Shadow Slave

There was a squad of soldiers on the pier, as well, all wearing white armor tied at the waist with red sashes. Unlike the last time Sunny had seen them, the warriors filled their armor well, brimming with vigor and vitality.

Their captain was a tall, beautiful woman with fiery red hair. Sunny only recognized her because of an open helmet with a scarlet plume she was holding on the bend of her right arm... she was the captain that had escorted him and Nephis to the temple the last time around.

She had seemed ancient then. Now, she looked not much older than they were. Everyone here did, really, or even younger. The startling change was still making him feel a little dizzy.

Sunny had known, of course, that killing the Defiled sybil would allow Fallen Grace to migrate downstream and return these people their youth. Knowing and seeing were two different things, however.

Seeing them like this was a bit... bittersweet. Sweet because it was nice to witness his actions doing some good, bitter because it reminded him of Ananke.

As Sunny was pondering the strange reality of living on the Great River, the soldiers created a passage through the crowd and surrounded the members of the cohort, helping them leave the pier.

They were escorted along the familiar streets once again, moving toward the temple of Dusk. There had been a lot of people on the pier, but there were even more here, crowding the sidewalks and the roofs of the buildings, all staring at the returned Outsiders with excitement and awe.

The crowd followed the small procession, constantly growing. Some people were calling out to Cassie, some simply cheered from a distance. After the relative tranquility of months spent at sea, Sunny was having trouble adjusting to the boisterous atmosphere of Falling Grace.

«Lord Sunless! Lord Sunless!»

He turned his head, hearing his own name.

The voice was unfamiliar, and the face of the scrawny teenager calling out to him was unfamiliar, too. But Sunny recognized those curious, intelligent eyes almost immediately.

He frowned slightly, but was actually amused.

Is that you,

teenager, who had been kept away by

It's me. Lord Sunless,

young man approach. A few moments

Sunless... are these

Sunny nodded.

found in a well once. That one is a freeloader who likes to invite herself into other people's houses. That one is in the habit of giving young men like us weighty slaps, so be on guard around her. Oh, and that one is a monster wearing human skin... don't trust anything he says, and never look him in the eyes. ??gh??????wօr??~?ℴm They are all incredible warriors, though.

the cohort gave him sour

come Cassie's introductions

belly with a

to give another talk... no, wait. You can be a hundred

The teenager chuckled awkwardly.

eighteen, my lady. Sorry, I

«Eighteen...»

seventeen. So they had not spent that much time away — much less than he feared, at least. It had been no more than a month of two, at most, before he remembered

teenager, meanwhile,

and I, we were thinking of going to the House of Youth ourselves... since it was rebuilt recently... ah, but it's probably not a good

Sunny

when do you have

Cronos laughed again.

old and decrepit, there was no point in anything except for quiet friendship between two elderly folk. Once the city migrated downstream, and we were both

back of