She arrived at the large house with relative quickness and cracked the main door open, purple light poured out through the opening.

“Stop!” Shouted Rene.

Someone pushed the door closed. “Just go around to the back. I’ll explain when you get in” said Bea.

“Alright, I’m going," replied Clair

She stepped off the porch and back onto the snowy road. As she walked around the building she could feel the hairs on her side closest to the house stand up. Magic, then, that would certainly explain the light. She rounded the corner to the back entrance and briefly looked to the forest, the iron pot was back. She bent down in front of the pot.

She lifted it up. “I’ll just bring you in.”

For as large as it was it didn’t seem all that heavy. She walked over to the back entrance and pressed the back of her shoulder into it. The door creaked open and she entered.  Berthold met her at the door, he looked okay, his clothes had been changed and his hand was bandaged up well. His eyes were still a little red and puffy, but otherwise he looked as well as he did the day before. 

“Hey, Clair, Bea said you’d be back here.” said Berthold.

She almost dropped the pot. “Berthold! You’re okay? I’m so glad! I thought…”

“Here, let me take that.” Berthold grabbed the pot. “Now, of course I’m okay. Haha, thanks to you and the Elder.” He began walking towards the kitchen.

Clair followed behind. “Yes, but when I left you, you were still sweating out whatever that thing had put in your when it bit your hand.” She bit her lip recalling his sobs “You were in a bad place.”

He set the pot down on the kitchen counter. “Yeah, well. I’m better now, besides what it did… that’s in the past, I don’t need to worry about that again.”

He glanced over towards the common room before looking back to Clair. She quickly moved towards him and hugged him.

She squeezed tightly. “I’m so glad you’re okay, I’m sorry I couldn’t kill the thing sooner, you didn’t need to get hurt.”

He hugged her back. “No, really, I’m okay. This isn’t your fault, just calm down.”

He was right, she should calm down. Why was she reacting like this anyway? She had always hated letting people down, but before the change she’d hold it in and go drink it away or pray in silence. This felt better, though.

She let him go. “Yes, alright. I’m calming down.” She shook her head and slapped her cheeks. “So, what’s going on in the common room?”

“It’s uh, better if I show you.” He gestured for her to follow. “Basically, Rene is trying to track your attacker, the one that sent that thing here.” He stopped in front of the door to the common room. “I don’t know what you told her, but she’s really been going at it since she got here a couple hours ago.”

He pushed open the door and let Clair see into the room. The furniture had been pushed to the sides of the room and in some cases piled on top of each other. Most of the room was dominated by a massive magic circle with several smaller circles arrayed with it, all burned into the wood. The light that had been present when she first tried to come in was absent, as were Rene and Bea.

“Umm, Berthold, where’s Rene and your sister?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know, maybe in Bea’s old room.” He put a hand on the back of his neck. “Rene was getting pretty steamed earlier. She said that whoever sent this thing really didn’t want to be tracked.”

She crossed her arms. “I really don’t like the sound of that. Nothing too dangerous right? I once saw a circle collapse on a mage… not a pretty sight.”

The sound of steps approached them. They turned to face the sound. It was Rene, her hair was a bit of a mess and she wore a scowl as she fixed her eyes on the common room.

Rene stopped next to the pair. “I’m fine, thank you very much, Clair. I just had to-” She laughed. “-blow off some steam.” She pushed past Berthold and Clair. “Now let me get back to finding this attacker of yours.”

Clair looked to Berthold. “Guess Bea’s out of commission for a little bit," she commented.

Berthold looked back and flushed. “I knew, but you didn’t need to say it out loud!”

Rene laughed. “She’ll be fine, she always is. That is besides the point. Your attacker is quite skilled, last attempt I ate a counter spell and a pretty nasty mental spike. Point is, I’m calling in a favor.”

“You really don’t need to, he’s just after me.” Clair said, waving her hands in front of herself.

Rene glared at her. “Oh no, this ass not only stymied me, but hurt Bea’s brother and you... and I kind of like you.” She sighed. “I want to know where he is pretty badly, besides I am owed a lot of favors from this particular source.”

Berthold nudged Clair. “I should have warned you that she’s been rather mad since the first time her attempts got countered.”

“I heard that!” She shook her head. “Let me concentrate, I’m not sure where they are so this is going to be tough.”

Berthold and Clair nodded and took a step back. Rene pulled her loose red hair into a ponytail and stepped into the magic circle. She rummaged through her robe and pulled out a thin rod of glass and set it point up in one of the smaller circles. She moved to the next and produced a pair of broken wrist cuffs and set them inside. For the final circle she breathed into a glass phial and corked it before setting it inside. She then returned to the center of the whole array and made sure the tooth and hair were still present.

“Here we go.”

She took a wide stance and began to pull at the ambient magic in the air. With one hand she directed a portion of it into the circle itself. The scorched grooves of the magic circle lit up purple as they filled with magical energy. Rene’s eyes flicked between the smaller circles. They glowed as well, confirming they were properly charged.

“A little more.”

She brought her other hand down and directed the rest of the gathered energy into the circle. Runes formed and rotated around their respective circles. The items within each circle floated and crackled with energy.

Rene breathed in deeply. “Spirit of open roads, I call you! You who wander this wide world as a gale and the flowing waters, come to me!” She felt sweat bead on her brow. “Kajsara, appear before me and pay your debt!” Her voice echoed through the room.

The circle crackled with power, runes spun faster and the whole building seemed to shake. In the center of the circle a small distortion appeared, like a wrinkle in the air. It shuddered and pulled at the air in the room causing everyone’s hair to blow forward. The wrinkle became a tear that slowly opened wider and spewed dazzling color into the room.

