Before Jon knew it, it was sunset. Tallow and Genevieve had continued in having a warm conversation. Jon had noted that despite her earlier answer, Tallow seemed to have a good time talking to Genevieve, not becoming excited in the same way Genevieve, but taking solace in the conversation regardless.

“Where exactly are we heading?” Tallow asked Genevieve eventually. “Do you even know-”

“I wanted to go straight to the King’s Guard,” Hector answered loudly from the front of the wagon without turning. “So, I figured if could we spend the night outside and make a beeline towards-”

“And you didn’t ask any of us if we wanted a bed?” Tallow yelled.

There was an award silence from Hector before he answered. “I’ll keep first watch.”

Tallow threw her hands up in the air but didn’t say anymore. She crossed her arms and sat grumpily in silence.

“I’m fine staying in the wagon,” Genevieve piped up. “Do we have any blankets?”

“We have one!” Mallory exclaimed. , in his first proper show of excitement in a while. “I took one from the castle. It should be in my bag. It’s-”

“I got it!” Genevieve was already pulling the large blanket out of Mallory’s bag. When she unfolded it, it was as wide as the entire wagon.

“Why’d you take a blanket?” Hector asked him.

“I dunno.” Mallory answered with the same phrase and shrug. Jon speculated that Mallory’s exhaustion was stopping him from giving thorough answers and making it thus.

”I figured we needed something for our troubles,” Mallory continued. “I mean, they’re some really nice blank-”

“It doesn’t matter why,” Tallow exclaimed. “It matters that there’s only one..”

“Then we share!” Genevie said excitedly.

Tallow groaned.

“You guys do that,” Hector said. The wagon stopped. “I’ll take first watch.” He repeated.

He pushed himself out of the wagon and walked around to the back. Everyone else watched him curiously as he reached forward between their feet and dragged out a bundle of sticks.

“I’ll set a fire in case anyone wants it,” Hector said. “But you can stay in the wagon if you want to sleep.

“Should someone go with him?” Tallow asked as they watched him walk to a spot and toss the sticks on the floor.

“I think… he needs the time,” Mallory said.

If Mallory thought that was the case, Jon agreed with him. They watched as Hector knelt down and began spinning a stick between his hands into the ground.

Is he trying to make a fire without mana?

“He’s… forgetting a few things,” Tallow noted.

“Yeah, well,” Mallorca took a breath, “it’s been a while for him. He’ll figure it out.”

Mallory put his hands behind his head and kicked back on his seat.

“Blanket time!” Genevieve yelled. Tallow groaned uncomfortably.

Jon thought that Tallow was going to try to find some way to avoid sharing the blanket with everyone else. To his astonishment, she simply ended up under the cover with both Jon and Genevieve in the back of the wagon. By this time, it was nightfall, and the only sounds were the nearby crackling.

Hector had finally started the campfire after some time, and he was sitting next to it cross-legged, with his back turned to the wagon. He hadn’t called for anyone’s attention in a while.

“Why is it so cold,” Tallow muttered, her arms wrapped around her shoulders.

“It's probably ‘cause you’re low on mana,” Genevieve replied. “That’s what happens. Your body doesn’t always function like it needs to.”

“I know that,” Tallow replied. “I still hate it.”

She observed Geneveive’s feathered arms. “I wish I had feathers like you.”

“No, you don’t,” Genevive told her. “But we can snuggle.”

Tallow grunted and turned over so that her back was to Genevieve.

Jon hadn’t known that mana could affect how cold someone felt, but then, he was learning that mana affected a lot of things. It made him a little anxious to think that mana permeated throughout his entire life, and he hadn’t even known it. The same mana that coursed through him and his friends had coursed through his parents back at the farm, as well as anyone else who didn’t know a thing about it. It was a whole new experience, and yet, he was glad his parents would never have the burden of having to manage their own mana pools.

For now, he felt warm under the large blanket and with the company of others, and he was grateful for both.

“Where’s Mallory?” Genevieve asked. “Doesn’t he want to be under the blanket too?”

“More people?” Tallow said in disbelief.

Genevieve climbed up from under the cover and peeked over to the front of the wagon, where Mallory had been earlier. She reported her answer in a whisper.

“He’s asleep.”

Jon was curious, so he sat up as well and peered over.

Mallory was laying across the seats, snoring.

Huh. If anyone had the most mana depleted, it would’ve been Mallory several times over.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“His robes must keep him warm,” Genevieve noted. “I’m a little jealous.”

She pulled back. “That means Hector’s alone right now. So, I’m gonna keep him some company. He doesn’t seem to be in a good mood.”

Jon nodded. He agreed with the sentiment.

“You get some rest, okay?” she said. She leaped out and went to Hector’s side at the fire.

Jon went back under the covers next to Tallow. He had propped up some of his extra clothes as a faux pillow. It wasn’t the best, but he could’ve slept on anything at this moment.

“Jon,” Tallow said, looking up at the sky.

“Yeah?”

“I toss a lot when I sleep, right?”

“Yep,” Jon answered.

“Well… I mean… I could… If you want…”

Jon waited for her question.

“Nevermind. Just cover your face, alright?”

“Alright,” Jon said.

He went to sleep forgetting to cover his face.

This meant that when he woke up, he had the full brunt of the sun pouring down onto his head.

Oh… He covered his eyes as he sat up. It was odd for him to wake up to the sun without anything else over his head, not even a tree.

It was also later than he was used to waking up to. The sun was higher in the sky than he was used to. Then again, he hadn’t been checking how early he had been waking up. Maybe his sleeping schedule was thrown off long before he noticed it.

