Passing by the dwellings made of red bricks, Tercius observed the way these buildings were built. Much like the houses his grandfather and he built, these houses used the same principles. The difference was that they used Stone Shaping to make sure every crack was removed from a stone, and then seamlessly melded the stones together, leaving only the joining for aesthetic purposes, here the red bricks were joined with a grey mortar, that reminded Tercius of cement.

What is this mortar made of? he wondered. The bricks are probably made of clay.

Tercius and Lux were headed to a store his uncle was sure had what Tercius needed. He was even sure the store was still open, even though it had been almost seven cycles since he last came here.

"The woman that owns it will probably keep it open even if the rest of the city burns down." his uncle said.

"So, this woman has what you think we will need for my new skill?" Tercius asked.

"Or she knows where we can find it."

The shop from the outside looked like any other dwelling, a two-story made of brick, it had a few wooden window shutters that concealed the insides. Just looking at it, no one would ever guess that it was a shop. No sign of any kind marked it as a shop. His uncle tried to open the door, yet it would not budge.

"What the hell?" his uncle muttered looking at the door as if it offended him by staying in his way. Lux went to a window and peeked inside through a shutter.

"Tercius, use your skill, tell me is there anyone inside."

His eyes glowed as his surroundings vanished and only Mana remained. His body was there, the parts he could see, his uncle next to him. The amount of Mana silhouettes he saw in every direction was staggering, he had to briefly close his eyes. Green outlines of plants were scattered here and there, but the number of red silhouettes was blinding. In every building in front of him, he saw everyone, and for a brief moment, they all overlapped, inducing in his skull a wave of sharp pain.

He swayed on his feet, his hands cradling his head like his most precious possession. A grunt escaped him as the instantaneous pain flashed, its phantom lingering behind, slowly losing in strength.

One such headache happened already when he first gained Stone Sight. The skill allowed him to "dive" into a stone, like peeling off a layer of an onion, and when he did it slowly, his brain had time to process the new information. These ocular skills had a range as large as his normal vision had, so when he first used the skill, it burned him as if he stared too much into the sun.

So he learned to "limit" them, observing things in such a way that he could process the information they provided. When he used Mana Sight just a moment before, he limited the skill to his usual distance, which in Spheros worked just fine, yet even that proved too much in a city that had a population of over half a million.

In the part of the city they were visiting right now, there were more living beings than the whole Nurium combined, and much more densely packed.

The pain that hit him like a hammer right now was much more intense than the one he experienced before, probably because Mana when viewed under Mana Sight showed itself in bright colors while stone, when Stone Sight was used, was in muted shades of grey.

"Tercius, what is it?" his uncle asked.

"Nothing, just a small error on my part," he said as he blinked repeatedly to clear his vision of the lingering spots.

"Well, is there anyone in?"

"In a moment," he said.

Limiting the skill to the utmost possible border, he saw only parts of himself. Arms, legs, torso, the tip of his nose, and his cheeks. Slowly releasing his grip he saw his uncle, then he moved past the man, into the building. Here no walls existed, no ceiling, no floor, as the sphere of his vision expanded, he came across a few vermin, he deduced from the outline of the rat-like creatures. The bugs were next, individually these beings were almost always too small to properly see, the only exception was when they congregated into one place like they did in this instance.

Then an outline of a human being, a head smaller than him, came into view. The outline was seated, both arms focused on a task of some kind, legs dangling. A child. he decided, then moved on. Some 8 meters from the child another figure was in a horizontal position, laid flat on its back would be his guess.

Releasing the skill his vision returned and in front of him, he saw bricks and mortar.

"I have found two. One probably in bed, and another seated nearby, peeling benrio, would be my guess," he said. Benrio was a root-like vegetable, that grew in almost all climate conditions, in almost all types of ground composition, making it a staple of food in the Empire.

His uncle frowned at that, looking at the door.

"I don’t like this." his uncle said in a murmur, then commanded. "Wait here."

The man went around the corner and returned a moment later around the other, making a complete circle of the building.

"Just like I remember, there is no other entrance," he said.

The man seemed to be considering something for a few moments and he visibly reached his decision with a firm nod.

"Don’t worry about the sound," said Lux as he ran at the door with his left shoulder, the door giving way with a splintering sound of shattered wood. The door itself remained whole, yet the deadbolt firmly attached to the wall next to the door went flying.

"Come." his uncle instructed, as Tercius looked behind them to see if anyone observed them.

Closing the door behind him, he saw his uncle frown at the room they walked into. It was a mess, to put it mildly. Every visible surface was cluttered with objects small and large, some familiar and others completely alien. There were books stacked from the floor to chest high, what looked like chairs and a table, ropes, and tools of every kind. He saw something resembling a globe, but the path to it was nonexistent.

"I see some things don't change." he heard Lux murmur.

"What is that?" Tercius asked his uncle and pointed to a construct that looked made of glass.

"Do not touch anything, she knows if something has been moved," his uncle warned. "I think she uses that for brewing. It's made of glass. But why is all of this here?"

