“Hahaha! Still as energetic as ever, aren’t you?” Maiya said, as the bandy furiously licked her face.
She embraced him in a deep hug, rocking gently back and forth. “It’s good to see you again, boy.”
Aroooooo!
“Surprised he hasn’t forgotten you by now,” Vir said sarcastically, eliciting a scowl from Maiya.
“He’d never forget me! He loves me the most out of anyone in this whole wide realm. Right, boy?”
Woof, woof.
“See?”
“He’s just excited to find someone who’ll play with him.”
The two of them entertained Neel a while longer, playing fetch on the grass until the bandy had his fill and tired out. Given the lack of prana in the area, Vir felt the bandy put up quite an impressive showing.
“You’ve really grown close to the Order, huh?” Maiya asked as they waited for Neel to recover. “I get that they’re demons, but you haven’t even known them all that long, have you?”
“Just a few days, actually,” Vir replied. “But, well… they’ve created something amazing here, Maiya. I won’t lie. Some of the stuff they say scares me. They’re far too extreme with humans, but everything else? It’s like a dream come true.”
While he couldn’t wait to tell her all about the Undercity, he wouldn’t dare without obtaining permission first. He planned to ask the Tribunal about it during their meeting later.
“I imagine it is, Vir. I’m… glad that you’ve found some people who accept you.”
“Me too. Hasn’t been an easy road getting here, though. There’s more to that Tia story. A lot more.”
“Tell me,” Maiya said, hooking her arm in his as they walked down the hill into town.
“I ran into Tia and her party, Spear’s Edge, back at Zorin.”
“I still think Spear’s Edge is a terrible name,” she said. “What kind of name is that?”
“Inside joke,” Vir said with a pained smile. He still didn’t know how to treat all the fond memories of his time with Tia’s party. Was he to banish them from memory? Or was it okay to value them for what they were?
Easier said than done. Recent events tainted those joyous moments for him, serving as a reminder of all that had gone wrong.
“Anyway,” Vir said, shaking off the thought. “I traveled with them for a time, and eventually joined their party after we arrived at Avi.”
“I’d normally ask what drove you to do such a thing, but, well,” Maiya said, glancing at Vir. “You never did have many friends at Brij. I imagine you must have been overjoyed to finally find people who didn’t ostracize you.”
“That’s… exactly right,” Vir said, raising a brow.
“I’ve known you your whole life, silly. Why are you even surprised?”
Vir laughed. “True. You’re right, it was a stupid decision, in hindsight. After that, most of what I’ve been doing since fleeing from Daha is collecting information about the Pagan Order. Mainly by accumulating enough karma with Brotherhood contracts, though I ended up not needing it.”
“How’d you even know to seek the Order, though? Their identity might be an open secret among royalty, but it’s definitely not common knowledge. The Order does a lot to run interference, drowning out any rumormongers with their propaganda.”
“That’s… interesting. I wasn’t aware,” Vir said, mulling it over.
“It’s not just them, either. Pretty much every country in the Known World is in on it, too. You can never keep such a big thing a real secret, but nobody’ll ever believe the rumors when Kin’jal and Rani say otherwise.”
“I didn’t know a thing about the Order, to be honest. Not until Daha.”
“Daha?” Maiya asked.
“That’s…” Vir lowered his voice. “I found something. Deep beneath Daha’s sewers. An ancient Imperium outpost—an outpost of the gods, Maiya! Intact and functional.”
Maiya stopped walking. “No way. That’s… how? That’s seric! Did you find a powerful Artifact?”
Vir narrowed his eyes. “No, sadly. But I did find the avatar of Lord Janak. Or, the avatar of a copy of Janak, anyway.”
“Lord Janak? As in the god?” Maiya whispered.
“Lord Janak,” Vir confirmed. “A bunch of stuff happened, but he said I should seek the Pagan Order.”
“Kinda weird he’d direct you here, though. Still, this is insane. The Kin’jal have no records of anything like that!”
Vir shot her a glance. “You sure seem to know an awful lot.”
“Well, yeah. It’s kinda my job. I work directly for Princess Ira, so I have access to quite a lot of sensitive Kin’jal intelligence. If Kin’jal knows about it, chances are I can get my hands on it. You have no idea how many hours I’ve spent combing over intelligence reports. It’s mostly just boring and awful, honestly.”
“Still. The princess must trust you a lot.”
“She does,” Maiya replied with a concerned frown.
“You haven’t told the princess you were working for Riyan, have you?”
“Of course not! I don’t have a death wish. But if she does find out, that’s probably what’s gonna happen to me, anyway. But hey, tell me more about this outpost. What was it like?”
“Magical. Prana was everywhere. And not just randomly. I think… I think the gods could see prana like I do. The way they inlaid prana into their buildings, it had to be that way.”
They’d just entered the hustle and bustle of Balindam’s city streets, though there weren’t quite as many people out at this hour, allowing them a leisurely stroll down the cobblestone paths.
“Seric,” Maiya breathed in wonder. “Y’know? I didn’t believe you way back when we arrived at Riyan’s place. When you said you could see prana. But I’d be lying if I said I haven’t benefited immensely from it. Your prana manipulation techniques, Vir… The Kin’jal think I’m a prodigy for progressing so quickly with my magic.”
Vir had peered at Maiya’s prana earlier, finding it to be mostly the same as before, so what she said came as a surprise.
“I can manipulate it so much more freely now. I’m at the cusp of becoming a Greater Mejai of Ash! It’s all thanks to you. You can’t know how much your instruction helped me.”
“That’s… seriously impressive. What’s your Balar Rank?”
“Well, around a hundred,” Maiya said. “Probably more, now.”
Vir’s eyes bulged. “V-very impressive, Maiya!” he said tersely.
“What’s… um, what’s yours?” Maiya asked, looking at her feet.
Vir’s head fell slightly. “Sixty. I’ve gained some power since then, though. Still, dunno if I’d rank a hundred. Look at you, racing past me.”
“It’s not a competition, Vir.”
“Maiya, if you’re gonna lie, at least try to do it without a grin plastered all over your face?”
“O-oh. Sorry. Ha! I mean, I’ve been weaker than you for so long. Allow me my moment in the sun, will you?”
“I’m happy for you. Really,” Vir said. “Must feel great, knowing you’ve come so far.”
“It does,” Maiya said with a smile so dazzling, Vir bumped into a passerby.
“Oi! Watch it, laddie!”
Vir mumbled an apology, thankful for the makeup that hid his flushed face.
Maiya said nothing, but Vir didn’t miss the smirk on her face.
“Let’s be honest, Vir,” she said. “I’m just practicing your technique. When you make your next breakthrough, you’re gonna Leap past me again,” Maiya quipped, prompting a chuckle from Vir.
“Really, though. You should be proud,” Vir said. He meant it. Sure, he was a little jealous, but he also beamed with satisfaction. To have come so far meant she’d slogged for it. If she was Balar 100, she’d earned every last digit. All while learning the Kin’jal Balarian arts, too.