. : Laura of Neverland : .

There was a sapphire butterfly on her teacup. 

Laura mustered as much hatred as she could, and mentally pummelled the butterfly. 

The butterfly-- appearing wholly unaffected-- launched itself upwards, flew a lap of the room, and dove under the door. 

"I fucking hate those things," Laura scowled, looking across her steaming teacup at Professor Clarissa Dovey. 

They sat in her cozy office, with tall shelves of books and a crackling fireplace surrounding them. Laura was lounging on the worn purple leather sofa and Clarissa scribbled away with an eagle feather quill, marking something or other.

Clarissa hummed her response, presumably not wanting any lurking butterflies to hear her badmouthing the current dean of the School for Girls.

They both waited a few minutes, Laura taking a sip of her honeysuckle tea. She should really be doing homework, but she couldn't be bothered. Not since the news of Mother Gothel and Rapunzel teaming up and stopping her prince from entering their kingdom had reached the far reaches of the fairytale world.

It had been nine months.

Nine months since Sophie and Agatha vanished.

Nine months since their tale was released.

Since then, the world had been in chaos. Across the land, famous princesses and witches teamed up, inspired by Sophie and Agatha's friendship. Kings, princes, and commoners alike were banished.

Only the three most famous Ever kingdoms held out. Camelot had no one to rule until Tedros anyways, Havfrue had only a male heir, and the king and queen of Villeneuve-- otherwise known as Beauty and the Beast-- were far too old to bother with redesigning their entire kingdom.

If Laura looked at the right angle through Clarissa's stained glass window, she would be able to see the encampment that the banished men had set up across the water. 

In front of the School for Boys. 

There had been minimal communication between the two schools, almost all of Laura's knowledge coming from Sebastian's rare and brief letters. Apparently, a lot of the mail was checked as it left the school, making it difficult to send or receive letters of any kind.

It had become a considerable problem. 

Laura could feel the Cardinal Balance fighting every day. It relied on the conflict between good and evil to fuel everything. The natural way of the balance had shifted, and as a result, it was drawing more from the Sages with each passing moment. It didn't help that-- as far as Laura knew-- Sebastian only had rudimentary training. As he was unaware of how to properly feed the balance, it meant that far more was coming out of her than should be. 

There was a loud tapping at the window, and Laura snapped her head towards it. A large dark owl fluttered outside, a tightly wound scroll tied with red ribbon to its leg.

"Is that Orpheus' owl?" Laura asked, eyes wide at the sudden appearance of the Soul Sage's pet owl, named Atlas.

Clarissa sprung up from her desk, with a surprising amount of agility for a woman of her age, and opened the window. 

Atlas fluttered inside, flapping its wings with a large amount of attitude for a bird. He stuck his leg out, and Clarissa gently untied the scroll. Once free, Atlas flew over to the couch and propped himself up on Laura's knee, his beak going directly into her teacup.

Laura stifled a groan at the bird's glare. 

Clarissa unfurled the scroll and skimmed the contents rapidly. Without another word, she moved, grabbed a piece of parchment, scribbled out a few words, and then snatched her wand.

"What are you doing?" Laura asked, her eyes no longer on the owl and instead on Clarissa.

Clarissa flicked her wand and tapped it on the parchment. She held it up for Laura to view. "Can you see anything?"

Laura raised an eyebrow. "No? I thought you just wrote on it, what was that spell for?"

Clarissa grinned. "I asked Orpheus if he had any spells to keep letters private. This is what he sent me. Evidently, it works."

Laura ran a gentle finger down the owl's feathery back. He cooed at the warmth of her hand and leaned in closer. "Can I use it to send letters to Sebastian?"

"That is the reason I asked. As of right now, Sebastian is the only Sage in a compromised position. The only one we can't communicate with. With this spell, it will be much easier to set up a regular meeting, and hopefully, we can solve this conundrum and bring the balance back."

Laura nodded. "I will write him a letter right now. Where should we meet?"

Clarissa passed her parchement and a quill. "There is a tunnel underneath the lake. Only the staff are aware of it for evident reasons, but it may be possible, as long as neither of you passes onto each other's side, to remain undetected."

Laura nodded slowly. Atlas preened, twisting his head around to look at Clarissa.

"I'll still keep it vague," Laura responded. She thumbed the edge of the quill, leaning over the coffee table without shifting her legs, so as not to disturb Atlas. With a few jots of ink, she penned out a brief letter.

S,

Underneath the lake, midnight

L

p.s. owl's name is Atlas and he likes honeysuckle tea

She passed the letter back to Clarissa, who nodded approvingly and tapped her wand to the edge of the parchment. The ink vanished.

"There, now only Sebastian will be able to read it. Most will think it is just a blank sheet of paper when they look at it, but he will know otherwise." 

Laura nodded, running her hand over the parchment. She ran a hand back over Atlas' feathers.

"Are you up for one more trip?" Laura asked the bird. He glared at her for a moment. "I did let you drink all of my tea."

Atlas ruffled his feathers but stuck his leg out with as much annoyance as a bird could muster. Laura smiled, tying the letter to his foot. 

She gave Atlas one last pet on the head, before the big black owl shook his head, launched off her lap, and out the window into the warm air and sunlight beyond-- summer was approaching.

"Do you believe he will receive it?" Laura questioned, looking at her friend. She had far more grey hair than the last time they spoke.

"I do," Clarissa responded, watching Atlas soar across the lake. "With what may be coming if we don't right the balance soon, we need as many Sages prepared for war as possible. It may be time for the Council of Magic to make a return."