Chương 76: One More Crack

If Orion could name a single silver lining regarding the Velkaryn caravan incident, it was that everyone's appetite for unnecessary risk had diminished considerably. Talia was no longer eager to throw herself into the first mission that sounded remotely interesting. Garrick had stopped looking for fights he had no business trying to win. Even Roy seemed to hesitate an extra few seconds before suggesting something ridiculous.

None of that came close to justifying what had happened several nights earlier, but Orion was willing to appreciate the temporary peace while it lasted. Four days had passed since the battle, and the most exciting event during that time had been the completion of the Exchange House. For Drakehaven, that qualified as an almost suspiciously calm stretch. Most of the excitement surrounding the new building had come from Therma.

The Flux Drake had discovered the buried hot and cold basins almost immediately and apparently decided they existed primarily for her personal convenience. Orion watched from a short distance as she sprawled beside one of the access points with her tail submerged in the heated water and one front claw dangling lazily into the cold basin on the opposite side. Every few minutes she adjusted one limb or the other, seemingly calibrating herself to a temperature known only to her.

Nimbus had found the entire arrangement equally fascinating for more productive reasons. She had already taken ownership of maintaining water levels. Workers had learned quickly that hot water could now be drawn directly from the Exchange House instead of being heated in batches, while the colder basin provided everything from food preservation to basic relief after hours spent hauling stone beneath the summer sun.

The building itself was modest compared to the Healing House, but Roy's planning had made efficient use of the buried infrastructure beneath it. Thick timber framed the upper structure, pale plaster filling the walls while stone flooring protected everything from constant spills and humidity. Two reinforced access points sat over the basins below, each fitted with drainage channels so that people could fill buckets, tubs, or whatever else they needed without turning the interior into a swamp.

Orion folded his arms as he watched one of the workers carry away two steaming buckets.

"I'm starting to think Therma believes we built this specifically for her."

"She probably does." Roy's voice came from beside him. Orion turned and found his brother already prepared to leave. Shale stood nearby wearing the exact expression of long-suffering displeasure he displayed whenever someone expected him to travel farther than the nearest lumber pile.

"Basking in calmness, are we?" Roy asked.

"Only once you head out," Orion replied.

"Then your harebrained schemes won't concoct themselves in the middle of the night."

"You and I both know that isn't true. My harebrained schemes remain fully operational even when I'm somewhere else." As if to prove the point, Roy gestured toward the construction site several dozen yards away. The Coordinator's Obelisk had finally moved beyond planning and into actual construction, although the progress was not yet impressive.

Elias sat beside the partially assembled foundation, visibly delighted by the challenge of shaping tidestone into forms far more precise than his usual walls and structural supports.

"There's also the Nightglass spread around," Roy continued.

"That's less concerning so far. Most of the drakes seem uninterested in it, and almost nobody has found a meaningful way to interact with the material." Orion glanced toward him.

"So the whole escapade was a waste."

"Not necessarily. Clover seemed interested in experimenting with his piece, although I'm not sure whether that means anything yet. Quill, on the other hand, made quick work of eating his." Orion turned fully.

"Eating?"

"Yes, although not all at once. He tore off several tiny portions, worked them into the edges of his paper form, and then apparently decided that counted as consumption." Roy sounded far too accepting of that explanation. Orion stared at him for several seconds before shaking his head.

"I'm going to regret asking, but what did that accomplish?" Roy's expression sharpened slightly, the humor giving way to genuine interest.

"More than I expected. Quill normally leaks enough Weave in ledger form that someone with the right magic could identify that something is off. After incorporating the Nightglass, that leakage disappeared almost completely." Orion's eyebrows rose.

"That sounds less useless."

"Significantly less. The effect isn't permanent, and he seems to burn through the Nightglass gradually while maintaining it. But for several hours at a time, Quill can hide not only his presence as an active magical object, but also whatever information he's carrying." Orion looked toward the Waystation in the distance.

