As Wingcraft returned from what had essentially been a curb stomp against a large group of level 1 monsters, Daniel felt the slight disappointment and tried to dispel it. Not receiving advancement potential was fine, they'd primarily chosen their target to give Willow a chance to get experience and find spirits, but he'd also been looking forward to a drop from his Encyclopedia.

Perhaps he should have known that the flying equivalent of a ringcat, that was, an otherwise generic form of monster mimicking normal wildlife, would be basic in what it gave him. On the upside, it was the first time he'd gotten an affix as the first unlock after the initial lore page. Unfortunately, said affix had been feathercut, another duplicate that robbed him of something potentially useful.

Though perhaps Daniel shouldn't complain given the backlog of enchanting he had built up, which the wyvern parts would only add to. His earlier bullet math also didn't account for any material bonuses he could abuse, such as the small supply of toxite he had remaining, and if the wyvern bone did something unexpected that would be yet another variant he could make. That wasn't counting the fact that the scales would probably have some special effect on the wings, potentially leading him to remake at least his. It had to be said that he liked the motif of dragon wings better than furred ones, and he was going to try recoloring material with this round.

Remaking boots would depend on whether… Huh. The drones in the courtyard made it abundantly clear Padri was here, with two of his cutters and something that looked like a smaller hauler idling near where he'd bound the pathfinders he'd sent. The Engineer himself wasn't immediately visible, but he picked out and tagged the man. For some reason, he, Lograve, and Alex were talking in one of the houses, while Spinner was dutifully guarding the ground.

"What are those?" Tak asked as everyone descended into the open space, taking an interest in the three constructs.

"Something a friend of mine is working on." Immensely curious about what Lograve was making of Padri, Daniel asked off from the rest of the team and went to join the three. There wasn't much to debrief this time, and Shuni was clearly feeling more comfortable now that they'd had a successful hunt down. He was glad it hadn't turned into a thing with how the emotions had been running earlier, as if either had been less reasonable it could've led into a schism. Potential interest in Shuni aside, Daniel knew most if not all of the team would have sided against the Rogue if forced to choose.

The moment Padri noticed him, he broke off midsentence and turned like a novel-formulae seeking missile. "I need as many sending stones as you can enchant."

Somewhat used to Padri as he was, Daniel still took a step back from the point blank directness. "Uh." His sister gave him a commiserating smile, while Lograve was merely observing the interaction. "I haven't figured them out yet, it's too hard without whatever special item you need."

As if they had set this up, Lograve removed a purple crystal and waggled it in front of Daniel's face. "You mean to say you couldn't figure it out? My word young padawan, how you disappoint me." Padri frowned at the extraplanar reference but didn't comment on it. "The secrets of the Artificer class are mostly beyond me, but this item is well known enough that I've come across a certain tidbit or two."

"So?" Daniel asked leadingly, feeling somewhat nostalgic as he sensed a lecture coming.

"Most formulae you'd use wouldn't have this requirement, so I'm not surprised you struggled with it, but some do need an item outside of what you use as primary material. As your marvelous friend here was explaining," Lograve nodded his head to Padri and continued, "You've someone stolen the fire of the gods themselves and found a way to incorporate multiple materials into one item, but this is slightly different. Instead of fusing them, you are sacrificing something and taking whatever the formulae require from it to use on the primary material. Nothing else from, say, this random crystal would cross over."

"So it's like a secondary crafting material?" Daniel asked, more to himself. It was hard to fit that with the theory of True Enchanting, though Star had said the Artificer class used formulae as shortcuts to the real power behind the domain. Maybe special material requirements were an additional step added to cover particularly tricky aspects of enchanting? "Would've been good for Arpan to let me know about that."

"I do fear the traditional reclusivity of the class has stifled innovation," Padri added. "Look at what we have accomplished already with open cooperation."

"Indeed." Lograve stood and dramatically swept his robe to fix where it had bunched up while he was sitting. "As always, it comes to the humble Arcanist to push the boundaries of magic."

"Actually, this was all my idea," Alex added, poking a small hole in the side of Lograve's ego.

"Well, yes."

"Sorry, what is the idea?" Daniel asked. He could see how installing radios into the drones could be helpful, but it'd depend on how Padri's process affected them.

