I found the party halfway between the inn and the market district. Katarina saw me and ran over, a wide grin on her face. Her fingers intertwined with mine and she bumped into my shoulder. “Hey there,” she whispered.

  “Well hi! Fancy meeting you here!” We laughed together as Sebastian staggered up, gasping for breath and holding his side.

  “I don’t… know why… we had to run… there and back.” He squeaked between gasps of breath. I pulled out my lute and performed Radiant Winds. Encore flew down from wherever he had been in the sky, shifting into his wisp form and joining the performance. I felt a link form as he drew a point of magic to fuel his wisp form.

  I finished the performance at 99% and sent the dozen double-fist sized orbs of radiant light into Sebastian, who gasped, and straightened.

  “Holy hell. That’s amazing!” He moved around, stretching and taking deep breaths. “I feel great!”

  “Right? He’s got his uses.” Katarina laughed, then looked around. “Have you seen Abe?”

  “No, not since he left the inn, before you all.” I looked around. There were a few beastkin, mostly the armadillo and polecat varieties.

  Nearly everyone I made eye contact with had a friendly smile and nod of the head or a wave. I smiled and nodded or waved back. The attention was both exhilarating and a bit unnerving.

  Katarina: Abe? You alright bud?

  Abernathy: Aye, sorry, heading that way. Got in a bit of trouble. Guards don’t like me using the ute in the city.

  Chanter: You okay?

  Abernathy: Yeah, I’m fine. Just had to do a bit of talking and put it away. Wanted to pick up a few more supplies before we go.

  “I see him, over there.” Sebastian pointed down the road to the market, the same one they had just come back on. Abernathy was hopping in long bursts, exhaustion lining his face.

  I released the stored Radiant Winds from the lute, sending the healing magic into my friend. He grunted as he arrived.

  “Appreciate that mate. Hoo, feelin the results of the all nighter.” He still looked exhausted, but some of the strain had melted away with the healing energy. “Reckon we can take about… half an hour? Need to make something that I need to use my crafting tables for. Promise it will make the trip faster.”

  “I don’t mind, I could study more sheet music.”

  “Or,” Katarina chimed in. “We could work on a few of your katas that are lacking.”

  “Or that,” I agreed, rolling my shoulders around.

  “Works for me.” Sebastian added, pulling a strip of bacon from his inventory and chewing on it.

  “Great. There’s not enough space here for the tables. Let’s make our way out of the city and set up just outside the gates.” Abernathy looked around as he spoke. “Shouldn’t be too far.”

  We made our way through Arid Spur. I felt like a celebrity with all the interactions. Four in five of every person we passed either wanted to shake my hand, had some word of praise, or waved. A few people even stopped me and asked for my autograph.

  “Got a real celeb in our midst,” Katarina chuckled after a squealing young polecat beastkin ran off, waving around a bit of parchment she had me sign.

  “I was just thinking that,” I replied. “It feels weird.”

  “Oh shut up, you love it.” Katarina spanked me as she walked by, winking.

  The gates were a double set of carved stone, affixed to the wall by large hinges of dark steel. I saw a wide road of paved stone stretching out into the distance beyond them, shimmering waves of heat rising above it. A guard stood at either end of the gate, leaning against the wall. We nodded at them as we passed them and I got my first glimpse at the wide expanse of desert that lay beyond the city.

  The ground was mostly flat, wide swaths of sand or dried, cracked stone. A hot breeze carried silt and sand on the wind. I saw a red shadow in the far distance to the right.

  “That’s the eternal sandstorm,” Sebastian pointed to the red shadow. “It’s unpredictable. If we get caught in it — and we will get caught in it — use those thick canvas fabrics we got and lay down. There are a few monsters in the storm, but they won’t find us unless there’s blood in the air. There’s debris in the storm too, will cut you wide open and bring the beasts. So just lay down, cover yourself with the tarp, and wait for it to pass.”

  “Got it.” I nodded.

  Abernathy was already setting up a series of work benches. He laid them out in a triangular pattern, with him in the center. I coughed as a bit of sand blew right in my mouth and into the back of my throat.

  “Oh, shite,” Abe hopped over to me, initiating a trade. He gave me a pair of Eye Protectorants and a Respiratory Protectorant.

  “Did you name these?” I laughed as I equipped them. They were a set of goggles and a cloth face mask that wrapped around my lower face and neck several times, protecting me from the blowing sand particles and the oppressive sunlight.

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  “Yeah, I did. Apt, right?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, on the nose, bud.”

  He pulled a smaller face mask with built in goggles that slipped perfectly over Encore’s face, who was perched on my shoulder.

  “Uncomfortable, but less than the sand. Thank you.” He bowed, reaching out and bumping his head gently against Abernathy’s who smiled and nodded back.

  “Holy shit, Abe!” Bation called out after receiving his own set. “This is so much better than the crap they sold us for the journey! This is incredible!”

  The fabric muffled his voice slightly, but it was still understandable.

  Katarina thanked him as well, then turned to me as Abe hopped back to his crafting area. Sebastian sat down and watched us. I noticed his book was not out like it had been and asked him about it.

