Kene woke up about forty minutes after Kene’s grandmother left, and I’d moved them to their bed. I was a bit miffed that she’d left, but she said that she had nothing else she could do to help.

I’d found Kene’s communication mirror and sent nonstop requests to the bakery until my father finally answered, and I explained what had happened. I didn’t explain the hag stuff – that was Kene’s secret to tell, not mine – but just made it sound like an illness. I’d asked him to have Ed grab Meadow when he got the opportunity, and he’d agreed before going back to sleep.

“Malachi,” Kene said, sounding… tired. And confused. Both of them were quite reasonable, at least in my opinion. After all, they’d had a rough night.

“Your grandmother brought me here,” I said. “More accurately, she brought Dusk here, and I happened to be the person she’s attached to. She then layered a bunch of really complex abnegation spells into you.”

They sat up and looked around.

“Where is she?”

“She left,” I said. “Apparently she had nothing else she could do, and thought keeping an eye on you wasn’t worth her time. She offered to take me home too, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“She’s just like that,” he said, letting his hair thump back against the pillow. “She really does care in her own way, but… I think her potion of immortality wasn’t quite right. It did something to her, and she’s sometimes a bit off. She plays it up, but sometimes I’ll see a moment of real confusion through the mask.”

“I see,” I said. It still didn’t feel great to me, but Kene didn’t seem upset, so who was I to be upset in their place?

“How are you feeling?” I asked instead.

“Honestly, not bad,” they said. “Really tired, like I’d run seven leagues, then swam to Vinopae, drank an entire barrel of wine, then swam back.”

I couldn’t help but smile at their analogy, and I patted their head.

They took my hand and kissed my fingers, and I blushed. I was glad that it was dark in their room, because otherwise I was pretty sure I’d look like a human shaped beet.

“Thank you,” Kene said. “I just realized, you can’t have flown out here. Let me pay for your carriage back home?”

“Fine,” I said after a moment of grumbling. “But before you do, I’ve got Meadow coming over to check you over.”

“Alright,” Kene said. “Thank you. How is she going to get out here?”

“You know, I’m actually not sure. Flight potions, maybe? Or an enchanted item that lets her teleport? I’ve never really questioned the high mobility of powerful people.”

“Grandmother can shadowstep, both the short range version and the midrange version, but I know she’s purchased a few powerful teleportation items,” Kene said. “Meadow is a plant mage, right? I know there’s a few forest dragon spells that allow you to move through plants. Maybe with support she can cast a longer range version of those?”

“Maybe?” I said. “I honestly don’t know. It wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe some sort of setup that allows her to drain the other needed energies from plants and send it into the spell?”

“I could see something like that. You’d need a catalyst to turn it from energy into mana for the spell, though.”

“That’s what my full-gate spell does,” I said. I’d told them the general information about the spells when I’d come here while recovering from my duel, but it felt relevant. “It can’t be impossible for her to have an item that does something similar.”

“Definitely not,” Kene said, then frowned. “What time is it?”

“About two in the morning,” I said. “You should get back to sleep.”

“Probably,” they agreed. “You should too.”

I nodded and rose to go to the couch, and Kene wiggled over.

“You can sleep here. If you want. You don’t have to, no pressure.”

I layed down next to them, and scooted over. They pulled their arms around me, and held me close. Dusk hopped onto the nightstand and curled up to go to sleep.

“Thank you for staying to check on me,” they said.

“It’s the least I could do,” I said.

I closed my eyes and lay back against Kene’s chest, then slowly drifted off to sleep.

When I woke the following morning, I was alone in the bed, and a glance at the clock on the wall showed me it was nearly eleven. I’d slept ridiculously late – at least for me, who was used to baker’s hours – but I had needed the sleep, after staying up so late the night before.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I wandered out of Kene’s room and into the kitchen, then downstairs, where I found Kene working, talking to Alice, the schoolteacher with short white hair, and Dusk scampering around the alchemy lab, seemingly making something. When I saw her, she waved at me and smiled. I waved back, smiling in turn, and Kene turned around.

“Oh, you’re awake!” they said.

“Yep,” I said. “Has Meadow arrived yet?”

“She has,” Alice said. “She’s rented a room at the Heart-Lizard Inn. And with that, I’ll leave you all be. Malachi, do you mind finding me when you’re done? I’ll be at the teahouse.

“Not at all,” I said, “See you soon.”

“Meadow already looked me over,” Kene said, once Alice was gone. “She agreed with the assessment that my issue shouldn’t rise its head for a bit, at least long enough to get through the rest of Spirits-Walk. She also said that you were working on a potential solution to my problem in a… Sepulcher, I think it was, and that I should work on refining my power and becoming the best healer and support mage I can.”

“It’s true,” I said, nodding my head, thankful to Meadow. “It’s not going to be even viable until we’re strong enough, though.”

“Some hope is still better than nothing,” they said. “Have you talked to my grandmother about it, though? She’s hinted about telling me some special information once I’m well into third gate.”

