"And so the wicked king tasked Jason with a most treacherous mission – he should venture to the remote nation Colchis to retrieve the mythical Golden Fleece!" Henry struck a dramatic pose and watched his audience, consisting of Scale and Cube who eagerly gawked up at him from their nest.

"Oh, I have read that story before, I think", a voice interrupted as he was about to speak on and Henry frustratedly twirled around to Cevian. "Great, but, it's my turn to tell it."

She shook her head and raised her front paws to signal she had not planned to intervene and Henry turned back to the pups.

"So, Jason assembled a mighty crew of companions to travel with him to Colchis by the ship Argo. On their way they encountered many dangers", he spread his arms dramatically, "but none could phase them. So eventually, they arrived at their destination. But if you think he just waltzed right up to the ruler of Colchis and snagged the Fleece, you're oh so wrong!"

The pups' eyes became even larger and Scale nervously kneaded the nest material between his front paws.

"That ruler was of course reluctant to hand over such a precious artifact so he told Jason he could get the Fleece, but only if he performed a number of impossible tasks for him first!"

"What kind of tasks?", Cube squeaked and Henry grinned. "Oh, they were awful indeed. Like, to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen, then sow the teeth of a dragon in that field, and finally slay the dragon himself!"

At that, even Thanatos who lied, peacefully dozing, in a corner of the nursery, raised his head. "How the hell did he do that?"

Henry's grin widened. "Lucky for him, the king's daughter and sorceress Medea had madly fallen in love with him and promised to help him retrieve the Fleece if he agreed to marry her." Cube and Scale giggled.

"And so it was done. With joint efforts they overcame the labors and took the Fleece, to sail away together, as promised."

"Yes! Yes!", Cube clapped his front paws and Scale joined in. "Happy end!"

"Not quite", Cevian stepped forth suddenly. "But perhaps we should indeed call it a story here, for the pups." She gestured in their direction and earned squeaks of protest. "No! More! More!"

Henry sighed. "Well, there is more, but it's not pretty." He shook his head. "Because, for as much as Medea had helped Jason, she turned out not as innocent as she had seemed. Soon she slew her own brother in order to deter the king's forces that were following them."

The pups' grins instantly faded. "And though Jason did fulfill his promise to marry her and settled down in a faraway land, he became more and more convinced she had slowly begun to go mad."

"Hold on", Cevian suddenly sounded but Henry ignored her. "ANYWAY, eventually, the king of the land they had settled in offered Jason his daughter's hand in marriage – and so he saw it fit to leave her to take the king up on his offer."

Before Cevian could interrupt again, Henry continued – "Which was... granted, not the nicest thing to do, but still. Her rage overtook her when she found out he planned to leave her. Going forward she poisoned not only Jason's new bride-to-be but also her father, and –"

"Now that's about enough", Cevian cut him off and Henry stared at her for a second, then shut his mouth. "Yeah... maybe that is about enough." His glance found the pups who stared up at him with large, frightened eyes.

"In any case", he shrugged, "there's no happy ending. Medea's jealousy and rage took away everyone's happiness and –"

"Now wait a second", Cevian cut him off again and Henry groaned. "What's there to wait? She was crazy!" He tapped his own forehead.

Cevian stared at him pensively. "I am not saying that she was justified to kill, or that she was in the right, but... were her actions not in truth caused by Jason's betrayal?"

Henry stared at her, bewildered. "Betrayal? What betrayal? He did everything he promised, he took her with himself, and married her, and –"

"And then left her for a princess."

Henry frowned. "Well, that stuff happens! Or do you mean to say you can't end your current relationship to be with someone else? It's not like he cheated on her. It was her own selfishness and delusion that doomed her."

Cevian shook her head. "In the version I read, she was a scorned woman who felt betrayed and turned to violence as a result. Jason treated her with disrespect and ungratefulness, later on even denying she had any part in his retrieval of the Fleece."

