Saturdays were for sleeping. Every sane person knew that. I knew it. Booth knew it. Shit, even Isaac knew it. But, alas, Seth and Owen were not sane people. Seth dragged me with him to meet Owen for their morning run, as they did every day. Without a single day for sleeping in. Like Saturdays.

  Bastards.

  I supposed it was fine. I have been joining them for a lap here and there. Having run for my life from a giant scorpion, I thought it might be a good idea to get better at running. You know, practice. Yeah, I work when I need to. Sheesh.

  As lazy as I was, I also liked living. It was definitely something I wanted to continue doing. I was also competitive. Sometimes. Even though I wanted to be able to run the claws off the next giant scorpion I saw, my kitten body got tuckered and quickly. I intended to keep at it. Mostly. A little at a time was fine. Rome wasn't built in a day. Whatever the fuck Rome was.

  Not wanting to feel stabby so early in the morning, I stopped that line of thinking. Instead, I rested. I sprawled across the frosty tree branch above where the kids usually met after classes. Frost also dusted the grass and made the outer campus wall glisten. It was quiet, peaceful, and quite nice.

  The sun hadn't warmed the air yet when Seth and Owen jogged up. Seth's breath puffed in little clouds as the poor kid wheezed in the chilly air. He flopped onto the stone bench beneath me, sucking deep breaths.

  "You're getting better," Owen said. He was only lightly winded, and I knew he'd done the first half of his run before fetching us. "Maybe next time we'll slow it down a little and add another lap?"

  Seth just groaned. Honestly, Owen was a good egg. He pushed Seth only as hard as Seth could stand, and encouraged Seth to keep up with him. And he did that while getting his own full workout done and not making Seth feel bad or inadequate about it.

  Owen held out his hand to Seth. "You're warm. You shouldn't be on that cold stone or you'll catch cold."

  Seth eyed the offered hand as he took a few more deep breaths. "The cold feels good."

  "It's bad for you. Come on. You can cool down with a hot bath."

  "That doesn't make sense." Seth accepted the offered hand.

  "I like it. It's relaxing. Anyway, I wanted to head in town today and pick up the sword I got fixed. You up for going?" Owen asked as he hauled Seth to his feet.

  "I was supposed to work with Selendrith today on a carving project."

  "It's not far from her grandpa's place. You reckon she'll want to come too?"

  "We can ask. If she's fine with it, so am I. Come on, Mau," Seth called up, and held out his hands to catch me.

  I didn't feel like moving yet.

  "Want me to climb up and get her?" Owen asked.

  "Nah. She can stay there if she wants to," Seth said and turned to head to the baths. "I'd carry her if she came now, but she can walk herself if she'd rather stay."

  Oh fuck that! I jumped from the tree branch to Seth's shoulder, and even managed not to claw him. Much. I can drape on his shoulder as easily as a tree branch. I ignored Seth's smirk.

  Over an hour later we were at the school gate with Owen and Selendrith.

  I was happy to see the kids talking over what they needed to be aware of, and what they'd do if one of the Skulls tried to make trouble. The plan was pretty simple. Stay on the main streets, stay away from alleys and footways, and keep an eye out. Be back before dark. Seth was to message Duvessa, Reginald the Second, and Blaise if something happened.

  I'd keep an eye out too, and watch for tails. Though I didn't really expect any. Setting someone to watch the school for days on end was a waste of manpower. On the other hand, asking the beggars and street vendors to keep an eye out and paying for information was more likely to happen.

  We weren't the ones they were most interested in either. They wanted Booth, who was staying put, and might even still be in bed, sleeping late. Because Saturday.

  And we were on our way. Almost.

  A few steps outside the campus walls and Seth paused. I felt a mild stab of anxiety through the familiar link.

  Owen noticed first and glanced back at him. "You see something?" Owen immediately scanned the foot traffic around them. It wasn't mobbed, but there were plenty of people about.

  "It's not that. I just noticed something happening to my magic when I left the school grounds. Have you ever felt a pressure or something on your talent?" Seth asked.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "I don't feel nothing with my talent. It's just there," Owen said. "I don't even use it on purpose most times."

  Selendrith just shook her head.

  If Seth noticed the change, it was because he was paying attention to it. It's not something he'd been aware of before. If he was paying attention to it, it was on his mind a lot.

  I might have misjudged how nervous the kid was about his talent. I mean, fair. By all reckoning, we had months, though. It was early yet.

  I was happy we were getting Owen's magic sword with Benjamin being none the wiser, but for Seth's peace of mind I hoped the bracelet cleaned up soon, Benjamin spy device or not. When I checked it last night it was still covered in solidified packrat pee. I wasn't sure it'd work covered in that stuff, never mind how gross it was. Seth could wait a week or two.

  "It's fine, I just noticed it. Like there was something at school affecting magic." Seth raised his hand to scratch my head and gave me a look. I knew what it meant. Whatever was providing the extra smooshness for his talent was only there at school. He'd have to be extra careful casting while not at school.

  "There are all sorts of formations all around the school. I didn't think their effect could be sensed like that," Selendrith said curiously. The way she was looking at Seth made me worry she could see right through him and know all his secrets. But then she just shrugged and we continued on our way.

  Seth was preoccupied and not keeping a good lookout, but that was fine, I was there to do it for him. I took note of a few people as the kids walked. None ran off right away, so while I was sure word would get around to our Skull gang buddies, I didn't expect them to show up during our field trip.

