It was quite the fanfare when they returned. Gus and Misha filled in on what happened since he was left in the care of Glenda's family until the time his fever broke and he was able to regain consciousness. The story didn't sit well with him, especially the part where Chibuike was capable of orchestrating entertainment for himself the way he did but really, what could Kaetar expect from him? He betrayed Crimea and even would lie about his own name if he didn't seem to trust the person he was talking to. Syrin, Stefan, and Nasir always seemed to know more than they let on but Chibuike was in a different class all on his own where nothing escaped him but nobody could discern his lies from any truth he told. Misha also failed to tell him about her new fancy lance, but she said she wanted to talk to Syrin about it first but she told anybody else about it.

The three of them had to meet everybody all over again, as nearly everybody was excited about their return. The only one of them who wasn't hugged by everybody was Gus – he hugged Meagan and basically shook hands with everybody else with Meagan at his side. Kaetar noted how the laguz acted around her – cautious and a little perplexed and clearly, Gus noticed and gave Meagan a strange look. She shrugged and promised to talk later.

But Kaetar couldn't help to feel lonely because even though he was able to exchange some words with nearly everybody, Loiya wasn't there. He remembered what happened but he held high hopes during their trip back that Loiya was found and that he was alright. Chibuike hadn't mentioned anything about Loiya, which Kaetar didn't know what to make of, but it seemed that even Chibuike had some standards. Clearly, he didn't want to be around when Kaetar discovered that Loiya was gone. Perhaps he wasn't dead, hopefully not dead, he better not be dead, but he wasn't with the rebellion and that worried him.

Zeke and Stefan were also missing and nobody said much about them. All he got out of it was that Stefan was alright and with Zeke, who was seriously injured. Nobody described the injuries so Kaetar supposed he would have to see him at a later time.

Eventually, Syrin led him away. There was one room that Kaetar saw one the way to Syrin's room that was locked with a padlock on the outside. He didn't remember that being there before. Once in Syrin's room, Kaetar saw a sword leaning against the wall, along with an axe and a lance, for what Kaetar assumed was his project to enchant weapons. Kaetar took his seat, as he often did when Syrin wanted to talk, and he thought they were they were alone until Nasir entered the room, placing a cup of hot, green tinted tea in front of Kaetar. "Since you've only just returned, I doubt anybody told you what you missed. I had Nasir prepare tea that seemed to have helped Stefan."

Right, Stefan was also wounded by the dragon, so he must have also been poisoned. "I wasn't healed until two nights after," Kaetar muttered. Glenda told him. Nasir looked a little concerned.

"Stefan hasn't been ill for nearly as long, yet it still drained him of his strength and energy. Be sure to rest yourself," Nasir warned. He also motioned at the tea, so Kaetar took it as a sign to drink it. It wasn't as hot as he imagined and didn't taste unlike most of the teas he had before, but it made him feel a little more refreshed.

"Yes, our Daein audience wouldn't appreciate their prince putting himself in harm's way."

"Daeins?" The only other Daein Kaetar saw was Joel. Mike was born in Daein too but he also didn't seem to align himself to any sort of nationality, so Kaetar had a hard time really considering Mike as one of the Daeins because Mike was just... Mike. He was a free spirit and Kaetar doubted he would really see him again after the rebellion because he was doubtful that even Mike knew where he was going.

"Yes, they're staying the fort too, which was one of the topics we need to talk about. After Loiya was abducted, Saira and the other Daeins helped move Joel, Stefan, and Zeke back here and she gave us all of her troops to use. They've mostly kept to themselves since Saira and that laguz left, but they'll listen to somebody they regard to be their real authority figure," Syrin said. "That being said, I'm leaving their care and their tasks to you."

He was serious too – he never heard Syrin joke around.

"But..."

"It'll be a great exercise in leadership," Syrin said with a smirk. "Skills necessary to lead small units can be applied to bigger groups. I'll call for you whenever I plan strategies so that your troop movements will match up with mine, which will also be your responsibility. I don't expect you to do it alone, so Joel will also be invited to act as your military adviser."