  “Oh yeah, Cern hates the desert wind. I keep her in her library so she doesn’t get upset.”

  “Cern?” Katarina asked, twapping me with a willow branch to correct a stance. “Her? Your book’s a girl?”

  “Yes. And no. It’s complicated. She’s a sentient artifact. Helps me hone my mana into specific spells. I’m not like a wizard, who studies and channels magic with complex equations and calculated manipulations. Cern is what allows me to harness and transform mana into spells. She’s a Lorekin. A sentient class of beings that partner with some types of mages.”

  “That’s cool as shit.” Katarina replied, thwapping me again. I adjusted my stance and she smiled. “Good, just like that. You are improving.”

  “I’m glad you think so, I still haven’t managed to get any more levels in it.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” Thwap.

  “You’re enjoying this too much.”

  “I’d enjoy it more if you did the forms correctly. You’re supposed to be a crane, not a wildebeest.” Thwap. Sebastian laughed.

  I lost count of the number of thwaps I received in the next half hour we spent out there, but it felt like it should have been in the triple digits. Katarina put me through the motions of several katas, making adjustment recommendations with her handy willow branch and kind words. I felt myself improving, but none of the numbers increased, which frustrated me to no end.

  I had managed to go several minutes without receiving a thwap when Abernathy called out.

  “Alright mates, we should be ready to go!”

  I looked around and saw he had put his crafting tables away and pulled two utes from his inventory. The vehicles looked slightly different, with metal mesh treads instead of wheels and glass domes that encapsulated the driver’s seats.

  “I’m really sorry, mates. I wanted to make more, but there weren’t enough supplies in the city. But I figured just one more would be worth the wait.”

  “Oh my god. Abe.” Sebastian cried out, running over to one of the vehicles. “It’s so beautiful! It this…”

  “Aye, Chanter and Katarina got no problem hoofin’ it. Figured you could use the boost, just like me.”

  “How… how much? How much for it?” Sebastian walked around the ute, running his hand along the thick dome of glass.

  “Eh? How much? I ain’t selling it to ya. We’re in a party. It’s to help. Hop in and see how it feels. I might need to make a few adjustments.”

  Sebastian glanced over in Abe’s direction for a few seconds, his head tilted to the side, before he resumed his inspection of the vehicle.

  “There’s a latch to the right of the dome. Lift that, press the button inside.” Abernathy modeled the behavior on his ute, and a section along the right of the ute opened below the glass. It was a tight fit, but Abe squeezed underneath and took his seat, shifting around. Sebastian did the same thing, opening the small door built into the side of the vehicle and crouching low to squeeze in.

  “Well shit.” Katarina walked over, reaching for my hand. “Looks like it’s just us braving the heat.” She leaned her head against my arm, and I lay my head on top of hers.

  “Us and Encore.” I replied.

  “Yes, your shoulder and the desert heat is preferable to those death traps.” He chimed in. Katarina laughed.

  “Wonder if they have air conditioning.” I intoned.

  “No wa—” Katarina began, but was interrupted by Sebastian’s exclamation.

  “There’s air conditioning?” He shouted, laughing.

  “Well I’ll be damned.” Katarina grumbled.

  Abernathy spent the next twenty minutes explaining to Sebastian how to operate the vehicle through the voice chat.

  I stored an instance of Radiant Winds inside my lute and Katarina decided we could spend the time working on katas some more, but I really think she just enjoyed hitting me with her willow. The hits were never hard enough to actually hurt, but she still found the sound endlessly amusing.

  Abernathy: Alright. Last order of business. There’s a lever under your steering wheel. You lock it in place and it will maintain the speed you got it set at. Another lever at the top locks in your angle, so you can line them up and let them go at a steady pace.

  Sebastian: Ahh, that’s how you’re going to craft while we are traveling!

  Abernathy: Precisely! Alright, we should be ready to go.

  I looked over at Katarina. “Ready?”

  Both utes revved up and started going.

  “Ready!” Katarina shouted, whooping and jumping in the air as we jogged after the vehicles.

  They maintained a steady pace, just above a jog, that we were able to maintain with relative ease. I occasionally performed Radiant Winds to restore us from the fatigue. We travelled like that for nearly an hour before approaching a three-way split in the road. It continued ahead and branched out in either direction.

  Sebastian: If we were taking the long way, we would go to the right here.

  Katarina: Where does the left go?

  Sebastian: I’m not sure. I think some mine further along the mountains you came through, further up. I don’t think it’s active.

  Chanter: But we are keeping forward, right?

  Sebastian: Yup.

  A large sign, built low to the ground and at an angle, proclaimed the land ahead to be DEADLY, warning travelers to TURN EAST OR NORTH. Several artistic renderings of skulls and crossbones covered the sign.

  “It’s almost like they’re trying to tell us something…” Katarina held her hand up against her mask, cupping her chin.

  “I wonder what it could be.” I copied her gesture.

  “I believe it is a warning for the pollution Sebastian mentioned, that infects the area ahead.” Encore replied. Katarina looked over at me. Our eyes met and we both broke out in laughter.

  “I fail to see the humor in this deadly situation.” Encore intoned.