Maya, Cassian and Calen went to the other room to discuss what to do with Bella.
"Do you think we should arrested her for being complicit in an act of domestic terrorism?" Cassian suggested.
"What? Of course no!" Maya looked surprised. "From what she told us she tried to stop Konrad, she’s about as far from being complicit as she could be."
"Unless she lied." Calen pointed out.
"She didn’t, trust me - half of my job is interrogating criminals, if she was lying I would know right away."
"Then what do you propose we do with her?" Cassian crossed his arms.
"Leave her be, it’s not like she’s dangerous, and as long as we confiscate all the prototype circles she won’t be related to the case anymore."
"...so that’s it? That’s the end of this investigation?"
"It looks like it." Calen nodded. "We’ve found out Konrad’s motivation, where he got the idea, his plan and even how and where he prepared to perform the ritual - there isn’t much left to be uncovered."
Cassian looked at one of the experimental circles sketched on a nearby sheet.
"What do you want to do with them? There has to be well over hundred in here, and we won’t be able to take this much with us right away."
"Ideally I’d want to destroy them before some idiot stumbles on them and tries to recreate the design." Maya explained. "But I’m not sure how to dispose of this much material without attracting any attention."
Cassian and Calen looked at each other.
"I might have an idea..."
After they gathered all of the experimental circles behind Bella’s house, a touch from Calen was all it took for them to turn to dust.
"I think we’re done here." He stated. "It’s time to report our findings to Sylara - are you coming with us?"
Maya blinked at the unexpected question.
"Sure, Alison probably won’t wake up until tomorrow anyway."
"Alright then, let’s go to the fortress to get our next task."
Their steps echoes through the empty halls of the fortress as they made their way towards the already familiar council room.
"How many jobs will Sylara make us do?" Cassian questioned.
"Three I bet." Elira answered. "One for each of her advisors, and it matches up with how many tenets Cal has to have during the ritual - speaking of which, did you come up with one during the investigation?"
"Yeah, and I think it’s even the one Sylara wanted me to take away from this mission."
Isara stared at him expectantly
"Well...? Will you tell us what it is?"
"Nah, you’ll learn all three during the ceremony."
"Spoilsport." She grumbled.
They came to a halt in front of the massive wooden doors, and Maya knocked on them three times.
"Enter." Someone answered from inside.
Sylara was already waiting for them sitting behind the table, this time accompanied by Geodor.
She didn’t seem particularly surprised to see Maya instead of Alison, but the deputy still tried to explain:
"I know." Sylara interrupted. "Come sit and explain your findings."
"That’s quite the story..." Geodor commented.
"Indeed." Sylara agreed. "Are you thinking what I’m thinking Geo?"
"I believe so, it will be much more interesting than what we’ve planned initially."
Calen coughed to get their attention.
"Could you tell us what are you talking about?"
"Your next task - originally you were going to help Geo perform some maintenance on the hidden part of the main array, but the dagger you got from Kalim presents us with an opportunity."
"Just like you surmised, the blade can be used to prevent Kalim for ever coming inside Mountainfall, but I believe we can go even further. With the right technique and tools we can use this to protect our city from Blightborn powers completely."
"That’s all well and good..." Calen hesitated. " But not all of us are mages, Isa and I can help, but Cass and Ellie don’t know much about the subject."
"Worry not, the task will have parts that do not require any knowledge of magic."
"Alright then, seems fair - although I’m not sure if your project is actually feasible, were dealing with a power completely separate from magic."
The grand mage chuckled.
"It won’t be our first time working with power that came from blight, we’ll think of something."
"Our?" Cale raised an eyebrow.
"Ah yes, my two assistants will be helping us, I’ll introduce them once we get to the lab." Geodor looked out the window. "It will have to wait until tomorrow though, you’ve had long day, and dare I say that our project will be much more mentally straining than your previous one."
Sensing that it was their cue to leave, they excused themselves and left the room.
"You know this might be the last time we see each other." Maya said as she guided them to their accomodations. "Once Alison wakes up she’ll assume the role of your protector once more."
"Are you sure you can’t take her place? You seem much nicer than her." Isara laughed.
"Personally I also think someone else should take over as our bodyguard." Cassian agreed. "She’s too capable to be reduced to a glorified guide."
His companions looked at him in surprise.
"Where did that come from? I thought you hated her." Calen asked.
"I never hated her - I only questioned her experience and skill, now that she proved to me what she can do I acknowledge her as a capable leader."
"I kinda doubt she was proving anything to you." Isara commented.
"Oh no, she was definitely trying to prove something." Maya interjected. "If she wasn’t she would have never used aura blade for something as trivial as destroying a couple of boxes."
Cassian stared at Maya for a bit.
"So she knocked herself out, just to show off?"
"Yeah, pretty much" She shrugged. "I had explosives with me, we could’ve just blew up the drugs and be done with it, but no, she had to go ahead and try to look badass."
"Should you be telling us all of this?" Calen questioned.
Maya snapped her fingers.
"No, so please don’t say anything to Alison she’s going to kill me." She stopped. "Anyway we’re here, I hope we’ll meet again."
"She really could use aura?" Isara asked.
"Yeah, although she hasn’t fully mastered it." Cassian admitted.
"That’s still extremely impressive, I can’t think of anyone who could use it at such a youn-"
She froze and looked Cassian.
"I’m not that sensitive about my father, I can acknowledge she might be more talented than he is."
"Alison is a bit older than us though, you might still catch up to her." Calen said, knowing the real reason behind his friend’s pensive state.
Elira eyed the three of them, and asked a question that has been bugging her since they first mentioned aura:
"What actually is aura though? Like I know knights and various warriors use it, but I don’t get what it is or how does one gain it."
"Well, we don’t know what exactly is aura - we know it’s a force seemingly separate from magic that follows similar rules, but not much else."
"It can be cultivated through physical training and meditation, but to access it in the first place you need some sort of epiphany - its biggest difference from magic is that each awakening is different, and the effects of aura can vary greatly between its users." Cassian added.
"Hence no one can really coach you until you achieve a breakthrough, and even then you need to find a suitable teacher. The only advice that can be given beforehand is about mindset, and that rarely works."
"Would you be able to use aura? Seeing that you’re a mage, and now even bear a piece of a divine domain." Elita inquiried.
"That’s a tricky question, if we believe legends it should be possible - according to the stories the Sun order and high council were created by the same person, who was master of both aura and magic."
"I don’t know how the domain plays into all of this - so far I haven’t experienced any issues with using magic because of it, but then again I haven’t properly inherited it yet." Calen shrugged. "Anyway it’s not like I will be able to use aura anytime soon."
"Unlike Cass." Isara smiled.
"You don’t know that." Cassian argued.
"Oh please, haven’t you boasted that you’re missing only one piece for your breakthrough and that you need some sort of new angle?" Calen rolled his eyes. "If traveling through the entire kingdom during an apocalypse won’t give you a fresh perspective, then I don’t know what will."
"Also the druids from Greenheart mentioned the Order - they sound like a bunch of knights, maybe they can offer you some insights." Isara suggested.
"Now that you mention it, didn’t Lydia say they have an ambassador here? How come we haven’t met them yet?" Elita scratched her chin.
"Maybe his function is purely representative and he doesn’t get involved in the city’s issues?"
"Or he’s busy with something." Calen proposed.
"Whatever it is, we can ask Geodor tomorrow."