"I bet Sevrin loves that."

"What Sevrin doesn't know won't hurt him. I'm not planning to hide every useful discovery from him forever. That would become obvious eventually, and I would rather control what we reveal than make him assume everything is being concealed."

"But Quill?"

"Quill is currently carrying every sensitive note we've made about Ironvale, Vision, the Council, and half a dozen other things I don't particularly want Velkaryn reading." Roy adjusted the pack against his shoulder.

"So for the moment, Sevrin can remain tragically unaware that his thoughtful gift made our living ledger harder for him to spy on."

"That might be my favorite thing we've learned from the Nightglass."

"I suspected you'd appreciate it." Before the conversation progressed further, Orion extended one hand and called upon a small portion of his Weave. The summoning response came instantly, the familiar shape forming in his palm beneath a brief ripple of golden-red light. [Summon: Dragoneye Scout] The tiny creature stretched its wings, looked around once, and then fluttered toward Roy. It circled his arm before settling around his wrist, curling itself into a comfortable position as though it had never left.

Roy looked down.

"I was wondering when I'd get this back."

"Talia isn't risking her life tonight, and you're leaving again. The allocation becomes obvious."

"I left Quill with Aurelia and Selene for their trip to Ironvale, so I suppose I can't complain." Orion glanced toward him.

"You're trusting them with Quill?"

"I'm trusting Quill with them. There's a difference," Roy checked that the Dragoneye was secure before continuing.

"Kaelu and Elias will keep working on the Obelisk and the next round of housing while I'm gone. Once both projects are situated enough that they don't need constant supervision, I asked them to switch focus toward a Community Center." Orion frowned.

"A Community Center? Doesn't that seem excessive for us?"

"For us now, maybe. Not for us six months from now if growth continues anywhere close to the current pace." Roy gestured loosely across Drakehaven; the settlement had long since stopped looking like three siblings stubbornly repairing a ruined cottage.

"We need somewhere flexible," Roy continued.

"Meetings, communal meals, storage during emergencies, and whatever else comes up. Building one before we desperately need it seems preferable to finding twenty people standing in the rain while we debate where to put them."

"That sounds suspiciously reasonable."

"I occasionally make reasonable decisions." Orion looked toward him. Roy sighed.

"Fine. There's another reason."

"There always is."

"The Healing House contributed directly to Aurelia reaching the Third Seal." Roy hooked one thumb beneath the strap of his pack.

"I'm curious whether constructing infrastructure that actually changes how Drakehaven functions can push the rest of us toward similar thresholds." Orion considered that.

"You're assuming the Healing House mattered because it represented something about Aurelia's Class, and not just because she happened to be ready."

"Correct. I could be wrong, but the cost of testing the idea is a building we already need. Better than waiting for another life-or-death situation." Orion nodded toward him.

"As long as we can keep ourselves out of trouble long enough to finish it." Roy's mouth twisted.

"We're slow learners."

"Wow, Roy. I'm surprised to hear you admit that out loud." The voice came from above. Both brothers looked up to find Talia sitting on a thick branch extending from one of the nearby trees. Shade pooled around her more deeply than Orion remembered it doing before, making the edges of her form slightly difficult to distinguish unless he focused directly on her. Roy stared upward.

"Glad to see you've recovered."

"You'd know how I was doing if you visited, you know." Talia shifted forward and dropped from the branch. She landed lightly enough that Orion barely heard the impact.

"How long have you been up there?" Orion asked.

"Long enough to hear Roy admit his schemes occasionally get people into trouble. I considered writing down the date." Talia approached them and turned toward Roy before continuing.

"You're heading back to the road project with Shale and Nimbus today?"

"Nimbus is staying here this time. The next section has almost nothing in terms of drainage work, and there's enough happening around the settlement that keeping her available makes more sense." Orion glanced toward Talia.

"I'm sure you'll be devastated."