"I'm not saying he was flawless", Henry shot back, "he certainly wasn't, but he wasn't the traitor... she was. Because even if, feeling scorned doesn't give you the right to KILL!"

Cevian sighed. "Of course not. I'm just saying that, sometimes when people do bad things, we should consider their point of view and motif also."

"Fair enough", Henry groaned, and only now noticed the confused faces of the two pups who stared up at him and Cevian like they had not understood a single word.

"Perhaps... you two should put the pups to sleep and postpone this argument", Thanatos spoke from his corner, "though I believe it is pointless. The myth is ancient and there are most likely at least a hundred versions of it. Thereby, we have no way to gain enough valid information to argue any of your points convincingly. I do agree with one thing though", he glanced at Cevian, "we must always consider all points of view."

"So... wait, are you still not done yet? If we don't get them to sleep soon nap-time will be over before they fall asleep!" Curie suddenly stood in the entrance to the nursery, holding up an hourglass.

"We got... caught up", Henry grinned and shrugged, then looked back at Cube and Scale. "Hey, you know what?", he patted Cube's head, "I think it is time for the song."

The two pups instantly began cheering and Henry laughed. Over the last six weeks, he had sung it at least a hundred times, yet the pups could never get enough. He grinned, took a step back, and began tapping his foot for a beat, then clapped his hands. "Dancing in the firelight, see the queen who conquers night! Gold flows from her, hot, and bri-i-ight!" He spun on his heel and clapped his hands three times. "Father, mother, sister, brother – off they go, I don't know, if we will see another!"

In eager anticipation of the next stanza, the pups began producing meowing sounds and attempted to sing along as Henry continued – "Catch the nibblers in a trap!" He leaped forward with outstretched arms, pretending to grab the pups from above. They winced back but quickly began to giggle. "Watch the nibblers spin and snap!" He snapped the fingers of both hands simultaneously, "Quiet while they take a na-a-ap!"

Once more he clapped three times. "Father, mother, sister, brother – off they go, I don't know, if we will see another!" He hardly registered Cevian and Curie had both stepped at his side, and all three of them sang the last stanza together – "Now the guests are at our door, greet them as we have before!" Henry snapped his fingers again, "Some will slice and some will pou-ou-our! Father, mother, sister, brother – off they go, I don't know, if we will see another!"

He struck a last pose and lifted an imaginary hat to his cheering audience. "Again! Again!", they cried and in the end, Henry had to sing the stanza about the nibblers three more times until he could get them to go to sleep like the nibblers in the song.

"That song is a lifesaver", Cevian mumbled as the two grown mice, Thanatos, and Henry at last left the nursery with the now peacefully dozing pups. "We must remember it for later too. Nothing has ever put those two to sleep so fast. They are quite the restless vagabonds."

Henry grinned. "Glad to be of service." He quickened his pace and lightly punched Cevian, "So, you and Pollux up for some practice? Today's my free day. Who knows where Lovelace will send us tomorrow."

"So... what's it going to be tomorrow? Fount again?" Henry sat cross-legged at the nibbler's dinner table. His hair was still moist from the bath he had taken after the round of sparring practice with Charos and he eagerly stared at Lovelace across him.

"Oh right, it will be my turn tomorrow", she nodded and glanced back and forth between him and Thanatos. "But no, this time the supplies must go to the citadel, if you would be so kind."

Henry's heartbeat quickened at the announcement. Not the thought of visiting the crawler colony he found so exciting, but the thought of getting news from Kismet. He had received his first letter from her around two weeks after they had arrived at the colony and since sent two more, but not yet received a response for the latest one.

"And the day after that?" He attempted to stuff a much too large piece of fish into his mouth. "Or can we make an exception from the rule so that I can work with Teslas a day earlier?" He forcibly swallowed. "I really want to try a thing."

