Caring for an eelship is no light undertaking. In addition to ensuring it has sufficient space to roam, it must be kept within a highly controlled environment of stable mana. Terlunia is their native habitat, though the protected domes of Zelura have been nearly as effective at keeping these transportation behemoths alive.

The surface of Neptus itself, however, requires significant modification in order to satisfy their needs. While it is not harmful for them to be in such an oversaturated area for the hours necessary to load and unload their cargo, attempts to keep them over between lunar passages must be prepared for well in advance or you’ll find yourself with a very dead eelship.

----------------------------------------

Dalin Larenok was having a very confusing week. From the moment Jair Welburne ambushed him in his own office, everything about his life had fallen perfectly into place.

…And then promptly went so completely off the rails that he was half convinced this was all some mage’s construct of an illusion designed to drive him mad.

The chance for fame and fortune and getting away from those brats at the Institute? He'd be a fool to turn it down. He'd fought and schemed his way into what wealth and power he could cling to, but Welburne was breaking all the rules and ignoring all the normal limits.

If anyone could fully change the paradigms under which he lived, Welburne seemed perfectly poised to do it. A nobody from nowhere, who in the course of one week became wealthy, powerful, and adored? Who wouldn't take the chance to latch onto a rising star like that?

But then things got weird.

Forget the attempts to slay ‘a dragon’ that turned out to be a dragon matriarch. Having the power of rebirth and near-complete healing, Welburne could solve problems that had plagued Veor for years now. The King's gradual descent into abnormal behavior, Larenok's own gradual decay and years of bitterness directed at everyone and anything that got in his way… All of it lifted in a few moments by the madman’s viridian flames.

Which left Larenok with a ruined school, a destroyed career, and an employer/benefactor who told him to hire the best of the best Veor had to offer, and then disappeared.

That on its own would've been irritating, but there were plenty of people with the power to locate a missing person. The bigger problem by far was the question of what exactly Larenok should do when he found the brat.

Not only had their fortunes gone from a rising star and glorious wealth to desperate amounts of debt, but Welburne had also stolen half the Veori royal treasury, and accounts were still trickling in about other places he’d robbed.

As it turned out, Welburne’s sudden fame and fortune was built on lies. He should have seen this coming. Normally Larenok would be much harder to swindle. But that fire…

He sighed and scowled at no one in particular.

In the flurry of people coming forward after having been swindled, robbed, or blackmailed by Welburne, this rising star had taken a sharp turn into uselessness. Remaining attached to the fellow was no longer an asset, and would be a major liability if Larenok couldn't extract himself soon.

For the moment, however, even the king considered Larenok to be an integral part of Welburne's retinue. He needed to find a way to resolve matters without entangling himself further.

He’d already spent most of his personal fortune covering the fees for all the people they'd hired. Mercenaries and warriors of the top caliber who’d ended up doing nothing but carrying off treasures that they weren't allowed to keep.

Part of the necessary funds had been paid by Welburne's stint as the Phoenix Healer, but now he was missing appointments and Larenok was beginning to think he hadn't even bothered to inquire as to the new itinerary.

No longer having any sort of power over the boy made things more difficult. Back when he'd been headmaster, and Welburne a student, he could demand the child attend him, and the child would come. He may be grumpy about it, Welburne liked to be a defiant ball of aggravation, but aggravation and defiance were preferable to this complete disappearance.

“Ahh…” the gasp of breath from the farseer across from him brought his focus back to the moment. “I see. Yes, this is the one you seek.”

"Well? Where is he?"

“The southern sandmarshes."

Larenok frowned. If he recalled correctly, that was the boy's original home. The region from which he'd originated.

"Can you narrow it down from there"

"I can. Do you have a map?"

Larenok did, though not with him.

"The longer I hold this information in my sight, the harder it will be to fully clarify."

"I'll get you a map."

Luckily, the shop next door sold maps. Larenok immediately suspected there was a direct cause and effect to this, but either way it was convenient enough he couldn’t argue.

