After checking in with her mother, Ember made her way to a prayer room on the first floor. Once she was inside, she waited for a few moments before a voice spoke to her.

"You really know how to cause a commotion."

Ember looked up and grinned at Justine. "I don't know what you mean."

Justine snorted. "Sure, you don't."

"So anything new?" Ember asked.

Justine shook her head. "Lady Allyana is still restricted to the temple. She's trying to convince her father to let her go out as long as Oracle Patricia is with her and therefore the warrior-priests but he continues to say no. I don't know if he'll waver."

"He will," Ember said.

"You sound way too sure about that," Justine said, peering closely at her.

"You said yourself in your last report that he has a soft spot for his daughter. He'll give in eventually."

Justine grunted and leaned against the wall. "Even if he did, it would be suicide to go after her if she's surrounded by warrior-priests and the Count's guards."

Ember nodded her head. It was a good point. She wondered if rescuing Meri had changed the situation too much. Would the kidnapper even be able to get to Allyana? She frowned. Dread filled Ember's stomach. All her plans would be for naught if the kidnapper backed off. Did that mean she would have to create an opportunity instead? She didn't like that idea. While she could justify taking advantage of the situation, crossing the line to actually causing it was a different story. She knew it was an arbitrary line but she needed to have boundaries. She knew what she would become without them.

"Let's keep an eye out for now. Is there anything else?"

"She'll be working with the patients in the infirmary tomorrow."

Ember considered that and nodded. "Thanks. That might be useful." She looked at Justine. "There are a few things I need to talk to you about. First, is your pay. I know we agreed to three copper tons a month but I would like to change that."

Justine raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Four copper brils a month."

Justine whistled. "That's three times more than your current offer. This is the first time I had an employer ask to pay me more before the agreed negotiation period."

"We both know you're worth a lot more than that."

Justine shrugged. "If you consider the exclusive contract you're giving me, you're actually overpaying me. Wait, I still get the exclusive for monster hunting, right?"

Ember grinned. "Yes. That does remind me. Now that Knight Vantosia is my sponsor, we'll be moving to the capital. We'll be closer to the Wayward Mountains so we can go there for hunting. It'll be a great opportunity. But there is a drawback."

"The Rakels," Justine said.

Ember nodded. "They keep a manor in the capital and at least a few Rakels are always there instead of at their main estate. It'll be hard to avoid them."

Justine sighed. "You really had to go and accept a royal knight's sponsorship." She shrugged. "I'll just have to be careful."

Ember was a little surprised that Justine still planned to go with her. She had hoped she would but she thought she would have to do a lot more convincing. "I don't plan on staying in the capital permanently but it might take a few years before we'll be ready to move."

"And where are you planning to go?" Justine asked.

"A safe place for me and my family," Ember said, not explaining further. She still hadn't decided on a location just that it had to be a place not owned by any kingdom.

"That tells me nothing, you know?"

Ember simply smiled. "I should head back. I have training tomorrow." She paused. "How is the training going with my Mom?"

Justine snorted. "She's difficult to handle but she has talent. Wait until you see the weapon she's taken a liking to."

"What's the weapon?" Ember asked, curiously.

"I'll let that be a surprise," Justine said and then she slid out the door, leaving Ember behind.

Ember shook her head and made her way back to her room.

The next morning, Ember and Rowan made their way to the mercenary hall. This time, Knight Garrick didn't travel with them but Justine came along as a sort of bodyguard. When her mother informed them she had found a house for them to rent, it was agreed that Justine would go with her to complete the transaction. Her mother hadn't been too happy about it but since Ember and Rowan would be with the knights, Justine would be best served protecting her mother. It did leave a gap where Lady Allyana wasn't being watched but since Ember knew she would be at the infirmary today she decided to chance it.

Ember knew she was probably being paranoid but after living so many lives where her mother died from unnatural causes, Ember figures she earned her paranoia. Once Justine had dropped them off, Ember and Rowan hurried inside to begin their training. Right away, they were ordered to do laps around the training ground. For the rest of the training, they were lifting and throwing stones, doing downward sword slashes until their arms felt like jelly, and then it was back to running. By the time they finished, Rowan was lying on the ground with his arms spread out and Ember was considering joining him.

"Maiden Ember," Knight Vantosia called.

Stolen story; please report.

Ember dragged herself towards the knight. "Yes, sir?"

"I have decided on your magic tutor." He waved to Knight Garrick. "While Knight Garrick is a knight, he is also a mage."

Ember couldn't help the grin on her face. She had been secretly hoping the knight would be the one to tutor her. She was determined to learn how to make lightning.

"You don't seem surprised," Knight Van commented.

"I found out he was a mage on our way to Hekral."

"I gave up the mage title to be a knight, so it's better to call me a Bloom," Knight Garrick said, joining the conversation.

"Why can't you be both?" Ember asked.

"That's complicated," Knight Garrick said. "And not part of the lesson we'll be doing today."

"Van says you have several abilities. I would like you to show them to me but unfortunately, that's going to have to wait until we return to the capital."

"Why?" Ember asked.

"Privacy," Knight Van answered, gesturing to the grounds. "We can't say who is watching. It'll be better to wait until we're at my estate."

Knight Garrick nodded in agreement while Ember couldn't help feeling disappointed. She had been hoping to start working towards getting lightning.

"Now, don't get too down about it. I have another exercise for you to practice until we reach the capital. Plus, we can still work on the abilities listed on your registration. "It was fire and water, right?"

