As the boat was still moving into the dock, the aeronautical early arrival of Gabriel Remore drew quite a lot of attention. The curious crowd pressed in for only a moment, though, before he pressured them back with his gold-rank aura.

“I see you haven’t been working on subtlety while I’ve been away,” Rufus said.

“Gods, you sound like your mother. She told me I shouldn’t fly over.”

“She’s here, too?” Rufus asked, gaze moving from his father to the approaching ship.

“Oh, now you show some emotional investment,” Gabriel said.

“Maybe if you didn’t make everything about yourself,” Rufus said. “Flying over here in front of all these people. What were you thinking.”

“That I could comfort my precious son.”

“Then why didn’t you bring Mother?”

The mirth dropped off Gabriel’s face as he turned to look at the ship.

“She’s with the Hurins,” he said.

Rufus’ face was stricken.

“Farrah’s parents?” he asked feebly.

“They wanted to come.”

Rufus reeled on the spot. “I shouldn’t have… I should have brought her home straight away.”

“It’s alright,” Gabriel said, placing a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder. “I won’t say it wasn’t hard on them, because how could it not be. But those of us with adventurer children know that adventurers don’t always come home.”

“I was supposed to protect her.”

“You were supposed to lead her, and you did.”

Gabriel looked around at the gathered people watching them. He had already used his wind abilities to make their conversation private, but there was no shortage of onlookers.

“You’re right,” he said to his son. “I shouldn’t have jumped over like that.”

Rufus was bleary-eyed but gave his father a smile.

“If you didn’t make a spectacle of yourself, I’d suspect you of being some kind of shape-shifter.”

“That’s kind of hurtful.”

“You did an unscheduled fire-sword dance at my academy graduation,” Rufus said.

Gabriel chuckled.

“Your grandad gave me an earful for that one.”

Emir passed through the wind bubble keeping in the sound and gave Gabriel a welcoming hug.

“How was the trip, Gabe?”

“It was good,” Gabriel said.

“You know I could have had Hester portal you in,” Emir said.

“Arabelle wanted to take the long way,” Gabriel told him. “All those stops picking up the iron-rankers gave us the chance to see some new places. It was good for the Hurins.”

“With you, me and Arabelle here, you should have brought Cal, too,” Emir said. “Get the old team together for a reunion.”

“You know what he’s like,” Gabriel said. “If there’s no monsters worth fighting, he’s not interested. You couldn’t drag him into a low magic zone like this one.”

“He doesn’t change, does he?” Emir asked, glancing again at the boat. “They’ll be getting ready to disembark, soon. I’d best go greet all the tadpoles.”

Emir was in front of a gathered group of iron-rankers. Some sixty or so had been on the boat, with two more boats coming.

“Welcome to Greenstone,” Emir said. “My name is Emir Bahadir and I’d like thank you all personally for coming all this way in response to my contract. As to the specifics, there will be a large announcement meeting once all of the adventurers have arrived. In the meantime, I suggest you report your arrival to the local branch of the Adventure Society. I’ve arranged a number of carriages to take you all there directly, and they can help you find local accommodation.”

Adventurers didn’t have luggage, carrying their possessions in dimensional bags or dimensional space abilities. They were trained to travel light and with efficiency and were soon heading for the Island in a train of carriages. Not all of them took the offered ride, heading straight off to explore Old City or hanging around instead, hoping for some personal time with Emir.

Others were greeted by representatives of Greenstone’s nobility or other prominent families. Every other family in Greenstone envied the power and influence the Gellers held in other lands and leapt at the chance to make outside connections. They hoped that playing host to the next generation of leaders would get them a foot in the door of a larger world. This was reinforced by the Geller family itself, so sent representatives to collect certain people to which they had connections.

Emir sent most of those looking to make an early connection away, except for a young girl of only fifteen years, with dark skin and rainbow-coloured hair that fell back over her head in a series of tight braids.

“Ketis,” Emir greeted her warmly.

“Grandfather,” she said with a respectful nod.

“No hug for grandad?”

She gave him a hug after glancing around with the self-consciousness of her age.

“How was your trip?” he asked.

“The boat was so small,” she complained, drawing a laugh from Emir.

“Of course it was small after the cloud ship,” he said. “It’s good for you to broaden your perspective.”

“You don’t broaden your perspective by narrowing the ship,” she said sullenly and Emir laughed again.

“Did you enjoy travelling with Aunty Arabelle?”

She nodded.

“Alright,” he said. “Come along as I say hello. I have a present for you, later.”

They wandered over to where Rufus and his father where talking with three other people. Rufus’ mother, Arabelle, had even darker skin than her husband, her long hair dyed rainbow colours in the Vitesse style. Farrah’s parents, the Hurins, were fair-skinned, like their daughter had been. Emir knew that while they looked older than the Remores, Amelia and William Hurin were actually younger.

Of humble origins, they had become adventurers later in life. As young parents, they had stumbled upon the valuable potent essence. Instead of selling it for its considerable value, they kept it hidden as they worked to obtain more. By the time their daughter was old enough to use them, they had the more common fire and earth essences to go with it. It was only after their daughter found success as adventurers that she repaid the gift twice over and they, too became essence users.

Farrah’s parents had no interest in following their daughter into the Adventure Society. They were both bronze rank, having raised their abilities using the monster cores Farrah brought back from her adventures. Rufus and Gary had likewise contributed their own shares.

As Emir approach, Rufus was bowed before them, practically kneeling.

“I’m so sorry,” he told them.

“Please stop apologising,” Farrah’s mother, Amelia said. “Our daughter died as an adventurer, and she died proudly. You’re no more to blame than we are for giving her those essences in the first place.”

