Kaila stood in front of the Navigator’s Guild waiting impatiently for Evran to join her. At the rate of things, the Tempest would arrive before he would. The last few days of confinement were finally over, and she could finally make some progress with her clandestine investigation.

  She was quite proud of her devious little ruse. By pretending to search for a non-existent missing package, she and Evran would also be investigating his father’s disappearance by proxy. She’d use the opportunity to ask about him and learn everything she could, and they might even uncover a clue about his disappearance. If only he would show up!

  “Hey Evran! Over here!”

  Evran trotted up the stairs and threw himself against the stone wall, panting. “Sorry I’m late! Professor Merrilus made me an alternate for crystal duty, so I had to report in case they needed me, They don’t, go figure. Waste of my damned time!”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “No worries, I’m just glad to finally be doing this. Hey, I thought you got a new staff.”

  “Yeah, but I forgot it back in my dorm. I really hope the third stormsign doesn’t happen while we’re here, or I’ll have to fight without it.”

  Kaila flicked his forehead. “Don’t be so forgetful. You’re guarding my barrier tower, remember? I need my protector at his best.”

  After sharing a brief laugh, they entered the rotunda of the Navigator’s Guild. Inside they found the walls lined with refugees and the meager possessions they had escaped with. Sometime later today, their former home would fall from the sky, but at least they would not. The evacuation was far from successful. Fear and desperation made it difficult to smuggle people off of the doomed island, and few with the means to attempt it wanted to take the risk. Only a quarter of the population escaped, according to the Guild. These were the lucky ones.

  Kaila guided Evran to the railing overlooking the world map. It had been completely cleared of the many stone pillars that were on it. After the Tempest, this place would be a swarm of activity. As reports of islands and their locations would trickle in, clerks would add to the map and update the marquees.

  “I’ve never seen it so empty in here,” said Evran. “I hope the refugees won’t be too bothered when it gets busy tomorrow.”

  “We’ve already arranged new lodgings for all our guests,” said an approaching dwarf wearing a guild uniform. “Hopefully, we’ll have them resettled in their long-term accommodations before the Tempest hits. Hello, my name is Simor Preddis. You two must be the students Professor Grist mentioned. This way, please.”

  Evran gave Kaila a look. “Professor Grist is helping you with this? Now I’m suspicious!”

  A nervous twinge ran down Kaila’s spine. Surely he was just joking, right? She’d not actually done anything to tip him off, had she? A short chuckle from Evran quickly assuaged her fears. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have Grist help her arrange this.

  The dwarven clerk led them into the archives and into a small room with a few desks littered with boxes of parchment. “Here are the manifests you requested. I’m not sure what it is you’re searching for, but I hope you find it in all this! Good luck.” The clerk bowed and darted off back toward the rotunda.

  “Alright, let’s get to work!” Kaila said, excited.

  After several tedious hours of pouring through the various manifests and docking records, Kaila began to doubt the genius of her plan. Far more ships were missing than she anticipated. Whether the records were incomplete or the Ravagers were just that good at killing people in the open skies, she did not know. She was just about to call it quits when she noticed Evran staring far too intensely at a manifest in his hands.

  “Kai, I found a ship my dad took. See, he and my brother took a ship named The Peculiar Breeze from Fernport to Roanharbor. I was beginning to think they were traveling under an alias or something, but no. He’s right here!”

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  “Fernport. That was only four hops away from the Sygel Islands. Looks like they made it that far.” Kaila smiled at Evran’s excitement. This was her chance she’d been waiting for. “Say, Ev… would you mind telling me the story behind their disappearance? I’ve only really heard it secondhand from Lerrum.”

  Evran’s excitement vanished from his face. Had she pushed him too far? Before she could say anything, Evran took a deep breath and spoke.

  “There’s really not much to it. My older sister was accused of murder on Sygel East. Father took my older brother to go bail her out, and they never made it. A while later, we learned from a family friend on Sygel that they never arrived and that my sister had been convicted and… sentenced.”

