The next morning, Ada woke up with a long protracted groan. Fritz sat nearby dozing off. His head and neck were sore from falling asleep at an awkward angle. Ada's eyes fluttered open as she tried to get used to the morning light. With a rush of excitement, Fritz moved closer to the bed.

"Ada are you all right?" He asked.

"Mhhmmm. Fritz?" She mumbled.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Where am I?"

"Neva's house. Just upstairs. Are you feeling better? Any pain? Fran came by in the middle of the night."

"Oh." Ada paused for a moment, as she collected her bearings. "The necromancer?"

"She's dead and gone. Burnt to a crisp."

"How bad is it?"

"Only five died." Fritz grimaced. "A couple are missing. Neva thinks they may have run away. A few homes burned down. Fran's clinic burnt to the ground. She's staying at the mayor's house. Your.... your cottage burnt down too."

"Mine?"

"Your cottage burnt down, I'm told. It looks like we'll both be staying here."

"Oh...." Ada said dumbly as she looked down at her body. Reaching over the covers she felt her ribs for any serious damage.

"Fran says you'll be fine. There was some internal bleeding, but she fixed it. You're a tough girl."

"Fritz."

"Yeah? What's up? Do you need anything?"

"I knew you weren't working with them. I'm glad you didn't run away" Ada smiled weakly at him.

"Of course. We are traveling together aren't we?" Fritz smiled back. "You just need to get some rest, and we'll leave when you're ready." He hit her arm playfully. "So hurry up!" He joked.

The next day, Ada was back on her feet as if nothing happened. All thanks to Fran's healing magic.

----------------------------------------

Two days after the attack, with Ada fully recovered, Fritz heard a knock at his door. The downtime had been extremely boring; Ada needed a lot of rest and the other townsfolk were busy with reconstruction. He was fully dressed practicing his magic by creating a variety of objects that he might need, when that knock came. Putting away a toothbrush in a special pouch on the back of his backpack, he stood up and moved towards the door.

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Ada and Neva were waiting behind it. Neva took a long inhale of her pipe in his doorway.

"Fritz, we need to talk." Neva started. "May we come in?"

"Of course." Fritz replied. He took a seat on the edge of his bed, while Neva and Ada pulled out chairs. Fritz watched Neva muffle the sound of the room from outside listeners using a familiar spell.

"I won't beat around the bush, Fritz. I saw you using magic two nights ago." Neva said. Her tone was deadly serious. Her eyes narrowed on him. Ada quivered with a nervous energy in her chair. "For now, I won't ask you to explain the impossible. For now, I am only concerned with how you can wield such power."

"Fritz, is just really good at using sleight of hand." Ada chimed in nervously. The gray haired wolfkin frowned at her. "Aren't you Fritz? Tell her."

"Don't, Ada. I'm not an idiot. Strange items keep appearing around him. Don't think I haven't noticed. I saw you create that bottle full of alchemist fire, and then throw it at the necromancer."

"It was napalm." Fritz said. "Highly flammable substances. Nasty stuff."

"Nasty stuff." Neva repeated with a grimace. "I saw her burst into flames. Horrific if you ask me. Most of the townspeople think I did it." Neva produced a small flame out of her left hand. "I can hardly blame them. It makes the most sense. Still, I don't like the way some of the townsfolk are looking at me" Neva paused for a moment, as she studied the flame.

"Neva, you didn't stop her?" Ada asked incredulously.

"No. I saw Fritz splash her with something and then ignite it. I couldn't get to her. Five empowered undead warriors had pushed me back. I couldn't defeat them all in time. They worked together extremely well. I'm glad we were victorious in the end." Neva replied.

"Taking credit would have drawn a lot of attention." Fritz said. Neva nodded knowingly at him.

"You are correct, taking credit would have been too strange. That is, 'if' they believed you." Neva paused as she looked towards Fritz's pack. She seemed to take a mental note of it. "Wielding magic is too mysterious. Men cannot channel mana, ergo they cannot perform magic. Yet, against all natural laws you can. Why? How? Some magical artifact? A momentary divine blessing? Why were you in the forest? Why did the necromancer seem intent on killing you? I have many questions, and no answers."

Fritz shrugged before answering.

"I just can wield magic. That's all I feel comfortable saying." Neva grunted at his answer. "As for why I'm being targeted, I don't know."

"Ada? What do you think? Why can he channel conjuration magics?"

"It is certainly a blessing. An impossible blessing." She said nervously.

"All right. If you don't want to say, here's what we'll do. We'll take a trip to see my good friend Zola, and she'll provide me with the answers I need."

"What's so special about your friend? Is she some kind of torturer?" Fritz asked.

"She is an expert diviner, alchemist, and accomplished witch. She always seems to conjure up some kind of answer. She'll help us understand." Neva said. She took a long puff of her pipe as she seemed to contemplate further.

"I see." Fritz responded. He looked over towards the blonde wolfkin. "Is Ada coming too?" Neva nodded.

"Of course, it's been ages since we both visited. You two also seem rather attached, and I'd hate for Ada to skip out while my back's turned. We'll be back before you know it. Two days at least, four days at most." Neva said.

"Will I be able to travel freely afterwards?" Fritz asked. Neva nodded her agreement. "Ada too?" Neva shot her a strange questioning look. A hint of color spread across her face.

"I'll think about it." Neva replied. Her face was impassive like stone. Her blue eyes searched for answers across Fritz's face.

"You'll think about it? What kind of answer is that?" Fritz pressed.

"If I like the answers I receive, I'll give you my blessings to leave. But Ada...." Neva trailed off as she chewed on her pipe. Some time passed, before Fritz spoke back up.

"Fine. I suppose we can visit. We'll discuss Ada later. When do we leave? I am in a hurry."

"Right now." Neva said.

"Right now?" Fritz asked.

"Right now."