“It’s the same information,” I said. “She didn’t want to tell you, because if you went as you are now, you’d die.”

“Meadow said the same thing,” Kene said, making a face.

“It’s not all bad, though,” I said. “I don’t plan to stop growing anytime soon. Do you?”

“No,” they said.

“If I can convince my brother and Liz to come along, then we’ll be a powerful team,” I continued. “I’m flexible, Ed is an absolute wall, Liz has strong offenses, and you’re a good healer. Together, we can do it.”

Kene smiled at me and took my hands in his, then leaned forwards and kissed me on the cheek.

“Thank you,” they said.

We were quiet for a few moments before Kene spoke up.

“Okay, so on a lighter note… What is that outfit?”

I glanced down at myself. I hadn’t had the time to change out of my disguise, so I was still in skinny black pants and a black shirt with a band logo, though since I’d summoned my suit in the battle, it had a strong contrast of a black blazer thrown on top of it. I blushed.

“No, it’s kinda cute,” Kene said.

“You see, there was this asomatous, and…” I said, explaining the story.

By the end, Kene was smiling softly at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” they said.

There was another moment of silence before Kene spoke.

“Let me grab some clothes that I think should fit you, and you can shower.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll watch the store.”

After my shower, as I pulled a binder out of Dusk’s realm, I realized that I had put a change of clothes in the cottage there, and I didn’t technically need to use the clothes that Kene was lending me.

After a moment of indecision, I pulled them on anyway, then wandered downstairs to find Kene talking to a tall woman who looked like the most stereotypical farmer that I’d ever seen, going over a container of pills.

“If you’re planning to use Enrich Fields en masse during the winter to prepare for the spring planting, you’d be better served with this,” Kene told the farmer, tapping a large bottle of pills. “Instead of inducing a boost in your personal power, they’ll add a good chunk of extra power into each casting.”

While Kene was working with her, I noticed that Meadow sat in the corner chair of the alchemy lab, knitting.

Or maybe she was crocheting? I was never very clear on the difference.

Dusk was seemingly watching the potion as it simmered, and the green androgynous pixie that was the mayor of my little village hovered over it, watching the potion.

That made me smile a little bit. Kene had mentioned the small folk not being the most comfortable around them, so to have one of them out and about in his home was major progress.

As they worked, I looked back at Meadow. “You’re confident his condition is stable for a while at least?”

“I am,” she said, inclining her head. “And if you’re willing to use your pass to bring Kene along as your companion to the Idyll-Flume, it could even further improve their condition.”

I didn’t have to think very long about it. There wasn’t really anyone else who I’d want to invite. Maybe Alvaro or Riley, but I didn’t know either well enough to actually feel comfortable asking.

When Kene finished up with the farmer, I smiled at them.

“Thanks again for the clothes.”

“Course,” they said, then glanced at Meadow. “Thanks for looking me over.”

“Indeed,” Meadow said, “And I’ve some more good news. Kene, if you’re willing to join Malachi in the Idyll-Flume, you could use the elixir you extract from the plants within to reinforce the seals your grandmother placed on you, which should give you even more time.”

“What’s the ideal flume?” Kene asked.

“Idyll-Flume,” Meadow corrected. “It’s a competition that opens roughly once every twenty years, on an island in between Mossford and the free city-state of Delitone.”

I’d already heard the talk about the unique plants and the tower filled with challenges, so I mostly just tuned Meadow out as I busied myself cleaning up around the shop for a moment.

“Why can I go?” Kene asked. “I mean, Malachi’s got it from the dude who taught him before.”

“That’s precisely why,” Meadow said. “Each person with a pass is able to bring a companion with them, as long as they meet the qualifications.”

Dusk chirped, asking why she didn’t count.

“The limitation on people entering the realm isn’t a magical one,” Meadow said, then paused and shook her head. “Actually, let me clarify. Most of the time, there’s a neigh impassable barrier on the Idyll-Flume, which is completely magical. Even when the realm opens for a month and a day, it can only be entered by those who aren’t yet spellbinders. But there isn’t some hard limit built into the defenses, it’s a practical one. Each token’s allowed to bring one guest due to the logistics of the competition.”

“So could I smuggle a bunch of people in with Dusk?” I asked.

“Technically, yes,” Meadow said. “But if you were to do something like bringing your brother, I expect that the proctor would step in.”

“That’s a shame,” I said.

“Speaking of Dusk, though,” Kene said. “What potion did you make?”

Dusk grinned, her smile stretching ear to ear – literally, her face reshaped temporarily. She dunked her hand in the cauldron, then ran over and smacked the drop onto the counter. She channeled a tiny bit of mana into the potion, and the air erupted with a horrible scent, like a mix of burning hair, rotten eggs, and hot cow manure.

“Oh god,” I gagged, sketching out the spell to neutralize my sense of spell, then sighing in relief. I saw Kene doing the same thing, while Meadow put a cloth to her face.