When Pax woke the next morning, it was with that nagging feeling that he’d forgotten something very important. Their suite was quiet. Most everyone was still asleep, though he could hear the distant sound of running water from someone using the privy.

  Pax looked at the dim night light as he sat on the edge of his bed and stared at his boots for a full minute. What had he missed?

  When he’d finally satisfied Mistress Harkness last night that, no, he hadn’t hurt Jane and had actually made progress on helping her, he’d been so tired he’d struggled to get back to his room. Nooks along his path back had tempted him to just curl up and go to sleep.

  At least, Mistress Harkness had agreed with their plan to focus on healing Jane’s physical issues first, tentatively happy to hear that he thought he could do something about her old injuries. Pax decided he’d just keep any mental work he did with her thoughts to himself until he had progress to report.

  When Pax had staggered into his room, he’d barely got most of his leather armor off and onto its stand before falling into bed with his boots still on. And now, staring at them, he forced his mind to wake up enough to remember what important thing he’d forgotten.

  There was so much going on right now that it wasn’t any surprise that something had slipped through the cracks. After mentally reviewing his primary goals with the quest, aiding the rebels and advancing his magic so he and his friends could grow stronger, Pax searched for any of the smaller things he might have let slide.

  He briefly considered their finances. He knew Incedis held funds on his behalf, and there were loot items that other rebels had agreed to sell for them. But Rin and Kurt had agreed to handle that. It was embarrassing how glad Pax was to have Kurt offer to take care of that for them, even if it meant him inserting himself back into their lives.

  He was actually glad that so many of his friends had made it to the rebel base. All of Team Tribal, especially, would be invaluable help when they finally got permission to scale their Taming enterprise up to work with all the rebels.

  When Pax and his crew had abandoned the capital, he’d figured he’d be leaving a lot of people behind. And he had. Mistress Nymeli, Mage Lorkranna, Crafter Jacoby and even the Windhelm Merchant family had all become close allies and friends. He hoped any blowback hadn’t hurt them because of their known relationship to him and his crew.

  If the authorities had figured out their involvement in widespread theft of valuable messages that day, they might come after anyone who’d associated with them. Even worse would be the Vanguard tasked with the safety of the messages.

  Pax groaned as he suddenly remembered. Captain Langley and his crew still sat confined in the prison section of the base with no news on how his negotiation with the leadership was going. He needed to squeeze in a quick visit to them, or at least send a message. Pax knew Lieutenant Lancaster wouldn’t keep the captain informed.

  Pax shook his head, wishing he had more time for everything. Time. Making an annoyed sound, he rubbed at his face. He still felt like there were more things he’d forgotten. A moment later, he decided he needed to do something about it. He moved back to his bed, pulled out a case of school supplies, and took out a fresh notebook. With a quick motion, he wrote:

  Captain Langley and crew.

  Finances - Rin and Kurt.

  Once he started writing, he suddenly remembered something else he’d stupidly not been using:

  Wand of Sanctuary. Set a schedule to share it.

  Work on new runes with Tyrodon and maybe spell shaping?

  The wand was a valuable resource he’d totally neglected with everything that had happened in the few days since they arrived at the base. He’d been in the habit of using it every evening while in the Wilds, but getting settled here had upset his routine. That also meant he’d missed out on working on advanced runes with Tyrodon in the pre-dawn hours. He felt a little vindicated that Tyrodon had been too busy to remember either.

  Another thing he definitely needed to get back to, especially once he advanced his secondary elements and unlocked them for his friends. When they eventually shared that ability with other rebel mages, it would be huge if they had new runes ready to go.

  Not only that, Tyrodon might have some helpful suggestions for how to use his newer elements with his Spell Shaping that he’d ignored for way too long. The bonus scrolls he got with a new spell could be invaluable to his people, especially when they began unlocking secondary elements themselves.

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  He looked at his new list. A twinge of guilt filled him as he reread the note about sharing the wand with his crew. He’d promised to let his friends have a turn with the valuable wand artifact, too. And thinking about how much it would have helped him be more rested for the early morning Taming expeditions just made it worse.

  Pax winced, thinking of Incedis and Eldan finding out about his lapse. They’d probably assumed he’d been using the thing every night as before. Pax quickly decided there was no need to bother them with that information.

  He reread his notes, knowing there were still things he’d forgotten. He mentally reviewed everything he’d been doing lately. They were all working on their own projects while they waited for the committee to cave. Bureaucracy never moved fast, even in a rebellion.

