Kaelum was doing the almost mindless labour while using the breathing technique that Tiela had taught him. Not only did the breathing technique make it easier to carry the heavy wood, but he had also realized that a bit of mana was starting to form in his mana heart as a result of him using the breathing technique. It wasn't much, but it was his very own mana!

The mana would flow from his mana heart, through the veins Tiela and him had opened up and then loop back around and do it again when he used the breathing technique. Building up a bit more mana every time it completed a revolution. He was excited to have his own mana. It felt similar to Tiela’s cold mana.

The excitement he was feeling from the mana flowing through his partially opened veins was somewhat dampened when he thought of what Karrow had told him this morning.

Immediately after Karrow told them that the princess had left, Tiela receded into his soul space and hadn’t said another word. Being left alone with her thoughts, Tiela had no idea what to do. She felt like she lost her chance and wasn’t in control of anything, it reminded her of when her mother died and she felt just as helpless.

She just found out that Kaelum had gotten his first job and while she tried to hide it, she felt a sense of betrayal. She knew it was stupid, but she had unconsciously just assumed that Kaelum would be going along with her to help. Hearing that he got a job that would tie him down to Arum made Tiela realize that her cause was her own, she wasn’t even sure if Kaelum believed her. She felt more alone than ever and she had just lost her one chance at stopping the disasters in the future from happening.

It’s not like she could just ask Kaelum to up and leave his life to chase the princess. He didn’t owe her anything and he wasn’t even committed to her cause. Even if she asked him to, she wasn’t sure that Kaelum would go for her.

But she also couldn’t just waste away in his soul space, she truly had no idea what to do. Now that she thought about it, they had done nothing but bicker and banter over the past few days.

She hated to admit it, but she felt closer to Kaelum than she had become with anyone over the course of the wars before her death. While she was sure that the teenage boy barely tolerated her, let alone had friendly feelings toward her. After all, he was just trying to get rid of her, and the only thing he got in return for trying to help her was injuries from Aquila.

While Tiela’s thoughts were racing around her mind, Kaelum was left feeling a little lonely hauling wood on his own all day, but his ego wouldn’t let him call out to Tiela. Also, he had no idea what he would even say to her.

Tiela wasn’t letting any of her thoughts slip through the bond, so he had no idea what she was feeling right now.

Alone with the mindless labour, Kaelum thought on what this all meant. The princess left Arum, so now what? Was he supposed to just follow her around the kingdom and keep trying to sneak into her bedroom?

No, that hadn’t worked so far, and it would probably end in him getting killed. Further, Kaelum asked himself, did he really want to? He hadn’t seen this so-called future Tiela spoke of, and he wasn’t even sure if she was telling the truth. Sure, it was weird that he had another soul inside of his own soul space, but that didn’t mean that she had actually seen the future. She could just be some crazy wandering soul or something.

She did teach him a real spell, which was cool and she looked a lot like the princess… So, say she really was telling the truth. Could Kaelum really go talk to the princess and change the future? Him? He was just some random orphan, Tiela’s own words.

This is the kind situation that would happen to a knight or a king or something, not Kaelum. Kaelum had no trouble admitting that he couldn’t even hope to affect the end of the world. Aside from his dodging and sneaking skills, he didn’t have much else in the way of talent. Well... he did have the ability to eat spoiled food without any trouble, though that was just a result of his diet. Aside from that, though, he couldn’t think of any other skills or talents, though it hurt to admit it.

He was used to spending his days rummaging through trash and stealing food or playing tricks with Peake and the others. It should have been a powerful knight that Tiela got stuck with, not him. But the reality was, she was stuck with Kaelum.

So what could Kaelum do? For just a second, he entertained the idea that he could be like one of the knights from the fairytales, only for a second though. Kaelum knew better than anyone else how impossible that was for someone like him. Sure, he had learned a spell and even had a little bit of his own mana now. But Kaelum knew there was more to a knight than a single spell. Knights were people with huge powerful magics and medicine and powerful families. Kaelum had none of that.

But even if he could become a powerful knight, which was a big if. Is that what he wanted? Sure, being a knight sounded cool, but it wasn’t like that was his dream. Kaelum had no idea what he wanted.

If he were asked what he wanted last week, he would’ve replied that he’d like to have more pastries. Kaelum had never actually dared to dream of anything greater than finding semi-fresh pastries in the trash, and even that seemed like a pipedream sometimes.

His thoughts turned to Tiela, he hates to admit it, but he actually really likes talking with the mysterious ‘princess’. She’s a really interesting person and even if she pretended to be a know-it-all sometimes, she did say a lot of interesting things. From talking about other countries and the future, to her knowledge of magic and all the wacky spells you could perform.

Thinking of their conversations, Kaelum realized he talked more to her in the past three days than he had in the past year with anyone else.

Other than talking to Peake on occasion, he didn’t really talk to anyone else. He hadn’t realized just how lonely he was until now.

