"Hold up a minute!" I shout at the pipsqueak that just tried to skewer me on sight. "Fondling is DEFINITELY not the appropriate term for what was going on there. It was more like a tender embrace- Maybe even that's going to far!"

He looks at me deadpan and spins his staff. "Eis." Three ice spikes hurdle towards me before I jump out of the way again.

"Seriously, we're just good friends and stuff. I just came back from the assumed grave; it was a whole thing. Anyway, who the shit are you to attempt homicide over a hug?!"

"I'm her brother!" He roars as he begins to charge in my direction.

Oh...

"Okay we're defi-"

He closes the distance between us and thrusts his stick at me a few times. Then goes for a leg sweep that I avoid thanks to my new senses from Lornas. "Definitely getting off to a bad start." He swings again and I manage to catch the staff with my left hand, not running any magis through the item. The thing looks rare, or custom made, and I don't want to make things worse by breaking an expensive casting focus. I maintain a firm grip of the staff and look him in the eye. "Clearly we're having a misunderstanding, nothing to kill anyone over ri-"

Pain tears through my head and I reel back as my eyes start to water. The little shit headbutted me! I manage to open one eye only in time to see him deliver a palm heel strike into my chest then follow up with a geyser of conjured water at a high enough pressure to send me flying into the rooftop. I start to get used to the pressure when he freezes the whole body of water he conjured. I'm an ice pop from the neck down. This kid is better than I thought. Conjuring this amount of water, even out of ambient vapor in the air is supposed to majorly taxing on an artist's stamina, but he looks like he hasn't even warmed up.

He leaps into the air and flips his staff upside down, intending to plunge the two prongs into me. Is he for real trying to kill me?!

A torrent of wind blasts him back and he lands on his feet a comfortable distance away from his mark. Which is me. Still trying to wrap my head around this.

Alina stands at the median distance between us, an aura of wind billowing about her. "Grey! It's been too long little bro. What brings you here?"

His gaze doesn't break away from me for a second. "Dad sent me to get you, we're going to have to get moving."

"Grey, a lot is going on with me here and I'm still trying to figure out my best course of action. If dad could just call me or give me some more ti-"

"Sis this isn't a discussion. Dad told me to grab you by force if I have to. I heard about what happened, and as sorry as I am that they got to you and put some gross curse on you..." He twirls his staff and points it squarely at her. "That means I shouldn't have any problem bringing you in if you resist me."

Alina's face darkened. An ominous grin took form on her face. "Looks like my little brother has gotten a little too big for his britches." The aura around her began to intensify.

"Hey uh, guys? I'm all for a healthy amount of sibling rivalry, but I think I'm getting ignored here and it's not doing wonders for my self-worth." Grey leered in my direction and the ice piled on twice as thick in an instant, also covering my face. The twerp was nice enough to leave me a pocket of air that would last a couple of minutes, but now I couldn't hear what was going on and I very much wanted to remain included in the conversation. I run magis through my eyes and try to look for a weak point in the ice. It's an impressively well-balanced construct, so blunt force is the only real counter in my arsenal at the time. I focus on cycling my magis throughout my body and then channel all that I've cycled into my palm for an instant of impact. The ice crashed away from my arm like I had hit it with a hammer from the inside. After that I make sure to show off how easy it is for me to shake the rest of the ice off and walk over to stand beside my friend.

"For what it's worth. I think where Alina goes should be the one to make her decision."

He spits at my feet "Not worth a drop of piss, frankly."

"Who taught you to speak to your elders like that?!" I barked. After a moment a thought slipped into my mind, this guy and Wyatt would either really hit it off or be worst enemies.

"It means a lot, Tyson." Alina reassured. "Grey, you're going to apologize for attacking Tyson, then you're going to tell dad to come talk to me about what I want to do. He could at least send for me!"

He stuck a finger up, "One, dad can't send for you or contact you directly. That mark they left you with can potentially signal any magic related interactions you have to the enemy. If dad sends for you and you receive it, it might give away his position. Not a chance we can take if we want you safe." He lifts another finger and his eyes flit over to me. "Two, I'm burying this loser. I don't like his face."

Alina's magis flared up, sending shockwaves across the rooftop we stood on. I decide to step in for the last time and put my hand on her shoulder.

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"I'd rather not see you guys fight, so maybe we can talk this out? You know, work out an agreement."

He combed his through his hair with his hand, slicking it back. The twerp is trying so hard to look cool, I swear. "Nah, this is a family matter. Plus, Travers already knows what's up. Alina knows that Dad is probably right, and I could take you and fire boy down there without the help of my focus here. Weak as you guys are, you don't have a say in this, period."

I look over to Travers to confirm, and he nods. I'm guessing he was resolved to let Grey take her with him. Him taking me to see Wyatt first wasn't a decision made on a whim. We'll be talking about that later too, I guess.

"Alina, I swear, your kid brother sure has a mouth on him. Is this why you didn't talk about him much?"

She scratched her head. "Honestly I don't know when he got so crass. It's a little embarrassing."

"No worries, I'll set him straight if you don't mind." A chill went through the air as everyone processed the challenge I had just made.

