So, to Arras's great relief, Illia had in fact not murdered him in his sleep. Unfortunately, she was not able to keep her healing magic active while unconscious, so it'd be maybe five or six moons before he would be fully recovered. Though Arras figured he'd be good to go a little bit before that. But regardless, it was morning. Which meant that there was now only one thing to do...

"I'm not going to carry food back for you to eat, so you're coming with me." Arras stated matter of factly as he strutted around his den, whirling around as deftly as he could, what not with damaged ribs, while also attempting to boost himself or create stepping stones with earth magic.

"That's fine with me," Illia quickly agreed, "but are you going to be alright?" she asked somewhat concerned.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Arras asked a little confused as he twirled around a flame conjured by himself, earth gently rising to pad his step as he did so.

"Aren't... aren't your ribs cracked right now?" She stared at Arras incredulously as he made a small jump over the flame, launching himself just over it then catching himself with the earth, though, he did stumble a bit and tumbled down into the dirt.

"Yes." He said simply while letting out a short whine.

"Well... Are you alright?"

"..."

"Arras?"

"I will be, just give me a moment."

Illia blinked a few times, then walked over to Arras's splayed out form. He looked up curiously at her, but made no moves against her. He did have some level of trust for her, enough to not react to whatever she was doing. Though any worries were clearly unfounded, as Illia moved one of her wings to cover the fox. Healing magic ensuing not long after.

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem."

...

After his little mishap, Arras decided to put more physically involved magic work on the shelf, resigning himself to simple casts. He'd thought that with a bit of healing magic he'd be good to go, but clearly that was not the case. Regardless, he greatly appreciated Illia's assistance.

"So, what kind of magic can you use?" He asked while nimbly climbing over some of the undergrowth, followed by a comparatively much more clumsy Illia who was just barely managing to keep up.

"Oh, well, I'd like to think I'm somewhat alright in a fair amount of spells. As you know I can use healing, but I can also use fire, water, a bit of physical strengthening focused on durability, mentality bolstering spells, and lastly a smidgen of illusion. If you're counting combinations, then also insanity and senses... But I don't much like those two."

"That's quite a lot." Arras admitted freely. "How much control would you say you have over that repertoire? Also, I'm not quite sure I'm familiar with a few of the kinds you've mentioned. Mentality, insanity and senses?"

The thick bundle of roots that the two were crossing slowly petered out, and eventually they came back down to flat ground. Of course the place Arras had been leading Illia was to one of his sources of berries, because well, he was just bringing her along for his daily routine as of this moment. After they'd had something to eat Arras would figure out a new schedule.

"Oh, that's fair. Mental based spells are basically the counterpart to healing. They help with any mental issues instead of physical ones. I suppose it's not something you'd really need to learn as an animal living in the wild even if you're capable of it. Insanity and senses are a bit more... specific? Senses is a combination of illusion and healing magic, what it does is fairly simple in concept but... It can get a bit nasty."

Arras tilted his head at Illia, noting the distaste that she seemed to hold in her words. "Is something wrong?" He asked while smoothing out a particularly rough patch of the terrain as Illia and himself passed over it, before letting his magic fade shortly after.

"No, I'm fine. It's just a rather taboo thing to use senses for less... Helpful purposes. Senses is used in order to control what a person perceives and feels, it manipulates emotions and well, senses. This is quite helpful when somebody is say, freaking out but... It can just as easily be used for more sinister purposes."

"I'm afraid I don't follow." Arras said a bit confused as he came to a stop in front of an intersection. "What exactly could be sinister? If it helps you survive I don't see how it could be an issue."

"You know... Your thoughts really are quite eloquent, enough to make me forget you're a wild animal." Illia said rather dryly.

"What, am I missing something?" Arras turned around and tilted his head at Illia in confusion.

"I suppose you wouldn't really understand complex morals and such without ever having had any exposure to something like that, so I guess I'll do my best to try and explain. Arras, where I come from, trying to manipulate other... animals, is generally looked down on. Senses basically does that to the extreme and with minimal effort. Can we talk about something else now?"

"I don't see why not," he mused while turning left, "so, insanity magic?"

"..."

"What?"

"It makes people irrational, makes them act how they'd not otherwise act. I don't want to talk about this one that much, can we talk about something not magic related...?"

