Lula held her in a crushing hug.

“I’m going to miss you,” Emelri muttered into her friend’s shoulder.

“I’ll miss you too. It was so good to see you. You three be safe now.”

“Thank you, Lula,” Adrian said behind them while he strapped one of their rolled-up tents onto the back of the donkey Duje had insisted they borrow. “We owe you and your family a great deal.”

“Pfft, you don’t owe us anything. Just take good care of Bibi.” The donkey snorted, and the two women pulled apart. “Oh Emi. I wish you luck in finding Toulou, and...” she leaned close to her ear, “good luck with Pepin.”

“Lula!”

“I’m serious!” She pulled back, giggling. “You deserve to be happy. Remember that.”

 

 ❀❀❀

 

The group of three found themselves sweating under the sun on a red dirt road surrounded by towering tropical trees and bushes.

“We should reach Fevlin right when we’ll need to turn around and travel back to meet Jacques,” Adrian said, leading the group while tugging Bibi along. “I’d say three or four days from now. We can’t have any more sidetracks.”

“If only I could get these jumps down,” Pepin said in frustration, holding an energy crystal between his palms as he walked, “things would be much easier.”

“You’ve already made a lot of progress, Pep, and besides, it’s like I said before. We don’t need you to learn it in order to reach Toulou.”

“But what if we miss them? They have nearly an entire day head start.”

“Yes, but they hadn’t slept in two days when we last saw them. They have to sleep sometime, and if we keep leaving early in the mornings, we should reach Fevlin around the same time they do.”

“I would just feel better if we could get there before them, and teleporting would make that possible. Old Man Yll made it sound so easy, but I can’t seem to even start the process of entering ‘the passing.’ I don’t know what my gut is trying to say.”

“Don’t listen to that crazy old man,” he grumbled, trying to hide the irritability in his voice and failing. “Did you hear him call me impolite? Me. Imagine that...”

“He really got under your skin, huh?” Emelri mused. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who disliked you before.”

“That’s true,” Pepin agreed. “You usually get along with everyone.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” he said, making a dismissive gesture with his hand. “We learned what we needed to about Toulou’s location and that’s all that matters.”

“Right, and you’re not bitter at all,” she teased, noting how his jaw tightened.

“Okay, you made your point, Emi.”

She adjusted the heavy weapon on her back with a chuckle. “We should reach the next town before noon by the way.” 

“That’s what Lula said. What’s the name of the town again?”

“Alwoskt. It’s Alchemist territory. I’ve heard it’s quite—”

She was interrupted by a big flash of light, and Pepin was suddenly several steps in front of her on his hands and knees, his chest heaving.

“Pep!” Adrian exclaimed, rushing forward. “Are you okay?” He helped him to his feet. “What happened?”

Emelri appeared on his other side. “Did you... did you just teleport?”

The dazed green eyes found first Adrian then Emelri’s face. “I... think so? Ngh!” He held his head in his hands, groaning. “I think I saw ‘the passing,’ but I was too slow to make any choices.”

“Are you hurt?” Adrian asked worriedly.

He shook his head.

“What did it feel like?” she asked, and he blinked over at her.

“Awful. Worse than when Jacques jumps with us.” 

“Can you try it again, do you think?”

Another head shake. “My head needs to stop spinning first.”

Slinging an arm around his waist, Adrian steadied him. “Take your time. Why don’t you try practicing again when we aren’t traveling? I don’t want you incapacitated on the road if we come across trouble.”

He gave a soft nod, pushing off his father’s arm to stand on his own.

“I can’t believe you did it,” Emelri said excitedly as they all began walking again. “You’ll have this down in no time! I know it.”

He blinked, then gave a shy smile in return. “Thanks.” 

“Just think: Toulou doesn’t even know about teleporting and you’re already making headway! Maybe... maybe you could use it in combat even.” He perked up at that. “I mean, you saw what Old Man Yll could do in just a flash of a second. Imagine what you could do in a tight situation.”

“Hm.” His expression sank. “I’ve never fought anyone except you and Toulou, and that was for practice reasons. You know what happens when I’m in real life situations. Think of what happened when you were hurt by that Spiller all those years ago.”

“That was then, though. Things are completely different now. You’re a whole new man.”

He snorted. “Not really. The only difference is I grew a few inches and my hair’s a bit longer.”

“Is it?” Her eyes fell over the black coils. “I can’t really tell with how curly it is.”

“Yeah, it is, but you can only really see when it’s wet.”  

The memory of a shirtless Pepin with his binder on and the wet locks came to mind, and she coughed away the heat in her face. “That makes sense. Well, remember that if you find yourself in trouble, you always have me and Adrian to protect you.” She grinned, giving her bicep a flex to which he gave a soft laugh.

“That I do.”

“Though, let’s be real, you’re definitely more of a threat than I am.”

“That’s not true. What about in situations where I can’t use my magic?”

“Uh...” She swished her hand in his direction. “Your knives.”

“Mm. But you can still hold your own against Spillers. Spillers with Teptrite even. I can’t do that.”

“But here in Yayma that doesn’t matter.”

“Well, except that’s probably going to change very soon with how things are going...”

The content air between them faded. “Carnadine,” she muttered gravely. “Even with just a small amount of Teptrite she poses a major threat to the users here. Most don’t even know how to defend themselves.”

“I know. It makes me worry for Toulou even more. This is why I need to learn how to make these jumps. I’m the only one that can do it. The only one who can reach them before they get hurt.” He looked down at the crystal between his fingers and sighed. “I need to do this.”

