When had only seeing with two eyes started to feel so limiting? The scope of his vision felt uncomfortably narrow by the time he arrived at the fort, the grey building of stone showing tall in the distance. Before, what lay behind him had never been a thought that crossed his mind. It was something he never could have imagined with the small, Human scope he'd had, but now that he'd begun to see everything at once, holding his eyes closed now felt like a wave of darkness washed over him. It was like ignoring what he knew was still out there, waiting.

Even so, Xoris didn't feel right greeting the Warden, or anyone else, looking any differently. He'd already spent the entire way doing nothing but running his speech through his mind again and again. How would they react? What would they even say? Whatever it was, he'd accept it. He wasn't coming here for validation or love, only to update them, and leave, no matter how much it hurt.

His head spun a bit as he raised a hand up to knock, the blackness that hung in his vision almost closing in. With a jerk, he snapped himself out of the stupor before it pulled him away completely. He looked down at himself. I look like a mess. A ragged cloak, blood dripping down his neck, crusted onto the silver of his armour... Wait, the blood!

He was determined to explain himself before they caught any sign of him being Stained. He couldn't afford to be kicked out in fear before he'd said what he needed to. Frantically, he darted his eyes around, before catching sight of a well in the yard behind him, full of filtered water.

"Thank goodness," he whispered aloud to himself before making his way over. The bucket felt extremely heavy as his sore arms yanked the rope, drawing it up to him, but he managed to pull it over the edge. He splashed the liquid all over his neck and shoulder, twitching uncomfortably as it ran under his armour, warming up the skin-tight clothes beneath. It hurt to feverishly scrub at his skin, almost causing him to pass out again, but he kept at it until every dried flake had been removed. Sore as it was, the cut on his neck had faded into a scar at this point, and as long as he kept it closed like all the others, it was inconspicuous enough.

He brought himself back to the door. It took him a moment to gather his courage back enough to knock, but once he had started pounding against the firm wood, he wasn't able to stop. It probably sounded desperate, but with the amount of encounters he'd had with soldiers in the past day, he felt it was necessary. He just prayed they wouldn't think to look here, at least for a turn or two. Really that was all he should need.

A young, dark-skinned girl swung open the door, the force of it causing her long black locks to shake. She squinted at him, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. "...Xoris? Is that you?"

"Ifeh! I missed you!" The sight of the first of the twins almost made him forget about the despair that had felt like it'd settled into him for good. He didn't know if it was right for him to hug the teen like this, after all he'd done, but he'd missed her. What had it been, five Withers since he had moved out? Travel was a dangerous thing, and once he'd had his own apprenticeship and place, he hadn't done much more than letters. "You've grown so much!"

"Xoris! You have armour! It hurts please-" Her voice sounded strained, and he quickly let go. She glanced up at him, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I... missed you too. You look different."

"What? I think I look very normal at the moment. Nothing different, for sure." He glanced down at himself. He thought he'd had everything out of sight. He even had his gloves on to avoid any mistake, so what did I miss?

"...I'm simply not used to seeing you in armour. I thought you were a scribe," she stated blankly before leaning her head into the building. "Luina! Everyone! Xoris is back!" Xoris winced at the sudden volume. His mind was too muddled to hear anyone be that loud.

"Xoris is back?" Alaina's voice sounded curious, but he could barely make it out over the rapid thudding of feet trampling down a staircase.

"Xoris!" If Ifeh had complained about Xoris hugging too tight, then he didn't want to know what she'd think of the tackle Merkos was dragging his tired body into. He could barely breathe with how tightly the man was pulling his face into his white robes. "How have you been? What with the new attire? Dear Palkhiv! Is that a scar on your neck? It looks good on you. Makes you look less like a hideaway."

Xoris blinked, trying to process every question. He knew in the past he'd been able to keep up with Merkos' neverending energy, but he was too out of it for now.

"Oh lay off him a bit! I'm sure he's tuckered out from travel. How are you, Xoris dear?" Luina peeked her head around the corner, long, honey-brown hair pulled back into a simple ponytail.

