Family Reunions...

The first thing Aleina noticed after walking through the magical portal after the wheezing Mirt was the stark contrast in air. Gone, with only a step, was the pervading dankness of the great cavern enclosing the underground town of Skullport as well as the must and dust of the abandoned building they'd been in when Mirt had activated the magical portal with a passphrase he whispered too low to be overheard. Now she breathed fresh air carrying the scent of polished wood, flowers, and hearth smoke. Unfortunately, they'd brought a less pleasant smell along with them - the stench of sweat from fear and exertion, especially prevalent among those imprisoned by the Xanathar Guild then forced to play a deadly game in an arena.

She found herself in the foyer of what appeared to be a manor house. Light filtered down through arched windows, but it wasn't sunlight and bore an indigo cast. Golden light from wall sconces, however, blended with the purple from the windows to brighten the foyer to a relatively normal illumination. Blue tapestries depicting the symbol of a silver harp and a crescent moon hung on the walls and an ornately carved table against the far wall held a vase of freshly cut flowers. The aasimar had dropped the seeming spell that disguised Mirt as Harko Swornhold and others in their group, including herself, as kenku when they entered the abandoned building housing the magic portal. The big mirror behind the table, therefore, reflected them in their true forms. They looked like a large party of very bedraggled adventurers with some blindfolded and others staring around in wonder.

"Where are we?" the drow gunslinger, Fel'rekt whispered with a sniff of the air and a slight tug on the aasimar's hand. "What is this place?"

In an effort to keep the location of the Harper safehouse in Skullport secret, the gunslinger had been fitted with a makeshift blindfold hastily cut from the robe of one of the brothers. Aleina was the one who had led him along the hanging walkways of Skullport and through the abandoned building to the magical doorway. The aasimar hesitated, not sure how to answer his question. Where were they? She really had no idea. The view through the windows of the foyer showed only the same swirling, indigo cast light that filtered through them.

"We're in a magical mansion," the sun-elf brother, Jassin answered for her. "It's a spell developed by the wizard Mordenkainen that creates a sanctuary in a pocket dimension."

"Ooh, ooh," Sky said, tail lashing. "An entire mansion made from magic! I can't wait to explore it!"

"Oh, no," Jhelnae said. "We haven't even finished rescuing you from Undermountain! So no way you're poking your tabaxi nose around in a place like this and finding more trouble."

"Didn't rescue us," Sky said with a dismissive wave. "We were escaping on our own."

"By all that dances!" the half-drow said. "I better start hearing some guilt in your voice for what you put me and Aleina through. Not only were we worried sick, but my brain was almost eaten by a mind flayer. Its tentacles were right here."

She mimed tentacles engulfing her skull with her hand.

"That sounds interesting," the tabaxi said, golden eyes brightening. "What was that like?"

"Terrifying," Jhelnae sighed. "And gross. I really need to wash my hair."

"Not an easy casting," the half-dragon brother, Embrie said in his sibilant voice, ignoring the bantering pair. "Your work Mirt?"

"If I could cast this kind of magic," the fat man said, chuckling. "Do I look like the kind of person who would conjure a place like this?"

He pointed at the food and drink stains on the front of his otherwise expensive looking wool and silk doublet.

"I'd have none of this marble floor and tapestry nonsense," Mirt continued. "You'd be in a tavern with drinks that would rot your gut and a spit boar ready for eating would be roasting over a fire."

"As nice as this place is," the grizzled old Watch captain, Staget said. "I actually prefer what you'd conjure. I could use a drink."

"I could definitely eat some boar," one of the Waterdhavian youths, the big one, Arthright said.

"Tea," his Shou companion, Xia sighed. "Not even to drink it. Just to hold and warm up."

The girl held her hands as if holding a cup.

"I'm with Xia," the third Waterdhavian youth, Claudio said. "After Skullport, I need to warm up. There's probably a fireplace down one of these halls."

"Are you all going to keep talking about a place some of us still can't see?" the noblewoman, Esvele said, voice irritated. "Or can we remove these blindfolds?"

