With that, they all went to dinner. Mallory continued talking about different ways and applications about how Jon could use his gun.

“I’m still trying to figure it out,” Mallory continued, waving his spoon around. “I mean, Jon did a spell on top of another spell with his gun, right? But so did Sabez. But no. Jon did it before the spell. But Sabez did it after, right?”

Mallory put his hand on his head in distress. “What is the spell?”

He wagged his spoon at Jon. “Hey, what did you do? How did you make that spell work?”

Jon shrugged, eating his steak. He had gotten the same 3 course meal as Hector did. He felt really hungry.

“I don’t know.” Jon answered. “I just did it.”

“Right. I forgot that’s how it works from you guys” Mallory responded with a severe eye roll.

“What makes this spell so much different than any other spell you’ve figured out,” Hector asked. “Isn’t shooting stuff your thing?”

“Yeah, but this isn’t the same,” Mallory jumped in. “I’ve never tried to break down the makeup of a magical weapon. I mean, I know how they work, conceptually. I understand some of them more than others, on an off-hand basis. But individually, I’ve never been able to do an actual deep dive. I’ve never been so close to a bonded weapon user, let alone a bonded weapon. So, now, I want to see what spell the weapon is performing.”

Jon took this to understand that none of Hector’s sisters none of Hector's sisters had bounded weapons. They must have been like Hector, where they had a weapon imbued with magic on its own terms and without input.

“So, the gun’s alive? Hector asked. “It can think?”

“No. It’s self-repeating. It sounds like it’s thinking. But really, it can only repeat spells that someone has casted in it. Kinda.”

Hector raised his spoon. “So, if I cast a spell on this-”

“No, Hector.” Mallory couldn’t help but smirk, even with the sigh. “I mean, maybe. Bound weapons are weird. Nobody knows where they came from. But we don’t know a lot of things. Look at the giant monster in Jon’s land. That’s a spell, while I understand how it works, we still can’t completely replicate it. There’s no reason to.”

“Why do you think it’s so important to know about this now?” Hector said. “You never seemed so interested in it before.”

“Hector, we’re in a new world!” Mallory explained. “I mean, look at what happened on Jon’s farm. In fact, if you notice, ever since then, we’ve been taking on bigger and bigger threats.”

“I wouldn’t say bigger,” Hector said. “Just inconvenient. And that's mostly because of us following Mercy-"

“I’m just saying, I have a giant batch of animal mana trapped inside my leg,” Mallory said. “A familiar monster I didn’t even know existed. We don’t even have familiars in this part of the land. I mean, we won! But I want to be ahead of the the curve. Especially when it comes to helping Jon."

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“Are you saying it’s Jon’s fault we have all of these problems?” Hector asked.

Jon knew the question was innocent from Hector. He was curious as well.

“No. Um. No. Um.” Mallory scratched his chin. “It’s more like, Jon wants to help people. But actually help people. And he's not bound by the petty-politicing that we are. If we want to keep Jon around, we have to learn how to fight different types of threats. Threats from within. Threats that more often than not wouldn’t have come around. Especially with what those guys at the farm-"

“Why?" Hector pressed.

“It’s not just Jon.” Mallory shifted a glance to Jon. “It’s what Jon does for people. It's what we all do."

“I guess you’re right,” Hector answered, taking in a deep sigh. “I’d rather choose Jon over most of the other things I have to deal with.”

“You see my point,” Mallory said. “Although, I agree.”

“I don’t want anyone to fight for me,” Jon said after some thought. “I want to fight for other people.”

“We all do, Jon,” Hector explained. “That’s why it’s fair."

Jon nodded with understanding.

“Whoa, this bonding experience is getting really intense,” Mallory said. “Jon, maybe after dinner we should-”

“Jon should focus on the battle ahead,” Hector said. “He should get rest. Especially after all of the training today.”

He amended himself. “If you want. I don’t mean to…” Hector started poking at his food with his spoon.

Jon agreed. He needed to be prepared for whatever could happen tomorrow.

“Okay,” Jon said. He looked at Mallory. “Later.”

“Cool,” Mallory added.

“I’ll take care of the plates,” Hector said when Jon stood up.

Jon thought about what Hector had said about fighting for his friends, and he nodded. He left the plates, heading to his room.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, only looking to find his room. He didn’t remember closing his eyes. He opened them the next day to the usual batch of light through the window.

He sat up, stretching his back.

Fight.

Jon felt anxious. He didn’t know who that person was yesterday. The one who had to stand tall for Thalia and wanted to get into a fight and prove himself. He rubbed his eyes, unsure why he felt entitled to do these things. Right now, he wanted things to be peaceful.

Peace involved fighting. Jon grimaced. He thought about how Graves had moved outside of the farming community, obviously because he didn’t feel like he fit in with the council. His father, Jassiter also didn’t seem to get along with people in the council, but he stayed at the farm. Jassiter also seemed to be mad at Graves for leaving.

Did Graves choose to leave? Jon groaned. Leaving seemed peaceful as well, but also lonely. Maybe it wasn’t peace he was looking for.

With that, Jon took a deep breath, accepted the consequences of yesterday, then got up from his bed.

He walked out towards the central green, wondering if he should do some laps in preparation for his fight. He heard huffing even before he left the doors.

Must be Hector. Jon stepped out, before he saw a short figure passing him by.

Milo was jogging down the long end of the grass. He looked sweaty, and he stopped when he got partway down the green. He bent over, holding on to his own thighs to stay up. He then continued to run. He didn't move at a fast pace at all.

Jon was surprised, but he didn’t say anything. He watched Milo get to the end and turn around the edge of the grass, continuing to make his laps.

Eventually, Milo went onto the grass and started doing push-ups. That was when Jon noticed that Thalia was also sitting on the grass next to him.

She watched as Milo struggled. He pushed himself up 10 times in order, then slowed down for the next 5.

Thalia whispered in Milo’s ear. He dropped to the ground, then stood up and started jogging. This time, he stayed along the edge, not turning the corners when he got to the end but doubling back around and running the opposite direction.

When he came back, he slowed down even more, but Thalia ran alongside him. They continued until they got to the end of the grass and Milo collapsed.

Jon decided that now would be a good time to make himself known.

Thalia turned and saw Jon approaching, and she ran up to meet him halfway.

“Jon!” she said. “Hi.”

Jon looked over at Milo, who was face down into the grass.

“He’s been out all morning,” Thalia said. “He was by himself, and-”

“He probably needs rest,” Jon said quietly.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s wait at breakfast,” Jon suggested.

Thalia nodded. “Okay.”

She seemed wary of leaving Milo, but something told Jon that Milo needed room to breathe.