Drazaria took a deep breath, involuntarily reaching up to touch the scar on his right cheek - he knew exactly which dagger Vasskr meant and had to admit it was a good idea. Besides, it was his by right - so he said, “In the study, behind Xalo’s Index of Lesser Known Sources.”

“Alright,” Vasskr said and hesitated before adding, “You’re sure?”

<<It was your suggestion,>> the sorcerer rolled his eyes.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean you need to-” his brother cut himself off with a sigh, “Right, of course.”

<<How’s your husband?>> Drazaria asked, being reminded of Oralie.

“He’s enjoying being a nuisance,” Vasskr said fondly, “He tells me he likes to sit in the yard so kids can come ask him for war stories while their parents glare at him.”

The sorcerer chuckled despite himself, <<Sounds like him.>>

“He’s managed to make some friends, though,” Vasskr added, “Klamra, for one - her daughter visits as well. And Zodan.”

<<Is he still a Tribune?>> Drazaria asked.

His brother shook his head, “Retired. Spends more time brewing - Caedo is his first taste tester.”

<<Lucky him,>> the sorcerer snorted.

“… are you still not going to tell me what kind of trouble you’re in?” Vasskr asked, then sighed, “Besides the usual?”

<<It’s nothing you could help with,>> Drazaria signed, then added, <<The dagger will be enough.>>

“It can only help so much; you’ll still need to be careful,” his brother cautioned.

“I am aware,” Drazaria replied dryly.

“Oh, and you probably won’t hear as much complaining from the kids about you not fighting them seriously,” Vasskr chuckled, “At least, not in the immediate future.”

“No?” his brother asked.

“Watching you fight Flaro had a significant impact,” the kradreen replied, “I don’t think they realized how much you were holding back.”

“All the fucking titles didn’t give it away?” Drazaria snorted.

“It’s a bit difficult for them to judge power scaling with Jax having the Guardian magic,” Vasskr pointed out, “Klamra reminding them she trained you also helped. She did agree to keep… personal details to herself, however-”

“However, it’s well known I was trained in Oralie,” Drazaria finished for him, “Considering I’m a sorcerer and all.”

“Yes,” his brother sighed.

“I’m surprised she would still claim me as a student,” Drazaria huffed.

“She still claims you as one of her best students,” Vasskr replied lightly, but there was a tension to it; like he wasn’t sure how his brother would take it.

“No wonder she had notes then,” Drazaria replied - also light, but with his own tension as he hid the way the faint pride felt like finding a rusted childhood trophy that had been packed away. Once gold and polished, now with the gilt scraped off and dented, the cheap iron underneath on display.

His brother watched his face carefully for a moment, then nodded and said, “I should be getting back. Stay well, Zawn.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Drazaria sighed, watching his brother go. When he was out of sight, the sorcerer decided to go looking for a workshop after all - since he would have a safety measure in place.

It took him a few days to find an abandoned shed, transport it, and then line it with the Scourge hide bags. After that, he was forced to turn to his charges for help.

After being let into their cottage, he asked, “Can either of you sew?”

“I can,” Owal said, looking up from the table where thon had laid out thons throwing daggers, regular daggers, and a short sword the sorcerer hadn’t noticed before to clean and care for them. Thon grinned as thon asked, “Why? Don’t you?”

Drazaria rolled his eyes, “I can do basic repairs, but I need a pair of gloves.”

“What do you need gloves for?” Heline asked, walking over to a chair next to the hearth. She had several of the books on magical theory Drazaria had lent her there, piled on the table nearby and floor.

“I’m going to be working with Scourge crystals,” the sorcerer replied and held up the Scourge hide sack he’d brought in, “Gloves made of this will keep me from getting Scourge sickness.”

“Give it here,” Owal said, holding out a hand.

Drazaria did and added, “In case it wasn’t clear, stay away from the workshop I set up - that’s where I’ll be working with the Scourge crystal.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Heline asked, hopping up to sit in the chair and grabbing a nearby book.