"Glass?" Tercius repeated the unfamiliar word and leaned over the table to get a closer look at the familiar material, not believing his eyes. Glass. Multicolored and full of bubbles, and when compared to what he knew that glass could be, underwhelming. Yet light traveled through the construct of pipes and bowls, refracting in all directions.

"Seliana!" his uncle thundered behind him.

For a few moments there was absolute silence, then he heard the sound of a screeching door to his right and he turned to observe the new arrival. Her dirty blonde hair fell around her shoulders in waves, as her dark eyes observed them, and at almost a head lower than him, she could not have been over 12.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking at them trying to sound anything but what she was. Afraid.

"We are looking for Seliana, tell her that Lux is the one asking for her."

"Seliana is not seeing anyone now," she said when she had a chance to observe them, in the process losing some of that fear she had before.

"Just tell her what I told you, we will wait here." his uncle said, brooking no argument.

The girl said nothing as she went back and closed the door behind her. Lux and Tercius stood in silence, both men looking around at the dust and cobwebs that must have taken a lot of time to accumulate.

With the same screeching sound, the door opened and the same girl came in. "Go on in," she said and moved to the side of the door, indicating that they enter first.

So they did, Lux going first, Tercius following, and Amber observing the new environment with a wary eye. Through the door, and up the stairs they went to the second story and once he sis uncle moved from his view, it was as if he passed through a portal. Where the floor below them was chaos, dust, and spiderwebs, here order, water and rag ruled. The difference was startling enough that he had to look back down and make sure that he did indeed see that just a moment before.

"Come." a hoarse voice said on their left, but they could not see the person who said it.

"Come." a bout of coughing erupted as Tercius and Lux moved forward. Behind a corner, on a bed, a middle-aged woman rested, her hand covering her mouth as her lungs threatened to fall out. Her pale face melded well with the white sheets below her, and as those same sheets absorbed the sweat pouring out of her, her tired and sunken eyes observed them.

His uncle sat on the bed near her and took her other hand in his. "What is it?" Lux whispered.

"No one... knows, no healer... was able to... help." said the dark-haired woman.

When her coughing stopped, the woman slowly explained making a pause after every few words to take a deep breath that sounded like something you would hear in a long cave during a storm.

His uncle kept silent and kept his gaze on the woman's eyes, and she did the same to him.

"Leave us you two." his uncle commanded, and the girl looked ready to protest, but the woman raised a hand and sent a look that cooled the little girl down. Tercius turned and walked to the other end of the room, the girl following after him.

"I am Tercius," he said as the silence between them stretched.

"Why are you here?" she asked, looking back at the sitting Lux and laying Seliana.

"Lux," he pointed at his uncle. "Thought that your..."

"Mother." she supplied curtly.

"Mother might have or know where to get something."

"Well, what is it?"

"I don't know."

He heard another fit of coughing overtake the sick woman, and the girl that talked to him turned towards the bed, her feet moving as soon as they adjusted the direction. His hand grabbed hers just above her wrist, and startled at what he had done, he hurried to explain.

"Don't go there now, they want to talk for a little while."

Letting her hand go, he started petting Amber, who with her cry attracted attention from him and the girl.

"You did not tell me your name," he said.

"Penelope," she said matter of fact, then pointed her finger at Amber. "What's that?"

"This is Amber, a river lion cub." he made introductions. "Amber this is Penelope, a human cub."

"I am not a cub," she said glaring back at him.

"All right," he said. "If you say so."

He did not know what to talk to this girl, and he saw his uncle was still talking to her mother. The silence lasted quite a bit, both of them standing near the window.

"I saw some brewing equipment back there, do you brew?" he asked.

"A bit. Mother has been teaching me, and I have all the skills, but..." she said and pointed with her hand to the bed. He knew what she meant.

"Tercius." his uncle called.

"Yes?"

"You will stay here, for now, I will go out for a little while." his uncle said and stood up. Lux went with a large stride down the stairs before he even managed to open his mouth to say he wanted to go with him. And now, suddenly put on the spot, he looked at the two women in the room.

"He is... like that... sometimes," said Seliana as she released a sound that Tercius could not distinguish neither as a laugh nor a cough.

"Penelope, prepare something... to eat for our guests." the woman aid slowly as she nodded off.

He turned towards Penelope with resignation. "Do you need any help with that?"

***

"So Tercius, who is Lux to you?" asked the woman when Penelope finished feeding her the broth Penelope and Tercius prepared. Her coughing seemed to have subsided for the moment, yet her difficulty with speaking remained.

Tercius took a moment to think about the answer. Even though the woman and his uncle seemed friendly enough, he was not sure if his connection to Lux was something that the woman was fishing for or just general chit chat. In these situations, he usually preferred to err on the side of caution.

"If Lux wants to reveal that, I don't mind, and that is all I am going to say on the matter," Tercius spoke sincerely, trying to avoid the usual reaction he got to this kind of answer. Offense.

The woman laughed at that until the coughing interrupted her, and for a moment Tercius saw a glimpse of how she must have looked like before whatever ailed her happened. "That alone says more... than you might think... you must be related to him... only you don't have his... uncaring attitude. At least it seemed uncaring... once upon a time." the woman lapsed into silence at that, her eyes growing distant.

