Two miles. That’s how far from the city Lonna had traveled, alongside Talith, before casting the spell. That obviously meant they’d be walking two miles to get back home, too. Yet when Lonna conveyed that to the heroine…

“Two miles!?” He looked at the redhead in shock, then forcibly swallowed, and nodded his head. “I’ll do my best.”

Although Lonna knew, absolutely, beyond a doubt that this was the heroine, and that she had not in fact ruined the spell, she still couldn’t help but wonder: What kind of heroine would balk at a measly two mile walk?

“Should we um… Stretch or something, first?” he asked, next; Lonna simply stared at him, blankly. “Whenever my class ran the mile, back in high school, we always stretched first.”

“...If you think it’ll help.” 

Lonna didn’t really think it was necessary. Whatever the heroine’s attitude towards walking, his body was clearly built to move, and move well. His arms were well muscled, with biceps so big that Lonna would need two hands to feel all the way around one of them. His legs, which were almost unfairly long, were so well defined that they might have been sculpted. Thanks to the heroine’s too tight shirt, Lonna could even confirm that the man had washboard abs.

Too bad it was all wasted on David. Someone who couldn’t fight, didn’t want to kill, and wasn’t even a woman! Even ignoring whether Lonna had gotten the spell right, or whether she’d gotten the right spell to begin with - she knew that she had, on both accounts - the caster still couldn’t understand how she’d ended up with such a bizarre combination of mental and physical traits. It was like the spell had been working off two completely different checklists! 

Perhaps if she knew more about the magic she’d cast - perhaps if she could sneak back into the royal library - she could find out what, exactly, had gone wrong… but there’d be plenty of time for that after she’d whipped her heroine into shape and kicked Sorissa to the curb.

“Alright. I’m done stretching.” David grinned as he spoke, soft pink lips pulling back into a wholesome smile.

Lonna scowled in response. “Good. Talith, you ready?”

“Always.” The Laspi looked about, with those words, the red glow of his gaze sweeping across the dimly lit hilltop. Lonna, too, took a look about. She wanted to cast a detection spell, but the summoning had taken a lot more energy than anticipated, and had burned through her entire store of magic. 

Actually, it had taken a little more… She was trying not to show it, because Talith would never let her hear the end of it, but she’d actually used a touch of her physical life energy in the casting, as well. Which was probably why her body ached, her shoulders felt stiff, her legs were like jelly, and thinking of a two mile walk made her want to cry… 

Not that she was complaining. 

“What do you know about magic?” Lonna asked, lightly rubbing her aching back beneath her cloak, as she turned toward the heroine.

“I. Didn’t even know magic was real, until today…” David ran a hand through his hair, as he spoke, looking a little embarrassed, for some reason. “I mean, I read lots of fantasy books. Like, a lot of them. But they all had different systems of magic, and I’m not sure if any of them apply to the real thing, sooooo….”

“So you don’t know anything.” Lonna sighed, taking a deep breath. “I’ll test your capacity later.”

“Magic capacity?” There was obvious excitement in David’s voice, and Lonna couldn’t help a slight smile. It had been exciting for her, too, back when it was new.

Things had been a lot simpler, when she was five.

“Magic capacity is the limit of how much magic you can hold, at one time. The higher your magic capacity, the more complex, powerful spells you can cast without assistance. I’m sure a heroine’s should be high…” Lonna hoped it would turn out to be “But we can worry about that later. I only even brought it up because I’m running on empty.” 

It would be a long time before she had the energy reserves to cast a spell as big as that summoning, again. Which was just another reason why she’d have to make things with the heroine work.

“Is ‘running on empty’ dangerous?” David asked. His voice held concern, so Lonna gave a quick shake of her head.

“It means she can’t use spells for a while… In fact she’d be better off not using any magic at all.” A heavy thud signalled the end of Talith’s threat search, and the start of their walk. Since Talith had built himself with extra long arms, he moved by pressing his fists into the ground and swinging his lower body forward. It was fast, but not subtle. The fact that he was knucklewalking told Lonna that he hadn’t spotted anyone - yet - and that they had best move fast.

In other words, he wanted them to get going before Lonna did something stupid.

“What would happen if she tried?” David asked, his voice full of concern as he ran after Talith. 

“I’d pass out, or die.” Lonna had to walk fast to catch up to them, something she did not appreciate. She had the shortest legs there, the least physical stamina, and her legs felt like iron weights. 

Not that she was complaining, of course. She’d keep moving forward, right until she dropped, if that was what it came to. 

Her lungs were burning, though.  

“If you run out of magical energy, it’ll drain you for whatever physical energy you have, until you black out. Once you start casting a spell, it won’t end until you’re unconscious or dead. Even those who hang in there and finish the spell often end up dying in their sleep afterward.”

David’s eyes widened in surprise as Lonna talked, and he looked her over with obvious worry painted across his features. “So you could have died, summoning me?”

“That’s a detail she could have mentioned,” muttered Talith, redoubling his pace and pulling ahead of the pair.

“Slow down!” Lonna complained, purposefully dropping her pace to a brisk walk. Talith glanced back at her, narrowing his eye sockets angrily, but slowed down his own pace to match.

“Maybe we should find shelter for the night,” he suggested. “We can head into the city in the morning.”

