“Oh! You two should already know each other. I wrote to you about her. This is Melody, my new apprentice. Mel, this is Felix. I’ve told you about him too.”

  “Ah, I should have guessed. It’s nice to meet you, Agrona’s told me a lot about you.”

  Melody huffed and turned away, leaving Felix blinking in surprise. He looked to Agrona for help, only to find her fighting to hold back her chortle.

  “Um, did I do something wrong?”

  “No, little Mel just has a competitive streak. She’s been treating you as her rival ever since she started training under me. You should see her every time the mail comes in—“

  “Master!”

  The exchange forced Felix to bite back his smile.

  “I see, well then, I hope I get to try your cooking before I leave. I need to see what my competition is like after all.”

  Melody looked at him sceptically, seeing no mirth in his expression. She nodded and started walking with her back a little straighter, and her head held high.

  Felix had to let her walk in front of him so she couldn’t see his expression. There was only so much he could do to keep a straight face. His eyes met Agrona’s. She didn’t bother trying to hide her smile, but she still nodded like a proud parent.

  The rest of the way to Agrona’s house was filled with idle chatter. Every time the reason for his visit came up, Felix subtly deflected the question. It was enough to ward off suspicion from Melody, but he could tell that Agrona had picked up on it.

  Before long, they’d made it to a large wooden cottage built partially into the cliff. With a look of glee, Agrona threw open the front doors, only for Felix to freeze in shock.

  “Agrona, you can’t be serious?”

  “Hey, if it works, it works. C’mon in.”

  Her front room was set up much like the dining hall at the Crossroad was. Wooden benches filled the floor, enough to comfortably seat thirty people. On the far end of the room was a wooden counter that stretched nearly the entire length of the wall. It left just enough space on the left for a staircase, a gap to get behind the counter, and a door that no doubt led to the kitchen. Most of the wall behind the counter was filled with glasses, cups and drinks.

  “I get that it works, but…” Felix gestured to the left of the room. Where a fireplace sat surrounded by sofas that looked remarkably similar to the ones they had at the Crossroad.

  “Was it really necessary to go that far?”

  “This is still my home. I might like opening it to the public from time to time, but I still want a more comfortable place to relax when friends come over.”

  Felix stared at Agrona unimpressed.

  “Those are the same couches.”

  Agrona glared at him.

  Felix kept his flat stare.

  “Ugh, fine. Interior decoration isn’t my strong suit, ok? It looked nice, it’s not like anyone around here is going to realise I stole the design—“

  Agrona caught a glimpse of Melody gaping at her from the corner of her eye.

  “I mean… heavily borrowed some inspiration for the place. Melody, why don’t you go fetch us something to drink and make us some snacks?” She rushed to add on the last part while hurriedly guiding Felix and Menium over to the fireplace.

  Melody looked all too eager for the chance to show off her skills, so she didn’t bother arguing before dashing towards the kitchen in the back.

  After a brief struggle to find a chair that would fit Felix, the chairs having been designed for the stocky dwarven frame instead of his lanky human one, they settled down. A brief thrill in the mana around Agrona lit the fireplace and the lanterns near it. The fire didn’t let out much heat, no doubt thanks to Agrona. It just added to the cosy atmosphere.

  “So, will you finally tell me what brings you so far from the Feywild? Last I heard, you were trying to go deeper to find more exotic plants. You’re quite far off course.”

  Felix nodded.

  “Ah, well. I didn’t quite have the finances to buy anything deeper inland, and we didn’t have the strength to defend ourselves away from the regularly used paths, so that ended up being a bit of a dead end.

  “Apart from that, I wasn’t getting much more from the town libraries, and my experiments with the dark weeds are taking too long to show results.”

  Agrona rolled her eyes.

  “You’re too impatient. How many plants could you have studied in such a short time?”

  “I stopped counting at around fifty thousand. That was quite a while ago, though, so I’m not really sure.”

  Agrona stared at Felix blankly.

  “You can’t be serious? Have you been doing nothing but studying plants, child?”

  Felix burst out laughing.

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  “Sorry, it’s just. That’s exactly what Uncle Valenther said.”

  After Felix caught his breath, he explained.

  “It’s not like I really need to sleep, and memorising libraries doesn’t take a lot of time. So yes, I’ve mostly been studying them.”

  “And what, my boy, do you mean by ‘you don’t need to sleep’?”

  “Ah, it’s not like that! I’ve been taking care of myself. I promise, I make sure to take a nap every once in a while.”

  Mercifully, Agrona’s glare was disrupted when Melody set down a tray with a few glasses and a pitcher of clear yellow fruit juice.

  Once she was back in the kitchen, Agrona spoke up.

  “Your inability to take care of yourself aside, that can’t be all of it. You wouldn’t have hesitated to tell me on the way here otherwise.”

  Felix nodded.

  Starting with his conversation with Uncle Valenther, Felix recounted everything that brought him to her door. Agrona listened with interest, but the more he spoke, the quieter she got. By the time he finished his story, the silence was stifling.

  “So that’s how we ended up here. I was hoping you knew of a way to get through the Shattered Highlands, or at least through the Stoneholds.”