For some reason Lady Rosznar was among those Mirt had insisted be blindfolded before coming to this magical safehouse. This had sparked a most unladylike protest from the noblewoman up among the hanging walkways of Skullport. But her outburst had been brief. A hint of some misdeed from her family's past from the fat man flushed the woman's cheeks with rage, but also got her tying the blindfold over her eyes.

If Aleina was honest with herself she'd admit she didn't like the way Esvele had then reached for Kuhl's hand to guide her once she was blindfolded or the way she still held his hand now. Partly because of feelings for the half-elf she kept at arm's length, preferring for now, keeping him as a friend, but also because the Lady Esvele Rosznar reminded her of many of the worst wealthy patriar daughters that had been the bane of the aasimar's existence in her previous life. She was cool, competent, and gave off an air of superiority even as a weary and filthy escaped prisoner.

"The human is right," the drow, Raelyn growled. "I tire of being led along like a rothe on the way to a slaughterhouse."

"You haven't been led around like a rothe," the tattooed genasi, Sophiya protested. "Unless rothe constantly mutter and curse under their breath about their 'stupid and clumsy' handlers. If rothe do that, then yes, you've been exactly like a rothe. Besides, I thought you had blindsight."

"Heightening your senses for a fight is not the same as traversing hanging bridges over a city," the dark-elf female complained. "Especially with a guide who led my foot right into every gap in the boards she could find."

Fel'rekt's grip tightened on Aleina's hand as the other drow talked. The aasimar remembered he'd decided to stay with the group after killing the mind flayer because he'd seen a posting with a drawing of Raelyn.

"You know her," she whispered in his ear.

The gunslinger hesitated, then nodded.

"I don't think she recognized you."

Aleina regretted the comment as soon as she said it, thinking it might be a hurtful thing to say. But Fel'rekt gave a tight smile.

"Which means I am truly free," the gunslinger muttered in a low voice only the aasimar could hear.

The strange thing was that despite the words he did not sound entirely happy about that. Relief and regret were mixed in his tone.

"Aye, go ahead and take those blindfolds off," Mirt said.

He closed the wide oak entry door, which held the shimmering portal they'd come through. The same harp and crescent moon design as on the banners was carved on the door and, when it thumped shut, Aleina's arcane senses also felt the link of this pocket dimension to Skullport slip away.

Fel'rekt gently pulled his hand free from Aleina's and yanked off his blindfold. His red-pupiled eyes widened as he looked around. The others wearing them also removed them - Raelyn, Esvele, the antlered boy, Ash, and the goblin in iridescent green dragon scale armor, Mite.

"This is…" Raelyn began, but trailed off.

"Better than the cramped, little cell we shared?" Sophiya asked.

The drow snorted.

"Much," she said.

"My brothers can cast something like this," the genasi said. "Leomund's Tiny Hut. And compared to this it is tiny. But they can't manage anything like this."

She emphasized the smaller size of the other spell by holding up her thumb and forefinger in a manner that indicated something little.

"We can't manage anything like this yet," Vorskar, the half-giant brother said. "And when was it that you mastered the Tiny Hut spell Sophiya?"

"I've been trying to learn it!" the genasi snapped, throwing up a hand. "But I've been busy. I'm a Lorehold Seeker. My position doesn't call for me to just sit around at the school, contemplating magical theory and working on experiments like some people."

"Strangely enough I feel like I had to abandon one of those experiments at a crucial stage to find and rescue a certain Lorehold Seeker," Jassin, the pale golden skinned brother with silver eyes said. "And she doesn't seem too grateful."

"Thank you," Sophiya said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Point of clarification," Koger, the golden construct brother, said in his metallic voice. "Leomund's Tiny Hut is not 'something like' Mordenkainen's Magical Mansion. The former does not involve a pocket dimension. Such a comparison shows a lack of understanding of spellcraft fundamentals. Perhaps a repeat of rudimentary training will correct this and allow you to finally master the Tiny Hut spell."

"Shut up, Koger," the genasi said.

