Varian doesn't know exactly when the feeling began, the absence. He supposes he has always felt like he was missing something, a mother, the approval of his father, and an understanding of where he came from. A few years ago Varian and his father started getting along better, he met his uncles and aunt and learnt about his paternal heritage and for the past two years he has been happy with that. Growing up Varian would always ask his father about his mother, he would ask him how she died if she was even dead, about her hobbies, about her home country and even single time Quirin would become quiet and sad. Varian hated seeing his father upset so eventually he stopped asking about Ulla.

For Varian's eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel invited the whole kingdom, he was grateful but skipped the party with Catalina, Angry and Lance.

Varian couldn't stop thinking about his mother, she was young when she disappeared, not much older than Varian is now, he wondered what she did for her eighteenth.

A piercing noise snapped Varian out of his thoughts, he turned to the object of his discomfort, his alarm clock that he had invented himself. The boy stopped the noise before walking over to his wardrobe and picked out a lime green shirt, a dark green blouse and maroon pants. "Dad is probably already on his way," he expressed excitedly to his pet raccoon. "I can't wait to show him my newest invention! I believe it could help speed up all the repairs happening to Old Corona, maybe he could even stay for a little bit." The boy knew it was wishful thinking, Quirin left to lead the repairs happening to their old village shortly after Varian's birthday, Varian didn't want his father to leave but he couldn't stop him. Varian and Quirin have been living in the palace for the past two years and though Quirin never complained, Varian knew he missed their village.

Once Varian was dressed he ran a hand through his hair, the boy rarely brushes his hair, lately, his hair has been growing fast, including his cyan streak which has been there since he was a baby. Usually, he only has one streak of coloured hair but now he has two, the new one being a light shade of blue rather than cyan, Varian has no idea where it came from and it still confuses him. Varian looked in the mirror, "I'm forgetting something, Ruddiger," he said to his raccoon.

The small animal ran off before returning with a pair of goggles in his mouth, "My goggles! I don't know how I could forget those!"

Varian grabbed the goggles and placed them on the top of his head, he ran the metal material over his hair, messing it up. Varian gave Ruddiger a rug on the chin. "I'm ready."

The palace is as busy as always, guards running around, maids cleaning and fussing over everything, and Lance partying for no reason. The young alchemist ignored all the motion around him and walked straight to the dining room where his father is waiting for him.

The walk was short and gave him barely enough time to collect his thoughts. It has been four months since he has seen his dad, and he has a lot to share.

Varian stopped at the dining room door and took a deep breath, 'don't let him know how much you miss him because then he will feel bad'  Varian reminded himself.

"Varian! There you are!" A voice exclaimed from before him, he turned to see Rapunzel.

"Hey princess," despite Rapunzel being queen, he still calls her princess, a force of habit he assumes. "Hi, Ryder," he cooed at his goddaughter.

"I was looking all over for you, I was going to let you know that your dad was a little bit early but you obviously already know."

"Yeah."

Suddenly the baby started to cry, "Oh, she must be hungry, have fun with your dad," Rapunzel smiled before walking away.

Ever since Rapunzel and Eugene got married two years ago and Rapunzel became queen, everything has been changing. Varian seemed to be seeing less and less of them, especially Rapunzel and after Ryder was born, Varian felt like he has no place in the palace anymore. This, of course, is all in his head and Varian knows that but it doesn't stop him from thinking about it.

Varian shook away those thoughts, he doesn't need to be worrying about Rapunzel right now. Varian opened the door and saw his father sitting down with a journal in his hands. "Dad?"

"Varian!" His father jumped, and Varian raised an eyebrow, he has never seen his father jumpy. "You look nice."

"Thank you," he grinned before walking next to his dad and taking a seat. "What's that journal for?"

Quirin's grip on the book tightened and Varian flinched as he thought the book might snap into two. "The last time we talked you brought up your mother."

Varian's body stiffened at the memory, it was the night after his eighteenth birthday and Quirin was packing to return to Old Corona when Varian asked one of the questions that were on his mind, how old is his mother when she went missing? Quirin had closed himself off. Ulla had always been a difficult topic for Quirin to discuss. Quirin revealed she was twenty before changing the topic to something else.

"I wasn't prepared to talk about her but now I am. Your mother's name was Ulla, and she was twenty when she went missing, I met her when I was twenty-two and we courted for two years before you came along. Your mother was an alchemist like you, as well as a brilliant engineer. Ulla was searching for something, I don't exactly know what but she wrote it all down in a journal," Quirin handed the journal to Varian, "This journal."

