After having been gone for just over an entire week, Vin and his team decided to stick around for a few days before heading out again. He checked in on Theodore and Kelly to ensure the Foreign Branch was operating smoothly, and received news that not only had the fourth wave brought them yet another Ambassador and Diplomat to work with, but that Kelly and Theodore had both finally prestiged. Theodore was now a Trickster Spy, and Kelly had officially become an Elven Diplomat.

Naturally.

After suffering through a rather long-winded discussion about Kelly's true love that she'd been seeing over in the Sacred Forest and how they were already beginning to think about marriage, Vin instructed them to keep doing what they were doing, and to just let him know if they needed anything. He still felt just a little bit bad about basically delegating everything to the two of them, but they didn't seem to mind. Kelly was a rockstar when it came to organizing their members to tackle all the different tasks, if only to ensure that she would have the Sacred Forest all to herself.

While Theodore sadly didn't receive any new members for his Foreign Affairs division with the fourth wave, he had actually begun working hand-in-hand with a few of the combat classes. While the Scout class wasn't quite as useful in direct combat as many of the other classes, Scouts were perfect for infiltration and getting around quickly. With Phil's permission, Theodore had taken three volunteers and begun training with them, with the end goal of being able to quickly and safely move through dungeons or across the surface of Edregon when needed. At this point, they had officially been adopted into his Foreign Affairs sub-branch, which made the Spy beyond giddy to no longer be alone.

In that same vein, Vin had gone to Myers and asked her directly for a status update on the Saboteur that they were keeping locked up.

To his utter shock, she informed him that the woman had already been 'taken care of' during his week away.

"You just… killed her?" he asked, unable to believe his ears. "Barely anyone even knew she existed!"

"They certainly would have if we hadn't stopped her in time," Myers explained. "It took us some time to piece this together, but as it turns out, simply by 'defying' our society and its rules she was gaining passive experience, even while locked up in prison. When she hit level 10 and received her Capstone, an ability that seemed to prevent locks or restraints from working on her, the very first thing she did was break out and make a beeline for the center of town."

"Oh God, did she hurt anyone?" Vin asked, holding his breath.

"Thankfully, she didn't, but she certainly came close. When Abby and the guard finally stopped her, she was in the middle of attempting to set fire to the town hall with some materials she'd grabbed from the Crafter Guild. Linda had still been inside the town hall when all this went down, catching up on some late-night work."

"That's horrible!" Vin gasped. "What happened to her whole 'claiming she wouldn't hurt anyone' thing?"

"Apparently, she decided shouting for anyone inside to get out before attempting to set the building on fire was good enough," Myers drawled. "Anyway, that's why she's no longer a concern. With her Capstone in play, the guards couldn't capture or contain her, and when she tried to run, Abby took matters into her own hands and cut her down before she could attempt to destroy any other buildings. This all happened pretty late at night, so few people are even aware of it. Other than Linda and a few crafters she strong-armed out of her way while raiding the guild."

"Wow…" Vin muttered, blown away by what he'd missed. "That's one crazy story. I'm glad Linda is alright though."

"That's what happens when you leave town for a week," Myers said with a shrug. "And trust me, you're not nearly as glad as I am."

"I still feel a bit bad that the woman ended up dying, even after what she tried to do," Vin admitted. "I completely understand why it had to be done, I just don't like it."

"Nobody likes killing people," Myers said, offering him a sad smile. "At least they shouldn't. It's one of the many reasons why you make such a good council member."

Beyond handling issues relating to the Foreign Branch, Vin also continued to work with Wanda and Ronald on their magic. It came as no surprise to him that both were struggling with their respective tier 1 spells he'd lent them. Based on the bright-red skin Ronald had all over his body and the sopping-wet clothing Wanda was wearing each morning he dropped by to refresh their runic formations, they had each experienced countless runic backlashes for their efforts.

When he wasn't running around handling responsibilities he had toward Terra, Vin spent most of his time working on his own magic. Trying to take a page out of Shia and Lumel's playbook, who both spent massive amounts of their free time working on their higher tier spells, he buckled down and got to work. He had a handful of ideas for new spells he might be able to create on his own, but he had at least one already primed and waiting for him to finish figuring out first.

New spell learned! Tier 2 Spatial Spell (Magic Lock).

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It wasn't nearly as complicated as Dimensional Sheath, but the spell still took him two more days of practice to finally get down, and that was after the handful of hours he'd already put into understanding the runic formation back in the sky fragment. Spatial-aligned spells continued to be one of the trickier affinities of magic he knew of, but at least he finally had his magic lock.

Aptly timed now that he and Lumel were spending a bit more alone time with one another here and there.

After sleeping together over in the sky fragment, things had understandably gotten a little bit awkward between them when it came to things like wishing the other goodnight. At least at first.

