“Ah, there you are!” I cried. “Hiding away with Auro, I see.”

Gideon looked up at me with the barest tilt of his head, as if the last time he’d seen me hadn’t been as I fell off a building in flames. Auro was a bit more excited, jumping from the short table to her feet.

“Saphry!”

Ah, you’re alive again.

I frowned.

After Andril had left I’d immediately flown off searching for my scaly friend, much against the wishes of my assigned healer. Not only was there the whole deal with the prince to talk about, there was more importantly the few things I’d seen right before. The Lmenli I’d seen in that volcano was the only clue we had to where one of the things might be after all. The only other I’d heard anything about had been the one the dwarves had squirrelled away in the Blue Mountains.

And there was Saphry’s mother as well. It was more than a little confusing that I’d seen nothing of her before in Saphry’s memories, especially when I’d seen so many already. Was there a reason for that? Had Saphry herself forgotten about her and the demon had kicked something? Asking Gideon had the potential to answer some of those questions, as Silst had been with Saphry all her life.

“What’s with that response? Aren’t you supposed to be looking after me? My guardian angel?” I folded my arms, ignoring the expressions on Auro and the priest behind me.

Gideon shrugged, or he mimicked the effort.

Once I saw that you were breathing, I figured the hundreds of priests in the square kind of had you. He shook his head. But never mind that. Now that you’re awake, we should probably go over-

“What do you mean, ‘never mind that’?” I asked “Being knocked out is horrible, you know!”

Without magic, it’s horrible. Permanent and traumatic. But we live in a world where brain injuries can be solved without even looking at the patient. And this is the third time now. If you had permanent damage, we would know by now. Though, that would explain some things…

“...”

I locked eyes with Gideon, but he simply stared back.

“Lady Astrian?”

I sighed and waved towards the priest.

“It’s fine, could you give me a few minutes with my friends? A lot has happened recently…”

He frowned, conflicted.

“You really should be rest-”

I gave him a small push, and he stepped towards the hall.

“A demon couldn’t kill me, I doubt some weakness will.”

“It’s not something you should just… The broken bones could still- are you listening?”

“Of course, of course.”

I idly nodded as I pushed him fully out into the hall and shut the door behind him. Finished with that, I turned to the other two in the room, already wondering how I would avoid the priest in the future.

Andril wasn’t going to assign me servants, would he? After Marcolo and Auro’s stories, I couldn’t imagine how anyone could manage with a dozen people breathing down your back all the time.

While large, Auro’s room was much more plain than I would’ve expected from her. The furniture was simple if elegant, and the walls were clad half in wood panels and half in some kind of plaster. A large bed fit for two was nestled into the far corner by a huge bay window, and across from it were two rows of free standing bookshelves stocked with tomes with a cluttered desk between two more. Various articles of lazily discarded clothing were spread over the furniture and floor, though not enough for me to call it messy. For her privacy, I averted my gaze from the dressers.

“You really should be resting.” Auro said, worry plain on her face. “You look horrible!”

I looked down, suddenly realising that I’d left the room in little more than a nightdress. I hadn’t really cared to check, but my hair probably looked little better. It didn’t matter too much to me really, but I should probably borrow some clothes before I went back to my room.

“Thanks, I guess.”

Her hand flew to her mouth, embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that! I meant… I mean, you fell off a building! On fire! When they fished you out of the fountain you were… ah, I mean…”

I watched as she blubbered for a few seconds, amused.

“It’s fine, not everyone can have perfect makeup when they’re slaying a demon.” I joked.

She’s probably talking about how half your limbs were broken by the fall. Gideon said off-handedly. Be glad you fell unconscious, your body didn’t look very pleasant floating in the fountain.

Wait, half? That might be a new recond, even for me. This would’ve been a painful few weeks without magic.

“Well, I’m better now.”

I sat down on the floor next to the table, and Auro joined me.

“It was terrifying, you know.” Auro said after a second, the embarrassment upon her face quickly falling to the wayside. “Watching from the walkway as you fought that… thing. A horrible shade of smoke and fire! I wouldn’t’ve agreed to split up if I’d known you’d be fighting that! And all those guards who died… their screams reminded me…”

I cringed as I remembered the soldiers who fell from the walkway. At the time I’d been content knowing that Auro had been alright, but wasn’t that a vile thing to think? That it didn’t matter as long as the people I knew had lived? In fact, literally dozens had died over the last couple days, and some of those had even been by my hand.

In the moment I’d called those necessary, to not think about it in order to save countless more, but those people had families, hadn’t they? Mothers, brothers, friends… and I’d killed them. Frozen one’s braincase shut and shoved a knife into the other. Not to mention all the civilians who’d died once the demon had escaped into the city. Not one of any of those were my choice, but I could already feel the flickering doubts of what I could’ve done differently fly through my mind.

