The hunt for an Elder Dragon would not be an easy one. Lao had started them with three different rumors, but only one of them was less than a month old, and that was all the way in the New Continent. So, though it was older, they started close, but it was a dead end. They chased another, and ended up with nothing more to show than frostbite and a few decayed scales. There were always rumors, even in the tiniest villages there were rumors, but by the time the Untitled could follow them either the Elder had left, or it was never there in the first place.

Almost six months since they left Mezaporta they were no closer to any answers. The tension between Kean and Tyr, however, had risen to the boiling point.

“It’s gone on long-enough, Tyr.” Kean has his newly upgraded blade at Tyr’s throat. “We are turning back now.”

“You can go whenever you want to, Your Majesty,” Tyr spat the title at him, pushing his blade away. “You’re still free to go back and bother someone else anytime you like.”

“And you are free to go on this fool’s errand by yourself.”

“Is anyone here against their will?” Tyr asked, gesturing with sweeping arms. He didn’t give anyone the chance to answer though. “No. They’re all here by choice, Kean.”

“Following you on a wild Poogie chase, on the word of some lunatic in the desert that the Elders are the secret to saving the world. Do you realize how mad you sound?”

“Takes one to know one.”

The first hit took Tyr by surprise, but the second he was ready for, rolling back and out of the way.

“Stop it!” Sarah and Adaline shouted, but the boys weren’t listening. Tyr swept his blade in a long cut through the air where Kean should have been. Kean lunged in from the left. Tyr smashed up into his nose with the hilt of his katana. Kean kicked out as he leapt back. The forest swam around them with a breeze, and they came in for a second clash, then a third.

Orion stepped between them. “That’s enough, guys. Come on.” Kean used him as a ramp, leaping off Orion’s shoulders to slam his blade downwards. Tyr’s foot would’ve been impaled if it weren’t a hunting blade. He batted Kean away with his counter, his chakra flickering into white as he did so.

“Is that all you’ve got?!” Tyr dashed after the retreating Kean, but Kean’s sudden shoulder check knocked him off balance. The monoblade stabbed once, twice, three times before Tyr could push himself out of range. Kean smirked, but his face was still red.

“How long do you think they’ll be at it this time?” Adaline asked Sarah as she settled against a nearby tree.

“Shouldn’t we stop them instead of waiting to find that out?”

“You saw what happened with Orion.”

“He does have a point, doesn’t he?”

“Then go home.” Kean and Tyr had just clashed in the air, each knocking the other back into the trees they’d leapt off of.

“Are those really the only two options?”

“You’ve really waited six months to ask that?”

Orion sighed. “Either of you know how to stop them?”

“Sarah thinks that quitting will work.”

“Tyr doesn’t quit,” Orion replied. “Doesn’t even know if he knows the meaning of the word.”

Adaline was very quiet on that one.

“I just think that we might have to approach this situation more intelligently.”

“I’m open to suggestions,” Orion said as he watched the fight. Tyr’s chakra was flowing yellow now, and the trees of the forest were feeling it as much as Kean was. Kean was glad for the notches Tyr was cutting into them only because they helped his armor get past the trees. The one time spikes were a disadvantage, but he hadn’t had the time to change when they’d diverted into the trees out of the blue.

“Well, we keep chasing the most-recent rumors, right?”

“Yeah. They’ve got the latest information.”

“Maybe we should be chasing the older ones.”

Adaline scoffed. “Right. ‘There was a Valstrix spotted fifty years ago in the area. Hasn’t been seen since. You wanna check it out?’”

“Not like that, Adaline.” Sarah was struggling to put it into words, despite having thought about it for days. “But, like those stories you tell, Orion. Don’t they mention where Elders are supposed to be?”

“I mean, the only one I know that mentions specifically was Schrade, but that story is about how someone drove off the Black Fatalis living there.”

“What about the Tower?”

“Hey!” Adaline shouted, which didn’t slow down Tyr’s spinning onslaught at all. “Hey!” she tried again. Tyr’s chakra flickered under the pressure of successive roundslashes, and his blade jerked to a halt halfway into a tree. Kean leapt at the opportunity, and Tyr let go of his blade. He grabbed Kean’s sword arm and brought him to the ground.

“Worth a shot,” Orion said. “What do you think, Kensei?”

He looked like he might’ve been sleeping, standing against the tree without a care in the world. He hadn’t even looked up when Tyr and Kean started fighting. Rather, it didn’t look like he had. It was impossible to see his eyes beneath his wide-brimmed helmet. “A stream’s course changes. A lake’s does not.”

