Alina had arranged for us to stay at an out-of-the-way inn, where we had a small, subdued dinner. The inn was a building of a different style than the one found in Haven. The walls had a deep red wooden tone, and the food was different. Servings of an unleavened bread-like substance and a spicy red curry burned slightly in my mouth. I tried to eat a bit out of social obligation, which turned into a larger portion than I had usually allowed myself as the spice pleasantly warmed my mouth. Eating also helped the new, slightly awkward feeling I felt around Alina. Ilsa’s words bothered my mind, but I had said I wasn’t going to pry, and I wasn’t.

I couldn’t lie to myself, though I was a little curious.

I felt Sara stir in my mind a sense of tension coming from her that I soothed back down with warm thoughts. Alina had already had plenty of chances to hurt me. Trusting her was difficult, and maybe it was something I wasn’t quite there yet in my mind. A private part of me acknowledged that my prior life didn’t leave me keen on relying on others to stick around.

I sipped my curry quietly, and the salty, slightly thick, spiced liquid was pleasant in its own way.

“So, what’s the plan,” Ilsa asked, leaning against the table as she fiddled with her dinner.

I shrugged, “I can’t smell anything so far. There’s a lot of Dragon’s Tooth to cover, though. Maybe if we split up, we could cover more ground.”

Alina fiddled with a gleaming red gem inset into a bracelet on her right arm, letting it play in the light, “We should have one person stick with you,” she said, looking me directly in the eye, shimmering green, locking with my silver.

I tensed slightly, feeling my hackles rise at her look. As if I couldn’t watch out for myself. I was stronger than I had ever been. I had already fought a Black Mage and a Legatus; granted, I hadn’t exactly won, but I was still alive.

I opened my mouth to respond before I hesitated. That emotion didn’t feel quite like mine. It felt more like an emotion I had felt when I was sick before I came to this world—a familiar, nasty feeling of frustration.

“Okay,” I nodded quietly, returning to my curry.

The night continued with minimal conversation, mostly because I could tell both Alina and Ilsa were tired. They drooped down in their chairs and ate their food lackadaisically.

I wasn’t surprised when we turned in early to our rooms a couple of levels up. They were rather small, but I didn’t really mind as I lay down in my bed, staring out the sole window in my room. It was a small stone room, and for a while, I stared at the ceiling, but there wasn’t anything to occupy my mind.

When I was sick some days, all I could do was sleep. Is that part of what drives my frustration now?

“Screw this, I mumbled,” I walked to the window opening it, and gazed up at the roof.

I reached up, fumbling momentarily before finding the roof’s edge. With the agility of the body that still sometimes felt not my own, I pulled myself to the top of the roof, taking a seat with a sigh.

At this height in the mountains, the stars stretched in their cold expanse despite the city lights, just as they did at Haven. The constellations were unfamiliar, yet they were still nice.

Enhance.

I almost unconsciously flexed my magic, running it through my limbs. There was still so little I knew about the exact mechanics of its use,

I sniffed the air almost subconsciously, seeing if there was anything I could pick out.

No Black Magic, but I thought I could almost smell something else. It was almost like a background of warmth and heat. It was as if the sun had a scent.

“Jamie?” I turned and was stunned to see Alina standing there, easily balanced on the slope of the roof.

Her short red hair was wet, and her head was cocked as she looked at me, emerald eyes filled with a strange emotion that I couldn’t parse though I could have sworn I had never seen anything like it.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked.

I shrugged, “Not sure, I don’t really sleep, I guess, and it’s better than staring at my room’s ceiling.”

She bit her lip, and I could have sworn her eyes were glowing as she looked at me; then she blinked, and the glow was gone.

“Can I join you?” she asked.

I shrugged, “Not doing much, but sure.”

Alina stepped across the roof with sure footing and settled down beside me.

I returned to looking at the sky, watching the strange constellations in the midst of their turning above my head.

The silence stretched between us before Alina spoke, “Do you smell anything?”

I shook my head, “No, nothing yet.”

I couldn’t help but feel that wasn’t what she actually wanted to ask me.

The silence stretched briefly before Alina spoke again, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push you earlier.”

I blinked, trying to recall before I realized she was likely talking about her, stating that she or Ilsa would be with me.

