A night off was desperately needed. Just staying awake as long as they’d had would be tiring, but they’d also experienced things they each privately hoped to never experience again.

Large quantities of food were brought to the house over a full hour, with each dish delivered as soon as it was finished. Li Na got her keg and immediately fulfilled what appeared to be a lifelong dream.

The keg was placed on a low table with the tap extending over, while Li Na lay on the ground below and opened the tap right into her waiting mouth.

Unfortunately, ale tends to flow in a consistent stream, and not in convenient pulses that would allow Li Na a chance to swallow the drink. She sat up quickly, coughing and spluttering, the ale running down her face and out her nose. Worse, she didn’t release the tap, so she sat upright through the still-falling line of amber liquid.

Yaric cleaned up the mess while Li Na moved to sit next to Lauren, her eyes still red from choking, yet inexplicably complaining about how sticky her hair was going to be. Li Na was running her fingers through the chin-length knots of matted hair the entire time. Lauren listened attentively, commiserating and absent-mindedly tugging on her impromptu haircut.

No one made it through a full meal, or even out of the room. They all slept where they were, besides plates of half-eaten food and mugs from the kitchen cupboard. Yaric was the last one standing, so he pushed a cushion under Li Na’s head where she was curled up on a wooden chair, pulled a mostly full mug away from Lauren so she wouldn’t knock it over in her sleep, and picked up Sven’s sword to move it somewhere safer than its current place, lying across his legs.

He still had the presence of mind to note Sven’s position facing the door, and how close at hand the sword had been. Yaric sheathed the sword carefully and placed it right beside Sven, guessing that he would be in a worse state if he woke to find the sword out of reach.

The vermilion sky still shone brightly through the windows, so Yaric closed the curtains and started clearing a space to sleep. Listening to the sound of slow and regular breathing, Yaric smiled. The other three each had their own beds in their own rooms, while he had been left with the living room, though voluntarily. Now they were all passed out on the furniture and floor, surrounded by armor, weapons, and food. And friends.

----------------------------------------

Leftover food became breakfast upon waking up the next morning. Li Na was already digging in when Yaric sat up in his corner, trying to work out what the time was. It was odd seeing Li Na up before everyone else, and even more odd to open the curtain and see the sun already up.

“Need coffee,” Li Na mumbled through a mouthful of food, looking at him expectantly. Yaric just snorted and picked up some of his own unfinished food, feeling like he hadn’t eaten in days. He still put on his boots once he was done though.

Walking to the small tavern in the fresh morning air was like a, well, breath of fresh air. He was still wearing the same clothes he’d worn on the first night fighting off the insects. Exhaustion had won out over the desire to be clean, but even though he was still tired, Yaric was feeling very self-conscious about his current state. It was part of the reason he’d decided to strap on his sword before leaving to get coffee. The other part was the growing realization that the villagers saw them as kids, there to be ordered around or ignored whenever convenient.

‘At least the barkeep is eager to please,’ Yaric thought after walking into the tavern. ‘Or at least eager to make money off the village.’

A breakfast spread similar to the previous days was waiting for him, without anyone having asked. Piles of eggs and meats, baked goods and fried beans sat on the counter. Unfortunately there was no coffee already prepared, though the barkeeper did jump to get started the second Yaric asked. He even sent Yaric back to the house, promising to have everything brought over.

Yaric felt guilty when the barkeeper stopped him on the way out.

“Would you like me to bring anything around for lunch later? If there’s something you prefer I will make sure it’s available, so long as it’s within my means.”

“Anything is fine, there’s no need to go to any trouble.”

“Nonsense! It was my sister you saved the night before last. It was her door those things smashed in, while my niece tried to poke it with a mop, scared out of her mind but with no other choice.

“I know you was hurt fighting those things. All of you was. So long as you four are here you eat what you want, and I’ll be accepting no coin from any of ya. Doesn’t matter if those stupid bastards honor their word or not.”

Yaric didn’t know what to say, so he just nodded in acknowledgment and left, still trying to match what the barkeeper had said with his initial impressions.

Everyone was up when Yaric returned, though still sitting in the same place and still wearing the same clothes. It was very quiet, and the curtains had been closed again, giving the room a gloomy feel.

“Is everyone okay?”

“It’s just a headache,” Lauren said with a soft smile.

“We still need some time to recover,” Sven answered, his eyes still closed.

“Where’s the coffee?”

“On the way, and some fresh food too.”

Yaric noted that there was nothing left on any of the plates.

The room was dark and silent while they waited, though not at all uncomfortable. Everyone perked up at the knock on the door, even if Yaric was left to bring everything through. Fresh, warm food seemed to make a big difference, and Yaric sat and explained what the barkeeper had told him while they ate.

“We shouldn’t ever judge a village based on their leaders,” Sven explained.

“But their leaders are part of the village. And this village chose their leaders.”

