"We now begin our weekly meeting of the Knights of the Round Table," Caspian announced, holding out his plastic glass. He looked to Rowan, Ichigo, and Snow, who sat around their usual table in The Roots. "We have only one order of business today, but it is of utmost importance. Today, we're naming Snow's weapon."

Rowan nodded to Snow. "You brought it, right?"

"According to dormitory rules, weapons are not allowed in The Roots."

Rowan lowered his burger with a disappointed look half a second before digging in. "How are we gonna name it now? We need to see it to come up with something good!"

"I took several pictures of it earlier today," Snow offered, undoing her Holoband and laying it flat on the table.

"It's not the same, but it'll have to do..." Rowan muttered.

"What is the purpose of giving my weapon a name?"

"Everyone names their weapons! It's part of being a huntsman!" Rowan explained.

"Yes, but what is the purpose?" Snow insisted.

Caspian looked up from his dinner, from the screen projected between the four to Snow. "I guess... well, really, there isn't one. Names are just arbitrary sounds that end up referring to an entire identity. There's no reason for me to be named Caspian other than the fact my parents liked the name, but I am. The name only really got any meaning through people calling me Caspian."

"You've been talkin' to Uncle Doug too much," Rowan cut in. "It has hard-light dust, so what about Ardent... uh, Luminance?"

"You just shoved two light words together and hoped it worked," Ichigo asserted.

"You come up with something!"

"Since it's Snow's weapon, maybe something having to do with ice, or the cold."

"That's not an answer!"

"Fine," Ichigo conceded. "Glacial... No, Frost... Frosty..." He sighed in defeat."Dang. This is hard."

"We can combine light and ice," Rowan suggested. "Glacial Luminance?"

"Again, with the shoving together of words," Ichigo replied. "Do you name all weapons that way?"

"Hey, Sanguine Storm is a dope name!"

Caspian pursed his lips, looking at the four hard-light configurations of Snow's weapon. They glowed a pale blue, and the silver of the weapon's handle complemented its wielder's stark white eyes and hair. An idea popped into his head.

"What about Absolute Zero?"

"That's..." Rowan began. He cocked his head, looking to the screen. "...Actually pretty good. Whaddya say, Snow?"

"It will do."

The next day, all first-year students gathered in Sentinel's main lecture hall for yet another assembly. The Headmaster strode up to the stage and adjusted the microphone, but instead of the Headmistress, a man stood to his side. He was dressed sharply, black fitted vest over a deep blue shirt, and wavy brown hair falling to his shoulders.

"Do we really need to have a career day?" Rowan muttered, chin resting on his crossed arms. "Don't get me wrong, it's cool your uncle is the guest speaker, but we aren't in middle school."

"My dad says it's because it's hard to make a living being a huntsman now," Caspian explained. "That's why we take so many normal classes here, too."

"Heyy, he's cute!" Caspian heard a girl declare from behind him.

"Yeah. Ooh! The screen says he works at Frontline, so I bet he's loaded, too," her friend agreed.

"Aw, gross..." Caspian mumbled. "That's my uncle..."

"He's a pretty good lookin' guy!" Rowan acknowledged.

"That's not the point!"

"If I may?" the Headmaster began. The rumble of the audience, including the conversations among teams CRLN and LSLI, settled into a murmur. "In lieu of this week's Saturday training exercises, we have opted to hold an assembly aimed at providing some direction for your future. But, I'm sure you've all heard enough of me for one schoolyear. So I have the pleasure of turning this meeting over to my dear friend, and Organic Android Development Supervisor of Frontline Biomedical, Douglas Hudson."

Applause rose from the crowd. The two girls behind Caspian seemed especially eager.

Uncle Douglas's talk was, admittedly, less exciting than the usual Saturday practices. Caspian had heard his first couple of talking points before- that he couldn't tell exactly what his job was at Frontline, but that he supervised the development of the Organic Androids' unparallelled Artificial Intelligence, along with holding a seat on the company's bioethics committee. He then went on to explain the importance of connections in finding a career, Sentinel's partnerships with companies based in all four kingdoms, and the internships that would begin in their third year; all the stuff that made Caspian nervous about the future.

"Now, I'm going to have to ask you all to do something that I know sounds a little cheesy," Douglas said. "There should have been a card and pencil on the desk in front of you when you came in. Does anyone not have a card or pencil?"

A couple of hands went up, and a handful of upperclassmen who had volunteered for the day set about providing what was needed as Uncle Douglas continued speaking.

"On that card in front of you, I want you to write your dream job," he declared. "You're going to be turning this in, but no one will ever read it so don't be afraid to write your most unrealistic, embarrassing dream. If part of you is still chasing that childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, write it! Years ago, I never would have thought I'd end up as the Organd Development Supervisor for a billion-lien company with a bachelor's in philosophy."