“If I can purify it, I’m going to use some as a power store,” the sorcerer replied, “I’ve used all my magic too many times recently.”

“Oh, so you can plan ahead,” Owal laughed, “I thought you just didn’t think about consequences. Ever.”

Drazaria rolled his eyes, then looked around the cottage - it was pretty spare, having only basic furniture. It looked like Heline had managed to decorate with flower wreaths and garlands, and there was a sort of set for the hawk with branches and a nest. But other than that, it was mostly empty. While that was fine for him, he supposed if he was going to keep getting help from the teens, he should make some effort to actually care for them beyond just training and providing food.

“Is there anything you two need?” he asked, feeling awkward asking.

“Like what?” Heline asked.

Drazaria gestured to the room vaguely and said, “Anything.”

“Um… well, some books shelves in here would be nice,” the pelatia teen said, “Oh, and a tea set! But then I would need tea for it, too…”

“I’m good,” Owal said, studying the Scourge hide material. Thon grinned before adding, “But if you want to guilt buy nice things, I won’t refuse them.”

“Oh, do you… even have enough money for something like that?” Heline frowned, “I mean, you don’t really…”

“You don’t have an actual job,” Owal said bluntly.

Drazaria rolled his eyes, “I can manage.”

They weren’t wrong, though - his funds, which he’d stolen from some random noble - were running low. That was fine, though - he could pick up some work in Faobrin, and it wasn’t like either of them asked for something expensive. Freelancing was less risky than stealing again, even if it would ultimately produce fewer rewards. If he had the freedom to move his base freely again, he would probably still risk stealing.

In any case, he bid his charges farewell and decided to go to the inn since he wouldn’t be getting any more work done today.

Drazaria was careful to scout ahead as he made his way to the inn, well aware that the Unforgiving could be lying in wait. He found two scouts staking out the place from the tree line - and knocked them out before heading in. By the time they woke up and went for backup, he’d be back home.

Sloppy, he thought - though more likely, something came up that made them unable to spare more resources.

He walked in and found the inn as relaxed as usual - Jonoor was back and steadily ignoring him. Drazaria snorted and headed to the bar as usual.

“Oh, there you are, Zawn,” Ked said, approaching, “And here I thought I’d scared you off.”

“You’re supposed to be scary?” Drazaria replied, nodding in thanks as the woozhi handed him a pint, “I just had some business that took me out of town for a while.”

“Rot didn’t bother you, did he?” Ked asked, leaning against the counter.

Drazaria scoffed, “As if he could manage it.”

Ked laughed, “No wonder he seems to have it out for you. Food?”

“Please,” Drazaria replied, glancing toward Jonoor again. He didn’t really want to instigate a fight - that might give the Unforgiving time to learn about his location. He decided to avoid discussing anything else about Oralie on this visit.

“I’ve been wondering since last time,” Ked said, setting down a bowl of stew, “What made you leave merc work?”

Seems I’m not the only one conscious of Jonoor, he thought, taking a bite of stew before answering, “I caught some attention for my magic and got an offer to work at the Ballatsa palace.”

That was vague enough not to give the game up entirely - scouts and recruiters for various nations had offices in the Pit to look for talented warriors and mages to invite into service back home. While he’d been personally invited by the Royal Sorcerer - and that definitely would have revealed his identity - it wasn’t unusual for mercs to accept those kinds of job offers.

“What kind of work?” Ked asked, letting one of his smaller hands rest on the counter next to Drazaria’s - the one he wasn’t using to eat.

“Research, mostly,” he replied, pretending not to notice the proximity, “Started out doing the same thing I’d been doing in Oralie, then switched focus to the Scourge.”

It still technically wasn’t a lie. He left out specifically being hired as the Royal Sorcerer’s Assistant - at his own insistence. He should have questioned it then, why a man like him would so readily accept his refusal to be an apprentice. He assumed it was because Milicah knew he came from Oralie - Drazaria had avoided him then. He hadn’t seen another human around his age in a few years, but he still hadn’t trusted the son of one of the Ballatsa diplomats.

