Tristan rode up alongside Prince Merrill and Marineaux, his essence-weaver. The woman glanced sideways at him, giving him a slight nod, but the prince did not acknowledge his presence in the slightest way. Tristan returned Marineaux's nod and relaxed in the saddle for the day's ride.

They stopped their travel a handful of times – soldiers riding out from the main force while they came to a stop. The outriders were hunting down survivors from the attempted siege. They returned with bloodied blades and less arrows than when they had departed. Tristan felt a slight pit in his stomach, knowing that these men were treating their foes with ruthless efficiency.

It gave Tristan the opportunity reflect on his own recent actions. I did not kill many, he thought, only really stopping them from murdering prisoners and then giving those prisoners a chance to escape. None of the siege crews were slain by my hand. Obadai is the reason most of the army is dead – but I suppose that is for the best. Better the attacking force be wiped out than a prolonged siege and then open battlefield fight between the two factions.

Prince Merrill walked over to Tristan, and he had a frown on his face, but had the look of defeat about his countenance. "I wanted to…apologize, Lord Tristan…you and your Archon's help was invaluable. I was…quick to judge you harshly for the destruction of my city."

Tristan stood up from his seated position on the ground, and ran a gauntleted hand along Onyx's neck. "Apology accepted. Cities can be rebuilt, but the people cannot be. A city are its people, and its people are its heart."

"You Elves are wise," Merrill replied. "And your plan did ensure the people survived. And the garrison was practically unharmed, minus a handful of archers killed during the retreat movement. Why not have them return to the keep immediately?"

Tristan shook his head, "That would have alerted the attackers to the trap. Lure them in with some challenge, however, and you keep them engaged." He sighed, "I wish Obadai did not have to obliterate that large force, but I put my lot in with you, and we'll see that through."

Marineaux walked over to Merrill, leaned up to his ear, and whispered – which Tristan could hear thanks to his heritage. "My liege, the men could use a pep talk."

He smiled, nodded slightly at Tristan, and then turned away. But Marineaux remained and gave Tristan a quizzical eyebrow raise, "You did not tell him about your age, grandchild of Hurvun?"

Tristan shrugged, "No point in making him panic. Let him believe what he wants." He turned to Onyx and reached into the saddle bags, pulling out a brush and setting to the manual task to keep himself occupied.

Marineaux walked to his side, "I am not a mighty essence-weaver. Nowhere near your Archon. How did you come by him being in your service?"

"He helped me, I helped him. And I am still helping him get back to his homeland," Tristan replied. He looked sideways at the woman, "How come?"

"A powerful man like that could make a big difference anywhere he chose to dwell. Sure, such a powerful spell may put him out of commission for a good while yet, but there are so many places he could rule just by virtue of raw power. Not to mention the Citadel of Essence if he chose to teach there and pass on his prowess…why does he stick with you? A young man by human years, let alone Elf years."

"I'm taking him home in my travel," Tristan replied.

"And where do you travel to after you get your contract?"

"Well," Tristan replied as he walked over to Midnight and began brushing the mare's neck, "Next will be the south of Klaktol to trade a bit. Then over to Schlarz for more of the same. But my destination is going to be Yustat. My half-brother deserves to inherit since my father's demise."

She nodded and looked at him with a curious expression. "You said you are the Lord of the Fey Realm…so you have been beyond the Mortal Realm?"

"A few times," Tristan replied. "Well, two different ones. A Delve back on Gvand, and the Fey Realm."

"Would you be willing to take visitors to your Realm? Provided you can travel rapidly, that is."

Tristan shook his head, "Sorry, but I do not trust your Prince enough for that, given his…tempestuous attitude and demeanor towards me."

She deflated slightly but nodded tersely, "I understand. Well, we shall meet up with the army and then march on Prince Roland's castle – provided he did not die during the battle in the city. But the man is just as cowardly as Merrill."

"You speak ill of your liege?"

She scoffed and nodded, "He wasn't going to come out here, if you recall. Just stay holed up and let his armies fight. A spoiled brat, just like his brother. The difference is that Roland is worse than Merrill. Hence why I chose the side I did. The kingdom would suffer under Roland's fist. Cruel boy that he was – torturing cats from a young age, that one."

