Aurin’s leg bounced up and down as he looked out the train window, watching Hazelton come into view. He had a grin on his face, so relieved was he to finally be home after his two-month-long trip to different parts of Bretonia. It had been filled with good times and a short burst of intensely unpleasant times, but he could put the past behind him and move forward now that he was home.

  Shamtile was less excited, having been subjected to an hour and a half on the train when he could have been banished to Hazelton via summoning stone. He wouldn’t have minded so much had Innogon not been annoying him so much. The water drake kept subtly spraying water on the floor beside Shamtile to make it look like he wet himself. The pranks did not fool Aurin and Luna for a second, but the drake found it endlessly amusing and broke into fits of yapping giggles every time Shamtile spotted the wet patch.

  At last, the train pulled into the station and the doors to the carriages opened. Aurin grabbed both his and Luna’s bag and led the way onto the platform with Luna, Shamtile, and Innogon following him. The humans took a deep breath in, filling their lungs with the smoky scent of Hazelton—this was admittedly likely from the train rather than the town itself, which usually smelled either like flowers or baked goods.

  “We’re home, we’re home!” squealed Luna, putting her arms around Aurin’s neck and pulling his head close to hers. “I’ve never missed Hazelton as much as I have the last few weeks.”

  “Next time, I’ll plan a solo trip,” joked Aurin, earning himself an eye roll.

  “You’re homesick too. Don’t pretend otherwise.”

  “Of course, I am!”

  The humans and the Minakai stepped off the platform, taking the small set of steps back onto the cobblestone streets. They walked to Luna’s house to drop off her bag, but found that the doors were locked and her parents were nowhere to be seen.

  “Don’t tell me they’re on a holiday of their own,” she sighed, shaking her head. “The least they could have done is let me know.”

  “You haven’t called them since Maplewood. How could they let you know when they had no idea we were staying at the Castle Dojo?”

  “Well, there was no signal for my mobile and somebody neglected to tell me about the landline.”

  “An honest mistake,” said Aurin, putting his arm around her shoulder and grinning. “I thought we covered this already?”

  “We did,” said Luna with a grin, “but I’ll be poking you with it for at least another week. Come on, let’s go to the ranch and Kyle can fill us in on everything we’ve missed.”

  The quartet strolled through the town, in no rush to reach the ranch as they observed the people of Hazelton going about their business. Aurin and Luna earned several smiles and greetings from the townsfolk, their reputations as both tamers and local heroes making it hard to go about their business unnoticed. Neither especially minded as it was pleasant attention rather than overwhelming.

  As they walked out of town and along the forest path, they passed by the fork leading to Harmony Tower. While Aurin had reached the top, conquering the tower garden, and claiming a Breminia egg, Luna was eager to see if she could beat her own previous record. She would save it for another day, however, as today was a day to rest and settle back into life in Hazelton.

  “What do we have here?” chuckled Aurin as the ranch came into view.

  Standing outside was Kyle, Gardner, Jimmy, Emily, and Luna’s parents, Clyde and Miriam. There was a banner draped over the gates into the pen that read ‘Welcome Home, Aurin and Luna’ and the frown on Kyle’s face told Aurin that it was not the rancher’s idea. The sweet smile on Emily’s suggested it was hers.

  “Here come the worldly wanderers,” called Gardner, giving a salute. “They return from the wild lands beyond the borders of our humble home.”

  “As if you haven’t done your fair share of travelling,” Aurin retorted with a laugh. “But thanks for the announcements, over the top as it was.”

  “Mate, it’s my way of saying I missed the pair of you. Now don’t make me say it again.”

  As Aurin dropped the bags on the ground, Luna ran up to her parents and hugged both of them tightly. She had tears in her eyes and sniffled a couple of times before pulling herself together.

  “What’s the matter, dear?” asked Miriam.

  “It’s nothing, I just…missed you both.”

  “We missed you two, honey,” said Clyde, patting his daughter on the back. “Now dry your eyes and tell us how you’ve been.”

  Aurin bit his lip and threw a nervous look at Kyle. “Um, well…there was a slight…issue?”

  “I’ve given them the basic rundown already,” said Kyle. “The Castle Dojo, Jackson kidnapping Breminia, and The Collector.”

  “You have a knack for finding trouble, don’t you, Aurin?” asked Clyde with a raised eyebrow.

  “I go out of my way to avoid it and it still rears its ugly head every few weeks,” said Aurin with a furrowed brow. “All I want is a peaceful life and I have anything but that.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Being one of the few in the country to clear a monster tower and then win the National Championships attracts attention,” laughed Jimmy. “Who knew?”

  “Shifting the attention away from me,” said Aurin. “How has everybody been? What have we missed?”

  “The Zodiac Squad returned and we crushed them again,” said Gardner, slamming his fist into his palm.

  “Don’t joke about that!” scolded Emily, slapping him across the arm as Jimmy chortled away. Emily turned and shot him a look that shut him up immediately.

  *

  Aurin looked over his shoulder to make sure that Kyle was still tending to the Minakai in the river running through the ranch. Assured that his time was being taken up by Luna’s Doripper causing a scene due to his fight with another Doripper, he gave Shamtile a signal.

  The masked lizard opened up a pit in the ground and piles of dung fell twenty feet down. Clapping his hands together, Shamtile sealed the pit, making it seem as though it was never there. Desparee cried and weaved his own elemental powers, making the grass at the tear regrow almost instantly.

  “We don’t speak a word of this to Kyle,” Aurin said to his two Minakai. “Are we clear?”