“Kajsara! Show yourself!”

The tear quivered. Something was wrong, Rene tried to keep the circle stable. The tear slammed shut with a deafening crash, the runes spun the opposite direction and became bright green. A new portal opened, this time much more stable. Inside the portal was a view of what appeared to be a shop full of magical curios and a pair of thin humans dressed in the garb of a Spire wizard, one male and the other female. They looked like twins.

Rene narrowed her eyes. “Who are you two and where is Kajsara?”

The pair of them smiled, bowed at the waist and took their hats off at the same time.

The male twin spoke first. “Yes, we are” The female twin finished the sentence. “Kajsara. We prefer to go by a different name now,” they both spoke as they rose from the bow. “Vallentin.”

“So, Vallentin is it? What happened to you and do you still intend on honoring our deal?”

The pair on the other side of the portal brought their hands to their chins. “We will honor our deal as best we can.” The male twin spoke while gesturing to the room they were in “We are… stuck here.” The female twin waved a hand “Long story.”

Rene raised an eyebrow. “If you’re the ones holding that portal open I assume you’ve got time because I know you’ve got the power.”

The twins sighed. “Yes and no.” The female twin made a scissor with her fingers. “We are cut off from the outside world.” The male twin waved a finger at the other. “Not entirely, of course. We can still look out, just not leave or pull power from the usual places.” They both stared at Rene and bowed. “So, what do you need, our savior?”

Berthold nudged Clair. “Strange pair.”

Clair looked over. “Definitely. Also, savior?”

Berthold shrugged at her and returned to watching Vallentin and Rene. The pair of Vallentins were engaged in animated discussion at the mostly nonplussed Rene.

“We will need time, Rene.” The pair leaned against each other’s backs. “This place, Lahad Tir, it drains us and makes even this harder than it would normally be.” They collapsed on the floor theatrically. “We will do our best, o savior.”

Rene stared at the two of them. “How much time?”

The pair stood up and the male twin counted on the female twins hands. “At least a month, if you could toss the remnants of that creature through the portal.” The pair held their hands up to the portal and shook them. “Not you though! The magic here would not let you leave. There’s something older and bigger than us buried here.” They flipped their hands palm up. “Just toss the tooth and hair through.”

Rene walked forward and pulled the floating tooth and hair from where they hung. Before throwing the items in she noted that the hair was white and that the tooth itself was jagged and irregular. The hair should have been black if it was taken from Clair before her change, why was it white?

She tossed the items through the portal. “Here, Kajsara… Vallentin.”

The pair caught the hair and tooth, one for each of them. “We’re on it, Rene.” The pair bowed in unison. “Best wishes, may your path never be barred.”

The portal shuddered and the lights of the magic circle flickered. The image of the Vallentins rippled like water before the portal slammed shut leaving the entirety of the room dark as the magic faded, only to flicker back on in Rene’s purple energy. She gestured a quick dispelling sigil and slumped to the floor. Berthold and Clair began to move towards her, she held up a hand.

“I’m okay, just a bit out of it.” She looked back over to Clair. “I guess it’ll be awhile before we know anything, I...” She took a moment to catch her breath. “I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “How did Kajsa-Vallentin get stuck on that gods-forsaken continent?”

Clair had heard of Lahad Tir before, it was a cursed continent in the far north beyond the Admiralty of Tynan Weir. Supposedly exile there was a lighter punishment than execution. Considering what she’d been told about it, she very much doubted that. It seemed more a place to get rid of those it was politically inconvenient to outright execute.  

Clair shrugged. “I have no clue, how would they even get a spirit on the boat?” She asked. 

Rene appeared lost in thought then pinched the bridge of her nose. “They probably wandered in there on their own…” She groaned. “Gods, that probably is what happened.”  She shook her head. “Anyhow, I’m not completely empty handed on information about your assailant.” A cocksure smile spread across her face. “He’s in Kasite… and they are definitely a he.”

Clair looked hopefully Rene. “So where are they in Kasite?” 

Rene grimaced. “Err… South-ish, West?” She shrugged. “Look, his mind spike was a doozy”

Berthold leaned in. “Rene, we’re about as north as you can get on this continent. Only Megiddo and Eisenstadt are further north.” 

Rene waved a hand. “Details!” She slumped. “Details…” She sighed heavily and stood up, dusting off her robes. “Eisenstadt is just beyond the nearby pass and as for Megiddo, well there wasn’t any lingering infernal energy, so he’s either way better than I’m giving him credit for or he isn’t there.” 

“Didn’t he mind spike you through an attempted scrying?” Quipped Berthold.

"He used a phobophage. I expected an amateur, not a capable spellweaver. It was a stupid mistake." She pushed past Berthold. "I'm going to check on Bea, don't wait on me," said Rene.

Rene left the room leaving Clair and Berthold in the darkened room. Clair sighed, at least she had some idea about her mystery attacker now, but the holes in her memory continued to bother her. 

Berthold walked over to the front door and pushed it open. "I'm going to get the room back in order… well as much as I can."

Clair smiled. "I'll give you a hand."

It took several hours to magically mend the floorboards and get the whole room in some semblance of order. Though Clair didn't mind, she got to spend more time talking with Berthold about his life and the village. After the whirlwind of events surrounding her rebirth, she was thankful for something more mundane, even if it was cleaning up after a mage.

Berthold finished putting the last chair in its proper place and looked to Clair. "All done.