We were silent for most of our walk back to the tower. Maybe it was the awe of being in front of a spellcaster as powerful as Archon Simeon or maybe it was the disgust and suppressed anger of seeing my brother again. I did not do much more than keep my eyes on the stone-paved road and didn’t talk other than to respond to Kard or Krysha’s questions.

“Are you alright, Adel?” Kard asked me, as we walked through the market stalls, breaking the silence we’d kept since we left the palace.

“I am,” I replied honestly. “For months, I’ve been wondering what had happened to Myriam. I couldn’t understand why she would just vanish. It all makes a bit more sense now.”

“You think Myriam is helping Kai?” Krysha asked.

“I’m sure she is,” I replied with confidence. “She’s that kind of person after all. It wouldn’t matter if Kai is a monster now. She would still see him as the cute little boy she grew up with, and I know she’d do whatever she could to restore his innocence.”

“She really did always take care of everyone,” Kard said. “Myriam was around Kai’s age when the bandits raided the village and killed her parents. And now Kai is orphaned at the same age she was.”

“But she might be in danger!” Krysha exclaimed.

“That’s why I still intend to find and help her,” I replied.

“You don’t mean to search for them,” asked Kard, his eyes wide open, “do you?”

“Kard,” I turned my head to the right in order to be able to look him in the eyes as we walked. “Myriam was my best friend. I practically grew up with her and Kai. I can’t simply forget that just because I haven’t seen her for a while.”

Neither Kard nor Krysha said anything until we were close to the tower, when Kard decided to speak again.

“I don’t know how many people will be willing to follow us in this,” he said, “but I wouldn’t suggest a party bigger than seven people. The fewer the better actually.”

Krysha stared at him wide-eyed and open-mouthed, while I tried to understand if he’d really said what I thought he did. We decelerated to almost a stop while he continued walking toward the tower. Before I could manage to say anything, Krysha upped her tempo again and caught up to Kard.

“Then I guess I need to make preparations for traveling gear and magic item protections,” she said, and I thought I saw the hint of a smile being directed toward Kard.

“This is too much,” I said, and tried to catch up with them as they discussed what they would need for the journey. “There’s no need for you to come along—”

“We’re not just coming along, Adel,” said Krysha as she abruptly turned to face me. “We’re going to help you. This involved all of us and we all lost people.”

“And we all loved Myriam and Kai,” Kard added. “So, if there’s something we can do to help them, we want to do it. At least we can tell them it is safe for them to come back with us and that we’ll do our best to help them.”

“Myriam needs to know they can have a home again,” Krysha said, after a moment of quiet.

“Okay then,” I replied, my determination multiplied by that of my friends. “Let’s do this together.”

When we entered the tower we were greeted by its full population. With everything that occurred in the palace and the decision we took afterward, we’d forgotten about the scrying device and that everyone in the tower had seen and heard our conversation.

Many young men and women immediately came forward to offer to come with us on our quest to find Myriam and Kai, and before I was overrun by eager volunteers I decided to organize a meeting of sorts to discuss how we would go about this. We agreed on meeting in three hours and some of us dispersed to our rooms while most went on with their daily training and chores, leaving only a few lingering in the foyer and tavern.

I needed to figure out how many people would be best to participate. Kard had mentioned a party of seven or fewer people but what would it entail?

I briefly pondered over the way that the king of Leka An had called Seika family and told her that she was allowed to stay behind, but I was sure she would explain it to me in due time.

Not wanting to stay in my room alone, I visited Kard’s room and found Krysha already there discussing strategy and feverishly preparing for the upcoming journey. Kard was now drafting plans for how many people should be involved in our quest, while Krysha was writing down everything we could possibly need while traveling across the different countries south of the Endless Sea.

We barely managed to jot down an outline of our plan before we ran out of time. Kard’s previous estimation seemed to be about right. No more than five people should travel together, in order to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, while five would also be optimal for a wandering troupe of merchants.

This meant that there was space for a couple of other people, even if my sister decided to stay in the tower, but I doubted that she would. I was waiting to see her before speaking with everyone, but she and Man had not yet returned. I wasn’t worried yet but I was also anxiously waiting for them.

I saw the looks Man’s father gave her and they were looks of affection. Man had also made it clear over the past months that he would do anything to protect Seika. Still, I felt bad about discussing my leaving the tower without her being here.

The three of us walked down the stairs from the second floor where Kard’s room was located and headed to the open tavern area on the ground floor of the tower. The place was teeming with people, all conversing loudly and cheerfully.

I could tell many of them were excited at the prospect of starting a new adventure and I didn’t want to take it away from them. But this was for the best.

A gust of silence spread over the crowds as they realized that Kard, Krysha, and I had arrived and were ready to commence our tower meeting.

“I suppose there’s no need for me to tell you what happened when we met the archons,” I began, once I’d climbed up on one of the platforms which had mostly been used by actors and musicians so far. “You also saw my brother. It’s a good thing Man had set up the scrying device at such an angle that you didn’t have to experience my face reddening in anger.”

A soft chuckle spread through the people gathered in front of me, though Kard and Krysha, who were sitting on the platform just by my side, only gave a courteous smile. They were the ones who had picked me up after my sister and I barely escaped him a little over a year ago. I shooed away thoughts of that night and tried to focus on the hard question I had to ask before continuing.