It's a beautiful world to be lost in...

  ~

  "Have I mentioned yet how bored I am...?"

  "No, for the past ten minutes you've been completely silent. I was starting to get worried that that last raspberry got stuck in your throat."

  I pouted.

  And Siaril laughed quietly.

  We were resting on the slope of a small hill facing the Apries Lake, watching the water absorb remnants of the evening sun peeking into the small clearing near the shore. Nature was starting to slow down, the serenity disturbed only by the sleepy chirps of birds and the chill of night slowly closing in.

  Almost three weeks passed since the three of us were left alone in Light's mansion.

  Once Earlindon shook off the grimness of the battle, honored the fallen with a period of mourning and got rid of most of the marks Sharish left on the land, the young successor of the Caydranth lineage and Yasenka got married on the last day of summer. I didn't see many weddings in my life, but I was sure it was one of the most beautiful and moving ones Earlindon has ever seen. The celebrations lasted two days, after which Light almost immediately switched to work mode, aiming to fulfill the promise he gave the survivors from Ioreth and rebuild the capital.

  Of course, the people set off from Tacritia to help, but when, upon arrival, they learned that Light and Yasenka gave up on their honeymoon for their sake, the newlyweds were almost kicked out. They set out on a small journey across Earlindon, but not before Light threatened to be back in a month at the latest to finally fix what his brother destroyed. In the meantime, the new and old citizen occupied themselves with preparing the soil for new crops. The elderly still knew what used to grow best in the area, and the young helped with setting up trade with Leeshan to get what was needed.

  Speaking of Light's brother... I think pretty much everyone who knew he was still alive wondered what he was currently up to. Despite Light's fears, he didn't use the opportunity to vanish into thin air while we attended the festivities in Tacritia to celebrate our victory over him. He stayed in the mansion but out of our way for a while, making his presence almost unnoticeable, spending most of his time in his room on the top floor and reading. More than once, I spotted him with Light on the roof after dark, probably having cleansing talks while rekindling their shared passion of astronomy.

  The repaired bond probably intensified the disappointment and sadness when right after watching Light and Yasenka's wedding from the distance, Sharish decided to simply disappear without a word of goodbye or explanation... Being around us Disciples probably wasn't the most thrilling for the former mage, but I couldn't really think of another reason. Maybe it was just a display of pride, and he would at least contact Light again soon.

  Armailith stayed in the Dragon Mountains, busy with bringing up her offspring, and the last time Elithia visited was almost a week ago. It was basically just me, Siaril and Ertralia, if one didn't count the newest addition to the family - Avnith - an adolescent pup that Sivath suddenly appeared with at the mansion shortly before Light and Yasenka left. Judging by his looks and behavior towards the older dog, he was likely Sivath's son. At least he was occupying some of our time with his unruly nature and an appetite matching that of two adult individuals of his species.

  "But, well..." Siaril reached to the basket with fruit resting between us. A single, rusty-golden leaf floated on the soundless wind and came to rest on one of the last plums. "Maybe we could check if they already arrived in Ioreth. Otherwise you will get tempted to make an individual flight."

  "I suspect myself of easily getting tempted."

  "It's getting late already though..." Siaril glanced towards the west. "Let's go tomorrow, after breakfast."

  I nodded happily and scratched behind Avnith's ear, the dog's tail immediately starting to swipe the grass. Ertralia answered that with a jealous look and moved closer, leaning her head on the main support of my wing, resting half-folded on the ground. I laughed, feeling like a mother besieged by spoiled cubs.

  "Can we go back inside?" the sykerien muttered after a few moments. "You might not feel it much, but it's getting cold."

  I wasn't sure if that was her actual reason, or if it was the solitary wasp that started to circle around the almost empty basket of fruit with a suspiciously malicious buzz. Or maybe it was the stripe of dark clouds forming in the north. It might have been all three, though the still sleepy lake and silent trees didn't give away any anxiousness just yet.

  "Oh, sure. Sorry," I stirred, making Avnith get up, but Ertralia stayed put. When I glanced at her, confused, she gave me a small, pleading look over the stretch of my wing. I smiled. "Want me to carry you?"

