(Continued from Part One)

  “Oh, no way,” Mel said, her eyes wide with awe. Elle looked at her curiously, and Bart narrowed his eyes, and she waved a hand. “Sorry, sorry, I'm getting ahead of you, just… wow…”

  “What?” I asked, even more confused. “What does that mean? Who is Katherine?”

  Bart's shoulders rose and fell as he breathed. He pushed off of the walk, walking back to the foot of the bed, where his coat had been laid, beginning to rummage through the pockets. “She was someone I knew. Someone I was… very close to, a lifetime ago.” Finally locating what he was searching for, Bart produced a squat pipe made of what looked like bone, carved in the shape of a fish, of all things, and a black leather pouch. Returning to the window, Bart began to fill the pipe with dried leaves from the pouch while he continued. “I could tell you who she was, but if you truly are from another world, it wouldn't help, not without some further… context.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said, settling a little more firmly into Felda’s lap, glancing back at her to check how she was doing. She seemed nervous, but smiled when she saw me looking, and I smiled back. Bart, meanwhile, held up one of his index fingers, producing a small flame at the tip, then brought the pipe to his lips and held the flame to its contents, inhaling slowly and steadily. He turned, exhaling a cloud of smoke out the open window, but I still caught a whiff of it before the wind carried it away.

  Huh… that is not tobacco…

  Turning to face me again, Bart announced, “I am from the Empire.”

  I waited a moment, then said, “Uh, yeah, I did kind of figure that was the case. It'd make sense for you to be so afraid of lightning if you spent a lot of time fighting against the people who can throw it around.”

  The flat line of Bart’s mouth curved down into a frown, and no one seemed to know what to say for several seconds.

  “Sam,” Mel said, breaking the silence. “I don't think he was fighting against them.”

  “Oh!” I said, then, “Ohhhhh…” once the full implications of Mel’s words sunk in. I looked to Bart for confirmation, and he nodded grimly. “Well, that was a long time ago, right? And you were born there, so, of course you'd have been on their side, right?”

  A smile tugged weakly at the corners of Bart’s mouth, and he turned his head to the side. “It's not quite that simple. I was not merely another common soldier; my family was—is one of the most prestigious families in the entire nation, after the royal family. We were renowned for our honor, our loyalty, and our fighting prowess.”

  “Woooah…” I whispered, my eyes wide and my ears twitching. “Is that why you're so strong?”

  Bart chuckled once, then immediately looked guilty for it. “It is… part of the foundation, yes; much of my early life was spent training, and the rest I have picked up in my travels.” Bart glanced to the side, at Mel and Elle, and grimaced. “Ah, not that I wish to sound like I’m boasting, of course.”

  “Of course,” Mel repeated, smirking sardonically.

  “Ahem, now then, one of the key duties assigned to my family was to provide bodyguards to the royal family’s youngest,” Bart said, and I felt my eyes widen even further. I had to actually keep reminding myself Bart was talking about the Empire, and that this story likely had a very tragic ending. “We have done so for countless generations and, at one time, I considered myself the luckiest out of all my siblings to be chosen at the age of eleven to be paired up with my charge, Princess… Princess Katherine Morana Rosenfeld.”

  “Oh… oh, Bart…” Elle said, placing a hand over her mouth, apparently also having clued in to what Bart was building up to, meaning I was now the only one out of the loop. She reached out to Mel, who squeezed her shoulder tightly.

  Bart, meanwhile, studied me in silence before raising his pipe to his lips again, once more repeating the process of inhaling and exhaling out the open window. He coughed a few times, then upended his pipe and knocked it against the windowsill, emptying the ash before tucking it back into his pocket.

  “For twelve years, Katherine and I were close companions,” Bart said, running a hand through his hair. “We trained together, we traveled together, we fought together, we… We slept together, when we grew older; we were inseparable. Even though I knew that, to her, our bond was merely that of a noble and her knight, I didn’t care. I let myself be content with the notion that, for the time being, we were happy. I would do anything for her, and I believed she would do anything for me.” Bart let out a mirthless laugh and shook his head. “How wrong I turned out to be…”

  “I… I think I might be with Felda, actually,” I said, clearing my throat. “You don’t have to tell me the whole story if… if it’s too painful.”

  In truth, I was just becoming more and more convinced that whatever Bart was about to tell me was going to make me start crying, but I was also concerned about him. If this story was tragic enough to be tied into the trauma he still suffered from, then maybe I didn’t need to hear it.

  “If you would like me to stop, I shall,” Bart said, obviously seeing right through me. I bit my lip, fidgeting in Felda’s lap until she brought her arms around me again.

  “I… I think I can manage, but, seriously, you still shouldn’t push yourself,” I said, nodding at Bart, and he actually cracked a smile before his face grew serious again.

  “Very well,” Bart said, pushing away from the window and returning to his bed, walking around it and taking a seat on the edge, facing towards the rest of us. “I suppose there isn’t much left to tell. For all that it’s haunted me for most of my life, it’s not a very long tale. One day, there was a revolt in Eisengrat, a large mining town that Katherine happened to be the Duchess of. The Empress ordered her and I to go… deal with it. The be… ah, the demihuman miners had taken the mayor’s family captive, and were holed up inside the mines, saying they would only release them if the mayor agreed to negotiate with them for better working conditions.”

  “When we arrived, it seemed like it would be a simple fix; It was her town, we knew the mayor and his family well, and I even knew some of the miners. She sent me to speak to the heads of the revolt in the mayor’s stead, because he was convinced they would only kill him if he turned up to negotiate. Their demands were reasonable: more pay, shorter shifts, and safer working conditions. It turned out that the mayor had been steadily putting pressure on the mine bosses to increase quotas while decreasing pay, until the miners were forced to choose between working from sunup to sundown, or not having enough to support their families. I brought these concerns to Katherine, and she told me she was going to speak directly to the mayor, and asked me to assure the workers that they would not be punished if they released the mayor’s family. When the miners agreed, and released the mayor’s wife and all but one of his children, I felt like we had somehow managed to avert disaster in a hopeless situation…”

  Bart fell silent, and I sat, transfixed, for several seconds while he stared at the ground, his shoulders rising and falling in time with his breathing.

