The river was steadily flowing towards north, its surface calm, almost flat. The light of the two crescent moons reflected itself off of that natural mirror in all directions, giving the surrounding emergent plants a supernatural feel. These plants had their roots below the riverbed, while the largest part was in water itself, with only a meter of average growth above it.

A few solitary trees rose high on both sides of the river, on which a few species of birds and lizards made their home during the night. As you went further away from the river the grass started changing colour from light green to yellow, sheltering in its fold a multitude of insects and small reptiles.

The symphony of the nocturnal amphibians was heard all along the river, going on and on until the Sun rose in the morning.

The river was mostly straight along its length, yet at some places the water found it easier to pass, if a small deviation was made to the side. In one of those places, a wooden barge found its resting for the night.

Resembling an elongated turtle's shell, with the underside colour being some darker shade of yellow, while from above a woven canopy, made of reeds that somehow retained its fresh green colour, protected the passengers and goods that were transported.

From the barges bow, a naval term that represented the front part of the vessel, to its stern, this one indicating its back part, the barge was over 10 meters in length and 6 in width. It rose above the water a mere half a meter, and the bottom of the vessel was completely flat, much like the river itself.

On it, under the protective canopy, slept five men and a woman.

None of them were Tercius nor Lux.

Some seven dozen meters to the east of the barge, following the wooden dock and a beaten path, passing by a few shoddily made houses, that were enclosed in shoddily made stone walls, one would arrive to the largest house in the village.

Inside the house, earlier that same night, the master and mistress of the house had the pleasure of hosting two guests, that upon arriving offered payment for good food and warm beds for the night.

At first when they saw the grim looking man approaching their house, they panicked, but all of that vanished when the man revealed his intention in coming over.

Once he offered payment, he practically became a family friend.

This man of middle age had black hair of medium length, mixed with a few greyish ones here and there. The hair fell down over his ears and to the sides of his head in subtle waves, evoking a purposeful and powerful feel about the man.

His square jaw presented a well groomed beard in the same colour as his hair and below his mild Roman nose a natural moustache, closely cropped near the roots, made its home. The man’s thick black eyebrows lent him an air of quiet disapproval, under which a set of matching dark eyes gazed at the surroundings with a predatory look.

The sword at his hip and cloak over his back only enhanced that look.

He also had a child following him. A boy.

The boy had little resemblance to the one he followed, so the owners of the house discarded the idea that he was his son, but that still left plenty of relations both familial and otherwise. While their curiosity was piqued, and imagination running wild, they knew better than to ask questions of strange men that carried weapons.

Even those friendly enough to actually pay for their stay.

They decided that the boy must have been 14 or 15 cycles old based on his height, that they observed was just over their own 14 year old son at 1.51m. The the only thing they saw the boy share with the older man were the eyebrows.

Yet where the older man’s made people move out of his way, on the boy these eyebrows looked much warmer, inviting almost.

The boy also had the same hairstyle as the one who brought him, only his hair colour was a red so dark that it could be mistaken for black at first glance. His green eyes had small specs of gold in them, a rarity these people never saw before.

They each had a bag that they carried on their backs and both men were clothed in light brown pants and white shirts, made of thin materials for easier handling of heat. And both had cloaks probably for those times when they could not find a home to sleep in.

They arrived just as the sun went to set, had a dinner and a conversation, then off to bed they went.

The master and mistress of the house kindly allowed them the use of their own room, considering that it was the best in the house.

***

Tercius was not able to sleep after another day of just sitting on a boat and not doing anything. His body probably had energy for spare, considering how intense his days could get.

Exercise with Septimus and Lux, running regularly, moving and lifting stones used in construction, even some aspects of gardening were seriously intensive in the energy consumption department.

He spent these past two days of travel since they left Nurium mostly using Meditation that had stopped at level 60 half a year ago. But he could not use it constantly, so he used Visualization to remember fond moments he had back home, which always made him release a few tears.

That always lead to teasing form the men that travelled with them, while the only woman made a stand to defend him.

Honestly the woman was as much of a nuisance as the men.

Tercius knew she meant well, but she took too many liberties with him, always giving him hugs and kisses, leading to more jeers.

When he could get them alone, away from the pack, these men who steered the barge proved a font of new and at least mildly interesting information. Anything to break monotony.

Tercius turned on the other side, as he heard his uncle release a snore from the bed.

That was another thing that bugged him.

