Although Kiyeri's head was still spinning, it seemed that decisions could not wait. Ashiya excused himself from the room and went to find the owner of the inn. While he was away, Kiyeri went through his purchases. The old clothes were dirty and torn, so there was nothing left to do but put on what was brought for him. When he pulled the clothes out of the bag, it turned out that they were the same as Ashiya's. An awkward "ha ha" escaped Kiyeri's lips.

Soon the door opened again, and the young man who had returned to the room held out his hand, in which lay the key.

“Bathroom key. To the left and at the end of the corridor.” Ashiya said.

“Ooooooo, finally!”  Kiyeri joyfully grabbed it and hurried to the drawers to look for towels, “Thank you. I was just thinking about the bath.”

A voice behind him spoke: “Can I come with you?”

The question made him turn around, and freeze in place. Ashiya stood sideways in the middle of the room, eyes locked on the window. Even from the profile, you could see how wide his eyes were. His lips were pressed together and his breath was held. This was enough for Kiyeri to conclude that Ashiya regretted asking and decided to give him a way out.

"No, thank you, I'm completely healed, no help needed." The nervous smile he threw never reached the young man's eyes, as Kiyeri ran around the room gathering his things and leaving, Ashiya stood frozen in the same place and didn't move a single muscle.

“Someone’s getting bolder… If this keeps up, I won’t be able to ignore it much longer,” Kiyeri thought as he walked towards the bathroom. After unlocking and opening the door, a column of steam burst through it, so Kiyeri hurried inside and closed door behind him. After taking a few steps deeper, he was greeted by the pleasant smell of wood, bread, and heat, his face lit up.

"A Sauna!"

Letting the steam wash over him, Kiyeri carefully rubbed the clotted blood off his body. When he finished, he began to soap his long and terribly dirty hair. It was unknown how much dirt he would have to comb out before they would regain their natural color. "What a week..."

Not daring to make the others wait any longer, he sadly left the pleasures of the steam and went back to the room. Although Ashiya was no longer in it, the door was left unlocked. " I'm grateful you did not stay, but do you realize, anyone can come in and take whatever they like?" Looking out the window, Kiyeri saw the four of them sitting at the same table and munching on nuts. The sight made his heart flutter, "Like back in the camp days..."  Unable to tear his eyes away, he stared at them for a long minute, his face taking on an incomprehensible expression as he felt his chest squeeze harder. Before all those unfortunate incidents, he and his group really got along well and sometimes even spent spare time together.

Suddenly, one of the four looked up at the window and their eyes met. For some reason, Kiyeri frightened, jumped away from the window, immediately scolding himself for behaving like a child. A few moments later, he pulled himself together and, having dressed in new clothes, went downstairs to meet his old friends, not forgetting to lock the door on his way out.

When Kiyeri approached them, Seyre and Ruki stood up to meet him, while Dali remained in his place and did not even try to turn around. The boy's shining eyes showed he was waiting for a meeting, but his natural pride won out and he remained in his place, arms crossed, leaning back demonstratively on his chair. "Really like the old days," Kiyeri thought, smiling and bowing to each of them separately.

“Prince Dali. Princess Ruki. Lord Seyre.“

Ruki’s eyes filled with tears on the spot, Kiyeri wanted to scold her on the way warrior should carry himself but decided not to. He noticed Dali clench his fist and teeth repeatedly. Ashiya was quick to catch on to this provocation by Kiyeri, so he just crunched those nuts with no expression. Kiyeri thought all of them were so cute and also so dangerous at the same time, he hid his thoughts behind his typical light smile.

“Master, please,“ Ruki was first to speak, “We already explained everything to Ashiya, no need for these formalities.“

“With all due respect, Princess, Your distinguished Self shot me. Several times. Using a technique I invented myself.“

Ruki’s head dropped and those tears finally began to fall, “I was....“, her voice was shaking, “I was targeting the spot near your feet, but could not control my mana in the last second and lost trajectory...“

“You could see us?“ Kiyeri showed surprise, “When did you learn to do that?“

“Right after you two disappeared, King issued an order for us to strengthen ourselves. Dali was sent back to camp and I was locked in the Temple to develop techniques. It took me six months in there“

“Exceptional talent, as always “, Kiyeri thought to himself, remembering his four months of isolation in the temple. Mana sight was an extremely complex spell requiring a high level of control. It could only be learned by meditating day and night in the temple in complete silence and darkness, and MAYBE after long isolation from the outside world, the warrior would begin to see energy points. “You did a good job. “

In the meantime, Dali smacked his tongue, annoyed, “Enough with this nonsense, let‘s talk business. Also, you obviously found the message. If you haven't been such cowards and ran off, everything would be already decided on. “

Ashiya jumped from his seat, smacking the table, “ Who are you calling cowards?? Do you want me to drain you out, pierce you clean thou, and let you run from a pack of dogs??“

“Are you calling us DOGS?”, Dali fused.

“What else should I call you? Kiye cared for us all this time! But when he needed help, you bastards turned to bite!“

Both of them just grabbed each other's lapels at this point.

"Oooo it really is like in old times, Dali is even drooling, just like a rabid dog." Thought Kiyeri, not rushing to separate them. Over the years together, such fights between the two were a daily occurrence, being the same age and considering each other as rivals, the two always competed, but always fairly, so crossing the line was unlikely even from Ashiya's side. No need to worry either way, because Seyre sits next to them, and he could calm and tame even a rabid raccoon.