"I'll... be fine." It wasn't a lie. He was alive, after all, and he could heal, which meant he would get better in the future. "I do need to speak with you all though. I have important news and-"

"My goodness!" A deep bellowing voice struck out as the Warden limped over to fill the rest of the doorway. His rich beard held a lot more grey than the last time Xoris had seen him, but it was clear that he was continuing to keep his body in good shape, despite his age. "I heard the king hired a paladin named Xoris, but I really didn't think it'd be you!" He scratched his head, marvelling at the sight of him.

"Really Enkya?" Luina rolled her eyes. "What other Xoris do you know of? Of course it was him. Now come inside, why don't you? I was going to cook hisan but since you're here, I'll make a batch of sarkya. I know it's your favourite."

"No really, it's fine I-" But Xoris didn't have the heart to explain he couldn't eat the chunks of meat wrapped in soft breading anymore, and besides that, she had already taken off. He called out after her, "I'm just here to give you news!"

They certainly hadn't changed a bit over the Withers, continuing to cut him off, yet in the same turn, demand his attention, and he couldn't stop the small smile from coming to his face as he snorted a bit of air out of his nose.

"Save it for dinner, boy. We'll all talk then. Enjoy yourself in the meantime." The Warden drew him in close, though not nearly as tight as Merkos had, despite the grand difference in build. "Good to have you back."

"T-thanks I..." He stopped himself, walking into the large stone room. He'd missed it: the smell of cooking food, the tall ceilings, the rooms echoing with the sounds of people he knew and loved. His chest tightened a bit, and he wiped his face. "Thank you." It could wait. He could wait.

Alaina's silver eyes met his own from across the room, flicking up from the book in her hand. Despite being a rich blue, her robes held the same bulky cut as Merkos' had, showing off her status as a professional maje. She pushed her thick braid, the same honey-blond as her mother's, off her shoulder to let it sway along her back. "Hm. That's quite the ensemble. I see you've upped your status since you left."

Oh Alaina, strict as ever. He chuckled lightly to himself, scrubbing his hand over his face to try and wipe away any hint of exhaustion. "And how is my favourite majik-wielder doing on this fine day? Hard at work I see?" He raised his eyebrows, a small smirk spreading on his face as he leaned close. "You missed me, didn't you? Admit it."

"Stop! Give me my personal space back!" she shrieked, but it held a playful tone this time that only encouraged him more. He brought his face until it was about the space of a thumb between hers, hovering over her shoulder as he raised his eyebrows even further.

"Xoris I'm serious! I can't read with you right there." She shoved him away, laughing a bit before she could stop herself.

The sound of his own laugh in return startled him for a moment. Luke died. The thought tore through his mind, suffocating and depressing. He wasn't supposed to be happy right now. Didn't he feel remorse in the slightest? What's wrong with me? He turned his head away sharply, not looking at her if only to sort through his emotions.

"...Are you all right? What happened?" he could hear Alaina asking, but he shook his head.

"I'll be fine." He held up his hands, smiling again. "So, what are you reading about anyway?"

"We can just show you, if you like," he could hear Merkos cutting in excitedly, landing a hand on Xoris' shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his armour. When did the idea of not being able to see from every angle become so terrifying? What else was hidden in the darkness, out of reach?

"By Palkhiv, they made you a paladin and you're still as jittery as a penu." Merkos sighed, shaking his dark hair. "Anyways, we still have a bit until dinner, since you foiled Luina's original plan, so do you want to see?"

Despite being the same age, Xoris couldn't help but to continue to see him like the young boy he'd left behind, his black eyes shining up at him in child-like excitement.

"I suppose. I don't really know much of what they're having majes do at this point in the war." Xoris wasn't sure he approved of any Human involvement by this point, but he kept that idea to himself.

Besides, it wasn't as though every majik-weilder worked under Kraim. Society was built by those who could provide resources, now more than ever with so much of the land being taken, but as rare and coveted as it was, there were still hundreds of professional majes. That was far too many for Kraim to manage by himself, and even if he was the head of it all, Xoris had no doubt there were several other levels that came first.

"We'll simply have to show you then. Come on!" He took Xoris' hand, leading him towards the stairs he'd run down before. At the top, lay a hallway of doors, all familiar to him. Even without opening, he knew Alaina's was the first on the left, being Warden and Luina's only child. After hers was the one he had shared with Luke, the twins were on the right, then the empty storage room... Wait...

