"Hey, get up."

Rath's hand smacked Char's shoulder, and Char reached out blindly to return the hit, but Rath had moved out of reach.

"Good morning."

Rath's bright voice was moving away from Char, still cocooned in his blanket and reluctant to leave it after a half night of sleep.

"Good morning," Iris replied. There was something off about her voice, like she was forcing a cheerful tone. Char rolled over, opening his eyes to look at her. She was sitting in front of the ashes from last night's campfire, hugging her knees to her chest, smiling up at Rath. The smile was as fake as her tone, and that posture meant something was really bothering her. Char sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Char made you take a shift last night?" Rath asked, rummaging around in the packs for breakfast.

"No, I talked him into letting me do it," she replied.

Rath chuckled. "Talked him into it? Didn't sound like that to me."

"I thought you were asleep," Char grumbled as he sat up.

"I was tired, not dead," Rath replied, shooting Char a smirk. He sat down next to a very red Iris and handed her some food. "It's kind of nice to see Char losing his mind over a girl for a change. Usually, it's the other way around."

"Rath," Char warned, climbing to his feet.

"What? She's marrying you, so she deserves to know all about your sordid history, doesn't she?" His blue eyes glittered with mirth, and he turned back to Iris. "See, Char and I have always had the tall, dark, and handsome thing going for us, but he's also the strong, silent type, so it's nearly impossible to keep the girls off of him at parties."

Char groaned irritably and hit Rath on the shoulder as he passed him to sit on Iris' other side. The smile on her face was much more genuine now.

"Thing is, as much as he likes to dance, he rarely takes an interest in any of the girls hanging off of him," Rath continued, ignoring Char. "But when he does, and he turns that charm on, they practically fall at his feet."

"Don't listen to him," Char told Iris.

"I already knew all of that," she said, her brown eyes dancing as they met his. "It was pretty obvious at that party."

Rath laughed. "You remember that? Wow, I thought for sure you were blackout drunk. I've never seen somebody get so wasted on a single glass of wine."

She shrugged, her cheeks flushing again. "I guess I don't have any tolerance."

"You weren't the only one without any tolerance," Rath said, smirking over her head at Char. "I would have thought Char was drunk, too, if I didn't know any better."

"That's enough," Char said firmly as Iris' face reddened further. "Unless you want me to punch you again."

"But I'm still feeling a little weak," Rath tried, feigning a small, pitiful voice.

Char snorted. "You're feeling fine, and you know it. Are we flying or walking today?"

All teasing vanished from Rath's face. He rubbed his bruised jaw thoughtfully. "I think we're far enough out to avoid being seen, but I'm not sure. The problem is my flight from yesterday. A keen-eyed guard in the castle watchtowers could have seen that, and with negotiations between humans and dragons on the table, every perceived offense makes a truce less likely. That whole mess with Micah will have the king on edge, and then to have dragons sneaking around in human territory..." He sighed. "We'll walk until midday and reevaluate then."

Char swallowed his last bite of food and stood, offering Iris a hand up. The fairies had already packed away the bedrolls.

"You don't belong in leadership training, huh?"

Rath groaned and tossed a pack at Char with much more force than necessary, shouldering the other two himself. "Not this again."

"Leadership training would mean he's going to be team lead, like Kelnor, right?" Iris asked.

Rath shot her a glare.

"I didn't bring it up, and I didn't say you should do it!" she said quickly.

Char chuckled. "Yeah, that's what it would mean. Kelnor's been trying to get him to do it for a while now, but Rath keeps saying he's not ready to settle down yet."

"Because I'm not," Rath sulked.

"Does he have to settle down to do that?" Iris continued.

Char shrugged. "I guess that depends on your definition of 'settling down.'"

"Father was married with two kids already graduated from flight school before he became a team lead," Rath said. "You can't get much more settled down than that."

"But he still took us out regularly," Char reminded him. "It's not like your life is going to end if you go for it."

"I'm not doing it, so drop it," Rath said firmly.

Char knew better than to push Rath when he used that tone, so he kept silent. Iris didn't say anything, either. The morning sun rose higher in the sky, bringing with it an uncomfortable heat Char hadn't felt since summer last year. He shifted his pack and tugged at his collar. The soldier's uniform had a seamless shirt with a high neckline, and he really missed his regular clothes with button-up shirts. Undoing a couple of top buttons would have felt good right about now.

"I may know where you can find more information about that creature in the tunnel," Iris said suddenly.

Char and Rath both looked at her in surprise. Her eyes were downcast, studying the ground beneath their feet as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. A thin layer of sweat brought a shine to her closed-off expression.

"Where?" Rath asked.

"Micah's tower," she said, her voice flat.

