Kai carefully picked the location from which he returned after his date.

He couldn't just appear in front of Syl and Alicia like nothing had just happened, that could be awkward.

In the end, he decided the lower decking by the wide glass doors that looked out of their living room over the lake was as good as any other place.

With a thought, Kai left Niamh and Aoife behind with a wave, and he found himself looking through the glass doors of his home.

Syl and Alicia were curled up on the couch together, watching something.

Which was strange because the last time he remembered the two of them using that trick, it was the perception of his physical body they were tapped into, and he was running a trials dungeon.

The two of them almost jumped from the couch when the projection changed to Kai watching them watch him watch them, like one of those weird live television moments where the star of the show is looking at a screen of their own active recording.

The projection faded as Syl put down a bowl of what looked like actual popcorn and grinned at him, unashamed that she had been caught red-handed spying on his date.

Alicia at least had the dignity to hide her face behind the large, bulky, chunky knit blanket they had both been sharing.

Kai didn't mind in the slightest, but he scowled at Syl and put his fist to his hips on principle alone.

With their shared ability to observe anything they willed in the domain, a peak from Syl was all but inevitable. Especially if she could feel the range of emotions he went through during the date with something like the soul bond they shared with Alicia, Gift, Castiel and Fayriel.

"So how did it go?" Syl asked, smiling at him innocently.

"I think you know?" Kai said as he continued to level his disappointed look at her.

"I'm sorry," Alicia's muffled voice came from beneath the blanket. "We felt how nervous you were, then you felt guilty and then-"

"And then I relaxed into it, and you both became curious why," Kai said as he walked over. His cloves shifting to his usual loungewear as he pulled the blanket off Syl and gave her the universal signal for Let me squeeze between the two of you lovely ladies.

"Yeah. Syl said everything was going smoothly, but I complained I was in the dark dealing with your mixed emotions so-"

Kai slid an arm around Alicia and pulled her close to lay his head again hers, "Syl pulled out an old trick to ease your concern."

"Yes…"

"You know I wasn't the only one bleeding emotions into the bond. I could feel your concern. If I am honest, I figured out you were watching partway through, when you seemed to settle."

"It was like a feedback loop. Your emotions crossing the bond to feed the others. So that's why I set this up." Syl said as she replaced the blanket over herself and leaned into him to join the cuddle session.

"You've just come up with that excuse right now, haven't you?" Kai accused Syl as he let her get comfortable. "I would complain, but I think feeling Alicia relax actually helped me relax."

"I understand why you were nervous," Alicia said as she freed her head from beneath the blanket. "It was the feelings of guilt and shame that concerned me. I mean, Kai, why? There was nothing to be ashamed of."

Kai had to think about it. Why had he felt like that, he knew he was doing nothing wrong, or at least he did now?

"You didn't know what to expect, did you?" Syl asked knowingly.

"Yeah, when you told me it was going to be in the domain. At their place… my imagination got the best of me and-"

"And you thought they wanted to be intimate," Alicia finished for him.

"Yeah, the thought did cross my mind," Kai admitted sheepishly.

Alicia giggled. "Those two, this early? Very unlikely."

Kai hummed at her to go on.

"Like most things, there is a litany of customs to courting someone. Especially when they are genuinely interested and don't want to upset any established order or existing relationships. The steps some of my sisters had to go through to court their current husbands would make your mind spin. A lot of the time the only reason they went through the hassle of attaching themselves to someone was that if they didn't, there was a very real possibility of some unwanted suiter's creating a political situation they couldn't easily navigate."

"Like you and that noble prick that tried to claim you," Syl supplied.

Alicia sighed, "Yeah. I didn't have someone like Kai to direct my interests towards, to dissuade the man. I think he was actually discouraging any other suitors I might have had. Looking back now, Mom was always making moves in the background. My point was, not everyone got on with their husbands' other relationships. Still, I think most of my sisters are happy with the people they're with. And that's mostly thanks to the customs they went through."

"I don't understand. What customs? All that happened was they showed me around and then sat me down as they made me dinner. Then we ate, we talked, and finally we went on a walk around the lake together before settling down to play some games. It was nice. Simple and relaxed."

"Don't forget you kissed them each goodnight," Syl said, poking him.

"Now that, that was an emotional battle," Kai said. "On one side, I have two beautiful women looking at me with anticipation in their eyes. On the other, I had you two, full of anticipation, begging me to finally give in."

"I'm surprised you didn't hear Alicia screaming from across the lake. I was worried she would wake Mira."

"You were the one who was following along like you were reading a sweet romance. Just begging for the main character to take the plunge."

Kai cleared his throat, "I'm right here… and no one's explained this thin about customs yet."

