His coffee had gotten cold. It was an unfortunate habit of his, forgetting he had coffee. A quick fire spell would easily heat the cup back up, but mana crystals were becoming a bit of a commodity. Sure, the Basitins didn't use very many (if any at all some weeks), but the rest of the city certainly did. Trade had become difficult with the rest of the world ever since they became independent, but there were plenty of merchants who were happy to continue to work with Edinmire. Food and materials were no issue, the farms, forests, and handful of quarries dotted around the territory provided plenty, but there were some things that had become very hard to come by. Steel was among the hardest to acquire, especially from Human traders, as most of it was purchased (or forcibly taken) by the Templars. Mana crystals were the other thing they had trouble getting. There were a few mines on the Basidian Isles that brought over crystals when reinforcements or other materials came, but it was not enough to sustain the city. This would not have been as big of an issue if they had a mana tower still, but that had been disassembled last winter by the Templars as a way to try and control the magic users in the city.

And thus, Keiren's coffee was cold.

Sighing, he reached for one of the various books he had borrowed from the old college. Just like the tower, the college was removed by the Templars too, though Keiren half suspected that was because there were more teachers than students the past year. Regardless, the books held knowledge, but more importantly they were a distraction. While he would do paperwork, his mind would wander constantly, and worry grew in the back of his mind. These books had become a fortress for him, a bastion from reality, a safe haven from the nightmares he would have every night. No one knew what he endured, what horrors plagued his mind, what terrible thoughts roamed in his head.

No one, but Maeve.

The young leopard had grown almost four inches taller since coming to him in the fall, and he had grown to love her like he would a daughter. He knew that she loved him like a father, but he also knew that she waited up at night, staring into the distance, hoping to see her mom come back, hoping Adira would somehow return. Keiren wanted to tell her that she would see her mom again, but he couldn't bring himself to lie to her. Still, she sat with him, leaning against his shoulder with a book of her own. Unexpectedly, she knew how to read rather well, enjoying many of the works of fiction from his slowly growing collection.

A knock on the door caused both to look up. "I know you are trying to unwind, but there is someone here to see you." Utkr's voice came from the other side, with a hint of confusion. "I don't recognize her, but she says she's a close friend."

Maeve and Keiren exchanged glances. "Send them in." The door swung open as a young lady stepped through, her gold robe flowing behind her. Maeve turned her head, taking in every detail of this woman, from her regal walk and darker skin tone, to the butterfly clasp on her chest, bright orange eyes, and… horns that curled out from under her dark hair. "Reni?"

"It's been a while. I heard about what was going on, but wanted to see for myself." she said with a smile. "You've changed."

Picking Maeve off of his shoulder, Keiren stood up and walked over. "It's been a long time since I've seen you in human form. Any reason why you chose to do this?"

Reni pushed past him into the room, over to where Maeve was sitting, still staring at her. "Well, because if I were to suddenly land in the middle of town, it would only make people panic. I have been gone for months, and suddenly I return? It would only complicate things. Besides, I promised Nana I wouldn't make a scene without her."

"Are you a dragon?" Maeve asked, suddenly reaching up to Reni's horns.

Reni smiled kindly. "Yes. I am. My name is Reni. I know your mom, and I've heard about you, Maeve. Where is she?"

The smile vanished from Keiren's face, and Maeve suddenly became smaller, pulling everything close to her chest, as tears welled up in her eyes. "Reni, things have changed. You… you've missed a lot. Adira isn't in Edinmire right now. Maeve has been staying with me for the past few months. Actually, it was the same day you left. Let's… let's take a walk." Keiren said somberly, leading Reni out of the room. He turned back to Maeve, who was curled up, gently crying, and wished he could do more. Leading Reni to the front room, he sighed. "You should sit. This could take a while. After you left, we weren't sure what to do. You were the only thing keeping the wolves from attacking the city, and once they realized you were gone, a large force attacked early February. The walls were breached, but we managed to push them back. After that, things went quiet for a short time, and I became the new Duke of Edinmire. I sent out for the Basitins to assist in holding the city, and the Templars did not approve, especially after we ceded from the kingdom. Early April, the Templars attacked, and again we held them off, aided by the Basidian military. Now, we are waiting. King Adelaide, Trace, and myself are trying to figure out what to do, how to best go forward. The Templars are sure to attack again, and we need to be ready."

"I heard about most of this, but I want to know about how you have been." Reni said, frowning. "Where is Adira? What happened?"

"No one really knows. I suspect the Templars took her away to try and use the Riftwall, but I've checked the building myself, the runes have been broken. No one can go in or out through the rift without shutting it down entirely."

Reni leaned forward, downcast. "I am so sorry. I should have been here sooner."