  Thinking of the committee reminded him of another lapse. Amid all the back-and-forth power plays, he’d forgotten to tell them about the glitterhive. That was definitely something he needed to take care of this morning, or check that Titus hadn’t already done it. The queen and drones were still alive and working up there, not to mention there might be fighters that had been out gathering resources who’d try to return through the passages his friends had blocked.

  He could only imagine their response if any broke through and returned to their hive to discover the death of their fellow defenders. If they figured out how to make their way to the populated sections of the base, they could hurt a lot of people.

  He needed to speak to Incedis and Titus about it and see who they should talk to. Hopefully, there was an official not on the committee they could speak to about it. Pax didn’t really want to face any of the committee members right now. He was likely to lose his temper with how slow they were being.

  He added a new line:

  Report Glitterhive. Have Rin/Kurt negotiate our share. Can Tyrodon use anything for crafting?

  Glancing over the list, Pax hoped he could take care of most of them at the start of the day before getting to his own work. As far as his own plans, he really needed to head to the elemental training rooms to boost his ice. Then he would head up to the workshop to join in all the other projects they had going.

  The word workshop made him pause and remember another thing to put on his list. He’d promised to help Magesecond Fenix find a new workshop in the base. Hopefully, Solani 2-nine would have taken the lead on that.

  Workshop for Magesecond Fenix.

  Pax wondered, briefly, if the two Fenixes had met each other yet and how that had gone. He remembered Magethirtyfirst Fenix’s enthusiasm when he’d heard that Pax’s mentor was Magesecond Fenix, the very first of his line. Pax would’ve liked to have seen that meeting. Maybe Solani 2-nine could give him a blow-by-blow account later.

  Well, if she had time. Now that the altar was active, she had to be pretty busy working with Tyrodon and the other managers to connect everything again. Pax couldn’t even imagine what the fully functioning base would look like.

  There were still the two critical functions left to restore in Part 4 of their quest. He guessed one was the power room, which was still only partially working. But what was the third?

  Plus, being the headquarters of the entire light guild, there had to be a treasure trove of practical or extravagant luxuries to find once everything was working again.

  One he was looking forward to was the main vault, which might just be the last critical area. He was sure it was on a map somewhere they could access, but they would still have to clear whatever obstacles kept them from accessing it.

  And there had to be some kind of armory, right? Or did the ancient light mages forgo mundane things like armor and weapons, relying only on their magic?

  His excitement grew as he imagined all the discoveries awaiting them. The first step would be to go through the detailed status report the altar and managers should have compiled soon.

  Oh no. His excitement disappeared as his stomach plummeted. That was the vital thing he’d forgotten to do last night. With the managers and Tyrodon doing almost all the work getting the base functional again, Pax’s one job was to check in with the altar each morning and night.

  Sure, the first two check-ins hadn’t been too critical with everyone working solely on the power situation. But there were functions that only he could access and decisions that required commander approval. He blanched and moved to sit back down on his bed, hoping his oversight hadn’t stopped progress on any critical projects. He could only hope that one of the managers would have used their power to break into his thoughts if a genuine emergency had come up.

  Pax quickly finished his list, adding the primary tasks they’d all been working on.

  Check in twice daily with the altar and managers.

  Get base to full function, starting with power then defenses.

  Complete quest objectives: unlock minor magic, Taming, unlock friends’ secondary elements, critical areas, awaken littles.

  Negotiate a spot on the committee and improve the rebellion’s plans.

  Unlock my secondary elements.

  Power level my crew, Titus’ crew and Team Tribal.

  Explore new skills/spells as I get them.

  Heal Jane/Mama.

  He looked over the list, feeling satisfied as he imagined how powerful they’d all be once he completed everything on the list. It felt reassuring to have the list to add to, so he wouldn’t have to worry about things slipping through the cracks again.

  Pax laid back down, giving himself a moment to Meditate and calm down. The last few days had been crazy. He decided he could give himself a break for being off balance with the return of Titus, his mother and his Viper crew back into his life.

  But he needed to stay organized and focused on making progress. The empire definitely wouldn’t be giving them any slack.

  A few minutes later, Pax let his Meditation lapse, feeling a lot calmer and alert. It was time to check in with the altar and the managers to see how progress on the base was coming. He grinned, fresh excitement filling him to hear what he would learn from the altar’s system diagnosis.

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