One that included the entirety of Veor was much more expensive than the smaller ones showing a specific town or city, and they didn’t have any maps of the sandmarsh villages themselves. There was one with the overall region with small circles for each village, which was actually more detailed than the one Larenok had at home.

He grumbled about paying the full asking price. If he hadn't been in such a rush, he would've done his best to pressure the seller into lowering the price to something more reasonable, but right now every minute he wasted was potential money to be made. Or at least debt to allay. As long as he didn't have any idea where Welburne was, he couldn’t be doing his job, and Welburne couldn't be doing his.

Larenok spread out the two maps on the countertop, and the seeker spread her hands upon them. Her eyes glowed with the pale ivory light, as they had been doing for the past several minutes. She lifted first one map, then the other, holding each out further and closer away from her face, moving slowly without blinking.

"Here. Hold this."

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

Larenok did so, and she placed her finger onto a point. "Here. Marisbog Village.”

It was one of the smaller circles on the map, indicating something barely worth noticing. Part of Larenok sneered in derision. Welburne thought he could come from so little and just catapult straight to the top? That wasn't how the world worked.

No matter how powerful his little spell was, no one shortcutted past working their way up – unless you knew the right people.

He drew a check mark on the map and folded it away into his soulspace. He paid the tracker-seer, glowered at the map seller—who only gave him a friendly wave and grin in reply—and stalked his way toward the local transit platform. He didn't know what kind of transit options would be available for such an obscure village, but he had the distinct feeling they wouldn't be quick and easy. Or reasonably priced.

Larenok shook his head. Welburne truly had no appreciation for the sacrifices being made on his behalf.

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Jair folded in the mana wings in standard sequence, each a slanted layer with a delicate membrane of crisscrossed open mesh made from conduction wire. Anywhere near one of the mana oases, such a contraption would be overkill. There was no need for complicated gathering and re-distributing with plentiful ambient mana, the device would passively absorb more than enough power just by being present.

Marisbog was not such a place. The nearest mana oasis was more rumor than reality for those present. The emptiness of the Sandmarsh didn't exactly drain his manabody, if he'd had one, but it was a sort of neutral pressure that made it difficult to replenish anything you spent.

Most people with a full night’s sleep would recover about enough mana to get through a few hours of light work. To do anything more required external aids. Which was also why transit platforms weren’t used this far out. It would take an entire village months to gather enough mana to power one for a single trip. Not a cost-effective or time efficient use of resources.

Sandfishers’ sand-skimmers were a different sort of technology from standard nomad sandskimmers. Since sandfishers’ craft need to be capable of sharp stops and holding position against great force, they included a lot more power accumulators and several additional engines which could be adjusted to any direction as needed.

"You’ve been gone a long time." Kyami Welburne finally broke the silence as they finished the folding and shoved it under its protective canopy.

“Yes I have.”

“What’s the occasion? I’m sure you didn’t come back just to help pack up the skimmer.”

“I’m about to leave with Raina for her Reforging Quest. I probably won’t be back for at least a few years.”

“Did you come to say goodbye, or do you need money?”

“I’m hoping Lilin will come with me.”

“Of course.” She sounded choked, on the verge of tears. “Not enough to go running off yourself, you have to take my daughter too.”

“She’s plenty old enough to choose her own path in life.”

“Like you did? How is that fancy school treating you, huh? I’ve seen your letters.”

“I’m sure you have.” Jair sighed. “I’m sorry you consider me such a disappointment, but I’ve finally finished a project I’d been working on a very long time and I’m ready to move on.”

“Yes, your initiation ceremony.” She looked over at him, shaking her head. “A shame about that. We got the invitation, but… you know how it is. We’re barely staying on quota without you here. We’re incredibly proud of your achievements, of course, but we do miss you. It’ll be a lot better for everyone once you’re back home where you belong.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel.”

