When I woke up I felt the light of the morning sun shine right on my face. I had been truly exhausted when I had gone to bed last night, so it was no wonder that I had slept longer than normal. Enjoying the sensation of slowly waking up, I rolled over, planning to stay in bed for just a few more minutes. However, I realized that waking up in bed was unusual. Miles would always take over at night, and he probably wouldn’t have stayed in bed.

I opened my eyes just a little bit and an entirely unfamiliar room came into view. It was easily four times the size of our room at the inn, with a lot of light streaming through three large windows. In a split second I was wide awake and sat up.

“Miles, where are we!?” I blurted out in a panic.

‘Shhh, Barla and Riala are still asleep,’ he said and I looked over to a second large bed, where the two girls were sleeping peacefully. ‘A lot has happened last night.’

With wide eyes I listened to him recounting what I had missed while I was asleep. How they had visited the ritual platform, the attack by the soldiers, their escape, and their deal with the mayor. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I was reminded of that night in the shed, when he had first told me about being able to control my body, but this time the situation was a little different. He had acted to protect all of us, and even though it was weird to not have been present for it, I also couldn’t entirely shake the feeling that it was kind of nice to simply have awoken on the other side of it. After all that, apparently even Miles had wanted to lie down and relax for a few hours.

“So they made it here before us after all... we must’ve missed each other only by hours, right?” I asked him.

‘Yea. Berla thinks they must’ve gone back to Alarna right after they were attacked by the beasts and then set out for Cerus almost immediately. We lost some time when she still needed your help to walk, so that’s probably when they passed us without us noticing.’

“And she didn’t side with them...” I whispered and looked at her. One night, that I hadn’t even experienced myself, and my doubts were gone. She’s on our side.

‘Oh... Huh,’ Miles said, sounding confused.

“What is it?”

‘I didn’t even think about that last night... not for one second. That’s weird.’

“Interesting.”

The chances were high that Miles had some kind of influence on me. From time to time I had thoughts that didn’t quite feel like my own, and one possible explanation was my “Calling,” which was still affecting me. However, Miles seemed to be changing ever so slightly as well.

“So, what’s the mayor like? Will he keep up his side of the deal?”

‘I’m carefully optimistic. He seemed intrigued, and it was enough to kick the soldiers out of town. But we’ll have to actually give him something, he most definitely won’t help us out of the goodness of his heart.’

We talked for a few more minutes, when someone briefly knocked on the door. Before I had the chance to say anything, an older man in a suit opened it and stepped into the room.

“Morning, Tomar,” the man said.

‘That’s him. Be casual, but polite. And call him Mayor.’

“Good morning, Mayor,” I said.

“Looks like not everybody is awake yet,” he said in a quiet voice. “Should we let them sleep and talk alone?”

‘Not good, wake them.’

“‘I’m sure my sisters would rather accompany us. We’ll be right out,’” Miles and I said.

“Alright, see you in a minute,” he said and left the room again. I could hear him walk down the hallway and down a stairway.

“Sisters?”

‘Right, I hadn’t mentioned that yet,’ Miles said with a sigh and quickly summarized the most important points I had to remember, while I shook Berla and Riala awake. Apparently I had two sisters now. Not that I minded, but it sounded a little weird. While Berla still looked tired, Riala already seemed full of energy, just seconds after waking up.

“Morning, Tomar!”

“Morning, Riala,” I said with a smile.

“Good Morning. Did Miles tell you everything already?”

“He did, and apparently we need to get up, the mayor wants to talk to me.”

“Ah, I see. Okay, let’s go.”

When we stepped out of the room, I was a little startled by two guards standing on either side of the door, but it probably wasn’t surprising that the mayor of Cerus wouldn’t let random people into his house in the middle of the night, give them a room, and then just let them do as they pleased.

The guards and us briefly greeted each other and they started following us as we walked down the stairs and into a living room, where the mayor was waiting for us. I had to hold back to not look around too much, since I was supposed to have already seen this room.

“Alright!” he said as soon as we sat down on the couch. “Now that we’re all awake, able to formulate a clear thought, and dressed, let’s make a proper deal. You promised me a lot of exciting things last night, but you have very little to show for it at this time. It’s not clear what your actual worth will be yet, nor what your job would look like, should you plan to stay here permanently. I’m willing to offer you six days for the start. If you can show me results by then, we’ll talk more. How does that sound?”

Six days... I thought. Miles was right, the mayor wouldn’t help us for nothing. Six days was the amount of time the soldiers would need for their way to Alarna and back here if they didn’t hurry. The mayor had kicked them out of town for the moment, and if they weren’t going to act any further without orders from the king, they would have to make the trip first. We have to prove ourselves useful before they come back... Or flee again, I thought.