"They showed you around to tell you what they had to offer. They cooked for you to show that they could provide. The walk was to show they were good company," Alicia explained briefly.

"And the games?"

"That they were fun as well as interesting. Honestly, Kai, I could go on forever."

"Like what?"

"They cooked, what was it? A four-course meal for you. And you ate it all up. Complimenting them honestly and even suggesting changes," Alicia said in the tone she used when explaining hidden politics Kai often didn't take into account.

"That, according to custom, told them you would be accepting of whatever they offered you," Syl said, demonstrating her own understanding was better than his, despite them both spending the same amount of time on Alea.

"While also telling them you would play an active role in their lives when you critiqued things," Alicia added.

"A warning would have been nice," Kai complained.

"Why? Earth was the same. Just different. You had the woman dressing up to show how attractive they were. While the man took the woman to places like restaurants and paid for everything to show her he was a person of means that could provide for her," Syl said.

"It's weird to me that the burden was on the man while the woman just had to look pretty. It really was like a warped version of Alea," Alicia said thoughtfully.

"Looking pretty back on Earth wasn't cheap. Alicia, don't forget that the planet had little to no eather and everyone was essentially dying a slow death from mana deprivation. A person's prime was short-lived. People, not just women, worked hard to compensate."

"That's frightening."

"But yes, the fancier the place, the higher the expection set. It's deceptive as hell when you think about how easy it is for someone to go beyond their means or dress themselves up to deceive the other. But that was the custom. Atleast In the west… things changed significantly depending on where you were. Society struggled with what was essentially a transaction dressed up as romance."

"This is why I had social anxiety back on Earth, no clue what was going on beneath the surface," Kai sighed as he looked about the room.

"Well, at least with the two of us, you have the bond to feel out when you get confused. Good luck figuring out Aoife and Niamh."

Seeing yet another new door attached to the living room, he said, "You know, this place is getting cramped."

"Plenty of room to make changes. Just not right now," Syl said without shifting from her comfortable position to look at what Kai was talking about.

He thought about how things were laid out over the lake. "No one told me the others had split their camp. Niamh and Aoife are in one cottage. Saoirse with her own place so Ester can stop round and not disturb the rest with their antics." He chuckled. "They have Maeve sharing a place with Cillian. They claim it's so she can keep an eye on him. Not like he can bring anyone back into the domain. But he's being stubborn."

"Yeah, they asked me to come around and change things up a few weeks ago. You really didn't notice the changes? You run past their little compound almost every day."

"Not a clue, the lakefront hasn't changed much. The building there is now more of a communal area they all use instead of an actual residence. But even then, moving up the hill, Niamh has a lab, Aoife a mediation garden. The place is pretty cool. Got this whole setup for yoga and pilates of all things. I didn't expect there to be an Alean version of yoga-"

"That's because there isn't. I picked it up in my spare time about a hundred years into the tutorials when I was just starting to become aware enough that boredom was a real issue. When you go off to practise your spectral blade, we meet up and unwind," Syl said.

"She means gossip," Alicia giggled. "You should come, it's good meditation training, and the things you hear from Ester will burn your ears off. Oh, Meave's figured out your plan, by the way. She likes to complain about you and Cillian both. Saoirse… well, Saoirse is very private."

"It's good for the core… Your body's core muscles, that is. Might even help you get back into meditating. We all know that's gone nowhere since you stopped meditating to access the domain spiritually. Maybe it's time to try something else."

"I'll think about it…" Kai said as his mind flashed with the image of everyone stretching out in their workout gear as they casually gossiped about him and other things.

There was a long silence, and they just settled into each other's company.

At least he wished that was the case, but the whole time Kai's mind was working away on what this all meant.

"Just ask. Even I can feel a question nagging at you," Alicia said quietly.

"Is it official? Do I no longer have a- a thrupple with you two? Do I…" Kai struggled to find the wording for what he wanted to ask.

"Do you have a harem?" Syl finished for him. "Quick answer is no. You can think of it as you've just started dating, and it is far too soon to really label anything. So sorry, no, still just a thrupple. Your fantasies of a fantasy world full of magic and sexy women and a harem are still just part of your active imagination, I'm afraid," she said with a dramatic sigh. "Just give it time."

Alicia giggled again and shifted slightly to look at the ring on her finger. "'High society wouldn't even go as far to say you're dating. They would simply say their interest in you has been declared," Alicia explained further.

"So, they're not moving in anytime soon?" Kai asked, glancing back at the new door again.

"Not anytime soon. Normally, in these situations, it is customary to keep a respectable distance," Alicia said, continuing to lean in to her superior knowledge of Alean customs and traditions. "At this point in the relationship, you're actually expected to go to them if you're truly interested."

