Fykes stood on a balcony, overlooking the city of Alkyrindaun. Giants in their diminished forms stood all around him, and a cluster of dwarves was to one side. The city glowed brilliantly in the sun, and it eclipsed the hair of the giants, providing a magnificent view.

Halessia and Raek stood next to Katerin and Roahn, Artovie the legend smith next to Brazen and Fykes.

Kul Galysa stood at the center of the grouping of giants and looked across Katerin, Brazen, Roahn and himself. "To return you home, I will need your hands, and I need you to name the place you wish to go."

The giants linked arms, and held out their hands on either side, and as Fykes offered his to hand the giant beside him he could not help but smile. "The docks of O'siaris, Itrea," he said, closing his eyes and envisioning the space in his mind as clear as if he were standing on it, now. He felt the image he pictured as it spread out from him, to the giant next to him, and moved throughout the circle.

"Say your farewells," Kul Galysa spoke in what would have been a shout, for any other. "Our own return to their home, with our blessing, our thanks, and our wish for prosperity, and peace! They endured every hardship we presented, overcame every trial we put before them, and proved themselves to be dedicated and deserving of our respect, our favor and rewards."

A chorus of agreements, farewells. and cheers rang out from everyone gathered upon the balcony.

Artovie cast a small smile to Brazen, with a nod of her head, Halessia squeezed Katerin's hand tight, and was one of the loudest voices to ring out. Only Anulin remained quiet.

"We send them home to carry the gifts we have taught them, and now they wait with us as we have for centuries, for our time on their world to come again." Kul Galysa's voice was somber, laden with an ache that the other giants seemed to feel, as well. "So farewell, our students. Farewell to our friends." She looked to the giants around her, most of them higher members of the Caste, with a question in her eyes. As they nodded, she closed her eyes once again.

And Fykes knew that when he opened his eyes again, he would be home. The air around him took on an electrified smell, the ground under his feet seemed to shift back and forth like waves. A tingling sensation fell over him, and suddenly he was spinning with his feet no longer on that waving, uneven ground. He heard a quiet pop, and sucked in a quick breath. And for the first time in months that breath held a slight chill, the smell of sand and salt, and fish. His feet steadied, and his eyes opened to the sight of wooden buildings, and muddy, rutted roads.

He let out a whoop, and threw his head back. Feeling the late fall breeze and the sun on his skin.

Katerin looked exactly as he felt, and she sank to her knees on the dock, gripping one of the wooden planks with a grin. "Welcome home," she said, just above a whisper, as if more to herself than anyone else present.

Crowds were starting to draw, now, surprise on their faces as their lord and lady appeared without warning in the middle of the dock.

Roahn was laughing so hard her shoulders shook. "We'll be watching, they said." She paused, fighting to find a breath. "I hope for their sake they don't watch at all times!" She snorted, and shook her head.

"You've got such a way with people, Roahn." Fykes said, with a shake of his head.

"Of course I do!" Roahn offered him a toothy grin. "It's called money, and I'm off to go and spend as of much of it, as I can." She slapped Katerin on the shoulder so soundly that Katerin wobbled. "You. If you need a hand, or find any good paying work, find me in Rastridge. And you," She turned to Brazen, with a mock glare. "Don't do anything stupid, kid."

"I won't be as stupid as you." He smiled, and hugged her, before she could step away.

With that, Roahn gave them one last garish grin, and marched down the street with her chin held high.

Katerin sighed. "I take it she doesn't want to stay for dinner."

"One of these days, someone will accept your invitations," Fykes said.

The three of them stood on the docks for several minutes, and Fykes blinked, letting his senses adjust to the difference in the air, lighting, and the sounds. He gazed to the trees on the outskirts of town, and sighed. Here, fall was just deepening its hold. Their year and a half spent in Alkyrindaun felt like it had been longer. A part of him was thankful that time had passed differently, between the realms. Gods, did dinner sound good. "Can you get a hold of Arjiah?"

Katerin opened her eyes. "Already did. She'll meet us at the manor, shortly." Katerin held out a hand to both Fykes and Brazen. "Let's go home."

They found the manor in perfect condition and as the gate opened, Zino greeted them with an incredible amount of gusto. Hugging them all, and only gaping at Brazen for a moment, before listing the endless improvements he had made to the manor in their absence. There was a garden, livestock, cobbled paths, and he was working on a fountain, for the back lawn. It was beautiful.

But it was not the structure they had missed.

Katerin threw open the doors with a heaviness in her chest. But she beheld a great hall, where not a speck of dust had gathered. Instead, it seemed more lively than it had before they left. Seated at the head table in front of the hearth, were four people. A wild haired gnome, a red cheeked man in a purple coat, a slender looking blond half-elf, and a tense looking, close cropped human.

Jon stood up from his chair so fast it fell over, causing Zino to flinch. "Unholy mother of the hells, they're home!"

"Nice to see you're enjoying the amenities," Fykes said, looking across the table.

Lugaria stood and looked to the door. "We should get going, anyway," he said.

Katerin stepped forward with a glare. "Nuh-uh. Sit." She eyed both him and Agrata with an eyebrow raised, until Lugaria frowned but sat back down in his seat.

Donovar stretched lazily, his pipe dispersing a cloud of smoke around him. "Any good tales?"

