Our group spent nearly four hours walking along the road before it started to get dark. We spent most of that time simply putting one foot in front of the other. Old Mo didn’t seem very interested in answering other people’s questions after his short conversation with Felix, and Anise’s parents and Sallia’s parents seemed tired from the long trek. Sallia and Anise were doing just fine, thanks to the occasional renewals I tossed at them to boost their stamina, but I was definitely getting a bit tired myself. My mother was heavy, and I didn’t want to waste all my essence keeping my muscles fresh.

As we walked, I noticed that Sallia and Anise’s parents were giving Felix and me progressively more strange looks every couple minutes. I felt that probably made sense - after all, I was carrying my mother as she snored away. A six year old carrying an adult woman for hours on end was clearly a strange sight.

Old Mo even gave me an odd glance from time to time, and I could see his eyebrows climbing higher and higher every time he noticed how little I was struggling with my mother’s weight. A few times, I noticed him opening his mouth, as if he wanted to say something to me. But he closed his mouth each time.

Apart from Felix and I carrying my mother along, the four of us kept occasionally chatting through our friendship bracelets. The ability to use mental communication was extremely handy, and did a lot to set my mind at ease. I also occasionally used my soul-sight and my spatial sight to check our surroundings, just in case we were about to walk into a scouting party for an army or something. I noticed that Old Mo also stayed alert, but my supernatural senses had a much better chance of detecting danger in advance than Old Mo’s aging eyes.

Finally, midday approached. Our group had traveled for four hours, and by now, I was starting to be a lot more sparing with my renewal spells. I didn’t have an endless supply of essence, after all, and I had never forgotten that an emergency might crop up. I kept at least half of my alteration essence ready at all times.

Old Mo paused for a moment, and I nearly bumped into him before I stopped. Everyone else slowly stopped as well, before giving Old Mo confused and weary looks.

“We can rest for a while and eat lunch,” said Old Mo, after taking a look around. “I think we’ve gone far enough for a quick break. Everyone must be tired, and it’s about time for lunch, anyway.”

I heard Anise’s parents groan in relief, and I saw Sallia and Anise’s parents quickly sit down in some more comfortable positions. I also gently set my mother down, and then gently massaged my arms and shoulders as Felix did the same.

I sent Felix.

said Felix, sounding slightly bemused.

As everyone started to relax, I noticed Old Mo take a small tin out of his backpack, before popping it open. Inside, I saw a few different kinds of vegetables and even a little bit of meat. All of them were covered in some sort of liquid that I didn’t recognize - but I could definitely feel a little bit of binding essence present in the liquid.

I asked.

said Sallia.

said Felix.

I said, before I winced. Even if I had known about preservation potions, I wouldn’t have had the money to buy any.

said Felix, shrugging.

said Sallia.

Just as I was pulling out my and Felix’s meals from my backpack, and Anise and Sallia’s parents were taking out something that looked more like hardtack, It looked less edible than Old Mo’s food, but it looked like it would keep them going for the day. While they were distracted with their own meals, I saw Old Mo scoot a little bit closer to me.

“Kid, did you drink an ability potion?” asked Old Mo. His voice was very quiet, and hard to make out - if I wasn’t sitting right next to him, I would have struggled to understand what he was saying. “Nod or shake your head, and try not to move your body too much. No need to let the others know about this conversation.”

I blinked in surprise.

Old Mo actually rolled his eyes. “Do you think I’m blind, kid? You’ve always had unusual stamina for a child. Normal six year olds can’t spend a few hours kneading bread dough every morning, at least not easily. I thought that was already a little suspicious, but I decided not to pry. But now, you have a ‘brother’ you’ve brought along that you’ve never mentioned before, and you’ve somehow been walking under the hot sun for four hours while carrying your mother. Normal six year olds can’t carry a grown adult without help, much less for four hours.”

I paused.

I said.

Felix said.

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said Anise.

said Sallia, sounding amused.

I turned towards Old Mo, and then nodded.

“Did you know this whole time?” I whispered.

