Callum almost thought he was back home in the castle when he woke up. The bed under him was soft and comfortable and he expected to open his eyes to his old room. For just a moment, he could pretend he and Ezran still shared a room and that things were simple.

Instead, he was greeted by the sight of morning through the window of the inn.

Nothing was simple anymore.

Kpp'ar was already up, reading through old pamphlets and papers the inn had for free in their room. Callum couldn't imagine being interested in news outdated by months if not years, but Kpp'ar had been trapped for so long it probably was legitimate news.

"Finally awake," commented Kpp'ar without looking up.

Callum was a morning person, but even this felt early for him. Long days of travel had taken their toll, though he did feel rested. "How are you so awake?" he yawned.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. My sense of time is off." Kpp'ar inhaled. "I've been up for over an hour. I think they're nearly done cooking breakfast down there. Smells like bread."

Kpp'ar was right. There was nothing better than waking up to the scent of fresh bread and pastries. Another pang of nostalgia for home echoed in Callum's ribcage. "I know it's weird since I barely left the castle again a couple days ago, but I miss home more than ever. Do you remember Barius?"

Kpp'ar groaned. "Now you've done it. I'd forgotten how superb his baking was." Callum's stomach growled at the thought and he looked away in shame. "You were just home which means those memories are all the fresher. It's natural to miss it."

"I assume you do too. Don't you want to go home?"

Kpp'ar shrugged. "Sure, I can let Katolis know I'm alive, but I have little interest in serving at court. I'm also happy with the security my house has and don't need to rush back."

"Is it really like a giant puzzle?" Callum scratched his head. "What if you wanted a midnight snack or something and got lost or fell down two flights of stairs?"

"I'm never lost. I have my shortcuts."

Shortcuts, dark magic. Callum didn't like the connection his mind made. Kpp'ar seemed meticulous and wise, steady on his feet. It seemed unlikely that he'd ever been as reckless or ambitious as Viren, even if he'd inadvertently given Viren the skills to overthrow Kpp'ar. "Do you regret it? Teaching Viren, I mean."

"Starting the day with the big questions. Yes. There's the personal betrayal, and then the aftermath. However, I don't think all is lost. Things may be working out for the best." Kpp'ar set the papers down, facing Callum fully. "Aaravos was going to be freed someday, somehow. It is fortunate you are here to reign him in, and that Viren seems to have used up the last of his delusions of grandeur. If they'd been unhindered and partners with a much more aggressive goal, we'd be in a vastly different situation now."

What would the world look like if the war had taken place with Aaravos outside of the mirror? He hoped they'd never know.

Callum didn't think he was traveling with Aaravos to reign him in or hinder his progress… except he was. No matter how he spun it, even if they mutually enjoyed being student and teacher, he was using his bond with Aaravos to change Aaravos's course. "I don't know how I feel about that," he admitted. "It's most of why I agreed to go with him. Magic is amazing, but it's to keep my family and friends safe. That comes first. I'd do anything for them."

"However dangerous, however vile?"

"I… guess so." Callum sighed. Last night's sensation of being torn in half hadn't healed, like he was a book whose spine had been creased, never to be unmarked again. "Traveling with Aaravos sounded dangerous, but honestly? It's the safest I've ever been. Maybe I have averted a calamity, but I'm not proud of using his emotions to do it."

He expected to be scolded, but Kpp'ar shrugged. "We all influence each other. It feels nastiest when it's on purpose. Another understandable feeling, but you're a positive influence. You both give the other what he needs. Aaravos, no matter how desperate, wouldn't tolerate being actually manipulated by you."

Callum had to agree with that. He knew Aaravos was so many steps ahead of them all that it was hopeless to try and outsmart him. Still… "I just can't believe it's this simple. I'm just here being myself."

Just Callum, not a prince, step-prince, or even step-mage.

Kpp'ar didn't often let warmth and sincerity into his voice. He set the faded newspapers aside, plain sadness on his face. "My boy, I can attest that company is what I've lacked even more critically than air. Aaravos has been alone even longer. It's little wonder he seeks connections, to be a part of a constellation of his own making."

The soul crushing grief Callum had touched in Aaravos's mind when they'd briefly merged came back to him. He wondered if something like that could ever heal. "I'm going to go check on the others. And… thank you. I'm glad to have met you."