“You didn’t,” I shook my head, “I understand that, given everything, you’d be worried.”

But why was left unsaid.

“I,” Alina hesitated uncharacteristically, “Yes, I suppose I am worried,” she fiddled with the hem of her shirt, a soft-looking red cloth that flowed gently in the breeze, “I’m sorry; I know it must seem strange.”

She paused and looked at me, and she almost looked nervous. She was biting her lip slightly, and I got a strange feeling in the air, like the scent around her shifting slightly, somewhat uncertainly if I had to give a name to it.

I realized I had been silent for too long then, “It’s fine. I really appreciate you helping me. You don’t have to explain yourself or anything. You already explained, I guess, about the Empire of Gold and everything.

“I wouldn’t let them get you,” Alina said quietly, so quietly that I thought maybe she hadn’t meant me to hear, before louder she said, “The Empire, I feel responsible, I suppose, for everything that’s happened. I thought that maybe by working on the Council of the Kingdom of Glass, I could change things to make them better, yet I don’t think there’s anything I can do to change my guilt.”

I looked at Alina, surprised, “Weren’t you the person who told me, “You’re not responsible for anyone’s actions but your own.”

Alina gave me a wry smile, “I believe those are actually my guardian Io’s words. I try to live by them; it’s just sometimes…” she trailed off, looking at the sky, before she began again, “Sometimes knowing something isn’t the same as knowing something.”

I shook my head, “I think if anyone’s responsible for this war between the Kingdom and the Empire, it’s probably the White Mages.”

Alina turned to me, mouth opening, but I shook my head, “The last two known White Mages are supporting the Empire in this conflict. Someone I met in Haven told me about one of them bringing a mountain down on him and everyone he had known.”

“But that’s not you!” Alina flared up, glaring at me slightly.

“Neither is your grandfather,” I replied, raising my eyebrow at her.

Alina blinked and pouted before my disbelieving eyes, “That’s not fair.”

I shrugged, and despite myself, I found a grin twitching my cheeks.

Alina pouted further, looking at me betrayed before her lips broke into a small smile. She giggled and shook her head, “Fine, maybe you have a point; thanks, Jamie.”

The night dissolved into easier conversation from there, and I put my questions in the back of my mind. I was sure she would tell me when she was ready.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

_-_

The next day dawned in a weak light barely strong enough to break through the clouds drifting over Dragon’s Tooth. I was once again with Ilsa, as Alina said she would look through the city records to see if she could find anything of interest.

The style of Dragon’s Tooth was different from Haven. Haven had been full of tall, sturdily built stone structures. Dragon’s Tooth used much more wood, carved in beautiful walls and engravings showcasing a history I barely understood. There were Dragons, Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and White Mages, among other creatures.

The White Mages always held a position of prominence, such as being teachers or leaders among the masses.

At first, my wanderings were rather directionless. I walked up and down the streets of Dragon’s Tooth, taking in the sites transitioning for a more commercial area filled with shops that displayed every kind of where and even had artists working green magic outside them. A woman was making a dress, and a man was making jewelry.

Several stalls also made delicacies that filled the air with a spicy, warm scent.

The people themselves were dressed in more flowing garments, different from how they had dressed in Haven, which had much more varied dress and even different from the First City, where they had worn slim clothes in browns and greens.

Here, even the guards didn’t wear all that much armor as they drifted through the streets, and in stark contrast, they carried a very minimal amount of weapons. At most, they had small blades and bows, but a large number had no weapons at all despite, to my eyes, looking very much like warriors.

The buildings here were shorter than in Haven, stretching up at most to only a couple of stories on average.

As I walked through the streets, my ears caught the conversations of the people around me. I focused on them occasionally, seeing if anything of interest would pop up.

I noticed groups of people starting to walk down a side street, and my ears caught rumors of something odd—a ‘showcase’ was the word used. That brought me to a courtyard of a low building that looked rather like a temple. The doors were set wide open, and thick wooden things were engraved with detailed drawings of leaves. In the middle, there was a visible great tree on them that looked rather like Sara.

In the courtyard, a gathered assortment of people had cleared a space in the center where two shirtless white-haired men were squaring off against each other, their forms loose but recognizable.

Recognizable in that it looked very much like how Sara had taught me how to fight.

