Bjorn and Æsa had run to check on Tanisha as she sat up from the ground. The sparring match between her and Joha had ended only moments before. Bjorn was pleasantly surprised at Tanisha’s growth in the short time he had known her. At the start of their unfortunate adventure she was a normal girl, barely able to use the magic within her body. Now she was on the path to mastering not only her magic but also the infernal forces of another reality.

Æsa checked over Tanisha, and the two ladies retreated to the perimeter of the training area. Tanisha looked relatively uninjured; she was winded though. That left Bjorn and Joha facing off as they prepared for their match. Bjorn followed Joha back to the middle of the training area, the familiar mentally going over his skills and their cost on his very limited mana.

“Bjorn, you can use all of your abilities, do not worry if they are toxic. I will be fine,” Joha said.

Joha’s red maya surrounded him in a thin wisp-like veil. Bjorn could tell he was taking this match a little more seriously than he had with Tanisha. It was understandable; he didn’t know all of Bjorn’s abilities, while at the same time was aware Bjorn had killed an entire camp of gnolls alone. However, Bjorn couldn’t use his maya for a few weeks because of the changes it made to his body.

“Should we use our breath attacks?” Bjorn asked in his head.

“I don’t see why not. He did give us the okay and I doubt we can kill him,” Failsafe responded.

Bjorn lowered his heads as he bared his teeth and hissed loudly. He stalked around Joha, remaining low to the ground. He wanted to get a good position and to block the tiger demon's view of his right head until the last possible second. As soon as Bjorn made it around to the demon's side he leapt, claws extended as a red herring. 

Joha reacted by turning his body in a smooth, well practiced motion. He was surprised when the attack came up short and Bjorn was out of range. Until Bjorn's right head opened its mouth, and a thick Poison Cloud rushed forth like a tsunami. He’d held the skill in this mouth longer so it would spill out with much greater speed. In an instant the entirety of the training field was engulfed in magically infused poison. At the perimeter of the training field it stopped suddenly, as if there was a wall preventing it from spreading further.

Bjorn wasn’t idle with the single attack. While he couldn’t close the distance between himself and Joha with his fangs without lunging again, his tail was plenty long. He used the poison as a smoke screen as he spun around, swinging his long tail, aiming the thagomizer at Joha’s position. All in all the attack took less than a second, his speed greatly increased by his new stats.

When he didn’t feel an impact he located the tiger demon within the cloud by flicking his tongues, finding his scent. Now that he had three heads he could locate a target extremely quickly. He rushed in, snapping his heads at Joha, only for each strike to be redirected by an open palm with inhuman speed and accuracy. 

Joha was cloaked in red maya, which didn’t allow the poison to reach him. He used a maya infused equivalent of Flash Step to sidestep Bjorn’s relentless attacks. Bjorn reared back to reposition and swiped his front right claws at him. Joha ducked the wild strike and laid an open palm strike on Bjorn’s side. 

The impact wasn’t hard, but Joha’s maya surged, pushing Bjorn onto his side and causing him to slide back a few feet. Bjorn could tell that Joah held back a lot, and if he was serious that attack would have blown him in half.

“That is enough, Bjorn,” Joha said.

After the cloud dissipated, Joha gathered Bjorn and Tanisha to go over their sparring matches. He was pleased with them both, but noted some room for improvements. Tanisha was too hesitant and Bjorn wasn’t used to the size of his body. The problems boiled down to lack of confidence; neither were comfortable in the power they had but Joha promised that it would not be that way for long. 

“There is a more pressing issue with Bjorn,” Joha said. “His maya channels are damaged, which is not surprising given how much they changed him. He is avoiding using his maya because of it.”

“How can we heal them? I can buy a health potion,” Tanisha asked, her voice dripping with concern. “We can go right now…”

Joha raised his hand to stop her. “No, a health potion won’t work. This is a problem with his attunement with the Infernal Planes.”

