Taiga raised the covers up to the top of Mouse’s ears. He slept soundly, unstirring in the inn’s bed. Taiga had bathed the blood off him, wrapped his curls in cloth, and laid him in a nest of pillows and blankets. He didn’t have a scratch on him, though Taiga knew that didn’t mean Mouse had been uninjured. The blood soaked clothes told him more than enough.

  Finding him overtuned and drenched in his own blood should have scared Taiga. But at the time, he was only relieved Mouse was alive. Now, the gnawing fear of what could have been overtook him.

  “You’re a Ganakri?”

  And he still had to deal with Ellio and Jule.

  Mouse’s deep breaths calmed Taiga’s nerves for now. But if the villagers hadn’t warned him? If they’d come a little later? If Mouse hadn’t overtuned himself to fend the demons off? Each time Mouse’s body rose and fell, the tension of Taiga’s body released a little more.

  Two knocks on the door made Taiga rise. He opened it to Ellio and Jule holding a few plates of food. He stepped to the side and let them in. None of them spoke while they entered and unloaded the food onto a small round table.

  After an awkward glance between the two siblings, Ellio nudged her and Jule looked towards him. “I want to apologize.”

  Taiga, turning back to check on Mouse once more, paused. “For what?”

  “For what I said before. About Ganakri. I spoke without thinking and… while I didn’t know, it doesn't mean I should have said what I did.”

  He stared at her a moment while she fiddled with her fingers. She’d lowered her head, but raised it enough to take a peek at him. She must’ve referred to what she said on the way to the mine. He hadn’t let it affect him, and even now, the apology didn’t mean much.

  Nonetheless, the effort settled some of his uneasiness. “It’s not the first time I’ve heard it.” He paused, before adding, “but it is the first time I’ve heard an apology. Thank you.”

  Jule blinked at him before her eyes lit and she sighed. “Well, glad I did it then. Let’s eat and talk?”

  Taiga assumed ‘talk’ meant about Mouse and the mine. He’d agreed to explanations before he took Mouse back to the inn. Now was the time. He grabbed a small plate, scooping rice, vegetables, and some sort of glazed chicken onto it.

  “You… can eat meat then, huh?” Jule asked, staring at his plate.

  “Yes?” He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Why wouldn’t he eat meat? It was delicious.

  “Well,” she stammered. “I thought… can’t you talk to animals or something? That’s what I’ve read, anyways.”

  Was this really something worth asking? She was a scholar, so Taiga assumed that came packed with curiosity. He supposed an answer did him no harm. “Not really. I can make suggestions to them, but they don’t have to follow it. Creatures of all types just feel at ease in my presence, which tends to help. I can sort of understand animals’ intentions, but not speak to them directly.”

  “Ah, is that so?” She seemed to accept this marvel knowledge with a nod, and she sat in a chair.

  “It’s plants that I communicate with. But they don’t mind being harvested and eaten, anyways. I would have nothing to eat if communicating meant I couldn’t eat them.”

  Her eyes sparkled at him. “I have to write this down,” she muttered before reaching back and shuffling through the bag she brought with her.

  “Sorry,” Ellio pulled out a chair for himself, carefully sitting into it. “She was really excited on the way back.”

  “Did everything go alright?” Taiga moved the last chair so he could keep an eye on Mouse despite the chair’s position facing away from him. He sat in it, taking a spoon from the table.

  Ellio nodded. “We covered the mine with stone and mud so nothing could get out, like you said. We also told the villagers we found demons in the mine, and they should consider leaving, as they seem to flourish from deep in the mine.”

  “Good.” Taiga scooped some rice into his mouth, and swallowed before continuing. “We need to make sure they at least understand that there’s a threat right where they live.”

  Ellio munched slowly, looking at Jule. “We asked around like you said to. You’re right. Someone has come through here.”

  Taiga had asked them to see if there’d been any strange visitors in the past couple months. It still bugged him that the mission never appeared in Winolin. And now finding a group of demons in that mine? So indeed, something larger was at play. “Who?”

  “They’re not sure.” Ellio shook his head. “But a little over a month ago, one person claiming to be part of the Gale Order showed up. Said he was surveying the area, and left the same day.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The Gale Order again? Taiga considered a moment, crunching on some sort of undercooked bean. Could Captain Farren come through here before going to Winolin? Being the head of the Gale Order, he would likely be in charge of keeping the demon outbreak a secret. It also meant he willingly forsook all the villagers here. Because without a doubt, that mine had a rip.

  “What are you thinking?” Jule asked, placing her chin in her palm. “About the Gale Order?”

  “I’m thinking Captain Farren knew there was a rip here, and did nothing about it.” He’d have to talk about it eventually. Considering these two scholars were working on the imbalance, talking with them could only help.

  “Rip?” Ellio blinked at him, “you’re sure? I thought you said there might be one near Winolin.”

  Taiga nodded. “It was faint, but I saw the deep blues of magic in that mine where we pulled Mouse from.”

  “I saw nothing like that?” Jule rocked her head to the side.

