"A return now would be lovely," Ardasa said. She hadn't realized how far away they'd gone from the palace proper until now. "I would love to see the city again under a red sky," she said. It was an outright lie. Now that she noticed the existence of her feet in what was apparently a few hours, they hurt. She was not looking forward to the trip back.

The sky was not as red as Ardasa was used to when they left the temple. Most of the sky was, true, blazing orange and gold and reminiscent of the skies she had grown up under. However, a poor mage must have had an experiment get out of hand in one of the towers, because sparks kept flying out of the safety vents in a torrent of blue and green, which in turn painted portions of the sky for the briefest moments those very same colors. "There's nothing . . . too dangerous going on in that tower, is there?" she asked, pointing up to it.