They clashed in what seemed to be a blink of an eye but looked a little slow compared to how the Legatus had fought. Limbs met each other as they engaged across the stone, fighting in quick bursts of energy. One leaped back, only for the other to follow and attempt to knock them down.

It was familiar up to the point that their blows didn’t have the same strength as Sara’s had, or even I had.

They danced across the ground, and my brain counted three mistakes on the person on the left’s part and four mistakes on the person on the right’s part.

Their limbs clashed against each other as they jockeyed for position. The air cracked as limb met limb. Ice shaped around one of their limbs, and they went for a slice, only for the other one to generate a blast of air, launching the ice wielder away.

They then changed their usage of Red Magic, and both shifted to blame, making a billowing cloud of fire that caused some exclamations in shock. The cloud shifted, contracting at the edges before it could hurt anyone in the crowd.

They clashed again, fist to leg in the center.

The final mistake, an improper block of a kick, was too much for the one on the right, and the one on the left landed a follow-up clean punch, knocking the one on the right to the ground.

The watching crowd politely clapped, and the one on the right rose. They both bowed to each other.

“Their moves could be more fluid,” commented Ilsa, standing beside me.

I shrugged, “I guess,” Idly, I sniffed the air.

Something warm, tingly, almost entered my nostrils.

My heart froze tentatively, and I sniffed the air again; the same scent filled my nostrils but stronger. I looked about myself slowly, trying not to look strange.

The crowd of people we were in was slowly beginning to disperse, and I examined each face as it did, searching for something that might indicate they were a White Mage. I ruled out the elves and the dwarves instantly, but all the human-looking people also had white hair.

I tried to focus on the smell, but the warm, tingly sensation was so faint it was hard to tell. Every face I looked at could have been the White Mage, yet despite how I focused on the scent easing through the crowd as I did so, I couldn’t pin anything down.

Eventually, the crowd dispersed, and while I could still smell the warm, tingly scent, it was fainter now.

“Jamie, are you alright?” Ilsa followed me and looked at me, somewhat concerned.

I shook my head, unable to keep the frown off my face, “Sorry, I thought I smelled something, but it ended up being too faint.”

Ilsa frowned but nodded and then, to my surprise, ruffled my hair, “Cheer up, we’ll find them.”

I blinked and looked at Ilsa, surprised by the strange gesture. Ilsa looked back at me, confused, before she seemed to realize what she had done. Then she blushed slightly, a faint red tint rising to her cheeks.

“Sorry,” she muttered softly, sounding somewhat embarrassed, “Just looked like you needed it.”

It had been a little odd, but at the same time, I found it comforting, “Thanks,” I said.

We walked away from the area, calmly flowing with the crowd. We walked for a while before entering another district in Dragon’s Tooth. We were in a district that was filled with what I could only describe as temples painted with designs of water clashing with fire clashing with air in bright works of air that shimmered in the day’s light.

It wasn’t a bad place to walk. It was relatively peaceful, all things considered.

The sun warmed the back of my neck, or at least that’s how it felt.

Distantly, I wondered if, as my hair had grown long enough to wear, I shouldn’t feel that sensation on the back of my neck.

Help! Come on, you stupid boy, I need some help!

I turned so fast I would have given myself whiplash if I was in a weaker body.

On a side street, a group of teenage boys surrounded a black cat with a red ribbon and bell tied around its neck.

The boys were chuckling amongst each other, and I idly noted that they all wore similar clothing: a flowy green outfit with an upside-down red crescent on the back of their jackets.

“Nowhere to run, beast; the teacher will be pleased,” one of them said.

I noticed a couple of people glanced at them at their laughter and gained looks of discomfort on their faces before they moved away quickly.

Which is what I should have been doing.

Instead, I took a few steps down the alley, “Really, six of you are needed to harass a cat?” I asked dryly.

The boys stopped chuckling and turned to me with confused expressions on their faces before the first boy who had spoken spoke again, “What’s it to you?” he looked me over before he seemed to gain some confidence from something he saw, “I wouldn’t challenge the Falling Moon over a beast.”

Still, they had turned their attention towards me, and at that moment, the cat darted through one of the boy's legs, dashing with surprising speed away through the alley and past me.

