Randidly had given himself two days to tie up all the loose ends remaining on Expira. The Patron of Feathers continued to be stable, but this situation would last for long; the other Patrons were getting decidedly ansty.

Such a period of time wasn’t enough to handle his still slightly unruly emotions. It also wasn’t enough time to figure out what sort of plateau his increasingly thick Nether approached or reinvent the flow of his energy to create a dangerous Nether Storm.

But it was enough time to say goodbye. To feel the pulse of significance across the Alpha Cosmos. To make any adjustments he believed were necessary before he left. Not that he wouldn’t be able to pop back into the Alpha Cosmos, but his focus would be aimed outward.

The shadow of the Nexus dominated a larger portion of his anxiety, these days. It had ceded a lot of its space to his lingering fears and guilt regarding his emotional flaws, but not enough to take it out as the dominant engine of tension in his life.

Besides, focusing on the task of touching base with people on Expira distracted Randidly from his emotions. Turning his attention outward was a welcome shift.

The first people he visited on this short tour were Nrorce and Randy in B’s Crossing. The latter was still ecstatic that the worries about keeping the restaurant open had evaporated, and he was young enough not to ask too many questions about why. They had a dinner together with Bethyl, Randy suddenly grown shy after seeing Randidly on tv and Bethyl almost forcefully casual to counter the young boy’s disposition. Only Nrorce seemed genuine if a bit morose, and the meal reached a happy conclusion.

Afterward, he and Nrorce went out back and looked up at the stars. In the wide badlands South of Zone 1, the stars proudly gleamed. Once, Randidly started to say something and looked over toward the tiny blue goblin. But the look he found in his eyes was terrifying.

Nrorce’s eyes said: I’ve said this sort of goodbye before, when someone left for the Nexus. And all that came back of my daughter was a useless hunk of Aether. I can’t ask you this, but don’t you fucking dare put me through that again.

I’ll burn your fucking planet to the ground if you leave me alone here.

Randidly closed his mouth and raised his gaze. He blinked away several tears before wishing Nrorce goodnight. He left and walked across the badlands, feeling the cool dirt beneath his toes and feeling the starlight on his skin.

It took him a while to calm his surging emotions. But he couldn’t let his trip stall out here- he had more people to see.

He then went and visited the people of Donnyton. He had after-dinner appetizers and drinks with Mrs. Hamilton, Donny, Sam, Annie, and Dozer. Delilah was supposed to come but heard he would show up and abruptly vanished. Apparently, she was still searching for the perfect birthday gift for him and refused to show herself in front of him until she found it.

This meal was much more subdued, occurring at midnight and with some of the most powerful figures of Donnyton. Even if most had taken a step back from running the town, they still possessed deep sway. Randidly amused himself for a bit by examining the thick connections between them, him, and the significance of Donnyton, but hurriedly stopped when all the activity began to stir up his own emotions.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 986!

It’s almost annoying how easy it’s become to upset me, Randidly pursed his lips. What happened to that version of myself that first got swallowed by the System? That guy was a champ at emotional self-denial.

As late-night shifted into the painfully early morning, he visited the Frost Dragon enclave. Wivanya wasn’t there for whatever reason, but he went in amongst them and listened to the dragon people’s stories. They told a much-embellished version of his life, savoring every detail of his adventures. The dragons loved his bare feet, his long silences, the moments when he forcefully escape the oppression of another power.

For almost six hours, he sat in their frigid ice cave, covered in gorgeous stalagmite and stalactites, and listened as they told him about himself.

They got several things wrong, but Randidly didn’t correct them. He felt the significance swirling through their stories, weaving itself into a version of himself that resembled him, but didn’t possess his humanity. Seeing that perfection made him all the more aware of his own glaring emotional flaw.

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Humanity. What a strange word to use in reference to myself. Randidly felt his heart constrict. He recalled Tatiana comforting him that he didn’t need to be perfect. He suddenly wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that he came here and felt this; all he knew was that he felt exhausted.

But instead of turning away and leaving to calm himself, Randidly sat there and listened to the stories. He closed his eyes. Because he trusted Tatiana; he acquiesced to the idea that he didn’t always need to be perfect.

He couldn’t afford to fail in the fight against the Nexus. If Elhume caught him in a moment of weakness, he would be killed and his Alpha Cosmos dissected and exploited. But right here, reeling from old trauma he didn’t know how to address, it was okay not to be perfect.