“Exactly,” Sarah said, a smile breaking across her face. “So, the lake is easier to find, and then you have the edges you need to find the stream.”

“Okay, so where is the Tower?” Adaline asked.

Tyr and Kean were exchanging punches now, rolling on the ground and only able to get up to their knees before being brought down again. Kean’s nose was bleeding, but Tyr’s left eye was closed tightly.

“There’s a few of them. But the specific one from the story? I don’t really know. The story isn’t exactly heavy on details.”

“I have seen it,” Kensei said. No one knew how to respond, especially not in a moment of such clarity from him. “Where Sol emerges from the sea of leaves which hides its home.” He finally looked up, his head tilting eastwards. “We follow the storm.”

As he finished, he walked over to where Tyr and Kean were struggling to keep fighting to any real effect. His hand snatched Kean’s raised fist and held it will barely any effort. “A wise victor knows when to bow.” His foot caught Tyr’s wrist before he could deliver a blow himself. “I bow,” he said firmly.

“I bow,” Tyr repeated, sinking into the grass.

Kean yanked at his arm, but could not break the wyverian’s shocking grip. “I bow,” he growled.

Tyr and Kean had bruises for a few days, and bruised egos for a bit longer. They didn’t fight again, but Tyr was distracted the further east they went. It took Sarah a week to put it together. They were going to pass by Nifila. She didn’t know how they’d missed it before in all their searching. Her geography wasn’t as solid as Adaline’s, and so she wondered how long she’d known.

He stopped arguing with Kean entirely by the time they were only two days out. And when the first hint of Nifila appeared on the horizon he stopped in his tracks. Adaline squeezed his hand as she stopped with him. “We’ll go around.”

“No,” he said. “We need supplies. I can… I can stay outside.”

“This is your village?” Kean asked, eyeing the black walls. “It is… quite nice, or the area is, I should say.”

“Paradise,” Tyr replied. “I’ll set up camp here. My parents… they’d be more than happy to house you all for the night if Nevvy doesn’t have room.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Adaline said, almost before he’d finished his sentence.

“Well, no offense, Tyr, but I could use a bed.” Orion gave him a wide but sheepish grin. “Plus, meeting your folks is something I don’t want to miss.”

“They’re lovely people,” Sarah said. “Should we tell them you’re here?”

“No.”

“What? Why not?”

“They won’t ask.”

“What in the world do you mean they won’t ask?” Orion’s mood had soured in an instant, and there was a bitter bite to his voice.

“They won’t ask,” Tyr repeated. “They don’t need to. It’s not important.”

“Not important?” Orion’s voice could’ve cut clean through a Gravios. “Tyr, you’ve said a lot of stupid things, but you’d better have a good explanation for that one.”

“Does it really matter?”

“Yes, it does!” he shouted. “I would kill for a few seconds with my child. Kill, Tyr. So, you’d better have a better excuse than that, or I’m marching you to the gates right now, and the Guild will have to pull out a Strixing Elder Dragon to stop me.”

Tyr paused for a few moments, eyeing Orion as though he were, for the first time, trying to determine who would win in a fight between them. Eventually, he sighed. “My brother was seventeen at the time and I was fourteen. I hadn’t done much as a hunter at that point, and he was, well, he wasn’t interested in hunting. He was strong, and smart, and everyone loved him. I looked up to him, and even though I didn’t want to be him, I wanted him to be proud of me. I woke up one morning and he wasn’t there anymore.”

“What?” Orion asked, his fists unclenching.

“He left. Without a word to anyone, without a clue that he was even thinking of it. He just left, and no one has seen him since. I don’t look for him, and he isn’t looking for us because he’d know where to find us.”

“That doesn’t explain wh-“

“We made a deal, Orion. My parents and I.” He looked up at the sky. “We don’t ask where the others are. We don’t need anyone to tell us. We’re always together, because that’s the easiest way to live with him being gone.”

Orion shook his head. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said. “But I guess… you should still go to those walls and shout at the top of your lungs. Your parents deserve that much.”

“They deserve a lot more than that,” Tyr replied as Adaline hugged his arm to her. “But if I go back and see them, I won’t be able to leave again, and the Guild won’t let me do that.”

“I’m still gonna tell them,” Orion said. “Even if they don’t ask, I’m gonna tell them.”

“I can’t stop you,” Tyr said with a sad smile.

“You’re damn right you can’t.”

At the gate, Ehrin was working again. “Good Dancer!” he called down. “Is that you?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing back here? Is Tyr with you?”

“No,” she said, so softly that even those near her barely heard. “No.” Louder now, loud-enough to compensate for the apparent silence before. “He’s still not allowed back, so he’s…” She wasn’t as confident as Orion had been about telling his parents. But Ehrin wasn’t even blood. Looking at Orion, she waited for him to say something.

