Changing into a new set of clothes was fast, but when Serenity asked what restaurant they should visit, the Silver Blades were remarkably unwilling to commit. Gabriel started to volunteer options a couple of times before Daryl shot him down. Serenity had the feeling that they’d have been much more willing to name a place if they’d won; as it was, they had to pay and didn’t seem to want to name the place.

Serenity only knew two restaurants in Takinat, the Rune’s Rest under the Runeworkers’ Guild and the one at the bottom of Old Man Rinsetti’s building, Aurora’s. Serenity liked both restaurants, but knew they served wildly different food even though the prices weren’t all that different.

The Rune’s Rest served relatively simple to eat fare including casseroles, quiches, and stuffed bread pockets. It was hearty, filling fare for someone who might not be paying full attention to the meal but who needed it to get through the rest of the day.

Aurora’s, on the other hand, had pastries for breakfast but lunch and dinner were generally something heavily spiced, usually in a sauce, over rice. Some of the meals were hot while others were savory, but every one Serenity had tried was delicious. The desserts were also better at Aurora’s, and they had aurora tea.

Naturally, Serenity took them to Aurora’s. He’d make them show him some of their favorite restaurants later if he spent much time with them, but for now he just wanted a place to stop and eat.

“Five today, sir?” The host was the same man who’d originally shown Serenity up to see Old Man Rinsetti.

Serenity nodded. “Yes, five of us.”

The three Silver Blades waited until the waiter left to say anything. Naomi broke the silence with a completely unexpected question. “This is Aurora’s, isn’t it? And they know you here?”

Serenity nodded. “It’s a great restaurant; you have to try the aurora tea.”

Naomi looked at her teammates. She seemed to be asking them something silently, but Serenity had no idea what. Neither one met her eyes or said anything. She eventually took a deep breath and turned back to Serenity. “Aurora’s is owned by Old Man Rinsetti.”

Serenity blinked. That wasn’t news. “Yes, he lives upstairs. I think he said he owns the building.”

Naomi stared at Serenity as if she couldn’t believe what she heard. After a moment, her words seemed to confirm that. “You have no idea who he is, do you?”

“He’s a Master Runeworker? I’m not certain what his specialty is, probably Runemage? If you mean something else, then no.” Serenity had the feeling that wasn’t what Naomi meant and he wasn’t certain he’d like the answer.

Naomi sighed, clearly exasperated with Serenity. He recognized the expression; he’d seen it frequently. “Old Man Rinsetti is the only Tier Ten in Takinat. He helped found the city! He owns half of it and no one, not even the City Lord, dares to act against him.”

Serenity’s initial reaction was that Takinat was a young city if a still living Tier Ten helped to found it, but he suppressed the words. He already knew that; Honoria had mentioned that the history of the Great Library only went back fifteen hundred years, so Takinat itself was probably about the same age. Fifteen hundred years was still a lengthy lifespan for a Tier Ten; while they certainly could live that long, most didn’t. Admittedly, that was more because of misadventure than old age; few Tier Tens died of old age. Far more died seeking Tier Eleven.

Serenity hadn’t really thought about Old Man Rinsetti’s Tier; he’d controlled his aura well enough that it had never mattered and Serenity didn’t care as long as they weren’t competing. As it turned out, he was higher than Serenity, but not by that much. Tier Ten was a reasonable Tier for a Master of Runeworking; on the low end, perhaps, but Serenity knew of others who’d reached it at that Tier in one of the easier Masteries. Runemage fit the bill. Of course, that assumed that his publicly-known Tier was correct; he might well be Tier Eleven or even Twelve. Higher than that would probably be uncomfortable on Asihanya.

Serenity doubted Old Man Rinsetti was the only Tier Ten or higher in the city. The woman he’d met at the Runeworkers’ Guild didn’t feel all that much weaker than Master Rinsetti. She’d given him a dozen names; having all of them be at Tier Nine or lower seemed a little unlikely unless there was a reason to leave once you hit Tier Ten.

On the other hand, an established Tier Ten that didn’t want to share a city could well be a reason to leave; it took time to grow into a Tier and someone who was stuck at a Tier was often more powerful than someone who was technically the same Tier but new and rising quickly. Practice took time.

Serenity’s mind kept working; someone as powerful as that could probably be the City Lord if he wanted to. Which meant that Old Man Rinsetti didn’t want to be the City Lord. “That does explain a lot.”

Serenity meant that it explained why the City Lord was willing to abandon Takinat. He was City Lord only in name; he had to meet whatever Takinat’s requirements were, but he probably did it with the help of Old Man Rinsetti.

Naomi nodded. “It’s good to be on his good side, but I’m not really important enough to meet him. I think both Daryl and Gabriel have?”

Daryl nodded. “I made sure to meet him after I hit Tier Nine. Gabe hasn’t dared, said he didn’t want to-”

“It’s Gabriel and what have I said about talking for me?” Gabriel glared at his friend. They had to be friends, no one else would put up with the way Daryl acted around Gabriel. It wasn’t that hard for a Tier Nine to move, after all. “I don’t want to meet someone just because I Tiered up and he’s the most powerful mage in the city. There has to be a real reason, that isn’t one. I don’t want to waste his time.”

