Sinbad's head was still spinning with numbers by the time he made it back to his office. He was calculating a million different possibilities of what could go wrong with the latest deals made, but each seemed manageable, and most profitable. Businessmen always did manage to prosper in chaos; as he'd spent most of his life trying to rid the world of turmoil, Sinbad wasn't sure exactly how he felt about benefiting from it. He wouldn't have minded if it was for the sake of protecting Sindria and his dream of peace, but now… now no one was fighting, the world was free of Solomon or David's (or his own) control… what else was there for him to do?

The thought stopped him in his tracks, just before his door. The fear gripped him so tightly that he couldn't reach for the handle.

Anything he sacrificed had been for the destiny he saw.

And now his sight was gone.

SInbad let out a shaky exhale and ran a hand through his hair. When he'd admitted it before, he'd still found something to change, something to improve-the fabric of the world. Now there was no voice in his head, no magician, no magi to tell him what more could be done in place of his own vision.

For the first time, the rest of his life was a blank page.

For the first time, he didn't feel…

Well, he felt silly thinking of the word "special," but that did seem to be the closest fit.

Special. He wasn't…

But he shook his head. No. No time to think about that now. He had kids to pick up from school in a short while.

When he entered, there was giggle and a small voice humming. Kaito and Samia were sitting on the floor with Pipirika, drawing on scrap paper with colored pens. Pipirika was laughing, complimenting Samia on her squiggly… flower, was it? And Kaito was enthusiastically coloring his picture of a ship blue while humming a quick little tune with the strokes of his hand. They instantly looked to him as the door opened, and Kaito jumped up.

The boy barreled over to him, gripped the bottom of his robes and held up his paper. "I made you a ship!"

A bit of his anxiety fell away as he took the picture. "You did this all by yourself? Wow! It's a lovely ship, Kaito. Thank you." He ruffled the boy's hair, and said, "I need to finish up for about half an hour, and then we'll head home and pick up your siblings."

Kaito nodded as Pipirika gave a short wave and departed from the room. Samia moved wordlessly to sit by his feet and continued her drawing. Sinbad had only just rounded his desk when his phone rang.

The caller ID was labeled Rurumu Academy. He frowned, and put the phone to his ear. "President Sinbad of the Sindria Trading Company. What can I do for you?"

The voice was strained. "U-uh, S-Sir, there's been an issue with your children today, and it's policy to call the parent and ask them to attend a meeting as soon as possible."

Sinbad stood up straight. "Issue? Are they okay? Which ones?"

"Um, all of them, Sir. And they're essentially fine; I'm afraid they started a fight in the hallway."

He gaped at the phone, and then put it back to his ear. "Wh-what? You've gotta be joking."

"I-I'm afraid not, Sir. They're in the office now, awaiting your and the other parents' arrival for the disciplinary meeting. Will you be able to attend?"

"I, uh…" Sinbad sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "Yes, I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Thank you for your time, Sir."

"No trouble. Thank you for letting me know." He hung up, and dropped into his seat with a groan. So much for getting the rest of the airship forms read. First day with his new hours and he's already leaving half an hour early.

Steeling himself, he dialed his phone and gripped his desk. Ja'far picked up right away, with a snappy, "What."

"I have to leave early," Sinbad said shortly, turning his chair to face the window. "The school office called me in for a meeting. The kids got in trouble."

"Already?"

"Already. I'll take the forms home and work on them tonight."

"Fine."

Sinbad hesitated. "...Yamuraiha is in town today, right?"

"Yes."

Before he could think about it too much, Sinbad said firmly, "I'd like to have you and her over for dinner."

Surprise was evident in Ja'far's voice. "...oh. Why? Is there some new magic device we need to discuss?"

"No. Just… because."

"Uh… okay. I'll call her. What time?"

"I'll play it safe and say seven. We're having...something."

A weighty pause. "...Yeah. Alright."

