Velvet fell to her knees and heaved for much-needed air, sweat trickling down her tired face.

"Wicked..." Trix mumbled, staring at the burned body of the beast and the sheer destruction Velvet's spell caused. The fairy then fell down on her knees herself and coughed up blood.

They looked at each other, each in their own disheveled state, and grinned simultaneously.

"We...fucking did it!" the sprite yelled, wiping the blood and dirt off her face.

"Yes..." Velvet panted, "...we sure did."

After a bit, Trix stumbled back to her feet and walked over to her companion, still spitting out blood as she went. The girl looked at her with a concerned expression. "Are you...alright?"

"I'm fine," she answered. "I did what us fairies call an "overcharge." It essentially means forcing as much magic on your body as possible. If your body can't handle it, this damages it. Doing it for too long can kill you, but just a bit is fine. This still shed a few years off of my life, though. No regrets."

"A few...years?!" Velvet was shocked at hearing this. "Is this normal?!"

"No...but I just got extremely pissed off and had to do it. Guess what I found in its stomach?"

The sprite held up a half-disintegrated boot. "This is Pix's...that's when I knew, we have our guy. And I just had to pay it back for this, even if it cost me some of my life."

"So we killed the one that ended my uncle!" the girl exclaimed happily. "YES!!"

"We did," her small friend nodded. Then she pointed at her hand. "Now you tell me...is that considered normal for you hoomans?"

Velvet looked down, to see the back of her hand shine in a bright blue glow. On it, next to the marks of light and air, the mark of water appeared. She stood up, her mouth falling agape.

"I did it," she whispered in disbelief. "I did it! I DID IT!! I AM TIER THREE!!"

"Oh...is that?" Trix only now realized it. "Did you just acquire water magic?!"

"Yes!" Velvet exclaimed. She didn't even feel the fatigue anymore with how excited and happy she was. "Yesyesyesyes!! I got my third mark! And it's the mark of water!"

"HELL, YEAH!!" the fairy jumped up in celebration, only to cough up blood once more when she came back down. "Hold on...let me just puke this out, then we can celebrate..."

That evening, they made a big fire and cut off large chunks of ursa meat, cooking them nicely and eating them under the starry sky.

"Mmm!" Trix bit off a bit. "I never tasted ursa before! It's actually good!"

"Uncle told me it is," Velvet said, her eyes glancing up at the sky above them. "I hope you're watching this, uncle. This should be you and me, I know. But I hope you at least see that I did what we set out to do. I'm going to miss you."

When Velvet finished her short speech, the fairy could see tears slide down her cheeks. She patted her shoulder gently. "Don't sweat it, kid. Your uncle would be proud of you. Holy fairy mother, did you fry that damn thing or what!? I still can't believe what I witnessed back there!"

"You were pretty amazing yourself," Velvet smiled. "I never knew someone your size could cut off an ursa's leg like that. You are insanely strong. I'm glad you came with me for this."

"I am too!" Trix grinned widely. "And they say hoomans are boring! You are the most interesting person I have ever met! Those fairies back at home got nothing on you!"

"I didn't know fairies were so interesting either," the girl admitted.

"Oh, trust me...they're not. It's just me that's like this! What can I say, I am a little crazy!"

"A little?" the human chuckled. "I thought I was reckless. But you definitely have me beat!"

Trix laughed. They bonded over their team effort in bringing down their mutual foe and told each other stories about their lives, their friends and how they got to where they are now.

Velvet used her newly acquired water magic to heal their wounds partially, but thankfully neither of them got seriously injured. She had already been learning water spells in advance and this knowledge came in handy now. It would still take a lot of practice to get her skill in it to the level on which her air and especially her light magic was, however.

"So," the fairy said when the fire was only barely still flickering and they started getting ready to sleep, "What are you going to do now? Will you go back to your friend like you promised her?"

"Yes," Velvet nodded. "I miss her so much already. It's been almost two years since we last saw each other. My quest is finally complete and it turned out to end on an even better note than I hoped for! Not only have we slayed the ursa major, I also got my third mark. With this, we have the first requirement to open up our academy—the headmaster must be at least a tier-three sorcerer. I can't wait to see the look on Arianna's face when she sees this!"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I'm gonna bring a tooth back to Pix!" Trix announced. "I want to see the look on his face!"

