With Marin taken care of, I climbed into the wagon once again and returned to Lia’s side. I caressed her cheek as mana ran down my fingers, spreading out across her body. As opposed to when I had first checked on her, a faint amber glow glimmered in her core, albeit in a strange form; whereas her mana was usually buzzing radiantly throughout her body, the new energy was tightly wound and concentrated entirely in her gut. It was a fascinating discovery that warranted future investigation, but I had a more important matter to attend to first.
My mana suffused through her body without resistance, rapidly approaching the concentrated energy in her core. A strange, out-of-body sensation filled me as my mana expanded: I began to sense the world through the suffused body parts, which was difficult to process without Lia’s consciousness guiding the feeling. When the two fronts of mana finally met, I felt an electric rush in my spine, and the already blurry lines that separated our bodies disappeared entirely as we momentarily became a single, unified being. Lia’s eyes flicked open, and she stared at me with a warm smile.
“Hey there,” we said in unison.
She laughed as she slowly propped herself up on her elbows. “I passed out, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did,” I answered. “It’s mostly my fault. I should have warned you that the needle uses a lot more mana than the spells you’re used to.”
“That would have been nice to know, yes,” she said with a pronounced huff. “Is Marin okay?”
“She’s fine. Aside from losing some blood, she’s as healthy as ever.” I sat on the floor and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. “How are you feeling?”
“Weird,” she admitted. “I’m tired, but also wired at the same time? I know I should be tired, but your energy is...different than mine. It’s in my body, but it’s still yours, somehow; the color, the feeling, they’re not mine. My body knows I should be sleeping to get my mana back, but it’s using yours to compensate, maybe? I don’t really know how to explain it.”
“No, I get what you mean,” I said. Although I couldn’t find the right words to describe it, I felt what she was feeling in real time. The two energies were distinct inside her body, both fueling different processes in different ways; her own mana had withdrawn into a tightly wound ball within her core in an effort to regenerate her depleted reserves, while mine circulated in gentle waves throughout her body, seemingly without purpose. Having seen the mana that was stored in Val’s shield, I had theorized that the same principle could potentially work for transferring energy to another person, but I hadn’t found an appropriate time to test the idea—until now.
It took a few seconds of mental experimentation to find a way to sever the connection to the mana I had stored in Lia’s body; although I had cast magic at a distance multiple times, there appeared to be a distinct difference between activating the mana stored in an object and simply leaving it there. I felt my stomach drop as if the floor had been pulled out from beneath me when the connection to my extended energy broke. Lia appeared to feel it too, and she let out a soft groan as our consciousnesses separated. “What just happened?” she asked, leaning her head against my shoulder. “I felt your presence fade out, but your mana is still here. It’s...disorienting.”
“That’s a good sign, I think,” I answered, scratching the side of my head. “I left you some of my mana. Whether or not you’ll be able to control it in a helpful way, I have no clue.” I peered down at her out of the corner of my eye with a grin. “It’s uncharted territory for me, but given your record, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“Well...I’m still awake,” she said, holding a hand out in front of her face and flexing her fingers. “That’s good enough for now.”
“About that: Do you think you could keep watch for a while? I’d like to get at least a few hours of sleep while we travel today,” I asked. I stifled a yawn as the exhaustion I had held at bay all night began to creep back over my mind. “No pressure, of course; I can stay up until you’re at full strength if you aren’t feeling up to it.”
“Oh, sure. You don’t sound tired at all,” she teased, poking at my face. “I’ll be fine. I should get up anyway; I’m beginning to understand why you ate so much on the way back from Attetsia.” As if to illustrate her point, her stomach let out a loud yowl.
“If you’re sure,” I said, giving her shoulders a squeeze. I took her place on the bedroll while she began to prepare for the day. “Wake me up if there’s any trouble. Or if you need me for anything. Or if you get particularly bored.”
She laughed and kissed me on the top of my head. “Go to sleep. We’ll be fine.”
“Alright,” I replied, slowly lowering myself to the floor. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she echoed sweetly before turning to exit the wagon. I closed my eyes feeling safe and content and was asleep before Lia made it to camp.
***
3. A JOURNEY TAKEN TWICE
“You’re already writing ANOTHER letter?”
I jumped at the sound of the voice, having missed the speaker’s entrance through the tent flaps behind me. Turning to the intruder, I immediately understood why; the voice belonged to the Knight of the Whispering Winds, famous for both her incredible speed on the battlefield and the total silence with which she moved. I glared and puffed out my shoulders to block her view of my still-blank paper as she approached. She was dressed head to toe in her battle attire: form-fitting hide armor, dyed snow white and lined with pitch
