There were a lot of ways to announce you arrival back in your small home town. Of all of them, there weren’t many that rivalled showing up on the back of a dragon. I could see it before my eyes, the slack jaws and sudden attention, the questions and the awe.

  It sounded awful, so we didn’t do it.

  In reality, Noren dropped us far enough away not to be noticed, wherein we could walk the rest of the way. Of course, it took a bit of time for me to undo the many illusions I’d spent my time and concentration setting up on Cassie, which essentially functioned to strip her of any senses she could use to determine she was even in the air, thus preventing her discomfort.

  It was quite a process, but aside from the sheer volume it was actually way easier than anything else I had tried to use my illusions for recently. I mean, unlike most other uses of illusions this was just a list of things to do, a set of senses I needed to cover and maintain. None of this improvising I kept having to do, making reactive veils or thinking of an object that is just the right size to fit in. Just a simple set of instructions.

  Even so, it did take a while to set up in a way that didn’t risk falling apart at the slightest dip in concentration. It also meant that we couldn’t talk to Cassie while we were travelling, and Noren didn’t want to talk because his ego was sunk after being tricked by Selene.

  Now that we were closing in on Vernal, I had come to realise that I was really looking forward to seeing my Mum again. I felt like I rather needed her advice, and it had been way too long since I’d seen her. Way too long being about a month, apparently.

  “So,” Noren spoke up. “This quaint little village of yours. There wouldn’t happen to be anyone particularly powerful living in the area, would there?”

  “No,” I answered on instinct, before remembering the other reason I’d wanted to come back to Vernal. “Actually, maybe. Why?”

  “Because ‘someone powerful’ was wondering who had lead a dragon to Vernal,” A gravelly voice answered from ahead of me, although I saw nothing.

  I scanned the area, but I still didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Fortunately, I recognised the voice, and I wasn’t the only one.

  “Almon!” Cassie chirped, her head turning on a swivel as she tried to find him. “Where are you? How are you hiding from Mage Sight?”

  A chuckle appeared from thin air, followed closely by the now expected form of Almon, standing with his hands behind his back in the very same robes as always. “You do learn some things with age, Cassandra. Do you have my books, as agreed?”

  Of course that’s the first thing he asks. Never change, you old goat.

  “Uh…” Cassie absentmindedly rubbed the back of her neck. “We weren’t really expecting to make this trip back,” she answered, shooting a look at Noren, who pretended not to notice. “I kind of left them at our room in the inn we’ve been staying at.”

  Almon scowled. “I see. You had time to Hone your affinity, yet you can’t even spare a thought for the sanctity of knowledge. You haven’t changed, have you?”

  “I’m sorry, I did what to my affinity?” Cassie asked, beating me to the punch.

  Almon seemed surprised. “You… dear gods, you did it by accident, didn’t you? Hmph. The entire reason I never told you about it was to avoid this situation, but you managed it anyway. Irresponsible.”

  “I’m sorry?” She apologised, although she didn’t seem sure.

  “Oh, don’t apologise to me, apologise to yourself. What you did was incredibly dangerous, and we will be speaking of it later. But first,” he turned to Noren and dipped his head. “Velthraxia ichn Frixze.”

  Noren, to my surprise, did the same. “Velthraxea ichni Marche. You are surprisingly knowledgeable, magus.”

  “I try,” Almon responded drily. “I trust you understand the weight of coming here?”

  “Of course,” Noren scoffed. “I will contain myself within your domain, magus, don’t you worry.”

  “...Why do I feel like something important just happened?” I asked the open air, because the two people that knew seemed busy.

  “Oh, don’t worry yourself,” Noren briefly turned to me. “We were just introducing ourselves. Old customs, but still worth something.”

  “Indeed,” Almon agreed. “Of course, I’m glad to see you, Julie. I see that you two have been busy. Cassie has undergone her Honing, you appear to be caught partway through your Changing, and you’ve befriended a dragon, albeit an adolescent. Quite the set of accomplishments, for all of a month spent away.”