The negative effects of healing stab wounds, Henry thought and instinctively cupped the spot that hadn't hurt anymore in a couple weeks. Ever since he had been well enough to work again Lovelace and Teslas had come up with a system how they could both profit from him simultaneously. Every second day he would switch between working for either – running errands for Lovelace for two days, and building things with Teslas for the next two. Henry found he was mostly fine with the agreement as he had pushed through he would get a free day before each switch.

Today was a free day. Yesterday he had spent in Teslas' workshop, and tomorrow Lovelace's time would begin. Apparently with a trip to the citadel.

The colony leader threw him a disapproving glance. "No, the day after tomorrow you will take the second batch of supplies to the citadel. It is more than your flier can carry in one stretch."

Henry sighed. It wasn't like he had honestly expected her to give him an extra free day. His thoughts ran to the design he and Teslas had nearly finished yesterday and groaned. Guess it would have to wait two more days.

"Tomorrow's the day", Henry exhaustedly plopped onto his sheet and Thanatos, who already lied curled against the wall, winced. He cared little if tomorrow was technically a free day, he decided how he spent his free days and this one he would spend in Teslas' workshop. They were so close to finishing the prototype he could barely wait.

Henry yawned. He would go immediately but the two consecutive trips to the citadel had been more tiring than expected. Still, he happily grinned as he reached for the tattered paper scroll he had left by his bedside yesterday.

You are not ever going to stop sending letters, are you?

For the last time, I'm good. Relishing the peace and quiet here, ever since there's no loudmouthed brat to disturb me anymore.

I will still take you up on that offer to visit soon, if anything, to collect your wretched figurine collection you LEFT here, where all it does is clutter my space and collect dust. And also of course to rip your useless head, that did not stop you from pursuing Longclaw in that state, off your shoulders. Or maybe your flier can do that for me. Ask him, will you?

And no, no gnawer has bothered me, ever since you left. Longclaw's former arena seems relinquished for the moment, though I do not entirely trust the silence. I will inform you if anything changes, in regards to the gnawer population in the area.

For now, keep your head in the game, make use of your abilities, remember your strengths but also your weaknesses, and never think yourself invincible. And come visit sometime.

See you soon.

"Hey, Kismet asks me to ask you if you could rip my head off in her name", he grinned at his flier when he realized, for as much as he had read the letter, that particular request he had never repeated to him.

"Maybe tomorrow", Thanatos yawned. "Now go to bed. You've read that letter at least a million times now. It will not suddenly read something different, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah", Henry joined his yawn and stuffed the scroll into his pocket. "We have to visit her soon. Maybe on one of my free days. But not tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm spending with Teslas."

"Are you now?"

"We have to – AGH!" Henry cried as his foot he had extended touched Charos that leaned in a corner and the large sword slowly moved until it hit the floor with a deafening crash.

"HENRY!" Thanatos winced up from where he lied and the exiled prince apologetically scrambled up to lift the sword again. "It'll have a sheath soon, then it won't make any noise when it falls. But that's a whole process in itself, apparently." He shrugged. "Teslas and I have a couple ideas."

"At least you can use it now." Thanatos eyed the large sword. "With how often Cevian and Pollux spar with you. It is different from wielding a normal blade, is it not?"

Henry nodded and recalled his last sparring session with the two eldest of Teslas' and Lovelace's children. The most important change, so he had instantly noticed, was adjusting his stance according to the considerably longer blade, as well as getting a hang of using both hands to wield it. With the lighter-than-naturally-expected weight, he still occasionally exaggerated his movements so that he tended to lose balance mid-battle.

He had also quickly found swinging it like a hammer, as his first instinct had been, would not work. So he had taken to unlearning that bad habit, as well as practicing certain moves such as using the wide blade to block teeth and claws, internalizing false edge strikes after every miss, and utilizing its double-handed nature to turn the blade into a lever for maximal power.

He was still not nearly as used to it as he was to his considerably shorter old sword, but at least he now had a few tricks up his sleeve. "Without those two I'd have run straight into battle thinking I can wield it like any sword", he stretched to give the pommel he had carved to look like a flier spreading his wings a pat. "Man, I love this thing."