"This is a lot to suddenly take on," Kaetar muttered, mostly to himself. "What happened to Saira and Ummie anyway?"

"The laguz returned to Daein, saying something about another duty she needed to get back to, and Saira went alone to search for Loiya. She decided she could move faster that way, and quite frankly I agree with her. However, in trusting her troops to us, she forced Daein to choose a side."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, then a pause before Zara let herself in. She waved to Kaetar but then turned very serious. "Daevala is ready to talk now."

Syrin stood up immediately. "If you have enough strength, Kaetar, you're welcomed to come." Kaetar nodded as he followed Nasir, Zara, and Syrin to that locked door he saw earlier. He had no idea how they came into the custody of the woman who was with Liam, but when Kaetar saw her, still wearing the same clothes she was wearing before, he almost felt physically sick. Zara closed the door as Syrin, Nasir, and Kaetar entered but didn't enter herself, perhaps as another layer of security but it seemed unnecessary when her hands were bound behind her back. Other than that, she had it comfortable for a prisoner since she sitting on an actual cot instead of on the floor and she was free to move her legs, not to mention she had a clean room.

"Are you actually going to answer my questions today or are you going to waste my time?" Syrin asked with a growl.

"I'm ready to answer. My head's clear now."

Her mannerism was certainly calm but this was the same person who tried to crush Loiya under her hand.

"What could you possibly mean by that?" Syrin demanded in a growl. He already looked like he reached his tolerance for her and Daevala spoke two sentences. Kaetar didn't want to imagine how the other sessions went.

"My head is clear. When I stay around Elymas, the spirit that influences him also influences me. I'm not myself when I'm around him, but since Liam abandoned when I found clarity for a split second and those Daeins found me, the influence wore off and I'm myself again."

"If Elymas changes you, then why stay?" Kaetar asked. He wasn't sure that he was allowed to ask any questions but he was curious. He didn't understand why she would put herself into such a situation knowingly – did she feel trapped and had to stay with him? Where was there some other sort of threat that Elymas had over her?

"I want to save him from that spirit! The spirit he made a contract with is twisted and malevolent, though I'm sure it didn't seem that way when Elymas agreed to contract with him. Elymas wasn't a bad person, he was upset and frustrated with his situation. He hated people but not to this extent! It's the spirit to blame and I just want to help him because I know he's still in there somewhere."

"I've never heard of somebody actually losing their personality to a spirit," Syrin mumbled. "If what you say is true, then it's a certainly a first."

"I believe the spirit was a person," Daevala continued, her eyes dark with anger. It wasn't the same look she had before though, Kaetar noted. She seemed frustrated with her situation but he wasn't in fear for his life and that feeling he had when he first saw her had all but dissipated. He didn't feel the same but perhaps he was too interested in the conversation to really think about how he felt about her. "Elymas claims it communicates with him, and refers to it as a 'he'."

"Are you saying it's the spirit and not Elymas that's experimenting on people? And you think that this spirit was alive before?" Nasir asked venomously. Kaetar actually looked up in concern. Nasir always seemed calm and level-headed, so if he was upset about something then it had to be serious. Syrin's expression didn't change but his attention was turned to Nasir instead of Daevala.

"Yes," she said plainly. "Perhaps you know this spirit?"

"It sounds like Izuka," Nasir muttered.

"You mean that son of a bitch who made all our laguz brethren go feral with some fucking potion or something? Tibarn would not stop talking about how good it felt to clean his head from his shoulders!" Zara cried out from the other side of the door.

Syrin placed a hand over his nose and mouth, a reaction Kaetar was actually startled about. "Hmmm, yes, I believe I overheard Ike and Tibarn speaking about that before we left," he said, his voice a bit muffled due to his hand. "But if that's true, then Eero's theory actually holds some water." He took a deep breath and lower his hand silently.

"I'm not familiar with the name, nor a lot of the history that comes with this land, but judging by your reactions, it sounds like Izuka could be the spirit."

