Marin marveled over the needle, spinning it back and forth to inspect the tiny symbols carved along the stem. After a moment of quiet inspection, she handed it back to me. “So, now that you’ve taught me about that, can I learn how to use fire magic?” she asked again, leaning towards me with wide eyes. “Please? I promise I’ll be careful! Really careful!”
I let out a strange noise mixed somewhere between a groan and a laugh as I looked over to Lia. “What do you think?”
“I’m just surprised she sat through that whole explanation,” she grinned, watching Marin out of the corner of her eye.
“Hey!” Marin exclaimed. “That’s not nice! I pay attention to interesting things. Maybe I don’t pay as much attention to your lessons because they’re—”
“You know what, Lux? I’ve changed my mind,” Lia said with a huff. “I don’t think she’s ready.”
“You can’t do that!” Marin shouted. “She can’t do that, right, Lux?” She lunged towards me and tugged on my arm. “You’ll still teach me, right?”
After a comically overblown sigh, I gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Get your sword.”
She threw her arms into the air as she leapt off the ground. “Thank you! Thank you, Lux!” When her celebration was finished, she hurried to the small blanket she had spread out to hold her gauntlets and both training swords, returning a moment later with the sword I had bought for Lia during our brief stay in Atsal. “Okay, I’m ready!” she chirped, twirling the blade excitedly at her hip.
“You have to promise to stay focused, Marin,” Lia said, her voice slow and calming. “You could get hurt if you—”
“I promise, I promise!” Marin waved her off. “Let’s go!”
I eyed her suspiciously for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. Start by tapping into your mana reserves. Let the energy flow up through your body, down your arm, and out through your fingers into the sword. Let it circulate through the metal like it was an extension of your body.” I pulled my own sword from the ether and followed along with my own instructions. “At the same time, picture a fire in your mind: Feel the heat, listen to it crackle, watch the colors dance. You need to understand exactly what you want to make for the mana to activate correctly.”
A crimson gleam ran across the sky-blue metal of my sword, and I held it out in front of me as bright flames danced along the blade, stopping at the crossguard. “The most important thing is to stay focused. You want to activate the mana in your blade, but not the grip. The first few times you do it, it’ll probably help to invoke ‘Fire, Blade’, just to make sure you—”
“Fire,” Marin murmured, watching the edge of her thin blade intently. A moment passed in stressful silence before the air began to shimmer around her weapon, and tiny orange flames flickered to life across the metal. She let out a relieved breath as the light danced in her wide eyes. “I did it,” she whispered. After a few seconds of admiring the flaming weapon, she pulled her arm back and flourished the blade, laughing in delight as the fire hissed against the passing air. “Lia, I did it!” she yelled, proudly turning to address her teacher. “I can even—”
The bright orange flames suddenly flared, rushing along the length of the sword to the handle as Marin attempted to spin the blade a second time. It fell from her hand and immediately extinguished itself as she yelped in pain and jumped away. I winced as a sympathetic ache stabbed at my own hand, remembering too well my first attempt at fire magic in the Yorian dungeon. Lia leapt forward immediately and reached out for Marin’s injured hand. “Let me see,” she said softly, patting her on the arm.
Marin fell forward against Lia’s shoulder and burst into tears against her chest. “I—I’m sorry,” she sobbed, twitching away as Lia’s fingers brushed over her injuries. “I thought I could—ow! I—I thought I could do...better than that.”
“It’s okay,” Lia cooed, rubbing Marin’s shoulders. These burns are pretty bad, she said silently in my head. Can you heal them?
We’re here to train, right? Seems like a perfect opportunity for you to practice your healing magic.
I don’t think now is the time; I’ve never actually done it before.
You healed Miles that night on the road.
No, WE healed Miles. I just used your memories to figure out how to do it. I’m not sure I could do it on my own. She continued to whisper comforting words into Marin’s ear as she looked up at me with concern.
Lia, after all the incredible things you’ve done, do you really think healing magic is the thing that’s going to stump you? I gave her an encouraging smile. Take a deep breath, focus, and do it.
She bit her lip as she looked over Marin’s burned hand again, then closed her eyes and hardened her face. A moment later, the telltale green light of healing magic sparkled across Marin’s scorched palm, and the blisters began to fade away. The relief was plain to see on her face, and after a few moments of channeling, the skin of her palm had returned to its normal pale bronze. “Oohhh,” she sighed, rubbing the newly healed skin, “that’s...wow. Thank you.”
“Of course,” Lia smiled, clearly satisfied with herself.
“Now you know the consequences,” I said, stepping towards them. “It’s not a feeling you’ll forget anytime soon. Trust me, I know.” I held my gloved hand out towards her and flexed my fingers. “It’ll help you focus in the future.”
“I’m gonna try it again,” she answered, her earlier tears immediately forgotten as she searched for her dropped sword. “I know I can do it.”
“Woah, there,” I chuckled, catching her by the shoulder. “I appreciate
