To run draws their eye. To fight excites their violence. To use magic attracts their hunger. If you stand within sight of the Enemy, all you can do is continue to stand, and pray they lose interest before you lose strength. It is your only hope for escape.

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Flickers of green faded from Jair’s vision and left him standing alone in Raina’s study at their Astralla townhouse. The only thing out of place was a small pile of bags near the door, as though someone had hastily packed for an upcoming departure.

“Raina?”

He turned a full circle, but the room remained empty. This was where he’d sent her. So where was she? He pushed open the door to the balcony in case she’d gone out for air. No sign of her. He poked his head out into the hallway. Not there either.

Instinctive dread took hold of his chest and dragged at his gut. What if he’d been wrong? What if she wasn’t here, hadn’t survived? If fate itself was set against her, any number of things could have happened.

Had something gone wrong with his Darkflame? Perhaps he’d been unable to provide enough mana and she’d fallen out of the transportation partway across the continent. She’d be easy prey for sandsharks or nightcats, alone in the desert, assuming she survived that long.

“Raina?” He leaned over the railing to shout downstairs. “You here?”

Carn’s head poked around the corner. “Young mister Welburne? Miss Raina is out front, last I saw.” The Serin household manager narrowed his eyes at Jair. “Just how did you get up here, young man?”

Jair ignored him. He took the stairs three at a time, skidded around the corner with one hand on the post to redirect his momentum, then hurtled down the hall. He knew the Serin house better than his own.

Carn hadn’t seemed concerned, so he dared to hope…

He rounded the last corner and came up short. Raina was pacing the front entryway with a quick anxious stride that turned into a headlong rush the moment she saw him.

“Jair!” She slammed into him, almost knocking him over. "You're alive!"

“And so’re you!” Jair spun her around, laughing unrestrained, his whole body buoyant with relief. “For real this time.”

“What happened? I was so worried.”

"I’m fine. Just had to be absolutely sure Ryenzo won’t bother you again, and it took a bit longer than expected.”

“You did? How?”

“I suppose we can start there, if we're answering questions. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. As promised. But first, let's go sit down somewhere more private. Anyone could be listening, out here."

Jair heard the distinctive shuffle of Carn’s slippers as the man hastily found somewhere else to be. The man was loyal to an insane degree, but he did like to snoop.

“Going to be spilling some state secrets, are we?” Raina asked, as they disentangled from their greeting hug and fell into step side by side.

“You never know. I have been called an indiscreet gossip at times.”

Raina giggled uncontrollably. “You? Really?”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Was Ryenzo secretly working for the banished prince this whole time?” She was grinning now, all but skipping with relief of her own.

“Dragons do not concern themselves in the squabbling of mortals. But we have a whole lot more to talk about than just one dragon.”

“I hardly know where to begin.”

They reached the top of the stairs and Raina led the way into her study. She flipped the interference switch along with the light and closed the door behind them.

Jair expected to feel the faint hum of the ambient protections against his manabody, but there was no noticeable change. The reminder that he was currently all but manaless disoriented him for a moment.

“You alright?” Raina stood next to the reading chair by the window. “Need to sit down?”

“I suffered some minor manabody destruction in the process of guaranteeing Ryenzo’s demise, nothing to worry about.”

“Minor… destruction?”

“I can rebuild. You have a whole oasis I can borrow, and I’ve been wanting a better manabody anyway.”

“Jair, that…” she stared, speechless.

“You go ahead.” He pulled out the chair from her desk. “I’ll be fine.”

Reluctantly, she sat down on the overstuffed arm of the chair. “I think you’d better start at the beginning.”

“Which beginning is that? I was born on the thirty-second of Ahnlok, in the year of our moons 482 LE, to Zaen and Kyami Welburne, along with my sister Lilin…”

Raina snatched the chair’s decorative pillow and threw it at him. “How about what you did to upset a dragon? I’ve never seen a creature look so furious as Ryenzo did when she was glaring after you.”

“I’d burned her alive with Darkflame twice already by then, so she was incapable of harming you. Since she wanted revenge against your mother more than life itself, I can imagine being rendered impotent left her rather unhappy.” Jair grinned. “Any other questions?”

Raina glared at him. “You know that’s not a helpful…” Then her expression changed, slackening into realization. “So that’s why.”

“Why what?”

Raina shook her head. “That first day, after you left, Ryenzo was so angry. Spent the first several hours…” she laughed wonderingly. “Slammed her tail right beside me, waved her claws, bit at the air… I didn’t understand at the time. Threats, I assumed. Proving how much power she had over me. But it was the opposite. She was helpless, and I didn’t realize.”

