Valgrin pulled his door shut behind him and started toward the stairs, stopping when he saw Malcolm step out of Izzy’s room.

  “Morning.”

  Malcolm looked up, startled. “Oh, morning…um…this isn’t what you’re thinking. Seem to be saying that a lot to you these days.”

  Valgrin grinned. “Doesn’t matter what I think, one way or the other. I’m sure you’ll let me know what I need to know, if I need to know anything at all. To change the subject, I’m headed down for some breakfast. You?”

  “Coffee, at the very least.”

  The wooden barstools creaked as they sat. Skwilly's side rose and fell with each breath beside an upturned, licked-clean bowl. One eye cracked open at their arrival, then closed with a rumbling grunt.

  "Someone got an early start," Malcolm said, nodding toward the priggy.

  Deeah laughed as she slid steaming plates before them. The rich scent of coffee filled the air as she poured, dark liquid swirling into ceramic mugs. "Found him sitting sentinel by his bowl when I came down to light the stove. Oh—Ylnah took Kawlie with her at first light. Saw them heading toward the east road."

  Valgrin nodded. “Ylnah stopped by this morning to let me know. Sounds like it will take her most of the morning, maybe a little longer. I was hoping she’d get done soon enough I could get her registered at the library.”

  “Should have time.” Deeah turned back to the kitchen. “I’ll leave ya to your breakfast.”

  Valgrin had a bite halfway to his mouth when Malcolm turned to him. “I need to talk to you.”

  Valgrin caught Malcolm's furrowed brow and the way his friend's fingers drummed against the table edge. His fork clattered against the plate as he set it down. "I'm listening."

  Malcolm's shoulders rose with his inhale, fell with a slow exhale that whistled slightly through his teeth. His gaze darted to the stairs, then back to his untouched coffee. "Been meaning to talk to you. Especially after last night. And, well, this morning."

  Valgrin followed Malcolm's glance toward the staircase. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. "If this is about Izzy's room, I really don't need the det—"

  "It's not." Malcolm's hand shot up. "Well, not entirely." His fingers found a napkin, began folding it into smaller and smaller squares. "If we find a way back home... I'm staying here."

  Valgrin's mug froze halfway to his lips. Coffee sloshed over the rim, speckling the table. "But we discussed this. I go, you stay."

  "We had five minutes to decide. Hardly enough time. At least it seemed like only five minutes. Let’s just say we’ve had a lot on our plate, and I wanted to make sure you were still good with it.”

  "And now?" Valgrin leaned forward, searching Malcolm's face. "The cancer? You’re okay right?"

  Malcolm replied, “It’s still gone. Like it never happened. Best I can tell.”

  “Wow, from terminal to healed in a day.” Valgrin’s eyes grew wide. “Crap. Didn’t mean that to be as insensitive as it sounded.”

  Malcolm snorted. “Not anything I didn’t think. Though my thoughts had a few more colorful words mixed in.”

  Valgrin laughed. “And to think I thought this was going to be about meeting in the hall this morning.” He jumped up and hugged Malcolm. “You being good is all that matters.”

  Malcolm wiped under his eyes when they broke the hug. "Thanks for understanding. About this morning—Izzy just needed someone there again, or maybe just needed me there. After a few drinks, she didn't want to face her room alone." He glanced toward the stairs, lowering his voice. "She cried herself to sleep on my shoulder. I took the chair all night, watching over her. Nothing more." A small, almost shy smile crossed his face. "But something's different with her. I never believed in that whole 'when you know, you know' business until now. And that knowing is what led to me wanting to make sure all was understood and good."

  “That is another reason for you to stay. When, and if, going back becomes possible—we’ll have another hug and part ways—but never forget you. If we have to both do the same thing we stay. I’d not have a life if you came back and died, I’d be guilt-ridden.”

  “It won’t be the easiest moment, but makes sense for lotsa reasons on both sides.”

  “Yeah, it does.” Valgrin took a bite of his cold breakfast. If it’s both or none going back…sorry Kara, but I’ll be staying. He brushed the tear from his eye and took another bite.

  The two spent a few minutes eating in silence before Malcolm broke it. “Didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “Not upset. Just have time to do a little processing now. Remembering college days and all the stuff here. The idea of you not being a text or call a way, is unsettling but not upsetting.”

  Malcolm scratched at his chin. “That’s a decent way of putting how I’m feeling too unsettled, but not upset. But we have other things to get upset over.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “That we do. And in that arena, I’m going to go to the library today and do a little research on a couple of things. While I’m there, I’ll get some prelim stuff done for Ylnah.” Valgrin stepped away and went upstairs to his room.

  Shutting the door behind him, he pulled out crumpled pages covered in his cramped handwriting and smoothed them across the desk. His gaze drifted to the window, where cotton-white clouds sailed across an ocean of blue. His pen tapped against the wood—once, twice—then stilled. The inked words blurred as memories flooded in—Malcolm's pale face when he'd first mentioned the cancer, the strange shimmer in the air when he'd crossed over, Kara's laugh echoing from what now felt like another lifetime.

  A knock brought his attention back to the room. “Come on in.”

  Malcolm walked in, shutting the door, then leaning against it.

  “Coming to check on you, you’ve been up here a bit.”

  Valgrin looked back out the window, then turned to Malcolm. “Got lost in my thoughts and lost track of time. What, fifteen to twenty minutes?”

  “No, more like an hour and fifteen. That may be stretching it by five or so,” Malcolm answered.

  “Crap. Didn’t mean to spend that long up here. Better get moving.”

  “Izzy wants to see us in the room. But first, you okay? Really okay? I saw your eyes the moment you hit the potential hiccup in the going our separate ways plan.”

