Yast frowned at Jair’s bold claim. “Who are you to promise such?” His construct-sleeves rustled and clinked dully as he crossed his arms.

Jair reached into his pocket. "I believe this is the sign you're waiting for?"

Yast's skeptical eyes widened in surprise as he took in the smoky blue-grey crystal in Jair's palm, then narrowed with suspicion. "I see what this is. You think I can be bought, but this has been tried by--"

Before he could finish, Jair smiled and swapped that crystal for the other. Twelve-faceted, clear blue just a shade closer to green than the sky, the shape jagged from where he’d broken it free by force.

Yast's mouth snapped closed.

Jair kept his tone low and steady. "I can validate my status through any test you propose. This is your path."

Yast stood for a long moment, eyes flicking from Jair's face to the crystal he held, then away as if to see if anyone were watching. Inexorably, his gaze returned to the crystal, taking in its perfect hue and clarity, then glanced up to Jair’s face with confusion in his eyes.

"I can't change the fact that I'm human," Jair said softly. "If you do not accept the way I offer, I will leave and you'll never see me again."

"No." The word burst out as though torn from Yast's throat against his will, hand making a spasmodic jerk toward the crystal. Visibly, he restrained himself and let his hands fall to his sides. "No," he repeated more calmly. "Don't leave. I had not expected my pathmaker to be..."

"I understand." Jair made no move to step forward or withdraw.

They stood for a long moment, neither moving.

“What is the path you offer?” Yast spoke haltingly, still glancing around in all directions, as though half convinced Jair was only a conjuration of his mind. “What must I do?”

Jair carefully re-wrapped the crystal. “There are two locations I need access to without activating their alarms. A heavily-warded house in Astralla City, and the Astralla Mageblade Institute. Each has distinct challenges for infiltration, and both are essential for fulfillment of our destiny.”

“May I ask the manner of that destiny?”

“You will be the one to reclaim the skies of Erathien, and the aeons will echo with your legacy.” Jair held forth the wrapped crystal. “By this I seal thy future.”

Yast slowly reached up to accept the bundle with trembling hands. “I accept this path,” he whispered.

“Then meet us at the Astralla City transit station in five days at midday. I will lead you to the first of the locations, and we will go to the second once our business there is done.”

Yast, already operating on the shady side of the law, was unfazed by the implication of requiring ghost moon passage. “I will be there.”

Jair pressed his hands together over his stomach and gave a brief elven bow, then turned and walked away. He did not hear any rustle of clothing nor the click of the door, Yast staring after him unmoving.

By the time he returned to the marketplace the midday rest was underway, streets all but deserted as the elves all returned home for their second ternary sleeping phase. The market stood nearly empty except for confused non-elvish visitors browsing the limited shops available at the moment, a handful of human or beastkin merchants taking advantage of the opportunity to restock their own wares, and foreign traders unloading their goods without paying any attention to the local bustle or lack thereof.

Ran sat at an open cafe outside an elven bakery, a covered tray of food on the table in front of him while he read what looked like the Institute’s geometry textbook. Why he’d chosen that as the book to bring along with him, Jair had no interest in knowing.

“Why’d you bring along that book?” Jair teased, popping the cover off the food and inhaling deeply. “Mmm, good choices.” Two bowls of grenberry curry, with a thickly-sliced loaf of globeseed bread sitting between them, all still warm. Jair tasted his, then jumped up and availed himself of the shaker of cracked hurainic peel.

“You just have to take everything to the extreme, don’t you?” Ran edged his bowl further away, lest any of the intensely hot spice find its way in.

“They tame things down for tourists here,” Jair explained. “If we went further from the lunar platform we’d find some properly seasoned curries.”

Ran’s eyes were watering and he all but inhaled the slice of bread. “If this isn’t properly spicy then I don’t know if I’d survive the authentic stuff.”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be able to acquire the taste in time.”

Ran ended up eating only half his bowlful - Jair finished the rest - and three-fourths of the loaf of bread. The elves were all still away sleeping when they finished, so the streets were still quiet and clear as they walked back to the lunar platform.

“This place looks so much bigger when it’s empty,” Ran commented, gazing around the wide roads. “It feels weird having so few people around.”

