The new academic year officially started today. Students filed into classrooms. Freshmen having sparkles in their eyes as the mysticism of Auradon Prep, under the new management of Headmistress Uma, wowed them. There were new and old instructors as some of the veterans were all reassigned to the University now.

Red and Chloe had separate classes in the morning. Chloe was making friends left and right, however, Red still feels like a stranger in a new world. And she is secretly shameful to think that so far, she made friends -- in the past, but that counts at least -- because Chloe was there by her side. She was highkey hoping that Chloe would come and sit with her, not that she'll admit it out loud.

And thankfully, when lunch rolled up, Chloe was waiting for her by the cafeteria entrance and her face lit up when she saw her. Red ignored the feeling of relief when the blue ball of curls she calls hair bounced and down as she walks over to her.

"Hey, how's your day going?" Chloe asked.

"Great." Red pursed her lips into a tight smile. "Auradon is so...different, I guess?"

"Well, I'd expect Wonderland to be...unlike Auradon from the stories I've heard," Chloe said as they enter the cafeteria. And Red's eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't even know if Wonderland is the Wonderland that I know." Red gasped at her own words and gulped. The thought finally sinking into her. Chloe looked at her sympathetically.

"Maybe we can go when breaks comes around," she chipped in. "Maybe introduce me to the Jabberwocky."

Red let out a startled, yet grateful snort. "Yeah, maybe not the Jabberwocky. Maybe the Cheshire Cat."

"Oh, fun. Who's the Cheshire Cat?"

Lunch went smoothly. Well, as smooth as getting interrupted every two bites by some other kids Chloe knows is -- she either befriended them today, the other day, or prior to going to Auradon. One kid, a junior, recognized Chloe Charming from her middle school fencing years and went to ask if she's planning to try out for the team. He said it with an additional "Well, now that girls are permitted to join."

Chloe is seriously considering it.

Which made Red think about what would her plans in school be other than be at school?

Apparently, and fortunately with Red, Chloe and her share some classes in the afternoon. She doesn't feel like a complete outside in a school that mostly knows each other. They sat down in the middle of the room, not too far and not too near the front. When the bell rung, everyone sat down and no one made a sound. And Red somewhat understood why.

Growing up with a mother who is often so close to off with their head over minor inconveniences makes her understood why students would want to not get on the wrong foot with the turbulent daughter of two of the most evil villain in fairy tale history. Even if one of them is redeemed, the other in a permanent-until-lifted house arrest. But even without the difficult family background, the Goddess of Time and Princess of the Underworld, Sister to the Queen of Auradon, Hedith, is known for her short-temper.

Not a moment later, the woman sauntered into the room, her flowing silk sleeves dramatically floated behind her. A black smoke entered just behind her, spooking the students, until it materialized at the back of the room as a large, black hellhound, towering even the tallest student in the school. Red was slightly thankful that she and Chloe decided to sit in the middle and nowhere near either of the two. The hellhound looks more imposing than the larger, scalier, and slimier Jabberwocky of Wonderland.

"Welcome, class, to Magical Ethics. I will be your instructor for this subject and I expect--well, no greatness, but ample amount of brains to comprehend and practice whatever I will be teaching you," Hedith said, imposingly, her eyes scanning the room.

Red shrunk down on her seat, feeling the slight guilt in the pit of her stomach. 

"Now, for today, I will not be boring you much with pleasantries. But I would like to ask." She started walking around the room, the clank of her heels being the only other audible sound in the room. "What magical items or kinds of magic that your kingdoms are known for? And what laws are there that prevent, allow, or moderate such magic?"

"Fairy Godmother's magic!" Chloe immediately answered and Red wanted eat some shrinking cakes till she can be squashed by an ant.

"Hmm, yes," Hedith muttered, giving Chloe a pointed stare.

"Fairy Godmother's magic is now for everyone because of a promotion, but before, she was a great companion for my kingdom. There isn't really a law for her magic to be contained, prohibited, or moderate. As long as she does it for good, she's free to use it," Chloe explained and Red can see the slight temptation in Hedith to roll her eyes. 

"Unfortunately, that is quite right." Red did not miss the condescension in her tone. And she cannot help but think of her mother at that moment--her old, evil, tyrant of a mother.

Hedith continued walking around, her arms crossed under her chest.

"Fairy Godmother is what people would consider as pure, and good magic. It's powerful and unshackled by any royal decree or law. However, her wand is a different discussion altogether," she stated and flicked her hand. The board in front of the room lit up with images of times when the wand was either stolen, replicated, or even mishandled.

Red and Chloe remembered one specific time that wasn't in the slideshow.

"It is a tangible object. Many people, the current Queen and current Headmistress included, tried to use it for purposes other than what the kingdom intends it to do. Good and pure as Fairy Godmother's magic is, a tangible object tied to that sort of power can also be used for nefarious reasons which would violate the balance."

"So, we must put some kind of moderation or limit to what happens with Fairy Godmother?" a student asked.

"No, it must be separated from Fairy Godmother. She is free to use her magic. The wand needs some sort of law to moderate what to do with it," another student rebutted.

"Agreed. Since Fairy Godmother is good by nature. But her want can be separated from her and cause damage."

"But the wand is as much of her magic. You cannot separate them."

"The want is an object. You can separate them."

"Have you ever seen her use magic without it?"

"She's powerful as she is ever. She's just so accustomed to her wand. It's more like her iconic symbol."

"What is aesthetic if it's--"

Her classmates debated, the room growing with the adrenaline. Red's senses all absorbed the different sides as her brain move with the argument. Her eyes travelled to Hedith who looks over the students while standing and fiddling with the ring on her finger. A beautiful black gem reflecting the slight light coming from the high-ceiling chandeliers of the room.

