“I... I did it...?!”

On a Tuesday afternoon, Alicia pushed her chair back and stood up, looking over the string of runes she had just scribbled into her notebook.

Cyg, barely awake, turned to see what was happening. “Is that...?”

Beaming, Alicia nodded and took the notebook over to Merry, holding it in front of her as if she were a child. “Look, I found my true name!”

Merry gasped and pulled away from the cauldron. “Congratulations!” she said, giving her apprentice a big hug. “I thought you had given up on it, but you were working on it this whole time. I’m so proud of you!”

“It was certainly a long journey.”

Letting go, Merry asked, “So, what made it click?”

She froze for a second, and then she looked away, flustered. “It’s complicated,” Alicia tried to answer, “It wasn’t one thing... it was more like everything felt right.”

The witch laughed. “Very typical. Let me finish up what I’m doing and I’ll talk more with you—there’s so much we have to go over!”

Ecstatic, Alicia practically skipped her way back into the study, and Cyg, who was watching the whole exchange, sat with his temple on his knuckles.

He was happy for her, but he was also confused. “This is probably a stupid question, but what does it mean?”

“It means I can make domains! And key tools to my mana, but that’s less useful out here.”

“I remember that, but I also remember you telling me that it’s a problem since we’re inside Merry’s.”

From the kitchen, the witch answered his implicit question. “She can still form small, dense ones, which would be very educational.” She then hummed, “Mmn, I remember when my mentor first taught me. I didn’t think I’d ever get to be on the other side of the table!”

Alicia awkwardly laughed. “Why does this sound like trouble?”

“When has comfort led to anything worthwhile? The sweetest fruits are borne from blood, sweat, and tears.” She let her words hang for a while. “Don’t worry, you’ll just be learning how to act under pressure.”

They left that questionable answer unquestioned. Cyg spun the puzzle cube in his hand and spoke up on a different topic. “Speaking of, I’ve been pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into solving this, and it’s broken.”

The witch glanced back. “Is it? Let me see.” She motioned for him to give it over, and the thief tossed it through the doorway and into her hands. It was already solved as he’d done so previously, and she tried to pull it apart. “Hm.” She then held it for a second, and then popped it open effortlessly. “There.”

“W... What?!”

Inside was a slip of paper, and Merry plucked it out to read. Her upbeat expression was replaced by a measured one, and without commenting, she took it out and balled it in a fist before closing the box. “It works fine,” she said, returning it in the same manner received.

“Wait, what was that?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“You shouldn’t worry about it,” she replied, focusing on what she was cooking. “It was meant for me; you wouldn’t understand its contents.”

He stared back at her, and then he turned to the puzzle box. Once more, he tried and failed. Stuck as always. Frowning, Cyg asked Alicia a silent question and was only offered a shrug of her shoulders.

* * *

“Aaaand... there we go, a new arm!”

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On a Friday afternoon, Alicia didn’t keel over for the first time, having grown quite efficient at healing the guard. In fact, she was about as steady as the man who just had all of his mana forcibly purged.

“Wow, that’s amazing!” he said, turning and stretching his new limb. “You’re a lifesaver. Literally. I don’t know what I can do to repay you!”

Before Alicia could answer as usual, Cyg cut in. “Hey, actually... I don’t think we ever got your name, even though we gave ours.”

She raised a brow at him, silently saying, “Hold on... you actually don’t know it? Just how many times have you seen him already?”

The guard laughed. “That’s easy—it’s Sarabat. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Cyg asked himself why this was the first time he bothered, and he didn’t like any of the conclusions. But, why does that matter? The past is in the past. “Getting to the point—if you don’t mind, can you teach me how to fight?”

He opened his eyes wide in surprise. “Me? I’m just some guard. If you’re with the lady witch, then I can bet that you’re a mage, so you can already do more than I can.”

Cyg rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t have any combat-oriented Aspects, and she isn’t teaching us how to handle dangerous opponents. After all, this is her forest, and she makes sure nothing crazy happens inside.”