  “That night, when we retired, I learned the truth: she considered freeing all but one of the mayor’s family an acceptable outcome, and tomorrow, when the heads gathered in expectation of meeting with the mayor to finalize the agreement, we were to enter the mine instead, and kill them, along with as many of the other miners as we could, to ‘set an example,’ to ‘show what happens to beasts who forget their place.’” Bart said, his tone so matter-of-fact it sent chills up my spine. “I tried to offer some… alternatives, tried to persuade her that the miners’ demands weren’t that unreasonable. I stopped just short of begging her to reconsider, but none of it helped. I stayed awake the entire night, grappling with the realization of who, and what, I was, and who the woman I loved was, and what it meant to live in and serve the Empire. When I went to her room to try one last time to sway her, I…” Bart’s voice broke, his breath hitching slightly, and he dropped his head into his hand. He needed almost a minute to compose himself, and when he continued, his voice was weaker than it was before.

  “I was sure that I would find her still awake as well, unable to sleep with the weight of her decision, but instead I found her dozing peacefully in her bed, sleeping like a baby. I'd known Katherine for most of my life at that point; I'd seen her fret more over which dress to wear to a ball. Looking back, I can recognize that she’d always had this side to her, but I simply hadn't wanted to see it. After that, I finally accepted that there was no hope.” Bart raised his head again, his face once again hard as stone. “Come dawn, I knew what I had to do.”

  Bart held his hand out in front of him, staring at his palm. “When we entered the mine, I ambushed Katherine from behind. I wounded her severely, then trapped her in the Arctic Prison.” Bart’s fingers curled inward, clenching into a shaking fist. “She fought back, but the wound I dealt her was too great. It could have been healed, but she was cocky, and prideful, and did not carry any potions of her own since she had me to carry them for her. When she became too weak to keep fighting, she demanded, and then begged, for me to give her one.” Bart squeezed his eyes shut, but that didn’t hold back the tears for long. “Towards the end… By the goddess, I was actually considering giving her one.”

  I was out of Felda’s lap before I knew it. Any worries I might have had about whether I was as “close” to Bart as I was to Felda or Elle and Mel were brushed aside by the flood of sympathy I felt for him at that moment. I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed, and though he let out a startled bark, he did not pull back. A moment later, Felda appeared at my side, taking a seat on the bed beside Bart and laying one of her massive arms across his back. Elle and Mel followed suit, both of them wrapping one arm around me and the other around Bart, who made a halfhearted attempt to say something, before just giving up and giving himself over to the group hug.

  Tears were shed all around, and it was a long while before anyone broke the silence.

  “I told you they would understand…” Felda said gently, patting Bart’s back with her large hand.

  “Can't blame an old fool for being afraid,” Bart said, clearing his throat several times and brushing an arm across his eyes. I tentatively released my hold around Bart’s shoulders and eased back, feeling just a smidge of embarrassment. I was, for the most part, over my earlier aversion to random physical contact, but I still felt like I was being clingier than usual.

  “I'm so sorry, again,” I said as I looked from Bart to Felda. “Not just for bringing back up all those memories, but for leaving you two in the dark as long as I did. It’s just, y’know, when you’re dropped into an entirely new world, it’s hard to know who to trust.” Speaking of, I flicked an ear and reached out, placing my hands on Bart’s shoulders, looking him directly in the eyes. “I promise, I don’t hold what happened against you, today or in the past. I still trust you, Bart, and I'm ready to get back to fishing as soon as you are.”

  Bart held my gaze and gave me a rare smile, reaching out and placing a hand on top of my head.

  “I am… more happy than you can possibly know to hear you say that, Sam,” he said, giving my head a few quick pats. Hey, his technique was getting better!

  “I won't say I'm not a little sore over how soundly you beat both of us without even trying,” Mel said with a good-natured chuckle. “But we'd never hold something like this against you. Elle and I have seen our fair share of battle fatigue.”

  Bart looked like he might choke up again at that, but I nudged at his hand insistently with my head, and he gave me a few more pats, another small smile gracing his lips. “If you’ll forgive me for saying so, you truly must have the forgiving heart of a high priestess to be this… relaxed towards me so soon after what happened.” He glanced down at my arms, wrapped in bandages, and the smile faded. “Especially after how badly I hurt you.”

  “What, this?” I asked, raising one of my arms and inspecting it. “This is nothin’, s’just a bunch of scratches mostly. I’ve been hurt way worse by someone I trusted way more,” I said, letting out a sound between a scoff and a laugh. “A few weeks before I came here, actually, my oldest friend tackled me to the ground and broke my nose. Now that hurt!”

  “Oh, gods, Sammie, that’s terrible,” Elle said sympathetically. She and Mel had pulled their chairs closer to the edge of the bed, maintaining the cozy huddle the four of us had formed around Bart.

  “Were you able to find it in yourself to forgive them as well?” Bart asked, and it was like the gears in my mind ground to a halt.

  Was I? I hadn’t seen him since that last game at the end of the year. It was like he was avoiding me, for obvious reasons. I finally managed to track him down at Mandy’s party—that was the only reason I even went to that stupid party—but when I tried to talk to him, we… I…

  “It… doesn’t matter now,” I said, realizing I’d lapsed into silence for several seconds. I forced my suddenly drooping ears to spring back up, and pushed a smile onto my face. “I’m here now. That’s what matters.”

  Thankfully, nobody pushed back on my attempt to move away from the subject. I did quickly find my way into Mel’s lap, though, sitting with her resting her chin on top of my head.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re finding our world to your liking,” Felda said with a bright smile that warmed my heart like a sunrise after the rain.

  “I’d drink to that, if we had anything to drink,” Mel said, giving me a gentle squeeze that had me giggling reflexively.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said, grinning. “It’s actually really cool here, between the stuff that’s surprisingly familiar, and all the fantasy stuff like elves and dwarves and monsters and… and magic,” I stammered as I finished, kicking my legs slightly, blowing air through my lips. “It does suck that I can’t learn magic, though.”

