Descending the stairs, I was spotted by a number of humans who looked at me with varying expressions, mostly recognition and amusement. For just an instant, a wave of violent impulses rushed through my mind, but then I crushed them down. I have to find Koyl, I thought, he wouldn’t have left for no reason, all things considered. A few counter-possibilities entered my mind, presenting scenarios where Koyl deliberately ditched me because our relationship was no longer useful to him, but I didn’t want to make any assumptions so I disregarded them.

The tavern served some fried pastries filled with meat that I greedily chomped down while trying to ignore the looks of the patrons. Loytao was nowhere to be seen, but presumably, he was also sleeping off a large dose of ihv as I had been. Looking back on the memories, I knew I was amused while performing the actions in them, but from my present mindset, I had no idea why that was the case. Never again, I said to myself, all ihv is good for is getting myself into trouble. It's fortunate that I was too distracted to do anything outlandish, like showing off my magic.

Out in the street foot traffic was normal, though after being in Owsahlk it was irritating to bump into so many people. Not knowing where to go, I decided to try to find someone who was peddling information or perhaps could give me directions. If Koyl’s family is known here, someone probably knows where they live, I reasoned, since he was coming back to the city for them, he’s likely there as well. In a few minutes, I found someone advertising themselves as a guide, calling out to passersby on the corner but not getting any attention.

“How much?” I asked. The guide, a young woman with short red hair and red eyes, looked up at me as though I was a giant.

“Where do you wanna go?” she asked.

“Wherever the Zae’ey’yaob family lives,” I replied, and I watched her reaction. Her initial response was confiscation, then recognition, then nervousness and anxiety. Very similar to Loytao, I observed.

“Sorry, not going there today,” she muttered before turning around and trying to walk away. I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

“You know where it is then,” I said. The woman looked at the hand on her shoulder, then turned her head around and gave me a pleading expression.

“Sir, I need to go,” she said. “Please let go of my shoulder.” A few of the passersby started to look at us suspiciously, but I couldn’t see any guards among them. Besides, I thought, surely I haven’t done anything wrong yet.

“Tell me how to get there,” I commanded. “I need to go there, but I don't know where it is.”

“Sir-” the guide pleaded. I tightened my grip, enough to hurt but not to cause serious harm.

“Where?” I reiterated, growing impatient. The guide winced, then shook her head.

“I shouldn’t- can’t tell you,” she said. “If you want to go there, you must know why. Now please-” Before she could finish, a man walked up beside me and tried to pry my fingers off her shoulder. He was very average looking, and his grip wasn’t particularly strong. Good chance for a test, I thought, focusing on generating an electric charge in my hand and an insulating effect. When I released the charge the man jumped back, hissing and shaking his hand. The guide also jumped, and I realized I probably unintentionally shocked her. All I felt was a mild pinch in my palm.

“Get your hand off her,” the man growled.

“Do you know where the Zae’ey’yaob residence is?” I asked him. “I’ll be more than happy to leave if you tell me.” The man’s face went through the exact same series of emotions as the guide’s had, then went back to looking angry.

“We don’t have anything to do with them,” he said. “Now get your paw off my sister before I cut it off.” He drew a knife to show he was serious, so I let the woman’s shoulder go. Immediately, she stepped back almost five meters from me, taking a defensive posture and drawing a knife of her own.

“What was that you used on me and my brother?” she hissed.

“Nothing,” I replied calmly. Neither of the two siblings was large enough to pose any threat to me, even with force magic, and I doubted that they were as good at it as the Rehvites I had found in Owsahlk. “Sorry to bother you.” Without another word, I turned around and left, listening for footsteps of either of them attacking, but hearing none.

Two more guides refused to send me to the Zae’ey’yaob residence over the next hour, and I began to become frustrated. It seemed that the mere mention of their name by me would cause people to react fearfully, but when Koyl had used it the effect it caused was more like submission. Perhaps because he is a member of the family, but I am obviously not, I considered. I considered the possibility that Koyl might be nobility, but it didn’t seem to fit with his general behavior. Besides, if he was, wouldn’t these people just tell me where he lived? I thought, As far as I can tell, the home addresses of the ruling class are public knowledge here. There must be something else going on.

I stopped at an eatery around noon and got some more food. The prices were less than the other continental cities, but more than Vehrehr. The foods available contained little seafood, probably because of a lack of a nearby body of water for fishing, and seemed to mostly revolve around various forms of stuffed pastries. Those foods that were not pastries were usually baked, not fried, and spiced very lightly. I ended up ordering a large piece of flatbread that was folded over itself, stuffed with meat and sauce, and elected to eat it just outside the eatery.