Syrin lowered his hand completely. "What are you anyway?"

"I'm what's called a manakete. We don't exist near Tellius, so I'm not surprised that you've never heard of us. I come from a country called Grado, which is in Magvel."

"I see. This is enough for today," Syrin said.

"Can you release me from the rope?" Daevala asked. "I'm powerless without that stone."

Syrin shook his head. "I don't trust you. Even if you are truly powerless, given the chance, I have no doubt you'll go running back to Elymas. You'll stay put so I know where you are."

She bit her lips, the nodded with a sad face. Kaetar felt bad but he understood why she could still be a threat. She could probably use some sort of combat and be a threat even without her stone. Their fort was full of weapons after all. Syrin left the room, so Nasir and Kaetar followed him out.

"Nasir, do you know anything about manaketes, or was Tellius too far away prior to the flood for any sort of record to exist?" Syrin asked.

"I haven't heard of them," Nasir stated. "I doubt there are any records of their existence but I can ask Kurthnaga to take a look in the library."

Syrin did the weird one shoulder shrug that Kaetar seen him do before. "It won't hurt to ask. The worst we get is nothing."

"Do you not believe her?" Kaetar asked. "She looked like no dragon laguz I've seen... admittedly, I haven't seen many of them but she can't be a laguz, especially if she needs a stone to transform."

"It's not that I think she's lying," Syrin said when they returned to his room and Nasir shut the door. Kaetar went back to his chair, found that his tea was still there and that it was still warm, so he drank the rest of it. Even if it had been cold, he didn't want to waste the tea that Nasir was so insistent that he drink. In fact, Nasir still seemed to be watching him closely, quite clearly still upset with the conversation. When Syrin sat down, he produced a stone from his robes, the same one he saw Daevala had just before she transformed the night was captured. "This stone is powerful and it alone provides some proof to her story. However, we're still enemies, so I don't trust her to tell the full truth, only enough to get her out of answering questions."

"So you'll just send a letter to Kurthnaga?"

"No," Nasir said with a shake of his head. He removed a stone from his robes too, though it was a lot bigger than the stone Syrin held. "Kurthnaga and I have a unique way of communicating. Kurthnaga also has one of these stones, enabling us to communicate telepathically. I've been in contact with my king the entire time, along with my granddaughter and great-grandson in Goldoa."

"That's amazing! Is it only dragon laguz that can that?"

Nasir passed his stone over, letting Kaetar examine it before giving it back. It was a heavy stone, relatively clear, and he could feel something strange about the stone. He couldn't explain the odd feeling, but it was like something inside of him was reacting with it, perhaps the blood he inherited from Micaiah. He was pretty sure he couldn't use it, despite the feeling. "No, though most laguz aren't capable of using them. Aside from us dragons, I've only heard of herons being capable of using them."

"They could," Syrin said, turning Daevala's stone in between his fingers. When it was up close, Kaetar could see that it really looked like a generic stone – amber coloured with many edges rather than it being round like he thought. He put it away quickly. "You should get some rest. I'm not confident you'll be awake much longer."

"I want to see Zeke first."

Nasir looked between them, as if he was asking Syrin if it was a good idea, but he shrugged. "Let him do what he wants."

He should have taken Nasir's questioning look as a warning but he didn't know if he could sleep if he didn't know what kind of condition Zeke was in. After all, Kaetar only returned because Zeke bought Gus and Misha time to get away, so Kaetar did owe him his life. Nasir showed him where to go and he wasn't surprised to find Peter looming over the bed, his ear close to Zeke's chest like he was listening to something in Zeke's chest. Perhaps it was his heart or maybe his breathing that had Peter's attention. Stefan was sitting on a chair next to Zeke's bed, much paler than Kaetar ever remembered of him.

"Ah, Kaetar!" Peter greeted, moving his head away from Zeke's chest.

"How is he?"

"Not good," Stefan answered.

