William had made himself comfortable on a flat stone wall and was looking out over the rooftops of the city when Ben came up behind him, biting with relish into the pastry he had just bought. They were on their own today, Aletta and Philippa both staying in the apartment and Theorik had set out to explore the city. Aaron had offered the young man lodging in the Magistrat for a few days, but Theorik declined with thanks. He had not told what exactly he planned to do now, but William suspected that he would stay in the city for a while.

He still clutched the crystal with both hands as he silently observed the inhabitants at his feet. Among the crowds, he spotted two children playing tag with each other and smiled. He had to think back to his childhood, when he had played tag with Marion in the palace garden before the soldiers dragged them back into the building.

"Are you still worried about Cale?", Ben spoke up and swallowed a big piece of his meal.

"Yeah. Don't you think it's strange that he just disappears like that?", William replied worriedly, but continued to track the children with his blue eyes.

"I do... but High-Magician Vonstetten said this wasn't the first time he'd done it. And the last time he disappeared, he was in Bellator. I'm sure Cale will have his reasons."

"Still...", William began, but held back. "For him to say nothing at all and then in the current situation? What if the city is getting attacked again? Without Cale, Exarion won't get off as lightly as it did last time."

"Do you want him locked up here?", Ben retorted, stuffing the last piece into his mouth and patting his hands clean.

"No, of course not. I just mean: what if it happens again?"

"Are you worried about Altona, or are you worried about Cale?", Ben's brought out with his mouth half full, losing any manners he had learned all his life. William did not answer the question, so his friend continued. "Cale is strong enough to take care of himself and Altona has the High-Magicians. With the Eldest's visions of the future, they should be able to handle an attack. Aaron had said so himself, after all."

Ben was right and William knew it, but he couldn't help it. It felt wrong to just be left behind like this. It felt wrong to be ignored, and the fact that even the High-Magicians couldn't tell where Cale had gone made him wonder. By now, he couldn't tell what was really going on in Cale's head. In the past, it always seemed like he was concerned about the safety of the land and its people, but his gut told him that there was clearly more to it.

"I'm more concerned about Sylve", Ben finally confessed, causing William to look up. "I've always kept a low profile so far, but I think it's time to go home."

"You want to go home?", William interjected in surprise, but Ben merely nodded.

"Yes. It's been nice playing adventurer, but we're not children anymore. It's time to do our duty and support Sylve. We should be more worried about our own country and people than Altona."

Ben's statement was like a slap in the face. William had only ever thought of himself and his hatred of being a prince, that he never thought of what Ben thought of all this. It had become second nature for him to be by his side and call himself his personal bodyguard, but he wasn't. Ben wasn't even officially working for the palace, only his father, Duke Loys of Freigoud, was.

"It doesn't have to be right away, maybe in the new year", Ben added quietly, patting the crumbs off his trousers before turning back in surprise. William did likewise, for he too sensed someone approaching them quickly. "We can't stay here forever, though. If what the Magistrat said is true, then this was not the last attack by the creatures. We should use the time we have to get home. Especially while the ferries are still running. I have no desire to voluntarily go through the creature levels again."

The two looked up the wall of the house in wonder as Aaron revealed himself. The mage was wearing the Magistrat's black uniform and had cut his hair a bit as he came to a stop on the roof and looked down at them. For the first moment, none of them stirred as a cool breeze reached the High-Magician, making his clothes blow in the wind.

"Here you are. I've been looking for you", Aaron coolly announced, leaping gracefully down from the roof. If there was one thing William had noticed, it was that Aaron and Cale moved with equal grace. He knew that Aaron had been Grischa's teacher a few years ago, but what about Cale? Had Cale never had a teacher, and if he had, who had it been? And why couldn't he shake the feeling that Aaron and Cale thought and acted similarly? Was it simply due to their relationship with each other?

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"Could I have some of your time, William?", Aaron politely chimed in as he came to a stop in front of them. "In private, if that would be all right?"

Skeptically, William and Ben exchanged glances. They both couldn't help but think of Cale's warning, but what was that all about anyway? Aaron might be a bit rational and sometimes a bit awkward in dealing with people, but he didn't seem dangerous at all. Had Cale only made this statement because he had argued with Aaron just before, or what reason did Cale have to be so suspicious of Aaron? If he really thought so badly of Aaron, why had he let her go with him in the first place?

"I'll go ahead", Ben finally lifted and bowed to the High-Magician. "Please take care of yourself and think about what I said."

