After their talk and a quick meal together they went flying back home as Ben found himself getting uncomfortably used to the experience of hurtling through the air at breakneck speeds before they got back to Stonewall and took the cart through town.

The mood of the place seemed to be the same mix of tense and elated that so many other lands were going through, the knowledge that the first wave ended early along with knowing that even the one day they’d experienced had been terrible was present in everyone's minds, leaving each person to focus on what side they wanted to lose themselves to.

And I don’t know which is worse.

On the one hand, falling into despair wouldn’t help anyone. Even if things were bad, each person still had to live in the time they had, but on the other, false optimism could lead to many lowering their guard at such an important time. The same thing wouldn’t be happening again, it couldn’t. Even ignoring the loss of life that made it possible, if Thera and a couple of the great spirits decided to pour their mana into him to attempt the same thing, he didn’t think he could comfortably let himself create antimatter again. The knowledge of just how wrong that could go was still heavy in his mind. One slip-up on his part would leave him and everyone on his side of the gate dead.

If I was comfortably in the void of space that would be one thing since there’s a few ideas I wouldn’t mind testing on it, but that comes with its own host of problems. Too bad too, I really would like to learn if something like earth magic could work on it or if there really are anti-affinities of magic like Quilith proposed before. Let’s put that as a bottom bottom bottom of the list thing to test one day. Like, all the way out when I’ve done everything else I could conceivably do and don’t feel attached to living anymore.

He let the thought slip from his mind as they passed their first destination, the shop, only to find it closed.

So I guess he’s not working today then? Oh well, home to Sonya it is.

But alas, there too was empty, an inconvenient fact given that he planned on asking either of them for some help. While he’d bought property in town before, both for the church and his house, those two things were on such a smaller scale compared to what he was thinking of doing now that he wanted to get some advice on the topic for exactly how to get it done.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if aunty’s back at the clinic already,” Thera chimed in. “Since it’s not that late yet why don’t we go check there next?”

“Sure, works for me.”

With that they went to stroll through the town as they went on their way, passing many as they went. There were many people out and about just living their lives despite anything, and with customers and patients they recognized, every now and then they needed to stop to exchange a few words, simple hellos and small talk about what they’d missed since they’d left, with almost nothing having changed in the end of it all. Again they could see hints of positivity or negativity shining through in the faces of everyone, but he was sure that was going to be there for weeks to come.

It was only when they got to the clinic that they got to see true despair as the various staff ran around, dealing with the consequences of the absence of their two most powerful healers for the past month as one saw them and yelled out.

“Thera’s back!”

In a flash, Drari was before them, the clinic head looking at her as a long-missing hope returned to his eyes.

“Thera, so nice to see you well, hope everything went okay while you were gone. Do you think you’d be able to spare an hour right now?”

The man wasted no time asking for help to relieve some of the strain they were all under, and she wasn’t going to turn him down.

“I can, but is aunty not here?”

“No, wouldn’t she have come with you?”

“Ah, we came back separately so I was actually trying to find her.”

“I wonder if we maybe passed them?” Ben muttered. The journey from the gate was one that took days usually, even if one paid extra for a faster journey. Considering that the two of them could bypass all of that by flying through the sky, the chances of them being ahead by a day or two was very possible.

Which means I need to figure out someone else to ask for advice on this. Huh, who else in town do I know that might be able to help?

It was a short list and he firmly landed on the guild master Ceselee. Since Thera had already agreed to spare an hour or two they parted there, agreeing to meet back up at home later as he made his way to the guild and let himself inside, seeing his favourite employee there at work.

“Onk, are things going well?” He asked, giving them a smile and getting nothing in return except a friendly tone of voice.

“All things considered, I’d say so. Glad to see you’re okay, hope the point you were at wasn’t too dangerous.”

Word hadn’t spread about his involvement in the different points closing which as far as he was concerned was nothing but a positive, even if it made talking with others about it feel just a little weird.

“Um, I guess I’d say it went about as well as it could have, but anyway, is Ceselee in? I needed to talk to her.”

“Of course, she’s just in her office so go on ahead.”

“Awesome, thanks.”

It was only as he was leaving that a small question came to his mind, one he’d wondered on more than one occasion. Onk’s defining trait was their lack of a face, and he couldn’t help but wonder how they experienced the world, so ever so quickly he opened his connection with them, just to see what it was like without looking at their thoughts and closing it immediately after he did.

Touch. All around them, Onk was experiencing a sense of touch the same way that he might see or some races might echolocate as he became intimately aware of the feelings of the bodies of the adventurers around them through the strange trait.

And that’s one question I really wish I never got answered. Okay, we’re going to pretend I didn’t just find that out and move on with my day.

He did his best to let the discovery fade from his minds, despite a few of them going over it again and again against his wishes, as he made his way to a room he’d been plenty of times before, giving a knock before letting himself in.

“Oh Ben, welcome back,” Ceselee told him, giving a small smile at a sign she could ignore the paperwork in front of her. “Is everyone else with you?”

“Me and Thera traveled separately from Sonya and Falk so we think we made it back first.”

“But you’re all alive then, good. So what happened?”

“Um, what?”

“Don’t play dumb, I know you were all at craftsman’s tower, and there’s plenty of rumours about what happened there. You must have seen some of it so what happened?”

It seemed she wasn’t asking about his own involvement in things so he gave her the simple version, leaving out the part he played while she looked like she was getting a migraine the more he explained.

“So the reason things went so well was because of a psychopath, great,” She muttered. “Got any better news?”

