Orison said blandly, "Captain Calix, it"s after eighth bell. I know official business doesn"t start til ninth but we"re not natives. It"s no big deal as yesterday was a moving day but I need you to take discipline serious. It"s all sweetness and unexpected perks right now but we are in the heart of darkness. If you don"t want to wake up with your throat slit one day, you"ll be wise to remember that.

"I can see breakfast was brought to you this morning but meals will be taken in the emba.s.sy dining hall from now on. Here"s a copy of the schedule our secretary graciously drafted for us. As you can see, outside of the duties listed there is also a sixth to seventh morning bell a.s.sembly every first, third and fifth day. Wear your fitness clothes not your armor. Since you won"t be doing patrols you need to run. I"m not sending the lot of you home with pot bellies and love handles. Don"t worry, you"ll see me there too.

"Half staff gets sixth and seventh day off in rotation. The ones that didn"t get it off that week, get second and fourth off instead. We have the beach from sixth to seventh morning bell every seventh day, Captain. I want to see a martial training drill happening there. You and your second in command can take turns leading it. And yes, you can choose your second... Where"s Specialist Cray?"

Calix scratched his head and said, "He, uh, was invited elsewhere last night."

Orison"s mood shifted from annoyed to angry. " Who went with him?"

"Um, no one, Legate," Calix said guiltily.

Orison smiled benignly, "Well, if he returns alive, let him know to report to me. If he doesn"t, then when we find where he died, you can kill yourself there to atone for failing him as his captain... Don"t worry too much. There"s only a forty percent chance a Revivalist lured him off to slit his throat."

Turning around, Orison bellowed in as best a Nadir impression as he could, "No one goes anywhere outside the emba.s.sy grounds unless directed otherwise for the next two weeks. No one goes anywhere by themselves, EVER! If you are stumbling somewhere to take a p*ss because you"re too drunk to find a latrine, I want another soldier close enough if you drop your d*ck he can catch it before you wet your boots. AM I CLEAR!?"

Old military habit kicked in and most gave a loud and crisp affirmative. In the back, one of the soldiers snickered instead. Orison didn"t know their face so he turned to Calix and whispered, "Whoever that was in the back that laughed at my joke instead of answering me, I want you to ask yourself "what would Captain Nadir do?" and I want you to do it."

Calix stood there stunned for half a second, thought for a second more then walked up to that soldier and said, "Thank the Maker, men. We have a volunteer for latrine duty. Congratulate him for taking up the task for the next week so none of the rest of you have to."

Everyone looked at the poor soldier, who was no longer laughing, with amus.e.m.e.nt and pity in their eyes as they sincerely wished him well. Afterwards, Orison called Calix into his office and calmly told the man about how dangerous their environment was. He also suggested that Calix spend a good deal of time going over how his past captains handled things if he wanted to have a chance to keep the position after Orison was gone. The young mage knew it might not matter but he wanted to be as hands off with this side of things as possible. Orison silently prayed that Calix would step up because he didn"t want to start missing Captain Nadir.

Cray showed up at Orison"s office a quarter past nine. With little else better to do, after the archer was informed he would serve as Orison"s aid first to fifth day, the young mage had him join Morrel"s daily discipline training with them. After seeing Cray collapse into half sobbing gasps, he was inspired to ask Morrel to teach the set to Calix. In Orison"s mind, grueling drills that benefited the body and unwanted duties were better for maintaining order than lashes which did nothing but add injuries and grudges.

For the next two days, Orison focused on getting his people adjusted to emba.s.sy living. During that time, he saw a fire of ambition light up in Calix"s eyes as the light in Claudius" burned out. For good or ill, Yulian had made her choice and anyone could tell it wasn"t an easy one. To keep Claudius occupied, he had his future urban prefect keep him company during training and off duty hours where they quizzed each other on finer points of Centerland law.

Droya took advantage of the elves being a bit warmer towards Northlanders to do some shopping and trading along with Lyra. Morrel and Rithus were occupied demonstrating non-corporal punishment and discipline with Calix. After a brief catch up session with the other Northlanders, in a surprising act of social cordiality, Gan was getting to know his roommate and Yulian better.

Venito stopped by after a good night"s sleep complaining of headaches and flashes of memories that didn"t belong to him. After finally giving him the recipe for vital potion, Orison ran a little healing through Venito"s head and told him to take it easy for the day. On day two, he came to Orison looking like a child who had woke up to a surprise trip to a major amus.e.m.e.nt park.

