"Kaavi is still a stranger."
The words weren't spoken with hostility.
Just concern.
The kind born from caring about someone, for a moment Edric remained silent.
The morning light had shifted further across the room, illuminating the table between them. Steam still rose from their tea, though far less than before.
Finally, he nodded.
"You are right."
That answer seemed to surprise her.
"I am?"
"Yes"
Asha blinked. "I thought you were about to disagree."
"I rarely disagree when someone is correct."
That earned him a look.
One that suggested she had several examples proving otherwise. Fortunately, she chose not to list them.
Edric continued, "Kaavi is a stranger."
His gaze drifted briefly toward the window.
"I know very little about him."
Asha listened carefully.
"Where he came from, what he's searching for. His life is a mystery to me."
The admission carried no embarrassment. No discomfort.
Simply truth.
Asha frowned slightly.
"Then how can you trust him?"
This time Edric didn't answer immediately, he leaned back into his chair.
"I have met many good men who turned cruel when circumstances changed. And I have met cruel men who performed acts of kindness."
A faint pause followed.
"One action tells you very little about a person."
Asha slowly nodded.
That much she understood.
"So, what convinced you?"
Edric looked at the tea cup. The at the sun light resting across the table.
"Most people reveal themselves when they are offered something."
Asha waited.
"Wealth, status, power."
His gaze lifted.
"Those things tend to expose what a person is, his values."
The room grew quiet.
"They reveal their true nature, the moment they gain power… upper hand on someone weaker than them, their true nature is revealed."
Edric wasn't speaking as a ruler now, or a noble. But like a man who had spent decades judging character in battlefields, courts…
"He didn't feel like any of them, he refused all of the things I offered."
Asha remembered, the horse, money, weapons, rewards, opportunities, he had declined everything.
Simply because he did not want them.
"Then he asked for paper and ink." She said softly.
Edric nodded.
A small smile appeared.
"Of all the things he could have asked for."
Asha looked down at her cup.
When she thought about it that way, the request did seem oddly significant.
For a while neither spoke.
The silence felt thoughtful rather than empty.
Then Asha asked the question she had been carrying.
"And if you're wrong?"
Edric met her gaze. There was no challenge in her voice. Only concern.
A concern he understood.
Because if she wasn't worried, he would have been disappointed.
Veyl mattered to her too.
The old soldier remained quiet for several moments.
When he finally spoke, his voice was steady.
"Then Veyl will deal with it."
Asha frowned.
The answer sounded harsher than she expected.
Edric noticed immediately.
"That wasn't meant the way it sounded."
A faint breath escaped him.
an acknowledgment that words were imperfect things.
"I don't trust Kaavi with Veyl's future."
That caught her attention.
For the first time since entering the room, she looked genuinely surprised.
"You don't?"
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
"I trust Veyl."
The room fell silent.
Edric's gaze shifted toward the window once more.
Toward the horizon beyond it.
"When people care about someone, they often make the mistake of believing they must protect them from every hardship."
His voice was quieter now. More reflective.
"The truth is far less comfortable."
Asha listened.
"You can teach. You can guide. You can prepare…"
He folded his hands together.
"But eventually they have to face the world themselves."
"I spent years teaching him everything I could."
A faint pause followed.
"So did Joren."
For the first time since the conversation began, Asha noticed something beneath Edric's calm exterior.
Faith.
The quiet confidence of a teacher who had done everything he could.
And now had to let the lesson continue without him.
"He'll make mistakes," Edric said. "He'll trust the wrong people. He'll probably get into trouble."
Asha laughed softly.
"That sounds almost certain."
"Very."
A hint of warmth touched his voice.
Then it faded.
"But he'll learn."
His eyes returned to hers.
"And if he falls, he'll stand again."
The certainty with which he said it left no room for argument. Because he wasn't speaking about hope. He was speaking about belief.
Asha lowered her gaze.
The conversation had drifted far beyond Veyl. Far beyond Kaavi.
Somewhere along the way, she realized what Edric had been trying to explain from the beginning.
This had never been about letting someone go.
It was about accepting that you could not walk the road for them. And perhaps that was the harder thing.
For a while neither of them spoke.
The conversation had reached that point where further words would add little. The answer Asha had come looking for was no longer hidden from her.
Outside the tower window, Whitehold continued as it always had.
Merchants opened their stalls. Guards walked their patrols. Children ran through streets that, only weeks ago, had been overshadowed by fear.
Life moved forward with remarkable indifference to the concerns of individuals.
Perhaps that was why people learned to cherish one another while they could.
Asha lifted her cup and finished the last of her tea.
It had gone lukewarm.
Neither of them seemed to mind.
"You know," she said after a moment, "I think Veyl was more nervous than he wanted everyone to believe."
That earned a faint huff from Edric.
"People are before their first long journey."
Asha smiled.
"Even you?"
"Especially me."
That answer surprised her enough that she laughed.
The image of a younger Edric feeling uncertain about anything seemed difficult to imagine.
"You should tell that story someday."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I enjoy my reputation."
Asha shook her head.
"One day I'm going to discover all these embarrassing stories you've hidden."
"You can try."
Their eyes met briefly.
A quiet warmth lingered in the exchange before fading naturally.
Eventually Asha stood.
The chair scraped softly against the stone floor.
"I should return to work."
Edric nodded.
"The Mage Tower won't manage itself."
"Sadly."
She adjusted her robes before moving toward the door.
Then she paused.
Her hand resting against the handle.
"Thank you."
Edric looked up.
"For what?"
Asha's expression softened.
Neither of them needed to say it aloud.
For years ago.
For now.
For understanding things, she had not understood then.
"For the tea."
Edric's eyes narrowed slightly.
Asha smiled.
The door opened.
Then closed behind her.
Silence returned to the room.
The old soldier remained seated for a while after she left.
Listening to the distant sounds drifting through the open window.
The city no longer needed his attention every moment of the day.
That thought felt strange.
Eventually he rose from his chair and returned to the window.
The road was empty now.
The travellers had long since disappeared beyond the hills.
There was nothing left to see.
Yet his gaze remained there.
Somewhere beyond Whitehold, four travellers continued their journey.
One searching for answers.
One carrying burdens he rarely spoke of.
One who complained almost as often as he breathed.
And one stepping beyond the only home he had ever known.
The world waiting ahead of them would not be kind every day.
There would be mistakes.
Hardship. Disappointment.
But there would be other things too.
Things worth finding. Things worth remembering.
A faint breath escaped him.
Almost a sigh.
Almost a prayer.
Neither one entirely.
Then, quietly enough that only the empty room heard him, Edric spoke.
"Come back with stories worth telling, boy."
The road offered no answer.
The morning wind carried the words away.
And life moved forward.