“Last chance for anyone to turn around,” Leon said as the doors to Clear Ice Fortress began to open, the great steel slabs moving excruciatingly slowly.

At his side was Elise and Valeria riding Anzu, while Maia stood at his other side. Behind them were half a dozen Heaven’s Eye guardsmen of at least fourth-tier power and one negotiator. Elise decided that if she were going all the way to the Northern Vales, then she might as well make use of Leon’s connections to secure some trade deals with the Brown Bear Tribe for silkgrass, and so had decided to bring more than just guards.

The negotiator himself was a sixth-tier mage, fairly short and bookish, but serious and humorless. He carried in his soul realm gifts for the Valemen to help ingratiate them and make their negotiations easier and had even briefly consulted Leon on what gifts might be appreciated.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to turn around now, love,” Elise said, smiling at Leon. She was dressed all in white, her clothes thick to keep out the profound chill of the Frozen Mountains and trimmed with white fur.

In fact, everyone was dressed fairly similarly. It was going to be a hard trek north over some of the roughest and coldest terrain on the plane. Only Leon and Maia were going to be somewhat immune to the bitter cold of these mountains.

No one was particularly worried, though. At the very least, Leon’s fire magic would prove its worth outside of combat.

“All right, then let’s get moving,” Leon said, returning Elise’s smile as he led their group out through the gates and into the mountain passes of the Frozen Mountain Range.

---

It was a hard march over broken ground, through caves, and even up the odd cliff or two. With Anzu and Leon being capable of flight, however, the group never strayed too far from their path, even when the cold bit at their exposed flesh and did its best to rip through their clothes.

But this was a path used by poor Valemen who traveled south to sell silkgrass for silver and other things. Leon’s group was properly equipped and supported by Heaven’s Eye. It only took a matter of days for them to emerge on the other side of the mountains, cold, tired, and kind of hating life, but fully intact and none the worse for wear.

Elise even started to regret not turning back on the worst day, when they had to hurriedly find shelter during a terrible snowstorm, but she pushed on regardless. She was the happiest of them all when they finally made it down out of the mountains and into the foothills at the southern edge of the Northern Vale where the Brown Bear Tribe made its home.

Leon wasn’t too far behind her in terms of joy. He’d missed the simplicity of Vale life, and just being back in a place where he could see mountains in all directions had him practically swooning. The cool, crisp Vale air, the sound of the wind rustling the leaves of the distant forests, the smell of pine and Vale flowers, even the thinner ambient magic, it all spoke of home and comfort, and he began to relax. A smile was almost omnipresent on his face as they proceeded north, only occasionally stopping to rest.

It took only two more days at their leisurely pace to reach the central plain and see Vale Town in the distance. It had hardly changed in the few years since Leon had been gone. Still a relatively small city, though only by southern standards. It was home to at least twenty-thousand people, and from what Leon could see with his magic senses, it had actually grown a little since he’d last stopped by.

“So, where are we going?” Elise asked they began to draw closer to the city’s outskirts.

“We’re heading for the longhouse in the center of the city,” Leon said, drawing everyone’s attention toward the fortified longhouse of Torfinn Ice-Eyes on a gentle hill. In the entire city, it was the only location that had stone works of any kind, with several layers of stone walls protecting the hill. Every other building in the city, including the longhouse, was made of timber.

They got more than a few strange looks as they passed the people on the street—especially Anzu and Leon—but no one stopped them. It probably helped that they weren’t obviously armed or armored and that Leon was known in the area, even if he’d been gone a fairly long time.

“Interesting place…” Valeria said as they started making their way through the winding and unplanned streets of the city. “Not as interesting as I’d heard, but… interesting…”

“Disappointed there aren’t people making blood sacrifices or fuckin’ in the streets?” Leon drily asked. Those were the two most common rumors of life in the Northern Vales spread by those in the south who’d never been.

“Maybe a little,” Valeria cheekily replied. “Maybe I’m just surprised everyone’s leaving us alone.”

“Torfinn Ice-eyes runs a tight ship, and we’re strong and numerous enough that the Valemen won’t go out of their way to antagonize us,” Leon replied, not worried at all about the attention they were getting from the locals.