Old Mo snorted. “I’ve had suspicions. But it’s too weird. You almost seem like you’re using multiple abilities. Sometimes your expression changes while we’re walking, and that makes me think that you’re somehow talking with the other kids. But I figured that maybe you four developed some kind of code language… but then there’s the unusual strength and stamina. And the guns you somehow have access to. They don’t look like they came out of any nearby factory, and I’ve seen a few ability-made guns before. Your guns look… different, but still sort of similar.” Old Mo sighed, loudly enough that I saw Sallia’s ears twitch for a moment before she continued nonchalantly ignoring our conversation. “You’re not that good at hiding it. I’ve been trying not to learn your secrets, and I’m still pretty sure you’re an ability potion user.”

I winced. Then, I brightened up. If we were planning on just making our abilities known in the future, me being bad at hiding things wouldn’t come back to bite us later.

“Look, kid, I don’t mean to pry. If you nicked an ability potion or something and drank it, that’s your business. More power to you - I have no idea how you managed that, since there are only a few thousand manufactured every year, but if you did, it’ll only help you in life. But you need to think about whether you want to make your abilities obvious. If you show up in another country, with abilities obviously granted by a potion, people will assume certain things about you. If you want to lean into those assumptions, it’s fine - but you need to know what you’re getting into. Think about it, all right? If you look like you drank an ability potion, people will assume you’re a somebody. Street urchins don’t get access to ability potions, so you need to figure out how you want to handle all of this,” said Old Mo. He glanced at my mother, who was still asleep, and then sighed. “If it weren’t for your mother… it would probably be very easy to impersonate a formerly wealthy family fleeing the war. She… complicates things.”

I frowned. I hadn’t thought about how my mother might impact our situation if we planned to be ‘wealthy refugees.’ The idea of a wealthy family getting addicted to a cheap, devastating drug like Fizz… was unlikely. Not impossible, but it would make us much more suspicious. I glanced at Felix. He had mentioned wanting to go to an alchemy academy a few times now. Being a ‘wealthy refugee’ would probably help him a lot with that. Would my mother hold him back?

I frowned, and decided to double check that.

he said.

I nodded.

Felix actually snorted.

I blinked.

“Your expressions are all changing again,” whispered Old Mo, interrupting my words. “If you have abilities, that’s great, but half of the point of having secret communication is to keep it… secret.”

I froze.

Old Mo sighed.

I turned back towards Old Mo, and decided I had left him out of the conversation for long enough.

“I do have an ability,” I whispered. “A few of us do. Felix… has the ability to let us talk to each other, mind to mind. I can heal, and Sallia can manipulate metal.” It didn’t cover our entire range of abilities, but it was close enough to what we focused on that we should be able to use our abilities fairly freely. If I needed to teleport bullets around, we could just say Sallia had helped out by moving metal, for example, and any unusual perception could be attributed to Felix ‘sensing’ other minds or something. It would probably work well enough.

Old Mo seemed surprised by my revelation, before he squinted at Sallia and Felix more carefully. “Both of them and you?” he whispered. “As in three ability potions? Kid, how in the world-” his voice started to rise from the nearly inaudible whisper he had been using, and I decided to cut him off before the other parents noticed what we were talking about.

I nodded. “They said it was okay to tell you.”

Old Mo paused, before he nodded. “Healing, huh. I can see how that feeds into stamina. Can you heal muscle exhaustion?”

I nodded.

“Can you heal me?” asked Old Mo.

I nodded again. “I just need you to be touching water first.”

Old Mo wordlessly opened his water canteen, then dribbled a few drops of water onto his hand. “Can you show me?”

I used renewal on him, and Old Mo grinned and relaxed.

“That hits the spot. My knees aren’t quite what they used to be.” Then, he nodded. “So, if you’re showing this to me…”

“I think I’d like to try being a wealthy refugee instead of a street rat,” I said, grinning.

Old Mo nodded thoughtfully. “If that’s the case, there are a few things you might want to learn before we arrive. I’ve never learned exactly what rich young ladies tend to learn about, but I can at least help you brush up a bit on your grammar and posture before we arrive, if you want my help. I know a bit.” Old Mo grinned.

I grinned as well. “I’d really like that.”

Before we could continue the conversation, I saw shuffling from the corner of my eye, and I turned to look at the piece of ‘luggage’ Felix and I had set down earlier.

My mother was waking up.