Fuyuko spent a fair amount of time continuing to practice with her newer throwing weapons during the few days they were back home, though the middle of one day was interrupted by a family meal in the Azeria forest, with Norumi and Haolong. Of course, as spiritual beings that could choose when to manifest physical bodies, they didn't really require normal homes, so it was more like a picnic in an area they were especially fond of. It was nice, though.

But then it was time to head north. To Trionea. To the barony and city of Cantraberg. To her original home.

That made her nervous in ways that she didn't understand, but her parents seemed to understand it better than she did, and all three of them were making sure to spend more time than usual checking up on her and just being nearby.

The group that set out for Cantraberg was a lot smaller than the one that had set out for training. Herself, Papa, Mama M and Mama K, Bellona, Xarlug, and Amrydor.

She had asked why Amrydor was coming when none of the other champion trainees were coming, or anyone else their age.

"Well," Papa said, "he's been marked by Kuiccihan for training with a nexus to develop whatever powers can be formed from the resonance of our alliance. This is still new and experimental, though I have been working on some ideas. I also want to see what develops when we go rescue Deidre's core, and compare against both Dersuta and ourselves. That might give me some clues. Finally, I am giving him one specific duty. His job is to protect you above all else. Given his ability to detect and distinguish life forces, he is uniquely suited to this role, and it is almost certain that at some point, I will be too busy to ensure your safety. I know you won't take well to being a passive member of this expedition, so if he is with you, then both of you will have plenty to keep you occupied once we delve deep enough."

In other words, Papa had lots of reasons, but he was also taking advantage of the situation to be protective of her. Which made her feel warm and happy at the same time that she was vaguely annoyed by it. And maybe a little annoyed at Amrydor for going along with it, even if he didn't really have much choice.

Or maybe her annoyance was to cover up her own nervousness, which is what Mama M suggested when Fuyuko talked to her about it. Mama K agreed.

Fuyuko refused to admit that they were probably right.

Of course, they weren't the only ones heading north. Once more, Akahana, Ricardo, Casey, Zara, and Tiros were going to be providing the transportation, but this time, their mission was to make sure that they were available for a ride out. A contingency, as Papa put it.

He did like having lots of backup plans, and he'd been trying to teach her how to think in all the layers needed to keep making plans. Fuyuko didn't really have the knack for it yet, but she was starting to get the idea. Sometimes you can't know what might go wrong, but you can usually see where there was potential for something to go wrong, and at least try to have an alternative plan.

Which, she supposed, was technically a description of why he wanted Amrydor focused on defending her. That didn't make her like it any better.

Whenever she had any free time and looked at loose ends, Papa had taken to teaching her and Amry new board games to teach them about backup plans. He had shown them several to see what they'd find interesting, and all the beads, disks and tiny statues were starting to blend together. Well, there would be a lot of free time on the trip to figure them out, unless the baby dragons stole too many of the pieces, of course.

They were flying into Cantraberg, rather than taking the roads, so there was no real point in trying to disguise their departure time. It felt a little strange to have spent three days at Azeria if they were in a rush, but Zara and Tiros did need to recover fully, and during those three days, the wagon had been unloaded and a lot of supplies changed out.

Even flying directly, it took two and a half days for them to reach Cantraberg, though unlike when they had been crossing elvish lands, their flying escort stayed with them all the way from the border.

Before this, Fuyuko had never paid any attention to the holdings outside of the city itself, but as they were descending, she could see an army encircling one of the more distant walled estates. That had to be their final destination.

The wagon touched down on a clear section of the main road to finish approaching the city on the ground. Ricardo dealt with nervous-looking guards at the gate, who had to fetch their captain before they'd let the wagon in.

Fuyuko was a little surprised when Ricardo took them to stable with an open paddock with a simple cover at one end, which they were using instead of the actual stable building, but she was soon enlightened by her grandpa. "I've paid for plenty of room, which means I can park the wagon in the paddock too. That way, all four of us will be with the wagon while you lot are off rescuing Deidre. If we used a stable, Zara, Tiros, and Casey would be there while the wagon would be stored elsewhere. It seems best to keep everyone together. Also, I prefer to see trouble coming, rather than be surrounded unaware, if it comes to that."