"Enough sap." Kpp'ar was smiling. "I'll meet you downstairs."

Callum was still smiling when he opened the door and turned the corner. The inn was hosting a few other travelers. He let them pass by him as he waited for Aaravos. Even disguised, it was difficult to miss him. He hadn't bothered to make himself shorter.

"Good morning, Callum." Aaravos pulled Callum in for a hug so naturally it was as if they'd known each other for years. His tension and worries melted away in a few seconds he was in Aaravos's arms, head laying against Aaravos's chest. The embrace was something they both needed.

"You're in a good mood," remarked Callum, hugging Aaravos back. They parted, Aaravos's hand still on his shoulder. "Where's Viren?"

Aaravos covered his mouth with a light, conspiratorial chuckle. "Trying to get his children down here."

Nope. Callum was never going to get used to Sir Sparklepuff being Viren's child.

Viren emerged a moment later from Claudia and Terry's room, Sir Sparklepuff in his arms. The homunculus grumpily flapped his wings purely to express disdain at being woken up so early. Viren's irritated expression was softened by his gentle hold on the creature, stoically ignoring Claudia and Terry giggling behind him. "Don't you want breakfast? You don't normally have this much attitude."

"Well, he did used to spit goo on you," pointed out Terry.

"Don't remind me."

Aaravos grinned as Viren stomped by. "Good morning, sunshine."

Viren scowled. "You take him."

Sir Sparklepuff made another disgruntled noise. Aaravos took him in his arms and bounced him once. "Oh, I see. He wants a seat at the table with us. Of course, little one."

Callum raised his eyebrows. "You speak, uh, homunculus?"

Claudia elbowed Terry. "More like- Homun- goo lus!" Terry burst out laughing, holding his hand up for a high four and a half, which actually did look like a high five, which Claudia gave happily. Sir Sparklepuff even smiled back at them with a gooey gurgle, huge eyes bright as he watched them laugh and walk downstairs, arm in arm.

The inn's free breakfast was an array of pastries for them to pick and choose from at a buffet area alongside eggs, meats, fruits, and drinks. Kpp'ar had already claimed a table and set a clear glass teapot in the middle of it. A flower bloomed inside the teapot, water around it tinged pink. It wasn't literally magic, but the effect was just as charming.

Callum could get used to mornings like these.

Aaravos systematically took one of each pastry from the buffet laid out before them, arranging the little pile artistically on his plate. Viren looked at the pile of puff pastries and tarts crowned with a large cinnamon roll. "Are you going to eat anything but bread and sugar?"

"Tea, of course."

Viren didn't hide the endeared smile in time for it to not show. "Of course."

"I'll split them all with everyone, but I need at least a bite of each," amended Aaravos. He pecked Viren's cheek on his way by to the table, so cheerful it was contagious.

The morning may have been uneventful, but one member of their party always drew attention.

"Alright, Sir," said Terry, guiding Sir Sparklepuff onto a chair as everyone else sat down. The homunculus perched on the seat rather than actually sit, but he looked pleased with himself. "There you go. You've got a fork and knife here, let me show you how it's done. Just takes some getting used to."

There weren't many other travelers at the inn, but everyone was staring as Sir Sparklepuff successfully wielded his silverware with proper manners. Sir Sparklepuff had perhaps also inherited Aaravos's love of attention. He made direct eye contact with the others, smiling at them. The smile was usually not returned.

Aaravos's plate of sweets took the middle of the table next to the teapot. Terry carefully put half of a cherry filled pastry on Sir Sparklepuff's plate. "There. You can do it."

Sir Sparklepuff looked at the fork in his hand.

He glanced up at the middle of the table. Viren made a move to take a chocolate glazed roll when Sir Sparklepuff's tongue darted out and snatched it from Viren's reach, swallowing the treat whole.

Everyone at the table but Viren laughed. "He needs to learn manners," protested Viren under his breath, thankfully able to take another piece unhindered.

One of the other customers, sitting at a table with his spouse, continued to stare at Sir Sparklepuff. "Is that… an elf?"

Tea sprayed from Callum's nose as he coughed, laughing so hard he struggled to breathe. Terry and Claudia were also laughing, mirth renewing every time they made eye contact. Even Kpp'ar was caught so off guard he was fighting down his laughter behind his hand. Aaravos only smiled with a soft chuckle, one that seemed more understanding than the rest of table.

