Ranvir strode up to the Starstone estate. People were still leaving and entering the grounds despite the late afternoon. He could just barely smell the cooks starting up the dinner meals. The sweet aroma of roasting vegetables reaching his Perception enhanced nose.

There was a lively chatter to the ground petitioning to enter through servant gate. It surprised Ranvir that the noise was trending happier. He didn’t figure a staff that regularly had to deal with exposure to assassinations could be cheerful. Apparently, he was wrong.

It would seem that Grevor was going to reaffirm his role as uncle if the rumors permeating the crowds were correct. The recently raised patriarch’s wife was pregnant again. Exciting times indeed.

Ranvir listened to the crowds with half an ear. He was waiting in line to enter. If he wanted to enter the estate, he’d simply have to wave down a guard, and they’d call a tethered to approve him. Grevor had made sure all his friends were known to the guards, their tethered especially.

Recognizing someone by the sense of their spirit was a useful trait to have as a protector. Ranvir couldn’t tell if he should be surprised Elusrians had enough skill to figure something like that out on their own, or if he should just chalk it up to Grevor. He had the second-most sensitive tether-sense of the group, after all.

Ayvir eventually emerged from the crowd. His disheveled figure still appeared odd to Ranvir, despite the many days of exposure he had to his old mentor’s new standard. The scruffy beard that was always slightly out of control. Too long hair that could’ve dearly used a brush a while ago. His clothes were wrinkled and messy.

Ranvir shook his head and strode towards the old teacher. Ayvir noticed him, of course. Ranvir cut a striking figure, especially since he’d decided to stop hiding the wings. The fusion with Graywing had made him taller as well. That all went without mentioning his glowing purple eyes.

“Ranvir,” Ayvir said. His form seemed to deflate a little. “I assume you’re here about the school thing?”

Ranvir’s eyebrows rose, and he fell to a stop. “How did you—“

“It was made official in the middle of the public court,” Ayvir cut him off with the wave of his one arm. “Baug was in the hall when you made your appearance. I think the entire noble court knew about it before midday came around. There was a lot of speculation about who you were going to hire.”

Ranvir nodded. He hadn’t thought about how word would travel. Of course, Es and Kirs wouldn’t know beforehand. While Esmund was a consummate gossip, he didn’t run in the circles where the information would first reach. Kirs were closer to those people, but she wouldn’t care enough to find out. And the ones Korfyi weren’t even worth considering in this context.

Ayvir glanced over his shoulder at the walled mansion. “I think you’re going to have a rough time convincing either of them. Sansir seems pretty set on his path with the Sleeping Sons and the recent pregnancy has only made Grevor more zealous.”

Ranvir nodded in agreement. He thought it unlikely as well. That was why he’d waited for them until the end. “What about you?”

Ayvir blinked and turning back so quickly his hair fell into his eyes. “Me?”

“We could use a few teachers with more experience under their belt.”

The young master grimaced and looked down. “I don’t know.” He ran his hand over his face, tugging at the scruffy beard. “I’m not really the man you knew. Not anymore.”

“I think you’re selling yourself short, Master Ayvir. You cared about your students so much you’re still following one of them now. Even though he is neither a student, nor you a teacher.”

“I’ve changed in many more ways than that.”

“I don’t think you’re nearly as different as you think. I don’t know any of us are.”

“Ranvir…” he trailed off, the pained expression on his face growing more intense. “This can’t—“

“How about this?” Ranvir interjected. “You go home tonight and answer this question. ‘Would I be better off remaining in the city?’”

Ayvir paused with his mouth open, then closed it slowly. “I think I’ll do that.”

Ranvir nodded and strode past him towards the guards.

Master Ayvir shook his head and walked away, keeping his head low. Ranvir kept his senses on him until he was escorted to Grevor. Blond tethered was in the kitchen once more, watching avidly as the cooks worked. The baker woman was nowhere to be seen. Then again, dinners and desserts were different specialties.