“Wait until you see it at night. You’ll have nothing to complain about then.”

“Right. I’ve heard about elven festivities.” Ran turned back to stare at the market plaza, then shook his head. “Maelstrom first, then we can visit all the exotic places.”

“Absolutely. I’ll have a few specific exotic places to slip into the itinerary, but they’re not pressing just yet.”

The attendant at the lunar platform was a sylphkin, silver wings beating in a blur as the three-foot-tall man hovered at just above head height. They had to wait another half hour until a Nuprima platform opened up to receive them, and the arrival fees were enough to make even Ran take notice, but Zilay was one of the more remote trade hubs they could have visited. For all its relative grandeur, Almas wasn’t known for its great metropolises.

Jair glanced at the shadow encroaching toward their dome. They had perhaps three hours left before the Almas window would be closed, cutting them off from Astralla entirely until the next compatible lunar passage. There would be a Dark Night in four days, but not another Terluna passage for three weeks.

Thankfully, the Orard passage would be much easier - and considerably less expensive.

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They transited eight times in quick succession, shifting halfway across the planet-facing side of the moon. Ran wordlessly handed over the payment and they joined the queue of travelers without affiliation waiting for the last arrivals to clear the lunar platform.

They wouldn't be arriving in Reskas this time, but one of its neighboring continents of Tolue.

Tolue was one of those odd countries that didn't quite have its own continent, but also wasn't properly connected to anywhere worth going. It was sometimes called the 'gateway to the Oriad' though that wasn't any more correct about it specifically than any other bordering country.

While the interior of Orard wasn't as heavily divided as the outer Orard continents, the Oriad contained rivers enough to turn traversing it into a maze. The intense wildlife prevented cable-based transit platforms from functioning reliably, and the thick forest made line-of-sight transit excessively challenging.

Tolue was one of three countries who in coming years would step in to try and fill the gap left by the Reskian coastal withdrawal, but the attempts were ultimately unsuccessful. Reskas ended up split within a decade, the coastward southern half abandoned to become a dead land as the sea reclaimed what it had long been denied.

One more chink in the planet's defences. Not that that mattered in the moment. Plenty of time to figure out the future in the future.

Tolue did boast the most remote arrival platform in Orard, closest to the great vampire forests than anything else. Needless to say, Tolue was one country that did observe Dark Night very assiduously. More, they kept their platform covered at all times except on a verified Terluna or Nuprima passage.

Arrival was expensive, but the procedures were handled quickly and efficiently. Ran handed over the money, the connection was established, and ten minutes after arriving on Nuprima's chilled surface they were back in the hot damp of Orard.

Ran looked around at the jungle foliage surrounding them on three sides with an expression of uncertainty.

"Town is that way," Jair pointed.

"I've never heard of Tolue. It's not a very important place, is it?"

"No, not at all. Best known for its pastries, but I bet you haven’t heard of them at all.”

Ran shook his head.

“Another investment opportunity there, if you want, they're a growing trend. Especially once they step in on the Reskian coastline."

"I’ll consider it."

Jair started walking down the grassy path, worn thin from the passage of dozens of feet, but far from barren.

Ran stared about at the encroaching trees, kept back from the town but surrounding it nonetheless. "It feels strange not being able to see the horizon."

"You'll get used to it. Well, if we stay long enough."

"Is there a chance we would? I thought the plan was to recruit someone and get back to the Institute before Nuprima ends."

"For the immediate moment, yes. But we’ll be back soon enough. Several important things to do nearby, even before we go searching out Aethron."

"You love this place, don't you?"

Jair spread his arms, tilting his head back and breathing the heavy wet air deeply. "Yeah, I do. Some of my best memories are from the Oriad." Some of the worst, too, but that was only to be expected when spending so many years in the same place, time and again.

Of the four accessible continental groupings - Almas, Orard, Aacvar, and Celsin - Orard would always be Jair's favourite. Sure, Aacvar had its craftsmen, Almas had abundant mana and spell researchers, but for all its danger and wildness, Orard was something special. Something Jair couldn't find anyplace else.

