Fahlnem gave Forgo a perfect view of his middle finger as the train left Ianann. He wasn't sure why only Forgo and a few Lilac Rites had pursued him; he wondered if the Crowns had a brief conversation with Forgo and Alabaster in the throne room to strategize. Not worried about it. Fahlnem was, perhaps, too confident that the power-up retained from the re-acquisition of his equipment would allow him to at least injure Alabaster. He was far from concerned about Forgo's power level- while the pyromancer had been captured by the twelfth Pale Spear twice prior, he assumed that his tricks were exhausted. Fahlnem also learned all he needed to know to research the clairvoyance ability gifted to the Spears by the Crown. He was sure that it had to be a weaker form, as Forgo assured him that it was a supportive ability that Spears used in conjunction with their fireteam of Rites.

Forgo did manage to catch up to Fahlnem before he had gotten to the train, and some civilians and train attendants tried to grab onto the pyromancer. He threatened an end to their lives in a profane manner, far removed from how he was raised to speak to others. But now he sat alone in the train car, save for an old woman sitting across from him, examining his eyes.

Fahlnem smiled softly at the woman. His kind visage hid the mind of an unkind individual. "What do you see?"

Fahlnem toyed with a weak, flickering flame, bouncing it between his hands with increasing distance and height to it. He was already done with training for the day, but he enjoyed the feeling of warmth. He was beyond being burnt by lesser flames; Argus had put him through some endurance training the week prior, involving the practice of redirecting incoming fireballs. Any that he didn't redirect only knocked the wind out of him and caught his robes on fire, so it was up to him to put it out by suffocating the flames.

To Fahlnem's understanding at the time, magic consisted of five tiers of expertise. Argus was a fifth-tier mage and Fahlnem, as an apprentice, was still a second-tier. First-tier Fire mages could only produce a small flame and suffocate flames as large as a campfire; he had just started fireball construction at the motion phase of casting. He felt like he was bugging Argus on the daily, begging for another lesson. He was desperate to learn more, to gain more power. It was-

Someone was knocking at the door. He dropped his flame and it petered out on the concrete kitchen floor. What was he doing before he started playing with the flame? It didn't matter. He took a few steps to the door, glancing through the window to see Ciron.

"Heya. Kali's sleeping on the floor." He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. "What's on your mind?"

"I'd be careful with Argus, Fahlnem. He's insane."

Fahlnem itched a portion of his scalp. "What? He's been teaching me magic. I like him, so far."

"Find a new teacher. He kills people like me for fun. I'm going to stop him."

"Do what you want, Ciron, but I won't let you touch him. I'm not...- He hasn't finished teaching me yet. And I haven't seen anything wrong with him."

"Fahlnem. He blew up homeless people. He kills with little to no reason."

"So? He's helpful. Wise. He's already taught me so much." Fahlnem raised his right hand, the palm facing skyward. A ball of flame surfaced from his skin and manifested into a softball-sized fireball. "I can use this to help people. To protect you, Kali, everyone."

"Don't become like him, Fahlnem. That's a warning, not a suggestion based on concern." Ciron shook his head, turning to leave. "Find a new teacher. I'm going to kill Argus. And I'll be in Eldham if you wanna send a letter."

Fahlnem glowered at Ciron, snuffing out the flame in his hand by clenching his fist. When he got back inside his home, he realized that he had left a lamb roast on the stove.

The pyromancer meditated through most of the train ride, communicating occasionally with the woman in the railcar with him. She disclosed that this train would return to Railsource, where he was first captured by Forgo, and then move on to the Ivory Maw. She made it very clear that she would not be on the train for that final stop. She said that Pale Spears were killed all the time when positioned at the Maw, but that the Crowns had sent two instead of one the month before. Both were experienced, and both were reported dead.

That explains the two freshies at Ianann. Fahlnem was only aware of it subconsciously, but he was afraid that there wouldn't be any Spears at the Maw waiting for him. After a week of getting his chocolate starfish pushed in, he wanted to beat somebody else's ass aside from the civvies he had smoked in Railsource.

The old woman got off the train when it reached Railsource. Fahlnem took her seat under the pretense that he's already tried the one side, so perhaps her side was comfier. The railcar filled with unsightly folks planning to make their way to the Maw, and Fahlnem stuck out in the crowd as a gleaming purple-roped individual. Drenched in sin.