"So I have noticed."

"Alright. It... should work. At least in theory." Teslas awkwardly laughed. "Though, are you sure you don't need some sort of handle?"

Adamantly, Henry shook his head. His eyes shone as he inspected the at last completed result of their work. "Please. My whole life I have gone riding fliers without the need of a handle, why would I suddenly need one now? Handles are for weaklings."

"If you say so", Teslas grinned. "Well, go and test it then. Preferably over a water body, just in case you DO fall off."

Henry shot him a glare as he took up and shouldered the prototype. "I won't FALL OFF. I NEVER fell off a flier's back before, except on purpose. Now that would be a first I could live without." Fall off... he shook his head in a mix between amusement and offense. Who did Teslas think he was?

The moment he stepped through the curtain that concealed Teslas' workshop his pace quickened from excitement. This was it, finally, what the inventor and he had worked so hard on ever since completing Charos. They had indeed talked to Thanatos together and though he had adamantly refused at first, they had eventually gotten him to agree to at least let them do a couple experiments to see if the design even worked.

"DEATH!", Henry cried and darted out through the vine curtain. "Death, we finished it!" He raised and waved the prototype above his head.

His flier had been lying by the beach as he often did in recent times and raised his head, but instantly lowered it again when he saw what it was. "Oh no, not that thing", he groaned and eyed the prototype suspiciously, then glanced up at Henry. "Did I really promise I'd let you try this?"

The exiled prince grinned. "You did! And now come on, like, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I could be SEEN", the flier mumbled as he reluctantly allowed Henry to strap the prototype around his neck. "Great, now all we need is a leash and we will have a flawless display of humiliation", he mumbled, staring down at what indeed somewhat resembled a broad leather collar.

"You know that's not true", Henry gave him a light punch. "And besides", he took a step back and inspected the flier, "honestly, it looks awesome."

"Yeah right", he shook his head. "The things I do for you, Henry, never cease to amaze me. Let's just get this over with."

In a heartbeat, Henry had pulled himself onto the flier's back and even he was overcome by a strange unease as he for the first time sat on an artificial surface. He swayed back and forth to see how well it fit and found, despite the unfamiliarity, the saddle prototype was decently comfortable. He brushed the smooth leather, tested the accessibility of the lever, and nudged the flier he was ready to commence the first test run.

Thanatos lifted off at once and, despite his confident act, Henry found himself immensely grateful nobody was here to watch. As they hovered above the crystal-clear lake he suddenly gripped the flier's fur harder and thought maybe he should have indeed added a handle. Well, his teeth gritted and he threw one last glance down, now it was too late. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be", the flier growled, and Henry determinately gripped the lever, then pulled it to the right. Thereupon, the saddle did exactly what it was supposed to – the whole construction rotated to the right. At first, by exactly ninety degrees, but Henry was so startled he forgot to let go of the lever, so it moved by another ninety degrees. And it sent Henry, who could not even remotely hold on, using only his own strength in an upside-down position, face-forward into the lake.

When he, moments later, broke the surface, snorting and coughing, then shaking his wet hair out of his face, the first thing he registered was Thanatos' vigorous laughter. "Maybe you should at least add a handle!", the flier called before he could be bothered to grab his bond by the arm and heave him out of the water.

"Well, MAYBE I SHOULD!" Henry lied in the white sand, looking like a drowned rat, and angrily glared at his flier from beneath the strands of his soaked hair. Moments later he shook his head, to get the wet hairband out. "To involuntarily fall off the back of a flier", he groaned and angrily pulled his wet shirt over his head, "this is truly a miserable day. Don't you DARE TELL ANYONE about this, you hear?"

"Maybe I won't", Thanatos landed beside him and Henry found he very much did not enjoy the smug expression he now wore. "Or maybe I will. Depends on how much of a brat you are." For that, Henry began chasing him around the lake, swinging his wet shirt like a weapon, yelling mocking threats.