"Absolutely heartbroken. I can now plan to spend the next week being launched through the sky by water pressure." The teasing was expected for Talia, but the tone beneath it had changed. She was no longer as eager and alive as she had been in weeks prior. It was clear the Velkaryn incident had caused a noteworthy change in her that would live far beyond any physical injuries. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Her smile lingered, but her eyes sharpened as Orion continued studying her.

"Don't look at me like that. I don't even need Relevant Detail to know what you knuckleheads are thinking." Orion looked away. Roy wisely decided not to defend himself further. Talia reached into one of her pockets.

"I actually came over because I wanted to give you something before you left. I'm starting proper training with Sevrin again soon, and I would rather get this investigated somewhere outside his immediate awareness." She removed a Nightglass shard, and Roy's expression changed. Orion felt his own body tense before he consciously understood why. The piece no longer resembled the material Roy had distributed days earlier.

Instead of absorbing light into a nearly featureless black surface, its cloudy interior had shifted toward a vivid blue-gray color. Pale strands seemed suspended inside it like frost trapped beneath dark glass, and a faint coldness lingered around the shard despite the warmth of the morning. More concerning was Orion's Danger Sense. The warning did not scream, but it was persistent. A quiet pressure behind his ribs that refused to disappear while the shard remained exposed. Roy took it carefully.

"What did you do?"

"I filled it with Weave. Or at least I tried to." That answer only made the situation stranger. Every person who received a sample had attempted exactly that. Roy had tried first. Orion had tried afterward. Even Aegis had pushed enough Weave toward his piece to make Orion worry that the dragon intended to brute-force the material into cooperating. Nothing had worked. Orion's eyes remained on the shard.

"Do you have any additional context?"

"Not much, but I suspect it has something to do with this." Talia opened a Status message and rotated the display toward them. [Envoy Specialization Training: Wayfinder] [The Envoy has shown a propensity for navigating situations and circumstances beyond typical human knowledge] [Training Resource: Weave (Veil)] Orion frowned.

"Veil Weave. What does that even mean?"

"I'm not sure," Talia folded her arms, the humor fading from her face.

"When I channeled it, it felt similar to what I experienced when… things went bad." She did not need to specify which things. Orion's gaze immediately returned to the Nightglass, and the pressure from Danger Sense suddenly felt less abstract. Roy said nothing for several seconds. Whatever Veil Weave was, it interacted with Nightglass in a way ordinary Weave did not. It also explained why Talia had waited until Roy was leaving before showing him.

"I'll spend time figuring out what I can while I'm away," Roy finally said.

"In the meantime, take this." He pocketed the altered shard and reached into one of his own pouches. After a moment of searching, he produced an unused piece of ordinary Nightglass and held it toward Talia. She stared at it.

"Why do I need another one?"

"Make another altered sample and get it to Lilly. Discreetly." Talia's expression flattened.

"I specifically handed this to you because you were leaving with it."

"Yes, I understood the strategy."

"Then why are you immediately ruining the strategy?" Roy pressed the fresh shard into her palm.

"Because Lilly has several more years of magical experience than either of us, and if anyone here can tell us whether Veil Weave resembles something, it's her." Talia looked toward the Waystation.

"Sevrin is about to start training me again."

"I have faith that you won't make the second sample while sitting across a table from him.."

"That sentence is significantly less comforting after the last scouting mission." Roy winced. Talia's expression softened enough to make clear she had not intended the comment cruelly. After a moment, she tucked the ordinary shard away.

"Fine. I'll find an opportunity, and I'll get it to Lilly without Sevrin realizing anything unusual happened."

"If she finds something urgent, we have talking stones and the Scout." Talia nodded. Roy adjusted his pack once more and looked toward Shale. The Burrowback had already started wandering several paces down the path, apparently hoping that beginning the journey without Roy might encourage everyone else to stop talking.

"I should probably go before he abandons me entirely."

"He'll come back when he gets hungry," Orion said.