Red cannot help but watch the nonchalant expression on her face paired with the gentle caressing of the ring. It didn't quite match. And she look closely, she can see the intricate design of at the band. It's taken care of but slightly worn-off as if it never left Hedith's ever-so nimble hands. Red can only imagine a magical being like Hedith has some hand-waving magic up her sleeves so that ring had probably seen a fair share of accidental bumps into objects. But despite that, Red thinks that the piece of jewelry is quite important to the goddess.

Hedith turned to her hellhounds and both heads seems to understand the gesture and let out a loud, earthshaking bark.

This renders the room silent. The debating students now placated into returning their butts to their royal school desks.

"You all made wonderful insights for the case," she said, surprising the majority of the class. No one said it, but they were not expecting a compliment from the withdrawn goddess. "I will give you a week-long assignment. A case study. I don't expect a very detailed one as we are just starting the year. The case would be what we had in this class today but with your own kingdom's ethical and lawful stance in magical items."

Hedith walked back to the front of the class with such grace that Red may have mistaken her for floating above the floor. I guess she can do that, but Red can clearly hear her heels on the marbled floor.

"That is all for today. Dismiss." 

Everyone scrambled through the room as much as their royal etiquette training permits. So fast that Chloe and Red was all but ran over, leading them to leave last.

"Miss Red," Hedith's voice drawled out. Red winced and Chloe sympathetically looked at her with her big brown eyes. Red nodded for her to go ahead before turning to face the teacher.

"Yes, Miss Hedith?"

"Don't use any of your kingdom's magical item for the report," she said, with a leveling glare. "Use the time machine as your focus."

The hellhound dematerialized into a shadow and reappeared beside the goddess like a cloak.

"Impress me."

And with that, Hedith left the room in the shadows, leaving a stiffened Red.

---

"I heard some interesting stories, Hedith."

Hedith sat back on the couch in Uma's office, looking over some of her lesson plans sprawled out on the coffee table. She has an office. Uma wouldn't let her in the same faculty office as the other teachers. Hedith is too unpredictable with company like them. But apparently, she still decided to come to her office to do her paperwork. Even if it meant doing it on the coffee table.

"Hmm? What sort?"

"The sort that says you spooked the students and made them argue with each other on their first day?"

"Oh good. The sort that makes future rulers of kingdoms grow a braincell," Hedith deadpanned with an eye roll. Uma snorted with a shake of a head.

"Well, it really is a good thing that I hired you for a job here. I don't know what I'll do with all the goody goody around here," Uma mused and Hedith smirked.

"A shade of gray doesn't hurt, does it?"

"Absolutely." Uma agreed with a slight smirk. "But I am quite curious. Don't you have some godly duties to attend to?"

"It's not hard to be the goddess of time, Uma. I just have to safeguard the timeline and time is very independent. If I find something amiss, like if time freezes, slows down, fast forward, that is when I act."

Uma's eyebrow quirked up in question.

"Time travel is tricky. It depends mostly on the item or kind of magic. There are some that are easy to pinpoint. But there are some that is clouded which is hard to track. The girls are the latter." Hedith leaned back on the couch, laying the papers beside her. "They used a prototype. It's faulty but works like a charm. It's hard to detect. I could have prevented a timeline disruption otherwise."

"Or maybe it was designed to not be detected."

"Any time-related item touches my domain, drew something from my domain. I can feel them and detect them if perfected. If not, then it draws a an abnormal amount and protects itself. But not the people who wields them," Hedith pointed out. "That's why it was highly irresponsible and dangerous for Chloe and Red to use it. And why they wouldn't get ahold of it again."

Uma did not miss the way Hedith was nervously fiddling with the ring on her finger. Three years ago, Hedith broke down after a party Mal hosted. She was screaming and yelling, completely disheveled and panicking. And Evie noticed the ring on her finger that none of them had noticed before. Not only that, Hedith looks completely different. The Hedith they knew earlier that day was a goddess-in-training that sported a pixie cut. But this Hedith, this woman looks broken, panicking, and exudes grace and elegance with long hair and flowing sleeves.

Something was different. And the ring and her change of appearance somehow became a clue.

"You're still...wearing it," Uma pointed out, carefully testing the waters. Hedith's eyes lifted to meet her's. "You never really told me or Evie what it is. We just assumed it's important."

"Mal knew. I told her," she said, staring at the piece of jewel. "It was an engagement ring."

'It didn't change the fact that I will never see my Carlos and my baby nephew ever again.'

Uma heard her say to the girls yesterday and that prompted her to look to the portrait of Carlos in her office. The smiling, freckled boy that everyone loved and admired. Suddenly her throat feels constricted. She looked back to Hedith, a woman who was once a young girl whom she treats as her own little sister. She became lost in thought, her fingers gently caressing the ring.

"Hedith," she gently called and walked over to sit beside her. "Are you alright?"

"He's so young here, Uma," she finally spoke and her eyes blinked. "It hurts to see all of his pictures have him be so young. Because I mourn even more about the future he could have probably had. One that I saw and lived through, but now, only I know."

Uma pulled her into a hug and gently put Hedith's head under her chin.

"It's okay, Hedith. You can always tell me things. When you're ready."

"I want to. But I do have some paperworks to do," Hedith mused, laughing weakly. "Maybe I can tell you later. Girl's night?"

Uma smiled, being reminded of how the girl once tailed her around. She's seeing a glimpse of that same girl in the current Hedith. 

"Alright. Girl's night."