In the morning, I put on my best armor again and go downstairs. Only Laira’ s there.

“Morning, hey, I was thinking and…” She stops mid-sentence when she sees me. “Going out this early?”

“Can you imagine?” I try to smile. “I’m going to be leaving on a trip in a week. Don’t ask, I’ll explain later.”

“Ok…” Laira isn’t sure what to say, that much is obvious on her face.

“Great, I’ll see ya.” I walk out and go to get Storm.

“Good morning, everyone!” I greet the three dragons, my saber and the two horses.

“Good morning, Child, you seem in a rather good mood.” Emerald’s deep, yet sweet tone rings nicely in my mind.

“Hold that thought until I get back.” I walk over to Storm and the others.

“Well, girl, will you fly with me today?” I ask my dragon as I rub her under the jaw. She looks at me and almost purrs. That’s a yes. I feel a slight nudge to the back. Meteor.

“Yes, I know you’re here too, sweetie, but I only need one of ya.” I scratch the black dragon right above the nose. His eyes spark and I see the begging look. He wants to come with us. Sorry, pal. Maybe next time. I glance at Sky. I’m fully aware he’s watching me, but he’s the only one who doesn’t even try to say hi.

“Hello, Sky.” I step forward with my arm stretched out toward him. I wait a couple of minutes, but Sky doesn’t answer. It hurts me, but there’s nothing I can do. Maybe next time then. I take Storm and walk out.

“To the Palace.” I tell Storm as I climb on her back. She roars once and takes off. It’s quite early in the morning. I figured showing up unannounced, would give the king less time to prepare a speech of denial. But leaving on a two-month trip, without telling his highness about it, is, probably, a stupid idea. So, here I am, on my way to see him. I sigh. This better be worth the humiliation I’m about to undergo. Sure enough, we’re hovering over the city. I shift my ears and listen.

“East side, Storm.” As if being the wind itself – my dragon effortlessly changes direction. Moments later we land on the ledge of the king’s quarters. His majesty is still in bed. This is worth it already. I grin.

“Good morning, your majesty. I hope I’m not interrupting you this lovely morning.” I jump of Storm and make an obvious effort to overdo it with my greeting. I can see it plainly how speechless and outraged he is right now, the effort he’s putting into keeping himself composed is admirable. I stand upright. Crile’s here too. Odd.

“Morning, to what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit so early in the morning?” The king sounds rather displeased. I wonder why…

“I wanted to let you know that I will be leaving for a two-month trip. I believe this will benefit you in preparation of my return to the Royal Army and its announcement. That is all.” I turn.

“Wait.” I hear the order. I stop, but don’t turn around. “What trip?”

“Well,” I start as I shift on my heel to face him; “I do believe, I will require some assistance, in the training of the soldiers, that is what you require of me, is it not? Thus, I have decided to ask some individuals to aid me in the matter. Problem?” I’m playing stupid to the best of my abilities. He thinks about it.

“Why two months?” He asks.

“I will be going to Crepitus.”

“Crepitus?” The king pauses. “I see. Very well. Your ship will be ready in a week.”

“Oh no, your Highness, I cannot possibly.” The sarcasm is overflowing the king’s chambers.

“Do not insult me.” He’s seriously pissed off now. Ha-ha.

“You will take one of the Royal ships with a crew. You will leave in a week and you will return in two months’, from the day you leave. Oh, and you will leave your legendary saber at the Palace stable.” WHAT?!

“What for?” Now I’m pissed.

“Insurance.” Tahon has a grin on his face now. Damn it.

“Like holding my entire country hostage isn’t enough for you?” I give him my deranged smile.

“You can never be too careful with a wild beast.” Ha! At least he’s afraid of me.

“And Crile will assist you.” The king adds.

“A babysitter as well? You are too generous, my lord.” I bow. “Will that be all?”

“Yes.” He glares at me. “I would, however, appreciate it, if you did not barge into my quarters like that again or else.” He manages to put a tiny bit of menace into that last part.

“As you wish.” I get on Storm and we fly off. Perfect. Just perfect. I’m leaving Emerald in the care of that psycho as well as get a royal spy to report my every move too! Not that the crew wouldn't be enough. Argh! That really pisses me off. I try to calm down, but my blood’s boiling. Laira greets me at the door.

“How did it go?” She asks.

“Not as I hoped.” I walk Storm back into the stables. Laira doesn’t even make an attempt to follow me.

