Camp NovMo July '25: The Last Spell

More chapter 4 stuff! I have a relative's birthday tomorrow and leave for a trip on the 31st, so this is me saying that even if I can write more, I'll be a bit short of 10k. It was still motivating to do Camp NovMo!

And now, what you're really here for.

“What does the winner get?” Marius asked, grabbing his own much-lighter suitcase off the carousel.

“It’s not really about that. The loser has to deliver the speech at the Houses’ anniversary gathering in a week,” Kaja said. “Let’s see. The winner gets…”

“A sandwich,” Leilan suggested.

Kaja sighed. “It’s always a sandwich.”

“That makes it a time-honored tradition.”

Last update! Three quarters of the way isn't too bad, especially considering how many different projects I had going on. This wraps up chapter 4, so I rewrote two and a half chapters this month!

There's a lot today, so you can have multiple samples as a treat...

Dawn paused. “Oh. We’re going out?”

Kasumi gestured grandly at the large glass windows that took up an entire wall, pointing out at the city lights flaring to life outside. “I mean, we’ve got to. We can’t just waste the night!”

Dawn was casting Leilan a subtle, timid glance for help. Ah, introverts.

“I guess that would be from when I got a notebook thrown at me.”

Leilan’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“It’s fine, I promise,” Shane said, which had never brought Leilan any relief to hear from him.

“Have you eaten dinner yet?” Leilan asked gently, though he had the feeling he knew the answer already.

Shane paused, as he pressed the artificed strip over the bruise. “...I had coffee.”

“I’m going to take that as a no.”