  Her face immediately brightened up and she freed my wing, ready to hop onto my back. Sometimes, she enjoyed being spoiled a lot... mainly by me, for some reason. It was funny how she could still act like a moody child, despite being almost sixteen years old now. I already knew I'd end up having to comfort her tonight, because she was missing Yasenka and getting crotchety. What made up for it was the fact that sykeriens had a higher body temperature than humans, which in combination with the happy purring was always a brilliant soporific. So I never really complained.

  ~

  What woke me up was a muffled, quiet growl and the feeling of something tugging at the quilt. Judging by Ertralia's quiet whispers which I registered a second later, Avnith once more found his way to my room somehow and was trying to pull the young sykerien into some game. I was able to effectively ignore it all for a while, until the sound of fabric ripping reached my ears. I sighed loudly enough for the two to feel the approaching trouble and peeked from underneath the covers to assess the damage.

  "Oh great..."

  The floor on the right side of my bed was covered in feathers from one of the biggest pillows, Avnith lying among them and abusing the shreds left of it, completely unfazed. At least Ertralia took fright and grabbed another pillow as if it could serve as a shield.

  "Avnith stop it," I commanded strictly.

  The dog tore himself away from the fabric, his ears perking up. For a moment it seemed like he was considering the order, but then just returned to his activity. I sighed. What Light said one day seemed to be right. These dogs were extraordinarily loyal, proved to be excellent protectors of the estate, but acknowledged only one master. Who unfortunately wasn't present at the estate.

  "I think Siaril prepared breakfast already," purred Ertralia cajolingly, as if hoping to milden my anger with the perspective of a delicious meal.

  I took a moment to contemplate over the chaos that suddenly came to be in my room before sighing quietly and getting up to starting cleaning. I then helped Ertralia to comb her hair before heading upstairs, to the dining room combined with the library.

  Siaril was indeed already there, standing on the balcony, cool, autumn air gently blowing in. I was just about to comment the fact that he did everything by himself again, letting me sleep to my heart's content, but I suddenly noticed a small swallow rising from the railing and flying away. I smiled and approached him.

  "A message from Yasenka?" I asked, slightly excited.

  "Yep," my friend unrolled the tiny scroll of parchment that he just took off the bird's leg and read the short text. "They're already in Ioreth after all."

  "So we go right after breakfast?"

  "No, an hour after that. I don't think you will be able to fly right after a meal without groaning."

  "Just frankly admit that you're too lazy to fly with a full stomach."

  He pinched my side and went back into the room, ignoring my chuckle.

  The breakfast was delicious, as always. I was sometimes afraid that I got way too used to this luxury. We were close to finishing our meal when the sound of the door leading to the bridge one floor below opening reached our ears, soon followed by quiet footsteps on the stairs.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "I think it's Canidralth..." I said, looking up from my mug for a moment. I found that my senses were becoming sharper lately. It had to be due to harmonizing with the draconic part of my nature better and better with time, which Siaril admitted to experiencing as well not too long ago. My hearing got better, as did my olfaction, but there was also something new that I deemed to be a sort of instinct, similar to the one animals had, and which failed me less and less frequently.

  And this time wasn't an exception, because just moments later the tall figure of the crazy mage, our enemy and ally in one impertinent person, appeared on the top of the stairs. Ertralia hunched slightly.

  "Morning," he greeted cordially, but never forgetting to add that hint of arrogance to his tone.

  "Hi," I didn't show huge enthusiasm. "Want to join us?"

  "Thanks, but I already had breakfast," still, he sat down on one of the chairs. He noticed the slightly suspicious look that Siaril threw him and added politely: "Something wrong?"

  "Nothing at all..." my friend pushed his already empty plate away a little. "I was just wondering if I will live to see the day when I will be happy to see you."

  "Not likely, but if you believe in life after death..."

  "I see that your awful sense of humor survived the battle for Earlindon."

  "Along with the rest of my glorious self."

  I sighed. Ever since we heard from Yasenka that the mage participated in the fight against Sharish and his army, contributing to our victory and even saving her life once, Siaril stopped being as offensive towards him as before. Their attitude towards each other was still neutral and leaning towards aversive, but there was nevertheless a lot of improvement that none of them managed to ruin just yet.