“Darn,” Ehrin called before he could. “Well, come on in. I’m sure everyone will be glad to see you again.”

Being back inside Nifila’s wall was like coming home to Fahrenn. Everything was familiar, and touched with a certain nostalgia that she didn’t think she would feel. How long had it been? Two years? Not even that, and she’d only been there for a month.

“Oh, Dancer, dear,” Nevvy said, emerging from a conversation she’d been dominating a moment before. “It’s so good to see you again. I hope you’ve been well. But, what am I saying, of course you’ve been well. You look well. Well, that doesn’t mean that you’ve done well the whole time, of course, but I should think that it at least means that you’ve ended up well, especially since you’re travelling with, am I allowed to tell them? I would hate to tell them if they don’t already know, though I would hope they would know if you’re travelling together. Oh, what a silly thing to assume that just because you’ve arrived together means that you’ve been travelling together for any length of time. Are you even travelling together? And, if so, who are each of you? In fact, even if you’re not travelling together I would rather love to know since, as the Village Chief, it’s my duty to know these things. So, if you wouldn’t mind?”

Sarah stifled a giggle in the sudden and penetrating silence. Orion was still attempting to catch up, and Kean was formulating a very long reply when Kensei spoke. “I am no longer the man I was then. You may call me who I am, Kensei of the Untitled.”

“The Untitled?” Nevvy was uncharacteristically quiet about the word. “You’re a member of Tyr’s squad then? Are all of you?”

Kensei nodded. Kean, for once, didn’t disagree.

Nevyra considered this for a moment, and then waved a young child over to her. “Do you know where Mallory and her husband are?”

“Prob’ly home, I think.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Would you all mind coming along with me? I hate to impose, and I’m certain that you’re tired from your travels, but there will be room to sit and talk at Mallory’s home, and she’ll want to hear from all of you, I’m sure. But, more than that, I was heading there anyways, and so this will give me the perfect excuse to take down two birds with one stone. An odd phrase, you know. Even without a slinger it wouldn’t be very difficult to do if you had a sufficiently sized stone. But I suppose that’s why it’s a phrase. Everyone knows that most stones aren’t of sufficient size. Well, at least not most of the stones I’ve ever met. I suppose the walls of Nifila are stones though, but they’re hardly the usual. At least, I don’t believe that they are. I’m not sure. I haven’t experienced stones in many places, so I suppose that it could just be that we’re in area where stones are smaller than usual. But I feel like it would’ve been something that someone would’ve mentioned to us by now. You know,” she took a pause only long-enough to knock on the door. “They might have said something like ‘But, my, the stones here are quite small compared to ones we’re used to in Dondruma.’ Not that we get many visitors from Dondruma, of course. It’s practically the other side of the world, really. Mallory, it’s so good to see that you’re home. You know Sarah, don’t you? She was called Good Dancer when she was here last, of course, but she’s a member of Tyr’s Untitled Squad now, so she goes by her name instead. And… and umm…” Her voice broke.

Mallory smiled kindly, gesturing several times to Nevyra. The Chief nodded, and went inside with a word. Mallory gestured silently for the others to follow. She was just as Sarah remembered her. Her hair the same dark color as Tyr’s, her eyes that perfect mix of blue and hazel, but it was her smile that she couldn’t escape. Inside, after a few moment, Nevyra was back to herself again.

“I truly am sorry about all of that,” she said. “It’s still difficult to speak about Tyr sometimes. Wyverians live so long that, in some ways, it still seems like yesterday for me. It’s true that I’ll eventually outlive the memories of many people I’ve met, but recent events are certainly fresh for a long time. I don’t know if all Wyverians are like me though. I’m not certain that all of any species are like any of the others, but I remember so much, so clearly. But listen to me ramble on about myself. I should really let all of you tell us more about yourselves. You said that you were members of Tyr’s squad, yes? The Untitled? It’s quite the little group, from what I hear. Unbeatable, though given the small numbers that’s not entirely unheard of. Only six registered members, which means that we’re only missing one of you besides Tyr, yes? Of course. What am I even saying? I suppose my question is whether or not the rumors of the sixth member are true? Your sister, Sarah?”

“Yes. Adaline. I wish you could meet her.”

