his throat while they were fused.

The next morning, Lith woke up in his bedroom perfectly rested. No matter how effective Invigoration was, he wanted to be at his peak condition for the procedure. Solus could act as a life support system in case something went wrong, but everything else weighed on his shoulders.

'I really don't want another sibling, but I realize how lonely my parents must feel having gone from living with five kids to just one. Once Tista and I leave, maybe I should buy them a house somewhere so they do not feel so isolated from the rest of the world.'

Lith opened the window of his room, letting the chilly morning air in. The sun had still to rise and during the night had snowed a little. He warmed up the house and the floors with fire magic before leaving for the bakery.

Even after a good night's sleep, Lith was still full. The thought of going to the village's bakery was enough to make him sick.

Yet Elina had expressed so much joy at the idea of eating fresh white bread that he couldn't deny her that small luxury.

'No matter how much she trusts me, mom is bound to be scared. Even if I'm not going to cut her open as a surgeon would, she is aware of the risks any procedure, even the simplest one, implies.' Lith thought.

'A positive mindset can help me during the operation and make her recovery faster. Also, I'm curious to see how that b*stard will welcome me now that he needs me.'

Vexal Cornerstone, Brina's father was one of those that almost died at Lith's hand for not defending Tista from Garith's hara.s.sment. Ever since then, he lived in fear of Lith coming to finish what he had started, to the point of closing the shop whenever Vexal saw him.

Lith grinned while opening a Warp Steps from his front door to outside the bakery. He could have gone right inside, but he preferred giving the people of Lutia the illusion Warp Steps had limits.

Otherwise as soon as they lost something, they would blame him.