The trek was very uneventful. Ena bought a few adventure novels for them to read at their last stop before the borderlands, but still the time seemed to slow to a crawl. By the time they reached Lucas's hometown, they were all very glad to be anywhere else than inside the truck.

"Thanks a ton for the ride, Ena," Lucas said as he hopped down to the ground.

"No problem, kid." She waved her hand nonchalantly. "I have to take this cargo to the mining center and then I'll visit my own folks. But maybe I'll drop by to say hi to your father too before heading back. Take care, all of you." And with that, she closed the car door and drove off.

Mrei slowly surveyed her surroundings. Compared to Delavia, it sure was....different. No sparkling blue walls or elegant spires. The houses were blocks made of gray stone or wooden planks, and were one or two stories high with simple rectangular windows.

"How many people live in one of those houses?" she asked Lucas. "It doesn't look very...spacious."

"Hmm? Oh, just one family. I think there's plenty of room."

"They just look so...flat."

Lucas shrugged. "That's just the way we live." He remembered Delavia's buildings reaching for the skies, but this was how he had lived his whole life. "Come, my home is this way."

He stopped to check his pockets at the front door only to realize that his key was gone. Either the soldiers had taken it or it had fallen at some point. Then he rang the doorbell. Hopefully father was home. At this hour he should be. He racked his memory a little. Nope, no gatherings today that he could remember.

When the door was opened he just walked in with "I'm home", Kress and Mrei quickly following in tow.

"Hey, hold on!" Aidan called after him as he closed the front door. "You just disappear for days and all I get is 'I'm home'?"

"I was looking for mother and Leyla. I left you a note."

"Now that was not the point. You are 12. And in the eyes of the rest of world you are a 'heathen', therefore below fair treatment. There are plenty of people who could have just snatched you up and what would you have done then?"

Lucas opted not to say that he sort of had been. Not quite yet at least. "I made it home alright, right?"

Aidan groaned. "You count too much on the blessing of the sky spirits."

Lucas gave him a questioning look, "Don't you too?"

"No, not quite that much. I don't do stupid things because I can."

Lucas remained quiet. Mrei took that time to observe his father. He was tall - although practically all adults were tall from a 10-year-old's perspective -, and had skin and hair color similar to Lucas. His eyes were pitch-black instead of Lucas's dark brown, though. He had the same earrings - those had to be some tribal thing! He didn't wear a vest, but the long sleeves of his shirt had some patterns embroidered on them.

"Alright, I suppose that's enough scolding for you." Aidan stopped frowning and ruffled his son's hair. "I'm just glad you're safely back home. Who are your friends?"

"This is Kress. And this is Mrei. I met them both in Delavia."

Aidan looked them once over. A young girl in what looked like a school uniform and a boy with white hair like an old man dressed in plain gray clothes. A strange duo to be certain. "Nice to meet you. I'm Aidan, Lucas's father."

"And imagine this, father," Lucas continued. "Kress has a pendant too!"

"Really? I thought they were only held by specific people in the Skyfall tribe."

Reluctantly Kress took his pendant out of hiding and held it up for Aidan to see.

"It's real," Lucas confirmed quickly. "It reacted with mine. But for some reason they didn't stay together."

"That's normal. It takes a little more than sticking them together to make them into one." So Kress was blessed too. The pendants only reacted to each other in the hands of those blessed by the spirits.

"But enough about that. You all look like you could use a shower and a change of clothes."

"Yes, please!" Mrei quickly stated. She was dusty and she was sure she smelled like a cerro after days of traveling in that truck with Kavo.

"Yeah, I could go for a shower too," Lucas commented and turned to head past the stairs and out of the room.

Aidan grabbed the collar of his vest to stop him. "Guests first. Find some clean clothes that would fit your friends and then come help me with supper."

"My pajamas should fit Mrei well enough." He was pretty sure he had some from last year that were a little bit tight on him somewhere. "But where do I find something for Kress?"

"Check the boxes labeled 'children's clothes' in the basement. Your sister's old clothes should still be there."

"I don't want to wear dresses," Kress stated flatly.

"We don't have any dresses. They're far too impractical. And you don't have to wear her shawls if you don't want to. I was saving those clothes for Lucas, so they should be fine for you too."

