I was quite sad to leave the comfort of the Token House, it was so quiet there apart from the whispers of the resonance. But we couldn’t hide there indefinitely, we needed to make our way out of Kethra before Vivia Thorne found a legal loophole and tried to question me again. I know I am not a vandal, but I have no idea how to convince her of that!

We decided the best course of action was to leave the city in company of an Aethri Token Binder to give us advice if we should be stopped. One extra Aethri also stopped the party feeling too big and ceremonial! We left mid-morning because no one would expect us to take a nice 11 am stroll, this was Tomsk’s idea and I think it was a good one. His other idea was to go back to his workshop and pick up some of the experimental augmentation tech he was working on and his notes and tools for mapping paths. Elyr was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of us splitting up, but agreed after Tomsk pointed out that we needed the maps and he was local and so would stand out less!

We made it to the edge of the city and the world felt a tiny bit lighter again, there had been a tightness in the resonance and in my head that I hadn’t even realised was there until it released. I looked towards Elyr and instantly heard in my head “yes, I feel it too!”

Shortly after this we were interrupted by an extravagant amount of squeaking, closely followed by the happiest sound I have felt in a little while, Elyr was laughing inside my head and silently exclaiming “Mouse! Mousy! Mouse Mouse!!” I couldn’t help laughing. We were shortly joined by Tomsk looking a little more laden down, and we gave him a slightly more subdued but still very warm welcome back.

As we started down the road, Tomsk quickly directed us to a tiny path marked with a small stone. We would certainly have missed it without him but he said it would set us off in the right direction, and as we turned, I spotted the bear, patiently waiting a little further on.

We are all together again!