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Chapter 9: Philadelphos

Khaba was sleeping sound and safe on a pile of pillows that was put around in his cabin. The ship was sailing to Pantepoli for two weeks now and the young fruit bat remained in his cabin for most of the trip. But eventually he started yawning and got up from the pile to walk out of the cabin for now.

"Ah, good morning sleepyhead," Gaius greeted Khaba as he walked by and took some wine from a barrel. "We will reach Pantepoli in about an hour, so I was going to wake you up anyway."

Being still rather tired, Khaba just nodded and walked towards the set of stairs leading to the deck of the ship. There Crawford, Lucille, and Harshad were sitting together and staring out to the sea. Pantepoli was already visible from the distance, its composited buildings being a sight to behold.

"Looks more orderly than Urbulchem. Did they put up the streets with a system?" Lucille asked as she was looking up ahead at the city before them.

Crawford now took a look ahead and nodded. "From how the buildings are placed, it seems they have put them in equally sized insulae[1] right next to each other," he said and now looked at the massive agora[2] in the center of Pantepoli, as well as the acropolis, which both stood out from the rest of the place.

Khaba however wasn't looking very interested in the city and flew up to the top of the sail to feel the winds. He was dangling downward and kept his wings spread out. And with a short smile he focused, causing the winds to become much stronger under his control.

"Great thinking, Khaba!" Albanus, who was steering the vessel with great care towards Pantepoli, called up to the fruit bat as he kept the course steady. Soon they entered the harbor, where several people dressed in chitons[3] were waiting for them.

One of them, a horse in the autumn of his life, was walking towards Albanus and bowed before him. "It is a great honor for our city to greet you, heir of the great Caelius."

Albanus' face remained unchanged as he waited for Gaius and Rufus to get off the ship next to him. "We have send you a bird, so let us come to the point. Something happened in the city, and you have no idea what it was, other than a light burst in the color blue."

The horse was breathing out the air stuck in his mouth and then rubbed his forehead. "It was only a blue light burst, but we did investigate the city as well as the surrounding area. Nothing has come up so far."

"Figures," Albanus replied as he crossed his arms. "Grandfather certainly will thank you for trying, though."

Rufus now looked a bit uncomfortable around himself and chuckled into himself. "Albanus, you are making me feel embarrassed, if you talk like that."

Albanus sighed, but soon chuckled as well. "Lies in the family. We are usually calm and nice, till we have to deal with politics and idiots."

"I guess that's why we are cousins," Gaius commented as he walked past the greeting committee and towards a market stall selling pita with meat, fish, vegetables, and cheese.

Khaba, Lucille, and Crawford meanwhile went off the ship and looked over the men that were there to greet them. Crawford crossed his arms as he looked over the chitons and then over to Gaius, who was wearing his formal tunic and toga. "It is different, but still familiar to Urbulchem," he said and waited for the men to say something.

"Hey, who wants pita?" Gaius called out as he came over with several of the food items on a provisory plate. Even the men from the city just shrugged as everyone took from it.

After everyone had eaten, the horse cleared his throat and now looked back at Albanus. "We prepared rooms for everyone. Single rooms for everyone, except you and Rufus. And the tiger and the lioness."

"Wonderful. Harshad is however a free servant, so be sure to treat him well, while he is bringing our stuff over," Albanus said as he and Rufus gestured the others to follow them.

Pantepoli was, as Lucille and Crawford saw earlier, build in square insulae, which made the city rather easy to navigate through. Soon they entered a large building close to the agora. It was in fact a palace just slightly smaller than the one in Urbulchem.

Khaba was looking around a little before he got off from Lucille, on whose back he was being carried, and looked around himself. "Seems cozy enough. Too bad we do have business to attend to."

"We are enough people to make our move in shifts," Lucille replied to the fruit bat's statement as she took a look into one of the bigger rooms. "So, who wants to go out first?"

Crawford raised his hand and now looked around to see that nobody else was in the mood for the search. "I am doing it solo, it seems."

