Orlon closed his eyes again, calculating the faint trickle of worldly mana returning to his broken body.

  "Gather the ingredients," Orlon commanded quietly. "Give his physical body time to rest. In exactly three days, my spirit will have recovered just enough strength to brew it."

  _______

  Imara held the mop in trembling hands. Her eyes were swollen, shadowed by deep, bruised bags from a completely sleepless night. Her arms pushed the mop back and forth across the floor automatically, moving on pure instinct.

  "Uh... Imara." Riko stepped out of the back room, quietly tying her hair back. "Let me get that for you."

  Imara looked up at her and managed a weak, exhausted smile. Across the room, Lucio was already at the hearth, stirring a meager lunch for the house and a dark, herbal concoction for Eila's comatose body.

  "Where are Kian and Kaito?" Riko asked gently, taking the handle of the mop to clear away the dried blood and stone debris from last night's horror.

  "They've gone hunting." Imara collapsed onto the worn couch, burying her face in her hands and aggressively massaging her stinging eyes. “It’s been around thirty minutes.”

  ______

  Kaito trudged through the thick grass in the front, keeping his crossbow leveled. The satchel at his hip clinked softly, heavy with numbing knives meant to paralyze anything that tried to bolt. His breath plumed in the freezing air.

  "Say, Kian," Kaito muttered, his eyes scanning the pale tree line for tracks. "You ever taken a life before?"

  Kian paused, his boots sinking into the damp mud. He looked genuinely thrown by the question. "At the Abyssal Borders," he replied quietly, averting his gaze to the dead brush. "When things got bad, I stood on the lines with the Vanguard and The Hero."

  Kaito didn't look back. "But did you kill?"

  Kian’s jaw tightened before he let out a slow breath. "No. I did not." He stared at the back of Kaito's head. "Why does that matter out here?"

  Kaito adjusted his grip on the crossbow, the wood groaning slightly under his tense fingers. "Because killing something just so you can survive... it's the ultimate act of selfishness, right? You're deciding your tomorrow matters more than theirs. If we're gonna do that just for a meal, we have to at least respect what we take."

  Kian blinked. He stared at the brash, loudmouthed weapons expert, completely caught off guard by the raw weight of the statement. Slowly, a smirk broke through his exhaustion. He pressed a hand over his mouth to hide a laugh. "Wow. I didn't know you were such a sap."

  Kaito’s shoulders jumped. The tips of his ears turned a violent, burning red against the cold. "S-shut up! Don't look at me like that! The priests taught us that at the Church!"

  Kian’s smile softened into something genuine, the heavy dread of the morning feeling just a fraction lighter. "It's a good way to live, Kaito. Honoring the things we break just to keep going... I think I'll appreciate my meals a lot more from now on."

  Kaito sank into a low crouch, his free hand motioning sharply for Kian to drop down to his level. They moved with agonizing slowness through the frost.

  Kaito raised his crossbow, leveling the iron sights directly at the massive skull, his finger hovering over the trigger. Beside him, Kian slipped the numbing knives from Kaito’s satchel and drew his arm back, ready to throw.

  "You alright with bear meat, city boy?" Kaito whispered, his eyes never leaving the hulking brown beast.

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  "Hardly. But it will keep us from starving," Kian muttered, his gaze locked on the target.

  THWACK!

  __________

  THUD

  A massive, blood-matted carcass hit the outer floorboards of the safehouse.

  "We're back," Kian panted, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his wrist. His hands were coated in dark crimson. "Can someone get me a towel? I'm going to wash in the lake. I don't want to ruin the sink."

  "Woah! You guys got a whole bear?!" Riko threw her mop aside and sprinted over. Without a second thought, she planted her boot triumphantly onto the beast's massive flank and struck a pose, throwing her head back with a villainous cackle. "Mwahaha! Kneel before me, peasants! For I am the Mighty Riko, conqueror of the wilds!"

  Kian stared at her, then slowly turned his gaze to Kaito. "She has absolutely no respect," Kian whispered, desperately suppressing a laugh.

  "She's an idiot," Kaito growled, glaring daggers at the girl.

  "Eh?" Riko broke character for a second, blinking at them, before immediately adapting. She pointed a dramatic finger at Kaito. "I should have you thrown into the fire for that insolence! But, as I am a merciful queen, I shall consider your sins forgiven, peasant!"

  A thick vein popped on Kaito’s temple. He took a step forward, but Kian quickly grabbed him by the collar, dragging him backward toward the door.

  "Okay, okay, the lake is this way!" Kian assured him, hauling the fuming weapons expert outside. "She’s just... highly unfortunate in the department of brains. Let it go!"

  From her spot on the worn sofa, Imara kept her eyes closed, listening to the fading shouts outside and Riko's triumphant humming. A genuine, quiet smile finally broke through her exhaustion.

  Despite the cold, the house had never felt so warm.

  Lucio came outside, looking at the giant bear. His eyes popped, trembling.

  "I—I don’t know how to skin a bear... or prepare it!" Lucio stammered, his eyes wide as he stared at the massive carcass bleeding onto the floorboards.

  Riko stepped forward, placing a firm, reassuring hand on Lucio’s trembling shoulder. She closed her eyes and tilted her chin toward the ceiling.

  "Worry not, peasant. For I, the queen, shall teach you," she declared with an air of absolute royalty. "Come. Let us consult my manual on The Butchery of Mythical Beasts."

  Lucio slowly turned his head, now visibly more terrified of Riko than the dead predator.

  "W-why do you have a book on mythical butchery?" he asked, swallowing hard.

  "A mere peasant does not question the crown." Riko grabbed his wrist and marched him toward the back room where their scavenged backpacks were stashed.

  In the corner of the dim room, Master Orlon lay fast asleep on a bedroll. His breathing was shallow, his frail body desperately trying to recover the catastrophic half of his mana pool that had been burned away in the Apocrypha.

  _____

  By evening, the entire table was laid out in a feast that defied their grim reality. Thanks to Lucio’s sheer culinary genius and a few highly unregulated fire spells to flash-smoke the meat, the spread was magnificent. There were thick chops, sizzling steaks, a rich dark stew, and a rack of perfectly smoked bear ribs.

  They descended on the food instantly. Lucio had managed to make the meat incredibly tender and practically melting with flavor.

  "I must admit, the feast is up to my standards," Riko declared. She cut a steak in two and swallowed a piece whole, chewing with absolute gluttony. "The queen is satisfied, peasants."

  "You didn't even do any of the actual cooking!" Kaito snapped, his temple vein throbbing as he pointed his fork at her. "You just sat on the counter reading that stupid book while Lucio did all the heavy lifting!"

  "Quiet, mongrel," Riko replied casually, reaching right past him to snatch a smoked rib from the center plate. "A ruler does not toil with the flames. I oversaw the production."

  "W-what did you just say?!" Kaito’s eye twitched violently.

  "Break it up, you two," Kian interjected quietly, not even looking up from his stew. "Enjoy your meal in silence."

  From her chair, Imara took a warm sip of her broth, a genuine smile resting on her face. She had spent the last hour just watching them work; Lucio frantically juggling pans, Riko barking dramatic orders from her manual, and the boys bickering over the fire magic.

  For the first time since the Ivory Tower fell, they felt like they could finally breathe.

  Tomorrow, they would need to scour the frozen woods for the specific herbs and materials Master Orlon needed to brew the draught. Eila was still trapped in the dark currents of his own mind, and they were running out of time.

  But tonight, surrounded by the chaotic noise of her new friends, Imara finally allowed herself to rest.