"And we know you've been busy," the half-giant brother said. "Partly from your Lorehold Seeking duties and partly from crafting a very unusual set of armor. Though I'd guess Koger would say what you are wearing shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the purpose of armor."

"Your supposition is accurate," the golden construct said.

"And you can shut up too, Vorskar," Sophiya said.

"So," the half-giant brother said, ignoring his sister's request to shut up. "You've made a drow friend?"

"We are not friends," Raelyn said. "Merely companions of inconvenience."

"Yes," Sophiya sighed. "Not friends. Only lived together in a cramped little space for a month and relied on each other to survive not one but two death games. But not friends."

"Ah, more like family then," Vorskar said. "You know the old saying - 'You choose your friends, but you can't choose your companions of inconvenience'. Welcome to the family."

"That is not the way the saying goes," Koger said. "But the substitution does not fully break the bounds of logical equivalency. Therefore, welcome to the family."

The other two brothers, crystalline scaled Embrie and Jassin shrugged and repeated the welcome.

"Those who mock a daughter of House Auvryndar come to regret it," the drow said, quirking an eyebrow as she looked at them. "As their only sister, genasi, I must say you and your mother have done an especially poor job disciplining these males."

"Don't I know it," Sophiya agreed.

Aleina glanced over at Fel'rekt still standing next to her. Had he reacted slightly when Raelyn invoked the name of House Auvryndar? Standing taller and lifting his chin? The aasimar might have only imagined it.

"Cat girl," the antlered boy called out. "Mite and I will explore this place with you."

Next to him, his goblin friend in iridescent green dragon scale armor nodded vigorously. Both of them were now free of their blindfolds and gazed around excitedly.

"Tabaxi," Sky said. "Let's go."

Jhelnae opened her mouth to protest, but a repetitive clack coming from one of the hallways leading to the foyer stopped her. Aleina cast a nervous glance at Mirt at the sound, then relaxed when she saw the old man's calm, expectant, expression.

The source of the sound turned out to be the thump of the bottom of a staff against the marble floor as the bearer walked the halls. Aleina didn't know the aging signs of a dragonborn, but the way the owner of the staff leaned on it and the muted color of his copper scales seemed to indicate great age. Considering his staff, his presence in a magical, pocket dimension mansion, and the blue robe he wore, the aasimar made a not too far leap in logic to assume he was a wizard.

"I knew there were a lot of you based on all the different voices I heard," the dragonborn hissed, his turquoise eyes holding curiosity and a hint of amusement. "But this is still more than I guessed. And so varied! Well then, the conjured servants will be busy. I suppose I should first have them draw some baths. Welcome to Harper Haven."

"Oh, good," Jhelnae said, holding up a bit of her hair. "Mind flayer ick. Hope it comes out easy."

"Hold up," Sophiya said, making a gesture to include her and Raelyn. "A month. A month in a cell with only the rare bucket of water brought by bugbear guards to splash ourselves off with."

"I see your point," the half-drow said, wrinkling her nose in sympathy. "Why don't you go first?"

"It's a magical mansion," the copper scaled dragonborn said with a sibilant chuckle. "How many bathing rooms do you require?"

There were benefits to a magical mansion other than as many bathing rooms as they desired. When they reassembled in the high vaulted great hall, washed and scrubbed clean, Aleina luxuriated in a spellcrafted silk chemise with a warm wool kirtle over it. Felrax, the dragonborn wizard who had conjured the mansion, however, had warned that these clothes would dissipate into mist the moment she left this pocket plane. A feast was arrayed on the long oak table top their large party sat around and a fire crackling in the huge stone hearth warmed the room to a pleasant temperature.

"The shelves of your library are full of books," Sky said, between chews of fried pike. "But all the pages are blank."

"No words," Mite confirmed.

"Or drawings," Ash said.

After one of the very quick washes the tabaxi preferred, she, the goblin, and the antlered boy had prowled around the mansion investigating every nook they could access.

