I

didn’t pick my answer right away, instead turning to the wall of beast spells.

“Do you mind?” I asked, gesturing.

“By all means,” Edgar rumbled. “None of what I have collected there is exceedingly rare, and you would have been able to pick through it for the beastmark anyhow.”

I strolled over to the pile of papers, scrolls, and recordings, and started poking through the pile. Most of the pile were simple things that Edgar had doubtless sourced locally – I saw spells taken from winter deer, spells that resembled the horn sharpening spell that the bird-deer things had used, spells from boreal toads, arctic foxes, and more. As I poked through it, I reached out my mind, calling for Dusk. We were far – not as far as when we’d been stuck in different astral planes, but still far – so it would take a good amount of time to reach her.

I continued to glance over the spells, then curiously turned to Edgar.

“You must have a method to get back to Puinen that isn’t hiking.”

I didn’t need it, technically speaking. I could force a portal to Dusk’s realm open, but if there was an easier method, then I’d take it.

“The gates are linked,” Edgar said. “With the right application of mana, they can be used to transport yourself back and forth. It takes a lot of mana to condense the spells, at least for the third gate humans who live here, but I can power it easily enough.”

“Could I go back?” I asked. “My partner is a healer, with some ability to repair and heal the spirit. I want to consult with him as well. Not that I doubt you, but…”

I gestured to the water, bubbling with spiritually healing energy in the center of the room. At least, I tried to gesture, but my arm hung limply, and I let out a mental sigh.

“I think you can see the point of spiritual healing,” I finished lamely.

“That is a good idea,” Edgar said. “Your body and spirit are fusing. You should be in peak physical and spiritual condition if you were to attempt the detonation. Even if you weren’t, it would be a good idea to heal first. And the unlit candle feast is in two days. It would be a good idea to spend the time with your partner. That is healing of a different sort. Would you like to go now?”

“Soon,” I said. “I’m just about done looking through these.”

I picked out a few more interesting scrolls, ones that I thought were likely actually a part of Edgar’s own spellcraft, like a fourth gate spell from portalants that enhanced and improved spatial anchors to allow them to act as a better conduit for portals, or a first gate spell from cavern estragon…

I let out a laugh.

I recognized this spell – I’d once had a ring that empowered my forged mana, before Ivy’s dad had reformatted the power to build the habitat for the estragon eggs. This looked like the spell that enchantment had been based on. It did nothing on its own, but it could be woven together with other spells to improve them.

I put it to the side as something I might actually want to incorporate. Temporal echoes were powerful, and I was getting better at combining them into my fighting style, plus Briarthreads and Fungal Lock could both improve…

I was still working through the pile when I got a response from Dusk back. It was a mix of emotions: relief that I’d completed it, that I was ready to advance, that I was safe and relatively unharmed, mild amusement about the coblynau, and the desire to see me again.

That second one caused me to pause. I wasn’t that far behind, was I? Then again, Kene and Dusk had both had a month to sharpen their spellcraft, while I’d been stuck.

I put down the current scroll I’d been looking at – a spell from a siren that would create a song that slowly sapped away mana and willpower from everyone else in the area – and looked at Edgar.

“I’m ready to head back, if you are.”

The tortoise, who had been busying himself moving around the lab, doing some sort of test that I couldn’t understand with his mana and a bright orange fruit that resembled a crossbreed between a papaya and an earthworm.

“Just a minute,” Edgar said, and I nodded, then went out to collect my newest friends, the hex-ermine and the boreal toad. They seemed to understand me without needing me to communicate with them directly, and the ermine scampered up onto my shoulder, while the toad hopped onto my head again. We met Edgar at the edge of town, where the carved gate of ice marked the end of the trail, and Edgar reached out, tapping his beak to it.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Colorless gray mana flowed out of Edgar and into the archway, and a moment later a shimmering portal of white light appeared.

“I will return when the last few contestants are either pulled out or complete the trail, which will be within a week at most,” Edgar said, then nudged me forwards with one massive turtle-y foot. I nodded and thanked him, then passed through the portal.

A moment after I stepped through, I let out a curse.

“I should have asked why Edgar and Idyll’s portals are planes of light, but Orykson’s portals are see-through!” I said, then realized that I wasn’t talking to anyone, because I was alone.

I reached out to Dusk, and with her so much closer, it snapped into place almost instantly. The sensation of having my partner so close sent a wave of relief through me like applying aloe to a burn, and I let out a relieved sigh.

Halfway back into town, I spotted Dusk zooming out to meet us, flying on her cloud and spell. She paused when she saw the toad and ermine, then her tiny eyes narrowed, and she shot over and knocked the ermine off. The ermine dodged, scampering around to sit on my other shoulder, and Dusk let out a little huff of clouds drifting through the sky.

“Hey Dusk,” I said, patting her back gently. “How are you?”