“Yes, but the village is concerned about the problem. Like here, they were scared about losing cattle. Their major concern was the mysterious disappearance of their livelihoods. Leadership might also be concerned about missing cattle, but they’re the only ones who also have to deal with the responsibility. Everyone else turns to the authorities to deal with the problem. These representatives are the authorities.

“Our arrival means the pressure is off them, and they can even shift the responsibility to us. Don’t forget that the other people here want safety and security, while the representatives want everyone to go back to their normal lives, because that’s how they keep their job.”

“So different priorities?” Yaric asked, pausing between mouthfuls.

“In a way. It doesn’t necessarily make them bad people. They just have a different kind of pressure. And a different perspective.”

“Us too,” Lauren added. “We weren’t stopping cattle thieves; we were saving that man's sister. And her children.”

“Stupid nobles, messing everything up.”

“They’re not nobles, Lina.”

“Stupid wannabee nobles, messing everything up.”

The rest of the meal was finished in silence, with Yaric the only one not nursing a headache. Yaric placed everything outside the door once they were done, and went to have a look around the house while the other three lay back with their eyes closed.

It didn’t take Yaric long to find what he was looking for. A water pump sat behind the house, close to a small door from the kitchen. It had been years since Yaric had lived without indoor plumbing, and he was dreading a return to hauling buckets of water.

Only he had forgotten that he now knew some basic magic. Augmenting himself made the chore trivial, with the most annoying part being that he only had two buckets. He could have finished his task in a fraction of the time if he had something that could carry more water.

It took twenty minutes to fill the three copper tubs that sat in each room. Yaric might have been in far better condition than the others, but even he was still feeling the effects of fatigue. He stood in front of the tub in Lauren's room and tried casting flames over the water, around the tub, and even over the bucket before stopping himself with a loud groan.

A simple heating spell applied directly to the entire volume at once raised the temperature noticeably, and two minutes later he’d found a good working combination. The other two tubs were even quicker now that he’d worked out what to do.

“Baths are ready and heated,” Yaric announced.

There was a moment where no one reacted, then Lauren’s eyes shot open and she sat up abruptly. “Ow…” Lauren held her head for a moment and stood up more slowly, making a beeline for her room. Li Na and Sven soon followed.

“Want some more ale for your hair?” Yaric teased when Li Na shuffled past.

“Gonna shave your head next time you sleep,” she replied, so matter of factly that Yaric paused for a moment. He knew she was joking, but she was acting out of sorts again. Just as she’d done during their first competition.

While the others cleaned up, Yaric picked up his bag and headed to the tavern.

“Sorry to bother you with this, but is there anywhere I can find a tub? The three in the house we were given are already taken.”

“A tub?”

“To get cleaned up.”

“Ah! I uh… ummm…” The barkeeper looked like he wanted to move in several different directions at once as his mind raced. “Many families would let you use theirs,” he eventually informed Yaric. “If you don’t want to leave the walls, I have something that could work, but I have to warn you, it wasn’t originally a bathtub.”

The barkeep led Yaric to a storeroom at the back, one of many. Yaric couldn’t help smiling when he saw what took up the majority of the storeroom the owner opened. Firewood.

Right at the back sat a large copper cylinder, split into two from top to bottom, and lying on their sides in a facsimile of two bathtubs.

“Was used for brewing until it broke. A bit large for a bathtub, but it was cleaned before being stuck in here. If you’re happy with this option I’ll start bringing some water.”

“No need,” Yaric said quickly. “I’ll get the water. Magic,” he added when he saw the barkeep about to protest.

Luckily the buckets he used were far larger than what had been available in the house, no doubt due to the nature of his business. Still, it took a lot of water, and Yaric found he could completely stretch out and disappear below the edge if he wanted.

Hot water, soap, and several minutes of doing nothing were almost as good as the hot meal he’d had earlier. Putting on clean clothes was the icing on the cake.

It took twenty minutes to empty out the bath. Ten minutes to carry buckets of water out, and another ten minutes to discreetly stick his arm into the tub and cautiously bathe the remaining water in flames. He was well aware that firewood was stored all around him, but he felt more comfortable with carefully drying out the remaining water than he did with leaving it behind. There was simply too much firewood packed between the broken vat and the door for it to be worth taking outside.

Everyone still had their doors closed when Yaric returned, so he got to work on cleaning his armor as well. He was very meticulous, going over every individual piece in the open doorway so he could get the best light. Yaric heard movement inside more than once, but no one came to disturb him, so he moved on to his weapons as well, carefully cleaning each item and packing them away.

The bedroom doors had been opened while he was busy, revealing three beds occupied by three passed-out students, so Yaric went back to the living room and got started on everyone else’s armor, painstakingly cleaning each piece and placing them into their separate piles.

Yaric went to check on his friends once the weapons and room itself were also done, only to find them still sleeping. So, with nothing else to do, Yaric went outside to train.

A small pile of stone filled one hand, which he threw one by one at a tree while trying to create the spell forms as if he were going to cast a spell. Lloyd had been correct; the exercise was tricky. Any time he focused on his target his casting speed would drop dramatically, and whenever he shifted his attention to the spell, his stones would either miss the tree or fall pathetically short. It was good practice.

