Leaves were falling on the forest ground, still moist from the morning mist. Garrett had spent the last night in Heimeden at the inn, he had come back from his mission late at night, but now he had made it back into the forest. He knew Elissa already knew he was coming; the spirits would surely have told her. He was enjoying the serenity of the forest. The violence and worry about the girl had chipped away at his mood and while he was no closer to finding out who sent the spirit after the girl again and again, he was still at ease because he put one more threat to her to rest.

He heard a rustling above him, that peculiar kind he always recognised, and quickly stepped aside. A bright blur whizzed past him and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes where he had just walked. Face down, both arms outstretched Nannade lay in the soft soil. She had made it awfully close to him.

She got up, groaning in pain. "OOUUUUWCH! That's mean! I wanted to land on you!"

"I know, that's why I dodged. Did you seriously think you could surprise me, Fleabag?"

"Yes! You said if I can get rid of you, I'm free!" a tiny tear was in the corner of her eye, but she was holding back admirably.

"And you don't even have a weapon, come on now!"

"I wanted to sharpen a stick, but Elissa wouldn't give me a knife!"

"If you had a knife you... Never mind." The girl was done getting up and brushing off her clothes with her hands. "You know if you fail like that on a real mission, you'll get killed!"

The girl nodded and hummed, putting on a serious demeanour.

"Good. I just want to make sure you know there are consequences for failure. Dire consequences."

She didn't hear it in his voice, nor saw it in his eyes, and so she was taken by complete surprise when Garrett buried his fist deep in her guts, with a slight upward arc to press all the air out of her lungs.

She curled in and keeled over, gasping, coughing, screaming.

"Get up! GET UP!"

She tried, with one arm, the other still slung around her belly.

"You're tougher than that, come on! Don't cry!"

She was holding back, but this time, she didn't make it and fell back down, rolling over and crying through her gritted teeth.

He picked her up and held her. When she had finally calmed down, he hugged her tightly. "Remember that pain. It will teach you well."

She wiped off her tears with her sleeve and he took her up on his shoulders, despite the backpack already weighing heavy on them. He could feel that she had grown. Or maybe just put on. They arrived at the hut and entered without knocking. The hut was rife with herbal scents lingering in humid and warm air.

Elissa was standing at the work bench and quickly turned around when she heard the two enter. "My goodness, Nannade, what happened to you?" She hurried over to the girl, ignoring Garrett's return. "You're all dirty and muddy!"

"I jumped from a tree to surprise Teacher!" she said, almost proud of her achievement. "But I missed so I landed on the ground."

"No, you didn't miss." Garrett corrected her. "I dodged. Your aim was good, but you were too obvious."

Elissa rolled her eyes at him, then got back to cleaning off the girl's face.

"I survived an assassination attempt; do I get any sympathy?" he put the girl down and let his backpack fall on the bed. Elissa chuckled a bit, but otherwise continued to ignore him.

He saw that she was wearing her apron, covered in stains and smudges, and quite a large load of ingredients was on her workbench.

"So, doing a big batch?" Her shelves seemed a lot emptier than usual, he was sure a few pots and jars were missing.

"Yes, the last herbs of the year, I'm extracting their essence for the winter. Good to see you back without any bandages."

There it was. She dropped her act and expressed her genuine worry. Garrett started unpacking his things on the table, checking and cleaning everything while Elissa and Nannade continued to work on the extraction. Nannade was sorting herbs of the same kind together and Elissa chopped them up finely and finally grounded them into a paste in the mortar. Then she filled it with water and placed a spell paper on top. She snapped he fingers and the water started to steam away within moments, filling the hut with another herbal scent as thick as storm clouds.

Now all that was left in the mortar was a puddle of fine greenish oil. Elissa put it into a bottle and told Nannade what to write on a small paper label. "Water mint. W-A-T-E-R M-I-N-T"

The girl was very careful to swing the letters out properly, while Elissa was washing out the mortar for the next set while she told the girl something about water mint and what to use it for; a common plant in ponds and on brooks with just weak magical properties but a very pleasant scent and some minor use in medicine concerning breath, throat and nose. They repeated their routine while Garrett watched them work, they got along just swell, he was happy Elissa had gained the girl's trust.

The point came that Elissa hit her forehead. "Crud, I am out of boiler spells."

Nannade was intrigued by her saying that. "Can't you just draw more?"

"Yes, but I don't know this one by heart."

She went to her study and came back with writing implements and a large tome. One could easily see that more than half of the vellum pages were already filled. Last time Garrett had seen this book it had been less.

With a loud THUD she let it fall on a clean spot on the work bench and opened it up. Nannade was deeply fascinated by what she saw. Every page bore a spell written down by Elissa, along with descriptions, the exact construction, alternative ways to write it, and important notes.

"What is that book? I've never seen it before!" Nannade's face was so close, she was almost pushing her nose between the pages.

"It's my spell index. It's a book many magicians have, where they write down their spells so they can remember them. There it is!" she had found the spell she was looking for and quickly got to copying the constructed formula onto spell paper while Nannade had her eyes fixed on the many tiny lines and symbols covering the pages.

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Garrett tried to distract the girl a little bit. "Say Nannade, what has Elissa taught you?"

The girl whirled around with excitement in her eyes. "She taught me to dance. Look!" she raised her hands and attempted to do a cartwheel. It was a good attempt, but she didn't quite get momentum to carry her feet all the way over the top.

"That doesn't look too bad. Do you like dancing!"

"YES! But Elissa danced so much more better. You should have seen it, like running on air she did!"

"Oh I have seen it. In fact, I was there when she first danced that dance." He got lost in nostalgia, while melancholy flashed over Elissa's face. With a soft smile and a long blink, he let her know he knew how she felt.

