The Soulsteel and Keith watched from the ground as Natasha focused on raising the rowboat into the sky. A second passenger put the flight enchantment under considerably more strain than her previous test runs, but it was still rising at a steady pace. Tommen began rowing, but despite his physical exertion on the long, heavy oars there was no forward movement.

“Tommen, you need to give it mana as you are entering the down stroke, and then pull the mana back out during the upstroke. Otherwise we won’t go anywhere.”

“Okay. How much?”

“The more you put in the harder it will be to pull them.”

“It’s wind magic of some kind, right?”

“Yes. It increases the blade’s drag as you put more mana in, and decreases back to the normal amount on the backswing.”

“It gets tiring pretty quickly, having to pull the mana in and out.”

“Master Archibald made more advanced versions that addressed that, but they’re too big for one person to manage two at once.”

“Okay, It turns just like a normal boat, right? One oar at a time?”

“Yes, but be careful not to-”

Before Natasha could finish warning him, Tommen had let go of the right side’s Enchanted oar. It wasn’t initially a catastrophe, as he hadn’t left any wind mana inside. However the boat’s oarlocks did not hold the oar down, only kept them in place while they were in use, and as the brand new oar was slipping out of the boat, Tommen realized his mistake and grabbed for it. However, the drag from the other oar, this one still filled with mana, combined with the sudden shifting in weight caused the dinghy to invert.

~~~

Everything seemed to be going fine with their test flight, until their height was just getting in line with the roof. Tommen had started rowing them outwards into the empty fields, but just as they were about to pass the hedgerow, he dropped one of the oversized paddles, and then the whole thing flipped.

While Natasha didn’t fall, hanging onto her bench seat, Tommen didn’t have a chance to grab anything and he parted from it and started plummeting for the ground. I now massively regretted having not tested my new wings out, but I hadn’t wanted to steal the girl’s thunder by just waltzing up and stealing her cool spell. It seemed to make both of my new wings act like they had a far larger reach, catching air almost twice their length away from me.

I started with the highest jump I could manage, but that barely brought me to the first of the three stories their height had reached. In the time it taken me to react, Tommen had probably fallen one story. I estimated I would need at least a story left after I caught him if I was going to ensure catching him wouldn’t hurt just as much as hitting the ground, so I beat my brand new wings once. They were far more powerful than the jump had been, but with the little control I had over their output, I had to brake hard so I didn’t slam into the kid.

Once I got my hands under his armpits, and we were falling together, I billowed the wings out like a parachute, and I only slightly dented the ground when we landed. I didn’t have time to check on him, beyond putting him down on his feat with the dwarf. I beat my wings for the second time to reach Natasha, as while she had been lowering the rowboat, I didn’t know how long her arms could endure, so I rushed to get it upright and then I'd worry about getting it safely to the ground.

Placing both hands on the boat, I had a hard time catching her gaze. She had been fixated on the ground, but as I started to flip the boat back over she snapped out of it. I had been quite pleased with the amount of mana I had collected from the dragon, but these wings had already drained more than half of my stockpiled mana. I kept a stabilizing hand as we descended, but there didn’t seem to be any more risk of capsizing.

Once I got her to the ground, and out of the boat, I checked on Tommen. The dwarf was holding him by his hand, and he was crying. I was almost out of mana after the slow descent, but I managed to hug him, and shortly before I passed out I felt Natasha also join in from the side.

~~~

By the time the four of them arrived on the balcony, the soulsteel had returned to the ground with the rowboat. They watched as the wings it had grown turned into golden dust and disappeared. Even from hear they could hear Tommen and Natasha crying into it. The dwarf had to pull Tommen out of the way as it limply slumped forwards. Tommen promptly started crying even harder.

“So remember when I told you I didn’t think it was trying to protect you two when it fought the wyvern?”

“Yes.”

“I take it back.”

“Good. We should go get down there already. The soulsteel is probably just out of mana.”

The two of them set off without further delay, but Daniel and the Duke lingered for just a little longer.

“Can other Soulsteel fly?”

“I can think of one that managed to take on the form of a crow, and glide short distances.”

“Maybe I should send him to the drake guard after all.”

“Now’s not the time for this conversation. Let’s go, Mage Archibald and Mage Cole are already halfway there.”

The stairs back down opened into both the Great Hall, and into the Northern Corridor. Cole was in the lead as he exited into the courtyard, and Archibald kept a brisk pace behind him.

“Are you two okay? Tommen? Tommen, it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, I should have known better, but I was-”

“It’s okay Tommen, things like this happen.”

“I’m sorry, Master Archibald. I know I promised to not take him more than a story in the air, but I completely forgot after the meeting and how the soulsteel was acting.”

“We’ll have a conversation about this later, but it’s a lesson everyone will experience at least once.”

“Come inside, Creighton has just run out of mana. He’ll be fine in no time at all.”

“Really? His eyes just sort of went out. Like someone had blown them out, like- like a candle.”

“Yes, those wings must have taken a lot of effort to control, especially because he used Lesser Levitate Object to make them.”

“I should have known better. She just got done telling me how two people were pushing it right to the limit.”

“Stop it Tommen. It is okay. I promise. Now let’s go inside. Some of the Footmen will bring him along and get him a manafire.”

“Is everyone unhurt?”

“Yes Daniel. Can we use the Eastern Lounge?”

