“So when did you go to Oralie?” Ked asked.

“I was… thirteen, I think,” Drazaria replied, “Around then, anyways.”

“And when did you leave to become a mercenary?” the innkeep asked.

The sorcerer hummed as he considered, “I was at least twenty by then.”

“You don’t know for sure?” Ked asked gently.

“My old man wasn’t really around to keep track of that kind of thing,” Drazaria replied sourly. He didn’t even remember what his father looked like, truth be told - as the town grave master, his father had slept through the day and stayed up all night. As an active young child, they’d barely interacted beyond dinner.

With one notable fucking exception, he thought and downed his drink to put it out of his mind.

“What about your mother?” the innkeep asked, just as gently as the previous question.

“Birth mother died when I was a kid,” Drazaria replied, setting the mug down, “Vallas had parties, though. Well, as much as kradreen have parties - they’re more like… graduating to the next age.”

Ked laughed, “What does that look like?”

The sorcerer felt the tug of a real smile, “Your family and friends come over to give you gifts that mark your achievements for the year, and your parent gives a presentation about it to everyone - then you have food and drinks in celebration.”

“That sounds embarrassing,” the innkeep said good-naturedly, “In a good way.”

“It was,” Drazaria replied, staring at his bowl of stew as he remembered it - the flustered pride he’d felt at Vallas talking about how much he’d achieved to a small group of mostly her colleagues and the sorcerer’s few friends. More people had always shown up for Vasskr, but that had never bothered Drazaria - he had been embarrassed enough with how many people were there as it was.

“Can I ask why you left?” Ked prodded.

“You can ask,” the sorcerer replied, smirking to hide the way the answer to that question still hurt. He put his hand against the counter when he realized he’d reached for his injured arm and hit the sling instead.

“Fair enough,” the innkeep chuckled - then his eyes snapped up at something over Drazaria’s shoulder.

Before the human had a chance to ask, a clawed, three-fingered, white-scaled hand slammed on the counter next to his injured arm.

“You usually keep trash at the bar, Ked?” Rot demanded, glaring down at Drazaria.

The sorcerer glared back sidelong - the fingers of his uninjured hand twitching against the bar. He flinched when something covered his hand.

“You know the rules, Rot,” Ked replied steadily, having put one hand over Drazaria’s to still it.

Drazaria stared at the contact, then snorted and forced his arm to relax in acceptance.

“Do you even know-” the white-scaled woozhi started, making the sorcerer’s heart rate jump.

“Anyone is welcome as long as they follow the rules,” Ked said firmly, “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”

Drazaria took a careful breath in, trying to settle his nerves from the close call.

Rot scoffed and lowered his head to be eye-level with the sorcerer, “Do you know what the inside of a Ballatsa prison cell looks like?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Drazaria replied, turning to face the other man.

Rot glared a moment longer, then snorted and leaned back, “Yeah, I guess you do.”

“Did you need something?” Ked asked, “Or did you just come up here to harass one of my other customers?”

“Drinks,” the white-scaled woozhi replied, “We’re celebrating my jailbreak, as it happens.”

“Sit down, and I’ll bring them over,” the innkeep replied.

Rot scoffed, then rolled his eyes and walked over to join his teammates. They cheered as he approached, and he seemed to forget the encounter.

Drazaria watched after him, wondering if there was another fight in his future.

“You’re welcome to stay the night to avoid that idiot,” Ked said, still not moving his hand off of the sorcerer’s. After watching Rot a moment longer, he focused most of his eyes on Drazaria while sliding his own hand down a little, “Or for other reasons.”

The sorcerer cleared his throat and gently pulled his hand free - it tingled from the contact as he replied, “Maybe another time. You two have a history?”

The innkeep shrugged, leaning back, “We grew up in the same town - both learned to fight from my mother, along with a few other kids that wanted to learn.”

“Was he always,” Drazaria waved vaguely, “Like that?”

“More or less,” Ked rolled his eyes, “His father was an equally spiteful man. What about you? That seemed… personal.”

“We’ve met once,” the sorcerer shrugged his good shoulder, “I… made an impression.”

Ked snorted, “Well, I better get those drinks.”

“I should head home while they’re still celebrating, then,” Drazaria said, taking out what he owed and setting it on the counter.

The innkeep reached out and covered his hand again as he smiled and said, “Until next time, Zawn.”

The sorcerer nodded, slipping his hand away again as he left the stool and walked outside. As he walked away from the inn, he wondered if Ked was naturally touchy-feely or if the man was messing with him. They hadn’t known each other long, but it struck him as something Ked would do.

He wasn’t too far when he heard someone behind him.

“I’m not here to fight - though killing you would bring me immense joy,” Rot said, announcing himself as he got close enough.

“And I should believe you why?” Drazaria asked, turning slowly with attack magic wrapping around his good arm.

