I saw Crion again next week, and the week after that, and after that again.

He didn't come every day, but father would invite him over to the yard behind the manor every so often for a bout like the first one.

The other days, I practised hard, doing drills first thing after breakfast every day.

Even though I kept on losing quicker and quicker every day, Saul often pat me on the head and said I was doing a good job, so I knew I was improving.

Then there was the boring part. When Crion wasn't in the yard in the morning, I would learn mana enhancement.

Father seemed quite excited about how I could do simple things like swing the sword a bit quicker or use mana enhancement to parry his sword swings. I wonder if he was being sarcastic...?

There was one thing that was fun from the mana training though, which was when he got me to jump up high using mana in my legs and feet, then he would catch me when I came falling down. He said it wasn't good for my knees if I practised myself, at least not until I could do it really well.

I still didn't stay outside all that long. I think father and Saul trained a lot more before breakfast, but I fortunately got to sleep in, which was a must with how tired I was at night.

One night, however, I had a disturbing experience.

The strange mana dream had come back again.

That night didn't seem much different from the others. Eve had come to the manor in the afternoon, and we had wandered around the woods towards Sir Barker's house and found little brown salamanders under stones.

I had then eaten with my father who seemed to be thinking about something as he didn't say anything through the meal.

Simila had taken me up to my room, and then I had plopped on my bed and fallen asleep.

Instead of the frivolous dreams or nightmares of every day, I found myself sitting beside the black spire with the pulsing hum and wondered what was going on.

The world of the spires was darker now, the sky an overcast grey instead of the glowing red that used to paint the clouds.

The giant spire with dark mana spinning around it had also disappeared. The smaller one that appeared last time was also gone.

Just the one humming spire, which left me with a foreboding as I opened my eyes to crying.

"Hush, hush," Ivian whispered, "you're going to wake your brother."

It was Brendal crying, and Ivian had come in the room to calm him down.

I felt a pang of annoyance as I watched Ivian holding Brendal in front of the window.

Ever since the spring, Brendal's crib was moved to my room. I wouldn't be awoken too much by him since I slept through almost any racket he could kick up, but Ivian was always hovering around him as if I didn't even exist anymore.

"Ivian," I called.

"Sorry, did we wake you up? It's almost as if he can sense something is wrong. He just won't settle down tonight..." she trailed off.

Did Ivian know already? Was something else wrong?

"I had another mana dream," I said anyway. I wanted someone to tell me what was happening to me.

"What? Haven't you been training with- Brendal, don't cry, there there."

Brendal had started crying again when Ivian raised her voice.

I waited for her to give me her attention again.

"Don't worry Tilly, you'll be fine. Let's tell your mother in the morning, alright?" Ivian carried Brendal over to the door, "I'm going to take Brendal out of the room so you can sleep a bit before morning."

I did manage to sleep again, but in the morning when I woke up everyone seemed so busy, running around the house.

"We've discussed this before, Sivis. We came back specifically to give Brendal the family and clean air he needs to grow up healthy. I don't want to bring him to the capital particularly if we do that terrible full day of travel past Ibbergreen again."

"I will be getting a place for us to stay, I promise. It will be just like Olwick, maybe in Seventhill, somewhat out of the city."

"Sivis..."

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My parents were arguing again but it wasn't as bad as before.

"I just don't like that you and the boys will be here without any protection."

"You worry too much. You even had that maid come with us. We'll be just fine while you're gone."

"I don't trust father. He decided to help us in the end, but I don't doubt he has ulterior motives."

"Mother?" I had been standing to the side, but I thought I should say something so they knew I was there.

"Good morning Tilly." Mother said, then whispered to father, "Let's leave this for now. We can talk about it in the fall."

"Tilvrade, I am leaving to Gristol this morning. I trust you will continue training with Crion and Sir Barker over the summer."

It was a bit sudden. I hadn't realised father would be leaving Olwick during the summer.

"Bye father," I responded.

"Not quite yet, Tilvrade. There will be a time for that outside in a moment. Cianna, I need to make sure Saul and Byl are ready to leave. I'll see you outside."

Father walked off to prepare for his journey. It didn't seem like the right time to bring up my dreams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Father left to the capital again, this time without us. It would be the whole summer before he returned.

When I did finally talk to mother about the mana dreams, she just had me do more training, asking Simila to make sure I didn't skip, though I really don't think it was because of excess mana.

The mana dream didn't reoccur very often though and there was nothing like the stigma or pain that I got last time.

I passed much of the summer uneventfully. Sometimes I met Eve, and spent the rest of the time training with the sword, riding or learning to read.

