Felix frowned. “Is it dangerous?”

  “Hmm, no, it’s nothing to worry about. It’s not exactly routine, but it isn’t uncommon either. Nothing that powerful would be dumb enough to attack a Stonehold.”

  “Then why are they shutting down?”

  “What do you know about Vermillion Birds?”

  Felix deadpanned. “Everything.”

  Agrona laughed. “If that were true, you wouldn’t have to ask me now, would you?”

  Felix rolled his eyes and kept quiet. Seeing that she wasn’t going to get a response, Agrona just went on.

  “For it to fly over the Highlands, it’s probably at the Starfarer level. No one wants to be on the roads while something like that is flying over them.”

  They finally squeezed through the throng of people, making it to a side street with room to breathe. Once they passed the gathering of people trying to squeeze their way into the chaos they’d just escaped, Agrona turned around.

  “If you ask people about it, they’ll tell you that it’s something like Travelling through a storm. That's not wrong. But we don’t shut down the Hold when it’s going to rain for a while. The real reason is that looking at it will make you feel small.”

  Felix looked at her in disbelief. “That’s it?”

  Agrona nodded, but her eyes were distant and cold.

  “We’re ants, Felix. No, maybe even that’s generous. We live our lives thinking we’re something special. When you look at a Starfarer, you come face to face with just how little you matter.” Agrona shook her head like she was trying to chase away a memory.

  “Not everyone can handle something like that. You don’t want to see what happens when you have that many people suddenly trying to fight their way through an existential crisis.” She gestured towards the roiling mass of bodies they’d just escaped.

  “Now, c’mon. We’re going to be late.” Turning on her heels, she started walking again, forcing Felix to catch up.

  “You haven’t told me where we’re going yet.”

  “Stop trying to spoil the surprise, you’ll know once we get there.”

  Felix smiled. “Fine.”

  “So, did you find any spells you think you could use?”

  His smile broadened.

  “I did, actually. In fact, I’m pretty sure the only reason the Ways didn’t give me one so long ago was that I could already do it. I just never thought about turning it into an actual spell.”

  “Are you trying to build suspense? Just tell me.”

  “Weren’t you complaining about my suspense-building abilities not long ago?”

  “Nope, never happened. Now spill.”

  Chuckling to himself, he gave in.

  “There were multiple life sense spells. They’re usually used for scouting to find creatures that are good at stealth, though there were a few variations that focused on other things.”

  “And you’re saying you could already cast it back in the Crossroads?”

  Felix nodded. “Something like it. At least, if I meditate, I can feel the flow of life mana around me. I’m pretty sure with some practice, I could do it even when I’m not meditating. It doesn’t even require a cast. It’s just connecting with the mana.”

  “Oh, that’s not bad. It’s probably a side effect of your affinity being so pure. For most people, it’s a fuzzy mess. Imagine if you had bits of plant affinity, air affinity, water affinity, and a bunch of creature-related affinities mixed in. Then, when you meditate, you see it all as one big blur of mana. The reason most people need spells is that they’d need to communicate their intent with the mana to filter out all the noise.”

  “Huh, guess I finally found an upside to my weird affinities.”

  “It’s better than you think, if I’m not wrong, you’d be able to foil a lot of stealth spells that try to hide from detection. There are a few thermal vision spells, and the counters to them normally work by using your own intent on the mana around you to add back in some of the noise, or making it look like something else is happening in a bubble around you. Since you’re bypassing the need for intent, some of those probably won’t work.”

  Felix chuckled. “That’s great and all, but if someone is using a spell to hide from me, I’m not sure it’s going to help if I see it coming. It’s not like I’d be able to fight off a Traveller.”

  Agrona hopped a little to reach his head and smack the back of it.

  “Hey! What was that for?”

  “I can accept being a little broody because you have to wait for the caravan before you can chase after Lara. But I draw the line when your foul mood makes you so negative that you can’t even see the upside of your own skills. The Felix I knew from the Crossroad days would fight you if he heard what you just said.”

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  “It’s just a detection spell. Most of the affinities have something similar,” Felix grumbled, but his mind wouldn’t let him ignore the obvious after Agrona pointed it out. After a nudge from his Inner World, he quickly realised that it was, in fact, quite a big deal.

  Just the fact that it was a life detection spell meant that outside of the Feywild, it was a pretty valuable skill. Being able to sense tremors through the earth or amplify your hearing might be valuable tools in a party, but he could quickly come up with a bunch of scenarios where a party with those detection spells could be ambushed. With his new library of spell descriptions, he realised that was true for a lot of affinities.

  Felix might not be able to sense environmental hazards with his affinity, but with enough practice, he might actually make a pretty good scout. Add in his knowledge of creatures and herbs, and his chances of finding a party that would be willing to take him went from absolutely impossible to a god’s chance at fighting a dragon. That is to say, nonexistent but at least theoretically possible.

  The longer he thought on it, the more Agrona’s steps turned into stomps.

  “Uhm, ok. I can admit it’s a pretty good ability, but there’s still no way any party would take me.”

  Agrona whirled around and glared at him.