Or it was, until Chase and Oliver found him behind the house and interrupted his training.

“Are you four going to fight those monsters tonight?”

Yaric held back a sigh. No greeting, no apology for interrupting, just an immediate question. “No, the others are still recovering. They were too close to the explosion,” he added somewhat misleadingly.

It was difficult to keep the frustration out of his voice, but Yaric tried to keep the barkeep in mind while talking to Chase. He’d been wrong once before, and Sven had helped him to partially understand where Chase and Oliver were coming from.

Still, their dismissive attitude to the true danger and willingness to send his friends into life-threatening situations grated him. Despite his attempts to keep an open mind, Yaric did not doubt that if Lauren hadn’t been able to dive out of the way the first night, he would have held Chase and Oliver fully responsible. They should be focused on saving lives, not keeping people happy.

“We’ll get everyone inside the walls again. Can I tell them you’re going back out tomorrow? We need to…”

Yaric raised his palm, cutting Chase off. “I can’t predict when everyone will be back in fighting form. You’ll just have to wait. All I can say is you need to be more worried about safety than the comfort of this village. No one would have been at risk if you’d just evacuated like you should have.”

“We can’t just pack…”

“You can,” Yaric replied firmly, interrupting once again. “You just don’t want to.”

No matter how hard he tried, Yaric had been gradually losing patience with the representatives throughout the conversation. By this point he’d had enough, and before Chase could reply further Yaric brushed past him and strode purposely toward the house, completely ignoring the two men.

Not five minutes later there was a knock on the door. Yaric yanked the door open.

“I told you… oh… sorry. Hi.”

The barkeep stood outside with a surprised expression on his face and a small crowd behind him.

“I thought you were someone else,” Yaric added sheepishly.

“Uh… right. Well, you asked for a late lunch to be delivered and said you didn’t much care what it was. I might have mentioned it to a few others... one thing led to another, and everyone here decided to cook something for you all. Just to say thank you for what you’ve been doing. Might be a bit much though.”

The barkeep scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. Behind him, everyone held plates of food, baskets, or pitchers. And he was right, it looked like there would be enough food for a dozen people.

“Oh… thank you. I’m sure everyone will appreciate it. They were hurt yesterday, so they’re all sleeping, but you can put everything down on the table,” he suggested, opening the door wider and stepping aside.

Several people stopped to thank him on the way out, making Yaric wish that Sven or the others were awake to deal with the situation, so he didn’t have to.

It was like someone had cast a spell on the food. Yaric had barely started going through one of the baskets when Li Na, Lauren, and Sven all came through to the living room, only seconds apart. It was like magic.

“What you got?”

Yaric explained the situation while the others started helping him unpack. They all looked far better despite the persistent headache.

“Are we going to check on the nest tomorrow?” Yaric asked, balancing two plates on his knees. “The representatives want to know what they should tell people.”

“I heard.” Seeing Yaric’s raised eyebrows, Sven quickly added, “You were talking outside my window. I think you handled their questions well.”

“But I didn’t tell them anything.”

“Yes.”

“Well I think it’s too dangerous to go back out there,” Lauren cut in. “It just isn’t worth it. I know we’ve probably killed them all, but what if there’s one or two left and they get the drop on us? We can stay in the village and protect them from here until help arrives. They can check on the nest with their full force.”

“I wonder who’s coming,” Li Na mused.

It didn’t take long to come up with a plan. No one was going to risk their lives unless a villager was under attack. Their focus would be the safety of the people, and they’d leave the monster extermination up to the reinforcements.

“I thought you were supposed to be the big monster hunter,” Li Na teased, cutting herself a slice of fruit pie as she did.

“Were you so scared you had your eyes closed? I was shooting them out of the air.”

“Pshhh… I blew up most of them with one go.”

“What?”

“Maybe you were too busy playing with your bow and didn’t see the explosion I made?”

That set off a long discussion about the previous two days. Most of the time things had been far too close for comfort, but all of that was starting to feel much further away now that they were sitting inside with a large feast in front of them. Even Li Na seemed to be more herself, though she still behaved strangely on occasion.

It was late when everyone finally went back to bed. Yaric hadn’t fully recovered himself, so he was looking forward to getting some sleep as well, even if it still meant sleeping on the floor in the living room.

Yaric was woken early by the sound of the door opening and stamping feet that he knew could only be Li Na. She wasn’t alone, however, as Lauren carried the coffee pot while Li Na ate freshly baked rolls off a large plate.

“Cfofee…” she explained helpfully through a mouthful of food.

Pastries from the night before were added to the table and Sven was called by Li Na, which involved sticking her head out of the living room and shouting loudly.

Then Lauren hugged Yaric from behind. “Thank you.”

“Uh, for what?”

“Taking care of us,” Lauren replied, letting go and gesturing to the clean armor packed against the wall.

