Thenio's bags were all packed and ready to go.

He'd never really unpacked his things after moving back home from the academy, so it didn't take that much work to get ready to move out again. And he wasn't going very far away, so he really only needed enough to get through the next week or two. He could come back and get the rest of his things later, once he was sure that everything was going to work out at his new home.

About an hour before he was scheduled to be picked up, Thenio moved his bags into position by the front door. Then he and his father both sat in the parlor and waited. It was his father's turn to stay home with him that day. His mother was at the workshop, and Lem and Kleyo were both at school.

The two of them didn't talk much. Thenio's father was studying and making notes on some kind of enchantment diagram for his work. Thenio had a book open on his lap, but he was spending more time glancing out the window than he was looking at the words on the page.

Finally, a few minutes before the promised time, a golem carriage appeared on the street in front of the house.

"Is that them?" Thenio abandoned his book and went over to the window.

It was a nondescript grey carriage, pulled by a single horse golem that was made from dark, blue-grey metal, without any obvious ornamentation. It was very plain compared to the golem carriages that aristocrats liked to use, which were usually heavily decorated and had multiple golems shaped like exotic animals or magic beasts.

But Thenio knew quite a bit about golems because of Kleyo's interest in them, and he could tell that this was a very high-quality one. Its motion was smooth and natural-looking. Almost like a real horse. It might not look that flashy, but it probably had some very impressive enchanting inscriptions under the surface.

It was the kind of golem carriage you would expect a grandmaster enchanter to have.

"Let's go out to meet them," Thenio's father said as the carriage came to a stop in front of the house.

Thenio followed him outside, where they waited silently on the front porch. Thenio found himself fidgeting a little.

There was some movement visible through the carriage windows. Then one of the doors on the side opened, and a small, dark shape shot out of it.

"Thenio! Hi!" With a rush of leathery wings, the little black dragon hurtled through the air toward him.

Fortunately, having experienced this kind of enthusiastic greeting before, Thenio had the presence of mind to quickly hold his arm up, so Iggy landed on that, rather than directly on his head.

"We came, Thenio! We came to pick you up and take you home with us!" Iggy's whole body was wriggling with excitement. His tail was waving so much that it threatened to knock him off balance.

"Hi, Iggy...." Thenio couldn't help laughing at the little dragon's antics. "I'm glad to see you, too. But calm down a little, will you? You're going to fall off."

"It's no good. I've been telling him to calm down all morning, but it hasn't helped." Ariom had exited the carriage and was coming toward them, a slightly exasperated look on his face. "You don't need to worry about him too much, though. If he falls off, he falls off. It won't hurt him. That's basically how he learned to fly–by spending the first year of his life constantly falling off of things."

Behind him, another man had gotten out of the carriage but was bending down in the open door, as though he were picking up something on the seat. When he straightened up a moment later, Thenio saw a red and gold dragon perched on his arm.

That was probably how you were supposed to get out of a carriage with your dragon....

"This is my uncle, Bero Denifor," Ariom said as the two approached. "And his familiar, Humerus. They're going to be staying with us for a few days to help out with Thenio's training program."

"Pleased to meet you," Bero said with a friendly smile. There was a clear family resemblance between him and Ariom, though Bero was older and had a slightly taller and lankier build. And completely different coloring, with tanned-looking skin and tawny gold hair. His eyes were a vivid leaf green.

Probably a life mage.

"Do you have your things ready?" Ariom asked Thenio. "We'll help you load them into the carriage."

"They're just inside here." Thenio's father opened the door and showed them the luggage waiting in the entryway.

"Here, you hold onto the familiars for a minute," Bero said, holding Humerus out toward Thenio. "We'll carry the bags."

Thenio held Iggy in his arms to make sure the little dragon wouldn't get in the way. Then he turned to the side to allow Humerus to climb onto his shoulder. The red dragon was a bit larger than Iggy, though not as big as Falco, the bronze-colored dragon that Thenio had met at the meeting the other day. Humerus settled down on Thenio's shoulder and sniffed curiously at his hair.

"Thenio's magic smells really good, huh?" Iggy asked, his tail still waving around energetically. "You think so too, right, Humerus?"