  “Do you think she did it?” Kaila asked. She wasn’t necessarily after that part of the story, nor was a sensible question to ask, but the girl was simply curious.

  “The man who wrote the letter didn’t seem to think so. He said the trial was a farce. For the last eight years, I’ve been angry at her over all this, and I never even cared that she might have been innocent. I’ve recently decided to forgive her, so I want to believe she was innocent. I have no way of ever knowing. She must have died thinking her family abandoned her.”

  Evran looked away and covered his eyes, doing his best to hide the fact that he was crying. Kaila walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind. For the second time in a week, Kaila was hugging her pathetic friend.

  “Even if he had made it, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference,” said Kaila. “If they wanted to convict her, it’s not like one man could have changed their minds.”

  “If anyone could have, it was my dad.” Evran turned to face Kaila. His face was beaming with pride, though his eyes were still red. “I only ever got to see him fight once when I was a kid. Our island was attacked by Ravagers right before a Tempest, and a few of them made their way to our estate. I’ve never seen someone fight as he did. He was fast. He cut down their entire strike squad in the blink of an eye. I have no doubt he could have broken her out of jail if he’d had to.”

  There it was! The exact sort of clue Kaila had been searching for. She struggled fiercely to prevent her excitement from showing on her face. She still had her doubts, however. Was his father’s strength the genuine article, or the exaggeration of a doting son? She would have to press him for more.

  “How old were you when that happened? I was in a Ravager attack when I was younger, and my protectors seemed like they were all-powerful. Now that I’m older, they seem normal in hindsight.”

  “I was nine at the time, and I’d even fought a few monsters myself by then. What my father did that night still amazes me. I didn’t know people could move that fast. From that day onward, I wanted to become just as powerful as him. It’s what led me to stupidly enter a labyrinth in search of stronger monsters to train against.”

  Loud popping sounds erupted from outside, interrupting their conversation. The castle bells rang in the distance, their eerie chime magically altered with some distortion effect. People cheered as they ran through the hallway outside the door of their small research room.

  “Damn it, that’ll be the third stormsign. Guess I won’t have my new staff,” Evran lamented.

  Kaila cursed her bad luck. She’d finally got him talking about his father, and not only that, what he was saying all but confirmed he was an avatar. With the final stormsign, their little project would be put on hold until they returned from the practical.

  “I didn’t expect it so early in the day. Let’s go outside and make our wishes! Just leave everything as is. Grist said they’ll keep the room reserved throughout the practical.”

  They raced through the archive hallways and burst through the side door to the now empty rotunda. Through the massive windows overlooking the harbor, they peered out into the open sky beyond. Massive plumes of miasma were forming from vents deep within the shimmering void. Lightning flashed across the surface of the magenta clouds, and the low rumble of distant thunder shook the air.

  Kaila and Evran ran out the rotunda doors and joined the crowd admiring the awesome display. One by one, mages throughout the city sent purple flares high into the sky. Kaila closed her eyes, half-whispering a prayer to herself, then launched a flare of her own. Evran sent up one of his own soon after.

  A determined young girl in dirty clothing approached Kaila from behind and tugged on the skirt of her uniform. “Excuse me, Miss Elf? Can you help me make a wish? I wanna be a mage someday. I wanna stop my next home from falling into the void! Please?”

  “That’s an excellent wish!” said Evran. “Let’s help her, Kai.”

  Kaila smiled and took the girl’s hands in hers. She began shaping mana for the flare between the two of them. The little girl’s eyes opened wide in amazement. The girl smiled, likely for the first time all week. Kaila raised their hands together and launched the flare as high into the sky as she could.

  The girl began cheering for the flare, sending her wish to the heavens. A teary-eyed man, likely her father, came to collect the girl. He thanked Kaila and offered her a modest payment, which she adamantly refused.

  Kaila turned to face Evran, who was staring intently out beyond the harbor. He had a firm look of hope and determination in his eyes — one that was far from pathetic.

  “Ev! Quit gawking at the stormsign and escort me to the barrier tower in District 11. We have a job to do, my staffless protector!”