"Yeah. See you. And… I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

He could almost hear Ja'far's eyes bugging out over the phone. "Really?! I-I mean, uh, it's okay."

"It's not okay," sighed Sinbad, leaning far back in his chair.

Ja'far was quiet for a moment, and then replied, "No, I'm sorry. I know you're doing your best now to fix things, and I haven't made it any easier for you. I should have talked to you about the changes, first."

"That's not your job. And I know I didn't do the same for you when I was making those… decisions."

"I'm not helping by repeating your actions against you," Ja'far admitted. "I guess I'm still just… pissed off."

"I know." Sinbad turned back around, closing his eyes. "See you later."

Sinbad dropped his face into his hands and let out a strangled groan. How was he, the builder of the peaceful world, supposed to keep his good reputation with the headmistress of the school he founded when his own children started brawls on their first day of class?

Gathering his will, he pushed himself out of the chair and grabbed his jacket. "Samia, Kaito, we're going to leave a bit early today, alright? I have to meet with some adults at the school to talk about your siblings today."

The kids agreed quite readily, but Sinbad was now more concerned about how to get them out of the building unseen. He found Pipirika's number on his phone. "Hey, I know you're busy, but I need you to escort the children to my car. I'll follow shortly."

"Uh… okay, sir."

"...I'm not in the mood for dealing with the press today."

"Ah. Understood. But um, you didn't drive in today, sir."

"Oh. Right. An extra company car, then."

"Right away, sir."

Sinbad followed soon after his confused children; he was glad they weren't old enough so that they wouldn't think he was embarrassed about them. Zara, on the other hand…

He groaned, pushing to his feet. Pipirika led the kids out soon after, and he waited five minutes to walk down and get in the car in front of them. "Ready for an adventure?"

The young lady at the school's front desk squeaked and dropped all of her papers when she saw him. "O-oh! M-Mister Sinbad! U-uh, r-right this way… I-I can watch the y-younger ones while you're in the m-meeting. I-I have toys back here for when p-parents need to do that."

"Thank you very much, Miss," Sinbad told her, trying not to smirk. He was aware of the effect he had on women, but with everything going on, he hadn't exactly gotten an ego boost from it in a while. After a day like this, he could use a little blushing and longing gazes in his direction to cheer him up.

The headmistress' office was at the end of the reception area. Grimacing, Sinbad slowly pushed open the door. The kids looked up at him all at once, squeezed in the room on variously shaped chairs, as if they had to gather some from other places just to fit the students all in. A few other children were scattered among them, but Sinbad was focused only on the bruise forming on Seti's eye, the cut above Zara's brow, and the blood trickling from Leo's knuckles.

Sinbad stormed in and knelt beside them. "Are you okay? What happened?" He brushed Zara's hair away from the sticky blood, examined Leo's knuckles. Checked over Rei and Kendria; they seemed unscathed. He took Seti's chin in his hand gently and turned his face. "Who did this to you? And where is a cold pack for his face?"

"On its way," he headmistress said shortly. She was an lady in her fifties, graying hair back in a tight bun. "If you could have a seat, Mister Sinbad, we'll start the meeting and discuss the situation."

With a last glance over the children and a reassuring smile in their direction, he sat and folded his hands. Three other parents were here, sternly sitting by their jittery kids or gaping at Sinbad. "Now, I was called about some kind of scuffle?"

"All of your children," the headmistress began, "were involved in a physical fight in the atrium today."

"He started it!" Zara seethed, pointing at a mousey-faced, brown haired boy to her right.

"Hush, Zara," Sinbad told her in the most soothing tone he could muster for the situation. He leaned back in his seat. "We each need to wait our turn to speak."

She gritted her teeth, and seemed to be about to retort, but Leo kicked her in the shin. Bless that kid.

The headmistress continued, "From what I've gathered, there was an argument that evolved into a fight. Eventually, the ben Sinbad children ganged up on these other boys-"

"There were ten of 'em against us five!" Seti protested this time. "You only caught three of 'em!"

