The rest of the interrogation with Tom and Kai was somewhat informative for Verdan, but not to the degree he’d hoped for. On the one hand, he’d confirmed that they used breathing exercises and meditation to draw in Aether, or Essence as they called it, and aspect it to their particular flavour.

On the other hand, that brought Verdan no closer to understanding the process, which was frustrating.

"Is that all you need, boss?" Tom asked hopefully, shaking some dust from his hand where he’d been trying to create a stone gauntlet.

"Yes, that should do," Verdan said, somewhat reluctantly. Kai and Tom both sighed in relief and started to leave at a quick pace. "For now, that is."

Verdan chuckled to himself as the two sorcerers all but fled the building. He wasn’t so blind to think that everyone enjoyed research and experimentation, which made him appreciate their actions all the more.

He had a lot to think about now, but it was just approaching noon, so there was plenty of time left in the day for other business. The question was what to work on next. He needed to talk with Gwen at some point, but before that, he should go speak to Lieutenant Silver. They’d gotten off on the wrong foot last night, and Verdan didn’t want to let things sit like this for too long.

The longer he waited before clearing up the misunderstanding, the more chance it wouldn’t work, and he’d have made an enemy of a vital community member.

Mind made up, Verdan stopped at the house to let people know where he was going. Tom and Kai were discussing guard arrangements to watch over the estate when Verdan walked in.

"I’m heading to speak with Lieutenant Silver. I was hoping one of you would want to come along. I don’t want to cause any more misunderstandings," Verdan said, still a little irritated about the issue from the night before.

Tom and Kai shared a silent look before Kai nodded and got to his feet. "I’ll come with you. I have quite a bit of experience dealing with city guard."

"Good, let’s go," Verdan turned around and headed back out at a fast walk, starting to retrace his steps from the night before, Kai hurrying to catch up with him.

"You seem more bothered by this than I had expected," Kai said, giving Verdan a curious look as they headed for the gate. "It was only a small misunderstanding. They’ll understand that you don’t work in the same way as the sects eventually."

"Eventually isn’t good enough," Verdan said, a touch of anger colouring his voice as the base of his staff beat out a firm rhythm on the ground. "I’m sorry, Kai, you didn’t deserve that." Verdan slowed his walk and tried to get his emotions under control.

"No need to apologise," Kai said, waving the outburst away without a second thought. "This is the first I’ve seen you like this, though. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, I’m fine," Verdan said shortly, grimacing as he realised he’d been a bit too short with Kai then. "It’s difficult to explain."

"Is it because they assumed you would act like the sects and simply try to take over? Or is it because you were tempted to do so?" Kai asked softly, keeping his attention on Verdan.

"Am I so transparent?" Verdan asked, chuckling a little as he let go of the shame he’d felt at the thought. The temptation had been there on the walk back to the house, the thought that the guard were clearly not capable of managing on their own, so he should take charge.

"I don’t know any sects that don’t run the guard for their cities. Whether their motives are good or bad, they end up taking control in the end," Kai told him with an expressive shrug.

"I don’t want to do it; as tempting as it is, it feels wrong," Verdan said slowly, realising that the anger he’d felt at Kai’s words had mainly been directed at himself. "In my homeland, I worked with the guards on a regular basis. I will see if I can have a similar relationship with them here."

"Perhaps," Kai said with another shrug. "The people of Hobson’s Point have had some bad experiences with sorcerers over the years. They’ll be slow to trust any newcomers, especially strong ones."

"Sorcerers have a lot to answer for," Verdan said, shaking his head with a heartfelt sigh. He could almost feel the uphill battle that he was going to be constantly fighting to be considered different to them.

"They do. It’s part of why I’ve linked myself to you. I can only do so much on my own," Kai said wearily, his heavy tone making Verdan look over in surprise.

"You’ve done a lot since we met, don’t underestimate yourself," Verdan admonished.

"Indeed I have, but alongside your own actions," Kai said, a hint of a sad smile on his face. "My attempt on my own ended up with my capture by the cyth."

Verdan started to argue further to try and make Kai understand how much power he wielded. He might not have Verdan’s versatility, but the fire sorcerer was a powerful combatant and deadly with his spear. Before Verdan could make his arguments, he realised they were at the gate they’d entered the night before.

None of the guards on duty looked familiar, but that was to be expected. Verdan hadn’t expected to find Lieutenant Silver here. This was simply the best place to start.

"Excuse me. I was looking for Lieutenant Silver. Do you know where he is?" Verdan asked, walking up to a nearby guard. The man turned to regard Verdan as he approached, his eyes widening in recognition.