Tristan finished brushing both horses manes and put the brush away. "Well, I'll help how I can – especially if it can eliminate excess bloodshed."

"Not a conqueror?"

Tristan let out a slight, barking laugh. "Hah! …No. I do not seek glory, or fame, or recognition. Even this contract I am doing all of this for – I'm only obtaining it because the admiral of my burgeoning merchant fleet insisted."

"A lord with no aspirations of grandeur? Not very lordly."

Tristan shrugged, "There's never been a lord like me." The temporary camp began to pack up from their short midday stop, and Tristan gestured to Midnight, "You are welcome to ride her if you like."

Marineaux shook her head and curtsied slightly, "Thank you, but I must ride with my liege. And I see no bit or bridle."

Tristan shrugged, "Suit yourself." He turned around and looked at his two steeds who had walked up next to him, side by side. "Alright you two – Midnight, you're going to carry me for a bit, give Onyx some rest."

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Midnight whinnied and shook her mane, and Onyx let out a short neigh almost like he was chuckling. Tristan mounted up and guided Midnight with his thighs as he rejoined the departing force.

Evening came, the group made camp, and Tristan was offered a spare tent. He rejected the offer, and instead traveled to the Fey Realm using his ring, staying the evening there. Before dawn, he returned – leaving Midnight behind in the Fey Realm, as he only needed the one horse. Re-appearing in The Mortal Realm already mounted atop Onyx, he spun his essence-crucible and activated the stored Spoken Message: Half-Realm spell in his ear-cuff. "Felicity? Obadai?"

"Yeah," Obadai replied weakly. "I'm here."

"So am I!" Felicity said.

"And me," Admiral Yokain added.

"Oh so that's how this works," Shandra also added.

"Right," Tristan replied, "Forgot it's a network. Okay, well, good news – we spoke to Prince Merrill, got the contract…but I'm finishing a war. Obadai is recovering from a huge spell – he can fill you in more. Felicity, tell the arm-"

"They didn't listen to me!" she shouted back. "Big, stupid, stinky meanies! They thought I was a trick, and tried to hit me! I slept in a nice tree."

Tristan sighed and looked at the now-packing force of cavalry. "We're heading to you. Me, the prince, and his retinue. Obadai is back at the town. Try to find me, or wait with the army."

"I'm going to mess with them a lot," Felicity replied.

Admiral Yokain spoke, "Good on you for getting the contract. We'll head back towards Rigger's Cove to meet up with Captain Marcus."

"Yeah, repairs are underway," the Vantir captain replied. "We should be good in about four days, give or take. Plenty of cargo ready to go, and those clearcool elixirs are going to save us a ton of time and cargo space."

"Okay. I'm off," Tristan let the spell fade and rode up next to Prince Merrill. "Prince? Are you ready?"

The man nodded and mounted up with the help of a squire, "We head out!"

The next few days passed in the same fashion. Tristan kept himself busy during the ride by practicing his incantations – drilling through his spell phrases and gestures. This early a few looks from those riding alongside him – but he did not care what they thought. I need to practice constantly, he thought. Every moment I can. Master the basics. All of the First Order spells.

The plan was to begin learning Second Order in earnest. He knew that he would have several weeks of ocean travel to do so, since he could not risk transporting to the Fey Realm whilst on the ocean.

He alternated between the incantation practice and traveling into his inner world. Thankfully, he just had to tell Onyx to follow the other horses, and then he could relax in the saddle and focus on his breathing, spinning his crucible in first one direction, then the other, in time with his breath.

His inner world was larger than it had ever been before. A constant silver snowstorm deposited rolling banks up to the edges of the inner world, cascading flecks of smoking black crystals, bright blue snowflakes, and crimson flurries of wind were interspersed amongst the silver drifts.

The tree at the center was larger, and out of curiosity, Tristan placed his hands on the center and spun his crucible as much as he could. "Show me my progress."

The spiral filled up rapidly – getting a little over three quarters of the way towards the third mark representing Third Order spells. Tristan smiled at the progress but began eyeing the remaining marks along the spiral. "It's going to take a lot of time to grow my essence capacity," he muttered.

