Rai and Sin made their way to the house down the long dirt track that lay just outside Rai’s family farm.

To the home of a wonderful chubby old elven lady.

As they arrived, Rai called out for her.

“Ms. Talvier! We’re here!”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence in response.

Then came the storm...

Of pots and pans all clattering inside the house.

Sin looked at Rai, expecting some kind of answer. She didn’t know anything about Ms. Talvier, but maybe Rai would since he lived near her.

Rai shook his head. He couldn’t fathom what kind of situation she must’ve been in for those pots and pans to have all dropped to the ground.

“... Coming!” She shouted.

Then Rai heard her mutter a bunch of expletives.

Her house’s walls were thin enough that Rai easily heard her frustrations all laid bare.

Eventually, she opened the front door. Ms. T looked at Rai with a wide and warm smile.

“Rai! It’s good to see you again!”

“Hello Ms. T.!”

“Owhh, come here you sweetie!” She said, holding out her arms.

Rai went in for a hug.

As he did, Ms. Talvier whispered something in his ears.

“You mustn’t tell your mother, understood?”

Rai nodded into her long elven ears.

“Very good then!” She let go. “I assume your schedule’s changed? You’re here a little earlier than the master told me you’d be...”

Somehow, even though she was an old elf, Ms. Talvier looked as spry as ever.

“Yeah. We’re gonna go now, and come back tonight. So please keep the portal open for us towards evening time.” Rai said.

“Very well. In that case, I wish you two good luck!”

“... Good luck?” Sin asked. “We’ll need luck for this? It’s just a history assignment...”

“Oh, I see you aren’t well caught up on the times then... maybe I’ll explain for a second. Ahem. The clan’s not going through the best of times right now, so you’ll have some difficulty getting anyone to really talk to you. Oh, but you’ll still be good to visit the main library, and the different societies like the hunters’ huts. I’d recommend looking out for the cooks up in Highborn Keep! The head chef is a great cook, and I reck-”

*Ahem*

Rai very clearly cleared his throat with intention.

“Ah... I went off rambling again... Do forgive me, young ones. In my old age, I seem to forget... anyway. I’ll open the portal for you now.”

“No worries, thanks again!” Rai said as Ms. Talvier opened the portal.

The portal that she opened shimmered with a green and blue energy. It was very different from the other types of portals that Rai had seen before. After having seen so many different types of portals, Rai figured that portal magic was far more adaptable and versatile than he’d previously understood it to be. He felt a little inkling within him to learn it. Just like he had gotten previously which made him interested in learning golem magic...

“... See you in the evening then!” Sin said.

“A pleasure to serve the master.” Ms. T said with a respectful bow.

Sin joined Rai as he went through the portal.

As they came out the other side, they ended up in an empty room.

The wooden floorboards were clean, as were the sides of the stony walls. There were no windows or doors, however.

The portal closed behind them.

“Uh... Sin?”

“Gimme a sec.”

Sin brought her knapsack around and ruffled through it.

After a moment, she brought out a small rock.

Rai eyed it curiously. He didn’t know anything of this rock, at all.

“You have one too.” She said, noticing his confusion.

“I do?!”

“Yeah, I packed it into your bag earlier.”

“Oh, thanks! What does it do?”

“It finds the door. And you’re welcome.”

The small rock in her hand started glowing dimly.

As Sin held the rock out and moved around the room, following the wall’s edges, the rock’s glow got brighter and brighter.

It got to the point where the room was filled by the rock’s light.

Sin tapped the rock on the wall where it was brightest.

From the point of impact, a wave of mana rippled out across the wall.

What was once a wall made of hard stone transformed into a well-crafted wooden door.

Sin turned back to Rai, gesturing for him to join her.

As hopped to her side, Sin opened the door.

The two of them walked through, into another room. This time, it was a bedroom. Much like the bedrooms at Townsend, it seemed like they were in an inn.

“Remember, we have to go to room 2 when we want to leave, alright?” Sin mentioned.

“Got it. Room 2. I’ll remember that. For sure.”

Sin knew that Rai wouldn’t bother trying to remember it, but she didn’t care to say anything more on the matter.

After they closed the door, it instantly rippled back into nonexistence.

“The rocks will open the door for us, so we’ll have to use them to get back too. Make sure you DO NOT lose it!”

“Okay, okay! I hear you... I promise not to lose the rock, or my knapsack with the rock in it.”