Once the wagon was secured, Zara and Tiros were unhitched, and Casey had set about exploring the paddock and bullying any horses that didn't get out of her way, the expedition party started off by heading to the market area, and from there, splitting into two groups. Fuyuko had forgotten how much the market had smelled of smoke. There were lots of different sources including smoky fires for warmth, smoked meats and nuts, and smoke hardened wood items. It made her nose feel numb and overloaded. Most of them were going to be staying here, but Fuyuko, Papa, and Amrydor had another destination, and there was a good reason that it was only the three of them going.

If anyone else was with them, they'd never find their destination.

Not that Fuyuko could find the Sanctuary easily, but she had most, if not all, of her memories back. The exact location to the sanctuary wasn't a specific spot really; it sort of shifted, and could sometimes be in different locations for different people, if they weren't together. But she could get them into the right general area, which meant that someone from Sanctuary would be able to find them.

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She and Amrydor had both been raised in a Sanctuary, and Papa was friends with Li and was a priest of Ozuran, who was also Li's friend. Papa said that would make them safe enough to approach. Fuyuko wasn't sure how that worked, but Papa was rarely wrong, and this was the sort of thing that he seemed to know a lot about.

Once they were in the right area, Fuyuko said, "Um, so, we're as close as I can get us, I think. What do we do now?"

"We wait," Papa said as he glanced around. "It would be best to be a little out of the way, but not skulking in an alley or anything. Let's try here. Amrydor, make sure to pull out your coin." The street corner he picked was on the end of an alley, but Fuyuko supposed that wasn't the same as being in said alley. What she found a little odd at first was that he put his back toward that alleyway. Then she realized that being deliberately easy to approach from behind was part of the point; if you wanted something to happen that you weren't supposed to see, then make sure you weren't looking.

Amrydor was a bit slower on the uptake, but it had been six years since he'd had to think from this sort of perspective. He also looked a bit guilty as he fetched out his holy symbol for Li. The simple coin with the rat head and tail motif seemed like it should have been out of place, displayed against his polished breastplate, but somehow it fit in just fine.

The three of them were rather conspicuous, standing together and clearly not looking at the alley behind them. But Amrydor was clearly armored, and all three of them were well dressed without being ostentatious. They did not look lost or helpless. Which made them the sort of anomaly people in poor neighborhoods generally took care to avoid.

Waiting was sort of boring, but Fuyuko soon found a way to amuse herself. She had to be slow and gentle at first, but she was able to quietly take superficial control of Amrydor's shadow. Soon, she had Amry's shadow doing funny dances and making mocking gestures behind Amry's back.

"If I didn't know one of you, I'd be worried this was a trick of some sort. Could you be more obvious?" A woman's voice muttered from behind them.

"Yvonne!" Fuyuko shouted as she spun and threw herself at the blonde woman, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I missed you!"

"Oof, ease up, girl. You've gotten strong! Now, come on, let me get a good look at you."

Embarrassed, Fuyuko let go and took a step back, then fidgeted as Yvonne examined her. "Sorry," she muttered.

Yvonne just grinned at her. "Think nothing of it. Huh, I think you're even taller now. You've certainly been eating well, and doing a lot of some sort of crazy to get this strong already. Growing up so fast; why, you even brought two handsome young men home!"

Fuyuko's eyes widened at the teasing, and she turned bright red. "Yvie! Ew, no! That's my new papa, Mordecai, and this is my friend Amrydor, he also works for Papa. Sorta. Er, it's complicated."

"Hmm, I bet." Yvonne turned toward Mordecai and eyed him rather critically. "I've heard some rumors this past year. I do believe I should be addressing you as Lord Mordecai?"

Papa shook his head with a slight smile. "I could be emperor of all the world, and Li would still call me Mordi. And if he ever stopped doing that, other than to tease me, I'd know that I had done something wrong. So no, I see no reason for one of his people to use titles on me." He paused, then gestured at Fuyuko. "Other than her, when appropriate. She is a princess now, after all."