“Silence.“ Seyre’s low voice commanded, and the young ones shut up immediately, but still did not let go of their fists, “You will attract unwanted attention. Kiyeri, please sit down.“

Kiyeri watched the circus with a smile. He rarely saw Seyre, but highly valued his restraint and discipline. If anyone asked Kiyeri what an ideal warrior should look and act like, he would immediately think of this one. The realization of how much he had missed all of this warmed his heart, but at the same time, it hurt. He pulled up a chair and sat down between Ruki and Seyre.

Seyer cleared his throat and began explaining in an even tone, "After you fled, a search party was sent after you. Naturally, fearing that the three of us would do the same, King gave us jobs. Dali was sent to a military camp for training, Ruki was locked in the Temple, and I was assigned to the king's personal guard. Everything was relatively calm, eventually, the generals began to whisper that Sigils should be left as they are, without a handover ceremony - after your death, it will naturally return to its Celestial Stone. At the moment, the probability of war is low, even if Ashiya does not return, the power of the other three should be enough."

Kiyeri leaned back in his chair, "Sounds very logical... I've heard that somewhere."

Everyone looked away, avoiding Kiyeri’s eyes. Only Ashiya looked directly at him, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head. It was Kiyeri's own suggestion after that incident, he promised to continue serving his country, even with such a defective Sigil, but they wanted nothing to do with a “traitor“.

Seyre cleared his throat again, "Yes. Well, after half a year, there was still nothing to hear from you, Ruki left the Temple, and Dali returned from camp. Both of them were burdened with bureaucratic work by their teachers, HE assigned me to guard them, and it seemed that everything would pass, but as the autumn equinox approached, there was a commotion again, and Master Zeni disappeared without a trace."

Kiyeri's hands shook slightly at the sound of that name. Memories from the dungeon flashed before his eyes, one image replacing the other. Chained hands and feet, damp bricks, weeks without food or water. Each breath cut like a knife into broken ribs. An unfamiliar scream came from a dry throat. Mist. Then Beyond. Then the Voidborne. And the cycle repeats.

“Kiye? “ a gentle voice disturbed Kiyeri’s memories, “Kiye?“

Kiyeri blinked a few times before realizing he was surrounded by worried faces. Even Dali couldn't help but peek in Kiyeri’s direction.

“Mmm, I‘m fine, let‘s continue“, he waved his hand.

So Seyre did so, “Master Zeni disappeared a month ago. We looked everywhere, but it was like he vanished.“

Kiyeri‘s and Ashiyas‘s eyes met for a split second, before Kiyeri asked, “Disappeared?“

"Yes“, Seyre confirmed,  “As the search for Zeni expanded, the King gave three of us orders to search for you and Ashiya. We were told to bring you back at any cost. This was strange in itself after a period of peace and still not having any knowledge of Zeni."  Seyre looked up at Ruki and waved his hand.

Ruki took a deep breath, "The night before we left, that is, two weeks ago, I visited the Temple for meditation. I didn't want to be disturbed, so I locked the door when I entered and, as always, climbed up to the tower to sit down. After a good half hour, someone unlocked the door and came inside. At first, I couldn't understand who was saying what, I didn't want to be seen, so I used my hearing.“ Ruki's hands involuntarily began to stroke her braid, a habit Kiyeri had seen hundreds of times. “I didn't recognize the voices, my ability is still too weak, but I heard the words clearly..." She fell silent, then opened her mouth to speak several times, but the sound never left her throat.

Apparently losing patience, or perhaps feeling sorry for his sister, Dali spoke up "They said – ‘That filthy stray barely even sleeps. Now he’s playing smart - the dreams won’t work anymore. That gutter-born mutt won’t come crawling back on his own. And you think they'll find him? They'll find him, bring him back, and then they can all die together, you take care of getting the dagger, I'll take care of the parasites.’" Dali said in one breath, without even blinking.

"Wow, such a DETAILED description," thought Kiyeri, " Well. Guess the royal vocabulary hasn’t changed much"

Everyone knew what he was talking about. Trying to change the atmosphere, Ruki hurried to continue, "Those two men exchanged a few more sentences, I don't remember exactly, but it became clear that someone was sending you some kind of dreams so that you would return for help, but now the barrier is preventing it. They said, that the King would give them the Millennium Dagger of his own free will and that we were all some kind of sacrifice. Afraid that they would catch me when I left, I spent the night in the temple. At dawn, I met the others at the stables and told them everything on the way."

" So? What’s the plan? Where do we start digging?" The question flew from the usually very lazy and uninterested Dali.

Everyone kept their eyes fixed on Kiyeri. "Well, it's good for you that you managed to process the information, but for me everything is like a natural disaster."

Kiyeri looked around. Crowds of people were streaming down the streets, music and laughter drifted from every direction, the air was filled with the scent of various delicacies, and festive lanterns decorated the darkening sky. The last few weeks had given him an inexplicable feeling, as if he was being rushed somewhere. The endless, increasingly frequent persecutions, the approaching equinox, old friends, and conspiracies. And the search was a dead end.

“Rest is most needed when it seems there is no time for it at all,” Kiyeri thought, and turning to the others, he said firmly “Today we will participate in the festival!”