  Taiga sighed. How much did he need to explain? “I can see the colors of magic. Each type of magical essence has its own sort of signature. Blues tend to mean demons. I saw deep blue, almost purple, magic remnants in that mine. Not something from our realm. So likely, a rip.”

  Jule said nothing a moment, blinking at her half empty plate and mumbling nonsense to herself. Ellio, seeing her, turned to Taiga. “There’s more than one?”

  Taiga shrugged. “I don’t know. We won’t know for sure until Mouse wakes up. But if there’s more than one, there’s no guarantee there’s only two.”

  “And Mouse,” Ellio broached the topic Taiga expected, “is he… like you? A Ganakri?”

  Taiga plastered a smile to his face. “Does he seem like one?”

  “Not really, no.”

  The candid response made Taiga laugh. “He’s not.”

  “Well, he clearly isn’t human.” Jule turned back to the conversation.

  “We think he’s mixed.” Taiga evened his tone, glancing at his partner from where he slumbered. “Half human, half something else.”

  “Think?” Jule stilled. “Mixed?”

  Taiga shrugged. “He doesn’t have many memories from before I found him. And honestly, his magic doesn’t match anything I’ve seen. He has a human form though, which makes me think he’s mixed.”

  “Mixed doesn’t exist. There are no half beings.” Jule spoke with a tone of such certainty that Taiga nearly doubted himself. Nearly.

  He kept his smile in position. “Just because it’s never been recorded in books before, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If I hadn’t told you now, you’d still not know of its possibility, right?”

  Jule pursed her lips. “I guess.”

  “Half human, half what?” Ellio asked with a gentleness that overlooked Jule’s audacity. “Any ideas?”

  Taiga paused.

  Half human was a lie, and one he’d used frequently in the past any time Mouse’s humanity was questioned. But people were less likely to question something they knew nothing about and was already unheard of. A satisfying answer to curiosity. As far as Taiga knew, mixed species were, indeed, impossible.

  And the next question was always one not of curiosity, but of judgment. Mixed with what? Of all the species of ‘people’ on this continent, some were far more hated than others. The persecution and hunts of shifters was proof of that. So Taiga would play it safe.

  “I suspect he’s half fairy.”

  Creatures with a large variety of shapes and sizes, an ally of humans though the treaty had weakened in recent years. They were known for their mystics and delights, as well as their vast range of magics. Something Mouse’s magic could almost be mistaken for.

  Ellio and Jule visibly untensed. Ganakri were creatures held in high respect to humans. No doubt a species humans could feel comfortable in the presence of. The same could unfortunately not be said for others.

  “How fascinating.” Jule breathed, immediately pulling her notebook out and flipping to a clean page. “I may need to do a full study on this.”

  The excitement in her voice irked Taiga. “Keep in mind. We are not specimens for your amusement.”

  She flinched a bit, lowering her eyes. “You’re correct. I meant research at a library. I’m not a weirdo.”

  Could’ve fooled Taiga. But he let it go. “If this is a rip, much like I suspect the one near Winolin is, we need to find the cause of this imbalance.” Only then could they figure out the sickness taking hold of the Guardians across Lanria.

  Jule tapped her pen on her book for a few long moments, before facing Taiga. “Can I ask a question?”

  Something in her voice almost made Taiga refuse, but he nodded. She continued, “you weren’t kicked out of Lanria’s knightage, were you?

  He should’ve refused.

  He weighed the pros and cons of being truthful here. These two no doubt held a lot of knowledge he and Mouse didn’t. And they could use all the help they could get if Taiga and Mouse intended to save the Guardian Spirits before they all corrupted.

  Fine, he’d be truthful. “No, we weren’t.”

  “You two are still knights?” Ellio raised an eyebrow.

  “No. We’re on a final mission that resulted in us needing to be discharged from the knightage of Lanria to complete because of how sensi… tive…” he trailed off.

  Because of how sensitive the matter of the corrupting Guardians was. Because it would cause alarm and panic amongst the people. Because there was no cure for the Guardians and killing them was an atrocity no one in their world could excuse.

  Was their mission not the same as what the Gale Order was doing? Covering up the potential dangers that ran rampant in their lands?

  His blood ran cold.

  How had he not realized this? They did exactly the same thing as the Gale Order was doing in hiding the problems of the country. Sure, they searched for a cure. But did Queen Nolara not originally ask them to simply kill the Guardians? He’d asked for time to find a cure himself, and they’d pursued the mission with that goal in mind. But it had not been the original goal of the queen.

  What more was the queen hiding? Did she in fact know the cause of the imbalance and simply swept the problem under a rug while the people of her country died in terror and confusion?

  But something bugged him.

  “Taiga?” Ellio’s eyebrows furrowed at him.

  “Captain Farren didn’t know.” Taiga drew his eyes to Mouse, still sleeping peacefully. He thought to the conversation they’d had with him in Winolin after the demon attack. “The Gale Order didn’t know we were put on this mission or that we’d been discharged from knighthood.”

  If they were all working towards the same goal, why, then, would the Order closest and most trusted by Queen Nolara not know what he and Mouse were ordered to do? Something larger was, indeed, at play.