Li Na smirked and was about to say something when Sven walked in. “Ooh, yes!” Sven went straight to the table and started helping himself.

From there they started their new routine. Everyone equipped their full armor, strapped on more than one weapon, and made a show of walking around the outskirts of the village, particularly the northeastern end.

At this point it was more about letting the villagers know they were still there. Night patrols were boring, but no one was certain that they had got every single skathári. They had a job, and they intended to do it properly.

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The routine continued over the next four days. Some of the herds were brought back, and as no attacks had happened over the last four days, many of the villagers began talking about bringing the remaining herds back as well.

Periods between patrols were spent sleeping or training, as all four were even more determined to master combat spells. Li Na was the only one who would occasionally sneak away, hiding out in the stables and brushing down her horse.

Yaric was all for bringing herds back, as it meant that they wouldn’t need to patrol anymore. The presence of easy prey was a protection to the village folk, even if a costly one. A missing cow would be a very clear indication of surviving insects.

With at least a week to go before any help arrived, Yaric and his friends had settled in for the wait, when a large commotion outside caught their attention.

A stern-looking elf was striding briskly down the road, firing off questions to a flustered-looking Chase. The man looked to be in his mid-fifties, maybe older, but Yaric wasn’t fooled. Exotic-looking armor and a tall, intricate staff made it obvious that this man was an arcanist. And by his appearance he was most certainly a Wizard, if not a High Wizard.

His gaze flicked to the four students standing just outside the door, taking in their armor and weapons, and he immediately turned to head straight for them.

“You’re the Novices who sent the urgent report?” he asked bruskly.

“That was me, sir. Novice Sven McDavids.”

The elf regarded them for a moment before breaking into a smile. “Good,” he said, holding out his hand. “High Wizard Hidaka, Abyssal Guard.”

“Pleased to meet you, sir,” Sven replied. “These are Novices Lina Jakobson, Lauren Silver, and Yaric Miller.”

“I’ve seen your names on the report,” Hidaka said, shaking everyone’s hand in turn. “Now, I’ve just been informed that there have been no casualties, despite at least one attack on the town? Show me where we can sit, and you four can fill me in.”

Sven led Hidaka inside, followed closely by the others.

“Sorry, I’ve had to sleep in here,” Yaric mumbled, rushing past everyone to pick up his blankets.

“Leave it,” Hidaka responded, waving his hand dismissively. “Give me your report.”

Sven explained everything that had happened since their arrival, starting right at the beginning instead of from the time of the report. He left nothing out, even including the discussions with the representatives and amongst themselves.

Hidaka looked skeptical. “So you’re saying you cleared out most of the nest?”

“We think we got all of them.”

“No, your report said nothing of hunting down the sentries guarding other points of approach. They won't move from their position for a couple of days, and if they find the nest destroyed, they will quickly move on to establish a new nest.”

“You mean they’re just going to spread?” Lauren asked, sounding dismayed.

“They will try,” Hidaka said with a wink. “I’ll ensure the right people are sent to hunt them down. You can be certain that they won’t have the chance to establish a new nest. In the future, you should rally at the nest site and expand your search from there. It ensures that all sentries will have their backs to you and makes exterminating them easier. Now come, you need to show me this nest.”

Sven led everyone back outside, only to find Chase and several others waiting outside.

“Leave us. I’ll explain what is happening when I return,” Hidaka ordered, with barely a glance spared for the representatives.

Hidaka hopped effortlessly onto each boulder, always jumping just high enough and seeming to almost float just before touching down. He waited patiently for the students after each jump, watching them jump what they could before climbing the rest. There was never any judgment in his eyes.

Li Na took it upon herself to jump like he did and started launching herself higher and higher. She seldom made it all the way, but when she did make the smaller boulders she would grin triumphantly.

The pace was far higher than usual with a High Wizard keeping watching, so it wasn’t long before they came across the scene of the battle.

“You really did kill them,” Hidaka murmured softly while going through the bodies. Every time he would examine the remains of one of the skathári he would wave his hand and send the burnt husks flying into the clearing where Yaric and the others had made their stand. There were twenty-three of the humanoid insects in a heap when he was done.

“Right, the nest?”

Yaric took over, showing him the one remaining insect and the deep gulley with the nest. The fire hadn’t spread completely, but it had burnt through the mound containing the eggs.

“Acceptable,” he stated. “Wait here.”

Hidaka jumped over the gulley without another word, heading west and almost perpendicular to the way they’d come. He returned fifteen minutes later, this time coming from the north.

“I’ve found the trail the survivors made. No more than four or five. This information will make someone’s job far easier.”

The dead skathári rose into the air while a piercing light formed over Hidaka’s hand. He tossed the searingly bright light into the chasm without looking back, where it exploded into arcs of lightning that trailed across every surface with a staccato boom of rapid-fire thunder. Smoke began rising once again.

Skathári carcasses were flung back as they went, leap-frogging everything in the way. Hidaka was bringing back every husk he could find.

“What are those?” he asked, watching Sven dutifully gathering the spears they had abandoned.

