[Southern Road — Day 5]
The return journey was faster.
---
[Imperial City — South Gate — Day 8 — 3:00 PM]
The wall of Imperial City came into view.
The gate guard looked at the team.
Looked at Grim.
Grim holding Maya's stone. Eighty centimeters. Completely harmless in appearance.
Raven approached him and whispered something.
The guard made a note. Let them pass.
Emily came up to Raven curiously.
"What did you say to him?"
Raven smiled at Emily.
"A Circle code. He's a member, and now that Cael isn't lurking around, we can use our contacts."
Kira to the team once they were inside: "Four Temple guards at the gate. Fewer than the first time."
"Is that good?" asked the boy.
"It means Cael withdrew his squad." Kira. "It doesn't mean no one is watching us."
"So?"
"It means whoever is watching us now is better at not being seen."
The boy processed that.
He kept walking.
---
[Old Market District — The Column — 4:00 PM]
Viktor was already there.
As always.