  Valgrin looked away, but even then he could still feel Malcolm’s stare. “I’m fine. Need to process a lot. You know me, it ain’t thought through until I’ve over thought it.”

  “Deflection, another of your techniques,” Malcolm deadpanned.

  Valgrin gave his friend a near-smirk. “Guilty as charged. Seriously, I’m fine. If it comes down to the all-or-nothing situation. We’ll have to make final decisions there. Right now, I’d say stay here.” His hand shot up to keep Malcolm silent. “Yes, I want to get back to Kara. But not at the expense of your life. The guilt of that would mess me up. I know you’ll want to argue a way around that, so you’ll go, and I’ll argue back. Hell, we know we can spend an afternoon over coffee debating the details of something that doesn’t matter. This does and neither of us is in a great place to plan beyond I go and you stay. Any changes to the situation and we’ll deal with it then—probably coming down to rock, paper, scissors to determine the winner.”

  Malcolm snickered, which developed into a full laugh. “The method of resolution caught me off guard, but yeah, you’re right about we should wait before getting to the debate. May just be borrowing trouble. Let’s go see Izzy. I can take you through the back way through her room.” Malcolm led the way out the door and into Izzy’s room.

  “Now I understand this morning.” Valgrin paused on the steps.

  Malcolm stopped when he realized his friend had, turning around to answer. “Yep, her secret passage from downstairs. Come on.” He took a couple more steps, then stopped and turned again. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just got hit with a wave of how did we get here and why are we so calm and accepting of it?”

  “I get those too.” Just last night, in fact. “My guess is when we became this…” He motioned to himself, then to Valgrin. “…the process did something to us to make it easier to adjust. Otherwise, we’d both have panicked and might still be panicking.”

  “My leading theory as well. Other than the panicking thing, you’d be panicking—me I’d be fine, eventually.” Valgrin grinned, pausing for Malcom’s chuckle. “Also wonder about the entertainment angle Fred told us about, haven’t thought about it since we first heard about it. Could Fred have been lying about that, or more head-zapping from the Structure?”

  “Hadn’t thought about it until just now.” Malcolm shrugged, then stared up at the ceiling. A few moments later he spoke, “You know, and this is me knee-jerking here, Fred also mentioned getting new magic here. Maybe that was more the focus than the entertainment. Could be that we’ve been the entertainment and just not known about it.”

  “Could be. Wouldn’t Drathnor and Tahlur get better info from their inside source?”

  Malcolm nodded, “May be the Structure rules are strict about that type of thing. Though it seems in most everything else the Structure plays a little loser than I would of thought.”

  “Some things to ponder, at least. I’m guessing we better finish heading downstairs. Blaming you if Izzy is upset.” Valgrin made a pushing motion as he stepped down to the next stair.

  “Jerk.” Malcolm laughed as he turned and made his way down the stairs, through a door, and stepped into a dimly lit closet. He pointed to a door to the left. “That way leads into the room we were in last night.”

  Izzy motioned for both of them to sit at the table with her. Malcolm let his gaze linger for a second—Izzy’s quick, warm smile, his reward. He took the seat next to her and tried not to grin too goofily at his friend.

  “I, for one, am ready to relax for the rest of the afternoon.” Izzy scooted some food around on her plate. “All this planning, deception, and general ugliness is getting old and I’m tired of it all.”

  “I have a couple of things I’d like to get done this afternoon. So, I’ll be stepping away after lunch.” Valgrin pulled a hunk of the bread loaf in front of him.

  “Right, need to get Ylnah set…” Izzy stiffened suddenly. “Stej!”

  Malcolm watched Valgrin jump along with himself, when Izzy slapped the table and thrust herself out of her chair.

  She had taken two steps toward the far corner, muttering under her breath, before a tall yellow being appeared in the corner.

  “Ggyllum!” Malcolm exclaimed, rising from his chair. “But how…I mean..uh…”

  “Breech of protocol, I’d imagine.” Valgrin jumped up from his chair.

  Izzy stormed over, her finger stabbing the air between them before making contact with the visitor's chest. "I don't care if you're the highest Mavvon in the realm—nobody materializes in my sanctuary without warning. The only reason I'm not activating defenses is because I recognized your signature."

  The thin yellow being threw up his hands in defense. Those fingers are about as long as my forearms. Malcolm put his hand on Izzy’s shoulder, ready to jump back if she swung. His precautions proved unnecessary.

  "My signature," Ggyllum said, drawing out each syllable with deliberate precision, "is only detectable because I choose to make it so. Consider it my way of knocking before entering." He tilted his elongated head slightly. "I understand your displeasure, but I come with information too urgent to wait for your planned resurrection scene."

  Izzy's finger froze mid-air, inches from the Mavvon's chest. "Wait—what do you mean by resurrection scene?"

  “Unless you die in your swamp quest, you’re going to have to become alive—again.” Ggyllum pointed out.

  Izzy lowered her hand, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I hadn't considered that part of the equation. Perhaps a special performance night would work—build some anticipation, announce a special guest and then make my grand reappearance."

  Malcolm waited until Ggyllum took a seat at the table. “You said you had information?”

  Ggyllum's yellow gaze swept the room, lingering on each face before dropping to examine his own spindly fingers. He flexed them once, twice, as if testing their functionality. "In the spirit of being fully honest..." His voice trailed off. The air in the room seemed to thicken. When he finally raised his head, his luminous eyes locked directly onto Valgrin's face, unblinking.

  Malcolm shifted, watching his friend as Valgrin tensed, his fingers curled into white-knuckled fists against the tabletop.