Only after the girls' wands, Morok's eyes, and Nalrond's own arrays and senses failed to detect any trace of deception did the fever leave him, allowing the Rezar to relax.

"Back when I arrived here, you told me that at first, you believed your Fringe had expanded and that only later your tribe understood it had merged with that of my people." Nalrond said.

"Exactly." Kimo nodded.

"Yet I don't understand what need you have of a second Fringe. I get that over time your tribe grew in numbers to the point of needing more land, but even taking into account the other villages, there is few of you and a lot of woods.

"Why didn't you move there?" Nalrond asked?

"Because that's the territory of the elves, brother. It's not wise to mess with them unless strictly necessary. They are a wise and powerful people, but after everything they went through, they would rather die than give up on a single centimeter of their land." Kimo replied.

"Elves?" That word shocked Nalrond.

Even though he had lived inside a Fringe, he still considered them a myth, just like everyone else considered Fringes.

"Yes. They were already here when we entered. After hearing our story, they overcame our differences and allowed us to occupy the plains in exchange for the promise of never getting inside their woods.

"Over time, however, both our and their people have grown in number to the point that the Fringe couldn't sustain us all. We were even thinking of starting a colony in the outside world when your Fringe got added to ours." Kimo turned pale at the thought.

Without Dawn's massacre, he and everyone else in the new village would have been forced to leave.

"What differences? According to what little is known about elves, humans defeated them in a war millennia ago and forced them into exile just like they experimented on us, turning us into hybris just to better kill their neighbors.

"Elves may belong to a different race, but our history is so similar that they should treat us as cousins." Nalrond was surprised by how easy it was for him to use the word "us" even though he barely knew his new hosts.

He had never done that with Lith's family, not even after spending months with them.

"Alas, when the Elves see us, they can hardly go past our human half." Kimo sighed while thinking about how many things the two races could have learned from each other if only the elves managed to let go of the past.

***

City of Reghia.

After Lith had left for the extermination mission, Phloria and Tista had to find their own way to contribute to the beasts' society in order to get access to precious resources like enchanted metals and mana crystals.

Even though Phloria came from one of the most powerful families of the Kingdom, Adamant and Davross were outside her reach. The Royals had a monopoly of the Davross and Adamant was so expensive that Orion had forbidden her to use it for her crafts until he made sure that she wouldn't just waste it in failed experiments.

Tista was in an even worse boat than her. She had no access even to Orichalcum because it was too expensive for her and the Royals didn't trust her skills enough to provide her with the precious metal.

"You know, this is the first time that being Lith's sister bothers me." Tista sighed. "During my travels alone, I've fought a lot of creatures and earned a lot of merits, yet everyone treats me as if I've just graduated from the Academy.

"Do you remember the face that the Royals made when I asked for crafting materials?"

"Sure. Their faces looked like my father's when as a child I asked him for a pet Dragon." Phloria chuckled. "Don't worry, Tista. It's not because you're Lith's sister, but because you don't have any official recognition."

"What do you mean? I've done plenty of work for the Kingdom."

"No. You've done a lot of work for yourself, picking the missions that suited you the best from the Association. Sure, the Kingdom benefitted from your actions, but it was just a side effect.

"Lith and I, on the contrary, performed missions that benefitted only the Kingdom. We didn't get anything from them except for what our commanding officers decided to reward us with. In Lith's case, crafting materials and in mine, the Royal Forgemastering lessons from my father." Phloria said.

"I thought that Orion did it on his own authority." Tista said in surprise.

"He did, but if Quylla and I didn't have enough merits on our own, it would have been an act of treason. That's why he gifted the wand to Friya but didn't teach her anything about runes or Forgemastering spells."

Tista pondered her words for a while, wishing they could go to a bar, a tavern, or any place where to eat and drink. Reghia had no establishments and with Solus gone, they had no housing as well.

The two women could only stay in their makeshift home, using their earth magic spells while they talked to make it less makeshift.

"How are you doing after quitting the army?" Tista asked.

"Better than I ever thought I would be. Between Faluel's lessons and all the catch up I have to do with true magic, I don't have the time to indulge in what-ifs about my life or murderous thought about Deirus." Phloria said.

"By the way, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Phloria said.

"I noticed that for a long time you almost seemed angrier with Lith than with Deirus. It took you more to get used to Solus's existence than to get over the unfairness of your trial. Why?" Tista asked.

"Gods, Tista, sometimes your naivety is baffling to the point of being cute." Phloria altered the density of an armchair until it was comfortable before answering.

"I come from a rich and powerful family, having enemies has always been normal to me. People spread awful rumors about me at the academy and during my boot camp someone revealed my identity and turned my life into a nightmare.

"Yet I never took it personal, because compared with all the good that comes with my name it was small stuff. I didn't get even with Trion because he was just a pawn. I deeply resent Deirus for what he did and what he is doing, but you know what?

"He's an enemy, so I'm angrier at the thought of how he still abuses Yurial's name to cover his sorry ass than of his actions. You must understand that even if Deirus wasn't out for my blood, someone else would.

"Alone he couldn't have messed up with my career as he did. Let's be honest, Kulah was a disaster and it gave all those who resented me or my family the perfect opportunity to attack.

"You see me calm about it not because I don't care or because I forgave him, but only because I already did all I could. First as an army officer and then as an Ernas. Now, however, the fight has moved to a political sphere where there's no place for a fighter like me." Phloria said.