“You don’t need to sound so dismissive about it. We’re your family. Or has your fancy school convinced you otherwise?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t consider you family,” Jair said neutrally. “I’m not here to argue with you about the past. I’d like to make you an offer. Have you heard any news from the capitol?”

“You mean all that about the king changing all the trade pacts? Of course we’ve heard. No one’s talking about anything else.”

“Have you heard anything about the Phoenix Healer?”

“No. It sounds like one of those scams.”

Jair snorted, amused. “It does, doesn’t it? But in this case, it’s entirely real. I happen to have connections with the Phoenix Healer’s agent. I’d like to offer you, and Zaen, the opportunity for a life-changing rebirth. The process can heal the body and restore the mind, clearing away the unwanted patterns that build up over the years, allowing for a fresh start.”

Kyami scoffed faintly. “And you’re sure this isn’t a scam?”

“I can personally attest that it is genuinely life-changing. I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.”

“I appreciate the thought, but you know how your father feels about that sort of thing.”

“What, trying to improve your wellbeing?”

“It’s going to be expensive.”

“No. I can guarantee, no fees.”

She hesitated a moment before answering. “Even if you’re right, what would it actually change? We have obligations. I know you like to believe things can change, but you know you’d only make things worse. Coming in with some fancy healer and then traipsing off again. You know that’s not going to help anything.”

“I don’t know that.” Darkflame was a new ability this time around. He had yet to try it on anything so personal as his family, but there was no reason to hold back. Except… if he tried it and it didn’t do anything, the tiny hope for change would be extinguished. He wasn’t sure if it would ever come back this time.

“Come on, Jai. You know we need you here. We’ve made allowances for your scholarship, but you don’t know how hard it’s been.”

“I do. I’m not going to come back to stay. You’re right that I won’t be able to help anything.”

“That’s not what I said and you know it.”

“I have money, I can hire someone to take Lil’s place. We’re not going to leave you without help.”

“It’s not about the business!” She punched the side of the ship, then burst into tears. “She’s my daughter. You’ve had such a hard time at that place and now you just want to drag her off too? You’ll ruin her life and not listen to a thing anyone says against it because you always know best.”

“I do.” Once, such an accusation would have made him question himself, backtrack, submit to the preferences of his family. It’s why he’d concealed his application to the Mageblade Institute until there was no going back on it; they’d have talked him out of it if they knew.

Now, though, he’d heard so many variations of every possible attack angle that it had lost all power over him.

He maintained a neutral expression, tone unchanged. “I know better. Lilin isn’t happy here and she never will be.”

“You don’t know anything about her! You left. You abandoned her—abandoned us all.” She turned away, still loudly crying, and hunched over with her arms across her stomach.

“I’ll see that you’re provided for before we leave. I’d like you to consider the Phoenix Healing, it really could help.”

“I’m not taking your bribes,” she spat. “Don’t think you can assuage your conscience by throwing your girlfriend’s money at us. Just be ready to beg for forgiveness when she dumps you and you’re forced to come crawling back.”

Jair laughed softly. “Now that’s something to imagine. Raina’s never had the opportunity to dump me before. I wonder what that would be like.”

“You’re heartless,” Kyami sobbed. She still didn’t look at him. “I don’t know why you even bothered to talk to me. Just want to show off how rich and fancy you are now?”

“I wanted to offer my help one last time. I’ll do my best to protect you whatever you say or do. Whatever disagreements we may have, you are still family. Without you, I wouldn’t exist, nor Lilin. Veor would be lost and the rest of Almas not long after. But as much as the world may owe you for your contributions, I’ve no patience for tantrums and mind games. I will see to it that Lilin has the chance to leave, and I won’t allow you to interfere. I won’t force you to take my healing, I get the feeling it wouldn’t be able to help you anyway, but the offer is open. I’ll even throw in a free trip to anywhere in Veor if you like.”

“I don’t want your bribes, I want my family to stay together. I don’t want to lose my children to reckless foolishness.”

Jair smiled. “Reckless? You don’t know the half of it.”

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