They arrived at the longhouse a little bit after noon without any trouble. Despite Leon being well-known, he and his father had never been particularly friendly with anyone outside of Torfinn and his thanes. At the very least, his lack of caution was vindicated since they weren’t once challenged as he led his small group straight to the main doors of the longhouse and pushed them open.

Leon had only managed to take a single step into the longhouse before he was almost violently accosted by a great bear of a man; tremendously tall; long brown hair; a beard of legendary proportions; a powerful body banded with corded muscle; piercing grey eyes; and the aura of a fifth-tier mage radiating from his flesh.

“Little Lion!” the man roared, his voice so deep that it was a wonder he didn’t shake the foundations of his longhouse with every word. “Welcome back!”

Torfinn—for this man could be none other than he—held Leon close, practically suffocating the younger man in the tribal chief’s bear fur cloak and layered silkgrass shirt. Leon quickly wrapped his arms around Torfinn in turn, embracing the older Valeman like an old friend. Leon wasn’t sure if that label applied to them, but he was certainly happy to see the Valeman chief again.

“It’s good to see you again, Torfinn!” Leon replied, his voice muffled as Torfinn was still holding his face in his great bear fur cloak.

“Ah!” Torfinn said as he relented a little and let Leon pull back, but he kept his hand on Leon’s shoulder like he was a favored nephew. “Come here, let me look at you,” Torfinn said as he stepped back, a smile plastered on his face that was so big that not even his enviable beard could hide it.

And as Leon’s form and aura fell more and more into his eyes, Torfinn’s eyes began to grow wide and his grip on Leon’s shoulder weakened.

“You… are looking pretty good, Little Lion,” the Valeman chief stated appreciatively. “The south must have treated you well! I mean, look at you! You’re a man, now!”

Leon smiled in embarrassment. He was a lot weaker and skinnier the last time he was here, he knew it had to be a shock for him to suddenly show back up covered in muscle and emitting an aura too powerful for Torfinn to see through.

“And you’re looking as strong as ever, I see,” Leon responded.

“HAHA! I’d have to be!” Torfinn boomed. “Our Tribe has grown considerably in the past few years! But where are my manners? Please, come in! Come in!”

The chief waved Leon’s companions inside. Leon saw that Elise was already charmed by the chief’s jovial and outgoing attitude, as was the negotiator from Heaven’s Eye. Maia and Valeria, on the other hand, seemed much less impressed.

‘Whoa…” Torfinn gasped as Anzu tried to follow everyone inside. “Is this thing with you?” the Valeman chief asked Leon, his tone growing more serious. Leon could sense the fluctuations in his aura that indicated he was about to draw a weapon from his soul realm.

Hurriedly, Leon replied, “Yes! Yes, Anzu is my war beast!”

“Ah, all right, then,” Torfinn muttered, keeping his eye on Anzu for a few seconds longer as Leon tended to the griffin.

A few minutes later, Anzu was resting in a warm corner and everyone else had taken seats at Torfinn’s favorite table. There weren’t many other people in the hall, and Leon happened to notice that none of Torfinn’s thanes were present, either.

“So, Little Lion, please introduce everyone!” Torfinn loudly requested.

Leon smiled and took Elise’s hand first. “This is Elise, my fiancée,” he said with a huge smile.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Elise said with a more distant but dignified smile.

“And you,” Torfinn replied with a smile and nod of his own.

Next came Maia sitting on Leon’s other side. He took the river nymph’s hand with his free hand and said, “This is Naiad, my mate.”

Torfinn blinked in surprise at the term, but he didn’t question it.

“Good to meet you,” he said to Maia, though the river nymph barely spared him a single look. “Lovely woman, too,” he said sarcastically, a hint of steel entered his voice. He didn’t take too kindly to being so disrespected in his own hall, and Leon was certain if Maia had been weaker than Torfinn or unconnected to him, she’d have been thrown out.

Leon squeezed Maia’s hand and gave her a meaningful look. She sighed in exasperation but at least deigned to give Torfinn the briefest of nods, which went far enough to alleviate Torfinn’s wounded pride that Leon was comfortable moving on.

“That is Valeria, my knight,” Leon stated, “and the others are with a detachment sent by Heaven’s Eye, a group of merchants in the south who were looking to set up some formal trade deals with the Brown Bears.”