"Forgive us," said Aaravos, tone smooth, bending the ear of anyone listening, which was the entire room whether they were admitting it or not. "Having been to Xadia and met elves, we know he isn't one, but the resemblance is clear. No, you in fact look more like an average elf than our butterfly here."

The man was physically startled. "Really?"

Callum leapt in. "Elves are pretty much just like us," he said. "I mean, they don't have pinkies, and they do have horns, but really? Our differences are a lot smaller than our similarities."

A different customer, older than Viren, spoke up. "I've heard about a few that came back after the war. They said the sun elves light up when they get angry– skin cracked like volcanic rock, burning to the touch."

Even the innkeeper joined in, face solemn. "Those moon elves are even worse. They turn invisible, and boom! A squadron of men down."

Callum knew the context they were speaking of. Moonshadow Elves had had a bad reputation before Harrow had been assassinated. It had only managed to get worse since.

To Callum's surprise, it was Viren who beat him to speaking.

"It's true. Elves have their own ways of being formidable foes," he said. The strangers nodded, their concerns heard. "But so do we. The elves fear humans for what we can do— ripping the magic from any magical thing and using it for ourselves." The atmosphere got uncomfortable again, the innkeeper and others clearly uneasy about magic too. Viren knew what he was doing, pressing on, "Should that define all of us? The fearsome things we are capable of? Once you realize we all have our own claws, we can stop focusing only on that and on the rest. Lux Aurea is— was— majestic."

Claudia smiled. "Yeah. The Uncharted Forest is beautiful too." Terry blushed.

The innkeeper scratched his head. "You're all awfully well traveled. The border isn't closed anymore, but you've got to be crazy to go back and forth so much."

Suspicion and curiosity sounded alike. Callum's internal alarms blared inside as he bit into a cream puff. If he needed to lie, they were all doomed.

Aaravos had it handled.

"I'm a mage." Aaravos reached into his backpack, withdrawing what appeared to be an orb of warm, gentle sunlight. Callum tried to not openly stare at the primal stone in Aaravos's hands. Since when did we have that?! "Sun magic may be fierce, but it's also used for healing. I've learned from the best."

The fearful aura about magic faded as the other travelers gathered around to oooh and aaah at the primal stone. A small girl reached her hand out from behind her parents and Aaravos smiled, moving the stone closer to her so she could touch its surface, feel its warmth.

"Healing?" repeated another traveler at the inn, her face hopeful even as she tried to downplay her enthusiasm. "I've got a gash from hiking on my way here. I don't suppose…"

Aaravos smiled graciously. "Of course. Let me see."

She rolled up her sleeve to reveal a ragged, half healed cut. Aaravos drew a sigil in the air and the magic rushed to her wound, finishing the healing so only a scar remained. Fascinated murmurs spread through the inn as she examined her arm. "Oh wow. It worked!"

The innkeeper was also staring. "You know, there's a couple folks back in town who could use some of that. Um- not to rush you on your breakfast, of course."

Aaravos must've had something like this planned all along. "We can head into town and assist any who need it."

The traveler he'd healed looked sheepish, eyes on the floor. "I can't pay much."

"Relax. I'm not here to make a fortune off anyone in need." Though Callum figured Aaravos could if he wanted to. "We mostly just need a couple bedrolls and fare to Evenere. If the town is willing to help us out on the way, I require nothing else."

"That's not much at all!" exclaimed the innkeeper. "Surely we'll be able to do better."

"Please, we can make do." Aaravos returned to his tea, in no hurry to perform what the townspeople would likely view as miracles. "I'm satisfied to let people see that magic isn't so bad after all."

A publicity stunt too… but Callum couldn't argue with that. People far from the border still didn't know what to make of magic or elves, and a lot of humans had never been fond of dark mages either. It was the sort of thing he should've been doing as prince, which made him want to kick himself for not considering it before. He was more suited to hours in the library and studying in some secluded spot than playing the role of prince.

After breakfast and a short walk to the nearby town, Aaravos kept his word. He healed anything from broken bones to papercuts, always courteous and happy to let people examine the primal stone. The rest of them held back, watching him work.

"Where did he get it?" muttered Callum, only letting Claudia and Viren hear him.