"I made a mistaken assumption," Padri admitted, withdrawing a core smaller than the ones Daniel had seen earlier. "When the pathfinder returned the results it did, I believed the item added both guidance and the will to follow it. In other words, that the entire effect was due to what was added. Our new theory is that the cores have a rudimentary intelligence. Not sentience, but enough to respond to input."

Daniel blinked, getting the point. "Your idea?"

Alex shrugged. "I just asked if he'd tried putting a sending stone in those things so he could tell them what to do."

"Great trees can grow from the simplest of seeds," Lograve quipped, making Alex frown after a second. "If I didn't have personal projects of my own I'd be as invested in this as you. That being said, I can offer some advice." He placed the mimic crystal with dimensional attunement on the table and idly spun it with a finger. "There are actually two types of items you can use in the creation of sending stones. Those that have some nature of being magically interlinked with another, such as how sending stones are, or those that have this flavor of magic. You could try making them from the remains of that greater skink if you have enough material left."

Daniel checked his bag of holding and scowled. "I already used most of that stuff. Is there a monster in the region like that?"

"How should I know? Do I look like a walking bestiary?" one living encyclopedia asked the other. "Talk to the Commander, this has to have come up before."

"For the time being, I would like at least one to experiment with." Padri's head turned as if just remembering something. "Ah. Your letter mentioned my ancestor as well. If that was not just a fiction to have me abandon Aurus, I would like to see her as well."

…

A small group walked through the streets of Pinion's Point toward the burgeoning Divine Quarter. Zolyra had been attempting to lock down every part of the town from Aurus' influence, including this sector. There was some difficulty in doing so, especially with the fallout from two of the churches being heavily involved in the former coup attempt. Apparently Rikoor had been the leader of Hourglass' church in the entire region, though they hardly needed more reasons to distrust those that followed the traitor.

Daniel had mixed feelings about bringing Alex along for that reason, but she'd been invested in what she'd unintentionally sparked. Honestly, he didn't mind the idea of having a fleet of drones at his command either, especially if he didn't actually have to make them. That was all pending discovery of the special material he needed, which would take at least a few days depending on how helpful the Commander would be.

He glanced at his sister and hid a smile at how much of the surroundings she was taking in. It was after dusk now and there was only public lighting illuminating the air. It was a mix of torches and enchanted fixtures, a sign of the town's relative wealth compared to the bright streets of Aurus.

Daniel had gotten used to this after several nights on the prowl in cat mode, one of which had been when he'd met Shuni for the first time. Not for Alex. Bundled up as she was, breath fogging out in the winter air that barely troubled him after tasting a frost wyvern's, she still took a moment to stare at every sign within the light of a nearby torch.

She wasn't the only one looking around. "Hmm. It has been years since I have left Aurus," Padri remarked. "It is odd, finding flat land unusual. I could see from one end of this town to the other."

"What's Aurus like?" Alex asked.

"Convenient, for some." No one missed the note of distaste in the Engineer's voice. "For one like you, it would be hard to go many places. Without flight, it may take an hour or more to find a market in the lower altitudes. That is with a burdensome climb at least one way. For the elderly, they may find it difficult to revisit places they were fond of in their youth."

"Food deserts." Alex nodded, and encountered one of the problems Daniel had perpetually run into during the early days. Padri wasn't in the know. He would be soon, but now wasn't the time to get into that. "We have those where I come from. Public transit isn't built up as much as it should be and if you don't have a- if you can't get around quickly."

"Yes. Another reason I wish to make my creations 'mainstream'." He paused and took out the smaller modular core once more. "Why hide this from us? This technology, in our hands a century ago, would have made for a different world."

He knew part of the answer, but kept it quiet. Some statistic had led the gods to restrict the Engineer class down the line, like they had Vanguard and all the others the Collapse had brought back. Considering Assassin had gotten a pass, it wasn't because of possible threat to the public.

"We have it now," Lograve said diplomatically as the four entered the Divine Quarter through the space meant to hold Grave's church. "I can't imagine how much new knowledge the coming days will uncover."

"Indeed." While Alex was staring at the wide buildings that dwarfed all others in the town, Padri remained focused. "Bekali. She did more with far, far less. Are her injuries that severe?"