Fahlnem leaned over to the man sitting next to him, poking his shoulder. "Mind swapping outfits, pal?" He gave the man a charming smirk and a wink. The man was wearing a slightly more dignified outfit than most on the train, likely down on his business luck or on a venture to the Maw for social purposes. He was closer to Fahlnem's height, and he wore a jacket over a ragged tunic. More or less my style, anyway.

The stranger paused for a minute in contemplation. "Wanna make out in between the railcars?"

Fahlnem mulled over his conversation with Ciron. He was worried that if he told Argus about Ciron's plans to kill him, Argus would strike first. Or worse, have Fahlnem kill his own friend. "But I can't afford to lose Argus as a teacher. There aren't any more," Fahlnem pondered.

Fahlnem stepped back outside of his house with no Ciron in sight. He resolved to follow him to Eldham, exiled or not. Ferries ran from King's Watch all the time, sailing back and forth from the mainland and Eldham Isle, which is a small, ovular islet just off the coast of Celitrem. Fahlnem was sure he wouldn't be noticed until he reached the city gates, and hopefully, he could find Ciron before then anyway.

After a ride taking all of three hours to get back to Eldham, Fahlnem was certain he would find Ciron in the sewers. Given the age of Eldham itself and the money stored away in its keep, the sewers were actually rather lavish. Fahlnem was aware that Ciron spent a lot of his time down there with the other scoundrels and thieves, plotting schemes and grand ambitions of larceny. He was also aware of most of the entrances, at least one of which being just outside the southern gate, with the port on the edge of the eastern walls of the keep. Fahlnem made his way around the city's outskirts, keeping to the fields of barley and ranch homes. He figured it was rather odd, actually, because the opulent chapel was in the same region as the poor farmers, as were the pretentious estates occupied by nobles. Most of those nobles were either close, family-like friends of Queen Lana's, or expert fighters such as Varik. Fahlnem wasn't sure where the large dragon-scaled lizard got all his money from.

Entering the sewer through a reinforced iron door, Fahlnem procured a small candle flame to hover over his shoulder, and a larger ball of flame to float laterally to him so that he could avoid any ambushes from other cutthroats like Ciron. He hugged the wall to his left, turning the corner to a large circular drain pit once he checked the other passageways with his remote flame. The drain pit- for it was most definitely a pit, albeit one with a ladder- was illuminated by oil lamps, so he dismissed both sources of light he brought in. Ciron stepped out of the darkness of the sewer way across the pit from Fahlnem.

"Awfully edgy of you, isn't it? The villain steps out of the darkness, crossbow in hand." The apprentice pyromancer called across to Ciron, making his way around the edge of the pit to him.

"I don't have a crossbow, Fahlnem. And I'm not the villain here." Ciron stayed in place at the end of his passageway. "Don't come any closer."

Fahlnem kept approaching with a casual swagger, over-emphasizing words with broad arm and hand movements. "You're trying to stop me from progressing. Argus is the only Fire teacher I know. He may be the only one in Celitrem." He reached the halfway point around the pit to Ciron.

Ciron reached into his jacket, pulling out a throwing knife. "Do you really think you can win against me if you get any closer?" He threw it at Fahlnem. A warning shot. It stuck in Fahlnem's right shoulder. Fahlnem cried out, reaching up to press on the wound around the knife.

"Motherfucker!" Fahlnem slung a fireball at Ciron, curving it at him. It missed, but Ciron still stumbled forward.

"Fahlnem, look. It was a warning shot. It wasn't supposed to-" He had to actually dodge that one. "Alright. Fine." Ciron charged Fahlnem, ducking underneath another fireball and tackling him. The two tumbled over the side of the drain pit onto a lower platform, with Ciron taking the brunt of the eight-foot drop. Fahlnem formed a fireball in his hand as the two grappled on the damp, sewage-scattered brick floor and pressed it into Ciron's side, coupling the attack with a kick.

Ciron fell further into the pit with a grunt, landing on his shoulder this time. This gave Fahlnem sufficient time to stumble to his feet, soaked in water that had fallen over the edge into the pit. He rushed to the ladder leading to the base of the pit, passing over each platform that Fahlnem assumed was for maintenance.

Fahlnem saw Ciron slipping and sliding to the ladder as he himself reached the top, pressing a hand to each rope fastening point for the ladder. He forced mana into the entire length of the ladder, incinerating it in seconds from the top-down.

He grunted in pain, returning his hand to the wound in his right shoulder and glaring down at Ciron in sour triumph.

"This won't stop me." Ciron shouted up at Fahlnem.

Fahlnem left the sewer system without a word, only to be caught at the entrance by Eldham guards.