"Aletta!", Philippa shouted at the top of her lungs and lunged at the little girl with all her might. Overwhelmed, the latter cried out and gave way, which is why she was almost pulled to the ground by the onslaught. The tall archer clutched Aletta tightly with her arms and almost seemed to cry when Ben and William reached her as well. William could swear she was about to crush Aletta. "Ah, I missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, Phil", the healer softly admitted, patting her friend on the back a few times as if she were surrendering. Finally, Philippa loosened her grip a bit and grinned from ear to ear, making Aletta smile as well. "You two, too, by the way. Let me give you a hug."

Opening her arms, Aletta received first Ben and finally William as she spoke.

"It was so quiet without you guys, felt weird. Miguel would laugh at me for sure."

"Miguel? Your fiancé?", William admitted, breaking away from the girl before the four of them came to a stop in a circle. Aletta turned away to the back and pointed to a tall man with curly blond hair and blue eyes.

"Yes, Miguel. We finally met", Aletta declared before spotting Aaron and Theorik on the sidelines. "Ah, High-Magician Thopas. It is also nice to welcome you to the city unharmed. I hope the three of you weren't too much of a burden."

"Not at all", Aaron replied politely, greeting the young healer and Miguel as well.

"Who is that?", Aletta directed her question to Philippa, indicating Theorik with an unobtrusive nod of her head.

"That's Theorik. He's from Winstest and we met him when we were traveling in the Death Region. Didn't Cale tell you anything about him?"

"He didn't", Aletta threw back unobtrusively, turning to the unknown young man. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir ..."

"Theorik, please. Just call me Theorik. I, much like Philippa, do not carry a last name. You must be Aletta Merensen, then. I learned from Philippa that you and I are the same age", Theorik commented with amusement, shaking her hand in a friendly manner.

Unobtrusively, William nodded. Although Theorik's height made him seem older, he, like Aletta, was only 16 years old. It was remarkable to William that at such a young age he had left everything he knew behind and walked through the world alone. Over the last few days and weeks, the three of them had become good friends with Theorik, and so it was that he followed the group to the capital. While he didn't really have a plan of what he was going to do now, Theorik was more the type of person to spontaneously decide to follow an unknown path at any time anyway.

"Isn't Cale here at all?", William finally spoke up and looked around scrutinizing. He had actually expected the High-Magician to receive the five as well, but he couldn't see him far and wide. When he noticed Aletta's sad look, he stopped abruptly.

"Cale just disappeared a good week ago", Aletta explained, which is why the friends of the reunion went out all at once.

"What, disappeared?", Aaron interjected, moving closer to the circle. Their reunion took place outside the walls of Exarion, accordingly many people stood around them. At Aaron's exclamation, dozens of eyes immediately turned to the group, so Aletta sheepishly pulled her hood over her head and inconspicuously turned to the High-Magician.

"Yes. We were still talking about the communication crystal, but by the time I got to the Magistrat, it was already gone. The Eldest couldn't say what exactly happened either", she recounted the events. Instantly, William pulled out his necklace and let mana flow in it, which is why pairs of eyes turned to him. "He won't answer you. I've been trying and trying for days, but he didn't respond."

It was as Aletta said it. Cale did not respond. William tried for quite a while to reach his friend, but he ignored him and that, although he usually answered. With a disappointed look, he looked over at Aaron, who must have had the same thought as William at that moment.

Why was Cale ignoring them?

"Let's go into the Magistrat, the Eldest and Sir Vonstetten are already waiting for you", Aletta explained and led the group towards the gate. The line at the entrance was comparatively short, with hardly a soul to be seen outside the walls, except for a group of mages.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Has anything happened in our absence?", Ben asked as he followed Miguel and Aletta. Next to him William came into the aisles and bringing up the rear were Philippa, Theorik and Aaron.

"There was a lot going on, yes. I'll be happy to tell you more later. You'll have overheard that the Magistrat is going to be offering wide-ranging classes to everyone in town, right?"

"Yes, Aaron had told us about that. Especially self-defense and knowledge about the creatures they want to teach the residents, don't they?", William replied, still trying to make contact with Cale. However, the cold reaction from his friend hurt him.