“I would have brought more people,” the white-scaled woozhi replied, keeping his distance and leaning against a tree.

The sorcerer snorted but didn’t release the attack magic, “You’re smarter than you look.”

Rot rolled his eyes - though one remained suspiciously trained on the human’s injured arm, “I have some information you can use.”

“I’m listening,” Drazaria said - wondering what someone like Rot could possibly want to tell him.

“There’s a Scourge crystal mine at the northern tip of the Frontier,” the woozhi said, “The Royal Sorcerer is planning a large excavation to Ballatsa soon.”

“Why tell me?” the sorcerer asked.

“One, you reminded me you have as much reason to hate Ballatsa as anyone,” Rot replied, “Two, the place is armed to the teeth, not to mention the risk of Scourgebeast attacks. Why waste my people taking it out when I can just point a crazy ass battering ram in its direction?”

Drazaria chuckled, “And hope the battering ram dies in the process?”

“It’d be a nice bonus,” the woozhi grinned cruelly. He pushed off the tree and started backing away, “That’s all I came to say - but hey, if you manage to take out the mine and not get killed, I’ll consider us even.”

“So you’ll still want me dead, just not personally?” the sorcerer asked.

“You’re smarter than you look,” Rot replied and continued backing away.

Drazaria released his attack magic after the woozhi had been out of sight for several minutes, then took a more circuitous route home - just in case. 

He considered the information on his way back. Scourge crystal was as valuable as it was volatile - full of magic altered by proximity to the Scourge, it usually had to be purified before it could be of use. An often lengthy process usually achieved by leaving the crystals in the fires of the Basin. There was some concern that a big influx of Scourge crystal might end up tainting the Basin itself - that had been one of the things Drazaria had been researching when he worked at the castle.

But he’d also been researching ways to use Scourge magic on its own. He couldn’t purify any crystals without a powerful Source, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use them. And with how often he was running out or coming close to running out of magic lately, a power store could come in handy.

On the other hand, experimenting with Scourge magic in an uncontrolled environment - without access to purification should he infect himself with Scourge sickness - was extremely risky.  

On the other other hand, even if he didn’t end up using the crystals, ruining the Royal Sorcerer’s plans was always a bonus.

By the time he reached his base, he’d decided to go take out the mine - whether or not he decided to keep any crystals for himself would remain to be seen. He considered just going to his tower but instead knocked on the door to the cabin.

Heline opened the door in surprise - he could see place settings for dinner on the table, Owal singing something in vanin loudly inside.

“I’m going to be gone for a bit,” Drazaria said awkwardly, unsure if he even needed to say as much, “Not going after Swordheart - doing something… else.”

“Oh! Did you want our help?” Heline asked hopefully.

“No,” the sorcerer said, “Stay here and keep training.”

“Aww, you didn’t want us to worry?” Owal teased, appearing over Heline’s shoulder, “Thanks, Dad.”

Drazaria felt his chest constrict in surprise at the quip and grimaced as he turned away, “I didn’t want you to do anything stupid. Keep a low profile, and don’t leave unless you have to.”

“Yeah, yeah,” thon replied, twirling back inside, continuing sarcastically, “We’ll lock the door, won’t talk to strangers, water the plants…”

Heline watched the sorcerer a moment longer - like she knew what had bothered him. Likely, she did - she knew about his daughter, after all. What she said was, “Um, well… be safe?”

Drazaria snorted and waved vaguely as he headed towards his tower, thinking, Safety is a lie. Power is all that matters.  

But he regretted the bitterness of it, so out loud replied, “Same to you, kid.”

It took a week to reach the mine. Fortunately, he was able to heal his arm the morning after going to the inn.

He hadn’t been in the Frontier in years - not since his mercenary days. It hadn’t changed much - it was green enough, being fall, with short trees spread far apart across the dusty earth. It was easy to avoid people in the Frontier - while there were villages, they were far and few between. It had been so long, Drazaria didn’t even know where his own home village was in the expanse. Not that he had any desire to find it.

He spent a few days doing reconnaissance on the mine - just in case Rot was actually leading him into a trap. All he saw were men in Ballatsa uniforms and a mercenary company guarding the mine, just what he’d expect for an enterprise headed by the Royal Sorcerer. The mercs were Red Boars - one of the biggest and oldest companies, hardcore Scourgeliners. Drazaria was more worried about them than the Ballatsa soldiers if he was being honest.

The miners included woozhi, nankin, and humans - and any woozhi made perfect sense for Rot to have identified it as a target. Drazaria knew he’d have to find a way to get them away safely while dealing with the guards, which made things more… complicated.

He couldn’t bribe the Boars, even if he had that kind of money. It would be easier to lure Scourgebeasts nearby so they would leave to deal with them - that was their real focus. If he got them away, incapacitating the soldiers and scaring the miners into running before collapsing the mine would be easy. So that was his plan.