"Hmm...." Humerus made a noncommittal sound. "I guess so." It was a much less enthusiastic reaction than any of the other familiars Thenio had met recently.

Well, there was no reason that different dragons couldn't have different tastes in magic.

With the two wizards and Thenio's father working together, they were able to carry all of Thenio's luggage in a single trip.

"Is this everything?" Ariom asked, putting the last bag into the back of the carriage.

Thenio nodded. "Everything for now. I thought it would be better to just pack the basics to start with and bring over some other things once I know what I need."

"Makes sense," Ariom said, nodding. "It's not that far of a drive, so we can come back whenever you need to. Oh, and that reminds me." He pulled out a small leatherbound book and handed it to Thenio. "You said you didn't have a message book of your own. Consider this your hiring bonus. I'll give it to you now so you and your father can exchange pages before we leave."

Thenio's eyes widened as he took the book. "Is that really okay? These are expensive, aren't they?" Even his parents didn't have their own message books. His whole family had to share one.

Ariom shrugged. "The materials aren't that much. Most of the cost is for labor. The spatial enchantments on these things are a bit tricky, and enchanters who can pull them off usually don't work for cheap. But it's not like I need to pay to hire myself, so all it really cost me was some time."

It sounded almost like bragging, but Ariom was a grandmaster enchanter, after all. He was probably just stating facts.

Thenio passed the dragons back to their respective partners and then followed his father back into the house, carrying his brand new message book. The family's book was kept in a drawer in the study. Thenio's father pulled it out and opened it. Most of the pages were white, but in the very back, there was a section that looked more like brownish parchment paper. He pulled out one of these darker pages and handed it to Thenio.

"I just stick it into mine, right?" Thenio asked, taking the page. He'd seen his parents add contact pages to the book before, but he'd never done it himself.

"That's right. You just need to find a colored thread and put it in there. Are there any other contacts in that book already?"

Thenio looked at his book. There was one tab on the side, with the name 'Ariom Denifor' written on it. "Just one."

"There should be colored threads running down the center before and after it. Find one of them and put the new page there."

Thenio opened the book to Ariom's tab. There were a few blank white pages in front of it. Flipping past those, he saw a red thread running down the base of the first one. He stuck the brown sheet in there. When it touched the thread, the whole book glowed briefly. After the glow faded, there was another tab that read 'Lunon and Siora Iterune' and a few brand new white sheets in front of it.

"Good. Now give me one of your contact pages."

A minute later, one of the brown pages from the back of Thenio's book had turned into a tab labeled 'Thenio Iterune' inside the book his father was holding.

"All right. Now you'll be able to send us updates. I expect Kleyo will want to write to you once in a while, too." Thenio's father closed the book and placed it back in its drawer. "And Thenio." His expression became serious. "Grandmaster Denifor may have just shrugged it off, but this really was a very generous gift. Make sure you take good care of it. And do your best to work properly, in order to thank him for everything he's doing for you. Understand?"

"I understand."

When Thenio got back outside, Ariom was waiting for him next to the open carriage door. Bero and the dragons seemed to already be inside.

"All set?"

Thenio nodded, and Ariom gestured for him to get in the carriage. He climbed into the rear seat and found himself next to Iggy and Humerus, who were sitting in a kind of padded box that was raised enough to let them look out the windows. Bero was seated on the other side of them.

Ariom followed Thenio into the carriage and sat in the driver's seat in the front. One of the advantages that golem horses had over living ones was that they were guided with a magic tool, rather than using physical reins. This meant they could be controlled from a short distance away, which allowed the driver to sit inside the shelter of the carriage.

"Are we going home now?" Iggy asked, standing up with his front paws on the edge of the padded box. "So we can show Thenio his new room? And the dragon room? And the climbing tree?" His tail was still waving wildly, and Thenio saw Humerus avoiding it with an irritated expression.

"Well, yes. But we aren't really in a hurry." Ariom looked back at Thenio. "I know you haven't been able to leave home much for a while. We'll have to be a little careful where we take you, to avoid causing any accidents, but...is there anywhere you'd like to stop on our way back?"

"Well...." Thenio hesitated. "I guess...if you really don't mind...can we go to the park for a few minutes? I have a friend there I'd like to visit."

