The final feast had no sorting. No Choosing. No emergency. Just food. Tidefall transformed the Great Hall anyway. Lanterns floated under the vaulted ceiling. All four Order banners hung together behind the staff table. The academy crest stood above them. Tables were not separated by Order tonight. Students sat wherever they wanted. Jasper chose Room Fourteen's old first-year table. Harper and Ava joined. Mia sat across. Theo arrived carrying two desserts before dinner started and was forced to return one. Soren brought a book until Harper confiscated it.

"Social event."

"Books are social."

"Not that one."

The meal was enormous. Roast meats and vegetables. Vegetarian pies. Salads. Bread. Potatoes in several forms. Fruit. Pavlova. Lamingtons. A giant tray of fairy bread appeared at the first-year table and vanished in under a minute. Harper ate four pieces. Ava ate two while claiming it was "mostly sugar distribution on bread."

"That is why it's good," Harper said.

Families were not present for this one. The feast belonged to students and staff. Thorne stood after the main course. Everyone groaned affectionately.

"I see my speeches remain popular."

Harper whispered, "Self-aware." Thorne looked across the hall.

"This year contained excellent academic work, mediocre academic work, avoidable mistakes, unavoidable weather and at least one incident involving a boiled egg that I still do not fully understand."

Theo stared at his plate. Laughter spread.

"Some of you leave tomorrow. Some in two days. Some older students will remain for summer programs. Wherever you go, the academy will look slightly different when you return. So will you."

Jasper listened.

"To our first-years: your Orders are new. Your friendships are not invalidated by them. Your mistakes are not identities. Your successes are not guarantees. Take the summer. Be children somewhere that does not grade you."

Harper applauded that line.

"And please," Thorne added, "do not attempt unsupervised magical experiments simply because Tidefall staff are not present. Your guardians have been sent guidance."

Harper stopped applauding. Ava laughed. Thorne raised his cup.

"To a year completed."

The hall raised cups. Noise followed. No school song until dessert. Then someone started the harbour-light chorus from music evening. The whole hall joined. Jasper knew the words now. Lights in windows. Boats returning. Leave one burning for people still at sea. He sang. Harper too loud. Ava quietly. Theo intentionally wrong on one line. Soren pretending not to. After the song, students exchanged year cards. Small pieces of thick paper for messages. Not formal yearbooks. Jasper's filled quickly. HARPER: BRANNOR WON. DO NOT ARGUE. Read twice. He wrote messages too. For Harper:, For Ava:, She smiled. For Mia:

AVA: We did not "win" Brannor. See me for correct terminology. Also thank you. MIA: Handball rematch next year. SOREN: Bring the lift book back from the library even though you refused to borrow it. THEO: SEA BOY. (Sorry. You said I can say it once.) BEN: Thanks for not making my fall about you. Jasper stopped at that one. Then carefully put the card away. You are allowed to stand still. Sometimes. She read it and hit him. You are allowed to not know. Still. Harper only won because you made her better. Mia said, "Correct." For Soren:, For Theo:, Nobody cared. The sea reflected moonlight. Water was there. Quiet. He felt no instruction.

Your book titles remain terrible. Never heat an egg again. The feast ended later than first-year bedtime. Students spilled into courtyards under warm night air. Jasper stood at the west railing, well behind the boundary. Only the scale of it beyond school walls. Harper came beside him carrying two leftover lamingtons wrapped in a napkin.

"Emergency supplies."

Ava joined.

"They will be stale tomorrow."

"Emergency stale supplies."

Jasper looked at the academy behind them. Lanterns. Music fading. Friends saying goodbye in corridors. First year ending not with another impossible revelation, but dessert stuck to Harper's fingers. Better.