"That is not reassuring when he can eat a wagon." Roy started after the drake, though he called back once before departing fully.

"When I come home next time, let's try something that doesn't involve someone getting stabbed." Talia folded her arms.

"I'll make no promises beyond attempting to disappoint you less dramatically."

"Good enough." Orion remained beside her while Roy and Shale continued toward the road. For several moments neither spoke, until Talia eventually glanced sideways.

"You're deciding whether to ask if I'm okay." Orion looked toward the Exchange House instead.

"I wasn't going to ask."

"Good." A brief pause followed, then Talia's mouth twitched.

"I am, though." Orion nodded once. For now, that was the answer he had to accept. ─── 🐲🐲🐲 ─── Orion closed the cottage door behind him several hours later and released a breath he had not realized he had been holding. After Roy departed, Orion had done what he usually did when his thoughts became irritating. He worked. Aegis and Elias had spent most of the late morning establishing the Coordinator's Obelisk foundation, and Orion joined them wherever another pair of hands became useful.

Moving tidestone had been simple enough between his and Aegis's strength, but shaping it into the precise configuration Elias wanted was another matter entirely. Orion had found the work pleasant. Tidestone did not secretly reveal new varieties of Weave after dying, nor did it plan to travel into foreign mining settlements under diplomatic cover stories. The midday sun eventually forced even Orion to admit he needed a break. Roy was already gone.

Kindle remained occupied at the forge, where he had apparently spent the morning trying to determine why heated metal behaved differently under several kinds of hammer strikes. That left the cottage unusually quiet, which meant Orion had an opportunity to eat, perhaps read another section of his book, and avoid thinking about anything involving Veil Weave for at least half an hour.

"What's the matter?" Aurelia stood in the doorway to her room. She had several folded pieces of clothing balanced in her arms. A travel pack was already set up in the main room, and it contained enough supplies that Orion immediately knew the answer to at least one question he had not yet asked.

"I thought you'd be at the Healing House."

"I'm packing," Aurelia lifted the folded clothes as evidence and crossed toward the table.

"Selene, Garrick, and I are heading to Ironvale first thing tomorrow morning." Orion stopped.

"Tomorrow? I thought you weren't leaving for another few days."

"We weren't," Aurelia placed the clothes beside the open pack and began rearranging several items inside.

"Selene and I talked it over this morning. Now that things have mostly calmed down from the incident, she thinks it makes perfect sense for us to visit Bellhaven and update the Council on what happened." Orion understood immediately.

"So Sevrin thinks the three of you are traveling to Bellhaven to brief the Council, but in reality you're getting a head start on Ironvale."

"That's the idea," Aurelia smiled as she wedged another shirt into the pack.

"Selene's presence is obvious, Garrick returning to Bellhaven would make complete sense, and I'm the most level-headed and honest sibling who isn't currently occupied with a road project." Orion's eyes narrowed.

"I can be level-headed and honest."

"You say that, but you're still avoiding the question I asked when you walked in." He paused. Aurelia continued packing without looking toward him.

"You mean 'what's the matter.' I avoided it because nothing is the matter."

"You and I both know that after all these years, the only time you come home in the middle of the day for a peaceful lunch is when you need somewhere quiet to think through whatever is bothering you." Orion opened his mouth, then closed it. Aurelia glanced over and smiled with irritating satisfaction.

"See? Dishonest." She carried the next stack toward the dining table, where several additional supplies had already been arranged around the open pack. Orion sighed and pulled out one of the nearby chairs, accepting that whatever peaceful solitude he had imagined for lunch was gone.

"Did you already know about Talia's change?" Aurelia's hands slowed, though only briefly.

"She showed me a couple days ago when we were confirming her recovery."

"The Veil Weave?"

"And the Nightglass. She asked me not to say anything until she decided what she wanted to do with the information. Considering everything she had just gone through, I thought giving her control over when to share it was reasonable."

"That material reeks of death." Aurelia's expression softened.

