He walked down from the hill he was perched on and waded through thick snow until he joined the road down toward the city gate.
He passed by a few solitary travelers on his way, none of which even looked his way, until he reached the city gate and could hear the buzz of activity as city guards ferried people inside.
None went inside before the soldiers and their seemingly supervising, blue-mantled mage approved, using magic tools to verify identity using enchanted metal badges every one of the travelers carried.
"Next!" One of the soldiers called.
'Identification tools?' Sevi's voice resounded in his mind as he began weaving his way through the line of awaiting travelers.
"Yeah." He whispered back.
"Get a move on already!!" A voice boomed from the line of travelers. "We've been here all morning! Daylight's burnin' gods-dammit! We're gonna be inside by noon at this rate..."
The loud voice startled Rethys for a second before he regained his bearing and looked around. The queue was quite backed up, he found, with the mage and his assistant soldiers checking and rechecking a specific carriage.
"Oh shut up you. We've also been here since..." A gruff voice responded as the two broke into an argument.
"Silence at the gates!" The mage's magically augmented voice resounded, breaking the dispute and restoring calm.
Rethys passed by one person after the other, sidestepping movement and avoiding carriage horses which seemed to still be able to see him, until eventually reaching the soldiers and the mage poring over a large carriage and talking between themselves.
He snuck a glance at the large wagon and its contents, only to see the grumpy and somewhat familiar faces of eight mercenaries and a crestfallen mage, now free of the spells controlling them. Antinem and his employees. They were being transported to Kalantor after they turned themselves in somewhere prior.
'What do you know...' Rethys thought to himself.
He ignored the comical sight and moved on, passing the gate-checking soldiers and the two knights standing guard as the final line before crossing the gate and entering the city.
The sight was more than a bit familiar and nostalgic, tall buildings and wide roads as far as the eye can see, filled with passersby going about their daily lives and the occasional carriage.
It was harsh winter, yet the streets were quite busy regardless, with people going about their business, hoping to finish it before a blizzard made the cold unbearable and locked them within their homes. Even in the coldest weather, things did not slow down, instead only speeding up. Northerners were hardy that way.
'I believe I have located our target, through another set of walls further up ahead.' Sevi noted.
"Medial district." Rethys clarified in a hushed voice. "District of offices and commoner mages, or magic in general, I guess. Further inside would be the nobles' inner district. How much is your scrying range by the way?"
'It extends throughout the whole city and then some, even from our current position, though I can only view limited portions at a time.' Sevi revealed.
He passed the gateside streets, through residential neighborhoods and toward the outer city's market square. He saw husbands and wives heading towards the square, bags and baskets in hand, it must have been market day. He saw children running around, wearing oversized and at times undersized winter clothes, it must not have been that cold for them to be out and about.
He occasionally saw street urchins, the orphaned and homeless, the thin, small and gaunt, the hungry and listless, skulking about in whatever ragged clothes they could scrounge up. It didn't seem that they even noticed the cold, much less minded it. If northerners were hardy, then these little ones were even hardier.
He remembered when he was in their shoes, metaphorically of course since the poor little things didn't have any, searching around for even the smallest morsel and scrap.
He looked at himself now, the malnourished taint of orphanhood that lingered on him completely gone after his magical advancements. He only now noticed the full extent of the changes that overtook him, his body sturdy and his height quite towering. He remained quite average as far as things went, yet a mage's physique, especially that of one as... unique as himself, was nothing to scoff at.
He looked around. He had thought that he would be quite on edge surrounded as he was by people and walls, yet oddly enough, he felt quite comfortable and at peace. Must have been the peaceful ambient ether of the city, he thought, his soul sensing it when his mind didn't or something along those lines. That or the simple hubbub of city life calming him on its own.
Adults didn't even notice his presence as he walked, so much so that they would bump into him if he didn't move away, while children seemed to be aware of him to a degree. They would walk out of his way and even occasionally glance at him, though they'd then quickly lose interest.
Meanwhile the youngest ones, often carried around by their parents or older siblings, seemed to stare right at him, the obscurity spells not at all affecting them. They'd point him out to their guardians, who wouldn't see anything there and promptly ignore them. Very curious, Rethys thought.
Eventually he reached the city square, seeing that the weekly market was in full swing. Stands stood and tents were pitched as all manner of goods were peddled, everything from regular everyday produce coming from the fertile southern territories of Mirrek and Hadien, to cheap enchanted items affordable even to the average commoner.