  "What brings you here?" I asked, setting my mug down. We were used to the mage appearing in the mansion every now and then, mostly to chat with the Caydranth brothers, teasing me on the side, but this time I somehow felt he brought something more with him.

  "Two things," the mage leaned back in the chair comfortably. "I managed to find out where the guy who killed Sharish wandered off to after the battle." All three of us perked up, making him smile. He really liked to be dramatic... "He headed north, towards Saille."

  "Interesting... think you could find him somehow?"

  "Maybe. Considering I was given a fun little detail."

  "Oh?"

  "Someone saw something like an irregular crescent moon, or a sickle that's not quite so curvy on his belt."

  Siaril and I exchanged glances. That explained... a lot and yet nothing at the same time.

  "He must have stayed around after leaving that notebook to you," muttered my friend.

  "Yeah, but... that makes it look like he was expecting a chance to get rid of Sharish somehow," I rubbed my forehead. "Let's not try to analyze this... whenever I try to figure him out, I get headaches."

  "Fair enough."

  "Thanks," I turned to Canidralth again. "Can you try to find him for us?"

  "If you do something for me in return?"

  My brain instantly told me to be cautious. "Um... what is it?"

  "I could use a bit of information on the night patrols in Tacritia."

  That came out of nowhere... "First of all - why? Second of all - that doesn't sound like something impossible for you to find out."

  "It's not, but I'm in a bit of a rush and busy with other things..."

  "Fair enough, but you skipped the first question."

  And it was clear why, because here, the mage seemed to shortly hesitate. "It's for a job."

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Not an assassination, I hope."

  "A job."

  I let out a heavy sigh. "As grateful as I am for the intel you brought, I don't think I want to have my hand in this. Especially since I don't have much to say anymore anyway. I'm no prince."

  "They still respect you as if you are one."

  "Do you want me to translate what he just said?" Siaril cut in.

  "Nah," Canidralth shrugged before getting up. "I guess I'll just bother one of my coworkers."

  "Wait, coworkers?"

  "Oh, you didn't know? I met a few people on my path who were quite enthusiastic about establishing a little guild of bounty hunters with me. By the way, we could use the help of someone capable of carrying messages from one place to another for us or supporting us with some magic..."

  "Let me guess," Siaril interrupted him. There was a seed of anger already budding in his voice and I knew what was to come. "In your dictionary 'bounty hunters' means 'murderers for hire'."

  "You're so keen," the mage gave him one of those irritatingly radiant smiles.

  "Oh shut up..."

  "Wonderful argumentation."

  "And you're delusional," I interfered when Siaril looked away. "Why would you even think any of us would agree?"

  "I'd like to emphasize that killing is not the only thing I'm doing in my life, despite what your dear Siaril seems to be believe. Besides, isn't almost every creature in this world killing to survive?"

  "To survive, yes. On a whim - no. Animals killing humans is not the same as humans killing humans..."

  "Well, it was worth a try," the mage didn't seem very disturbed by the double refusal. He walked over to the balcony door. "I think that you would be good in this kind of entertainment though. Especially you," he added, glancing at me.

  With those words he vanished, leaving me a little dumbstruck, the small feather floating outside caught by the chilly, northern wind.

  Siaril set down the spoon with which he was stirring the remnants of his tea in the already cold cup and leaned back in his chair. "That man is insane..." he sighed heavily.

  "Don't let him get to you," I stood up, gathering the plates. Ertralia immediately rushed to help, putting all the cups and mugs on a tray that was waiting in the corner of the table. "When he starts to talk nonsense like that, it's best to put him off as quickly as possible. If you try reasonable divagation, he'll just start bickering with you."

  "I know..."

  We didn't prepare for the trip much. Even carrying the kitten-like weight of Ertralia, getting to Ioreth was a matter of but an hour. Despite all prohibitions, Avnith immediately started to run after us between the trees below.

  It was easy to spot among the crowns which the sun was extracting hundreds of shades of gold, red and amber from. The dark shapes, the raw soil... but it wasn't the black of the conflagration anymore, no. We didn't quite expect what we saw when we came to a stop in midair around where once the border of the capital was.