Miles and I had briefly broached the subject in the bedroom. He had been able to buy us some time and now we would have to decide how to continue from here. One option was to simply make a run for it. Assuming there wasn’t an army in front of the gates anymore, we would have a chance to get away. Almost as planned, we’re in Cerus and we’re thinking about where to go from here. However, the prospect of staying in town was interesting as well. We would have to talk about Berla’s situation at a later time, but if we could actually stay here...

“‘Six days sounds fair. We’ll have something for you by then.’”

“My expectations are high. Just inviting you to stay here in the middle of the night already brought on a stern talking to from the missus after all,” he said with a chuckle. “Now, I have business to attend to, but you’re free to move around with your escort. They will also supply you with what you need for your research. Within reason, of course. You’ll find a modest breakfast in the kitchen, but I expect you to supply your own water. That won’t be a problem, correct?”

“Not at all. Thank you, Mayor.”

He rose from his armchair and straightened his suit. “I’m looking forward to hearing of your results. We’ll see each other tonight,” he said and then left the house. The two guards remained, almost out of sight, but definitely not out of hearing range.

“Breakfast!” Riala exclaimed happily after the mayor had left. Apparently Miles had told her to simply not say anything while he was around, so she wouldn’t say anything wrong by accident. Just in case, I looked her in the eyes and then towards the guards, to signal to her that we still needed to be careful.

To the delight of all of us, the “modest breakfast” the mayor had mentioned was enough to satisfy our hunger twice over. After we were done, I prepared a bucket and used a script to fill it with water, at which point one of the guards curiously glanced in our direction. He then motioned for the other guard to take a look as well. While the first guard watched me in fascination, the second one only threw one curious glance our way before turning around again. The mayor had presumably prepared them for what they would be seeing.

With them around I couldn’t freely talk with Miles, which was a minor issue, but I was sure that we would manage somehow. It wouldn’t be the first time that we’d be working this way after all.

I felt a bit of excitement. A new day, in a new town, a new, temporary job, and our first day in a week without being on the road. I couldn’t wait to start a new chapter in our story.

***

Aelene looked deeply fascinated at a large log that had been reduced to splinters by the scripture she had used at Oryn’s instruction.

In an attempt to enjoy normality for just a little bit longer, she had been evasive and put off any experiments for as long as she could, but eventually she had had to give in. Oryn and her had gone to the garden behind the temple, where some water wouldn’t bother anyone and where he could put up some targets. Even the first test, of a normal water source scripture, had been enthralling to Aelene, but shooting things to smithereens was something else.

“Wow...”

Oryn was in high spirits. “That was great!” he said. “Wait a second, I’ll adjust the scripture. There’s so much more we can test!”

Still watching at the destroyed log, she wordlessly held out her hand, for him to wash away part of the previous scripture sigils and make modifications. Once he was done, she aimed at the next log. After placing a blue stone on the back of her hand, a stream of water shot out, but instead of blasting the log apart, the water only gave it a push and it flew through the air for a few meters before falling to the ground.

Aelene looked at her hands with curiosity. She opened and closed them, as if trying to determine something. “Oryn, what is the purpose of the stones?”

“I don’t know yet, that is something we have to research as well! Oh I can’t wait until the caravan gets back from Cerus with white and black stones!”

“Hm...” Aelene said as Oryn prepared the next scripture.

Since he had destroyed the water source he had always been experimenting on, he hadn’t been able to test any of the new ideas he came up with after his recent successes. Now that Aelene had finally accepted to test scripture sigils on herself, there were dozens of tests he wanted to run. He had been worried she would be unwilling the entire time, but now she seemed at least somewhat interested in what was going to happen next.

Oryn finished his next modification and Aelene aimed at yet another log. This time, however, nothing happened as she watched the blue stone dissolve.

“Tsk. A dud. No worries, I’ve got more.”

“Let’s go back to one that works,” Aelene instructed him.

“I understand that you’re eager,” he said with a chuckle, “but we should continue with the tests.”

“Oryn, please,” she said with a determined expression.

He didn’t understand what this was about, but it seemed like she wanted to test something, so he modified the scripture once more.

Aelene raised her arm, but curiously, she didn’t have a blue stone in her hand. Instead, she concentrated hard, as if she was searching for something within herself. A moment passed, then several, but nothing happened, and eventually she gave up.

“What did you try to do?” Oryn asked.

“Oh, nothing. I just had such a strange feeling...” she said and took a blue stone into her hand. With a grin, she proceeded to blow apart another log.