  “Well, true, you can’t learn sigil-based magic,” Bart said, holding up a hand. “But you already have magic at your disposal, and a very potent sort at that. You recently used it to great effect, and that was without even any training or practice. With the right guidance, you could become frighteningly powerful in very short order.”

  I stared back at Bart for several seconds while I processed what he'd said, before slowly cocking my head to the side.

  “Huh? R-really?” I asked, my ears twitching excitedly. “But I thought… I mean, considering how much you all freaked out, wouldn’t it be reeeally bad if anyone else saw me using lightning? I thought, if anything, you were going to suggest I never use it again.”

  Bart exchanged a knowing look with Felda, who let out a sigh. “Actually, that was my first instinct,” she said, sounding slightly abashed. “But, no, Bart has a point. Even if I balked at the notion of you becoming a professional hunter, and the thought of you going out to hunt beasts is terrifying, I know that decision is ultimately up to you, and I’d rest a lot easier knowing you'd be able to defend yourself in a truly dire situation. And learning how to properly control this gift of yours means it’s less likely to be discovered by accident.”

  “Felda’s right,” Mel said, reaching up and scratching behind one of my ears. “I’ve been thinkin’ about it ever since Harvey and his crew invited you to come train with them. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to get you started on the path towards learning how to actually fight—monsters or otherwise—and maybe find out what weapons suit you. As quick as you are, you can't be a pro hunter if you just dodge everything forever, and not every monster can be fought with a fishing rod. No offense.”

  Mel sounded like she expected me to take issue with her assessment, and I could see by their faces that Felda, Bart, and Elle agreed. It was so absurd, I had to laugh.

  “Are you kidding?” I said, turning in Mel’s lap and raising an eyebrow. “I've been trying to think of a tactful way to say this since I woke up, but that fight was awesome! I had no idea any of you could do stuff like that!”

  I held up my hands and began to gesture wildly. “The way you two used those knives to do your magic was amazing!” I turned and pointed at a startled-looking Felda. “And you! You’re like, crazy strong! When you punched Bart so hard he went flying back, I thought I was still dreaming or something!” I kept turning, throwing my hands up in Bart’s direction. “And all those spells you used! And you were so good with that spear, like, scary good! You're all just so incredibly… cool! Of course I wanna learn to do stuff like that, I've just been so busy trying to get better at fishing!”

  Everyone in the room seemed a bit flustered by my overenthusiastic praise, especially Felda, who was squirming uncomfortably under a knowing smirk from Bart. She smiled when she caught my eye, brushing some of her dark green hair back behind her ear.

  “O-oh, well, thank you, Sam, I appreciate that, but I’m not that strong, really…” Felda said, laughing modestly and covering one of her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself before continuing. “I agree that it wouldn't do to cut into your fishing time with Bart, but…” she trailed off, averting her eyes, and I snickered, knowing exactly where her mind had gone.

  “But I do kind of spend a lot of time dozing around doing nothing after I get back home, you're right,” I said, and Felda’s cheeks darken a little more. It wasn't an unfair thing to point out; if I didn't have anything else planned for the day after I got back from fishing, I would just spend most of it napping or hanging out around Elle and Mel’s place.

  “Actually, considering my sleep schedule,” I said, reaching up and starting to count off with my fingers. “As long as I still got to nap in-between, I could probably do all my fishing training in the early morning with Bart, then go to the training hall with Elle and Mel around midday—Ah, that is, if you two don't mind.”

  “I'd be up for that,” Mel said with a grin, squeezing Elle’s shoulder. “After today, I’m definitely eager to push myself to get better.”

  “I… I would be glad to accompany you as well—occasionally,” Elle said with much less enthusiasm. “I'm afraid I just don't have the same drive for combat that you and Mel apparently share.”

  “That's fine, that's great!” I said, beaming and holding up one more finger. “Then, I could probably also fit something else into my late night outings besides just running around. More fishing, maybe, or more training.”

  “If you are going to work on learning to use your bloodline magic, that'd probably be as good a time as any, as long as you find someplace out of the way to do it,” Mel said. “Only question is exactly how you're supposed to do that. From what I've heard, just blindly fumbling around with that kind of magic without an instructor to guide you is a good way to get hurt.” She poked a finger into my sore side, just hard enough to make me yelp, and chuckled. “Case in point.”

  “I…” Bart began, drawing our attention to him. He shared a glance with Felda, then continued, “I may be able to offer some guidance in that regard. The Empire has had centuries to perfect the gift of lightning, and every royal child is given personal, one on one tutoring from an older, more experienced member of the family, to teach them the foundations of the art.” With a grunt, Bart stood up, walking over to his squat dresser. I expected him to reach for one of the drawers, but instead he gripped it by the corners and shifted it several feet to the side.

  “Now don’t you go over-exerting yourself too,” Felda said, shaking her head disapprovingly while Bart knelt down and pried a loose board away from the floor where the dresser had been.

  “No way,” I whispered, as Bart reached into the secret compartment, then asked, “Are you seriously about to pull out, like, an instruction manual for lightning magic?”

  “A manual? No, don't be absurd,” Bart said as he stood up, holding a book bound in thick red leather. “This is a journal of Katherine’s personal notes, starting from when she first began her training, and continuing through her advancement, all the way up to when she started developing her own unique techniques.”

  “Woah,” I said, my eyes widening.

  “There's only two problems,” Bart said, holding up a finger. “This isn't written in Western Common, but rather Modern Fulgarian, but I can translate—”

  “Oh, no need!” I said, and Bart's brow furrowed. I grinned, and pointed to my ears. “I can understand any language I see or hear. It’s a blessing from the gods, apparently, and it just comes with being an Outsider I guess.”

  “I… see,” Bart said, rubbing his chin. “I can see that being quite useful.”

  “It has come in handy,” I said in Elvish, getting a chuckle out of Elle and Mel. Bart just smirked and returned to the edge of his bed, holding the red-bound book in his lap.

