Cale placed the tray of food on the small table before going into the dressing room for fresh linens. His friend squatted in the warm bathtub with the door slightly open, watching the 12th seat for a moment before he disappeared again.

"Isn't Aletta here at all?", the ailing High-Magician called out to him from the next room as Cale began to re-cover the bed.

"She went to see the other healers at noon today, but she should be back in the next few hours."

The young healer was an incredible, spiritual support to Cale. She spent most of her time indoors as well, mostly just going out to look for information in the library. Most of it, however, she spent talking to the healer from Frignez, making occasional attempts to understand the logic behind the mark.

"Has anything happened today? You're so quiet?", Grischa spoke up after a while. With the pillow in his hand, Cale stopped and looked down at the city from the window. Many people still did not dare to go outside their houses or even the walls for a long time. Accordingly, the city had been quiet for the past few days.

"A little, yes. Aaron and the others found Basil."

"That fast?", the man called out from the bathroom.

"We've informed the other High-Magicians", Cale replied, without answering Grischa's exclamation. He couldn't tell him that almost a week of events had been missed. Grischa did not answer, so Cale went back to work. "And Yusuf has been informed as well. The creature can teleport, according to Basil. Sefra, Yoshua, Malte, Rosalie, and Ziyad are currently out in the plains looking for the creature. Less than an hour ago, the Eldest and Yusuf were here with us. Our guess is that the Kormandent stores your mana in its body and through that Yusuf should be able to track it down."

"You are insane. Why are you putting your lives in danger? What if you meet the same fate as me?"

"I told them to be careful and not underestimate it", Cale replied, dropping one pillow and grabbing the next as he opened both windows wide with the help of his mana.

"Do you think that's enough?"

"No", Cale replied dryly. "But our hands are tied. Something bigger is going on here."

"And you don't know what?"

Cale merely replied with silence. He dropped the other pillow as well and covered the corners of the bed while cold wind lifted his hair into the air.

"No. Nothing like this has ever happened before. I have a hunch that the Kormandent works for the Dragon Queen and you're a thorn in his side."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because of the curfew. In my past lives, the Magistrat didn't impose it until after the second wave of attacks. But this time you issued it weeks before. What made you do it, Grin?"

Carefully, Cale shook out the blanket and then reupholstered it. Grischa was silent for a while, as if trying to remember why he did it.

"I was skeptical. Do you remember our conversation back when you were still in the creature plain? Your expression was frighteningly calm when I told you about the first attack and told you that I knew the story behind Yusuf's action."

"We had talked about the lockdown right after the first attack and when I talked to you, I figured that wasn't it. You may be able to manipulate people, but it had never really worked well for me."

At the statement, Cale laughed casually. That may be. Grischa was probably the only person who knew his true colors well. His unannounced excursion to Sylve must have made him quite puzzled at the time, even more so the coincidence that Cale was already in Altona when they had contacted him.

"Perceptive as ever", he muttered quietly to himself. One last time, Cale shook the bed vigorously before smoothing it out and looking at the result with satisfaction. He quickly folded the old sheets and headed toward the bathroom. At the door, he knocked briefly against the wooden frame, for Grischa was lying relaxed in the bathtub.

"Come in", the latter replied at the sound, but did not open his eyes. Quietly, Cale stepped into the warm, damp room and dropped his things into the basket in the corner of the room. He hadn't taken this to the cleaners for a few days now, lucky Grischa hadn't realized there were more clothes here than there had been a week ago.

"How much RM do I have left?" the man gave voice as Cale turned away from the corner. The 1st seat was in a milky bubble bath, as he had carefully rubbed his ice cream with soap earlier.

"A good 12RM", Cale announced.

"That's pretty damn low."

At the statement, Cale eyed the man skeptically before pulling the stool toward him and remaining seated leaning against the wall about two feet from Grischa.

Neither of them said anything. Cale's gaze fell thoughtfully to the sink on the other side before he closed his eyes as well.

"I used to have a brother", Grischa spoke up. At first, the young High-Magician was puzzled as to how he came up with the topic, but then he remembered the conversation two weeks ago. Grischa's last memory was Cale's story about his family, which he had failed to save. In response to Grischa's questions, Cale only sayed that people were strangers to him, even if they were blood relatives. He had few memories of them. Why would he risk his life and future to save them?

"A brother? Older or younger?"