"We'll know better when he wakes up so we can assess his mental condition," Peter said as Kaetar came over to the bedside. He immediately felt dizzy, kind of like when the sight of blood made him sick. He realized that it was the first time he really saw so much skin from Zeke, between his large brown cloak, which hung on a bed post, and his tunic, he simply just kept himself relatively covered all the time. His chest was covered in a multitude of colours, ranging from red and dark purple in the middle of all the bruises to a greenish yellow on the outer edges. The same sort of bruising was also found around his right eye, though the bruising also ran down his cheek a bit.

His left arm was bandaged, along with his shoulder, and sat on top of his chest while his other arm stayed by his side. He thought it was weird that Peter would only cover the top part of his chest. A blanket covered him from the waist down, but he could see a bulge around one foot going up to about his knee would be.

"He came with a lot of knife wounds, which were easy enough for magic to heal because they relatively shallow wounds," Peter said. "However, a staff doesn't heal bone very well and Liam broke several of his ribs, his right ankle, and also dislocated his shoulder. I suspect he may also have a concussion. We have to wait for all of that to heal on its own, and hopefully, he'll heal faster than an average beorc."

"So magic does little for his bones?" Kaetar asked as he located another chair and promptly seated himself. Perhaps it was the fact that the poison wore him down but the sight of all the bruising just made him dizzy, not to mention a little guilty about the fact that Zeke was in that condition. He was only that way because Liam was after him.

"Magic seems to only help a little bit – it can shave off a few days in the overall healing time if it's an actual break instead of a crack. Magic's good with wounds but it's not without its limits. The only staff that would help him would be the recover staff, which is rare. But speaking of which, are you feeling alright, Kaetar? You're suddenly paler."

"I'm feeling a little tired. I just wanted to see Zeke before I went to bed for a while," Kaetar answered.

"Stefan was worried about you, almost as worried about you as much he was worried about Zeke," Peter said. Stefan didn't respond, his gaze focused on Zeke's chest. "But if you have concerns, you can visit me or Nicholas."

"Nicholas? He can using healing magic now?"

Peter smiled a bit. "Well, he's in training but he's doing a good job. He took care of all the Daein injuries while I took care of the rebellion. He's a tremendous help. I'll show you to your room," Peter offered.

Kaetar startled himself awake from his nap after dreaming of falling. He couldn't remember a lot from his dream, just the feeling of panic that came with falling, and it was enough to startle him. Usually, with such dreams present, he could look at his official and unofficial bodyguard to reclaim a feeling of safety but neither of them were there so he settled for sitting up in his cot, taking in deep breaths until he felt his heart calm down.

Though speaking of Loiya, Syrin didn't say much. Nobody did. He wondered if everybody was afraid of upsetting him, much like nobody really talked about Duma, at least not in front of Rylar. However, he was going to talk about Loiya, ask more about him, because he couldn't be dead yet. What was the point of hauling a dead body back? Loiya was probably more useful alive than he was dead, not matter what other ideas Liam had.

So he had to be. Until there was a body, Loiya was alive somewhere. He wasn't going to let anybody tell him differently.

He scooted out from the cot, his stomach pinging in discomfort, but he otherwise felt better than he had when he first woke up after being cured of the poison. He supposed it really would take a while for him to feel better but some sleep did help. He managed to get to Syrin's room, where he thought he heard Misha and Syrin through the door. "It looks very familiar to me, not to mention if it truly did last so long with no integrity problems then I'm confident that it is the same lance. It's a good find."

"Well, they want it returned at the end of it all," Misha said.

"That can be done. I have no use for it after."

Kaetar was about to knock when he felt the familiar dizziness wash over. He managed to back away from Syrin's door and slump back to the wall immediately adjacent to him.

Soren stood inside what seemed to be in the middle of the castle, the walls glowing with a blue light. In the centre of the room was a silver medallion with blue flames surrounding it, or perhaps coming from it, Kaetar couldn't tell. Either way, Soren seemed memorized by it and judging by the fact that Kaetar couldn't listen in on the conversation that he knew was going on, Soren was quite distracted by it. Kaetar could hear words and voices, but since Soren seemed to be tuning them out, he couldn't pay attention.