“Hey, are you Yuwniht?” someone asked. Readying myself for a potential attack, I turned around to face the speaker and saw a lanky man wearing some kind of uniform. Aside from a small dagger, he wasn’t armed.

“Yes,” I replied.

“I have a letter here for you,” the man said, pulling out a piece of folded paper. “You’re a hard man to find. I was told you’d be at Loytao’s.” I took the paper from him and unfolded it, reading the writing inside. It was handwritten, with several letters having such elaborate flourishes that it took me a few seconds to parse them.

Yuwniht Lihyveyz, you are hereby invited to the Zae’ey’yaob residence. Please keep this letter and present it upon arrival at the front gate, and the attendant will let you in. Sincerely, Aavspeyjh Zae’ey’yaob. I read the letter two more times to ensure that I understood it correctly because there were no directions provided at all. The delivery man watched me the whole time, saying nothing.

“Where is it?” I asked, getting a raised eyebrow as a reaction.

“Where is…?” the deliveryman prompted.

“The residence,” I clarified. “I’ve been trying to find it all day.” The deliveryman chuckled, then shook his head. “What’s funny?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “It’s just, I can imagine you had a bit of trouble. If you’d follow me, I can lead you there now. Bring the rest of your taavberl, you can eat it on the way.” I nodded in reply and got up from the stool I was sitting on, holding my food in my left hand, and followed him.

The delivery man led me down a number of streets, zigzagging so much that it almost appeared random. By the time he stopped walking for a moment we were almost a quarter of the way across the entire city, and had traveled in a roughly straight line from where we left the eatery. I had long since finished my meal and was looking around at the time, so I nearly bumped right into the back of him, only stopping in time by grabbing the ground with my feet. Thankfully, he didn't see me almost fall over since he was still looking forward.

“Are we here?” I asked. The delivery man turned around and, with a strangely ceremonial gesture, directed my attention to the mansion to my left. There were a number of mansions along the route we had followed so I hadn’t taken any real note of it, but upon closer inspection, the wooden front gate had the word “Zae’ey’yaob” carved into it professionally. So, wealthy as expected, I thought, could be useful.

“You may enter as you wish,” the delivery man said, then he turned around and walked off, leaving me alone. Looking at the gate again, I saw a small rope hanging from the wall to its right, so I approached and pulled it. A bell inside the wall rang, and a minute later someone opened the gate and came out to meet me. A visibly old man, armed with a rapier on his hip, approached me with confidence.

“Name?” he asked.

“Yuwniht,” I replied, handing him the letter. “A man named Aavspeyjh, from this house, sent for me.” The old man read the letter, glancing up at me several times. “I am an acquaintance of Koylzmeyl,” I added, and the old man’s face lit up in recognition.

“Oh, it’s you,” he smiled. “Of course, right this way sir.” The old man turned around and led me inside, closing the wooden gate behind me. Behind the walls was an impeccably maintained yard dotted with patterns of colored flowers, and a stone path leading up to the door of the mansion. The mansion itself had a peaked roof, at least three floors, innumerable windows along its roughly hundred-meter width, and was made of a gray polished stone. The old man pushed apart a pair of ornate double doors, then ushered me inside.

The interior was as lavish as the outside. The entryway was three stories tall with a gigantic staircase leading up to the third level with step-off points on the second. The walls were marble, polished to a sheen, and covered in tapestries and paintings. The wooden railings of the stairs were carved with complex fractal patterns that must have taken immense amounts of time to produce by hand, making them works of art on their own. Even the rug I walked on was woven in such a way as to have the image of a fox and a shield produced on it. Very wealthy, I thought, this is well beyond what I expected.

“Please, sir, if you’d follow me to the third floor,” the old man said, gesturing for me to keep pace behind him. We ascended the staircase slowly, mostly due to the old man’s leisurely pace, and once we were at the top the old man gestured to my hip. “Your weapons, if you would,” he prompted. “You understand, I’m sure, that you cannot be allowed into a private meeting with them.”

“Right,” I sighed, removing my sword and handing it to the old man. Standard security procedure, I thought, they can’t disarm my magic though. Unlike many others, he didn’t seem surprised by its weight at all.

“The knives and axes as well, sir,” the old man said. I removed my throwing knife holster and my throwing axes, placing them in his hands. “Do you have any other weapons hidden on your person?”

“No,” I replied. The old man nodded, then whistled, and a much younger man in similar attire jogged out to take my gear from him. Without needing to be told, the younger man carried it off to wherever it was going to be stored.

“Please do be aware that the master of the house is armed and more than capable of self-defense,” the old man informed me.

“I wasn’t intending to take any hostile action,” I replied.

