“Incoming!” Bragden barked before tossing a fist sized rock Kedryn’s way.

Glade watched with pride as Kedryn reacted to the dwarf’s warning without thought. Raising his right hand, the Corporal cast his altered form of air gust in time to intercept the rock with his spell.

“Yer getting better,” Bragden laughed, raising his mug of mead toward the Kid in a salute as he watched the rock he had just thrown land more than 40 feet away in the knee high grass.

Glade choked down a laugh of his own as Kedryn glared hatefully at the dwarf. Bragden had been throwing a mix of rocks and dirt clods at the Kid off and on for the better part of three hours while they kept up their slow run. Whenever he ran out, Cirea happily gathered more so they could continue Kedryn’s ‘training.’

If he were being honest, the overall experience was exactly what Kedryn needed to get comfortable with his new attunement. Though he wondered at Bragden’s surprising change in demeanor. The normally surly dwarf was downright cheerful as he lobbed another stone, this time at Gent. Kedryn was supposed to intercept any and all stones, which hadn’t gone so well at first. But now, he simply blasted the stone further out into the eternal expanse of grass than the last one.

Not for the first time, Glade wondered if Bragden’s new found happiness was because he was finally teaching again. Though, he couldn’t discount the possibility that his strange companion might simply be enjoying the suffering of others a bit too much. Then again, it could be that Bragden was just a happy drunk.

“Slagging, elf loving prick,” he heard Gent half growl, half wheeze next to him. “When we take our next break, I swear, I’m going to…”

“Incoming!” Bragden cried, flashing Gent a huge smile as he tossed another rock in his direction.

Glade again suppressed a smile as he mentally put a tally mark in the - Bragden likes being a sadistic trainer - category.

“You have to admit,” Cirea said, looking first to Bragden and then to Kedryn. “The dwarf’s training method is really paying off. I had my doubts at first, but you can’t argue with the results.”

“If’n ye had yer doubts,” Gent growled, looking at her through a blackening eye and a split lip, “why didn’t ye say something?”

“And miss out on seeing you three pelted with rocks for hours? Not a chance! You three are our only form of entertainment until we get to the next village,” she said with a laugh. “Besides, you’re supposed to dodge them as well. Kedryn isn’t the only one being trained.”

“Glad to be of service!” Bragden laughed before holding up an empty pack. “But that was me last stone. Need a refill if we’re to continue training. Do you mind?”

“That would be my pleasure!” Cirea laughed, grabbing the bag before running up ahead of the caravan to start scavenging for rocks and dirt clods along the way.

“I think I’ve learned as much as I can from this exercise,” Kedryn said, his voice strained as he watched Cirea run off into the distance. “I’ve been able to deflect the last 10 out of 10 stones you’ve thrown at us.”

“That ye have me boy,” Bragden crowed. “I’d say you’ve earned yerself at least a ten minute rest before we start phase two of our little training exercise.”

“Phase… two?” Kedryn stammered, stumbling over some unseen rock in the road.

“Oh, aye!” Bragden said with a wicked smile. “I’m going to start throwing two rocks at ye!”

“TWO?” Kedryn cried out.

“Time to start using that dual cast skill o’ yers!”

“But I can’t use that skill with my air magic yet!”

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“Like me mam used to always tell me, there be no time to learn like the present!” Bragden laughed. Then in a gentler voice, he said, “It be the same principle as ye’ve used before lad. It may take a few tries, but I expect ye’ll get it before too long. Until ye do, I’ll use only the dirt clods instead o’ the rocks.”

“And when thats done?” Kedryn asked carefully.

“Why, that's when we move to phase three.”

A look of dazed horror spread across Kedryn’s face as Glade silently put another tally in the sadistic teacher category. There was definitely a trend here.

Curious at Kedryn’s actual progress, Glade, glanced at his bonded’s notifications.

Congratulations! You have gained skill levels 1, 2, … and 4 in your Tempest Attunement!

He was impressed. Not only had Kedryn raised his skill level, but he had obviously increased his reaction speed and accuracy of the spell. All while keeping up the steady, ground eating pace they had been moving at for the better part of the morning.

For the barest of moments, Glade felt a twinge of jealousy. Kedryn could train his magic while on the road because of its obvious application in both combat and defense. While he… could not. He still hadn’t learned his fire spell from Ember, even though the egg had tried to teach it to him over and over again. But even if he had, he couldn’t practice it out in the open for fear of being arrested. Which left his astral magic, which was far more… nuanced.

“Glade!” Bragden barked. “Did ye fall asleep on yer feet or what? I swear, if’n I have to call yer name one more time…”

“What?” Glade asked, looking about.

“Bragden called yer name like four times,” Gent said before drinking from his water skin. “Says he wants to have a private chat with ye.”

“Private?” Glade asked, looking around in confusion. They were surrounded by Helmund’s people. There was nowhere to go to have a private conversation…

Glade rolled his eyes, silently chastising himself for the momentary lapse of thought before triggering his telepathy.

“What did you want to talk about?” Glade projected after he connected his mind with Bragden.

“I thought this conversation might be best had in private. I think it be about time we start training your astral magic,” Bragden replied, even his thoughts coming in his usual thick brogue.

“I appreciate your discretion,” Glade thought back. “I would love to train my magic, but it's a bit harder to use than pointing your hand at a rock.”

“Believe me when I tell ye, I know. I’ve been thinking long and hard about how best we can begin expanding yer astral magic skills past the dabbling phase. Believe it or not, I think that what we’re doing with the royal is exactly what ye need.”

Several thoughts worked their way through Glade’s mind, ranging from doubt to incredulity. Bragden hadn’t been the greatest of instructors over the past few weeks. In fact, he had proven to be more of a detriment than a help, purposefully withholding information at critical moments.

But he had promised he would change. In fact, this was the first time Bragden had willingly volunteered to help him train his astral magic. He was curious to see what the surly dwarf had in mind.

“How so?” he asked, opening himself up so that Bragden could feel his genuine curiosity.

“From what I’ve read in the tome granted to ye, that Mana Manipulation specialty of yers is right powerful. Eventually, I believe ye’ll be able to replicate other attunements’ spells by directly manipulating the mana around ye.”

Glade nodded along. He had also gathered as much from the text. Was Bragden insinuating that he would try and replicate Kedryn’s spell?

“But, before ye go gettin any fancy ideas, yer no where near tryin to mimic a spell. Ye’d likely blow yersoelf and us up by trying. So, don’t. No, we need to focus on yer foundation. And at its foundation, yer specialty is about manipulating existing mana. That’s where we’ve got to start.”

“I’ve already proven that I can move a single source of mana,” Glade sent back, confused. Bragden knew that. He had seen him use his magic in the past. So why had he brought it up?

“Oh, I know. But have ye tried to purposefully cause someone else’s casting to fail?” Bragden sent with a wide grin.

Understanding dawned on Glade. Bragden wanted Kedryn to further develop his dual casting skill. And he wanted Glade to try and interfere with that casting.

“I’m game,” Glade sent with a grin.

“I knew ye would be. Now, all I want ye to do watch the boy the first few rounds until he can dual cast fairly regularly. When I give ye the go ahead, I want to see what ye can do!”

“Sir,” Kedryn asked, interrupting his thoughts. “Should I be worried that both you and Bragden are smiling?”