Ilon woke up feeling the double dynamic of being refreshed while simultaneously being groggy at the same time from sleeping during an odd hour. He looked outside and saw that it was still dark out with sunrise not being for another couple of hours. Trying to go back to sleep was pointless as he could tell he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep again.

May as well use this time to train. It’s been a while. Luckily for him he didn’t have to spend hours every day trying to maintain shape because his violet energy kept him in peak condition. He did have to practice with his whip, but that wasn’t something he could do in the middle of a town before dawn. So the only thing left was training his control of the violet.

He walked over to where he had dropped his pack in his stupor of sleepiness and took out a thin sheet from it. It looked like a slightly thicker piece of paper that was completely blank, but it was actually one of the best training materials that the Master had given him. Hidden in the sheet was a weave of the world’s energy that was so fine that it was invisible to the naked eye.

When violet energy was poured into the weave it would react and light up, from the bottom to the top depending on how far he managed to make it. Ilon needed to control his violet energy and split it into dozens of threads precisely without making any mistakes. The further up the page the more and more he had to split until he was able to control hundreds to thousands of the threads that made up this weave.

The furthest that he had gotten was only about a fifth of the way. The difficulty ramped up exponentially every time he made even a smidgen of progress. The Master had told him that in order to be able to use intent properly he needed to at least unravel a quarter of the sheet. It was only a five percent difference, but it was a monumental task for most.

Ilon focused his attention on the sheet before him. He infused his energy into the sheet and a violet glow began to emanate out from the bottom. Slowly, his energy split and flowed into the beginning strands of the weave and made its way up the sheet.

One percent, two percent, over the course of several minutes the glow slowly made its way up the sheet. Yet at just around a tenth of the sheet the glow winked out, the violet energy flowing back into him.

“It really is hard just after breaking through a tier.” He had reached tier 8 in the Soullight forest so he had an influx of energy that he wasn’t used to. It would only take a couple of days of training to get back to where he was before, and further even, but it was frustrating seeing progress disappear because of progress made.

But that wasn’t an excuse to slack off. He continued training and making his way back up the sheet until the first rays of sun entered through his window. He was sweating and slightly panting, but the progress he had made in the couple of hours had been worth it. He needed a bath after yesterday anyways, so the timing worked out.

He made his way quietly down the stairs, looking for the employee that was working the early morning shift. As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs his eyes were attracted to a lady with wavy emerald green hair and ruby eyes cleaning the front desk. She seemed lithe and the sense that she gave off while cleaning was graceful, nothing at all what someone working at an inn would be like.

“Excuse me.” Ilon said as the lady turned her head around. “I was wondering if I could get some heated water for a bath.” He hesitantly asked, afraid that she didn’t work here. She was cleaning, but her attire wasn’t that of the employees here.

“Hmm.” She silently stared at him for a moment without expression on her face. Then like a switch had been flipped, a smile bloomed onto her face. “I would suggest heading to the public baths that my husband told you about, you’ll find something quite interesting there.”

“Uh..” Ilon didn’t really know how to respond to that. “Can I get your name?” He awkwardly asked. She had said that her husband had told him about the public baths, so he could only assume that she was Cudlin’s wife.

“My name is Isoko.” She said, maintaining the smile that seemed a bit creepy to Ilon now.

“How did you know that Cudlin told me about the public baths? And what do you mean by a surprise there?” Ilon asked, skeptical. The feeling that he got when talking to her was difficult to describe, perhaps the only word that could be used was ‘off’.

“He tells everyone about his nephew’s bathhouse. He doesn’t say it, but he’s really proud of his nephew.” Isoko slightly squinted her eyes. “As for the surprise, go find out for yourself. It’ll be something quite useful to you.”

“And you know this how?” Ilon questioned. The whole conversation raised his alarms about the person before him, but she was supposedly Cudlin’s wife so he wasn’t quite sure what to do in this situation.

“If we meet each other in the future, you’ll understand then.” She said as her face instantly went back to a stone cold mask. The way it so instantly changed sent shivers up Ilon’s spine. “If you don’t go soon, you’ll miss the surprise.”

“Oh. Honey, you’re back!” Cudlin exclaimed as he came out from a room near the front desk. Ilon watched as Isoko’s eyes seemed to light up at the sight of him and a small, yet genuine smile slowly formed upon her face. Cudlin rushed up to her and scooped her up into an all encompassing hug. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you. I’m home.” She said as she returned his hug. Upon seeing their reunion, Ilon made up his mind about the decision that he was struggling with. Seeing Isoko’s love for Cudlin, he decided to trust her and go to the public baths.

He walked past the reunited couple who were so focused on each other that they didn’t even notice him leaving. The air outside still had a slight chill and a faint lair of dew covered the remaining grass that was here and there. The town seemed truly peaceful at this time of day, with only a few early risers up and about.

After walking for a couple of minutes in the direction Cudlin had mentioned he came across the aforementioned bathhouse. It seemed like a relatively large establishment with a board hung up on the front that was labeled ‘Bano’s Bathhouse’.

The building was mainly made out of brick and stone and seemed to be well maintained. It was also surprising to see that it was already open for business so early in the morning. Ilon made his way inside and noticed right away that the person who was manning the counter looked like a younger version of Cudlin with a couple of minor differences.

“Welcome to Bano’s Bathhouse.” The man had a stack of paper in front of him that he seemed to be working on. “There’s a five copper entry fee. You can store your stuff in our safes for an extra two copper coins..”

“Nice to meet you. I heard that you were Cudlin’s nephew.” Ilon made some small conversation as he took out 7 copper coins.

“You’re staying at my uncles?” Bano seemed to perk up when he heard that. “Then, I’ll give you a two copper discount.” A broad smile appeared at the mention of Cudlin. He had shorter and darker hair than Cudlin did, but his eyes seemed to be almost identical, giving him a very similar aura to that of Cudlin. It was like interacting with a younger version of him.