“Sounds… fine,” Torfinn replied, his suspicion and reluctance only broken by a warm smile sent Valeria’s way.

“And everyone, this is Torfinn Ice-Eyes, the chief of the Brown Bear Tribe and an old friend of my father’s.”

Torfinn’s expression changed into one more suited for a proud and powerful tribal chief for a moment before coming back down to a warmer and more genuine smile and welcoming demeanor.

“If it hasn’t been made clear enough, yet,” Torfinn said, “please make yourselves at home here. If you’re a friend of the Little Lion’s, then you’re a friend of mine.”

Leon cringed a bit at the repeated use of his old nickname, but he didn’t mind Torfinn using it. He did, however, catch Elise smirking at him out of the corner of his eye, and when he glanced at her, she had the widest smile on her face. When they made eye contact, she mouthed the words, ‘Little Lion’ at him.

‘Well, looks like I’m never going to hear the end of that,’ Leon thought.

Torfinn continued, “I don’t have the room for everyone here, so Little Lion and you three ladies can sleep here. The rest of you will have to wait a little while, but I’ll find somewhere for you to spend your nights.”

---

Dinner was a fairly raucous affair. Torfinn made sure that his guests were settled, generously fed, and given all the mead and water they wanted. He also called for a small feast to celebrate Leon’s visit, and even those Valemen who didn’t know Leon or hadn’t known Artorias well found cause to celebrate with Elise, Valeria, and Maia in their midst. In fact, many of the younger or brasher warriors started trying to compete for the ladies’ attention, with more than a few impromptu contests of drinking, insults, or fists breaking out around them.

Fortunately, the ladies were either only mildly amused or just indifferent. Elise engaged with many of the warriors, listening when they told their stories, laughing at their jokes, and generally being a good guest. Valeria was a little more subdued—polite, but she didn’t speak much. Maia barely tolerated any of the warriors looking at her, and she mostly tried to pretend that none of them existed.

If any of Torfinn’s people were offended, they hid it well. They didn’t all like Leon or Artorias, but they at least respected their power and their relationship with Torfinn. They weren’t going to cause too much trouble for Torfinn’s guests.

Because Torfinn was busy handling the feast and making sure all of his guests had places to sleep, he and Leon didn’t have a chance to privately speak until that night after the feast was over and the warriors had returned to their homes. There weren’t many places they could speak, though, so their private chat wound up in a corner of the hall while the ladies were getting ready to turn in for the night.

“So,” Torfinn began as he and Leon sat down at a small round table, Torfinn with a horn of mead and Leon with water, “what brings you all the way back here, Little Lion? Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to see you back and doing all right, but it seems like you were living a good life down there. I can’t imagine you’d want to return for no reason at all…”

“You don’t think I just want to show my lovers where I grew up?” Leon asked with a sarcastic smile.

Torfinn chuckled and said, “I love my home, but from what your father told me about the south, the Vales aren’t the kind of place that people come to for fun.”

Leon smiled. “They’re a real bitch to reach, that’s for sure. Without silkgrass, I don’t think there’d be many who’d be willing to make the journey, those mountains are just that bad.”

“Mm,” Torfinn hummed in agreement. He’d made the journey south and back again once before, though he hadn’t ever gone further south than Clear Ice Fortress. But he still knew the discomforts and hazards of the route all too well.

Leon continued, “I guess, to make a long story short, we’re looking for someone, and I have some reason to believe he went east into the Forest of Black and White.”

“Why would anyone want to go into that Mother-forsaken hellhole?” Torfinn’s face tightened in distaste. “If they did, they’re probably dead by now.”

“I know, but I have to check anyway. Might be related to my father’s death.”

“Made any progress on that front?” Torfinn asked with a dark look. “You know that all you need to do is say the word and I’ll be there for you if you need me. Your father was my friend, too.”

“I know, and I appreciate the offer.” Leon’s tone was nothing but genuine. Torfinn couldn’t help but start smiling as he noticed all the little oddities in Leon’s behavior that weren’t there anymore. He was relaxed, confident, and speaking in complete sentences rather than terser fragments.