Dusk let out a sound like the cawing of several ravens at once as she cheerfully filled me in on everything that had been going on with her, Siobbhan, and Kene, and all of the small folk that she’d eaten. I did my best to remind her that she hadn’t actually eaten them – things in her space weren’t in her stomach, but as ever, she didn’t seem to care. In fact, to prove me wrong, she hopped onto my head and ‘ate’ the boreal toad, then the hex-ermine, chattering away about how they, alongside the other wildlife she’d eaten, would be a great way to expand her winter forest biome.

At that, I brought out the opal snowdrops, and she excitedly ‘ate’ them as well. Two of them had died on the trail, but that left me with one! I still had no idea what it could be used for, but it was probably something.

After that, Dusk filled me in on how Kene had been working with the old woman – presumably Agnes, the potion master he’d decided to work for – and how they’d been quite surprised when the coblynau had shown up out of nowhere, claiming that I had saved them, and that they’d come bearing my payment, as well as a desire to speak to her.

She was still filling me in when I got to Agnes’ potion store, and stepped inside to see Kene laboring over the cauldron. They glanced up, and the moment they saw me, relief and happiness exploded over their face. They dropped the ladle that they’d been stirring the pot with and practically teleported over to me, wrapping me up tightly in a hug.

“Malachi,” Kene said, burying their face into my shoulder. I hugged them back as tightly as I could with only one fully functional arm, while putting the damaged arm on their waist.

We held one another for a long time before Kene finally pulled back, and if their eyes were a little misty, well, so were mine. Dusk flew between the two of us, landing on Kene’s shoulder one moment, then on mine the next, babbling contentedly. It wasn’t even speech, as far as I could tell, just… contented noises.

Kene’s eyes flicked over me, taking in my limp hanging arm, destroyed and re-stitched clothes, and backpack of empty vials, and they let out a long sigh.

“I missed you,” was all they said, rather than chastise me. I smiled at that.

“I missed you too,” I said, then Kene gently pulled me to an examination chair in the back.

“Coat, shoes, and socks, off and roll up your shirt sleeve or take the shirt off entirely,” they instructed, slipping into the commanding, yet professional, presence of a healer.

“Yes, doctor,” I said, waggling my eyebrows. They rolled their eyes, but I caught the flash of a grin hidden underneath.

I did as Kene had ordered and watched as their eyes glowed green with their analysis spell. They shook their head and let out a low whistle.

“You’ve been fighting infection in your feet for days, and that arm… If it weren’t for how much you’ve pushed your body’s growth function, I don’t think you’d be standing here right now.”

“Edgar would have pulled me out,” I said, and Kene pressed their lips together but nodded.

“First, I’m going to burn out the infection,” Kene said, and a shimmering yellow light washed over my toes and up to my ankles. It began to create a faint burning sensation in my feet, which slowly ramped up to being moderately painful, and I bit my lip to stop it from showing.

After that, Kene moved on to fixing the mangled mess of blisters that was the bottom of my feet, using a combination of general regenerative spells with skin knitting spells. By the time they’d finished, I had several round, irregular scars on my foot, and Kene told me there was nothing to be done about those.

With my feet as healed as they were going to get, Kene used another solar spell to work on continuing to burn out the infection where it had spread to the rest of the body, burning out small splotches wherever they found them.

Finally, they turned their attention to my arm.

“I can fix it,” they said as green light began to trickle into my muscle, reattaching broken lines and allowing life energy to flow once again through the limb in proper coordination.

“I’m hearing a but coming,” I said.

“There is,” Kene confirmed. “Your arm is going to be in a sling for two weeks. After that, it’ll be another month before you’re ready and able to do combat or anything intense with it.”

I opened my mouth to protest, and Kene leaned in to kiss me quickly, stealing my words before I could say them.

“It’s only this fast because of the fact I’ll be able to provide regular treatments to stimulate the healing, and your full gate spells.” Kene warned me. “If they weren’t improving your condition constantly and learning from the experience, it could be three times as long.”

I nodded my agreement, then held up a finger.

“Edgar wants me in peak condition for the beastmark to be applied,” I said. “Does that mean we’re going to be staying here for six weeks?”

“Your body and soul aren’t that intermingled yet,” Kene said. “Just wait the two week period. Maybe you can help Agnes too. And besides, it will be good for us both to have some time together. The Unlit Candle Feast is in a few days, that will be fun.”

“It will,” I agreed. “It’s a shame I can’t just portal us back to Mossford, so we could do it with family – mine or yours.”

“Maybe one day,” Kene said with a faint smile, then started to ready the sling of bandages for me. “So, now that you’re pretty much as patched up as I can get you, why don’t you tell me about the trial? We had a collection of smallfolk come by recently, claiming you saved them from an evil king…”

And so, I told them everything.