After picking him out of the rubble, Bevel and I escorted Vergel, his serpent and the still snoring and now riderless giant bear back to the clans.

Thankfully, Vergel had regained his composure and his strength by the time we got him to the camp. His bond had been restored before I even healed him, the serpent watching us with wary eyes, but no longer overtly hostile.

It had survived the impact without a scratch while he'd only had a couple bruised bones and a broken nose. Pretty light wounds considering he'd fallen from the tallest mountain on Ro'an. Then again, terminal velocity was a lot less terminal when you were tougher than the stone you landed on.

When we got back to the clans, he'd said that Tillan had challenged a guardian of Aeternia only to fall to it. Which was accepted a lot more easily than I would've expected. Despite how Keeper had judged him, most of the clans looked up to and respected Tillan.

The idea that he'd simply challenged an impossible guardian then died in the attempt turned out to be how most had expected him to end.

Which before I'd met him and learned who he really was… fair enough.

Vergel didn't even have to speak in our defense in regards to us having possibly started the apocalypse. Without Tillan, the faction who'd been concerned about our failure had lost most of their strength.

Which is why I immediately set to recruiting them.

Especially Henri and the Ten Feathers.

"You wish us to roost within the western mountains, watching over the people, and in exchange for hosting us… you shall provide all the food we desire?" Henri asked, her eyes narrowed. "I do not see what you get out of this."

"You'd be keeping watch for monsters and invaders. And I'd rather have a proper wage structure, but if you want to spend it all on our admittedly cheap food, that's up to you," I said, shrugging. "I guarantee you won't go hungry though."

"Papa's really good at making food. Like, better than he is at fighting," Bevel said, patting my back much like I did when I was trying to encourage her.

"That is a rather bold claim," Henri said, though her expression had softened somewhat.

"We can prove it!" Bevel said, waving to the side, where there was an open field. "Papa will show you."

I cleared my throat. "While I don't think it's that impressive, she's right. Did you have anything in particular you'd like grown?"

Henri's skepticism returned. "There is a rare fruit that grows only in the uppermost reaches of the flame-kissed peaks."

"Do you have seeds? Also, flame-kissed? Is that fire affinity? Or just colorful language?" I asked, holding out a hand.

"I can have seeds gathered. As for the rest, I do not know. I'm no root tender," Henri said, signaling to one of her people as we moved over to the empty field. "We would need our own mountain. And we will remain our own people."

"There are a few laws you'd be expected to follow, so long as you're living in Aeternia, though from what I can tell, those won't be a problem," I said, thinking over the gossip she'd shared and which issues had bothered her the most.

Henri nodded, and as we waited, discussed those specific rules and the guiding principles that laid at their heart.

The one she got caught up on was when I mentioned it was better not to hunt things to extinction. I had to explain how that could lead to unexpected overreactions from the rest of the environment, and how the Aranor family had gone so far as to control each and every animal birth within their lands. They'd even had wards to count the migratory birds, and would bolster or cull the population, all to keep mana production optimized.

I knew we weren't even close to that point, but it was easier to rebuild a species from endangered than from extinct.

Not that it was too hard to do the latter either, with the right spells. Spells Keeper had but I didn't want to spend my limited jade and knowledge on. Especially when I'd barely started raiding Spellford for its knowledge.

Our discussion was brought to a close by Henri junior jogging up with a fruit in one hand and a bag of dried seeds in the other. He also passed on answers to my earlier questions, provided by one of the riders doubled as a root tender.

Accepting the fruit, seeds and knowledge, I used Bloom to get a feel for each. Then I made a couple neat furrows, a couple inches deep. Using Flare to warm the seeds, I pushed them in then closed the soil over top before stepping back, hand on my grimoire as I channeled Astria's Garden.

It was slower than I was used to since I hadn't exactly optimized their conditions, only provided them with the basics. Still, judging by the excited murmuring, it was more than enough to impress the Ten Feathers.

After almost an hour, I plucked a fruit from the branch, comparing it to the one that had been brought to me.

They weren't quite the same, but I figured that was partially 'cause the one I'd grown was literally fresh from the vine.

Henri senior accepted the orange and black fruit from me, turning it in her hand. Then she pulled on one of the black ridges, peeling it back and revealing the tender fruit flesh within. Pulling out a single edged knife, she dug a chunk out, bringing it to her mouth.

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Her eyes lit up, a smile making its way across her face as she handed the fruit and knife to her son. "It is properly nourished."

Despite her words, Henri junior took a bite for himself, before handing both to the next Ten Feathers in line. Soon most present had tried it.

"In addition to our… wages, we will need thirty of the flame-kissed gourds per rider, each month," Henri the elder said, nodding.

"Shouldn't be a problem," I said, reaching out to take her arm. It'd be even easier for one of the greenhouses to produce the fruit. A single greenhouse making them one day a month would more than cover it.

"Then I suppose the Ten Feathers are proud to guard the skies of Aeternia," Henri said, her face cracking into a bare smile once more. "For so long as your honor remains."

"Fraying awesome," Bevel mumbled, eyes moving to the eagles behind us.

It was. Now… we just had to deal with all the rest.

Including freeing the enslaved ensouled. I had thoughts on how we'd be doing that, but they wouldn't be today. First we needed to deal with Arther.

Either way, bringing the Ten Feathers into the fold didn't just make us stronger, it took away the eyes of the Unclean clans.