After being told a lot of things that made no sense, Orison just stopped him and started a round of brisk observation and experimentation. The largest and most important factor that Orison looked into was Venito"s s.p.a.ce which was much larger than his own but showed little signs of growth potential. He was pretty sure that without the small amount of his own s.p.a.ce acting like glue where it was most fractured, the whole thing would fall apart but he noticed the strange energy that Venito was generating and swapping with the s.p.a.ce was starting to show minute signs of healing it. Observing it seemed to give Orison some insights into his own s.p.a.ce but they were so vague he had to give up on trying to chase them down and Venito started showing signs of being edgy about the prolonged physical contact method that Orison was using to "see" more clearly.

The craziest part was if some of Orison"s soul crystal matter was put into Venito"s s.p.a.ce, it would draw moisture and turn into a type of spiritually enhanced water then concentrate the rest into a stone. If that water was put into his s.p.a.ce, it would congregate to his mini plane before it was separated into regular water and charged crystal dust. After Venito pulled out a plant for Orison to look at, that turned into something fairly mundane as soon as it touched air, they decided to end their experiments.

Their "keys" were so different from one another there was little one had that could help the other aside from some alchemy knowledge which was greatly beneficial to both. Venito would never be able to use outside help with the processing of living materials in his "little world" so he"d really have to buckle down and learn alchemy if he wanted to advance with the key he"d received. Some of the insights that Venito could offer didn"t help Orison"s alchemy skills so much, at that time, as his understanding of trans.m.u.tation and the spell model of the same name he possessed that had stumped him for so long.

By the fifth day Orison had moved himself and his people to the emba.s.sy, everything was running as smoothly as it had in the consulate for the most part. He still had to step in and help Calix out from time to time and put his acting captain back on the right track again but the man was slipping into the role more comfortably by the day. It was just in time to start receiving missives and occasional visitors again and now that he was within arms reach, the council had already summoned him twice to discuss matters with the majority on indefinite hold as he insisted on maintaining his consulate legate status until a properly trained and vetted legate arrived.

With the arrival of the Northlanders" boat to home, it was time for the two brothers to part ways again. Orison almost couldn"t believe the metamorphosis his brother had gone through in these five days. Venito was still the same mischievous lecher but it almost seemed more like a mask hiding the deeper, more tranquil version of himself springing into being. It irked Orison that, if anything, his brother seemed to be drawing more women"s eyes of late but it was perversely satisfying seeing Venito turn away from it due to his nervousness over Orison"s warning.

In their parting words, Orison asked Venito to "send a message for encouragement and honesty" to the contract workers being sent to build the Cantrip estate, if the a.s.sa.s.sin could. He also slipped a couple magic scrolls to his brother for payment if someone in The Order"s grapevine could relay word of where Rithus" daughter was. He knew it was a long shot but so was Droya"s inquiries through the merchant gossip chain. The way he figured, two "hail Mary pa.s.ses" were better than one.

Once the Northlanders left, Orison settled into a blissful routine that lasted all of a handful of days before he felt like something was wrong. Something was worrying him that he couldn"t quite put a finger on. Unable to endure the restlessness any longer, Orison turned to confide in Gan.

"I don"t get it. Calix is doing a great job. Nothing ominous is coming up. My training with Morrel has. .h.i.t an even, tolerable level since he"s always running somewhere. Magic study has. .h.i.t a few road blocks but that"s not really in learning magic so much as it is filling in the holes of what makes it work. I can"t do anything about that til I have an actual tutor. I kind of feel like I"m going a little crazy, Gan." Orison said.

Gan looked at Orison like the young mage had two heads. "Alright, Little Boss. Since you seem to be overlooking the obvious, let me just point it out... You"re bored. Either that or you aren"t taking certain matters in hand but I know you"re touchy about that. So let"s just go with bored."

Orison was tempted to dismiss Gan"s viewpoint but for the sake of playing devil"s advocate with himself, he thought it through, "Maybe it"s due to the changes inside me from the miasma but even with the forced maturity, I run on the cold side when it comes to "needs". The thing with the secretary proved to me it"s there but I have to want something for there to be "something". That rules out the later half.

"Bored? Not really. I genuinely like messing around with magic and Morrel"s physical and martial training brainwashing is finally taking hold in me. All the near death experiences hasn"t instilled any adrenaline junkie tendencies in me either. No, wait... That could be it. I know that danger and unpleasant surprises lurk around every corner and the calmness of the past few days has been eroding away my sense of caution. My instincts might be warning me against being complacent."

He turned to Gan and said, "Let"s get Morrel and Rithus together. The four of us are going to west beach after swinging through the trade post. I don"t want to lose touch with matters down there and the Speaker of the Right is a bit salty after losing access to those enduring breath potion main ingredients we"ve been keeping a secret. Combine that with a need to get a hold of a certain "special merchant" of our acquaintance for the rest of our gold and it"s a three for one."

Gan playfully accused, "What, little old me instead of Claudius?"

