Theller knew very well that he was no longer quite the same young raptoran as he was when he passed the other way through this portal. He realized that he was far less confident in his ability to take on the dangers of the multiverse than he was when he set out - ironic, considering that the wealth of new skills and experiences he'd gained since then had bolstered his abilities in that area considerably. He had seen too much to believe he could take on any danger, even in the short time he had been traveling with the Guild; he had watched a demon drag away a new friend of Theller's as it laughed cruelly at Theller's attempts to strike it with his spear, and he had stood with another friend and fellow-traveler as she endured the weight of being under a mind flayer's sway. Youthful overconfidence was being replaced with cautious realism, and the difference in him was striking, even after only half a year.
Still, there were two milestones that the raptoran was still waiting for with what he could recognize as youthful impatience: Magic, which Theller had been told to expect to come naturally to him after he began to learn spell-thievery from his old mentor, and flight, which was the aspiration of every young raptoran, the definitive sign of adulthood.
Adulthood and return, Theller reminded himself,
though it seems I shall be returning early. He wasn't of a mind to believe that an ancient tradition of voluntary exile should preclude him from returning home to rescue his people, although his own fierce pride nagged at him; it was never his intention to face his family - especially his brothers - without first gaining experience, skill, and wealth. At the very least, he wanted to be able to fly.
Theller spied Tonner and bowed.
he said in Auran.
"We should be on our way," he told his group in Common, speaking slowly for Eletta's benefit and herding them out of the kennel with sweeping motions. "Where are we going? Back to Homespire?"