Once the door into the Chamber of Elders was shut, Delnid kicked over a barrel in anger, to his great surprise, the top flew off and fish began to slide out of the barrel. Clockwork looked over at his enraged squire and said.
"You need to work on your etiquette. I have some business to attend to in the coming days. I will arrange for someone to tutor you during that time." Delnid turned his anger from the fish to his mentor. Delnid thew a punch at his mentor, the force of many years of subdued anger behind the punch. Clockwork stumbled slightly as the punch had caught him off guard. Clockwork raised his guard and prepared for another strike. Delnid threw another punch, blocked, and another, blocked, and another, dodged. This pattern continued for a few minutes, the longer it went, the faster Delnid struck out. Just as Delnid began to strike at such a speed that his fists looked like mere blurs and his right eye's iris changed from brown to blue, he began to falter in his attempts and he soon fell onto the ground, he tried to comprehend the sudden surge of varying emotions. While he felt the subdued anger of the majority of his life burning like a bonfire inside himself, he began to feel sick as waves of regret, worry and realization struck him. He shuddered as he felt a pod rest itself on his arm. Delnid sat up and looked up at Clockwork, Veness was whispering something to him. Clockwork frowned, but his expression changed when he spoke to Delnid.
"Looks like I won't have to look for someone to tutor you. Veness needs to go over the basics of courting with her students and she is willing to teach you the basics alongside them." Delnid was shocked by what his mentor was saying, he was expecting to be expunged from the castle. The shock was clearly evident in Delnid's voice.
"You aren't mad? You aren't going to have me kicked back onto the streets?" Clockwork seemed slightly confused by his squires questions, but he answered nonchalantly.
"What's there to be mad about? Also, what will that accomplish? It would be a waste of potential." Delnid sighed and let Clockwork help him back up to his roots. Delnid couldn't think of a sufficient reply so after a few awkward seconds, Veness addressed Delnid.
"Kryptic will come to receive you around five minutes before the classes start. I expect you both to be on time." Delnid simply nodded at Veness, this prompted the Druid Rose to strike the Peashooter as she said angrily.
"One does not simply nod to give one other an answer. You speak clearly, firmly and with conviction-" Clockwork saw the anguished look on Delnid's face and interrupted Veness, despite how amusing it was for Clockwork.
"Veness. Don't badger my squire now. Save it for tomorrow so you do not have to repeat yourself." Delnid was relieved by his mentor's intervention, but he was still dreading the next few days. As Delnid began to calm, his eye returned to brown and he felt drained so he started to wander back towards his chamber. Just as he went into his chamber, his right arm was grabbed by Kryptic, the Sunflower seemed to be excited about something.
"Hey! Just wanted to let you know the good news." Delnid gave the eager Sunflower a weak smile as he said.
"I know Kryptic. You know, for a lady, the High Mistress hits pretty hard." Kryptic giggled at the blushing Peashooter and asked.
"I was...kind of wondering if you...wanted to hang out?" Delnid was surprised by the question, but he didn't let it show.
"Uh...sure." Kryptic dragged the tired Peashooter with her out of the castle and towards a small grove of trees that grew up beside the lake.

After a few minutes of drifting through the trees, the two plants came upon the abandoned, rocky shore of the lake. Kryptic clambered up into a tree and sat upon the branch. Delnid groaned at the thought of having to climb up the tree. Kryptic laughed at the jaded Peashooter, this prompted Delnid to start climbing. Just as Delnid reached out for the penultimate branch, before the one Kryptic sat on, the one he was gripping on to snapped. Delnid hit the stone shore with an audible thump. The dazed Peashooter pushed themself up and took off their now dented helmet, a cool sensation ran down the side of their head. Delnid touched the area that had the strange sensation flowing over it, it turned out it was his own blood. Kyrptic leapt down from the tree and approached the injured Peashooter as she said.
"Delnid, are you alright?" Delnid nodded at her and quickly placed his helmet back on, before she would notice the blood. Delnid decided to cheat and hypered to the top of one of the taller trees beside the shore, Kryptic couldn't help but laugh and say. "Hey! That's cheating." Delnid smiled deviously and said.
"Is it cheating? Hey, while you're down there, can you catch some fish. I accidentally wasted some earlier today." Kryptic couldn't help but laugh before she pulled out her wand. She whispered a spell and soon found herself beside Delnid. The two plants sat in the tree for over an hour. They watched the sunset and the lights of the city across the lake light up and glitter on the vast expanse of water. By the time the two wandered back to the castle, the moon was high in the sky.

Phobos groaned as he woke upon a bed of hay. He looked around with his non-existent eyes, the sight he was presented with was not what he had expected. He had expected to be chained to a stone table, the searing pain of a bone-saw ripping apart his flesh and bone scorching through his veins. Instead, he was presented with the sight of a Rose carefully applying metal plates to a spikeless Chomper. The Chomper seemed to be fine with the Rose playing around with the metal plates. After a few seconds, the Chomper was quickly enveloped in steel armor, the Rose seemed satisfied by their work. The Chomper thanked the Rose before they headed out of the large, wooden structure that resembled a stable. The Rose grabbed a hammer, that seemed to double as their wand, before they headed out of the stable like structure. Phobos stood up and started wandering around the structure. There were multiple stacks of hay, each of which Phobos assumed to be beds while towards the far end of the stable was a large trough, a weak looking Chomper licked away at the scraps. All the while, the few occupants inside, almost all were spikeless Chompers, all looked either glum, weak, bored or exhausted. The two knights who stood guard at the door seemed to be more bored than anything else. One of them noticed Phobos looking at him, even if the Chomper's eyes were non-existent, so they picked up a stone and biffed it at Phobos. The stone bounced off the Chomper's head. Phobos growled as he felt the stone pierce his flesh and leave a small cut on the front, upper part of his head, blood started to trickle down the front of his head. Phobos charged at the Knight, only to have himself lifted into the air by an invisible force. After a few seconds of confusion, the force slammed the Chomper into the ground, hard. Phobos groaned as he tried to get up, the force had pinned him to the ground. The Knight that had thrown the stone started to approach the pinned Chomper, when they were grabbed by the other Knight who mumbled something to their aggressive colleague. The stone thrower walked back to the door with their partner and went back to staring off into nothing. After an hour of being held to the floor, the force disappeared and Phobos was able to get up. The Chomper looked around in confusion, what had held him to the floor?