“Where are she and Tyr? No. Nevermind, of course you don’t need to tell me that. It’s probably better if I don’t know. In fact, don’t tell me. Really, it would be for the best. Though if Mallory and Exave want to know then I’m certain they’ll tell you sooner or later. Or, well, maybe they won’t. Has Tyr taught any of you their sign language? No. I doubt he did. Why would he? Not much use outside of Nifila, of course, and why would he ever think that you would be back here, of all places? It’s not like Nifila is a major stop along any roads. Of course, it’s a major stop along this road, but this road hardly leads anywhere but here, and I suppose a place or two down the way. Oh, what are those towns out there on the coast? Not Moga, of course, that’s the other direction entirely, but I suppose it does lead there eventually. No, I suppose it doesn’t. It leads to the Sea of Sand, yes? Have you been there, Sarah? Or perhaps your companions? Oh, no. I fear I’ve gotten off track. The towns on the coast. Eppau and Yukumo, yes? Oh, it certainly doesn’t matter. Someone will tell me eventually. So, why are you here?”

Sarah knew that Kean had been waiting to speak, and so she let him this time. “We are travelling to the Tower of the Ancients, to the east. We are,” he continued, a bit more forcefully so that Nevyra couldn’t go on another whirlwind. “Looking for it to investigate some of its mysteries. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories surrounding it.”

To Nevyra’s surprise, Mallory signed several words to her before she had the chance to respond herself. “Mallory, whatever does that mean?” she asked before her attention snapped. “Oh, yes. Mallory just asked if you were walking the hidden path? No, the Unseen Path. A strange question. I’m beginning to think that I don’t know the signs as well as I thought I did, but given her look it seems that I was right after all. Would you mind explaining it to me? I’m terribly curious. Not that I’m not terribly curious about everything, as you might have guessed, but Mallory asking such a mysterious question is certainly out of character for her, and so I’m even more curious than usual, which is saying something, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

“We are,” Kean nodded. “Though we are not following it as directly as we might like.”

Another series of signs which Nevvy translated. “’It has never been a direct path to follow, but you will adjust.’ What a conversation of riddles!” She clapped her hands together. “Oh, I’ll be thinking up explanations to this for years to come, surely. Will you give me any more hints? Perhaps a clue? No. You’ve probably already given me more than I should need to figure it out. Or maybe you haven’t. How am I to know without trying to solve it though? Oh, puzzles are so much fun. Do you enjoy puzzles, Kean? It was Kean, wasn’t it? That’s the problem with having such a long memory. Long things seem short, but short things seem so much shorter. It’s like you’ve just told me, and I only thought I heard it. But I do believe it was Kean. And then Orion. And then Kensei. And your sister was Adaline? No, Adaline,” she corrected her pronunciation. “And then Tyr… How is Tyr?”

No one knew exactly what to say, but that had never stopped Orion before. “He’s,” he started defiantly, but it didn’t last. “He’s doing pretty well, you know. I mean, he got kicked out of the city guard, but he’s not letting it get him down or anything.”

“And leading a squad of his own, of course. It so-Oh!” Nevyra jumped as Mallory placed a hand on her leg. “Right. Yes. Do continue. Sorry.”

“He’s a capable fighter,” Kean said, which drew some attention. “Even in his condition, he is better than many longsword users I’ve encountered.”

“Best I’ve ever seen,” Orion added. “Well, I mean, present Legends excluded.”

Kensei gave a little nod, but said nothing. It spoke volumes to Mallory and Exave; there were tears in their eyes.

“And he is healthy as can be expected,” Kean continued. “Physically as capable as any hunter, and perhaps moreso than some.”

“And he’s, well, what would call what he’s got going on with Adaline?” Orion took a look at the rest of the squad. “I mean, can they be dating if she’s made her announcement of her qualifications?”

Sarah bit back her first response, and even her second. “They’re,” she finally managed, when no one else did first. “They’re together. And that’s part of the reason we’re on this quest of ours.”

“What?” Nevyra said, her smile a mirror of the one Tyr’s parents were wearing. “How long? How serious are they? And I don’t expect details, of course, why in the world would you know those? Unless you do. I suppose I shouldn’t assume that the traditions in our little village are the same ones everywhere. Nor that Tyr would follow them if he ended up liking the way Fahrenn did things better. But I suppose I just think of Tyr as being here still, in many ways, and so I’m sorry if I offended any of you. But, really,” Nevyra’s leg was being squeezed again. “Please, tell us. We had almost given up hope on him dating seriously again.”

Orion, gingerly, cut in, since he was the only one that had been there. “They’ve been together, well, I guess it depends on which of the rumors are true, but at least since Loc Lac and the Jhen Mohran.”

“The Jhen Mohran?!”