When he wasn't starring at the blue fire, he was fidgeting, which Kaetar found unusual. He bit his lips to the point that he could taste a little bit of blood, switched from either tapping his foot or pacing a short distance, which is how Kaetar could see that there were four unconscious people on the ground – one beorc girl and three white-winged bird laguz – and he also switched from cracking his knuckles to folding his arms in front of chest and tapping his fingers against his arms.

"Soren, something wrong?" Soren broke out of his trance to face Titania. "You seem distracted."

He didn't respond at first, staring at Titania for a before moment before he did. "The tension in this room is unbearable."

Titania sighed. "I know what you mean."

"Not to mention that if I didn't know better, I would be tempted to touch it. It feels like it's calling for somebody." Titania gave him a weird look, and Kaetar could she looked concerned and was puzzling something out in her head. Before she could say anything though, a girl with long purple-blue hair walked in, with a raven and two hawks behind her. Kaetar thought she looked vaguely familiar and realized that during his brief time in Serena's palace, that she was the Empress Sanaki, the one that Serena seemed to resent somewhat.

"I brought the apostle with me!" one of them called. Soren's focused locked back into the scene.

"Excellent timing," Tibarn said.

"And some extra baggage," the same hawk added, jerking a finger towards the raven. Tibarn flared his wings and made a move to the raven. He stepped away, his arms folded in front of him. If he was fazed at all by Tibarn, he didn't look it, and kept a rather smug look on his face.

"Now now, Tibarn. I know you're angry, but we'll work it out when this is over."

Tibarn growled, yanking the other laguz towards him by the collar. "Not a chance, Naesala! I hope you've said all your prayers and farewells. After I break every bone in your body, I'm going to rip your wings off and feed them to you before you get to die."

Sanaki stepped between them. "Hawk King Tibarn, I must ask you for your patience. This man serves under my command."

"You think I care, child? This is a laguz matter! You should see yourself out of it very quickly," Tibarn warned.

"I will explain later. Put aside your past quarrels for now. Not to repeat the king of Kilvas, but we have more pressing issues we must attend to," she said, her eyes focused on the hawk king. For a child, she was really confident, as Kaetar didn't even want to talk to Tibarn at all. She stared at him, then stepped towards the medallion, but not before looking back at Tibarn one last time. "Oh, and Hawk King? Don't ever call me 'child' again."

Tibarn's shoulders fell as he left out a sigh. "Hmph…fine," he muttered slowly. He jabbed a finger into Naesala's chest. "You get to live for now, Naesala. Once this is done, though, you're a corpse."

"So, what would you have me do? I will use all the power at my disposal to help in this," Sanaki said, placing a hand on her chest. Kaetar found it amazing. For all the worries he had about ruling a kingdom, here was Sanaki, who was definitely younger than he was, ruling with such confidence. A child did it. She was probably a very special kid but she was a child nonetheless.

"We'd like you to sing the galdr of release for us," Ike said bluntly as he moved from the wall he was at. Soren's eyes followed him carefully.

Sanaki's blinked at him. "The song that was passed down from the heron princess to your mother?"

"Yeah. Then from my mother to Mist and finally, three years ago after the Mad King's War ended, it should have passed from Sephiran to you."

"That is correct, I still remember it clearly. The galdr that only I, sole descendant of Altina, can sing. But if I sing that galdr before the medallion, it would awaken the dark god…"

"With the current state of affairs, the seal will break if we just leave the medallion alone," Tibarn said, keeping his gaze anywhere but at Naesala.

"…Rafiel and the others falling unconscious is testimony to the vast levels of chaos." Kaetar didn't recognize the woman who said that, nor could be even recognize what kind of laguz she was. Even her clothing and her heavily tattooed body looked foreign but she moved with a certain magnificence. She was quite the sight and she reminded Kaetar of Zara. She seemed just as bold just as powerful, but with more grace to her mannerisms.