He turned at that one, seeing the door open, the wall painted a fresh coat of blue over what had been a plain white before, and he couldn't help but notice the cracked, white sword blade hung in display, much like Luke's own.

"Did you redecorate while I was gone?" Xoris peeked his head in for a moment, noticing a bed, bannisters built high with several notches violently carved in the sides. But he barely noticed it, focusing instead on an incredibly young girl in the room, her red hair cut short, ears long.

"Huh?" Merkos waved, as if an entirely new person wasn't all that extreme. "Three or so Withers ago, someone left another Half-Fae here. Her name is Naeh."

"Oh..." His lips drew into a thin line as the girl noticed him, blinking at him awkwardly. "Hello. I'm Xoris. Sorry to bother you, I was just curious."

"Hi. Why is your energy so strange?" It almost came out all as one sentence as she continued to stare at him. The tone wasn't even all that targeting, but Xoris didn't like the direction it was headed, especially not with his last dealings with the Fae. He scrambled to find an answer. He didn't want to lie; he wasn't a liar, but a direct answer wouldn't work in his favour either...

"Xoris doesn't have any majik. He's like Asim and Ifeh," Alaina cut in, saving him from having to answer. She turned to him. "Now leave the child alone and focus. I'm not going to show you the project only to have to explain it to you all over again because you have the attention span of a Welk with a ball."

He nodded, following her to the last room in the hallway, which he knew to be Merkos'. As he stepped inside it though, he could see it had gotten an upgrade since he'd lived here. A viewerscope hung by a window, if only to watch for the lines in the sky during a Crack, shelves that had hung countless awards of the athletic achievements of his youth had been replaced with shelves coated in books and hastily written notes, and the bow and quiver that had once proudly sat on two hooks were propped to the side to make room for a large silvery-grey... structure.

Xoris couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it was like the bones of a creature, all pieced together from carefully formed strips of metal. Powdery-white crystals jutted out from it at random angles, and bits of yellow glass were embedded in the frame. "Well, what do you think?" Merkos announced grandly.

"I-" He didn't want to seem impolite but... "I have no idea. What am I looking at?"

"You are looking at what Alaina and I are calling an artefakt! Imagine a Beast that works for the Humans, built to do nothing but attack for us! It's arguably the greatest soldier in creation." Merkos stared at it, putting his hands on his hips in pride.

"As long as it works, anyway," Alaina added.

"I see." Xoris bit his lip. It was clearly a large achievement from two people that were practically siblings to him, so he wanted to be proud of them, but why did it bother him so much? This... artefakt was going to save lives, most likely, and was just a tool. What was wrong with that? He pushed the useless thought away, instead beaming at them proudly. "I think that's wonderful. Did you come up with this yourselves?"

"Well, this may come as a surprise to you Xoris, but I might read even more than you now." Merkos laughed, gesturing to the messy, note-ridden desk shoved into the corner of the room. "I've been studying every aspect of majik I can, measuring it, borrowing the High Courts's chips whenever I can to get more supplies when they let me. Alaina is helping with the arithmetics of it, but the design was made entirely by yours truly."

"That's... amazing." While the sight of the skeletal thing unnerved him, Xoris had to respect the amount of work that had no doubt gone into it already. His eyes flicked over to the notes and scrawled upon papers once again. "May I look at these?"

"Of course! Here." He moved a few shelves over, rummaging through them until he came across what appeared to be a sketch of a final product, much more fleshed out than the construction Xoris saw now. "This is what we're aiming for, once it's done."

"Oh, hold on." He removed his gloves, not wanting the smooth leather to smudge any of the symbols on the papyrus. He took hold of it, wincing a bit as he felt the thin edge slice across his thumb.

"Um... are you all right?" Merkos asked, giving him a look, but Xoris was too focused on reading the pieces of parchment in front of him.

"Of course. It's just a papercut. I've had thousands in my line of work. I'll be fine," he answered, ignoring the dripping sensation on his finger as he tried to absorb every bit of information on the page. It was very interesting. "Is this artefakt going to be able to be ridden in? That's amazing."

"Xoris?" It was Alaina this time, her uptight voice pulling into something almost questioning, fearful as she interrupted his reading. "Why is your blood red?"