A breeze swept across the terrace.
Ruger paused. For a moment, he could not see Varin anywhere, but he merely raised an eyebrow.
Everyone had their own considerations and their own choices.
Good and bad were sometimes difficult to judge. Even within Wizard Families, some people stayed true to themselves and paid no heed to anything else, yet could still reach the Fourth Ring or even higher.
With that thought, Ruger started walking again.
"Lord Ruger, we've been waiting quite a while for you. It seems the Vango Family's Library was satisfactory," Varin called out.
Her head poked out from behind Mahama's broad shoulders, which had been blocking her from view.
She opened the door for Ruger, greeting him just as he stepped into the carriage.
The carriage rose into the air.
Ruger glanced around the carriage. Wizard Jillian sat quietly to one side. Her eyes lit up the instant she saw him, as though she had something to say, but she held herself back with considerable effort.
As the carriage departed, Ruger discreetly glanced out the window, but saw no sign of Family Head Phyllis. Apparently, the younger sister who headed the family had no intention of seeing her elder sister off.
As had been said before, a Wizard's time was a luxury, yet also something they could squander. In theory, their long lives gave friends and relatives countless opportunities to meet again, but sometimes a parting became their last encounter. A minor accident, becoming trapped somewhere unusual, a lengthy experiment, or something that absorbed them completely-when they finally looked up again after losing track of time, someone connected to them on the other side of the world might already be gone, reduced to a speck of dust in the vast Underground Caverns.
Mahama took out five ordinary rearing