"As the brothers and I have been discussing," Felrax said with a shrug. "Much of the spell is merely ambiance. A veneer to make it comfortable for both mind and body. The library is designed to be a pleasant place to read, but the shelves of books are merely for atmosphere. A full stock of reading material is beyond the limits of my imagination. Anything I read there is brought from outside."

"Is the food merely ambiance as well?" Claudio asked. "Will it mist out of existence in our bodies when we leave this place?"

Aleina suddenly felt ill and next to her Kuhl lowered the forkful of honey lemon tart he'd been about to eat. The clink of cutlery against plates halted as people all around the table, with the exception of Mirt, stopped eating to hear the answer. The fat man slurped noisily at his eel soup, forgoing the use of a spoon and using the bowl directly then downing a mouthful of ale from his tankard.

"The food and drink here are fine," he said when he halted his gluttony long enough to get in a breath. "Never caused any ill effects. Eat up and rest up. You'll need your strength for our escape from Undermountain on the morrow. Tis dangerous enough without the Xanathar Guild hunting us, which they surely will be."

He punctuated his statement by picking a partly eaten chicken leg from his plate and sweeping it in a gesture to include all of them.

"They could teleport directly to Waterdeep," Felrax mused, steepling his clawed, draconic fingers. "If they are willing to pay the 50 gold dragons a head to Tas."

"That is a lot of coin," Esvele sighed. "More coin than than I brought down and that's been stolen. Yet I would gladly pay it if I could. This has all been a dismal failure. I hired Meloon to find my brother and all that accomplished was making Meloon a host for an intellect devourer and getting myself lured down here in a fool's hope of rescuing Kressando. I wish to be done with this place."

The tears brimming in the noblewoman's eyes surprised the aasimar and brought a tight feeling of guilt in her chest. From the start, though she'd done her best to hide it, she'd reacted poorly to the presence of Lady Rosznar. Yet now she saw another side of the noblewoman. A vulnerable one. At the moment she was just a sister who had tried and failed to find her missing brother.

"We'll make it out of here, Esvele," Aleina said. "All of us. Together."

The noblewoman gave her a nod and a slight smile and the aasimar felt that tight knot of guilt in her chest loosening.

"We've made it out of worse," Kuhl said. "And escaping from the Xanathar Guild can't be worse than escaping from…"

He trailed off with a glance towards Raelyn.

"Than other individuals that have chased us in the past," he amended after his overlong and obvious pause.

"You mean like Ilvara?" Sky asked brightly. "She was relentless!"

Aleina had to keep herself from shaking her head in anger and only partially succeeded in stifling a huff of frustration. She did not miss the speculative looks from Raelyn and Fel'rekt at Sky's statement and could almost see the thoughts going through their minds.

An aasimar, a tabaxi, a dark haired and green-eyed drow, and a half-elf - these are escaped prisoners from Velkynvelve sought by House Mizzrym.

"Fifty gold dragons is around what I've managed to stash away at the Cassalanter Bank," Captain Staget said, oblivious to any new tension in the room from drow revelations. "But, if I could, I'd consider spending it all to get out of Undermountain. Gold in an account is useless to a dead man. Then again, I'd be dead from losing our life savings from the missus."

"My family has the money, obviously," Claudio said. "But I'm the youngest of six and the product of my father's third attempt at marital bliss. I barely get an allowance and have never had fifty dragons at one time. Ever. The hope of gaining riches is what brought me down here in the first place."

"I don't even have a job," Xia said, staring at the tabletop, food forgotten. "Or even a place to live. I worked and lived at the tea house but gave it all up to follow Claudio and Arcath down here. They've probably hired someone else by now."

"I'm sorry, Xia," Claudio said. "I never should have convinced you to come down here. I just thought…"

The noble youth trailed off.

"I'm sorry too, Xia," the bigger youth, Arthright said.

He also stared guiltily at the tabletop.

"I didn't even mind being a tea server," the girl said. "But I was so tired of being invisible to everyone except when I was pouring them tea. It's why I was so excited when you both asked if I wanted to come. Finally someone thought I could do more than smile, nod, and pour."