"You are a lazy bunch," the voice of Harshad called out as he entered the building with a large chest, which he put carefully on the ground, Ayontunde right behind him. "I will help you out, if you want."

Crawford smiled at that offer and walked right out of the building to get things started. Then he realized he got absolutely not enough information and walked right back in. "Where was the blue light being spotted?"

"In between the agora and acropolis," Albanus said as he was moving his eyes to the right while he was remembering the details. "Several buildings are placed there, most of which are simple houses. But make sure to visit the agora and sanctum as well."

Crawford nodded as he run back out again and looked at the hill, where the acropolis and its temples were located. Then he ran back in again, now going towards the chest that Harshad placed there to take out his crossbow and put the string attached to it over his shoulder. Now as he finally had everything with him, he was going right for the acropolis. Many people were walking over the massive temple on the acropolis. Statues of the gods worshipped inside were even visible from the entrance as Crawford passed by. As he stood at the edge, he was looking over the city and looked towards the Agora and the area in between.

"Hey you!" someone yelled at Crawford, who turned around in confusion, just to be punched in the face. "This is sacred ground, barbarian! Leave, or I shall throw you down this hill!" the assailant, a young mouflon, threatened the otter.

Being rather surprised by the attack, Crawford rubbed his cheek where the sheep hit him and held out his hand to form a small sphere of light. "What's the matter with you, moron!"

The mouflon snorted as he walked closer to Crawford to hit the young otter another time, just to be burned by the sphere in his attempt. "Your kind is not welcome here!"

"Yeah, I heard that a lot in Urbulchem already," Crawford replied as he dodged another attack, but stumbled as his lower body couldn't keep up with the speed. "But they remained verbal with their assault."

"As I said, leave this place!" the sheep was now saying in a stern voice as he grabbed Crawford and pushed him towards the street leading up to the acropolis.

Being physically not capable to really defend himself, Crawford now concentrated and focused on the mouflon's body. "You are the one leaving now!" he exclaimed as he swung his arm around and the sheep's body was violently pulled on the street, rolling right into something a hornflincher left there a while ago. "What is just wrong with people sometimes?"

"A lot of things, young lad," a voice close to Crawford said as a hare came up to him and chuckled at the sight of the mouflon wiping the manure out of his face. "People here may be not too eager to meet people from either the North or East. It has to do with the history we have with Sahagab, which tried to invade us centuries ago. Unfortunately, the people of Urbulchem took over that mentality."

Crawford tilted his head to the right and closed his eyes. "And I guess that is why he didn't want me close to the temple? Anyway, I am here to investigate something on order of Imperator Caelius, so did you see something strange a couple of weeks ago?"

The hare nodded. "A blue glowing close to the agora. But, the entire city has seen it, and nobody knows anything. Good luck in finding something, anyway."

"Thanks," Crawford said as he opened his eyes and smiled. "I am going to check out the area and see, if I can find something. Have a nice day!" he said before he left the acropolis and stretched out his tongue to the now stinking mouflon on his way down.

Meanwhile Harshad was dragging Lucille and Khaba out of the palace and walked with them towards the agora. "I have carried all our stuff to the palace, so you two can help with something not requiring to break your backs."

"It's alright, Harsh-ard," Lucille replied between her closed teeth as she was trying to keep up with the large feline, while Khaba was dozing off on her back. "Crawford isn't stupid. He can manage by himself."

"Still no reason to make him do everything himself," the tiger bluntly replied as they entered the agora and looked around for Crawford in the masses of people. Much to their concern however, none of the people, even the otters, were looking anything like Crawford.

"He should be around the agora, rather than in it," Lucille said as she walked back into the streets and looked towards the acropolis. "We should go to the side of the place, which faces the hill."

Harshad thought about this and then stepped onto the street and walked around the agora with Lucille and Khaba. As Lucille suggested, Crawford was already looking around the buildings at the Agora. "Hey, Crawford. Over here!"