"Yeah." Daniel didn't want to steal Quala's thunder and knew she could do a better job of explaining the former Regent's current condition, so he gave the backstory instead. "There was something like a curse in the ruins she was affected by. We lifted it, but she'd been affected for so long that it's probably done permanent damage. One of my friends was mute for several years because of one and he's struggling to get his voice back."

"Unfortunate."

The church of the Hand was the most active at night. One might find themselves in need of the services of the other at all hours, but rarely was another domain needed more urgently than restoration. While it was late, they were still on the right side of midnight and Quala was still awake.

She took one look at the assembled group and shook her head. "Mr. Tiltfeather? I can take you to see her, but no one else. Bekali's mental condition is still extremely tenuous. I wouldn't want anyone visiting, but I suppose you are family."

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"Yes. The last of her descendants, not accounting for potential bastards. Please, lead the way." If Quala was shaken by her first exposure to Padri she didn't show it, though it might have been the overriding fatigue he could see in her eyes. She was acting like a second pope as far as her church was concerned, managing the divide while trying to keep the appearances of there not being one.

"This looks like a hospital, kind of," Alex commented quietly after Padri was led away. "A more religious ED, maybe."

"Every church has facilities for use by the public." Lograve's eyebrows furrowed. "It makes one wonder what the Astral church used to do."

"Hunter mentioned that Grave used to help spirits in earlier cycles," Daniel pointed out. "They didn't 'fix' the issue until the Grafting, but they must have been doing something like what Willow wanted to do initially."

"Right," Alex said unconvincingly, like someone who hadn't watched a show trying to follow a conversation about season 12. "It's just odd to see, well, everything. These people have tangible proof their gods exist. I've heard it said that belief becomes weaker if you know something for certain, but that's hard to defend here."

I'm not sure the two societies can be compared directly, Lograve thought, switching to telepathy as they were both discussing a sensitive topic and departing the church. A distressed mother had brought in a crying child, whose voice was very loud given their race. That had reminded them they were lounging about an active treatment area. Your god, or gods, or non-deific ideologies in some cases, are clearly a separate paradigm from ours. That less than half the pantheon are original members, one a traitor no less, well… Lograve grimaced, but there was a trace of humor in his eyes. It isn't the first time one of you made me rethink my entire worldview.

Alex was silent for a moment before she spread her arms out at the octagonal city sector around them. That's one thing I don't understand. If whoever Dad is here is part of this, everywhere, and we're against him, how are we supposed to do anything?

He's not Dad, Daniel put firmly. A spark of anger lit in Alex's return gaze, but no argument came of it. He was a little surprised, but soon realized the similarities to what had initially driven a wedge between them. In fairness, Daniel might have carried some hope of some part of his father remaining in Hourglass if he hadn't personally seen what the god had done in the Divine Pavilion. The place you came through is our best bet. From there, we try and find the other gods and help them bring the world back in order. Cloak also mentioned something about me being able to 'resolve the conflict', but he didn't have enough time to explain what that meant.

We'll have to see what Torch says, if this plan of yours ever gets off the ground. Lograve levitated himself up for effect, glancing appreciably at the boots on his feet. Not that I can't do this with Aquakinesis, but I must say I'm glad you are finally embracing your class, Daniel.

Just too bad he doesn't care about family, Alex sarcastically thought, elbowing him in the side. I think I am about ready for flying whenever you have the time.

Tomorrow, I promise. Daniel took a brief moment to privately ask Hunter to double check that Zolyra had dropped off his supplies before changing back to the other Telepathic Link. By the way, what color do you want your wings to be?

Orange, Alex decided after only a moment's hesitation, in line with his expectations. Her next request though surprised him. Can you also make me a violin? One that won't explode whenever you want it to.

I thought you didn't want a new one, Daniel replied, confused.

It's not for me. Alex left it at that, smiling mysteriously when Daniel followed up. Trusting Padri to find his way back to the compound, as he must still have at least one pathfinder bound to it, they decided to call it a night and left without him.

