They started to see more signs of life in the woods around them as they journeyed back to Hobson’s Point, the long walk back slowly passing them by until the mountains stretched up before them.

The clearing at the base of the switchbacks soon came into view, and Verdan quickened his pace as he led the way back up to the pass they had come through. It was early evening now, but the moon was bright, and Verdan was willing to use a spell to light their way if it meant sleeping inside the city rather than roughing it outside for another night.

The others seemed to have the same opinion, or at least they voiced no objection when Verdan suggested it, and in short order, he had an orb of white light atop his staff and was moving through the pass at a decent pace.

It had taken them a whole afternoon to get through initially, but they were heading back at a much faster pace. Even Tim was moving quicker now, the worst of his injuries healed by Verdan’s ministrations.

The bright moon covered the rocky pass in a soft light that meshed well with the spell that Verdan had cast, and they moved forward with purpose as they rushed to reach the end.

Soon enough, the flickering lights of torches atop the gates leading into Hobson’s Point came into view. There was a distant flicker of movement as the guards saw Verdan’s light, but thankfully they didn’t shoot at them.

"State your business!" A deep voice called out as Verdan, and the others came close to the gates. A few new figures had arrived atop the gate; Verdan realised the guards must have woken their commander.

"We are returning from dealing with the issue restricting the loggers to the city. We’ve travelled all day to sleep in a bed once more. Let us in." Verdan called back, too tired to argue more than he needed to.

"Come forward slowly. We’re opening up," the voice shouted back after a short delay.

True to their word, the gates opened slightly a minute later, revealing a pair of armed guards. One of the pair peered at Verdan and the others as they approached before relaxing and calling something back over their shoulder.

The two guards stepped to one side, letting them pass through the gates, where a stocky man with a thick beard was waiting for them.

"I apologise for the brash treatment, Master Sorcerer. We needed to confirm your identity," the man said, his voice surprisingly deep, even for his large frame.

"Not a problem, I understand completely," Verdan said, waving away the apology as he dispelled his light. There was no need for the additional light source now they were back in the city. "My name is Verdan Blacke. These are my companions."

"Thank you, Sorcerer Blacke," the big man said with a short bow, eyeing the tip of Verdan’s staff warily. "My name is Lieutenant Silver. I have command of the watch and our defences for the pass."

"A pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant. I’m sure we’ll be dealing with each other in the future," Verdan said, suppressing a yawn as he started to turn away.

"Your pardon, Sorcerer Blacke, but could you tell me more about what you found out there? You said you dealt with the issue plaguing the loggers?"

"Yes, we did, but it’s a long enough story that I have no desire to go into it right now. Why don’t you come by tomorrow afternoon, and I will update you?" Verdan stifled another yawn as he spoke, he was almost tempted to banish his fatigue, but then he’d struggle to sleep for a few hours.

"I apologise, Sorcerer Blacke, but the watch is run independently of the sects in Hobson’s Point. I answer to my Captain, not to you," the lieutenant said in a voice tight with tension.

"What?" Verdan said, looking back in surprise at the other man, that hadn’t been at all the reaction he was expecting. "Why wouldn’t you answer to your Captain first?"

The lieutenant looked as confused as Verdan and glanced uncertainly between their faces before shaking his head and walking away with an annoyed frown.

"What just happened?" Verdan asked aloud, looking to Kai for instruction.

"It’s common for sects to control the guards of the city they are based in, putting sorcerers in all the key command positions and often using the normal guards as little more than fodder. He thought you were trying to muscle in by ordering him to report to you and then mistook your confusion for mockery." Kai explained quietly.

"Why am I not surprised," Verdan muttered, rubbing his face with his free hand.

"You are unfamiliar with the way sects work?" Elliot questioned, a look of surprise on his face.

"I’m from somewhere very different, where none of this was a problem," Verdan said with a heavy sigh. "There are no sorcerers either, which is why Kai has been explaining how all this works for me."

"I see. It must be an interesting place indeed," Elliot said with a thoughtful expression.

Verdan wasn’t completely sure that he should have told Elliot that, after all, he’d already said about how they spoke low imperial and that he was a wizard. He was too tired to be able to judge all this properly.

The lieutenant was long gone now, so Verdan started back towards their new home. He doubted he was going to make any good decisions when this tired.

Fortunately, the way back to the estate was relatively simple. They’d been gone for a surprisingly long time, Verdan hadn’t really been keeping track, but it must have been at least a week, maybe closer to two.

The buildings stood dark and empty when they arrived, the group breaking up as everyone went to their respective rooms. Fortunately, the floor on which Tim and Tom slept had an empty room, so Verdan sent Elliot with the brothers before heading to his own room.

When Verdan finally made it to his bed, he didn’t bother to do more than take his boots off, throw his robe to one side and prop his staff against the wall before climbing in and falling into a deep sleep.

-**-

Verdan woke up what felt like only a few hours later, the new day’s light waking him as it walked across his face. While he felt better than the night before, he still didn’t feel refreshed. He probably needed several good nights of sleep if he was going to start feeling awake in the mornings.

"Hyn," Verdan murmured absently, tapping his chest and sending a pulse of Aether into himself to banish the last of his drowsiness. As always, the magic had an immediate effect, letting Verdan blink away his tiredness and look at the warm sunlight coming through the window with fresh eyes.

Getting ready for the day, Verdan realised his clothes were in somewhat of a state, and he wasn’t much better. "Glanae," a second burst of Aether cleaned both him and the clothes he was wearing, leaving a slight pile of dirt on the floor.

