Once his mother had stopped crying, they enjoyed a pleasant evening where they talked about everything, from his sister to a rather understated version of his first two jobs as an adventurer. Even still, his mother found the idea of him sneaking into a guild job interesting enough to bring on that new smile she was training.

Luckily, Lan was able to turn the conversation onto the people he had met and was left speechless for a moment when he found out that his father knew Cawl.

‘Yeah, everyone in the crafters’ guild knows each other, and everyone is in the crafters guild. It’s the only way to avoid being gouged at every turn by the merchants, well, any more than we already are. Even still, I work with Cawl from time to time.’ Lan’s father shrugged.

‘Why didn’t he say anything?’ Lan asked, drawing on his memories of their first meeting to see if anything stood out in hindsight. The only thing that came to mind was that Cawl had been willing to give him the spear in the first place.

‘It might have something to do with him giving you a damn weapon even though he knew your level.’ Lan’s father frowned before sighing.

‘Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time he did that for a Cross.’ He finished as Lan’s mother tried to bore a hole in the side of his head with her stare.

‘Maybe he is just trying to kill all the men in my family.’ Lan’s mother laughed, and he was sure he had heard a dog whimper somewhere in the night.

‘Uh, You mean?’ Lan started glancing at his mother.

‘Yeah, I wasn’t level one,’ his father added quickly, ‘and Cawl could still fit through doors. I am still buying him rounds for the beating he got from his father when he found out.’ Lan’s father smiled.

‘Do you happen to know the Guildmaster of the Wild Hunt too?’ Lan sighed, wondering what other help he had gotten through his parents. Maybe Art was his uncle or…

‘No, the guild we… I joined no longer exists.’

‘You don’t know Art, do you?’ Lan asked conspiratorially now that the thought had come to him.

‘No, should I?’ Lan’s father blinked.

‘Never mind.’ Lan said before a thought hit him.

With a quickly growing confidence, Lan reached into the Other World Chest and drew out his sword. ‘Could you take a look at this.’ Lan said before realizing everyone was staring at the space his hand had just been in.

‘Wow, you could save a fortune on storing and transport,’ Maya breathed.

‘That’s an interesting ability.’ His mother added wistfully.

‘I can also do a little magic.’ Lan said a little enthusiastically, making his mother's face light up as she squeezed his arm.

‘This is Cawl’s work?’ Lan’s father asked, getting a nod from Lan before taking the sword and starting to look over the scabbard and handle.

After a moment, his father nodded before his eyes turned golden as purple rune circles covered it.

‘Hmm,’ Lan’s father frowned, ‘this is.’ He managed before his eyes grew wild. ‘What the hell was he thinking.’ Lan's father sighed as he shook his head.

‘What is it.’ Lan asked, wondering if he really had needed to worry about the sword.

‘This sword is made up of two different steels with magic properties.’ his father pinched his eyes.

‘Is that bad?’ Lan asked

‘Only if you think of it exploding is bad. Well, that would be the case if anyone but that lunatic had made this.’ He sighed. ‘Somehow, he has not only got it to work but made an alloy more stable than either of the two components.’

‘What are they.’ Lan asked, feeling the urge to know everything about crafting overtook him.

Seeing this, Lan’s father smiled. ‘The first is Mage Steel. Mages use it as the core of their staffs, other weapons and armour. On top of it being a great conductor of magic, it takes to enchantment like a thirsty man does to water.’

Lan's father rubbed his chin. ‘This other one, Sage Light Steel. I have never heard of it, but I can see through The Eyes that it's drawn to magic. I don’t know what Cawl was trying to make with this thing, but he did something. He may be a madman, but he is one hell of a blacksmith.’

‘Maybe he will give Silus a viper in a spring box next.’ Lan’s mother smiled.

‘Anyway, this sword of yours seems to be safe enough to use, but it can’t be enchanted.’

‘Yeah.’ I figured that out.’ Lan said before talking to them about what he had seen before their conversation slowly turned back to the other people he had met.

Of particular interest to his mother were the women he had met, to which Lan had to remind her that he had known most of them for little over a week.

All in all, they were in danger of having a pleasant night when Lan's father headed off to his workshop. When Lan tried to go with him, his father told him to keep his mother and Maya company. Only reemerging when it was time for Lan to leave.

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‘I wish you would stay.’ Lan’s mother said for the third time as she hugged him again.

‘I know, I wish I could too, but it’s better if I don’t, at least until the trial is over.’ Lan said, getting Maya’s help to pry his mother off him.

‘Fine,’ she huffed, ‘just be safe, okay?’

‘I will mom.’ Lan said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. ‘It was nice getting to meet you… again.’ Lan said to Maya, who smiled back before he headed to the door, his father opening and closing it behind them as he looked up at the night sky and let the cool air fill his lungs.

The night sky was clearer than it had been in a while, leaving it a sea of stars.

In fact, the night was clear enough that Lan could make out the Radiant chorus, the two swirling paths of stars, at the heart of which lay the light to the realm of the Lords of Light.

‘What an interesting day, right?’ Lan's father said.

‘Yeah.’ Lan turned and smiled, ‘you could say that. I think it was one of the best in a while. All I have to do is get Silus to forgive me, and the next will be perfect.’

‘Just give him time,’ his father said, placing his hand on Lan’s shoulder. ‘you have grown so much.’

‘And you haven’t changed a bit.’ Lan laughed, although his father didn’t join him.

