Never wear blue to a convalia of Stormkin unless you’re prepared to spend the entire event fighting to defend your honor. It is a good way to attract attention, though, if you’re able to survive the attempt.


    <hr>


    When Jair arrived back at the oasis, Qahrvirna had integrated into the party as though she''d been there all along. She was a natural, sailing effortlessly from conversation to conversation, getting exactly as much as anyone was willing to share without ever pushing them into uncomfortable territory.


    Jair briefly envied her carefree joviality. He’d always lacked the natural interest of a born socialite. He could play the part, follow the rules of politeness, but there was a certain tedium running under his conversations. The skills could be learned, but repetition tended to make even the most lively conversationalist dull and irritating to deal with.


    Qahrvirna made it look effortless and clearly enjoyed herself the whole time.


    In the ten minutes or so he''d been talking with Qahrvirna and checking on Eythron''s progress, Carn had deftly rearranged the staff schedule to keep Molash out where they could protect him and disappeared off to take care of things behind the scenes. Raina and Ajriol stood by the lower bannister of the sweeping stairway, conversing with one another while keeping an eye on him.


    Molash circled the room with a tray of pastries, looking entirely like this was a normal part of his routine. If anything, he seemed happier to be out among the prestigious guests.


    Jair wandered over and helped himself to one of the pastries. The flaky crust hid an intricate internal network of thin crunchy caramelized cookie, like a manufactured honeycomb with heavy nutty undertones along with the light sweetness of the outer wrap. It was a specialty of Penriet modified from an old Suthyrel recipe, not common in Veor.


    Which cousin was trying to show off with this display? Irrelevant.


    Jair stayed beside Molash as he ate. "Never been to one of these things before," he commented in an affected Khellan accent. He grabbed another pastry in each hand. "It''s a bit fancier than I expected."


    Molash hadn’t stopped staring at Jair''s ostentatiously-decorated battle robes, showing record of his feats both present and future. He kept his voice carefully neutral, but he couldn’t fully conceal an undertone of excited interest. "Of course, sir. I understand the transition from service to civilian life can be a difficult adjustment." He gave a respectful nod and glanced away. “I should—”


    "Oh, don’t mind me, I can walk along.”


    Molash resumed his slow circuit around the room, Jair lingering beside him. “I see you''re new?” Jair asked after finishing his second pastry. “Haven''t seen you around the Astralla townhouse at least."


    "Oh, no, sir, I''m only working here. Not at the main house."


    "You work here in the oasis year round?"


    "I wish." Molash paused and tugged at the flowing sleeves of his nondescript white tunic, balancing the tray on one hand with flawless balance. "It''s the best chance I have to get in a place like this, y''know?" Molash resumed moving around the room, and Jair moved with him.


    "What kind of perks come with the job?" Jair absently nibbled at his third pastry, scanning the crowd around them. He wasn’t really engaged with Molash’s responses by now, only paying enough attention to keep the conversation going.


    Several people came up to take a pastry as they moved on, but none of them triggered Jair''s immediate Sekir-vibe-meter.


    No suspicious behavior, no suddenly drawing a knife and trying to kill him on the spot. Which was unusual. For all his chaotic unpredictability, the one consistent across every timeline was that Sekir hated Jair with a blind, unstoppable hatred. The moment they saw each other, every time, Sekir would drop everything to kill Jair even if it meant his own death in the process.


    He''d half hoped that by making himself blatantly visible it would draw the sorcerer into an immediate confrontation, just as a concrete verification of what they were up against if nothing else.


    Instead, the rest of the plan went without a hitch.


    Raina and Ajriol discreetly slipped away once they saw he was in place; they needed to clean the courtyard before preparations resumed, if they wanted to avoid the rest of the staff causing a scene.


    Jair shadowed Molash at a distance throughout the afternoon without anyone ever trying to kill the kid. He only slipped out for a minute every hour or so to check on Eythron''s progress and give the poor man some water.


    Jair''s mad mentor did at least retain enough sense to drink when a waterskin was shoved in his face, but attempts to turn him around remained as fruitless as ever.


    He could have taken Eythron directly to Meliarn—or moved him further away, though they''d need to deal with his odd obsession someday. But not just yet. The moment Jair entered Meliarn and subjected himself to the dungeon''s domain and rules, he wouldn''t be able to teleport himself in and out readily. Right now was not a good time to be gone for hours. Better to leave Eythron’s obsession passively ongoing until they finished the investigation at the oasis. They could tackle whatever was going on with him and Meliarn after the party.


    “It feels a bit disrespectful to go on partying,” Raina whispered when she rejoined him. Her practiced smile hid the strain well, but some of the staff they’d just buried were as good as family to her. “I know, we’ll be redoing the day at least several more times, and they’re going to be fine in the end, but…”


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    Jair nodded agreement. “I know. It’s going to be hard for a while. You don’t have to follow through if you want out. Sekir is ruthless and merciless. This isn’t going to get any easier.”


    “You’re not doing this without me. Sekir doesn’t know who he’s messing with.”


    Jair chuckled and put his arm around her. “It’s normal to be sad and angry. You don’t have to hide it.”


    Raina lifted her chin. “I’m not hiding anything from you. But this is my father’s event. I’m not going to ruin it, even if we have to do it many times over again. I can break down when it’s over and we’re back at the mountain.” She paused. “Is it strange that the dragon’s lair has started to feel more like home than this place?” She looked around the grand celebration hall with a motionless smile and glint of sorrow in her eyes.


    “Not strange at all,” he answered softly. “Home is rarely about a place. The place only holds the home.”


