There hadn't been any easy days since the world started turning dark. But after spending most of the last day not seeing any light because he was helping to evacuate both slavers and their slaves, he was definitely exhausted. He fell asleep on a random, but quiet corridor. He wasn't trying to hide, just didn't want to walk to his quarters just yet.

Phadra found him and woke him up with the news that Areus had vanished because of an experimental portal going wrong. Temperance is aware that he is indirectly responsible, but he still feels too tired to muster the effort to feel guilty. Plus he can just retrieve Areus, right?

Nope.

Whatever messed up place Areus ended up, it turns out to be harder to reach than the average universe. Which, it says something. It's weird enough that Temperance needs to sleep some more before he can make sense of it in the readings. When he wakes up, there is confirmation that Areus is alive, but not much beyond that. And there is more emergency to deal with, because the slavers decided to take off to somewhere remote and some people decided to follow them for a fight. Ugh.

It takes a while, and it's great that the rest of the family keeps Areus' mother away, because the end of the world can't be compared to that woman's wrath.

There is work. And more work. And research. At least magical research remains fascinating even when the life of someone closer to him is at risk.