As they reached the hill they had formerly met on so often, Dawn put Niphru down before sitting beside him.  She then grumbled under her breath for a moment before saying, “I can’t believe he did that to either of us, that was so mean!”

Niphru nodded, feeling the same way, but responded, “I can understand why, even if I don’t like it.  But now you will be safer since if you get hurt you can heal yourself too.”

After remaining silent for a moment, Dawn bowed her head, remarking, “I guess so, but I still don’t like it, it was still cruel!”

Niphru then continued, “Anyways, since we are both here together, why don’t we practice our magic?  Fire works incredibly well against the ants, and I can put out any fires we start.”

Nodding, Dawn pulled a small pendant out of her shirt and held onto it for a moment.  Niphru could see a mana link being formed between the two, and then with a sudden snap, flames erupted around Dawn, three floating orbs of fire spinning around her.  She then pointed at the ground nearby and a ball of flame hurled itself where she pointed before splashing over the ground like water, leaving a scorched patch of ground lighting aflame.  This was repeated two more times with similar results as Dawn smiled and laughed.

“I came up with the idea from your foxfire, and somehow it just worked when I tried it!” Dawn exclaimed, scratching Niphru behind the ears.

“That certainly is more impressive than what I can do so far with my magic, great job!” Niphru responded, glad she would be able to defend herself.

As he swept his foxfire over the flames, putting them out, he continued, “All I can do is spray fire in a general direction.  Although I do have an idea.  Could you try that again?”

Niphru quickly formed a mana-link with Dawn, enabling them to share concepts telepathically again, then watched both mentally and with mana-sight as she formed the spell again.  He could almost figure it out from seeing it done this way, and began experimenting to try to get it working.

After several more cycles of Dawn casting the spell and Niphru putting out fires, he finally managed to get an orb of fire to appear from within his foxfire, erratically orbiting the other flame.  He tried casting it again, resulting in another orb appearing.  He had trouble getting them to fly away towards a target however, only succeeding when he got annoyed and his tail began thrashing, sending fire to each side.

Many more attempts later, both of them having to stop to siphon ambient mana, Niphru finally got multiple fireballs to form at once as well.  A few more tries after that, he managed to direct the flame with his will much like his foxfire, ending up surrounded by a dancing swarm of tiny orbs of flame.

Dawn looked on in awe as Niphru took her technique and improved it far beyond her own, then focused on their link as he cast it again, trying to pick up the differences for herself.  After several attempts, she too was surrounded by a constellation of flames.

Dawn shouted and jumped in surprise as she heard Amilya speak up behind her, “That is amazing work, both of you.  Dawn, because you are a mage and training to help, you are free from having to go to school until this is over.  Don’t waste this chance, the stronger you become, the safer you will be.

With her hand on her chest as she tried to relax, Dawn turned to face her mother, responding, “Of course I won’t.  And this was actually Niphru’s trick, I taught him what I knew then he came up with this and we shared it.  But Mom, Monti was cruel when we went to learn to heal, he cut Niphru with a knife, then threw it at me and cut me too!”

“That does sound like it would have been a shock, but did you learn what you needed?” she replied.

“We both learned how to heal, but that was mean of him!  What if we didn’t figure it out?” Dawn exclaimed.

“Well, I’m sure he would have healed you and apologized for failing to teach you.  Sometimes things like that are required, and this is one of those times,” Amilya responded.

They turned back to the village as they heard the gate thump shut, seeing the leader of the warriors heading towards them.  As he reached them, Amilya spoke up, “I take it your trip in the forest wasn’t as peaceful as hoped, Devon?”

“Unfortunately, no.  We confirmed the presence of a Black Tide just as Niphru reported.  The progress is slow as they expand outward, but they are headed this direction stripping the forest bare,” Devon said, before turning to Niphru and continuing, “I am sorry for not just accepting your word, but we have a saying ‘Trust but verify’ when it comes to these things.”

Niphru nodded to the man before speaking, “I understand, besides, why would you trust me when I am, as your men said, a mere beast?  You taking me seriously is more than I had hoped for already, and I thank you for it.”

Devon looked surprised for a moment before smiling and replying, “You know, I could get used to you, you are more polite than half those I have to deal with, and more forgiving.  At any rate, I need to get back to my men.  I see you’ve been working on your magic, I hope those pretty lights are as dangerous as they are impressive.”

Dawn and Niphru looked at each other in silent understanding and launched their constellations of flame in a line in front of themselves before Devon could turn away, peppering the field with head-sized scorched craters, then turned to smile at him as he stared in shock.  A moment later, Devon clapped and laughed before turning back to head to the village again.

Amilya smiled and pat Dawn on the head, speaking to Niphru, “I hope you can put all that out before it catches too much.”

“Of course, I am sure I can get it or we wouldn’t have tried that!” he replied, before racing off towards the flaming craters.

“Alright, I trust you, be sure to head back in time for dinner,” Amilya called out before she returned to the village.

Shortly afterward, Niphru finished extinguishing the growing fire, then returned to Dawn.  She sat down beside him and scratched him behind the ears again, smiling happily.  They had both improved significantly due to working together with their bonds, even if it had been exhausting.

After resting there for a while, they headed back to the village.  Dawn hugged Niphru, then headed towards the school as Niphru returned to the house.  As he arrived, he bit the latch to enter, closing the door behind him, and found Amilya sitting in the room resting, though her head shot up again as he closed the door.

“Hello Amilya, Dawn went back to school because we were exhausted with magic after doing so much experimenting with it.  I’m headed to take a nap like you were.  Thanks again for everything,” he said before heading into the spare room.

He jumped up into the chair and curled up, hoping he wouldn’t have the nightmare again.  As he waited for sleep, he considered how best to use the swarm of fireballs he had learned how to make.