The roses were in full bloom, and the vines had begun to crawl up the glass walls. Trace, Flora, and Mike were tending to the garden in the greenhouse, where the first fruits and veggies were beginning to ripen. Radishes, strawberries, and even a few carrots were pulled and tossed into a basket, ready to be cleaned and eaten. The memorials stood on either side of the room, silent reminders of the pain that had once been, but also the promise that they would overcome any challenge. Leaning back on a wooden bench that had been brought up, Zen was reading The Black Ring, which had become his favorite book. He was a slow reader, but he was learning new words every day. "Panoply." he said suddenly.

"What?" Trace looked over, dirt and sweat covering his face.

"Panoply. I'm not familiar with that word at all. What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure the proper definition, but I've always known it to mean a full set or array of items. Like when we gear up for combat, we would take the panoply of armor."

"Strange. I wonder why Tulein used that word instead of something simpler."

Trace smiled as he went back to pulling the weeds from the bed. "I've noticed that writers tend to use lesser known words because it's helpful to the readers. It gives them a chance to learn a new word, expand their vocabulary, and think outside the box. Sure, there's some that just use strange words to make their writing more complicated and harder to follow, but integrating words like panoply can help to more effectively convey their thoughts. I could say that I put on a chestplate, helmet, boots, gloves, greaves, belt, and vambraces, or I could say I put on my panoply of armor."

Zen was quiet for a moment, and nodded, before going back to his book. "The estate sensor runes just went off." Mike said calmly. "There is someone coming up the main road to the front door. Would you like me to go answer it, or you?"

"I'll go." Trace said, wiping his brow. He was happy that his runes worked. After the ambush a few weeks ago, he had been trying to come up with ways to improve the security of the estate. He had considered a large wall, but magical detection would be far more reliable, as walls could still be passed. Over the course of the last six days, he had gone around the entire property, driving stone pillars into the ground, and setting up a net of detection runes, which had worked far too well at first. Mike connected to the estate much like Rose did, but when he did, he felt every living being that passed through, which overwhelmed him for a few hours. Going around again, Trace adjusted the runes, and they were far more manageable now. Mike was almost constantly connected to the estate now, and wore a metal bracer engraved with runes to make sure he could stay connected anywhere on the property, while being able to disconnect should the need arise.

As he reached the front door, he glanced out the window to see who it was. Seeing a familiar blue cloak, he smiled, opening the wide door. "Keiren! Welcome." He was however, shocked as Keiren was not the only one walking up to the door.

"I was wondering what those runes were for." Reni said. "I recognized parts of them, but security sensor runes? Quite the nice touch."

"Reni?"

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still on the Basidian Isles?" Trace ushered both inside, closing the heavy door.

"I got back yesterday morning. I know that there has been a lot going on, so I have elected to not be in my natural form for right now. I'll probably change back later today, but I need to talk with you, at my uncle's request."

"Uncle?" Keiren asked. "You never mentioned an uncle before."

"Technically, most dragons are related to me in one way or another, but I only have one that I call my uncle. Old Uncle Aruhn. He's… a strange dragon. A thousand years old, but he doesn't like interfering with things like Nana Nora or I do. I've pressed him to say more, but he never tells me why. Anyways, he told me that I needed to talk to you, Trace."

Raising an eyebrow, Trace led them up the stairs to the second floor, where his favorite lounge was. "Alright? What's all this about?" he asked as he closed the door.

"I'm not actually sure. He didn't tell me what I needed to talk to you about, just that I could help you."

Putting his face in his hand, Trace sighed. "Oh. How helpful." He said sarcastically.

"I know. He's always been like this. Even when I was just a hatchling, he would speak in riddles and half truths, like he knows more than he wants to say. He doesn't like to meddle with the world, and has always been passive. If he really wanted to get something done, he sends someone else to do it. I trust him, but he's always been cryptic at best."

"Well, I'm not sure what he could possibly be talking about. Unless you know what the Templars are up to right now, we don't really need…" His voice trailed off as he glanced down into the back garden. The still discolored stone brought back wonderful and painful memories, and then he suddenly realized something. "What do you know about Sentinels?"

"Sentinels?"

"Sentinels. The stone soldiers of Nemurnal and Mount Tanji. What do you know about them?"

Reni frowned. "Quite a bit, why?"

"We… we were attacked just over a month ago. Fifteen Sentinels came crashing through my garden, nearly killed Zen, wounded King Adelaide, and made what should have been the happiest day of my life turn bittersweet. I've been pouring over books to find all I can about these monsters, but there are so many questions without answers. What is their purpose? How many are there? Why have the targeted Flora both times we've encountered them? I don't understand anything about them. So what do you know about them?"