That was odd, and he said as much, "That doesn't sit right with me. Feels like I would be putting them to the side, only engaging with them when it takes my fancy-"

"It's nothing like that. The domain is practically our home anyway, distance here isn't an issue. Even without the bond that we share, if they are in the domain, they can call out to you anytime, no matter where you are. Just like how I could communicate with you when you used to store me during the trials dungeon," Alicia said, cutting him off but settling his mind.

"If anything, to quote someone who's never been in a long distance relationship, distance makes the heart grow fonder," Syl said. "Besides, I think the point is women don't have to uproot their lives when a handsome man bats an eye at them. And they get to learn just how interested the man is by how often he visits. While the man remains free and untethered."

"That sounds about right. With things like this, there are usually degrees of separation depending on the group dynamic and how people get along," Alicia said after nodding along to Syl.

"Both Niamh and Aoife are fun to be around. Not to mention alluring, so we're not saying they'll never move over," Syl said. "You know, Kai, I think I have your thing for elf ears."

Alicia's ears twitched, but she said nothing about Syl's remark as she said, "It's just that we are on different adventuring teams."

"And each team is just starting out, so it's best to keep things the way they are for now."

"Not saying that it's like this for everyone either. The main thing is there is no point worrying about things like that now as they usually sort themselves out organically."

"Given enough time. We all know you rushed our relationship into matrimony so you could have a reason excuse to give me my soul ring."

"You think I rushed things?" Kai asked, surprised, he thought it was what she wanted.

Syl sighed softly, "From your perspective, maybe. From mine… It's been centuries. So no, I think you took your time."

"Well, if you aren't setting up new rooms for Aoife and Niamh, what's the door for?" Kai asked, glancing once more at the new door with a small amount of relief.

"My new studio," Syl said as she uncurled from the couch and his side to get up, her loose comfy loungewear changing to soft pastel pink pyjamas.

"When The Houses received the delivery of the sowing machine Syl ordered, Ester's aunt put together a whole complement of sewing equipment for Syl as a gift. It's been a busy afternoon. Which begs the question, how did your appointment go?" Alica asked as she gripped Kai a little tighter.

"He will have to tell us in the morning, we're late," Syl said as she tapped an imaginary watch on her wrist.

Alicia clearly didn't get the gesture, but she slipped out of the blanket, her matching pyjamas already in place.

"Late for what?" Kai asked them suspiciously.

"Sleepover, of course. We need to get their report and start putting together the contracts. Set the right expectations. Syl's thinking three children each, I say with their being three of us, hopefully four. We actually do batches every decade or so. That way the kids can grow up with siblings the same age," Alica said, her tone and body language completely serious.

"Oh…" Kai said, feeling a little dizzy all of a sudden.

"Relax, Kai, Alicia was joking. The sleepover is just for fun. No contracts. Not yet, at least… we'll have to keep that in mind though for the future. We agree that the dragons are enough work for now. Maybe when they mature and become independent babysitters we will have the first batch."

"Oh, thank the spirits," Kai said, relaxing slightly when he remembered they were all still considered under the age of maturity and realising dragons too a long time to technically mature. He concluded children probably wouldn't be a concern for around seventy years, give or take… unless he, as an emperor, needed to produce heirs.

"Speaking of spirits, keep an ear out for Mira. She's had a stressful day being out in the city for so long. We got her settled with all her new stuff, and she pretty much just passed out the moment she curled into her new bed."

"I'm babysitting Mira?"

"Not at all what I asked you to do, Kai. She's nineteen, nearly twenty years old. While that is this world's version of a young preteen, she hardly needs babysitting. She survived on a mountain with nothing but ghosts, spirits, elementals, fey and the like for company. She will survive the domain."

"Just help her out if she needs anything. She's putting on a brave face, but she is still settling in. I can only imagine what it is like navigating a city where deaths a daily occurrence," Alicia said as she stepped in close to Syl's side.

Syl took Alicia's arm, smiled and said, "Time to go."

They vanished.

Sitting alone in the empty room felt odd.

He couldn't think of the last time he had been alone like this and not busy doing something like personal training or working on his skills.

Taking the empty red notebook he was supposed to make into a martial manual from storage, he just sat there staring at it for a long while.

He didn't know where to start with it.

Kardain was supposed to help, but the moment the man had heard about Kai's date, he was calling his little sister to find out what was happening.

Kai half expected Alicia's protective older brother to react badly to the news. But after speaking to his sister, he just shrugged, gave Kai a nod and said he had to get back to Temra if he didn't want to split the sheets.