  “Thank you?” I hazarded, filing away the confirmation that Noren was an adolescent for later.

  Almon chuckled. “Don’t sound so uncertain. These years are for wild adventures. I would ask why you’ve returned so soon, but I’m sure you shall tell me. First, how about you go and meet someone else who I am sure will wish to speak with you? Follow me.”

  He turned on his heel and began to walk away, but Cassie clearly wasn’t having that. “Couldn’t you teleport us?” She asked.

  “Teleport? You think I have the power to spare ferrying four people as I so wish? Your confidence gladdens me, Cassandra, but I do have limits.” He answered smoothly, and if we hadn’t been told what we had by Ren I would have believed him.

  “But aren’t you supposed to be incredibly powerful? As in, national asset powerful, Archmage Rutherford?” Cassie asked, unsurprisingly blunt. I knew she had been hit kind of hard by Almon’s secret, so I wasn’t shocked that she was being so forward.

  Almon froze. “And you heard that name where, exactly?”

  “Where we heard it is irrelevant,” I jumped in. “Compared to why we didn’t hear it from you. This is kind of a big secret, don’t you think?”

  “And yet it isn’t one you need to know. That man is behind me, and it would be for the best that he be behind you, too. That is all I will say on the subject. When we meet in the village, I expect this conversation to have never happened.” Without further word he disappeared without a trace, as though he was never here. No incantation, no gesture, nothing. Just gone.

  “You know, I had thought you had better judgement,” Noren commented. “I mean, to dredge up the past of a magus within his own domain? Foolish. You’re incredibly lucky he seems fond of you.”

  “You don’t seem surprised to learn he’s an Archmage,” I noticed. “Like you knew, somehow.”

  Noren arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘somehow’? I could see it as clear as day. Why do you think I even responded to his greeting? Especially with the proper title?”

  “I don’t know, man. I have no idea what you guys said to each other.”

  “Tch. What are they teaching humans these days.” Noren turned and began marching off in the direction we had been going before Almon had shown up, clearly done with the conversation.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “...Okay,” I murmured, following after him.

  “Hey, Lia?” Cassie asked, falling into step beside me. “I was wondering if- actually, no. I wanted to know something. Um, how are we? I mean you. I mean us. I mean-”

  “We’re fine,” I interrupted. “Although you might not be. Since when did you get tongue tied?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe since I thought I messed up our relationship, then broke down about it right in front of you,” she snarked, getting more and more animated the more she talked.

  I sighed. “Yeah, okay. I can see that. That last bit isn’t really your fault, though.”

  “I guess,” she admitted. “It still happened though.”

  I technically couldn’t disagree with that. “Sure, I guess. Look, I promise that we’ll be fine, just so long as we can actually talk about what happened, and preferably how to avoid it happening again. Just… not now, please? I kind of want to ask my Mum about it first.”

  To my surprise, Cassie nodded in easy agreement. “Oh, yeah. Jenna will know what to do. We’ll be fine,” she added, speaking almost to herself as she drifted away from me again. I couldn’t help but sigh again. She seemed really torn up about this whole deal, which made me feel a bit bad about making her wait to talk. Still, I needed more information to know how to deal with this.

  Thank the gods we aren’t far from Vernal. I can’t wait to see Mum again.

  --------------------------------------

  “So that’s what we’ve been up to,” I finished. “You can probably see where we need help.”

  My Mum smiled over her herbal tea. She’d been smiling the entire time we’d been here, which was probably because when we were telling it we may have cut out some of the more worrisome bits of our story. Still, everything important was there, as well as some of our personal thoughts thrown in here and there.

  “Yeah, I think I get you. Sorry, I am so glad you two finally stopped dancing around each other,” she gushed.