She was done and closed her spell index. "Teacher, do you have a spell index too?"

Garrett shook his head. "No, I need to move around a lot. I have to keep all my spells in my head, a few in my notes. And you should learn that too! There's no way you can cram such a book in your backpack."

Nannade looked in amazement at her Teacher. "Woah, you can remember all that?"

"Yes. Through years of practice and constant repetition. Also, knowing all those spells by heart also means that I can weave them with my Arcane Gift, no need to write them down or recite then from a book. If I really need to. You'll always have to write them down."

Nannade looked at the big book as if it was a puzzle to be solved, before Elissa carried it away. "I also have to hide my spell index. If anyone knew it, they could counter all my spells in the most harmful way."

"Oooooh. Is that why those men looked through your books?"

"Maybe. Maybe they were searching for something else, but if they had found this, they would have taken it for sure. Luckily, they didn't find it." Elissa flashed a smile and a wink.

Garrett had cleaned and sorted all his equipment, then put it away and decided to go for a walk in the forest. He had to admit he grew find of it. Especially knowing that the spirits no longer bore ill will his way, he felt at ease and could relax.

He spent his time there in the forest. The many travels in the last few days made him too tired to get back into training, but he knew he had to. Elissa had trained the girl's body as hard as he had hoped, and he was okay with her learning to dance. Elissa's dance was not just a way to commune with the spirits, but also intense, fast and taxing on the endurance. And if she was already able to climb trees to ambush him, it couldn't have been that bad of a training.

He eventually returned and when he did, Elissa turned around with fists on her hips. She looked at the girl, "Nannade, would you please?"

The girl just nodded and left the hut, closing the door behind her, and Faan jumped from the window sill onto her shoulder. It had suddenly become dreadfully cold in the hut.

"I heard you hit her. Really hard." Icy coldness seemed to shoot from Elissa's eyes at him.

"I did. She attempted an assassination and failed. She needs to learn consequences; hit once or never hit again."

"But please don't hit her like that! You'll hurt her."

He always knew this talk would come up sooner or later. "Learning has to hurt. Pain is the best teacher!"

Her eyes turned to pleading. "But PLEASE, not her body. Punish her, but not with such grievous attacks." She had come closer and put her hands on his chest.

Her eyes drew him in, her mouth formed to a silent plea. She was deeply worried.

"You saw how Mannerdon treated me and it worked well with me!"

"Not with her! You were a street boy, fighting back was the only way for you to survive. She was a slave girl, fighting back meant death to her, obedience and stillness is her only way to survive. Please don't put the fire of newfound joy out! I'm not asking for much, just stay your hand!"

He tried another time to make his case. "She is durable, a gut-punch like that can't..." he had to stop. Her eyes were wells, reaching endlessly deep down and filled with an inexhaustible reservoir of tears. His heart was in a free fall down those wells. "Alright. I shall find more constructive ways. I promise." His heart sunk, as if he let go of another string of control over the girl's life and training, but then suddenly, it felt better. It was as if he had thrown off a heavy, soaked cloak and finally felt warm air dry his cold skin, cold at first, but better after.

Elissa embraced him, held him tight for a moment. He let her.

"Thank you, Garrett." She detached from him and smiled with true happiness. It made him wonder. What if he hadn't been the way he was? What if they could have been what she wished?

Her face showed concern again, but another kind. "How did your trip go?"

Garrett walked to the bed and sat down with a sigh. "Doraleus' didn't send the spirit, or the thugs. He set out bounties on her head and mine, but he knew nothing. It doesn't matter anymore. He is dead. Any news about investigations concerning the Communion?"

"Not much, the Lodge cannot prove the Communion was behind it yet, but they are right to suspect them. For now, the relationship between the Lodge and the Communion are cold and strained. Loganna locked down all offices and temples of the Communion, they're furious but can't do anything against it. She threatened to outlaw any and all trade with the Communion's coins in all of Sturreland, but much trade from here would be hurt by that as well, I don't doubt she'd still do it."

Garrett was not happy hearing so little about the situation. This unnerving feeling came back, his time away from it had been short indeed.

Then Elissa put on a smile. "Let me show you something!" She took him by the hand, out the door in a light and springy step. She beckoned him to be silent, as they snuck between the trees away from the hut. When they finally arrived where the hut was long out of sight, Garrett could hear the girl talking.

"... Then I take the bag of grain and give it to the mayor."

It was coming from ahead of them, but he couldn't tell who was with her.

"And when the mayor has made a bow of gratitude, I say..." she hummed in contemplation for a moment.

The girl came into sight, sitting on the forest floor, Faan opposite of her. The leaves moved to conceal Elissa and Garrett, but they could still peek between them.

Garrett had to inquire in a whispering tone. "What are we looking at here?"

"She's practicing the induction ceremony."

"I thought there would be none?"

"I talked to some of the druids during the festival and they insisted. Then the girl heard about it from the druids and really wanted to take part."

The girl seemed to remember what she was looking for. "I shall forever oversee the bounty and health of these people and those to come."

Faan nodded. Garrett couldn't hear the familiar talk, but he knew the cat wasn't just listening.

Elissa's face bore such a beautiful smile like he hadn't seen in a long time. He knew, he would always have to go through her as long as Nannade stayed here. He suddenly felt himself detached from Nannade; he would have to accept that he cannot have complete control over her. Elissa was too strong, in her own way, to be defied, but he was also glad it was her. He trusted Elissa, otherwise he wouldn't have come to her first. In her hands, he would lay everything he cherished, even his own heart. Oh, if he only could.