With that done, I was ready for a nice relaxing evening. No worrying about anything except maybe a little light spell design.

It hadn't been her intention to hurt Perry. Really, it hadn't. Tamrie never wanted such a thing. Even now, knowing what she'd done to him made her feel sick if she thought about it for more'n a second.

So she'd been trying very hard not to. Instead, she'd been thinking about what she could do to fix it.

And the answer was obvious. So obvious even Perry and Ari had seen it.

Not that they'd act on it, of course. Ari was very much against dating her friend's boyfriend, and Perry… was Perry.

Principles. All very well and good, of course. She quite appreciated their principles. Part of why she loved the both of them so dearly.

But they were letting their silly principles get in the way of a very nice and neat solution!

Tamrie could, barely, admit that she might have been projecting her own desires a little. Ari was very… uhh… yes.

Yes, she could appreciate everything the elven woman brought to the table.

And Perry was also very… tasty.

Together, the three of them could make one of those triangles every other Djinn-soul seemed to be part of, in the stories.

But those thoughts were dangerously close to the others that made her want to curl into a ball and sob so hard she couldn't breathe. Thoughts like those she'd had that morning, when all that would come out was phlegm since she hadn't been able to keep anything down for more than fifteen minutes.

So… solution!

Get 'em together on a date.

She even had an ally. Bevel was with Perry dealing with that whole clan lord situation but Tamrie knew the little scamp would help. Kid was 'bout as subtle as a collapsing bookshelf, even by Tamrie's own not-so-subtle standards. But that was something Tamrie could use.

They had even made it easy for her, since they'd scheduled themselves to get together that evening.

First, the food. Something romantic. Like those fish that came apart in strings. Tamrie'd been meaning to try them with Perry. Had even got her mum to send some up, embarrassing as that talk'd been. Then they hadn't arrived until after she found out she was going to be a caller.

Kinda felt wrong to use them with Perry after that.

They'd be perfect for Ari and Perry though. All the best romance novels featured a couple sharing bonding el-fish as the ultimate intimate moment, the threaded meat literally shining to indicate how brilliant their future together would be.

Tamrie continued with her preparations, doing her best not to think about anything but 'the date'.

Not about how she'd been so insecure that every woman who looked at him had set her heart racing with worry 'till he'd managed to calm it.

Not about how she could never give him the family he deserved, no matter him saying he don't rightly want one.

Not about how she was running away from something she'd never imagined she could have towards something even more unbelievable.

Instead, she focused on making sure to have everyone's favorite foods in the perfect spots to ensure they'd take the right seats.

Oh, but what if he decided to take them into the catacombs again… they'd been doing that a lot lately, eating and exploring. It'd be a problem for the date, sure enough but she preferred it to the mind-numbing magic lessons.

Tamrie had no problem handling big numbers, or complicated organizational problems, but there was something about the way Perry and Ari described magic that made it feel like they were trying to jam spikes into her head. Which, yes, was better than when others had tried.

Still, it was so much more natural the way the Deep Ones did it. She supposed it made sense she'd have more affinity with their methods, seeing as she was basically one of them.

Her, little Tamrie, daughter of Tamarah, Lower Hold Azure-Three, a Caller of the Deeps.

It was like something out of a fairytale!

If only it hadn't interrupted the fairytale she'd already been living. It would have been easier if they'd modified her to be normal. If she'd never had to make the choice to leave.

And, much as she didn't like to admit it, it'd been a choice. Even now, she could choose to stay. Give up the call, use Perry's fancy device to make her into a regular ensouled.

Rainbow Under The Moon had assured her it would work.

That only made her stomach flip worse.

She reached out and grabbed one of Bevel's nets hanging in the hall, using it to steady herself. Lowering herself down, she fought down the urge to break into tears again, playing with the woven fibers.

"Not like I asked to be drowning special," she muttered, sighing.

If it had been literally anything else, Tamrie would've stayed. Drowning depths, even if she'd found out she'd had a secret affinity with one of the great fire wyrms of legend, the dragons that most dragons looked up to. Even if that had come to escort her off to a palace full of splendor and luxury, like in the stories, she'd…

Okay, she might've at least been tempted by that, but only if she could come back to visit. Like, a lot.

It wasn't just any powerful Call she'd awoken though. It was the deeps. Leviathans. The most beautiful and wonderful creatures in existence.

Tamrie knew she was weak. Everyone around her was so incredible. And she'd been okay with that. She'd been helping. Maybe even spending too much time on it, not enjoying the life she'd lucked her way into. Had to though. She'd never deserved her place in Aeternia. Or in Perry's arms. She'd had to do her best, to convince herself she wasn't being a total burden on Perry.

Much as she loved her, having Ari around had only made it worse. Not just cause she was amazing at everything, either.

Tamrie wasn't blind. She saw how easy Perry and Ari got along. How easy they fell into everything. Together.

Wasn't for nothing that she knew they'd be happier with her out of the way.

She just… she just needed to make sure they saw that too.

Curling her hands into fists, Tamrie pushed her nails into her palms, using the pain to center herself before pushing to her feet, nodding to herself.

For Ari. For Perry. That's what the night was about.

And maybe when she went off, learned the ways of the deep. Maybe then, when next she saw them. Maybe then… she'd feel as if she deserved their company.

The next few hours passed in a flurry of activity as she arranged the absolute best date she could think of. Every little touch.

Tonight had to be perfect.

It just… had to be.

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