“We had an informal wake a couple of weeks ago,” Rufus said. “Now you’re here, I’ll arrange something more formal.”

The two sets of parents shared a glance over Rufus’ bowed head.

“You do that,” Farrah’s father, William said. “We’d appreciate it, son.”

In the cloud palace training hall, Humphrey and Sophie were clashing while Jason, Neil, Clive and Belinda rested in the observation area. Humphrey had his smaller conjured sword out, Sophie deflecting it with her fists.

“When I get my own essences,” Belinda told Clive, “I think I’ll prefer to fight at range, like you. Getting up close like that is really more Sophie’s area.”

“That can be tricky for a human,” Neil said. “Humans get more special attacks than anything else, unless you get a racial gift evolution early, like Clive. Mostly that means melee attacks. If you want range, then a bow essence would be a good choice. That’s the most reliable way to get ranged special attacks.”

“Or you could get an ability that lets you use skill books,” Clive said. “That way, you can gain whatever skills you need. The adept essence is a solid bet, in that case.”

“I looked at the bow essence, but decided against it,” Belinda said. “Adept is on my list, though.”

“You’re already picking out essences?” Neil asked.

“Clive let me look at the Magic Society essence listings,” Belinda said. “I’ve picked out a set I like the look of. They’re all common essences, so they shouldn’t be that hard to get.”

“You’ve made a decision?” Clive said. “What combination?”

“Magic, adept and trap,” she said.

“Magic and adept are popular essences, but not hard to find,” Clive said. “Trap is more of a niche selection. Mostly assassin and hunter types go for it; I think it’s an undervalued essence when it comes to monster hunting.”

“What’s the confluence essence for that?” Neil asked.

“Charlatan,” Belinda said with glee. “I was looking through the abilities it’s known to give and they sound fantastic.”

Neil and Clive shared a glance.

“Charlatan?” Neil asked.

“From recollection,” Clive said, “it’s a confluence more people avoid than seek out. Most would disagree with you on the value of the abilities it gives.”

“Then those people lack imagination,” Belinda said. “I looked through long lists of abilities. I don’t want to pick out some essences looking for fun, tricky abilities, only to end up with a boring set of straightforward attacks. Ideally, I’d get one of those racial gift evolutions that means I’m not stuck shooting nine kinds of magic arrow.”

“We fought a couple of people in the mirage chamber recently who might disagree,” Neil said.

“Those people lost,” Belinda said. “Maybe they would done better if they had more tricks in their pocket.”

“Harsh,” Jason said. “I have to agree with the value of having a few hidden surprises at the ready, though.”

“As do I,” Emir said as the elevating platform brought him up into the room. “Speaking of surprises, I believe you have something for me?”

Clive pushed himself out of the chair, took a heavy book from his storage space and handed it to Emir.

“Skill book. Way of the Reaper, form three.”

“You aren’t still holding out on me, are you?” Emir asked. “Jason told me you didn’t take anything from that complex you found.”

“I said no such thing,” Jason said. “If you think back, you’ll find I dodged the question. If I went telling high-rankers every time I found something interesting, they’d just keep taking them off me.”

“Is that why you kept your and Miss Wexler’s unusual combat style from me for so long?”

“I thought it was best if your interest in her was purely altruistic,” Jason said. “It was her choice to tell you. She wanted to thank you for taking her in when you had no need to.”

“My client is very interested in the origin of that fighting style,” Emir said. “Once our business here is done, I suspect he will have an interest in tracing Miss Wexler’s family history. Perhaps, once her indenture is done, she will be interested in that journey for herself.”

“That’s up to her,” Jason said. “So, this granddaughter of yours has been learning the Way of the Reaper too?”

“My search has taken time and found many relics of the Order of the Reaper,” Emir said. “That includes skill books. My granddaughter can use skill books and was very interested in practicing a lost style. I was reluctant, having only recovered books containing three of the five forms. In the end, she wore me down.”

“Your client didn’t want the books?” Clive asked.

“My client appreciates any relics I send his way and pays me appropriately, but I am only contracted for one item. We have found multiple copies of these skill books and had some to spare, but only for three of the forms. We haven’t found anything for the second or third.”

“We found intact copies of forms one and three,” Clive said. “We can’t help you with a book for form two.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Emir aid. “My hope is that one will be recovered during the upcoming contest,” Emir said. “I will share the details once the other boats arrive. Even if not, both you and Miss Wexler have knowledge of form two, do you not, Jason?”

“We do. We’re grateful for all you’ve done for us, so we’d be happy to teach her what we can.”

“That’s excellent,” Emir said. “You’ll meet her soon. Have you met Rufus’ parents, yet?”

“Not yet,” Jason said. “Rufus and Gary have been with them and Farrah’s parents since they arrived.”

“Rufus had a request for you, for when you meet his father.”

“Oh?” Jason asked.

“Rufus’ father, Gabriel, likes to make a big first impression. He didn’t tell Rufus he was coming, then made quite the entrance at the port.”

“So I’ve heard,” Jason said.

“Rufus requested than when you meet his father, you go what he referred to as ‘full Jason,’ whatever that means.”

“Oh, we know what that means,” Neil said.

“Yes, we do,” Clive said.

“What are you two talking about?” Jason said.

“You questioned if I was even an elf, then accused me of being fat,” Neil said.

“You claimed to have slept with my non-existent wife, then accused me of sleeping with your non-existent wife.”

“Neil’s an elf?” Belinda asked.

“Yes, I’m an elf!”

“You are quite hefty for an elf.”

“My proportions are perfectly normal!”

“I see it now,” Emir said. “This is exactly what Rufus was looking for.”

“He had his landlady yell at me.”