He had no idea what splitting the sheets meant. His best guess was that it was this world's equivalent of sleeping on the couch or being in the doghouse.

Which raised an interesting question. Did this world have dogs? He had seen a few big wolfs as familiars. But no actual dogs, not even a hunting hound.

His mind wandering, he realised he had seen plenty of cats. But that wasn't strange, cats probably gravitated to cities to hunt pests and were domesticated from there.

Putting aside his literal stray thoughts, Kai tried to think if there was something he should be doing with his unexpected personal time.

He could check on Ester. Checking the domain, he knew she was quietly working on something, which was hardly a good time to interrupt her.

Thinking it was best to save visiting her for when she wasn't busy with something, he remembered her provocation. He suddenly had second thoughts about visiting her for a while, as showing up at her workshop unsupervised so soon could easily send the wrong message.

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There was always Orril.

He hadn't seen Orril much since they moved his workshop to connect with the portal to The Houses so that the manic crafter could be in and out of the domain with more ease.

Orril had begged for the connection so he could have his second bedroom in the physical realm nearby.

Of course, they all knew why, but no one batted an eye.

Except maybe for Ester, as she pointed out, sleeping in the domain was far more restful and time efficient, especially when working on a big commission or some complicated project.

That, and Orril's move, had Cillian, apparently, making a similar request. His team shut him down before he could ask him or Syl to make the adjustments. So the portal to The Sages' residence in the city remained near their original residence on the lake shore. Which, when he thought about it, was now smack in the middle of what had become their compound.

Kai sighed, then tried Syl's popcorn to confirm that, yup, it was just conjured domain food and not, in fact, real popcorn.

After a quick check on Mira using his domain sense to find she was sound asleep curled up in her bedroom, he trudged upstairs to have an early night.

Slipping into bed, he found himself drifting off easily despite how odd it now felt without both Syl and Alicia.

His mental alarm flared. Something was wrong, he heard screams.

He didn't even bother worrying about getting out of bed, he just travelled through the domain to appear outside Mira's door.

She sounded terrified.

Kai knocked, but there was no answer.

He hesitated. Should he go in? This was her room. Just bursting in didn't sit right.

"Kai no," he heard a muffled cry through the door a moment later.

"Mira, Whats wrong?"

Again there was no reply, just the sound of loud, painful sobs.

What should he do?

She screamed again.

Kai stopped hesitating as he burst into the room.

Mira was tangled in the covers of her bed, her body wracked and curled in on itself as she let out a whimper.

The fire in a corner fireplace flared, and Kai heard Wik through the party chat. 'It's another of her dreams,' he crackled sadly.

'They are rare, and there is nothing we can do,' a small water fountain said as it trickled to life.

'It may last for an hour or two…' a wind chime rang by an open window.

'Would you stay, make sure she does not hurt herself,' another voice said as he felt a slight chill.

"Should I get Syl?" Kai asked the spirits.

'There is no need,' Wik crackled.

Mira lifted from the mattress as her muscles locked up and her back curled.

Kai moved to stop her from toppling off the bed, the moment he touched her, he lost himself.

He was frozen in place as his senses were overflowed with sights, sounds and feelings.

Kai was suddenly sitting outside a cafe, Mira approaching them cautiously, then he was standing telling Mira what a poster said, things shifting quickly to him holding the young beastkin as she burned away his flesh.

These visions were as broken and scatter'd as they were felt familiar, accurate, already set in stone.

But things soon shifted to events that had not happened.

Kai picking Mira up and throwing into the lake, and then them working together to start his new martial manual, the events continuing to spiral as hundreds of moments together passed by. They ran dungeons, celebrated his birthday, ran more dungeons, trained and socialised with everyone else.

Things flicked by till eventually he stepped out of the domain with the Syl, Alicia and Mira, off to go somewhere in the city or maybe run a dungeon together and the next moment they were all torn apart in a flash of light, the vision so real and visceral he knew with certainty they had all died.

Things reset.

He was back at the cafe, they were running a dungeon, Mira avoided him and he fell in the lake, she wasn't interested in helping him train, dungeons, Syl asking him why he was back so early on his birthday, dungeons, training and then death.

Things reset.

Cafe, dungeons, training, shopping, dungeons, birthday, and again death.

Things reset, and the visions repeated, somehow sharper and faster than before.

Things reset once more.

Kai noticed that each time, the string of events was always from his perspective and always a moment with Mira present. The result was always the same, no matter whether Mira was happy, content, annoyed, confident or somewhat withdrawn.

Again and again, he witnessed a series of seemingly inconsequential moments before death claimed them.

In those final fatal visions, sometimes Syl was absent, other times it was Alicia, Gift, Ester or any combination of them.

