We bartered back and forth for a bit, before Kene and I finally accepted that we would each take a suitable item for ourselves if there was one, as well as an eighth of whatever was there.

After that, it really just came down to cracking open the ring and getting its contents evaluated. Andrew called in a cousin who did professional ring-cracking and item analysis, though he seemed a bit awkward about the whole thing, like they felt ashamed to not be using a neutral party.

That cleared up quickly when Kene commented that they knew enough to identify most natural treasures, and that there was no concern about fairness.

Things moved quickly after that, with the cousin spending half an hour working on the defenses of the ring, grumbling all the while about how outdated and over-energized the enchanting work was, before the contents were finally spilled out on the table.

I couldn’t help but admit that I was impressed. Garrett had been traveling with someone who had a legacy to seek out powerful and useful items, but after twenty years, I’d expected a lot of them to fade.

Some certainly had – pretty much all of the plant-based treasures and items were little more than dust now – but others were in completely fine condition, stones and crystals and even a few bags.

It took Kene and Andrew’s cousin a while to sort through everything, and I wound up leaving to head to the kitchen, where I helped Sofia with cooking a massive bowl of a hearty white bean and lamb soup. Sofia tried to insist I didn’t need to help, since I was her guest and had helped them, but I insisted I was happy to help, and was set to work dicing up some aubergine and onions for the soup.

Sofia and Andrew insisted that Kene and I stay for dinner, and it was only after the kids had gone to sleep that Kene, Dusk, and I were led to a small pile of mana sources, as well as a couple of minerals, and some assorted natural treasures. None of them looked like anything especially interesting, but they should fetch an alright price, once the inflation from the Idyll-Flume calmed down.

Then again, we’d been in Puinen for a long time after the end of the Idyll-Flume. Maybe the prices had already fallen back to normal levels?

“This is your eighth,” Andrew said, “but your…”

“Partner,” Kene supplied.

“Your partner picked this out as your item,” Andrew said, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a smooth blue and gray stone.

“It’s a teleportation core,” Kene said. “Once you’re healed up, if you break it over your Foxstep spell, it should help it grow. Kind of like the healing apple I had. Nothing as dramatic as the alter-truffles, but still useful.”

I took it and tossed it into Dusk’s realm, then waved my hand and made the pile of things we’d gotten vanish as well.

“What did you get?” I asked, unable to repress the curiosity.

“Animation-silver,” Kene responded. “I’ve got a theory I’m testing out, something that should pair with my flame runes and blessing. This might help.”

I nodded, tempted to ask more about the theory they were testing, but trying to be respectful of Andrew and Sofia’s time and family, I didn’t.

Kene and I said some goodbyes, and were thanked one more time for bringing them some news, before we finally left.

Truthfully, I just hoped that what they’d gotten out of the ring would be enough to help their family. They didn’t seem to be in dire straits, but things were clearly not going perfectly for them either.

We visited one of the open air night markets, selling most of the mana sources and advancement resources that we couldn’t make use of, and then splitting the money between us, which left me with just over four thousand silver – more than I’d had in a long time.

Dusk did notice something interesting as we worked our way through the market, however – a ghost market. She led us into the shadows of a large tower with a bright red roof, and poked around in the shadows for a few moments before opening a path to a shadow realm of the night market, one where they were selling far more dubious products, as well as others who were looking to dodge the high sales tax here in Delitone.

I did have a bit of money burning a hole in my pocket, but the main thing I needed wasn’t something I could find at the ghost market – new clothes! Ones that fit me a bit better, and ones that meant I wouldn’t have to wear Orykson’s suit literally everywhere I went.

I also didn’t want to burn all the money right away, since there was a good chance that I would be in the city for a while longer, and I needed to continue to make payments on the broom that I legally owned, even if it no longer existed, so after a bit of back and forth deliberation, we left both the ghost market and its more legal cousin of the night market, and headed back to Dusk’s realm for some sleep.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The following morning, while Kene and I were drinking some coffee and snacking on yogurt and a pastry, we heard someone call out to us.

“There you are!” Octavian said as he walked across the street, Aracelli bounding over far faster. She slammed into my stomach, like an overly affectionate big dog, then sat down and started begging for food, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. Dusk let out an excited cry and pulled a t-bone steak from nowhere, tossing it into the air.

I glanced at Dusk, because I didn’t think that we had any steak in her realm. In fact, as its guardian, I knew that we didn’t. Dusk just gave me a pretty smile and laughed, while Aracelli gnawed at the treat.

“We heard that you were out on an expedition to the marshes,” Kene said, rising and shaking Octavian’s hand. I waved to Roh, the will-o-wisp, who waved his tiny little hands back at me, then I shook Octavian’s hand as well.

“We were,” Octavian said, his nod causing his single braid to bounce. “We just got back last night. Mind if I sit with you all?”

I gestured for him to go ahead, and Kene nodded, so Octavian pulled the chair out and ordered a coffee and yogurt for himself.