    <hr>


    Despite lingering concerns, nothing at the oasis went wrong the whole rest of the day. Sunset arrived, Ajriol stepped out to lead them in selecting their tokens for the following year, and if there were four fewer staff members bustling about, none of the guests mentioned it.


    Molash survived the night and went home oblivious to the peril that''d been hanging over his head all afternoon. Carn held a secondary Solaria ceremony for himself and the serving staff once the cleanup was finished.


    Qahrvirna reported nothing suspicious at all when they met up afterward to debrief.


    “It looks like he has a specific order he''s going to follow and if we interrupt it, he won''t move forward. But was our presence really enough to make him discard the whole plan after that?"


    "You remember the one thing all immortals fear?" She bared her fangs at him. "Anything that can rewrite your soul."


    “You don’t think you’re giving yourself too much credit? If a glamorous vampire was all it took, he’d have been done for long ago.”


    “No one seemed unduly bothered by me.” She shrugged one bare shoulder and grinned. “They all seem sufficiently complex to be more than a cover identity, but if he’s as good as you say that doesn’t mean much.”


    Jair frowned. He''d been throwing himself into the center of anything and everything for so long that it felt strange to consider that he might not be the focus of Sekir''s attention. The man had spent so long hunting him personally, their confrontations in previous timelines escalating into near-absurdity.


    But that shouldn’t matter. Any way of stopping the mad sorcerer was better than nothing. It didn''t have to be Jair personally. Just because it''d always been him in the past didn''t mean anything. They didn''t have to kill each other personally just because they were nemeses.


    Or were they? If this Sekir would quietly slip away rather than charge him?


    "Two years early." He had to remember that. This was not the Sekir he was so intimately familiar with. "A lot can change in two years. This Sekir is younger, more rash, more aggressive."


    "I think you''re talking to yourself again."


    "Yeah, I do that." Jair considered for a long moment, then shrugged. "Guess it''s up to Raina."


    Qahrvirna pouted. "You''re not going to even ask me?"


    "You have no idea what I was going to ask."


    She licked her lips. "I''m sure I can make it more interesting."


    "Yeah, I''m sure you can. Want to come with me to the dungeon?"


    Her smile froze, eyes going tight.


    Jair couldn’t resist giving her a very pointed grin. "Oh, right, what''s that you were saying about immortals? Soul-changing things not your friends? Mmm, too bad, guess you''ll have to sit this one out."


    Qahrvirna hissed at him and then trounced off, giving her best dismissive wave, as though she were the one making the decision here.


    Jair laughed at her, because it was Qahrvirna and she always deserved to be laughed at, then went to collect the others.


    <hr>


    Jair found Raina, Lilin, Ajriol, and Carn once the last of the guests had departed. Carn still looked shaken, Ajriol frowned uncertainly, and Raina was twitchy and impatient.


    Jair strode into the small gathering projecting calm confidence. "We have a couple options for what we do next. Eythron''s gone running off to Meliarn, so we could deal with that and see if we can snap him out of it. Or we could ignore him and go on investigating today. Anyone find anything?"


    "I didn''t see anything suspicious at all," Carn said, shaking his head. "There were only the usual number of vagrants and gate-crashers."


    "That''s normal?" Then again, he was often one of those gate-crashing vagrants in previous timelines, so who was he to talk. "Who''s coming with me to the dungeon, and who''s not interested?"


    "Where are you planning to find a dungeon?" Carn asked. "There''s no lunar passage for over two weeks."


    "No lunar passages required. There''s one right here in Veor. But according to my calculations, my mentor should be arriving there any minute now so we should hurry."


    "I''ll leave that to you," Ajriol said. "I am weary and the last thing I need is to go rushing about in dungeons."


    Carn looked disappointed, but nodded. "I should rest and prepare for the morning. Do you think this arch-sorcerer of yours will be back to try again, or have we escaped him?"


    "Oh, he''ll definitely try again, but you don''t need to worry about that. Once I finish with Eythron and Meliarn, I''ll be reverting to before the day started. You didn''t think I was going to leave your three friends dead for good, did you?"


    "May I come along, in that case?" Carn looked between Jair and Ajriol, not quite sure whose permission he needed.


    "You''re welcome to come," Jair told him. "No need to worry about neglecting your duties, since the day will be undone once we finish. You just need to stay where I can reach you when it''s time to revert if you don''t want to lose your memories."


    Carn''s startled gasp was a reminder that Jair hadn''t actually explained the mechanics of his soulspell to any of them yet.


    "I''ll come back here before I revert, even if you don''t come with us," Jair assured them. "Since we''re going to be investigating Solaria again and will need you to be aware of the danger so you can keep an eye out." And Qahrvirna was an important part of the group.


    "I''d like to come anyway,” Carn said. ”I''ve never seen a dungeon before."


    Jair nodded and held out Maelstrom for them. "This shouldn''t take more than a day or two," he told Ajriol, who still didn''t join the group, and Qahrvirna who hung back a good distance from the edges of the small gathering, just close enough to pretend she wasn’t listening in. "As soon as Eythron’s settled, I''ll be back for you."


    Ajriol stepped forward, took Jair''s forearm and nodded deeply. "I cannot thank you enough for everything you are doing for us. Your dedication to our house is more than we can ever repay."


    "You don''t owe me anything. I''m not doing this with any expectation for repayment. Your family is under my protection. No matter who comes against you."


    "Still, I thank you." Ajriol bowed again as he stepped back, and Jair darkflamed the four of them to the gates of Meliarn.


    <hr>