Tercius knew what she was talking about. It took over a year for him to see Lux under that stone facade of his, and even then he kept getting surprised.

"He only has... a daughter. Your eyebrows... I know... all of the... il’Drusus brothers... and you... you have the same... ones. And I see your... uncle's penchant for... keeping secrets... has rubbed off... on you." she said slowly, with a small smile.

"You must be... getting trained... by him," she said, her sad eyes gazing into his, yet he stayed still. "Oh, throw me... a bone here... I have so... little... to do... these days."

I can’t believe this is working on me. he thought, ashamed of this weakness. No, I will not succumb.

"A tough... nut. Just like... his uncle," she said and he saw her eyelids drop. For a moment fear gripped him, already imagining how he would tell his uncle the news, but here chest continued to rise and fall.

"She sometimes does that," Penelope said from behind him. "Just falls asleep."

"She is just tired," he said.

"I know."

"How long has she been like this?"

"A few months now," Penelope said, her unblinking eyes misting over. "And she is just getting worse, the pain…"

He had an inkling of what might be plaguing Seliana, and knew the chances of recovery. There were never the right words for these situations, he found out that on his skin a long time ago. So he told her the same phrase that least bothered him.

"I am sorry."

***

His uncle arrived long after the night had fallen, and he brought someone with him. An old man, with white hair and beard, his rheumy eyes watching them as he came in.

"She is the patient." Lux pointed to the bed and the woman on it.

"I will see what can be done."

"See that you do." his uncle said.

The old man stepped closer to bed as Lux came near Tercius and Penelope, and all three watched as the man worked.

His hands glowed with a pale red light as he placed his hands on Seliana’s head, and the woman visibly calmed down. Penelope told him that every breath caused Seliana pain, and now the man probably used a skill to numb that pain, giving her temporary relief.

His left hand stayed over her head, as his right moved down her face, her neck, and stopped at her lungs. He kept murmuring something under his breath, and everyone leaned in to listen, yet no one could understand the gibberish the old man spoke. His hands stopped glowing once he passed over her stomach and he adjusted his position over the prone woman. Now standing near her knees he continued his examination, with one hand on the stomach, not moving, and the other gliding over the length of the legs.

Exhaling deeply the man’s hands stopped emitting the calm light and he turned towards Lux. "There is a foreign mass on her left side of lungs. It’s called a tumor."

"What can be done?" his uncle asked calmly.

"I can try to ease her pain, but sadly there is nothing else I can do." the man said shaking his head. "How long she has depends on how it spreads. Right now it’s close to her heart, and if it grows further in the same direction as it is right now... there is little time left."

Beside him, he heard Penelope whimpered.

"I see." his uncle said and tossed a coin bag to the old man who caught it and tucked it into his wide robe.

"So nothing can be done?" Penelope asked, her voice cracking near the end.

"There are always thing that can be done," the man said as he looked around the room. "But I have no way to help her. I don’t think there is a healer in Tripatis and the surroundings that can."

"What about a potion of regeneration? One of those of the higher quality?" Tercius asked, a conversation he had with his grandmother springing to mind.

"What about it?" his uncle asked.

"If it can regrow a limb, it might regrow a part of the lung," he said. Even as he said it he felt angry at himself, as he saw the light of hope blossom in Penelope’s eyes.

Where the hell would we find such a thing now? he thought. You are just giving false hope to a kid.

"Those do not grow on trees young man," said the elder. "It is possible if you had one, and the removal would have to be done in better... conditions," he said as he looked around. "And I alone could not do it. You would need at least two more adept healers. Even then… it’s a low chance of success, she could slip in an instant from a single mistake."

"Well why didn’t you say so, you old coot!" his uncle raised his voice at the old man, who looked offended.

"Uncle! Apologize to the elder. He is just doing his job." he said looking his uncle straight in the eyes, looking to diffuse what Lux almost set off.

His uncle regained control in an instant and he apologized to the old healer, even going so far as to pay him extra for the trouble of coming so far from his workspace.

"I don’t have one with me, do you know someone who can brew it?" Lux asked the healer.

"I think I heard of a woman named Seliana who can do it. She lives here in Tripatis, but I never met her. I will have to ask one of my colleagues about her, I’m afraid."

"...Is she the only one?" his uncle asked.

"Oh there are others, but… I don’t think any of them live in Tripatis. I have only heard of her, she is quite famous you see, but a bit of a shut-in." the old man said while stroking his beard. "If that is all for tonight?"

"Do you need me to escort you back?" his uncle asked.

"It would be preferable."

Tercius watched as the two men walked out, and his eyes went over to Penelope who held her mother’s hand, while the ill woman slept. Thinking back to his own family he imagined them in need of help, and someone who accidentally passed by providing it. He wanted to believe such things could happen, and he now found himself in one, where he could at least try to do some part of it.

Maybe fail in a catastrophic manner.

But maybe, just maybe, succeed.