Varian looked at the book, it was a plain leather journal, nothing appeared to be special about it but it was his mother's. He grabbed it and stared, "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Quirin sighed, "I was protecting you. Whatever your mother was after, it killed. You and her are so alike, I knew that if I gave you this you would follow in her path." Varian's grip around the journal tightened, he is like his mother, Varian always felt like an outsider in his own family. Quirin is a proud and strong leader and for Varian's entire life, his dad was the only family he knew but this whole time his mother was just like him. "But you're an adult now, I can't keep trying to shield you from the truth."

Varian put down the book and hugged his father, "Thank you!" He exclaimed, "Thank you for trusting me with this."

Quirin engulfed his son when he hugged him back.

Varian grinned and opened the first page of the book, "The Seven Trials of the Seven Kingdoms."

"Xavier? Are you still here?" Varian walked into the smithy where Xavier works. Varian's mother's journal was a fascinating but confusing read, they went on and on about the trials of the seven kingdoms and her and her partner's journey throughout them. Varian has never heard of these trials, but he knew that Xavier would, as much as Varian dislikes Xavier's boring legends, sometimes they come in handy. "Xavier?"

No response. Varian huffed, the one time Xavier goes somewhere is the time that Varian needs him the most. The boy sat down and waited, hopefully, I won't be waiting for more than an hour. Varian flicked through the pages and started to read aloud to his pet raccoon. "Stage one; the fire kingdom. Fire-focused, burning away "dross" to reveal hidden essences. Transforming something with fire. Fire of the soul... finding the fire within you to fight your demons... the destruction of ego... humbling process... ignite the fire of introspection and self-evaluation. That just sounds lovely doesn't it Ruddiger?"

The raccoon made a face of disagreement and Varian couldn't help but laugh, "You're right, that sounds terrible."

Varian continued to read his mother's notes about the fire kingdom. "This sounds a lot like Koto, that's not too far from Corona."

Varian stood up excitedly and walked over to Xavier's workshop, he walked under a ladder and grabbed out one of Xavier's many maps of the seven kingdoms. "The Egyptian believe that if you walk under a ladder, you might accidentally see a god climbing up or down. Is that what you saw Young Inventor?"

Varian jumped at the sudden voice making him jump the map, "Ahh! Oh! You're back! Xavier, I need your help on something."

"Help is returned and since you gave this kingdom running hot water, I am glad I get this chance to return the favour." Varian glared at the old man,
his saying 'are you done?' Xavier grinned, "What can I do to help?"

"I need you to tell me about the Seven Trials."

"The Seven Trials? I haven't heard anyone talk about those since..." the old man's grin quickly left his face, "Your mother, your mother was the last to talk to me about them."

Varian showed Xavier his mother's journal, "I know, she wrote all about it but I can tell she left some stuff out, like what is at the end of the trials? Why is it so important?"

"I'm not surprised Ulla didn't write anything about the Demanitus Device," Xavier went to grab the book but Varian pulled it away, as much as he likes Xavier, Varian wants to keep his mother's journal in the family. "Ulla had a brilliant mind, that's something you and her share, but she was also paranoid, she kept things from her partner, I'm not surprised she also kept things from her journal." Varian is more like Ulla than he realised, it took him a long time to learn to trust again after Rapunzel broke her promise, and he wondered what made his mother the same.

"Demanitus Device?" Varian froze at the name, flashes of the storm appeared in his mind, of the Amber, of his father- Varian breath hitched.

"Breathe, Varian. Deep breaths," Xavier instructed, this isn't the first time Varian has started to have an anxiety attack around the older man.

Varian nodded, he closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing, in and out, he told himself over and over, taking a long breath before realising it. "I-" Another breath, "I'm okay."

Xavier patted the boy on the back, "Let me get you some water."

"No! No! I'm fine. Tell me about the- tell me about the device."

"Legend says that the device is the key to an Enternal Library, with infinite knowledge. Demanitus-" Xavier looked at Varian, checking that he was okay, the boy nodded, "had used the library to research alchemy and magic that he had applied to defeat Zhan Tiri."

Varian balled his fist in and out at the name of the demon who ruined his life and then later his friends, "What does this library have to do with the seven trials?"

"Your mother believed that in each of the seven kingdoms, there was a trial which after completing you will find a piece of the device."

"Wait- my mum believed? What about the legend?"

"In all my years of life, I had never heard of such a thing until your mother told me about it."

Great, Varian couldn't help but show his disappointment, Xavier is the wisest person in Corona and he hadn't even heard of the seven trials.

"Varian, you're mother was a brilliant woman and her work was like nothing I had ever seen but she was more important than her work, she was going to give it all up when she had you."

"But she didn't, did she?"

Xavier frowned and Varian knew his answer, she died while searching for the seven trails, Varian was barely a year old. "Ulla's partner, Donella, had convinced her to give the trials one last try before she settled down."

"What happened to my mum's partner? How come I've never met her?"

"That is a question for your father, young inventor."