Sometimes it wasn't even the same inn they were exiting the domain from.

It didn't seem to matter; someone always died.

He tried to focus to find a pattern. But the visions seemed to go on for hours as he was pulled from one moment to the next. Everything felt so real right down to the minute detail, everything crisp from how he was feeling to how it felt to have all his mana drained in an instant as he was torn apart.

Despite his effort he was lost in the overflow of information.

One moment he was teaching Mira to make and hold a surprisingly clear spectral daggers using one of his focuses, then he was receiving a gift from Mira on his birthday, the card reading thank you big brother and the next Mira was cheekily asking him if he enjoyed himself only for him to chase her under the threat of a good vicious tickling.

He felt raw and tired as memories of possibilities to come filled his mind to the point he thought he could bear it no longer.

Until finally he stepped out of the domain.

He was explaining that he had been kept back because Aoife and Niamh had asked him something serious. Mira said it was no problem, that she used the time to practise her spectral manifestation with the new focuses that Ester had put together for her, saying that she was close in having Wik and the others imbue her creation.

Kai looked about the empty room and thought something felt strange just as something latched onto his mana.

He turned and, without thinking, adjusted the space behind Mira so it would yank her back into the safety of the domain as he was engulfed.

Mira's face was wide with fear and recognition as he slammed the portal closed on her.

His mana plummeted as it was ripped from him to fuel the conflagration that destroyed him and only him.

He had been right, was the last thing that crossed his mind before he suddenly found himself somewhere oddly familiar.

Kai was floating in the void, an indescribable being he somehow knew was omniscient staring back from within its hiding place in the brink of nothing.

He thought to ask what it was trying to show them, but no sooner did he open his mouth than it blinked and pushed him back before it would shatter his mind.

Kai opened his eyes and found himself draped over the side of Mira's bed.

Before he could even wonder what had happened, Mira sat up and stared down at him, her eyes filled with an intense light.

"Mira?" he asked weakly.

"Sisters departed, a promise kept, a bother's sacrifice, sent home to protect my life. Party departed, a team destroyed, the future bleak, a world conquered," Mira said, her voice bare of emotion and oddly monotone as the being from the void spoke through her.

"Mira?" he tried again.

"Sisters departed, a promise kept, a bother's sacrifice, sent home to protect my life. Party departed, a team destroyed, the future bleak, a world conquered," It said again, Mira's voice seeming to echo around the room whilst it was in reality, no louder than before.

The light in her eyes suddenly dimmed, and her shoulders slumped,

Kai moved to catch her before she could topple.

Once safely in his arms, she groaned in confusion and looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears.

"You die every time," she sobbed as Kai wrapped a comforting arm around her.

"I know," he said softly as he once again, as if it was now some long engrained habit, reached up to scratch her behind the ear in the spot he knew for certain now, she liked.

She slipped away from him, her eyes wide. "You saw it too?!"

"I don't know what it was like for you, but I… I saw something," He turned his head to the side and cracked his neck. "Felt it too." He said as he felt Syl's lingering presence drift away once he assured her they were alright through the bond.

Syl somehow knew Mira could have visions… or was it more accurate to say premonitions?

Before she left, Syl communicated how lucky Kai was to be alive. That premonitions like this often had intended recipients… triggers. That interrupting an active premonition when you weren't that trigger could be fatal.

If only Syl knew the contents of the premonitions, she would not think to suggest he was so lucky, at least not so casually.

Unlike Kai, Syl had not felt that anything was wrong. It was only through her bond with Kai that she knew that something was taking place, and she split her attention to check on them.

But when she checked, she immediately realised what was happening, and held herself back from interfering.

Now that it was over and Kai had confirmed that they were alright, she had begrudgingly left to reassure the others that everything was okay, once Kai had asked her to give both Mira and himself some time to figure some things out together.

Kai was working on gut feelings derived from what was quickly turning into a clusterfuck of fading moments.

Mira leant back into him, weeping some more.

He let her work out the worst of it as he thought about what the thing in the void had said through Mira.

Sisters departed, a promise kept, a brother's sacrifice, sent home to protect my life. Party departed, a team destroyed, the future bleak, a world conquered.

Two distinct series of events that had two major outcomes… either way, he knew he was going to die.

Was there a way to change events completely, or did he need to embrace one chain of events in an untold number of possible events… was there a solution to this, was it a riddle, or some kind of clue?

His head hurt, he needed space to think.

He looked around the room, the last time he had been in here, Temra had been using it. But now it had been renovated for Mira.

There was a desk and chair, with The Sages workbooks piled atop it.

A vanity and mirror, equipped with a range of combs and brushes for Mira's long hair. That and a stand for the mask he had helped design.