While he would never tell her that he actually liked her and thought of her as a friend to her face, he couldn’t help but admit that he felt close to her. Being able to feel each other’s feelings and thoughts on an almost constant basis removed most boundaries between them and they couldn’t help but feel comfortable around each other.

Kaelum realized at this point that he had subconsciously placed Tiela into his list of friends in his mind. It was a shortlist, and just a few days ago only had Peake listed. But now he considered Peake, Tiela, and Karrow to be his friends.

If nothing else, Kaelum wanted to help his new friend. He didn’t have a lot of them, after all. But he’d never actually tell her that.

With all of these thoughts raging in his head, Kaelum didn’t notice Karrow come up to him while he was working.

Karrow saw the look of deep thought on Kaelum’s face, thinking that Kaelum probably assumed that he would never see the princess again after today. Karrow thought that he would likely give up on his dreams of becoming the princess's knight after today.

Karrow once had a dream of his own, he wanted to avenge his clan and right all the wrongs that had been done to them. He had been a genius when he was younger, but once he reached the third tier, he had never been able to ascend into the fourth tier beyond it. Stuck at that illusory wall

Stuck as a third-tier mage, his dreams were all for naught. He wasn’t unhappy with his life now, but he hated seeing someone give up on their dreams. He could see the struggle on Kaelum’s face while he was in deep thought and decided to give him a nudge in the right direction.

Kaelum was still deep in thought, all of the questions swirling around his head had boiled down to ‘could he do it’? Kaelum scoffed, thinking it was silly that he would even consider it. Kaelum was-

Suddenly a rough hand grasped his shoulder and he heard a sentence nobody had ever said to him before.

“I believe in you.” Said Karrow with a tone of utmost assurance and sincerity. He truly believed in him.

Karrow looked deeply into Kaelum’s eyes and said the words that would change his life with the most confident tone Kaelum had ever heard. “I believe that as long as you don’t give up, you can accomplish anything, Kaelum.”

What a stupid thing to say thought Kaelum. It seemed to be raining in Kaelum’s eyes, he wiped the tears from his eyes while cursing the rain. Kaelum would never admit that the reassurance from the rough man was the first he had ever heard from someone else. He’d also never admit how warm it made him feel inside, or even that it brought him to tears.

Without waiting for Kaelum to respond, Karrow turned to get back to work, leaving only a few words behind. “Remember, don’t give up. If not for yourself, then persevere for me!” Then he was gone. Karrow could never know how far these few simple words would carry Kaelum in the future.

Kaelum got back to work hauling the heavy timber, but with one small difference. He had a big smile on his face. He thought of the rough man he had seen a few times over the years, usually when he had been caught stealing food. He usually only saw Karrow from afar and he had only made real conversation with the man for the first time over the past few days.

As the sun began to set, Kaelum realized that they were finished for the day. Karrow brought him over to one of the wagons and they hitched a ride back to the city’s western gate while sitting atop the lumber.

Once they hopped off, Karrow dropped two ten-copper coins into Kaelum’s hand. He was about to correct him when Karrow waved his hand.

“I got the amount right, I meant to pay you for yesterday’s help. The amount you carried yesterday was far more than expected of you.” Karrow explained.

Kaelum’s eyes threatened to tear up again as he said his thanks. Karrow just waved him on, saying.

“Oh yeah, from tomorrow on, you’ll be working on your own. You can just grab your pay from Old Miller on your way back.” Karrow pointed at the man who had been driving the wagon. Old Miller waved with a smile in response. He was a kind-looking older man.

Kaelum remembered that Karrow was the captain of the city’s guards, he probably couldn’t afford to be spending his time hauling lumber all day. Kaelum’s heart warmed, Karrow didn’t have to help him out personally, he probably could have gotten some random guard to show him the ropes. But he did it personally, it was little things like that, that showed how kind Karrow was behind his rough demeanour.

After pocketing his pay, Kaelum headed back up the streets of Arum, hearing Karrow call after him “Don’t forget what I said earlier!”

As he walked down the darkening streets back to his home, Kaelum thought for a while. After thinking it over for a day, and with Karrow's encouragement, Kaelum came to a decision in his heart and his steps turned more confident, filled with purpose. Kaelum wanted to help Tiela, but he knew he couldn’t become a knight. At least, not on his own.

Kaelum walked to his home, his stomach grumbling. He had eaten the two apples he had pocketed while he was working, but he hadn’t eaten anything else today. He was used to going without meals for days, but he had burned a lot of energy today, both with the physical labour and with his breathing technique. Remembering the rat from last night, he dug around and found it in his cupboard. It didn't smell that bad so he started a small fire outside and pitched the rat above it in a skewer. It was nothing fancy, but it was a fair bit of almost fresh meat.

While the rat was being roasted, he tried to calm his nerves before calling out to Tiela. He had no idea why he was so nervous now. We’re just gonna talk and I’ll tell her about my plan he thought.