 

---

 

Kamari, the capital city of Kafron, was one of the oldest surviving cities on the continent. It had started out a few millennia earlier as a simple waypoint for trading caravans passing through the Drakesil Mountains, but over time, it eventually evolved into an independent city-state.

The city maintained strict neutrality during the Great Magic War, opting to survive by making itself a valuable business partner for the surrounding factions, rather than trying to accumulate power and risk being seen as a threat that needed to be eliminated. Apparently that approach was successful, since the city was never attacked, although the location of the city also helped. It would have lost its value as an international trading hub if it lost its independence, and it was too isolated to be useful as anything else. Allowing it to remain as a buffer between the warring territories that surrounded it had more appeal than conquering it did.

Kamari was also lucky enough to be spared from the earliest waves of demon rifts and the massive damage they had caused other cities. By the time the first rift appeared in the area, the city government had already spent years gathering information on demons and preparing their combat wizards to fight them. The invading demons were spotted and killed off before they reached the city, and the rift was barricaded and maintained without much trouble.

When word started spreading about the relative safety and stability that Kamari had, compared to the chaos of the surrounding regions, there was a massive influx of people. A few years after the first rifts started appearing, effectively ending the war, the former trade city had turned into a huge refugee camp. One of the reasons Kamari began expanding its influence into the surrounding areas, which eventually led to the establishment of the kingdom of Kafron, was simply that they needed more space and resources in order to deal with all the people they suddenly had on their hands.

Despite the city leaders' best efforts at keeping the refugees organized and meeting their needs, many had escaped the destruction with their lives and not much else. There was terrible poverty, especially in the beginning. Conditions gradually improved, but even several decades later, a large portion of the city was still just a poor shanty town. Disease and crime were major, ongoing issues.

In year 76 of the Rift Era, Myshan Fronir became the second king of the young country of Kafron. He was also called Myshan the Orderly because one of the first projects he undertook was to clean up and rebuild the capital city. With the exception of the area that was now the government district, Kamari was essentially scrapped and redesigned from scratch. Because of that, the entire city was now unusually well-laid out and functional.

One of the features that Myshan the Orderly had insisted on in the new city design was a large number of small public parks. These were intended to improve the health and well-being of the citizens and to help foster a sense of community by acting as neighborhood gathering places. And it seemed to work pretty well, considering that these parks were still maintained and in use, more than three hundred years later.

Thenio had been visiting the local park on a regular basis since he was very young, and he'd always been fond of the place. Of course, that was mostly because Eteon was often there. Thenio had met him soon after he and his parents had moved into their current home, a few months after his fourth birthday. As a small child, he had immediately been attracted to Eteon's display of animal carvings, but it didn't take long for him to also become attached to the kind, grandfatherly man who made them. Unlike most people, Eteon had always seemed legitimately happy to have him around. So Thenio had spent a lot of afternoons at the park growing up, especially after he lost Butterfly and things got awkward between him and Lem.

"This is Thenio's park?" As soon as the carriage stopped, Iggy jumped out of his box and put his face up against the window. "We have a park by our house, too! We go there on market days so Ariom can buy stinky magic things."

"Alchemy materials," Ariom clarified, in response to Thenio's questioning look. "Our district has a large wizard population, so there are usually a lot of magic supplies for sale at the weekly market. You can find some good deals if you're lucky, so I like to go look around when I have the time."

"You might think this place is kind of boring, then," Thenio said, feeling a bit awkward. "It's just a normal flea market."

"That's fine. Iggy can find literally anything fascinating if he's in the right mood. And since he's definitely in the right mood today...." Ariom dug around in the bag next to his seat and pulled out a coiled strap. "I think we'd better put your leash on, little guy. You're too hyped up, and I don't want you to get into trouble."

"Aww...I don't like the leash...." Iggy pouted, his ears drooping. "And I won't get into trouble...."

"Nice try," Ariom said dryly. "But I've heard that too many times before. Usually just before you got into trouble."

Iggy seemed to realize it was a lost cause. "Can I ride on Thenio's shoulder, then?"

"If Thenio doesn't mind."

Iggy directed a pitiful stare in Thenio's direction.

