I've heard it said that you're often forced to choose between what you want and what you need.

What I wanted was to solve Balthum's Spellcode to the Golden Halls of Ascension.

What I needed was to not upset Tamrie and Bevel by spending the entire day locked away with Keeper by myself.

Thankfully, it was one of those situations where what I wanted could accomodate what I needed. Just needed to bring them and Banya along, getting them to help out while also keeping me from diving down a rabbit hole.

That said, Bevel and Banya were just as likely to get lost in the work as I was, so Tamrie would be serving to keep us all from getting too carried away. Tamrie patted me on the shoulder, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then scheduled our meals before returning to her work.

At this point, Bevel was getting good enough at breaking things down that she was almost as good at deciphering things as I was. At least when it came to runes. This was heavily rune adjacent, so she was pulling her weight, though neither of us had a clear idea of everything going on. Neither did Banya, though her work with Xoth meant that she had a different perspective.

What Balthum had thought was a complete description had left out several basic steps, which we were working backwards from to figure out.

We did it though, after only two days of mostly uninterrupted study. All of us took a break to go have lunch at the tavern on the second day, only to discover the place was packed.

Seemed the renovations had drawn people in. Combined with the fact we still didn’t have an actual local economy, and most of the Tethered were excited to spend their time visiting during the Howl.

It felt… good, to see so many people enjoying themselves in a place I’d helped build. Tamrie had joined Esbee in the kitchen long enough to get us all lunch and we returned to the mountain and our studies, settling in the little reading nook across from Keeper's library. We were still eating the last of the green crunchy wraps when we figured it out.

“Couldn’t you just… scribe it as a spell?” Banya asked. “You’d just need to add a couple input runes, right?”

“I…” I paused, taking another bite of my wrap as I thought about it.

“Too complicated for a first order,” Bevel said, her pencil scratching as she started copying over all the necessary components to a fresh sheet. “Not too much for second, right?”

I nodded, swallowing as I looked over her notes. “Too much to fit in as a component. It’ll have to be a full second order spell. Seems a bit wasteful.”

"Least it works," Tamrie said, squeezing my shoulder.

"Yeah, I just thought it'd be more… elegant," I said, leaning back.

"Were your rightly expecting elegance from the same drowner who turned women into rock-golem bathgirls? One who stuck his fingers into the workings of children?" Tamrie asked, both hands on her hips.

Banya let out a rather loud snort at that, shaking her head as she chuckled.

"When you put it like that… no," I said, chuckling along. "Now that I understand how he did it, I could probably fix it. Make it cheaper."

"But that's gonna take time."

"Yeah. A couple days at least," I confirmed, stretching out, careful not to bump the tray with the last couple wraps.

“A lot of work for a spell you’re only going to use once,” Banya said, already tidying up our notes.

Tamrie nodded, waving at our gathered research. “Figure you’ll save enough dust to be worth the dredging?”

"Honestly… no," I said, frowning as I took another one of the wraps. Holding it gently, I tilted my head back to stare up at the ceiling as I thought. "Nexxa's gonna be bringing as much dust as she can carry. Dust is… it's embarrassingly abundant at the moment."

"Guess that's all there is to say 'bout that then," Tamrie said, leaning over and tucking a stray strand of hair out of my face. "Best get to scribing, mighty Magus."

"Best get to," I agreed, pulling my grimoire out and setting it beside my notes. "At least I did learn more about their methods."

"Looking at the net half full," Tamrie said, nodding to herself. "I'll let you get on. Feeling like soup or something with crunch for dinner?"

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"Let's go with the crunch please," I said, even as I remembered the wrap still held in my hand.

“Anything else I can help with?” Banya asked, stretching in a way that was a little unusual given her stone body’s inability to get sore from sitting.

“Not at the moment. Thanks for the help though,” I said, nodding to her. “I’ll make sure to let you know how it works out.”

“Appreciate it,” Banya said, before following Tamrie down the stairs.

I turned back to Bevel, only to find she’d decided to take a post-lunch nap. She muttered something about brain juice as I pulled out my scrivener and started on the spell.

It wasn't long before I'd copied the spell over.

Tamrie had come back with the promised dinner, and the smell had roused Bevel.

"Wanna come with me when I cast it?" I found myself asking them.

"Really?" Bevel asked, perking up even as she was wiping off a smudge of graphite she’d gotten on her cheek.

"No," Tamrie said, crossing her arms while she glared at me. "Neither one of us is fit for such a thing."

"You're… not?" I asked, glancing towards Bevel who was busy glaring up at Tamrie with her arms crossed, mirroring Tamrie's stance, though not the aim of her glare.

“Am too,” Bevel stated, grumbling out the words.

