My father carried me to the cave spring like he had said, and for once I was looking forward to the icy water surrounding me. The cold water helped reduce the swelling in my joints and numb any aches from the heavy bruising.
When we arrived, he carried me inside the cave, setting me down on a large and conveniently seat-shaped rock.
He took a few steps back and leaned against the wall of the cave. “You should be able to handle five minutes or so right.”
“Yeah. I'll be fine.” The only time I was too cold to be able to get out myself was after I had to spend 20+ minutes. So there was no doubt I would be fine on my own for five.
“Good.” He stayed leaning against the wall, staring at me like he was inspecting one of his weapons.
“Was there… Something else?”
He pushed himself back squarely on his feet. “I suppose I should leave, you're not a child anymore. Just come out when you're done.”
His eyes told me he was lost in thought, but what exactly was occupying his mind I couldn't say. ‘Maybe he's sad that he didn't get to see me grow up with how often he was gone.’ I let out a small groan. ‘Yeah right.’
Even though the water was freezing, my body was too tired to shiver, and before I knew it everything went numb. In what felt like seconds I had already tracked 5 minutes of time flying past.
When I walked outside he was waiting just like he said.
“Ready to go?” He asked roughly, kneeling down and waiting for me to come closer so he could pick me up again.
“I should walk. It doesn't hurt as much now, and the movement will help further reduce the swelling.”
He smiled widely, standing up. “You're as tough as they say you are.”
I turned to the side. “Yeah well… I'm a product of my environment, it's not like I'm special.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder for a moment as he passed by, walking towards the castle again. “Well let's at least get you back, with your hair soaked you'll get sick if you stay out in the wind.”
“Ok.” He wasn't exactly wrong, but it wasn't like I hadn't been through worse.
I almost had to jog just to keep up with his walking pace, and by the time we were back at the castle, I was out of breath, my side hurting from my bruised ribs. It wasn't till we came through the front gate that he turned back and noticed.
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I grabbed my knees, trying to catch my breath, as my body began to sweat. ‘If my body reacts like this after just walking a bit, I guess it's good we aren't going through a normal day of training.’
“Hm…” My father turned around, noticing I had stopped, and let out a low grumble. “Sorry, I should have walked slower. You're injured.”
I tried my best to smile, “No it's fine, I was the one that wanted to walk in the first place.” I winced in pain, ‘If nothing’s broken then why does everything hurt so much…’
“Your mouth is starting to turn blue. Let's get you inside.”
I raised my hand to my mouth. ‘I don't feel cold at all though.’ I wasn't numb, or chilled, or even uncomfortable. My body hurt, sure, but the temperature felt fine. Still, warming up until I felt cozy never sounded like a bad idea. I nodded, taking my hands off my knees and walking inside after him.
‘He always leads the way, instead of having me go first… He isn't like Mara at all.’
When we made it inside he went straight to the fireplace, lighting it and sitting down. “Come here.” He patted the ground in front of him.
‘Even the way they have me warm up is different.’ I was never allowed to “cheat,” by using fire to help warm myself while I was with Mara, but he was asking me to sit next to him, so I didn't hesitate to do so. After all, Mara wasn’t there.
Sitting down, I felt the heat of the flame as it flickered in the fireplace, gently radiating out onto my skin. It was captivating, watching the fire slowly burn away at the wood, leaving a pleasant scent in the air.
My father must have thought so too, as he stared into it just the same with a wistful and distant gleam in his eyes.
Before long, he took a deep breath that sounded like the bellowing of a distant stampede, exhaling like a rushing wind through a canyon. The fire even waved in response before he started to speak. “Siya. You are my daughter, and I find you very precious. No matter what happens, I hope you never forget that.”
‘Right… He and Mara made a deal, and the deadline is coming up fast. It must be weighing heavy on his mind too…’
I stared back into the fire. “You already saved my life twice… Even if you can't do it again, I am grateful for that at least.”
He let out another deep grumble. “Twice?”
I glanced back at him just long enough to catch him staring at me, and then quickly turned away. “Well, yeah. There was that time with the Giant monster, and then also the first time, when I was still really little.”
“Did Mara tell you that?”
I thought back to all the times I corrected her, reminding her that if I died it wouldn't be so simple as me dying, but that she would have to kill me, just like she tried to do all those years ago.
It made me feel cruel, but then my heart felt heavy as I thought about how she never had any reaction to my words. “I don't remember who told me, I know the story…”
“You remember it don't you?”
Chills ran through my whole body as my eyes went wide and I stared back at him. ‘How… does he know that?’
He let out a short chuckle. “You're terrible at lying, you know.”
‘But even if he thought I was lying… How would he come to that conclusion?’
“They say people with excellent memory, as well as people with early memories, are excellent at magic…”
As my shock wore off, the entire room fell silent, even the fire stopped cracking the wood as it burned.
“Magic…”
“Yes, magic, that's how I read your mind just now.”
I felt my jaw clench as my eyes widened again.
“I won't bother explaining too much now, but you won't be training with Mara for a while. I will be teaching you what I know about magic instead.”
“But…”
“Yes, I know. It's against the rules. So you'll just need to make sure you don't get caught alright?”
‘Am I really done with training for a while?... Wait, no, am I really going to learn magic?’