“We all would’ve done some things differently, had we known.” I admitted. “But even then, there were all those guards we found…”

I paused as I remembered the corpses down in that basement, of the sharp smell of blood and fluids. Of the puddles and rivers of blood and the cries of dying men.

The Maverick’s described it, you don’t need to. Gideon said quickly. There’s no point in remembering.

That was easy enough to say, wasn’t it? Somehow I didn’t think I’d be forgetting those particular scenes for quite a while.

“Ah, the Mavericks!” I cast the memories from my mind. “Are they alright? Is Breale ok?”

“Yes,she’s alive.” Auro said, her face brightening as well. “According to Father they looked even worse than you did, especially Breale, but the priest said they’d make an almost complete recovery!”

My heart jumped to my throat.

“Almost?”

“Ah, a full recovery, I mean.” She corrected herself.

“[Christ], don’t scare me like that...”

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Breale almost had to be resurrected, though. Gideon said seriously. One of the priests was already prepared for the ritual.

I felt a little bit of the blood leave my face.

Resurrection wasn’t entirely what it sounded like here in Verol, I knew. It required the life of the healer in recompense, a price I’d thought about many times since Justeo had told me. Not only that, it left a mark on the survivor, an injury that left them weakened. I would know, I’d had to struggle to get back to even where Saphry had been before the tunnels.

“What’s with the face?” Auro asked. “Did you want to go see th-”

There was a knock on the door, and I could hear some familiar voices arguing just beyond.

Speak of the devil. Gideon snorted.

“Come in!”.

The door opened, and the Mavericks spilled in.

“-like a child! I felt worse on the trip from the capital! You don’t need to-”

“...protect you? Then pray tell, what would I tell mother if-”

The both of them looked more irritated than I’d seen them before, and their hands were hovering over where their swords would be if they were wearing them. Thankfully, the both of them looked perfectly healthy to me, though they both had splotches of pinkish skin on their hands and faces in the places where burns had been recently healed. They both wore the same simple red clothes, and had boots that almost came up to the knee. Two shield masks hung from Fredrick’s belt.

“Hi.” I said, interrupting Fredrick.

They both looked at me as if they’d just seen a ghost, before Breale ran over and picked me up off the floor in a bear hug.

“Saps!”

I struggled for breath and kicked my legs in the air while she spun us around, eventually setting me down at arm’s length to stare hard at me.

“You need to pitching stop scaring us like this!” Breale cried. “I swear to the Star, if I have to see you lying in bed recovering from some horrible injury for a fourth time, There won’t be a fifth!”

“Nice to see you too.”

“No, she’s right.” Fredrick said. “You are one of the most stressful people to simply know that I’ve ever met. I gave you Azhachi, could you not have simply cut the demon in half? Why in the abyss did you have to jump off of a building with it? And what did you do to my sword? It had to be carved out from the demon’s body!”

“Eh, I really didn’t have a choice about all that…”

From the corner of my vision I saw Auro shake her head furiously, and Fredrick sighed.

“And the surviving soldiers told me all about what shoddy swordplay you used… it’s no wonder everyone calls it the ‘butcher’s blade’ when they see it used like that.”

“Not everyone can be an expert immediately. “ Breale said.

“Nor should everyone.” Fredrick said, narrowing his eyes at his sister. “People should be content taking the risks that they can handle.”

His sister flew around with her hands balled into fists, appearing to completely forget that I was there.

“Really? You want to be one to talk? You damn hypocritical…”

“Nothing I have done has been without either the skill or desperation to back it up. When I take risks, it is because there is no other way, not because it would be the most convenient!”

“Convenient?! That’s what you call it? I-”

I sat down as the two of them started yelling at each other.

Ah, these two could be such a pain sometimes. It made me glad that I was an only child back on earth. It also made me wonder just how Saphry and her brother used to interact.

But we had more important things to be worrying about than some sibling feud.

Auro and I met eyes, and I jerked my head towards the twins as if to say ‘you deal with it’, only for her to do the exact same thing. A silent argument broke out between us as we both tried to get the other to put a stop to the Mavericks, one that eventually ended with me sighing.

“Eh, you were talking about training earlier, right? Well, you wouldn’t believe the offer I just got…” I began.

…

“Absolutely not.” Fredrick said after I finished. “It’s far too dangerous.”

The five of us including Gideon sat around the floor table, a cup of dwaran in front of each of us. I sat in the middle across from Fredrick and Auro, while Breale glared at her brother from beside me.

