"Gadalik, you finished eating already?" Gale asked his son. The family was seated at the kitchen table, and the food had barely been touched except the single empty plate in front of a young blue-eyed man, who was chugging his drink.

"He said he wanted to call his girlfriend after dinner," Adya giggled.

Gadalik felt hot with embarrassment. "It's just... We've both been busy lately. And with my back feeling better, maybe I could visit? Catch up?"

"Go for it," his mother encouraged him. "Stay a few days if you want, since it takes so long to get there and back. Just don't stay forever!"

"Of course I'll come home," he laughed. "Can I be excused?"

"Alright," his father agreed somewhat uncertainly.

"Thank you!" He took care of his plate, tucked in his chair, then went to the living room where he picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello?" sounded a familiar woman's voice.

"Hey, Grace," he greeted her.

"Gadalik! You caught me at a bad time…"

"Why? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just… I have a lot of work to do on the homestead lately."

"Would you like me to help out?"

There was a brief silence. "Are you sure you'd want to?"

"Of course. It might be too late by the time I get there today, but if you let me stay I can start working tomorrow."

"Thank you…!"

Gadalik arrived that evening, dismounting his dappled gray stallion Punsiv and knocking on the farmhouse door. When there was no answer, he knocked again, growing antsy.

After a few minutes, a woman in her early twenties with red hair and irises answered. She brightened up upon seeing him on the other side. "Gadalik!" She greeted him with a hug. "I finished the chores for today. I must have fallen asleep waiting on you," she explained, embarrassed.

"That's only natural," he chuckled. His striped blue eyes searched the living room as she let him in. "Where's Gavin?"

"My dad went on an expedition for his work. He won't be back for a week. That's why it's up to me to take care of the homestead alone."

"You mean…it'll be just us here? For a week?" He felt his cheeks flush. "Would Gavin be okay with this?"

She shrugged. "I don't really need his permission… I'm an adult."

Huh… "Alright. Well, it's getting late. Have you eaten yet?"

"Yeah. Have you?"

"I ate before I left. I'm alright."

"Then make yourself at home. We have a lot to do tomorrow, so we both should get some sleep."

The next morning Gadalik awoke from a rooster's crow, to find he was alone. He could smell food though, and, after changing into his usual gray henley shirt and shorts, he headed to the kitchen, where he saw his girlfriend making breakfast.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Grace giggled, sliding the eggs onto their plates. "We have a lot to do, so eat up, and let's get started!"

The two began by letting the horses out to run so they could clean the stables. As Gadalik shoveled the soiled straw out of the stalls, he felt a familiar ache in his back and hesitated.

Grace noticed. "What is it?"

Stolen story; please report.

"N-Nothing," he stammered, pressing on. They finished, proceeding to feed the animals.

Gadalik picked up a bucket of water in each hand to refill their troughs. As soon as he lifted them, however, his back flared up and they dropped from his hands.

"Gadalik! What's the matter?" Grace asked, setting hers down and rushing to her boyfriend's side, catching him as he fell forward.

He took a moment to compose himself. "Punsiv threw me a few days ago… Think my back hasn't fully recovered from it," he figured, hunched over to rest his hands on his knees.

"Why did you agree to help me with my chores if you're hurt?"

"Because I thought I was better… Besides, I wanted to spend time with you," he admitted.

The red-haired girl recoiled, blushing.

"Don't worry… I just need a small break, and I'll get back to helping."

"Alright, then… Let's get you inside."

Gadalik managed to follow Grace to her bedroom, where she guided him to her bed. He was still not used to how soft it was in comparison to his. He remembered how she used to set up a small mattress for him to sleep on in the living room.

Grace came back holding a jar, which she opened and tapped out the contents of into her hand.

He watched with curiosity. "What is that?"

"It's an ointment that Guinevere showed me how to make. It's meant to ease the pain and promote healing," she said. "Now get comfy."

He settled down, and she began applying the medicine over his back, thoroughly rubbing it in not unlike a massage, as she gently made her way down his spine.