Ike looked Sanaki in the eye, his face serious. "This is what my sister said – we must not awaken the dark god with the spirit of chaos. We must use the galdr of release instead. I'm certain there must be a good reason for this. So, please, sing the song."

"…Very well. I shall try," she said, looking a little nervous as she took a deep breath. The room went silent as she sang a song that Kaetar knew all too well. Sanaki's song had the exact same tune Kaetar's father used to sing, or rather hum, as a lullaby. His mother had many songs, and she sang all the time, but his father had only the one song and he must have sang it at least once a night until he was nine or so. He doubted his father knew it was the galdr of release – it was news to Kaetar.

However, even when she finished, there was no change. The blue flames burned just as brightly as before.

Kaetar came back with a start, then nearly fell from the sudden change in location. Instead of being on the floor just outside of Syrin's room, he was in a chair in Syrin's room. He wasn't used to people moving him, or at least not moving him far enough to confuse him. Syrin raised an eyebrow at him, with Misha beside him.

"If you were listening, you could have knocked instead of passing out by my door," Syrin mumbled.

He didn't say anything at first but Kaetar noted that the lance that Misha brought back with her was laying down on the desk, and a sword was sitting just behind him.

"What happened for you to be so startled?" Misha asked. "A side effect from the poison?"

"No," Kaetar said. "I'm.. fine. I just saw something odd is all."

"See what?"

"Misha, for you to understand this, you have to understand that Kaetar has a necklace -"

"Yeah, I saw his necklace," Misha mumbled.

"You would do well not to interrupt me," Syrin said with a glare. "Anyhow, with the necklace, he has access to my memories. That's why he 'faints' so often. Considering my past, I'm sure there's plenty that would startle him."

"Really? That's why you keep it so close to all the time?" Misha asked, clearly shocked. "And where the heck did you learn something like that?" She faced Syrin.

"It's foreign magic," he stated simply like tat was all the explanation that was needed.

"It wasn't something that would really shock anybody else," Kaetar started. "But it turns out that the lullaby that my father used to sing to me, the one that was based down through my family, was the galdr of release. Or at least the notes, since nothing happened when Sanaki sang it."

"A lullaby..." Syrin whispered as he leaned back into the chair.

"Yeah, I'd recognize it anywhere..." Kaetar looked down at the lance. "What makes this lance special?" Syrin gave him a strange look.

"It's a weapon blessed by Yune as well, just like my tome, meaning that it will definitely last until the end of the rebellion. It may even be able to cut through the sandmen. I can't help to wonder if the other weapons are also hiding in somebody's basement," he said with a sigh.

"Speaking of which, Kaetar, I've been meaning to ask, do you remember Cameron? We met him in Toha," Misha asked.

"The guy who basically made Toha join the rebellion?" Kaetar asked. He didn't remember the name as well but he did remember being stabbed in Toha. "What about him?"

"What happened between him and the rest of the rebellion? Before I joined."

"We were staying at an inn but we were ambushed," Kaetar said. "The rebellion collectively killed everybody who was there, except for Cameron. Why are you curious about it now?"

"It's not important," Misha said as she grabbed the lance off the desk.

"Misha, if you are leaving, go tell Elli I want to see her."

She nodded and left. It didn't take long until Elli and Arum where both at the door. Kaetar smiled a little – of course when one was summoned, they were both summoned. Arum was leaning against the door frame before moving himself to a wall to lean against. Kaetar noticed that he couldn't seem to stand for long when Arum and Elli had come down to meet with Kaetar again once he came back. Arum wasn't the type to hug but he did give Kaetar a firm pat on the back.

"You look better," Arum mumbled before turning his attention to Syrin. "Are we in trouble?"

"No," Syrin answered. "Elli, I know you prefer using two swords when you fight but I need something tested and I think you're the best candidate. Hold this sword." He pointed at the sword at his desk. Elli hesitated, then grabbed the sword by the hilt. There was an immediate reaction. Green magic swirled at the hilt before travelling down the blade but disappeared suddenly when Elli yelped and dropped it onto the floor with a loud clatter.