“His attunement? You mean like the pipe that I have to smoke?” Tanisha asked.

“Yes, the pipe helps attune your body to the Infernal Planes gradually and safely,” Joha said. “Bjorn was exposed to an explosive amount of energy rapidly. His body will repair the damage in time, but it will take a year or two without proper rehabilitation. So, during the morning training I will also be working with Bjorn to recover his maya channels.”

Tanisha was a nervous wreck with the news, and kept asking more questions about if Bjorn was in pain, if he needed to change his diet, and anything else she could find out about the condition. Apparently it wasn’t a big deal as long as he didn’t use maya for the next few weeks. The treatment for animals consisted of the use of a Caragi, which was a large bowl  that essentially filled a space with maya. The animal would breathe it in, much like she did with the pipe, and perform simple activities. Joha continued with tips on how to condense a maya construct to make them stronger. 

The group kept on with combat training for the next few hours, going over forms and reinforcing habits with light sparring. By the end of their training they had accrued a small crowd. Several members of the Hrior af Brotnum Isi mystic swordsmanship style had come to watch. Once training was over Tanisha got several requests to spar when she had the time, which Joha thought would be a good idea. 

After a bath Tanisha searched for Helina, and found her watching her sons as they took swordsmanship lessons from one of the instructors. She was sitting in a gazebo, eating what looked like a small cake. When she saw Tanisha and Bjorn she smiled, patting the seat beside her. Tanisha sat down, and the familiar feeling of Helina’s long tail wrapping around her waist made her feel comfortable. The gesture was a goblin equivalent of a hug.

The two talked for a while about the estate and the wait time for the permits and many other inconsequential subjects. Tanisha could tell that Helina knew she was stalling but humored her anyway. After a while Tanisha sighed, deciding to get to the heart of things.

“Can you teach me elemental magic?” Tanisha asked. 

“Yes, of course,” Helina said without missing a beat. “We can start tomorrow if you like.”

Tanisha hurried through her defense. “I know it is a time investment but I am a fast le…” Tanisha paused in making her case. “Wait, what? Really just like that?”

Helina giggled. “Did you think I would turn you away? I would have taught you even before you saved my life. I assumed you were going to look into the nature discipline instead of elemental.” 

“That would make sense because of my potion making, but I don’t have anyone who can teach me that,” Tanisha said.

“You still look troubled though; did something else happen?” Helina questioned.

“I’m pretty sure the Isi want to marry me to Tyr so they can become nobles,” Tanisha said in a breath.

Helina laughed loudly. She had to get a hold of herself before she could finally talk. “Oh, yeah definitely that is the plan. You are the catch of a lifetime for any family like theirs. A female mage with no family connections; you are a sign from the Celestial Planes that the stars are aligning. I thought it wasn’t a big deal for wendigo to marry for status, and you and Tyr seem close.” She pointed up at the red feather in Tanisha’s tiara. 

Tanisha blushed, sitting up perfectly straight. “We-we decided to give courting a try is all.” She took a breath. “I don’t know if I want to go back to being a noble, or if it is possible given who my former family was.”

Helina nodded at that. “Hmm… Yeah I imagine, given what they did to you, which I still want to wring their necks for by the way, they wouldn’t be too pleased with you trying to regain your peerage.”

“What do you think I should do?” Tanisha asked.

Helina patted Tanisha’s knee. “Politics isn’t really my forte, but as a Shai you don’t have any ties to your old life. If it bothers you to regain nobility, it’s not like you don't have a couple hundred years ahead of you. You don’t have to rush into this. I think you should talk to Kolbien because he is the patriarch; find out their intentions for the arranged marriage.”

Tanisha was quiet for a little while, and nodded. “Yeah, I will do it after the banquet.”

Helina looked up at the girl. “If you don’t want to, I will walk with you to his office and tell’em to back off. If Tyr does anything funny you let mamma Helina know.”

“Mamma Helina?” Tanisha smiled. “Okay, deal.”