“I get it, I get it,” she answered, shaking her head. “I’ve only been training for a few months, you know. I shouldn’t have to compare myself to the General until I’ve had years of practice.”
“That’s true. I trained almost every day for five years in Alderea before I had my first taste of real combat, and I still didn’t feel ready when the time came,” I said. “That’s the best part of practice, I think; no matter how long you work at it, there’s always room for improvement.”
“Is that your excuse for whenever I beat you during our sparring matches?” she laughed, dropping into a combat-ready stance.
“Why don’t you come and find out?” I taunted, waving her on. She dashed forward with a wicked laugh, and our blades sang out over the rolling hills as our fight started. Her bravado held some merit, as she had grown more consistently able to best me during our training matches in the past month, but the vast majority of her victories came from our sessions using combat enhancements. When her magical abilities were pushed to their limits, I found it difficult to keep up with her incredible speed in battle, and I often found myself on the punishing end of a blunted longsword. On the other hand, duels that relied solely on our physical prowess rarely ended with me gaining more than a single bruise.
As we clashed back and forth across the campsite, I couldn’t help but smile at Lia’s progress. I could see influences from all of the notable opponents she had faced throughout her months of training: the General’s adaptability, my own deliberate and measured strikes, Marin’s aggressiveness, and even an aspect of Val’s defensive tactics. They all coalesced to create a style truly unique to Lia, and beyond that, a style which seemed to change every time we fought. Depending on which strength she leaned into, I found myself facing a different foe every night we sparred, which always kept me on my toes.
After a half hour of constant clashes, I called off the fight with a raspy laugh. “Well,” I said, fetching a canteen from our supplies, “I’m definitely going to feel that in the morning.”
“Tired already?” she called out, joining me at our bedrolls. “I could keep going all night.” She snatched the canteen from me and took a long swig, spilling a few drops down the side of her chin as her arm trembled from exertion.
“Mhmm,” I chuckled, lowering myself into a cross-legged position. “You’ll have to find somebody else to practice with, then. My old bones need a rest.”
“Old bones,” she snickered, sitting down across from me. “You don’t have old bones. You just have an old brain.” I raised an eyebrow in her direction, then closed my eyes and took a deep, centering breath. She giggled softly before joining me in meditation. Our campsite glowed with pulsing blue and amber lights as the mana ebbed and flowed within our bodies, then finally shot out in all directions.
“Lux?” she asked after a few quiet minutes had passed. “Do you ever think about how weird this all is?”
“Weird how?”
“It’s like…” she started, pausing to find the right words. “Before I met you, magic was mostly a storybook sort of thing. There was always some level of it in the Unity Church, of course, but it was mostly just little things like glowing crystals that you can buy in curio shops. Apart from the King’s Primes, it was easy to forget magic really existed at all.” I felt a fresh wave of mana wash over me as Lia expanded the range of her Detection. “Now, though, after everything I’ve learned, it feels sort of…” she paused again, then sighed, defeated. “Weird.”
“I see what you mean,” I said. “Magic didn’t exist at all where I was born, but it was commonplace when I first learned about it in Alderea, at least in terms of combat enhancements. I’m not sure what people thought about magic in Hedaat, to be honest. I never asked.” I stopped momentarily, surprised by the gap in my knowledge. “But here, based on the rules from Unity, I see how our powers would seem strange. Impossible, even.”
“Yeah, exactly!” she exclaimed. “At this point, I’m not sure anybody would believe me if I told them what we could do. I wanted to talk to Lyn about it, but...I know I shouldn’t.”
“I know it’s a burden. If there had been another way to keep you safe, I would have avoided bringing up magic at all, just so you wouldn’t—”
“What? No! No way,” she interrupted me. “Knowing what I know now, I’d still choose this life in a heartbeat. Sure, it’s not fun to have to keep it a secret, and it comes with a lot of responsibility, but I’d never give this up.” She sighed again. “I don’t know. It’s a weird feeling to have to describe, I guess. Just…”
“Weird,” I finished for her.
She smiled. “Yeah. Weird.” I felt a swirl of warm, inviting energy around me. “At least we have each other. I’m not sure if I could handle this all on my own, like you did.”
“I would’ve gone crazy by now if I were still alone. Well, crazier than I already am, anyway,” I laughed. “And I certainly wouldn’t have learned as much as I have about magic without you. We’re in this together now.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, reaching out to pat my knee. A few moments passed in silence before she suddenly perked up in excitement. “Plus, we have Marin now, too! I bet she’ll help us discover stuff we never would have thought of.”
“Oh, I’m sure she will. She has an...interesting way of looking at things.” Our conversation faded to silence as we continued to survey the surrounding countryside. I was surprised to find the