Thenio gave a weak laugh. "Sure. It's fine."

The little dragon's ears immediately perked up, and his tail started waving again. Humerus let out a small snort and rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.

"All right." Ariom handed Thenio the leash. "Clip that onto the front of his harness."

Thenio found a small brass ring on the harness and clipped one end of the leash to it. The other end had an adjustable loop, which he put around his left wrist above his suppression band. He held Iggy in one arm while he got out of the carriage and then put the little dragon up on his shoulder.

The others also got out of the carriage, and the five of them headed toward the market area of the park together.

By the time they reached the edge of the market, Thenio realized that he had seriously miscalculated. He'd just been thinking about visiting Eteon like always. He didn't even consider the fact that this was just a normal park in a normal, middle-class neighborhood. Not the sort of neighborhood where high-ranking wizards usually lived. Which meant that if you happened to show up there with a dragon riding on your shoulder, it was very, very noticeable.

Ariom and Bero didn't seem to care about the attention, but Thenio felt his face grow warm under all the stares. It didn't help that Iggy, as usual, was giving friendly waves to people as they passed, although most people seemed too surprised to see a dragon waving at them to even consider waving back. Humerus was also looking around with interest, but he didn't wave at anyone.

Fortunately, it didn't take them long to find Eteon. He was sitting inside the canopy tent that he used during cooler weather, with his usual assortment of wooden toys and figurines set up on a table at the front.

When he spotted Thenio, Eteon raised his eyebrows in surprise. Then he set down the half-carved piece of wood he was holding and gave a welcoming smile. "Thenio! It's been a long time since I saw you here. I'm glad you're feeling well enough to start coming out again."

"Hi, Thenio's friend!" Iggy called out, waving.

Eteon chuckled and waved back. "Hello, little fellow. You must be Iggy. Thenio told me about you." He glanced at Bero and Humerus. "I don't remember anything about a red dragon, though? Thenio must have made a couple of new friends since I talked to him last."

"Mmm! That's Uncle Bero and Humerus," Iggy told him, nodding enthusiastically. "They came to help us fix Thenio's magic! Uncle Bero has a really nice farm with lots of chickens. They're super fun to chase, you know? And Humerus is my sort-of-cousin. He's grumpy a lot, but sometimes he plays with me."

"This is Ariom Denifor and his uncle, Bero Denifor," Thenio said, trying to get a proper introduction in between Iggy's chattering. "Ariom is the one who hired me as an assistant, and Bero is here to help figure out my stability training program."

Wait...didn't Iggy just say that Bero had a chicken farm? What did that have to do with magic stability...?

Deciding to put that concern aside for now, Thenio continued, "This is my good friend Eteon. I've known him since I was little. He's really good at making things with wood, as you can see." He gestured toward the table full of carvings.

"Wow, there are lots of good toys!" Iggy said, looking down at the table. Thenio felt the dragon's weight shift, as though he were about to jump down, but at the last second he stopped and turned to Ariom. "Can I get down and look? Pleeeease?"

"Just look." Ariom told him sternly. "Don't touch. Some of them look like they'll break easily."

"Mmm! Okay!" Iggy agreed happily. He hopped onto the edge of the table and started inspecting Eteon's carvings. Thenio watched him carefully, a bit nervous that the dragon's waving tail was going to get too close to the figurines.

"You said you like chickens, didn't you? Then maybe you'd like this one." Eteon picked up one of the wooden toys and held it out in front of Iggy. It was a chicken carved with outstretched wings and painted in bright colors. It was hanging from a ribbon attached to its back, and a wooden ring dangled from another ribbon underneath it. "Pull on the ring and see what happens."

Iggy's ears perked up with interest. He reached up and hooked his paw on the ring. When he pulled down, the chicken's wings went up. "Oh! It moved!" The little dragon caught on quickly and began pulling repeatedly on the ring, making the chicken's wings go up and down. "Its wings are flapping! Thenio, look! The chicken is flying!" He spread out his own wings and started waving them along with the chicken's.

Thenio quickly reached out to pull a few wooden figurines away from the flapping wings and saw Ariom doing the same thing on Iggy's other side. The two of them shared a commiserating look.