“You seem to admire Cudlin a lot.” Ilon said, trying to get some information. He usually wouldn’t care that much, given that he was just an innkeeper, but the ordeal with Isoko made him a little more curious than usual.

“Of course!” Bano said with great energy. “Uncle Cudlin used to be a great warrior that I admired ever since I was a kid. I used to help look after Fessal while he went out to hunt monsters and fallen shamans. It was a shame when he retired seven years ago.” He said while nodding his head repeatedly.

“I wasn’t aware of that. Can I ask why he retired?” Ilon fished for more information. Cudlin didn’t seem that old, probably mid thirties so he most likely didn’t retire because of age, and it didn’t seem like he had any crippling injuries.

“He decided to focus on his family after meeting his current wife seven years ago.” Bano said with admiration in his tone. “To give up what you love doing for your family is a respectable thing.” His eyes seemed to shine as he nodded his head again.

“Sorry if this is insensitive, but did he have someone beforehand, or is Fessal not his biological daughter?” Fessal seemed like she was around thirteen or so, meaning that Isoko probably wasn’t her biological mother.

“Bah, his first wife was a nasty one. Never did like her, even when I was a kid. She didn’t want the responsibility of having a kid so she dumped Fessal with Uncle and ran away with some other guy.” Bano said with disdain.

“What about his current wife?” Ilon asked the question he was most curious about.

“She’s a real nice lady. Don’t know too much about her, besides the fact that she often leaves for a couple of months at a time. Not really sure why either, something with business or family probably.” Bano said. “Oh, sorry for talking so much. Men’s baths are on the right, just over there. Here’s the key for storing your clothes in the safes.” He handed over a pouch that was meant to be worn around the neck, where the key to the safe was stored while bathing.

“No. Thank you for answering my questions.” Ilon said with a smile as he handed over the coins. He didn’t get any real information about Isoko, but at least it was something. He took the key out which had the number 2 printed on the top of it.

Ilon entered the door where Bano had pointed to and found a changing room that had the walls lined with dozens of safes. He took off his clothes and his whip which he had attached to the back of his belt and stored them in the safe labeled 2. He then put the key back into the pouch and strung it around his neck for safe keeping.

He was curious as to what the surprise that Isoko mentioned was, but seeing the key was number 2, he figured it was probably a person. She said that it would be something that would be useful to him, but he didn’t have any idea what could be useful to him at the current moment. Maybe someone who was capable of tracking?

Ilon took the towel that came with the safe and entered the next room which was the cleaning room, where there were buckets of water over heating stones to keep the water at a nice temperature. He quickly finished washing up and cleaning off all the grime and sweat that he had built up over the past couple of days.

He made his way and entered the area to the bathing portion of the building. The step-down pool was surrounded by greenery and arches, held up by gargantuan pillars. The pool had heat stones embedded into spots around the pool that kept the temperature lukewarm.

It was certainly a fancy bathhouse for as cheap as a couple of copper, but the thing that surprised Ilon the most was the person who was currently sitting inside the bathing pool. The man had messy brown hair, a recently grown scraggly beard, and sunken cheeks. The thing that stood out most to Ilon though was a horn symbol on the left side of his face, just like he had seen in the portrait that Tain had given them.

Isoko had said that there would be a surprise waiting, but he didn’t expect for the surprise to be something that sent adrenaline shooting through his veins and make his heart start pumping so loud he could hear it in his ears.

Still, this was an opportunity that he wouldn’t get in the future. He definitely wouldn’t try to start a fight here as he wasn’t sure how strong Bi’wan was, but to get to the position of Vice-head in his early thirties, he definitely had some tricks up his sleeves.

Ilon started to slowly make his way to the pool, step by step, his heart still pounding in his ears. He quickly took a deep breath in order to calm himself and got into the bathing pool at the opposite corner of Bi’wan. He tried to make himself look as natural as possible so he leaned his head back and rested his arms on the edge of the pool.

He took that moment to glance over at Bi’wan to see if he had garnered suspicion, but Bi’wan had kept his head down the entire time, not even bothering to look at him. Ilon quickly noticed that something was off with the man before him. His breaths were quick and shallow, his eyes were unfocused and seemed lightless, and he seemed to be in a daze of sorts.

If he wanted to kill the man before him he definitely had the perfect opportunity to do it right now. He could enhance himself and launch a surprise attack, smashing his unguarded throat easily. He was tempted to do it in order to get revenge for all those innocent souls lost, yet he held himself back. Killing him now would mean losing their only source of information, and the potential retaliation of Bi’wan’s comrades frightened him.

He could also attempt to knock him out. It would be a lot more difficult as he would have to control his strength perfectly, but it was a possibility. He just wasn’t sure if it was the best idea considering that there were two others who would probably come looking for him. It would also be too suspicious to get out now and report him to the guards, who might not even arrive in time before Bi’wan left.

“Are you okay, sir?” Ilon wasn’t sure if talking to him was the right choice, but it was the one that might allow him to get information without endangering him and his comrades. “Excuse me, are you all right?” Ilon asked again after getting no response from his first question.

This time Bi’wan seemed to react as he jerked a little. “Huh, oh.” He responded while still keeping his head lowered. Even though he somewhat responded, he still seemed like he was out of it. Ilon didn’t want to keep pushing in case he caused Bi’wan to blow up at him.

“Hey, kid.” Bi’wan spoke after a couple minutes of silence. The sudden call out made Ilon slightly jump in surprise.

“Yeah?” Ilon asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

“What would you do if you were chained to someone you couldn’t fight against?” Bi’wan asked, exhaustion and despair tainting his voice.