“Ranvir,” Grev said, arms crossed over his chest. Striations and muscles played on his forearms as he observed the richly scented environment. A vein tracking from his brow to his forehead stood out prominently. Chefs and assistants yelling out to each other. “I can’t join your school.”

Ranvir chuckled and shook his head. “I can barely get a hello, apparently.”

Grev’s face softened slightly, and he actually gazed at Ranvir. “I’m sorry,” he didn’t sound it, but he continued before Ranvir could remark upon it. “It’s a very busy and very dangerous time. I can’t afford to split my attention from my family. Especially not with the locations that are being discussed.”

“Locations?” Ranvir asked. He knew nothing about any locations.

Grev turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “My brother is the Queen’s right hand noble. He’s been part in choosing which locations were available to select from.”

“That makes sense. I guess I figured I’d have a role in choosing, then again, maybe not.” He shrugged, having not really considered it. “What if I could connect you directly with the estate? So you’d have a fast path from the school to your family.”

Grev paused, but then shook his head. “I can’t risk someone having direct access to our home.”

“Then what if it’s just the capital?”

Grev hesitated, looking pensively at the workers before him. “I… maybe I can stop by when I have the time. But I can’t take up a position.”

Ranvir sighed. “I guess that’s understandable.”

Grevor returned his full attention to the meals being prepared, arms still crossed. Perhaps his doom and gloom demeanor had lifted some. Perhaps not. Ranvir was honestly surprised that the kitchen could work like it did with him looming in the corner. If someone was staring at Ranvir like that while he was working, he’d get nothing done.

Sighing, Ranvir walked away to find Sansir. The last of his friends to ask. Hopefully, he’d be a little easier to convince.

Ranvir felt Sansir’s presence long before he saw him. Low mist that rolled languidly down the corridor announcing his presence more thoroughly than any tether-sense scan or shout for attention. Frost and rime covered the bottom third of the walls and floor, causing it to crunch underneath Ranvir’s boots.

That’s not a good sign, Ranvir thought exasperatedly. Is that why Grev was in such a foul mood?

He shrugged and approached the door, knocking on the wood rather than attempting the freezing metal of the doorknob.

“What?!”

Ranvir stifled a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s me, Ranvir.”

Sansir snorted from beyond the door before he pulled it open. “What?” he said with slightly less acid than before.

Ranvir gave him an unamused look, then looked down the ice-covered hall. Sansir clenched his teeth, green-eyes shimmering with power as he lifted his hand. With a spiritual surge, all the ice pulled free from the walls. The clump gathered in his hand where he dropped it into the wash-basin by the door.

His powers had been rough and Ranvir could see multiple spots where the treatment had been torn directly from the wood, exposing the vulnerable underneath. “Was that all?”

“I came to ask if you wanted to join my school.”

“No.”

Ranvir blinked, almost letting Sansir shut the door in his face. He stopped it at the last moment. “No? Just like that? Not going to give me a reason?”

“My reasons are my own,” Sansir growled, giving up on the door as it stuck on Ranvir’s foot. “Do you want me to defend myself like Grevor? Uh, I can’t. My family needs my constant supervision all hours of the day and night, otherwise they’ll wilt like flowers.”

Ranvir shook his head and stepped into the room. “No, I don’t need a reason. Not if you say you won’t give it. However, I will need you to speak to me decently. I don’t need bows or respect or niceties. But you do not talk to me like this.”

Sansir turned on his heel and glared at Ranvir. Something seemed to billow beneath the surface of his eyes. They cast a faint light. “Since when did you become so sensitive?”

Ranvir didn’t balk at his glare, nor did he rise to meet Sansir’s aggression. “Since I became a father. Since I learned about the value of friendships and the people I care about.”

Sansir’s angry scowl faded into something more vulnerable before he groaned and rubbed at his face with his hands. “I’m… I have most of my leave left. After that, I’ll see if I can check in. Okay?”

Ranvir nodded. “Thank you, Sansir.”

Sansir looked away out of a nearby window. A vein in his forehead visibly throbbing as he stared daggers towards the horizon. “Could I have the room?”

Ranvir nodded. “Of course.”