Vin was well aware by now that Lumel was not only a rather shy person, but one who hadn't really grown up with any actual friends, let alone boyfriends. The ever-watchful eyes of the queen who nobody wanted to anger kept the other pulmons from approaching her, forcing Lumel to grow up practically alone, despite the massive size of her father's palace. Because of that, she struggled a little to speak up both about things she wanted, and things she didn't, as if afraid trying to bring up either would anger others and turn them against her. Her epiphany over in the sky fragment when she'd nearly lost all of them had certainly helped in that regard, but it would take more than a single moment to cure her of her many years suffered alone.

As it was, the two of them were slowly but surely figuring out what worked for them as a couple. Or lovemates, as Lumel's people called it. It helped Lumel's insecurities surrounding other people that they had the apartment completely to themselves more often than not most nights, thanks to Shia visiting the Sacred Forest so frequently and Scule staying out exceptionally late with Casper and Reginald in search of herbs that only came out at night.

While he and Lumel were now slowly learning about one another in a more intimate sense late in the evenings, there were more mundane things they were discovering as well, such as actually sleeping with one another. For example, the first thing he'd discovered about sharing a bed with a pulmon was that they were remarkably soft.

After all the effort he'd put into creating his own personal stronghold of slumber, complete with shimmerwing mattress, merider-silk blanket, and now a literal cloud for a pillow, Vin had admittedly been just a tad worried about introducing another person into his hard-earned set up. But to his shock, Lumel had fit in perfectly. Due to the unique texture and properties of her gel-like skin, she all but molded around his arms while they slept, rounding out his stronghold of slumber like a capstone on a pyramid.

Her strange skin also had the remarkable properties of remaining cool even as he grew warm under the silk blanket, which made her basically the perfect sleeping partner.

After a few nights of embarrassment where, to Vin's amusement, Lumel physically used Dimensional Shift to warp back to her own room in the morning, lest she be made fun of by Scule and Shia in the event they caught her exiting his room together, she finally grew bold enough to sleep in with him and follow him out into the common room come morning.

The first time Shia noticed this, busy pruning Blossom in the middle of the common room, she simply gave them both a wide grin and a thumbs up, before going back to her work.

The first time Scule had noticed, he just snorted and muttered "finally" under his breath before returning his attention back to his poisons.

Reginald had simply given them both an approving nod, a sly twinkle sparkling in his eye.

After their group had been back for a good three full days, Vin finally began to feel the telltale signs of his wanderlust acting up again. Despite the fact that they'd been gone for so long with their previous adventure, he'd spent nearly half that time completely unconscious, and most of the other half learning new magic. Honestly, he hadn't really had more than one or two full days of exploring the new fragment, so he quickly came to the conclusion that it was time to stretch their legs again.

So it was that on their fourth night back, Vin gathered them around the table in the common room and laid out the map he'd been sketching all this time in his journal.

"Alright, I'm heading out tomorrow," he said, looking between his companions. "Anyone else want to come with me, and if so, any preferences as to where we go?"

"I'm down for an excursion, so long as we have actual ground we can walk on," Scule said, walking onto his journal and peering down at the map. "And, you know, people with stuff I can actually take. Not everything made of Gods damned clouds, for example."

"I actually think I'm going to sit this one out," Shia said, looking oddly furtive for some reason. "Might I recommend you take advantage of my absence to finally go take a look at Forpurt's fragment? I'm not at all a fan of the cold, so I certainly won't feel left out for this one."

"Alright, you literally strung me upside down and threatened to tickle me to death when I acted all mysterious and refused to tell you what I was doing on my own," Scule said, frowning up at her. "What gives? You got a secret family too you're not telling us about or something?"

"No, but I do have something Erik wants to talk to me about," she admitted, grinning at him and poking him in the chest, causing Scule to stumble back a step. "It's nothing bad I promise, but it is something he wants to keep a surprise."

"If that's what Erik wants, we won't pry," Vin said, directing his words toward Scule. "Right?"

"Fine, fine, no prying," he huffed, jamming his hands in his pockets and muttering something about eyelashes under his breath.

"The arctic fragment isn't a bad idea," Lumel nodded, pointing at Alka's old fragment next to it. "We could swing by and see if Alka wants to join us as well. I doubt she'd want to miss two new fragments in a row. And I'm definitely in, of course. I've wanted to meet one of these capillans ever since you told me about Forpurt!"

"Actually, is the cold going to be a problem for your skin?" Scule asked, peering at her exposed hand. "I don't know pulmon biology, but I'd assume your skin is more moist and fragile than ours, which wouldn't play very well with the cold."

At Scule's question and curious gaze, Lumel almost pulled her hand back into her robes, before stopping herself at the last second. Slowly, she placed it back down on the table and shook her head. "It would definitely be a problem for any regular pulmon, but with my amulet, I should be fine. It's designed to allow me to survive in more varied environments."

"Alright, I guess that settles it," Vin said, smiling at them and taking his journal back. "Tomorrow, we swing by Alka's old fragment, see if she wants to join us, and then head northeast to the arctic. Looks like it's finally time to pay Forpurt a house call."

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