"Ohh if you – tell anyone – I will keep that thing on you – forever", he pressed out between pants when he collapsed exactly where he had started. "It's not like you can get it off without me!" He barely dodged Thanatos' wing he joltingly extended at him. "Not funny."

Despite the claim, they still laughed vigorously together. Then, a few minutes of contented silence later, Henry shot up from where he had lied down. "I mean I was joking, you... know that, right?" He agitatedly tugged at the rim of his wet pants. "I would never –"

"Relax", the flier mumbled and cautiously nudged him in the side. "I know. Why did you think I laughed?"

"I just don't...", Henry nervously began fumbling the saddle construct open before heaving it off the flier's neck, "I'm not trying to take advantage of you", he muttered, "I promise. I just –"

"Henry, be still", Thanatos shook his head. "It is... I know that. And by everything we hold dear, I promise I will tell you should I honestly feel like you're taking something too far. I have promised this a hundred times, so will you at last believe me?"

Henry sighed, mindlessly running his hand over the smooth leather of the saddle prototype. "I know. I just really, really don't want to be a burden anymore. It's not all I can be, and I –"

"You have got to be kidding me", the flier hissed, "you saved my life on the waterway, you dragged me through the jungle, and you've done so much more that makes up your part in all of this. It was my fault for not seeing...", he sighed, "and though caring for you might be a burden sometimes, so is caring for anyone. The point is, I have found you're worth the burden, so shut up at last."

Henry's gaze at him was large and round and when he next spoke, he could not suppress a sniff. "Really?"

"Really. And now GO!", the flier adamantly pushed him so that he fell face-forward into the sand. "Go! Go! Go! Add your stupid handle to your stupid saddle, and then we'll conduct all the experiments you want. I'm done fighting over this, or anything. SO GO!"

But Henry moved not an inch. "Wait...", he stared at the flier wide-eyed, "you mean that?"

Thanatos groaned. "Of course I mean that." He winced when Henry spontaneously wrapped his arms around his neck. "REALLY?! OHH YOU ARE THE BEST, I LOVE YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH, I PROMISE THIS'LL BE AWESOME AND –"

"– and I will DEFINITELY regret this, but it's alright."

"Wait", Henry's glee suddenly abated and he released him, "I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to... if you really don't want –"

"Henry, stop." The exiled prince looked up. "I...", Thanatos sighed, "fine, I am doing this for you, but it is not like... that. It is not like... you wouldn't do something comparable for me, right?"

Henry gazed at him wide-eyed, then grinned. "I'd definitely put on a saddle like that, were I the flier."

Thanatos laughed. "That is exactly it... sure, it isn't something I would normally do, but the thing is... I can see the point behind the concept. A saddle that allows the rider to freely rotate by 360 degrees, it is... from an objective standpoint, very promising. From a subjective standpoint, the sole idea of a saddle makes my fur stand on end. But, we already covered that. And besides", he shuddered, "it's just a few experiments."

"It's you jumping over your shadow to go along with my idea", Henry mumbled. "Don't ever pretend it's any less. I really appreciate it."

"Yes", he sighed, "because I have faith you will not disappoint. And because going out of our comfort zone is usually the only way we can ever achieve progress. Sadly."

"I will not disappoint", Henry adamantly promised. "And I know all about comfort zones." He shuddered, then laughed. "To think how far I had to go out of my comfort zone since..."

"Since you were a spoilt, narrow-minded, conceited prince too good to even sustain yourself with raw fish?"

Henry laughed more. "Right. How you ever dealt with that me is a mystery. I certainly wouldn't have had the patience."

"Don't ask", Thanatos mumbled. "I thought of leaving every day, over the course of that first month. But then I looked at that pathetic pile of misery you were back then, and I just couldn't bring myself to."

