Edgar pulled a clean t-shirt over his head. It mussed his hair, and he straightened it up as Noah arrived at their dorm room door, his phone in his hand. His hair was damp and darker from his shower, on its way to being light brown in the dim light of the corridor, but it was mostly covered by his ashy beanie. He had on jeans and a blue-grey t-shirt with a design of wings on the back, at his shoulder blades. Nearly all his runes had faded to pale scars on his bare arms. He flashed a grin at Edgar, who rolled his eyes. "We're all waiting for you in Lee's room. They told me to tell you to hurry up."

"Right. We wouldn't want to keep their highnesses waiting, would we?" Edgar grabbed the note from his gear jacket pocket – now hanging from the bunk bed they shared – and met Noah at the door. He followed him back to Lee's room – just down the red-carpeted corridor – and hovered at the door for a moment. Two girls were sitting cross-legged on Lee's floor, both brunettes. Emmy had her hair up in a ponytail, and had square-ish black glasses perched precariously on her nose as she looked up. A floral ring-bound notebook sat in her lap. Joy had her nose in Game of Thrones, was wearing a baggy shirt with Arrow on the front, and her hair was caramel waves down to her waist. Both had a parabatai rune on their left arm.

Lee was sitting on his bed, his long legs all folded up under him. He shot a grin at Edgar as he closed the door behind him. "So, the girls want to see the note."

Emmy nodded as Noah sat down beside her. "These guys were telling us what you found." Joy didn't even look up, still engrossed in A Game of Thrones. "I dunno much about Poe, but maybe there's something more to it?" Edgar tossed the note at her before joining Lee on his bed, crossing his legs on the blue coverlet. Emmy's eyes darted over the carefully inked letters, frowning, and she took a pencil out of her pocket. She started scribbling something in her notebook, and Noah looked over her shoulder. "Do you know what poem it is, Lee?"
Lee shook his head, tracing patterns onto his duvet. "It might be Lenore, but I'm not sure. I'd have to look it up." She nodded, and she poked Joy in the ribs.

"Have you read any poetry recently?"

Joy dog-eared her page and fixed Emmy with an unimpressed stare. "No. I write it. And classics are boring – why would I read Poe when I can read Martin?" She held up her book – Ned Stark pierced Emmy with a daunting stare, perched upon the Iron Throne. Emmy sighed, shaking her head while Noah sniggered.

"Whatever. Anyway, if you could have a look, Lee, then that would be great." Emmy was scribbling again, and Joy returned to her book, her disgruntlement at being disturbed quite clear on her face. There was a short silence, where the only sound was the scratching of Emmy's pencil on her page.

A glance over at Lee told Edgar that his parabatai was thinking along the same lines as him. "Any ideas what we should do with that thing?" he said shortly, pointing to the note. It was curling at the edges, as though it had once been a scroll, despite being flattened out in Edgar's pocket for an hour or so. Noah took it, running a finger over the dried ink before looking up again.

"We still need to report this," he said. "It's obviously serious if it involves rogue demonhunters. I don't think it's our job to do."

Emmy nodded in agreement as she closed up her notebook with a snap. "We've got Demonologie first thing tomorrow, haven't we, Edgar? We can tell Merryhallow then."

A frown puckered Edgar's forehead. "Marcus is an idiot. He has no idea how to even teach, let alone demonhunt. And you're suggesting we tell him?" Emmy opened her mouth to speak, but Edgar ignored her. "Nah, I think we should tell someone in the Diplomacy department. It's to do with the fey, isn't it? Has anyone got Steven tomorrow?"

"I do." Lee raised his hand, glancing over at Noah and Emmy. "We have him fifth, don't we?"

Noah nodded, but Emmy scowled at Edgar. Her grip on the sharp pencil altered, so she could lob it at a second's notice. "Marcus is head of Demonologie, and he's our tutor. We tell him first. The rules are the rules, Edgar." Edgar shrugged at her, and he cleaned some dirt from under his nails that he had missed in the shower. "I'll do it if I have to."

"Fine, you do that," said Edgar, still focusing on his nails. Emmy relaxed a little, and she pushed herself to her feet, her ponytail swishing over her shoulder. She clutched the notebook to her chest as Joy folded over her page.

The two girls headed over to the door. "See you guys at breakfast, then," Emmy said shortly, and before disappearing she shot another scowl at Edgar, who took a moment to appreciate how less threatening she looked in a pink tank top and baggy pyjama bottoms than in her gear. Gear could make anybody look vaguely intimidating. Joy waved in the general direction of the bed before following her parabatai.

Noah sighed, looking pointedly at Edgar. "Would it have killed you –"

"I think you're forgetting something, Eiderdown," said Edgar, as he sprung off the mattress. The springs gave a rusty sounding creak. "We made this oath thing years ago, and I'm pretty sure we promised 'not to yield'." Noah got to his feet with a sigh, as Lee rolled his eyes. "I don't think that covered teenage girls with controlling tendencies, but it's better to be safe than sorry with the law, isn't it?" He grinned at his roommate. "Sed lex, dura lex?"

Noah opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted as Lee got up – the mattress groaned loudly, and the floorboards creaked as he took a few steps closer to Noah. He towered over the two of them. "Go have this conversation in your own room," he said, sounding tired as he brushed some of his hair out of his eyes. "I want to go to bed. I have double P.T. tomorrow and a free first and second, and I was planning on going to the training room."

The other two shared a glance – the evening had been enough exercise for them. "Fine, then. See you in the morning." Edgar grinned at his parabatai before sidling out of the room. He heard Noah's practically silent footsteps on the thick carpet behind him – if only the whole world was carpeted, he thought wryly, as then they wouldn't spend half their time drawing soundless runes on Noah.