Chapter 54:

"I can carry my own familiar, Ari." Xavier protested as Bane made himself comfortable in my arms, but Bane and I both just looked up at him before Bane rubbed his cheek over mine. He placed both front paws up on my shoulder as he lay his head across Nova's back and his long tail wound around my waist. Xavier just raised an eyebrow, causing the dragon to grumble at him as he curled in even further around me, making Xavier sigh at him. "I'm starting to think that he likes you more than me." I just giggled as I felt Bane rub up against me once more, very obviously agreeing with his statement. 

"I mean, you have to admit, I'm pretty likeable. I got your surly ass to put up with me, that has to say something." I shot back, and he just grinned at me with a slight shake of his head. 

"I'm still not sure if that's something that's actually entirely in my control." He teased right back, making me grin. 

"But you can't tell me that you don't like it." 

"Actually, I don't like it. I damn well love it, princess." That one made me blush as I turned to head for the door.

"Do you always have to have the last word?" I shot back and heard him chuckle at me before his hand landed on the small of my back. 

"I typically make it a point to try, and you have to admit, I'm quite good at it." I just giggled at him as I shook my head at his antics.

He locked the door behind us as we walked out into the hall and towards his office. We made a quick stop there first, letting him gather up everything he needed for his work before heading down to the mess hall. 

Lexi and Genie were already there, but as we opened the doors, they surprised me. Even with Xavier at my side, they both walked right up to me as we walked through the doors to get in line. 

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but we both got a missive sent to us saying that we were going on a mission with you, Ari." Genie said as they came up to us, and I looked between the two of them for just a moment before looking up at Xavier.

"I didn't open the missive sent for you, but I did bring it for you, and it would probably be a good idea for us to talk about it since we're all here, you know?" Lexi asked, and I nodded.

"Would you mind just eating here and heading back afterwards?"I asked Xavier, and he just gave me a curt nod. 

"That's fine. If they're part of this too, then it would be smart for all of us to find out what the mission actually is." Xavier answered me before looking towards Lexi and Genie, who, to their credit, only shrank back slightly from his gaze. It might not have been a perfect scenario, but it was at least better than I had originally been expecting, considering they really haven't actually been around him outside of when he was assisting.

"Okay, let us get food, and we'll meet you back at the table?" I asked, and both of them nodded before heading back in that direction. 

Walking through the line, Xavier carried our food, considering I had two dragons in my arms, and one was already begging for some of the meat on the plates. Bane started squirming in my arms, causing Nova to nip at him when he accidentally stepped on her tail.

Xavier just sighed at him, but ended up giving in just to settle him down till we made it over to the table, where he promptly leapt from my arms and landed in the center of the table. He was staring up at Xavier, waiting for him to set the tray down so he could steal another piece. Lexi and Genie both sat back as the large dragon took up the majority of the center of the table, and Xavier just shook his head at him. Taking one of the plates off the tray, he set it down onto the table, where Bane instantly stole another large chunk of meat off Xavier's plate. 

Kira stuck her little gray and white speckled face up from where she was sitting in Lexi's lap, looking around to see what the commotion was, but instantly ducked back down when she saw Bane in the center of the table. Xavier just sighed as he set the rest of the tray in front of me as I took my seat, before taking his own seat and going about the task of fending off the hungry dragon from the rest of his meal. I couldn't help but to smile at the bickering pair as Nova jumped down from my shoulders, landing beside me, and I handed her a piece of my meat before sliding Xavier his drink. 

I took a bite off my own plate before offering some of my steak to Bane, considering he had started to growl and snap at Xavier, who, after Bane had stolen at least half of his food, had started to really fend the dragon off. 

Lexi and Genie were apparently getting more comfortable, considering even they were giggling at the pair of them now, especially as Bane started acting all sweet to me as he begged for more. I just shoved my plate between the two dragons, having already eaten my fill, and couldn't help but to laugh as Nova fended him off of the last piece of meat, leaving him to clean up everything else. 

"Here," Lexi said, carefully sliding a bag across the table for me. "I packed you a bag, considering I figured that you weren't coming back tonight, and I knew you hadn't taken anything with you this morning. Your missive is in there, too." 

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." I smiled at her before opening it and pulling the missive out. There was no point in denying the fact that everyone here knew where I would be staying tonight. 

Popping the seal on the missive, I pulled out the thick, yellowed parchment inside and quickly glanced through it before reading it aloud for them. "For your graded mission this semester, you will be flying out of the academy and meeting the second prince of the Celestial Kingdom, Prince Daydree. After meeting with the prince, your four man team is tasked with escorting him to the Hidden Grove camp on the border of Fairy and back. The length of this mission is solely determined by the prince himself as to how long he would like to stay at the camp. While your team is in camp, your duties will be to help scout for rebel groups. Your main objective of this mission will be to return the prince to Celestia alive. You will leave Monday morning to head to Celestia."

"Well, that seems pretty straightforward at least," Genie said, but I instantly looked up at Xavier. He had gone entirely still; all previous emotion fell from his face as that icy mask he was so good at took over his features. Although that alone told me there was far more to this mission than what the missive stated. 

"There's more to this, isn't there?" I asked him, and he glanced around the rather busy hall before looking back towards me, but his message was clear. This wasn't the place to discuss whatever this was. So I raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"Why don't we take this conversation somewhere else?" He said, causing both Lexi and Genie to look at me, but I just nodded to him. 

Xavier got up first, pushing back from the table, and gathering up our now empty plates as I once more took Bane and Nova. Lexi and Genie came up behind me, both of them still a little wary of my warrior, but they seemed to be getting at least a little more comfortable.

We met Xavier by the door, and I already knew where he was taking us the second he turned to take the stairs up to his office.