  The weapon smithy in the magic district we went to was not in the same square as Selendrith's grandfather's place, but it was only a couple of blocks away. It was a squat stone building, like most others around here, but unlike most of them, the roof was stone too. No thatch. And it had several chimneys.

  The shop was on the side with a heavy wooden door separating it from the smithy. The ringing of a hammer could be clearly heard from beyond the door. There were a couple of rows of merchandise and a counter just left of the entrance where the proprietor was helping another customer. The proprietor was a tall man, and not nearly as bulky as I expected an old timey smith to be. We took a look around as we waited for him to finish with his current customer.

  Seth moved me from his shoulder to his arms, and held on tight. Like he was afraid I'd wander off or something. Like I'd ever do such a thing.

  You can tell a lot about a people, and their country, by the types of weapons they produce. In this shop, one that specializes in magical weapons, though I wasn't too sure what that meant, there were two walls dedicated to spears and polearms. The type of weapons used to fight beasts. There were no bows or crossbows, and I wondered at that for a split second before I realized that a bowyer was a different type of shop. Only one section had swords. Most of them were plain swords held in a barrel, and a display of eight rather fancy looking ones on the wall. Overall there were more axes than maces, and more spears than swords.

  The boys naturally gravitated to the swords. My whiskers told me there was magic here, but it wasn't super strong. Two swords in particular were interesting. They were both long swords, and had gleaming steel blades and both had a phoenix motif on the hilt. The first one had a silver hilt with a gold inlay phoenix, and the other was a golden hilt with rubies forming the phoenix.

  As I recalled, the Flower Empress's regalia sword also had a phoenix on it. I tried to get Seth's attention to ask him about it, but he wasn't looking at me.

  He was following Owen up to the counter. The blacksmith was already pulling Owen's sword out and laying it on the counter.

  "I have to say, this is probably the finest sword I've ever worked on, son. I appreciate the opportunity," the smith said.

  "Is it really? I found it in a trash pile," Owen said.

  "What's special about it?" Selendrith asked. "It looks like a typical phoenix sword to me, or is that a wyvern on the hilt?"

  "The craftsmanship in this sword is of a technique I've never seen before. It's old. If I had to guess, it might even date from the Sundering," the smith said.

  I remembered the Sundering as something Professor Kaban had mentioned at the top of the Last Tower. It had something to do with the tablets with languages from my home world. It was some sort of cataclysm, but so far our history class hadn't touched on it. I was so lost in those thoughts that I almost missed the rest of what the smith was saying.

  "The magic in it is strong too," he continued. "Durable, sharp, light to wield and strikes with weight. There may be more, too. It is genuinely a complex piece. I hope I did it justice."

  Owen reached out to take the sword. "I was worried it would break when I used it."

  "You're lucky you didn't use it, son, or it may have. I don't know where it's been, but with the condition it was in, I'd say someone was trying to destroy that sword. That would have been a tragedy, as it's such a fine weapon. Another few years or so wherever it was and it'd probably be too far gone for me to repair. As it was, I didn't have enough material to restore the hilt fully, so rather than adding inferior material, I modified it a bit. It's a wyvern design now."

  "How did you know? That's perfect!" Owen exclaimed. Of course it was perfect. He'd found the sword in a wyvern's den. Chicky-chicky's.

  The smith smiled. "The phoenix sword is famous, and there are dozens of copies of it." He waved at the two phoenix swords hanging on the wall we had looked at moments ago. "I thought the wyvern was more unique, and it gave the sword a touch of Rosia."

  "This sword had the phoenix originally? Is there any chance it's the original phoenix sword?" Selendrith asked. "The one from the Flower Empress?"

  The smith shook his head. "Not a chance. First, it's older than that by a few hundred years. Second, there was a period of time where nearly all swords with strong enchantments had the phoenix on them. Considering its age, I'd guess this sword was more likely modified to have it, similarly to how I modified it to have a wyvern." The smith chuckled. "I understand how tempting it is to think you've found a famous treasure, but that's not what you have here. This is a priceless sword, it's just not priceless sword."

  "I don't care if it's that sword or not. I love it," Owen said.

  The smith slid the sword into a sheath, and put it in a wooden carry case with a strap that Owen could wear and we left the shop.

  As we headed to Selendrith's grandfather's place I wondered about that sword. If it really was from the Sundering, if it was connected to my world somehow, or had something to do with other people from my world. Could it be from there? Was it made here by someone like me? Or was this something else entirely?

  And who would want it destroyed?

  My writing pace has been slow lately. Here are some character reminders for anyone who needs them.

  Magic school student with a stolen wind talent, partner to Mau.

  Isekai'd cat burglar now magic beast, partner to Seth.

  Farmboy magic school student with a talent to make old things better, sharper, more useful. Seth's best friend.

  Girl with the pearl earrings and long braid. Magic school student and granddaughter of the magic shop carver.

  Pickpocket and petty thief, magic school student. Has a large number of siblings and an absent parent. Pretended his talent was stone based, but is really illusions.

  Duvessa Ravenshroud, granddaughter of a countess. Magic school student with a shadow summoning talent, her familiar is the shadow raven Reginald the Second.

  The shadow of a magical raven, Reginald the First, turned shadow summon and familiar.

  Magic school student with an overpowered water talent that's been stolen. She used to be dripping water constantly, but is now dry.

  Seth's guardian and involved with the talent thefts. He is responsible for Seth having his brother's wind talent, and is searching for the killer of Seth's mother.

  Seth's roommate. He has been hostile to Seth, but friendly to the others. He is connected to a group working against the power thieves, and thinks Seth is working with the thieves.