Viren raised an eyebrow. "You haven't figured it out?"

Claudia gasped and silently but enthusiastically tapped her nose and pointed between herself, Viren, and Aaravos.

"There's something to figure out?" Callum frowned. He'd been so excited at the idea of having another primal stone to study… He got closer to Aaravos, standing behind him as he healed someone else, and glanced down into his bag to peek at the Cube.

Only the moon rune glowed.

Of course, Aaravos didn't need a primal stone to do any kind of magic. It was just to explain his abilities.

Despite Aaravos's modest request of payment, a town full of healed and blessed people were glad to give them extra money for their journey. It wasn't so much that Callum exactly felt bad about it, but they wouldn't have to worry about purchasing supplies or food or staying somewhere for a little while.

They left after an hour or two, Aaravos stowing the fake primal stone away in his bag as they walked away. It disappeared once he closed the flap over the bag's opening. Their route remained unchanged, heading to the southernmost point of Katolis to renew some of the native magical forest.

"I guess I shouldn't be worried about how I'd pay for things," admitted Callum. He walked next to Aaravos, adjusting the bedroll and pack on his back. "I wish the primal stone was real, though."

Aaravos gave Callum an unreadable smile, hinting that he knew something Callum didn't. "Yes, you're getting close to understanding."

"What do you mean?"

"The illusion of the primal stone did nothing to change the truth of what magic I'm capable of, yet the illusion gave anyone who beheld it the sensory input necessary for them to conjure their new idea of truth based on the illusion."

Callum concentrated very, very hard, making a face as they walked. Nope. No Moonshadow powers.

Aaravos chuckled. "You see, the Moon doesn't change truth. It just offers a path to a different perception of truth. Even though you can figure out something is an illusion, you still see it. You still feel it. The Moon Arcanum is about realizing all we have are our senses to attempt to parse out the truth, but there's always a barrier between perception and reality. Magic is about manipulating that barrier. See?" He dropped Terry's and his disguise as they walked, Aaravos pleased to be back in his original, glorious form. "You know my true appearance, but you still saw the illusion when I cast it."

"It's like when you were playing with Sir Sparklepuff." Callum tried to internalize the knowledge, to touch the secret with more than his mind. "We all know who you are, but the arcanum only messes with what we see, not the truth. That's what you mean?"

"Yes. The moon is always the moon. The light on it may make it seem different, yet it never actually changes."

Claudia listened intently, also trying to understand. "So what we see isn't reality. It's just what we can see. The surface." Aaravos nodded, waiting for her to go on. "So by being able to change the surface, you're just admitting that what was already there before you used moon magic wasn't exactly reality in the first place. Like… if it's all lies, you can just tell more lies with magic no problem!"

Aaravos hmmed. "Closer. There's a duality to the moon. It's both truth and lies. You have to hold an understanding of contradictions in order to be able to wield it."

Duality. Rayla had disguised Zym as a dog, but they'd all known what Zym really was. For a period of time, he was both dragon and dog in Callum's mind.

Kpp'ar followed close behind them, eyes taking in the surrounding forest and plains. Callum assumed both he and Aaravos had been starved for fresh air for so long that nothing was mundane about it anymore. "I suppose the same goes for speech too."

"Go on," said Aaravos.

"Well, I could call you a green dolphin, but that won't make it so. Nothing we say about others, be it blame or praise, actually changes the other person. It's all perception, opinion, names. But those are our reality. It's a matter of bias. We can't really know the full, objective truth while still in our own heads."

Callum felt so close to getting it. "And even then, multiple things can be true at the same time, right? Ezran is my brother, and that's my truth, but he isn't everyone's brother, so my reality is both true and different."

Aaravos nodded again, the role of teacher and discussion moderator one he held with ease. "You've all got some parts of it, but understanding the arcanum will come with a sort of click that's difficult to explain. Epiphanies don't like being predictable or replicated."

Terry raised his hand. "Does all understanding of an arcanum look like Viren collapsing for days?"

Viren grimaced. "I hope not."

Callum couldn't stop thinking about Rayla and her connection to the moon. There was something about this world she just knew that he didn't. He imagined the rush of pride he'd feel when he could show her that he understood the moon like she did, that she was really why he was doing magic at all.

