In the end, they mutually decided that Rylan should hang on to the pearl for safety until Leahna was actually ready to take it.

The effect of the pearl was supposed to be powerful but short-lived, so she had to ready all of her equipment and brush up on her various skills in advance.

Excited as they both were, this really wasn't something to be rushed.

There was also the worry that—should she succeed—the Talons might find about her new status, and come to drag her to a console for testing and bind her in some kind of Contract.

Even if she had been willing to undergo such treatment, the risk to Rylan would have been unacceptable. Therefore, if she did succeed in becoming a Quinthar, Leahna promised to keep her new status on a strictly need-to-know basis.

Which meant there would be no Quinthar parties for her either, though what seemed to sadden her more was that she wouldn't be able to tell her pen pal.

The only real exception would be her boss, as she did really need a raise. But Leahna swore up and down that Thakir was a true gentleman, who would never be so indiscreet as to betray her confidence.

So Leahna went home empty-handed and Rylan went to bed, feeling surprisingly at peace with his decision to gift the precious object away.

The next morning, as he was finishing off some breakfast rice cakes on his couch, Arphin alerted him that there was a certain twosome of former pirates that he hadn't seen in a while about to enter the pub.

Perking up, Rylan quickly cleared his plate and put it aside. "Mm, Izzy," he started, before swallowing his last bite. "Could you go play outside for a bit?"

It wasn't that Rylan didn't trust Yuel and Nazyr; at this point, he definitely did.

The twosome had been nothing but supportive and outraged on his behalf upon finding out about the price on his head, and never even seemed to consider what they stood to gain by turning him in.

Still, they did drink rather a lot, and he didn't want the wrong person hearing about his pet spirit and getting ideas, especially since he'd learned of how Maris had once been captured by the Hermeans. Izzy was definitely curious and naïve enough to fall for a similar trap, perhaps even despite his attempts to explain and warn her about the possibility.

There were quite a few Zenite temples in the city as well. He wasn't sure how they would react to hearing about a spirit willingly following around a Quinthar, but he suspected their attention would most likely affect him negatively in some way.

In a similar vein, after getting Izzy's acceptance, he plucked Arphin out of the air and returned the blade to his sheath.

Only then did he head out of his room to greet them. However, it seemed Yuel and Nazyr had succeeded where the local Quinthar had not and talked their way into the employees-only area.

"Come on, Naz." Yuel's playful drawl echoed up the staircase from below as the twosome made their way up. "Are you telling me you really wouldn't want that tall drink of water to take that big broom of his and sweep you off your feet?"

Aaand Rylan had heard enough.

He hurried back inside, shaking his head. It would probably be best for all parties if he just pretended not to have heard anything.

Soon enough, there was a knock on his door, and after waiting a few seconds, he pulled it open, revealing a pair of figures he barely recognised. "Yuel, Nazyr," he greeted with a smile. "What lovely outfits you have on today."

"Why thank you, milord," Yuel said, coquettishly hiding his painted face behind the delicate fan he really didn't need in the current weather.

Rylan had to admit, the man looked good in drag. His long blond hair was put up with a shiny pin, and the stylish, asymmetrical hem of his blue dress swished as he sashayed in on a pair of high heels.

Although not in drag, Nazyr was almost less recognisable, thanks in large part to the life-like head of luscious brown curls he was sporting above his wide, shaven grin. With his smart coat vest and shiny black leather britches, only his one milky-white eye remained to give away his identity.

"Good ta see ya, lad," the man said, thumping Rylan on the shoulder as he moved past as well. "You look well! Finally getting some meat on your bones."

Rylan straightened. He had noticed his shoulders filling out a little more, now that he was finally getting enough to eat. "Thanks! I like the hair; you should wear that more often."

Nazyr guffawed, but Yuel was glancing around, his eyes narrowed as they flicked from Rylan's potted plants to his folded paper planes and spinners, then to the new throw pillows on his couch. "Hmm, what's this now... Do I detect a woman's touch?"

Rylan blinked. His sister had presented him with some of those things to help him 'cosy up' his loft. But was it really that obvious?

"Don't tell me; I want to guess!" Yuel said, raising a gloved hand as if to forestall Rylan's response. "I'm gonna say... that little redhead from downstairs finally wore you down!"

"She did not," Rylan replied dryly, closing the door and moving to grab some glasses.

"You know there's nothing wrong with a little... exploration, right?" Yuel asked with a teasing lilt as he perched delicately upon the couch, Nazyr flopping down next to him. "Even if you don't see a future with her at the moment, so what? She might not be all that serious about you either. I know you're still hung up on Miss Tamina, but you're young, you should—"

"—live a little," Rylan finished, rolling his eyes. "Yes yes, so you've said before, and I told you: I have larger sharks to repel."