  “Well then, there is only one issue, and that is this book represents only one half of Katherine’s training,” Bart said, tapping the cover a few times. “The other half is the direct instruction she received at the hands of another member of the royal family. Without that, most of these notes will be hard to contextualize.” Before I could open my mouth to ask the obvious question, Bart waved a hand, then held it to his chest. “I, of course, was at every lesson Katherine ever attended—I'm the one who took these notes for her, after all—So I could take the place of this instructor. However, that would mean…”

  “That would mean that you'd have to actually be there, around me, while I try to learn how to throw lightning around,” I said, nodding and letting out a sigh. It was the most obvious and glaring obstacle.

  “Indeed,” Bart said, nodding solemnly as well. “Now, Felda can attest, it has been many years since I had an… episode of this severity. I would like to promise that being able to brace myself ahead of time means there won't be a repeat of today's events, but I know that would be asking for you to place a truly tremendous amount of trust in me, even more than you already have.”

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  I couldn't deny that Bart had a point. It was one thing for me to trust him not to turn on me again under normal circumstances, since I knew in the end today's incident was all a big misunderstanding, but to actively invite him to stand face to face with his greatest fear was another thing entirely.

  But, on the other hand…

  “That might not actually be as terrible an idea as you think,” I said, tilting my head back, accidentally brushing Mel’s nose with one of my ears and making her snort. “Back where I came from, we have special doctors who focus entirely on healing the mind, instead of the body. One of the things I’ve heard of them doing is something called ‘exposure therapy,’ where the therapist—er, that’s what they’re called—puts you in a safe, comfortable, controlled environment and then gradually exposes you to the thing you’re afraid of, whether that's blood or horses or needles or whatever. I don't know how well it'll work, because I'm not a therapist, but I'm willing to give it a try if you are. You’ve done so much for me, and I can’t think of a better way to pay you back.”

  “If safety and comfort is the goal, then we’d also gladly make time to be there and help,” Felda said, once again placing a hand on Bart’s shoulder. “Right, girls?”

  “Definitely,” Mel said, wrapping her free arm around my middle and squeezing me and Elle to her. “And I’m not just saying that because I really want to watch Sam get all excited about magic again.”

  Elle giggled, pulling in close and also giving my cheek a nuzzle, before saying, “Yes, we’d absolutely love to assist.”

  Tearing up a little again, the widest smile I’d ever seen spread across Bart’s face, and he nodded at me with renewed determination.

  “In that case, consider yourself my pupil twice over. I said I would teach you magic, and I suppose now I'll get to keep my promise. I can't say that I'll be able to perfectly recall every lesson I ever sat in on, but I remember enough to give you the gist. From what I understand, the hardest part is properly visualizing the mana and learning to direct it, and you've already managed half of that by accident. We’ll still need someplace safe for you to learn…” Bart trailed off, then glanced around himself and chuckled. “I suppose my little stretch of beach here is fairly secluded, so we’d be unlikely to be stumbled upon. Once you’re good enough to start practicing on your own, I’d see fit to let you come here whenever you like, provided you aim away from my cabin.”

  “Deal!” I said, and Bart and I shared a laugh, along with the rest of the room.

  “However,” Bart said when he’d composed himself, holding up his bandaged arm—the one I’d managed to scratch during the fight. “I think it would be best if we all took a day or two to rest and fully heal. Then, we can truly start taking your training to the next level.”

  “Agreed,” Felda said firmly.

  I thought about protesting, but the cozy numbness from the potion I’d drank earlier was starting to fade, and my muscles were still tight and achy, on top of feeling like I was covered in dozens of stinging paper cuts. With the rest of us unanimously agreeing, we bid Bart a few more farewells, then left him to rest.

  As we stepped out the front door of Bart’s shack, I blinked in surprise at the still intact, but significantly melted looking dome of ice that occupied most of the beachfront, and the small forest of spiked tree roots.

  “Ah,” Felda said, laughing. “Perhaps we should… clean up a little before we go.”

  “Oh, brambles, let me get those,” Elle said frantically, reaching down and drawing her leaf-shaped knife. I watched keenly as she held it up and seemed to concentrate, and noticed for the first time the green gems embedded along the hilt start to light up. Elle waved the knife like a conductor’s wand, and the tree roots sprang to life, receding into the sandy ground.

  Felda, meanwhile, approached the dome of ice with a thoughtful expression. Before I could open my mouth to ask if there was anything I could do to help, she raised her arm over her head, clenched her hand into a fist, then slammed it down bottom first into the wall of the dome, causing a tremendous cracking noise to echo off the cliff walls above. Fissures appeared in the icy surface, spreading outward from the point of impact with frightening speed, and in a matter of seconds the entire dome collapsed, with a sound like a thousand glasses shattering at once, the noise echoing off the cliff walls overhead.

  I stared in disbelief as Felda looked back over her shoulder, her cheeks flushing dark green. “Ah, perhaps I… overdid it a bit.”

  The door to Bart’s cabin swung open, and Bart stepped out, a bemused look on his face. He saw Felda standing next to the massive pile of ice chunks, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “Knew there was something I was forgetting,” Bart said, raising his head and giving Felda an amused smirk. “Well, nothing to be done about it now. Let’s get this cleaned up before someone comes to investigate that racket.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Felda said, bending down and grabbing a chunk of ice bigger than my whole body, lifting it with ease. Spreading her legs, she swung her hips and flung the massive chunk out towards the ocean, where it crashed down with a huge splash, bobbing along on the waves.

  At the same time, Bart held a hand out towards another end of the pile, and said, “Geyser.” A steaming stream of water shot forth from Bart’s palm, similar to Elle’s “Water Jet” but with much more force behind it, striking the pile of icy fragments. The largest chunks were pushed out towards the ocean, while the smaller ones were rapidly melted.

  “You three go on ahead,” Felda said, grunting as she hurled another hunk of ice the size of a manhole cover into the ocean. “I’ll catch up once we’re done here.”

  “O-okay…” I stammered, struggling to tear my eyes away from the spectacle. Eventually, Elle had to grab my hand and pull me towards the exit, and soon we slipped through the opening in the rocks and were walking along the beach, back towards the distant outline of the village.