Jair’s expression flattened. “So much for being a creature of her word. I suppose even keeping you alive a few hours of her own volition is too much to expect.” He’d never been more thankful for Darkflame’s weird insistence on preventing violence. “Sorry I ever doubted you,” he murmured to Maelstrom.

“But even if that explains why she didn’t hurt me, I don’t understand. What exactly is Darkflame? I remember you saying she was going to come back when you used it the first time at the academy, when we tried to run.”

“Second time. The first time was in the desert.”

“Either way.”

“Well, that’s another long story, that goes back to several months from now when I went hunting a venix with a vampire witch.”

"Months from now… right. Time traveler. Hah. I still have a hard time believing that. How long were you in the future?”

“To hunt the venix? I wasn’t keeping track of time. Not long. Two or three years at most. I want to say eight to twelve loops, but I wasn’t keeping track.”

“Two or three years… isn’t long?” Raina’s voice was faint. “Eight to twelve loops? What does that mean?”

“Unlike a prophecy type power, Temporal Reversion lets me go back and try different things. I can loop each shelf-worth of time as many times as I want to until I get the result I’m after.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Raina didn’t speak for a long moment as she processed this, then nodded and grinned. “And so you forged the ultimate weapon and came back for vengeance!”

"I came back to save you," he said softly. "Ryenzo could have backed off at any time and I’d never have gone after her."

“And how long did it take? Before Darkflame. How… how far forward have you seen? How long were we apart?"

"Years. The same years, different years, over and over.” He shrugged. “Don't ask me how many, things like months and weeks and years and days are all a jumble. I can't remember such trivialities. Locations, contacts, information. Much more important than whether it’s therday or landay. I was a respected archmage by the end, but never survived long enough to be an elder. But, in actual elapsed world time… Twenty years forward, perhaps? Probably less. It only feels like longer because of the looping.”

“You did a lot of looping, I take it?”

“A few hundred fragmented lifetimes learning every nuance of soulsword reforging and ascension, hunting down the most perfectly matched elements to integrate.” He snorted and shook his head. “Following a pattern that it turns out my mentor made up and never tested. But when you’ve got a strong enough focus, a thousand years passes faster than you’d think.”

“A thousand years.” Her voice was softer now, subdued. “Archmage. And you gave it all up to come back here? I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything.”

“But I already owe you so much, and now I know what it cost you—”

“No. You owe me nothing. What else was I going to live for? If I can’t even save my first friend, what use am I?”

“No, Jair, that’s not—“ She lunged forward, tears in her eyes, and took his hands in hers. “What about your goals, your future?”

“I’ve done so much and seen even more. After a while, it all blurs together. Living for myself, sure, fun for a while, but it doesn’t mean anything in the end.” He met her eyes with such intensity she turned away. “That’s why I’m here. I don’t care what it took to get here. It’s done and I’ll never regret it.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to. Just be yourself.”

"I could say the same to you!"

"I've spent a long time discovering who I am. Who I want to be, it isn't about me. It's about the people I care about. And that starts with you."

"So… what about the rest of your family? Your other friends?"

“They don’t need me right now. We can figure out what’s going on with my sister when the time comes, but she’s in no danger for months yet. I know where I can evacuate my parents to long before there’s any assassins after them. As for friends, we’ll get to them. There’s plenty of other things to do before then. For now, you’ve got me all to yourself.”

"And that won't be a problem?"

"Problem? Why would there be a problem?"

"I mean… We were going to go on adventures together, but if I'm just going to be a liability…"

"You, liability? No. You’re the most essential asset we have."

"We?"

"Unless you don't want to travel with me anymore."

“Of course I do.” Raina pulled back so he was at arm’s length, but didn’t quite let go yet. Her eyes flicked to the piled luggage by her door. "I was anticipating running from an angry dragon, so I packed light. But if we don't have to rush, there's a lot more streamlining I can do."

"No rush at all. We can go as soon or as late as you're ready."

"You're sure?"

"I've waited countless lifetimes for the chance to travel together. Why would a few more months make any difference?"

"And you're sure you're not…" she let her arms fall to her sides and looked away. "You won't be holding yourself back, just to keep me around?"

"If you want to slay a dragon, I won't throw the next one into the sea without you having your shot at it first. But if it comes down to you or the dragon, I'm absolutely throwing it into the sea, no questions asked."

Raina laughed. "As amusing as that is to imagine, I doubt even you could…" she trailed off at the slyness in Jair's grin. "You didn't!"

"I did. Almost got my own soul eaten in the process, but worth every minute of it."

"Ryenzo…? You… I… how?" she shook her head helplessly, unable to finish any sentences at all.

