When Cassian and Elita met up with Isara and Calen, each of them was holding a piece of cake.
"Where did you get that?" Elira questioned.
"At the food stalls, we would have gotten some for you two but they sell only one piece per person." Isara informed her.
Calen looked at the stage standing in one of the corners of the market - despite the fact that the show was about to start relatively few people stopped to watch.
"Do you know what this magic show will entail?" He asked Elira. "Folks here don’t seem particularly interested."
"From what I heard it’s just a few young students displaying some minor illusions - animal running around, plants growing, stuff like that."
"Sounds very basic for an attraction at a once-a-year festival."
"If it’s boring we can just go grab a drink like Alfred did." Isara shrugged. "Let’s go see what the younglings can do!"
"You do realise that they’re probably older than we are, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
The show was indeed quite underwhelming - five rather unenthusiastic mages entered the stage and created some glowing flowers and birds, but nothing more.
Unsurprisingly the only part of the audience that looked even slightly impressed were very young children.
"This wouldn’t even qualify as a street performance back in Asharil." Isara scoffed as they moved away from the stage.
"To be fair the mages here learn mostly combat and utility spells - I doubt creative illusionism is very important in their curriculum."
"Well, it should be." Isara argued. "Illusory conjurations cannot be used to attack, but they make for fantastic distractions."
"I kinda liked it, actually..." Elira admitted quietly.
"Really?" Calen and Isara asked in unison.
"It wasn’t particularly grand, but it did look pretty." She explained. "I never seen any magic displays before."
"Well then, as your self-proclaimed best friend I need to ensure you get a proper show!" Isara declared. "Cal, once we have some free time you’ll help me create the best illusion show ever!"
"You don’t need me for that, your illusions are better than mine."
"Oh come on, the last time we did a show it was awesome!"
"You mean the advertising scheme master came up with that failed to draw in a single customer?"
"That’s not important, what matters is that people loved what we made." She insisted. "Besides I’m fairly sure master made us do it as an illusion training - it’s not like he actually needs the shop to do well."
"Fine, but we can work on it only when we really have nothing to do." He begrudgingly agreed. "And if you want to add something strange ask me first - we both know how your dragon idea ended up."
"Okay!" She nodded immediately, but he had doubts whether she actually listened to what he said.
"Before we go to the tavern Ellie wanted to look at some stuff sold by merchants." Cassian said.
"Oh, you can go ahead, I’ll check if they even have what I want by myself." Elira shook her head.
"No need - the night is young, we can stroll for a bit more."
Since no one voiced any opposition to the Idea, they went hunting for alchemy gear.
In the end, Elira didn’t find any specialized alchemy gear, but she did buy two things that she could alter to work as a replacement for the most important things.
They didn’t want to drag those things around for the entire night, but fortunately Isara used the tricks she learned from Antonio’s book to store them... wherever things went when she did that trick.
"Which tavern should we pick..." Isara tapped her cheek.
"Does it really matter? You know only one, and I’m pretty sure it’s closed since I saw the owner here earlier." Cassian commented.
"Well, what do you suggest then?" She crossed her arms.
"Let’s go to that one, like everyone else." He pointed at a large building from which music and laughter could be heard.
"Fine." Isara huffed and started moving towards the tavern, but then stopped and looked at Calen. "Will you be okay?"
"Sure, I’m certain they have some non-alcoholic options, especially considering how limited booze is in this city." He smiled. "Plus someone has to haul your drunken ass home."
Five minutes later they were sitting around a table in a relatively quiet corner of the tavern, each of them with a drink in hand; Isara opted for wine, Elira chose cider, while Cassian ordered a regular beer.
Meanwhile Calen was sitting there with his mug of pure, cold water - well, not 100% pure as it had a slice of lemon and some mint leaves in it.
The choice was especially funny when he considered the fact that he was in fact the second oldest in the group.
"I don’t mean to pry..." Elira started. "But is there a reason you don’t drink alcohol?"
"Not really?" He shrugged. "I don’t like being drunk, but that’s about as deep as this goes, no hidden tragic backstory or anything."
It was an interesting question as Elira was barely old enough to legally drink herself - although with the amount of alchemical concoctions her grandfather made her drink she was probably largely immune to any intoxicating substance.
Come to think of it, Sylara mentioned that he would obtain a healing factor after the ritual, if it was capable of curing poisons as well, he could possibly remain sober regardless of whether he drunk or not.
So out of the four of them two were likely immune to being drunk - which didn’t particularly matter, since Isara would drink for all of them if need be.
He wouldn’t say she had a problem with alcohol since she only actually drank during celebrations and parties, but when she started she wouldn’t stop. Nine times out of then, she would pass out and not remember the majority of the previous night in the morning.
Cassian was pretty much the opposite - he drank quite frequently, at least once a week, but at the same time he has never seen him drink more than a single mug. Calen was under the impression that his friend doesn’t particularly enjoy drinking, but does it simply because ’that’s what mature people do’.
"Shouldn’t Alfred be somewhere in here?" Cassian asked as he brought the mug to his lips.
"He is, look there." Calen pointed at a figure sleeping at the main counter, which obviously belonged to Alfred.
"How did he even manage to do that...?" There was a hint of disbelief in his voice. "He’s only been her for slightly over an hour, did he just keep drinking until he passed out?"
"Should we do something about it?" Elira asked.
"He’s a grown man, and a knight at that." Cassian shook his head. "I’m sure he can survive a night of drinking on his own."
"Leaving the unconscious man aside..." Isara interjected. "How about we go back to truly important topics?"
"And what would that be?" Calen asked.
"Your tenets for example." She poured herself more wine from the carafe standing on the table. "You told us that we would learn what they were during the ritual - and now we’re done with that, but we’re none the wiser."
"Ah, right - I kinda forgot, sorry."
He quickly explained his tenets and the main reason for taking each of them.
"That’s certainly a very interesting set of values." Elira stated. "Do you know what powers you gained? I’m sort of curious how your believes clashed with the ones from the Sun God."
"No sorry, Sylara haven’t told me what they are yet."
"Well, do you feel any different? Is there anything you feel like you could do?"
"Not particularly? I mean I can sort of sense what they are related to, but that’s about it."
"So?" She asked impatiently as she finished her second glass of wine and reached for a refill. "If you tell us we might be able to figure some of them out without the help of Sylara."
"Alright - truth probably connected with perfection from the Sun God, and it has something to do with my eyes or vision, but I have no clue how to activate it."
"Have you tried moving the flames to your eyes?" Elira suggested.
"The divine flame is now inside of your body, and I presume you can still control it?" At his nie she continued. "So move the source of power from your heart - or wherever else it is - and move it to your eyes."
With his improved control it took only a single thought to move the power of the flame within his body.
When he looked around the tavern he frowned.
"Nothing’s really different, I don’t think this is the-" he stopped when his eyes fell on Cassian’s arm.
"I can see your scar."
"What?" Cassian looked slightly confused.
"The one you have on your elbow, I can see it clear as day despite your clothes and body being in the way."
That definitely wasn’t what he expected. What the hell was this ability?
It seemed like he would have to find out via some tests.