“We lost most of our spears the first night. We had to make do with these.”

Hidaka snorted contemptuously. “You students need proper weapons,” he replied, though his eyes lingered on Yaric’s bow.

Li Na grinned and unhooked her mace from the sling on her back. She channeled arcana to extend the shaft and swung it around experimentally.

“Novices with magical weapons,” Hidaka muttered quietly, shaking his head as he did.

For some reason Li Na’s grin only grew wider.

The High Wizard did make one miscalculation. He was throwing the skathári husks over the last few boulders when they heard screaming from the village.

“Ahhh… please run ahead and let them know these are dead,” he requested.

Yaric and Lauren ran ahead to calm the situation down. All they had to do in the end was stand near the corpses without any apparent concern and people started coming out to watch. Chase and Oliver soon approached; this time joined by the recently returned Leo.

Murmurs started to spread as more and more skathári landed on the grass, occasionally hitting each other with a loud clack.

Soon two dozen of the giant, humanoid insects were arrayed before the startled onlookers.

“Were all these out there this whole time?” Chase asked, looking nervous.

“More than these,” Hidaka replied, landing in front of Chase and sending him stumbling back.

“You killed them all just like that,” someone in the crowd declared.

“No, these are the skathári that the four Novices killed, five days ago.”

The murmuring grew a lot louder.

“Why didn’t they tell us?” Chase demanded. “Everyone could have been back days ago!”

“Because they weren’t sure if they got the whole nest. And all credit to them, because they didn’t. The rest have moved on, scared off by these students.”

“So we could have returned everyone! They withheld vital information.”

Hidaka stared coldly at Chase until Chase took a step back. “No. They knew you would have everyone return despite the risks. Their primary job was to protect everyone, and in this case, the biggest danger to the village was you. They withheld this information because they had to protect you from yourselves.”

Hidaka raised his head to look over the assembled onlookers. “I’ve been on many appeals where arcanists were taken advantage of, usually to save a little money by asking for help with some side job. But I can’t say I’ve ever seen a village willing to put their own families at risk. When these students recommend you leave, you leave!”

“They’re just kids, what would they know,” Chase replied, gathering himself. “No offense,” he added quickly, looking past Hidaka to speak to Yaric and his friends.

“These ‘kids’ are arcanists representing Lekton Academy. These ‘kids’ are responsible for saving…” Hidaka paused and looked back at the row of corpses. “These kids did that!” he declared, pointing at the dead skathári.

“It’s their job!” Chase retorted. “They kill monsters so the monsters don’t kill us.”

“They would also pull a drowning man out of a river,” Hidaka informed him. “Why don’t you throw your family into a river so they can be rescued?”

Chase seemed to get the point, either that or he was too intimidated by Hidaka to argue any further.

“Armed professionals will be coming through here to hunt down the survivors. I will wait here until then. That’s all you need to know,” Hidaka added, turning back to the skathári and lifting them magically into the air.

The bodies were dumped against the town wall, right beside the gate, while the entire procession watched.

“I need paper and writing utensils,” Hidaka announced, already walking back to the house Yaric and the others were staying in.

More than one villager ran off to fetch some paper.

“It’s only right that I inform you of what has happened with your request,” Hidaka informed them once they were seated inside once again.

“I was on my way back to Lekton to be relieved of my guard duty, but I’m still required to inform the authorities any time I stop in a town. That was what I was doing when I heard your report being discussed. The mention of skathári caught my interest, especially since Kald is still some distance from the border of the Abyssal Plains. The contents, however, were alarming.

“Four Novices trying to protect a town from an entire nest? And the residents planning to send the preferred food source away? I rushed here as quickly as I could, hoping that there would be some survivors. Who would have thought you kids would be crazy enough, no, lucky enough, to clear out the entire nest?”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, which Yaric opened to reveal one of the villagers waiting with some paper. Another ran up with yet more paper before Yaric was finished.

“Good, give that here,” Hidaka ordered, taking the paper from Yaric and placing it in a neat pile on the table.

“I don’t know what’s been going on in Lekton since I started my tour, but you four should never have been assigned to this job. This is far, far above the abilities of any Novice.”

“Arch Wizard Phelps assigned it to us,” Yaric informed him.

…

“…Oh. Well then, he must have had his reasons. Regardless, I’m going to be writing up my own report for you to add to your own. Here,” he said, placing a few pages in front of them. “Get started.”

Sven took over writing up the report, only pausing on occasion to clarify something with his friends or to work out how to properly phrase something. Lauren gave him a lot of help with that part. Dinner arrived before they finished, but Sven carried on without pause. Hidaka finished long before him.

“Here, add this to your report. You can file it as an addendum.”

With Hidaka staying to wait for the reinforcements, there was no longer any reason for the students to linger. They packed their bags after dinner, and Sven gave up his bed to Hidaka.

The sky was only just turning grey when Yaric and the others led their saddled horses out of the stables, packed and ready to go where Hidaka was waiting. He walked with them as they made their way up to the tavern, intending to say goodbye. Hidaka even held the reins for them.

