The red-headed girl peered over Favi’s shoulder, eyes locking on Rand. A few moments passed without reply, and just as Favi was about to say something, she took a deep breath, closing her eyes and filling her lungs before exhaling loudly. “Yup. Sulfur.” She opened her eyes and looked at Favi. “I’d like to speak with you both.” Without waiting for an answer, she entered the room, nudging Favi to the side.

“Sure, come on in then.” Favi closed the door with a grumble.

“You were downstairs not long ago, right?” The girl leaned against the wall before turning to face Rand. “You don’t have to say anything, I know it was you.”

Rand mustered up his courage and met her gaze. “I was.”

“Mhm, would you mind telling me why-“

“Actually, he would,” Favi said before turning to his brother. “Did you ask her to come up here?”

Stunned at his brother’s demeanor, Rand shook his head.

“No, I figured not. So it seems to me,” Favi said, turning back to the intruder, “that you’re in the room that I paid for uninvited, and somehow still have the audacity to think you can interrogate us. I’m sorry, but we are under no obligation to answer your questions.”

“Now see here, you little–” the ranger stopped and closed her eyes. “Ok, look. I’m sorry,” she said, the fire gone from her voice. “It’s just…your smell.”

“My…smell?” Favi raised an eyebrow.

“Sulfur. Dragon’s breath to be exact. I smelled it in the room downstairs, and the innkeeper told me it was you. Look, I know there’s a thousand places you could have gone to smell like that, but there’s been a rumor of the Dragon Knight being in the area, and I really need to know if you know where he is.”

The brothers looked at each other before Favi spoke. “Even if we did, why do you think we would tell you?”

“Look. I don’t want to do him any harm. I just need to talk to him.”

“How do we know?” Favi crossed his arms.

The ranger threw her hands up in exasperation. “By the gods, do you have to be so frustrating?”

“Favi,” Rand said. Favi looked at his brother questioningly. Rand took a deep breath and looked the girl square in the eye. “We were with Sir Davion, yes.”

“Rand!”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling at the younger brother. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve officially met. I’m Lyralei.”

“Rand.” Rand took her hand and shook it firmly. “This is my brother, Favi.”

“What are you doing?” Favi said through his teeth.

“You’re a hero, aren’t you?” Rand asked, ignoring his brother.

“Well, not the worst thing I’ve been called, by any means. Sure, let’s go with that.”

“And where’s your bow?”

“I’m not going to kill you, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Are you looking for Sir Davion for the same reason you’re looking for the man you mentioned downstairs?”

It was Lyralei’s turn to look uneasy. “I just need to talk to Davion, if you could just-“

“We don’t know where he is,” Favi said, staring at the ground. “Look, lady. We’ve got enough problems of our own. We were traveling with Davion, but after we got here we parted ways. We have no idea where he went.”

“Oh.”

“Why were you looking for him?” Rand caught the ranger’s eye. “Did it have anything to do with what you asked about downstairs?”

Lyralei arched an eyebrow. “It might.”

Rand turned to his brother and nodded. Favi sighed and gestured for him to continue.

“What? Do you know something?”

“Yes,” Rand started, “that man you were asking about, I watched him die a few days ago.”

~~~

Boush hastily threw the papers on his desk over his shoulder, one by one.

“Where is it? I know I’ve got that drawing here somewhere.”

The little keen gave a shout of triumph as he pulled a crumpled paper from underneath a large stack. With a skip in his step, he ran to his telescope, pausing to unfold the paper and study it. It wasn’t long however, before he checked that the instrument was facing toward the moon, and peered into the eyepiece.

“Cracks!” he said. He looked back down at the drawing in his hands. Oh wait, there were cracks on this drawing too. Or were they wrinkles? Most likely wrinkles.

But that would mean…

“The moon is splintering?”

Boush looked back into the eyepiece of the telescope and clenched his jaw. No. There was more than splintering. He zoomed in as much as he could and gasped as he refocused the lens. Large chunks of the moon were missing altogether.

He quickly grabbed a quill from the desk and made a few alterations to the drawing of the moon in his hand. He couldn’t understand what was happening, but he knew that he would be keeping an eye on the moon, and on any future developments.