Edwyr focused on nothing but the fireball hovering above the palm of his hand and the training dummy. It had been enchanted to be nigh indestructible, a concept Edwyr still didn't understand much at all as enchanting was taught after an elf started to manifest their magical ability.

He raised his hand, frowning in concentration as he breathed in and out. Keeping the ball of fire in his hand was taxing on its own, there was no need to do it under normal circumstances, but it proved to be a great way to train his magical control, and so he did it anyway.

"Kinri," he said through gritted teeth, making the fireball fly out of his hand and at the dummy, enveloping it in flames. Edwyr kept his arm outstretched, trying to keep the flames from going out for as long as possible despite being given nothing to burn, but after a moment he felt too tired to continue, letting go.

The flames extinguished themselves quickly, and once they disappeared, the dummy was left white and spotless. The fact that it was white seemed like an intentional thing, meant to frustrate whoever would try to singe it. And Edwyr had tried countless times.

It was funny to think about. It had only been a little over a month and he already couldn't understand how he'd survived without magic. He felt so useful, so powerful, and he'd barely learned anything still. While he wasn't that great at controlling the elements, his main limitation was quickly running out of energy. Healing magic was also something he still grappled with, and illusion magic was completely incomprehensible to him.

And he knew there was so much more than just these kinds of magic. No one here tried to hide knowledge, or make it so only certain people could learn, but Edwyr was stopping himself from researching too far too soon. He didn't want to get overwhelmed. Usually that just discouraged him.

"You've improved your control of fire very much," a voice from behind him said, making Edwyr turn away from the dummy. Wyn was standing there, but that was hardly surprising. Now that Wyn was training him, they saw each other every day, and the training rooms were hardly a private area. Though Edwyr enjoyed that aside from one large room with training equipment, there were several smaller ones, with this one being the smallest, having only one training dummy. And since he liked his peace and quiet, he preferred this one above all others.

"I'm still better at controlling wind magic," Edwyr replied, wiping sweat off his forehead. He had wanted to sit down, but doing so felt impossible now that Wyn was here. He wasn't even sure why he cared, but for some reason his stubbornness wasn't letting him rest.

"Well, that is rarer," Wyn replied, smiling.

"Yes, you've told me as much," Edwyr pointed out, though he couldn't help but smile as well. The constant encouragement was very novel still, especially given that it was coming from an elf, but he liked it. It truly served to motivate him.

"I have some news you may find interesting," Wyn said with a smile. "But first, show me your wind magic."

Edwyr frowned, watching Wyn make his way to the dummy, standing several feet in front of it with his hands clasped behind his back. As the sunlight from the only window in the room hit Wyn, Edwyr noticed that while he was wearing the same black robes with silver highlighting he usually did, the top layers of his hair had been pulled into a high ponytail, with the rest of it covering his shoulders, and hanging from his long ears were silver earrings in the shape of several fragile-looking leaves. It wouldn't be significant if not for the fact that Orenis had mentioned that Wyn putting more thought into his appearance was a new development, and Edwyr couldn't help but wonder what that implied.

"Hit me with as strong a wind as you can summon," Wyn said, smiling pleasantly at Edwyr whose eyes went wide. He was meant to use his magic against Wyn? He'd assumed he'd make the dummy his target. Edwyr hadn't tried to attack a living being yet, mostly because there had been nothing posing a threat to use his magic on. And attacking Wyn was something completely different from attacking a dangerous beast, as well.

"That doesn't seem like a good idea," Edwyr said even as Wyn began to manifest a glowing shield around himself. Edwyr could barely hear him speak the words necessary to use magic, only seeing the elf's lips moving. Wyn always seemed to use magic with such ease, showing off his talent and skill. Watching him use it was always almost hypnotizing.

"It's perfectly safe," Wyn assured him. Or at least he tried to. Edwyr was still having reservations. "Besides, you will have to learn to fight and defend yourself from other elves eventually."

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Wyn was right about that, but that didn't mean Edwyr had to like the idea of fighting Wyn specifically. He liked Wyn, and even though he knew the other elf was much more powerful than him, making the chances of actually hurting him very slim, Edwyr still didn't want to risk it. It had happened to him before that a magical attack he'd meant to keep weak had gotten out of his control.

"Well, if you're certain...."

Wyn seemed to relax his pose further, giving a small nod as his golden, translucent shield glowed brighter. How Wyn was staying so casual while actively keeping a shield around himself was beyond Edwyr, as from experience he knew how draining shielding spells were.

Edwyr stretched out his hand toward Wyn, narrowing his eyes in concentration.