  “Are you kidding? Between you and Menium, you have a pretty good set of scouts. You might not be much help in a fight, but Menium would at least make sure that you aren’t a burden. Add in everything you have in that head of yours, and there would be a bunch of parties that would love to have you. Especially if you can start using that sensing ability to find plants in an area. I don’t know if it’s possible, but if it is, they’ll fight to have you.

  “Actually, if you manage that, you might have to watch your back. I’m pretty sure you’d have people trying to force you into their parties if word of that spread.”

  Felix jerked to a halt. “I— I didn’t think of that.”

  Of all the ways Felix had imagined finally finding a path towards being a real Traveller, this wasn’t one of them. He always thought he’d uncover the mysteries of life, or develop a plant affinity, or any number of scenarios he’d dreamt of over the years. In his wildest dreams, it never occurred to him that his obsessive need to memorise everything, the monkey he got as a going-away gift from his family, and a side effect of meditation he’s had since the start would be what opened the door for him.

  ‘No, that’s not quite right, I still won’t be a real Traveller. I’d be a money-making burden that’s dragged around by a party. But it’s a start.’

  Felix was so shocked by the revelation that he didn’t realise when Agrona started dragging him through the streets. He mindlessly followed with a dumbfounded look on his face until they reached their destination.

  “Oi, Felix. We’re here.”

  “What?”

  He looked up to see a double-story wooden building with large windows displaying all manner of things, from backpacks to swords to first-aid kits and more. Above the door hung a sign that read ‘Borins’ Beginner Boots & Boggles’.

  “Good, it’s about time you snapped out of it. Until you learn how to cast that spell, it won’t help you. You don’t know how long that’s going to take you. For all you know, it could be years until you’re actually able to use it to scout.”

  Felix let out a breath and tried to bury his excitement. “You’re right. I’ll try not to dwell on it.”

  Agrona nodded. “That’s good. You should be dwelling on this instead.”

  She started leading the way into the building. As big as it was, he was surprised to find no customers. That lasted only a moment before a familiar chirping noise caught his attention.

  Off in a corner, Melody was busy forcing Menium to try on a doublet, going by the pile of jackets, hats and bowties she’d been forcing him to model for a while.

  “Menium, Melody? What are you doing here?”

  Menium quickly seized the interruption to tear off the doublet and race to Felix’s side. It wasn’t them who answered, though. Agrona’s voice called out from the counter.

  “I asked them to come. I figured we could get lunch after this. It would be good if Menium could also find some equipment. I don’t want you setting off for your journey unprepared. Have a look around, see if anything catches your eye.” After that, Agrona turned to the dwarf that seemed to be around her age. Before he knew it she’d packed a tray of snacks onto the counter that she definitely hadn’t been carrying with her during their trip.

  Scanning her person, he noticed what he at first thought was a coin pouch. If she was carrying around a whole tray of snacks, it must be a storage pouch. Mentally adding ‘Bug Agrona until she lets me play with it,’ to his to-do list. He turned his attention to the shop.

  It didn’t take long to realise that he’d been in similar shops in the Feywilds. Stores geared towards Travellers who’d just started out were quite common. Even seasoned Travellers would visit them to stock up on the basic necessities. His familiarity quickly led him to notice the differences. In the Feywild, the stores were geared toward adventuring there.

  It never occurred to him just how much would be different now that he was in the Highlands. It was a good thing Agrona brought him here. Chances were, he might not be as well-equipped to deal with the journey ahead as he first thought.

  Reaching down, he scratched Menium’s head.

  “Hey buddy, I can’t explore while you’re hiding behind my legs. Since you’ve been here a while, why don’t you show me around?” He winked at him.

  Menium chirped happily, quickly catching on to the fact that Felix was offering him a way out of playing dress-up. Hearing Felix’s request, Melody scowled.

  “Hey, I was trying to find equipment he could use. You can’t just take him away, he needs to prepare too, you know.”

  Felix pointedly shot a look at a colourful quilted hat with a feather half the size of Menium sticking out the top before looking at Melody again.

  “Ok, well maybe some of them were for fun, but I really was trying to find him something. Here, look at this.”

  She tossed Felix a brooch. Inspecting it, he couldn’t figure out how to use it. It looked like a simple series of concentric copper discs. He could feel a working of mind mana flowing through it, but he couldn’t discern its purpose.

  “What is it?”

  “Stick it on him, and people will be able to understand him without you teaching them how.”

  As soon as he heard her answer, he looked at the brooch in horror. Flashes of all the ludicrous things his companion had said went through his mind. The last time someone understood Menium, he ended up with a goblinoid naming two children after him.

  He quickly threw back the brooch as if it burned him.

  “That’s too expensive. We can’t take it.”

  “It’s really not—”

  Felix glared at Melody, trying to crush her with the weight of his dread.

  “We. Can’t. Afford. It.”

  “R—right, ok. We’ll uh, just look for something else then.”

  Felix slowly nodded, as if he’d just talked a jumpy fire mage out of casting spells in a wine cellar. As if any sudden movement could cause a disaster.

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