-Hopla Farmhouse-

Mara opened her eyes and adjusted to the glimmering light that was being held above her brow.

Her first instinct was that she was dead. Then, corporeality took over. She felt her fingers tingle, her toes twitch.

And then – she remembered.

"AH!"

Immediately she felt a pair of soft arms around her neck, squeezing her gently, lulling her back into tranquility.

"Shhh," a voice said above. "Shhh, it's alright now. You're alright."

The little Hopla's eyes began to droop, and her mind, fumbling as it tried to connect to the monsters standing guard outside, tried to focus on the person who was slowly coming into view.

She could feel the softness of the mattress beneath her and could just make out the walls of the schoolhouse around. Even though she was sure it had been burned by the evil angel, here it was. And here was her teacher holding her as though it had all just been a bad dream.

"Miss Fauna…" she muttered. "Did I…do good?"

She saw her teacher's smile through the blurred smudges of her vision.

"You did more than even I could've done," Fauna told her. "You're a hero, Mara."

The child's shoulders drooped. Her jaw unclenched and she settled into Fauna's soft embrace.

"Hero…I…everyone..?"

"Safe and sound," Fauna said, "thanks to you. Now it's time to rest, my little bunbun."

She let out a little squeak at that. Miss Fauna hadn't called them that since they were little.

"Rest…but…but…"

She found her eyes glazing over of their own accord, and with the slow care of a mother putting her child to rest, Fauna laid Mara down on her fluffy blanket and tucked her in.

She spent a few minutes watching the girl's twitching nose and drooping ears, seeing her mind begin to settle and dreams take over again. She spared a few moments to stroke her star pupil's sweaty brow with a gentle finger, imagining what the future would bring for her now.

The future, she thought. Our future.

When Borlor had brought the girl here, she was still fast asleep, and they had a healer tend to her injuries. As soon as Fauna had arrived on scene, she had taken over. Borlor, even for a Dixit, knew that what a child needed was the closest thing to a parent that she had in this place. Her physical recovery would be fine. But the battle, and the lead up to it, had taken a toll on her mind that would time to heal.

Luckily, time was exactly what they had right now, for once.

Even though Fauna knew that she had a decision to make.

She kissed Mara's forehead and smoothed the creases on the covers before taking herself back outside, gently closing the child's bedroom door. In each and every adjacent room, she proceeded to check on the other children – all of whom had made it out of the angel's clutches unscathed, even when it seemed like hope was lost.

The farmhouse had been rebuilt so that it seemed as though Artorious' cleansing fire had never even been here. It was Borlor's doing, naturally. He insisted that the Geomancers send an entire detachment here to make sure that this place was the first to be repaired. It was, after all, the home of Sanctum's newest little heroine.

"She's a real powerhouse, so she is," the Dixit had told Fauna when she arrived on the scene. "Don't know how you taught her to speak to those monsters like that, but she's saved our asses in a way that none of us could."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Fauna, in classic teacher style, had replied that she hadn't taught Mara anything like that at all. All she'd done was provide each and every one of these Hopla with the space and time to grow, in safety, in security – something she'd never had.

And that was why her mind was so preoccupied right now.

She came to see a few of them who had woken recently in cold sweats, some of them about to cry out that the villains that had come for them in their dreams were still alive, up there, and would soon come for them again. For all such children, their teacher wrapped them in her arms, releasing just a little of her Wildglance Calming spells to lull them back to slumber.

She'd done this many a time through the years, but as she stalked the hallways now, dimly lighting them with a few sparkling orange glow-globes of magic, she knew that this could be the last time she would be here to see them off to slumber.

Ethan's question rang in her mind as she made the rounds. At first, she hadn't hesitated to say that she'd go with him to meet his destiny, no matter where it took him. And yet now, looking at the sleepy faces of her students, she found her heart was torn.

She could stay here with them. She could spend the rest of her days getting them ready for the surface, dispelling the fears that they harbored deep within their little minds, teaching them all the lessons she had only ever dreamed of teaching them – about roads, about sunlight, about all the plants, fauna, rivers and great castles and villages of Argwyll that they would inherit. They were on the cusp of discovering a world that would be theirs. It seemed wrong to leave them right now, when they needed her most.

And yet she thought of Ethan. She thought of Klax and Tara. She thought of Lamphrey, smiling so strangely at her before she passed. And she thought of what she wanted.

Could she really stay here when the Archon took Kaedmon's crown? Could he do it without his team? She wanted to say no. But she couldn't be sure.

As these thoughts tumbled around behind her fluffy white brow, she found herself at the door of the farmhouse, one hand outstretched, ready to throw it open and take in the air of Sanctum again.

Yet she hesitated. Because she knew deep down that if she opened that door, this time it would be for the last time.

And so intense was that thought that she didn't even hear the little Hopla that had crept up on her from behind.

"Miss Fauna wants to go."

She closed her eyes and cursed herself for her negligence. Perhaps a year ago she wouldn't have had the strength to turn around, look Mara in the face, and tell her the truth that nagged at her heart.

But she did. She withdrew from the door and turned, bending down to a crouch so that she was level with the little Hopla who was currently clutching at her dress.

"Sometimes," she said. "We can't have what we want, Mara."

She heard her voice crack as she said those words, and wanted to close shut her eyes to avoid Mara's innocent gaze. But to her surprise the little girl ambled forwards and took both her hands in her own, and Fauna found that when she looked into her eyes, she saw a child smiling ear to ear.

"Miss Fauna likes Mr Ethan," she said simply. "She should go where he goes."

It seemed that children were rather perceptive. She felt herself blush but shook the thought from her mind.

"My dear Mara," she whispered, holding the girl close. "You know I won't go if you don't want me to. I could stay here with you all. I'd never have to let you out of my sight again."

She heard her voice crack as she said those words – and she wasn't the only one. Mara somewhat reluctantly wriggled free of her arms and gave herself a little shake.

"We won," the child said. "I want to win again and again. Like you taught us, Miss Fauna. Keep trying. Keep trying to make the world better. You should go and win with Mr Ethan, too."

The girl stifled the tears that wanted to stream down her face. Fauna could feel it just as keenly as she could. Between two powerful mages, emotion was easy to detect. And one's most potent feelings tended to bleed into another's.

"You've grown so much," Fauna said, stroking back the girl's droopy ears. "You're going to be amazing Mara. You'll be a better mage than I ever was. The best Hopla mage that ever lived."

Though the girl shook her tiny head, Fauna went on: "tell me to stay here, and I'll stay."

The girl considered this even though Fauna could already tell what her answer would be. She gave herself another little shake and shook her head slowly, sadly, like she knew in her tiny heart that this was their goodbye.

But sleep was beginning to take over again. Fauna could see her eyes flutter, her stubby legs begin to give out.

"Miss Fauna…is already amazing," she said. "And Mr Ethan…needs her."

The child collapsed right into Fauna's arms, all breath escaping her like a mannequin losing its strings. Fauna caught her, ruffled her hair gently, and snuggled into her puffy cheeks.

Her brain might have been shutting down, but Mara's thoughts still touched her teacher's mind:

Mr Ethan…needs Miss Fauna.

She stayed cuddling Mara for quite some time, forgetting everything else for a while, and basking in the warmth of the child for what she knew could be the last time.

"…this time I won't just leave on a whim," she finally whispered, hoping her meagre words could reach Mara's dreaming mind. "I'm going to make sure you're all ready for the new world Ethan's bringing. And you'd better get some beauty sleep now while you have the chance, little bunbun."

She rose slowly, Mara in her arms, and strode off towards her bed.

"…after all," she smiled. "Your classmates are going to need a new teacher."

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