“Maybe you are,” Tamrie admitted after a second before turning back to me. "If this is another of those demon places, then we don't know what sorts of guardians it may have. Didn't Balthum's last entry say he was going to that place?"

"It did," I said, nodding. "You think it's going to be dangerous just opening the door."

"Didn't even need to dip your toes in to find the biters out by the other," Tamrie said, waving in the general direction of Conflict.

"Fair enough," I said, nodding. "I'll round up Inertia and Calbern, and we'll make some plans."

"Aye. Then after, you'll come take us for a look, sure as anything," Tamrie said, nodding decisively.

"But I wanna-" Bevel started.

"Your sister won't be wanting you there neither, for a certain," Tamrie said, cutting Bevel off. "Don't want to be worrying your sister none, do ya?"

Bevel scrunched up her brow before letting out a long sigh a few seconds later. "No. I guess not."

"That's right," Tamrie said, stepping forward and ruffling Bevel's hair. Then she looked towards me, arching an eyebrow. "Best get on with it, if you're gonna."

I chuckled and pulled her closer to lay a kiss on her cheek. Then while she was still sputtering, I started down the stairs. It wasn't a surprise that I found Inertia in her workshop, though I hadn't expected to find Calbern there as well. No sign of Tresla though.

It was less surprising when I saw the diagram of Fang's trailer laid out on a nearby trailer. Possibly to upgrade its carrying capacity, from the looks of it. By adding balloons…

Shaking my head, I was about to interrupt when one of the sentries pushed in from outside, letting the storm in with a thunderous peal of lightning.

He coughed, leaning back against the door as he struggled to catch his breath. I came over, looking out into the storm to see if I could pick out whatever had brought him running. But the rain was too thick to see much of anything at the moment, other than the distant crack of lightning. There was so much lightning over the past couple months, it'd become almost as mundane as the rain.

"Duh…" the sentry muttered, before choking once more. Worried, I went over to him and cast a quick Restore Form on him after patting him on the back. "Thu-thank you, Magus," he said, before shaking his head. "Dragon. There’s a fraying dragon out there!"

"Is it attacking?" I asked, moving back to the still open door and looking out. It wasn't the first time I'd seen a dragon riding a storm. But that had only happened once, back when Nexxa first came to visit.

"No ser," he said, standing up straight. "Not yet, anyway."

"Did I hear mention of a dragon, master Percival?" Calbern asked as he joined us.

"Yeah," I said, staring out into the storm. I could see it finally, winding through the sky. It was headed east. Might’ve even been the same dragon I saw last time.

"Ah," Calbern said as he joined me. "Quite the sight."

"Yeah. Wonder if it comes through here often. Balthum never mentioned it, but I'm starting to think he had his head in the sand," I said, flicking away the water dripping down from above.

"Deep," rumbled Inertia from just behind us. Her eyes were whirring as she looked out beside us. Then she pointed. "Hurt."

I followed her finger, letting Eagle Eyes do its best to pick out what she was referring to. Then I saw it. Along the dragon's side were numerous gashes. Hundreds of rends through its scales. It'd been fighting.

Hoped it wasn't Nexxa. Much as she was a terror for a Pegasus-souled, I couldn't see her surviving against that thing.

"It is indeed. Quite the opponent it must've faced, don't you agree, master Perth?"

"Definitely," I agreed, looking over at the sentry. He seemed a bit rattled still, though the casualness with which we were talking about the dragon seemed to have settled him somewhat.

"So, master Percival, did you come to discuss the airship?" Calbern asked. "I must confess, I have stolen Inertia's attention with my own request."

"Actually, I was looking for both of you. Finally finished deciphering the Spellcode for the Golden Halls. Wanted to know when you two might be available to check it out," I said, nodding in the direction of the ocean.

"I'm currently available, though I regret to inform you Fang's trailer is in need of repairs. Caught a bolt of stray lightning, I'm afraid," Calbern replied, giving the slightest shake of his head.

"Now," Inertia rumbled in agreement, nodding. Then she turned to the sentry, pointing at him.

"Uh… you want me to come too?" he asked, pressing a hand to his chest as he looked from Inertia to us.

Inertia snorted, the sound filling the workshop. Then she shook her head, pointing to him again. "Tell."

"I believe she wishes for you to find miss Tresla, and inform her of our departure," Calbern interpreted, inclining his head slightly in the man's direction.

"Sounds about right," I said in agreement. "While you're at it, let Tamrie know I’m going out into the storm."

The sentry who'd been nodding in agreement suddenly went pale. Paler than when he'd come in to tell us there'd been a sighting of a dragon. “You… want me to tell her ladyship that you… you’re going out into danger?”

I raised my eyebrow, finding both Calbern and Inertia chuckling for some reason. Seemed Tamrie was getting a bit of a reputation.