  I had a lot on my mind as I ambled along beside Elle and Mel, the early morning sun stretching our shadows out in front of us. Now that I had a moment to myself, the sum total of the day's events were finally starting to sink into my weary brain. Like an overwound metronome, my thoughts pinged back and forth from one thing to the next; the way Bart and Felda had clashed, Felda’s superhuman strength, Mel's magic and how it related to her mysterious and slightly ominous revelation that there was something she and Elle were planning to tell me. My “fight” with Bart, the way my heart had pounded in my ears and my blood had raced through my veins. Bart's past, which I had to divert away from lest I start tearing up again, and my own past back on Earth, discarded for the same reason.

  All this, and more, rebounded off the walls of my skull like a rubber ball shot out of a cannon, until my vision blurred and I couldn't see the ground under my feet. I screwed my eyes shut and pressed my palms into my face.

  “Sam? You okay?”

  Mel's concerned voice called to me. I sucked in a deep breath, then started to laugh. I tipped my head back and laughed towards the sky, startling a cluster of birds out of the nearby tall grass, then kept on tipping, until I flopped backwards onto the ground.

  Elle and Mel rushed back, hovering over me and giving me strange looks. My ribs hurt by the time I composed myself, and I rolled my head to the side, giving the pair a lopsided grin.

  “And what's so funny?” Mel asked, crouching over me with her hands on her knees.

  “I… I don't know,” I said breathlessly. “It's just hitting me: that was, without a doubt, the scariest thing that's ever happened to me, but it was also the most exciting thing I’ve ever done!” I stretched a hand out in front of me, fingers splayed, examining the claws I still frequently forgot I had. “Back on Earth, I never thought of myself as someone who would seek out danger. I thought fighting was kind of stupid, because aside from watching Morgan do judo, the only time I ever saw any fighting was when jerks at school would lose their tempers over dumb, petty shit. And don't even get me started on fishing; before I came here, I thought it was just a boring pastime for old dudes.”

  I started laughing again, and draped my arm across my face. “Now, I know that danger can actually be fun! I know what it feels like to fight like your life depends on it, and it hasn’t scared me away. And I love fishing. I thought that learning to fight monsters, as cool as that sounded, could wait until after the competition, but now I can't wait to get started on that too. That's what's so funny: for the first time in a long time, I'm getting excited about trying to learn new things again, and all it took was being transported to another world, having my body completely transformed beyond recognition, and a couple of brushes with life-threatening peril.”

  “You are a very strange girl, Sammie,” Elle said, and I felt her fingers brush across my forehead. I moved my arm in time to watch her kneel down beside me, giving me a soft smile. “As long as you’re completely certain that you’re okay after everything that happened.”

  “I am,” I said, letting my arm flop out to my side again, smiling up at the sky. “I’m more than okay; I’m great! And I’ve got you two, and Felda and Bart, to thank for that.”

  Elle flushed and covered her mouth, giggling into her palm, and I felt my throat get tight and my heart started doing backflips.

  “Good enough for me,” Mel said cheekily, cocking her head to the side. “Don’t think this means we’re going to let you get out of recuperating today, though. We’re taking you home to rest, and if you need anything today, we’ll take care of it.”

  “Actually,” I said, tapping two of my claws together. “What I really think I need is a bath, and then a nap.”

  “Even better,” Mel said, her smile widening. “Do you also need help getting up?”

  “I wish I could say ‘I can barely feel my legs,’ but I actually can feel them, a lot, and they hurt,” I complained with a pained chuckle, raising my arms into the air. “Yes, I would love a lift back to the village.”

  “You are so lucky Felda stayed behind,” Elle said, leaning down and giving me a peck on the cheek before rising to her feet, then she and Mel helped me to mine. I wasn’t standing for more than half a second before I was swept up into Mel’s arms.

  The trip back to the village was slow and cozy. We reached the docks first, and followed them back to Felda’s tavern, so that Elle and Mel could get the things they’d left behind in their haste to follow me. Along the way, several curious dockworkers asked what all the commotion was earlier, and Mel quickly supplied the answer: the five of us were heading to Bart’s cabin to do some training, and the sprinting was just a warm up. I was kind of amazed at how well it seemed to work.

  It felt like it had been months since I’d run out of the tavern. Stepping inside—or rather, being carried inside—I saw that everything was as it had been left. The papers with Bart’s scrawled out spells and the book he'd been teaching me out of were still left on the table, the dishes from Elle and Mel’s breakfast were still on the bar, and the huge, blackened wound I'd burned into one of the support beams was still there.

  “Felda’s going to need to get that mended,” Mel remarked when she saw me staring. “And before you get any ideas, remember that this was an accident, and Felda has plenty of money of her own set aside, specifically to fix things in the tavern when they break.”

  “A-ah…” I said, nodding. That made sense. I couldn’t even begin to guess how much it would cost to have something like that repaired anyway.

  We stayed just long enough for Elle to clear away the mess and for Mel to gather their bags and cloaks. My legs were feeling fine enough for the walk to the bathhouse, so I was set back down, with the promise that I could always be carried further if I needed to. It was hard not to immediately jump straight back into Mel’s arms when we left, but I figured there was always next time.

  The bathhouse was open, of course, but Madam Ikeda was absent, since she was apparently nocturnal. By now, the staff had come to recognize me since I’d started coming regularly, and the younger sea dweller boy behind the counter was already pulling a key to one of the private baths off the rack when we finished undressing.

  “Refreshments?” he asked as I looped the key around my wrist.

  “Oh, uh, just the fruit today, please,” I said, since I could physically feel Elle and Mel’s stares on the back of my head.

  “Of course!” the boy said, beaming. “We have some excellent fresh cantaloupe and honeydew this morning. I’ll have some brought to your chamber shortly.”

  “Thank you,” I said, dropping the coins onto the counter and shuffling through the curtains.