He had to sleep on the floor, while his uncle used the perfectly fine bed, all because the older man was fond of swinging his arms and legs while he slept. The first time it happened he got his lip split. The second was luckily with no bloodshed, but his nose still hurt like hell.

So now he pre-emptively stayed away, sleeping on any warm and flat surface he could find.

Anything was better then surprise wakeup calls of that nature.

He heard the sound of a gently screeching door opening, and opened an eye just enough for him to see. A dark silhouette entered their room, the door left open after it. Reaching for the small dagger he kept under the pillow, a gift from his uncle, he firmly gripped in his right hand. He almost yelled to wake his uncle up, but he recognised who it was.

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It was the youngest daughter of the owners of the house they stayed in for the night. He recognised her large curly hair. She was pretty enough and from the conversation they exchanged during dinner soon to be married.

She stood the at the door peering into the dark room that Tercius and Lux occupied for the night and he saw when she started moving in his direction. Closing his eye he waited, for what exactly he did not know.

She came near him and then he felt her breath on his face.

Oh God. he thought. What did you eat? Why didn’t you at least rinse your mouth after it?

His stomach twisted from the smell that came over him.

He stayed as still as he could, keeping his breathing even.

Then he felt her presence move away from him. Tercius waited a moment and peeked an eye, seeing her move over to the bed where his uncle slept.

She slipped out of the single long shirt she wore as easily as a snake leaves water, her bare breasts visible as a dark outline. She raised the corner of the cover, her head tilting a bit, no doubt seeing some anatomy parts for the first time.

Nodding her head to herself, she slipped in.

Gently exhaling through his nose, he slowly turned over to the other side, his face now stared at a wall, and started with Meditation.

***

Breakfast was a quick affair, as was their retreat from that home.

His uncle insisted that they had to hurry and Tercius knew why, deliberately eating slowly to prolong their stay for a few more moments. After all, the barge would wait for them five more minutes.

The girl, probably just approaching her twenties, was clinging near his uncle, making moon eyes at the older man, while the man in question felt the pressure of the scrutiny from the couple across the table.

Tercius noted that his uncle and these two parents were of a similar age.

He found the whole situation an adequate repayment for last night, where he had to use the skill well into the morning, and because of that will probably have to spend the better part of the day asleep.

So Tercius left him to deal with the whole thing, and moved towards their vessel. A few of the locals came and traded at the barge, so Tercius decided to look around before climbing aboard. His legs saw little use these past few days and he wanted to stretch them a bit.

"But don’t go far, we leave soon." said one one the men that manned the vessel.

Tercius went at a slow pace along the river, kicking small stones out of the way, his mind turned south where his home was, then north to the place where he was headed.

A rustling brought him out of the confines of thinking, and he turned to where the sound came from. The dense papyrus growth moved as something shifted inside, and he slowly took his sword out of the scabbard, silently waiting for whatever came his way.

His gaze fell down when the moving stopped and nothing came out.

Nothing where he was looking, more precisely.

Standing at some 10cm on the ground was a small creature that he never saw before. A lizard of some kind at first glance, with the small scales in all the colours of the nearby river, a tint of green here, a tinge of blue there, yet somehow melded elegantly into a grey of some sort.

A camouflage. he thought.

Yet it somehow reminded him of some other animal, but he could not quite place it. The little guy was looking up at him with its small head, sniffing in his direction.

"Hey there little guy, what are you?" Tercius asked.

"That is a river lion. A cub." a voice said behind him and he spun almost hitting his uncle in the process.

"Watch your surroundings at all times, Tercius. Instead of me it could have been any number of animals that like to stalk its prey from behind. Even other people. Keep your guard up." Lux counselled.

"Yes uncle, I will try to be more careful in the future." Tercius said while releasing the held breath. "I was just looking at the... hey, where did it go?"

His uncle snorted. "I can see how careful you will be. Look down."

Tercius did as instructed and there barely half a meter away from them the little guy was sniffing the ground while wiggling his whole rear end, the small tail moving left to right almost too fast for the eye to follow.

"I can see where the lion part comes from." Tercius said as he looked at the small creature that could fit on both of his palms. The body shape it had was that of a small lion cub, and yet this was clearly a reptile. Its eyes were snakelike, now that it was close enough for him to spot it, a single vertical slit with golden sides around.

The small creature released a sound, something like when a kitten sneezes, just a bit more squeaky.

If he had to mix two animals to get this one he would go with a lion cub for the shape of the body, and some kind of turtle for its skin pattern.