"Ist'rah!" he cried, summoning a very fast gust of wind. It should have been enough to knock someone to the ground, but Wyn was only forced to take a step back as the wind hit his shield. And while Edwyr didn't want anything to happen to Wyn, he couldn't help but feel encouraged by the fact that his attack had had an effect, even if not a very significant one.

Since Wyn kept his shield up, Edwyr took it as an invitation to attack again, throwing stronger wind in the other elf's direction, trying to add words to the basic spell to make the force of wind and area it hit larger bigger. He could feel himself growing exhausted, but he kept going, getting lost in the moment as he threw both of his arms out.

"Ist'rah ai kes loria!" he yelled, his eyes widening when he felt a much larger amount of energy leave his body than he'd been intending to use. But it was too late to stop it as an incredibly strong wind crashed into Wyn's shield. Edwyr watched with wide eyes as Wyn's shield disappeared as he was thrown back, crashing into the training dummy behind him with an alarmed cry.

As soon as Edwyr managed to overcome his shock, he rushed forward, quickly checking on Wyn who was now blinking up at him, still lying on top of the dummy. There was shock on his face, yes, but it was the kind one felt due to a nice surprise. He wasn't smiling, but delight sparkled in his eyes.

"Are you okay, Wyn?" Edwyr asked, somewhat unnerved by the fact that between the two of them, he was much more worried about Wyn's well-being than the other elf.

"I...I didn't expect...." Wyn trailed off, a somewhat dazed smile pulling on the corners of his mouth. Edwyr was just about to start worrying that Wyn had hit his head when he'd fallen when Wyn cleared his throat, picking himself up off the ground. Edwyr quickly went to help him, grabbing one of his arms and pulling him up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"You truly are very talented, aren't you?"

Edwyr didn't want to drop the subject of apologizing for throwing Wyn to the ground like that, but he couldn't manage to say a word as he felt his cheeks heat up. It wasn't even the words that made him speechless, but rather the delighted tone and admiring looks Wyn was giving him as if Edwyr was his star pupil. They were standing too close to each other to ignore it, and Edwyr had no idea what to do with himself.

As Wyn finally broke eye contact and took a step away, beginning to very slowly pace, Edwyr finally managed to take in a few breaths. "I will admit I was not paying proper attention to maintaining my shield. I was looking for any mistakes in your technique that I could later help you eliminate. But the fact that you managed to break through my defense like that...."

Wyn stopped, turning to face Edwyr again, a grin on his face. "I didn't think you'd be able to do that. Impressive."

Why was Wyn so happy about being thrown halfway across the room? He could have been severely injured if he'd fallen in some unfortunate way. And yes, Edwyr realized that there were elves here who could heal well, but that didn't mean getting into a situation like that willingly was a good idea, to begin with. And he still didn't know if Wyn hadn't been injured. Just because there was no blood that he could see didn't mean that everything was perfectly all right.

Edwyr felt like he should say something, but he couldn't really think of anything. Thankfully, Wyn continued then, clearly unbothered by Edwyr's silence.

"That actually makes what I wanted to tell you all the more relevant," he said, his face growing a bit more serious. He still looked happy, however. Edwyr truly wondered what this was going to be about.

"Yes, you mentioned some news?"

"Indeed." Wyn nodded, taking a step forward, close enough now that Edwyr could properly see hints of concern in those yellow eyes of his. "I have managed to locate another Infuser, one that I believe could hold enough power to give magic to every magicless elf in this castle."

Edwyr tried to keep his immediate rise in interest in check. This seemed too good to be true, and with the way Wyn was talking about this, it was clear that there was going to be some kind of drawback. "But?"

The other elf sighed, looking away. "Well, some Infusers we can teleport to. Some not so much."

Edwyr wanted to tell him to get to the point, but by now he'd mostly gotten used to Wyn not being able to say anything in a normal, direct way, and so he didn't bother. Despite it being frustrating, it was somewhat endearing to him, for some reason.

"I assume this Infuser is of the latter category."

Wyn grimaced. "Yes, but its location is also a problem." He sighed again, his shoulders sinking. "The terrain will be difficult to navigate, though I am confident we can find it despite that. But it will be dangerous, especially considering we will have to bring our magicless peers there."

Edwyr narrowed his eyes. Now he knew Wyn wasn't just being unintentionally cryptic and long-winded, he was directly avoiding telling him the details. "Where is it?"

Wyn's eyes snapped to Edwyr's then, his gaze intense and focused. "In the jungle. Deep in the jungle."