“We’re going then,” Es said to Kirs, giving her a quick kiss. “You’re sure you can’t come?”

The dark-haired scholar grabbed his hands and nodded. “I’ve too much work that needs to get done.”

They kissed and again and Es finally pulled away. Ranvir exchanged a glance with Vasso before they headed off. While still short, Es had grown somewhat in their time apart. When he and Kirs had first met, they’d been about equal in height, whereas now his forehead peaked above her.

“Have a good trip,” Kirs waved at them and walked into her office as they waved back. Ranvir followed her longingly.

“Come on,” Es said, elbowing him. “You’ll have time to look at her research at some point. Give it some time.”

“I wouldn’t even need that long,” Ranvir muttered, though he turned around.

“You might not ‘need’ a long time, but you would still spend a long time.”

Ranvir grinned and acquiesced. “That’s true.”

Es winked at him over his shoulder before taking the lead.

The city wasn’t much like Ranvir remembered it. From his original time here, it had seemed like a metropolis, marked by the strange people, tall buildings, and exquisite art work.

That impression had changed with time. Where the buildings, even the simple ones, had seemed grandiose in scale and the idea of drinking houses and taverns had been novel and exotic, they seemed mundane.

Ranvir noted the rough cobbles, the horse piles, and the rough construction of the buildings. There was no running water, nor much else in the way of infrastructure that he’d grown used to. People were dumping their bathwater in the gutters and you could smell it.

That said, it wasn’t wholly terrible compared to Legea. At least there were no rotting docks hiding underneath the street. And while it did smell of old horse and people, the harbor especially could stink of dead and rotting fish back in the city.

The people were dressed poorer in Elusria, but also seemed more excited and welcoming. Ranvir couldn’t tell if it was the summer weather or simply the culture. He hadn’t expected to feel such a shock of change when returning home.

“What!” Frija yelled in Fiyan, pointing at the statue of the First Queen, the same one Grev showed them when they first visited the city. “Is that a woman?” she ran up to the sculpture, her red hair trailing behind her. “Is she wearing furs? That’s so many!”

Es shot a glance at Ranvir over his shoulder as he approached, clearly not understanding. A few other people were also shooting odd glances at Frija, even hostile ones. However, no one approached her.

“Give her some time,” Ranvir said. “She’ll switch back when she remembers herself. Explain the statue as you would normally.”

Es walked over to her and began talking. Sure enough, Frija immediately switched to Elensk like she’d been using it all along. Ranvir glanced around. More people were looking at him now.

Granted, his attempt at disguising his wings was folly, especially in the ‘heat.’ Despite this, Vasso, with his moderately darker skin tone, was getting more looks than Ranvir and his ‘feather cloak’ was. He began thrusting a bit of hostile intent at any whose eyes lingered a little too long on the teenager.

The boy in question, was looking at the thick soot stained window of a tavern. “Don’t they have chimneys?” he asked, looking to Ranvir. There was something more in his gaze, something beyond the simple question.

“They do,” Ranvir nodded to all the smokestacks rising in the distance. “However, it appears theirs might be somewhat blocked. Or perhaps something else happened.”

“But they haven’t cleaned it?”

Just as he spoke, a boy leaned out from an upper window and splashed a bucket of grimy, sudsy water on to street and gutter. Vasso turned back to him, the hidden notes evolving into full on hesitation and nervousness. “We aren’t staying here, right? We’re not moving?”

Ranvir licked his lips and straightened slightly as the other two moved on. “No,” it wasn’t a tough decision to make. In all honestly, traveling wasn’t an issue for Ranvir, not when he had a beacon on the world. However, he had just built a house and been setting roots in Eriene and Legea. “But we will visit from time to time.”

Vasso smiled and relaxed. “It’ll be an experience, or something.”

Ranvir nodded and clapped his son’s back. “Or something.”

Not long after, Es led them away from the busier parts of town. The streets grew wider. And the roads got slightly better. Maybe less used was more accurate. While they circumvented the palace slightly, they were within its shadow. One estate, sitting along the border of the shadow, was busier than the others around it.

While they’d left in Korfyi in the morning, they’d apparently in the late night. Ranvir searching out Saleema had finished a few hours into the morning. It was approaching noon and shade was rapidly dwindling into mildly uncomfortable sunshine.

“That’s the Starstone estate,” Es said, pointing toward the busier than usual estate.

“Was it always this close?” Ranvir asked, glancing over his shoulder to signify what he meant.

Es glanced at the palace as well. “They moved after the Queen dismantled the attempt on her throne.”

Ranvir’s eyebrows rose. “There was an attempt?”

“Right. Yeah, right around when Dovar’s sister tried to invade.”

Ranvir stared at him for a long time. “She did what?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I was in jail,” then he amended. “School jail.”

“Ohh. Damn, you missed a lot.”

“Yeah.”

There was a line before they could enter, as the guards looked them over, but Ranvir had already noticed the tether-sense sweeping over them. Tracking it back to its source, he found a hole emanating light that rapidly pulsed in intensity.

“Grev’s noticed us,” Es remarked.

Ranvir nodded. “So, what have you been up to?”

“This and that,” Es replied. “At first, we got the house, and it took a lot of time and effort to get everything set up properly. Now, though, I spent a bit of time educating the neighborhood kids on the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.”

“Never took you for a teacher. Do you like it?”

Es smiled, but something in his spirit hesitated. “It’s good. Rewarding to see them grow and learn. You’ve never smiled until you see a kid spell ‘ass’ for the first time.”

Ranvir laughed at that, nodding. “I can imagine.”

