After that awkward conversation, during which I desperately tried to convince the dwarfs that what I said was but a foolish joke, I think I mostly succeeded, and was promptly scolded for spouting nonsense. Emrum, to my great embarrassment, practically ordered me to reflect on my behavior while repeating the earth-wall spell until I could barely walk.

He did not think through that punishment half as much as he should have. Because after raising two more similarly sized earth-walls, I somewhat reached that spot and it didn’t take more than ten minutes. Naturally, between casting spells, there was little time to reflect upon anything else than magic.

After the third earth wall that I raised in rapid succession. I noticed that my vision was swimming at the edges from the intense focus I did and couldn’t help but sit down on a conveniently placed rock nearby. I was taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm my slight anxiety as I recognized the first signs of mana exhaustion.

I felt a large hand grasp onto my bony shoulder, my head naturally turning in the direction, noticing the slightly worried visage of Emrum leaning over me.

“You good, lass?” — His voice questioned me with a playful tone that masked his sense of nervousness.

I stared at him, looking at his ruddy beard and hair the latter put into a single braid, a dead giveaway, even in the midst of this gloomy cave only lighted by a few distant torches.

I nodded slowly. My vision was still stabilizing.

“I am fine. Just hit my limit a bit faster than expected.” — I grimaced. Seeing Emrum’s confused expression, I started an explanation. — “It’s much easier to manipulate the earth than controlling lightning, but at this quantity, it is deceptively draining compared to the lack of effort on my part. The earth almost seems to lean into the spell, while I had to wrestle the lightning element on every step.”

His eyes glinted with new understanding, and he chuckled while listening to my description. He patted my head in a friendly gesture, and I couldn’t help but notice that I wasn’t half as embarrassed by the action as a week earlier.

“So that means you are done with the practicing for now? Knowing that your current limit is three subsequent earth walls is a crucial information for planning out the operation. We will have to report this to the commander right after we get back.” — Emrum stated in just loud enough for the rest of our party to catch onto it.

Tymur came over and began to unpack our rations from his seemingly bottomless backpack. Meanwhile, Tum and Skod monotonously pulled out the torches that were used to light the cave. Bringing them over and piercing them into the ground next to us. They only allowed a few of them to remain burning. Blowing the rest out with the help of a curious metal cap that they pulled over the burning end of the torches, cutting them off the oxygen and suffocating the flames in a matter of seconds.

Tum plopped down next to me on my right. Sort of, but instead of sitting atop the rock like I did, he sat on the cave's ground and leaned against the rock as some sort of improvised backrest. Skod set down to his right while Emrum walked over to Tymur’s side, helping him with the unpacking.

I could feel my stomach rumbling in anticipation as I waited patiently next to the two dwarfs. Fortunately, I did not have to wait for long. Emrum pushed a metal food container into my waiting hands, along with a small knife used for cutting meat.

“Thank you.” — I said with a genuine smile and accepted the food, while the rest of us received their own portions.

At last, Tymur and Emrum, grasping their own food containers, sat down on the ground across us.

Tymur coughed lightly, drawing everyone’s attention to himself, and said. — “Ughm… well, bless the paragons for this food that is provided for us so far from our home.” — His words of a prayer rolled off his tongue with a well-practiced ease.

The rest of the dwarfs nodded and repeated a part of the prayer in a similar fashion. — “Bless the paragons.” — The words were whispered in quick succession.

I decided to join in with their thanksgivings. Closing my eyes, I spoke in a clear voice. — “Bless the paragons for providing this food. And also gratitude to the God of creation, who gave us the chance to experience the futility and joy of existence.” — I felt the familiar warmth surrounding me in an invisible cocoon for the briefest of moments when my prayer ended. Feeling part of the previous tiredness lifting from my body.

I opened my eyes, feeling a genuine sense of gratitude and peace, then opened the small box of food.

The rest of the dwarfs followed suit after exchanging a curious look among themselves. The moment I opened the container, I was taken aback by the scent of freshly baked bread and roasted meat that looked like it was picked right from the fire in mere seconds.

My stomach grumbled loudly, which shook me out of my confusion. There was even some sort of sauce next to it. I broke off a part of the small loaf, feeling its softness and warmth that was just right for consumption.

I lifted it to my mouth and swallowed it without hesitation. My ears twitched with joy. I always loved fresh bread. I hummed satisfied, while continued shoveling some of the meat dipped into the mushroom sauce into my mouth with my other hand. The food was simple, yet it tasted great, since we were hungry and it was just the right temperature.

While I was stuffing myself thoughtlessly. I sensed a few hesitant glances from the rest of the dwarfs. Which caused me to look up somewhat reluctantly. Then I realized that all the dwarfs were frozen in their position as they opened the food containers.

I looked over at Tum’s food. It looked similar to mine, the same sort of food with that strange sweet meat I was yet to identify. Next to a small loaf of bread and some mushroom sauce.

Skod was the first who started eating. Right after, he gave me a thankful smile.

I nodded to him out of courtesy.

Then I heard Emrum direct a strange question at me. — “Selora… did you heat up our food with some sort of strange spell?” — His gaze narrowed at me, but there was a hesitance mirrored in his eyes, as if he wasn’t entirely sure if he should be angry or happy about this outcome.