“Good. Actually... in fact...”

Sin placed her rock in her ring’s spatial storage.

“I’m not risking it.”

“Huh... why... yeah I’m just gonna do that as well.”

Rai copied her. He took his rock out of his bag and put it in his seals.

“There, now there’s no way we can’t get home using the rocks.”

“Alright, let’s go out into the city and get started on the assignment. It’s like 7 in the morning right now, right?” Sin asked.

“About that. Most places won’t be open til 8...”

“Then let’s talk to some of the people here.”

“What was the name of this place?”

“... Dad said it was called Dragonstail Inn.”

Rai cringed out.

“... Ew.”

“Yes it’s a stupid name, but we shouldn’t be wasting time thinking about that. C’mon, let’s go! This is our adventure!”

Sin grabbed Rai’s hand and pulled him out of the room.

As they exited, they found a long hallway with lots of rooms lined along it.

Rai and Sin looked at the door they had just left from. It had the number ‘2’ engraved into the wall beside it.

They walked down to the closer end of the hall, to leave into the rest of the inn.

As they did, the man at the counter looked over at them.

Then he looked away.

He begun whistling, completely inconspicuously.

The rest of the inn was quiet, and had very few people in it.

Since they technically hadn’t arrived at the inn in the conventional way, Sin knew that they had to avoid suspicion from people in the area. So, as much as Rai wanted to sit and get breakfast because they had the time to, Sin dragged him outside.

Upon leaving Dragonstail, Rai felt the natural cold air attack his throat.

Sin felt the same.

Neither of them were used to being at such high altitudes, where the air was this much thinner and colder.

They both took out some of the thicker layers that they’d put in storage. Rai summoned a thick black fur cloak, that Jin had given him. It was made from the furs of a hex-wolf that Jin had killed, so it had magical properties that might prove useful to Rai.

Sin, however, didn’t have any clothes that would’ve helped in winter, so Reiki offered to lend her some of her clothes. Hence why Sin’s fur cloak was made of a brown bear’s pelt.

Rai and Sin took a few steps out from the inn into the road. As they looked around, they found the area of the city they were in to be rather middle-class. Rai understood that to mean that they weren’t in Highborn Keep, but somewhere in the middle of the capital.

But... as Rai looked around, he noticed something in the top of his peripheral vision.

A tree.

For a second, he had flashbacks to the Phoenix’s Trials where he had to fight a massive tree monster... but it passed over quickly.

What he was looking at now was a very different giant tree.

The Tree of Life.

Rai looked up at it further in the distance. He noticed that there was something like a fort structure surrounding it and the areas around it.

“... That’s Highborn Keep.” He said.

Sin let out a low whistle.

“... Impressive.”

Rai looked around a bit more at the buildings surrounding them. They had a very specific type of architecture that felt very homely, while also being inspired by woodland life. Even though the city was at the top of a rather large mountain, the houses and buildings all shared a similar style of make that Rai would find in Acies. The only difference was that the scale was much larger here in the capital, and the eloquence of the building designs were a lot more fitting.

The people that walked around the city, or at least the area that Rai and Sin were in, were wrapped up well. They looked like they were prepared for winter, which probably remained the whole year-round up here.

“Where should we start?” Rai asked her, after he’d looked around enough.

“I think we should get something to eat first. I’ve only had tea so far...”

*Gggrrrglglgllrlglll*

“Haha! If that stomach of yours is any indication, then I think we should too. We should find somewhere to eat first, then by the time we’re done, everything else will have opened and we can start our assignment.”

“Sounds like a plan! But... neither of us know where we are or what we’re doing...”

“That reminds me, Sin, why did you drag us out of the inn when we could’ve eaten there?”

“Because we never showed up there in the first place. It’s not like it would be a bad idea specifically, but it’s generally good to leave the areas that you would generate the most suspicion in, and then do what you need to do elsewhere.”

“Is that a ‘deception’ tactic?”

“Yeah. Dad taught me about it when I was younger. It’s not that it applies in every situation, but the situations where it will apply are the ones that you want to use it in. And the only way to avoid the possibility of your suspicion being noticed, is to use that tactic every time you can.”

“... Sounds complicated.”

“It is, since it’s not an exact science.”

“Well, at the very least, we should start walking. This seems like a main road, so maybe if we walk down it towards the Keep, we’ll find somewhere to eat.”

“Alright, let’s do that.”