The rest of the day passed in quiet short conversations between the pair, idle talk of inconsequential things that made both of them smile at the pleasant atmosphere between them. When camp was made that night it was the same as it ever was, each of them taking a watch that saw them through to the next morning which for the first time in a while brought rain with it. The atmosphere was more subdued, their talk and their spirits dampened by the rain, and even Eahlswith stayed closer to them as they travelled, looking progressively more bedraggled as the day went on. The rain had at least eased off by the time they were ready to camp for the night but they lacked any real ability to start a fire with most of the wood they found too sodden to serve. Knowing that this was a likely result they had at least made sure to find a sheltered hollow in a small copse of trees and set up their furs huddling close to one another to warm up as best they could. The night that passed was bitterly cold but they were spared the wind at the very least by dint of where they were sheltering. One thing that Aellisia had noted was that the further from the heart they moved the more space there was amongst the trees, and even the very height some of them reached seemed somewhat shorter than she was used to seeing. She wondered whether it was related to what Eahlswith had said to her before about how the air was different throughout the forest. After her mark had manifested itself she had noted that she was much more able to sense the strangeness in the air around herself, and she closed her eyes and concentrated she felt that it was similar to what she felt inside herself, and as that thought occurred to her, almost like a whisper in her mind two words appeared,
"Ambient Mana."
Her brows shot up but she kept her eyes closed and instead focused on the words, the intent to understand forcing itself upon them as she strained her mind. And like a reluctant plant, as she pulled on it, she finally felt it give, and a little more understanding flooded through leaving her almost breathless. She understood now, that the air around her was filled with Ambient Mana, natural Mana produced by the world around her, and the corruption that Eahlswith spoke of was, in fact, Stagnant Ambient Mana, Mana that was corrupted by outside means when it had reached a certain density. When she compared that to her own Mana, she could see the difference between them clear as day in her mind, through a process she didn't yet understand she also saw that she was taking in ambient mana and converting it into her own personal mana. And though she still didn't understand how to make her own mana take form and direction outside of herself, she felt that there was a way to do so.

Aellisia continued pursuing her internal investigation throughout the length of her watch and gained a few more limited insights. But much of what she wanted to know still seemed to be locked just beyond her reach, like there was a wall that somehow she wasn't yet able to climb over. But she vowed to herself once more that the day would come soon when she would tear that wall in her mind down with her own two hands, and nothing would stop her. She gently separated herself from the sleeping pair of Zilia and Eahlswith, pausing only to cover Zilia with the fur she had been huddled under and moved to a slight distance away from them, pausing at the edge of the small copse of trees she removed her hide jacket and hung it on a broken branch on one of the trees leaving herself topless save her chest wraps. For a long moment, she stood there with her eyes closed and reveled in the feeling of the cool wind against her skin before opening them again and picking up her spear. She began to stretch slightly and then focused on the spear in her hands, doing as she did before to the thoughts of mana, trying to force understanding of it into her mind. Aellisia had been using a spear for a long time now, but only in the context of hunting, and only twice in an actual fight and she knew that it wouldn't be enough should they encounter Mathio or other Hostile humans again. And so she sought to find that sense she had felt before when she had taken up that sword during the fight with the owlbear, almost instinctual like her body knew what it needed to do to handle it. It was something that had occurred to her after she could no longer meditate on her thoughts of mana and was also prompted by that nagging desire to understand herself and her capabilities. And like before, as she focused on the spear in her hands, and cut off all other stray thoughts ghostly images began slowly placing themselves through her mind She felt her body start to sink into a proper posture, her grip shifting as she brought the spear up into a half-remembered guard posture and as she sank deeper into the sensation of pushing her mind into the concept of wielding a spear a sudden bursting flood of images filled her mind. It was as though she was seeing someone else perform the movements, and she marvelled at the sight as the figure seemed to flow like water from one movement into the next in complicated patterns. Keeping her eyes closed she slowly began to follow the movements and letting her body guide her in the way it wanted to move, at first her movements were stiff and slow but slowly as she practiced over and over again she began to feel the movements become smoother. And so she kept following the figure in her mind, her body learning from it quickly, as though it too was remembering something long forgotten, and she felt a smile spreading across her face as her movements got faster and faster.

