They could see their breath in the frosty early morning air which Zell had noted to himself with amusement. So there were in fact times he could watch his breathing in the literal sense. He had little time for such distractions as his fiery coach engaged him immediately with an opening routine meant to warm them up.

Zell’s first parry surprised them both. It was delivered with at least twice the strength he usually put forth, and caused them both to stagger.

“What was that?” Nin asked as she smoothly regained her stance and swept in with another diagonal slash.

“I have no idea.” Zell answered. “I’m as surprised as you.”

The next series of parries came in similar overpowered and overbalanced movements.

“It must have something to do with my mana recovering.” Zell guessed, finally beginning to dial in his balance to the unfamiliar level of energy.

“It’s a good thing.” Nin said. “Feels like sparring with a grownup now instead of a kid.”

“Thanks and also ouch.” Zell replied back as he pressed into her space after parrying a thrust.

They sparred until the frost on the ground was melted and morning ended. Zell had done remarkably well and had only taken one serious hit. Unfortunately it was on the bridge of his nose and left him with two black eyes.

“Good enough for the first day back, go get some food and rest up. We’ll push harder starting tomorrow.” Nin said catching her breath. Zell’s newfound strength was making him a handful.

Zell complied, eating a big breakfast before he called on Rin for his meditation lesson.

To his disappointment, she kept her promise and actually made him spend the whole time practicing the breathing techniques and visualization exercises.

After an hour or so of reading at her desk while Zell was practicing, she marked her page and stood up.

“I better see if my mom needs any help since we’re closing early for Agitha’s award.” She said.

Zell opened his eyes and looked up as she walked past him.

Just as he was about to look back down and focus, something soft and fragrant tickled his battered nose -Rin’s hair!? At the same time a firm hand touched his chin. Before he could even react, her lips were on his. It was over after less than a second and she was out of the room before he could say anything at all. Zell’s mind, heart, and soul were melted by that unexpected bolt of lightning kiss and he was left staring blankly at the ceiling for a long while.

“That’s really not fair.” He muttered in shock. “How am I supposed to watch my breathing when I can’t breathe!?”

He decided to go to his room and seek the wise council of his closest friend.

Merc listened to the whole story patiently as his head rested in Zell’s lap as they sat together in bed.

“What should I do? Steal a kiss back? Do I even have the guts to do something like that!?” He agonized over the moment in his mind and eventually settled down, deciding to enjoy whatever came next no matter what it was. That had gotten him this far, why change now?

The afternoon wore on and dinner service began an hour early. Zell decided to assist in the dining room. As always he was a great help, but he also couldn’t stop stealing glances at the tall graceful girl that had stolen his first kiss and his heart. Every time they passed close enough, she would brush into him smoothly and set him on fire inside all over again.

It was over all too fast and Kel announced that it was closing time to a chorus of boos and groans.

“I know, I know! Come back tomorrow and I’ll have a drink with each of you!” He promised.

Not long after that, the entire group exited the inn to find two gilded carriages drawn by fine white horses awaiting outside. Zell, Cora, Agitha, and Arlim rode in one while Kel, Birna, Nin, and Rin climbed into the other.

Zell noticed the many people lining the streets to watch the carriages pass, many pointing and some even clapping.

After a ten minute ride through the city, they arrived at the great promenade. A large flat manicured lawn that stood before the royal palace and was decorated with great marble sculptures of past kings and various heroes.

Zell did a double take of one such statue.

“What the... Teacher that’s you!” He exclaimed, pointing at a marble sculpture of Agitha complete with her dragonscale armor and longswords.

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“Very good, Bait!” Agitha said patting him on the head like she was praising a toddler. “Remember the eleven times talk from last night? Your mom’s over there.” She said non chalantly pointing at another statue a little further away.

Zell ignored the insulting tone and grabbed his father and sister by the hand as he ran toward the other statue. His breath caught in his chest, and tears flooded his eyes the instant he looked upon it.

It was indeed his mother. Details he had forgotten about her beautiful face came rushing back to him. Coralia Balfonse’s statue was carved in a heroic pose, with both of her hands holding the hilt of her bastard sword point down as she gazed ahead with her famous half smile that seemed to let the world in on the secret joke she would share only with them. Through the blur of his tears, Zell read the words engraved at the base of it.

“If you can look Death in the face and tell him his boot’s untied then you might just get away. At the very least you’ll get a laugh.” -Coralia Balfonse, Hero of Vinia.

Zell chuckled through his tears and noticed that his family was having a similar reaction. They took a moment to hug each other before rejoining the group, each of them wiping their eyes.

Rin met Zell without speaking as he rejoined the group. She hugged him close in front of everyone, ignoring the fact that everyone was staring at them intently.

“Are you ok?” She asked as she let him go, all except his hand.