The cycle continued. Everything they revealed about Tyr, even little things, drew out more questions, and more answers, but never the question. Kean was pleasant, even complimentary, and Sarah found herself holding back more than she thought he did. By the time the sun was setting they felt like they’d each personally recounted the entirety of the last two years, except for Kensei, of course. True to Tyr’s predictions, Mallory and Exave wouldn’t think of letting them stay anywhere else, and they didn’t ask about Tyr. There were four beds, but in two rooms. Sarah and Kean were in Tyr’s old room with Kensei, on a narrow bed, but it was comfortable-enough.

“Thank you for today,” Sarah said as they settled in. Kensei had gone for a walk with Nevyra, so they had the room to themselves for a bit.

“What do you mean?” Kean asked.

“I… I sometimes forget just how wonderful you are. You didn’t say a single bad thing about Tyr.”

Kean paused and sat down on the second bed. “You thought I would tell a grieving mother and father, as a guest in their home, that I think their son is foolish and trying to ruin an entire noble line for his personal pleasure?”

Sarah was glad they were whispering, but she still felt that someone could hear every word. “No, I just… I forgot for a minute because you’ve been fighting so much.”

“Whatever else I might be, Sarah, I was raised noble. Putting aside personal squabbles for the greater good is something I have to do every day.”

“I know.”

“Do you? It’s been six months. Seven if you count our trip through the Sekumaeya. Almost eight since we left Loc Lac. Why are we still here?”

“I told you, it’s…”

“It’s because you love him.”

The silence was deafening. In it, Sarah’s heartbeat felt like thunder. She sat down involuntarily. Kean continued when she didn’t respond.

“Don’t deny it. If you can only do me one favor then don’t deny it.”

Sarah bit her lip and nodded slowly. She hadn’t been able to admit it to anyone, though she knew Kensei knew. She just hadn’t actually admitted it. Hadn’t said it. That had been enough to help her convince herself that maybe it wasn’t true. That maybe she could get past it. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be,” he said. “We didn’t marry for love, and though I would like to think I could’ve convinced you by now, I don’t expect it. But we need to go home now. Our people need us, and Tyr isn’t going to help us help them. You can love him all you want, but we need to go home.”

“I can’t.” Her voice was even softer than a whisper, but Kean could hear her in that perfect silence.

“Yes, you can. You’ve done it once, and you will have to do it again, Sarah. You are stronger than some heartsick schoolgirl.”

“I’m not,” she said. “I thought I was, but the thought of leaving him makes me want to scream. Seeing him with Adaline is hard-enough, but tonight I won’t sleep at all knowing that she’s out there with him instead of me.”

“What has he even done to deserve your love?” Sarah heard the implied second question just as loudly as if it had been said.

“Nothing,” she admitted. “He was kind to me, and that’s not a good reason, I know. But you can’t know what it’s like until someone does all of the things that everyone’s done a thousand times before and it somehow means something new. That’s how he makes me feel, Kean. Everything he does makes me feel like it’s the first time, even if it’s not the first time he’s done it. I can’t let go of that feeling.”

“So, you would have us go on and on and on until what? What do you hope to accomplish with this? If he succeeds, you lose him to Adaline forever. If he fails, he’s likely dead. And if somehow a Legend decides to marry your sister before either of those outcomes, then you are still married to me, and you being here won’t change that.” He sighed heavily, and then shifted so he could kneel in front of her. “But if it will get you to come home then I offer you this.

“If Tyr fails in his goals and cannot marry Adaline. If he is still alive, and if he wants to be with you the same way you want to be with him, then I will let you be with him. We will still be married, because we don’t have that choice anymore, but I will let you have him. Just come home with me, Sarah, and when this is all over we can find him and see what he thinks. Does that sound fair to you?”

“I…” She had never dreamed of a moment like this. She’d had nightmares of him finding out, of the yelling, and the hate, and the fall of her father’s reign. Sometimes, when she was particularly hopeful, she thought he might just leave without a word. “Can I think about it? Just until the Tower, and I promise not a day longer.”

“Sarah, what exactly do you think the other options are?”

Kensei knocked at the door, and entered after a few seconds without objection. He bowed to them before going to bed, but didn’t say a word. Even so, that was the end of it. For the first night in a very long time, Kean didn’t sleep with his arm around her.

Neither of them brought it up again in the morning, but Orion stormed up to Tyr when they got close-enough. “We’re going to go make you a Legend,” he told Tyr. “And then we’re gonna find your conga-for-brains older brother, and we’re gonna stuff him in a barrel, and we’re gonna roll him all the way back here.”

Tyr smiled. “Yeah?”

Orion was already walking off. “Because your mom makes the best nulberry pie in the whole damn world, and I can’t possibly go back there without a gift.”