Kayla didn't come back from her walk around campus for several hours. In that time, Pale did little more but stare up at the ceiling as her broken leg steadily mended itself, gritting her teeth in pain the entire pain.

The worst part was that as bad as her leg hurt, the knowledge that she'd severely worried Kayla hurt even more.

The two of them were friends – best friends, even; Kayla had taken to referring to her as such, and Pale had never seen a reason to do anything but embrace the term in turn – but only now was it truly sinking in that it was more than just a term, or a feeling of being safe and content around a person the way the two of them had grown together. Pale had trusted Kayla with her life, and vice versa, but she hadn't been prepared to face the responsibility that came with it.

And now she'd been blindsided by it, and that thought frustrated her to no end.

Pale grit her teeth again, ignoring the waves of pain that were coming from her still-broken leg as it continued to heal itself, instead focusing on what she was going to say to Kayla once she finally came back. Try as she might, nothing came to mind that seemed appropriate to her. After all, how was she supposed to fix this? She'd almost reduced her best friend to tears – the last time she'd seen her like that had been when Sven had murdered her father right in front of her.

There was a sudden knock at the door. Pale immediately paused, sitting up straight; she'd intended to get up and answer the knock herself, only to remember Kayla's words about letting her leg heal itself. Reluctantly, she slid back down into bed.

"It's open," she offered. "Come in."

The knob on the door turned, and someone stepped in… but it wasn't Kayla. Rather, it was Valerie.

"Hey," she greeted.

Pale blinked, surprised. "Hey," she replied. After a moment of hesitation, she added, "...Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but why are you here?"

"Kayla came knocking on my door, she said you were hurt and probably wanted to see me. I can leave if now isn't a good time-"

"It is," Pale insisted. "Stay, please. Otherwise I'll be alone with nothing but my thoughts, and I don't want that right now."

Valerie nodded, then moved over to Pale's bed, taking a seat on the end of it. As she did so, she eyed Pale's leg, taking note of how it was still heavily bruised, a scowl crossing her face.

"Pardon my language, but what the fuck happened?" she demanded. "You look like you got run over by a whole caravan of wagons, one wheel after the next. Did you lose a fight with a dragon or something?"

Pale shook her head. "Not quite… I got drawn into an honor duel. Apparently, my opponent thought I'd disrespected him, and wanted his pound of flesh for it."

Valerie blinked. "...An honor duel? And you agreed to it despite not even really knowing how to cast magic?"

"Yeah, about that…" Pale began. "I might have unlocked my sjel, finally. I can't talk about it too much, and obviously I can't even really cast magic yet, but I at least do it now."

Valerie stared at her for a moment before a big smile crossed her face. "That's great! When did you-"

"Shh!" Pale insisted. "Not so loud! I'm trying to keep it a secret for now. I figure, the less people that know about this, the better."

Valerie blinked, but then nodded. "Gotcha, gotcha. What's your affinity, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm keeping that a secret, too. Currently, the only people who know are Professor Tomas and Kayla, and only because they both have to know. I'll tell you when I'm ready, I just… I need some time."

To her relief, Valerie nodded again. "That's fine, I understand completely. Some people see their affinity as being deeply personal, so it's not weird or anything. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Stolen story; please report.

Pale relaxed, letting out a small exhale. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Her jovial demeanor suddenly changed, and she gave Pale a harsh look. "Of course, I'm going to demand you tell me exactly what happened in your honor duel and why you even accepted it in the first place."

"The terms were fisticuffs only," Pale specified. "No weapons, no magic, no moving on past first blood or wherever the proctor stopped us. I found those terms agreeable, so I accepted the challenge."

"That doesn't explain why, Pale. What made you step into the ring? Because last I checked, people don't just get into fights because they like the terms of the fight."

"Truthfully? My opponent was someone Kayla and I have a history with. To put it simply – he killed her father right in front of us. I've been waiting to pay him back for that for some time now, and I finally got the chance to do so when he challenged me to an honor duel." She looked down at her leg, grimacing as she did so. "Painful as this may be, it was worth it when I broke his nose. Technically, I won the fight since I drew first blood, but that didn't stop him from breaking my leg in retaliation."

"If this is your idea of winning a fight, then I'd hate to see what your idea of losing one is," Valerie commented. "Who was it, by the way? If it's someone at this school, and they really did kill Kayla's father right in front of her… I want to know who it is so I can avoid them."

"Good luck with that," Pale said. "I'll give you a hint – he tends to go wherever Joel goes."

Valerie's eyes widened with surprise. "...Shut up. You're telling me that it's Sven?"

"It is."

"No fucking way… why would he do that?"

"It's a long story," Pale grunted. "To keep it short – Sven is, or rather was, the warrior-king for a band of berserkers from the far north. Some of his men pillaged certain towns towards the northern part of the continent, including Kayla's village. They killed most of the villagers, but took her father as a slave; we tracked them back to their home trying to rescue him. Needless to say, it didn't go well… but at least we managed to mutilate Sven on our way out."