"We own a tavern!" Aleina said, snapping her fingers. "That has extra space you could live in if you need it."

The Shou girl's brow wrinkled in confusion as she looked at the aasimar.

"What?" she said.

"We own a tavern," the aasimar repeated, "The Trollskull in the North Ward. You can have a job there if you want."

"Fargas is going to kill you," Jhelnae whispered next to her, half singing it. "He tells us to let him manage the business."

"Your room, if you needed a place to live, would be all the way on the top floor, unfortunately," Aleina continued, giving a dismissive wave to the half-drow's concerns, "And next to an alchemist's bedroom and lab. But he is very safe."

"Hasn't had a fire in days," Sky agreed, nodding.

"This room you are describing," Kuhl said slowly, reasoning it out. "It sounds a lot like…"

"You don't mind living in the library for a bit, right," the aasimar said, putting a hand on the half-elf's arm. "Temporarily. For Xia. I've been thinking we could remodel Ront's room. Split it. It's huge and he is never there."

"Why would I mind ?" Kuhl sighed, obviously minding. "But you are welcome to it, Xia. Ront is going to love this…"

"Hey!" Sky protested. "The library is the office for our detective agency! Kuhl can't live there."

"If it's a real offer," Xia said. "I'll take it."

"It is," the half-elf said. "It's a nice room. The dawn's light and birdsong wake you up every morning."

"Something will have to be done about that," the Shou girl said disapprovingly.

"As for doing something more than smiling, nodding, and pouring," Aleina said. "Jhelnae and I started a regimen where we climb Mount Waterdeep and train with the monk Hlam a few times every ten days. You could join us if you want."

"What the?" the half-drow said, voice surprised. "No, we did not start a new training regimen. We actually agreed we were never training with that crazy old hermit again."

"It will be good for us," the aasimar said, thinking of how the one day of training had already saved her life.

"Good for me?" the half-drow said. "By all that dances! When did you change from my friend to an agent of my mother's? How did she get to you? But, fine."

The way she said the last word made the meaning a very grudging concession.

"The Eilistraeen speaks about her mother almost like a Lolthite would," Fel'rekt said, chuckling.

"I was born on the surface," Jhelnae said. "But ones from the Underdark who have converted have a saying - 'You can take a drow from the Underdark, but you can't take the matron out of your mother.'"

The gunslinger snorted out a laugh and the beginnings of a smile actually softened Raelyn's ebony lips, but the dark-elf female's self-control kept it from becoming any more than a hint of amusement.

"See," the half-drow said. "The drow raised in the Underdark all laugh, but I don't get it."

"How much coin do we have?" Sophiya asked, cutting in.

After washing, she had changed from her scant crystalline armor to white robes her brothers had brought in the style they wore, but with red accents.

"We've only enough to pay this Tas to teleport five of us," the draconic brother, Embrie hissed. "Which is not enough to get us all out if Ancilla is included."

"Then we don't have enough to teleport out," Koger said in his metallic voice.

As a construct, he didn't have a plate, let alone food or drink. Behind him his silver metal and lacquer wood creation with glowing blue runes stood impassively, showing no reaction to being discussed.

"How does this Tas teleport people from Undermountain?" Jassin asked, silver eyes narrowing in consideration. "Now that I think of it, how does this pocket dimension spell work when the Mad Mage bars planeshifting out of his dungeon?"

"Good questions," Felrax said, clawed fingers still steepled. "The answer to the first is Tasselgryn Velldarn is friends with Hallaster and she is allowed the only working teleportation circle in Undermountain because of it. The answer to the second is the Mad Mage is primarily concerned with unrestricted access out of his dungeon. So, planar spells and items that do not provide travel out, a bag of holding, a portable hole, a magical mansion, and the like are allowed."

A moment of silence followed as Sophiya's four brothers considered this information and nodded sagely.

"Fascinating," Jassin said thoughtfully.