Henry elbowed him but laughed in the same heartbeat. "You know, the worst part about that is, I can not even disagree." He sighed. "I WAS a pathetic pile of misery who needed your routine to even get through the day."

He shuddered at the faded memories of his first month in exile and suddenly realized how much his state back then had resembled his state over the four months as Longclaw's champion. Thanatos' routine was replaced by Kismet's, the flier's urgency to move, to never stay put for too long, by the sensation of battles in the arena. "It was awful."

The flier remained silent for a few heartbeats. "It is over."

"Alright, this will be all, I think." Henry helped the grey nibbler heave the supply crate off the construction Thanatos had carried it in. "Lovelace sends her regards. The rest is for the human settlement."

The large, dark brown nibbler before him nodded. "Tell her we all are most grateful, as always."

A second, light brown, mouse stepped at his side. "Camus is right. Weren't it for her supplies and your deliveries, these trying times would have cost much more lives."

Henry tipped an imaginary hat to the two. "Glad to be of service." Despite how many of Lovelace's supply runs had taken him to the nibbler colony at the Fount he had only ever spoken to a handful of the residents, including the colony leader Camus and his partner Vectra. They needed supplies direly as most of their trading partners had nothing left after the plague, though not as direly as the Fount settlement itself.

"We should get going", he called at Thanatos who seemed to be in brisk discussion with a grey nibbler with long fur. "York gets impatient when his supplies don't arrive exactly on time." He rolled his eyes.

"Of course." Thanatos nodded in the direction of the nibbler. "You keep at it, Cartesian. I'm sure it will work out." Then he grabbed hold of the half-empty carrier and signaled Henry to mount up.

"Run like the river!", Henry waved in Camus' and Vectra's direction and the nibblers returned the greeting. "Run like the river, Death Rider!"

"Now for the fun part", Henry mumbled and grinned in eager anticipation. His grin widened at the thought of how uncertain he had been when Lovelace had first asked him to deliver goods directly to the human settlement. They need supplies more direly than the nibblers, she had remarked, after what happened with the plague most of their trading partners either have nothing left themselves or refuse to trade with humans out of principle. Regalia and we nibblers are all they have left.

Yet to his surprise, none of his fears as to how an outcast such as he would be received at the settlement, had confirmed themselves. He vividly recalled York's and Susannah's grateful faces when he, together with a small entourage of nibblers and a pack of supplies, had first arrived at their residence. For as long as he was a friend of the nibblers, he was apparently welcome, or so York had, somewhat rigidly, stated.

The fact that word of him helping the questers in the jungle and back over the waterway had spread in both human cities had helped too. He vividly recalled the hushed whispers and round eyes that had followed him everywhere he went. "Look, he is the heroic outcast who saved Queen Luxa's life!", here and "It was he who guided the party out for the plague cure through the treacherous Vineyard of Eyes!", there.

Some had even approached him, among which York and Susannah themselves, to thank for his aid. And not a single complaint he had yet heard about his decently frequent visits. Well, apart from those of Howard, but it would have surprised him more had Howard not complained.

What had surprised him, however, was that it had been Howard's younger siblings who had taken the biggest liking to him – much to their brother's disapproval. There was little Chim, Hero, and Kent loved more than his endless stories, his whacky jokes, and his curious weapons and gadgets.

Henry had never gotten along with them well as Henry, yet as the Death Rider, he found the children had grown on him. Especially little Chim with her blunt honesty and her habit to tell him all the secrets about her siblings he asked for he had quickly taken to heart.

Stellovet had done her best to pretend she disliked him, but beneath that mask of stern arrogance she always wore her eyes shone just like those of her younger siblings' at his sight. And slowly but surely even she had more or less given up on her act and by this point, there was hardly anyone more eagerly awaiting his visits than her. Henry grinned as he recalled her shape leaning out of a window so much she had nearly fallen to look out for his arrival, on his last visit.

