Just as Axel was going to leave with Aria, the staff member cleared his throat and motioned for them to come back to the desk. He then pulled a cylinder out of a tube from the side of the desk. With a twist and pop, a piece of paper was removed from the cylinder.

“Sir, there is a message waiting in the system for someone with your ID number. From a Lyra Windchime, one moment while I get it. It was paid for in advance and put in holding here about a week ago.” With that, the staff member handed the letter to Axel. Axel thanked the man and was told to check in later in the week for training and figuring out his schedule. After leaving the area, Axel and Aria found a café to sit in and look over the small letter.

“Axel,

Things were worse than I feared in the village, and I needed to leave early. I pray this finds you well and that you made it to Greenhaven safely. I am staying at the Tempest Inn with several of the other villagers as they decided to come with me here when I announced that I was leaving early for my Trial. I hope you can find me before they decide to complete theirs and try to get me to come back with them. If you can, leave a message with the innkeeper with where you are staying. I don’t think it will be safe for you to meet me here. Some of the new “guards” that Finn has employed are not friends to you; they would likely try to finish what they referred to as the Traitor off. Finn has even put a bounty out privately to get your head.

Stay safe,

Lyra”

“Well, that does not sound good at all,” Aria said after taking it from Axel and reading it.

“No, it does not, and I would bet they have someone watching for me knowing how close me and Lyra are. I am not sure what I can do about this, though thankfully we happened to rent on the other side of the city if what you told me about the inns was right,” Axel said in a tired voice.

“Oh, Aria already has a plan for the how. Aria just is not sure about the when of the situation. It is rather unknown about Aria being with Axel and there has been no one following us out of the Trial center, so Aria proposes that we do this now and then head back to the inn.” Laying out her plan quickly, Aria bounced a bit in her seat.

“Yeah, well, I think you are forgetting something, Aria, and that was we had planned to meet your foster mom, and it sounds like she is very worried about you right now. We need to see her so that she will not have to sit there and wonder,” Axel said in a gentle tone.

“Aria believes that helping Lyra is more important than going to see foster mom,” Aria replied quickly, only to be stared down by Axel. “Fine, Aria believes if we are quick, we can do both. Just be prepared as an angry foster mom is scary. Aria would rather fight the Shadowfang on the ground and be unable to fly than deal with an angry foster mom.”

“I think we will be fine; we survived in the jungle together. What is there to worry about?” Axel replied as he left his chair.

Leaving the table in the café, Axel and Aria started heading down the street to the platform station. As they moved down the white sidewalk, Aria stopped near an alley and tilted her head. It took a moment for Axel to realize that Aria had stopped and needed to double back to her standing at the mouth of the alley and looking in.

“Something wrong?” Axel asked.

“Aria thought she heard a muffled fight, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary down there. Maybe it was nothing,” Aria replied in a tone and body language that screamed to Axel that she wanted to check.

Right at this moment, a body fell into sight from the middle of the alley from around a corner, causing both to jump and draw weapons. Axel gave Aria a look, deciding to see what happened as things like this never happened in the village. While death was always a thing, it came in challenges or hunts, not what looked like a murder in an alley. Taking the lead, Axel readied his halberd and moved forward cautiously until they arrived at the body.

Carefully checking around the corner, Axel did not see anyone and motioned for Aria to check the man with a nodding motion. As she knelt and flipped the man over to check for wounds, all that was visible was dark hunter’s clothing and a human male bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth. Axel did not recognize this man, and neither did Aria. Not knowing anything else to do as the man had no pulse, they left the alley and flagged down a pair of Enforcers.

“Enforcer, my companion, and I just saw a man collapse in the alley over there,” Axel explained and led them to the downed man. The Enforcers checked the scene and brought in a truth-sayer to confirm their story. When all was said and done, Axel and Aria lost about two hours of their morning and were only told that the Enforcers would investigate it.

After leaving the crime scene, Axel talked to Aria in a quiet tone, “I have only seen someone dying like that once, and that was from Jareth during the bandit attack. How common do you think a death like that is?”

“Aria is unsure. There are thousands of power combinations out there, and why would Jareth be in this random alley? I think it is likely a robbery, assassination of a rival, or an unsanctioned challenge. Those things happen all the time in Greenhaven. This is Aria’s jungle, and don’t worry, Aria will guide you safely through it,” Aria said distractedly while seeming to focus more on the surroundings.

Axel could also not help but remember Lyra’s warning in her letter. Greenhaven was becoming as dangerous as the jungle that they had just recently left. As the pair finished walking to the landing, the office name Axel learned for any place to get on a platform, Axel decided to invest more training into working with a closer-range weapon as just thinking of fighting in that alley with his halberd gave him a shudder. It would be fine if they came head-on, but if attacks came from both directions, he would have real trouble shifting his attacks around.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

This was a time when he also wished that he had listened to his father and learned more of the arts of the axe. Axel had always assumed that he would have Cade handle the close-in fighting while he would cover with his reach. He did have Aria, and they were beginning to really start meshing their skills together well in the training that they had gotten in, but having a backup never hurts.

Axel was so deep in thoughts and training plans that he only realized they had stopped when Aria tugged his hand and led him to a nice home. This area did not have the crush of large, beautiful, but almost alien structures that reached into the sky of the inner city but was much closer to what he would see in the village with homes of two to three stories made of stone and wood. Axel felt more relaxed as they walked over to one of the larger homes that reached four stories and had a large yard.

