“One more p around the garden!”

  Lydia’s and barely registered in my ears. My lungs burned. Sticky sweat coated every iny skin. What did any of this have to do with magic? Why was I running as if my life depended on it? Those questions among others flooded my mind as I struggled to put one foot in front of the other. Still, I trusted Lydia. I knew she wouldn’t lead me astray.

  As I finished my st p around the garden I colpsed to my knees. With one hand over my poundi I leaned forward and put my forehead against the cool stones beh me. I could hear Lydia approag, but I couldn’t react. I couldn’t even smile. It felt as if it took every ounce of trol I had just to steady my breathing.

  “Once you’ve calmed yourself, we will attempt your first spell.” Lydia announced pg her hand on my hair. Despite being soaked with sweat, she seemed to have no issue toug me. If our positions were reversed I’d have probably begged her to bathe before I’d e anywhere near her.

  ?Why?? After a moment I finally felt steady enough to make the sign necessary to ask my question. This was torture. What did it have to do with magic?

  “Your sweat is the duit needed for me to enact a bit of my own will on ichor within your veins. Si’ll be your first time ing it with iion, I want to help guide it through your body toward your hands. All to help create the appropriate pathway so that it does not collect around your heart.”

  ?Does everyone learn like this??

  “No. But they should. Even though you are a princess—” The way Lydia emphasized the word princess made it clear she was actually alluding to me being a saint. “—improper training could still lead to you developing sting injuries. I would like for you to be able to wield your power without issue. So that you have the endurance of Lady Edna.”

  ?She’s a prodigy. A hero.?

  “And I’ve asked her many questions about how she was trained. If it was not me doing this with you, it would be her.”

  “May I use a spell to help with my dy’s exhaustion?” Bir asked. Until she spoke I wasn’t even aware she’d been standing behind Lydia. Without a o transte for me she’d been silent as a wraith. Did she have some exceptional skill at moving stealthily? Or had my exhaustion simply prevented me from notig anything beyond what was directly in front of me?

  “I have asked aold Lady Edna’s master advised against such things. We will have time to pamper Princess er. For now, she will have to bear it.”

  “I ordered the other maids to step inside, for their safety.” Edna announced as she approached. “You may speak casually now if you like.”

  “Thank you, Edna.” Lydia replied, causio look up at her in shock. While I knew I’d asked everyoo drop the honorifics with me when it ossible to do so, I didn’t expect Lydia to speak so casually with a noble. Even one as friendly as Edna.

  “She and Bir have my permission to treat me as a friend,” Edna said her lips curling upward into a gentle smile. “We are all your allies, ne. I would feel lonely if you spoke casually with each other and only used reverence when speaking to me.”

  “It’s certainly going to be difficult to get used to,” Bir added sheepishly. “For a knight to speak casually with a noble of La— Edna’s stature. It goes against everything I’ve been taught.”

  “e now, Bir,” Edna grinned. “You’re more maid than knight now. You leave your old training behind you.”

  “I believe a maid would have even more difficulty speaking casually with you than a knight would, La—ahem, Edna.”

  “Perhaps, but you are a baron’s daughter are you not? It isn’t as if you have no status of your own.”

  “How did you—“

  “A dy in my position has many ways to gather information. Now then, we should stop distrag poor h extraneous things. It is time for her first spell. What do you pn to teach her, Lydia?”

  “I will be teag her Burst. For her first spell I wanted something exceedingly simple.”

  “Noal spells are anything but simple.”

  “For humans. For beastkin like ne and I, it’s actually the elements which are harder to master.”

  “To think, I’ve been alive for so long a you’ve just taught me something I didn’t know.”

  As I listeo everyone speaking amongst themselves, a gentle smile crossed my lips. The day Lydia and I left the I would’ve never imagined a moment like this. A noble, a knight, and a dear friend who also turned out to be a former assassin all surrounding me, each wanting to help me. If only Elise could see it. I don’t know if she’d be able to believe her eyes.

  ?What kind of spell is Burst??

  “It’s a barbarically simple spell,” Lydia answered. “You burn up the ichor in your body and release it as a bst of force out from your hand. It has little range, but it’s a wonderful defensive spell. Even the heaviest of men would be lifted from their feet, and if you cast it fast enough it’ll deflect even a ballista’s bolt.”

  ?So it’s like a shield??

  “More like the invisible fist of a giant. That’s the mental image I use to jure up the spell. Are you ready to give it a try?”

  ?Yes!?

  Handing me a vial of ichor Lydia grabbed hold of my wrist. “Okay, as soon as you drink that vial I’m going to try a trol over it and pull it down into your fingers. I want you to imagi turning into a gas as soon as it reaches your hand. Expel that gas from your fiips and have it coalesto the spiritual fist of a giant, pung the air in front of you.”

  Nodding I looked down at the vial of ichor. The st time I’d ed any was in the forest. I’d believed it would be trapped in my body, demonizing me. I was certain it’d be my death, a here I was, alive and well. Holding up the arm that Lydia was holding on to, I poured the vial of ichor into my mouth.

  The bitter metallic taste of blood greeted me. I felt it squirming down my throat splitting into a thousand tiny snakes as it did so. Somehow I felt Lydia, despite drinking no ichor herself she was able to pull on the ichor within me like a maghey moved toward her. In my shock I nearly fot there was more I o do. I o create an image in my mind of what I wahe ichor to do.