Arras's thoughts slowed for a moment as he tried to puzzle out what exactly had his acquaintance so uncomfortable, but came up blank. So he just decided to respect their wishes instead.

"Very well, I... don't have much to talk about. I was never really one to start conversations." He thought somewhat meekly.

"Ok, I'll start then!" She strode forward cheerfully, before immediately face planting into the dirt.

"You really should be more careful."

"Ughhhh... Shutup..."

...

Somewhat surprisingly to Arras, Illia was in fact quite good at holding a conversation. He hadn't really considered it yesterday, but here she was again managing to make Arras just talk about himself. He'd noticed it by this point, but he didn't particularly mind. Provided she didn't try to pry too deep into a subject he was uncomfortable with.

Even more surprising to him though, was that Illia had almost just gobbled up a vilo parasite.

"DO NOT EAT THAT!" Arras screamed at Illia as she strode up toward a "berry" bush, one that he had specifically noted to be a parasite hive on one of the first days of him being here. She immediately stumbled backward and glanced back at the fox, eyes wide in confusion.

"Wh-what?! What's wrong?" She immediately spun around to see Arras with his hackles raised, glaring in her general direction. "What'd I do wrong?!"

"That's a vilo parasite, like I said, absolutely do not eat that! You WILL die, it will be slow and painful. Step away from that, do not eat anything if I don't tell you it's safe to eat. Am I clear?"

"Uh... Yeah, crystal... Sorry about that, I didn't realize."

"It's fine, but seriously be more careful. You were this close to dooming yourself to a slow death just now do you understand that?"

"...Yes."

"Just don't do anything without asking first, you've admitted it yourself that you aren't exactly good at living. Anyways, just ahead is an actual berry bush. I don't quite recognize the breed, but it's not poisonous. vilo parasites tend to congregate around the authentic plants in order to look a bit more genuine."

"Right." Illia nodded slowly as she waddled back towards Arras, following after him as he lead the way yet again.

...

"Those were surprisingly pretty good compared to most of what I've eaten while I've been in the forest." Illia said cheerfully "Got any more?"

Arras turned his head to face her as she crawled over an exposed root, giving her the best side eye he could possibly muster. "Yes, but we are not going to get it right now. It's unnecessary." He said somewhat irked at his companions apparent wastefulness.

"My bad, then let me ask, what are we going to do now? I'm... Kind of along for the ride here given I don't have anywhere else to go."

Arras didn't miss the wistfulness in that statement and decided to press on it instead of just letting it pass unnoticed. "Why? You surely had a place to be before. You said you've only spent some of your life in this forest, not the entire thing... What gives?"

"...You know how you didn't want to talk about what separated you from your family much?"

"Yes?"

"It's a sore spot for me as well, so I'd rather not talk about it... If that's alright with you."

Arras was about to ask her to talk anyways, but thought better of it because he already knew the awful feelings that such a line of thought dragged up from the recesses of his gut.

"...Very well, I won't press for details. You did ask what we were going to do though, and I'll answer that question. First, we're going to go to the stream, then we will return to the den. When we arrive, you're going to practice magic with me. Then I'm going to expand the den further, and add an escape route. Before we sleep, you can talk to me about any additional parts you may want to add to my schedule."

Illia blinked a few times, stopping short before a small gap in the earth. "Did you have that all planned out from this morning?"

"Everything except for having you practice with me, yes. It wouldn't do to have an unclear schedule. If I want to get moving again I'd like to keep myself in good condition. And that means eating, drinking, practicing, and growing. If you're going to stay with me for the foreseeable future, I'd also like for you to practice in order to keep up with me in terms of magical prowess. I was initially under the impression that you could only heal... But as you told me earlier, you can do a bit more than just that."

Illia didn't respond immediately, instead her thinking jammed up for a moment in a mess of intelligible nonsense, so Arras didn't bother to pay attention. Instead he studied the ground closely, looking for a trail he'd marked that he knew to be nearby. Though the link that the two shared quickly cleared up right when he found the way forward.

"You... You want me to stay with you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Arras asked confused, not bothering to turn back. "You've been helpful so far... And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the company. Better then... Being alone, for moons and moons... or days and days, as you'd put it.." He said grimly.

