Late 2009

As the two men in front of them flashed out of the room, it left Ashley and Helen in a somewhat dazed state of not really knowing what to do with themselves in regards as to how to handle this new development, and so they just kind of stood there next to their chairs looking at each other and around at the room.

"I… I can't believe he really just did that… bringing Grandpa here… telling him everything…," Ashley said of her brother as she finally sat down in her seat to poke at her salad with her fork while lightly shaking her head in disbelief.

Her mother gave a sigh of contempt as she followed Ashley's lead and also sat to resume eating her own salad as well. "I can," Helen almost huffed.

Ashley looked up at her with narrowed eyes from across the table. "Wait, so you knew he would do that?" she questioned as she still absently toyed with her utensil on the plate as her thoughts were pretty much anywhere else other than on eating at this particular moment.

"Not exactly, no. I didn't bank on it, but I had figured that there was some small probability that he would accidentally error somewhere along the way. I'm just relieved that it didn't happen any sooner than it did and that it was only with your Grandfather currently instead of with anyone else such as Ranna or Adam," Helen replied just before stabbing her fork into the leafy greens to take a bite.

Ashley gave a little nod as her thoughts shifted with some understanding. "As much as Tristan randomly showing up here with Grandpa freaked me out, making me think he could have just ruined future history, at the same time it does make me feel a lot better in knowing that Grandpa is now aware of the danger that he is in and the what and when to look out for it."

"This unexpected turn of events does make me feel better too," Helen agreed. "Even though it wasn't exactly what we had planned to happen, the outcome of that change luckily makes things a lot easier on Tristan as now he has help in getting into the city and basically doesn't have to be two places at once anymore; reducing his efforts down to focus on secretly tracking a single target instead of two. It gives me some comfort to know that he now has an ally down there."

Ashley gave a tiny smile and pointed out some good news, "Seems like Tristan and Grandpa are like each other's guardian angel right now."

"That they are," Helen replied with a dimple in her cheek as she stuck her fork into another piece of tasty foliage.

Back at the outpost, after a small discussion, Tristan followed Gregory out of the small building and over to where his Grandfather was meeting with his team. Between the two of them, they had decided that Tristan's cover story would be that Gregory thought that he would be a fine candidate for their medical school program in Praxis for General Surgery. It would be a very believable alibi for Tristan as to why he would be brought along with them to the city and as for why he was to remain in the city for an extended period of time rather than almost immediately returning back to the farms. While the city itself was highly medically advanced and nanotechnology took care of most surgical procedures to a certain extent, the outposts and nomadic tribes however sorely lacked the resources and still relied heavily on a physician physically operating on patients. Being that Tristan was now practicing as a nomadic healer, it would be a great benefit for him to learn to become a proper field trauma surgeon; it was a skill area that he lacked in as his current medical specialty of being an Internist didn't include cutting people open.

Since Gregory is a highly respected citizen and medical professional in Praxis, and not to mention the leader of this expeditionary team, his word was as good as gold. The rest of his team members easily accepted the reasoning without issue, bringing the new lad on board with them. Since Gregory was part of the Praxian Medical Guild, it was easy for him to take one of his electronic database tablets and access Tristan's file. He not only updated the young man's clearance level, but also enrolled him into the school. Since Tristan wasn't a Praxian citizen, his entrance and residency in the city would have to be sponsored by Gregory himself. While it may seem a bit suspicious by some, it actually wasn't out-of-character for the elder Magnus as he frequently scouted the lands on his trips for fresh talent that had great scientific and medical potential. The people of Praxis would be none-the-wiser as Tristan would just be another student on the long list of people Gregory has supported over the years.

While the medical team packed-up their gear before they left to go to the transport pod, Tristan made his way back over to his group to inform them of the great opportunity he was offered from Dr. Magnus and told them that he accepted the deal and would unfortunately be leaving their group to stay in the city. While the farmers were a bit sad to see him go, as they had come to like him and began to see him as one of their own, they understood the importance behind how this would elevate his status in Hollow Earth. When Gregory called over to him, indicating that it was time to leave to head back to the city, both Tristan and the farmers thanked each other for their help over this past year and waved their respective goodbyes as they departed for their own separate ways.