“I’ll give them a checkup when we get there.”

~~~

Leona and Larrik had been in the capital for just a day now. Most noble households would hire on journeymen adventurers for the winter, providing bed and board for the duration of the frigid months. Most of the work for Leona was simple enchantments, or supplying mana to other mages so they could make their own stronger. Hedge Knights like Larrik had to deal with more manual labor, but occasionally he’d get lucky and have a chance to teach a batch of squires or freemen. They had both seen the ducal stagecoach carrying the remains of a greater wyvern pass down mainstreet, and Leona figured the duke would be hiring people to process it over the winter.

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“You don’t think they’ll have their current staff do it?”

He’s an archmage. The chances he’ll spend the winter doing it himself is almost zero. His time is spent on pushing at the very edge of our magical understanding.”

“And the footmen or other mages he already has can’t prepare a wyvern hide?”

“I’m telling you, every single person in that mansion has a job, and more work just dropped on their heads. If we get in before they delegate it to someone else, they’ll give it to us.”

“Fine, Fine. Let’s go.”

They arrived at the Ducal Estate shortly after noon, not quite an hour after the near disaster. Servants were still rushing around, and they watched as a set of guardian armor, seemingly made of pure silver, was carried in a sling by two footmen up the main stair into the second story. The maid leading them to their audience didn’t seem surprised.

“You don’t think that’s…”

“It would make some sense if it’s what took down a greater wyvern.”

“That is the Soulsteel the Duke just emancipated. He bought Baron Rawphor off with a prosthetic eye.”

“I see. Are you sure the Duke isn’t too busy to see us right now?”

“No, he wanted to talk to you. You were the ones that found it out in the Greenwood, right?”

“Yes, we were.”

“He and Master Archibald just want to clarify a couple of facts about the recovery with you.”

The Duke’s Office was on the fourth floor, and it had a balcony that overlooked the interior gardens and the roof of the Grand Hall. The Balcony was open, and on it stood three men, The Duke, Archbishop Daniel, and the Archmage Archibald.

“Greetings, adventurers. You are Leona and Larrik, correct?”

“Yes, my Duke. We are.”

“A shame Rodney isn’t here, I’d have liked to get his opinions too.”

“What do you need from us? We recounted everything, even just our suspicions, to Mage Cole.”

“He’s otherwise engaged at the moment, and for that matter so is the Soulsteel we want to ask you some questions about.”

“Would you like us to start from the beginning, then?”

“Yes. Please do.”

~~~

When they told Keith to basically just stick the soulsteel in a manafire and hope, he had been certain it wouldn’t be that easy. All the mana drained soulsteel he’d worked with had needed to be spoon fed mana in order to revive, but then again it might be different this time because it expended all its mana willingly, instead of having been beaten into submission.

He had started with a wood fire, but while the Soulsteel was absorbing some mana it didn’t seem to be drawing most of it in. He built progressively hotter and hotter fires, but it still didn’t stir. It was most certainly still alive, but this was quite strange. Working his bellows, he got the fire hot enough to start swapping to charcoal, but as he threw the lumps onto the fire, those that landed near the soulsteel didn’t burn. They didn’t even start to catch, like they were damp.

As he watched, the charcoal was turning into dust, and the dust then caught fire and was pulled away by the draft. Using his managlasses, he saw that the soulsteel was drawing only the charcoal’s order mana in. Woodfires didn’t give off much, if any, order mana. This was only further exacerbated if it was a manafire, as the combustion was far more complete, and it used the fuel’s own order mana to do so. Deciding it must be lacking in order mana, he kept feeding it more charcoal.

Despite how much fuel he’d now gone through, it still hadn’t stirred. Letting the fire die down, he pulled it from the hearth, having exhausted all the charcoal he had to hand. The surface was still cool, as if it hadn’t been buried half deep inside glowing embers, but it was still drawing in any complex mana nearby, so he had to wear his Gloves of Greater Insulation when he moved it.

He placed the limp suit of guardian-like armor on one of his workbenches. He’d only taken a brief look at its joints before now, and as he looked at them they were ingenious. They looked like they could pivot better than a human’s, while also able to more efficiently transfer force through the shoulder or hip. If it wasn’t for how badly everyone wanted a status update on the Soulsteel, he would have loved to get the designs down on some paper.

~~~

Hello Creighton, I’m here for your check in.

“My what?”

I told you I could give you some assurances. It’s time.

“Oh. Uh, Did I ever get your name?”

You did not, I’m sorry. I’m still used to the old days when people always recognized me right away. I’m Jerahmeel.

“Will you be offended if I say I don’t recognise it?”

It is fine Creighton. Do you have any concerns that have come up in your time so far?

“Well, uh, a couple I guess. There are a lot, but I haven’t really had a chance to put them into words.”

The angel seemed to pull a piece of paper from thin air.

If you’re not ready right now, we can and will be meeting again. I’ve only gotten the one prayer here, ‘I hope that cow is already dead.’ I can answer that one for you now. It had bled out shortly before it was dropped.

“Are the kids okay?”

Yes, they were both a little shaken up, but they’re fine now Cole is with them.

“Thank go-uh-odness. I’ve got more I could ask, but didn’t you say too much guidance was harmful?”

Yes, any questions you ask about what you should be doing I can’t answer. If you’re really stumped on anything to ask me, I have one to ask you.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Why haven’t you returned to human form yet?

The dreamlike state I had been in seemed to just end. One second I had felt myself sitting in a hot tub with a literal angel, and the next I was laying on my back, looking up at a wooden ceiling. Perhaps he was right, and I should just use my old body, but isn’t this new world a chance to start over? If I just turn back into myself again, won’t I be walking the same road? He had said he wanted to help me find a new one.

I took a second to focus on my right gauntlet, and tried turning it into my hand. The hand that had a long scar across the palm of it, where I’d accidentally caught myself with a deli slicer. It wasn’t difficult to picture, and then create it. When I focused, I could make the scar disappear, but I brought it back, as erasing my scar just didn’t feel right. Like I was pretending that my old life didn’t matter, or maybe that I hadn’t lived one at all.