Once again, another tangle of nonsense popped up which he wouldn't bother trying to decipher. Instead he walked forward on the trail, turning back only to make sure Illia was following, which she was.

"Thank you." She said rather quietly. Yet, very genuinely. Arras wasn't sure if he'd heard words more genuine before, but that might just be because he'd never heard somebody's literal thoughts before meeting Illia.

...

The trip to the stream was rather uneventful, besides Illia being just that little bit more energetic anyway. But Arras didn't have much problem with cheer, provided it wasn't destructive like his... Older sisters was. What not with talking out loud in the forest. But that wasn't really a problem given all their communication was purely mental.

After they'd both had an adequate amount to drink, Arras steered them both back to his den. There was another thing he'd noticed about this bird, she had absolutely no sense of direction!

"Seriously, absolutely no idea how you've survived twenty something days out here with the skills you've shown."

"My wings were only taken out of commission recently I'll have you know! Being clumsy on the ground isn't much of an issue when you can fly!"

You might ask, how exactly did Arras find that out? Because when he decided to let Illia take the lead for a moment, within thirty seconds she'd led them off track. Which he was sure to correct, but it only fueled his curiosity about the bird and how they weren't dead.

Regardless, it wasn't very long until the two reached Arras's den once more. Within short order, Arras got right down to business.

"Right, if I recall, you said you can use illusions, and fire as well as water? Also some durability strengthening, though I wouldn't be able to help you with anything involving that."

"And mental boost spells, but those aren't particularly important. You'd probably be able to learn it if you tried, but I don't see it being very valuable to you either. Oh, wait! Besides... Uhm... Never mind..."

Arras once again tilted his head, this time in curiosity. "What?"

"It's... Nothing." She blatantly lied.

"Illia." His eyes narrowed at her, and their head turned away in... Shame? But why though?

"Fine, fine..." She audibly huffed. "You're a spirit fox, I already know you can use illusions, it basically comes with your race. When you mix illusions and mental spells together... That's when you get insanity magic." She sounded rather upset talking about it, but the possibility of new magic at his fingertips which also just so happened to be rather easy to learn rather easily excited Arras. He knew that Illia didn't exactly like talking about this for whatever reason, but he simply couldn't help himself.

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Illia still looked rather upset talking about this, so Arras decided to try and diminish the issue and sweeten the pot. "Then can you simply teach me the basics around mental magic? I'll pick up the rest on my own over time. I can help you with your flame and illusion magic in return!"

"I..."

"Please?"

She struggled for a moment, but something about the curiosity bleeding through Arras's usually more quiet personality seemed to get to her. "...Fine. I'll help you pick up the basics, but that's it! I don't want anything to do with illusion combinations. Got it?"

"Yes! Clear as a Lumus's claws!"

...

After they'd gotten down to it, mental spells worked in a similar vein to illusion spells as far as Arras was concerned. They worked in similar ways, but produced different results when they were casted. So he actually managed to pick up basic usage of it within a few hours, to Illia's dismay.

"That took me three days to get..."

"Uh... Sorry?"

So after they'd gotten past that, Arras stayed true to their "deal" and didn't ask Illia for any more help. He'd learn the rest on his own. He was confident in that at least. But, now it was time to uphold his end of the bargain.

"So, how well do you think you can control your flames? I know it can be challenging at the start..."

"Oh, that ones a non issue for me, I'm perfectly capable of using fire magic. It's illusion magic that I thought I'd need help with."

"...Oh, can I see your fire magic then? If it's good I might be able to work on my own based off of it. Please?"

She stared at Arras again, waging a war in her own psyche before relenting. "Yeah, sure, why not?

Illia paused for a short moment, before a small red flame popped into existence in front of their beak. No larger than the berries they'd eaten earlier.

"Is... Is that it?" Arras asked somewhat confused.

"N-no! I just don't like using offensive magic..."

"But... Why though?" He asked again, tilting his head even further.

"Mmghhh fine! Fine, I'll show you the most fire I can use at once."