  It was a testament to how tired I was that I barely noticed the other naked bathers as I breezed through the showers. This early, there weren’t that many, mostly night guards and other people who worked late shifts washing up before heading home. The hot water felt wonderful on my sore muscles, but I had to scrub carefully, as the wounds from my desperate fight with Bart were still there, although significantly more healed up than I was expecting. I looked more like I’d stumbled through a thornbush than repeatedly grazed by a massive spear.

  “Don’t worry,” Elle said when she caught me examining myself post-shower. “We’ll get some more healing ointment on those soon, so they won’t scar.”

  “Oh, aww,” I said, wrapping my towel around myself. “I wasn’t actually that worried about that; I think they’d look kind of… cool, y’know? Like, I’ve never had battle scars before!” Nibbling on my lip, I tilted my head to one side. “Though, Bart might think differently, and I wouldn’t want him to feel bad every time he sees me, hmm…”

  “Oh, trust me,” Mel said, draping her towel over her shoulder, conspicuously showing off some of the pale purple scars that criss crossed her arms and sides in the process. “If you do start training, and eventually go out hunting, you’ll rack up plenty on your own. You’ll learn pretty fast just how unfeasible it is to guzzle down a potion for every scratch and scrape, not to mention how expensive it gets.”

  “Oooouhh…” I said, my eyes widening and my ears twitching.

  “Please don’t encourage her to be reckless,” Elle said with a playful sigh, turning back to me. “Sammie, you look plenty ferocious as is.”

  We made our way into the private bath, and after giving Elle a moment to fill the water with several fistfulls of multicolored salts, until the scents of jasmine and lavender filled the room, we sunk into the steaming pool with a collective moan that made me glad the room was insulated from the outside. I could tell how tired the other two were, since our chatter, teasing or otherwise, was at an all-time minimum. We were content to just soak and sigh and, when the chunks of melon on a bed of ice arrived, snack in comfortable silence.

  Not only were my muscles no longer aching by the time I climbed out of the water, but my entire body felt like taffy, and it was with only some small amount of embarrassment that I had to ask Mel to carry me out of the bathhouse. Again. I was so relaxed and at ease that I barely made it two streets over before I fell asleep in Mel’s arms.

  ■

  True to their word, when I awoke on Elle and Mel’s couch a couple hours later, they did not let me exert myself more than the bare minimum, and Elle also produced a jar of thick, jammy red goop that she dabbed on my still healing wounds. I lounged around, chatting with the pair and playing with Clover—I was trying to teach her to fetch, but she would only chase after something I threw if it was also something she wanted to eat, and it would be dissolved by the time she returned to me. Other than that, the day passed like a breeze, and soon it was time for Elle and Mel’s shift at the tavern.

  By then, the worst of the aches in my body were gone, and my various cuts had faded to almost nothing, and I was more than able to keep up with them as we walked along the streets towards the docks. Felda was glad to see me back on my feet, of course. Bart wasn’t in his usual corner booth, but that was to be expected. The support beam that I’d accidentally struck with lightning had had a bundle of thick tarp wrapped around it and secured in place with rope, and just as Mel had said, Felda refused to hear a word from me about paying for the damage.

  With nothing else to do, I took a seat in the corner by myself and pulled out my journal, reviewing the crude and disorganized notes I’d started taking about all the many kinds of fish I’d caught and eaten so far; things like what their favorite baits were, what part of the lake they usually occupied, and what they taste like.

  “Here you go, Sammie,” Elle said, startling me slightly as she set a plate down on the edge of my table. “Felda gave you an extra portion, since you’re still healing. It should help you feel… huh, did you draw all that?”

  I followed Elle’s eyes, down to my journal, which I had started idly doodling in after I’d gotten my fill of reading, and felt my cheeks start to heat up.

  “U-uh, yeah…” I said, surreptitiously trying to hunch over the pages.

  “You never told me you could draw, Sammie,” Elle said, a smile spreading across her face.

  “I can’t,” I said, nibbling on my lower lip.

  “It sure looks like you can to me,” Elle said, tilting her head to take a closer look, but I snapped the journal shut with just a bit too much force.

  “They’re just doodles,” I insisted, feeling my ears start to flatten against my head and, for the first time in a while, wishing I was better at disguising my emotions. Elle frowned, but thankfully relented, and I reached out to slide the plate she’d brought in front of me.

  “Ah, let me know if you need anything else,” Elle said, holding her hand out as though to pat my head, but clearly hesitant in case I wasn’t feeling like it at the moment. To ease her worries, and my own, I leaned up and pressed my head into her palm, and she gave me a quick scratch before returning to her work.

  As I ate—two thick slabs of seared rock bass, a small mountain of crispy roasted potatoes, and a mixed bowl of steamed and buttered vegetables—I glanced sidelong at my journal, my tail flicking in annoyance. I hadn’t meant to get so curt with Elle, but some old instincts from back on Earth were harder to get rid of than others. It had probably been years since I’d drawn anything, but I’d started up again sometime last week, after being inspired by how good Elle was at painting. I just as quickly ran afoul of the familiar frustration at my own utter lack of skill. I hadn’t intended to show anyone, least of all Elle herself, who actually knew what she was doing and could paint trees and mountains and gorgeous floral arrangements with enviable ease, but now that she’d seen my doodles, I couldn’t exactly pretend like nothing had happened. I knew I was being stupid, and I knew that Elle and Mel would never tease me like the kids in class used to whenever they caught glimpses of my notebooks, but it was one thing to know something on the surface and another thing to really believe it, inside and out.

  “Guess it couldn’t hurt to… show them some of the better ones…” I mumbled to myself, shoving another forkful of fish and potatoes into my mouth.

  I felt much better with a full stomach, and when Elle came by to take my plate, I offered her a quick apology, which she of course told me was unnecessary. As the night wound down towards its close, I got a head start on helping Elle and Mel bring the last of the dishes to the kitchen, and when Elle turned up to fill the sink and start washing, I cleared my throat to draw her attention.

  “I’m still sorry about what happened,” I said, running a towel across the surface of the plate Elle had just handed me. “I’m just a little… self-conscious about people seeing my drawings.”

  “Aww, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Elle said, looking like she very much wanted to throw her arms around me, and only refrained because she was elbow deep in dishwater. “I was just excited because I didn’t even know you had an artistic side.”

