After a seven-day journey to Alvrey’s master, Ezo was tired. Not in the way Kammon was worried about, but just tired. Traveling with Alvrey was far more exhausting than he thought it would be. She constantly tried to talk with him, but he wasn’t ready to forgive her.

  Alvrey was doing so much to help them, but Ezo couldn’t forget her feelings about Kammon. Every morning, he promised to get along with her. He promised Kammon he’d try. But it only lasted an hour or two before she said or did something, and Ezo lashed out at her again.

  Kammon had been put between them constantly. Ezo wasn’t sure how he had the patience for it. But that was part of the problem, too, wasn’t it? Kammon didn’t get upset about what Alvrey had done. Hell, Kammon distanced himself from Ezo when she’d begged him to. Though Kammon came to accept the bond, on some level, he’d agreed with her back then.

  It made Ezo lash out at her more.

  Now, she stood on the edge of a lake and stared across the waters, looking for something. Besides a dock with a small boat tied up on the east side of the island all Ezo saw were trees.

  Ezo wasn’t thrilled about crossing the water. He wasn’t afraid, but he never quite got over his unease after the flooding of Fairhills.

  “Looks like we need to find our own way across,” Kammon said. He walked away from them and toward the woods that surrounded the shore. It only took a few minutes before he had used the earth to drag some fallen logs close. Ezo watched in fascination as Kammon used wind to wrap and tangle vines around the logs to lash them together. The other elementalist put on an exquisite show of the fine control he had over the elements, and Ezo would never tire of watching him.

  “That’s disturbing,” Alvrey said from beside him.

  “What is?” Ezo asked.

  “Sorry.” She turned her face to the ground to avoid looking at him. “I just.” She seemed to steel herself, though, and she raised her head and faced him. “Everyone knows how powerful he is. How strong his fire is. And I know that he uses all four of the elements the way that you do. I just didn’t realize how truly gifted he is.”

  “And you think he’s so much more destructive now?”

  It was true. His fine control was far more dangerous than the sheer scope of his magic.

  “It’s alarming because I had never thought to live in an age with two such powerful elementalists. If you look back at history, the only time elementals of your strength have come forward is when we have faced overwhelming powers.”

  “Maybe it's because when they don’t have to fight, they keep to themselves and live happy lives,” he suggested. “We’d be quite happy to be left alone, Alvrey.”

  “But history rarely leaves the powerful to age peacefully.”

  Ezo let out a soft snort of laughter at that, but then Kammon waved at them. It was the most amiable conversation he’d had with Alvrey since this started. It was a start, maybe.

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  He stepped over to Kammon and his makeshift raft. “If we start to sink, I’m pulling you under with me,” he teased his lover.

  Kammon rolled his eyes, but when Alvrey joined them, he pushed the float into the water, and they set off toward the dock. Ezo stirred up the current and pushed them along at a faster pace. Kammon smiled at him, but didn’t say anything. He watched the trees around the island like someone might attack.

  “It’s safe here, Kammon. Maggie wouldn’t hurt us,” Alvrey assured him.

  Ezo laughed. “He does that when we’re at home, too, Alvrey. Doesn’t matter if it’s safe. You can’t take the soldier out of the Calamity.”

  “Home?” Alvrey asked.

  “Home?” Kammon looked back at him and smirked before he returned his attention to the shore.

  Ezo rolled his eyes. “We…have a place,” he admitted to Alvrey. Ezo had intended to tell her about Riverkeep at some point, but he hadn’t yet. He knew he should. It was still the right thing to do. When they finished with the island, he’d tell her, and they’d convince Jaroh to travel with them closer to Riverkeep.

  “That’s hard to imagine,” Alvrey said.

  “That Kammon would settle down in one place?” Ezo asked.

  “No, that you would.” She set her hand on Kammon’s arm and smiled at him. “You, I could imagine in front of a large fire with a warm drink and a good book.”

  “Not me?” He wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not.

  “You seem like you’re still searching for an adventure.”

  “I have Kammon,” Ezo answered. “That’s enough adventure for me.”

  “You and me both,” Kammon agreed.

  The rest of their ride across the lake was quiet. They pulled the raft up to the dock and secured it. The boat that sat on the other side was a single-person craft too small for them, even if they’d wanted to use it to return.

  “Now, where to?” Ezo asked.

  Alvrey closed her eyes and took a deep breath, centering herself the way she’d taught him to when he was learning to heal.

  “Can you sense it?” Alvrey looked at Ezo, but it was Kammon who answered.

  “There is something here. It resonates with power, but I can’t feel one element over the other.”

  “That’s it,” Alvrey smiled at Kammon. “Ezo?”

  “It feels like a trail.”

  “For those that know how to follow it, yes,” Alvrey said.

  Ezo wasn’t surprised that Kammon sensed the power that ran under their feet. He was more in tune with the elements than anyone he’d ever met.

  They followed the path for fifteen minutes before they came across a small, well-ordered garden in front of a cozy-looking home. Ezo was still taking it in when the door opened, and a woman came crashing out into the garden walkway. She had long white hair that curled in unruly waves. Her face was carved with lines of care and concern, but her eyebrows were drawn together as she looked past Alvrey to Kammon and Ezo.

  “What do you want?”

  “Maggie!” Alvrey called to her and ran up the path towards her, but the woman held a hand up and stopped her. She pushed Alvrey behind her and planted her feet between them, arms crossed over her chest.

  “What do you want?” she yelled at Ezo and Kammon.

  “Help,” Kammon said as he bowed his head to her.

  The healer paused and looked at his bowed figure before she spoke. “For anyone else, my door is open, but you carry danger with you, Calamity.”

  “I do not ask for me. I ask for him,” He pointed to Ezo. “You performed the Vow for me. Now, he and I are bonded. Without muttering the words, he has the Vow on him. I need your help.”

  “That’s not possible. He spoke the words.”

  “They’re blending,” Alvrey interjected.

  “I taught you better than to believe in childish fairytales,” Maggie dismissed.

  “Look at them, Maggie. Please. They are my friends, and I can’t help them. Ezo would never join the Imperium and take the Vow.”

  A loud screech rent the air, and Ember appeared in the sky above Maggie’s head. She circled her, calling out twice before she landed on the roof of the house.

  The older healer stared up at Kammon’s effigy and looked back at Kammon. “You will touch no magic unless I direct you to,” she demanded.

  Kammon nodded. “Agreed.”

  “Come in then. I was about to put the kettle on. I suppose you could speed that up a bit for me?” she asked Kammon.

  He smiled. “I would be delighted to be of help. In any way.”

  Maggie nodded, then walked back into the house, leaving them to follow in her wake.