Turning around, Crawford nearly dropped a small object, and smiled awkwardly at the others. "So, you decided to come with me after all?"

"Not really, this fuzzy guy," she pointed at Harshad, "forced me to come with him to help you."

With a sigh Crawford went over to Lucille and showed her what he found. "A part of a cheap necklace, made from copper. Not very interesting, but it is a possible evidence."

His sister looked at the chain and tried to imprint the scents on it into her memory. "It's to faint to really make sure, but it would have belonged to a feline. Most likely it would be a female, or foreigner, because of the jewelry."

"Yeah, you got a point," Crawford replied as he took back the necklace fragment. "But, we can try to pay attention on the most similar scent."

Harshad now sighed as he too the necklace and smelled on it himself. "Ah, a cat[4] seems to be the most precise. Definitely female."

The two otters looked blankly at the tiger and then at each other. Lucille was the one to say something, "I must admit, I have not thought you were that good at identifying scents."

"The more you know," Harshad replied with a soft chuckle in his voice as he closed his eyes and sniffed around. It took him a few minutes, but then he opened his eyes and gestured the others to follow him down the streets. He dodged the many people in his way with a lot of ease considering his size, which made it harder for Crawford to keep pace with him and Lucille. Eventually, the tiger stopped at a building and looked at its entrance. "This should be the place."

Crawford now looked at the necklace piece he was holding and stepped closer to the door. He knocked carefully and waited for a few moments, after which a familiar face opened the door.

"Greetings. What business do you seek with my master?" the slave, a fox whose appearance was the same as that of Septimus, said in a tone, which was unnaturally friendly and kind.

Crawford's jaw dropped as he slowly backed off and looked at the fox in front of him. "This, is rather strange. You do look exactly like someone I know. The scent is a bit different, but on its core the same."

"I may have to excuse myself, but I am not sure what you mean," the fox replied as he looked at Harshad and Lucille. "Let me get the mistress. My master is not at home right now."

As soon as they were alone again, Crawford looked at Lucille with his dumbfounded eyes. "Did we find the lost twin of his, or something?"

"Considering the rather low possibility of Septimus being here, maybe," Lucille replied as she rubbed her forehead and peeked into the house.

The mistress, a cat wearing a rather elegant chiton, was now walking towards the door, with her slave following her. "Tychon told me we had visitors. My husband is not at home right now, but I may be able to help you."

"Yes, madam. We did find this," Crawford said as he presented the cat the piece of a necklace he found earlier. "Does it belong to you?"

Now the cat took the string and looked at it with her pupils narrowing as she held it towards the light. "Ah, yes. I was robbed a few weeks earlier. Some thief ripped it off from me and run away. The guards couldn't find him, unfortunately."

"I see. So, did this necklace hold a gem stone in any particular color?" Crawford interrogated a bit further as he looked at the yellow color of the cat's chiton.

"Well, yes. It was a blue gem, which was glowing softly," the cat answered as she tried to remember more details. "The thief was a chamois. Green eyes, heavy set, a head larger than you."

Harshad nodded as he pondered for a little bit. "A chamois is looking similar to a goat, but not entirely. You may have to ask me first, alright."

Crawford and Lucille nodded to the tiger and then Crawford turned to the cat, while he also glanced over to Tychon. "Your slave, he looks exactly like someone we know. Since when has he been in your service?"

"About two months," the small feline replied as she rubbed her forehead. "He does fine work, is overly friendly, and helps me in the household most of the day. Does this apply to the person you know?"

Crawford shook his head. "Nothing matches up, but he may be related or looks like him by coincident."

Now Tychon cleared his throat. "I may have to apologize for this misunderstanding. But, I have been sold to this place from another household in which I served for years. And, I do not have any siblings as far as I know."

"Well, alright. That guy was a pain anyway," Crawford stated as he bowed to the fox and cat. "We are on our way now. In the name of Imperator Caelius we thank you for your cooperation."

"Take care, young man," the cat said before she slowly closed her door and let the trio outside by itself.