  “I d—” I cut myself off with a shake of the head. It wasn’t fair or true to say that I didn’t have an artistic side, just that I didn’t think much of it. Taking a breath, I tried again. “I mean… I used to draw a lot when I was way younger; it was actually the first hobby I ever got into. I could fill up entire notebooks with cartoons and little doodles, and sometimes I’d even get in trouble for drawing in the middle of class. At one point, me and a friend of mine even thought we would make our own comic or something.” I chuckled, placing another plate on the growing pile of clean dishes. “But, y’know, as I got older and saw more art and read some actual comics, done by real artists, I got frustrated because my stuff didn’t look as good.”

  “Awww, Sammie,” Elle cooed sympathetically, handing me a soapy mug. “That’s how it is for everyone. Do you think I was born able to paint like I do?”

  “Well… no, I guess not,” I said, shrugging as I rinsed the mug off and began to wipe it dry. “And I have heard this before, from Morgan. It’s just hard to keep that in mind when you try for so long but don’t seem to be getting any better.”

  “Maybe you just can’t see how much better you’ve gotten because you’re still comparing yourself to others,” Elle said, leaning over and lightly bumping her head against mine, since her hands were still occupied. “Well, I don’t want to pressure you, but if you’re willing, I’d love to see what kind of things you’ve drawn.”

  “Mmmh… okay. Maybe. In a day or two,” I said, a small, timid smile on my face as I leaned back against Elle, careful not to lose my balance on my stool. Elle giggled, and planted a quick peck on my cheek, then returned to the dishes.

  Once we were finished, Felda handed out Elle and Mel’s payment for their shift and the little bit she gave me for helping, and I offered to walk Elle and Mel home. They were more than happy to accept, and Felda told me she’d leave the window cracked for me. The pair slung their cloaks and bags over their shoulders, and together we headed out into the moonlit streets.

  I’d gotten so distracted thinking about letting Elle and Mel see my art that I’d forgotten about my plan to ask them out on a proper date. I considered just putting it off for later, when I was feeling more confident, then almost immediately felt like slapping myself. That was exactly the kind of thinking that led to me just giving up on drawing, or playing the guitar, or skateboarding, or any of the other things I’d tried and bounced off of over the years. If there was one thing I didn’t want to give up on, it was… well, okay, it was fishing because I’d started that earlier, but if there were two things I didn’t want to give up on, they were fishing and my relationship with Elle and Mel.

  With that in mind, I sucked in a deep breath, pulled my shoulders back, and steeled myself to just barrel ahead and do it. This obviously drew Elle and Mel’s attention, and I tried to play it off by casually scratching at the back of my neck.

  “Sooo, uh…” I began, glancing around at the other taverns we were passing by, the very picture of confidence. The pair were looking at me expectantly, and I fought to keep my nerves from making my voice tremble. “We’ve been, uh, dating for a little while now.”

  “Yeah?” Mel said curiously.

  “Yeah, and so, I was wondering if, uh… if the two of you would like to go out on a… an actual date with me, sometime,” I said, tapping my claws together and staring up at the sky, rather than at the pair of elves walking beside me.

  “A date?” Elle asked. “Like an outing?”

  “Y-yeah!” I said, flushing and ducking my head. “We could, uh, go out somewhere really nice for lunch, or maybe dinner, and I’d treat of course! Or maybe we could, like, go on a walk outside the village, and maybe have a picnic… I don’t actually know for sure what people do for dates, I’ve never had one before, but I thought, y’know, since we’re dating, I should try to find out!”

  I cringed as I finished blurting all of that out, which was way more than I intended to say. Elle and Mel exchanged a quick glance, then I felt Mel’s fingers on the back of my scalp and I jumped slightly.

  “Sure, Sam,” Mel said, starting to scratch around behind my left ear. “We’d love to go out with you sometime, but don’t feel like you have to pay for us or go out of your way to do something super special. We already like being around you plenty as is.”

  “I knoooow,” I said, nodding slowly as I felt the pleasant tingles from Mel’s scratching start to meander down my spine. “And I know you said not to worry about trying to ‘catch up’ with where you two are, and that we could take things slow, but… I… I think I am ready to start moving a little bit faster, y’know? I mean, we still haven’t even really kissed…”

  Again, Elle and Mel seemed to deliberate silently for a few moments, during which Mel’s fingers never slowed. We were turning off the main street, onto the road that led to the residential district, when Mel spoke up again. “As long as you’re still comfortable, then me and Elle would be more than happy to try taking things a little bit further,” she said, moving her hand from the back of my head to drape her arm across my shoulder and pull me into her side. “We still want to let you set the pace, though, so if there’s something you specifically want, you’ll have to actually speak up and say so.”

  “O-oh,” I stammered, letting my head rest inside the crook of Mel’s arm. That was, in some ways, both a relief and extremely nerve wracking, because what did I even want? Well, I didn’t have to figure it out right then and there, so I just pulled in snug against Mel’s side and purred, and enjoyed the rest of the walk through their neighborhood. Just like the rest of the village, activity in the residential district didn’t die down completely just because the sun had set. Music and laughter and the smell of home cooked meals wafted through the air as we stepped into Elle and Mel’s courtyard. One of their neighbors— Helen, the mother of the small family that lived directly across from them—waved and offered us a few slices of pie.

  “It’s cherry,” she explained, motioning to her husband, who was seated on a rocking chair plucking lazily at some kind of stringed instrument with a long neck and teardrop shaped body. “Robert’s bosses at the orchard sent him home with another bucket, so I’ve been bakin’ pies all afternoon.”

  “We’d love some,” Elle said sweetly, and Helen beamed, bustling into her house and returning with three plates expertly balanced on her arms, each one with a thick wedge of pie that oozed with dark, cherry filling.

  “There you are, dears,” the older woman said as she handed off the plates, then turned to me. “Oh, and Sam, I had a message for you from my boss at the Thirsty Boar. He said if you find yourself with more monster meat to sell, he’d gladly pay more than Felda.”