“Heard ya were going. Here,” the barkeep said, thrusting a canvas bag and four wineskins toward them. “For the road,” he added.

“That wasn’t necessary,” Yaric started, but Lauren stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling at the barkeep.

“Least I could do. Though I’d pay you if you could stop by my brother-in-law on the way out.”

“Is he okay?”

“Unfortunately. He took his herd to safety and left my sister and her kids to be bug food.”

Sven just shook his head. “Sorry, what he did seems pretty terrible, but even if he believed they could be in danger, what he did was contemptible, but not a crime.”

“Yeah, I figured. Anyways, these are for you as well.” The barkeep reached under the counter and pulled out four small canvas and straw dolls. “My youngest niece made these for you. She’s very worried, ‘cause she could only really see two of you from her window. She thinks the tall and short ones might be wrong.”

All four dolls were sewn in the same way, though one was noticeably taller than the others, and one was much shorter, just as the barkeep had said. The shoulder-length brown hair sewn into the taller one wasn’t necessary for everyone to know who it was. The same could be said for the smaller doll with white blonde hair, holding an oversized nut attached to a stick.

Both were passed across the counter. “And these are for you two. She said this one was for the archer guy.” Li Na snickered quietly. That doll also had white hair, far lighter than Yaric’s own, but it held a curved stick with loosely tied string.

“And this is for the wizard princess,” he said, handing over the doll with the long dark hair and even longer stick in its hand. “Her words, not mine,” he hurriedly added.

Everyone said their goodbyes and made for the door, but several villagers entered to say goodbye as well. Lauren broke away as soon as she could, rushing out the door with her doll in hand. She returned a minute later without the doll, but the top part of her broken spear.

Lauren had been very insistent that they return all the equipment they’d booked, even if it was broken, but now she pushed her way back toward her friends with spearhead clutched tightly.

“What’s Lina doing?” Lauren asked, looking past them to where Li Na was standing with the barkeep. No one had noticed her sneak away. She was walking around the barkeep as he swung his fist, making corrections to his stance and showing him how to punch harder. He had a very satisfied smile on his face.

“This is for your niece,” Lauren said, interrupting the impromptu lesson. “It’s the spear I broke that night outside her house.”

“The spear the monster broke outside her house,” Li Na corrected.

He took it gingerly and was still thanking them profusely when Sven called for them to leave. Hidaka was still waiting outside with their horses.

They walked the horses out of the village together and saddled up.

“I’ll be in Lekton myself, shortly after you four arrive. Who are your sponsors? I would like a word with them.”

“High Mage Marsha Faulkner,” Sven replied.

“Does she travel a lot?”

“She’s a diplomat in the King's court.”

“Ahhh…” Hidaka replied, clearly not expecting that. “And yours?” he asked, looking up at Lauren.

“High Wizard Jerrold.”

“Jerold who? There could be more than one Jerold, even amongst High Wizards.”

“I don’t know,” Lauren replied apologetically. “He refuses to say. He insists I only ever call him Jerold.”

Hidaka’s eyes grew wide. “I know him! It’s been centuries, but he’s a great wizard. At least that’s one discussion I should enjoy.”

This time Hidaka turned to Li Na and Yaric without prompting, but Yaric could see by Li Na’s smirk that he would have to go first.

“High Wizard Lloyd Chen.”

There was a long moment of silence while Hidaka stared at Yaric. “He took a second student? Forgive, but I have to ask, how many affinities do you have?”

“Just four.”

Lauren looked like she wanted to say something, but she just smiled to herself instead.

“Hmmm… I’ll still have to speak with him about this. And who is…”

“Council Head Sandy Ivers,” Li Na declared before he could finish the question, smirking widely as she did.

Hidaka looked between the other three for confirmation, only to see three calm students staring back. “Well, that complicates things.”

“I can let her know you’re coming,” Li Na suggested helpfully, obviously enjoying herself.

All she got was a mute nod and wave in reply, then Hidaka turned to go back without another word, looking deep in thought.

“I bet he’s regretting something he wrote in that report,” Li Na whispered with a giggle.

“Lina! He was very professional!”

----------------------------------------

The long ride home was more serious than it had been before. They still joked and talked along the way, even more than they usually did, but every stop included intense practice with the exercises they’d developed.

Yaric insisted that they spend more time practicing than usual, while Lauren also pushed everyone to finish the work their instructors had given them. Li Na complained loudly, but everyone went through the work together.

Lauren also added a new component to their training. She noticed that there had been several occasions where someone had noticed an error being made by someone else. After that she insisted that they each take turns running through the exercises while the other three watched. Several small corrections were made that first night.

They even took the time to track down the man who’d asked them to help with the highwaymen haunting the roads around his town. It was a great relief to hear that the problem was already taken care of, though Li Na thought it was hilarious that the thieves had been caught by a traveling healer, despite being fully aware that they received combat training as well, like all arcanists.