Toby clasped a hand over his fist. "Now we're talking! If you didn't step up, I was about to. This munchkin is givin' me a migraine with all of his yappin'."

Grey put a finger to his forehead and started speaking with his eyes closed. "You've got one minute to finish establishing whatever half-assed point you think you're trying to make before I go ahead and put you on ice."

I decide to patronize the little asshole and give him some applause. "Was that a pun you did there? Not bad. I'll make this short and simple for you. I'll show you what the pecking order is amongst us here, or at least where you stand on it. Spoilers, it's below me. Once I get that through your head, I'm hoping the ego check will enable you to respect your sister's wishes. Cool? We can start whenever you feel up to it, buddy."

He took a stance, two handing his staff. Alina flashed me a look of concern before clearing out. "I don't have time to play around with chumps like you!" He grunts as he heaves his staff forward in a slashing motion.

"Avalanche Wave!"

After a second of delay, I'm hit and caught in a tidal wave of slush that carries me off the side of the roof. I manage to grab onto the ledge, and it's taking all of the willpower I have not to let go and fall off because the snow rendered my fingers numb. Hopefully they're all still there. Once the wave comes to a stop, I pull myself up and flip back on to the roof, blowing some heat onto my hands for good measure. "Not bad. but it'll take more than some snow cone magic to get the best of me!"

I took one more step after that and my field of perception went haywire. All of this snow I'm standing on now, is a product of his conjuration. He can do whatever he likes with it as long as he's got something in the tank. This whole half of the roof is a deathtrap now! Acting on instinct, I funnel a hefty deposit of magis into my feet and boost jump straight towards Grey at top speed. I can almost feel my feet reconstitute from the burst when the snow up ahead of me raises and freezes into a spike wall.

"Look at this hotshot doing all the work for me! I know all about you. I'm in a league of my own compared to you! There's no way some defective punch and kick merchant is gonna be able to get one over me. Not in a hundred years!"

Defective? That was a solid burn. But I've gotten a new trick or two since anyone last saw me scrap. My right arm begins to bubble as I overload it with magis and let it blow towards the ground, sending me flying over the spike wall, but also way past my initial target.

This kid doesn't miss a beat. He gathers the wealth of slurry behind him and reforms it into a battery of what's got to close to like probably 80 ice spears. I'd say about two or three well placed one could do me in. Knowing this guy hey could probably tag me with one and then make it pop and really do some damage. He readies them, spreading them out for better coverage of my movement options and as I land and reset my position, they're all poised to strike.

"You're showin' some real effort for the sake of beating some 'chump'!"

He swings his staff down. "I'm gonna enjoy this!"

I focus on the feeling I had before I came back, when I was bonded in sync with Lornas. The feeling didn't translate 100% now that I was back in my live body, but I'm sure I can still hack it. I visualize a giant spectral set of claws overlaying my own left arm, pouring magis into the mold I've envisioned. I've got this. I start charging towards him, jumping over the first volley of frost javelins. The rest begin to cascade over me all at once. It's now or never, time to let her rip!

"Wild Impact!"

I fling the forged claws towards the onslaught of projectiles and the clash results in an explosion of icy powder that casts a fog over the entire field. It's time to lock in, this cloud is the result of our leftover ambient spent magis. He can feel movement in it, and so can I! I feel him dart for me with the sharp ends of his staff extended like a viper going for the kill. Too bad I've got one more trick I've been meaning to bust out since I saw he was armed already. It's only fair. I sidestep the spear strike and run magis into the stone Wyatt gave me just before I croacked, and a spark of soft green like crackles as his gift is summoned into my grasp.

"She's perfect!"

*PING*

A wave a satisfaction washes over me as I hear the widespread notification that Alina's little brother just got his bell rung by my new focus.

The dust clears as Grey is sent rolling a good distance away from me. I pump magis into my new toy and swing it again. Each practice swing cuts a swath through the remaining fog and clears the area for me. I pursue my opponent to the edge of the roof and grab him by the collar just before he rolls off. He's totally limp, which might not go over well with Alina. I can feel my hair start to stand on end at the thought of that.

"Guess I overdid it guys. He's out cold."

I grab him and his two-pronged trident thing and jump down to the courtyard again to bring him to Alina. "Sorry I was a too rough with him. I wasn't really in a position to hold back. Kid's tough as nails."

She shook her head and began using a wind-based healing art. Grey's face became less flush as the therapeutic breeze washed over him. "No worries, Ty. He was kinda begging for it. If you weren't the one to do it, I might've. Who knows, I think I would've given Tobias a crack at it with all of his improvements."

I look over to Toby. "Wow Toby, praise from Alina goes a long way. I'll have to watch out for our next rematch!"

He smiles from ear to ear and flexes his bicep. "Yeah, I've been going pretty crazy lately, I've even become known as the people's champ in town."

I grimaced at that. "I hope you're making that shit up because that sounds so cool and I'm actually pretty jealous dude."

Our laughter was interrupted by the groaning of a defeated pup who just came back to the waking world.

I crouched over Grey with an intentional shit-eating grin. "So, how's it feel to get packed up by a total chump?"