"She gained access to something new after being dead, The fact that it feels connected to that experience is not even close to the strangest thing that has happened to this family."

"That doesn't make it less concerning."

"No," Aurelia gave the clothing one final shove into the pack.

"But concern isn't the same thing as immediate danger." Orion had no answer ready for that. Aurelia pulled the pack closed and worked the straps into place.

"Talia is staying here. You and Aegis will be here, so I have faith nothing bad will happen while she's under your supervision.." Orion frowned.

"What happened to Talia last time happened while she was under my supervision."

"Dangerous nighttime reconnaissance missions are an exception," Aurelia said, returning to the pack.

"Now then, since we're already discussing excessive worrying, I believe it's my turn." Orion straightened. Aurelia walked around the table and approached him directly. Once within reach, she extended one finger and jabbed him firmly in the center of the chest.

"No being a worry-wart about Ironvale. I don't need to come home in several days and discover that your anxiety finally killed you."

"I'm not going to apologize for being concerned."

"I didn't ask you to."

"I'm also not so fragile that you spending several days away will cause me to collapse." Aurelia looked unconvinced. Orion sighed.

"Even still…" He reached up and caught her wrist. Aurelia's teasing expression faded when Weave began circling the point of contact. Golden-red strands curled once around her skin, gathering beneath Orion's palm before resolving into a tiny familiar shape. When he released her, a Dragoneye Scout sat wrapped around Aurelia's wrist. Aurelia looked down.

"I thought you could only summon three of these."

"Correct," Orion counted them off with one hand.

"Sevrin has one. Roy has another. The third was stationed in Bellhaven." Aurelia looked up.

"Was?"

"With Vision and the Scale Soldier already there, keeping a Scout permanently beside Clover and Spark has become redundant. I'm already able to monitor the warehouse area well enough."

"And when Vision is several miles in the air mapping the entire Basin?"

"The workers will behave." Orion failed to completely hide his smirk. Aurelia narrowed her eyes.

"I've watched them through the Scout before. They are all convinced the Scale Soldier will behead them if anyone so much as sneezes incorrectly around Clover."

"You could tell them it won't."

"I could, but it keeps the drakes extremely safe." Aurelia rolled her eyes, but her smile betrayed her.

"You're a menace."

"Perhaps," Orion's expression softened as his attention settled on the Scout around her wrist.

"Just be careful." Aurelia's teasing eased before he continued"I know the trip is necessary, and I know you'll do fine. Selene knows the region, Garrick is stronger than he was several days ago, and you can take care of yourself."

"That's a remarkable number of admissions from you all at once." Orion's expression flattened. Aurelia adjusted the little creature gently with one finger.

"I'll be careful. We go to Bellhaven, make it look like a perfectly ordinary diplomatic visit, then head north and meet Ironvale. We learn what they need, figure out whether Dorian's alliance idea has merit, and come home."

"That simple?"

"Probably not," Aurelia laughed softly.

"Still, it's time for us to make another ally in this big new world of ours." Orion watched her return to the table. He knew this was normal, or at least somewhat normal. Aurelia was eighteen and had become Third Seal. She ran Drakehaven's Healing House, handled emergencies that would leave most people useless, and had recently brought someone back after their heart stopped beating. She did not need Orion standing over her shoulder every minute.

He had always known that day would come, even before the Seals and dragons. Some part of him had assumed his little sister would eventually build a life large enough that he could no longer protect every corner of it personally. Knowing that intellectually was easy, but watching her pack was different. There had been a time when leaving the cottage meant all three siblings went together because none of them trusted the world enough to separate for long.

Aurelia disappearing for several days into a settlement Orion had never seen would once have been unimaginable. Now she was doing it because Drakehaven needed her to. Orion expected the realization to feel heavier. Maybe bittersweet or proud, or maybe uncomfortable in some complicated older-brother way that would take him several days to identify. What he did not expect was the loud crack of a dragon egg nearby.