A simple cleaning spell like that to freshen up in the morning was one of the many advantages of being a wizard. A personal concept was vital for many spells, but the cleaning spell was one of the first that every wizard learned. They learnt it before they knew about personal concepts before they could even cast a simple light spell.

Verdan smiled to himself as he remembered when he had questioned why it was the first spell that all apprentices learnt when other spells were technically easier to perform. His teacher had told him that it was a tradition, an ancient one even by wizarding standards. Apparently, it was simply down to the tendency for apprentices to get so caught up in their studies that they neglected themselves.

It was such a silly reason for such an ancient tradition that it had always stuck with Verdan, and he’d looked forward to teaching it to an apprentice himself one day.

Verdan’s smile dimmed as he considered how unlikely such an event was now. He wasn’t even remotely qualified to be teaching people about wizardry.

Pushing it all out of his mind for the moment, Verdan grabbed his staff and headed downstairs. Now that he was refreshed and mentally aware, he replayed their arrival to the city last night in his mind and winced a little.

Old habits of working closely with imperial guardsmen had come to the fore there. He’d have to be careful to make sure that Lieutenant Silver and the others realised that Verdan was on their side.

Verdan had a few thoughts on how to achieve that, but he put it to one side for now as he followed his nose to the kitchen. Unsurprisingly, Kai was already awake and preparing breakfast. Interestingly, the only other person present was Elliot, who was perched on one of the seats at the table carefully, bacon sandwich in hand.

"Good morning," Elliot rumbled, taking a hefty bite out of his sandwich and narrowing his eyes in satisfaction.

"Good morning. I’m sorry we couldn’t take more time to situate you last night," Verdan said, taking a seat at the table. He was conscious that he basically dumped Elliot onto the brothers and went to bed, not exactly a great first night in the city.

"Not a problem. Kai has been more than welcoming this morning," Elliot said, gesturing to the sandwich in his hand.

"So I see, is that fresh bread?" Verdan said, addressing the last to Kai, who was in the process of plating something for Verdan.

"It is. Bob came over with a basket of provisions from the Plucky Wanderer just after dawn; someone must have told him we’d come back." Kai said, coming over to hand Verdan an omelette.

"Huh, that was nice of him," Verdan murmured his attention already on his food.

"He said that he’s had more business since we stayed there. I think the better food quality brought in more patrons."

Verdan nodded silently, appreciating the gift from the tavern owner. It was also a good reminder for him that he needed to go speak with Samuel, the representative of the local workers. So much to do and so little time.

After finishing his breakfast, Verdan headed outside and glanced at the sun’s position; it must be around mid-morning.

"Morning, Boss," Tim called out from his left, where he was leaning against the wall of the building while the wolf lay at his feet.

"Morning, how’re you feeling?" Verdan asked, walking over as he spoke.

"Back to normal, thanks to you," Tim said with a warm smile. "It feels odd to be back in the city again, though."

"It’s been a hectic few weeks, hasn’t it," Verdan said, smiling slightly as he considered just how much different those weeks had been for the two of them.

"That is has. I barely feel like we’ve had time to breathe between getting back and heading out again. I’m glad we went, though, or those darjee would have kept preying on the fwyn," Tim said with a scowl on his face as he thought of the darjee. The wolf picked up on his mood and sat up to rest its head on his thigh.

Seeing the wolf move brought Verdan’s gaze to the collar on its neck, reminding him of yet another task he needed to find time for. It was an important one at that, Verdan wanted to get that collar off the wolf as soon as possible, but he needed a workspace for that, which meant he needed to check in with Tobias to see if the alchemy equipment had arrived yet.

"True, we did a lot of good out there," Verdan said, giving Tim a reassuring smile and patting him on the arm. "What matters now, though, is getting enough rest and taking the time to recover from it all fully." Verdan told him, knowing how hard it was to bounce back from those kinds of situations. Just how close they came to being sacrificed by the cyth would leave scars, let alone almost dying to the darjee.

"I know you’re right," Tim said, dropping a hand down to pat the wolf on the head. "It’s just that I can’t help but think about what else is going on outside the city, how many people are in danger of dying, and no one is helping them."

"We do what we can, Tim," Verdan started to say, but the other man scoffed and rose from his leaning position.

"We both know that’s not true. What you’ve done since you got here is more than anyone else in the city has managed in a long time. Thinking back on how little I accomplished disgusts me. If you hadn’t rescued us from the cyth, I’d have died having made no impact on anything. I refuse to let that happen," Tim said, passion filling his voice as he spoke.

Verdan heard the echoes of so many of his old friends in Tim’s words; they’d all once believed the same thing. Part of him wanted to reassure Tim that he would do what he could, but the futility of it all made him keep his silence. No one even remembered how they’d worked to make the Imperium a better place. When he’d graduated, Verdan and his friends had volunteered to be assigned to the guard beyond what was required. They’d believed that it was their responsibility to work with the guardsmen to keep people safe. Yet, despite all their efforts, in the end, the war undid it all.

"Listen, Tim," Verdan started to say before pausing, uncertain of how to continue.

"No, it’s okay, Boss. It’s nothing on you; you’ve only helped people since you got here. I just wish there were more sorcerers with your attitude around," Tim said, rubbing his face and heading for the door to go inside. "I’m going to get something to eat. Shout me if you need anything."

Verdan watched Tim and the wolf head inside before sighing heavily and rubbing his face. He could already tell this was going to be an abyss of a day.