“You know, there’s something about all this that seems off to me,” Kevza said, gesturing around the room.

            “You say somethin’ like that every time you walk in here, you dolt,” Danae said, closing her book as he came into her guest room. “And every time, I tell you: nothin’s changed.”

            "You really can’t tell?” Kevza asked rubbing his arms as the hair on the back of his neck prickled. “It has a weird aura. I think maybe you need to rearrange things. I just keep getting a bad vibe.”

            “I think you’re bein’ a fool,” the woman chuckled, standing and brushing off her pants. “Or maybe it’s just odder seein’ an alchemist in a mage keep, as opposed to bein’ a mage in the guild hall.”

            “…Maybe.” He let it go with a smile.

            Two weeks had passed since he’d been formally received at Domen Keep and they had laid Lynette to rest. In that time, Natavali had arranged for a small portion of the High Council’s extra rooms (thankfully well away from the Trial chamber) to be cleaned and furnished, setting up a small alchemist’s workroom with whatever they had on hand for the pair of them to use, and a small courtyard for sparring.

            Natavali had been busy, working through things that had piled up as he’d been away with his students, as well as overseeing said students’ studies. He kept a delicate balance between the two, Kevza had found out, never giving too much to one or the other, never letting either be neglected. So Kevza didn’t have any hard feelings when they would go a day or two without seeing one another.

            It made him all the happier when they would meet to talk for a while. And with each passing day, the stilted awkwardness that had permeated the air between them grew less and less, and it was starting to feel like having the old days back in his life, with Natavali studiously at his side while he made jokes and terrorized the little Magi his friend had the duty to teach.

            “Is this what it would have been like,” Kevza wondered, not for the first time, “if I had been allowed to stay from the beginning?”

            In addition to several droves of classes and courtyards, the mages also had a fair share of residual Ether deposits, leftover strains from casting magic and pulling on their ties to the Meridian. From these, Kevza and Danae found their work- refining and stabilizing as much of the materials as they could acquire and process in their small workspace.

            It was no guild hall, and they were far from experts, but there was no reason to not focus on the basic, useful things they might find handy once they returned to the field. It wasn’t the most exciting his life had ever been, but it was steady.

            Steady was good. Steady went long and delved deep. Steady made his joints ache and his limbs tired and tucked him into bed with the promise of a dark and dreamless sleep.

            Steady made him feel like maybe he could at least pretend to be ok.

***

            “Do you think if I asked that Magus Natavali would enchant somethin’ for us to study his magic up close?” Danae asked a few days later, fiddling with a pair of mixing goggles on her head that had ended up with a broken brass cuff. “The leftover energy here is so potent, I can’t imagine what it would be like to observe it while it’s active.”

            “It’d be tricky business,” Kevza said, packing an Ether-infused powder into a vial for mixing. “If you managed to trip off any of the runes or interrupt the flow of energy, it could combust.”

            “Combust as in burn?” Danae asked, perking up, excited.

            “Combust as in burning a hole in reality maybe,” Kevza said deadpan. “Meridian magic is a delicate affair; when used by a Magus it ties to the very foundation of the world. But… if we were to ask someone, I’d agree that Natavali would be the best choice.”

            “My ears are burning,” said the Magus in question with a small grin as he walked into the workroom. “What am I the best choice to ask for?”

            “Speak of the man,” Danae said with a wicked smile. “I was just telling Kevza that I’d like to study your magic up close and personal. For science.”

            “For science,” Kevza repeated with a shrug, grinning as he added an oil solution to his powder, the bottle taking on an eerie green glow that reflected in the lenses of their goggles.

            “Ah… for science,” Natavali nodded. “I am far from any scientist, alchemical or otherwise, but if there is something you feel would be of use, I am willing to help where I can.”

            “Oh, Kevza’s been telling me all sorts of interesting things, but he refused to be my testing rat,” Danae said, stripping off her gloves and lenses. “Come on, I was working on something in my room this morning. It should do the job nicely.”

            “Apologies for not being by much since you two settled in,” Natavali said, following after them as they headed the short distance to Danae’s guest room. “I hope things have gone alright.”

            “You’re a busy man,” Danae said, waving him off. “Besides, Kevza and I are used to being left to entertain ourselves between classes and missions. It’s no skin off our backs.”

            “I’m glad to hear it,” Natavali said, his voice bouncing off the cobbled stones as they crossed the courtyard.

            Kevza walked alongside the two of them as Danae explained the experiment she was hoping to run to Natavali, who nodded along with a studious expression, Kevza looking around for a clear spot in the courtyard for him to enchant the little device once they’d gotten it from the room. Danae’s quarters were a bit cramped after all, and casting in the workroom was just asking for disaster.