"Seti." Sinbad gestured for him to be quiet with a finger. "Wait your turn. I'm sure the headmistress will take what you say into account fairly." He offered the lady a smile. "So what was this argument allegedly about?"

"I-It's quite insignificant," the headmistress said, trying and failing to keep an entirely stern demeanor. The eternal magic of a smile. "We have a zero tolerance policy on fighting."

"Well, I'm sure the children were aware of that," Sinbad began, folding his hands. "And they still chose to fight. Surely zero tolerance doesn't quite solve underlying problems that are the source of the rule breaking?"

The headmistress shifted and cleared her throat, flustered. "Th-that may be, but indulging childish arguments-we can hardly cater to a child's petty issues-"

"On the contrary, headmistress," Sinbad said, smiling more widely while his tone took a sharper edge, "I care very much about addressing the children's' issues, and hardly find them petty."

In his peripheral vision, he could see the kids begin to smile. But what really made his chest swell was the flicker of approval in Zara's widened eyes.

At this point, the headmistress finally seemed to remember that Sinbad was the main funding for her school.

"O-of course, sir. Em, would one of you children raise your hand to calmly explain the argument? Each side will have the chance to speak."

Every student's hand shot up, except Kendria, who was anxiously kicking her feet while staring at the ground. The headmistress chose Leo to speak, probably having picked up that he was the levelheaded one of the group.

Leo spoke as calmly as she'd asked, "That boy was making fun of Kendria's trouble with the language and hat and staff and Torran markings." He pointed at the boy that Zara had indicated. "His friends joined in-nine of them-and he grabbed her staff away. Zara told him to give it back and leave her alone, and when he wouldn't, Seti hit him. When they started hitting Seti, Zara and I joined in to help him and Rei was trying to get everyone to stop. Kendria got her staff back and did a spell to separate all of us. Six of his friends ran away before the teachers came. And that's what happened."

Sinbad's jaw clenched; he'd told Kendria this morning that everything would be fine. The fact that this bully had made him a liar caused his hands close tightly around his armrests.

The headmistress raised her eyebrows at the accused brown-haired boy. "Is this true, Jeremiah?"

"No," he muttered, not looking at her. "I wasn't doin' nothin'-these kids are all freaks and started fighting us."

From the looks he was getting, Sinbad could tell that no one was convinced.

"Jeremiah!" the boy's mother said harshly. "You don't call other children names! Apologize."

At his mother's command, the boy murmured an apology. Sinbad turned to the headmistress. "I'm sure my children are tough enough to handle juvenile insults without devolving into violence, but I'd prefer them to have a more stress-free learning environment. And furthermore, taking the staff of a magician is rather dangerous for anyone involved; this boy is lucky it didn't take off someone's limb on accident." His eyes swept over the children. "Perhaps they were concerned about that situation, wanted to get the staff back as quickly as possible, and didn't think to get a teacher instead."

Spreading his hands open in compromise, he said, "I understand that it's school policy to give appropriate punishment. Might I suggest this as a first strike, and you trust me to discipline them accordingly on my own? I will ensure that they will learn proper restraint in the future. If this happens again, you have my full permission to use your own disciplinary procedures. My children have just experienced a massive change in their life in one week and have yet to understand the culture of their new environment. I'd be most appreciative of your leniency until I've had further chance to explain this to them."

The headmistress seemed quite lost for words for a minute. "I… yes, the school would be open to that. Please see that your children understand how to handle these issues in the future, and next time, you will all have school-delivered consequences. The ben Sinbad children may leave, unless any parents have further objections or questions about the situation?"

The parents were quiet, until one blurted, "Chairman Sinbad has children?!"

Me too, man. Me too, he thought. Sinbad stood, gestured vaguely to the kids, and gave a helpless shrug. "Evidently. Come along, Sindria Squad."