Even though on the surface Tristan had ridden in rail systems many times before and had seen the Praxian spherical transport pod in action as he traded, being in one for the first time was still a really cool experience. Being able to whiz thousands of miles across the globe through the Earth's crust in a relatively short amount of time of a couple hours was nothing short of amazing. Well, at least he thought so until his scale of 'amazing' changed when they had finally arrived at their destination and he stepped out of the pod and took in the breathtaking site of the hidden city. Gregory couldn't help but display a pride-filled smile as he heard his grandson let out a wondrous "Bloody hell" that was perfectly reminiscent of his mother.

A small reception team of a few medical staff members had welcomed their return at the station; this stop was located at a pavilion on the medical guild campus less than a block from the primary building Gregory worked out of. While all the others took over cataloging the new inventory and returning research gear, Gregory brought Tristan with him over inside the building proper, introducing him to a few aids and fellow resident doctors while Gregory posted his debrief about his recent supply trip. This was the building where Tristan would be extending his education. Gregory had chosen a few of his formal pupils for Tristan to shadow. They all had a similar history, and according to Gregory's evaluation, were some of best and brightest of his candidates to have been previously selected and plucked from the Outland Fields. Gregory had decided to bid adieu to the small group, making his way over to his office while one of the doctors gave Tristan an orientation tour, providing newcomer information and introducing him to the rest of the staff and students in the teaching wings. After they provided him with instructions on where to meet with them in the morning of the next day, they left him at his new residence for him to enjoy of the rest of the afternoon; a small three room apartment consisting of a living space/kitchen, a bedroom, and a tiny bathroom. One of the best features in Tristan's mind was the view from his apartment windows, granting him the ability to gaze out at the city's buildings next to him.

Early 2010

For the next several months Tristan had worked side by side with his mentors, Tristan training under them such as like how his mother had occasionally taken a protégé every few decades during her first walk through life. Also similar to his mother, he found that they were a lot older than they appeared. Even though chronologically the youngest was in their mid-fifties in terms of surface age, a little under twice his own age, they still only physically looked to be the age of about twenty-five, around five years younger than himself who was currently thirty.

Not long after the surface New Year, sociopolitical tensions began to collectively rise to a 'boiling point' underground. Due to his mentors' backgrounds of growing up outside the city, they shared the same sentiments with those who wanted to rebel, secretly aligning themselves with Fallon. Also due to Tristan's similar background of coming into the city from the Outlands, they brought him into the fold, keeping him updated on their plans. This was excellent news for Tristan and he willingly played along as a stealthy dissenter, using it as a potential link to get news on Adam; who to his knowledge of the future, would very soon be released from suspended animation. The reasons for why Adam was chosen as being the 'face' of the rebellion was never clearly explained to him, but he overall figured that it was to help keep Fallon's involvement hidden from Ranna until the coup was a force too big to be easily quashed.

When the expected Kali event on the surface unfolded, it caused a significant distraction underground. This moment gave Fallon the perfect opportunity to have Adam secretly and mysteriously reanimated from suspended animation out of the watchful eyes of Ranna and the Senate. Very soon after, his presence was noticed and he fled to the surface. During this time Gregory had also played his part of infiltrating the Avatar Chamber to warn the 159-year-old version of Helen. Afterwards, this caused Tristan and all of his mentors to lay very low and quietly continue to go about business as usual in the medical center as a way to distance themselves from Gregory.

Several weeks later, Tristan had by happenstance been on a rotation in the medical center while the Sanctuary team infiltrated Hollow Earth and the city. As the currently 272-year-old version of his mother had previously warned him about any interference in this event, this scheduling coincidentally made sure that Tristan would be safely placed out of their sight during this timeframe. He was still luckily able to visually witness a portion of this event, briefly catching a glimpse of them out of one of the windows as they traveled through the streets below him. Also due to his occupational placement, a serendipitous fact that was unknown by either version of his mother was that it was actually Tristan himself who was the medical professional that was ultimately tasked by Ranna's order with prepping and filling the auto-injector device with the medicine that Past-Helen was given to cure her radiation sickness; a task that the young man was personally excited beyond measure at having been the person chosen to fulfill this particular order for this particular patient.