Now Harshad was crossing his arms and shook his head. "That Tychon is exactly like Septimus in terms of his physique, but his entire personality is like turned around. Anyway, we may have a clue and have to seek the thief out."

Lucille and Crawford nodded, and now even Khaba was finally opening his eyes and rising his head from Lucille's. "W-hat? Is it lunchtime or dinner, already?"

Gaius was sitting in a chair in his room and waited for someone knocking while he was reading through more and more scriptures about the Old Ones. "Ugh, Minerva, please lend me your wisdom," he said into himself as he put the last book back on his table and threw himself on his bed. "What is it just with all those things?"

"A rather good question," someone said and Gaius rose up to look into the glowing blue eyes of a female goat, whose ebony fur was like the night herself. "The Old Ones. The remnants of a world before the battle of Armageddon."

Gaius rose an eyebrow. "Excuse me, but why in Iuppiter's name are you in my room and talking to me?"

"Guess what it means, if someone enters without a door and talks in an ominous manner, Gaius," the goat replied as throne formed behind her, on which she took place and crossed her legs. "You get high-ranking visit. I am Danica, Queen of Pandemonium."

"Sure, I am certainly in a dream, because I slept in while reading," Gaius replied as he put his head back on his pillow. "So, Queen of Pandewhatever, what do you want?"

"How rude, but I guess I have no right to demand hospitality," Danica replied as she held her right arm to the side, in which a cup of wine was forming from thin air. "So, how do you think your brother is doing?"

"I have no brother," was the response Gaius gave as he turned to the side and covered himself with his blanket. "Now, just get out and leave me alone."

Danica only laughed at the wolf's manner to reply and took a sip from her wine. "The funny thing is, that you are even more correct than you think. After all, he was born to a woman without status and money. What would have been, if your father never took him in? Or if he was completely different?"

"As I said, I have no brother!" Gaius now shouted as he got up from his bed and threw his pillow at Danica, only to have it been incinerated in blue fire before it could reach her.

"Surely. As the Septimus in question has never existed." Now a wicked smile came over Danica's face as she let her cup and throne dissolve to stand up again. "In the end, his regrets pushed him to give up his life to me. And he wished for him to never have been born. Marvelous, as I don't have to think about some drawback for his wish. After all, he already asked for retribution in an absolute form."

"Yeah sure, so why would I remember him, if he was never born to begin with?" Gaius asked as he got up from his bed and stepped over to Danica. "I still clearly remember him talking with those bastards about me shagging a dozen women, so how could it never have happened?"

"Ah, memories. A faulty system to preserve events in your brain, and hardly reliable. To answer your question, the memories remain due to an anomaly. The alteration and manipulation of the timeline leaves some traces, but eventually the more time passes, the more distant those get, till they naturally fade away," Danica explained with her shape slowly fading. "If you want so, I could offer you an amount of information in exchange for your memories of him."

Gaius remained silent for a little as he pondered about the offer of the goat. "Take them and do as you please. I don't even care."

As she was fading away, Danica gave him a last smile and all of the sudden the entirety of the atmosphere changed.

Gaius stumbled a little bit and laid back down on his bed. A moment later he was blinking his eyes a few times and then he took another book of his. "I got it! Adamas, it was located in the Grand Sea in the west, far from the shores of Meresteria," he said to himself as he got up again and walked out of his room. "Heureka! Heureka!"

"Is something?" Albanus, who peeked out of his room, asked his euphoric cousin. "You got excited all of the sudden."

"Um, well. I found out something crucial just now. The position of Adamas was far out in the sea, meaning that the origin of the gems lies there," Gaius explained with a big grin. "So, how are you and Rufus doing right now?"

Albanus chuckled softly at that question. "Fine, certainly very fine indeed. He is sleeping like a stone. In any case, Ayontunde has been resting in her and Harshad's room as well, while the others are still out."

"I see. Not a problem, I need to form an explanation for an easy understanding of what this information means, anyway." Gaius now took a deep breath and smiled softly. "Well, while we are here, I may as well take a walk through the city."