Jon looked over to see that not only Mallory had entered under the covers between Jon and Tallow during the night, but that he and Tallow were still asleep, and she had her arm and leg tossed over Mallory.

Tallow turned over, her arm scrubbing over Mallory’s face, but Mallory stayed asleep without any apparent disturbance.

Whoa. He pulled himself out of the cover and looked around.

“Jon.”

Jon looked to Hector, who was standing next to the wagon on the ground.

“How are you feeling?” Hector asked him.

“Fine,” Jon said.

“Good. We’re gonna get back soon. You’ll have to speak with my sister.”

Jon nodded.

“Are you sure?” Hector asked. “She can be a bit… rough.”

“I’ll be okay,” Jon said assuredly. It was worrying to hear Hector talk about someone else being rough.

But I know Lana… Jon wondered how much of meeting someone through a projection counted as knowing them.

“Okay.” Hector nodded in return. “Alright. I just hope I’ll be okay…”

He and Jon turned back to Genevieve who was asleep on the ground next to the extinguished campfire.

Did she fall asleep? Jon wondered. He looked at Hector. Where did Hector go to sleep?

“What?” Hector asked when he noticed Jon staring at him.

“Where did you sleep?” Jon asked.

“Oh, well… I kept Genevieve warm.”

Jon understood. Hector probably used his flames to keep the fire up all night.

“I think I want to start waking people up,” Hector said. “So we can get moving.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll get Genevieve.” Hector walked over to Genevieve awkwardly and knelt down next to her.

While he spoke to her, she started stirring.

Jon turned to Mallory and Tallow.

For some reason, he was afraid to wake them up. He watched both of them snore until Hector returned.

“Still asleep?” Hector asked while he and Genevieve went to take the seats at the front of the wagon.

Jon nodded.

“Alright, just make sure they don’t roll off the wagon then.” Hector shook the reins while Genevieve yawned loudly. “They deserve the rest.”

“Didn’t really get much sleep last night…” Genevieve mumbled as the wagon started moving. She yawned again.

“I’ll try not to talk so much today,” Hector muttered.

“Aww… sweetheart…” Genevieve wrapped Hector in a hug. “You had a lot you had to get off your chest. It's alright.”

Hector made one of his trademarked groans. However, Genevieve stayed wrapped around his body, and he didn't push her off.

Eventually, the wagon went over a giant bump, causing it to shake.

Tallow sat up, slapping Mallory hard in the face as she did.

“Ow!” Mallory covered his face in pain, before slowly sitting up. “Ah, girl…”

“Are we under attack?” Tallow asked, still half asleep but turning side to side.

Jon watched the both of them rub the sleep out of their eyes.

Eventually, they both took their seats, but they were obviously still exhausted.

“I need something to pick me up…” Tallow said. “You have anything in that bag of yours?”

“I’m a mage, not a witch,” Mallory responded, making a small yawn. “I mean, I’m more of a jack of all… never mind, let me… Maybe Jon’s mother has something… I can take a look…”

He crouched down and pulled out his bag before digging through it.

“I know what’ll help!” Genevieve exclaimed, turning to the back. “A race!”

“A race?” Tallow raised her eyebrow. “Now? This early in the morning?”

“It’s nearly noon…” Hector started.

“Yeah!” Genevieve nodded. “I could do a race. Wind mana against wind mana!”

“Are you walking or flying?” Tallow asked her.

“Flying!”

“Alright!” Tallow jumped onto her feet and started stretching. “You’re on. Where?”

“To our destination!” Genevieve said. “The King’s Guard is close by.”

Jon’s heart kicked up. The King’s Guard. It was almost here.

A job… This was what Jon had left home for. Something he could be good at, and judging by the amount of things he did, he was at least partially good.

But now, he had a new goal. It wasn’t about just finding a way to be useful. Now, he also had to become stronger. Not just so that he could protect the farm if some new dangerous threat came along, but so that he could see Mercy again. She would be training to get stronger as well, and since her homeland was so dangerous, Jon would need to prepare himself so that he could eventually see her again. So that he could protect everybody.

“Sure.” Tallow cracked her neck. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Whenever?” Geneveive stood up in her seat. “You mean like now?”

“Now!”

Wind mana gushed from both ends of the wagon, and the two women charged up ahead. It occured to Jon that Genevieve must have used wind mana similarly to Tallow. Maybe that was why they seemed to be getting along well despite Tallow’s assertion that she didn’t want more friends.s\

“Look at ‘em go.” Mallory said. “Just watching them makes me tired.”

“Hmmm…” Jon felt fine just staying in his seat.

“Oh yeah,” Mallory put his arm around Jon’s shoulder and spoke lower.

“Lana… I think you’ve spoken to her once or twice, right?”

“Twice,” Jon said.

“Hmm…” Mallory nodded. “Okay. I just wanted to let you know. She seems scary, but she’s just usually under a lot of stress. If you ask her for anything, she’ll try her hardest to take care of you. Other than that, she’s often hands off.”

“Okay,” Jon said.

“I’m guessing she’s extra stressed out now, since Lauriel and Samson have been out of town,” Mallory continued. “And then with Hector’s wedding on the horizon, and… just don’t bring up the wedding. In fact, don’t bring up anything about her family. Even if Hector’s in the same room as her, don’t bring him up.”

Jon nodded.

“Okay… I think that’s it.”

“What are you telling him, Mallory?” Hector asked loudly. “That my sister isn’t as bad of a person as she seems? ‘Cause in that case, she seems like a really bad person.”

Mallory sighed and shook his head.

Jon grimaced. He realized it was probably best not to bring up Lana around Hector as well. In fact, he didn’t think anyone in the family could talk to each other without feeling some sort of pressure.

“We’re here!” Hector announced loudly.