She'd believed in him. Callum had thrown himself off a cliff for her.

No matter how difficult it was to keep broadening his understanding of magic, he could do it.

But for the moment, Callum needed to rub his forehead. "Maybe I'll get the Moon Arcanum after I have some hot brown morning potion tomorrow."

Claudia did an overexaggerated pout. "Hey! Leave an arcanum for the rest of us!"

As they neared the southern coast, Aaravos started intermittently tossing out seeds from his bag. Some of them were dragon blood tree seeds, others were grasses and herbs from Xadia. It seemed he intended to import a few layers of the Xadian ecosystem, and it made Viren hesitate.

"Should we be overriding what's already here so much?"

The seeds Aaravos tossed out sometimes burrowed directly into the ground where they landed or raced off out of sight to find a home, fueled by his direction. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm being careful. It is delicate work to restore anything, and there can be space for both. Eventually, the plants here will all benefit from seasons and cycles of growth and decay as the soil becomes richer and everything takes on a little more of the magic every year."

Both magical and nonmagical. Elf and human, Callum thought. The world was wide enough, if Aaravos could accept that.

At last, they reached the coast. A cliff overlooked the view of the ocean from where they stood, grass abruptly giving way to the ocean below. In the distance, Callum could make out a port, and even further out must be Evenere.

Aaravos took the last dragon blood seed and buried it by hand in the ground in front of him. He knelt, facing the forest. "Terry, would you join me again?"

Last time Aaravos and Terry had done magic together, the segment of the Uncharted Forest they'd worked magic on had undergone a massive change. The landslide that had taken out much of the forest's food had been reversed, trees rerooting themselves and a flurry of greenery racing back to their proper places.

This time couldn't have been more different.

Terry knelt by Aaravos, hand in his. Aaravos almost looked like he was praying, eyes closed and head bowed. Callum waited for something to happen. A few minutes passed, and he still couldn't see anything. He caught a flicker of bright green energy pass under his feet, radiating out from Aaravos and Terry.

Minutes passed with more waves of green magic, pulsing out from Aaravos and Terry's hands in the dirt.

Whatever the effects of the magic were, Terry felt it first. His breathing got harder and harder until he was gasping and had to let go of Aaravos. Terry tumbled to the side and Claudia rushed to him. "Woah, are you okay?" She helped him sit up, arm around his shoulders.

Aaravos was straining too, which shocked Callum. His breath was ragged and he was breaking a sweat, though he managed to look graceful even while disheveled. He looked up at Callum. "Set the relic on the ground." With that, he too collapsed backwards into the grass, chest heaving.

Callum was more worried about Aaravos than what the cube said, but Viren beat him to Aaravos's aid, holding out a flask of water for him. "You overdid it," said Viren. "Drink this."

"It isn't your magic water is it?"

"No."

"Good. Never liked the aftertaste of used spell water." Aaravos let himself be fussed over, leaning against Viren for perhaps longer than necessary.

Callum set the Cube on the ground, staring as the Earth Arcanum lit up, exactly as it did in Xadian forests. "No way! Is all of this earth infused with magic now?"

"It will be," amended Aaravos. "Just the surface is now, but the Earth Arcanum is about life, and therefore death. As seasons pass and our seeds grow, they will eventually die and add more magic to the soil further down as new life regenerates. I'm sorry to say that you won't likely see the dragon blood trees here grow to anything like they are in Xadia in your lifetime, but they will."

Kpp'ar observed the earth under him, giving it a tap with his cane. "No one thought that recovery after the Mage Wars' scramble for resources was possible. I think we're all glad to be proved wrong."

Aaravos let Viren help him back on his feet, still fighting for breath. "Possible- but even I need rest after something like this in my state." Callum wondered how powerful Aaravos was at his height of magical energy, and then decided he probably wouldn't survive witnessing it.

Terry rubbed the back of his head. "I helped, a little. I also used magic this morning, so, you know, little less chlorophyll to go around."

"What did you do magic at the inn for?" asked Viren.

The little town they'd passed through had felt blessed indeed by a visit from a healer, but the joy didn't end there. It seemed to the innkeeper and some of the townsfolk that the mere presence of a sun mage had caused their almost ready gardens and flower boxes to bloom within the day, more bountiful and beautiful than they'd ever been before.

"It was just a nice thing to do."