The effort seemed to be a work in progress with the real accommodation being for all Mira's friends.

The smokeless fireplace in the corner for Wik, the wind chime for Brees, what looked like a magical cooler for Chil, a wide pot full of sand and stones for Pepple and finally small water fountain that wouldn't be out of place in some kind of meditation room trickled away for Sip.

At the moment, it all felt a bit piecemeal without any of Mira's personal touch. Besides maybe her mask, there was nothing in here that Kai could say this room was definitively Mira's space. At least he thought, not with the fresh knowledge I have of her pressing on my brain.

Despite Syl's best efforts to give Mira her own space, Kai knew it would take a while for Mira to really settle here, especially with it being within what was effectively a stranger's home.

Mira pulled back from him again, and she studied him.

"You okay now or do you need more time?" he asked as he gave her a smile and pulled his hand away from absentmindedly giving her an overly familiar scratch.

"I'm good," she said as she wiped at her red and bleary eyes.

"Good… now, I dont know about you, but I'm not getting back to sleep anytime soon… Do you want to go see my tower? I don't think it has fallen down yet."

"It will… or it might," she sighed. "Just not for a while yet… I think."

Kai had no response for that. He knew she was right; rare was the vision involving the tower where it stayed upright.

"Come on, if it starts to topple, we can be back here in a thought."

Mira nodded and moved to get her mask from its stand, but the moment she was standing up off the bed she hesitated, her tail flicking side to side as she battled with some internal thought.

Leaving the mask on its stand, she turned back to Kai and said, "Let's go."

They appeared on the wide open, unfinished top of Kai's tower to find a large sapphire blue dragon sleeping in the centre of everything without a care in the world.

That kind of put a stop to the quick tour Kai had in mind.

"I thought it would be windy," Mira said as she glanced about, ignoring Krasus.

"I figured that much out a while back, its only windy up here if I want it to be. The towers got a kind of airframe that redirects the domain's currents."

"So it doesn't get blown down?"

"So it doesn't get blown down," Kai confirmed, wearily.

The two of them stood there, worn and shaken from their shared experience, in nothing but their pyjamas.

The strangest part was Mira giving him an oddly familiar cheeky grin as she fidgeted beside him.

He noticed the little mischievous cartoon cats dotted around the fabric of the silky white pyjama set Mira was wearing and, having a little chuckle, he wondered if maybe coming here without changing first was a bad idea.

But Mira didn't seem to care as her restraint broke and she ran up the edge to look out over the wider domain from above.

He, however, slept in nothing but long pyjama bottoms these days, so thought it prudent to take a moment to summon a t-shirt before he followed her.

"I never get used to the sight from up here, its different every time," he said when he came to stand at her side.

She didn't look away, but one of her ears flicked in his way. "It's like I'm standing at Mountain's peak again."

"Did you live on his peak?"

Her ears wilted, "I tried a few times. But it was too windy, and cold. Wik kept getting blown out, and the shelters I made kept falling down. But you could see forever from there… but no, I spent most of my time moving from one cave or safe little hole to another."

"Syl told me you were alone."

"No… not really."

"There were no other people, just you and the spirits?"

She shook her head. "There was also the Fey. They were fun… until they weren't. Mountain tricked them. They took my name but had to leave without me, for some reason. Mountains clever like that," Mira smiled softly.

"Yes, I've met the Fey once… kind of. They were obsessed with my name too."

She turned to Kai. "I actually used to climb up to his peak. I would shout at the other mountains. I thought that maybe there was someone like me living on them… Sometimes on quiet days, I would hear someone calling back to me… but they were just echoes."

Kai was a little lost for words, she was all but alone, she just didn't have any other point of comparison to know any different.

"Why are we here?" Mira asked him before the silence could become awkward.

"Room to talk and to think."

"About what?"

"A lot of things. For starters about how it was actually vision that made you come to Cibiale and find us, not a missive from The Sage or one of his connections."

"You saw that in part of the vision?" Mira said, turning back to look out over the domain in an attempt to avoid Kai's questioning gaze.

"Yes, and no. We heard you on the day we brought you into the domain. You said something about a dream and Mountain banishing you. I didn't understand at the time… but now, now I have perspective I didn't have before," Kai said as he sat down and dangled his feet over the edge.

Mira looked at him for a moment, but when he tapped the stone platform next to him, she joined him.

"I take it you had a vision, premonition or whatever? And it was because of what was in it that vision, Mountain sent you to look for us."

"Yes… I wanted to stay."

"He wouldn't allow it, so he banished you."

He saw Mira nod in the corner of his eye.

"How much do you remember? Was there a statement… a prophecy or prediction that came with the visions?"