"Older. By a good five years. He died before I became a mage", Grischa replied. You could literally feel the sadness in that statement. "His name was Fabrizio. He was a really good guy. Back when I was a child, I lived with my family on the east coast of Altona, pretty close to the Firgnez border. In Shenhu, if that means anything to you. We had a small farm with various animals, but mostly sheep. My mother was a loving soul. She took care of us and the animals, while my father took care of the trade. Except, my father was an alcoholic and prone to temper tantrums."

Grischa paused for a moment before continuing with his story.

"One day, I was 8 years old at the time, my parents went to town and my brother and I were supposed to take care of the animals. As usual, we tended the sheep in the morning before letting them out to pasture. However, I forgot to lock the gate properly and when we wanted to bring the animals back to the barn in the evening, the gate was wide open and quite a few sheep had escaped. My brother and I panicked. Immediately we started to search, but we only found two of the 10 escaped animals. My father... was beside himself with rage."

"He had yelled at us and asked who left the gate open. Fabrizio said it had been him, which was why my father had been beating on him for hours. Mother and I couldn't do anything, we just sat in the house and had to listen to the screams. When they finally came back into the house, my brother was covered in bruises and blood. It made me cry, I wanted to apologize and help him, but he just smiled at me and went to his room."

"Two days, Fabrizio died. He had broken a rib and had internal bleeding, it was I who had found his body", Grischa added. Cale opened his eyes and cast a sympathetic glance at his friend, whose voice trembled at the statement. "I still feel guilty today. If I had been paying attention or if I had said what really happened, he would probably still be alive."

The statement made Cale think of William. He felt great guilt toward him as well. If he wasn't so useless and reliable, he would never have become the psychic frack who wants to kill the dragon queen.

"That was not your fault. If anyone should be held accountable for this, it's your father", Cale volunteered in an attempt at encouragement.

"I still haven't told my parents to this day what really happened back then. In fact, I haven't told anyone yet. Even today, I have nightmares about it. Sometimes I see my bloodied brother in front of me, telling me how I could have let him die."

"Your brother was probably trying to protect you. He must have guessed that your father would react that way. I'm pretty sure that if he were still alive, he would do the same. I can't imagine him holding a grudge against you, on the contrary - he's probably quite happy."

Now Grischa opened his eyes too and returned Cale's gaze sadly. He said nothing, but stared at the 12th seat for a while before standing up slightly and dumping water over his hair. Astonished, Cale watched him do this and then got up to get a towel from the rack.

"He didn't have to do that. I deserved the punishment, not him."

"You were important to him, I can see that right away. If you were in his situation at the time, you'd be protective of weaker people, right?"

"I'm not so sure about that. I used to be pretty shy, especially after the trail of dead people I left behind", Grischa explained, looking up as Cale had come to a stop next to him with a towel. "Why am I even talking to you about this? Of the two of us, you've probably seen more deaths and killed more yourself."

"I have, in all likelihood", Cale replied with a gentle smile. "You used to be shy? I can't imagine you were."

"Well, you didn't know me until I was already 30 years old. By then I had already built up a good amount of self-confidence."

"I'd like to see little Grischa sometime. Do you still have drawings of yourself as a child?"

"All burned", Grischa countered flippantly, snatching the towel from Cale's hand. Grinning, Cale turned and headed toward the door, not wanting to invade Grischa's privacy too much. "The house I grew up in isn't even there anymore. I destroyed it."

"The poor house."

"It deserved that. Only bad memories of the time."

"Relatable", Cale threw back. "When did you come to Persiven then?"

"As a teenager. I think I was 14 years old. That was also about the time I met my parents for the last time. After all the drama, I just didn't keep it up with them."

"And until came to Persiven looking for work. I remember you telling me about that once. And about the other teenagers you had made friends with back then. Are you still in contact with them at all?"

"Not at all anymore. Not since that thing..."

"What are you talking about?", Cale inquired, turning around to the back. At the same moment, Grischa stepped out of the tub and instantly lost the strength in his feet, causing him to crash to the floor with a dull thud. Moaning softly, he righted himself before Cale crouched in front of him and held out his hand. "You all right there? Are you hurt?"

"I'm alright. I'm just clumsy."

"Wouldn't be anything new."

"Hey? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing", Cale interjected defensively, laughing inconspicuously while serving as Grischa's prop and helping him up. The two High-Magicians didn't go far, as Cale merely led Grischa into the bedroom and let him take a seat on one of the chairs before taking his wet hair and starting to dry it without being asked. A habit he had gotten into over the past few weeks.