“You’re lucky I brought my keys,” Soren grumbled as he swung open the heavy steel grate down in the marina. “Though I still don’t see why you even want to go through here.”

  “Well, it wouldn’t be a very authentic tour of where I spent my youth without this place,” Rylan replied lightly as he guided Leahna into the brickwork tunnel.

  Soren sighed, but stopped complaining and followed them in.

  Cramped as the brickwork tunnels were, they were forced to hunch over and walk in single file. Rylan held Leahna’s hand behind him as he led her deeper into the system.

  “Vapours,” Leahna ‘swore’ as she stumbled over a bump in the ground. The fog was so thick inside that they could barely make out the ground by the light of Rylan and Soren’s glowbands. “I can’t believe they sent you in here by yourself...”

  “You get used to it,” Rylan said with a shrug. “Watch your head here.”

  “Oh, thanks.”

  “What did you say?” Soren asked, his voice muffled by the thick fog. “Watch your wha—ow!”

  “Thick skull,” Rylan filled in, shaking his head with a small smile. Soren was obviously exaggerating his misfortune; he had a Mana Shell, after all.

  “Man, was the ceiling always this low?”

  “It was,” Rylan confirmed. “You just grew taller since you were last in here. All right, this is the tube all the way to the top of the tower. Watch your step inside, it gets slippery.”

  The fog up inside the condenser chamber was very thick, which made Rylan itch to check if the condenser grid was getting clogged up again. It wasn’t his job to check that anymore, however.

  He looked back at the fogtube to check on his sister’s progress, and found the green blob of light from her spirit almost at the top, Soren trailing behind her.

  It was quite convenient to be able to track their positions even through fog so thick he could barely see his hands.

  Having reached the top, Leahna shuffled forward towards the light coming off his headband, her hands reaching out blindly. Chuckling, he reached out and guided her along, further into the chamber.

  Behind her, Soren also reached the top of the tube.

  “Phew,” the young noble said. “Did the tower grow taller as well, or have I just gotten slower?”

  Rylan’s reply died on his lips when he saw yellow tendrils questing forth from the spiritgear on his hip. Arphin reached out towards Leahna and Soren at the same time and, as soon as he made contact, sent a message to all three of them.

  [Hey Soren, gullbrain-says-what?]

  “What?” Soren repeated confusedly. “Wait, who said—”

  [Hah! Got ’em!] Arphin cheered. [Did you hear that? I totally got him!]

  “You sure did, lil’ bro,” Leahna replied amusedly.

  “Nice one, Arphin,” Rylan agreed.

  “Wait, was that...?” Soren started. “Was that Arphineas? He can speak now?!”

  [I could already speak, just not to anyone but Boss! But I’ve been practising, so... Hi!]

  Soren sputtered a little but quickly regained himself. He started an animated discussion with Arphin about Rylan’s tendency to get himself and others in trouble, but when Leahna started shifting her weight from one leg to another, Rylan cut it short.

  “You guys can chat more later, on the ship,” he promised. “We’re doing a tour right now, remember? So Soren, could you open up the roof access for us, please?”

  A minute or so later—once Soren had found the right key—the heavy steel door swung open, allowing them to step out onto the mildly slanted rooftiles.

  The cold wind bit into Rylan’s flesh, carrying with it the acrid smell of smoke. In the distance, black columns rose from the city of Cliffport, reflecting striking shades of orange from fires and the setting sun alike.

  Leahna stepped out after him a little hesitantly, shivering as she pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. “Are we allowed to be up here?”

  Soren snorted as he exited last. “Rylan’s never much cared about that before, so why would he now? After all, this is how he and Zahra broke into the library. Isn’t that right, Ryles?”

  “Allegedly,” Rylan replied, the corners of his lips quirking upwards. “Though if someone were to want to break in there, I suppose this would be a pretty clever way, seeing as the library’s balcony is just below this edge.”