  The even terrain, surrounded from three sides by a crescent moon of forest, wore no signs of the carnage that Sharish Caydranth left behind not so long ago. The soil was cleaned, fresh, ready to build on anew, a few young tufts of grass already eager to bring life back. In the spot where I remembered the town centre being in the past, now spread a spacious plaza, the old sun dial standing proud in the middle. It seemed to be the only element that was brought back from the crumbles of the old architecture, like an insect preserved in amber among the growing city. Tiny droplets glistened on its face, carried by the gentle wind and coming from a fountain just a few meters away, the water crystalline clear in the forenoon sun. It was shaped to look like three nymphs standing with their backs to each other, and they somehow had water trickle down into the stone pond from the ewers in their delicate hands.

  Not far away from this piece of art we saw a new tavern and inn, the first standing parallel to the main road, the second perpendicularly. Further to the north stood the city hall, already magnificent despite the right side of its top floor not being quite finished yet. Around it all wreathed more or less a dozen houses, between which the first, neat lines of streets took shape. What humans needed decades for in the past, now rose from the ground almost in the blink of an eye.

  "Weren't they supposed to inform us right after they got here?" I asked. "This looks like Light has been working for a few months already."

  "Who knows with that guy... he has the whole Sunrise at his disposal now, so his capabilities surpass even Sharish's."

  We were greeted heartily at the very landing, immediately asked if we were tired, if it was a longer visit and where we planned to stay during it. Soon, Light and Yasenka appeared among the crowd, after being swiftly informed about our arrival.

  "So good to see you again," my master gave me an enthusiastic hug, because Yasenka got tackled by Ertralia and was temporarily busy. "I hope we didn't call you here from the very edge of death by boredom."

  "Almost..." I smiled, scratching behind the ear of Sivath who unalterably accompanied the younger of the Caydranth brothers. "Though I get the feeling you could have saved us much earlier."

  Embarrassment appeared on Light's features, not managing to cover the happiness though. "Sorry... We got so used to it being just the two of us and I focused on the reconstruction a lot while trying not to space out too much..."

  "Let me guess why."

  Light sighed, trying to sound regretful. "You know what a problem a beautiful woman can be..."

  "I do, especially in combination with a mind liable to her charm," Light just smiled as if he heard a compliment, so Siaril looked around: "You're doing amazing... if you keep going like this, you'll be done in a year."

  "'Fantasizing is the role of humans, leave the creation to mages'," I threw in a phrase I read in one of the books in Light's mansion.

  "Stop it you two," the young mage smiled bashfully. "I'm doing what I can, but exhausting myself is not the goal here. After all, there's still the royal castle to rebuild..."

  "Speaking of royalty," Siaril looked around once more, "where is Phaladriel?"

  "Oh, I helped her get to Hreshia, so she and your mother could prepare for the change of residence. We made an appointment to get them and everything they'd like to bring along here three days from now. For the beginning, I built them a house a little out of the way," Light nodded towards the forest, where some bushes and low branches of trees were cut out to make space for a stylish, two-storied house. It was surrounded by a screen of young birches. "But once I'm done with most of the city..."

  "Stop," Siaril interrupted him with a smile. "You don't have to justify yourself, I know that as long as you're around, they will have even more than they will actually need."

  "Yeah, wanna bet that this 'temporary lodging' is actually the craziest piece of art around here?" I teased.

  "Why would I want to bet on something when the outcome is obvious from the get go?" Yasenka and Ertralia rejoined us, holding hands.

  "I'm right here guys..." grumbled Light.

  "I know," his spouse smiled innocently.

  "In a sense, living with him must be a nightmare."

  "Why?" she turned her curious gaze to me.

  "Isn't he always just focusing on caring for others?"

  "Yeah, but it's actually very easy to make him do stuff for himself."

  "Whoa, how?"

  "I just need to make him believe that he'd be doing said thing for me or for us both and watch the magic happen."

  Light stayed quiet for a moment, then frowned. "Waait..."

  But Yasenka was already leading Ertralia deeper into the new capital, inviting us to follow with a sweet smile.