“How was it?” Emerald’s low growl echoes through my head.

“I got the permission and the ship. But for a price.” I pat Storm on the neck and pull on a leaver to let the water in, to fill up the tank. There was a good reason why we picked this spot over any other – endless water supply from the underground stream.

“Care to share, Child?” Emerald asks again.

I sigh. “Do I have a choice?”

“Not really.” My saber stands up and nudges me with her nose. “What is it?”

“I have to leave you at the Royal stables while I’ll be going to Crepitus and back.”

“And?”

“And I hate the idea of leaving you behind. “ I look at her. A shiver goes down my spine as I gaze into those green depths. The feeling these eyes give out every time I gaze at them is the same. Drowning. I feel as if my soul will drown if I keep staring any longer. I close my eyes.

“Child, you worry too much.”

“It’s bad enough he has my whole nation held captive, now you too. Just…” If I will finish that sentence, I will feel like a little girl pouting over a broken toy.

“It doesn’t feel right, that’s all.”

“You need to redirect that anger into your upcoming trip and the whole going back into the army ordeal, instead of pouting over what feel’s or does not feel right to you, Child.” She has that serious-motherly look on her face. I bite my lip.

“Crile will be “escorting” me on the trip. King’s orders.”

She growls. It sounds playful, though. I’m insane.

“Now it makes sense why you’re so worked up.” She turns and walks back to where she was sleeping before.

“Care to share, then?” I ask with my eyebrows raised. Am I missing something?

“Crile. You can’t stand the idea you will be with him in a place where you can’t escape him.” Emerald crosses her front paws and lays her head on them.

“Wake me up when we need to go to the Palace.” She closes her eyes and just lays there. Boy I am lucky to have such a clever saber for a best friend. I sigh. I hate this. I hear Laira’s voice behind me.

“If you’re worried about Emerald, we can take care of her while you’re away. I promise you nothing will happen to her.”

“Thank you.” I look at her. She hasn’t changed much, but there was something different about her. Laira had that look in her eyes. The look that said she has seen things. That too, probably, was my fault. I assumed she left home to travel round, to find me, perhaps, soon after I dropped off the grid. I mean she, made it all the way here, so that much was pretty obvious. And by the looks of things, my little sister wasn’t having too much fun during her travels...

“Listen.” I begin, but she holds up her hand.

“Don’t. It’s fine. It was my choice.”

“Suddenly you read minds too?” I come up to her. She’s still too short for a full grown Noxian.

“So how did the two of you ever, if you don’t mind me asking, of course?” I change the subject.

“I don’t.” She smiles at me. “I never actually told that story to anyone before.”

“Why?” That’s weird.

“Well, maybe ‘cause no one asked me about it before.” Laira gives me a sad look and a smile to match.

“I’m sorry.” I hug her. At the size she is now, it feels like I’m hugging her back when we were kids. She quivers.

“Me too.” She pushes herself away from me. “Anyway, if you want, I can tell you over some breakfast.”

“Is Marcus up too then?” I ask.

“Yes and no. He went into the woods to train so we have some time before he gets back. So, in theory he was the first one up.”

“Training? Really? He does that a lot?” I ask my lil’ sis’ as we are walking back inside the house.

“Couple of times a week. At first, he would try to sneak out without waking me up, but I would always wake up so he stopped. Marcus will just wake me up with a kiss and tell me he’s leaving for a couple of hours.”

“I see. That must be nice.” I look to the ground as I sit down to the kitchen table.

“What do you mean?” Laira asks handing me a cup of tea.

It takes me a moment to answer. “I’m happy for you, both of you.”

“Do you miss it?” Laira asks with half a whisper. I raise my eyes to her and smile. We don’t say anything after that. A knock on the door snaps us out of it. I jump out of my seat and go for a quick half shift between a wolf and a person. The jaws, the eyes, the paws and the hind legs. Laira gasps, but quickly composes herself.

“You sure work fast.” She tells me as she goes over to check the door. I stand there with a low growl coming from the depths of my throat. The scent, however, is strongly familiar. Of course. Soon enough I hear Laira greet him. I shift back and sit down as if nothing happened.

“Um, Breeze, Crile is here.”

“And?” I ask sipping my tea.

“He needs to talk to you.” Laira sits back down to her seat, letting me know she isn’t about to get in the middle of this. Whatever it is. Fine. I get up and go outside.

