The were down by the docks, a pleasant breeze was coming off of Sanctuary Lake and Keto had been busying herself taking in the murmur of conversations around her.  Her eyes curiously darted about, picking up a piece of conversation, a little as a bit of body language, and wondering what stories were playing out.  A hand that tucked a strand of hair away as a couple talked, smiles on their faces.  A pair stood by the railing of the docks, watching the water with their shoulders touching.  Across the way she had a view through an open window as a baker worked his craft. They weren’t all upbeat but they were the ones that Keto had chosen to follow.

Quartes on the other hand was like the couple on the docks, his pale gaze looking out over the water.  He sipped tea and looked at nothing.  Keto knew that look, knew that it really meant that he was somewhere else.  Travelling with him had taught her that when he appeared to be looking at nothing he was really back in some thought.  She wondered how many iterations of this very view he had, which then led to a different thought.

“I have a question,” she announced.  She watched Quartes as she said it, a slight smile on her lips as she saw him blink, his pupil-less gaze refocus, or as best as she could tell, that hard edge crept back in around his eyes, and then look at her.  In the past that hard edge would’ve expanded in stern or concern. Now Quartes wore a slight smile of his own.

“What would that be?”

“What was it like seeing this place,” at which point Keto gestured about them, “or really the whole of the Provinces built up into what it is now?”  Quartes gave his own quick glance about as Keto continued, “This was just a light tower back in the day.”

“It was a ruin of a tower when Verken and Julie settled here after we defeated the Dragon.  Had been a ruin as long as I had known it.”  He leaned forward, scarred hands cupping his tea, as he looked at Keto.  “It was more than just the five of us that fought the Dragon on this lake.  When we were done all those people needed a place to go.”

“You didn’t want to found a city with them?” Keto asked.  She had withdrawn her scrol lcase and paused from inking her quill to point it at him with mock accusation.

“No,” Quartes responded lightly as he rolled into the story.  “Reznor and his crews sailed away, Migin and Verken weren’t yet done and I went with them to the mountain and ruin that is now Migin’s city.  Verken though, he was older and he was ready to be done with his adventure.”  Quartes leaned back, releasing his tea and looked back over the lake.  “This is where he had first escaped the Dragon’s rule and later led people in taking back their lives.  For all those hardships, I think this lake still felt like home to him and so he returned and rebuilt that tower.”  Quartes blinked, leaving a memory behind and looked back to Keto.  “Those that were also ready to be done with fighting found comfort in settling down both in the familiar and in the presence of a hero.  So, a town built up around him.”

“People built up their own towers?”

“No,” Quartes shook his head, “it was just homes for a while.  First time I saw a new tower here was after Verken had passed, around the same time they had stopped calling it ‘Verken’s’ and just Verken.  Some controversy about it but in time it became the fashion of the city.”

“Best Koric had to claim growing up was that the streets were straight.”  Quartes’ head shifted side to side in response.  “What?”

“Always seems nice to me, like it would be easy to remember how to get around.”

“I can remember how to get around someplace like Verken just fine,” Keto responded but Quartes’ gaze had returned to the water, a hint of a smile on his features.  “I’ve only gotten us loss the once,” the landian didn’t respond, didn’t so much as move.  “You’re memory is very annoying sometimes.”  She joined him looking out over the lake, her own smile hiding as she took a sip of her tea.  “What’s it like seeing that change?”

“Why would you think I experience change any different that you do?”

Keto looked back to him, went to respond and then paused.  “I guess that’s true, it’s all seeing the old give way to something new.”

“I may notice a bit more, and I’ve seen plenty, but it’s not like my life has been built on anything unchanging,” he picked back up his mug.  “Even the Cycles are a process of change.”

“You remember what it was like before better,” Keto tried to explain, sorting her own thoughts on the topic.  “I see a change and eventually it becomes the norm, the differences smooth out and fade away.  I may remember that it maybe was once different but often only in a vague way or I might forget.” Keto’s brow furrowed as she thought through what she had just said. “That make sense?”

Quartes rocked his head side to side again.  “There’s a seam on your pack that frayed three days ago.  Two visits ago there was a bakery down the road that is gone this time, closed up as far as I can tell.  There hasn’t been a tower built in over a decade, and the foundations of three are showing cracks that have grown over the last four years.”

“Showing off?”

Quartes smile grew for a moment as he shook his head.  “It’s all just…details.  I’m used to noting them, deciding if its useful or if I need to be worried or do something about it, and then that’s it.  It’s not the details that matter, but rather the story.”  Quartes gestured to the other porches and balconies about them.  “The details, or at least some of them, helped make the story of the safety and…” he paused to search for a word, “life that has grown here in the Provinces.  That’s been what has been beautiful to see change.”

“So,” Keto answered with just a hint of mock slowness, “you’re saying the best part of the change is that you can have a cup of tea with me?”  She watched him shake his head even as he stifled a laugh.

“Yes,” Quartes responded after reclaiming some of his stern stare.

“Even with the questions?”

“I’d consider them a key sign of the changes that have happened,” he shifted again to bring that strange gaze back around, “and I’d like to see how they end.”