Pete herded Chance and Bella over to the dining room table and practically pushed them into their chairs. He hustled into the kitchen and started to pull ingredients out of the ice box.

“I wasn’t expecting any company so soon or I would have had something ready,” Pete said with an embarrassed laugh. The thunk of a knife on a cutting board accompanied his words as he chopped up a vegetable reminiscent of a green onion.

“It’s completely fine,” Chance said. “We didn’t really warn you. To be honest, I don’t think either of us thought we’d be back in Gleam today. It’s been a pretty hectic few days.”

“I can imagine.” Pete scraped the onions to the side and looked over the counter at them. “You both feel stronger. Considerably so. Did you become Knight Ranked?”

“We did,” Bella confirmed.

“You’ve formed your Center, then.” Pete gave them an approving nod. “Well done, both of you. It can take a very long time for young cultivators to come to understand their Essence enough to create a Center.”

“Is that the little ball of energy that’s in my chest, behind my solar plexus?” Chance asked.

“It’s not just energy. It’s a physical manifestation of your Essence, and it’s the next step in your road to becoming a truly powerful being.” Pete poured water into a pot and set it on the stove, then set about chopping up a variety of vegetables and seasoned meats. “First comes the Gate. It efficiently converts the energy of your surroundings into your Essence. The Center is a storage. There’s only so much power a mortal body can hold, so your strength is fairly limited until you can form a Center to contain the excess.”

“I can see auras as well, now. Is that because my body is just holding more Essence so I’m more attuned to it or something like that?”

“Precisely.” Pete beamed and set the lid on his pot. With the aid of his staff, he walked over to their table and pulled a chair out to sit down. He lowered himself and laid the staff against the wall. “Knight Rank is the core of the Shikari. Most cultivators in our ranks are Knights. You’ve really come quite a ways in just a few meagre months.”

“The threat of death is a great motivator,” Bella said, only half joking.

Pete’s lips pressed tight. “Yes, I can imagine. If you can share, what happened that day you were forced to flee?”

“A cultivator I used to know in my past showed up in Gleam,” Bella said. Chance could tell that she was choosing her words carefully – not to avoid giving her own secrets away, but to make sure she didn’t accidentally tread on his own territory. Considering how Yamish was, Chance was pretty sure Bella was making the right call.

“A single cultivator? That’s why there were assassins coming after you?”

“A very powerful one,” Bella said. “I don’t actually know how powerful he was, but he was well above a Rank 6. He made the Shikari send assassins after me, Chance, and Yeo, but all he ever wanted was to go after me. Chance and Yeo just got caught up because they were my friends.”

“What a vile wretch of a man. Those with power should defend the weak, not attack them.” Pete’s eyes narrowed with fury. “How did you manage to slip the lasso of someone that powerful?”

“Luck, mostly,” Bella admitted, sending an amused glance in Chance’s direction. “For a while, it didn’t look like he was onto us. The Shikari were searching, but we traveled until we got to the Dancing Cloud sect.”

“You joined a sect?” Pete’s eyebrows rose. “Bold, if someone was actively chasing you.”

“That was why we figured it could work,” Chance put in. “Nobody looks under their own nose, and there weren’t going to be any Shikari in the area. It kind of did work, for a bit.”

“For a bit?” Pete chuckled. “All things work until they don’t.”

“Chance ran into a Shikari while he was on a mission for the sect,” Bella said. “She was traveling with another Shikari – someone called Shae.”

The smile vanished from Pete’s face like a candle in a hurricane. He shifted, leaning forward. “Shae? He’s searching for you?”

“He’s dead,” Chance said.

Pete froze. “You killed him?”

“Technically, no. I’m getting there,” Bella said. “By the time Shae managed to track us down in the Dancing Cloud sect, we’d earned some tokens to an Ancient Realm to represent the sect. When Shae showed up, he ran into the Red Hand, who Chance somehow made friends with.”

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“Wait, what?” Pete slapped his hands against the table and rose to his feet. “Where did that come from?”

“Maybe I should fill a few things in.” Chance stifled a laugh and briefly went back over their trek from Gleam, talking about how they’d run into the group of bandits and how he’d met Lin in a bath house.

Pete’s eyebrows continued to creep up his forehead as Chance talked about their retreat through the Ancient Realm and the fight they’d had with the Essence Eater. He burst into laughter upon hearing that they’d left some treasure behind for others to pick up, but that amusement vanished when he got to the Brackern Sect.

A mixture of sadness and relief washed over Pete’s face as the two of them finished the tale with the fight they’d had against Vex and Shae, culminating in tricking Vex into cutting through the scroll.