Eteon laughed. "It looks like you two are already in sync. Don't worry so much. I have more carvings than I know what to do with. It doesn't matter if a few get broken."

"Don't say that," Thenio protested. "You spent a lot of time on these. They're really nice!"

"Hmm. Well, I appreciate that you think so." Eteon's smile turned a bit wistful for a moment. Then he looked back at Iggy, who had stopped playing with the chicken and was watching them with his ears lowered, looking a little guilty. "It's true this probably isn't the best spot to play. If you like this chicken, you can have it. Take it home with you and play with it there, all right?"

"Really?" Iggy's ears shot up eagerly.

"You don't need to do that," Ariom said, looking a bit awkward. "I don't mind paying for it."

"It's fine." Eteon waved his hand dismissively. "I don't do this for the money. It's just a hobby. And Thenio is my dear friend. You're helping to save his life, aren't you? Giving your dragon a toy is the very least I can do to show my appreciation." He looked at Humerus with a teasing smile. "Do you want one, too, Grumpy Humerus?"

Humerus flattened his ears, obviously annoyed by the name. "I don't need a toy chicken. We have lots of real chickens at home."

"I never said it had to be a chicken." Eteon surveyed the toys on the table. "How about...oh, I know." He bent down and opened the top flap on a large backpack that was sitting on the ground next to his chair. He rummaged around inside for a moment and then pulled out an object wrapped in cloth. "Here, maybe you'll want this."

He unwrapped the cloth to reveal a jointed wooden doll with a smiling, painted face. It had short brown hair and was wearing the kind of brightly colored suit that young boys wore on festival days. It looked remarkably detailed and well-made, but the joints seemed to be a bit loose. The limbs hung limply as Eteon held the doll up for Humerus to see.

"Oh, a puppet!" Iggy said, looking at it with interest. "Humerus really likes puppets!"

Eteon smiled. "Yes. I thought he might."

Thenio blinked. Was he missing something? How would Eteon have known that? And how was a dragon supposed to use a puppet anyways?

He glanced at Bero to see his reaction and was surprised to see both uncle and nephew looking at Eteon with nearly identical frowns.

"Isn't that too much?" Bero said slowly. "That looks really high-quality. It must be worth quite a lot."

"Not really. Maybe you know that Thenio's younger brother is interested in golems? I've been helping him work on some designs. This was a prototype for a new type of joint. But as you can see, it turned out too loose to work for a golem." He shook the doll a little, making the limbs flop around. "So I don't really have any use for it. It would work well as a marionette, though, don't you think? How about it, Humerus?"

"It looks...." Humerus looked uncertainly between Bero and Eteon. "Well.... It does look pretty fun...."

"Then it's yours." Eteon handed the doll to Bero with a warm smile. "I told you. You're going to be taking care of someone very precious to me. These are just a couple of small gifts to show my thanks. That's all."

"I...understand." Bero reached out slowly and took the doll from him. "In that case, thank you. I'm sure Humerus will enjoy it."

The two of them faced each other silently for a moment.

"I can't think of any reason why a certified wizard would be selling toys in a place like this," Bero said quietly. "Are you a magician, then?"

Thenio's eyes widened. Eteon, a magician? Surely that wasn't right. He'd never seen any sign that Eteon could use magic.

Well. Unless you counted making uncannily realistic animal carvings....

Eteon gave a small smile. "Does it matter, one way or the other? I'm not doing anything wrong here. Even if I really am using magic without a certification in order to carve wooden chickens, it's not illegal as long as there isn't any magic left on them by the time I sell them. And the four of you should be able to confirm that as well as anyone."

"And why are you making wooden chickens in the first place?" Ariom asked, still frowning. "Even assuming that you're a simple woodcarver, your skills are far too good for you to need to make a living doing this kind of thing."

"I told you, I'm not doing it for the money." Eteon shrugged. "My wife is away for work most of the time, and I don't have anyone else at home. Rather than sitting around being bored there, I come here to interact with people. And sometimes nice kids like Thenio and his little brother come by to show me their sketchbooks or talk about golems or watch me carve. I'm here because I enjoy it. That's all." He gave Bero a playful grin. "You know. The same reason a grandmaster level necromancer is raising chickens."