"Yes, so fascinating," the genasi said, with a dismissive snort. "But I wasn't thinking we would teleport out. We need to go deeper into the dungeon after all. We could, however, give the money to let Esvele, Staget, Xia, Claudio, and Arthright teleport to the surface."

"You'd do that?" Esvele asked, voice surprised.

The three Waterdhavian youths all sat up straighter with interest as did the Watch captain.

"Sure, why not?" Sophiya asked, shrugging.

The genasi's nonchalant tone over giving away a rather large sum of money made Aleina think it must have been nice to have been raised by a noble genie mother rather than as a member of a destitute patriar house.

"That is very generous of you," the noblewoman sighed. "But perhaps, as Aleina says, we should all stay together and escape together. Or, someone else should go in my stead."

"Actually," Mirt said, putting down his picked clean chicken bone on his plate. "This group is too large for a run through Undermountain and I'm just a tad too old and out of shape for it. Only a tad mind."

He paused to give a glare around the table to any who would gainsay that followed with a bemused grin and a wink.

"I know Tas and have enough to pay for my teleportation fee. I could use Esvele's and Staget's help in herding and protecting these three youths to the mage's shop and back to the Deep."

The three youthful Waterdhavians traded hopeful looks despite being talked about as if they were livestock to be transported.

"You two should help Mirt," Kuhl said, speaking to Esvele and Staget. "Your job is to protect Waterdhavians, Captain and here are three to escort and get home. And you're the heir of your family, Esvele. You've been down here longer than expected and they will be worried."

"They will be," the noblewoman said. "But the reason you and Sky are down here is because of me. I can't just abandon you both now."

"We're in good company," the half-elf said, with a disarming smile. "And I've got Dawnbringer again. We'll make it out."

"By all that dances!" Jhelnae said, throwing up her hands. "You've got Dawnbringer again? Who brought you Dawnbringer? Let me think… it was us!"

She waved her hand in a gesture that included herself and Aleina.

"I just said we were in good company," Kuhl said.

"So, we're the implied 'good company' and Dawnbringer gets specifically called out?" the half-drow asked. "Well that's not insulting. Did I mention, by the way, that my brain was almost eaten by a mind flayer on our way down here?"

"Pretty sure you mentioned that," the half-elf said. "Multiple times."

"If you did, I forgot," Sky said with a shrug of feline shoulders and a roll of golden eyes. "You might have to remind me again. Which… I am sure you will."

To the aasimar's surprise, the noblewoman laughed.

"I can tell you're long accustomed to working together," she said. "And the four of you did rescue Renaer Neverember. So, I believe you'll make it out of here. When you make it back to Waterdeep come by House Rosznar and we'll celebrate your return. Also, if you hear or see any sign of Kressando on your way back out, please let me know."

Her face fell at the last statement and her tone went subdued. Aleina could tell if they did learn anything of Kressando's disappearance, the noblewoman didn't expect the news to be good. The aasimar was uncertain how to respond to that - reassurance would feel false and sympathy would seem a premature abandonment of hope. So she said and did nothing, which felt like the worst of the three options.

Other conversations had been ongoing while Aleina had been focused on the talk with Esvele.

"You're plan, as I understand it," the crystalline scaled Embrie said to his sister. "Was to make it down to the Mad Mage's School of Magic, pose as a new student, and steal this rumored professor orb?"

"And maybe escape with a spelljamming ship," Sophiya said, nodding.

"Which is also only a rumor," the draconic brother said. "So both the prize of this venture and your escape plan are based on hearsay?"

"Question," Vorskar said. "This person who told you these rumors. Were they drunk?"

"There may have been some alcohol involved," his sister admitted with a slight cringe.

"Male?"

"Don't see what his gender has to do with anything," Sophiya said.

"And were you wearing Embrie's dad's scales outfit?"

"Let's not call it that," the draconic brother said, shaking his head.

"You said one question and asked three," the genasi complained.

"So, your information is from a drunk male who was probably trying to sleep with you," the half-giant reasoned. "Should be quite sound."