“This man you’re going to find,” Torfinn began as he watched Leon closely, “you’re going to kill him, right? I mean, I can’t imagine you would come all this way otherwise…”

“I… don’t know…” Leon replied. His aura began to roil and churn and fill with killing intent, making all of Torfinn’s hair stand on end. However, only a moment later, Leon composed himself. “I would like to kill this man, for obvious reasons. I might not, depends on how we find each other.”

“Why would you not?” Torfinn asked in alarm.

“I’ve been led to believe he’s a good man who’s doing what he’s doing because he’s been forced,” Leon explained. “I’m reserving my judgment until I meet him for myself. I would very much like to kill him, though. More than I think I can express. So, to tell you the truth, I’m kind of hoping he tries to kill me. Assuming he’s still alive, of course, which doesn’t look likely given how long he’s been missing.”

Torfinn nodded along, understanding that he was missing a lot of context, but not feeling like having Leon sit there and explain everything was going to pan out. “Is there anything else I can do to help right now, then?” he asked instead. He decided that it was simply better to make the offer and trust that Leon had everything in hand, even though he dearly wanted vengeance for his murdered friend. But that vengeance wasn’t for him to take.

“Just keep an eye out for anyone who might be asking about me or my father,” Leon replied. “There hasn’t been anyone like that showing up in the past year or so, has there?”

“I couldn’t say. If there has been, their questions haven’t reached my ears.”

“What about your thanes? Speaking of which, where are they? I haven’t seen them all day…”

“They haven’t been around much, so I doubt they’ve had to deal with any southerners lately. Asbjorn is in the west watching over the passes to the western Vales. Freyja is helping the farmers of the Greenhand Tribe with harvesting silkgrass, and Harald is keeping the peace among some of the refugees who decided to settle here rather than go home after that nasty business with Hakon Fire-Beard wrapped up.”

“Ah, right,” Leon replied with a smile. “Speaking of that man, you know I encountered him in the south, right?”

“What?” Torfinn’s relaxed demeanor suddenly turned tense as his expression warped in alarm.

“Yeah,” Leon confirmed. “I was stationed at the fort blocking his access to the Bull Kingdom. I fought him, though I hate to admit that I didn’t fare all that well when we crossed blades. Hakon was eventually defeated by a Bull mage and executed.”

“… Huh…” Torfinn murmured as he settled back in his chair. “Interesting… I’d not heard much of the details about his death. Then again, I’m hardly surprised. I’m glad to see that you survived, though.”

“Thanks. Do you know when your thanes’ll be back?” Leon asked, surprising himself by how willing he was to see them. He’d never gotten along with any of the thanes, but he’d only been back in Torfinn’s longhouse for less than half a day and he already felt intoxicated by the nostalgia.

“A few weeks at the earliest, I’d say,” Torfinn replied.

“Damn, not sure I’ll be staying that long.”

“Well, anytime you want to come back, don’t hesitate! You’ll always have a place in my hall!”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. Anyway, I’d like to stay here for at least another day and recover from the journey north, if that’s all right with you. I’ll be heading east either tomorrow or the day after, while Elise and the Heaven’s Eye people who came with us will want to stay here and negotiate for silkgrass. I… do hope there won’t be any untoward behavior from any of the Valemen towards her during her stay?”

“Ha! As if you even need to ask! If any of those milk-drinkers make any unwanted advances toward your woman, I’ll discipline them!”

“Thank you,” Leon said. “I doubt there’ll be any problem with Heaven’s Eye here and you keeping the peace, but I had to make sure it was said. Both Valeria and Naiad will be coming with me, so Elise is going to be left here without any of us…”

Torfinn nodded. “She’ll be fine, I give you my word. Anything you need, Little Lion, you have but to give voice to it and I’ll do what I can to help.”

“Thank you,” Leon repeated. He wasn’t sure how far that offer extended, he doubted that it was an actual blind offer of unconditional, limitless assistance, but he wasn’t going to be testing it too rigorously. He just wanted everything in place so that he could focus on what was coming next and deal with the fact that his enemies had found their way into his old home.

As he thought about the Forest of Black and White, Leon’s heart began to race. There were secrets to be seen in the old Vale, and enemies certainly abounded within. But right then, in that moment, there was nothing he wanted to see more than his old home and the grave of his father.