Kasos stepped onto the station, bags in hand. Further down, he could see wagons headed for Crotenus off loading, as well as impatient caravaneers waiting for their colleagues to get off so they could board.

Turning back to look at the potragos, Kasos marveled at its construction. He had just enough experience with mana-items to understand how devilishly complex they were. Despite being made of metal and carrying tons of material they created enough buoyancy to float and enough energy to move upstream. All with a centralized power-core away from the actual tracks, making them far less vulnerable to interruption.

Of course, it also made much of his usual job harder. With Limclea’s many rivers, tributaries, and channels the imprint of the potragos was country wide, tracking anything through the murky waters created by such enchantments required an expert.

The potragos let out a hum that Kasos felt in his spirit as much as he did through the ground. The gleaming silvery metal made up the base of its construction, with lighter more flexible wood for the compartments carrying people. At the back wagons were tied down and endure the weather.

He felt the mana spin up again as the cars available at the station was filled up and he didn’t want to stay too close when it began moving. Just because it was the rafting didn’t mean he had to get wet.

He activated Water-Reject as he walked down the steps and into the rafting’s swirling waters. The water pushed away from his feet and legs creating swirls in the currents that rippled downstream, much like a regular Ability could be read on the Lines.

Even the droplets materializing in the air swerved his presence as he walked through the square. He glanced briefly at the King of Limclea’s statue, his drowned hair falling about the spiky crown on his temples. Kasos briefly considered examining it, but decided against it. If someone saw him and warned Ione he was ogling statues, she’d eat him alive.

He cleared his throat and shifted his baggage from one hand to the other. He’d traveled enough to understand when and where to travel light. Going to see royalty? Bring everything, just in case you might need it. Going to see Ione? Bring a shield, he’d definitely need that.

He squeezed his fingers around the handle of his bag, feeling it shift slightly in his damp grip. He walked quickly through Eriene, noticing how much it had grown since last he’d been there.

Has it really been eleven years? Kasos thought. So much change in so little time. I remember when everyone thought Ione was crazy for buying property out in the middle of nowhere. Just a handful of farms calling themselves a hamlet. They used to measure visitors by the amount of people that were accidentally washed down stream.

Kasos shook his head at the memories that intruded. The stubborn set of Ione’s jaw as she stomped her foot and made her claim. Potragodes were only a rumor back then, something Phormos was supposedly working on. He should’ve known that her informants knew what they were talking about, but she’d been fat with child and her friends had been more worried than she.

All too soon, the village dropped away, and the road twisted revealing the manor. The memories assaulted him like raindrops in a storm as it came into view. Days spent lounging on the patio while Ione and Menelaos worked on the house or gardens. He’d been so drunk on wine he couldn’t have gotten out of the hammock even with help, when the first caravan had traveled past the house and into the village.

He remembered watching Theoni grow up among the trees, later followed by her own daughter when she came on visits. Amalia running through the rows of planter boxes, hair barely visible as it bobbed up and down above the plants. He remembered her screaming because a spider had been hiding between the leaves and she’d accidentally touched it.

Kasos shook his head and dismissed his thoughts and chastised himself. He wiped his hands on the sleeves of his jacket, trying to get rid of the clammy feeling and shifted the bag around once more. He chest felt tight as he walked towards the front patio, when the door opened.

Kasos’ heart stopped when he saw her. Ione’s hair had lost the last of its color since the last time he’d seen her, it made her eyes seem all the sharper for it. Her face had more wrinkles, it sagged slightly more. But her shoulders were still firm and unbowed, her posture as straight and strong as the day he’d met her in Bacenor’s court.

Time had done its best to ravage her, and somehow still failed.

Her eyes had always been her best feature, and with the iron in her hair it only highlighted the clever light hidden within. Her skin wrinkled and had started to sag. Age could not obscure her best features, instead highlighting with cracks at the corner of her eyes, and crevices that showed just how much of Nysea was in her smile.

“Kasos!” Ione yelled from under the cover of the elements, “What are you waiting out there for?”

He swallowed, his heart racing to the twin beats of Semele and Eudokia as he stepped forward, “Hello Ione.”

“Come inside, quickly,” She disappeared into the house and Kasos drew in a heavy breath and stepped away from the season and under a solid roof.

He reflexively tapped his jaw as he stepped into the manor’s foyer and was suddenly inside the small room with Ione. She stepped back tapping her own jaw, giving him space to put his stuff down.

Gently placing his bag on the ground—still dry despite the season—Kasos took in a deep breath.

“It’s good that you came so soon,” Ione said interrupting him before he’d even gotten his mouth open, “The boy’s not doing well. Elpir’s—that’s the girl who has been taking care of him—is worried about him.”

“Oh,” Kasos said hesitantly, licking his lips. He’d been reaching for his jacket but paused as he frowned, “The boy’s still alive?”

Ione blinked, “Yes, that’s why you’ve come, right?”

Kasos raised a finger to scratch at his brow, “Yes…” That was impossible, or so rare as to be the same thing. Kasos licked his lips again glancing at Ione before frowning, the boy’s spirit had been all but torn apart. He shouldn’t have survived the trip back from Crotenus, let alone the two months since then.

“Well, let’s go, then” Ione said slipping on her own coat, which hummed with its own mana to protect it from the season. Her boots had no such enchantment, they were instead regular leather boots made from a water affinity animal’s leather. Cheaper and easier than constantly renewing a mana charge.

“Let’s go,” Kasos muttered as Ione stepped out beyond the patio and into the rafting. He didn’t know whether to feel disappointed that she’d barely greeted him, one of her oldest friends, or excited that this Ranvir was still alive two months after enduring an injury that should’ve killed him outright.

Kasos stepped into the dimly lit room, his senses reactively stretching out ahead of him. They melded with the shadows covering the room. Soulsight passed over the empty crib and changing table, then to the other side, finding the equally empty bed and dresser filled with unused clothes. Menelaos’ clothes if he wasn’t mistaken.

Kasos paused, realizing from the feel of the shadows that he’d reached the end of the room. He swept his senses back and forth but they found nothing. He knew he’d gotten the right room, since the young orphanage director had personally shown them but could he have died between this morning and…

He heard someone’s labored breathing. Blinking, he squinted in the dim light and looked closer at the bed. It wasn’t as empty as his soul-sight had tried to convince him. A young man was lying in it, eyes closed a frown of concentration on his face.

Kasos swept his senses over him more carefully, this time understanding where the confusion had come from. He had so little of his spirit’s natural barrier that even shadow mana was passing right through without issue. He was effectively invisible to Kasos’ soul-sight.

“Are you Ranvir?” Kasos asked, his voice rougher than he’d intended after meeting Ione again.

The young man’s eyes shot open, two muddied brown orbs with just a hint of more in them. For a second, they carried the clear focus of an Arkrotas in them before it faded as the boy coughed, the sound like tearing paper.

“I am… Are you Kasos?” He paused to whimper in pain as he settled more firmly into his physical self.

Kasos squatted beside Ranvir on the bed, “Do you mind if I examine you?”

Ranvir shook his head before wincing in pain, a tear escaped the corner of his eyes, “Go ahead.”