Tiela? He asked in his mind. She didn’t respond and after a while of getting no response to his attempts to talk to her, he thought she must still be hiding in his soul space deep in thought or she was simply ignoring him. If he wanted to talk to her, he would have to enter his soul space and see her face to face. Knowing that he now had to actually talk to her in person did nothing to lessen his anxiety.

Only this time he’d be using his own mana to get there.

He mimicked what he had done a few times before, entering his soul space after a few moments of effort. He was greeted by a surprised Tiela, it seemed she wasn’t expecting to see Kaelum.

“How… How did you get in here without my mana?” She asked incredulously.

Glad to have a bit of small talk, and excited to talk about his mana, Kaelum explained “I used my own mana, I’ve been using the breathing technique all day and I have some of my own now.”

“Oh,” said Tiela, realizing that with him performing physical labour, it was a very ideal way to cultivate mana. Exercising your body helped the mana flow faster and increased your gains, while also helping to repair your muscles. Killing two birds with one stone. The most ideal way to train would be to perform the breathing technique while doing combat training, improving three aspects at once.

“We need to talk,” said Kaelum. Choosing not to beat around the bush, he bluntly repeated what they had heard in the morning “The princess has left Arum.”

Seemingly caught by surprise by the question and Kaelum’s sudden confident tone of speaking, Tiela only responded “Mm.” while chewing her lip. She had been thinking about it all day, but she still wasn’t sure of anything yet. She feared what his next words would be.

Kaelum said, “I have no idea what we should do, but I don’t think we’ll accomplish anything if we just follow her around trying to sneak into her room.” Noticing Tiela’s ever-darkening face, he continued “I think I might have an idea though.”

This caught her by surprise once again. She had been trying to think of a way to meet the princess and how to convince Kaelum to help her all day, but she hadn’t thought of anything. Here Kaelum was, not needing to be convinced to help and even saying he had an idea of what to do!

She was so surprised that it took her a moment to find her voice before she asked “You want to help me?”

Kaelum said in response “Well that brings us to the next part. I have to ask something of you first.” Looking deep into her blue eyes, Kaelum asked with all seriousness “Will you become my master? In exchange, I’ll help you change the future.”

Shocked for the third time, Tiela thought of what he just asked her. He wanted to become her student. She wasn’t even thirty yet, she didn’t feel old enough to become someone’s master. Masters were usually old people with white hair and profound temperaments.

Though, it did make sense for Kaelum to ask. If he had Tiela training him, he was basically getting a watered-down version of her own royal training. With it, he was sure to become a powerful mage in the future.

Tiela asked Kaelum while staring deep into his eyes, trying to discern his intentions “You truly want to become my student?” A thought struck her that he might just want to use her to become a powerful mage, it’s not like she could do anything if he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, after all.

Kaelum nodded, explaining “After thinking all day, I thought up a brilliant plan!”

He said with excitement “If you become my master, you’ll train me to be a powerful knight and since you would be my master, your trouble would be my troubles. So naturally, I’ll have to help you change the future!” Kaelum’s mature tone from earlier completely dissipated with his excited explanation of his 'brilliant' plan.

She laughed at hearing what he said, Tiela couldn’t believe that she suspected this naive kid might try to deceive her. Hearing his words, she realized the weird logic he was using. Rather than saying he wanted to help her, he framed it as a student fulfilling their responsibility by helping their master. She didn’t know if he was trying to avoid embarrassing her, or himself. But she smiled at the thought. It seemed he was deep in thought all day trying to find a way to help her without actually admitting to helping her.

Coming to a decision, Tiela looked deeply into his eyes before saying “Kaelum. I, Tiela of Kassivir would like to take you on as a personal disciple. Do you accept?” Initiating the disciple acceptance ceremony that was commonly used throughout the continent.

Kaelum didn’t seem to know what response to use, so she nudged him on, saying “You’re supposed to bow and reply with either; I do, master. Or nay.”

Receiving her advice, Kaelum hurriedly bowed and replied with a smile “I do, master.”

As if suddenly remembering something, Tiela’s first disciple hurriedly uttered a farewell and left his soul space. Curious as to what he was doing, she watched Kaelum take his skewered rat off the fire, just before it burnt.

Tiela had no comments that night while she felt Kaelum’s dinner through their shared senses. However, for some reason, she felt that it was one of the best meals she had tasted in years.

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A bit of a sappy chapter, but now Kal and Tiela are motivated! If you're enjoying the story so far, please leave a like and a rating, it really helps with visibility.

I'd be surprised if you don't know by now, but I also post on RoyalRoad, Tapastic, and My Website. My site is where the most recent chapter usually is in rough draft form.

As of posting this chapter (May 7 I think it's scheduled for) I've written just over 30k words for this novel, but we're just getting started on Kaelum and Tiela's journey. Let me know what you think so far with a review or comment, any comment or critique is always welcome and helps me become a better writer :)

 

Thanks for reading!