In the face of his acceptance, the emotions swirled but didn’t rampage. When he opened his eyes to continue listening to the dragon’s story, he could see the power in the vision of him that they saw.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 990!

Just sitting with those emotions would not address the problem, but at least it was a step forward. One that exhausted him completely, so he staggered out of their ice cave just as the sun peeked over the horizon.

So he spent almost eight hours sleeping and then paying his Penance back on his skyisland. He woke up to good news from Tatiana; the Zones were coming together around the idea of creating a unified code of laws. In the next few months, they would hammer out the details. It was too late to cover Missy Carp, but Randidly could read the flow of significance that spun throughout the Alpha Cosmos. She wouldn’t be much of a problem, now that she was incarcerated.

The final meeting was with Naffur and Tatiana. They didn’t bother with a meal, just talked about Kharon and the development of the world. Rather than seeking any input from Randidly, they spoke about their plans directly. They had been in these roles for several years and they knew them even better than him. More than that, both embodied the spirit that Randidly had been working so hard to impart upon the Wandering City.

Even without him, they would take care of Expira.

It was evening when they finished the debriefing. Tatiana twisted her lips and gave Randidly a sideways look. “Well, I believe I know the answer before I even ask, but would you like me to agree to any of the requests for meetings? You’ve got quite a few from business owners and politicians. All sound pretty desperate for some facetime.”

“I think I can at least spare myself that torture,” Randidly said cheerily. Weirdly, he felt cleansed by his nap. He still felt the heavy significance swirling in that inert storm’s eye, but it was no longer lashing out. Some of the tension left his chest. Breathing became just a little bit easier.

From there, he moved to his island, where the Vulpis Squad was gathering up its troops. He stood at the edge of the volcano and looked down at the divided island; the training facilities weren’t being entirely vacated by this exodus. The Order Ducis and other training fanatics would remain here, working on the island even without the added pressure of his presence. The infrastructure installed by Raymund was probably the most effective training assistance on all of Expira.

The methodical architect himself, Raymund Ballast walked slowly up the Path and stood next to Randidly on top of the volcano. He thumped his fist against his chest in salute. “Everyone is accounted for, aside from Charlotte. We are ready to leave any time.”

“She will need some more time before she’s ready to be shown to the world, I think,” Randidly rubbed his chin. A layer of high and wispy clouds drifted up toward them, blown by the persistent wind that hung over the sea. “But you probably should prepare a rotation of people to assist with her training. Seeing familiar faces will probably keep her-”

Randidly paused in his speaking as he noticed several individuals amongst the Vulpis Squad who had definitely not gone through the original training circuit with Helen. He pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows at Raymund. The Vulpine shrugged indifferently, but wouldn’t meet his pointed look. “New recruits. We lost a few, when you made it clear you were going to stand against Military High Command. In order to effectively field a sufficient number of squads, we needed additional blood.”

Randidly let his breath hiss through his teeth. Adding more talented individuals made sense. But knowing that these fighters from Expira and the rest of the Alpha Cosmos made him feel strangely vulnerable.

Yet he forced those thoughts away. He dismissed Raymund and sat at the edge of the volcano. He breathed in and breathed out. Then he pulled out his evolved Alchemist’s Passport and moved himself to the area of the Alpha Cosmos where the Patrons stayed.

The Patron of the Sun and Patron of the Abyss were there, waiting for him. He nodded to them. “It’s time. Have everything prepared to track the connection?”

The Patron of the Abyss nodded. The Patron of the Sun stared at Randidly for several long seconds with intense eyes that radiated flickering wisps of golden light along their edges. “I appreciate this, Randidly Ghosthound. The bonds I hold with the Patron of Feathers go very deep. If you can figure out how to save her-”

Randidly raised a hand. The movement felt heavy. “For now, we need to at least find the source of this. And that means, back to the Nexus.”

“Ah good, you are already here,” Edraine floated out of the murky expanse around them. She spread out her fingers and eight gleaming coins floated away from her fingers. Three of them gleamed with a complex Engraving visible to the naked eye. “Your Nexus’ citizenship coins. So long as we stop by the hideout and get one more token, you’ll have it. Are you ready?”

“Yea,” Randidly said. Inwardly, he wasn’t exactly sure of the answer. But for the first time since the tournament, he felt fine with that.