After that decleration Arras waited in anticipation, eagerly watching as Illia breathed in and out, closing their eyes. Then, a flame popped into the air. Then another, and another, and another. To say that there were a lot of flames would be a bit of an understatement, it was as if the rare sight of stars in the forest was peaking out from the tree line, shining brilliantly in the sky. Illia opened their eyes again. Staring at Arras, somehow having a "I told you so" expression without a mouth to make it with.

"Wow... I don't think I've seen this much used by one person at a time before. That is impressive, but can you heat it up? Increase their size?"

That took the wind out of her sails, as a moment later he got his answer. "...No." And the smugness simply melted away. Followed shortly by the flames she'd conjured. "I can use a lot of it, but it's not very potent. I'm fine with that though, I'd rather learn less directly combative magic anyways!"

Arras stared for a long moment before letting out a huff. "You're weird you know that?"

...

After that awkward moment, Arras had decided to stop prodding Illia on all matters to do with magic, something about it was making her rather uncomfortable and he didn't wish to be rude. So instead he just got to doing what Illia asked him to do, helping her with her illusion magic. Which he was definitely better at, but Illia wasn't exactly terrible either.

She'd clearly put a fair bit of practice into this over her short life, and Arras could tell. He was actually kind of eager to just try and help somebody else practice. It had always been him on the receiving end of that, all his siblings already knew what he didn't, he was always the learner. But this time, he was the one who got to teach. It was new, it was exciting for him. And he made sure to try his best.

Overall, her applications of illusions had been more focused on visuals, whereas Arras's were more encompassing, focusing on minor disturbances or images of unsettling things. It was also just generally more potent when compared to the birds abilities. His illusions were just more... Convincing. So instead of pointing Illia down a different path, he taught her how to refine her magic.

"Again, the eyes of that prong rabbit were dopey and unconvincing, any seasoned beast would notice something wrong almost immediately. You need to put more attention into the details Illia."

"Look-I'm trying, but you do know this doesn't come to me nearly as easily as it does for you right? Your race is particularly good at trickery based spells."

"I believe you were boasting about how you'd get this down just as quickly as I did mental spells not too long ago, where did that confidence go? Cast the spell again, we go until I say we stop."

"MMghhhh... Fine!" She focused for a moment, a moment longer, and then let the spell loose. Producing a recreation of a prong rabbit in front of Arras. It was unmoving, so as far as he was concerned the quality had better be perfect. A 1:1 recreation. There were no other details to simulate, no movement to account for. All she had to do was have a clear vision of the creature. Then to bring that vision into reality.

The creations form solidified, coalescing into the spitting image of a prong rabbit. He glanced once, then twice, before nodding in approval.

"Alright, good, in the heat of a hunt I wouldn't be able to tell if it was real or not based on looking at it only. No deception will ever truly be complete with only an image to accompany it, but you're on the right path. I think that's enough for now, given you sound just about ready to try and scratch my face off. And I apologize for being so harsh, but your abilities need to be of a certain quality to keep up with my own."

She didn't grace her harsh teacher with a response, instead huffing before lying down and glaring up at him. "Remind me to be just as harsh the next time you ask me to teach you something."

"Oh, I will, I'd much rather that to being placated."

"You're... So weird." She huffed again, dropping all the way down onto the ground.

"To me, it is you who is the weird one." He snarked right back, before pausing for a moment. "So, I told you about this earlier today and I'm not sure if you've forgotten or not given you haven't brought it up.. But was there anything that you wanted to add to my schedule? You're staying with me now so... It's only fair I suppose." He said with a hint of amusement.

The call back to yesterdays first actual chat was not missed by Illia, And she responded with an equal amount of amusement, quickly recovering from her previous state of grumpiness. "I mean, besides you being real strict with... An image... Today wasn't that bad, if not a little strenuous. My wings are still stinging... I have absolutely no idea how you're just... Walking around with multiple broken ribs! Does that not eat at you all day? If there's any additions I'd like to make it'd be to walk less for both our sakes."

"Noted but... There's not exactly much I can do about it unless you'd like us to starve. I've already extensively searched the entirety of this patch of the forest. The place we went to today is the nearest edible plant."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. Not much I can do on that front. I suppose if you want any more help with magic though you'd probably do well to ask for one I'm less proficient in. I won't berate you as much if I myself am rather poor with it."

"I'll keep that in mind, well there was one more thing you were going to do today wasn't there?"