“Homebase will get scooped up if we’re gone an entire night.” Lonna chose to ignore the look of confusion that crossed David’s face. They could talk about the housing situation later; right now it was magic lesson time.

“So, like Talith said, spells are pretty much off the table with me, at least until morning. But spells aren’t the only way you can use magic.”

“Lonna…” Talith only spoke her name, but to Lonna - who had been with Talith from ages thirteen to twenty one - an entire lecture had been delivered, in those two tense syllables.

“Relax, Talith, I’m just giving a quick lesson.” She flashed a grin at her brother, but the Laspi only scowled in response.

“What other ways?” David asked. A spark of curiosity was shining brightly in his gaze, and he wore an easy smile. You’d never know he’d come close to a complete meltdown over being summoned, less than an hour beforehand.

“There’s a couple ways, but the one I want to talk to you about is ‘gifts.’”

“Gifts?” David frowned, softly, his brow furrowing ever so slightly as he thought. “You mean, like. Special skills?”

“Exactly!” Lonna laced her fingers behind her head as she spoke, half leaning back, even as she walked through the trees. Looking at her in such a pose, one could be forgiven for thinking she was at ease. In reality, her back was screaming in protest at having to maintain that posture, while her eyes were fixated on the stars. Leaving Talith to look for threats, she was navigating by the stars to make sure they stayed on route to the city. “Gifts are special, magical abilities that don’t require incantations or runes to activate. Most of the races have singular abilities, shared across all of them - but humans - humans are unique.”

“Humans all have different abilities?” David suggested.

“When they even have abilities. Humans are the only race without guaranteed powers. That just means you never know what sort of talent a human might have..”

“So what’s your gift?” 

“I can control light.” Lonna waited a tense moment, as David frowned. “I know, it doesn’t sound like the best ability, but-”

“No. It sounds amazing. I wish I could do something like that…” There was wistfulness in David’s voice, but no bitterness. “I gotta keep my sights low, though; do we even know if someone from my world can use magic?”

“No idea…” Lonna hadn’t considered it. It would be a great boon, if it existed, but since every human gift was unique there was no real way to test for them. “You’ll figure it out, eventually, if you have one. But for now - want to see one in action?”

“Gods damn you, Lonna!” Talith’s voice was explosive, and the way his monobrow furrowed when he looked about showed an anger that even David could pick up on. The heroine actually took a step back, before hesitating, and then purposefully stepping back up besides the redhead. Lonna was happy to see that the heroine could use her spine, after all. Even if it was being wasted, worrying about her brother. Lonna didn’t need magic to handle him.

“It’s fine,” she told them both, straightening her own aching back, and stretching her tired arms toward the sky. “All I’m gonna do is have a little snack…”

“A snack?” Talith’s eyebrow lifted. “You mean…?”

Lonna nodded, ignoring the obvious confusion on David’s face. “I’m going to have a little snack. And while I’m at it, I’m going to see if there’s anything in the area worth worrying about. But it won’t cost as much magic as it’ll gain me, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“I’m not carrying you, if you pass out,” the clay man muttered, turning the red glow of his eyes back toward their surroundings. Although he tried to hide the worry in his voice, Lonna knew Talith well enough to see the tension in his rocky shoulders. He didn’t like this plan. 

He also wasn’t going to stop her. Using eyes, alone, to detect threats could prove fatal if there was a particularly nasty beast or plant about. Besides, there wasn’t any real danger. 

As long as Lonna was careful, anyway.

“So… how does it work?” David asked, breaking the tense silence. “If you don’t need magic or incantations, how do you activate it?”

“It’s like. Stretching a muscle that nobody else has, kinda…" She frowned, uncertain how to explain what she used intuitively. "Once you get the hang of it, it’s as easy as moving your own arm. When you’re first starting out, though, you don’t know what you’re doing, and there’s no one to explain it to you…” She shook her head, slowly, then closed her eyes. “Look, just watch.” Even as she spoke, Lonna was already starting the process. By attuning her senses to the moonlight about her, she could feel every particle of light within a dozen feet.

Lonna pulled the light toward herself, causing the surrounding area to grow dimmer as her own skin took on a silvery sheen. 

“That looks like more than eating to me,” Talith muttered. He’d stopped moving, when Lonna closed her eyes, but with those words he started walking again. He still wasn’t stopping her.

“Sunlight is the origin of all magic,” Lonna whispered, her eyes still closed. She was sure David was listening, even if she couldn’t see him. “Moonlight has barely anything, by comparison. The effort it takes to distill it, like this, takes up almost as much energy as I get… but it also means I’ll know instantly if anything comes within a dozen feet of me.”

“What if it’s invisible?”

Lonna cracked an eye open, not able to tell if David was kidding. When she saw the serious look on his face, she closed her eye again, and started walking down the path. “The only way to go invisible I know of is making the light go around you. And if there’s a pocket of space where the light refuses to go, I’ll know." She continued to walk, as she spoke, deftly picking her way through the underbrush, without opening her eyes.

“We’re safe right now, by the way. Come on,” she called, aware of David staring at her from behind. “There’s still a mile and three quarters between us and the city, and I for one intend to make it before sunrise.”

EmilieEmber

My editor is busy until at least this Sunday - I have more written, but alas, chapter 4 won't be edited and ready for the public until at least 7/26....