…

Daniel returned to his room to find a very odd sight. Hunter was lying on his bed while in hybrid form, though it looked like the ringcat was waiting rather than sleeping by the way he was propping up his head with both hands while staring out the window. Even Daniel had moments where he was taken aback by what Blood Union allowed them to do, such as now. Hunter hadn't changed much from his time in the Astral, yet access to a new body was dramatically changing how others saw him.

Daniel tried his best to reach his door without Hunter noticing, going so far as to carefully levitate in the hallway to not make a sound, but the damned cat's nose picked him out before he could get to the handle. What are you doing?

What are you doing? Daniel returned, entering his room and watching as Hunter swung to sit on the edge of the bed. With enough effort he knew you could see familial resemblance between them since the only change to the hybrid body when Hunter wore it was the effects of Feline Charm. That thought made Daniel narrow his eyes. You weren't waiting for Shuni, were you?

Is she coming here tonight? Hunter asked cheekily, before he grew more serious. No. Waiting for you. I, I'm sorry about before. Went too far.

Daniel turned the chair of his desk around and sat, once more glad there was space enough in the room for it to not be cramped with two of them in there. It's fine. I had my revenge anyway, and… I know it's complicated. We're both figuring out where we fall on the friends/dating line. Is this like how I was with Tak when you got your bond?

No. Hunter picked at a spot on one of his broad ears for a moment while he thought. I was just trying to be… funny. I was around when you were with Claire, but even back then I wasn't fully me. I'm still becoming me.

You are less than a year old, Daniel replied reasonably. It's weird I haven't thought about it like this before, but you're like Khare. Still figuring some things out.

Hmm. The mental grunt was accompanied by an audible, distracted one.

What?

Went out to the town earlier and a few were staring. Not like how they do with Spinner. Hunter sounded like he didn't know how he felt about that, and neither did Daniel. The fact that he was almost identical to Hunter while in hybrid form once again reared its magically-enhanced head. No one said or did anything, but the attention was weird.

No kidding. They already had enough problems without cat-obsessed fangirls trying to storm the compound. He doubted it was that bad, but there had been issues in the early days with getting people to stop trying to solicit Daniel for enchanted gear. Honestly I don't think I'd be up for it, but you could ask Tak and Thomas to go out with you one night if you wanted to get better at meeting people. Not that I'm suggesting you do anything with them, or that that would be a bad thing, it'd be good for you to get out and do stuff like that.

Maybe. Hunter sounded like he was mostly against the idea but would think about it. To be fair Daniel would have given a similar response if the conversation suddenly flipped around. All of you have multiple things you like. With me, it is just hunting. I have patience, and friends to be around, but it still feels like I'm missing something.

You just need to find things you like, Daniel offered. If there's any kind of sports here I'm sure that would be your thing. The church of Cloak does live entertainment, we have books, Alex is asking me to make a violin for someone and I could make a second for you… Daniel stopped himself before he kept listing off activities. It wasn't what Hunter wanted to hear. You're a person, Hunter. No one can take that from you. There are plenty of single-minded people out there. Hell, I'm going to spend the next few hours enchanting like I do every night.

The bag of holding containing the wyvern parts, two of them actually, were on his desk as promised and it was only Hunter's dilemma preventing him from taking them out to play with. There was so much to work on, the least of which was the eternal struggle of replenishing ammo.

I was someone before this. Hunter eventually said. I know this. I felt it when I died. Whoever they were, I lost all of it.

Would you want it back if you could have it? Daniel asked. Hunter just stared at his hands in reply, and the Artificer shifted over to be beside his brother. You have a life you can't remember, and I remember one I never really had. He put a comforting arm around Hunter's shoulders. It sucks. It's more than anyone should have to deal with. We can't change the past, but we can make the future better. The best thing that we have going for us is that we all have each other. The days of secrets are gone.

Hunter nodded gratefully, but a half-frown grew on his face. All of them?

Daniel winced, knowing what he was talking about. There was one thing he'd let no one else know about, except for Hunter. The thought had been in his recent memories and had crossed over when they'd fully unleashed the Empathic Link. I don't know if my Spoke really is favoring Alex or not. I hope it is, but I have no way of knowing because it's still not telling me anything. I don't want to give people another thing to worry about, especially because we can't change this. Maybe if I meet up with Khare again and reforge our bond I can get to a soul space, but it feels like the conditions last time were pretty specific.