I had complained at the sewing that Ivian had taught me before and now that she was busy taking care of Brendal in any case, mother decided I could start studying to read.

Mother would read various passages to me from a book of fairy tales.

It was apparently quite famous in Farand. An older lord from Hartun had written it out from all the places he had travelled to in the Kingdom.

I had heard some of the tales before, like the one about the boy who shouts "dragon". There were others though, some I had not seen before and it took a long time to write out the letters that were unfamiliar to me and Sam.

It was strange that the writing here was so different from Lucia, even though many of the words were the same.

One tale in particular I found interesting and quite different from the rest.

It was the story of a young monk who went down to the riverbank to clean his habit. When he looked in the waters, his reflection looked back at him and spoke:

'Fear not the shadows, for the shadows are cast by the light. Embrace them and you shall have power and become a leader of the faith.'

The monk had been spooked and ran back in the monastery. But he was not a diligent monk, and every time his brethren would fast or chant psalms at dawn and dusk to the Golden Sun, the young monk would dream of the comforts of food and sleep and glance at the shadows that whispered that they would help him.

So one day, he went back to the river and asked.

'If I embrace the shadows, will I really be able to do what I want?'

And his reflection happily replied.

'Why, you must only reach for the mana within you and you shall have all of your desires.'

But when the monk opened himself to the rays of the Black Sun he was corrupted and it was no longer the monk who spoke to his reflection in the river, but the demon who laughed at the monk trapped in the reflection.

It was an odd tale not only because it was the first I heard of monks in this life, but also because it talked about the Black Sun as if it were something to do with mana.

"Simila, can you go see what is happening?" Mother asked from where she was seated. Simila didn't leave the room, but went to the door and summoned Vis, the younger, who was now acting as the valet in the house.

While I was writing out the symbols and sentences from the tale in part of the wax surface that I had been forced to wipe clean, it seems there had been some kind of commotion outside.

There was a sound of banging on wood, which was very unusual. And shouting now could also be faintly heard.

"Simila, can you come with us?"

Mother decided we should all just go downstairs instead of waiting on Vis.

Vis was hanging back from the doorway where his cousin with the same name was standing in the doorway. The older Vis was blocking the door, so I couldn't see very well.

"This is completely unacceptable! I demand to see the lord of this backwater."

"Please, master peddler, this is unreason-"

We heard two men's voices arguing outside.

"I will not hear another word out of you! That wretch was scamming me! Do you even know who I am? I am with the Graisfor company from Fort Efeles. I won't let him go unpunished."

I peeked out from behind mother and saw a big man with a very red face.

"Gregrick? This is...?"

Mother addressed the older man who was walking behind the peddler. He looked very embarrassed and flustered.

"There must be some misunderstanding, my lady. Jikod here claims that he-"

"Claims?! Misunderstanding?! I have proof. He mixed in flour gone foul with the shipment. Just a couple days after I loaded it into my wagon and it's already infested with weevils."

"And did my steward not adequately judge the situation? Gregrick?"

"My lady, I did. Riddith wouldn't do something like that. I know him well, he is my nephew."

"You are his uncle? This is preposterous. Evidently this matter can't be handled in this town plagued by nepotism."

Gregrick grimaced as he realised his mistake.

"Look, Mr...."

"Grames," the peddler gave his name.

"Mr. Grames, our steward Gregrick will ensure you are helped with that shipment, to make sure it is sifted and-"

"Where is the lord of this place? I didn't come all the way here to deal with a jezebel."

The man interrupted mother rudely.

"That was out of line, peddler," older Vis told the man and I felt my head nodding. Who does he think he is talking to my mother like that?

"Oh? And are you going to do something about it? Olgrid!" He called, and a guard swinging a saber lazily in his hand walked over from where he had been leaning on the wall in the shadow of the staircase.

"Don't you be threatening us," Sir Barker startled me as he spoke from behind. "You get going back to Olwick now and you'll be lucky if you have any help.

The guard made a gesture of his head at the peddler and they both started walking away.

"I'll be back, Viscount Ikburr won't tolerate this injustice. Mark my words!" The man shouted.

To be completely honest, I doubt that Sir Barker would have been able to defeat that guard. The guard with the peddler had biceps like Saul's and looked the image of a warrior, unlike Sir Barker and his somewhat large girth.

"Gregrick, just come to me if there's any trouble." Sir Barker told Gregrick who now had a hand on his forehead and looked like everything was going wrong.

"My apologies Sir Barker, my lady. I should go back to sort this out."