“Let’s join him,” Xerxes said quietly to Gandash.

“He doesn’t seem very friendly,” Gandash replied.

“Come on, he’s just shy.” Threading through the tables, Xerxes said, “We Seers ought to stick together, eh?”

Kashtiliash eyed him as he pulled a chair out and sat down. “Sure.”

Gandash followed and sat down. “Hi,” he said.

Kashtiliash shifted his eyes but didn’t move his head. “Gandash, right?” He looked back at Xerxes. “And Xerxes.”

“That’s us,” Xerxes said. “Did you order already?”

“Yes.”

Xerxes waved at a nearby waiter. “Whatever this guy ordered, add two portions!”

The waiter barked an acknowledgment and hurried back toward the kitchen.

“Hope you like spicy food,” Kashtiliash said.

“Of course!” Xerxes said.

Gandash made a bit of a face but didn’t say anything.

Xerxes leaned back in his chair. “So… you’re from—” Before finishing the question, he recalled Kashtiliash’s strange background, having been born on a higher starisle, but being raised in a lower one. It made Xerxes think of his own birthplace, the rundown slum of Harborview, and how he preferred to avoid that topic. “—er, never mind that. You’re an Asgagu mage. Do you have a background in martial arts?”

“I do.”

Xerxes smiled and nodded. Quite a conversationalist we have here, he thought.

Right about then, the waiter brought a flagon of wine and three wooden cups. Kashtiliash distributed them and started pouring wine.

Xerxes took a long sip. This is turning awkward fast.

“You fight with a longsword, right?” Kashtiliash asked.

Xerxes’ ears perked up. “Yeah. You know about longswords?”

The bearded Seer nodded. “Have you seen my pack?”

“It’s big,” Gandash said. “At least three cubits in length. Made of brown canvas. Wrapped twice with hemp rope.”

Kashtiliash looked at him. “Very observant.”

Gandash shrugged. “I try to keep an eye on my surroundings.”

“Mm-hmm.” Kashtiliash took a long sip of wine. “It’s big because it has a longsword in it.”

“What?” Xerxes blurted. “Are you serious?”

“I don’t look serious?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Kashtiliash looked at him for a second or two. “Yeah, I have a longsword. Didn’t need the thing, so I didn’t bring it out.”

“That’s incredible.”

“Want to cross swords later? Train a bit?”

Xerxes’ heart swelled. “Of course!”

Around then, the waiter brought two trays laden with flatbread and skewered meat. The three mages ate for a short time in silence.

After devouring quite a bit of meat, and refilling his wine cup, Xerxes burped and said, “What do you think’s going to happen on Gehannemid?”

“No clue,” Kashtiliash said. “A challenge would be nice.”

“I hope Gehannemid has nothing happening,” Gandash said. “That way we can get to Sin-Amuhhu faster.”

Kashtiliash looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

Before they could continue the conversation, the cry of a hawker reached their ears from across the street.

“Saffron falafels! Hot and fresh!”

Gandash looked up eagerly. “Xerk, I can’t stand this. I have to try one.”

Xerxes grinned wryly and shook his head. “Go for it, Gandy.”

“You want one?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

Without another word, Gandash crossed the busy street to intercept the hawker.

“Your friend must be rich,” Kashtiliash said, sliding some more meat off a skewer.

“Basically,” Xerxes said. Jaw jutting a bit, he said, “And he always seems to be flaunting it.”

“I had a friend like that back on Kartos.”

Xerxes took a swallow of wine. “Had?”

“We’re not friends anymore.”

Gandash returned with a rapturous expression on his face. “You guys have no idea how amazing those things are. Here, I got one for each of you.”

He put a saffron falafel on the table in front of each of the other mages.

Xerxes’ jaw twitched.

Kashtiliash looked at it. “I prefer Kartos falafels.”

“Er… okay,” Gandash said, sliding back into his seat. “What about you, Xerk? What do you think?”

Xerxes ate the falafel and worked hard not to moan in delight. It was probably one of the most delicious things he’d ever eaten. “It’s alright,” he said. “Overpriced, for sure.”

Later that evening Purattu returned alone. “No mages in that city are worth bringing along,” he said. “We’ll just take the ones the Head Mage provides.”

When he heard that most of the Seers had explored the city, he chided all of them for wasting time. “When I said to make the best use of the day, I didn’t mean shopping and snacking! None of you have maxed out chambers. You should have been meditating! Or studying runes!”

The next morning, the Head Mage brought three Seers to join Purattu’s party.

One of them was a heavy-set girl with droopy eyes and buck teeth. Xerxes’ eyes slid over her without pause.

The other two were far more eye-catching to him. It wasn’t because of their physical appearance —one was tall with a wide smile and a seemingly smaller-than-average head, the other was short, with thick hair and a long nose— nor their clothing, which was ordinary in nature. It was the fact that both carried longswords.

They seemed to quickly notice the similar sword that he carried, and they both nodded to him from across the room.

Introductions were made. The three new mages were Jad, Enusat, and Inatli, although the names immediately fled Xerxes’ mind.

Purattu led everyone to the Gateway complex. They went up to Humusi, then to Gehannemid.

Gandash’s wish was fulfilled. There was no Abhorrent activity on either Gehannemid I or Gehannemid II. Neither planet had any clue there was an invasion going on. What was more, Purattu wasn’t impressed with the mages there, and ended up only picking one Seer to join them.

They spent two days on each planet before leaving. As they all stepped out into the Humusi Gateway complex, Purattu led them to a small public square.

“Alright, runts,” he said. “Now we’re going to begin the most amazing journey of your lives. From here we’ll go from Ira, and then to Ku-Aya, and finally to Sin-Amuhhu. Don’t do anything embarrassing, or I’ll kick you back down to whichever of these mudholes you came from. Maybe I’ll even send you further down. Got it?”

The assembled mages gave murmurs of agreement.

“Good. Let’s get going.”