Amid the rise and fall of the waves, Ruger let out a long breath, opened his eyes, and looked around.
The magic stones were still sitting there, adding yet more weight to the already damaged floor. They were unlikely to go missing over these few days, so he had been in no hurry to put them away. Now, however, out of consideration for Lord Mahama's precious floor, he stood up and stretched as he walked over, putting the large, stacked magic stones into his Elbow-Scale Storage Space.
He wandered around, then raised a foot and stamped hard on the floor.
There had been no further movement from this thing over the past few days, so it probably would not react again. As he had suspected, everything would have to wait for Barry Danton to control it, for the moment when that event truly arrived. Ruger had originally intended to see what further changes occurred naturally and use them to deduce what Barry was planning. Now it seemed that staying here amounted to nothing more than mourning poor Mahama.
He made another circuit, found a rather nice tea set in a corner of the ruins, and casually put it into his storage space.
A light ripple of magic spread.
Searing feathers covered his black Nightmare Wings. With Scorching Wings cast, he moved lightly and flew toward his own island.
He would put that tea set to good use. Its patterns were beautiful, and one glance was enough to tell it was expensive. Aisijin and Tuzel would probably like it. Since it had not shattered in the ruins, it must have been waiting for him.
As he pondered, he swayed from side to side, enjoying the wonder of flight. It was a sensation unimaginable to creatures that had kept their feet on