"Yes. They've been distributing lesson plans and teaching materials around town since yesterday. It's quite fascinating to see how eager people are when it comes to their survival", Aletta explained as she came to a halt behind some waiting people. "Miguel and High-Magician Sefra Rizstus have agreed to give combat lessons for the residents."

"Oh really?", Ben interjected, dropping his gaze to the blond-haired swordmaster. Inevitably, his gaze landed on the white sword Miguel wore on his waistband. "Isn't that..."

"Zurakekama, yes", Miguel confirmed with a gentle smile on his face. "High-Magician Leuen had forewarned me that you would recognize the sword."

"The whole thing becomes more and more abstruse as time goes by", Ben muttered, thinking of what he had learned about legendary swords from Cale back in the day. Immediately he had to think of his father's acquaintance, the historian Tavian Hagn. How would he react if he knew that Ben had already seen two of the three legendary swords with his own eyes? "Then only Mirajokama is considered closed."

"I guess that's true."

"Even you don't know in whose hands Mirajokama is currently in?", Aletta interjected into the conversation. "I thought you were close to Master Paseru?"

"I was, but even Jonat didn't know what happened to Mirajokama. Compared to Karekama, it has been considered lost for much longer", Miguel politely answered the curious questions, while William paid no attention to the conversation.

William finished his unsuccessful attempt to contact Cale and stared up the city wall. Quite a few people could be seen walking the walls in circles. The noise of the city was also very apparent now, especially the different voices. William couldn't even remember if it sounded exactly the same when they first arrived. It seemed like half an eternity since he was last in Exarion.

Unexpectedly, Aaron appeared beside him, his uncaring eyes fixed on the prince. He stopped with some distance to Aletta, which William did the same.

"You were talking to that kid a little while ago..." lifted Aaron cautiously. "Did he make any comments to you about what he was up to?"

Immediately, William shook his head as he recalled the conversation with Cale. It was an impromptu and brief endeavor, the only thing he was told by Cale was that he should behave himself by Aaron. Since that day, it had become uncomfortable for William to be alone with Aaron. They had been talking quite a bit over the past few weeks and William felt that Aaron was slowly dropping his emotionally neutral barrier. But it wasn't until the conversation with Cale that he realized that Aaron only seemed so open with William. It didn't seem like he disliked Philippa or Ben, but he went a step further with William than with the rest of the group.

"No, nothing of the same. I have no idea what is going on in Cale's mind", William confessed, turning away to the back. Philippa and Theorik stood beside him, by all appearances just telling Theorik more about the city.

William had unobtrusively asked Theorik some time ago if he had ever had any contact with people outside Winstest, but that was not the case. Therefore, William suspected that Cale had disguised his appearance when he met Theorik and Basil. Perhaps that was why Cale did not want them to mention his name. Perhaps he was exposed as Grischa had exposed him then, which had led to an argument. But Theorik had only been in the Winstest death region for barely three years, so William didn't understand the world anymore.

How did Cale even know the young spearman? Why wasn't he in Exarion? Why didn't he tell anyone what was going on?

"How suspicious", Aaron casually admitted, following the crowd a step forward. William agreed with the High-Magician, something about Cale was strange. The narrative and actions didn't match. "Maybe I went too far."

"Too far?", William threw back, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The kid and I had a little argument recently."

"What, you had an argument? About what?", the prince countered, nervously clutching the Igrikum. It had almost become a habit to touch his arm to it whenever he got nervous.

"The night before we left Winstest", Aaron explained matter-of-factly. "We got into an argument about several things, and I said a few things to him that I might have phrased differently. It involves events in the Magistrat, so I'm afraid I can't tell you more about it."

"I understand", William replied disappointed, disengaging his gaze from Aaron. Presumably it was about Grischa, the creatures, or William's identity. Everything seemed plausible to him and also a reason why Aaron didn't elaborate. But why did Cale just disappear for no reason and didn't think it was necessary to inform anyone about his intentions? Had something happened in the last few days or did Cale have some plan he hadn't told anyone about?

Unconsciously, William's gaze landed on the Igrikum in his arm. It was only because of this connection that William knew Cale was still alive. That was the only reason he didn't assume he was dead.