Watching the city of Delitone brought several emotions to mind. The first and most basic was nerves.

If I was caught by the border guards, then I’d be looking at prison time, and who knew what would happen to the eggs?

Past the nerves, there was some pride.

I was getting close to the dragon sanctuary, and if the eggs could be securely placed there and given good conditions, they might help to boost the numbers of a species that was critically endangered.

Past both of those, there was a hint of awe, as I watched the city approach.

The entire city was carved out of marble on the cliff, but despite being made of marble, it wasn’t pure white. The entire cliff, every house, and every tower, pulsed with thin blue streaks that spun through the structure, like the veins on some absolutely enormous being.

The sunlight caught on the veins and marble, making the entire city sparkle and shimmer with a blue-white glow.

The only thing that broke up the gentle, soothing blue and white was the spots of color that decorated the houses, especially the roofs. The colors were all vibrant, neon, electric colors, with the odd splotches of pastels and duller shades. Blue seemed to dominate half the houses, but there was every color on the rainbow and beyond.

Scattered around the outside of the city, forming the circumference of a half-circle, with the cliffs as their diameter, stood thirteen tall houses, each one practically crackling with magic. With my spirit so injured, my mana senses were dull, only the instinctive blob that mana senses naturally formed, but even from a boat nearing the docks, I could feel the soft abnegation magic flowing through every street of the city, forming the protections.

The docks were made of a carved marble as well, kept aloft using some sort of telluric magic enchantment. They fed into the sheer cliff of stone, and I could see small windows, doors, and pathways all carved into the cliff face.

Unlike when we’d arrived here for the Idyll-Flume, there was no stampede of people waiting to join the boat. Instead, there were small groups of friends and family waiting to welcome people back.

“Oh, there’s Meadow,” Kene said, pointing. I followed the line of his finger, and sure enough, there she was, her frumpy old woman dress standing out against the white docks. Standing next to her was Ikki, proper and at attention, as if ready to break into combat with the entire dock at once if need be.

I let out a breath of relief. It felt like it had been a year since I’d seen Meadow or my family, and seeing Ikki here was a strange sort of relief. Since Orykson was bonded to a knowledge elemental who had to be at least close in terms of power, I had kind of always felt like he was watching me, or at least was aware of me. He was powerful and distant, like one of my grandparents, but with enough power to make him more like a mythical figure.

Ikki and Meadow were both much more… human. They chatted and saw me regularly, and weren’t always watching from afar. Their limits were more real, and they felt more like an aunt and uncle than a grandparent. Not that I had an aunt or uncle – at least, none that I knew of.

Dusk appeared out of the air over my shoulder and let out a cry of excitement, conjuring her cloud underneath her and zooming down to greet them cheerfully. It took Kene and I a while longer to disembark, but we we made our way over to my mentors. Meadow gave us a broad, dazzling smile, and spread her hands wide, the cane leaning against her stomach to stop it from falling.

“Well, look at you, Malachi!” she said, flicking her hands to indicate my body. “You look all grown up and mature. And Kene, sweetheart, it’s so good to see you.”

I stepped into the hug, and Meadow gave me a tight squeeze, holding me for a long moment, then let go and spread her arms to Kene. While they hugged, I turned to Ikki.

Ikki was calm and professional looking, as always, but he did have the ghost of a smile on his face. For Meadow, that might not have been much, but on the serious time mage, it meant a lot.

He inclined his head to me in a slight bow, then held out a hand for me to shake. I copied his bow, then shook his hand. His grip was firm, but not crushing.

“Well done, Malachi,” Ikki said. “Your path is not what I expected, but you have begun to put your feet on the ground as a mage, and as a man. People speak well of you. That has more weight than you know.”

He was quiet, but there was a firm warmth and pride in his tone that set my heart fluttering - not in the romantic sense, but like getting the approval of a parent

“Thank you,” I said. “I’m not sure that this was what I expected either, but... I'm happy with it."

“That is what is more important than anything,” Ikki said seriously, and I saw the flicker of a smile on his face. “Now, introduce me to your…?”

“Partner,” I said, turning to Kene, then back to Ikki.

“Kene, this is Ikki, the person who taught me how to fight, and has been acting as a mentor for my temporal magic. Ikki, this is my partner, Kene. They’re an alchemist and a healer, and they’ve got a few blessing spells.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Pleasure to meet you sir,” Kene said, extending a hand.

“Not at all, the pleasure is mine,” Ikki said, shaking Kene’s hand as well. Then the placid time mage looked at me.

“You have good taste,” he said, dark eyes containing a fraction of mirth in them. “If I were your age, I would likely have picked similarly.”

I laughed awkwardly, but my stomach flopped some, glad that Kene had met with Ikki’s approval.

“Sorry, but old men aren’t my type,” Kene said with a teasing grin on his face. I froze for a second, but Ikki simply raised his eyebrows slightly.

Dusk, on the other hand, fell off her cloud with laughter. It re-appeared beneath her feet a moment later, and she shot over to sit on my shoulder.

“How did you know I was so old?” Ikki asked.

“Eh, you give off the vibe,” Kene said with a shrug. “I’ve noticed it among the really old people.”