They left out all the details with Yamish and their more personal moments. The entire story had taken nearly thirty minutes to properly get through, and Pete nearly let the stew bubble over before Bella reminded him of it.

But, finally, they were finished. Three bowls sat on the table before them, mostly untouched. Pete leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Absolutely heart wrenching and incredible. You never should have been put through something like this, but surviving it… I couldn’t even imagine doing something like that at your age.”

“I can still barely believe it myself,” Chance said. He took a sip of the stew and his eyes lit up. They’d been living off field rations for far too long. Grabbing the bowl, Chance tipped it back and shoveled the meal into his mouth, chewing as fast as he could without choking.

That was the tipping point. Bella grabbed her own bowl and went to town, and Pete could do nothing but join them. The rest of dinner passed both quickly and in silence. While Chance and Bella were busy eating, Pete was lost in contemplation.

None of them spoke until they’d all finished their meals – and their second helpings.

“At first, I was thrilled that the Shikari have removed the bounty on your heads,” Pete said, picking their dishes up and taking them to the sink before anyone could protest. “Now, I feel like they haven’t done nearly enough.”

“It wasn’t their fault,” Chance said. “They were just following orders.”

Pete snorted. “Following orders. We are humans. We have brains. Anyone can get an order, but the purpose of a cultivator is to think. We are meant to be a shining example – the protectors of the world, not the ones that plague it.”

“There’s nothing that can be done about it. We’re alive,” Bella said. “I’m happy with that. Trying to demand reparations from the Shikari would almost certainly go poorly.”

“Perhaps, but it doesn’t change the fact that apologies should be made. Your reputations have been marred. Even if the bounty is no longer on your heads, as soon as you do anything to come into the light, people will remember.”

“That’s fine. We’ll just stay out of the public eye for a while,” Chance said.

Both Pete and Bella stared at him. Chance blinked. “What? What did I say?”

“You’re good at a lot of things,” Bella said gently. “But you are horrible at not sticking your nose in places it doesn’t belong.”

Chance opened his mouth, then closed it again. He cleared his throat and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Okay, fair point. It doesn’t matter to me, though. If people want to spread rumors, they can.”

“That’s more along the lines that I was thinking.” Bella looked to Pete and gave him a small smile. “I’ve never cared about what others thought about me. Everyone of relevance knows the truth. Idiots will always have something to harp about.”

“Bah. There you go, making me look like a grumpy codger rather than a mentor.” Pete shook a finger at Bella, then walked over to the table so he could reclaim his staff. “Maybe you should be teaching me, eh?”

They all laughed, and Chance wouldn’t have traded the feeling for the world. It felt good to finally be able to let his guard down. He’d come to think of the Whiteheart house as home. It was almost perfect.

There was just one thing missing.

The smile on his lips faded slightly and Bella spotted it a moment before Pete did.

“Is something wrong?” Bella asked.

“I’m fine. I was thinking about how much I’d missed this,” Chance said. “It’s just that it’s too bad Yeo isn’t here. I don’t know where he went, and I don’t know if he heard the information that we aren’t being hunted anymore. He’s probably been really lonely.”

“I get the feeling he probably loved every second of it.” Bella scrunched her nose. “This would have fit into his whole become famous scheme, wouldn’t it?”

Chance chuckled. “Yeah, it probably would have. Still, though. Do you think Jade found him? I hope he’s alright.”

“There’s no way that insufferable prick went down easily. We probably drew all the attention from the Shikari,” Bella said with a dismissive wave. She was doing an impressive job of pretending not to care, but after all the time that Chance had spent around her, he recognized the subtle creases in her forehead and cheeks that revealed her true thoughts.

Bella was just as worried about Yeo as he was – she just didn’t want to admit it.

As Chance opened his mouth, there was a loud thud. They all spun toward the door as it flew open to reveal Yeo. He had several new scars on his skin and looked thinner than he had when they’d last met, but even if his entire body had been replaced, Chance would have recognized the cocky grin on his face.

“How’s that for a dramatic entrance? I heard you talking about me,” Yeo said, cackling at the looks on their faces. “The man of the hour has returned. I will accept your tearful greetings now. I’ll have you know that I was standing around out there for almost an hour waiting for someone to mention me.”

For several moments, nobody spoke. Then Bella spun, grabbing a loaf of bread from the counter, and flinging it at his head. It bounced off and Yeo caught it, taking a large bite.

That finally broke the shock. Chance shook his head and laughed as Pete rushed over to Yeo, letting loose a mixture of annoyed curses and questions as to how he’d been.

Now everything is really as it should be.