  “Mum-”

  “Sorry, sorry. Let me get some facts straight. You two are in a weird place right now, right? Julie, sweetheart, you’re worried that Cassie doesn’t trust you the same way you do her, because she doesn’t share everything with you. Meanwhile, Cassie, you keep second guessing everything you do in case you mess up what you have. Am I right?”

  Both of us were stunned silent. I hadn’t told her about that worry about Cassie, and I didn’t remember Cassie mentioning that.

  “How did you know?” I asked her, dumbfounded.

  She smiled widely. “You forget that I’ve known both of you for a long time now. I did give birth to one of you, after all. Besides, I’ve been waiting for this day for years now. I’ve considered every possible problem with your relationship.”

  “...I think you need a new hobby, Jenna,” Cassie finally said, her gaze locked firmly on my mother.

  “You might be right, dear. Now, Julie, I’m going to do you first. You don’t need to know everything about Cassie’s life to be in a secure relationship. You know her, so little facts mean nothing. Just because you don’t have any secrets from her doesn’t mean that’s how she operates. You’ve done fine this far without knowing everything, so just keep doing that. If you worry she doesn’t trust you, talk to her. Don’t let it fester.”

  My mother turned to Cassie next. “And Cassie, dear. You have to let go of your fears. I know you’ve been holding onto this for a long time, but I promise you can trust in the two of you to work out any problems together. Trust me. Oh, and guess what? If you do worry that you’re causing resentment? Just talk to each other. Now, you girls are smart, I’m sure you can figure out the rest on your own. I’m going to get up now, and I’m not letting you out of this room until you actually talk.”

  With that my mother stood up, drained her tea and bustled off, closing the door behind her. I heard her drag a chair up to it, so she would at least know if we broke out.

  “So,” I began awkwardly. If I was going to talk to Cassie about something serious, I would have preferred to do it without having my innermost thoughts released into the air like spores from a mushroom.

  “Yeah,” Cassie responded, her voice soft. “Do you really think I don’t trust you?”

  Ah. Yeah, thanks Mum.

  “I mean, yes and no? I think you trust me, I just don’t think you trust me implicitly.”

  “I do,” she confirmed, her voice stern. “Just because I don’t tell you everything. I would do just about anything for you, you know.”

  “I get that,” I answered, falling into a flow now that we’d started talking. “But this isn’t about devotion. It’s about trust. You didn’t even tell me you were scared of heights! How did I not know that?”

  She turned to me fully. “Because it never came up. There aren’t exactly a lot of high points in Vernal, if you didn’t notice. Besides, it’s not normally so bad. I can deal with it just fine.”

  “That’s just it, though. You shouldn’t have to deal with it alone. I should be there to support you, but I can’t do that if I don’t know.”

  “What about you, then? Wandering off into the woods without any warning, snapping at me when I tried to help. How’s that for support?” She pointed out, her voice a little raised.

  “I needed some space! Besides, we were under Selene’s influence!”

  “I thought you said that Selene’s influence only enhanced what we were feeling, not forced us to feel something new? So surely part of you did want to get away from us all, right? To get away from me?”

  “Of course I did! When was the last time we spent more than three hours apart, Cass? It’s been weeks. I love you, really I do. But I can’t be attached to your hip all the time.”

  “What do you want me to do, Lia? We sleep in the same room, we do the same work, we’re hunting the same fucking conspiracy! How do I give you space like this?”

  “Just do anything! Half and hour every evening, a lunch break, something! Is that too much to ask?” I prompted.

  “I… I can do that,” she admitted after a moment. “I could do more than that. I should do more than that. I’ve been doing terrible at this whole girlfriend thing, haven’t I?”

  “Not at all,” I reassured her. “Just give me some time for myself. Besides, if you’ve been doing badly then I’ve got a failing grade. I mean, I’m complaining about spending too much time with you and not knowing literally everything.” Now that I heard the words coming out of my own mouth, it felt all sorts of ridiculous. “Not only that, but I could be making moves myself. It’s certainly not like it’s all your fault or anything. Remember what you said yesterday? We’re a team.”