 

❀❀❀

 

Just as the sun reached its peak in the sky, the group of three entered the crowded town of Alwoskt. Emelri blinked at the crammed buildings and dozens of people out and about. It all reminded her of Elden Town.

“I always knew this place was a thriving but...” Her attention was grabbed by a busy stand selling wrapped plant leaves packed full of meat, rice, and vegetables, and her mouth watered.

It seemed to have the same effect on the other two as Adrian halted with Bibi in hand to stare at it while Pepin’s eyes widened in interest. “We should probably eat something before we keep going,” Adrian said, his hand already in his pocket as he rummaged for change.

“It may take a while with how busy things are,” she said, eyeing the mob of people waiting for their food. “Why don’t you two grab food while I refill our water pouches?”

“You sure? Do you have money on you?”

“Don’t need any.” She whipped something out of her pocket, producing a metal tapper she’d bought back in Trivulon. “You hammer this into the trees here and get free water. Hand me your pouches.”

“Oh! How innovative!” He took Pepin’s pouch from him and handed it to Emelri along with his own. “You really get fresh water from the trees here?”

“That’s right. This will save us some money. Alright,” she turned from them, “I’ll meet you both back here later.”

 

 

After pounding the little device into a thick tree trunk with palm leaves, Emelri watched as a small stream of water traveled out into her readied leather pouch. After filling all three pouches, she headed back, certain the men must have been waiting for her by now.

To her surprise, they were still in front of the stand with nothing in their hands, appearing to be deep in conversation. She opened her mouth to announce her return when something stopped her.

“…think she feels the same?” Adrian asked, and something about his tone made her dart behind a deserted stand to eavesdrop.

She peeked from behind the counter and saw Pepin shrug in response.

“You could always tell her.”

He shook his head quickly, and Emelri couldn’t quite make out his soft voice over the buzz of chatter.

“But you aren’t, Pep,” Adrian insisted. “Aveline was the one who raised you, not Jacques and I. We simply housed and guided someone who was already an independent teenager and who had a home before this one. It’s not strange in the slightest.”

Distress crossed his face, and he leaned forward as he replied.

Adrian’s face softened. “That doesn’t matter, and I believe you’re just using that as an excuse.”

Pepin looked away.

“You’ve been holding back, and not just with this. You’ve always been a bit hesitant and unsure of yourself, but I know you’re more than capable of handling this as well as the magic jumps. Confidence is not about performing perfectly in front of others, Pep, but about testing what you’re capable of and growing off that. Give yourself more credit.”

Green eyes flickered down as he stood melancholily with hands on his hips and there was silence. Emelri used it to come out of her hiding place and she casually strode up to them. “Brought the water!” she called out, lifting one of the pouches above her head. “The food arrive yet?”

Pepin’s shoulders shot up to his ears. 

“Not yet—Ah, speaking of which,” Adrian said as the man behind the food stand waved at them, and he left to retrieve the three wrapped meals. The reins for Bibi were passed to Pepin who took them distractedly.

The two teens stood awkwardly in silence for a moment, then Emelri handed Pepin his water pouch. “Here you go.” He took it, nodding politely in response. “I’m glad I didn’t take too long filling them. I think you’ll like the rice pockets as we call them here.” She tilted her head in the direction of the stand. “You asked for salmon, right? I know how much you like it.”

He blinked, then nodded shyly. 

Whatever he and Adrian had been talking about, it’d left Pepin nervous, alright. She gathered they’d been talking about her, but Adrian had encouraged him to tell her something, and the prospect set her teeth on edge.

“Here you are, you two.” Adrian’s voice brought her back to the present as did the smell of the rice pocket that was pressed into her hands. “We’ll eat on the way. Come along then.” Taking the reins from Pepin, he led them down the street and the two teens followed.

They wove through the crowd in silence as they all but inhaled their food. Emelri even took what were considerably big bites for her—the hunger and lack of energy winning her over.

“We asked for tuna in yours, Emi,” Pepin said softly, making her start. “Is that alright?”

Swallowing, she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, perfectly alright.” She spoke with her mouth full, and amusement crossed his face.

“Good.”

As he turned away from her to look forward again, she watched him for a moment. “Can I try yours?”

He glanced back, then slowed his pace so they could walk side by side now. Without saying a word, he offered it to her.

“Thanks!” She grabbed a bit with her fingers and put it in her mouth, but not before dropping a small amount down her shirt. “Oh shit!” Attempting to save the leftovers, she picked the rice grains off her shirt and slipped them between her lips at a rapid pace, though most of what had fallen out simply flew to the ground. 

Pepin giggled as she handed his rice pocket back to him. “You could have just told me you didn’t like it instead of dumping it on the street,” he teased softly.

“Ha. Ha.” Seeing his mouth crack with mirth, she gave him a small hit to the shoulder. “Stop it. For someone so quiet, you make a lot of noise sometimes.”

He laughed harder, and she couldn’t help but join him.

“Alright you two,” Adrian said at the front, but not unkindly, “let’s pick up the pace. We can’t afford any more delays.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she sassed, quickly inhaling the rest of her meal. “The salmon is good, Pep, just not as good as my tuna—”

“Em, is that you?”

She stopped in her tracks at the female voice that addressed her.

Frozen in place, an uncontrollable shiver crawled up Emelri’s spine. Was she hearing things?

Finally turning, time stopped as her eyes locked onto an older woman who cautiously approached her. 

“Mother?”