“My moms told me you were here with the delivery,” Octavian said, “But Mal, you’ve changed a lot!”

He grinded, his gemstone-blue eyes sparkling.

“The changes look good on you… but I have to ask. How did the tail happen? The eyes I get, but a tail?”

Kene laughed at me as my tail lashed at my self-consciousness and wrapped around my side.

“Bully,” I said, poking them in the side, before launching into an explanation of the effects of the Beast Mage Soul and Magister’s Body, as well as everything that had happened since the Idyll-Flume.

“So… Yeah. That’s most of what’s been up with us,” Kene said. “How about you?”

“I’ve been looking into the group that shattered the Idyll-Flume,” Octavian said, sipping his coffee. “Not much of interest, annoyingly. The two I was able to identify all have family members who went into the realm five cycles ago, and the families I spoke to admitted openly to the fact that they had been planning to free Idyll for over two generations, and that the Craftsman had told them to stop any warlocks from getting their hands on the device he made.”

Dusk frowned, leaning forwards on my shoulder, and told us that wasn’t right. There was something more to this, she had a gut feeling, a whisper of an instinct from within herself.

I glanced at her, then back to Octavian, who was frowning.

“I… Maybe? It seemed pretty cut and dry, but I admit it does seem like a pretty big leap to go from keeping an artifact hidden to, ya know, murder.”

“Definitely,” Kene agreed, and for a moment we lapsed into silence as we considered it.

“Oh, I also got a job offer from Elio, to join him in the settling of Chrysite,” Octavian said.

“Think you’re taking it?” Kene asked. “Malachi got a similar offer.”

“Beastmage. That makes sense.”

Octavian leaned back and sighed, scratching Aracelli’s horns.

“I’m not sure. I probably will, if for no other reason than to check on how they’re handling it, and report to the sanctuary and our allies.”

“Speaking of the sanctuary, any progress on getting our… delivery… in for your moms?” I asked as I finished up my own coffee.

“Mo-Olive is almost done vetting you all, she’s already on your school records and family stuff… But in the meantime, do you want to visit the public portions of the dragon sanctuary?”

It was clear he felt a little bit strange calling his dragon-mom by her first name, as he stumbled slightly on the word ‘Olive’, and then rubbed his freckled nose, but I barely even was paying attention, since I was caught in the absolute mortification of realizing that Olive was looking through my horrible school life and terrible grades.

“We’ve been doing tourist stuff,” Kene said. “I’d love to visit the sanctuary, though… Can we? We were told we couldn’t come in until the security clearance was finished. I didn’t know if that included the public sections or not.”

“You’re still welcome to visit the public parts of the sanctuary,” Octavain said with an amused grin, that slowly turned more serious as he talked. “It’s just the behind the scenes stuff – so many of our creatures need some really delicate enchantments and wards to keep their habitats running. Back when my moms were just starting it up, they had a couple of employees who used the backroom access to break the wards and steal some creatures to sell as exotic pets, or to kill and use for parts.”

Dusk rustled, asking why Olive couldn’t just take the delivery and bring it through the wards herself.

“Your… package… needs some pretty extreme conditions. Removing it for transport would risk cooling it so much that it becomes… non-viable,” Ovtavain said, struggling to figure out a way to phrase it in public.

Dusk nodded, and Octavian snapped.

“Oh, hold on, before I forget, Malachi, Kene, my mom – Thea – told me to give this to you.”

He pulled out a note and passed it over to me, and I froze as I opened it.

Thea had drawn a map, and labeled it ‘the path of the meteor shower’. It showed how the meteor shower – the very one I’d had a premonition about when I’d been practicing with my Depths of Starry Night technique – would begin off the northern tip of the Isle of Chrysite, fall across the sea and over the southern moorlands of Mossford, before stretching across the sea again and coming to a stop on the bogs outside of Delitone.

Within my wounded spirit, the winds of fortune spun in a lazy circle, accepting that this outcome could work just as well as the one in Mossford.

I considered that for a moment. I wasn’t sure returning to Mossford was the wisest option right now, since I didn’t have magic, and staying here for the shower would give me a bit more time to recover after my power came back, rather than immediately rushing off to go try and catch the stars.

Eh, I’d figure it out another time. At least I had the option now, though how Thea had known about my vision was beyond me.

I tucked the paper away and gave Kene a brief explanation, then finished my yogurt.

“To the sanctuary?” Octavian asked, and Kene, Dusk, and I readily agreed.

The three, or four, or five of us – depending on how you counted Araceli, Dusk, and Roh – left then, heading out towards the dragon sanctuary on the edge of town.

Octavian shepherded us through the lines, the people who worked the ticket stand letting him through when he showed them a card from his pocket.

“You don’t need to do that, we can pay,” I objected, but Octavian shrugged.

“Two friends skipping admission isn’t going to make much of a difference in running this place.”