            Kevza also wondered what Natavali might choose to do. He was a skilled mage, obviously, but like any mage, he still had his preferences. Where Kevza excelled in casting his power over living nature, Natavali lent himself more naturally to the arts of illusion and rune work. How might that drive him to weave his magic for them? Would it be fundamentally different from Kevza’s in Danae’s research?

            Whatever else he might have considered, his train of thought was interrupted as a voice called over the cobblestones, and the three of them turned to see a dark-skinned woman making her way quickly in their direction.

            Her finely crafted clothes of yellow, orange, and brown swayed with her as she made her way over, strides long and confident. Her deep brown hair was braided up into an elaborate design with gold and orange fabric, the heavy strands flicking as she walked, and the gold lines of Kath stood strikingly against her dark skin. And she seemed to only have eyes for the mage at the front of their little group. Naturally, Kevza turned to look at Natavali, wondering if he might explain who she was, only to see him looking on confused as she approached.

            “There he is,” she said, her voice low and melodic, slow, and sweet as honey as she spread her arms wide, a smile stretching her lips. The sun caught in her eyes, one a deep brown and the other a pale yellow. All at once, Kevza remembered the two-toned eyes of a woman Natavali had spoken of as a child only on a few occasions- the Seer Priestess of the Golden Sun. Could it be? “I am so happy to see you here, Natavali.”

            “What are you doing here?” Natavali spluttered, seeming to snap out of his shock at her sudden appearance. “It is not safe-“

            “Yes, so I heard,” the woman said, suddenly reaching up to tug on a bundle of braids behind his ear. “And what a hearing it was! Weeks since this incident has happened, and I hear of it from that drunkard fishmonger instead of my own son! And no letter, no news to say that you are safe! Of course I would come, you foolish boy!”

            She let go of his hair with a huff, crossing her arms. “I know you came to study here as a boy, and choose to live here as a man, but I am still your mother, and I know I raised you better than to leave me to worry.”

            “Shra’ma, I am not a child,” Natavali groused softly. If the man didn’t have such an aura of calm dignity, Kevza might even say he pouted as he straightened out his hair. “I did write, but things are taking longer than normal right now. I am sorry it didn’t reach you first, though.” He murmured a few short words in Kath, too quiet for Kevza’s rusty ear to catch on to.

            “You will always be a child to me, Shra’Li’Li,” she said, reaching up again, this time to pat his cheek, her anger disappearing. “You could be a hundred and you will still be my boy. Yes?”

            Natavali chuckled, finally breaking into an earnest smile. “Yes, Mother.”

            “Do you need to go?” Danae asked. “We can do this another time.”

            “Oh! My manners,” the lady said with a grin. “I am Zatelia, Natavali’s mother.” Her smile grew wider as she reached over and took one of Danae’s hands in both of her dark ones. “I have not been all the way to the Keep in some years, it is exciting to finally get to meet my son’s friends.”

            “Mother,” Natavali sighed, circling back behind her and gesturing. “This is Captain Danae Walkier, an alchemist who is staying with us after the incidents across the continent. And this,” Natavali continued, turning to gesture to Kevza where he remained lurking to the side, “well… this is Kevza, if you remember him.”

            “I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said, feeling awkward as the woman’s two-toned gaze cut to him. She crossed the short distance between them, leaving her son’s side to get remarkably close to Kevza’s face. “Um… the pleasure is mine?”

            “I have heard your name much before,” the woman said, the sweet tones of her voice dropping low. “My son used to speak of you so often, and then he did not. I must admit, I am surprised to see you.”

            “Mother!” Natavali chided, pulling her back as Kevza struggled to find a way to respond. “Things are different now.”

            Zatelia did not answer her son, instead focusing on rubbing the smooth stones woven with the chains attached to her ring between her fingers. For several long moments, the four of them stood at a standstill.

            “Natavali,” the woman finally said, finally returning her sharp gaze to her son. “You told me that Kevza was not here anymore.” She turned her gaze at last back to her son. “I may not visit you often, but I see the feelings in your words. And I see them again now.”

            Natavali paused, his lips pressed into a thin line as he shared a knowing look with his mother, some silent communication passing between the subtle shifts of their bodies. Kevza and Danae shared a look of their own, each clearly confused as to what part of the conversation they were missing.

            After several long moments, Natavali finally sighed.

            “Fine,” he said, defeated. “We can talk more about it later.”

            His mother smiled, patting his arm. “Good.” She crossed again, looping an arm with Kevza and half dragging him further into the Keep. “Now, tell me more about your friends.”