Kire, Ed, and Narda stood side by side as they watched Ysaryn, then Ruli demonstrate how the wards would light up. Gavin grinned, immensely pleased with his handiwork, while Ed whistled. 
“That’s bloody useful,” the Captain remarked. “Would’ve saved us a lot of trouble in the past.”
“If you had told me that one day the Capital will lift the long-standing ban on large-scale sorcery to put up glowing wards around the Palace itself, I’d have thought you mad,” Narda said. “But then again, Kire’s got a touch of madness in that blonde head of hers, anyway.”
“Hey. Ed already said it’s bloody useful,” Kire said, before stepping towards it. Curious about just how bright it would get, she crossed the threshold. Just as Envy had surmised, the lines lit up even brighter, casting sharp shadows even when Kire twisted the Ring off her finger.  “That’s bright, alright. Yeah, we might need to cut a tunnel through that for the portal. But good work all the same. Gavin, well done.” The Gemini rubbed his nape, grinning through a proud blush. “We’ll call on you again when we start to notice the wards faltering.”

While Kire gave instructions for attendants to bring out the gold and supplies as payment, Daryll had been quiet, too busy observing and jotting down notes excitedly, while the girls cooed at the sight. Narda and Ed didn’t register. When Precy put her hand through. Nothing happened. “Aw. Etta, what about you?” 
“Did you feel anything?” she asked Pres, who shook her head. Reassured, Etta stepped through it. Pres squinted. 
“It looks a bit like glowing, right?” she asked Daryll, who looked up, finally, to see the dull, almost imperceptible glow. 
“Huh.” 
“What? What does that mean?” Etta asked, suddenly anxious. 
“Could you do that again, Et?” Pres asked. Etta stepped out, then in. Sure enough, the wards did respond, if only a little.
The other Wyverns turned to see their little experiment. “Why’s Etta’s setting it off?” Kire said, stepping closer. As she stood in front of Etta, she realized that the strawberry smell wasn’t because she was pilfering from the kitchens again. [i]It’s her signature[/i], she realized, bending down. The smell was too subtle, just as the wards’ glow in response to Etta wasn’t as bright as it had been earlier. “Etta, when you had your fevers, did you have weird dreams, too? What kind of nightmares did you have?” 

“Um.” Etta looked up at her, then at Pres and Daryll. “I can’t remember them. I dunno.” The girl blushed. “I just remember waking up like I was running away from something scary.” 
Kire could see her younger cousin wasn’t all that comfortable talking about it, or being in the middle of magic-related attention. “Alright. If you feel unwell again, you tell us, okay? We’ll fetch Elva, and she can bring over some hot chocolate for us.” 
Etta nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell you.”
“Nothing else happened to her today,” Pres put in. “Just the fever. No magic or anything.”
“Hmm.” Daryll patted Etta’s head. “We’ll just have to watch for signs If nothing happens within the next few days, it might be a fluke.”
“Everything seems to be in order, though,” Gavin put in. “Why would it trip up with Etta? Or is it a Wyvern thing?” 
“We’ll monitor it for the next few days,” Kire said, before turning to Ruli. “But for now, I'll let you bring back your payment if you want to do it now before going back to the town."