Andarit and Serenity were led to a holding area that looked more like a small cottage than anything else. It was a little ways up the actual road from the river, but the river was still visible in the distance. From the outside it looked well maintained.

“This is the quarantine cabin. Stay here and wait; we’ll provide food or anything you need. Leaving before the Duke arrives will get you in trouble. If you need something, just step outside; we’ll send someone to find out what you need.” The woman didn’t wait for questions; she simply turned and left.

Serenity still had no idea what her name was. Did that even matter?

Serenity shrugged and hopped out of the flyer, glad to stretch his legs. “I guess we should head inside.”

Andarit climbed out of the flyer. She wasn’t moving as quickly as Serenity, but she had the flyer collapse enough to fit in a pocket then headed inside the cottage. “I hope Father gets here quickly. I don’t want to wait.” She sighed and whispered, clearly not intending Serenity to hear but also not really caring if he did. “I just want to go home.”

Serenity nodded. He did, too. The trip through the Dead Swamp wasn’t overly dangerous but it was wearing. “Let’s check out the cabin. If nothing else, maybe I can get the rest of the swamp mud off.” He was hoping for a long hot shower but didn’t really think it was likely. Off Earth, long hot showers were something that happened when there was plenty of water and magic to spare; Zon had shown that it had an issue with enchantments.

The cottage was nicer than Serenity expected on the inside as well. It seemed to be built for about a dozen people to live in and was kept in decent repair. There were even two bathrooms, both with running water and tubs.

Unfortunately, the water was all cold.

Serenity grumbled about it, then built a spell to heat the water. He might not be able to manage while creating water, but he did know how to heat water that already existed in a tub.

It wasn’t until he climbed into the hot water that Serenity realized he hadn’t put anything over his dragonscale armor when the River Team arrived.

Oh well. It wasn’t like Duke Lowpeak didn’t know about the symbol on the armor.

Duke Lowpeak arrived two days later. He was heralded by a knock on the door to the cottage; Serenity was slower than Andarit, so he was still on the other side of the room when she yelled “Father!” and flung herself at Kalo.

It reminded Serenity of just how young Andarit really was. For all that she acted older, she wasn’t all that much older than Raz or Echo, no more than a couple of years.

The River Team moved up behind the Duke, clearly intending to defend him, but he waved them off while still holding his daughter. Serenity could see the puzzled expression on the face of the man in heavier armor who’d originally confronted them.

Without letting go of his daughter, Kalo Lichbane turned his attention to Serenity with a glare. “Why did you take Andarit through the Dead Swamp? You’re supposed to be keeping her safe!”

Serenity couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face. “The Dead Swamp was safer than Tzintkra. Undead monsters aren’t that bad to deal with and Swamp Rot is easy enough to handle; I have a Skill that completely counteracts it.” Eat Death was tremendously useful. He was confident he could do something similar as a spell, but it would likely cost mana instead of granting him mana, even mana tied specifically to an Affinity.

Andarit’s father frowned at Serenity. “What’s happening in … no, you can tell me while we head up to the manor. Right now I need to check you two then you need to get ready to leave.”

Andarit coughed. Her father loosened his hug and looked down at her.

Serenity chuckled. After how completely annoyingly impatient Andarit had been for the last two days, he had no compunctions about embarrassing her in front of her father. “What she’s not saying is that we’re ready to leave when you are. Andarit’s been convinced you would show up any time and she didn’t want to keep you waiting.”

Kalo laughed at that, then let Andarit loose. “You’ve never been a patient one, have you. Take a seat while I check you over; once I’ve cleaned any lingering Swamp Rot, we’ll head home.”

“Father!” Andarit blushed as she protested, but she did pull over a nearby chair and sit down.

Serenity snagged a chair from the next room and sat down a few feet away from her to watch. Even though the Duke was almost certainly going to use a Skill, there was still the chance to learn something.

The Duke set his hand on Andarit’s head. Serenity could see small waves of mana emerge from his hand and sweep through Andarit; the search pattern was fairly typical of any kind of limited-range sensitive detection spell or Skill, so Serenity concentrated on the properties of the mana itself. It definitely wasn’t Death-based, but it also wasn’t Life-based even though the Life Affinity was the one most often used to counter Death-based afflictions in the living.

Kalo Lichbane was nearly done with the examination of his daughter when Serenity figured it out: it wasn’t any of the Affinities he’d have guessed to be relevant. Instead, it was Water. Serenity wondered exactly what Concept Kalo had that made Water a good Affinity for searching out Swamp Rot. In some ways, it made sense; there was a lot of water in the human body. In others, it didn’t; there was no tie between Swamp Rot and Water as far as Serenity could tell; additionally, Swamp Rot didn’t restrict itself to watery places like blood vessels; it spread through the entire body in an oddly patchwork fashion.