“Very astute,” Meadow observed.

I glanced between them, then fired out a question before the conversation could drift too far afield.

“What are the two of you doing here?” I asked. “I’ve never seen you outside of the backyard, Ikki. Primes, that sentence sounds weird out of context.”

“I convinced him that since it was his suggestion for you to wander around, fixing people’s problems, he should accommodate your lifestyle,” Meadow said. “Especially since it had been months since your last lesson.”

“Indeed, I will be updating to account for this,” Ikki said. “The ascension to third gate is also an important one. For much of history, you would have been strong enough to rule as a landlord or even a minor baron. A military would award you rank and status. Within a sect, you would have certainly become an inner sect member.”

A faint smile touched his face again, and I wondered if this was some kind of record.

“I am not much of one for history, but I do believe that the celebration of reaching this stage is one worth keeping, no matter how much the universities and sects have moved past it, as power has become more common.”

“Thank you,” I said seriously. I didn’t know what he was going to do, or if his mere presence was the celebration, but I appreciated it.

“Well,” Meadow said, clapping. “I believe that you need to work your way through the security checkpoint, yes?”

“We do,” Kene agreed, and Dusk whistled her own agreement.

“We will meet you in the city,” Ikki said, then gently touched Meadow on the shoulder. A moment later, they faded out of existence.

I glanced around, worried someone would grab us to demand answers, but barely anyone seemed to have noticed their vanishing act.

I picked up my briefcase, filled with the sparse few coins that I had left in my bank account that wouldn’t be for covering the broom payment, then hooked arms with Kene, and we headed towards the queue.

Kene, as always seemed to be the case, was let through without any real problem, but the older woman who had me studied the papers, then up at me. She glanced at the note that the man in Dragontooth had written, mentioning the spiritual damage and the condition, then raised an eyebrow. I gave a smile that I hoped looked innocent.

“I’m going to need you to take a potion and answer some questions,” she said.

I held out my hand.

“Of course. I get that this is a bit of an unusual situation.”

She ran through the checklist of contraband items – it was slightly shorter than the one in Dragontooth, to my surprise, missing out on several of the laws about battle spells and weapons and stuff – and I answered honestly. I told her about the storage from Pinpoint Boneshard, as well as confirmed that was the only spell I had that could store things.

“What is your purpose of visit?” she asked.

“I’m touring as much of the world as I can,” I said. “And I wanted to see the dragon sanctuary.”

“Alright,” she said. “I am going to have to scan you. I trust that won’t be an issue? A little pain is worth it to prove you’re innocent, right?”

“It is,” I said, but a tired sigh managed to escape my lips. She gave me a stern look, then led me to a large ring of concentric spellwork. It was bigger and bulkier than the spell array they used to scan me in Dragontooth, but the spellwork was much the same, and she blasted me with a burst of knowledge mana.

Pain exploded across me, and I fell to the floor, gasping for air. She pulled me up to my feet, then pointed to a chair.

“Sit and wait while I get your results…”

I agreed, and she read through them, then tossed them into a shredder.

“Alright. You’re free to go. Understand that while in the city, you are under local laws and ordinances, so don’t go thinking that just because you’re from Mossford you can get away with something crazy.”

“Understood,” I said, and Dusk river-sounded her own agreement.

Then I was pushed through the line, and to a massive round chamber, carved with all sorts of force and telluric enchantments on the walls. Several other people were entering from other lines and doors, and the moment they stepped into the circle, they began to rise into the air. Others seemed to be going the other way, falling down to arrive at the bottom, presumably leaving Delitone.

I stepped into the circle, and felt gravity neutralize on me, then a gentle burst of force began carrying me upwards.

I emerged in a large center square, with a half dozen fountains trickling water through statues of assorted figures. There were bushes set into recessed coves, and along the streets were colorful tents, with merchants selling from them. There were a lot of fish for sale, and the air smelled of salt and sand, even from this high up.

Strangely, despite the fact that it was slightly brighter than I was used to, the late afternoon sun reflecting off all the smooth marble wasn’t painful on the eyes. I wondered if that was the result of some harvesting spells cleverly draining away light to manageable levels.

I spotted Kene, Meadow, and Ikki sitting on a low, marble bench, and made my way over to them.

“I trust you made it without any issues?” Meadow asked.

Dusk called out that we had, and both Meadow and Kene let out sighs. Ikki simply inclined his head, as if this was simply how the world should be.

“I should probably head over to the sanctuary,” I said. “If their office has normal business hours, they’re likely to close in an hour or two, and Octavian said it would take them a few weeks to verify my identity. Best to get that started now.”

“After you knock that out, we can head to the Seadrake’s Scale,” Meadow said. “My treat.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Kene and I objected at almost the same time, and Meadow just waved the complaint off.

“Good food is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Let me indulge my apprentice and his partner, and a friend, if you wish.”

She addressed the last part to Ikki, who paused, then nodded.

“If it is not too much of a burden.”

Ikki turned to me.

“In the morning, I will reset our lessons, and get you and Dusk a celebratory gift, one that will be practical. Tell me, would you prefer for us to visit a tailor, a barber, or a furniture store?”