Drazaria should have gone on not trusting him.

“You still don’t look like the type,” the innkeep replied, “Though Scourgeliner to Scourge researcher makes sense, at least.”

“It was interesting work,” Drazaria said, “It let me study the Basin up close as well. I’m absolutely sure there’s a connection between the two - the Basin and the Scourge.”

“Really?” Ked asked, “I thought that was just Unforgiving talk.”

“Well, I don’t think it’s some kind of divine vengeance,” he snorted, pausing to take a drink, “But I’ve studied the archives kept by past Royal Sorcerers. Some worked with woozhi and brought back woozhi caretaking techniques. In those years, the progress of the Scourge significantly slowed. There were even less Scourge bursts. Well… I can’t completely prove that, though.”

“Why not?” the innkeep asked.

“It was a few generations before anyone even started tracking the progress of the Scourge,” Drazaria sighed, “And a lot of the records are… incomplete. It wasn’t a priority in the Warring Era, and that’s 200 years of vague records at best. Part of my work was tracking down alternate records - I was able to fill in some gaps with records from other countries.”

He remembered those late nights, tweaking translation spells to read the ancient texts and transcribe them into modern Ballatsa. Frustratingly trying to place records on the timeline and find corroborating documents if possible. Though it wasn’t like he was always alone - sometimes Polarian would join him. Not with the actual work, but he’d brought tea to help him stay focused and keep him company.

Oh, Drazaria thought, I’ve been avoiding this.

Before he could move his hand to scratch at his arm, Ked’s thumb tapped his wrist - distracting him.

“So your research was just pulling out dusty old books to figure out when the Scourge moved faster?” the woozhi asked, distracting him.

“No,” Drazaria said, blinking and using the point of contact as a distraction from the sudden panic thinking about the crown prince had brought on, “I… I would do field work as well - testing how tainted Frontier soil and plants were, and how much it extended into Vaseridan proper. Believe it or not, I had a… silent partner in that.”

“Really?” Ked asked, the tip of his claw on his thumb gently tracing against the sorcerer’s wrist bone. He didn’t give any hint he was even aware he was doing it, but Drazaria was sure he was.

“A Masked One,” the sorcerer half grinned - it still amused him, these years later.

Ked laughed, “Really? Hez said they hated you so much they had a name for you.”

“Vero Blasa,” Drazaria snorted, “No idea what the fuck it means, but they sure as shit shouted it enough. It did surprise me, though.”

He could feel his heart rate dropping as he focused on the safer story, pushing the rest aside, “But I was out on the edge between Vaseridan and the Frontier, and I spotted this lone Masked One. One of their floating horses was nearby, but they were on the ground. I was curious, so I watched them - and I realized they were doing the same things I did to check Scourge taint levels. They didn’t have a flash fire stick, so I decided to reveal myself.”

“How did that go?” Ked asked, more boldly moving his hand so that his folded fingers rested against the human’s arm, stroking his thumb over the top of the sorcerer’s wrist.

Drazaria tensed in surprise - but forced himself to relax again, accepting the contact as he went on, “Well, they freaked out - and I realized they couldn’t speak because they started signing. I didn’t know what they were signing at the time, just that they were. Long story short, I got the point across that we were there for the same reason. So we started working together - we even exchanged blood samples, which was… insightful.”

“You gave a Masked One your blood?” Ked grinned.

The sorcerer shrugged, “It’s not like they know magic - by the way, Masked Ones have low-level immunity to Scourge sickness.”

“Must come from living out there,” Ked said.

“Probably,” Drazaria agreed, “I was hoping to see if there was a way to transfer their immunity to others, but… I never got to that point.”

“I…” the sorcerer started, and thoughts he’d been ignoring came flooding in unbidden.