  “And you did all that without a Mana Shell?” Leahna asked, aghast. “You’re crazy!”

  “Yeah, well, I was... uniquely motivated.”

  A silence fell. From the corner of his eye, Rylan saw Soren biting his lip.

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  He let out a quiet sigh and sat down, patting the rooftiles next to him before raising his hand again to indicate part of the island’s coastline. “Do you see that beach there? That’s where we used to play pirates...”

  The three of them sat side by side as Rylan pointed out some of their old stomping grounds and shared a few anecdotes, with Soren chiming in as well with commentary.

  However, it didn’t take long for Rylan to notice that Leahna’s eyes kept drifting back to the distant smoke.

  “It looks so tiny from here, doesn’t it?” he asked quietly.

  “It’s not; it’s just far away,” Soren replied helpfully.

  [Things are just the size they are,] Arphin agreed. [Why would they be smaller when you’re farther away? Eyes are so weird.]

  Soren grinned. “Exactly!”

  Rylan rolled his eyes. Still, Soren brought up a good point. “How did you guys get to Cliffport so quickly? I mean, the attack started around dawn, and you were there by noon, so you must’ve left almost immediately...”

  “Well, we’ve been preparing for trouble for a while,” Soren said with a shrug. “But the real reason for our early response was that my mother woke up early, bathed in sweat from a vision.”

  Rylan’s brows shot up. “Dionne had a vision? What did she see?”

  “They’re more impressions than real sight,” Soren admitted. “She described it as a sense of rumbling, of rhythmic clanging and stomping, like marching boots. She woke from it feeling scared and restless and decided to check with the guards. When one of the lookouts reported spotting fires flickering in and around Cliffport, she put two and two together, and woke the rest of us up early. We departed as fast as we could.”

  [Whoa...] Arphin sent. [How’d she learn about the attack in her sleep, from all the way over here?]

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Rylan sent back, scratching his chin. ‘Perhaps she just picked up on communications between spirits, or the emotions they were projecting or something... I don’t see why they would actively let her know, at least.’

  [Interesting!]

  Rylan went to share a look with Leahna, only to find her hardly responsive, still staring at the distant city. He bumped her shoulder with his own. “Hey, you all right?”

  She took a deep breath, shaking her head slightly. “Yeah! Yeah, sorry... I’m just worried about Cassie.”

  Rylan nodded.

  “Cassie?” Soren repeated. “Who’s that? That is, if you’ll permit my asking...”

  “Cassandra Gilderbush. She’s a minor noble from Bluffburg, and a dear friend of mine,” Leahna explained. “She was accompanying the Crown Princess as one of her ladies in waiting; we were supposed to meet up today...”

  Soren hummed. “Is she a Quinthar?”

  Leahna shook her head. “Not yet. Though considering the depth of her family’s coffers, it ought to be only a matter of time. You may have heard the saying, ‘Gold doesn’t grow on clouds, but it does on bushes.’ Well, her family is the origin of that saying, supposedly. They specialise in building and maintaining floating orchards.”

  Rylan hummed thoughtfully. Bluffburg, as the largest of the free cities, was known for having extensive floating farms, that produced everything from rice, to vegetables, to fruit.

  “Well, even if the Talons captured her, they wouldn’t harm her, right?” he said after a moment. “She’s way more valuable to them alive and well.”

  “I know, I know,” Leahna said with a sigh, pulling up her knees and putting her arms around them. “I just worry that she’s gotten hurt in the fighting somehow...”

  A silence fell across the roof, broken only by the soft susurrus of the wind rustling the small bamboo forest down below.

  Rylan pursed his lips. “I still don’t get why the Talons went after the Crown Princess in the first place. I mean, she’s obviously important, but the King does have other heirs. If their goal is the Kingdom, capturing her and Cliffport isn’t enough, and now they’ve shown their sharks.”

  Soren frowned. “It does seem odd, but maybe that’s the point? Maybe they’re trying to be unpredictable?”