“What is it?” I ask Crile as I step outside.

I stand outside the cabin door, waiting for Breeze to come out. A minute later I hear her voice behind me.

“What is it?” I turn to face her. She doesn’t seem pleased. Oh boy.

“The King requests that you take Emerald to the Royal stables as soon as possible. In other words – now.” I see the anger build up in her eyes, so I add quickly.

“Sorry.” Not that it helps… I can tell she isn’t happy about the situation. Emerald is possibly the most precious being to Breeze in existence. I probably would be pissed off too in her case, so I try not to make it worse for her. That’s a challenge in itself, since Breeze isn’t fond of the idea of being anywhere near me within a hundred feet in the first place. She doesn’t say anything. Meanwhile, I’m here trying to decide whether that’s good or bad. No idea. But on the other hand. She hasn’t ripped my head off my shoulders, so maybe that’s a good sign? Finally, she speaks.

“Wait here.” Come again?

“Sure.” I answer a bit raddled. I was bracing myself for more heat and threats to be made against my life or something, though. She comes back and goes straight for the stables. I follow her, keeping my distance. Meteor rans out as soon as he sees me. My dragon roars and tackles me.

“Yeah, I know, I miss you too. Meteor!” I can barely breathe as he has me pinned down to the ground.

“Meteor! Get off me! METEOR!” Eventually, I manage to slip out and get back to my feet. I hug my dragon and he cools his jets. I see Breeze put the saddle on Emerald. Few moments later the two of them walk up to us.

“If you ladies are done, Emerald and I would like to go now.” Breeze glares at me as she says it. Meteor makes a low growl and tries to get a snuggle out of Breeze.

“Now now, you behave while we’re away, alright?” She pets Meteor right under the jaw. He seems pleased. The dragon looks at me one last time.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s not forever.” I hug his neck one last time and call on my Celodian.

“AXE!” The tiger-horse mixture comes over to us in a slow trot. A Celodian has more of a feline shape, instead of a horse’s body and a head, except for the legs. Those are lean and pure muscle, more like hoofs than paws. The tiger-horse is half the size bigger than a regular horse.

“Axe?” Breeze asks looking my mount over.

“Zeke died.” I pat Meteor goodbye. “Ready?” I ask her climbing on my mount.

“Yeah.” Her voice instantly gets lower. “I’m sorry about…”

I don’t let her finish. “Don’t worry about it. He died peacefully.” Nobody says another word as we take off into the woods toward the Palace.

Marcus finds me busy in the kitchen.

“Did I just see Deathbreeze and Crile leave together?” He comes up to me and gives me a kiss on the forehead. I feel him stand on his toes just a bit to reach. I'm returning to my original size. Slowly. But it’s enough already to see the difference between a Primerian and a Noxian.

“Pure business and she’s not too happy about it, so next time you see her, try not to say anything to make it worse.” I turn and set a plate for him.

“So, you want to tell me what’s it all about?” He takes a bite; “amazing, anyhow, got some more tips on how not to make an idiot of myself?”

I smile and sit down next to him with a plate of my own.

“Breeze is leaving on a trip to Crepitus for two months, I’m guessing it has to do something with the whole going back to the army deal, and by the orders of the King, she needs to leave Emerald behind in the royal stables for the duration of the trip. Crile came here now to escort them to the Palace.” I drink my tea.

“Breeze asked to get her things packed since she will be staying with Emerald till the ship is ready for their journey.” I see the confusion roll over Marcus’s face.

“I also promised my sister we would look after Emerald while she’s away.” He nods to that last part, but that’s all.

“So, why Crepitus?” Marcus asks finishing his breakfast.

“Don’t know. She didn’t really give me any details. I’ll talk to her later today, once we’re back at the Palace.” I take a bite and ask him; “so how was training this morning?”

“Sucked. I’m useless alone. Anything I try does not last longer than seven seconds.” He freezes for a moment there. I can see it’s difficult for him. Mages are known by another word. Manipulators. Mages have the most powerful skill set. As long as they have enough mana to make the spells last. A mage is able to manipulate anything around him. Whether it is wind or sand, water or snow. The only catch is – their Manipulation is limited to one force. Usually, a caster who manipulates rock, for example, cannot manipulate earth or sand. It takes skill to be able to make something move, especially when it’s not supposed to. Therefore, when a mage decides on what he or she will be manipulating – they stick with it and try to perfect it to the best of their abilities. Only the most apt mages can evolve their casting to make combinations of a few forces, or to be able to subject an item into changing its form, say from liquid to solid and vice versa. However, those never exceed more than two commands. In theory, the combinations one can use are limitless. Unfortunately, that kind of power requires an endless supply of mana and puts a strain on the body. As easy as it is to become a mage, it does have its price in the process.