"I'm certain you have been busy."

"I wish I was. Clovis, an assassin from the Brotherhood, attacked Trace's estate last fall, and during the battle, they were turned into a fledgling dragon. This wouldn't have been a problem, but I don't know how to turn them back to their original form. I took them to Nana Nora for help, but she's still hurt. She doesn't want to admit it, but she was much closer to the mana tower explosion than she cares to admit. It nearly killed her. I went to her for help, but first she needed my help. I fed her a steady supply of magic to help accelerate her natural healing, a common practice, but it was not fast. We did eventually turn Clovis back to his normal form, and Nana even undid her curse on him, but he was arrested almost right away. He's in a very high security cell in an isolated prison halfway up a mountain under constant watch."

"At least some good came of your trip."

The two fell into silence as the weight of everything pulled them both down. "You really don't know what happened to Adira?"

"No. Maeve has been hoping, wishing for her mom to come back, but… I think that deep down, she knows that she will never see her mom again. She's strong, but I can't imagine what she goes through when I'm not there."

"You've done all you can. She has to come to terms with it eventually."

…

The rubble wasn't too hard to clear with four of them. Sure, it was hard work, but over the course of the week, they managed to clear out the old ring of stones. Keith wiped the sweat off his brow as he sat on the low wall. Shockingly, the ground was not entirely decayed from when the tower was in it's prime, with treated wood planks stretched across the forty foot wide tower. He marveled at the quality of the stone constantly, noticing thin veins of silver on many rocks. He wondered if it was part of their culture, but he couldn't dwell on it. Sythe sat down next to him with a water-skin in his hand. "Thanks."

For a while, they sat in the sun, their exhaustion speaking volumes. "I wish I could have seen this when it wasn't a ruin. Imagine what it would have looked like before, especially in the full sun like today. A tower of marble and silver above the trees."

Keith smiled at the thought. "It would be nice. I could speak with the engineers about trying to preserve the old style."

Natani and Richard crested over the hill again, having moved the last of the large stones, leaving only the small pieces of rubble lying around. What once had been inside and scattered around the tower had been moved a short distance away down the hill, where it had been thrown into a pile to be used later. It took a lot for Richard to trust Natani when it was just them alone, but he had grown enough to tolerate working with her when Keith needed a break. "I never thought I would see the day when he would work so closely with Keidrans."

"It was really that bad?"

"Worse. I remember when he would drop slurs and curses in every other breath when near a Keidran. Called me fleabag more times than I can count. But that was almost a year ago. He's changed since then. We all have."

"And you know I regret it." Richard said as he walked over to his bag for a drink. "Just because past me was a jerk doesn't mean I can't change. Look at you. You used to be betrothed to Flora, then you became a hunted wolf, and now you're helping out with fighting the Templars in your own way."

"We've all changed. It's part of life." Natani said, leaning on Keith's back. "Putting that aside for now, what should we do now that we've got this mostly cleared? Keiren knows where we are, so will he send people out here?"

Keith began to answer, but another voice suddenly cut through the air. "Yes. Yes he did." Madelyn walked over with three dozen other Basitins behind her. "Figured since you didn't come back, you were either in trouble, or just cleaning up. Thank the masks we're not having to chase after you."

"I wasn't expecting to see you." Keith said with a smile.

"Eh, I needed to get away for a bit. I'm not sticking around, I'm just part of the escort."

"She wasn't even supposed to do that…" one of the engineers muttered as he shuffled past, eyeing the foundations of the tower. Keith rolled his eyes, and followed. "Not bad, not bad at all. Who built it and how long ago?"

"Ishtaer, back when they had a kingdom still. Thought we could try and incorporate their design into the tower, bring the past back to life a bit. The crumbled stone is over that way, and we've been staying in a glorified cave over here. It used to be a basement, but the wood has mostly rotted."

The engineer walked around the whole tower, rubbing his hand across the stone with his eyes closed. "This is old stone, but good work. Ishtaer construction could have rivaled our own, though they focused on elegance at the expense of being truly efficient. Carved statues and designs that served little purpose other than looking good plagued their works, but I can't deny just how much has lasted, so perhaps I can work with this. Marble… and silver… with trace amounts of platinum and granite… yes. I can work with this. Your services are no longer needed. My men can take it from here." Turning to the gathering of soldiers and supports, he began to direct them around the clearing. Madelyn followed behind Keith, taking in everything he did, his mannerisms and his actions, along with his words.

"So, shall we head back?" Richard asked, stretching his legs.

"Might as well. I'll be back in a few weeks to check up on you." Keith said with a smirk. The lead engineer didn't seem to hear him, already sketching on a small pad of paper.