Yue shrugged. "Very well. But you still haven't answered my original question. Whose influence am I seeing here?"

"First of all, I resent the implication that I couldn't possibly have brightened this place up myself," Rylan replied sternly as he put a teakettle on his small firemetal stove and turned it on. "Secondly, if you must know... my sister felt my living area was too drab, and took it upon herself to add some 'homeliness.' "

Yuel gasped, his eyes widening. "You found your family?! Tell. Us. Everything!"

Leaning back against the counter with a smile, Rylan did. He told them about why his father hadn't been showing up at The Knackered Hag and how Burtrand's advertising had drawn Leahna in instead. How he'd had some difficulty connecting with his sister at first, but how the matter had resolved. And finally, how he was now helping the both of them—though he kept the details about the pearl to himself.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Yuel was practically salivating, fanning himself as if he was feeling out of sorts from the juiciness of Rylan's story. "So you're the bastard offspring of a Talon and a Thorn branch family?! Goodness gracious!"

Nazyr squinted at Rylan, the little teacup and saucer looking odd in his thick, rough fingers. "Yer not gonna turn all fancy on us now, are ye?"

"Oh, come off it, Naz," Yuel replied in Rylan's stead. "Frankly, his status as a Quinthar still supersedes that of his double-bastard birth."

"Double-bastard?" Rylan sputtered. "I don't think that's how it works..."

Yuel waved his valid protests off like unclean air. "Regardless, those Talons are real clodmongers for what they did to your father. Why even go that far?"

"That's a good question," Rylan stated darkly. "I'm still not sure. Though I have my suspicions."

It definitely had something to do with his special bloodline. What, exactly, he didn't know.

When Rylan didn't elaborate, Yuel nodded slowly. "Well, we've been keeping an eye out for any changes to your bounty, but so far it's remained static. There have been some concerning rumours lately, however..."

Rylan's brows drew together. "Concerning how?"

Yuel leaned in closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially, despite the three of them being in a closed-off room. "Sailors like to gossip, as I'm sure you know. And word on the clouds has it that the conflict between the Thorns and the Talons is escalating. There was an incident at a royal gala the other day, where Vidric viciously mocked Tulio—heir to the Thorn ducal seat—which almost ended in a duel. Moreover, both parties are expanding their fleets, building new ships and hiring men to sail them. Some say they're heading for war."

"War?" Rylan asked in shock. "But... wouldn't the King interfere if his vassals tried to wipe each other out?"

"King's getting old," Nazyr replied with a grunt. "And they say the Royal Navy ain't what it used ta be. A lot of Quinthar are choosin' to live in the free cities these days."

"They're still the King's subjects, of course," Yuel continued. "And in theory, all the realm's Quinthar should rally to his flag if he calls for them, as should the armed forces of the free cities and all of the minor noble houses. But that's theory. If people feel Zeph's winds are blowing, and change is on the horizon..."

Yuel raised his hands, palms facing upwards.

Rylan shook his head. "Well, let's hope things don't come to that. Though I gotta say, I wouldn't mind too badly if the Thorns wiped out the Talons..."

Rylan wasn't necessarily a fan of the Thorns, who had produced the anklet the Thistlethorns had put on him, but he didn't really have anything against them either. Nothing like the Talons, at the very least.

Nazyr barked out a laugh. "Hear hear!"

"On to more pleasant topics, shall we?" Yuel suggested. "Did you hear Ezra and Holly opened their eatery down by the harbour? They called it The Restful Pasture. It's quite lovely, really."

"Good for them," Rylan said with a smile.

He'd been going back and forth in his mind about visiting them for a long time, but he'd ultimately chosen not to take the risk.

Holly and Ezra were known associates of his—known to Tamina, that was—so he was hesitant to visit them in case someone was watching them. He was sure he could lose a tail with Arphin's help, but he didn't want to be spotted in the first place, as it would just bring more scrutiny upon him.

Or worse, bring trouble to Ezra and Holly's doorstep.

The first time Yuel and Nazyr had visited him, he'd also, with pain in his heart, warned them that it might be wiser for them to stay away. However, the twosome had simply taken it as a challenge to get to Rylan unnoticed.

Hence their elaborate costumes every time, which made them look nothing like themselves, and should hopefully throw off anyone watching them.

They chatted for a while longer, until lunchtime was starting to approach, and Rylan had to go cook for his father. Yuel and Nazyr left again, but not before imparting Rylan with one last thing to think about.

"You know," Yuel said. "You could consider petitioning the Thorns to throw their weight against your bounty, see if they can get it removed. The enemy of my enemy, and all that. Plus, you have connections to them, in more ways than one."