Marcus is an exception even for a mage. He has a special ability known as Reflection. He can manipulate any force he chooses too, as long as there is someone else casting the spell next to him. One can call Marcus being a copy-cat. Even so, it is an extremely rare skill to possess. That is the reason why he was recognized by the King. Marcus is one of the few with such a talent. To my knowledge there are only three other Reflectors in the entire Existara at this moment. Sadly, Reflectors have a fatal flaw – they are unable of performing Manipulation alone. Their ability to copy another Mage’s Manipulation is useless, if there is no other Mage around, casting spells for a Reflector to copy. That is why Reflectors never travel alone. As a rule, in general, Mages stick in groups of two and more. Team work is vital. It is easier to adjust your Manipulation to accommodate another caster, rather than crawling out of your skin to perform a high-level combination all on your own. Marcus is always looking for ways to improve his skills. I guess it is a matter of pride for him. Being part of the King’s arsenal, even as low as we are now in the rankings, means a lot. So, there he was, three times a week, alone in the woods, training, to push his limits further. I envied him in that way.

Breeze, Crile and the late Lady Starlight, they always had goals and dreams. They did anything they could to make them happen, no fear, no regrets, no turning back. I always envied them. Now I envy Marcus. The only time I ever did anything was when I left Noxanda to look for Breeze after the Great Battle. I came straight to Araneum. It took a while, but I made it here. I studied Mixology – a kind of a combination of Herbalism and Alchemy. As powerful as the Vine spell is – it’s not enough. I made it my mission to acquire as much of different kind of healing methods as I possibly could. Whether it was infection, poison or disease – I had to know them all. The only thing I fail at is curses. Even so, a Ravo exceeding in Mixology is somewhat an interesting thing. So much so, it landed me a job with the Healer’s guild, here in the Royal City. If Cleansers and Druids were Healers by nature, then Mixology was a “poor-man’s-doctor.” Knowing a few healing herbs might be enough for a traveling merchant, but anything else requires skill. One wrong measurement and you’ll end up with a corpse instead of a patient. Not even Cleansers are all powerful. While their healing of flesh wounds is superior to a Druid’s, they do not possess the spells for repairing broken bones. In that sense, someone like me, who has the knowledge and the skill to treat both – fractures and cuts - had the upper hand, in some cases. Of course, Shamans were, somewhat, of a healer type casters, as well. Especially Water and Air types. The difference being – shamans used enchanted herbal mixtures to control the Air or Water. It makes them seem like hybrids of mages and cleansers. It is the reverse principle of a Cleanser. Making it more battle ready, as the reaction time is faster, yet not as effective or potent... Nevertheless, there is a second side to the story. If one can save a life, then one can take it. Those who chose to kill with their spells are in a class of their own. The Death Bringers.

“Have something on your mind?” Marcus has a warm smile on his face even though I know he must be exhausted. I didn’t even notice when he put his hand on mine.

“Just remembering the first time we met.” I tell him, shooing the scary thoughts away. I did talk about it with Breeze earlier... Kind of... So I’m not lying.

“You mean, the Royal Infirmary?”

“Yes, I also remember you thought you were going to die.” I smirk at him.

“I had a spear stuck in my back!” The horror of the memory is plain as day on his face. I laugh.

“It wasn’t in that deep! It was barely touching the shoulder bone.”

“Don’t say that. I thought I was a goner when you saved me. I like to think of you as my guardian angel.” He takes my hand and raises it to his lips. I smile and feel the red flush my face a little.

“You still blush every time, so cute.” Marcus grins at me.

I get embarrassed and cover my eyes. “Yeah, well.” I can’t think of anything smart to say.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that.” Marcus stands up and crouches next to me, taking both of my hands into his.

“That’s one of the reasons why I love you.” He says. I look at him surprised.

“You love me because I blush?” I ask him with a smile.

“You wouldn’t blush if you didn’t care. You love me, and that’s all the reason I need to love you.”

My heart skips a beat when he says that. I lean in and kiss him. He answers me with a kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. My back feels the wooden surface of the table.