Willfully dismissing the obvious follow-up as youthful fancy, he replies, “I see... But I don’t want to step on any toes here...”

“Oh no, it’s fine. Merry is very understanding,” he reassured, “And it doesn’t have to be now. But maybe tomorrow. Preferably sometime tomorrow or the day after.” Sometime before Monday.

Sarabat leaned against a tree, a little exhausted but still able to smile. “Before anything, how much do you know? Do you have any training at all? What kinds of ‘opponents’ are you thinking of going up against?”

“I have no experience whatsoever,” he answered, “And... let’s say a shapeshifting monster.”

“A shapeshifting... You may not know this, but as soon as we find anything that can use magic, we either gather up a dozen men to take care of it or call a mage if it’s too much. No half-measures, and I believe a ‘shapeshifting monster’ is firmly in the latter category.”

Sighing, Cyg said, “That makes sense. Then, I won’t hold you here any longer—”

“—But if you don’t know how to fight at all, then I can give you some pointers. Some things you can only learn by getting into scuffles with some nasty things.”

He stood up straight, eyes wide. “That’ll be great, thank you!”

* * *

“Should we try to fight each other?”

On a Monday afternoon, Alicia tapped her knees with her fingers.

The thief frowned and replied, “No offense, but I think I would kick your butt.”

“With magic, you brick-for-brains,” she replied with a snort, “You can have practice defending against healing magic, and I’ll gain experience defending against soul magic. If that’s even possible, that is.”

“We can reset if you accidentally kill me, but if I damage your soul, we can’t undo that.”

“You don’t have any non-lethal attacks? We can start gently at first, and when we’re comfortable, we can try out more dangerous tactics.”

“That does make sense,” Cyg replied, nodding. “Okay, scoot over.” He sat down on her favorite rock and bumped into her so she’d move a bit.

She rolled her eyes and held out a hand. “You’re right-handed, aren’t you? You might want to give me your left.”

“Very reassuring,” he said, obliging.

The apprentice pushed with her mana first, testing the waters, and the thief guarded, trying to form a stone wall against her advance. It worked, so she prodded further, learning that without using an Aspect, she wouldn’t make any more progress. As Alicia considered this, Cyg slapped down on the fringes of her soul, and she jumped.

She flinched and yelped. “That was eerie...!” Putting her hand back, she tried to dig into his skin.

This time, he was the one who recoiled. “Okay, if it’s going to hurt any more than that, I’m out. I’m all for training, but I’m not a fan of sticking limbs inside a mill.”

She pursed her lips. “Well... what if I cut off the nerves in your hand for now?”

“What the...” Cyg gave her a very suspicious stare. But, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. “...Fine! I swear, we’re getting crazier by the day.”

She gripped his forearm, pressing down and feeling for what was underneath his skin. “I think we already crossed that bridge when we started killing ourselves without a worry.”

He felt a sting, and then there was nothing. Rather, he felt what he used to feel, a ghostly mirage of the sense of touch. “Let’s do this.”

“Right.” This time, Alicia retrieved something from her apron pocket and held it against her wrist.

He tried another soul attack, but this time he struck a wall. “Huh!?”

With a dumb grin, she motioned down with her eyes, directing his attention to the small stone she was palming, one that was crammed with runes in it. “Ta-da! It’s a domain.”

Cyg let out a laugh of disbelief. “Wait, you can force people away with it through their mana?”

“I have to flood it with my reserves,” she answered, “But if I just maintain it for a moment to stop an attack—” She placed the stone on his hand and forcibly repelled it. “—It’s practically free and it’ll save my life. And when it’s over, I can just recollect what I used since it wasn’t ‘spent’.”

He turned his head to think. A second passed, and he asked, “It only works against living things, right? What if I toss a spike at you?”

“It would hit me, and I would die.”

“What happens if Merry tries to grab you from a bunch of angles?”

“She would hit me, and I would die.”

“...”

“It’s a work in progress, okay?”