  “No, you were a little bit right, in a roundabout way. I just… it’s weird, you know? I always used to think you were a bit odd for not liking it when people knew stuff about you. Like when Macy found out you were taking swordsmanship lessons and you skipped the next week’s worth. She didn’t even make fun of it, she just learned of it.”

  “Yeah, I remember. It’s… uncomfortable, having people know stuff about you. Like they’re judging you, even when they aren’t.”

  “Just like that, yeah. Only, I do the same thing. I mean, I do it in a different way. I… distract, I think. I hit people with my personality so fast they don’t look any deeper. But I don’t like it when people know me. It’s scary, in a weird way,” she admitted. “It sounds dumb, but-”

  “It isn’t,” I guaranteed her. “I get it. I just wish I knew that. I don’t have to know every little thing about you, but stuff like that? The important things, the small details that drive you? Those I feel I have a right to know. Just so long as you’re comfortable telling me.”

  Cassie laughed then, although there wasn’t really any humour in it. “You know something? I made a promise to myself, the night we confessed, that I would trust you. Like, properly trust you, the way I used to trust my Dad. Look at how well I’ve done. I’m a bloody hypocrite,” she snarked, no target in sight but herself.

  “Hey, none of that,” I ordered. “We’ve both been right fools about this. And we’ve both been under a lot of pressure.”

  “How so?” She asked. “I mean, I get you being all wound up because you hate spending time with me-”

  “Not what I said,” I interrupted, a little grin on my face. Nature was healing, it seemed.

  “But I’ve just been a dolt of my own volition,” she finished.

  “I disagree,” I stated easily. “You’ve been worrying about the Revenant. I don’t even know if you’ve realised it, but as far as I’m concerned as your girlfriend it’s my job to notice these things. You’ve always hated it when other people choose what you can do and when, no matter the situation. So having an immutable schedule that you can’t do anything about is making you chafe, and that’s making you stressed. It’s obvious.”

  “Maybe to you,” she mumbled. “See? You know me really well. Where it matters, at least.”

  “Huh. I guess I do,” I allowed. “So, we’re fine now, right?”

  She shrugged. “Probably? I mean, I’m kind of in a bit of a state emotionally, but I think we cleared everything up.”

  “Good,” I announced. “Then in that case, I have just had a very stressful, very emotionally charged conversation. I think I need a hug. For healing purposes.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

  I nodded solemnly. “’Tis the only cure for what ails me, I’m afraid.”

  Cassie giggled a little and shuffled over, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “This is nice,” she muttered over my shoulder after a while.

  “Yeah. It really is, isn’t it?”

  “I’m glad that we’re okay.”

  “Me too. I don’t really know what I’d do without you.”

  “Fall apart at the first sign of conversation?” She suggested.

  “Probably,” I admitted. “Although, you would immediately struggle to make a reasonable decision without me, so I think we would both be in a bad spot.”

  “Best to just stay together then,” she concluded.

  “I imagine so. Just so long as I get some breaks. I think a fifteen minute break every four hours is the legal requirement,” I joked.

  She shrugged, the movement sending a little ripple of displacement across our embrace. “Just so long as you’re okay with waking up every four hours,” she said with a small laugh.

  Oh yeah, we’re gonna be fine.

  tried to sprinkle them over the course of them spending time together, but at the end of the day I can't exactly read through it from a fresh perspective, so I don't really know.

  lot more for Cassie than they do for Lia. I mean, she's already the character that I think has changed the most in my head from when I started this whole thing, so that kind of makes sense. I really like her as the kind of deceptively open kind of person, for lack of a better term. I'm sure you've all met someone like that, where they talk a lot and they seem really open, and only after a couple of months do you realise that you don't actually know tons about them. That's kind of what I was shooting for here.

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