In the yard, there were many play sets for children, and from a quick count, about twelve children from the ages of three to their teens were playing or taking care of chores. As Axel was looking around, he saw a gentle smile on the corner of Aria’s lips just barely formed. Just as fast as it formed, it vanished as an old woman, something that Axel had never really seen before as the blessing helped fight aging well, wearing a flowing blue dress walked out of the front door and marched out of the house. She was an Aurelian with wings that were basically metallic feathered on her wings, her waist-length hair was pure gray, and her silver eyes pierced through Axel, sending a shiver down his spine like an apex predator was looking at prey.

“Here is our wayward ward,” The woman’s smooth voice carried a bit of a rasp to it, “Decided to return, did you? Did you not think to inform me of your leaving?”

“Aria is sor… Ack! Please stop hitting Aria with the sandal!” As Aria began to apologize to the old lady, Axel assumed was her foster mom by the fact that Aria should be able to avoid swings that slow and telegraphed, pulled off her sandal, and gave Aria a good thwack.

“What did I tell you about talking about yourself in the third person in this house?” The old woman complained.

“That Aria (Thwack!) OW! I need to talk like a normal person to not cause issues with the other children or potential families that could adopt them.” Rubbing her head after the reply, Aria then hid behind Axel using him as a shield.

“This is Aria’s (Thwack!) mate Axel. Found him in the jungle all beat up and saved him!” As Aria began to talk and refer to herself in her normal way, hiding behind Axel, Axel found that even though he could see the sandal, he seemed to be trapped and could not move. When the sandal hit, it was not really any pain involved, but it still hurt for some reason he could not explain.

“Ow! I didn’t do anything. Why am I being whacked?” Axel, being released from the hold, complained.

“Because you are young and dumb,” The old woman replied tersely, “But I guess you are now family. The girl is way too young still to make this kind of decision, but it has been made.”

The woman then motioned for Axel and Aria to come into the home for lunch. The house was clean but for a toy here or there, with hand-crafted wooden furniture and children’s drawings papering the walls in all directions. Axel sat at the table with Aria taking the place out of easy whacking range, but Axel had a feeling that this old lady could give a good thwack to Aria if she felt the need.

“I am Sapphire, and this is my little home. I would like to formally welcome you and let you know as long as you treat my daughter well, this will always be a place you can lay your head,” Sapphire introduced herself, “Now let’s hear why and what caused you, my dear, to run off like that!”

Over tea, Aria explained that shortly after finishing her Trial, she received a divine quest to go to the jungle near Jungleheart and get stronger there. At this point, Axel took turns going over what happened, and there were only two more whacks for them. The first was when they decided to go back and hunt the Shadowfang; this got both of them one, and once more with Aria slipping into her normal speech when she excitedly explained the bandit battle.

“Well, you both have had an exciting few weeks. Aria, my dear, you are going to stick around now and work on your training?” Aria nodded her head meekly. “Good! Now you, young man, what are your plans?” Sapphire turned her head and stared Axel down.

“I plan to go to the library and research my path. I also am making training plans to increase my weapon skills, add new ones, and increase my index to beasts beyond what is found in the jungle. After that, maybe be a flame seeker and see how high I can go.” Laying out his plans for the first time in a long time made Axel feel a sense of purpose.

“Basic but not a bad plan. If you are both looking to be Flame Seekers, you should also begin looking for others starting out or at most early Adept to work with. Besides your initial trial, you can only bring five people into the Trials for exploration and gathering crimson cores. It is a good living if dangerous,” Sapphire then looked off into the distance, likely to a time long passed before looking back at the pair.

“Well, Aria, you are of the age of majority, so I have no power over you, like I ever did, and this is your life to lead. Just know you will always have a home here, girl!” With that statement, Sapphire got to her feet and hugged them both tightly. “I remember when you first came to me, Aria. You were so small and scared, but you had a fire in your eyes. You’ve grown into such a strong woman. Your mother and father would be so proud of the woman you are becoming. I look forward to the day your wings fully spread and take you to great heights.”

With a final hug and kiss on a tear-stricken Aria’s forehead, Sapphire led the pair back to the door when Aria was then ambushed by all the children who wanted hugs and gave more tearful goodbyes, leaving Aria looking a mess by the time they made it to the fence and back to the sidewalk.

“Make sure to visit from time to time!” were Sapphire’s final words to Axel and Aria as they walked down the sidewalk.

With goodbyes yelled in return and a flying sandal later, Aria, laughing with tears streaming down her face, pulled Axel along, away from her home. The next step was to split up with Aria going to the Tempest Inn and Axel to the library as it would be one of the safest places to spend time in the city according to Sapphire. As they reached the launch, Aria suddenly seemed to get amorous, and after a deep kiss, she whispered in Axel’s ear, “We are being followed, by two men with much the same clothing as the man in the alley. They are good; Aria only noticed them because this is her neighborhood, and they almost seem like they are interested in other things.”

“What do you want to do?” Axel whispered back as he kissed her lips softly.

“We split here and see if or who they follow. Aria is confident that losing them would be easy as neither can fly, but it would be harder to do that with you in tow. We meet up at the café near the fountain with your father’s statue. That way, Aria can see if they are following you or Aria. Be safe, my love.” With one final kiss, Aria hopped on a platform and was gone. Axel jumped on the next one and told the driver to take him to the Luminary Library.

As the platform launched, Axel noticed the two men taking separate platforms but both heading in the same direction as him.