  It took me a moment to remember that that was the tavern that Helen worked for, one of the other ones that sat right on the water. I wasn’t planning to hunt any more monster fish in the immediate future, and the catfish had been more of a gift for Felda, but I didn't want to sound rude, so I just smiled and nodded. “Oh, uh, I’ll keep that in mind. And thank you for this!” I said hurriedly, holding up the plate.

  Since it was still pleasantly warm out, the three of us settled onto the wooden bench in front of Elle and Mel’s porch to eat and gaze at the stars and talk about nothing in particular. The pie was delicious, but that was to be expected; apparently Helen had been baking since she was no older than ten.

  “You'd better get as much rest as you can tonight,” Mel said when we were nearly finished. “You’re gonna need the extra energy tomorrow.”

  “I can't wait,” I said, grinning and practically bouncing in my seat. I was actually worried I'd be too excited to sleep, but that was dispelled a moment later when a yawn forced its way out of my throat.

  We finished our pie, and Elle went to return Helen's plates, then I followed the pair to their door, almost ready to part ways for the night. By now, a quick kiss goodnight had become part of our regular routine, and I figured tonight would be no different. When Elle turned to me, bent down, and offered one of her cheeks, I felt my heart momentarily halt and my blood freeze in my veins. Before I could lose my nerve, I reached up, placed both hands on Elle’s shoulders, and planted my lips on hers. Her eyes widened and she let out a surprised squeak, but before I could even start to worry that I'd somehow misjudged and messed everything up, I felt her lips curl upward into a smile, and she brought her hands up to cup my burning cheeks.

  Elle closed her eyes, and I followed suit, and we stayed like that for what could have been anywhere from ten seconds to ten minutes, for all I knew. I breathed in deeply through my nose, and all I could smell was Elle’s own hot breath, and the scent of lemons.

  When we broke apart, I was lightheaded and purring like a chainsaw. It was so loud in my ears that I was sure Elle and Mel’s neighbors were going to complain. I nervously met Elle’s eyes, and she was smiling from ear to pointy ear.

  A shadow fell over me, blocking out the moonlight, and I turned to find Mel leaning against one of the posts that supported the awning, grinning slyly at me. As always, she loomed over me like a shade tree, and I waited for her to bend down like she usually did, but she just continued to smile at me, raising one curious eyebrow.

  “Yes, Sam?” Mel finally said, her voice dripping with feigned innocence. “Is there something you… want?”

  Oh… right, she wants me to… oh, geez…

  “M-Mel…” I mumbled, my cheeks blazing even hotter. “W-would you… uhm…”

  “Yeees?” Mel said, rolling her head to the side. “C'mon, Sam, use your words.”

  “W-would you come down here so I can kiss you, please?!” I blurted out, then slapped my hands over my mouth. Behind Mel, Helen and Robert glanced curiously across the courtyard.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Mel teased with a giggle, stepping forward and bending at the waist, using one hand to steady herself on my shoulder, placing the other on the back of my head. I couldn’t reach her shoulders, so I placed my hands on her upper arms, holding on for dear life as I slowly pulled Mel in, closer and closer, until our lips finally met in the middle.

  Again, I closed my eyes and let myself just breathe in the moment, and the overwhelming smell of blackberries. I was just as unsure of what I was doing with Mel as I was with Elle. Was I… doing it right? Should I be doing more? Mel’s fingers wove their way into my hair, and her nails grazed lightly against my scalp, and conscious thought seemed to take a backseat for a while. By the time we broke apart, it was less like I stepped back, and more like I melted away, stumbling backwards into Elle’s conveniently placed arms, gasping for air.

  “That was… awesome…” I spoke between breaths, blinking rapidly as though to clear the stars from my eyes. For some reason, Elle and Mel giggled up a storm at that, and before I knew it I was lifted back onto my feet and sandwiched between both of them.

  “That was wonderful, Sammie,” Elle said, squeezing me with one arm and patting the top of my head with the other.

  “Mmmhm,” Mel hummed in agreement, looking down at me with a goofy, slightly lopsided grin on her face. “Not bad, for your first try. I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you wanted to start moving faster.”

  “Y-yeah… I thought about waiting until our date so I could do it at the very end,” I said, leaning heavily into Elle’s petting while shuffling my feet nervously. “But, well… I didn’t wanna wait that long. And I didn’t want to risk overhyping it in my mind and getting all weird about it, so I figured it was best to just get it out of the way, y’know?” As an afterthought, I chuckled and shook my head. “This wasn’t actually my first kiss, er, first and second.”

  “Oh, really?” Mel asked, cocking her head to the side. “I thought you said you never got to tell that other girl how you felt about her?”

  With a jolt, I realized I’d said too much, and bit down on my lip. “R-right, uh, yeah, it… it was someone else, but I can’t talk about it! We made a promise that we wouldn’t talk about it to anyone, ever, and even if they’re back home, I wanna keep that promise.”

  “Fair enough, forget I even mentioned it,” Mel said, giving my head a reassuring scratch that drew a few more seconds of contented purring out of me, before the pair finally broke apart, leaving me to stand on wobbly legs. “Well, we should get inside and start getting ready for bed, and you should get back before Felda has time to start worrying.”

  “Right!” I said, shaking my head to shake off the last of the stupor. I gave them one more quick hug then turned on my heels and hurried out of the courtyard. I couldn’t move too quickly, as even after the soothing bath, I could still feel faint twinges in my muscles if I pushed myself too hard. Sticking to a leisurely stroll, I made my way out of the residential district and ambled back to Felda’s tavern, taking the opportunity to enjoy more of the ambiance of the town after sunset.

  As promised, the window to Felda’s bedroom was left open by a crack, and I slid inside easily. Felda wasn’t quite asleep yet, but she also wasn’t fully awake, and she sat up when I touched down on the floor. When she saw it was only me, she smiled warmly and settled back down under the covers, sleepily welcoming me back and wishing me a good night. I hastily changed into my pajamas and slid beneath the blankets, mumbling “Goodnight,” in-between yawns. As usual, as soon as I laid my head down, I was out like a candle.