'A surprising amount of magical items are available here.' Sevi commented. 'I had thought your kingdom restrictive when it comes to all things magic.'
"They wouldn't bother with these kinds of things, made by commoners for commoners. All of it is basic in any case." He replied.
'Is there anything that piques your interest?' Sevi asked. 'Feel free to splurge, it is not as if that money is useful to us in its current form.'
He looked around him, at the food and produce stands and stalls, and then at the magic item peddlers.
It felt strange, how money ceased to be a concern or even an interest to the current him, how the things he had fought tooth and nail for once before now meant little to nothing.
He had felt this way when he started his apprenticeship with Fulgrith, yet back then he had eventually realized that it was all borrowed, and that he had to pay it back with work and, eventually, his magic talent and the promise of carrying on Alren Fulgrith's legacy.
He stared at all that was around him, his thoughts turbid and his face indecipherable, before lingering on the sight of a magical item, a bracelet of warming.
"No, I'm fine." He shook his head.
'Very well...' Sevi sighed.
Rethys marched on, avoiding the surprisingly dense crowds of city folk and leaving the market square, proceeding forward.
Pulling an apple from his coat's pocket, he spun it around in his hand contentedly. He still had that sleight of hand, it seemed, even if he did lose one of his hands.
'I've still got it.' He thought with a sad smile.
He bit into it, finding that it had no taste and that, being sated as he was, it felt as if he were chewing on mulch. He spat and placed the rest of the apple on a nearby alley-side windowsill. Someone who needed it would find it there, he figured as he resumed walking.
He reached the four-way crossroad of the city's main streets, three leading to outward city gates and the one ahead leading to the inner districts of the city.
He had entered through the southern gate, and to his left was the traders' district leading to the eastern gate, which in turn led to the main roads toward Aldeno and Eviptem. And to his right was the craftsmen's district leading to the west gate which he reckoned led to the roads toward frontier villages, wildlands works, mines, logging camps or farms or whatever was in that direction.
He ignored the sights, pushing forward through until over time, his surroundings became more elaborate, more colorful, and much richer until he came to the medial gate.
The gate to the medial district was larger and more gilded, with the insignia of the ruling noble etched on its doors. Those manning it were less numerous, yet all of them were knights rather than regular soldiers, with a few mages there to support them.
Yet none of it mattered, as Rethys simply walked through without anyone so much as glancing in his direction. It was quite funny, he thought, that they'd do better putting toddlers in charge of surveillance.
"How is it this easy?" He asked as he passed by a blue-mantled mage keeping a stern and watchful vigil, and not noticing what was perhaps the greatest threat of her entire career walking right by her.
'It is almost never this easy.' Sevi answered. 'Every mage without exception attunes to the element of Mind so that this very thing does not happen. But even then, they are quite simply outmatched before my powers, or rather those of Mother of Grace.'
"I thought you said you weren't good at Mind magic."
'No, I never said that. I said that my affinity to it was low compared to that of Blood, which only means that my powers of Blood are that much more extreme. The Mother of Grace's powers are those of Blood, Life and Mind, in that order, though I have barely tested the last two, especially Life.'
"Huh... you're attuned to Life?" He asked, flabbergasted.
'Yes, but it is not at all as you think. Elements have Disciplines Rethys, and the one I have in the Life element is not at all the same as that of strengthening that your master had. I could not have used my discipline to help us in Yvtar in any way, untrained as it is.' She explained.
"Oh..."
'This must be true.' He thought, remembering his master occasionally mentioning something about disciplines in passing.
"What are you attuned to, by the way?"
'Hmm... Blood, Life, and Mind from the Mother of Grace, and then Light and Air from my life before Yvtar fell. Although I can no longer use those two last elements, dear to my heart as they are.' She explained.
"I see."
'In any case, the building that contains an affinity detection device is on the left side of the city square entrance, the one belonging to the Mage Order. Many mages are around here, so you will have to be quick about it while I empower my spells.'
"Alright."
By the time the two finished their discussions, Rethys found himself standing in the city's square, and looking to his left, he saw all sorts of tall, beautiful stone buildings, resembling in build those in the outer districts yet being that much more embellished and elaborate with features sculpted by Earth magic. They also didn't extend that far upward, whereas outer district buildings towered high into the sky to save on space.
His eyes then focused on one building that stood out quite a bit.
This building sported a familiar purple banner, one not belonging to either the local nobility with their yellow colors, or The Kingdom proper with its red and gold colors. It belonged to the Mage Order.
"Found it."