"Only what Mountain would tell me… In a city of adventure, a team seeks a family member," Mira said softly.

"There is a lot of talk of family with your visions."

Mira shrugged. "They jumble together after a while. I'm not even sure what it means to have a family… I think I had one once. But the Fey also took those memories with my name. Things felt easier after that, so I didn't mind forgetting so much."

"Family is a complicated thing that can be difficult to explain. It comes in a lot of forms. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad."

"People keep telling me you think of me like a little sister; why is that? Do you think that has something to do with the visions?"

"Yeah, I remember Gift coming out and saying that… Unfortunately, he has a connection to what I'm feeling that makes things difficult to dispute. But I think it's because one of my first instincts when we first met was that you needed help, maybe protecting… where I come from, or I guess in my mind. That's what big brothers are supposed to do." He chuckled. "Always wondered what it would be like being a big brother, I'm guessing it's different to being an uncle."

"Where are you from?" Mira asked, looking at him with genuine interest.

"Ah, that, I suppose you deserve some context. Must feel like you have been pulled into a world of strangers. I… I think I know the feeling…" Kai went on to explain that he wasen't of this world, how he met Syl and as much as he could say about how she was a metaphysical bing. Going so far as to point out the towers in the distance Syl had constructed as part of some great spell construct to allow her to manifest in the physical world.

He recounted the story of coming to Alea and meeting Alicia. The dungeon and its trials. How they made Gift by accident. And got Castiels and Fayriel's eggs as a reward.

He continued on like this for a good hour, and Mira listened intently, asking questions when Kai lacked a crucial detail and things didn't make sense to her or he was being weirdly vague on something like how he came to be married to two women.

When he got to the point that he met Mira, he circled back to explain he missed those he had to leave behind and like how she had to leave Mountain but would eventually return, he too held onto the small hope of maybe someday returning home to check on his family.

"So I'm what, your little sister?" Mira asked after he was done talking about his father, mother, siblings, nieces and nephew.

"Only if you want. From what I recall, trying to force it, with the others saying that's how I think of you… well, doesn't actually work out well."

Mira tilted her head and asked, "Why do they keep saying it?"

"They say it because I was a bit hung up on the possibility of everyone on my team being interested in… well, something. But having the hindsight of the visions might change things… Considering visions, maybe it's something worth working on… Can you swim, I'm pretty sure I attempt to teach you to swim."

"There were a few pools on Mountain's side… but nothing worth the effort of getting wet," Mira said as she looked at him and then back out over the domain. "You know, I thought you would be mad."

Kai chuckled. "Mad at what exactly?"

"That I used my visions to trick you… approach people and deliver a weird phrase… I couldn't really remember why I was even in the city anymore when we met. I wanted to go back to mountain I was so ready to leave when that little round lady… Temra came to see me," Mira said, her ears shifting from sitting low on her head to check on Kai and then back again as she went on cautiously.

"Oh, that. I have no reason to be mad at you for just following your visions. Heck, I think I just stared down fate in the void… or something like it. As I told you, it's shaping out to be a mad year for me. But I think I'm in a better place than I was before, both physically and mentally."

"You stared down fate?"

"Fate or something like it. You didn't see the thing hiding in the void?"

Mira shook her head.

"Strange… pretty sure it's what spoke through you, like it was delivering a warning, a clue or some kind of puzzle. But then again, I was marked by the void a while ago. So maybe that was a factor."

"What did I say?"

Kai repeated what he now was almost certain was actually be some kind of prophecy, and Mira seemed to sink deep into her thoughts

"So you see, two lines of events, two outcomes. What they are exactly could be up for interpretation. That's why I was wondering if there were ultimatums with the dream that led you two of us. If there was a reason Mountain chose to banish you, whom he clearly cherished."

"I… don't remember. I think that the new visions did something to the old ones. I vaguely remember there were other possibilities, times where I could end up lost and afraid, alone and even dead. Others that were like this place. With you, Syl, Alicia and everyone else. But as I said, the visions were getting fuzzy. But I had the others to keep me on track."

"Assuming the conclusion of the old visions was when you met with us, it could explain why Mountain pushed you out… the other possibility could be the world getting conquered if we didn't meet. I guess I'll have to ask Mountain when I meet him," Kai said as he processed his thoughts aloud for Mira's sake.

"You don't seem afraid," Mira said quietly as she ducked her head.

"Why would I be afraid?"

"You died every time."

"Ah, that. I'm not afraid," he lied, "I have a secret," Kai said with a wink.

"What?" Mira asked, looking at him with her bright eyes, eager to know why Kai wasn't afraid.

"You're not the first person who saw me in their premonitions. And I'm pretty sure I'm alive in her visions."