  Felix was answered with an uncomfortable silence while Agrona sat in thought. Just as he was about to apologise and offer to leave, she let out a sigh.

  “Honestly, I always thought you would be the one to cause trouble. How’d it end up being that sweet little girl?”

  Felix bowed his head.

  “I’m sorry, I know it’s an unreasonable thing to ask.”

  Agrona scoffed.

  “Raise your head, child, we won’t be having any of that. It would be unreasonable if you were the fugitives, even then, I’d still help you. You’re half my student after all.”

  A clatter from the kitchen let them know that Melody had probably been listening the entire time, making Agrona shake her head.

  “Don’t worry about her, I’ll talk to her later, but she’s a good child, she won’t cause you any trouble. As for getting you through the Shattered Highlands… not easy. Not easy at all. The Stoneholds aren’t a problem. I could show you a map with the safest routes, and I doubt you’d have any trouble making it through on your own, but the Highlands are a different beast. I don’t think there’s any route you could do on your own.”

  Agrona sat back and stared at the ceiling while biting her lip in focus. For a few minutes, they sat in silence. Felix sat with a glass of unknown fruit juice in his hands, trying his best to keep his nerves in check while he waited for Agrona to say something. Normally, he’d have no trouble figuring out what was in the juice, but he didn’t have the stomach to drink it. He just clutched the cold glass in his hands, trying to draw what comfort he could from the contact.

  He nearly tossed the drink when Agrona suddenly shot up and, without a word, rushed up the stairs. He stared after her until her figure vanished from view before looking over at Menium. The monkey had taken to lounging on a couch while drinking straight out of the pitcher. As if nothing was wrong, Menium shrugged and gave him a questioning chirp. As if asking what her problem was.

  Not having the energy to reprimand him, Felix just sighed. Hearing a sound from the stairway, he whipped around, only to see Melody peeking out of the kitchen. A moment later, her head vanished back into the kitchen before she rushed out carrying a tray of snacks.

  Without making eye contact, she walked up to them, dropped the tray on the table and vanished back into the kitchen. Before the door was even properly closed, Agrona came stumbling down the stairs holding so many papers she could hardly see a step in front of her. Felix quickly stood up and helped her carry the mess of letters, maps and books to the table.

  Menium helpfully moved the snack tray to make room for them to lay it all out.

  “Right, I thought of something that might work.”

  She unfurled the map and used a couple of glasses and some of the books she brought down with her to weigh down the corners. Having it open, she grabbed the stack of letters Felix was holding and started scanning through them. After a few minutes of frantically flipping pages, she yelled out in triumph.

  “Aha! Here! I knew it! Let’s see, let’s see.”

  She started scanning the map, as if looking for something.

  “What are you looking for?” Felix asked.

  “Keldren’s Deephold,” Agrona answered absent-mindedly while still scanning the map. Only for Felix to instantly drop his finger onto it.

  “Here.”

  Agrona looked up, blinking in surprise for a moment.

  “Ah, you memorised it. Good, good, let’s see… yes, that should do it, I think. Now all we need to figure out is…” Agrona trailed off again, picking up one of the books, letting a corner of the map instantly furl in on itself.

  “Agrona, please. Can you explain what’s going on?”

  Agrona let out a sigh.

  “So impatient. Do you know what a Deephold is?”

  Felix thought about it for a moment.

  “Ah, like a mining outpost?”

  Agrona nodded.

  “Sort of, they’re settlements deep in the unclaimed parts of the Shattered Highlands. They’ll harvest resources and ship them back to the Stoneholds for processing. Ores, beasts, plants, anything valuable, really. If it isn’t too dangerous and the supply is stable enough, settlers will try to claim it. If they succeed, they’ll be recognised as a Deephold.

  “I have a merchant friend whose clan trades with the Deepholds.”

  She held up the letter and flapped it at Felix.

  “His son has recently come of age. Their clan has a trial once a child comes of age. They’re given starting funds and kicked out. Before they can return to the clan, they need to double whatever they’re given.”

  “So his son is heading towards that Deephold?”

  Agrona nods.

  “He’ll be passing by us on his way. I offered to help cook some of the ingredients he picks up before he gets here. If you can join him on his way to the Deephold, then you’d be a fair way through the Highlands. If Keldren’s Deephold has Explorers, then you can hire a party to guide you the rest of the way. See here.”

  She tapped her finger on the map.

  “That Stonehold isn’t far from Keldren’s, and it’s on the Continent’s side of the highlands. If we can figure out what resources are around Keldren’s, we can figure out if it’s a place visited by Explorers. If it is, then it won’t be expensive to hire a party to take you the rest of the way.”

  Felix could feel a bubbling sense of excitement. He had no doubt Agrona had ways of getting through the Shattered Highlands. Whether she had ways of getting him through the Highlands was a different question, though. By a stroke of luck, she could get him nearly all the way there.

  “That’s amazing! What are we looking for? Let me help.”

  Agrona tossed him a book. “Go through that one, you can look up the markers on the map. See if there’s anything nearby that will work.”

  Felix quickly flipped through the book.

  “I’m done with this one.”

  Agrona looked up from her own tome, exasperated.

  “You really don’t know how to build suspense, do you?”

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