"You're both focused on the wrong part," Sophiya said, throwing up her hands. "Think about it. I bring back a professor orb and a spelljamming ship in one outing? What Lorehold seeker has ever done something like that?"

"I'm still trying to figure out how you plan on bluffing your way into a school of magic run or sponsored by a powerful archwizard?" Jassin asked, pale golden skin on his forehead wrinkling in thought.

"That will be no problem," the genasi said. "I'm a graduate of Strixhaven after all."

The four brothers exchanged a look.

"Point of clarification," Koger said in his metallic voice. "You are a graduate from your knowledge of history and as an adventurer archaeologist. A Lorehold seeker. Not for your skill at casting magic or your theoretical insight into it."

Sophiya's shoulders slumped at that, and she nodded in acquiesce to that point.

"Blue lady can cast magic!" the goblin, Mite said. "She went Boom and Groz went into Roper pit."

The goblin acted out punching the tabletop when he said 'Boom'. Aleina had no idea what he was talking about, didn't know who Groz was, and didn't know what a 'Roper pit' was either. But Kuhl seemed to understand it all.

"He's right," the half-elf said. "She can cast magic. And she can cast under pressure."

This earned him a grateful expression from Sophiya. Her red dyed hair was white at the roots, which matched the color scheme of the robe she wore.

"The wave of thunder?" Jassin asked.

The aasimar couldn't help noting his silver pupiled eyes were quite attractive. All the brothers were handsome in their own way - the crystalline scales of Embrie, the tall ranginess of Vorskar, and the brooding intensity of Jassin - even the construct Koger with his sleek design of golden metal, lacquered wood and glowing runes.

"The wave of thunder is less casting and more using the natural affinity from the heritage of our mother to an elemental attack of air and wind," the part sun-elf brother said, responding to Kuhl's nod. "To bluff her way into a school of magic as a student, Sophiya would need more than that."

"Fine!" the genasi snapped. "I don't have the natural ability the rest of you have in magic. I know that! Not that I could ever forget it being the sister to all of you. Even Tullus and Plargg, deans of Lorehold, my deans, constantly lament how none of you chose their college.

She changed her voice to a higher pitch.

"I went to your brother's presentation last night. Brilliant, quite brilliant, he would have been a most talented pastraiser if he chose to study under me."

The genasi switched back to her normal voice.

"So forgive me if I want to bring back something really amazing from this seeking. Maybe I don't have the ability with magic to bluff my way in as a new student. But you all do. And you're here now. So you can help me."

Looks were again exchanged between the brothers.

"I was right in the middle of an experiment when we had to come find Sophiya," Jassin said, shaking his head. "The follow up to the one I presented and Dean Tullus apparently found brilliant."

"The information our sister has gathered is suspect," Koger said in his hollow metal voice. "You do not need to prove yourself, Sophiya, nor let a belief that you do cause you to chase unsubstantiated rumors."

"I really hate to say it," Vorskar said. "But I agree with Koger."

"Sophiya…" Embrie hissed.

"Stop, just stop," the genasi said, giving a deflating sigh. "I don't want to hear a lecture right now. Fine, just fine. I know, back to Strixhaven."

Her draconic brother opened his mouth to speak then closed it. When he did say something, his sibilant voice was gentle.

"We don't have to go straight back. I'm sure we can find something worthy for you to bring back in this seeking."

"Sure, fine, whatever," Sophiya said. "We need to get Raelyn back to her people then we can go. Which reminds me."

She bent down and picked up a small bag at her feet and placed it in the female dark-elf's lap.

"This is for you," the genasi said. "It's my crystalline scale armor. You said you liked it, so it's yours. You'll have to get your own ring of warding and ring of warmth. A certain wyvern riding half-ogre has mine."

Raelyn stared at the bag in her lap, seeming at a loss for words.

"That's so sweet," Aleina mumbled to herself.

She hadn't even been aware she spoke aloud until Jhelnae whispered in response beside her.

"And a little gross. Please don't ever give me something you wore for a month straight in a prison and expect me to appreciate it."

"I'm sure she washed it," the aasimar whispered back, giving the half-drow a sidelong look and an elbow bump.