Arum pushed himself off the wall. "What was that?"

"It was a success then," Syrin said as he stood up and picked the sword up with his good hand, placing it back down on his desk. "It was a good reaction too."

"That was an enchanted sword?" Kaetar asked. Syrin did it then. He had a sword that could use magic, something that could turn the tides when it came to the sand creatures. He never saw one in action but Kaetar was not disappointed.

"Yes. Elli, I'll enchant another sword. I expect that when we face the sand creatures again, you'll use both of them to take them down."

"I didn't know I could use magic," she mumbled as she gingerly grasped the sword again. She was ready and only watched as the green magic swirled around the blade.

"Everybody has a capacity for magic," Syrin stated as Elli handed the sword to Arum, who didn't seem to elicit the same response Elli did. It wasn't to say that sword didn't respond, but the magic was slow to move, slow to react, and in general seemed sluggish. When it was passed to Kaetar, he got a reaction close to what Elli had, if not a little more powerful – perhaps he wouldn't have been a bad mage if he stuck with it instead of switching to bows. "Not everybody has the ability to be proficient with it because their magic abilities develop too slowly to be of any use, hence why some people would chose to use other weapons over magic. Some people seemed to have magical ability beyond that of an average person and they can become decent wielders of enchanted weapons."

"Who else will be using these weapons then?" Elli asked, her eyes focused on the sword.

"It's hard to say. For now, we should pass the sword along to every non-magic soldier we have and measure their magical output, including the Daein troops Saira lent us. From there, I can try to enchanted weapons for those who may prove to be useful. With my arm the way it is, I can't enchant weapons for everybody."

"Are those things safe to use?" Arum asked.

"Yes, the spirit in the weapon will be responding to orders, as all spirits do. If you're worried about Elli fighting the sandmen, she will be able to attack from a distance just like regular magic users. Theoretically, she should be even safer."

"I see," Elli muttered. "I'd like to use them. I'm not going to let those things hurt Arum again." Arum looked away for a brief moment before he started for the door.

Elli joined Arum's side and wrapped one of his arms around the back of her neck as the left the door together. Arum had to be reaching the limits of his strength for the day and Syrin seemed to recognize it, though as much as Syrin could recognize it in other people, he failed to recognize it in himself. His enchantment of one weapon, and the promise of more, seemed to be a lot more than Syrin could handle. Despite being brilliant with magic, and was probably among the best mages in Tellius at the moment, his arm got in the way of his potential and it was compounded by the fact that he refused help more often than he accepted it.

He could enchant those weapons if he showed Aletta, Nicholas, and Meagan how to do it. Between the four of them, they probably could enchant lots of weapons but he doubted that Syrin would ask for help on the same project twice.

"I think... I'm going to wait in the mess until dinner is served," Kaetar said simply as he got up and dismissed himself.

Kaetar was surprised to find that not only did most the rebellion came for dinner at the lowest floor of the fort but so did some of the Daeins. He was sorry to say that he didn't recognize most of them, on the account that he never really looked at them, but the five that came certainly did look interesting. One man was large overall, being both tall and wide with muscles that his clothing only seemed to compliment. He had, short, dark red hair with a long wide scar running across his face. Another was a female, with her blonde hair up in a tight, military bun without a single strand of hair out of place. She was short but everything about her meticulous appearance told Kaetar that she was stern, careful, and rule-abiding, though something else told him that she may have a temper.

The last three looked to be siblings, with the two girls appearing to be exactly the same and if it wasn't for a different coloured mark on their cheek, he wouldn't be able to tell them apart, and their brother was very similar. All three had chocolate coloured hair, with the two girls keeping their up in a ponytail while their brother kept it shoulder length. They didn't look serious like the other female, but rather had the appearance of being laid-back and carefree, which surprised him because they were working with Saira for months. It wasn't that Saira was necessarily mean to anybody, but she was a strict commander, known for pushing people constantly, especially when she had places to be.

