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This story takes place the day after #007 What Tomorrow Brings.

The last patron stumbled toward the door, Ameena steadied him with a practiced hand on his elbow. Gorgo was a good sort, an elderly hordeling cheesemaker whose shop had been rebuilt just two streets over. Although he'd celebrated the district's reopening a bit too enthusiastically tonight...

"Easy now, Gorgo," she said warmly, guiding him through the doorway.

Gorgo paused, swaying slightly, his eyes catching the glint of lamplight on her necklace. The sunburst pendant shimmered in the warm tavern light, the amber stone seeming to glow. "That's real fine work," he said, his words only a little slurred. "Real fine craftsmanship."

"Leander made it for me." Ameena touched the pendant with a small smile.

Gorgo turned back toward the bar, spotting Leander, and gave him an enormous thumbs up and a wide grin. "Good man!" he called out before lumbering into the night.

Ameena waved him off and closed the door. His shop opened up yesterday, gotta remember to buy some cheese tomorrow. She turned back to find Leander sitting at the bar, his back to the entrance, staring down at nothing in particular.

Ameena grabbed a rag and started wiping down the counter. "Phew, that was busy!"

"Mm-hmm."

Ameena glanced up. He wasn't really listening.

"Love?"

He shifted slightly. "I thought... I don't know. I guess I hoped Tayleon would've shown up today."

"For the opening?"

"It's been months since his last letter." Leander's fingers drummed against the bar. "I keep wondering if he's okay."

Ameena set down the rag and moved closer. "Tayleon's smart. And free-spirited. He'll turn up when you least expect it. You know how he is."

"That's what worries me. His last letter mentioned he had to quit his... 'gig' in Felisara, and I just..."

Ameena caught the way his expression soured slightly, the air quotes he made with his fingers around the word gig.

"Leander..." she said gently.

"He's always been so..." Leander ran a hand through his hair. Maybe I should have convinced him to quit that line of work. Maybe if I'd pushed harder...

"Independent?" Ameena offered.

"Reckless." Leander retorted, though there was still affection in his tone.

"He never thinks things through. Just jumps headfirst into whatever catches his interest. I'm worried he's going to get himself into something he can't handle."

"You mean like you did at his age?"

Leander looked up at her. "That was different."

"Was it?" Ameena leaned against the bar. "Tayleon wants to live his own life, just like you did. You left home early, did everything yourself..."

"Yes, but he didn't have to. I offered him the gold for the Leonopolis College of Arts!" Leander's frustration finally broke through. "It was his passion to go there, Ameena. All he had to do was take it. He's my little brother. I'm supposed to look out for him."

Ameena reached across and took Leander's hand. "That's exactly why he didn't take it. He wants to earn that himself. You know Tayleon. He's always been that way."

Movement outside the window caught Ameena's eye. A face. Dirty blond hair. A familiar grin and a wave. Her heart skipped and she had to suppress the smile threatening to break across her face. Oh, you little sneak. I know exactly what you're up to.

"Maybe you're right..." Leander said quietly. "But I still wish he'd visit, or at least write back. Just so I know that he's alright."

Ameena reached for a bottle of whiskey and poured a glass. "Here... To ease your nerves."

"I shouldn't be drinking the inventory."

"After today?" She slid it toward him. "You've earned it."

Ameena lifted the bottle to her lips and took a swig straight from it. Leander watched her, a faint smile crossing his face despite his worry. Unapologetically herself. That's what she'd always been. After ten years, he still couldn't take his eyes off her...

Ameena set the bottle down and caught his look, and responded with a smirk. "What?"

"Nothing." His smile softened. "No... Everything."

Leander took the glass but didn't drink, just stared into it. His mind drifted back to a spring afternoon years ago, teaching Tayleon to skip rocks across the lake. The kid had been maybe ten, all gangly limbs and impatience. It had taken forever before he'd managed to get one to bounce even twice.

"Did you see that?! Did you see? Three skips!"

"Not bad, Pebble. Try again. Keep your wrist loose."

"I am keeping it loose!"

Leander smiled faintly at the memory. "Where did the time go?"

At the window, Ameena caught the face again, the wave more insistent now. Alright, alright. She turned casually toward the door. "I'm going to lock up."

"Yes... Good idea," Leander murmured, not looking up.

She walked to the entrance and flipped the sign to CLOSED, then cracked the door open just enough for someone to slip through...

He was thinner than she remembered, and there was something different in his eyes, but that mischievous smile was exactly the same. He pressed a finger to his lips. Ameena had to bite back a laugh. As the young man crept closer to the bar, Ameena moved back around the counter.

"What are you thinking about?"

Leander lifted his head slightly. "Just... I wish he were here."

He glanced up at her, saw the smile she was trying to hide, and his brow furrowed.

"Miss me that much?"

Leander spun so fast he toppled backward off the stool, hitting the floor with a crash. "Pebble!? What the... Tayleon!?"

Ameena burst out laughing.

Tayleon stood there with his hand extended, grinning.

"And here I thought you'd be happy to see me."

Leander grabbed it and hauled himself up, then immediately pulled his brother into a crushing hug. "You're insufferable..."

Leander's hand moved across Tayleon's back and felt it, the ridge of a scar under his shirt, running across his shoulder blade.

He got hurt. When? How badly? What happened?