As he went around the exterior edge, smoothing out the dents that he found, he ruminated on a few words Obadai had shared on their shipbound voyage regarding his lack of spell knowledge, despite being unrestricted thanks to his Human-dominant heritage.

I suppose it makes sense, Tristan thought, that he focused narrowly on what he would use most frequently. Most people cannot carry around dozens of spell books. I get a little bit of a workaround thanks to Felicity, but even then having a handful of memorized spells that one could rapidly incant and cast is far more effective than having to flip through dozens of pages.

Tristan felt both excitement and trepidation. Excitement because he knew he could increase his spell type access through devouring dragons. Trepidation because that meant every time he did so he would have to memorize a whole new set of spells. And that would be trickier if, say, he had access to Third Order spells. I'd have to memorize so much, and I don't know if I'd ever use them frequently enough to make it worth it. I mean, right now, I only use a handful of spells consistently.

As he finished smoothing out the last few bumps he could see, he felt someone tapping on his head. Pulling out of his inner world, he came back to consciousness, and felt a familiar weight on his head. "Wake up sleepy," Felicity said as she made her paw-claw biscuits.

Tristan took in his immediate environment. An army was not too far off – flying the colors of Prince Merrill, along with his faction's emblem of a flower. "Ah, we've arrived at the front."

Felicity nodded and played tippy-taps on his head. "Yup! I was up to all sorts of mischief! These meanies deserved it! Oh, I even got you something." She reached to her left, into her storage dimension, and pulled out a bottle of whiskey that she handed down to him. "From the captain's private stash!"

Tristan accepted the bottle and looked it over. "Thanks. We'll have to share it later." He handed it back to her and she deposited the object back into her storage. "Looks like we're going to be heading to Prince Roland's fortress and trying to kill him."

Felicity nodded and made murmurs of agreement. "Mhmm. Seems like it from the chatter."

Tristan guided Onyx over towards the mounted retinue and got up near Prince Merrill. The soldiers on the front looked at Tristan with curiosity and a handful threw glances of suspicion his direction. Must be because they've never seen a Winterbloom Elf, he thought. Which…makes sense, since I'm the last one. That sobering thought brought him back to high alert. They could be anywhere. I mean, probably not this quickly. No one knew I fled Bhant, and I only showed up in Jewel's Point for a brief, two days then took ship abroad. The chances of them finding me on Maladonia is slim.

Feeling secure in that knowledge that he was in all likelihood lost to the assassins, he focused his attention on the conversation at hand. Prince Merrill was giving orders to his commander, who began to lay out a battle plan for approaching the hostile fortress that was three days' march for the army.

Marineaux spotted Tristan off to the side and waved him over. "I recall something of you saying you could become invisible, yes?"

"That's right," Tristan replied.

The commander of the army looked at Tristan, "We do not have the means to build siege equipment in the field. And surrounding the fort to starve them out will take significant time. Is there anything you can do with this invisibility?"

Tristan poked Felicity atop his head, "My fairy dragon companion-"

"What now?" the commander asked.

Felicity removed her invisibility, and the commander drew his sword, "It's the spy!"

Tristan frowned, "Put away the sword you damned fool. She is a fairy dragon. I sent her here to tell you about the army marching on your prince's fort. And you lot attacked her?"

The commander was torn between anger and embarrassment, and he met the gaze of a thoroughly disappointed Prince Merrill. He sheathed his blade. "Well…your fairy dra-"

"I am Felicity Glimmerwing," she interrupted.

"Erm…Miss Glimmerwing…" the commander looked to Tristan, "What can she do?"

Tristan looked over at Prince Merrill, "What is the fort like? Is there a gate control mechanism?"

"Unless my brother invested heavily in upgrading the entry – yes and no. There are sally port doors inside the wall that could be opened from inside, but the main gates are held fast with bars."

Tristan pointed at Felicity once more, "She can get in, open the sally port doors, and then get out. Easy access for your army."

"I am a s-t-e-a-l-t-h-y fairy dragon," Felicity crowed with pride.

Prince Merrill nodded, "That makes this assault much easier to plan. We march!"

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