Zilia had been woken by something, and as she slowly blinked her eyes open to fight off the sleep that clung to her she listened carefully. It was a strange sound, like someone swinging something around, blinking the remnants of sleep from her eyes she looked around and saw that Eahlswith too was awake and staring off to one side of the copse, her ears perked up and her gaze unblinking. But Aellisia was nowhere to be seen, and Zilia also realised that the Aelven woman had covered her with her own fur at some point. She smiled slightly at that, momentarily reflecting on the kindness of the woman before her attention was drawn to the strange sounds she was hearing from the same direction Eahlswith seemed to be staring at, and so she grabbed her walking staff and struggled up to her feet before cautiously making her way over to where the sound was coming from. As she paused for a moment at the edge of the copse, she realised that Aellisia's hide jacket was hanging on the tree, this alone was strange as she had never seen the Aelven woman without it before, furrowing her brows she cautiously moved past the tree and stopped, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping. She saw before her the figure of the Aelven woman, illuminated by the moonlight, her inky black hair highlighted against her unnaturally pale skin and muscularly toned body, covered only by her hide trousers and foot wraps, and her chest wraps. She marvelled at the sight and felt heat rush up to her cheeks as she stared for a long moment before she noted the huge smile Aellisia had on her face and the fact that both her eyes were closed. Everything seemed to still for a moment, and then as she watched on she witnessed the Aelven move. She seemed to be following some form of fighting drills, but it was like nothing she had seen before and was filled with a gracefulness that belied the deadly intent behind her every swing and stab. Each movement was more like dancing, as she crouched and thrust, swept and span the long length of the spear around her in interconnecting movements to a beat that only she could hear. And as Zilia continued her silent vigil she watched as Aellisia sped up, her hair flicking around her as she moved from low stances to higher ones, at one point it was almost as though the spear had ceased being something separate from her, and instead was just another extension of her own body. The longer this went on the more it occurred to her that Aellisia was speeding up almost continually, and as she did so the individual movements stopped being separate from one another and instead became almost like one long flowing movement, and despite the beads of sweat that dotted her face and body only one thought occurred to Zilia as she watched this spectacle, this deadly and beautiful dance without end.
"Incredible."

When she had eventually come to a stop and opened her eyes Aellisia could feel her muscles burning from her exertions and her breath was slightly ragged. She didn't know how long she had been following the guide in her mind but she could see that the forest around her had become lighter, and so thought it must have been a few hours at least. She felt her hands quivering slightly and cramping up as she slowly loosed her grip on her spear. It was incredible she thought, it felt less like learning and more like remembering and that thought alone filled her with joy, that in some small way she had reclaimed part of herself again. It was similar to when she had remembered how to uncover her mark, a sense of becoming that suffused her heart and soul and gave her hope that eventually everything she had forgotten would return and she would be whole once more. As she stared off into the forest and let her body slowly recover from her exercise she reflected on the fact that since her collapse, and the explosion of emotion that had preceded it, it seemed like some hitherto unknown seal had been loosened slightly and things had become easier and faster to learn or remember. One prime example of this was her new comprehension of the Human language, it had felt after waking that hearing the voices of her parents speaking that unknown language that she had been learning, albeit a more archaic and odd-sounding one, that all her lessons with Zilia and those memories had snapped together into an understanding as intrinsic as when she spoke in Aelvenish. Once more she felt a little vindicated in her decision to leave the home she and Eahlswith had shared, although the pang of homesickness still gnawed at her she knew in herself that she had made the right decision, and could only hope that continuing this journey would reveal more of her forgotten secrets and her past. Finally turning around with a deep sigh of satisfaction she paused slightly as she saw Zilia leaning against a tree, a soft smile on her reddened face. She wondered briefly how long the Human woman had been standing there, surprised that she had been so enveloped in her practice that she had not even realised when she had arrived. As she slowly walked towards their shelter Zilia bowed her head slightly and fumbled to pass her a waterskin which she took with a slight smile of thanks, she slaked her deep thirst and emptied it, before wordlessly passing it back and grabbing her jacket, not putting it back on yet as she enjoyed the cool air. And silently the pair re-entered the small copse as Eahlswith watched on with a slight aura of smug satisfaction as her eyes flickered between the pair with amusement.