Serenity decided not to worry about it. He wasn’t a healer and there wasn’t much chance that he’d learn anything useful about the specifics with his absolutely terrible Liquid Affinity. The techniques could be useful, but he already knew them. It was too bad, but that was simply how it went sometimes.

“You’re clean. Completely clean; even people who live on the mountain often pick up more traces than you have, from the Harvest Burning if nothing else.” Kalo sounded both relieved and puzzled. He looked up at Serenity. “Maybe I don’t need to be as angry at you as I thought; you really do have a way to deal with it, don’t you?”

Serenity felt a smile spread across his face. He nodded, but before he could say anything, Kalo continued. “That won’t let you out of being checked, though. Stay right where you are.”

Serenity shook his head but the smile didn’t vanish. The Duke’s caution was reasonable.

As the subject instead of an observer, Serenity could feel something about the mana pulses he hadn’t seen from outside; they were structured a little differently from the normal detection method. It took Serenity a couple of minutes to figure out what it was. They were paired instead of singular.

Normally, that would mean that they would interfere with each other. In this case, Serenity thought that was exactly the point: whatever Skill Kalo Lichbane was using was looking at the interference instead of the direct returns. It made sense, in a way; it could detect things that were tiny or not very well connected to the Affinity Kalo was using, like something in bone rather than flesh. It made Serenity even more convinced that Kalo was using a Skill; the Voice could certainly do something like that, but learning it yourself would take years of practice.

Years of practice or a helper like Aide. It was an idea that he’d have to remember.

“You’re also clear,” Kalo stated and took his hand off Serenity’s head. “You really aren’t human, are you?”

Serenity shook his head. “No, I’m not, but it’s better to look human in human cities.” He smiled ruefully, remembering some past encounters that were almost funny now. They certainly weren’t at the time.

“There was this one time a woman came after me with a skillet. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she definitely wanted to hurt me.” He’d been in his chimera form and no one had realized the area wasn’t completely evacuated. “Getting her to stop was the hard part, especially since only our liaison spoke her language. I think she chased me until she was too tired to ignore him anymore.”

Kalo chuckled, but didn’t change topics. “What are you, then? How did you get through the Dead Swamp?”

There was no reason to hold back at this point and every reason not to. “I’m a dragon. Andarit already knows that much.” He paused to let the Duke consider that.

Kalo glanced over at Andarit, who nodded. “He showed me while we were in the Palace Dungeon. He’s about this tall,” Andarit held her hand several inches above her knee, “and really cute.”

Serenity facepalmed. “Did you have to say that?”

Andarit giggled.

Serenity tried not to flush; he didn’t like being reminded that he was only a hatchling. “So. The Dead Swamp. That’s not really easy to answer. I think the best way to say this is to start with a question. Andarit? Do you remember when you said your father would never let a necromancer guard you?”

Serenity was careful not to act threatening as he asked the question. Andarit might not get the implication he was making, but he was certain her father would.

Andarit reacted with puzzlement rather than the start and a step backwards that her father gave. “Yes? That was when we ran into Robert, wasn’t it?”

“A little before that, with the wagon caravan,” Serenity corrected her. “What’s important is that your father never asked that question. I’m a mercenary, both magical and martial trained, with some bodyguarding experience and sensory skills. That’s what we talked about. He didn’t ask what my primary Affinity is.”

“You have a single primary Affinity?” Kalo sounded surprised. “From the way you talked, I assumed you have several good ones. I know you used portals in Zon.” He took a step closer to his daughter and stood between Serenity and the cottage exit.

“My SpaceTime Affinity is very good, and I’m working on expanding my skill at using it,” Serenity agreed, “But it’s not my best. I trained as a Death mage. That doesn’t just mean necromancy; there’s a lot of other stuff that can be done with Death magic. Swamp Rot is Death-based, which makes it easy to control and clear out.”

Serenity couldn’t tell exactly what the Duke’s reaction to that particular bombshell was, mostly because the Duke didn’t seem to react at all. He’d just have to push forward as best he could, and the best thing he could think of was to say something serious that hopefully would also defuse the tension. “The Dead Swamp itself wasn’t that bad; the worst thing we found was a Lightning Mage lich, roughly Tier Three. I doubt it was anywhere near as nasty as whatever you fought to get the name Lichbane.”

Killing a single Tier Three simply wasn’t worth a title like that.

Kalo Lichbane still didn’t react, so Serenity tried again. “There are two dungeons in the Dead Swamp. I’m pretty sure the Swamp Rot comes from the Lost Battlefield, but the only one we were able to find was the Undead Dungeon. That one seems relatively benign, if terrified.”

“Dungeons can be scared?” Kalo finally reacted. Serenity was relieved to see that he seemed to be thinking rather than angry.