Theo woke up in a straw bed. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out where he was and what had happened.

He groaned, head swimming as a dull throb made its way through his skull.

He saw an outline of a person sitting at the food of his bed. Rubbing his eyes, he called out. “Jenny?”

A laugh that was far too elegant to be mistaken for Jenny’s came from that individual. “My saviour has awoken, I see.” Sparrow’s voice drifted over, and as time went on he slowly made out their figure, dressed in an ill-fitting shirt and vest.

“What happened?” The last thing he could remember was a wall of explosions. Beautiful, beautiful explosions.

“Well,” Sparrow began, taking in a deep breath, “You tried to save me by infiltrating a foreign city all by yourself like an idiot, you disabled a forcefield you’ve never seen before without dying, you got paralysed by a stealthy zealot, and then somehow figured out how to cast explosions at a distance and used that to murder a whole crowd of priests and collapse half a temple. Pretty impressive display, if I say so myself.”

Theo paused, brain digesting what they had said. “So…I killed a lot of people?”

Sparrow nodded, subdued. “Yeah.”

An entire ethical debate sprang up inside Theo’s head, about murder and self defense, and how he still just wasn’t comfortable with killing wantonly, even if that was the only reason he escaped the city. How did they do that, anyway?

“Trust me, you don’t want to get too comfortable with killing.” Sparrow apparently read his mind from the facial contortions he was going through, and reassured him with a pat on the leg. Well, read his mind or knew very well the moral complications that came from killing others.

“Thank you, Sparrow.” Theo smiled in gratitude, before realising the meat of his question had never been addressed. “So how did we get here after that?”

“Ah. Well, I carried you while you kept blowing everything up around us, until you presumably ran out of mana and then it was just up to me running as fast as I could and not getting caught.” They shrugged, stating matter-of-factly what had surely been a riveting chase. “Frankly, it’s nothing too out of the ordinary for the job.”

They paused, interrupting themselves. “By the way, you are going to explain in exacting detail what those explosions were and how you made that happen.”

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“Anyway, after that, I ran to the nearest village, and secured us a night’s board, food, a bath, and a clean change of clothes in exchange for a performance. It pays to be famous sometimes, although I’m sure rumours are going to come out of this. But that’s where we are now. Also you’re performing with me.”

That raised more questions than it answered, but at least these questions didn’t have the potential to severely affect his life. They were mostly around what they would perform, and asking if Sparrow was sure (because, master or no, performing together was a big deal). There was, however, still one major question on his mind.

“How did you un-paralyse me?” Theo asked.

Sparrow let out a strangled retch, and before he could ask if they were okay, they spat out a small glass vial. It was empty, but they held it up for him to see.

“I hid the antidote somewhere they couldn’t remove.” And with a well-practiced motion, they swallowed the vial once more.

Theo felt his stomach churn, at the implication that he’d drank something that had been inside of Sparrow. He also wondered what the point was of regurgitating then replacing that vial. Sparrow had a flair for the dramatic, but even so.

But most of all, he couldn’t understand how that was even possible. “…how?”

“It pays to be skilful with your throat.” Sparrow winked in his direction, and he was sure some joke was going over his head. “I made sure to get some from the research labs once they learned how to replicate the original and neutralise it in a way that didn’t require a willing priest. For some reason, I don’t think I’d be able to find one of those nearby.”

Theo was starting to wonder why he hadn’t asked for an antidote himself. But, thinking about how quickly Love in Judgement took his own toxin out of his pocket, maybe it was for the best that they didn’t have easy access to a sample to reverse-engineer, or know that they had made one at all.

He carefully swallowed a few times, wondering just how Sparrow did it, but also at the same time not really wanting to know the details.

Sparrow clapped their hands, startling Theo and bringing his back to the present. “Now that I’ve answered your questions, I think it’s only fair to let me in on the secret of what exactly you pulled off back there.”

Theo mulled over that for a moment, eyes darting around as he considered then discarded various ways of explaining it, from complicated to simple.

“I improvised internal magic using sound made from others, but I wasn’t trying to cast an actual spell with that focus, just cause backfires.” Sparrow’s eyes widened, and they stuttered, completely gobsmacked as they thought it through.

Taking in a deep breath, they patted their cheeks, and then let out a sigh. “Well, I wasn’t expecting you to genuinely make a breakthrough in internal magic, but you never fail to surprise me, I suppose. Also, of course it’s a breakthrough that nobody besides you could even use.” They let out a knowing chuckle.

“Well, if it’s always as potent as that was, even in the hands of someone with minimal training that could be deadly. How creative, using failure in that way. How… absolutely bard-like.”

A look of pride crossed Sparrow’s face, but before Theo could appreciate it, they shook it away.

“Well, up you get! We’ve got a performance to prepare for.” Sparrow smiled at him, and he smiled back.