“Yeah I’m good, and I guess this is as good of a time as any other. Hey everyone, we like each other if you couldn’t tell.” Zell held up their clasped hands as he announced it.

His heart raced as he tried to gauge the reactions around him, he was most concerned about Birna and Kel. The fear was unwarranted. They both had huge smiles on their faces.

“It’s about damn time!” Nin spouted. “You’ve been all she could blab about since you went into your little mana coma.”

“No kidding.” Birna added. “You could cut the obviousness with a ball of wool.”

“Yeah we all pretty much knew, Z.” Cora said. “I clued dad into it on the first day we were here.”

“Congrats to the both of you!” Kel clapped his daughter on the shoulder.

“Finally an actual reason to party!” Agitha exclaimed as she took the lead marching up to the waiting crowd of nobles and wealthy citizens.

They all enjoyed the evening, largely ignoring the phoney sounding medal ceremony. They ate their fill, the grown ups drank their fill, and the new couple embraced the party that had suddenly become all about them.

At one point late in the evening, Zell excused himself to find a latrine. He found himself wandering an open air hallway lined with potted roses and lit with evenly spaced candle spells. He could hear voices from up ahead, one was female and sounded distressed and the other was a slurring male. He quickened his pace, and they came into view as he rounded a bend.

A gaudily dressed boy that looked to be Zell’s age or maybe a little older had cornered a young servant and was groping her aggressively, worming one hand under her blouse. She was trying to get away without screaming, obviously afraid of the consequences of rejecting him.

She locked eyes with Zell and her unspoken plea was clear. At that moment the intoxicated noble boy’s hand slid the remaining distance under her clothes and roughly grabbed her breast.

Zell grabbed the boy’s puffy collar and twisted it in his hands as he yanked backwards. The drunken boy’s feet left the ground entirely and he was hurled flat to his back.

“Go!” Zell said to the girl.

She ran past him without a word and disappeared.

The young noble made a noise like a wounded animal and snarled as he scrambled to his feet. He yanked the ornamental rapier from the scabbard on his waist and faced off with Zell.

“Who the hell do you think you are?! Do you want to die?” The boy spat, outrage twisting his powdered face.

The dandy didn’t wait for an answer. He lunged forward with the point of the rapier leading.

“Are you being serious?” Zell wore a look of pure confusion as he easily stepped back out of range of the pitifully slow thrust. “How would you hit anything moving so slow?”

Voices came from behind Zell, then. The servant was leading someone to them.

“Bait?” It was Nin’s voice.

“Zell?” Followed by Rin’s voice.

They rounded the corner to see the boy fumbling to sheath his sword. By their expressions they recognized him.

“If it isn’t little baby Hurby, who cries every time he gets a boo boo!” Nin heckled, all tension draining from her face.

“Run along to papa, baby Hurby before you really get hurt.” Rin added.

“You’re lucky the freak twins saved you, boy!” The drunken noble growled as he retreated past them to the sound of more taunts from Nin and Rin.

The twins filled Zell in as they returned to the banquet hall. Hurb Shepard IV, the son of the lord of the Bleating Meadow was a routine victim of theirs at the fighting club and always tried to involve his politically impotent father in every one of his many squabbles.

The party eventually died down, and the group made their way back to the carriages. Waiting there for them was a single man holding a small child in his arms. The girl could not have been older than four, with curly reddish blonde hair, cheeks red from the chill, and big green eyes. Upon seeing them, she looked at her father for some kind of confirmation. He nodded at her and set her down gently.

She walked with wide eyes up to the group, to Agitha specifically and looked up at the elf’s confused face. She was saying something but her voice was so tiny that Agitha had to crouch down to hear her.

“Thank you for saving my daddy.” She said. She then reached up and latched onto Agitha’s neck in a tight hug.

Agitha took a second look and recognized the captain of the soldiers from the gorger demon attack.

“She refused to go home until we saw you.” The man explained. “Sorry to be a bother.”

Agitha blinked rapidly. Her emotional armor that had held fast for the better part of a century cracked.

She hugged the little girl and nodded, tears sliding unchecked down her dark cheeks. After a long moment she brought the girl to arm’s length and unpinned the Medal of Heroism from her shirt. She pressed it firmly into the little girl’s hands and stood up.

“I told her the story of the hero that saved us. How you flew like a bolt of lightning into the evil eye of a giant demon that was about to gobble us all up. If not for you I never would have held her again. I can never repay you, but if you ever need a sword I would gladly swear mine to you. My name’s Perron but my friends call me Copper, and she is Serra.” The man said solemnly.

“I’ll remember it. That medal is hers, see to it that she keeps it safe.” Agitha said, clearing her throat. She picked up the girl and returned her to her dad. With that, they boarded the carriages and left for the inn.