Rylan frowned. That was quite similar to his sister's earlier suggestion. Though in a way, it was more palatable, as going to the Thorns directly wouldn't necessarily have him cross paths with the Thistlethorns. Still, he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved with them right now, especially if they were on the brink of war. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

As he made his way to the Hawktalon family home, however, his thoughts moved to a different topic.

Specifically, a topic he'd been putting off for too long.

"So," he started, while chopping some mushrooms for his cheesy omelette. "Remember the ramtusk Malequint I told you guys about, the one whose waveform I'm copying?"

"Yes?" Artoran replied questioningly from his seat at the table, where he was gently strumming his gittern.

Leahna glanced up from the bowl of gull eggs she was whisking with an expectant look.

"I kinda left some things out," Rylan admitted. "I didn't encounter that thing in the cloudsea. I actually faced it inside a Champion's Dungeon."

Artoran froze mid-strum. "You did what?!"

"Isn't a Champion's Dungeon meant for Sapphire-Grade Quinthar?" Leahna asked, squinting at Rylan like she suspected him of lying.

"Not... necessarily," Artoran replied, his eyes roving over Rylan as if to check for wounds. "Inside a Champion's Dungeon, you face a Malequint that's one grade above yours, in order to win an Affinity. It's true that Emerald-Grade Quinthar rarely enter one, as it takes a special kind of confidence to assume you're going to require an Affinity one day when you haven't even reached Sapphire-Grade yet... I'm just glad you managed to escape with your life!"

"Actually," Rylan said. "I didn't escape. I killed it. Well, we killed it."

[Yeah, I took a bite out of its neck!] Arphin added triumphantly. [It was awesome!]

"And I had a good reason to go in there," Rylan continued. "You see..."

This time, Rylan told the true story of how the Soggy Shepherd had achieved lift-off, by using his canister of gasified Aetherium.

"So you have an Affinity, but it's incomplete," Artoran mused once he'd gotten over his shock. "That's incredible, son! You know, I know a pharmacist who sells floating Aetherium salts; they're supposed to be good for your heart. They're not cheap, but if you could digest those—"

"Yeah, about that..." Rylan said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "Something seems to have gone wrong during the affixation process, due to that blessing Maris gave me."

Rylan had previously told them about his spirit vision. Though frankly, Leahna had kind of figured it out herself. It was simply too hard for Rylan not to glance at Izzy when she came flying by, and eventually, Leahna had taken notice of how Rylan's eyes often seemed to follow something across the room, and confronted him about it.

"And because of that," Rylan continued. "My Affinity got... warped, somehow, and Ethereon can't tell me what it is either. It just calls it an 'Unknown Affinity.' "

Artoran frowned. "Ethereon doesn't know? How is that possible..."

Rylan pursed his lips. "You never heard of anything like this either, huh? I'd kind of hoped you had."

"I haven't," Artoran confirmed, shaking his head. "I suppose we could try feeding you various salts, see if anything happens."

"Actually, it is slowly inching closer to completion already."

Artoran's brows rose. "Inching? How fast are we talking?"

"About 0.1% every three days. I'm up to 3.8% by now."

"Remarkable," Artoran muttered. "There must be trace amounts of whatever you're absorbing in the air, or perhaps in our food and drink... Well, we can always see if we can't speed it up! Let's actually start with just trying some table salt; pour it in there, Leahna!"

"Nice try, Dad," Leahna replied dryly. "You're not getting extra salt, you know it's bad for you. Rylan can just add it on his plate if he wants to try that."

Artoran sagged into his chair, shooting her a sad look as he strummed a minor chord, and started to sing. "There once was a maiden, so boring..."

"Keep this up, see if I'll help you to bed tonight," Leahna threatened, brandishing her whisk.

"Who drip-dropped her egg on the flooring!"

"Vapours!" Leahna cursed, quickly re-placing her whisk in the bowl and grabbing a rag. "That's still your fault for riling me up!"

Rylan hid his smile as he turned back to the counter to gather up his chopped mushrooms. Having a family was pretty awesome.

The rest of the week passed by rather uneventfully.

Rylan tried adding some extra salt to his meals for a couple for days, but it didn't seem to change anything to the rate his Affinity was progressing, and he quickly grew sick of the taste and gave up.

There was still the option of looking for a console to access so he could ask Ethereon for a more thorough analysis. However, with the bounty on his head, that didn't really seem like an option.

So for now, he decided to focus on the things he could make actual progress with, like his Skills. During his morning training sessions, Rylan got used to his new Augmentation for Knife-Throwing, and made some initial forays into his next step, which was spiralling throws.

Essentially, his curved throws could only go left or right. If he wanted to add more options to that, he'd have to add another type of rotation on top.

Finally, however, the time came when Leahna had finished her preparations. She'd taken the day off, and met up with Rylan on the back patio of The Knackered Hag for the big moment.

His sister was going to take the Pearl of Inspiration.

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