With a nod Albanus turned around and leaned against the doorframe.

"Since Harshad and Ayontunde are not really able to, we will order some food to us from the agora later on."

"Sure thing," Gaius replied as he walked out of the house and stretched his limbs as he breathed in the air. With a lot of regret as the wave of scents really gave him a headache. It took him a few minutes to get used to it, while he was wandering around the streets towards the agora of Pantepoli. In all this however he was a bit absent-minded. Not noticing the people around him, he felt how someone ran into him and stumbled to the ground. "Oh great Iuppiter, are you okay?"

The man, a rather lean fox dressed in a simple loincloth, rose quickly up and grabbed the basket he had with him from the ground. "I am. Thanks for your concerns however," he said in a gentle tone, which had almost something silken to it. "I must excuse myself, but my master wishes his dinner to be prepared."

"Yeah, sorry for the delay," Gaius replied as he scratched his head and looked around the agora. "I am looking for two otters, a tiger, and a fruit bat. Have you seen them?"

"Oh yes, they asked about the necklace of my mistress," the fox explained as he was about to go further to the market stalls and gestured Gaius to follow him. "My mistress was robbed by a chamois a few weeks ago, so they might be looking for that thief right now. Not sure, if they can find him in this large city, but I sure hope so."

"Considering their usual feats, this should take them two hours at worst," Gaius replied as they got to a stall that was selling meat and fish.

Tychon pointed at the things he wanted and buy and then turned back to the wolf at his side. "I do wonder, she had that fruit bat on her back, so she does fit what I heard from the woman that apparently saved our emperor from his demise."

"Well, our family already had a loss with the passing of my father," Gaius said calmly as he took the basket to take the burden of Tychon on himself. "I was in Bijulac while it happened, and I immediately got noticed by," he now stopped as his memory went fuzzy for a moment. "It was Horatio, a friend of my father. Not the nicest guy, but in all honesty, but he does help out his friends."

Now the fox smiled as they reached the house of his master, and took the basket from Gaius in a bit of hesitation. "You know, I have an odd feeling right now. Did you maybe come to this city before?"

"No, not until now anyway," the wolf answered truthfully as Tychon opened the door and the two went in, the mistress already waiting for them. "Greetings, I am Gaius and I belong to the few people that came here earlier."

The cat's tail moved a little bit to the side as she observed the wolf. "Ah, I see. They have been here a short while ago and we told them all we know."

"So, basically they are now looking for the gem," Gaius concluded with an analytical tone. "Okay, I guess that I may should use my time to learn more about the gemstone."

"Surely," the mistress replied as she moved towards to chairs for them to sit on. "Ask me anything you need to know."

"For example how did you get into possession of the gem in the first place? Family heirloom, present, et cetera," Gaius asked as he looked around the rather well furnished house.

The cat's tail swished a little bit as she answered, "It has been an heirloom of my husband's family, for longer than even he knows. They belonged to the treasures of Rayot however, thus I do wonder if their origin may have something more sinister to them."

With a sigh Gaius looked over to Tychon. "I fear that you are lucky to be without it. My father was murdered because of another of those gems."

"I am sorry to hear. But, I guess in that case I hope your friends will be okay," the cat said as she got up from her chair and walked over to a small table on which a vial of potion was put. "Tychon, I would like you to accompany Gaius to look for them."

"Very well," the fox answered as he helped the wolf up and went outside with him. "So, Gaius, what can you tell me about yourself?"

The wolf snickered a little bit as he put an arm over Tychon's shoulder and pulled the fox closer to himself. "That's going to fill the time till we find our troublemakers."

Lucille, Crawford, Harshad, and Khaba now stood outside a building further outside the actual city, a dirty tavern in which several people entered and left without even noticing them.

"Finally a place that has some fun to it," Lucille said as she entered, with Khaba's expression being frozen in terror and looking pleadingly at Harshad and Crawford.