"He's going to be very surprised, no doubt," the girl said. "You're probably the first and only fairy that's ever slain one of these things."

"Well, I don't want to take all the credit...you did most of the work. But yeah, I definitely am! Too bad I can't really brag about this to the other fairies. That's not what I told the queen I will be doing and if she finds out, I might get punished. It's still an awesome story, though!"

Velvet smiled briefly, but then her face darkened.

"What is it? Still sad about your uncle?"

"That too. But I'm also sad about leaving you behind here. Will we ever be able to see each other again?"

"You can always come visit me on a full moon! I promise I will keep waiting for you on that rock every single time! Even if you don't come for a few years and then decide to do so, you will still find me sitting there at the designated location at the designated time."

"You'd really do that for me?!" the girl looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Of course!" the fairy smiled back at her. "You are my friend now! And I still owe you a favor! Don't forget the bracelet I gave you! Use it if the need arises, and I will come for you. Us fairies take friendship very seriously, you know."

"Thank you," Velvet said and hugged the small girl. "That means a lot to me!"

"Hooman hug!" Trix exclaimed. "Still feels as good as the first time!"

"It's 'human'..."

***

It was late summer and students as well as teachers were getting ready for the start of the next school year when Velvet finally arrived back at Everdale academy of magic. She had visited her father on the way and handed him a bunch of money she made from completing her tasks, to help him with his farm. He respectfully declined it, though, saying he is doing just fine. Hugging his little girl who wasn't so little anymore, they said goodbye after celebrating her seventeenth birthday together. She aimed at arriving just before Arianna's birthday and surprising her, but ended up missing it by a few days, which she felt a bit guilty about.

Despite that, the joy her friend felt when she saw her after such a long time apart was not lessened by this in the slightest. In fact, Arianna didn't even care about her birthday at all. Seeing Velvet again was all that really mattered to her. Tears of joy fell as the two friends embraced each other, reunited once more.

"I missed you so much!" Arianna squeezed her tightly. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"I missed you too, Ari!" her friend hugged her back. "Oh, and happy birthday!"

"Forget about my birthday! I can't believe you're finally back!"

"And that's not all!" Velvet grinned and lifted up her arm, revealing the new addition to her collection of marks. Light, air and now, water.

"No way!" Arianna let go of her and stepped back from the shock. "When? How?!"

"When I fought the ursa major," she replied. "I didn't even notice it until Trix pointed it out!"

"So then...that means..."

"Exactly! We have our first requirement!" Velvet exclaimed happily. "We also have this!"

She took off her backpack and opened it. The entirety of it was filled up to the brim with gold coins. There wasn't even anything else in it. "Had to throw some stuff away to fit them all." Velvet chuckled.

"That's..." her friend stammered. Never had she seen such an amount of money in her life.

"It's 6237 Rumerran gold pieces," the accomplished huntress said, smiling brightly. "Enough to buy land and a building! Granted it won't buy us a mansion, but it's a start, right?"

"Wow. You really did it. Exactly like you said you would. I kind of feel like an idiot for not trusting you," Arianna scratched her head awkwardly. "Still, that was super dangerous!"

"I know," Velvet said and hugged her again. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I realized a lot of things over these last two years. My magic is not the only thing that's grown. So have I. For one, I know now that I should have listened to you more often. All the advice you've ever given me turned out to be correct and on point. Some of it even saved my life!"

"I'm glad," her friend patted her back. "I also learned a lot of things on my own. For example that I should trust my instincts over my brain sometimes like you do. And that true confidence has to come from within. I didn't have you to cheer me on and I still accomplished many things. You were right. I do have what it takes. I just need to start believing in myself more."

They broke their hug and kept staring at each other's eyes for a while, relishing in the moment and simply soaking in the radiant energy of one another. It felt nice. It felt like it should feel.

Thank you for reading this part of the story! May your hunt be a bountiful one!

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