"Hey, so you're the prince, huh?" the larger man said, holding his hand out to Kaetar. He turned himself around in his seat and took the man's hand. "Joel told us it would be a good idea to start introducing ourselves! My name's Leon."

"My name is Helena, Your Highness," the short girl said as she dropped to one knee. "If you have any need of me, do not hesitate to ask."

"At ease," Kaetar said, knowing that Helena wouldn't get up otherwise. He could hear the snicking of some of the rebels behind him. Two of them sounded like Darius and Nicholas.

"And I'm Wren. These are my sisters, Vireo," the girl with a red mark waved, "and Ibis."

"It's nice to meet you all," Kaetar mumbled. It was nice to seem them as individuals – even the twins. When they were all in their uniforms and armour, they were all concealed and therefore, they were just the Daeins but now, some of them had names and faces he could connect them to. He had no idea what their classes were but he could figure that out later.

"At least five of them showed," Joel said happily as he sat down beside Kaetar. He noted a brief moment where Joel grimaced before he spoke again like nothing was wrong. "Which was five more than I thought. When you were gone, the Daeins would only listen to me and didn't want much to do with everybody else. With you here, I guess they're more open."

"I see," Kaetar mumbled. "It may still have to be you for a while. I think I might need to take it easy for a few more days."

Leon sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Right, that damn dragon girl Helena and Fergus got," he muttered. "You're not that hurt too badly, are you?"

Right, all of the Daeins were there. It wasn't like he blamed them for not doing anything – Daevala surprised everybody when she transformed. Who would have thought? Not even Chibuike seemed to have known so how could Syrin have predicted something like that? It made him a little sick to think of the poison's side effects, not to mention the hurt in his heart when he thought of Loiya.

"Nothing that rest can't fix."

"It's nice to have some back up though," Darius said suddenly. Kaetar turned his head back. Darius wasn't wearing a shirt, so Kaetar figured he wasn't completely done with the moulting process and didn't want feathers all over his clothing. His wings still looked a bit patchy. "Some of us aren't in the position to fight at the moment."

"Hopefully we don't have to fight for a while," Nicholas mumbled.

"What practicing that staff of yours?" Darius asked.

"Oh! If Darius lets me fly like the way I did at home then I'll have lots of scrapes that you can heal!" Chifee offered.

"What- how do you manage to hurt yourself while flying?" Darius asked, pinching the younger hawk's cheek.

"Maybe he doesn't transform and can't stick the landing sometimes," Aletta offered. "I like to jump from the buildings in Grann just to feel like I'm flying for a moment. I got hurt sometimes." She even offered a completely innocent smile despite how dangerous her sentence truly was. Leon seemed down right disturbed by her ideas of fun.

Suddenly, everybody went silent for a moment as Syrin came into the mess and sat down beside Joel. It was a shock to see Syrin eat at the mess – he never did. Even when they were travelling, he took the food into his tent and hardly ate with the others. In fact, most seem to take it was a sign of something wrong when Syrin ate with them. He didn't really believe in social time, at least where he was concerned, so if he was out here then he had something to accomplish. He was talking to Joel quietly, but he was interrupted when Meagan suddenly stood up.

"Since almost everybody is here, I have a small announcement to make," Meagan said nervously. Syrin glanced at her, and that seemed to be enough to throw her off her game. Gus stood up with her and took her hand. "I'm... I'm pregnant."

Just to make it clear, Chibuike was just lying when he called himself Volke. I always kind of imagined Chibuike looking up to him as the one who did things properly and would occasionally steal his name if he didn't want to use his real name. But maybe he could be Volke, I never got a proper backstory for him when he was submitted. Go figure.

I also named the Daein triplets by groups of birds.

You may always notice that I submitted another story - the original continent one I mentioned last chapter. I encourage you guys to go ahead and submit characters there as well - and characters that aren't super Tellius specific and probably be used again, like Arum and Elli. I thought about and decided that I can probably keep all the characters straight. As promised, THIS story is the priority - I wonder if I'll get any angry messages because I updated this one first...