The skin looked moist so he crouched to check and it was indeed that. The little lion paused for a moment observing his actions, and then tentatively continued towards him.

"Strangely enough even though it shares the name with those pack predators, these beings are herbivores. And they are only found in these parts of the known world, this river in fact is one of three known to have them. Back home, in the Capital, they are often kept as pets because they never grow larger than your average domestic fox." his uncle explained. "And they can live up to 20 years, if their health allows it."

"Now come along, its time to go." his uncle called for him as the little lion played with him.

"So its a reptile then? It hatches from an egg?" Tercius knew that most reptiles that hatch from eggs are abandoned by their parents shortly after egg laying.

"I think so, I only know this much because a cousin of mine had one while we grew up. It…well it’s a long story with a sad ending, no point of going there. Lets go before they leave without us."

"I am going to bring it with me." Tercius proclaimed.

The older man let out a slow breath through his nose. "…Why would you do that?"

"Because a proper mage needs a small companion at his side."

"What? No, they do not. Where did you hear such nonsense?"

"…It does not matter, lets go uncle and the little cub is coming with us."

"Tercius, I will not take care of your pet once you get bored of it, so leave the animal alone and come along." Lux said.

Tercius did hear what his uncle said.

But looking down at the little scaled lion shaped turtle that lacked any shell as protection, currently entertained by his wiggling fingers, and thinking that this small cute creature was probably as alone as he was, yet started its life in a nest surrounded by multitudes of its kin.

Tercius felt a connection existed there.

So he picked it up, feeling the low temperature of its body, then went running after Lux as the little one squirmed in his arms.

"Now what do I name you? Oh, are you a boy or a girl?" he asked the seemingly confused creature as he lifted it in front of him to check its gender.

"A girl then." Tercius said with some excitement. "Now we need a good name. I will have to come up with a list, after all a name is important."

"Did you give them money?" he asked Lux when he caught up to him.

"…"

"You know, they probably sent her on purpose."

"…"

***

They sailed all day, the travellers on the barge with nothing better to do now badgered him about the little river lion.

Apparently the locals along the river considered these beings as a sort of pest.

They frequently got into gardens, eating without stopping, and although one by itself would not eat much, when the season came for them to hatch many farmers did not sleep while they guarded their gardens from becoming a desolate wasteland after a mob of these things pass through.

In their first week of life they ate without stopping, they told Tercius.

Their meat is tender only for the first few months of its life and after that it gets too chewy and was not pleasant enough for eating at all, they told him.

He mostly just heard their voices, not really listening at all.

The little girl had so much energy, jumping and running around, and when he stopped following after her she stopped and came back to look at him. He would hold her on one palm, where she fit perfectly, then use the index finger of the other hand to scratch the top of her head, especially this line that went form between the eyes to the top of the head. That one was her favourite.

How did he know?

The little creature released those sounds every time he did that, while pushing her head against his finger as much as she could.

If that is not a sign he was doing something right, what was?

She did get dry as the day got hotter, and that worried him a bit, so he took her in his hand, gripping firmly her torso and lowered her on the side of the barge, right into water.

He was pulled back immediately by one of the sailors that saw what he was doing.

"Do you want to lose that arm? There are creatures inside that can take you whole in one bite." the older man snapped his palms one against the other, the sound attracting the attention of other onboard. "And then you are gone."

"…Thank you." he did not know what else to say, and the intensity man’s eyes made him get away as soon as he could.

They were soon to make a stop in a town that was the same as Nurium, in a sense that it was a targeted expansion ordered by the leaders of the Empire in the effort to extend the old borders.

That was one of the expansion policies of the Empire, to put towns along every sail-able river so that with no breaks a boat can go from one to the other within less then a day of constant travel and as far as Tercius saw the policy served the Empire well so far. Of course there were towns that were much closer to one another, but a new town would not get its charter approved until it had another within that distance of itself.

This only applied to those built on rivers of course.

Their barge travelled some 8 to 9 hours each day, frequently making stops along the way to make sales to the many villages that doted the river sides, so for them it took almost 3 days to get here. As the night soon approached and humans beings, being the daylight loving species that they were, retired to their dwellings until the Sun rose once more the next day. All manner of beasts used shadows as cover in their hunts, and humans learned long ago that it was safer to just stay in.

"At what time do you go tomorrow?" his uncle inquired of one of the men.

"At noon milord, we are waiting for goods to arrive." the weathered man replied deferentially.

"We will be there. Tercius, let us find an inn, shall we?"