“You think she doesn’t know that?” Breale asked. “Brother, this is a golden opportunity! Weren’t we looking for a tutor anyway? I can’t think of a better one than a Mistren princess!”

They had sat quietly while I’d relayed Andril’s visit, though I’d omitted our fight. The ease with which he beat me still stung, after all. More than anything, however, it made me want to get good enough at fighting that I could shove that stupid little prince into his place.

“And I’m in that danger anyway.” I added. “I’ve already outed myself to the entire city as a snow mage, and somehow I don’t think that’s something that’ll stay hidden. So given that, I need to learn how to protect myself somehow.”

“It’s obvious he wants to use you as a symbol, you know that right?” Fredrick said. “There’s no guarantee that he would teach you anything useful before he dragged you with him on campaign. Not to mention the risk that such a trip would bring upon you. You’d draw assassins like a moths to a lamp.”

“That’s hardly a new feeling.” I said. “But what would you suggest otherwise? Go back to the academy and hope everyone forgets?”

“I don’t think you should go back up the mountain.” Breale said quickly.

“Why not?” Auro asked.

“It’s obvious the place isn’t entirely secure, for one.” Breale said. “But I’d also be scared of what the other nobles might attempt if you were so close at hand.”

Ah, I hadn’t even thought of that. Who knows what kind of shenanigans some young noble might do now that they knew what I could do. There’d certainly be no shortage of them sucking up, but what if one of the children of a hostile lord thought to take me out to strike at Andril?

“Perhaps I could get a guard detail.” I said. “Because I doubt Andril will let me stay in the keep if I refuse him.”

“He wouldn’t do that.” Breale said. “He’s not bloody evil.”

“I would agree. Or I would’ve a month ago.” Fredrick said. “The weight of the last few weeks has pushed him to do things he wouldn’t have thought to do before. I would worry for your independance if you stayed here. No, you should return to Andorlin as soon as possible.”

The rest of us blinked.

“Andorlin?”

“You’d go that far?”

“But then…”

“It’s the only way to be sure. Your powers are too important to get wrapped up in something like this. The clergy in Andorlin would know better what it means.”

I shook my head.

“I’m not going to be running like a coward. Was our purpose not to protect Verol? Andril’s a little loony, but his brother did get murdered. How could I run now when I finally have a way to help?”

More importantly, there were no volcanoes in Summark. While staying in Minua or marching with Andril was dangerous as all hell, I could at least be sure I wasn’t going to be locked into some monastery while a bunch of priests tried to find the divine reason for the galaxy’s equivalent of an accident. The Star certainly hadn’t brought me to Elys after all.

“Thank the Star…” Auro muttered.

“Exactly.” Breale agreed. “I’m certainly not one to abandon those I’ve pledged to help, and Saphry isn’t either. And so, I have always thought, would you.”

“Now listen here, dear sister. I only seek what-”

I tuned him out while he and Breale broke into yet another tiresome argument. Gideon nudged my flank with his paw.

I can’t really agree. Fredrick’s right in that it’s dangerous. Perhaps Andorlin would be better?

“Don’t worry, I have another reason.” I whispered. “One related to home.”

Andril would owe me if I accepted, after all. And who would deny me if I used some of that pull to do a little personal research?

Really? He tilted his head. Then I have no objections.

I nodded and returned to the others, finding that they had gotten completely off topic.

“-like the time you burned those stovecakes, right? Where was the necessary risk then?” Breale demanded.

“How was I supposed to know how to cook stovecakes? You’re reaching, sister.”

I cleared my throat.

“I think I’ll accept Andril’s offer then.” I said. “You’re right, Fredrick, but it really is too great of an opportunity to pass up. And I’ve always wanted to be useful.”

Back on Earth with the hero-work, and then again in the capital once I met everyone. Did it lead to poor decisions sometimes? Maybe. I still felt like it was only the right thing to do.

Fredrick ducked his head in agreement, only for Auro to lean forward instead.

“That’s, ah, fine I suppose. But what about the academy? You can’t just leave in the first semester!”

“Oh well, it’s a shame, but I guess I’ll just-” I began.

“We can still bring up materials perhaps?” Breale said. “It shouldn’t be too hard to convince the others to do review.”

Wait, what?

“I can help bring stuff down! Father would be sure to grant permission.” Auro said.

Wait, stop.

“We could bring everyone down on the weekends to make sure you’re caught up.” Fredrick agreed. “It would be a good time to do start training you in the sword as well, if you still want that.”

“A great idea!” Breale said. “As well, we can…”

Half of the real reason I wanted to accept was to stop having to do those asinine classes!