  Shamtile gave an enthusiastic thumbs up while Desparee wailed in guilty. He cried about almost everything, so Aurin didn’t take his distress to heart, for the species was plagued with eternal feelings of despair and even rare moments of laughter were followed by being dragged straight back down into a dung-filled pit of misery.

  Normally, Aurin would have taken his duties seriously, but he had an appointment at the town hall. While Kyle would have let him off the hook, Aurin knew that looking after the ranch alone was increasingly burdensome as the population of Minakai grew. His own Minakai totalled eighteen and they required a lot of upkeep with the massive amounts of food they consumed along with all of their other needs being cared for.

  He walked over to Kyle with Shamtile in tow, trying not to look too pleased with himself or too guilty for the deception. “Finished,” he said with a slight smile.

  “Already?” asked Kyle with a raised eyebrow. “You normally take an hour longer.

  “I used some of what I learned with Master Lucius to pick up the pace.”

  “Really?” asked Kyle, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. “A martial arts and Minakai master taught you how to shovel dung faster?”

  “Not directly,” said Aurin, shrugging. “But the skills are transferable. I’m stronger, faster, and more resilient these days.”

  “And if I asked you to repeat the same feat tomorrow, you’d be able to do it while I watched?”

  “Tell him, Shamtile.”

  The lizard mimed rapidly shovelling with his hands and then gave Kyle a grunt of confirmation.

  “Alright, I’m not going to argue,” relented the rancher, choosing to believe the obvious lie. “Go do whatever it was you wanted to do.”

  “What I wanted to do?” asked Aurin. “Well, now that you mention it—”

  “I don’t need an explanation; I’m not your keeper. Just go and sort out your business!”

  Not needing to be told twice, Aurin hurried down the path with Shamtile, who grabbed a large bag Aurin had placed by the fence earlier. The tamer whistled loudly and Leonite leapt over the fences, meeting his master and teammate by the treeline. He ran lowly and Aurin leapt onto his back, scooping Shamtile up in mid-air. The cobalt lion ran towards Hazelton, knowing that Aurin was already running late.

  He carried Aurin through the streets, dashing between the people and jumping to the top of the town hall stairs in a single leap. He stopped outside the door and let his tamer dismount. Aurin thanked him by stroking his mane and then scratching his chin. The lion purred in appreciated and then curled up outside to wait for him to return.

  “Hold that tight,” said Aurin, “and don’t hand it over until I tell you to, alright?”

  “Ragh!” screeched Shamtile, annoyed that his tamer did not trust him to perform such a simple task.

  “How many times have you taken my wallet to buy milkshake and overpaid?” asked Aurin, knocking the bag with his fingers and listening to the satisfying clinks of the coins inside.

  “Rugh,” growled Shamtile, unwilling to admit that this had happened on too many occasions. He cared not for numbers, he cared for stone, battling, and delicious drinks.

  “Come on, mate,” said Aurin, leading the lizard inside.

  Aurin was very familiar with the town hall, having paid many a visit to the former mayor’s office. Back then, he had no idea that Mayor Boren was none other than Taurus, the leader of the Zodiac Squad, but he was not here to see the mayor. Today, he had to see the Land and Property Department, something he would never imagined himself doing a couple of years ago—it sounded dreadfully dull.

  The young man followed the signs and was greeted warmly by people in the hall as he walked. The town hall had lost part of its roof during the Zeera Crisis and, had the rampage continued, it would likely have been crushed entirely along with most of the other buildings in town.

  Aurin walked through a glass door and up to the counter where a woman was working on her computer. She paused as he approached and looked up at him with a kind smile.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Yes, erm… Leslie,” he replied, reading her name badge. “My name’s Aurin and I would like to buy some land.”

  “Of course, Mr Saviour of Hazelton,” said Leslie, making Aurin cringe. He had gotten used to the name before leaving Hazelton and had since forgotten how jarring it was to be called that. “I can certainly help you with that. Which listing were you looking at?”

  “There was no listing,” replied Aurin, pulling out a map and setting it on the counter. He pointed to an area he had marked out in red. “There’s a particular spot I had in mind in the western forest, just up the hill. If you’ll see here, I’ve drawn the boundaries for you and I know it’s land owned by the town.”

  Leslie looked at the map and then starting typing on her computer. “Bear with me,” she said, biting her lower lip as she searched her database. “Yes, you’re right. It is indeed land owned by the town, but it isn’t listed as being for sale. Is there anywhere else?”

  Aurin shook his head. “No, this is the one I want. It’s not being used for anything right? It’s just a small clearing and a bunch of trees.”

  “It’s not a case of whether it’s being used or not, it’s that I can’t overrule the town council on what’s available and what’s not.”

  “Shamtile,” said Aurin, nodding to the lizard. He leapt onto the counter with the hefty back and slammed it down, making Leslie jump a mile. “I’ll pay double what the land is valued at. People in this town know me and they know that I’m not going to bulldoze part of the forest to make way for a tower block.”

  Leslie sighed. “Yes, Aurin, we know that the people of Hazelton owe you a lot. In fact, I owe you a great deal too. You pulled Zeera’s attention just in time to save my family. We were trying to drive away from the town and we were nearly crushed.”

  “Please, Leslie,” said Aurin. “Is there anything you can do?”

  She looked at him guiltily for a moment and then scrunched up her nose. “Alright, give me a minute. I’ll put in a couple of calls. No promises though!”

  “You’re the best, thank you,” said Aurin with a grin. He winked at Shamtile who had already opened the bag of money and was sifting through it. Aurin grabbed the lizard by the tail and pulled him off the counter as Leslie dialled the phone.

  here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: