His clothes had not gotten any dryer. There was a certain serenity hanging over him, and he did not understand why he was so unbothered by his home— his childhood home which had belonged to his father and mother— being burned to past recognition. He had, in a way, expected something of the kind to happen. It had, and although it was unfortunate, his home was not as important anymore. A broken home remains a broken home.

  Pi’ve still wanted to check if there were any dry clothes hiding somewhere, hopefully not consumed by the fire. Rummaging through his room, he found a pair of robes in the bottom drawer, not wet, but slightly scorched. It was missing an arm. The robe was originally open at the front, with long arms, and it went down almost to the floor. Most of this was still true, but now he was missing the right arm all the way up to his shoulder, and the flames had made a dark, crisp seam. He looked in the broken mirror in the hallway after taking it on, and he was not particularly bothered by the look. It was a symbol to those who did this. He would not cower to their attempt of controlling him.

  Pi’ve walked out of his home, leaving the door ajar; he was not concerned about anyone breaking in and damaging more, and there was nothing worth stealing. He would meet Barna, get his answers, and then he would go and get strong enough so that no wizard, nor any man otherwise could harm him. He knew he was still no match for Murgun or any other person if they decided they would strike him down. If that happened, he could do nothing about it but pray. Pi’ve did not want power to dominate, but to be his own person and carve his own path. If there was someone in his way, he would heed to him if he had anything to say, and take advise for what it is worth, but to those who used their strength to knock people down he had no patience for.

  The walk over to the wizarding square was uneventful. Yesterday, he had found his home in ruin, and the city in a calm state, yet there lingered a silent expectation of turmoil in the air. It was tangible in the movements and the eyes of the people working along the streets he walked. It was as if nothing they did mattered in the grand scheme, but soon, when the city had rebuilt, with a new king, it would all become a better place. Pi’ve felt people stare as he walked past them, their squinting in his direction telling many words. There was some wariness in their eyes, as if to see if Pi’ve was harmful or not.

  As Pi’ve walked into the wizarding square he had been to many times, he saw five wizards. One was sitting by the fountain in the middle, reading a newspaper. He had not seen any newspapers since the time he revealed the forgotten king. He wondered if that paper was made wizards wizards, or if he was reading the common folk’s paper. Three were chatting outside the WCC-building, and they glanced over at Pi’ve as he came onto the grounds. Pi’ve held their gaze, and it was clear that they recognised him. Maybe they had been to the hearing, but Pi’ve did not recognise them. They went inside the building. Another wizard was carrying boxes from a wagon into his shop. It was tea leaves. He could smell it even two buildings away.

  Knocking on the door, Pi’ve grabbed the handle and pushed it open. The same wizard who had replaced Pi’ve after he had exposed Murgun sat there, and as he looked up, he did not even greet Pi’ve, but merely pointed at the door of Barna’s office. It was clear then that Barna had expected Pi’ve to eventually return to Thergiam, and that if he did, he was open to have a chat with Pi’ve.

  Knocking twice on Barna’s door, the doorknob rotated and the door swung open. Barna was seated in his chair, with glasses on the tip of his nose. He was holding three pieces of paper in his hands, and glancing down at a fourth on the table.

  ’I must confess that I expected you to return sooner,’ Barna said, placing the papers down to the table in an orderly fashion. ’But I am glad to see you return.’

  ’It is good to see you too, Barna.’ Pi’ve looked around in the office. It looked identical to when he was there last. ’Time moves strangely down at the bottom of the ocean.’ Barna nodded at that.

  ’Indeed. Yet, I would have thought that you would emerge when Murgun was behind locks, seeing that you two do not see eye to eye.’

  ’I never thought about it that way, until I decided that I would travel here, of course,’ Pi’ve said. Barna took a deep breath.

  ’I just got in, but I don’t assume that you are opposed to a heavy glass of ale, are you?’ Barna said, placing his glasses on the table. Pi’ve shook his head. ’It is Friday after all. Let’s go to Yolanda’s.’

  ’I am not familiar with Yolanda’s,’ Pi’ve said.

  ’Familiarity is not required. I’ll show the way.’

  Leaving the building of Barna’s office, they traversed the square and entered a narrow street going at the side of the WCC-building, and once the street opened to a wide, main street bustling with common people, they walked for about ten minutes before turning into another narrow street. It was peculiar how one knew that some streets were only travelled by wizards and some by the common folk. Any other street would be packed with people, and somehow, the streets wizards used looked wholly abandoned, almost impossible to notice by the common folk. He wondered how many of these streets he had missed as he walked past when he was not a wizard.

  A couple rights and lefts opened up to a small square— without a fountain— yet unmistakably a wizarding square, which housed six two-story buildings made of wood and bricks, circling the middle ground. One of the buildings was an alchemy shop, another an Inn, while three of them were different kinds of shops. Then there were .

  Once inside, they seated themselves at a table for two, and the woman named Yolanda came.

  ’The menu?’ she asked.

  ’No, I will have the , while Pi’ve can have a .’ Pi’ve surmised that those were the names of the ales. ’So then…’ Barna continued after Yolanda had left. ’I suppose that you are here for a reason, not merely talking to me, that is.’

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  ’No— well, that was the only agenda I had, as I have some questions to ask. Although the agenda might change, as I found my home having been burned down—,’

  ’Yes, about that—,’

  ’I believe also that I met Murgun on the docks yesterday, but I cannot be sure.’

  ’Well, your home was not burned down yesterday, if you thought that you had caught him in the act. But between you and me, I believe that it was Murgun who did it, although he is not a fire mage, and could not have burned it down himself. He must have had an accomplice with him.’

  ’There exists lighters and matches,’ Pi’ve said.

  Barna seemed startled at that revelation, and then laughed. ’Yes… of course. Indeed. Yes, but do you think he would use matches and lighters? I don’t.’

  ’Well, even as interesting as it would be brewing on who burned down my home, I am not too concerned about it. I am here to ask you about morality, actually, and I hope that you can enlighten me on something I talked about with Gaudol,’ Pi’ve said, and Barna flickered some confusion, yet he nodded. The ale was delivered then, and as they took their first sip, Pi’ve understood why Barna loved ale so much.

  ’Morality… best indulged with prickling in your fingers,’ Barna said, gulped down the rest of the ale, and waved for Yolanda to come with another round. Pi’ve joined in and gulped down the honey-like ale. ’Shoot.’

  ’Slavery,’ Pi’ve began, ’ended 800 years ago in Thergiam.’

  ’Well, the talks of ending slavery happened as the line of Oarios ascended to the throne, and that was 1100 years ago, give or take. Of course, slavery had been abolished on paper in Vesen County about 1300 years ago, due to the increased amount of influential people, and common folks of course, calling for it to end. The actual end of it did not happen until Oarios II took away every landlord’s assets if they did not free their slaves. That was 1100 years ago,’ Barna said, as another glass of ale came. ’The king was sat in Vesen City back then. Which is why it happened faster in Vesen County. The next few kings, who was cousins and other male descendants of the Oarios line— although they did not carry the Oarios legacy name— also kept this rule as it would be detrimental for their power to revert it. It wasn’t before Oarios III moved to Thergiam in his twenties that the slavery was ended here.’

  Pi’ve thought about it. He did not like where this was going.

  ’And, you? Did you have slaves?’ Pi’ve asked.

  ’If you were a wizard, you had slaves.’ Barna said casually. ’Not many wizards had personal slaves, although some did, but there were many common folks who worked as slaves for the wizards as a collective. Only those who adamantly rejected and opposed slavery openly did not use the slaves. I was a man of the times I was brought up… I saw no flaw— or, I should say, I saw nothing particularly wrong with it. Or… I don’t know. It all sounds wrong, however I say it.’

  Pi’ve was struck by the casual way he conveyed this. ’But now, you see that it was always wrong to keep slaves?’

  ’Of course—,’ Barna said as he flinched as if he had been offended by this question. ’And I never kept slaves myself… Do you believe that every opinion, stance, view that you hold now is right, morally or otherwise? Do you believe that I am free from folly? Of course I have done wrong, but at the time most people were for or indifferent to slavery, as it had always been the way the world worked. Indeed, it brought great prosperity to those who had them, and the progress of society was unmatched. Now, , we know that slavery is wrong. Some things are morally wrong even if most people are for it, but you actually do need most people to see it as wrong for it to be wrong in reality. Morals in theory and morals in reality are two different things, although with time, we hope, the morals in reality will tend towards the morals of theory, but for that to happen, the majority needs to align with the same, and proper, morality.’

  Pi’ve understood, once Barna had become quite agitated, what Gaudol had said about morality not being black and white. It was like an—

  ’It was like an epiphany had struck me once the faculties for me to actually think about the subject was given to me. I had met Dandrian, and to be clear, he had always been against slavery, and he had sat me down to talk about it. It was once Oarios III was relocated here, and he was going around freeing the slaves of the common people. The wizards are not moved as easily by the laws of the common people, so someone had to make the change happen for us too, and Dandrian was that man. He made me put myself into the position of the slaves. ; so sudden, so tremendously deep and moving did it hit me that, of course, slavery was against human nature. All the uproar, anger, deaths… which the slaves went through. I was so ashamed that I left Thergiam and lived in the woods for… I don’t know how long.’

  ’It’s alright. I don’t need you to explain or justify any more. I understand now,’ Pi’ve said. It was made clear to him that, the times you lived in, made who you are. The further history went, the better it became at increasing the well-being of the average, so it was obvious that the past had been worse than now. It was just so hard to understand that what Pi’ve knew now, was not common knowledge for everyone, even a thousand years ago. But no, society was not static, humans were not static. To become better, you must stumble upon the better at random, or remove that which is bad, raising the overall goodness of all. So Pi’ve would not judge the past, only learn from it, and move on.

  Which also made Pi’ve realise something. He had been angry at the thought of Barna possibly having slaves, yet after he had explained the reasons, he understood, and knew that he was not at fault, but merely a product of his times and circumstances. It made him think about Murgun. What had happened to him to make him act the way he did? It struck him now that he had forgiven Murgun for burning down his home (if it was him).

  They stayed for a couple hours, and Pi’ve told Barna about his time in Tharthillion. Barna was one of the people he trusted the most, and so he was not holding much back. Barna was struck by his progress, and told him that what Pi’ve had managed to do had taken him 60 years. Well, Barna could not manipulate water, so there was even things Pi’ve knew that this old man could not.

  ’Well, I think I must get back to work. I still have those papers to read, and then I will travel for the weekend. Will you stay long?’ Barna said.

  ’I don’t know. My home has been burned down, and I have not yet decided if it is safe for me here.’

  ’If it is a case of safety, then I would gladly be of assistance,’ Barna said, but Pi’ve was not going to accept Barna being his guard.

  ’No, thank you. You have better things to do than escorting me around. Even some people in Thergiam are after me, I strongly doubt that they are out to kill me,’ Pi’ve said, and Barna glanced at him for a long while, and then he nodded. ’I can take a beating. And I doubt that they are lurking around the corner.’

  Barna laughed. ’Alright.’ There was little more to say after that. ’Have a nice day, and come by if there is anything,’ he said and left . Pi’ve ordered another round of ale after that, and while drinking it, he sat in thought for a while. He did not know what else he had on his agenda here in Thergiam, so he tried to figure out something to do here while he was still safe.

  He did not come far in his thinking, when suddenly, in his stomach, the same feeling that he had felt on the dock emerged again. It twisted and turned— like a bell sounding an alarm. Something was going on, yet he did not understand why it would now begin to…

  A dark figure passed the window, with his hood over his head. The staff gleamed with a familiar shine, and it was as if Pi’ve could feel the footsteps of someone he knew was nearby. Pi’ve fixed his eyes on the door, because he knew it would swing open, and he knew who would come through it. This time, visible.