“I think it’s time we had the talk,” Florian said, plopping down on the chair opposite Theo. It was a familiar scene; they had played it out nearly every morning before breakfast, after all.

“No, I do not think it is.”

“After those two monsters I took down, I believe it is, Theodosius. You told me you knew where these creatures came from. Why can’t you tell me?” Florian threw his hands up in the air, exasperated.

“I have told you, Florian. That information would not help you right now. No, I need you to focus entirely on learning to conceal the house for the duration of the night. There is no point in worrying you needlessly,” Theo repeated his speech for the seventh time that week almost verbatim.

Florian glared at the other man, knowing full well that Theo couldn’t care less that he continued to draw Florian’s ire. To calm himself, Florian began his breathing exercises, channeling mana throughout his body. The mana touched each and every cell throughout his body, diffusing through his bloodstream before it came back out the way it came.

Despite the headache he’d incur for this particular exercise later, the beginning of these exercises always felt like a mixture between an extra-strong coffee and half a tray of triple-chocolate brownie. Florian smiled; maybe the kids would enjoy something new to do.

“Have you thought of teaching the children?” Florian asked, not stopping his exercise.

Silence answered him. Then, with as much excitement as Florian had ever heard him, Theo exclaimed, “That is brilliant! I will have them get started as well, and they will be able to help you with the concealment spell!”

Florian could hear Theo practically fly up the stairs, and for all he knew, maybe he did. Ten minutes passed without his head so much as beginning to throb, much less start to hurt. It took another five before the headache started building. It had taken him a week of exercises to build up from his original five or so minutes to ten. Now, after fighting those two wolves, he had essentially increased his affinity with the universe by 50%!

Shocked, Florian stood up from his exercise and began to pace about the kitchenette. Had he not been pushing himself enough? He doubted he could bring himself to unconsciousness regularly, and even if he could, that wouldn’t be healthy in the least. He needed to stay healthy if he wanted to have even the slightest chance of finding a way to survive on his own.

Shaking his head free of such heavy thoughts, Florian walked over to where a stack of canned tuna had once stood. There remained only a few tins. His stomach growled, but he managed to stop his hand halfway on its journey to the highly-processed fish. They’d need to ration food more strictly. After that tuna ran out, food would be significantly harder to come by.

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Given that it was winter, the grapes outside weren’t bearing fruit. The nearby fields had been used to grow grains, and even if they were ready to be harvested, Florian didn’t have the first idea on how to go about doing so and then transforming it into something they could eat. It would have to be hunting, foraging, and scavenging.

The lattermost had the greatest potential to actually yield a large amount of food, but the Hellwolves were certain to roam about formerly populated areas, hunting for the odd human that had managed to survive this long. Hunting, though less dangerous in the way of encountering Hellwolves, required skill that Florian hadn’t ever had.

But maybe that was no longer the case… Florian had magic, after all. That does it. I’m going hunting, Florian thought. For a brief moment, he considered asking Theo to borrow some of his throwing knives, but upon remembering Theo’s rude behavior, Florian simply temporarily confiscated some.

Florian made to armor up, but his shoulder flared up in pain. In the chaos of the battle, he had totally forgotten that one of the wolves had dug in there. It didn’t seem to limit his movement too much, and when Florian inspected it, it seemed to be much better than what he had guessed it would look like. Far from mangled, his shoulder looked like he had merely collided with a pole made of sandpaper. Had Theo healed him?

Either way, it was his left shoulder. Given that it wouldn’t affect his throwing – Florian was right-handed – Florian elected to go outside on a journey. Even when he had lived in Dover, he hadn’t spent much time outside. There had been no reason to be.

Opening the door, Florian quickly rethought himself. “Oh, but that’s cold!” Florian cried out, the little armor he had over his chest and his forearms doing precious little to insulate him. Still, his mind had been made up. “I’m going hunting!” Florian called upstairs.

“Okay! Can I come?” Jake called out, his little head peaking out from the stairwell before a man’s hand snatched him by the chest and made the boy disappear. Theo was taking the lessons seriously then, Florian snorted.

Florian closed the door behind him and trudged into the gray hellscape that surrounded him. Already, he could feel the coldness seep through him, and he honestly wondered if he would catch anything.

An hour later, the decisive answer was no. As it turned out, being able to kill a wild animal was not the entire art of hunting. Trying to move through a forest without making a noise – ordinarily very hard – was made even more difficult by the fact that his left ‘foot’ was utterly useless to keep up any pretense of stealth.

He’d seen the odd deer or two, but they’d bolted as soon as he caught sight of them. When he returned home, it was to a sight that had him steel himself. He could not, under no circumstances, laugh.

Ellie had set up an impromptu tea party, utilizing Theo as an unwilling guest. Jake was at the same time bowling with a soccer ball and the tuna cans as pins. A vein on Theo’s forehead looked like it was about to burst.

Theo’s eyes caught Florian. “Thank the gods you’re here. Take these children away from me. I had forgotten just how infuriating they could be,” Theo practically dragged Florian inside. “Joseph, are you still practicing?” Theo called.

“Yes!”

“Let me see, child!”

And with that, Theo was gone, leaving Florian alone with one very, very puppy eyed girl and a boy who seemed hellbent on destroying the last of their food. Florian no longer thought the situation funny.

And where in the world did they get tea from, anyway?