“Something has clearly gone wrong,” Gemini said to himself, when he finally regained his wits. “Either that, or the teleportation radius was large enough that my true body was brought with it.”

After a few seconds of thinking, the latter was probably the reason. He looked at the guards and sighed. “Am I allowed to enter now? Or do I need to do some paperwork?”

The winged beastfolk sniffed at Gemini. “You smell like wet human. You should be alright.”

“I don’t smell,” Gemini retorted.

The guard pinched his nose daintily and shooed him into the walls, where another guard was sitting on a table, bored. As Gemini approached, the guard’s eyes flickered.

“No one walked out from the city today. Who are you?” His eyes drifted to some point behind Gemini. “And why did you even let him in?”

“He’s a human, but he just woke up,” said the winged beastfolk. “He’s starving and everything, so I wanted to settle him down before we confirm his information.”

“Yeah, but he still needs to make his identity card first,” said the seated beastfolk, as he peered through a circle of glass at Gemini.

“Which is why I brought him here.”

“Let’s get it over and done with, then.” The beastfolk placed the lens down, and rummaged through his drawer. After a few minutes of rustling, curses and tossed pens, he took out a small card, a stamp and a quill, which he promptly dipped into an inkpot.

How backwards. They were using a pen when I registered the previous time…Gemini looked at the quill and shrugged inwardly.

The beastfolk cleared his throat, and the hero looked at him expectantly. “Name?”

“Gemini.”

“Gemini, as in the Constellation Gemini?”

“Correct.” He wasn’t planning on hiding his identity anyway, because he had the feeling that the old grudges weren’t going to last for long. And besides, the beastfolk always had a healthy respect for the Constellations…even if he himself felt that their reputation as heroes were undeserved.

“Not the first one I’ve seen, but whatever.” The beastfolk scribbled on a card. “Did you get your name changed legally, or is it a nickname? Because if it’s the latter, you cannot apply for any benefits under your old name.”

“No, it’s my real name,” replied Gemini.

“Fine. Keep playing at that game.” The beastfolk rolled his eyes. “Age?”

“Uhh…” Gemini scratched his head. “I think I’m twenty-four.”

“You think?” The beastfolk replied. “So do I call you a young man, or a teenager? We’re making a legal document for you, so that you have a way to track down your family, and you don’t even know your age? Stop playing around, kiddo.”

“I don’t have a family,” Gemini replied instantly.

A moment of silence passed, and the guard lowered his head. “My apologies.”

“It’s nothing. Please, do continue.”

The guard slapped at his face twice, and then continued. “Cultivation rank, if applicable?”

“Paragon.”

“Para—what?”

“Paragon,” Gemini replied obligingly. “You can get Ortega here to check.”

As he spoke, the hero released his cultivation base…or the shell of it, anyway. Even in his weakened state, such an action would alert anyone towards the presence of the newly-arrived Gemini, and as he continued to egg the guard to continue with the registration process, people began to fly over.

The guard stamped on his card, and then sidled away as the experts of the city arrived on scene. Some of them were curious, others were staring at Gemini curiously, and the one in the middle had his mouth open. Gemini looked at the unfazed guard, who had somehow finished his registration process without falling backwards in terror, and gave the guy a mental thumbs-up.

“Constellation Gemini?” Ortega, who had closed his mouth with a snap, asked in what looked like disbelief. “How did you even…it’s been months since we saw you, and everyone thought you had died or something.”

“I’m surprised by your concern, given that we exchanged blows…wait, months?” Gemini blinked. Some part of his mind quietly noted that he had been doing such gestures for the past few hours or so, and the Constellation couldn’t help but grin at that thought.

Paragon Ortega relaxed as he saw the expression on the hero’s face, and the latter belatedly realised that Ortega had treated that as a sign of non-aggression.

“It has been indeed months,” said Paragon Ortega. “Half a year has passed since we escaped the assault of the Last Star and fled to the Wildlands.”

Gemini’s face darkened slightly at the mention of Nox, and Ortega narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Seems like you aren’t particularly happy with him, Gemini.”

The others around him tittered with interest. Some of them, now that Gemini had taken a closer look, bore signs of old injuries, and the hero immediately associated them with the attack on Heritage Basestation.

“He used to be a good person,” said Gemini, “but something came over him. I don’t understand why he did…all these, since he was the one the least affected by the Human God.”

“Oh?” Ortega stared back at the hero, clearly curious, but then held it back in. “Well, I suppose we can save this discussion for later. You just need to know that in the Commonwealth, humans and beastfolk work hand-in-hand. No discrimination, nothing. If you’re willing to join us, we will welcome you.”

Gemini’s heart throbbed slightly at these words. “Even though I took part in the war?”

“Do you blame a knife for murder?” asked Ortega. “No, you don’t. We’ve had our own suspicions as to what the Constellations truly are in the past three months, and the results aren’t nice.”

They already have their own ideas? Definitely can’t underestimate the people of Orb…Gemini forced out a smile. “How did you even start having these suspicions?”

Ortega smiled. “We have our own ways. Mysterious ones, at that.”

The Constellation frowned as he tried to work through the implications of these words. Granted, Nox had discovered problems with the Human God’s blessing, having noted mental abnormalities, but unless one had a yardstick to compare with, the Constellations’ actions weren’t all too different from any expert participating in any given war.

Unless, of course…they’re referring to something else, or they’re trying to psyche me out. Gemini bit his tongue lightly. He never really liked mind games…and spending a good few months in the Intersection had dulled his war-making and scheming instincts somewhat.

He liked it better that way, but it had turned to bite him on his ass now.

“Well, we can talk about that later…I’m starving,” said Gemini.

Ortega rolled his eyes. “Who isn’t? Come, we had a good harvest today…”