“Ah, about that rumour though…” D’Argen started and trailed off. He knew that keeping secrets from the librarian was not a good idea, but there were some things that he felt the need to confirm first before making the others worry.

“What of it?”

“Okay, so, you see… one of the rumours is about… cheetahs, in the Oltrian plains. Apparently, they are consuming the scents of our mahee, left over from… when we were there… and using it for their own.”

Vain raised an eyebrow and scratched a few lines on his tablet. “That is not possible.”

“You see, that’s what I thought as well, but… umm… the stories seemed… very precise and specific. I was wondering… has any similar news reached Evadia?”

“Another rumour. Nothing more. And one that would be best you squash before it reaches the queen’s ears.”

“Got it! Okay! Anything else?” D’Argen jumped off the edge of the cot, already bouncing on the balls of his feet with the want to run away from his crowded place.

“Yes,” Vain said and crushed his hopes. “Stop by the castle. Lemysire has new robes for you. A few sets that would be much sturdier and easier to clean on your travels.”

“What?”

“We cannot have you running around, representing the gods, and looking like a beggar while at it.”

D’Argen looked down at his dirty robes. They were horribly stained and ripped, even if he had taken the time to mend and wash them regularly. Lemysire was a minor god with no title given to her by the mortals but with incredible skill when it came to enchanting inanimate objects. Her favourite works were on clothes and she had a knack for designing so many different styles that no two Never Born ever wore the same thing. She was also the one that made D’Argen’s boots – a pair that lasted him two hundred years of running before they finally fell apart.

Multiple sets of robes from Lemysire without having to beg her for them was yet another gift. One, most likely, from Acela as well. D’Argen may not have returned home in a long time, but he knew he was missed and loved. The thought had him thinking to find the queen in the crowd and offer his thanks, but then he thought of the crowd.

“Oh! One last thing,” D’Argen exclaimed when he remembered. “Simeal mentioned something about a communication array and a modified—”

“Modified long-distance communication spell, yes,” Vain interrupted him and put away his tablet. “You prefer the gestures, right?”

D’Argen nodded quickly and then moved to stand right beside Vain, always finding it easier to remember the finger positions when standing side-by-side rather than trying not to mirror them.

Vain first taught him the modified spell that D’Argen already knew. It was one of the few that did not depend on a specific aspect and all of the gods could use it. A new finger position in there indicated that his speed had also been added to the spell. D’Argen tested out the full combination and then felt his mahee open up to make the spell work. He did not have a message to send off so his mahee closed off again and the spell faded away.

“It is still… directionless,” Vain explained after D’Argen tried a few more times. “And you are still faster than it, but now at least it returns if there is no response.”

“Awesome!” D’Argen was too excited about it. Too often was he called back and forth between different Never Born to deliver their messages to one another. “And the array? What’s that all about?”

“It is a communication web.” Vain once more started shaping the gestures with his hands. D’Argen recognized the same forms as the earlier communication spell but this time there were no movement-based symbols at all. “It is still not perfected, so it may be—”

D’Argen’s scream interrupted Vain’s explanation. D'Argen quickly closed off his mahee, dropping the magic of the spell as soon as he opened it. Only once the ringing in his ears had faded away did he open his eyes again. When he did, that ringing returned behind his eyeballs and when he closed his eyes again, it travelled down to his throat and then slipped into the entrance of his mahee, moving down to his chest and settling in there before fading completely.