Cerys gave him a long stare, loaded with all the displeasure of a teenager being told that the internet was down and that it would be necessary to conduct research the old-fashion way: on foot, hunting down books, searching through them for bit of information. She would do it, she had to do it, but there was no way that anybody would be able to make her like doing it.

“Fine,” she grumbled, the same way that she would to her mother.

“James,” Himeko said, changing the subject so as not to linger on her friend’s feelings, “what is this about you not being able to come with us?”

“You understand why my father cannot go, but it is the same for me,” he told her. “I cannot be seen traveling beyond our barony. In truth, I should not even be seen at the border. Nobody outside of the Barony of Carawick should know that you travel at our behest. It will be safer for you that way.”

“Again with the danger,” Peter scoffed.

“I say it like that,” James added, “but you will actually be quite safe most of the time. You all have the powers that you signed up for when you created your character sheets. Archery, special abilities granted by playing music, magic, and even,” he looked to Himeko and he said the next part, “the strength to wield your great-axe in the name of the dwarven gods.”

“What about the geography of this place?” Peter asked. “Even if you give us maps, we know nothing about Summerlay. You might as well be asking a kindergartener to go to the castle.”

“You are asking too many questions!” Cerys told him.

“As he should be,” Lexavier told her. “Have no doubt that we have already thought this through. You will have a guide. We have made arrangements for him to meet you in the first village you will come to after leaving Carawick.”

“That should not be too difficult,” Cerys noted as she thought over the situation. “It’s just the distance to one village.”

“Says the girl who takes two hours to get home from the park,” Peter chided.

“I went to Himeko’s house first!” She reminded him, jumping to defend herself. “Or have you forgotten already?”

Peter only shrugged.

Then, before he could say anything else, there was a herald in the doorway. When everyone looked to him, he cleared his throat and said, “Announcing Her Grace, the Lady Elyse, Baroness of Carawick, and the most noble mage, Wizard Mannick of the Southern Hills.”