I can’t recall when Sigil came home last night, they have a habit of staying out late and not explaining why, so I’ve learned not to question it. When I finally awake to the early morning light leaking in through the window shudders, Sigil is already waiting for me at the foot of my bed. Despite their surprising size, I can barely feel the weight of their form even as Sigil begins walking along my legs. My familiar comes to a stop and takes a restful seat on my lap, and I begin to feel the soft twings of telepathic communication as Sigil reaches out to me.

“Good morning Sigil” I offer, stifling a yawn that does little to interrupt our mental conversation.

“Morning Telmire. I’ve completed your childish request to check on your friend. She is alright, you have nothing to worry about” Sigil explains dismissively. I can tell by their tone that prying for any deeper explanation isn’t going to gain me much information today.

“I can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to, but I appreciate the help. If you’re sure about it, I trust you.” I have to force the words across our link, becoming more aware of the buzzing of frustration growing behind my eyes. My mingling souls clearly had some disagreement about the matter. I can’t say I don’t understand, Sigil can be frustrating, but we have a mutually beneficial partnership, he isn’t my slave. I need to foster that trust if I want to make use of it.

Sigil just stares at me for a long drawn out moment. “You’re very correct Telmire.” They purr, before moving to jump down and leave. Just before they can get too far away though, I reach back out mentally. “Hey Sigil, real quick, why do you keep calling me Telmire?”. I know Telmire’s is Andras’s middle name and thus technically my name as well, but it still strikes me as odd.

“There are two of you. Two souls, two minds. Neither name seems correct. Telmire is a middle ground.” Sigil explains, not even stopping to look at me as they trodd out of the room. Strangely enough, it made sense. Even if I didn’t come to the same conclusion myself, part of it felt natural and correct.

With my worries laid to rest, I can go about the last few preparations I need to make to leave the village this morning. Namely, finishing up any last minute packing and confirming my inventory one last time. I don’t want to have to spend too much time worrying about my supplies when I make to Alberack.

I wear my storage ring and mom’s cloak almost every day, and most of my pack has been ready for several days now. I double check all my food and water supplies mom had insisted on sending with me, even though I could conjure more than enough with magic. Nothing is missing, I even have the small disk I enchanted with a [Mend] spell.

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I should be good to go.

Walking from my room into the kitchen, I find Mom and Dad already sitting having breakfast together. More surprisingly though, Leigh is sitting with them, in the spot she used to take when living with us full time.

“Good morning?” I ask awkwardly, confused to her sudden change in behavior as I take a seat with the group.

“Mornin’ Kid” Dad grumbles in my direction through a mouth full of food, not even slowing down his prodigious appetite to properly talk. Mom says quiet hellos as well while I slowly take some of the remaining oats and bread from the center of the table. We eat in this uncomfortable silence for several minutes before Leigh finally speaks up and breaks the tension.

“So, Vincent, Uh” She trails off for a moment, clearly gathering her courage. “I know you’re planning on leaving today, so I wanted to make sure I got down here early so I could give you these.” Leigh begins explaining, slowly fumbling for a heavy wooden box she’d stowed underneath the table. Her surprise gift impacts the table heavily, and she opens the box before sliding it my way.

Inside, resting on a bed of straw, is a set of metal banded bracers. Thick leather straps and padding, with long scaled armor to protect the arms and wrists while leaving the hands free. I know she’d worked on something like this in the past, but I always assumed she’d given up a long time ago.

“Thanks Leigh” I offer, though for some reason I can’t seem to force myself to smile. A quick test fit of the bracers shows them to fit just perfectly, a true testament to her skill as an artisan. The moment the buckles latch firmly around my forearms, thing red lines begin to glow along the metal plates, outline distinctly dwarven runes etched surface deep along the entire piece.

Leigh begins to hurriedly explain before I can feel the buzz of Andras’ fury bubbling up behind my eyes.

“I don’t recall too much about the runes my dad taught me” She begins “but I remembered enough of the basic ones like durability, protection, and when I started experimenting on using them with my [Mana Crafting] skill I realized just how detailed I could make something.” Leigh’s voice chokes in her throat for a moment.

“I could have probably made something a lot better if I had more time, but I wanted to make sure they were ready by the time you left.”

That explains why she’s been locked in her forge so much lately. “I appreciate it Leigh, I really do.” Even if I can tell that my more aggressive side views this whole thing as a waste, her gesture does hit me honestly.

Leigh and I share one more awkward look between us before I finish my meal and she says goodbye. I half expected her to be more dramatic about my departure, but when she just says her peace and rushes back into the village to her workshop, I can’t complain. It will probably be easier for us both that way.

“We’ve already told you to be safe, and if your Mom has to go over her entire list of worries again you’ll be stuck here another week” Dad smiles, pulling me into a hug and covertly placing a small pouch of coins into my traveling pack. The moment he lets me go, Mom tackles me heavily into an embrace of her own, trying her hardest to hold back tears and still failing.

“Mom, I’ll be back soon enough, and besides, you’re an elf, if you get too worried about me you can take a few decades and go hunt me down, right?” I offer, prompting a slap to my shoulder for ‘trying to remind my mother of her age’ or something like that.

Seizing the opportunity for escape, I step out the door and take one last look at Mom and Dad, Neia and Daniel, and the home that they raised me in. Though I suppose with all my knowledge now, the home that they raised us in. The home of Vincent Stesk and Andras Gregori, the Wizards Telmire.