I can’t help but feel there’s more to it. We’re fighting a losing war of attrition against an enemy who could annihilate us at a whim. Why? What are they waiting for?

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By the time Jair emerged with his hands full of dishes and a large pan of his signature tuber-and-fish bake, Raina and Lilin were sitting close beside each other on the sitting room sofa, talking animatedly. He sat down a towel to protect the dubious quality of the table’s surface from the steaming hot casserole, then dishes for all three of them.

He drew up a chair from the other side of the room, which placed him across the table from the two girls. He didn't interject as they continued their discussion, one regarding the price of various fabrics, interspersed with the occasional pause to complement his cooking.

Unsurprisingly, one or another of the king's mad decrees had caused a disruption in the industry and now that he'd reversed it people were scrambling to adjust to the new economic situation.

Overall, given that the restrictions had been prohibitive and frustrating for all involved, having the king lift them all would be in the long term a good thing for Veor's economy. That said, the sudden burst of releasing them all at once may not have been the best way to go about it.

Even Sekir, when he took over, repealed the decrees in a reasonable and gradual way, rather than cancelling all of them within the space of a week.

Regardless, Lilin was eager to learn and Raina was happy to introduce her to the nuances of the fabric market.

Watching the two of them side-by-side, chatting casually as they ate, they couldn't have looked more different.

Lilin was dark and drawn, brow furrowed with concerns that should not have been hers at such a young age. Raina was bright and curious, bearing far greater knowledge and far more dramatic pain with a grace even Jair could envy.

After lunch, Raina excused herself to go walk around town. Jair offered to escort her, but she waved him away.

"You should talk with your sister," was all she said.

Jair started to put away the leftovers, while Lilin took the dirty dishes to the kitchen.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to talk about. For several minutes, they both worked in silence, each occupied with their own task.

"You know this sounds insane, right?" Lilin burst out. "You suddenly start winning competitions, hobnobbing with nobles? If it were that easy to break in to wealth and power, everyone would be doing it."

Jair laughed. "Easy? You have no idea how many years of research have gone into this outcome."

"Years?" Lilin turned her back on the sink to face him. "I know how long you've been gone, and I know what you were studying before that. Whatever this is, you hid it way too well."

"I haven't lied to you, Lil. My plans changed after I saw how things really are."

"Oh? And how is that? Because I seem to remember you thinking that you could just work your way up by being good at what you did."

Jair chuckled. "Yeah, the degree of excellence required to make that route viable is admittedly a bit beyond what I could manage in three years. But it's not unattainable."

"And Raina! Raina Serin," she emphasized the surname. "I'm supposed to believe that you two just happen to be friends? Someone in the highest echelon who just likes you inexplicably? What have you done to her?"

Jair laughed, genuinely taken aback. "Of all the deception and disruption I’ve had a hand in, Raina is the one thing I had nothing to do with. She came to my rescue when the rest of them wanted to force me out, and…" Jair shook his head fondly as he thought back. Those memories weren’t memories any more, after so much time they were just stories he’d retold himself again and again, but the emotion remained. "I didn't quite believe it at first myself. There were a couple months where I was cold, perhaps. But our Raina is a stubborn one. Once she gets in her head she's going to befriend someone, she won't let you get away so easily."

"See, that I believe. She seems the sort to take pity on the underdog, to want her own little project. But it's been three years, Jai. Three years, and only now does she actually come visit, after you've become rich and famous."

"That's coincidental. My fame has nothing to do with her, nor does my wealth. They are independently earned."

"That's what you think. Who's to say it isn’t some ploy of hers?"

Jair snorted a laugh. "If you're trying to posit a conspiracy, you need to decide who is the aggressor here. Am I taking advantage of Raina, is Raina taking advantage of me, or are you taking advantage of us both?"

"It's not funny, Jair. This is very serious. If there's something going on with either of you, or both of you, I need to know before I agree to leave everything and everyone I know and follow you into the unknown."

Jair raised an eyebrow. He shoved the bowl of leftovers into the frost box and held out the empty pan to Lilin.

She stood with crossed arms, not taking it.

"So you're actually considering coming?"

"Raina said she can ensure our parents are looked out for, that I don't need to be their caretaker. I don't…" She stared into the empty casserole dish as though it held the secrets of life. "She said I'm plenty old enough not to be beholden to them. That I need to decide on my own what I want to do, rather than just letting time go by without me."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Raina is a wise woman. Is traveling with us on ridiculous adventures all over the world and moons something you’d enjoy pursuing?"

"I don't know." She reached out and took the dish from him, turned her back and resumed cleaning. "At one point I thought that's what I wanted, but it's been a long time since I seriously considered it. You can't deny this isn’t giving me a lot of time to think."

"There's no rush. Take as long as you need.”

"Right now I don't know what to think."

"Clearly, or you wouldn’t be accusing me and my friend of exploiting one another by turns.”

"You know I don't actually think that."

"Do I?"

"Yes.” She set aside the cleansed dishes and they walked back out to the living room. “This is the kind of decision that would change all of our lives.”

“Good. It can't be made lightly, but it has to be made soon."

They sat. Lilin tucked her legs up under her, while Jair crossed one foot over the opposite knee.