"He’s off duty right now, but he’ll be meeting with the Commander later today at headquarters, Master Sorcerer." The guard answered promptly, obviously happy to be answering such an easy question and directing Verdan elsewhere.

"Please, just call me Verdan," Verdan said, restraining a sigh at the confused look on the guard’s face.

"I know where the guard headquarters are. We can head down later today," Kai offered in a soft voice.

"Works for me," Verdan said before turning back to the guard. "Thank you for your help."

"Not at all, Sorcerer Verdan," the guard said, stumbling over Verdan’s name.

Verdan gritted his teeth and smiled at the guard, ignoring the glint of amusement in Kai’s eyes.

Verdan and Kai returned to the manor, Kai heading off to spar with Tim and cultivate while Verdan settled down to work on his gathering spiral.

A few hours of work let Verdan finally finish compressing his second spiral so that it was a cord of tightly wound Aether that was itself wound around the first spiral.

With two completed, Verdan moved straight onto his third. The third spiral was when wizards began to have enough Aether to work more powerful spells. Not to the extent of the empowered fireballs that Verdan liked to use, but more like the blades of wind he used.

Thankfully, the more a wizard used a concept and intent, the more solidified it became in their mind. A solid, strong concept meant high Aether efficiency, to the extent that Verdan was using spells that no other wizard with a similar gathering spiral could manage.

Still, he was a long, long way from the thirty-four spirals he’d had when he’d been cursed. Thirty-six was the traditional threshold for a senior wizard; he’d been so close.

Thankfully, the space where the Aether was housed in Verdan’s core was still of the right size for thirty-four spirals. He could sit and actively draw in Aether for days and not hit his limit. He’d eventually have to work on increasing the size of his reserves, but he’d need to actually reach that limit first, which would take time.

A knock at the door broke Verdan from his meditation, and he looked up to see Kai standing in the doorway. Verdan updated his mental image for his spiral and set it to his subconscious again as he rose and quirked a brow at Kai, wondering what he wanted.

"It’s coming up to late afternoon. I was checking when you wanted to go and visit the guard headquarters?" Kai asked, leaning against the doorway as he spoke.

"Now will do fine. I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes," Verdan said, waving for Kai to head down.

Getting his things together, Verdan cleared his mind and shook off his thoughts of days gone by. While he didn’t want to forget his old life, he didn’t want to ignore his new life either.

Heading downstairs, Verdan found Kai waiting outside the entrance to the manor, spear resting on his shoulder and a thoughtful expression on his face.

"After you," Verdan said, gesturing for Kai to lead the way. "Is something bothering you?"

"I’ve been thinking about what you were saying earlier. The idea of working alongside the guard is one I’ve had before, and I’ve done my best to do it, but it never worked properly." Kai said, speaking at a measured pace as he considered his words.

"Why hasn’t it worked?" Verdan asked with interest.

"There’s always a situation beyond their capability," Kai said as he led Vedan through the city. "If a few sorcerers are supporting the local guard, it’s not so bad, but there’s never many. The greater the threat, the less the guard can do and the more the sorcerers take charge until they are running the whole thing."

"I see, and the sects taking in all the sorcerers means that there are likely none in the guard, to begin with," Verdan said, Kai nodding in confirmation at his assumption. "Interesting, I will have to consider if there’s anything I can do to assist."

"Here we are, the headquarters in Hobson’s Point," Kai said, cutting off their conversation as they came up to a large building in the centre of the city. Several guards were on watch outside, with a two-guard patrol leaving and heading off into the city as Verdan and Kai approached.

"Do you know the name of the person in charge?" Verdan asked as they headed for the entrance.

"No, I’ve not interacted with the guard much. We probably should have brought one of the brothers with us," Kai said with a grimace of annoyance.

"Yes, actually, that would have been a very good idea," Verdan said, a little disappointed in himself for not thinking of that earlier. He wasn’t on top form today, and that needed to stop. Verdan couldn’t afford to be distracted right now, not when he was still establishing himself.

"Good afternoon, can we help you?" One of the guards outside the entrance to the building asked as they approached. The man eyed them both warily, his gaze lingering on Kai’s spear and Verdan’s staff.

"Yes, I was looking to speak with Lieutenant Silver. I understand he’s here for a meeting?" Verdan kept it simple, not wanting to send any mixed messages.

"I’ll see if he’s available for you. In the meantime, if you don’t mind waiting over there." The guard told them, waving to a bench set against the wall of the building. Once he was sure they were following his directions, the guard called over one of his colleagues and sent them inside with a message.

"Well, this should be interesting," Kai commented as they took a seat at the indicated bench.

Verdan nodded, noting how the guards were positioned and the seemingly regular patrols they had. This was an organised system, and that boded well for cooperation between Verdan and the guard.