She was also unusually chipper the next day, making a big show of stretching each time they stopped, and never complaining once. They all thought it was odd, but no one said anything.

Finally, Li Na couldn’t take it anymore and stretched with a loud sigh while they were eating that night. “Huh… I think I was born for the saddle.”

“You just like getting out of class,” Yaric retorted.

“Don’t forget we still have a few more days in the saddle,” Sven warned.

“Looking forward to it.”

“And you will be spending most of it in a saddle, not walking,” Yaric added.

“Yeah. Just like when we run for hours on end.”

“That’s different, we can…” Yaric’s eyes grew wide as he watched Li Na’s teasing smirk grow wider.

“Yes?”

“You’ve been augmenting while we ride!” Yaric declared accusingly.

“’Course. Haven’t you?”

Yaric threw a piece of his bread at her while she backed away giggling.

“I tried practicing augmenting while riding, ever since we left Bug Town. It still feels like I haven’t spent a single minute in the saddle.”

“You can’t augment all the time,” Sven pointed out. “If you don’t get used to riding now, you’ll have a problem later.”

“I don’t do it all the time,” Li Na protested, though she looked away guiltily. Yaric was sure she wouldn’t be quite so happy after tomorrow.

Only one other part of their journey stood out, which was when they changed a part of the route back. Instead of stopping at two towns over three nights, they would now stop at four towns over four nights. No one was in the mood for guard shifts and bedrolls.

The last day of the detour took them through a very different landscape from what they usually saw, and Lauren and Li Na were instantly amazed.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Lauren said softly.

Yaric was confused, as it was really just a wide-open grassland, almost completely flat and stretching out to purple hills barely visible on the horizon. The tree line behind them was the only thing breaking a long, continuous horizon. Li Na had come to a stop beside Lauren, also staring out across the vast expanse. “It’s so big.”

“This?” Sven asked. “It would make good grazing land, I guess.”

It took Yaric a moment, but it finally dawned on him. “You two grew up in Lekton! You’ve never seen open ground like this?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

Lauren nodded mutely.

“Sven, don’t we turn left onto a road up ahead?” Yaric asked, already knowing the answer to this one as well.

“We do.”

“Then if we cut across here, we’ll still meet up the road. It might even be a shortcut.”

“I’m not so sure, the terrain isn’t as…” Sven cut himself off when he saw the glare Yaric shot his way. “I mean, it can’t make that much of a difference.”

Yaric was glad they had started taking riding lessons outside the Academy so many years ago. Lauren and Li Na were both already comfortable enough to race their horses, which they did frequently in short bursts all across the plains. The horses seemed to be enjoying themselves, so Yaric and Sven started joining them.

There wouldn’t be anywhere to stop until they reached the road, but the look on Lauren’s face made the detour worth it. Li Na was giggling madly when they had their last race, right up to the foot of the hills, where Lauren looked back wistfully.

Nothing else of note happened on the journey back. There were more epic stick battles while they rode, simultaneously practicing spells and trying to get past the other stick. Lessons, training, joking, and racing. It should have been repetitive, but Yaric enjoyed every minute.

Their last night on the road found them in Braedon, sitting in the pub attached to the same inn they’d stayed at before. Yaric was staring quietly into the dregs of his drink and swirling it.

“Another beer?” Lauren asked from across the table.

Yaric looked up and nodded with a smile, but soon found himself staring into the tankard, lost in thought. He didn’t see the odd look Lauren gave him.

Thump.

“Alright, what’s with you?” she asked after dropping another drink loudly in front of him and taking a seat next to him.

Yaric looked up with a start. “Nothing,” he replied defensively.

“You’ve been getting quieter and quieter all day.”

Yaric was silent for a moment while he tried to get his thoughts together. “It’s just this. All of it. At school,” he replied incoherently.

Lauren just smiled patiently. “You’re worried you won’t catch up? We’ve already caught up. And we can ask questions when we get there.”

“No, I mean all the training. We spend so much time focusing on competitions and tournaments and pulling off new spells… it’s just… it’s really pointless at the end of the day.”

Lauren frowned. “You’re worried about winning tournaments? Yaric, you’re already winning things. Over and over. Our hard work has been paying off. Even Sven has to fight for first place now – that’s a good thing!”

“Sven always had to fight for first place,” Yaric retorted with a pointed look. “And I made it sound backward. It’s the tournaments that are pointless. They don’t matter. It’s what we can do out here that matters. Who cares if we win a trophy?”

Sven and Li Na took a seat opposite them, with Li Na leaning forward immediately to listen in.

“Is this why you added so much extra training with Hiawatha?” Lauren asked gently, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“No… Yes. Urgh. It’s so hard to put this into words.”

“Take your time, we’ll wait.”

Yaric noticed that Sven and Li Na were waiting as well. He buried his face in his hands and exhaled loudly.