Ranvir swept his tether-sense over the area again. Grev’s presence had reached the door where the guards checked people, but Ranvir noted a few other tethered as well. One was with Grev, while the two more had stationed themselves on the manor’s top floor.

“Es!” Grev called over the crowd, though there were a few wagons that hid him from sight. “Get over here! Don’t think you can hide from me!”

Ranvir hesitated as something else came through his sense of Grev as well. It was subtler than even his Concept. A weight Ranvir almost didn’t recognize. Something he’d only found in hindsight, going over the experience for training purposes. Grev’s spirit reminded him of the mercenaries of the Mercy’s Redoubt. An edge Ranvir hadn’t only felt from very few other people. Ones who’d killed with their power. An unintentional edge to their presence.

“Come on, kids,” Ranvir said, as they made their way around the queue.

Grev did likewise from his position. He was dressed less fancily than Ranvir would’ve imagined. His hair was cut short and face clean shaven. He wore a simple uniform, reminiscent of the academy’s, with buttons running up the side. It was made in the cool colors of black and dark blue, with a mark like a four-way star on the breast. Though his eyes did not bear the mark of aligning his tether-space and spirit, he was as strong as any second-stage Ranvir had yet felt.

“Ranvir?” Grev smiled and glanced at Es. “You did it!” Grev threw his head back and laughed.

“Daddy?” Frija asked, “Who's the laughing man?”

Grev shut up in an instant, glancing first at Frija then Vasso, who stood even closer to Ranvir. They’d hidden Menace in space since seeing the cat would’ve caused a panic, though Frija hadn’t been happy about it. Menace had seemed all too happy to go. Maybe it wasn’t getting enough time to itself.

“Is that little Frija?”

“Um,” little Frija said, raising her hand to stop him in his tracks. “I’m actually five.”

Grev laughed again. “You sure are.”

“And this is Vasso,” Ranvir said, gesturing to his son. “I’ve adopted him into my family, as well.”

“That’s wonderful!” Grev said. “Come inside, come inside,” he reached out to Ranvir’s wing. “Let me…” then he cocked his head and glanced up at Ranvir’s face. His eyes narrowed. “Please, follow me! There’s so much we need to talk about.”

Ranvir frowned at him. His words were enthusiastic, but his face was cautious. “The prep cooks haven’t yet arrived, so the kitchen is probably the quietest it’s ever going to be.”

They wove through people working busily. There were workers setting up pavilions, seats, tables, and benches in the garden, others were setting decorations into the bushes, hanging them on trees, and hanging them from the roofs.

The mansion was a stone-brick affair, carved from granite by warp. The first floor sprawled across a vast area. Only a few sections had a second and third floor. Most of the roof was gabled peaks, but a few had been flattened into balconies and alcoves, which were also being adorned by the workers.

Entering the kitchen, Ranvir was immediately struck by the potent aromas of a bakery. Both fresh cakes and bread. The baker, a middle-aged woman with rosy cheeks and laugh lines, was humming to herself as she was mixing something in a bowl. Ranvir could smell the sugar from where he was standing.

He sniffed, catching a hint that reminded him of iron at the smithy.

“Mom!” a voice called a little child. “I’ve made the cookies. Can I go now?”

“Let me check,” the baker said and trundled off. She waved happily at Grev, then cooed at her daughter as she inspected their baked goods.

“Are those real?” Grev asked, narrowing his eyes at Ranvir’s wings.

Ranvir shifted them deliberately. Grev’s eyes widened. “Huh,” he muttered.

“Hello, my name is Frija.”

“I’m Dalla.”

“Do you wanna play?”

“Can I, mom?” Dalla nearly went to hear knees pleading with her mother.

Ranvir and others looked on, though Grev seemed to be bursting apart with questions. “Oh, for a little while then.”

Both children, already friends, cheered. Dalla appeared to be a couple of years older than Frija. Though not so old, she wouldn’t play, apparently. Ranvir sniffed as the stench of hot iron grew stronger.

“Frija,” Ranvir called as they passed, opening a space. “Bring Menace.”

Grev and the baker gaped as a cat heavier and bigger than any wolf slunk out of the space. “This is my pet kitty!” Frija proclaimed proudly. “His name is Menace.”

Dalla tried a few times, but the Fiyan pronunciation was difficult for her. “Kitty,” she offered a fist and Menace licked her face, nearly bowling her over. Soon, they were running out the door, Menace following politely behind.

“He’ll keep them safe better than any guard could,” Ranvir said.

“Fucker,” Grev said. “I believe it. Goddess.”

“He won’t try to eat anyone, right?” The baker asked, sounding less secure.

Ranvir waved her off. “They don’t eat people. The growl is worse than the bite in this case,” mostly because Menace didn’t have any mana. Though who knows if he continued eating the fruits around Ranvir’s home?

Ranvir sniffed again.

“A huge cat and you got wings!” Grev slid closer. “What happened to you?” there was a wild light in his eyes. Genuine excitement.

“What is that smell?” Ranvir asked, clenching his nostrils.

“What smell?” Es asked.

“Like hot iron.”

“I don’t smell much,” Es said, then waved towards a little stone oven. “Just the cake.”

Ranvir stepped closer and sniffed again, wincing. His Perception would’ve driven his sense of smell down if he wasn’t actively using it.

“Like hot iron?” Grev sounded deadly serious as he stepped closer. “Are you certain?”

Ranvir nodded.

“Hallberta,” Grev turned to the baker. “You’re going to have to stay here for the moment,” then he ran out in a burst of light.