Reni was quiet for a few minute, her mind clearly pulling information from memories. "I know quite a lot about them. Sentinels are ancient stone soldiers, defenders of Nemurnal. They were once made to be the first, last, and only line of defense the city needed, keeping living inhabitants off of the front lines. The Ishtaer that lived there built a lot of them, enough to bolster the city to the point that no army could assault the fortress for over three hundred years. They are very dangerous, acting like a sort of hive mind. I don't know how, but they seem to share a mind. When one sees something, they all can see it. When one falls, they all know. It makes fighting against multiple extraordinarily deadly."

"We know about that, but how many are there?" Keiren asked, leaning heavily on the couch.

"I don't know. Accounts from outsiders claim there to be anywhere from tens of thousands to millions, while old Ishtaer texts have the numbers closer to a few thousand at most, but accounts from that long ago are unreliable at best. I suspect that outsiders couldn't make accurate counts because they were attacking the fortress, where they were already at a disadvantage. They could make ten soldiers feel like a hundred."

"Have you been there before? Mount Tanji?"

"Once, a few years ago. I didn't stop there, but I flew over it, and I don't want to do that again. The Sentinels have gone rogue, and attack anything and anyone that they see. Including dragons. I was thankfully high enough up they missed me, but only barely. There's something going on in that mountain. I could feel it."

"What about the city? Nemurnal?" Trace asked, but it was Keiren who answered him.

"The city was a fortress that was able to withstand nearly anything. War was uncommon, with only the Fox Keidran tribes even posing a threat, but in times of conflict, the city was an impregnable bastion. Even without the Sentinels, the walls were ten meters tall, four meters thick, and had towers at regular intervals. Made of marble and laced with silver, it was extremely durable."

"Silver?" Trace frowned. "How does silver help? It's metal, sure, but not a very strong metal."

"Maybe not in the way you're thinking, but it is extremely good at deflecting magic." Reni said, smiling as she leaned over to a summoning rune. "Marble is a very tough material on it's own, but lacing the bricks with silver makes it highly resistant to magical attacks, while the marble keeps physical assaults at bay. Giant cuts of stone were brought in from the mountains, and carved into bricks and sculptures. The whole city was built like that, it's why we know the third age as the 'Age of Silver'. Nemurnal wasn't just a fortress though, it was also the center of the world for a while. When not at war, it was a center of science and magic, drawing the best wizards from all over the place. With them, they also brought merchants and scholars, painters and sculptors, all sorts of people. The city was a society on it's own, with farms and mines, foresters and shepherds. And then, in the blink of an eye, they were gone."

"The walls were made to stop anything and everything, from hurricanes and tornadoes to invasions and sieges." Keiren said, taking a cup of iced tea from Reni. "When the Sentinels attacked, they did not come from the outside, but from under Tanji, where the barracks were. They didn't have to go past the walls, and were able to move freely through the city. The alarm wasn't raised until far too late."

"And by the time people realized what was happening, the walls trapped them inside." Reni continued "And even if someone were to have wanted to help, they couldn't have gotten in anyways. It was a bloodbath. Nothing has even come close to being as horrible as the slaughter. I've read quite a few books, and all of them use the word genocide."

"It's appropriate." Trace muttered. "How many was it? Twenty thousand?"

"Twenty two." Reni corrected. "After the fall of Nemurnal, the Ishtaer kingdom shattered, their homes were destroyed, and fear surrounded them. There are still a few tribes, but they can't rebuild. They are in decline now. It is sad that such a proud people were brought low by their own creations, and yet for all we know about the fall of the city, there is so much mystery about it. Why did the Sentinels turn against their makers? Could they have done anything about it?"

"Theories surround the destruction, but they can only tell so much." Keiren frowned. "My own theory is that somehow they were controlled, the magic that binds them tampered with to turn them hostile, but to do that would take ages."

Trace was quiet, looking out the window to the north. "Have you ever met an Ishtaer?"

Reni shook her head. "No. I don't travel very much, mostly just between here and the capital. I've read about them though."

"I figured. Thank you. You've answered some of my questions, and given me a lot to think about."

"My turn." Reni said, setting her tea aside. "You said that you were attacked on what should have been the happiest day of your life? What do you mean by that?"

"My wedding day. Flora and I are married. We would have had you join us, but you were busy. There's actually a few people that were missing, but it might be for the best. Raine and Haelith wouldn't have been much help during the fighting, but Barret… he's a fierce one."

"Haelith and Barret?"

"I met Barret on the way to Lyn'Knoll, and Haelith a few months ago. They're Ishtaer. It was certainly interesting to travel with Barret, but I do miss him."

"Ah, so that's why you have a sudden interest in Ishtaer. Where did he go?"

"North, but we're not sure where. He went to go study magic, to try and learn from his own people. I've found myself wondering about him the past few days. I hope he's alright."

"Do you think he'll make it back?" Reni asked, frowning.

"I hope so. He's a ranger, a survivor. I'm just worried for him. Sometimes I wish he would have told us before he left, but I can't change the past." Trace sighed, shaking his head. "Thank you again. Now, if you will excuse me, Flora is expecting me to help weed the garden still."