“Gabriel, Daryl, stop, please. We’re not here to talk about the Founder. We need to find out more about Serenity and prepare for a delve.” Naomi glared at the two young men.

“And before that, we need to order food. I know what I’m having, but you two haven’t even looked at your menus.” Rissa’s tone was cheerful. “I’m looking forward to this. Their daily special is always good.”

Serenity tuned out the discussion of food that happened after that; he hadn’t even bothered to look at the menu. As Rissa said, the daily special was always good; even better, it changed every day. He usually only ate here once a day, so he was simply making his way through them. He’d work through the menu if he was here long enough that the specials started to repeat.

When he asked to meet the Silver Blades, he’d expected to be in Takinat for months. That seemed unlikely now; he already had a lead on the way the attacking airplanes reached the city. What he didn’t have was a way to follow them; sure, he could easily follow a ley line, but he couldn’t travel at anything approaching the speed of the airplanes, even before they reached the ley line. If he tried to follow them, he’d be seen.

Really, the only viable plans he could come up with were to either capture one of the biplanes intact or make a ley line skimmer. He liked the second idea, but he’d need some way to hide it as well, perhaps an illusion?

Maybe he would be in Takinat for a while.

Serenity ordered his meal, then directed his attention at the three Silver Blades. “Do any of you happen to have a flyer, or know where I can get one?”

“The Enchanters’ Guild,” Gabriel volunteered. “They’ll make exactly what you want. Why do you need a flyer? Takinat’s not that big. Even the dungeons aren’t that far.”

Serenity shrugged. “The attacking flyers have to come from somewhere. It’s too far away to get to on foot, so a flyer seems like the next step.”

“Don’t bother. If Old Man Rinsetti can’t stop them, no one short of a myth will be able to. You’re only Tier Eight, so don’t throw your life away.” Daryl’s advice was probably good, but it wasn’t something Serenity wanted to hear. He had some advantages with the people he’d put together, but it was true that Old Man Rinsetti could probably have pulled together a large group if he’d tried.

“That’s why I came to Asihanya,” Serenity argued. “The attacks on the Library need to stop. That means stopping the attacks on Takinat. I’d rather not take on a group powerful enough to attack an entire planet all at once, but they’re not invincible; if they were, they wouldn’t need to hide and not be seen. I need more information; there has to be a way.” Come to think of it, he probably should ask Old Man Rinsetti why he hadn’t stopped the attackers; it might be useful information.

The Silver Blades seemed uncomfortable, but they didn’t get up and leave. Good enough. “That’s not why we’re here; we’re here to talk about that dungeon.”

“Why weren’t you hurt? I’ve never seen anyone that can shrug off Daryl’s arrows the way you did.”

Serenity noticed that Naomi didn’t call out Gabriel’s Fire Bolts. Well, that was probably fair; they were wand-cast and they were probably not from a Tier Nine wand anyway. Gabriel seemed to be a utility mage and healer, which was an excellent role for the group’s only spellcaster.

Fortunately, there was an easy answer. “It’s my armor. Did you notice what it was during the fight?”

Naomi and Daryl both shook their heads. That was terrible; they were melee fighters, knowing armor and its weaknesses was part of their job.

Gabriel, on the other hand, nodded. Serenity gestured at him to go ahead. “Some sort of scales, and I can only think of a few that can shrug off both fire and arrows without being scratched. That’s definitely not demonhide, so it almost has to be - it’s your scales, isn’t it? Not a dragon’s?”

Serenity chuckled. Gabriel’s eagerness was endearing, somehow. It also gave him the perfect way to answer the question. “Yes. And yes, it’s dragonscale; I have a Skill that can manifest my own scales as protection when I’m in my human shape.”

Gabriel seemed to relax. He must have heard of the draconic tendency to hunt down people who killed and skinned their kin. Anyone would, but dragons were particularly notorious about it. Once upon a time, Vengeance had wondered if the reason they didn’t allow dragon-themed dungeons was that they didn’t want the competition from armor made from dungeon dragons instead of just dropped scales, but that was never really a good reason. It made a lot more sense now that Vengeance knew that a monster dragon was probably a mindless, mad child. The Lost Ones explained a lot about the way dragons acted.

“Even if I weren’t so well protected, I could have done what I did,” Serenity informed the three Silver Blades. “I might have needed to be a bit more careful, but you three clearly haven’t had much practice fighting against anything other than dungeon monsters, have you?”

The round of headshaking made it clear Serenity’s guess was correct.

“First of all, Naomi. You need a faster way to move; you also need to not get pulled so far away if you can’t keep up. Teleportation is probably the best answer if you’re going to fight up Tiers, but simply staying back may be the better answer; teleportation can be disrupted. Daryl, do I even need to tell you that you need to actually use a weapon you’re trained with?” Serenity stared pointedly at the knife sheathed at Daryl’s side.

Daryl looked down but didn’t say anything.

Serenity turned to Gabriel. “I don’t have anything quite as obvious for you, but we probably need to talk about your skills and equipment if you want to learn something from the fight.”