Sorry for the long wait! My hiatus is (I think) officially over, so from now on I will hopefully be posting a chapter every weekend! Hope you enjoy!

Zarina met Lyrei at the Leapmaster the next Monday when school was over. She'd hailed her mom and convinced her that she was going to Silva Pemberley's house.

In reality, she and Lyrei had made plans to meet up every day at Lyrei's house, Maplebranch, after school. Today, their first order of business was to convince Rei's parents of their plan.

"You ready?" Zarina asked, daring a smile. Their relationship hadn't been the same since a week before when Rina had been forced to ignore Lyrei, but they were working back to what they had been before.

"I guess," Lyrei replied, grimacing. Technically, Zarina was still banned from making any sort of contact with her friend, but her parents didn't need to know that. She'd discovered that Silva was the person her mom was using to spy on her, and a bit of bribing (also known as giving away half of her Prattles pins collection) had her on Rina's side.

When they arrived at Maplebranch, Zarina pulled out two pieces of paper from her pocket and handed one to Lyrei. They were both copies of the speech they'd written together for Lyrei's parents.

For the past week, Zarina and Lyrei had rehearsed this speech during study hall after finishing their other homework. They had completely memorized it, but wanted the physical copy on hand just in case.

As they walked towards the front doors of Maplebranch, Lyrei glanced at Zarina. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes," Zarina replied, looking back at her friend, "I do."

She pushed open the double crystal doors. Lyrei walked in first, and began looking for her parents as Zarina closed the doors behind them.

"Let's go into the dining room," she heard Rei say. "Zarina and I wanted to talk to you about something." Faint replies from Rei's parents drifted through the house, though Zarina tuned them out as she made her own way into Maplebranch's living room.

"What is it this time?" Lyrei's dad grumbled as he and Lyrei's mom sat down on the couch opposite Lyrei and Zarina.

"It's not what you think," Rei said quickly, subtly looking at the top of her paper and beginning with the first line they'd planned. "You already know that I've been very worried about the fact that I haven't manifested an ability yet." Her parents nodded. "Zarina and I came up with a plan to increase my chance of manifesting before the end of Level 4."

"We decided that I could help her after school to try triggering an ability in addition to the ability detecting class at school," Zarina added.

"However, we still think that wouldn't be enough. I know this is a weird question to ask, but can you hire an ability detecting tutor for me?"

"Lyrei, I don't think–"

"Mom, please just hear us out. Everyone knows that after our level, it's very unlikely to be able to continue at Foxfire if a prodigy hasn't manifested! And even if I can, I won't be able to be in the Elite Levels or have a chance at being in the nobility!"

"You already have the ability detecting class though," Lyrei's mom said. "If they can't get you to manifest, I don't think anyone can."

"But if I have an ability detecting tutor along with that class, plus Zarina helping me as well, I'll have an even better chance of manifesting! Plus, it can't really hurt, can it? It's not like you guys can't afford a tutor."

"I guess that's true, but–"

"Artem, we should give it a try, see how it works. If Lyrei doesn't end up manifesting, we can always cancel." Lyrei's dad spoke for the first time since they began their speech.

"Alright." Rei's parents turned back to their daughter. "Lyrei, we will hire an ability detecting tutor to come every Sunday. Zarina, you are allowed to come any day after school to help Lyrei with this as well."

"Thank you!" Lyrei smiled, and Zarina returned it. Her plan had worked.