Pale shook her head. "That was the last we saw of him until we got here. Somehow, Joel's father got a hold of him and convinced him to watch over Joel as he attended the Luminarium, and Sven accepted. It's sheer bad luck that he's here at the same place and time as us."

Valerie stared at her for a moment, mouth agape, before shaking her head. "Hells below… that's a wild story. I mean, you told me about parts of it before, but I never would have thought Sven himself would be the man you'd been referring to in them…"

"The very same," Pale grunted. "And I suspect he won't stop being a problem until either Kayla and I are dead, or he is."

"And you haven't told anyone about this?"

"I've tried telling a few people, but without proof, it's my word against his. Funnily enough, the one person who seems to fully believe me is Joel himself."

"Is that why I haven't seen Sven around him for several days?"

Pale nodded. "Almost certainly. Joel seemed pretty disgusted about what Sven did… and about what I did in retaliation." Pale sighed. "Valerie… you need to know something about me – I'm as far from innocent as people come."

"Pale-"

"It's true. I've killed more people than you can even imagine, in circumstances I can't even mention. Maybe some day I'll tell you the whole story, but for now, honestly, I just want to rest and speak about something a bit more lighthearted."

Valerie hesitated for a moment. "I understand your misgivings," she said, "but you shouldn't sell yourself short. If nothing else, you're still my friend. And I know Kayla feels the same way, too."

"Thanks…" Pale let out a sigh. "So, how is studying going with you?"

"It's going alright," Valerie said. "I'm partnered with Cal. He's… a bit of a handful, but I can deal with him easily enough. I just wish he'd take these things a bit more seriously. And how about-"

"Pale?" Kayla suddenly asked from outside the door. "Are you in there?"

Instantly, Pale sat up straight. She gave Valerie an apologetic look, which Valerie quickly waved off, and then she turned towards the door.

"I'm in here, Kayla," Pale said. "And so is Valerie."

Kayla stepped into the doorway a moment later; Pale did not miss how she had her own knife on her belt, with one hand resting on its hilt. When she saw it was just the two of them, however, she was quick to relax, and took her hand away from the sheathed blade.

"Well, I think now is my time to leave," Valerie commented.

Pale's brow furrowed. "You don't have to-"

"Yes," Valerie interrupted, "I do." Her expression softened. "Talk to your best friend, Pale. Please. I can tell this is a conversation that needs to be had. I'll be around once you're done and healed up."

With that, Valerie stepped out into the hallway, gently closing the door behind her as she went. Kayla, for her part, shifted nervously, seemingly unsure of what to say. Finally, she bit her lip and shook her head.

"I'm still very mad at you," she stated.

"I know," Pale said, "and I deserve it. Kayla, I'm sorry-"

"Stop. You've said that to me before, Pale. I just… I want to know that you mean it this time." Kayla let out a heavy sigh. "I'm always so worried that I'm going to lose you… I mean, you and Evie are all I have left, and she's miles upon miles away. What am I going to do if you're not around anymore?" she shook her head. "Of course, I guess I'm going to have to get used to that reality sooner rather than later…"

"But not this soon," Pale insisted. "Kayla, I understand what you're saying – finally, I get it. And you have my word that I'll never do anything that stupid again."

"And that's good and all, but I just can't figure out why you'd even agree to do something like that in the first place," Kayla said frustratedly. She crossed her arms, a sigh escaping her. "...And that bothers me."

"Truthfully? I did it because I wanted to hurt him in some way," Pale explained. "I did it because he's haunted our nightmares for long enough. I figured, if I could just get one good hit in, that'd be enough to satisfy me."

"And was it?"

Pale hesitated. "...I thought it would be, but it wasn't… because now I realize that the only way it ends between the three of us is if he kills us, or we kill him. I don't know when that'll have to happen, but that day is approaching. And when it does… when it does, we need to be ready for it."

Kayla said nothing at first. Finally, she moved over to Pale's bed and took a seat on it.

"One more question, Pale," she said.

"Anything, Kayla."

"What was it like?"

Pale blinked, confused. "Hm?"

"What was it like," Kayla said, "to hit that son of a bitch?"

At first, Pale wasn't sure how to respond. After a moment, though, she gave her a small nod.

"At first, it didn't feel like anything, but that was probably because he was able to just shrug off my blows," she said. "The broken nose I gave him at the end, though? That was worth him breaking my leg in retaliation."

"I can imagine." Kayla turned towards her, her expression softening. "Just… don't do it again. Please. I don't want to lose you."

"I won't," Pale insisted. "You have my word."

Kayla nodded at that, and then leaned forward to embrace her. Pale returned the hug with one of her own, and both girls sat there for a bit, simply enjoying each other's presence.

They'd hugged before, but now, after having her sjel unlocked, Pale had to admit that something about it felt different – more warm than it had in the past. She wasn't sure what that meant, but she didn't care.

Right now, all she wanted to do was hold on to Kayla for as long as she could.