Ember nodded her head. "Though they are listed as unconfirmed."

"That's fine. What's important is they're listed," Garrick said. "Now follow me."

"I'll be returning to the temple," Knight Van said. "I'll bring your brother back with me."

"Thank you," Ember said.

Knight Vantosia called to Rowan and the boy immediately jumped to his feet and rushed over. His earlier fatigue seemed to drain away in the face of his hero worship. Ember chuckled to herself. At least Knight Vantosia was worth looking up to.

Knight Garrick led them to a corner of the field and gestured for her to sit on the ground. As soon as she was settled, Garrick went into lecture mode.

"Since elemental abilities are growth abilities, they can constantly grow stronger. Not only that, but elemental abilities can create divergent abilities, like my lightning. Divergent abilities are what really makes someone a mage."

Ember had never heard about divergent abilities or that it was the key to being a mage. "I thought having elemental magic made you a mage."

"That's correct," Knight Garrick said. "But the reason for that is because elemental magic allows you to have divergent abilities. Perhaps it would be better if I explain what divergent abilities are."

"Many people think divergent abilities are the same as having a growth ability. It makes sense that they think so since you have to have a growth ability to have a divergent ability, but not all growth abilities create divergent abilities."

"What?" Ember asked, confused.

"For example, let's look at your mapping skill, Finder's Keeper."

Ember stiffened at the mention of her skill but forced herself to relax.

"Now Finder's Keeper was registered as being level five. That means it is a growth skill. I assume your skill can grow to find different things on your map."

Ember nodded. "At first it only allowed me to find items, but now I can find animals and people."

Knight Garrick grinned. "That's a perfect example of a growth skill. Your mapping ability is growing stronger but it's still tied to your mapping. On the other hand, my fire, wind, and water can grow stronger in levels but they also can be combined to make a new skill which is my lightning. That is what divergent abilities are. They can create an entirely new ability."

Ember felt a wave of excitement. She wondered just how many divergent abilities she could create since she had all the elements at her disposal.

"Now an important thing to keep in mind is that lightning can be both a divergent ability and a normal ability."

"How?" Ember asked.

"There are some people who gain the blessing of lightning. That means they can use lightning from the start, no other elements are necessary. It's useful but also limiting. Lightning becomes the set ability and therefore doesn't have the flexibility of a divergent. With a divergent, you don't have the official ability of lightning so it's not as easy to use but you can use it and still have the base elements."

Ember thought over what Knight Garrick said before a question came to mind. "Does that mean lightning isn't considered an element? Or can you not combine it to make a divergent? Can a person with the lightning ability break it down to the base elements?"

"Slow down," Knight Garrick said with a laugh. "Now let's try answering those one by one."

Ember flushed but she leaned forward, eager to learn more.

"Lightning isn't considered an element though some people will call it a pseudo-element though that's not an official term."

He paused and then continued. "So far lightning has not been able to be combined to make a divergent but there are still people who are trying. The reason is because there have been some close calls before the experiment fell apart. Many people believe that because lightning isn't a real element it makes it harder to make divergent abilities but that because it is closely aligned with the elements it might be possible."

"Lastly, lightning cannot be broken down when it is a set ability. Since the ability is a blessing it can only go forward it cannot go back. That's why having the base elements and making divergent lightning is considered better. A person blessed with a set lightning ability won't be considered a mage due to that limitation."

Ember turned over that information. It was fortunate that she had decided to gain the base elements instead of trying to find a set lightning ability. It also provided a loophole with her ability slots. Since divergent abilities weren't set abilities she could have as many as she could discover without taking up a slot in Keeper.

"Another important thing to know is that elements can create divergent abilities without combining elements"

"But I thought you had to combine elements to make divergent abilities."

"That's true and in some mage circles people consider that to be what makes a true divergent ability. But mages with only the fire ability can make a divergent ability. Fire Rain is an example. Despite its name, it doesn't use water. Instead, it shapes fire into condensed droplets that fall from the sky like rain. It is a devastating ability. Due to the way it appears, people consider it not just part of growing stronger with the fire element but its own separate ability. That is what is called a single divergent ability since it only uses a single element."

Ember could understand why some people would consider it not a true divergent ability. Wasn't it just a powerful use of the fire element? It was just that the user had greater control over shaping their skill. It wasn't too unlike her using wind to collect sounds and return them to her, a trick she learned from a spy with the wind ability. Did that mean it was a divergent ability?

"Now, to the point of why I was explaining all of this," Knight Garrick said. "To use divergent skills, you must take control of your elemental magic. Now before you say you have control, you don't. Seedlings automatically are capable of using their ability. It becomes second nature but because of this they are relying on their blessing to do the work."

"When you gain a blessing you also gain the magic veins to use it. What you'll need to do is focus on sensing those magic veins inside you and manipulating them."

Ember was startled at the information. Knight Garrick was essentially saying that blessings were a crutch. Did that mean that this was only the tip of what she could do with her abilities?

"Now the exercise we'll be doing today is working on how to sense the different magic veins inside of you. To do that you'll need to close your eyes and try to sense the magic inside of you. Since you have so many abilities this might be even more difficult for you. What I would like you to do is focus on finding either water or fire since that's what we'll be focusing on while in Hekral."

He smiled at Ember. "Ready?"

Ember nodded her head trying to contain her excitement.

"Then let's begin."