"You're right, I was going to dig another escape route but... I'm quite tired, and I think there's enough of them anyways, unless you'd like me to make one for you I suppose. You are larger than I am, albeit only a little, but it's already a tight fit for me to squeeze through."

"No no! No, I'm fine. You don't need to do that. If you're tired I'd rather you get your sleep instead."

Arras glanced curiously at her for a moment, before blinking and shaking their head a little. "If that's what you say, very well. Then it's time to sleep. Are the previous nights arrangements fine with you?"

"You mean you want me to... Sleep with you again?"

"Yes? I really don't understand your apprehension with this, there's only one patch of bedding and you need to be touching me to help heal me. Would you mind explaining to me why exactly it is the idea makes you nervous? If anything, I'm the one who should be nervous, I'm practically putting my life in your hands."

"I... Uh... Nevermind, you're right! You're right. I'm being silly there's no reason at all for it. Off to bed then!"

Arras tilted his head again, noting a hint of embarrassment but ignoring it anyways, before walking over to the bedding and lying down. Waiting patiently for Illia who was still hesitating for some reason. Though he felt their wing covering his body a moment later. The familiar warmth of healing magic spreading throughout his body shortly after.

"It is... Difficult to stay awake like this." He admitted freely, already feeling himself drift off under the influence of her magic.

"I, er... Sorry?"

"It's... Fine... Good night and... Sorry..."

"Sorry? About what? Arras?"

But he was already asleep.

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Bestiary

Lumus

A relatively common canine carnivore found in plains and forested environments, Primarily non sentient, they roam in packs. They have good affinities with physical strengthening's of speed and strength, as well as wind magic. Though they face extreme difficulty in using illusion and mental magic.

At almost all times, this species has almost never dipped from it's stable population. They can function off of remarkably little food and they are quite hardy, as well as only ever traveling together. Most have blue and or grey coats, but occasionally some consist of a pure white. Oddly enough, these instances are usually more intelligent and act as pack leaders.

lumus's excel in drawn out conflict, wearing down their target overtime with numbers and expert teamwork. Wounds incurred in these hunts are often times quickly healed by this creatures natural rate of healing being significantly faster then other animals.

As you would assume, they are very social creatures. Despite not having much in the way of sentience, Lumus's often time build strong bonds within their packs. Whereas most pack structures would involve only the alpha and leader of the pack reproducing, similar bonds are built between every member of the pack, leading to their continued longevity.

Colonial life has actually managed to domesticate the species and some of it's offshoots, staying with their young from the start of their lives, these young lumus's often end up considering those "parents" as their pack mates. However, attempting to pull one from the wild has gone much less successfully. With a few notable exceptions, of course.

As a Lumus grows stronger, it's claws become clearer, eventually gaining the visual consistency of glass. Though, this also seems to make them exponentially sharper. As they become incredibly adept at rending flesh.

Despite all of this races triumphs and advantages, they are met with one critical flaw. A lumus's lifespan is shockingly short for a creature of it's size and stature, being a mere four to five years. The time they gain through growing in power can serve to offset this, as they do acquire a fair amount of extra time, but in general they lead much shorter lives in comparison to their fellow creatures in the wild.

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Dictionary

Combination magic

Magic that is not usually possible with control of only a single affinity is referred to as combination magic, you may be able to produce similar effects to a combination magic with only one part of it, like say controlling your own emotions with mental magic, but without the properties of healing magic which would allow you to interfere with another persons own health, you would not be able to control theirs.

In effect, combination magic isn't really it's own magic, but it is instead putting together different aspects of magic. Not all magics could combine, as they simply aren't applicable to each other, but most can. For example, putting together water and fire you would get steam, individually with water you would be unable to produce it in a gaseous form, but add flame to the mix and you can create it with ease. But if you tried to say, put force magic together with healing, what would you even expect to do? Hit somebody with a healthy barrier?

Some forms of combination magic are rather easy, for example, the use of senses is effectively just taking a basic application of a spell and slightly altering it, but the use of something like lava would be exceedingly difficult. Using such a spell would require extensive mastery over the element of fire as well as a basic understanding of earth, so competent practitioners of combination magic are quite respected within colonial societies.