“Nope, but I do have a question I was hoping you’d help me with. If I wanted to buy an ungodly amount of land just outside of town, how would I do it? I’d also be looking to expand the town's wall to cover it too.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause I’m disgustingly rich and want to put some of that money to use. Also, I’ve begun to realize that there’s some problems that I want to solve that could be done quicker with the help of a group compared to the one of me that exists so I’m trying to make that happen, it’s just going to take up a lot of space.”

He went on to explain how many houses he was looking to build, along with both the research institute and storage area he’d need to create, all to make what he wanted a reality as she listened on in disbelief.

“...Alright, well either way I’ll arrange things for you so how soon till you need the land?”

“Ideally tomorrow, but you don’t need to go out of your way for me, if you could just point me in the right direction I’ll get it sorted.”

Her eyes widened briefly when he said ‘tomorrow’ but shook her head at the rest of it. “Since I’m already acquainted with you, the mayor asked me to be a go-between if anything along these lines ever came up, so sadly this is actually my job.”

“Wait what? We have a mayor? And they don’t want to meet me? Lame.”

“Of course we have a mayor, who do you think handles the day-to-day logistics of the town? And they don’t want to risk getting on the bad side of someone who’s both an apostle and awakened skill holder, it’s easier this way.”

“Mmh, well, if you’re sure then that would be great, thanks Ceselee.”

“You can thank me by not coming in every week with a new patent to send off.”

“We’ll see how busy I am this year then I guess.”

At that he went off, having gotten all he’d needed to done for the day.

With nothing else he made his way to some shops before heading back, knowing there was little to eat at home with all of them having done their best to finish off the food they had since they’d expected to be gone for a month, so he went to resupply while Thera was working so he could have a nice meal ready by the time she was done.

“Delicious as always,” She told him after they ate, leaning against him as they both cleaned up. “Maybe you should open a restaurant one day if you ever retire from smithing. Or maybe not since you’d put too many other people out of business.”

“Ha, I don’t think I’d enjoy serving people all day, I wouldn't have the patience for it. I’d much rather just keep cooking for you like I do now.”

“And you really do know how to say some good things,” She smiled before leaning up to kiss him. “Ahem, so Ben, I notice we’re alone.”

“We are.”

“And that isn’t likely to happen too often now that we’re back.”

“Probably not,” He agreed, seeing where this was going as he wrapped his hands around her waist.

“So you should stay in my room tonight while we have some privacy.”

“Or I could stay every night,” He countered. “It’s not like Sonya hasn’t suggested as much herself.”

“Mmh, I’ll… think about broaching the topic with her, no matter how weird it’s going to be,” She said, wanting to give in but only being held back by how awkward she knew the talk would end up. “But instead of worrying about that, let’s-”

“I’m back,” Sonya called out in a singsong voice as the door opened, instantly killing the mood that was going on as Thera took a small step back from him so as to not be caught.

Aaaand it looks like I’m sleeping alone tonight then.

“Welcome back aunty!” Thera yelled back as the two went out to greet her, finding someone else there with her. “And guild master Ceselee, what brings you here so late?”

“Oh, just wanted to make sure she got back alright,” She said with a laugh as Sonya leaned against her. “We may have gone a little too hard after I found her.”

Neither looked steady on their feet so it wasn’t difficult to imagine what the two had been up to. Ben knew Sonya would go drink with her and Falk from time to time, but he didn’t think that he’d ever actually seen her drunk before.

Sonya for her part stumbled over to Thera who wasn’t used to seeing her aunt like that either as the woman giggled before hugging her tight.

“Oh Thera, you really are so cute you know,” She said, caressing her niece’s cheeks. “You always were of course, but you’ve gotten even more since you’ve fallen in love.”

“Um, aunty?”

“I wonder if I look as cute as you do when I’m with your stupid uncle,” She asked as she changed to a pout. “Your stupid dumb idiot dumb stupid uncle.”

“Uh, did something happen Sonya?” Ben asked, seeing that something was obviously on her mind as she answered in a huff.

“No, nothing ‘cause nothing ever happens. I can’t say how I feel after all of these years because I’m a coward and since he’s an idiot he never notices, even after spending days alone together.”

He cast a questioning eye to Ceselee who only shook her head. “Well, since you’re back alright I’m going to head home. Ben, make sure you stop by the guild early tomorrow and I’ll show you your property lines.”

“Sure, will do.”

At that, she slipped away, though Sonya wasn’t done.

“I really am too old for this,” She complained before focusing on Ben, even with Thera still trapped in her grasp. “I just want him to open up a little, he’s way too closed off! Do you even know his status yet Ben?”

“I don’t actually.”

“Well I do,” she told him, switching to a happy grin before going back to pouting. “So in that case why won’t he just open up in other ways to me?”

“It’s okay aunty,” Thera tried to console her. “You know what uncle’s like, and you have us.”

“True,” She agreed, still looking disappointed and holding Thera all the tighter. “So neither of you can ever leave.”

Why do I feel the chances of Thera talking to her about the prospect of us sharing a room becoming slimmer and slimmer?

Okay, not if I can help it. The fact that Sonya hasn’t had any progress with Falk is the sort of thing that’s probably super-solvable, right? I help sort that out and then I’ll be able to enjoy my own bit of domestic bliss.

Yeah, well I have something that they don’t. A heartfelt desire to make sure I get all of the enjoyment I can from life and a willingness to ignore certain boundaries. I am absolutely making this happen.

While Thera spent the next while trying to help raise her aunt's spirits, Ben for his part focused on trying to figure out just how to change things between them to help create his ideal future.