Departure morning made Tidefall look less like a school and more like a shipping company.

Names were everywhere. Names on trunks, names on route boards, names being called across courtyards and checked twice by prefects who clearly believed sending a seven-year-old to the wrong harbour would create paperwork worse than any magical disaster.

Jasper stood beside his trunk while a staff member tied a yellow route tag to the handle.

Harper's was blue.

Ava's was green.

Harper stared at the colours. "Why are they different?"

"Transfers," Ava said, already reading the board.

The good news was that all three would take the same Academy boat through the concealed coastal route. After the outer harbour, different ferries and buses would carry students toward the places where their families were collecting them.

Harper considered this only slightly acceptable.

"We arrived together."

"We are leaving together," Jasper said.

"For part of it."

"Still counts."

Professor Ward found them before the luggage line moved. She carried three small envelopes.

"Final Foundations cards."

Harper groaned. "More assessment?"

"Summer reminder."

Jasper opened his.

DO NOT PRACTICE NEW SPELLS WITHOUT APPROPRIATE SUPERVISION. KEEP SIMPLE MAGIC SIMPLE. REST.

Beneath the printed lines, Ward had added one sentence by hand.

You are allowed to have a summer in which nothing ancient happens.

Jasper smiled.

Harper tried to read over his shoulder.

He covered the card. "Privacy."

"Rude."

Ward shook each of their hands. Harper converted hers into a hug without warning. Ward froze for half a second, then hugged her back.

"See you next year," Harper said.

"I will begin preparing now."

Professor Elowen waited near the harbour stair with the West Residence staff. Her goodbye sounded almost exactly like one of her lessons.

"Ordinary post between families will usually be faster than routing letters through Tidefall. Exchange addresses. Tell your guardians before arranging calls. Do not promise impossible schedules."

Ava produced three already-written address cards.

Harper looked offended. "You made those without us?"

"I knew your addresses."

"That is not the worrying part."

Elowen smiled.

Ava asked about the first-year Chronicle.

"It will be mailed to next year's first-years in six weeks," Elowen said.

"The typo?"

"Fixed in the archive copy. Printed paper remains capable of being wrong."

Ava sighed.

Harper hugged Elowen.

Jasper hesitated, then did the same.

"Good year," Elowen told him.

"Yeah."

Words became unexpectedly difficult.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Professor Crowe somehow managed to make goodbye sound like a safety briefing.

"If you experience the Titan connection away from Tidefall in a way that feels frightening, painful or unfamiliar, tell your parents and contact the Academy."

Jasper nodded.

"If nothing happens?"

"Enjoy nothing."

Harper pointed at Crowe. "Best advice."

Professor Ashcroft was supervising luggage near the lower stair and doing an obvious job of pretending that meant he was not available for farewells.

Harper approached anyway, holding the basalt stone he had given her earlier in the year.

"I kept it."

"I can see that."

"Are you proud?"

"It is a rock, Miss Vale."

"Emotional rock."

Ashcroft produced the exact sigh Soren had spent months imitating.

Harper looked delighted.

He turned to Jasper. "Your shield placement improved."

"Thanks."

"Do not spend summer trying to make it wider than your control range."

"I won't."

"Good."

For Ava he offered a brief comment about adapting plans when evidence changed. Ava looked almost more pleased than she had about her final mark.

At the dock arch, Professor Keene met the newly chosen Brannor students.

"Order packets will be sent home. Next year's room assignments arrive later in summer."

Harper immediately asked, "How much later?"

"Later."

"Specific."

"Practice uncertainty."

Ava laughed so hard she nearly dropped her bag.

Then came Thorne.

The Headmaster stood beside the final gate and greeted each departing first-year by name.

Not with a speech.

Just enough to make it clear he remembered them.

"Mia Santos. Good summer."

"Theo Bell. No eggs."

The line laughed.

"Ava Rees."

Ava stepped forward.

"Keep asking why," Thorne told her.

"Even when it annoys people?"

"Especially then. Learn when the answer belongs to you."

Ava nodded.

"Harper Vale."

Harper became unusually still.

"Courage is not a speed," Thorne said.

She made a face. "Everyone keeps telling me that."

"Consider why."

"No promises."

"Have a good summer."

Then Jasper reached the gate.

He expected Thorne to mention the Water Titan.

Instead the Headmaster said, "Learn something useless."

Jasper blinked. "What?"

"You have spent a year making every curiosity carry responsibility. Learn something because it is fun."

Jasper thought of the card-trick book in his trunk.

"Okay."

Thorne nodded toward the sea.

"And if Water is quiet?"

Jasper waited.

"Let it be quiet."

That felt less like a warning than permission.

"I will."

The three of them boarded the same boat.

Jasper had expected the final trip to feel different from the first, but the seats were still slightly too hard, luggage still blocked part of the aisle and Harper still wanted the front before the boat had properly left the dock.

Ava made them sit long enough to exchange address cards.

Harper looked at hers. "We are definitely writing."

"Yes," Jasper said.

"Not one-word letters."

Jasper frowned. "That rule was for me."

"It is now universal."

The boat pulled away.

Tidefall rose behind them in white stone and summer light.

Room Fourteen was somewhere inside the western wing, empty now.

The harbour narrowed.

The Academy became smaller.

Then the boat entered the mist.

For several seconds, Jasper could see nothing beyond the rail except white.

Harper's hand found the back of his seat.

Ava sat very straight.

The mist thinned.

Ordinary Australian coastline returned on the other side.

At the transfer harbour, staff began calling route colours.

This was the real separation.

Harper looked at the board as though she still hoped it had changed.

"Blue."

Ava checked hers. "Green."

Jasper held up yellow.

They had a few minutes.

Harper hated goodbyes and said so.

"It's summer," Jasper replied.

"Still a goodbye."

Ava hugged her first.

Harper hugged back.

Jasper joined them, and for several seconds the three of them stood squeezed together beside a mountain of luggage while prefects called routes around them.

It was not the sort of farewell anybody would put in a legend.

That made it better.

Harper pulled away first.

"West Courtyard next year."

"After breakfast," Ava said.

"Saturday," Jasper added.

Harper pointed at him. "Actually Saturday this time."

They laughed.

Then blue was called.

Harper picked up her day bag and ran three steps before a prefect told her not to run on the dock.

She slowed down with visible pain.

Ava's route was called next.

Then Jasper was alone with the history box on the seat beside him.

Not lonely exactly.

Just separate.

For the first time since arriving at Tidefall, the fourth seat was occupied by luggage.

Jasper rested one hand on the box while the next boat prepared to leave.