Noting the touch of real concern hidden inside the question, Orison said in all seriousness, "The Tulius brothers and Yulian are mom"s people. It"s a soft line since all of you are my people but I want that line there. Mom"s picked up the subtle hints I"ve been dropping and taken Claudius" depression distractions in hand. Besides, I"ve come to think of you as my right hand."

Gan chuckled and messed up Orison"s hair. "Aww, Little Boss. Never knew you cared."

Mildly irritated, Orison finger combed his hair back into place and said, "Don"t let it go to your head. It"s not like you have any real compet.i.tion."

Seeing that his thoughtless comment had hit a little harder than he meant it to, Orison added, "It"s the little things. Rithus is Morrel"s number one priority. I"m fairly certain that he"s Morrel"s real son but for whatever reason won"t actually ever say it. Rithus has an oddly child-like quality to him in spite of how much he"s capable of. He"s growing into himself but it"s like he"s just started to mature, if that makes sense.

"You"re solid. I can can trust you to take care of yourself and I can trust that you"ll be there if I need you. Plus, you"ve seen some of the darker sides of my life and didn"t flinch or go running to my mom, worrying her over things she can"t help with and would probably have a hard time understanding. As much as I want to be open and honest with her, I don"t want my life to overshadow her own. Everyone deserves to be the main character of their own story."

Gan draped an arm on his shoulder and leaned on him a little, looking into the morning sky. "Just trying my best to give back what you gave me first. You said you"re walking a longer road. Sounds good. I"ll see how long I can walk it with you. Who knows, maybe I"ll live long enough to regret it and wonder what my own road could have been. Maybe, just maybe, I"ll look back one day and think it was the best d.a.m.n decision of my life... But I think that"s enough heart to heart. Daylight"s burning and it sounds like you got a whole day"s worth planned out."

Once Morrel was tracked down and the shareable parts of Orison"s plan were laid out, the old wood elf didn"t seem thrilled. Rithus, who had been cooped up in the emba.s.sy the whole time, was almost tearful in his supporting enthusiasm, however. Perhaps in sympathy of the Marshlander"s plight, Morrel softened up. With all four on the same page, running it by Droya went without a hitch. She even looked a little relieved to have legate duties to attend since a few pa.s.sing storms had slowed down her side goods trading.

Orison had planned on checking in at the post first but as he got further away from New Fvaris, the further away from people he wanted to get. It started out subconsciously but it became more and more apparent to him that his intuition was warning him about something after all. And whatever it was, almost like a calling, it would not be something he wanted strangers to witness. The only thing he could get out of it was that it would be big and scary.

At first he was going to hide it because that same instinct was wanting him to have Gan, Morrel and Rithus with him. The three, in the process of taking in some of Orison"s structured miasma had become somewhat tied to him in a way that his intuition found helpful in surviving whatever ordeal he was getting ready to face. That intuition, however, did not control him. And Orison wasn"t about to send these three who trusted and followed him, into whatever was coming blindly.

While swinging a little north on the west beach to fetch the potion ingredients, Orison explained what he was feeling as best he could then said, "Gan knows more than you of what my future is. If I live, it is not just limited to this land, this world." He looked at Gan who nodded and continued, "This is the choice. If you stay today, you can walk the long road with me. If you leave you will not be able even if you want to. It will be dangerous but if we survive we will be more... I don"t know these things, I just feel them."

Frowning, Morrel was about to speak but Rithus beat him to it. "My world has been so small. Ever since the day my daughter came back with the key you had made, it feels as if what was unlocked wasn"t my collar but something bigger. Something lies in front of you but it is not a road. Roads are not tall. They do not pierce the sky, do not part the stars. Or so says the shadow in my bones... I will walk with you, Orison. I will walk with you and I will climb. If that walk or that climb is only for today then I will live today free of all bindings and locks save for my debt of grat.i.tude and reverence to you."

Orison smiled and said, "Keep the reverence. I want to walk with family not servants."

Rithus smiled and nodded. Whatever Morrel was going to say was painfully swallowed back down. Because it just seemed perfect, they went to the place that had once held Lily"s body, the only place Orison knew of where the laws of reality were weaker.

While they waited. Morrel found a moment to speak with Orison alone. "Whatever is to come, if a sacrifice is to be made that can be borne by another, any that can be spared from Rithus, do so. I will bear them in his place."

As the air around them took a rusty red glow, Orison said, "I"ll honor your will, Morrel. In return, whatever truths you"ve been hiding from him that he has a right to know, you"ll tell him once this is over."

Morrel smiled bitterly. "Then let us hope the price I must pay is high enough to spare us both the pain of those truths... Don"t look at me like that. I may be a fool from time to time but I am no coward."