That explained her expression. Char scowled and looked away from her, focusing on the horizon. The fairies flitted and twirled in a carefree manner up ahead of the group.

"Don't you mean Jonah's tower?" he asked gloomily.

"No, I mean Micah's tower at the castle. I doubt he kept his permanent records at Jonah's tower."

"Records? Like what, research and stuff like that?" Rath prompted her.

"Yeah. He kept detailed notes about his experiments, and I know he extracted magic from enchanted creatures, as well as from people, so if he ever encountered that thing, he would have documented anything he learned. He was very thorough."

"How do you know this?" Char asked quietly, dreading her response.

"He took notes on me, too," she said quietly. "Especially the after-effects of the extraction process. He didn't get to study that very often, since he usually extracted all of a subject's magic in a single session and killed them at the end." She paused. "Like I said, he was very thorough."

Char clenched his jaw and his free fist. There was no end to Micah's cruelty. Iris was just a test subject to him, useful enough to keep alive, but with no inherent value beyond what she could give him, and he tortured her with his words as much as he did with his magic.

"Okay, well, we don't know that he ever came across that thing, though," Rath said dubiously.

"If he really did find the crystal, he probably found that creature, too. But he also lied a lot, so I don't know if he just said he found the crystal to make me lose my focus, or if he was telling the truth. I think he had to change the extraction process depending upon which species he was using, which meant he had to study them in their natural state, and then go through quite a few test subjects before he perfected his methods. He said he'd learned everything he could about the enchanted creatures he found within the human kingdom, and that's why he was focusing on dragons next. So, either he'd already studied that creature, or he didn't know about it."

"Or didn't tell you about it," Char suggested, looking back at her. She shook her head, still focused on the ground.

"If it was new to him, he would have told me. That was one thing he never lied about: his experiments. He was very proud of what he'd achieved, and telling me his plans was a way to make me feel helpless and inferior so I wouldn't fight back," she said bitterly.

Char took her hand and squeezed it gently. "It's over, Iris."

"Maybe not," Rath said darkly.

Char looked over at his brother, his brow deeply furrowed and his blue eyes stormy.

"He wrote everything down?" Rath asked Iris. "Exactly how to do his extraction process?"

She nodded.

Rath scowled and faced forward again. "We have to go back for it. That can't fall into the wrong hands."

Char got a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized what Rath was saying. Anybody who found that research could replicate it, and, as the most powerful mage in the kingdom, eager mages would want Micah's research to increase their power.

"It shouldn't be possible anymore," Iris said hesitantly, following their train of thought.

"I'd rather not take that chance," Rath replied. "Is it protected at all? Is there some sort of shield or barrier to keep people from getting to it?"

Iris shook her head. "I don't know. There probably was, but I don't think anything he cast would be active anymore, since I stripped his magic."

"It's still too dangerous to go back," Char interjected.

"It's too dangerous not to go back," Rath retorted.

"Wait. I may have a solution," Iris said quickly.

Suddenly, the fairies zipped back to her, as if in answer to her call. She smiled softly as they darted around her, a few settling on her hair and shoulders, and Char felt her relax with their presence.

"Thanks," she said, as if she had called them and they responded.

Char studied her thoughtfully. It was easier to tell when she was using magic before, because she always held the amulet when she did, but he hadn't even seen her twitch a muscle.

"We need Micah's research - anything he wrote," she said to them. "Papers, books, journals. Could you get that from his tower at the castle and take it back to Rath and Char's place?"

"And Jonah's tower. If there's anything left there to find, we need it," Rath added.

She nodded. "And Jonah's tower, too."

The fairies spun together and twisted into a golden tornado in front of Iris, moving up above her head and scattering like fireworks, and then they were gone.

"You're scary," Rath commented.

"What?" Iris asked, looking up at him in surprise.

"The way you use magic without even trying. It looks easier now than it did when you had the amulet."

She shrugged. "I guess once I learn how to do something, it's easier to do it the next time."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Rath said brightly. "How about you teleport us back home? Like Father John did with the orphans?"

"I...I can't do that," Iris stammered.

"You can't, or you don't know how?"

Char felt Iris' sudden tension and intervened on her behalf. "Rath, she doesn't like to use magic."

"She doesn't?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"No, she doesn't, and if you keep pushing it, I'm going to push you about leadership training again."

Rath frowned and sighed dramatically. "Fine, we'll keep walking, even though it's getting hotter and there isn't any shade in sight."

"And don't try guilting her into it, either," Char added.

Rath grinned. "Little protective, are we?"

"You're really asking that?"

"There's another thing about Char," Rath told Iris, dropping his teasing blue eyes from Char to her. "He's really stubborn. Once he sets his mind to something, there's no changing it."

She looked up at him and smiled. "I can live with that."