  “Maybe,” Rylan allowed.

  Deep down, however, he didn’t quite believe it.

  He was broken from his reverie when Leahna’s teeth started to chatter, which prompted him to get up and lead them back inside.

  “Now,” Rylan started at the top of the fogtube, clasping his hands together, determined to break his sister out of her slump. “Do you want to go down the slow and boring way, or the fast and fun way?”

  [Ooh ooh, I want to do the fun way, Boss!]

  Leahna blinked at Rylan. “Ehm... Well, when you put it like that...”

  “You can’t be serious,” Soren said, catching on to his intentions. “We’re not twelve anymore!”

  “Come on, Soren. Live a little,” Rylan replied with a wink, before he grabbed onto the top of the tube, and flung himself inside.

  His britches were immediately soaked through, but as he slid down the spiralling tube with wind rushing past his ears, he found he couldn’t care less.

  [This is awesome!]

  By the sounds of Leahna’s laughter echoing down the tube, she’d followed his example. He waited for her at the bottom, stopping her before she slid onto the rocky ground below.

  She beamed at him as he helped her up. “That was great!”

  “Told you, didn’t I?”

  Finally, another rumbling approached the bottom, and they stepped aside as Soren came sliding out as well, a wry expression on his face, the corners of his mouth twitching up. “It would’ve been rude to hold up the tour,” he said unprompted as he got up. “Really, it was my duty as a host, if you think about it.”

  “Of course,” Leahna replied, covering her mouth with a hand. “Such a gentleman.”

  Rylan just shook his head. “Speaking of the tour, let’s continue!”

  Rather than return to the marina, Rylan had Soren open up the hatch into the basement of the servants’ quarters.

  “Come on,” he said as Soren locked it back up. “I’ll show you my room; it’s on the first floor!”

  “Ehm, Ryles...” Soren started as he straightened up, a note of apology in his voice. “That’s not your room anymore.”

  Rylan stopped halfway up the stairs leading out of the basement. “Oh... right.”

  He had been gone a while. He supposed it made sense that they would’ve repurposed his empty room in the meantime. His mood still plummeted a little.

  “Well, would you like to see the other small room I spent a lot of time in?” he asked with forced cheer.

  “Ehm, sure?”

  Rylan led the duo outside and across the grounds. The sunlight was weak this time of year, and couldn’t stave off the chill as the wind blew past their soaked clothes, so they hurried into the main building. There, he took them down the servants’ stairs and down a hall towards... the cooler.

  The little cell was empty right now, so Rylan was able to push open the bamboo door to reveal its bare interior. The hated bucket was empty, but smelled like it hadn’t been washed in a while.

  Leahna quickly covered her nose. “They put you in here?!”

  [Oh. So this is where you were kept, huh Boss?]

  “Only sometimes,” Rylan replied to both with a small shrug. “When I broke the rules.”

  “You never were a fan of rules,” Soren said with a sigh, running his hand through his blue locks. “I hated it when they put you in here. Frankly, I never even liked that we even had it.”

  Rylan shrugged. “Not all of my memories of this place are bad. This is where I first saw my Status, first used Knife-Throwing... and where I received Dad’s letter.”

  Leahna quietly grabbed his hand and squeezed. They stared at the little room a little longer, then Rylan closed the door, and pulled her along. “Come on, let me show you the kitchen. It’s probably a warzone right now...”

  As they walked through the first-floor hallway, however, Rylan stopped in his tracks at the sight of a familiar face. Next to the kitchen was the game room, where some off-duty guards were playing an animated game of Sharks.

  Their laughter quieted down quickly at the sight of the three Quinthar in the doorway. Most of them simply straightened up, but one jumped to his feet, letting out an audible gasp.

  kind of a coincidence. My first thought was just to pick the first of the month, but then I realised that was April Fool's Day, and I didn't want to confuse anyone.)

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