84th of Season of Fire, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt returned to his dorm room, his nervousness made manifest as serpents dancing in his stomach. After he had learned that his friends were safe, they disappeared from Newt's mind. Then he wanted to consult his master about what he had learned, but he found out he could not. He wanted to pay off his debt, but he found out it was not urgent.

So, with his master's kind reminder, his friends were once more Newt's priority. He just hoped they would never learn about the temporary lapse of judgment in which he had forgotten they even existed.

The door to their apartment was locked, and somehow, through everything Newt had experienced, he still had the most basic things, like his key and his token. The lock clicked, and the door opened without a sound. He was afraid he would walk into a trudger pen, but everything was clean in the moonlight. The window was open, the light tropical breeze filling the room with fresh air instead of alcohol fumes evaporating from his intoxicated roommates, who had once transformed their neat living quarters into a mine shaft.

A door opened without a sound, and footsteps so light they were barely audible reached Newt's ears.

"Thank the heavens you're all right!" Roselilly nearly sobbed, stunning Newt. "Your master said they won't send anyone to help you out, and that you would find your own way, but I was so worried something bad would happen to you."

Before Newt got to ask himself why the woman was so worried about him, another door opened, and Jasmine walked in. The woman was fully clothed, angry fists pressed against her hips, glaring at Newt.

Why do women around me always look like they want to beat me up? It was an unfair thought. Roselilly was the very image of a worried friend, radiating not a speck of violent tendencies.

"What happened? How did you get out of the valley?" Roselilly buffeted Newt with questions, while Jasmine settled for a silent, soul-piercing glare.

For the third time, Newt explained how he had somehow stepped into the fourth realm zone through the geyser, then gave as many details as he could, while hiding all he had to hide.

"Heavens," Jasmine muttered when she saw the cores Newt had gathered, "he really did try to over-hunt the danger zone."

Newt cocked his head in confusion, then lowered his gaze to the fourth realm cores. Technically, he acquired them during his team mission, and standard practice stated that the team members split all excess gains from a mission amongst themselves.

I owe over two hundred fourth realm manarium for my medical bills. And then there's the other incident…

Newt was about to offer to split them when Obsidian slammed open the apartment door.

"Newt! Your elder sister just told me you were back! I'm glad you're all right!" If anyone had been sleeping in the apartment building, Obsidian's outburst of joy woke them. If anyone had not known Newt was back, they knew.

"I am, and I was about to say I have some cores and mysterium we should split." Newt said.

"They are your—" Obsidian started, but Newt continued speaking.

"They are all at the fourth realm." Newt finished, and Obsidian choked on spit, unable to finish his words.

"Obi!" Jasmine's brows furrowed into a dangerous frown, her fists still on her hips, her foot a step away from tapping. "You overgrown kidney stone! He won those alone. Wandering the myst alone, before leaving it alone."

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"Right, right." With a strange, sorrowful grin on his lips and a twitch of his eye, Obsidian nodded. "Of course you're right. Do you mind if I see them, Newt? I've never held that much manarium in my hands."

The creepy face, and the grin a step away from crying, almost made Newt say no. But he understood Obsidian's feelings. If Obi was the one who had found the treasure on an independent adventure and offered him the manarium he needed to clear his debt, Newt would have also refused, feeling like crying even as he spoke the words.

"Here." Newt opened the sacks with his gains, and Obsidian's eyes shone like manarium. "Even if you don't want an equal share, we went on the mission together—"

"Newstar." Roselilly's voice was the sternest he had ever heard. "Relying on resources you didn't earn yourself weakens your heart and resolve. Lucky windfalls happen. You should take such opportunities and wring the most benefit you can out of them, but you have to make them yourself."

Newt thought about the frostworm caves and how they found the core Lady Frostgrave needed. He didn't mind asking for favors as a reward for their lucky find. However, a part of that was because he was certain the core was far more valuable than what he had asked in return.

He nodded in agreement, wondering what opportunity Roselilly had wrung out of life to make the face she was making.

"All right, where are you, you skinny, little imp?" Goodair chose that moment to stomp into the room, walking on a warpath. "There you are! I'm breaking your twig legs right here and now! What the hell did I tell you about worrying Master not half a season ago?"

Roselilly and Jasmine jumped to Newt's defense, tackling Goodair, and Obsidian shielded him with his body. Suddenly, Newt burst into laughter.

"It's good to see you too, elder sister, and if you really want to have a spar, we can have one tomorrow under Master's watchful eye." He taunted her, and, surprisingly, Goodair gave a sharp nod.

"You think I won't dare?" The woman crossed her arms. "Oh, I dare. I'm not scared of whatever nonsense heavenly judgement struck your butt nor that dueling against you will rub off your curse on me. Tomorrow, I'm gonna plant your face in the dirt, and I'll make you apologize to Master for all the trouble you caused her."

"People think I'm cursed?" Newt's mood fell. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"And they think the curse is contagious." Goodair barked a laugh.

Suddenly, Newt realized why nobody had challenged him to a duel ever since the summer solstice incident.

"Don't listen to her nonsense, she's teasing you." Obsidian jumped to Newt's aid. "You were wounded, and under orders not to overexert yourself, including a ban from training, and then we left for the Valley of the Lost as soon as you were well enough."

"I'm not teasing!" Goodair said with the air of an experienced liar. "After your teammates returned without you, people immediately started speculating whether you're a curse, a dark star shining malevolent light of misfortune on everyone and everything around you."

Goodair kept teasing until Jasmine bodily pushed her out of the apartment, the two awakened moving and shoving with the grace of boulders clashing. Goodair was stronger, but she let Jasmine kick her out.

Finally, with only the team left, Obsidian spoke.

"How about we go and get some grilled meat and sweet pastries? The Chamber of Delicacies is open at all hours."

Newt liked the idea. He was nowhere near hungry, he had realized another thing in the Valley of the Lost. His need for food and sleep was much lower than expected for his realm. He was supposed to get sleepy once every two to three days, but in the valley he realized he could go on for over a week before getting sleepy. Besides, he had eaten fourth realm manabeast flesh whenever he found something he fancied, but hanging out with the gang, like they did in the Valley of the Lost, still appealed to him.

While he wandered the mist alone, he was thinking that maybe he did not need friends and companions, but having peers, no matter how temporary, felt good. The years of solitude in the mines flashed back through his mind while he was lost, but that was all they were; unpleasant memories.

"Sure." Newt smiled.

"You're buying, moneybags," Obsidian said.

"Obi!"

"Sure." Newt still smiled. A fancy meal wasn't much money, and it was a great way to make it up to his friends, at least a bit.

The trip down the moonlit path was wonderful and liberating. The tension Newt experienced when arriving with Greenbow and heading to his master's residence was gone. And with possible punishment and interrogation out of the way, he enjoyed the night breeze, free of mist, caressing his cheeks.

"What's so great?" Obi jabbed Newt in the side with his elbow.

"Life is." Newt wasn't even lying. Life felt grand. He was getting stronger, learning, and building connections. Greenbow and Goodair acted like he assumed real siblings should, and even if he would have to beat up Goodair the next day, such was the fate of overconfident people.

"And," Newt continued after a short break, "I'm thinking about how much luck I had meeting all of you. I hope our future missions remain as exciting as this one was, but without all the grief I caused you guys. What I'm trying to say is - Thanks!"

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