He relaxed. There was some unrelated tension and pain he'd never even noticed he'd been living with until she relieved it, as well.

Then he yelped and jerked out of reflex when she pressed on a specific spot on his lower back, pain shooting through him.

Grace retreated a step. "It's that bad?"

"N-No," he assured her. "The ointment is already helping. Thank you. I'll be fine in a little while–honest."

She eyed him skeptically, but ultimately decided to trust him as she left to continue tending to livestock.

Gadalik woke up, having not realized he'd dozed off in the first place. He got out of bed and immediately noticed his back wasn't hurting anymore. Eager to earn his keep, he raced outside to help finish the rest of the chores.

"Gadalik? Are you still hurt?" she asked.

"N-no, I feel great," he assured her, "thanks to you."

"...Alright. The ointment needs to be reapplied every few hours. Just be careful, okay?"

He nodded. For the next couple hours they finished caring for the livestock and moved on to the garden.

As he repeatedly bent over to help harvest them, though, the ache returned. It's not as bad as before, he told himself and kept going.

The pain only worsened until stars shrouded his vision. "Grace…?"

"Hm?" The red-haired woman turned to face him, then gasped and rushed to his side as he collapsed.

She helped him up and together they made it to the farmhouse where she placed him on the couch before fetching the ointment, then she pulled his shirt up to reveal the faint bruising on his back, gently rubbing it in once again from top to bottom.

He cried out when she reached that same point on his lower back. He must have blacked out for a few seconds from how sharp and intense it was.

"...lik! Gadalik!" she called desperately.

He opened his eyes. The pain had lessened but he could barely move without it increasing.

She sighed through her nose. "This might need more than the ointment…"

Her boyfriend didn't argue. He hadn't realized the severity of his injury.

"I'll call Guinevere to help. You stay put, alright?"

Gadalik stared at the ground after she left. I came here to help Grace, but so far she's had to take care of me. I'm slowing her down more than if I hadn't come in the first place…

"You okay?" Grace asked after finishing the phone call in the other room.

He couldn't bring himself to answer.

She softened. "Just hang tight until Guin gets here."

It wasn't too long before there was a knock on the door; a woman in her early thirties wearing a blue dress and a pastel-pink apron tied on with a white ribbon, with blond hair in a giant braid down her back, stood behind it. After being let in, she moved to inspect Gadalik's back.

"I see you've mastered the ointment," she said to Grace.

"Y-Yes, but it's not enough to help him, Guin," the younger woman answered.

Guinevere lightly ran her hand down Gadalik's back, stopping over the sore spot and narrowing her eyes. "Looks like a flexion–or, more specifically, a compression–fracture."

He gulped. "F-Fracture?"

"My normal advice to you would be to wear a brace for perhaps nine weeks, but you are not the type to wait and recover, are you, Gadalik?"

The young man averted his striped blue eyes.

"He's not," Grace answered for him.

"In that case, the alternative would be to heal him," Guinevere decided.

"Can I help?"

"If you want to."

Grace leaned down to put her hands over her mentor's and there was a faint glow from the pink butterfly markings on Guinever's lower arms, which transferred down to Gadalik's back.

He braced himself, though he didn't feel any difference…that is, until they were done and he could sit up without the pain from before. "You…. You did it…!"

Grace stood, then staggered slightly.

Gadalik jumped to his feet to steady her. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah," she assured him.

"You don't have magic," he realized. "How did you help?"

"The tattoos on my arms act as the glyphs you'd see on a spell tag," Guinevere explained. "It creates 'magic' through the user's life energy instead."

"Wha–life energy?! You mean it shortens your lifespan?"

"Only if the injury is life-threatening. In your case it'll just weaken us temporarily–even less so since we combined our energies."

Gadalik sighed with relief.

"Even if it was life threatening," Grace said, "I would put my life on the line to save you. That's why…when my training with Guin is complete…I'll be getting my own glyphs, too."