Should tell people anyway. Alex, at least. People we trust. They need to know if it could change what happens during a fight.

Daniel thought back to the night sun and how surprised Cloak was that the mana explosion from Rikoor hadn't killed them all. Maybe they hadn't just gotten lucky. Yeah, you're right. I was afraid… well, that people would think I was stupid for yelling at it. That's why I didn't want anyone else there.

You were stupid. Hunter shrugged off the arm, using his own to rustle Daniel's hair. You get like that sometimes, but it was for Alex so it is ok. I understand, at least.

I'm glad you feel that way, Daniel replied while he escaped an attempted headlock. When he came away Hunter's eyes were slightly dilated and he could feel through the currently weak Empathic Link that the ringcat wouldn't mind if they took it out to the courtyard to spar despite the late hour. He really is into fighting, Daniel thought privately.

When he saw that Daniel was actually going to make good on his enchanting promise that will faded. She's your sister. Mine? Hunter stared at where they both knew where she was despite having taken the auras off everyone for the night. No. But she is family at the same time. I don't know her pain, but I have felt pain like it.

She's doing better at least. Alex mentioned on the way back she'd like to try one of the restaurants still open, and if I can get new wings made tonight we can fly there. Not much I can do about the boots since I'd need Padri to work on the material too. Daniel looked toward the bag and made the same offer he'd extended a few nights ago. This time he was far less conflicted about it. I should get started, but you can stay and talk if you'd like.

And watch you stare at something for hours? Hunter asked, almost indignantly. I thought we both agreed this was boring.

So that's a no?

Bleh, Hunter replied respectfully, standing gracefully and making his way to the door. He walked through and closed it, but Daniel heard the pause on the other side. Thanks.

No problem. I'll always be here to listen if you need it, Daniel promised, and with that, he was alone once more. He spent a minute staring out the window as Hunter had, thinking about life, before his impulse got the better of him and he inspected the bags. It looked like two wyvern's worth of bones and scales were in one bag, while the second held the third and a letter.

He probably should have read the letter first, but instead Daniel took out one of the massive white long bones that looked like it came from one of the wyvern's legs. It'd been cleaned professionally and was perfectly primed for his use, though that didn't change the fact that he had a hard time lifting it once it was out. And that was with the cistrine rings giving him a slight strength buff.

As it turned out, there was another reason he couldn't hold the bone. When it had fully cleared the bag, Daniel felt something he hadn't expected and dropped it back into the dimensional space, stunned. What the?

Now seeing the merit of reading the gift card first, the Artificer inspected Zolyra's beautiful handwriting.

Daniel,

We encountered something unexpected when processing the bodies of the wyverns. As far as we can tell, parts of the evolved frost wyvern's corpse become magically active after they're harvested. I have inspected them thoroughly and do not believe there to have been any new Craftsman power responsible for this, and neither are the remains hazardous. Still, this is an unexpected development. I don't want hunters chasing after these things after what happened to you, so I'd like it if you kept this quiet for now. Not an order, but you have enough sense to see things my way. Let me know if anything you make turns out differently from the normal wyverns. We've separated the materials just in case, but you should be able to tell the difference.

Gingerly and in awe, Daniel took out one of the smaller bones and placed it on the table. He poked it, and it gave him the same magical feedback anyone got from trying to handle an item higher than their level. There was no doubt. He could use this material without relying on bonecut or the patchwork affix, allowing him to combine two other affixes. There was the obvious implication with bullet math, but it was eclipsed by another one.

If other evolved monsters behaved like this, they'd just found a reliable source of prime enchanting material. He could take this and sell it to the other Artificers and make enough to buy Padri all the sending stones the Engineer would need, but screw that. His huge advantage over them was his ability to earn advancement, money, formulae, and enchanting material from hunts.

If they want to charge me half a lapis for a simple formulae, fine. Daniel thought, a bit vindictively. But I'm going to take this discovery and get so far ahead of them they'll have to beg for my stuff.

He started to worry he was adopting the practices Padri disagreed with, but the other Artificer in town really was gouging the hell out of him. I can take economic justice later, Daniel told himself. It's time to make Alex her wings.

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