The tiger chuckled a little bit as he and Crawford followed them into the building. Much to their dismay as the smells were anything but pleasant for them. "So, we get that guy, interrogate him, and hopefully bathe afterward."

"Surely," Lucille said as she went over to a table on which several people, including a chamois, were sitting and drinking with each other. "Hey, you!" She pointed at the chamois. "Come outside, now!"

All the men on the table were laughing at that demand, till Lucille grabbed two of them and hit their heads hard enough on the table to knock them out. The chamois gulped and stood up reluctantly, eyeing the big tiger standing behind her, and gesturing the remaining men to keep quiet. As they got outside he scratched his horned head and looked with worry at her. "Listen, I do have the money, but I hid it in a safe location."

"I have no interest in your money," she replied coldly as she stepped closer. Despite being smaller, she still intimidated the chamois enough to make him tumble over. "Where is the gem you stole several weeks ago?"

Now the chamois rose an eyebrow. "That old thing? Sold it for the before mentioned money. To a wolf that seemed interested in it. He is a merchant at the harbor, his name is Gilad, he is a fat old man, but got a good personality."

"Okay, and if anything of this is false, even the comment on his weight, I am coming back for you. And trust me, if I do, you wish to have lived an honest life," Lucille replied before she turned around with the others and smiled. "Okay, now that this is settled, we may should see, if we can track that gem down to some specific place." With the new information in mind the three left the dirty area of the chora[5] and went back through the city gates towards the harbor.

"So, we have to find a wolf with a noticeable body weight and of a higher age," Khaba said as he looked around a little bit to make out the different locations. "Over there, maybe?"

"Smells like wolf at least," Harshad said as they walked over to the building which they suspected Gilad to be in.

Much to their surprise, there was a wolf inside, but he was much younger and had an athletic build instead. "Ah, customers. What can I do for you?"

"Um, we were looking for a man named Gilad, but I think we are wrong," Crawford said they were about to turn around.

The wolf however perked up as he opened the door and called something in a foreign language. A moment later an older wolf with a noticeable belly under his robe entered and greeted everyone with a smile. "I am sorry, what can I do for you?"

"Well, some guy sold you a glowing gem a few weeks ago, correct?" Lucille asked with a calm tone in her voice. "It is rather important that we get it, so we pay any price for it."

"A gem you say, well," the wolf chuckled nervously. "I sold it to someone from Altradia. A fruit bat, like the little fella you got there on your back."

"That is limiting it to a species, but is there anything else," Lucille now asked as she patted Khaba's head with her right hand. "A name, a title, a profession, anything really?"

"Well, try to determine the clothing of bats, their anatomy makes it difficult without servants of their own, so he was definitely wealthy enough to have slaves," Gilad told as he now looked over Khaba and also took in his scent. "And, I would say that there is a certain resemblance to your young friend here."

Now Khaba was chuckling nervously. "I am a fruit bat, so that seems plausible," he said before his expression turned darker. "Tell me more about him, if you can."

"Well, I wouldn't say it for sure, but he intended it to be for his son," Gilad said with a weak smile. "I wouldn't claim anything yet, young boy. You should just forget about what I said."

"It has been spilled, so whatever," Khaba replied with a grim expression. "Where exactly to Altradia would he have gone?"

The merchant rubbed his head and shook his head. "I can only guess he would have gone to one of the harbor cities first, but else I have no other idea. Kanokratis, Xandros, and Amuna, one of those would be a good starting point."

"Alright, I think that will be all the information we need," Lucille said as she walked outside, with Khaba lying his head on hers to ponder. "We may just ask around the harbor to get the exact location. Maybe we even get a name out if this."

Harshad and Crawford soon followed them outside and the tiger was rubbing his chin a little bit. "I may need to check on Ayontunde, since she is carrying our child. I am actually sure that you can handle yourselves just fine," he said before he dashed off towards the direction of the palace.