"Darkflame. The venix's ultimate power is not to destroy, and it never has been. It's the last-chance escape. 'Abandon this body and be reborn anew away from the danger.' Whatever Maelstrom may have added in translation, its true nature cannot be subverted." Jair grinned and Maelstrom flared up playfully. "But anything can be a weapon when you know how to use it."

"You threw Ryenzo Draconis into the sea. And she's…?"

"Very much no longer a threat.”

“Good riddance.”

He stood and moved closer, taking her arms in his. “And how are you feeling?”

“Better than ever.” But her eyes were shadowed and something haunted lay beneath her smile. “When I woke up here I almost thought the whole thing was a dream. But how my father was acting… Clearly the attack at the Institute happened. I know that I was… gone." She shivered, bravado falling away, and stepped into his arms. “And then you were gone too.”

“It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe now. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“I was so scared,” she whispered. “In the valley… I’ve never imagined I could be that hungry. I thought I was dying.”

“Valley? Is that where you were those days, not in the volcano?”

Raina nodded. “Though I almost wish I had been. It’s a good thing my father insisted I know how to survive in unknown territory. Even so, there’s only so much I could do, and my sword wasn’t behaving so I couldn’t even…” she swallowed.

“We’ll deal with your sword later. Whatever’s gone wrong with it, we can fix it. As long as you’re safe.”

“I hid in her lower tunnels at night. There were… things, in the valley, it wasn’t…” She trembled, and Jair leaned his head against hers. "I’ve never seen anyplace so green. Even Terluna isn’t so beautiful. I hate it.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to think about that any more. You’re alive. You’re safe.” Jair hugged her closer. "I'm so sorry. If there's anything more I could have done…"

Raina’s snort was somewhere between a laugh and a gurgle. "It's a dragon. The fact you were able to do anything is a miracle. I’d have been dead more times than I could count if not for you.”

“I wish I’d been there sooner.”

“You’re here now.” Her fists clenched the back of his robe and she hid her face against his chest, dampening the front with her tears. “I thought you were dead. I'm so glad you're safe.”

Jair's own control slipped, a flood of gratitude and hope and relief and finally welling up in his chest and throat so strongly it choked him. It took several long moments before he could reply. “Don't worry. I’ve decided to stop doing that for a while.”

“Stop scaring me into thinking you’d died?”

“I was thinking more ‘stop dying’ but sure. I’ll do my best not to scare you either.”

“I’d like that. Maybe we could have a normal day for a change.”

“Sounds boring.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘peaceful’.”

“Nope.”

“Restful? Relaxing?”

“You think either of us is going to be resting after a week like that?”

“Yes. First thing tomorrow.”

Jair laughed. “So what will we do the rest of the day?”

“You still owe me a story.”

Jair smiled and nodded. Ryenzo was gone. There was no need to rush anywhere, no immediate threat looming over them.

They sat down together and he began to unfold the tale. Of Maelstrom’s creation and the convoluted path to where they now sat, of friends and enemies, allies and adversity, failure and triumph.

As evening fell, they went out on the balcony and stood leaning on the rail, looking out over the city. The light of the waning Zelura, its passage scars turned away and dim, cast gentle shadows across the balcony.

“I still don’t believe you set up Reskian anti-seascourge runes on the academy walls,” Raina said, laughing, as they watched distant lights twinkle across the city. “They wiped out the whole city's power for days. Even now, there’s only half as many people allowed on the grid as normal.”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Jair laughed. “All that work for nothing.”

“Well, it did let me get everyone’s attention. Not sure how much good it did in the long run.”

“We’ve definitely left our mark on the history of that place,” Jair agreed. “Even without luring the headmaster away to become a shady salesman.”

Raina burst out laughing uproariously. “Wait, what? You’re kidding.”

Jair grinned. “Nope. Larenok has retired from teaching and is now my personal advisor and brand manager.”

“No way. That’s… how?”

Jair summoned Maelstrom and gave it a casual flip. “I have my ways.”

“Every time I think your adventures can’t get any weirder, you come out with something like this.”

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of weird left out there. I can get you in on the deal any time you’re ready.”

Raina gestured back to the piled bags. “I’m ready when you are. Any ideas for where we should go first?"

“Oh, I can think of a few things. I don't suppose you still keep in touch with Prince Orren?"

Raina tilted her head. "It's been years, I haven't seen him since well before any of this current…" She waved her free hand out over the city to indicate the whole political mess. "But he’d probably still recognize me. Why do you ask?"

"Because I think it's high time we arranged a family reunion. If we play this right, I think we can save Veor before Solaria."

“Alright, I’m in!” Then she frowned uncertainly. “Save it from what?”

“The mad king, for one.” Jair turned to lean one arm on the rail, facing her properly. “And a certain sorcerer called Sekir.”

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