"You know someone else like me?" Mira asked as she seemed to light up even more.

"Yeah, you've actually met her. You remember that white and green dragon that took over Talious."

"Really!"

"Yup, I promise I'll tell you about her later," realising he had just made a promise, he paused, maybe right now was a confusing time to make promises. Still, there was something he couldn't avoid. "I need to ask you something."

Mira looked at him intently.

"We can't let anyone else know about the contents of your vision."

Her ears dropped, and her tail flopped flat on the platform behind her. "But-"

"I'm worried about the consequences. I'm pretty sure they will do everything in their power to change the outcome. From what I saw… one thing is unavoidable."

Mira didn't reply, she just turned and looked out over the domain for a long time before she finally said, "Okay," in a quiet voice.

They sat for a while, and Kai started pointing out things in the domain to pass the time.

They were watching a small purple forest move over a hill in the far distance when he saw that Mira might just have relaxed enough for the next thing he had planned.

She sat next to him, her legs kicking back and forth as they dangled perilously over the edge without concern for the long plummet to the ground below.

"Do you like it up here?"

"Yeah. The domain's peaceful, comforting… but this place, it reminds me of Mountain."

"We should move up here then," Kai said, forming a part of his plan to deal with the visions.

"Why?"

"Because I think the first thing we can do is make sure you know where your home is. Syl told me you were struggling to settle at the lake house… and if I'm honest, that place is starting to lose track of what it once was. Now that our teams are complete, I think we should reexamine our needs."

"But up here?" Mira asked, looking quite concerned as she glanced back over her shoulder.

"What's wrong with moving up here? I mean, I'm still planning on positioning it in the middle of the lake so you can really see all of the domain. But eventually we'll have young dragons that will benefit from the high takeoff."

"But how will other people get up and down?"

"Originally I was thinking of a lift, but now I'm pretty sure I can connect locations within the domain just like I do with my portals."

He got up, turned around and with a thought made an archway rise up from the surface of the tower's platform.

A moment later, you could see the inside of the Lakehouse's living area through the arch.

He nodded, "This will work."

"Um, Kai."

"Yeah?"

"I like the idea, but living somewhere I know is going to… I mean, likely to fall down…"

"Ah, yeah, I can see how that might be a problem."

There was a rumble, the sound of hard scales shifting against stone, "Forgive my interruption, but if you can make anything here, make something like a skystack, the mana eather here is rich, the mana abundant, it should never fall." Krasus said as he lifted his head to look at them both.

"That's an idea…" Kai said as he looked to Mira, and she nodded eagerly in response.

"I always wanted to climb a skystack, and I've never seen one fall down," she said enthusiastically.

Kai remembered the skystack he had seen scraping along the ground and wondered if it was really such a good idea for him to make one. He knew it was possible, but maybe Syl could work on it with him, ensure it was at least stable…

Krasus coughed, and something occurred to Kai, "Erm, Krassus. How much have you heard?"

"Plese forgive me, I came here after my hunt to digest… it has been so long since I have experienced the joy of a good open roost. While I had the time, I decided to pray, Atheos answered."

"This doesn't tell me how much you heard."

"Atheos asked me for a favour. She asked me to wait for you two so that I may deliver a message to each of you that may prove insightful to your predicament."

They waited as Krasus shifted his body, moving to sit back on his hindquarters, he put a hand to his chest and looked to Mira. "Young oracle of Alea, do not let what is shown to you define you or the decisions you make. Often are things occluded and mixed beyond recognition. Important details are hidden in the simplest of things that are beyond your control or understanding. Never accept what you can simply change, but do not be so foolish to abandon caution and seek to control the outcome as that often fulfils an unacceptable outcome. Sometimes it is best to sit back and simply wait for events to unfold naturally before you play your hand. Though I am busy, you are a priority of mine. Take comfort in those that your loving Mountain sought to give you, you will see him again one day, though that day is far away."

Mira brushed a tear from her cheek as Krasus turned to Kai.

He cleared his throat and said, "Kai, do not be so foolish to think my visions of your future save you from this fate. Though you may escape what you have seen by simply leaving, that may result in dire unforeseen consequences that are often worse for you and others than what has been revealed. What you called fate would kill you if it showed you anything but what it thought relevant."

Krasus stopped.

The silence stretched.

Kai's stomach sank, "That's it, isn't it?"

"I am afraid so."

"Fuck."

"I agree… now forgive me, I must excuse myself. I have dallied too long in your home, I must go back to see what chaos the association has descended into."

There was a blast of air as Krasus waft of his wings and lifted his weight from the tower.

The tower rumbled, and Mira looked to Kai in a panic.

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