The kids trailed after Sinbad like a line of ducklings, Kaito and Samia catching up to their siblings eagerly. He began to lead them towards the back parking lot, walking very stiffly. Sensing the tension, the children kept quiet until they reached the car, where Sinbad helped them inside and then got into the driver's seat. He breathed out, gripped the steering wheel.

"You know better than to get into fights," Sinbad finally said, staring at the children in the mirror. "My children cannot be kicking around other kids at school."

"Oh why, because we'll ruin your image?" Zara spat, crossing her arms and flipping back her bangs. "Lighten up, old man-we didn't even get punished."

"The only reason you didn't get punished is because I did some sweet talkin' to get you out of it," Sinbad said through gritted teeth. "It's not about my image. It's about responsibility. You're underage, so I'm still responsible for you. I trusted you all to behave well. And any of you who thought fighting would fix this rather than getting a teacher or walking away from silly verbal insults has disappointed me."

Leo and Seti looked down into their laps, but Zara barely flinched. She bit back, "Responsible for us?! You've only had us for a day! Why should we care if you're disappointed? How should we know what high class expectations you have for us in your fancy rich people world? As if you'd know anything about what it's been like for us, what it's like to suffer and not have whatever we want whenever we want-sometimes you have to fight for that! And you-"
"That's enough," Sinbad said quietly, but firmly. "Perhaps I don't know much about any of you, but that comment proves that you also know nothing about me. So let's just make it clear: I expect maturity from you, respect and civility, whether or not someone is being respectful to you. You use physical violence only when someone is being violent with you or your friends. Taking her staff didn't count; that's when you get a teacher. I'm disappointed that you fought-"

"You just-!"

"However, I am proud that you defended your sister," Sinbad finished. "Kendria, good job separating them, and good job to Rei for trying to help. Leo, Seti, and Zara, I'm glad you're okay, and I'll get you some ice when we get home. Kaito and Samia, thank you for being so patient and good at work today. Now we're going home, where you'll do your homework, show me when you've finished, and then you may play in the main room or the backyard in view of the kitchen windows. Are we all clear?"

There were murmurs of approval all around, mixed with a few "Yes sir!'s" here and there.

The kids kept themselves occupied on the way back, talking quietly (for the most part) amongst themselves. And Sinbad… he was barely keeping his shit together, so many things on his mind that he thought it might burst.

It was less of a problem trying to keep your cool in a business situation, where his superiority was mostly unquestioned. But these kids had barely any reason to grant him see him as an authority figure. He had to gain their respect. Or maybe… just Zara's. He could easily gain the respect of kings and queens with his power in the past (With the exception of being thrown in a chasm of snakes), but Zara wasn't likely to give a crap about whether or not he could blow a hole in a mountain. She cared about if he was… well, he didn't even know.

Well, at least he knew the right questions: What did they need from him and how could he give it to them?

That was a bit more like a trading company situation. He'd observed what a trading partner needed and found out how to give it to them for what he needed in return… though Sinbad supposed he couldn't exactly expect to get anything in return from children. All the same, just being generally observant should solve his problems. He was good at figuring out what people needed.

He nodded to himself reassuringly, and focused on what he needed to do next. Paperwork. Check homework. Make sure kids don't die. Order food. Make sure kids don't die. Try to make sure dinner isn't awkward. Make sure kids don't die. Put kids to bed. Try to actually sleep. Without alcohol.

...yikes.

Hello fantastical friends,

It's been a while! Sorry about that. This chapter was fun to write-Sinbad's first attempt at discipline and trying to get his shit together. I hope it's getting easier to remember which kid is which! Looks like Zara's going to be a bit more of a problem… and stay tuned for the hopefully not awkward attempt at dinner with his friends. Thus the yikes.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I love to hear your thoughts on how the story is progressing, and what I can do to improve it. Again, a huge thanks to itsdanystormborn for coming up with these ideas with me, even as she was busy with her job and preparing for her wedding. (I know I've said congrats so many times but I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!) Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Mizpah,

~LoneStorm