Cale had led the group through the apartment a little before he called some younger mages to him, who were now in the process of preparing the guest room. To Cale's surprise, the apartment was very clean; he suspected that Grischa had taken care of the condition of the rooms in his absence, but presumably he had come mainly to read one of his books. Cale had left his visitor there for now. They had made themselves something to eat and sat together at the table before Cale had to leave. They will, until the rooms were ready, most likely take a shower and put on proper clothes before venturing out into the night to explore the city.

Cale, on the other hand, had made his way to Grischa's apartment, while encountering quite a few new faces along the way. In the last few years, the Magistrat must have recruited many new mages, so it surprised him all the more that they all bowed politely to him. They probably didn't know him very well and only paid attention to the uniform Cale was wearing.

With an excited heartbeat, he knocked on Grischa's door before, using mana, opening it and cautiously peering into the large apartment. He could sense a source of mana moving rapidly toward him, so he quietly entered and looked toward the room where Grischa often conducted his research.

At the same moment, a man who physically appeared a good 10 years younger than he actually was emerged from behind the door and stared at Cale with his narrow green eyes. Grischa Vonstetten, 1st seat ot the Magistrat. The magician held up his long, perfectly white hair with one hand, icing as he moved. He probably hadn't counted on Cale being back, let alone anyone entering.

"By the Elder's beard, look at you!" the 1st seat indignantly announced, as Cale closed the door behind him and looked down at himself in wonder.

"What do you mean?"

"You got big!"

"Big?", Cale repeated disconcertedly. He didn't feel he had grown in the two years, but then... how did Gisha figure that? He looked the same as always, and Grischa probably knew better than anyone that this was his true stature.

"And emaciated! Did they deny them food in Sylve or what?"

"Please?", Cale countered watching as the High-Magician dropped his hair and walked hurriedly toward Cale. When he came to a stop in front of Cale, he took to examining him thoroughly with his eyes, as if checking to see if his body parts were still whole. Cale did not complain, merely smiled and spoke up a few moments later. "It's good to see you again."

Grischa, who was standing slightly bent over in front of him, looked up from below in irritation and put his hand over his mouth as if he had heard something horrible.

"So you actually missed me? I had my doubts."

"What are you saying? You're making me out like I don't care about anything", Cale threw back, a little offended, as Grischa straightened up.

"You made a very different impression back then. This time you didn't even leave us a letter, I really thought I'd never see you again."

"What are we? Lovers?", Cale threw back mockingly, remembering the unpleasant day he was forced to leave the Magistrat. "Can we sit down? My legs hurt a bit from all the running."

"It's your own fault, I hope they're aware of that", Grischa replied dryly, clearly gesturing with his hand to the small seating area by the window, so Cale took a seat on it with relief. Covering his head, he asked Cale if he would like something to drink, which is why Cale only shook his head. Sighing, he sat down across from Cale and began to speak.

"Tell me...how was living in Sylve for the last two years?", he asked after a few moments of silence. Cale, meanwhile, had crossed his legs and leaned back against the backrest as he glanced at them familiar view of Grischa's apartment.

"Relatively quiet. There have been no major incidents and I spent most of my time keeping an eye on the soldiers and making friends with Anuxers", he finally returned, deliberately omitting the reason he had gone to Sylve in the first place.

"And aside from work? You haven't seen Sylve in a long time, have you?"

"The last time I was there was when I was 15. It wasn't that long ago", Cale replied. Both parties were silent for a moment before Cales turned back to Grischa and noticed his serious expression. His friend didn't give the impression that he was at peace with that answer, so Cale became more specific. "It was funny, but equally beautiful. The town and its people haven't changed a bit. I've actually made some good friends and it hasn't really been boring."

"The four Anuxers you accompanied... are they the same friends?", Grischa spoke up with his hands folded in front of his chest.

"You could say that, yes. By the way, I have offered them to stay with me."

"That's a surprise, I don't know you like that. You usually never have guests. You must like them quite a bit if you let them stay in your place", Grischa replied, a little surprised, but Cale understood his reaction. There was only one person he allowed into his apartment and that person was sitting right in front of him. After all, everything that Cale could call his own was in there. Grischa knew that very well, which is why he had always checked on the empty apartment over the past few years.

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"Yeah, pretty much", Cale confessed sheepishly, rubbing his chin. For now, he would keep it to himself exactly which personalities would be living in the Magistrat from now on. After all, he didn't want to stab his old friends in the back and betray their trust.

When Cale remained silent afterwards, the 1st seat of the Magistrat took it to mean that he didn't want to tell any more and sighed.