Tolue City itself didn’t really deserve the name ‘city’, was more of a town than anything, and even that was being generous. Its buildings were all low, reinforced things, wood and mud and spell constructs layered one atop the other, sloping pyramids with rounded corners. The outer layers were painted in shades of green and yellow, often patterned with intricate spirals of subtle hues, or gradients from peak to floor.

Their pure-white academy student robes stood out from the usual tans and browns of the local garb, their billowing and flowing fabrics designed for airflow in desert dry less than effective at warding off the local insect population.

Hardy mosses formed the pathways, deeper greens in soft thick carpets. Jair slipped off his shoes, enjoying the feeling of the springy ground beneath his feet.

Ran looked at him like he was crazy.

"This doesn't look like much of a town," Ran commented. "Very quaint, sure, but there can't be more than a couple thousand people here."

"There's more underground."

"Underground? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Only if you get too close to a river. This is pretty far inland, so it's perfectly safe."

Lorsit, who didn't know them at all at the moment, lived on the far side of the town, in his family's pyramid.

"He's a bit shy of strangers, so don't move too fast, keep your voice calm, and refrain from crowding him."

Ran raised his eyebrows, glancing sideways at Jair. "That sounds like a different issue from 'shy.'"

Jair shrugged. "We all have our issues. But if you need a reliable stone mage with unimpeachable discretion, there's no one better. In all my loops, I’ve never been able to get the names of his other clients out of him."

Not that he’d ever tried especially hard. He probably could force the information if it were essential to have, but Jair wasn’t the sort to go to extremes with anyone he had any respect for.

"If you say so."

Jair led the way to Lorsit's pyramid, a smaller structure isolated from the rest of the town to the north, not quite outside the boundaries but far enough away to be nearer the surrounding jungle than the town proper.

Still, the blue-green moss pathway to its door was clean and well-kept, showing no signs of neglect.

Jair knocked firmly on the door, the pattern coming to him instinctively. Lorsit wasn't overly superstitious, but he'd be subtly inclined to trust them more for aligning with his known associates.

A young woman answered the door, Lorsit's younger sister, probably about the same age as Ran and Jair were at the moment.

Jair explained that they were here to visit Lorsit, and after a minute's hesitation and brief interrogation of their names and origins, she invited them inside.

Jair stepped inside gratefully. He set about squashing the remaining bugs who'd crawled inside his loose robes while she went downstairs to collect her brother. Ran saw the wisdom in this approach and followed his lead.

By the time Lorsit arrived, Jair and Ran had finished and stood waiting patiently. The young man they'd come to recruit had an air of timidity about him despite his confident pose. Or perhaps that was only because Jair knew him so well. His hair was short and well-kept, though his clothes seemed a bit on the rumpled side.

"Renn and Zahir? How do you know of me?"

Jair instinctively matched his thick accent, shedding the airiness of Veor affectation without thought. "A friend of mine heard that you could be convinced to lend your strength to some covert excavation efforts. I understand you're in need of certain items for your own progression, and I know where they can be found and how to secure them. If you will help us to obtain an item from a certain storage vault, then I will in turn help you collect what you need from where it has been held."

"You speak in vagaries." Lorsit crossed his arms across his chest. "You should be more open with your offers if you wish to be taken seriously."

"If you help me steal a specific sword from the Astralla Mageblade Institute, I'll help you reclaim your ancestral inheritance from the Tsael King."

Lorsit took a step backward, eyes narrowing. "What do you know of my ancestry?"

"I know that a bargain was made and a promise broken, that Colis Tsael and his spawn have held what should have been returned far longer than the arrangement specified. And that your own advancement is hindered because of it."

"Who are you?"

Jair shrugged. "You might call me a seer, for I know of what will be and what has been. Or you may call me a student, seeker, desirer of truth. More specifically, I too have something that has been taken from me which is mine by right. We are kindred. If you will help me, I will help you."

Lorsit considered this for a long moment, then another, looking first at Jair, then Ran, then Jair again, an uncertain frown on his face the whole time.

"Very well," he finally said. "We can discuss the matter. Come down to my room, and we can search out the matter in more details. I make no promises now. But I will give you the chance to convince me."

Jair smiled warmly and nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

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