“I added that training for a lot of reasons. One of them is similar, yes, but I was wrong. Lloyd told me stories about combat between arcanists. Anyone worth anything will have layers of spells precast. The winner is usually a lot more skilled, or simply more powerful. He made it very clear that there’s more to it than that, and he oversimplified it to the point of being wrong, but he said it was close enough to get his point across.

“I’d asked him why so many very powerful arcanists still carried weapons with them. Lloyd reminded me how many creatures have some immunities, but he said the real reason was other arcanists. If you’re not particularly powerful most people will focus on weapons training, because if they’re more skilled there they still defeat someone more magically powerful or skilled than them. Combat is still supposed to be much more complicated than that,” Yaric quickly clarified.

“Lots of defense spells are easier to bypass at close range or with steel, and any spell is harder to counter when you have less time. It’s also where I got the idea to practice spells while doing other things, by the way. Lloyd mentioned that some magic specialists struggle to cast spells under the pressure of melee combat. So I thought it would be a good idea to get better with my sword work. There’s lots of other reasons, but that was a big one.”

“And it was a good idea, maybe we should all do it?” Lauren suggested, looking at the others. Yaric was shocked to see that even Li Na nodded.

“But I was wrong.”

Lauren had the same concerned look again.

“That might be better long term, but right now we need magic. Fireballs that don’t just break around your target, but something that explodes like the one High Wizard Emil demonstrated. Lightning like Hidaka used. Something with range and power.”

“We’re not always going to be fighting skathári, Yaric,” Sven reminded him.

“Yeah, and like you said, sometimes getting in close is better. Some things are even immune.”

Yaric stared down into his drink again, looking off into the distance while he spoke. “We need something ranged, something much more powerful and much faster than my bow. I’m not going to pretend those fights weren’t scary, they were. But no matter how close those beetles got to me, I could still fight back. I could still try. Even if they got through me, I’d have gone down fighting, I wouldn’t have been helpless.”

“Why are you saying this? Where is this coming from?” Lauren asked, looking worried and almost scared.

Surprisingly, it was Li Na who replied to her, looking far more subdued than before. “He’s talking about when you almost died,” she said softly, almost whispering. “And Sven. He had one of those bugs land right next to him. It almost cut him in half, faster than I could turn my head. There was nothing I could do. If he hadn’t flinched…” Li Na trailed off with a shudder.

Sven wrapped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer.

“We all came close Yaric,” Lauren pointed out, her tone much gentler. “If we focus on our own skills we won’t be in that position. Worry about yourself first.”

“It’s not the same. That thing came so close it drew blood. And when they used that mental attack on the last day, I was the only one still able to keep them away. If three or more had jumped at the same time then…”

Lauren wrapped her elbow around Yaric’s and leaned on his arm. “You know what we need to do then, right?”

“That’s the problem, I have no idea.”

“Speak to your sponsor. He’s already given us so many tricks. We can all do the same as well. If we don’t know enough magic, then we need to learn. If we’re not skilled enough, we need to practice. All we need is a direction. But no one is pushing forward alone. We’re all pushing each other.”

“We’re already ahead,” Sven said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the table. Li Na was still sitting quietly with her own thoughts. “We wouldn’t usually have an assignment like that. I doubt anyone in the seventh year has cleared a nest of skathári in centuries, maybe ever. We did.

“And you seem to forget. You told us that you shot the skathári that hurt Lauren. You killed it just seconds after, one of only two we killed that night. And Li Na killed the one that almost got me. You did cover us, both of you. Same as when we were incapacitated. Nothing got near us. You kept everything away while we recovered, and you had another plan waiting as soon as we were back in the fight. We’re already almost there.”

“I know. I’m being unreasonable. It’s just, when that thing was falling right in front of Lauren, there was nothing… It was so fast, I just…”

“We know. I had the same thing when Li Na fell. But as Lauren said, if we also focus on ourselves, we won’t need saving. I didn’t even get close, because Li Na jumped up and smashed that one all the way back to the Abyssal Plains by herself.”

Li Na smiled weakly. “Yeah.”

“And you’re not giving up your combat lessons,” Lauren added, looking up sternly at Yaric.

Yaric was a bit taken aback, but he still nodded his head.

“And you’re going to speak with Healer Bell," she ordered.

“I suggest we celebrate not getting hurt,” Sven declared, raising his tankard. “Tonight we celebrate a successful mission, and tomorrow we start working on plans to do it even better next time.”

“Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

“Cheers…”

Li Na toasted halfheartedly, still looking subdued. She didn’t react to anyone until Sven shook her shoulder, causing her to look up inquisitively.

“This is supposed to be a celebration. Why don’t you go up there and sing? We need to get a party started.”

Lauren raised her eyebrows at Sven, but he just shrugged the shoulder opposite Li Na, where she couldn’t see.

“Okay,” Li Na agreed quietly, standing up and stepping over the bench.

“What song are you going to sing?” Lauren called after her.

Li Na slowed her walk as she thought it through. She was several meters away when she finally looked back and shouted over her shoulder. “I know the hedgehog song!”

Benches scraped and went flying as three students dove desperately after her.