William nodded to his friend before he followed the path up and disappeared behind some houses.

"Did I come at a bad time?", Aaron finally spoke up and approached William. William hadn't moved, continuing to sit on the flat wall, holding the crystal in his hands as he watched Aaron.

"No, it's okay. What can I do for you?"

"You talk like the kid sometimes, have I mentioned that before?", Aaron admitted, sitting down next to him on the stone wall. The statement surprised William, as he had thought the exact same thing about Aaron just seconds ago. "I talked to the Eldest. He knows where the kid went."

"You did?", William replied with relief, relaxing his tense posture.

"Yes. He has gone to the mountains of Sylve."

"Did he say why?", William brought out hesitantly, glancing at Aaron, who was now looking over the town himself. Why would Cale willingly go to the mountains of Sylve? According to his own statement, dragons lived there, so it seemed illogical to William that Cale would do something so dangerous. He himself always seemed to have great respect for dragons, if not fear. Not to mention the fact of whether Aaron was allowed to just tell him this information. It was pretty obvious that Cale's whereabouts had to remain a secret.

"The Eldest says no, but admitted, I don't quite believe him. It's just like 2 years ago when the Eldest claimed he didn't know where the kid was. But in reality he knew all along and even had contact with him and King Leonhardt. Sometimes I wonder when the kid became the Eldest's errand boy."

"Do you think the Eldest forced him?"

"I didn't say that. I'm just suggesting that there's more to this than he's letting us know. The Eldest is a man of mystery, and the only one more mysterious than the Eldest is the kid himself", Aaron threw back, pausing briefly before turning his attention to William. "And that's why I'm here. Because I don't think you've told me everything, either. You'd talked to him just a few days ago, and there's been something strange since then... I just couldn't put my finger on what it was."

William felt caught and cornered, but on the other hand he could well understand Aaron. Ever since he had received the warning from Cale, he had tried to keep some distance from the High-Magician, which Aaron had noticed. Probably this behavior bothered him because he felt that something was being kept from him. Both from William, from Cale and from the Eldest. Maybe the warning stemmed more from the fact that William should have less contact with Aaron, so as not to share too much information with each other?

"We didn't really talk much...", William began quietly and started playing with the crystal in his hands. Cale's comment had been on William's mind for a long time, and he felt that if he kept quiet now, he would probably never see Cale again. Finally, he had to agree with Ben as well, because Altona was not his home and he was more needed elsewhere. Even if he had to give up the mission to kill a dragon for it. Whereby, he was skeptical from the beginning whether he was capable of such a thing at all. After all, he had never heard that a dragon had died. "It was barely five minutes, after all, and Cale hadn't given any indication that he was going to the mountains. He did, however... talked about you."

"The kid was talking about me?", Aaron repeated with a slightly confused undertone. "What did he say about me?"

"He admonished me for telling you my name and told me to stay away from you", William explained a little nervously, tensing his body as if he should expect to run away at any moment. "Cale said to me that you are not particularly sympathetic to noble people."

It took Aaron a few moments to recover his words.

"He said...what?"

"That's what he said, yes. He also said you had personal reasons, that's why I never asked", William replied. For the first time in quite a while, William experienced the High-Magician speechless. Aaron simply sat in front of him as if he could not understand his language and had to decipher the words one by one. Dozens of thoughts seemed to flash through his mind. First and foremost, their recent altercation.

"I didn't know the kid knew about it", Aaron finally brought up, looking down at his hands. "No wonder he was so angry with me. He must have misunderstood the whole thing."

"Misunderstood?", William threw back. He didn't know what Aaron was talking about at all, but there did seem to be some background. A reason why Cale had warned him.

"Admitted, what Caleb said is true. I am not particularly fond of nobles. In the past, I had quite a hatred for the Fiet's family, but that was dozens of decades ago. I've already smoothly forgotten about it, not to mention that the Sylve's family never had anything to do with it. By the Eldest's beard, I would never have done anything to you."

At the name 'Fiet', William suddenly remembered his lessons with Julius Venlan again. A piece of information he had only remembered as a child because he had found the story exciting at the time.

"Of Fiet? Wasn't that a noble family that was haunted and wiped out by an assassin?", William admitted aloud as he tried to remember what exactly Sir Venlan had told him at the time. Fiet's family owned many parts of Altona and over the years they had usurped more and more lands. In the lore, it was said that they messed with a demon, who had the whole family and all relatives killed without exception.

"The seeker", William muttered as he looked into Aaron's pale face and remembered. "Aaron the seeker."