“So I cannot learn magic?” Elira asked, clearly disappointed. Her head hung dejectedly and she seemed close to tears. Fortunately, Elle was close by and ready to offer her a hug, which she accepted, but it didn’t cheer her up.

“You can,” Cellestra said soothingly as she petted the girl’s head. “It’s just going to take a bit longer… I think. I’m not quite sure, but I think that’s the case.”

“Don’t be sad,” I said softly. “We’ll try again later. What do we do in the meantime, though?”

“I wouldn’t mind resting a bit.”

“Same,” I replied to Cellestra. “But I doubt any of that’s going to happen with Elira about.” I turned to the girl in question. “Unless you’re okay playing with the spiders for a while.”

“That’s okay,” She said with a nod before turning to the other. “Thank you for your help!”

Cellestra smiled at her before sitting down at my side, her head resting against it. I too used the softness of my own body to lie down on, while looking at the ceiling above. Elira explained the rules of tag to a curious Elle, Shayla and Faerith, who had no issue understanding the game, but it soon became clear that they had a bit of an unfair advantage when they started running up the walls.

It left Cellestra giggling, and I had to add an extra rule of not allowing that, otherwise there would be no fun in it for the little girl.

“What a strange day,” I commented in such a way that only Cellestra heard it. Elira was far too busy chasing the spiderlings to even pay attention. “And we actually forgot to check on the fence, too. Stupid rain. What if it’s done already?”

“We’ll just have to go to the carpenter’s guild and pay for it there. I don’t think it’s much of an issue.”

“That’s the logical option, yes. I was just” I sighed. “I guess it’s irrational for me to think it may harm my reputation.”

“Yep,” Cellestra said convincingly. “That is irrational. I think they are more than aware you’re a woman of your word, and otherwise, I’m sure they would have sent Soranir a message.”

“Guess we’re making a trip to the town tomorrow, eh?” I commented. “Kinda neat since I was planning on visiting Zearis as well. Maybe we can check if he has any other equipment we can save up for.”

“We just got this suit of armor for me and you got your weapon too. What kind of equipment are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. I was just wondering if there’s something, anything that can help us out further. I’d also like to know how enchanting armor works here. I think I heard something about it earlier, but I forgot.”

“Well, if anyone knows, it’s him, right?” She said with a smile.

“True.”

I sighed deeply.

“What should we do with the spiderlings? I don’t think it’s a good idea to walk into the city with them following me around. I mean, I may have some reputation, but that just seems to go a bit far.”

“I suppose you could leave them here? They’ll have someone to play with, or perhaps, you can have them help your parents with the fields?”

“Those sound like something I came up with earlier. Wait, did I?”

She giggled and patted my back.

“Perhaps you did, so I won’t take credit for it. I don’t remember.”

I merely hummed affirmingly and relaxed as I watched the game of tag unfold. Eventually, Elira got tired of it, and she lay down in the hay next to us. A few minutes of quiet followed before Cellestra suggested she’d try her spell again.

“Sure!” Elira immediately exclaimed.

The two got in the same positions as before and the mentor instructed her student to try to cast her spell while she was casting her spell on the girl. Both of them had their eyes closed while a cone of sparks was shot upward. I made sure that it was channeled in a safe direction, but at no point was there any danger of it setting other things alight.

Cellestra’s spell came to an end and with it, Elira canceled hers. A few seconds of silence followed before the experienced spellcaster spoke up.

“Did you feel that? I tried to make it a bit more obvious to you. I apologize if that was painful.”

“It stung a bit,” Elira said quietly. “But I could feel it. Is that what you talked about?”

“Your mana flow, yes. Do you think you can feel it without my help?”

“I don’t get it. Do I need to feel it with my spell or without?”

“The goal is to be able to feel it without casting spells,” Cellestra clarified. “And that’s going to take some time. You’re very lucky to have a spell as it makes it easier to grasp your own mana when you’re casting one. I suppose the easiest way of doing this is me helping until you can feel it, then practice on your own while casting. Eventually, you’ll know how it flows by itself.”

“This is hard,” Elira replied softly, looking at the floor in dejection. “But I’ll try!” She then said with a sudden burst of optimism that put a large smile on my face.

“Seems you’re a good teacher,” I said with my arms crossed. “And I must say you’re a good student as well.”

“Thank you, sis!” She exclaimed happily before jumping at me to hug my waist.

At that moment, someone knocked on the large wooden doors.

“Hello?” I heard my father call from outside. “If you girls are prepared, dinner is all ready.”

“We’re coming,” I called out.

Cellestra went ahead and opened the door, revealing clear skies and a warm late-afternoon sun beyond. I couldn’t help but feel happy whenever the weather was like this and I was here. Something about it just made everything feel right.

As food was served Elira couldn’t help but explain everything that she experienced when it came to practicing, or rather, the first steps of understanding magic. She told so much that at the end of it all, Cellestra didn’t have to do any additional explaining.

We then spent some more time just talking about random things, and at the end, I promised we’d invite them to see our home soon. Finally, when evening had arrived, we retreated into the storehouse.

At that time, it seemed Elira’s playing tag had taken its toll as she was asleep within minutes with Elle hugging her. It prompted Cellestra to move up to my torso where she lay down so she could give me a hug.

“Hey,” She said with a whisper, giggling right after at the ridiculousness of the nonchalant way she said it.

“Hey,” I whispered back. “Missed me?”

“I can’t miss you when you’re always here. Though, I admit I missed hugging you.”

“Same,” I replied. “But I don’t think we can remain like this throughout the night.”

I was obviously referring to Elira. I wasn’t sure if we wanted to make our relationship public quite yet and the nod that followed from Cellestra confirmed that she thought the same.

“I know,” She said softly. “But I can, for now, if only for a moment.”

I brought my face closer to hers and ran a hand through her long brown locks, earning a smile before I took her in for a soft kiss, one she eagerly accepted.

“Is it me or does it feel better each time?” I asked.

“No, that’s not just you. I feel the same way,” She replied with a shy smile. “Shall we go back to our own home tomorrow?”

She said it in such a way that made me feel sorry for suggesting to spend the night here, even though I knew she didn’t mean it that way. As much as I loved being near my family, I knew we would lack a certain amount of privacy here. That was, unless we asked for Elira to sleep in her own bed, but since this was a rare occasion, or supposed to be, I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” I told her before rubbing her head softly with affection. “And let’s call it a night as well. There’s plenty to do tomorrow yet again.”

“True. Do you want to reserve part of the day for building again?”

“If there’s any time left, perhaps. I wanted to go to the city and then head down into the dungeon again. I wonder if we should hunt Firags.”

“One advantage that you will have is that they don’t turn invisible or anything like that, so it’s a fair one-on-one, and I have no doubt you’ll win those.”

I nodded.

“That’s the plan. Let’s hope the execution is as easy as you make it sound.‘

“I have no doubt we’ll pull it off,” She whispered before standing up and sitting back down at my side, next to a snoring Elira. “Good night, Kea.”

“Good night, Cel.”