Neither spoke for a few minutes, then Lilin said quietly, "Funny how things change. I never thought that this would be an option, let alone so quickly. I always thought it would take months after you graduated at the very least."

"I know it's abrupt, I'm sorry. If I had any way to make this easier for you, I would. But opportunity doesn't wait for convenience. We have until Terlunia if you want to come with us right away. After that if you want to join us, you’ll have to send a message. We can arrange times to check in if you prefer, or—"

"You sound like you're assuming I won't come."

“Are you? I've seen no indication of your inclination to do such."

Lilin shrugged and looked away. “And you've been paying such close attention to me these years while you've been gone, have you?"

“I have. I’ve never forgotten you.”

Lilin frowned and turned back to search his face. “You’re not happy.”

Jair smiled. “Of course I am.” The facade came easily. Centuries of being anything and anyone made it trivial to inhabit any persona he needed at the time.

“No.” His sister shook her head and scooted closer to him. “Don’t try that with me. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I’ve killed the dragon, Raina’s safe, we’re about to go out and start her upgrades for Tempest. What’s there to be unhappy about?”

“You tell me.”

Jair dropped the pretense of happiness, face reverting to neutral as he stared out the window. “I still can’t do anything for you.”

“And that bothers you?” Lilin smiled, reaching up to rest one elbow on his shoulder. “And here I thought you’d decided not to care about us.”

“I’m not used to being powerless.” Though that seemed to be an all too frequent circumstance lately. Even an archmage could be overwhelmed, and he was months away from reclaiming his rightful magical power.

“Guess that academy of yours really changed things, huh?”

“It wasn’t the academy.”

"What's this I hear about Jair coming home?" a gruff voice interrupted.

Jair and Lilin looked up in unison.

Their father stomped his way into the living room and frowned at the two of them. "What are you doing?"

"Talking. Where's Mother?"

"Out back, tying up.” Zaen Welburne made a vague gesture as he stripped off his outer layers of dust-covered robe, leaving him wearing a loose grey tunic that didn’t quite reach his knees. “Weren’t you supposed to be doing some big ceremony thing last week? I'd have thought you’d be swamped with that for a while."

"That was last week. Now I'm making travel plans. My friend Raina is about to begin her Reforging Quest and needs escorts."

Zaen scoffed and shook his head as he threw himself into the largest chair. “Don't tell me after all this fuss you're about to throw away your education for some girl. I don't care how rich she is, your future is more important than whatever you're feeling right now."

Jair laughed at the irony. "What I'm feeling right now is a strong inclination to leave and never come back."

“Ungrateful brat. We've been getting by without you this whole time, let you run off to that fancy school of yours, and now even your expensive education isn’t good enough for you? You’d rather go running off with some rich girl. I'm surprised you bothered to come back long enough to say goodbye."

"I didn't. Raina wanted to meet my family. If not for that, you wouldn't have seen me before graduation." Of course, by the time he reached graduation, Veor’s economy would have collapsed, there would've been a minor war, potentially an assassination or uprising, or both, and the Astralla Institute would no longer be so liberal with allowing outsiders to visit… so he wouldn’t have to put up with Zaen then either.

“Think you’re already too good for your family, do you?”

If things had continued to play out the way they always used to, Jair would only have interacted with his parents when trying to safeguard them from assassins. He may not get along with them very well, but they were still family. And, more importantly, Lilin did care. For her sake, he would do a lot, whatever his own thoughts on the matter.

"Please, don't," Lilin said, standing. "Dad, there's food in the box. Jair, why don't you go help Mom tie up."

Jair stood, but paused before grabbing his own over-robe. "Care to join me?"

Lilin’s eyes darted between the two men in the room. "I should probably…"

"Jair, your sister’s right. Go help your mother. Lilin, come."

Lilin shrugged apologetically and followed Zaen into the kitchen.

Jair knew better than to stay and listen, but he did it anyway. The low tirade about knowing her place, not trying to tell them what to do, and so on was all too familiar.

Lilin always tried to make everything work, to find a compromise for the least unhappiness, but Zaen didn't want to compromise.

Jair had heard it all so many times before. It frustrated him for years, being powerless to do anything. But without Lilin agreeing to leave, there was nothing he could really do.

Having unstoppable strength and destruction capability only went so far.

Then again, he had a new weapon this time. Darkflame didn't have to be only an expensive service for rich people. After all, if it had turned Larenok into an ally, maybe it could resolve the enmity within his household

He'd have to try that sometime, catch each of them alone and see what happened. For all he knew, it might not even work. There were people whose physical injuries were healed and others for whom it did nothing. Some whose minds were cleared and refreshed, and others who only grew more confused or angry.

He could always go back now, though, so he didn't need to worry. If something went wrong, he once again had the fallback of Temporal Reversion.

Speaking of going wrong, he couldn’t help but notice as he walked around the house toward the back, Raina still hadn't returned.

There shouldn't be any problem. Marisbog was a working village, small but not disorderly. The average crime was a disgruntled neighbor stealing credit for a shipment, or trying to sabotage your skimmer so they could get a few hours lead on you during a particularly tumultuous shift. But then again, they didn't often see nobles wandering the streets alone.

Then he shook his head at his own concern. As if Raina couldn’t look after herself. Ryenzo may have been a bit much for her to handle, but any ordinary problems that arose… she and Tempest could handle it.

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