Leander's grip tightened, but he swallowed the questions. Not yet. Not now.

"Couldn't miss this, could I?" Tayleon said when they finally pulled apart.

"Well, we're closed," Ameena said, though her eyes were warm.

"At this hour I'd normally still be working."

"Speaking of which—" Leander jumped in, perhaps a bit too quickly, steering away from the uncomfortable topic. "The opening went better than we expected. Half the district came through. We ran out of the honey mead by midday."

"That's wonderful!" Tayleon's grin widened.

"Are you hungry?" Ameena was already moving toward the kitchen. "I can heat up some stew..."

"I already ate, but thank you for the kindness." Tayleon rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry I'm late. That carriage ride from Felisara had to detour because of an elemental sandstorm."

"This close to Leonopolis?" Leander frowned.

Ameena went very still, suddenly focused on a spot on the bar that didn't need wiping. Tayleon noticed. His eyes flicked between them, but he didn't press.

"So where's Vita? Asleep already?" A pause. Just a beat too long.

"Uh... She's not here," Ameena said carefully. "She left to Costa Del Rugido. Studying magic with, uh... an old friend of mine"

Leander's head turned sharply, and for a moment something complicated passed across his face.

"That's good!" Tayleon said slowly. "Magic's a good opportunity." He paused, watching them both. "Though I still remember when she set my favorite shemagh on fire. Accidentally, she claimed." He grinned.

"So maybe it's good she's getting proper training." Ameena's smile was too tight. Leander was looking at her like he had something to say but wasn't sure how.

"So... An old friend of you, huh?" Tayleon raised an eyebrow as he spotted the whiskey on the counter. "That's a very diplomatic way of putting... whatever that is."

He leaned against the bar. "Is this one of those things where I'm not supposed to ask questions, or one of those stories where you'll tell me later when you've had enough whiskey?"

Despite the tension, Ameena laughed, a real one this time. "The second one, maybe."

"Fair enough." Tayleon settled onto a stool.

"I've got stories too, if we're sharing. Like, did I mention the carriage detour wasn't just because of the storm? There was a massive earthquake that split the main road, and I mean split it. A fissure you could drop a house into. We had to go through this tiny village where, I'm not kidding, they tried to sell me a lucky chicken. A live chicken. For protection against the tremors. As if a chicken would help!"

"Did you buy it?" Leander asked, grateful for the shift in conversation.

"Obviously not. But the innkeeper's daughter tried very hard to convince me it was a rare breed that could predict the tremors." Tayleon's grin widened. "She also tried very hard to convince me to stay an extra night, tremor-predicting chicken included."

"And did you?" Ameena asked, pouring him a drink.

"Heh, I'm here, aren't I?" Tayleon took the glass. "Though I will say, the journey from Felisara has been... interesting.

"There was this whole situation in Colmillo with a merchant who swore I'd sold him cursed dice, which I absolutely did not, and then there was this performer in Garra Vieja who claimed I stole his signature move. His signature move was a basic pirouette. A pirouette! Like he invented spinning."

He took a sip and grinned. "Though to be fair, I do make it look a lot better. Especially without the shirt." Ameena snorted into her drink, shaking her head with a laugh.

Leander smiled and nodded, but his mind kept drifting back to that scar. The ridge of it under his fingers, the way Tayleon had tensed for just a fraction of a second when he'd touched it. Should I ask? What if he doesn't want to talk about it?

"And so I told him, 'If you can claim spinning, then I can claim breathing,' and you should have seen his face..." Tayleon was gesturing animatedly now, his whole body moving with the story.

What if he got hurt? Really hurt? What if something happened in Felisara that he's not telling us? Leander's fingers tightened around his glass. But what if asking makes him leave? What if pushing drives him away again?

"Brother? You still with us?" Tayleon waved a hand in front of Leander's face.

Leander blinked, refocusing. "Uh... Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you'd ever seen a man try to juggle fish. Live fish."

"Uh. Can't say that I have."

"Well, let me tell you about the festival in Colmillo..." Tayleon launched into another tale, and despite everything, the worry, the questions, the scar, Leander felt something warm settle in his chest.

He's here. He's safe. He's telling ridiculous stories like he always does.

Leander leaned back slightly, watching his brother's animated gestures, listening to the familiar cadence of his voice. Maybe that's enough for now. Maybe I can just listen. I could listen for hours to his wild tales.

"And that's when the goat ate his hat," Tayleon finished with a flourish.

"The goat ate his hat...?" Ameena repeated flatly.

"The entire hat. Feather and all!"

Leander found himself genuinely smiling now, the worry still there but pushed back by something stronger—gratitude. Tayleon was here. Whatever had happened, whatever that scar meant, his little brother had come back.

"I think tomorrow will be different," he'd told Ameena last night, trying to ease her fears about Vita. "And after everything you've been through, different might be exactly what you need."

He'd said those words to comfort her, to help her trust in what was coming. But sitting here now, listening to Tayleon's ridiculous stories, watching Ameena laugh—really laugh—Leander realized tomorrow had brought something different for him too.

His brother, alive and whole enough to tell stories about goats and chickens and tremor-predicting innkeepers' daughters.

Tomorrow brought him back, Leander thought, his hand unconsciously moving to where he'd felt that scar. Maybe that's enough. Maybe that's more than enough.