"Explain it to me, from the beginning. Why did you leave then and how did you know about the attack of the creatures?", he came straight to the topic. It was not the only question that was currently bothering Grischa. But it was the most important one, which is why he sounded almost threatening. Suddenly, Cale became nervous, even if he did not show it outwardly. For days, Cale had been thinking about the easiest way to escape the situation, but he couldn't find a solution. If only Yusuf had left his name out of the equations, it wouldn't have come to this. He was therefore not really left with any other choice.

"Lets hope we woun't become the next Groka", Cale gave close.

"Excuse me?"

"You know that proverb?"

"Who doesn't know that one? Everyone knows what happened to the village in 1145, but what does that have to do with anything?", retorted Grischa, looking expectantly at his friend.

"I was there then, Grin. Seventeen years ago. Groka is my home village."

Surprised, the High-Magician looked up and lowered his hands. He was speechless. The information came out of nowhere and with no apparent context, so he abruptly wondered why he didn't know about it. He always assumed that Cale was from Altona. Had Cale even told anyone where he was originally from?

"What?", was therefore the only thing Grsicha brought out.

"I didn't want it to happen again. So I asked Yusuf to teach the mages more intensively and went to Sylve myself. I had discussed this... with the Elder. The Elder, Sefra and I have known for a while that the population of the creatures had increased, but it was hard to prove any of it. I don't know exactly why, but all these years I've had the impression that it was just a test run back then, and that we were in for far worse."

Grischa fell silent and stared at the young mage in disbelief before leaning his further forward and holding his head with one hand as if he had a headache. He couldn't believe that both Sefra and the Elder himself knew exactly why Cale was in Sylve. Why didn't they inform him, the 1st seat of the Magistrat, as well? Had they secretly been undecided after all and thought Cale was more reliable?

"Why didn't you ever tell me? I could have helped, couldn't I?", interjected Grischa in disappointment after a while, as if he had been betrayed.

"Would you have believed a child? I don't think so."

"You mean the kid who tricked the mages here for 10 years, went down in history as the youngest High-Magician at 16 and became the owner of Karekama at 19? Do you seriously think I woudn't listen to you?"

Grischa grew angry at the thought. He trusted Cale more than anyone else in the world, for almost a decade the two had been close friends and colleagues. He often talked with Cale for hours about the wildest theories, where most other mages would drop out after 5 minutes, spent days doing some kind of experiments, and even his own family knew Cale. No, basically he already saw Cale as part of his family, yet Cale didn't trust him?

"I..."

"Can you even imagine how I felt when Yusuf told me what you asked him to do to protect the city? Do you know how it feels when your friend disappears from one day to the next, and you find out weeks later that he's going to live in Sylve on behalf of the Elder? What have I done wrong in my life to deserve this? Have I been a pain in your ass? Did I drag you too often into my research that you needed a break from me, or why have you never contacted me despite your communication crystal, Caleb?"

The man's response surprised Cale a little. He was used to Grischa always being cheerful and polite, especially when it came to his research, but to be confronted with anger and disappointment as soon as they met again was unexpected. Yet, in a strange way, he was also grateful for this reaction. It showed him that Grischa had really cared about him.

Since there was no response from Cale, Grischa sighed, straightened up, and ran his hand over his forehead through his hair as he took a deep breath.

"I was really worried, man" Grischa complained in a sad voice.

"I'm sorry, Grin."

"Don't give me that now", Grischa retorted, visibly annoyed by his nickname. He turned his gaze to Cale, who had gotten up, walked around the table, and was half-kneeling in front of Grischa's chair. Before the mage could say anything, Cale wrapped his arms around Grischa, who paused for a moment, perplexed, before also wrapping his hands tightly around Cale and hugging him to him.

"I really missed you, Caleb. More than I wanted to admit to myself", the 1st seat gave out as he held Cale to his chest and closed his eyes. Cale felt similarly to his friend. It wasn't the same fake relationship he had with Lukas or Yusuf, even though Cale once thought of Grischa that way. He liked Grischa and had really had to force himself over the two years not to make contact early on. He could not risk making too many changes to the future, and this would inevitably have been the case if Grischa had known about it. After all, the High-Mage had a very different, important job to do. "You don't realize how lonely you actually are until the day you come home and have a lot to tell, but no one is waiting for you. Every night I wondered if you were alive and well. Every night I wondered what things you saw and did today, what people you talked to and what places you visited. It was the same feeling I had back then... like my own friends were rejecting me. I can't do this, Caleb. Not again. Promise me you'll tell me what's going on in that little head of yours from now on. Do you understand? I can't stand losing another person I consider family."

"I promise", Cale replied calmly, knowing he would never tell his friend everything. He couldn't and he didn't want to, the fear about the future stopping him every time. The fear of how people would react if they knew who exactly he actually was and why he was acting the way he was. Cale cared far too much about the people he cared about, so their safety and well-being were his top priority and nothing else mattered.

Not even the people who had to give their lives thanks to his silence.