"Genasi," Raelyn said, finding her voice. "This professor orb and spelljamming ship, from what I gather from your conversation, they will bring you prestige in this Strixhaven school of yours?"

"If they are down there and if I had retrieved them," Sophiya said. "Then yes."

"You cannot expect males to understand such things," the female dark-elf said. "Did your mother teach you nothing? If you want such prestige you will have to come with me to seek these things."

"Wait, what?" the genasi said.

"Now hold on a moment," Embrie hissed.

"Enough," Raelyn said with a silencing glare at the draconic brother. "It turned my stomach, even more than the thought of whatever this magical food might be doing to my insides, to watch the eldest daughter beg her brothers for assistance and then be denied."

"She is actually the youngest," Vorskar said. "The baby of the family."

"I said eldest daughter," the dark-elf snapped.

"Are you serious?" Sophiya asked. "Or is this some kind of sick, twisted drow mind game joke?"

"In more than a month in a cell together," Raelyn said. "Did you ever hear me joke?"

"You are serious!" the genasi said. "Then yes! Let's do it!"

"No, no, no," Embrie repeated to himself, shaking his head. "You need to stay out of this. It's a family matter."

He pointed a clawed finger at the dark-elf.

"Which I believe you all welcomed me to," Raelyn said with a sly smile.

"By all that dances!" Jhelnae whispered. "I think she is starting to become my hero. I can't have a Lolthite as a hero! My mother is going to kill me!"

"Is it wrong that I'm finding her really attractive right now?" the half-giant asked.

"It's not wrong lad," Mirt said, breaking in. "Not wrong at all. Highly understandable even by my reckoning."

"Question," Vorskar continued. "Will you be wearing the outfit Sophiya gave you on this quest?"

"If I obtain a ring of warding and one of warmth," the drow said, cocking her head in consideration. "Probably."

"I say we go," the half-giant brother said, with a broad smile.

"Oh, now you want to go," the genasi said, rolling her eyes.

"To support you, dear sis," Vorskar said with a wink.

"Yeah, right."

"This isn't happening," Embrie sighed. "This is not happening. I don't suppose threatening to tell mom will stop you, will it?"

He sighed deeper when his sister shook her head. A long, drawn out hiss.

"Fine, I give up, whatever," the draconic brother said, throwing up clawed hands. "We'll find this magic school, infiltrate it, see if they have a professor orb to steal, and maybe escape by spelljammer ship if there is actually one down here."

"You may all come along if you wish of course," Raelyn said with a shrug,

Despite the nonchalance of the gesture, the pleased expression on her face indicated to Aleina she had planned the brothers coming all along.

"Thank you!" the genasi said.

She jumped up and ran to each brother and gave them a hug and even included Ancilla, who remained rigidly still and unresponsive.

"Well played sister," Fel'rekt said. "You learned the lessons our mother taught us well. Know how to motivate and use the males around us."

The dark-elf female's red-pupiled eyes narrowed.

"You are no sibling of mine…" she started to say, then stopped speaking as her eyes widened in surprise.

Moments of silence passed as the drow stared at each other.

"It cannot be," Raelyn finally said. "Fey'anna? I did not recognize you. Why would you use a magical disguise to keep me from knowing you?"

"It's no disguise," the gunslinger said. "It is true, I was born Fey'anna Auvryndar, but am now Fel'rekt Lafeen, as I introduced myself to you earlier."

"But that would mean…" the dark-elf female said.

She again trailed off, her mind still not seeming to have caught up to revelations.

"Yes," the gunslinger said. "In addition to renouncing my family name, I gave up my gender as well. You lost a sister, but gained a brother."

I don't know if any of this works. I had this vague plan and then I kept on adding complications to it (like Fel'rekt) and it got really unwieldy as I actually tried to write it. I'm just going to move past it.

As you can see I'm jettisoning everyone here except the core four, but I hope that I'm doing an okay job of giving them proper send offs.

Short note as I am *really* far behind in work and need to get caught up!