Contrary to expectations, helping Eina out with her problem was not the first thing we did in the morning. That action went to contacting Rexir and Leresa to touch base, which was something we had decided on before the split.

We set out from the Rocking Bird Inn at sunrise, and purposefully left Eina behind. Despite being a friend of Hazeel’s she thought it was the better decision to leave her in the dark regarding our political ties in the city.

Should she see us with Rexir, she may mistake us for being in cahoots with his brother or sister as well. We headed off to our rendezvous location, which had been determined upon reaching the city.

After ten minutes of walking, we stepped in front of a large, crystalline fountain, which shone in red and blue hues in the morning light.

“You’re all here earlier than I expected.” Leresa walked out from behind a tree, and grinned at us.

“Where’s Rexir?” I asked as the Silver Princess strode forward. She gave each of us a hug when she reached us, with the one for Vanessa lasting the longest.

“He’s just finishing up breakfast with his family. Unfortunately, one of his obligations now that he has returned has been to spend time with his family.”

Leresa began laughing and covered her mouth with her hand to get herself to stop. “You should have seen the look on his parent’s face when they found out that he had lost his voice, and that I would be needed at his side for him to communicate. They were so ecstatic!”

She sighed and sat down on the edge of the fountain, prompting us to do the same. “I forgot how much they actually approved of our marriage. Of course, things will probably be a bit awkward at this breakfast since Rexir can only answer yes or no questions on his own, but that’s something they’ll need to get used to from now on.”

I nodded, and looked at the sky. “So, when will he be joining us? No offense, Leresa, but you don’t really have the information we need right now.”

“None taken.” She replied with a smile. “He should be done in about ten minutes. I left almost an hour ago.

My eyes widened. “The castle was that far away?” Leresa nodded, and pointed in a direction that was blocked by several buildings.

“There’s about three hundred mels of free space between the city proper and the castle. You should be impressed that I made it here in an hour.”

“Voidwalking?” Vanessa asked, and Leresa nodded. “I’m so proud of you!” Vanessa hugged Leresa, and began stroking her head.

“You shouldn’t be too proud.” Leresa said, sheepishly. “I couldn’t do all the long distance travel at once like the rest of you, so I had to teleport in portions to move faster.”

“Even so,” Hazeel put a hand on top of Leresa’s, “That’s a huge accomplishment. One you should be proud of. When I first began, I couldn’t even get the portals to materialize, let alone use them for travel.”

Leresa’s face lit up, and she covered her rapidly blushing cheeks with her sleeve. A hand found its way onto my shoulder, and I turned, smiling at the guest who I sensed coming just a moment before.

“Thank you for joining us, Rexir. I hope all is well.” He smiled, and stuck out his hand for a fist bump, to which I obliged.

I took a deep breath, and, for the first time in a while, just sat in appreciation of my… my friends. I had only ever had Vanessa as a partner, and, while I did converse with Alison and the others back on earth, the relationship between friends, and that of one between a teacher and a student was inherently different.

I felt at ease with these people, and-, “-eed your help.” I shook my head and suppressed my thoughts, returning my consciousness back to the present situation. That was dangerous, I shouldn’t be losing myself to emotions this late in the game.

“Sorry, I spaced out for a second. Where is the conversation now?” They all stared at me, as if I had just told them that the sky was gold.

Vanessa quickly put a hand on my forehead, which was quickly replaced by her own. “Are you feeling ok, Leo? It’s unusual of you to not pay attention.”

I took her by the shoulders and moved her back a bit. “I’m fine, but I would like to be filled in, if that’s alright.”

Leresa nodded, and pointed to Hazeel. “She was explaining the circumstances behind Eina’s troubles, and had just asked if we would talk to Rexy’s brother and sister to find out their side of the story.”

I nodded, and added, “It sounds like a plan. I do think they’ll be suspicious if you just ask about it out of the blue though, so why don’t the two of you take this opportunity to go on a date inside the town. Then, you can claim that you heard the rumors then.”

Leresa looked at Rexir, the two sharing a mental conversation, and then returned her gaze to me. “Are you sure about that? Wouldn’t you need our assistance inside the town, or to do extra recon for you inside the palace today?”

I shook my head and pointed towards the way we had come. “No. Take your time. You’ve both earned it. I know you’ve been looking to spend some time alone together, and I’m sure being around family didn’t help.”

A blank look overtook Leresa’s face, before a smile about a mel wide replaced it, and she dragged Rexir by the hand away from the fountain. The imperial reached a hand out to me with a worried look on his face before he was pulled around the corner of a house and disappeared.

“Ha! Did you see the look on his face? Priceless.” Hazeel chuckled to herself. We got up to leave, when Hazeel took my arm and pulled me back down.

“We’re being watched.” I cocked my head, and sat down beside her before mentally sending Vanessa an order to do the same.

What do you mean? I asked her through our mental link. I can’t sense anyone in our area through the void.

Hazeel wrapped my left arm in hers and rested her head on my shoulders. She leaned in closer, and whispered, “It's a magical construct. It showed up from the direction of the castle. I think it was tracking Rexir and Leresa before it got distracted by us.”

So my void senses aren’t infallible… that’s good to know, before I got blindsided by an actual attack. Maybe I could have Hazeel create constructs to train in how to sense them.

“Well…” Vanessa began, taking my right arm, “If it’s watching now, we might as well give it a good distraction.” She leaned in and kissed my cheek, before Hazeel turned my head and locked onto my lips.