Douglas allowed the audience of first-years a few minutes of quiet. "My dream job?" Caspian thought. "Well, I guess being some kind of detective has always seemed cool..."

"What's my dream?" Lazula pondered. She put pencil to paper. "Easy. I want to stay at the top."

Snow pulled the card slightly closer to herself before writing across it in her neat, even script. She folded the card, and placed her pencil atop it.

After turning in their cards to a black box at the front of the room, Caspian and Rowan strode up to Douglas, who was near the door thanking his upperclassmen volunteers. "Cas! Rowan!" he greeted. "Good to see you two."

"I really need you to help me out," Rowan said. "Do you have any tips for picking up girls?"

Uncle Douglas sighed. "Again, with the 'picking up' thing. That shouldn't be your goal," he reminded. "Pickup artist culture as a whole is... a little sleazy. Disrespectful, even."

"But I've heard the stories!" Rowan insisted. "Back in your day, not a single girl could resist your charm!"

"And I've been happily married to the love of my life for ten years now," Douglas finished. He sighed again. "...But, if you're determined, I'll tell you a little something. Do you know the difference between real smiles and fake ones?"

"Nope," Rowan replied. Caspian had been looking around and toying with his Holoband in an attempt to show his uncle he didn't endorse Rowan's enthusiasm, but his interest was piqued now as well.

"Well, if you approach someone, they may force a smile just to be polite. But if their smile is genuine, you can see it in their eyes," he explained. He pointed next to his eye. "You'll see crows' feet, little wrinkles on the outer edges of their eyes, which will tighten up a bit. That's one way you know the smile is real."

"Huh... hey, thanks!" Rowan acknowledged, as Ichigo and Snow walked up to the front of the room.

He bid Rowan and Caspian a farewell smile. "Of course. And please, stay out of trouble."

"You know, that advice probably won't do you much good," Ichigo teased.

"When did you get here? And what do you mean?"

"Laurel doesn't even bother faking a smile around you."

The first-years were dismissed for the day, an hour or so earlier than usual for a Saturday. Lilly decided to show Lazula the café she had visited with Noxis toward the beginning of the year. Laurel went off to band practice, somewhere in the city's Southern half. Caspian, Rowan, Ichigo, and Snow made their way back to the dorms together. And Noxis, well, it was always a bit of a mystery where he went off to after class and training.

Caspian and the rest passed through the pocket of trees to the East of Blue Square, beyond the school's secondary lecture hall and next to one of its smaller libraries. December had announced itself with a windstorm on its first day, which had rendered the branches above completely bare. Yet squirrels and small birds rummaged through the dead leaves below, lending the enclave the slightest hint of life.

"So, what did you guys write?" Rowan inquired, striding out in front of his friends, facing them as he walked backward.

"Wasn't the whole point that no one else would know?" Ichigo questioned.

"Ah, but that's no fun!" Rowan argued. He stopped, leaning in with a mischievous smirk. "I bet you were the one who wrote down astronaut, huh?"

"I did not!" Ichigo protested. "...I wanna be a programmer for one of Port Cyrreine's big companies. Maybe I'll even start my own."

"Nice!" Rowan commended. "Cas?"

Caspian rubbed an imaginary itch at the back of his neck. "I always thought it would be cool to be a detective. I know it's nothing like they show on tv, but piecing together clues to solve crimes sounds like my kind of thing."

"I bet you'd be able to get some kind of cool internship through the school, too," Rowan added. "Or you could figure out what's up with the Grimm coming back." He turned his head. "Snow, what about you?"

"I would rather not say."

"Aw come on! Everyone else said what they wrote!"

"If she doesn't want to, don't force her," Caspian cut in.

"It's not like I'm asking her who she likes or anything," Rowan reasoned. "A dream job probably isn't embarrassing, right?"

Snow bowed her head. "I want to be... a mother."

Rowan chuckled in surprise. "You wanna be a mom?" he repeated.

Snow cocked her head, her eyes narrowing a hair. "Why is this making you laugh?"

"Huh? Oh, I- just about any girl can become a mom if she wants to," Rowan said. "Don't you want to find something that's more of... you know, a dream?"

Snow was silent. It always was a bit hard to tell what was going on in her head, but Caspian could tell she didn't look happy.

"Plus, it's a little surprising," Rowan continued with an oblivious grin. "You've always seemed kind of like a robot!"

"I am not a robot."

The words, spoken in Snow's usually soft voice, carried a startling strength. Her eyes had narrowed further into a bitter glare, brows stitched together with her head tilted down.

Rowan stared at her with wide eyes and mouth slightly ajar, the first words of any number of responses on the tip of his tongue.

With a breath, Snow continued past Rowan. He turned to go after her, but Caspian could see in the cadence of her steps she had no desire to be followed. He put a hand on Rowan's shoulder to hold him back, and watched Snow continue on to the dorms.