  My fiips heated. The warmth was disf but not agonizing. I could feel the ichor vaporizing within me. I felt my fiense as the gaseous fuel escaped out their tips. Then an explosive roar echoed throughout the air.

  The ground in front of me was gouged out in an instant. Where there was once a stoh, now there was a deep scar of exposed earth, twice as long as I was tall. Was this burst? When Lydia expi I never expected something with such power. This wasn’t a spell to simply blow my enemies away. It’d annihite them.

  “Heavens,” Edna was the first to break the sileurning to Lydia and then to me she looked pale. “That wasn’t what I was expeg from a first attempt.”

  ?Is this how the spell is supposed to work?? I asked after pulling my hand free from Lydia so I could sign.

  “Not at all,” Edna replied after Bir transted my words. “Burst is a defensive spell. It do harm, but nothing like this. Most spellcasters have to learn how to improve their output because their spells are too weak. But you, ne, we may o instead focus on helping you weaken yourself. Else it may be too dangerous for you to use even the most basic spells outside of those that purify and heal.”

  ?I’m sorry.? I couldn’t help but hang my head at Edna’s words. She didn’t sound angry, but I was still a bit mortified at what I’d done. I’d destroyed a se of her garden, and jeopardized future magic lessons. After finally being able to learn, what if I was just too dangerous to teach? I felt myself tremble slightly at the thought.

  “It’s not that bad,” Lydia said mirthfully, patting me on the head. “You’re a bit strohan we imagined, but that’s a good thing. It just means you’ll be able to protect yourself even with basic spells. Heck even if you have a poor image of the spell, you might be powerful enough to brute force it anyway. I’m sure we’ll all worry a bit less after seeing this.”

  “And while Edna and Lydia are looking up ways to help you trol your excess power, ractice healing magic,” Bir added, stepping forward to gently pce her hand on my shoulder.

  “It won’t be long before you have to start sword lessons too,” Edna noted, drinking a vial of ichor herself. With a wave of her hand the deep scar in the earth in front of me began to fill in. Edna’s spell didn’t pletely erase the damage I’d caused, but it minimized it siderably. “So I’ll have time to do research. We’re still going to teach you hat’s a promise.”

  After we discussed my future lessons a bit more, Bir and Lydia led me inside for a mueeded bath. This time I decided not to protest having others bathe me. I obediently stood in the dressing room, allowing the two of them to remove my clothing. Once I was pletely undressed I sat atop a stool ahem wipe off the siderable yer of sweat I’d accumuted.

  Lydia thankfully took charge of ing my tail. Having one of her ow she realized just how sensitive it could be. That was something Bir couldn’t pete with. Despite this she did make a bit of a fuss when Lydia told her not to touch it. Apparently the fur of my tail was incredibly soft. Even Lydia was softer than it’d been whe touched it. Whether that was because of the various soaps Edna gave me, or because of my saint transformation, I couldn’t tell.

  Once I’d been ed of most of the grime ging to me, I finally got to soak into a hot bath. It ossible to heat the bath with a firepce kept in another room, but instead of waiting Bir warmed it with magic.

  After everything Lydia had said to me about using magic frivolously, I expected her to say something to Bir. Amazingly, she said nothing. In fact the smile on her lips made it seem as if Lydia actually endorsed Bir’s usage. As if the potential threat to Bir’s health was less important than my fort.

  ?I am willing to wait for the water to be warmed normally.? I signed, looking at Bir with what I hoped was a ed expression. The warmth of the water soothed me so deeply I couldn’t be certain.

  “Something like this will not cause any issues.” Bir grinned and happily bed my hair with her fingers. “You worked hard enough. I don’t want you to wait for anything today.”

  “You two seem quite close,” Lydia noted as she watched Bir happily pying with my hair.

  ?Bir’s been very kind to me.?

  “Serving ne is the first real decision I’ve ever made in my life. Each day I spend in her servily makes me more fond of her.”

  “Fond… romantically?”

  Even soaking in the f heat of the bath, I felt myself gid at Lydia’s question. Was that the reason Bir was so kind? Did she have feelings for me. Attempting not to stare at her too hard, I turo Bir, my breath catg as I waited for her answer.

  With a soft smile Bir shook her head. “No. I do care deeply for ne, but I don’t think I could call my affe romantic. Perhaps it’s simir to how you feel for her, Lydia. Despite having siblings, I’ve never been close to any of them, so I don’t know what it feels like to have a younger sister of my own. I think… that’s probably what this is.”

  ”You wouldn’t be saddehen, if she was to bee romantically involved with someone else?”

  Romantically involved? I couldn’t my head around what Lydia was asking. She knew how much I loved Elise. She knew how much pain I carried in my heart. Why would she even allude to the possibility of me taking a lover iure? I certainly couldn’t imagine such a thing for myself.

  “It would… worry me a little,” Bir replied after a bit of sideration. “What of you, Lydia? As her big sister, would you not fear ing hurt if she began seeing someone?”

  Without answering, Lydia stuck a finger into my bath water. “The water’s beginning to chill. Why don’t you help of the bath, Bir. I’ll go and find someoo make her something to eat. After all that running I’m sure she’ll need some food in her belly.”

  As soon as she finished speaking, Lydia stood ahe room. She didn’t wait for a reply, nor did she even aowledge the question Bir had asked. It was so fusing. What was going through Lydia’s head? Did she believe the ao be so obvious it wasn’t worth saying aloud? I was curious, but not so curious as to harass her for it.

  Maybe someday, she’ll tell me.

  eri