. At an hour or so before Noon, Lisrau Mining Town was a much brighter place. The cold, forbidding town I had seen at night is lit by a sun unhindered by the thicker atmosphere in the lowlands. The grays of the gravel, the gray-greens of lichens on boulders, the painted wood buildings and the stunted flowers in the alpine …

. We didn’t want to alert any Berado observers to the fact that we had left, so Dilorè enjoyed a ride in my arms again on the return to Lisrau Mining Town. Fortunately, the rain had ended by the time we departed. Not that rain can impede fairies, but it does make the flying less pleasant. I was flying back …

. A gentle rain began, arriving with a slight strengthening of the wind. The patter on the wood-shingled roof had just enough volume to hide the shaking breath of my companion. Our location, the observation hut high in an ancient cypress, had very little in the way of amenities. Counters ran along the four walls, under the observation windows. Those …

. The wind was blowing just enough to suggest a storm might be in the area. I listened to the wind in the eaves of this shack, high up in a tree, and wondered if I shouldn’t perhaps put a stop to this conversation and insist we move it to somewhere less of a lightning magnet. Then, I admitted to …

. The aftermath of a battle which reaches exactly the conclusion you have planned can be a little boring. The Amaga had known for a couple days that, barring something utterly unforeseen, they would prevail and end up with a large number of prisoners. They had everything planned out. Dilorè and I weren’t needed at all. We headed back to …

. The eastern sky was beginning to lighten and the morning star of Huade, the planet Suri, was fading, but I had been restoring my stock of Dark mana in my core every night on the mission, so Cloaking during the day wouldn’t be a drain. With Dilorè in my arms (hugging my shoulders and nuzzling my ear), I rose …

. My first desire was to fly back to Lisrau immediately and act upon what I had learned overnight. I now had an ally in the search for Amelia, and I now had a solid image of how to identify passages into the underground world. The Berado might have discovered one of those ancient passages, but I believed it more …

. Eurybia’s sad eyes regarded me as she read my churning thoughts. As an upper realm immortal gazing down upon a mere celestial maiden, she knew those thoughts already, so I simply waited for her. People in the position of planetary supervisor, like Oranos and Eurybia, must allow the lives beneath them to proceed with minimum interference. They know that …

. Opening my eyes to gaze upon the misty landscape of dark water and cypress forest, I realized that my Mortal World avatar had dozed off while soaking. She seemed to be growing less bashful, at least out of the presence of others. She chose a spot where she was seated only waist-deep, with her back resting on the exposed …

. The night was still fairly young, but even if it wasn’t, my fairy sight was revealing the signature of Arken’s [Secret Chamber] spell on the walls, floor and ceiling. We wouldn’t be disturbing any neighbors with our meeting. Which was good, because now that I was up to speed, we had a lot to discuss. A mission requires a …