Howard alone only ever dismissively raised an eyebrow when his siblings clustered around the outcast and bombarded him with questions. He had, like Andromeda, by this point recovered from the plague entirely, though he had visibly lost weight and his features had matured considerably, much like Henry's own after his first month in exile.

His spirit seemed to, however, not have been affected, and neither had his attitude towards the Death Rider. Henry had even overheard him advising Stellovet to stay away from the "dangerous outcast", though at that she had simply responded – "From what you told me, didn't he save your all's asses on the waterway?" To this day Henry nearly broke into a laughing fit every time he pictured the look of utter shock and offense on Howard's face at the words. Perhaps the only negative consequence his frequent visits at the Fount had brought with themselves was how he, now that they had been officially introduced, had no excuse to pretend to forget Howard's name anymore.

In all his sixteen-year-long life in Regalia Henry had never particularly liked neither the Fount nor any of its residents. Yet now his heart raced with excitement at even the prospect of spending his day there.

Perhaps the reason I find all this so enjoyable has nothing to do with who they are, Henry suddenly thought, perhaps it is simply the prospect of being around humans again. He blinked as the thought had never crossed his mind, but all of a sudden he found the idea he must be starved of being around members of his own species, at this point, perfectly believable. Well, that and the endless praise and admiration, he grinned.

The Fount was not nearly as large and lively as Regalia, of course. He faintly remembered someone mentioning the city harbored around three thousand citizens, comparably modest to the nearly seven thousand that lived in and around Regalia. But for what it was it was better than nothing.

Even Luxa, Gregor, and Hazard had, to his eternal surprise, been there during one of his visits, a couple weeks ago. Apparently, Luxa had wanted to show the Overlander and Hazard, who had moved to Regalia to live as part of the royal family after Hamnet's death, the Fount.

They had spent a quite enjoyable day and he had been relieved to learn Ares was alive. He has been out of the hospital for over three months, Gregor had beamed, and Henry had smiled back.

At his question how and why Gregor was in Regalia so frequently, these days, his smile had faded. His mother, the Overlander had disclosed, was still in the hospital. From what Henry had understood, the doctors had discovered Overlanders had some sort of resistance to the cure, and while it had eased the symptoms, it had not purged the plague from her system.

They had needed to conduct more experiments and readjust the formula which had taken longer than anticipated. Now, they were fairly optimistic again, claiming the latest version would most likely work, though it would take a long time for her to get out of the hospital. Another four to five months at best, they said.

Gregor's frustration had been apparent, though Henry instantly concluded Luxa appreciated the excuse for him to spend time in Regalia much more than she admitted. Apparently, he had visited the Underland almost every day, over the last ten or so months, and the two had visibly grown closer. Under normal circumstances, Henry would have teased her endlessly about it, but like this, he had to resort to rambling to Thanatos and the mice.

He blinked and recalled her laughing face, her hair that was long enough to tie into a small braid again, and smiled. It had been good to see her again. She had grown so much he had nearly not recognized her and with something like disbelief he reminded himself both she and Gregor were thirteen now. A wave of that feeling when children grow in your absence and you're not even remotely prepared for it hit him and his smile widened.

Suddenly, his mind flashed to his own eighteenth birthday. Was it not around this time of year? For a moment he smiled and asked himself if one day, his age would become meaningless. If it all would blur into endless-seeming weeks, months, and years, and if he would at some point not be able to answer the question as to how old he was anymore.

Then, Henry blinked and looked back up. Why was he even contemplating this? It was utterly pointless, whatever happened would happen, whether he wasted his thoughts on it or not would not have an impact on it.

Instead, he snapped himself back into reality. As soon as his eye focused on the scape flying by beneath, he smiled. He recognized the quietly buzzing chatter of human voices, accompanied by the sweet and unfamiliar smells of food at once. Below whizzed by the gently curved, neat stone buildings, a thin river branch weaved its way in between, and finally, he spotted the large central mansion with the dome-shaped roof York and Susannah resided in – before him lied the Fount.