“Really, Gred?” the boy turned to the boy whose legs the cat had dashed through, “How did you not stop that?”

“I’m sorry, Eard.” Gred turned to Eard, looking slightly nervous at his compatriot's tone. That kid distracted me.”

Eard sighed before he looked at me calculatingly, “We were supposed to catch that beast. Now we’re going to have to corner it again.”

I raised an eyebrow, noting his words: why exactly did catching a cat rank as a priority on anyone's list?

Still, the cat had escaped, which was good enough for me.

I shrugged carelessly, “It only took six of you this time. Maybe if you recruited some more people, you might actually manage next time.”

I really didn’t know why I was being so mouthy. Tracing the feeling, I realized I was agitated, though it didn’t feel like my agitation. It was more like the agitation of the cat’s thoughts when they reached me.

It wasn’t the first time another being’s thoughts had affected me. The Great Dragon of the Last Frost also caused me to feel emotions when he communicated. Still, I needed to calm down. I didn’t need to aggravate these boys unnecessarily.

Eard frowned, “I’m sure we’ll catch it again easily enough, after we teach you a lesson about interrupting. It’s not polite.”

Well, I guess it was too late for that.

The rest of the boys began shifting their stances, pacing forward carefully.

Distantly, I noted that somehow I had lost Ilsa as she hadn’t noticed my departure in our walk.

Looking at the advancing boys, I tried to muster some iota of worry, yet their stances looked so sloppy. The Legatus had fought cleanly and crisply, using the wind freely to rip apart everything before him. These boys had none of the control the Legatus had.

Of course, I had also lost to the Legatus, so maybe I needed to cool the arrogance.

Yet still…

The first one leaped forward, leading with a kick aimed at my head. A precisely aimed blow.

Yet if it had been Sara, it would have hit me already, and the boy had just begun his leap.

I watched, bemused, as he sailed to my left. I slipped to the side, back-handing the boy, not using any of my magic to enhance myself, just my pure strength.

Except when I hit him, I realized I had slightly misjudged how much strength that was.

I felt a crack, and the boy was blasted backward through the street and embedded into a wall.

I blinked and looked blankly at the boys who had stopped, their mouths slightly agape.

“Uh, oops,” I cracked a weak smile. I'm sorry that was a bit much.”

“You’re another disciple,” Eard gasped before his face hardened, “Everybody together, just as the teacher taught us.”

They all charged at me, attacking as a cohesive unit. I slipped under a fist and pushed the puncher backward, attempting to adjust my strength to something a little more reasonable.

The boy flew through the air, but I took it as a good sign that I hadn’t felt his body crack.

I slipped under one kick and caught the next leg. Mirroring a move Sara had used on me, I threw the boy to the side, slamming him into a stone wall, which cracked slightly as his body made contact.

The other boy tried to spin into another kick, but I slipped my own leg out, easily catching his balancing leg and taking him to the ground in a heap.

Eard stepped forward with Gred, and together, they aimed to box me in with a flurry of blows, which I slipped around.

Eard growled and, with a sharp punch, sent shining ice shooting out, encasing the left side of my body.

He grinned fiercely at me and opened his mouth to say something.

I flexed my body, and the ice shattered under the sudden force I had exerted. Eard’s grin turned into a scowl, which turned into a gasp as I elbowed him in the diaphragm, finally managing to restrain my strength enough so the body bent over, gasping for breath as his had been forcibly expelled.

Gred and I met eyes, and nervously, he took a couple of steps back, “Please don’t hit me,” he whispered plaintively.

“Uh, sure,” I shrugged awkwardly.

Gred nodded, seemingly surprised at my agreement, before he went to assist one of the other boys I had punched up.

I turned away, walking out of the alley only to almost run into Ilsa, who looked at me with a raised brow, “I was walking for a bit before I realized I lost you.” She looked pointedly at the boy I had embedded into the wall, “Something catch your attention?”

I chuckled uncomfortably, “Yeah, sort of.”

The people around us seemed remarkedly unaffected by the beaten bodies of my assailers, giving the odd glance but still going about their business.

Ilsa cocked a brow before she sighed and gently steered us to keep walking down the street, “For the record, things like this are why Alina thinks you get into trouble.”

To be fair, I couldn’t really argue with that.