Lucas showed where the bathroom was to Mrei and Kress and then went to the basement to look for the clothes. He returned just in time when Mrei walked into the living room wrapped in a large towel.

Aidan took the clothes from him and shooed him out of the room to wait for his turn to take a shower so that Mrei could get dressed in peace. "Here you go, young lady. I'll be in the kitchen over there."

"Thank you," Mrei smiled. She was feeling so refreshed now. Quickly she slipped into the pajamas and followed Lucas's father to the kitchen.

"Ah, there you are. Would you watch this stew for me for a little bit?"

"Sure?" Mrei wasn't quite sure why she should watch it.

"That's great! Here." He pulled a stool next to the stove and hoisted her up on it, so she could reach the pot. Then he handed her a huge plastic spoon. "I'll be back once I've given Kress his clothes."

"Ah..." Mrei panicked. "Wait! What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Keep an eye on the stew, of course."

"I am keeping an eye on it, but what do I do with this spoon?"

Aidan suppressed a chuckle. He hadn't thought any child of her age could be that clueless how to cook. "It's fine as long as it simmers low like this. But if it starts boiling over, mix it with the spoon." He took the item in question momentarily. "Slowly and all the way to the bottom like this. See?"

Mrei nodded. "I got it."

"I'll be in the living room. Just yell if you need help."

Meanwhile, Kress had showered and made his way to the living room, likewise wrapped in a towel. He acknowledged Aidan with a nod as the man handed him simple blue pants and a white shirt covered almost completely with what he guessed was some tribal pattern. It was painted instead of embroidered, though.

Then he turned around before dropping the towel and quickly donning the pants.

They hung low on his hips, a little too large for him, Aidan noted. He was about to say that he'd get a belt for the boy when his attention was drawn to the dark pattern adorning his skin, like stylized wings of some great bird.

Just that moment Kress turned around and reached for the shirt lying on the armrest of the couch.

"Wait! Kress...was it?" Aidan stopped him.

Kress eyed him warily. "What?"

"That pattern on your back. How did you get it?"

"I don't remember. Not how, when or where. One day it just was there."

Lucas interrupted the discussion by dashing through the room and draping the sheepskin lying on one of the chairs around himself. "You used up all warm water!" he protested, shivering. "It was freezing!"

"Blame the princess for that. It was already cold when I started," Kress stated flatly.

"Not now, Lucas," Aidan told him. "Go fetch that engraved disc from you-know-where. The one with the wing pattern."

"Oookay." He hurried off, still wrapped in the sheepskin, and soon enough returned with the said object. Aidan beckoned also Kress closer to inspect it.

It was a simple enough piece of metal, bronze maybe, darkened with age despite being lovingly polished. It bore a wing-like black pattern.

"What is your point?" he asked Aidan.

"Don't you think it looks exactly the same?"

"So? It could be a tattoo I just don't remember taking."

"How can you -not- remember taking a tattoo?" Lucas asked, surprised. He'd imagine nobody could forget being prickled with a needle over and over again.

"I was too drugged to remember my own name half the time! So yes, I've forgotten things."

"Let's stay calm, shall we?" Aidan suggested. "What if it is not a tattoo?"

Kress huffed and pulled the shirt over his head. "Get to the point already or leave it."

"We of the Skyfall tribe have been praying for that mark to appear on one of our children for generations. It is the mark of the messenger from the Sky spirits. A sign that that person will lead us back to the land beyond the clouds."

Kress was stunned for a second. "That's absurd! I'm not of your tribe nor do I believe in your deities."

"Neither would have I thought that it was even possible for the messenger to be an outsider."

"What messenger?" Lucas put in. "Why haven't I heard of it?"

"I was waiting for you to grow a bit older and more mature. The messenger has been a taboo subject with the king's men around ever since the Kingdom of Dawn invaded our lands." He tapped the boy's forehead with one finger. "And you are just like your mother in defending your beliefs. Loud and clear. I thought that the less you knew, the safer you'd be."

"Excuse me?" Mrei called from the kitchen door. "Can we eat soon? The stew smells like it's ready."

"Thank you, Mrei. Let's eat then," Aidan replied. "I will tell you the entire legend at the table."