“Regardless, I inform you as a courtesy,” the old man smiled. “Should you attempt to harm him, we would be most upset with you.” Satisfied with my answer, the old man opened the door immediately in front of us and gestured for me to enter, then closed the door behind me.

The smaller room I found myself in was an office of sorts, though no less extravagant than the entryway. Along the entire back wall was a gigantic painting of a family standing in the yard I had seen out in front of the mansion. One adult man and one adult woman stood behind a group of five children, all of whom were frozen in place and looking into the artist’s perspective. The same man, looking not a day older, also sat behind a crystal glass desk just in front of the painting, and was looking at me.

“Ah, you’re here,” he said, his voice deep but pleasant. He stood up from his desk, and I took note that the clothes he was wearing were colored red, purple, and blue in complex wave patterns. Similar design to Zhervaol’s robes, I thought, no apparent armor though, unless he’s even skinnier under there than I suspect. “You are Yuwniht Lihyveyz, correct?” the man asked hesitantly.

“I am,” I said simply, and he crossed the remaining distance to stand near me. He looks a bit like Koyl, I thought, his nose and chin are different though, they’re much larger. The man had the standard blonde hair and red eyes of a Luwahriy, his hair tied back in a short ponytail, and a well-manicured goatee. He appeared to be examining me as well, and he reached out to brush some crumbs off my gambeson.

“You’re a bit smaller than I expected from the stories,” he commented with a half smile. “Still, I’ve rarely seen a man taller than you.” Even though his comment seemed off-the-cuff, I could tell by the way it was said that he had prepared it in advance. Under certain interpretations, it could be either an insult or a compliment. “Did you have any trouble getting here?” the man asked after I was silent for a moment.

“People in town don’t want to talk about this place much,” I told him. “Until your delivery man showed up, I had no idea where to go.” He smiled again, chuckling to himself, and gestured at me to walk with him over to his desk.

“Hardly surprising,” he replied. “You woke up early, right?”

“I woke up at the same time I always wake up,” I shrugged.

“Of course you did,” the man said, moving back to the other side of his desk and sitting down in his padded chair. “So, Yuwniht, do you know why I asked for you to come here?” he asked. For a moment, his tone seemed almost ominous. He’s probably hiding a knife under the robes, but unless there are people hidden in this room that I can’t detect, there’s nothing to be worried about.

“I assume Koyl came back here last night sometime?” I offered, choosing the most likely reason he had invited me.

“That certainly is part of it,” he said. “He didn’t sleep, you see. Late last night, much to our surprise, he showed up at our door and had a lot to tell us about.” I stood in place, not reacting, and the man studied my reaction. “Is it true, what he told us about Vehrehr?” he asked.

“That depends on what he said,” I replied. “He was tortured if that’s what you’re asking, for many days.” The man’s smile faded, his face hardened, and he broke eye contact to stare past me. Angry, but not at me, I thought, that might have been the wrong answer.

“And you killed the one who did it?” the man asked, looking back at me with a cold gaze. “You killed Yaavtey Tawl?”

“I did,” I confirmed. “All of his associates as well, at least the ones that were at his headquarters.”

“Did he suffer?” the man asked. “What were his last words?” This again, I thought.

“He died trying to apologize to his family,” I told him, recalling Yaavtey’s incoherent ramblings. “I had already killed them earlier that night during my first attempt on his life. I informed him of their deaths before we fought, but I can’t be sure he was rational enough to know what he was saying before he died. It’s possible he thought they were still alive in his final moments.” The man looked at me, his contained fury falling away to curiosity, which itself dissipated into calm after a moment. The man exhaled slowly through his nose, relaxing.

“Then I should thank you formally,” he said, sounding satisfied. “I am Koylzmeyl’s father, Aavspeyjh. I know my son can be a handful, and I know you didn’t have to go back for him, so thank you. Not just for saving his life, but for taking vengeance for him and helping him get back to me safely. I owe you a debt for your actions, and I intend to repay it.” A strange feeling bubbled up in my chest, warm and pleasant. What was the formal reply to the official recognition of exemplary acts again? I tried to recall. The oldest forms of warbreed culture had some ceremonies, inherited from their creators, which were discarded over time.

“I only sought to act honorably,” I said, giving a short but respectful bow. Luckily, he probably can't tell if I'm lying, I thought.

“Regardless, you have done my family a great service,” Aavspeyjh said. “Nobody likes a man who is overly humble, take some pride in yourself. I have already sent someone to Steelheart to deal with one of your immediate problems here, but that is far from making us even. Please, spend the rest of the day at my house, and stay here as long as you wish after that. If the rest of what my son told me is true, we will have much to discuss at dinner, and much to gain from working together.”