Crawford meanwhile crossed his arms and glanced around to look for someone that might know something. "Hey, I think that guy over there looks like a scribe. We should ask him." Before even waiting for an agreement he run towards the man, a young spotted hyena dressed in a rather simple chiton, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but we do need to find a fruit bat from Altradia. Do you have an information on him?"

The hyena's ears moved a bit to the side and back. "Well, fruit bats do appear once in a while," he now took a scroll he was carrying in a bag and opened it to see the details on it. "How much do you pay for the information on every male fruit bat that sailed to Altradia?"

Crawford now pulled out a sizable bag of silver coins from a pouch in his tunic. "Enough to make you eat like a king."

"Within the past four weeks three fruit bats went on ships to Altradia. One of them was of nobility, the others slaves that have been freed and decided to go back to their home," the hyena explained as he closed the scroll and took the bag from Crawford. "Considering the probabilities of whom you are looking for, they all went to Xandros. The nobleman about two weeks and three days ago, the other two three weeks and six days."

"We need the name of the nobleman," Crawford said as he now looked over to Lucille and Khaba to give them a wink.

"Rahotep," the scribe said bluntly as he took a look over to Khaba. "Say, by any chance, does this young man belong to him?"

"It is a possibility," Khaba replied for himself as he got off the back of Lucille and walked closer to the hyena. "A man dropped that I had similarities to him and I have become curious. So, Rahotep you say."

"I see," the scribe said as he stashed the money into his bag and scratched his ears. "You need any information on him?"

"He is, old to say the least," Khaba stated as he shook his head. "And former member of the royal court of Altradia, as I heard from the streets. That wolf probably just thought we were related because we are both from the same species."

"Well, then I am sorry," the scribe replied as he pulled out the coin bag again and presented it to Crawford.

He however pressed the bag firmly into the hyena's hand and smiled. "We do need to know his location anyway. But, we have to ask you to remain silent about him."

"Can do," the scribe replied as he returned back to his duties and left them be to discuss the current situation.

"So, we have a name, a location, and a goal," Crawford stated as he looked at the ships around them. "We should return to the palace and help with dinner."

Gaius and Tychon were returning to the house of the fox's master and looking both rather exhausted. With a sigh Gaius scratched his head and looked at Tychon. "Sorry for dragging you around the entire place for nothing. They are probably back at our place by now."

"Ah, it is alright," the fox replied with a coy smile. "It is not like there is much to do, so it was at least killing some time."

"If you say so, Tychon." The wolf now gave Tychon a clap on they should and turned around. "Was nice having you around. Take good care."

"A personal opinion, if the gems originate from Adamas and come in certain colors, perhaps there is something to it." Tychon waved to Gaius as the wolf was now departing his master's property and went inside to tend to his master and mistress.

The way back to the house Gaius was pondering a bit more focused on the issues at hand. "Adamas, the gems, shining colors, all parts of something," he stopped suddenly and a stream of thoughts went through his head, as if a bolt of enlightment hit him. "Heureka. The colors of light, added together they make two sets that will result in white and black. It results in two entities at total. Two parts, which have to be connected. Like limbs on a torso." While he was talking to himself, Gaius almost hit the door as he reached the palace and entered in excitement. "Guys, I realized something!"

It took a few seconds for someone to come to the door, and it was Ayontunde, who was gesturing Gaius that she would be listening.

"So, I guess that the others will be here soon," he said without anyone else seeming to come. He sighed in despair and then shook his head. "The gems form two categories, three colors for each. If put together either would be make up the color white."

The lioness gave him a nod as used her sign language to say that she would like to know what he thinks further on the subject matter.

"Three parts combine to a larger part, which is then put together with its counterpart. Which means, that with the third gem alone there would be," now Gaius excited expression faded as he realized the meaning of that theory. "Why I am I excited about this, with three gems already making up a functional half it would be even easier for Seleukos to achieve his goals."

Ayontunde now signaled that she understood the severity of the situation and then turned around to go into the kitchen to drag Harshad out of it, with Lucille, Crawford, and Khaba following.