‘The day you returned. I showed you my second greatest failing. I let my anger blind me to what you were going through and what I should have done. I guess I thought I had messed up so much that there was no going back to the way things were or that I didn’t deserve for things to be like they were. I’m glad you showed me that I was wrong.’ Lan’s father said, hugging him.

‘It wasn’t your fault.’ Lan tried but stopped as his father smiled and shook his head.

‘I’m glad you managed to keep that promise with your mother. And although it took some last-minute work, I thought it was time to keep mine.’ His father said as he retrieved a small red box from his pocket and handed it to Lan.

‘It may not be the best gift for an adventurer, but everyone can do with a little light.’ Lan’s father spoke as he opened the box and was greeted by an inch-and-a-half-long flattened crystal with a perfect hollow sphere, like an air bubble frozen underwater at its heart.

The crystal itself was held in by a frame of a swirling black metal that was made of the same material as the long extendable chain. The moment Lan saw it, he knew what it was.

His father had promised that one day he would make an item just for him, and as he took the black steel chain in his hand, he knew this was it. But there was more to it, aside from being nearly indestructible and almost as hard to work with. Over the years, the silver lines that flowed through the obsidian steel would gain a greater glimmer to them.

As Lan looked at it, not only was the frame of the crystal a mirror of the night sky, but as he followed the links, it was as if he was travelling through time with his fingertip. The first links had to be about ten years old and the newest as black as their hair.

Lan looked up, his words catching in his throat and saw that his father knew what he was thinking.

‘A light crystal seemed as useful a gift for a merchant as a crafter, but now I hope it will always help you find your way home.’

‘This is great. Thanks, Dad.’ Lan had always wanted something his father had crafted. To Lan, everything his father made was the best in the land, and finding out his father could work black steel proved it.

Black Steel? Lan Looked up. ‘This...’

‘Yeah, I sold most of it to build our home and the shop before the mages restricted who could buy or sell it. But I kept the spearhead just for this.’

He had used this spear to build their home and their lives, and now he had forged the best part into this, a light for him.

‘I don’t know what to say.’ Lan breathed.

‘A younger you, would have said I was the best crafter around.’ His father grinned.

‘You are the best in the world.’ Lan said before hugging him.

‘Although I guess with that little wisp flying around, you may not have too much use for it.’ Lan’s father added, patting him on the shoulder. ‘And you will need a new crystal. I fear that one lost its charge a few years ago.’

As if waiting for this, Tyr appeared from wherever she had been wandering and shot into the crystal. Almost ripping it out of Lan’s hand as the stone took on a golden light.

‘Are you alright, Tyr?’ Lan asked, getting a feeling akin to satisfaction as the crystal shook softly. ‘I guess she likes your gift too.’ Lan smiled as he held the light crystal up.

‘You don’t see that every day.’ Lan’s father breathed, ‘then again, I am still trying to wrap my mind around you having a wisp.’

‘Well, at least this way, I don’t have to charge the stone ever. And Tyr seems to like it.’ Lan smiled.

‘Yeah, but this is like using a bar of gold as a doorstop.’ Lan’s father said before the two laughed.

‘Anyway,’ his father cleared his throat, ‘wearing both your guild tag and this may become a little bothersome. So the next time you come home, I’ll fit your tag to this one. So you be sure to come back, okay?’

‘I will, dad.’ Lan said as they hugged.

As Lan walked through the dark streets of the village, he felt good. It was the feeling of constant pain, one there for so long that one’s mind begins to treat it as part of life, and Just like that, when the pain is gone, the world seems so much calmer, so much sweeter. So much so that trying to remember the pain becomes hard to do. Not that he was trying all that hard.

That was what Lan felt as he walked down the street leading out of the village, just the cool air, the shower of stars above and the sweetness of normalcy for company.

Although he had never thought he would feel this way. Some of him had wondered about just this and how he would feel afterwards. Would finding this piece make him not want to be an adventurer anymore. As if wanting this had been the only thing compelling him to fight.

As he walked, Lan realized it was the opposite, without the guilt clouding his mind. Just the thought of when next he would hear the Hunter’s song steeled his heart as now he knew he would be fighting for the right things.

Smiling at the thought, he noticed that he had reached the village inn just as a voice came from just beyond the door, breaking the tranquil silence.

‘We’re going, you cheap bastard.’ A gruff, very impaired voice slurred before the inn door flew open, and a familiar face stepped out. Corbin. The large, shaven-haired man had been one of the head labourers who had worked under Lan when he was still Dell’s apprentice and had always been one of the more difficult people to work with. Which more often than not led to others acting the same.

And from the looks of it. Lan had found him in the middle of an angry drinking session if the cemented frown and flushed red face or the fact that it was taking three people to lift him was anything to go by.

‘Keep it down, Corbin.’ A voice Lan recognized as another one of his head labourers, A man named Doddie hissed.

‘I wouldn’t do you the courtesy of turning that shit you call Ale into my piss.’ Corbin turned to say before looking over to Lan. Squinting as if to help him peer into the dark before his frown deepened.

‘And what the hell are you looking at. You get lost on your way to go do…’ He paused, looking around. ‘Elf… shit?’ he finally landed on as he pointed a finger at Lan. Simultaneously lifting one of his large tattooed arms off the person trying and failing to carry him.

‘You shouldn’t be picking fights in the village, Corbin.’ The soft voice of a smaller man said before his view cleared, and he was able to see Lan. ‘Master Landrin?’ the man asked immediately as his eyes grew wide with pleasant recognition.

‘It’s good to see you, Sorel, ’ Lan told the other man, making the man’s face light up.