Lenore and I took a flight around town, simply watching the people move about, riding the winds coming from the mountains. It was simple, relaxing and uncomplicated, Lenore was in charge and I had to do nothing but lean back and enjoy the feeling of freedom. It was wonderful, the feeling of wild freedom only second to the comfortable security of Sigmir’s embrace. One made me wish for the world to stop, so the moment would last forever, the other made me yearn for an eternity, so I could enjoy this world forever.

Finally, we decided that we should talk to the others. They deserved to know, especially now that I had sicced Rai on Jakyl and publicly denounced him. We returned to the inn, only to find that they were all out. Not much of a surprise, but there were ways to call them back.

Setting up in our room, I closed my eyes, letting myself sink halfway into the Astral River. There were few major streams in town, but the River was everywhere. The more I immersed myself, the more I realised just how little I had known before, how much more there was. At first, I had thought it was a singular river, of distinct streams with nexus at the intersections. But if so, where did the Astral Power that slowly replenished what was in your body, as you spent it, come from? If there was no Astral River, how could there be Astral Power?

It made me realise just how foolish the idea of distinct streams was, there was only one Astral River, but it was more akin to a body’s circulatory system, with major vessels connecting the different parts while progressively smaller vessels filled in the gaps, supplying power to every place in the body.

And if every place was connected, wouldn’t I, if I used that network in conjunction with my Mind Magic, be able to reach everyone, especially people I knew well? I had felt their auras around me for so long, wouldn’t I be able to recognise them, simply from the way their bodies interacted with the Astral River?

It was a curious idea, one that I wanted to try out and given that we were in a reasonably safe place, it invited the experiment. Compared to using the Astral River to commune with the Grandmother, all the way back in Neyto, it was similar, yet different. Instead of following the increasingly larger pathways to the Nexus, I had to remain in the small, almost impossible to detect, pathways and find the familiar auras.

The first one I found, without even really looking for it, was Sigmir. She stood out to my mind, even in the Astral River, the connection between us drawing me like a magnet. Even without using Mind Magic, I was certain that she could feel me searching for her, and when I gently pushed a thought through to her, asking her to return to the inn, I immediately felt a sense of response and acknowledgement.

Similarly, finding Adra and Rai wasn’t too hard. There was a faint connection, the one between Teacher and Disciple, between Rai and myself. While it was far from the bond that Sigmir and I shared, it existed and was recognised on both sides. In addition, I had taught him often and knew his magic and aura from that teaching, giving me some confidence. Pushing the message through was harder, needed more magic and I was pretty sure I accidentally gave him a headache, due to the influence the Dark Moon had on my Mind Magic. Contacting Adra, who was next to him, was a little harder, but I thought she got the message.

Lastly, contacting Olivia was the hardest. Not only did I know her the shortest time, the connection was also rather faint, an acquaintance and travelling companion instead of a friend and disciple. Even by the time the others had returned, I didn’t manage to find her, leaving me with no option but to give up.

Withdrawing from the Astral River, I looked over to the door, where Sigmir just entered.

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“Welcome back.” I gave her a smile. “There’s been some development.”

She walked over and gave me a quick, gentle kiss on the forehead.

“Would those have something to do with a certain Traveller getting threatened with divine punishment?” Sigmir asked, sounding amused.

“Possibly, yes. We’ll have to see if I have to give the whole divine punishment thing a shove to get it started or if the Gods actually pay attention. Breaking Oaths should be punished. If the Gods are not willing, I’ll have to take a shot at it.” I replied, grinning as she sat down behind me, letting me lean against her chest.

“But the more important part, at least for us, is a different outcome of that situation. Jakyl broke an Oath he gave, and Malachite had vouched for him.” I added and could feel Sigmir physically flinch behind me.

“She is not happy and wants to have nothing to do with him any longer. Given that staying here, in Gaber, is rather useless for her, I offered that she could travel with us, into the lower regions, maybe even to the coast.” I explained, getting a thoughtful hum from Sigmir.

“Just remember, travelling in a larger group means that any fight we get embroidered in will automatically be treated as a battle by the system, massively reducing the EXP any of us can gain.” Considering her words, for a moment, I let out a hum. She was correct, it was a hindrance but a minor one.

“Think about it, how often did we have to fight on the road from Ladrin to Carinthia? Not just some wolf or badger sniffing around, thinking we have food, but a real fight that was worth the effort?” I reasoned, getting an amused snort in response.

“Not a single one. Other than that bear you told me about, and those spiders. But I wasn’t there for them.” she grumbled, “Though, things got more interesting in the mountains.”

“And are there any interesting mountains between us and Torop?” I chuckled, especially when she sacked against my back, leaning onto me morosely.

“No, nothing but hills, forests, fields and meadows.” she lamented. “We might find some bandits.” she realised, her voice perking up.

“And I’m certain, any bandit that sees a group of five armed, armoured people, shrouded in high-level divine magic, will most certainly step up in an attempt to rob them. Because that’s how you get a lot of coin, not to mention how you survive as a bandit. Right.” I snarked, poking a hole into her enthusiasm for highway robbers. Or rather, for killing them.

“They might.” she tried to defend her idea, though it was clear that her heart wasn’t in it.

Not even dignifying that idea with a response, I instead pulled her arms tightly around myself, snuggling in. We remained that way, until Adra and Rai returned soon after, with Olivia in tow.

“Teacher, you needed to see us?” Rai asked, his face scrunched into a frown.

“So the message worked. Excellent. Did you feel any discomfort from receiving it?” I asked, focusing on the newly explored magic first. Exchanging messages and conversing with a being like the Grandmother was one thing, or directly using the bond between Sigmir and myself, but expanding that ability to others was useful.

“A brief moment of pain, followed by an intense feeling of loneliness,” Rai replied, while Adra next to him nodded emphatically.

“For a moment, I thought I was all alone, in a desolate, cold wasteland, trapped in a place without light,” Adra added, a visible shudder rippling through her body.

“Please, never use that on me again?” she asked, almost pleadingly.

“Mhm, interesting,” I muttered, rubbing my chin. The effect was a lot worse than I had expected, making it unsuitable for anything but emergencies. On the other hand, it had some potential as a weapon, especially if I tweaked some parts of it.

“Did you hear words, or how did you comprehend the message?”

“No words. I just knew that you were at the inn and needed to talk to us all.” Rai replied, adding another interesting observation to my latest experiment.

“Adra, I will not use that method outside of dire emergencies. I will try to reduce that aspect of my magic as much as possible.” I promised, before shaking my head briefly, ending that part of the conversation.

“Let me tell you why I sent the message in the first place.” I began, before laying out the situation with Jakyl and Mal.

By the end of it, it was time to meet Mal, so we all went down together.