"Well, I theorized a little bit. And it would appear to me that if you had blue, green and red you would get white light. Yellow, magenta, and cyan result in the color black however," Gaius explained in one go. "So, you are basically having two groups within the big category."

"So, you are saying that they literally form a light and a dark group, correct?" Lucille concluded as she shook her head. "I do know the notion of light being good and black being evil, but it would seem both is bad."

"Well, I was not going to apply a black and white ideology in this, but rather wanted to showcase the real danger. Only three gems, although specific ones, are needed to make whatever they result as in the end," Gaius explained as sat down on the ground and put his head back to catch a breath. "So, to keep it short, we are screwed, if they get the blue gem as well, if they also get the green one."

"Ah, speaking of which, we found out who has the blue gem," Crawford now intervened with a sly smile. "And it is a trip to Altradia, to look for a certain Rahotep."

"Which one? That name is still pretty popular," Gaius said as he got up from the ground again and rubbed his forehead. "Anything specific about him?"

"He apparently smells similar to Khaba and went to Xandros," Lucille said as he leaned forward to make the small fruit bat stand out a little bit more from her back.

It made the wolf chuckle a bit and replied, "He used to be a scribe at the court of Altradia, before it dissolved. An old man, so I guess he is not traveling that much anymore. His house is in Xandros, so we should go there."

"Okay, now that is done," Crawford said as he looked over to Lucille, Khaba, and Harshad. "We saw a fox named Tychon today. And he,"

"I already met him coincidentally today, so I know him. Very nice guy, patient, and also rather smart," Gaius replied before the young otter could finish his sentence.

"Well, don't you think he looked very much like Septimus?" Crawford asked carefully as he feared he could trigger something.

However, all that Gaius did was looking confused and reply, "Septimus? I do know a few random people by that name, but they are not even foxes."

"Wait, what?" Lucille now said in a mix of disbelief and annoyance. "Septimus, the guy that you made pee in his toga, because he was the biggest jerk in the entire world."

"Uh, um." Being completely dumbfounded Gaius looked at Harshad with a questioning expression. "I have absolutely no idea what she is talking about."

"Gaius, you remember your stepbrother Septimus, don't you?" the tiger asked as he looked over to the door leading to the bedroom of Albanus and Rufus. He quickly went there and opened the door, just to shut it down again and blush. "I am sorry, I forgot to knock!" he exclaimed and went back to the others. "Anyway, Septimus also talked recently to your cousin Albanus and the emperor as well, so they must also remember him. But, you don't remember him, do you?"

"I guess? Else you are all trying to fool me into something, which I doubt you would be doing," the wolf replied as he sank down his forehead into his hand. "But if he is my stepbrother, then I would remember him. Ah, whatever, we deal with that later on."

"But he is, you know what, I envy you for having him out of your head," Crawford said with a chuckle before he turned backwards and back into the kitchen, the others soon following.

Now Gaius was simply standing there by himself and pondering, till he decided that for today he had enough and may as well and went into his own room to get some rest before dinner.

"How interesting. You have kept their memories intact after he asked for you to remove them from him. I am usually not a fan of amnesia stories, but this seems like an interesting way to be a devil, Danica," Yishai complimented the ebony-furred goat with a clap of his hands.

"Well, you meanwhile pulled on the strings of several actors as well," Danica replied as she took a sip from her wineglass. "Everything is falling together just nicely."

"I do wonder what Asbjörn got in mind for Aldric, Vidar, Leofwine, and their new companion Völundr," the polar fox stated as he held out his hand and formed a sphere above it. "Things evolve perfectly."

---

[1]Insulae is the plural of Insula, which refers to a city block.

[2]The Greek equivalent of a Forum, which serves as the center of the regular public life.

[3]Chitons are a form of traditional clothing in Ancient Greece and may appear in a variety of forms for both genders.

[4] This exclusively means wildcats, as domesticated cats simply can't exist in this world.

[5]The surrounding area of a Greek Polis