"Aye! What happened? Did you find it? Did they kick you out early? Try an kill you?" He looked at Brazen as if his gaze was going to slide past, and then stayed stuck on the young human. "And, uh, what happened to him?

"No. It went well. We were there for a year." Katerin said, watching Lugaria and Agrata as though they might try to sneak away. She glanced to Brazen. "His story is a long one." She could not help the joy in her tone.

Lugaria snorted. "Where you went, did they erase your ability to count?"

"Was it time travel?" Donovar asked, curiosity on his face.

"Just wait until Arjiah gets here," Brazen said. "Then we can tell you everything."

Katerin nodded as she hung her cloak on the rack by the door, and doffed her boots, wiggling her toes on the floor. Her floor was not polished and gleaming marble, but patterned stone and polished wood, and not even the gods themselves could have known at that moment how much she had missed it.

The door opened suddenly, and Graiden stepped in. "Donovar! Can you explain why you had to urine—" He stopped, and blinked at the three of them. "You're home?"

"Just a minute ago," Fykes said.

Katerin ran forward and wrapped Graiden in a hug.

He let out a laugh, and returned her embrace with all the fatherly attitude she had missed.

"I'm sorry we weren't here," she whispered, so that only he could hear.

He shook his head. "None of that." As he released her she gestured to the table.

Pilard poked her head out from the kitchen door. And her eyes grew wide. "My lady, my lord!" she did her best impression of a bow, which was more of a slow nod of her head, and began glaring daggers at Zino and the others who had previously been seated at the table. "I'll have you some food right quick," she said to Katerin, before she turned to the men. "Which one of you was it that decided I wasn't in need of knowing they were home?" She shouted, waving her spoon menacingly, before disappearing behind the door again, leaving them all to listen to a cacophony of pans being banged about.

As everyone sat, and hellos were finished, Katerin glanced around her table with a frown. "Why is it you're all here, anyway?"

Donovar laughed, and Graiden coughed.

"Well, the inn's been quite busy, and Pilard here said she was being paid to cook for no one," Graiden began.

"And you said that if I needed to I could stay here," Donovar piped up.

Katerin turned to him. "How long did it take you to get kicked out of the inn?"

"I didn't mean to put that hole in the ceiling! I was just trying to show Harness how he could clean all his glasses at once..."

The evening passed in a relaxed fashion.

Arjiah and Do'vak joined them during their meal, and after dinner their conversations and card games moved to a smaller, more comfortable lounge. They talked, drank, joked and played games of chance late into the night.

Eventually Graiden excused himself, Lugaria and Agrata followed his queue, and Katerin wanted to laugh at how carefully they planned their escape. They had tried to leave more than once, and she had glared them back to their seats, especially while Graiden had explained just how much time they had spent at the manor, in the past months. Lugaria had almost looked sheepish, and Agrata had responded to Graiden's words with a smile and a shrug.

Later, Arjiah and Do'vak excused themselves, but they opted to stay in Arjiah's room in the manor. Insisting they had to spend more time visiting, before returning to Ky'lei'mei.

Jon, Donovar, and Fykes carried on long into the night, and after an hour of their drunken stories and bawdy laughter, Katerin left them to whatever fun their inebriated minds could conjure up, and made her way to her room, on the manors top floor. Nothing had been moved, and no dust had gathered over her books and belongings, or the pair of Fykes trousers that still hung on the back of the door. She was elated to be back, and to see the faces of her friends but it felt tainted and heavy.

As she lit the sconces around the room with various flicks of her fingers and the focus of a simple incantation of fire, she thought of Graiden and Lugaria. Both had been injured with that terrible weapon and both had aged. Despite how he tried to hide it Lugaria's leg still pained him, and he still limped on it. If only she had paid more attention to the weapon instead of the orc that held it, she might have saved them all some trouble.

Had she only realized what the animosity of the orcs had come from, she might have been able to save everyone a great deal of suffering. If only she had understood that she truly did fit, in this place with these people, before running off in her fear.

She sorted the weight of her shortsightedness on her shoulders, with the rest of the weight that she held there, and worked to begin acclimating herself to it. It was not her fault, and it was already done, but for some reason she could not push away the thought that she could have been a reason for the war to never begin.

When her mind began to wander towards how many people had died, she pushed those thoughts away, and instead admired the beauty of her home. If felt as though it had been ages since she had been able to sit in silence and process her thoughts, without a wandering gaze, or a question towards her well being. And so she sat for many hours, watching the stars winking in the sky.

Eventually, she heard clumsy footsteps plodding up the stairs, and she opened the door to see a rather disheveled Fykes.

"Hi," he slurred, with a smile across his face.

"Glad to see you enjoyed your evening." She raised one eyebrow. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

"You're going to join me, right?" He tried for that mischievous smile, but lost it somewhere in his drunken wobble.

"You need to sleep," she said. Pulling him through the door and shutting it behind him.

"That's not fair," he protested, as he half fell, half sat on the bed.

"It's entirely fair. Give me your boots."

He groaned, but held up his feet and hummed as she pulled of his boots. "I'm really not tired," he said.

"Sure," she said, letting out a snort. "If that's the case, lay down, and close your eyes."

"You're not playing fair."

"I never promised you I would, so I don't see why we need to discuss it." Before she could pull the blanket fully up around him, he was fast asleep.