He nods, then huffs a tired laugh, "He hasn't tried, since. I'm useful to Gael - even if he doesn't approve of Gael's priorities, he does want him to be king. And I'm the obvious person to station his grandsons with, and he knows I will keep them safe and train them well. He likes me where I am, now that I'm out of the way of his ambitions to see one of my brothers on the throne." 

Jaim hates this fact, actually, just... he doesn't hate it more than he wants to help Gael. 

"Thank you, though." 

"How do your brothers feel about this individual?"

"Oh, they dislike him to greater or lesser extents. Gael finds it very annoying that it's necessary for him to work with Tain, Ilek hates how cruel and manipulative he is, he makes Rial uncomfortable. His pride in them and ambitions for them makes all of them uncomfortable."

"Gael does wish for a way to neutralise him without killing him, once the coup goes through and we start making changes. We're just not sure that will be possible." 

"Can't say I can think of any. Or at least not any that doesn't involve political knowledge I am not aware of or end scenarios that might be not that more preferable to death."

"By which I mean, that he might prefer to die than to be kept in exile somewhere remote in my world. The type has the tendencies."

"I suspect you're right about that," he agrees. "His power is his life's work. He would hate to live without it." 

"We will have to deal with him, however, whether Gael ascends the throne the traditional way or through a coup. He will move on to Ilek and Rial if he finds Gael's views too different, and that he is too uncontrollable as king."

Nod. "And if he has access to my- my world kind of immortality he will try to keep at it forever. Effectively, he will be eliminated quite quickly, since we already have cultural experience with the sort."

"Alright. But, for now, until we can travel worlds and you have less to worry about when it comes to assassins... What will you do?"  

"...We could move the City to another place before we raise it," Wanderer suggests. "It will be harder, and take longer, and I think you'll need more mana to do it than you have right now. But if they don't know the City exists, you'll have a bit more time before he tries to hurt you, right?" 

"I wouldn't mind that. The main problem is the entrance to this world is nearby, but that's not as important as survival. And it would be great to have more time to get my bearings."

"I can wait a bit longer to be free of the ground," they say, their mood dipping down a bit again. Still good, but not as good. 

"I'm sorry, Wanderer," Jaim says, sympathetic. 

"Yes. I will try to make up for you. I don't know how, but I will try."

The air around him pushes in towards him lightly, like a very faint hug, "Don't worry, I know you'll get me out of here soon. I can be patient. I kind of had to learn to be!" They laugh lightly. 

"Thank you. I will try to be better prepared the next time I stumble upon a new world and acquire more power."

He gets another air hug for that, "I know you will be," Wanderer agrees. No matter that no one could have anticipated this.

"Are you going to stay here when we return to the fort?" He asks Zephyrinus.

"I do. I still want to take the opportunity to explore things by myself."

"Alright." He threads a bit of Time into a spell to check how long they've been there. They still have plenty of time before he and Ilek will have to leave to be back at the fort before the reinforcements arrive. 

"...Are we going to talk about the question which started us on this topic?" 

"Oh, right. Well... what is the nature of your... attraction?"

He considers the question seriously. He usually doesn't try to put his reasoning in this area into words, but... he can try.

"...Your strength, is what keeps drawing my attention," he begins. "Not just of body - strength of character, strength of will, of magic, of mind. Your determination to help, your refusal to harm if you can find another way. Your endurance," he admits with a blush. "The power of your magic. The speed at which you have adapted to this world, even if you need more time to become fully confident. Your relentlessness, in the battle two days ago." 

"Also, your joy," he adds, eyes turning down shyly, "In being able to swim, in finding the City. I... like seeing you happy." 

"You're very attractive physically, as well, of course," he adds belatedly, blush growing as his eyes dart up to look at him, sitting mostly out of the water on the edge of the pool. "That doesn't hurt, but it's not the important part." 

"Oh." Zephyrinus says looking at him like all the times he was noticing something for the first time. "I wasn't expecting that."

He smiles, the redness growing under his attention. 

"I wasn't expecting to be this taken with you," he admits ruefully. "I usually try to ignore any attractions I have.

"You're difficult to ignore, though."