I looked at him, unsure what he meant. — “What do you mean, Emrum?” — The man shook his head disapprovingly, while taking an experimental bite of his bread. His eyes widening comically. Then he looked back at me with an exasperated look.

“Paragons help us with this impossible child…” — He murmured while taking another bite of the bread, making his frustrated act look quite comical. Still, he did give more context to his supposed annoyance, eventually.

“It tastes as if it was just taken out of the oven. Yet, I am pretty sure it was made at least half a day ago. This is incredible. Magic is truly a marvel.” — Emrum said with a joyful expression. It seems he was too tired to be surprised anymore.

My ears twitched. I looked at him, asking with little thought, my mouth still full with the tasty food. — “Eh? But, I didn’t do anything…” — Hearing my careless answer, I was suddenly hit on the head, in a playful gesture, which startled me out of the blissful gorging I was doing.

I turned towards Tum, who, to my surprise, was the culprit. — “Now what was that for?” — I asked, my voice sounding genuinely unsure and that strangely startled the dwarfs. Making the ever silent Tymur snort loudly. Then he began to cough violently. As if by some divine punishment, some of his food went down the wrong path.

Tum raised his hand, waving his finger at me in a lecturing way. I leaned away from him, my confusion only growing with the seconds. — “Wh-what? What is it now… you are all acting weird…”

Emrum, was the first to realize I genuinely didn’t understand their problem. Also that I was getting uncomfortable with the situation. He raised his hand to calm the others. Which only partially succeeded. All thanks to Tymur who was coughing on the side like a mad-man unwittingly raising the tensions with his antics.

Emrum glanced at his friend, who was currently gulping down water from his waterflask. He then turned back to me, lifting up one of the white bread slices like it was some sort of damning evidence of my misdeeds.

“Then how is our food warm?” — He asked.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be? Anyway, it’s probably because of the containers. They are quite well crafted, likely capable of keeping the food warm for a long time…” — I answered.

Emrum shook his head more violently this time.

“Selora, stop playing games with us!” — He eventually snapped at me. I winced thanks to my extremely sharp ears and continued to stare at him, stupefied by the situation.

My expression must have been a marvel to look at, since it had an immediate effect on the dwarfs.

Tymur, who finally came back from his coughing spree, took over the conversation in an explanatory way.

“Look Lora, you can say it we are not angry. Just stop trying to deceive us.” — I looked at him, like he was out of his mind.

“I am not trying to deceive any of you. But, since you are so convinced, tell me then, when would I cast such a spell at all of your foods? I didn’t speak a chant and above all, I don’t have that kind of mana to spare right now!” — Tymur sighed, finally realizing that something didn’t add up.

Emrum chose that time to speak up. — “You did speak a chant though, right before we started eating, girl.”

I turned to him, thinking back at the short prayer made up on the spot. — “That wasn’t a chant, just a prayer to the God I… wait, could it be?”

Suddenly realizing what was going on… I quickly tied the loose treads together, coming to the single possible explanation… It must have been Lord Axis’ influence, a divine gift of sort and I didn’t even realize it. He must be annoyed…

“… Ugh-hu…” — Was the only sound that left my mouth after the uncomfortable revelation. It was clear to me that Lord Axis was the one who blessed us with this food. As a thanks for my honest prayer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in a position to say that out-loud, since that would lead to further questioning, causing quite a lot of problems for me.

Therefore, instead of explaining what had just happened, I lowered my head and said in a small voice.

“I-I see… well, I am sorry… I didn’t quite think it through…”

Seeing my pale expression, the dwarfs nodded, turning back to their meals one by one.

Emrum sighed again. — “Still, to imagine that you can heat up food without even thinking about it properly… I am beginning to doubt that your story of burning down half of an elven forest was that much of an overstatement after all.”

I felt like a pincushion while the dwarfs threw another wave of piercing glares in my direction while continuing to eat their food happily. The hypocrites…

This was getting ridiculous, I thought, hugging my bowl placed in my lap. Eating the contents in thoughtful silence.

I looked through my spells. There was fire manipulation, all right. At least I could explain what happened in a roundabout way when we get back. After all, what is the chance that this is going to be forgotten when we reach the outpost?

I wondered. The answer was pretty obvious. Well… Lord Axis, I hope you will lend me your aid, if others also desire to eat their meals fresh. Because… I might be able to heat them up, except this food wasn’t just heated up, it was really fresh…

I winced, feeling a sharp pain inside my head, dropping my cutlery back into my bowl, and reaching up to my temple with a trembling hand, but it was already over before the movement was finalized.

I looked around, blinking sheepishly, unsure of what had just happened. Then a fresh memory jumped to the forefront of my mind. A series of complex magical theories swam across my vision, leaving a dull throbbing in their wake which jolted across my skull. My mind tried to dramatically catch onto the strange yet somehow familiar diagrams, only managing to catch a single pair of words. Which I, in my lapse of concentration, spoke out loud.

“Ancient magic of creation…”

Hearing my words, the dwarfs froze once again, and a heavy atmosphere started to fill the cave. One that I was oblivious to, being submerged in the whirlpool of magical theories implanted into my mind.