"Hmm." Yvonne turned her gaze toward Amrydor. "What's your story? And why does a kid like you have death lurking in his shadow?"

"Funny," Amry said, "I thought that it was only badly behaved luponi girls who seemed to like to mess with my shadow."

Eep! He'd noticed! Fuyuko looked away when he tried to lock gazes with her.

He smirked, then turned back to Yvonne. "Honestly, that touch has always been with me, but knowing death also means knowing life. Which is why I knew you came from the same sort of weird direction Yuyu likes to slip off to," he said, throwing another teasing glance at Fuyuko, "though it's a slightly different not-direction. Also, you're better than her at it, so you got really close before I noticed."

Fuyuko frowned at him for that, then looked away when he glanced at her again. Sure, Yvie was probably better than her, but it's not like Amry had to tell her that. That thought gave her pause. Fuyuko never really considered how the caretakers managed to be in places or do things when needed, but now she really looked at Yvonne, stretching out her aura and senses.

What she found was vague and indistinct, too slippery for her to really tell if Yvonne was stronger than her or not, or even get a clear feel for whether she was good at magic or fighting.

But that meant that Yvonne was really good at not being noticed, and having such an imprecise feel for Yvonne's strength almost certainly meant that her former caretaker was stronger than Fuyuko was, in an actual fight.

That was kind of scary.

"Oh, you really have been getting better," Yvonne said with a smile. "Decent control over your aura, though not terribly subtle. Then again, it's only been a year; it's amazing you've gotten this strong already. I admit to being a little concerned about what you went through to improve this much." She cast a sidelong glance at Mordecai, who raised his hands.

"Oh no, I am not taking the blame for this one. I helped her get what she wanted, but the drive was all hers, and not my fault. She ran into Gil first. In fact, she should probably tell you that story."

Fuyuko grinned with excitement at the idea of telling Yvie all about her adventures, but Yvonne held up her hand. "No, wait. Not out here." She looked all three of them over again, then sighed. "Alright, I'll escort you in. Come on, follow me."

She led them back down the alleyway, but this time shadows thickened and darkened around them as they moved, and Fuyuko could feel their direction shift just a touch away from the normal world, though not the same way as when she shadow jumped. It was a little odd, and she was fairly certain it wasn't the same as how she normally used to find the entrance to Sanctuary.

But, just like she was used to from all those years living here, they still stepped down into a tiny stairway, turned right into a cramped tunnel, and made their way through several twists before stepping past a heavily curtained doorway to walk into the sanctuary. Fuyuko could feel where they were in relation to the shadows of the normal world, and feeling them be only on that direction was strange. It was almost like when...

"Wait, is the sanctuary partway to the shadowlands?" Fuyuko asked. "It feels like when I took that long jump and got stuck, and Papa had to pull me out. Only, you know, it doesn't feel like I'm falling all the way through the world."

"Yes," Yvonne said, "and I think that verifies something." She looked at Mordecai. "You weren't actually following the path I opened, were you?"

He shrugged with a slightly guilty smile. "As long as Li is willing to play with me, I'll always be able to find and reach a sanctuary if I want to. You can't play a good game of hide and seek unless there is a chance the seeker can find you. But it also seems rude to barge my way in if I don't need to, and I wanted to make sure these two both knew how to re-find Sanctuary, or rather, let a Sanctuary find them."

"Ah, so that is where he got the coin. I suspected something along those lines. Well, let me introduce you to the other caretakers and the kids, then maybe we can have a meal together."

"Our treat!" Fuyuko said with a grin. "Amry and I both packed a lot of food so that we could cook for you today. Um, Bellona also gave me a tiny bit of elemental salts, but I'm only going to add them when a dish is served, and only the ones you tell me, if any. I don't think I'm good enough to tell which kids can have how much of which salts yet."

With that, she dashed off to the kitchen, with Amrydor following at a slower pace as he looked around.

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