“I can’t believe this is finally happening.” Amil bounced in a chair set in the middle of the same training room where Pax had helped Rin get her ice mana.

  “Me either.” Dahni sat next to him with a hand stroking Neptid, who leaned against one leg. Dahni looked much calmer than Amil.

  Pax grinned, happy to have his entire crew together again for this momentous Saturday morning. Even Bryn and Tasar, along with their stonepaws, had taken a mid-morning break from their Taming efforts to join in.

  Tyrodon had waylaid Pax before breakfast and spent almost half an hour quizzing Pax about how the process had worked with Rin to see if there was anything he could design or build that would help the process. He’d seemed both disappointed and relieved to find that it was purely a light mage process.

  Pax planned to keep reporting to him, though, knowing how much demand would escalate once this process spread to more of the rebellion’s mages. He was just one person and still worried about being forced to spend all his time doing something because he was the only one able to.

  “So, Amil first?” Rin asked as she glanced between the two of them.

  “No. Dahni should go first.”

  Everyone stared at Amil with varying degrees of shock on their expression.

  He gave them a cheerful grin. “You know all that lightning stuff was just my way to keep things light around here. You all get too serious, you know?”

  His words made Pax look back at his actions in a different light.

  “Besides, we all know Pax gets better at things the more he does them.” Amil shot Dahni a sheepish shrug. “So, if he's going to make any mistakes, better you than me.”

  Dahni laughed, punching his friend in the shoulder before looking back at Pax. “I don’t care. I’m just glad to get another element and spell slots. Besides, it turned out fine for Rin, right?”

  Rin gave him a happy nod in return, and Pax shifted his chair to sit in front of Dahni, their knees almost touching.

  “Ready for this?” Pax asked. “Need a review?”

  “Um, I need to Meditate and gather up all my earth and water mana in separate bubbles that are close but not touching, right?”

  “Exactly.” Pax gave him an encouraging look.

  Dahni set his hands palm down on his knees and waited, eagerness and nerves radiating from his body language. Pax placed his hands on top of Dahni’s, and they both closed their eyes.

  After a few long moments, Pax felt his mind and mana reach a calm and powerful state. With care, he moved his sight inside Dahni and watched his final preparations. It was immediately obvious that, despite a decent amount of mana skill, Dahni wasn’t as skilled as Rin had been. His spheres of mana wobbled, somewhat lopsided in places.

  Pax waited calmly until Dahni spoke. “That’s the best I can do.”

  “Good. Now, focus on holding everything steady.”

  The next steps flowed with an ease that surprised Pax. He expected something to go wrong or challenge him. Instead, he formed the conduit with no issues and wrapped threads of Dahni’s earth and water together with his own mana. Upping the pressure was mental work, but following the same process he’d done with Rin worked, streamlining the work.

  He knew ahead of time to keep a careful throttle on his own mana when the newly formed nature mana bubbled into its own small collection inside Dahni’s internal landscape. Pax watched the lively green bubble of fresh energy with fascination while feeding it a steady stream of his light mana. When it was big enough, he grinned in excitement and cut it off. He’d done it. He’d given Dahni nature mana.

  When he opened his eyes, Dahni was already looking at him, an eager question in his eyes. “Are you done? Can I move? Wait. Is that it? I think I can feel it. I can!” He looked around at his friends. “Guys, he did it! He gave me nature mana.”

  Laughing, Pax pulled his hands away from Dahni’s and waved at him. “You’re good. I’m all done.”

  Dahni leapt up from his chair, both hands pumping into the air as he let out an excited cry that had a few indistinguishable words mixed in. Then his eyes found Rin’s, and he charged her with arms out for a hug.

  To her credit, she barely flinched before returning his hug, having grown a lot less skittish about physical contact over the last few months. Dahni bounced right back from her, jumping in excited circles until he looked dizzy and slowed down. The room quieted as all his friends looked at him with fond expressions.

  “That is the most excited you’ve ever been.” Tasar’s droll comment made everyone laugh.

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  “Yes.” Dahni nodded as he shook his head and rubbed a hand over his face. “You have no idea what this means to me.”

  “Want to tell us?” Pax asked, getting a feeling that Dahni had something to share.

  Dahni stopped for a moment, before aiming a cautious look at the others. When he saw their accepting and encouraging expressions, he took a calming breath. He sat back down in his chair, his hand finding Neptid’s head for comfort. “It’s nothing big, and I’m not sure where to start.”

  “These advancements mean something different to each of us.” Rin’s tone was reassuring. “None of our feelings are bigger or smaller than another’s. Just share whatever you’d like with us.”

  Dahni gave her a nervous smile before letting out a slow breath and nodding. “Well, most of you know what it’s like growing up on the streets, even if we come from different cities.”

  They nodded, staying quiet to let him get out whatever he wanted to.

  “Well, you’ve probably noticed how I like a support role. You know the healing and buffs me and Neptid do for the crew. What you might not know is why I like it.” He stopped, suddenly unsure.

  Around him, his friends just waited patiently.

  When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and full of pain. “I was the last survivor of my original crew.”

  A soft gasp came from Rin. Still, none of them spoke, maintaining a supportive silence that encouraged him to share whatever he wanted.

  And he did. “It wasn’t anything that could threaten the average kid with a family and regular meals. But it was winter, and food was tight for everyone. Which meant even less got discarded where we could scavenge it. That made us hungrier and weaker than usual. So, when the withering cough hit our crew, we were in trouble.

  “It started like any winter cough, but was dry and relentless, never improving. Pretty soon, I could barely get any sleep from all the coughing and spending my nights spooning water into dry mouths. Around me, my crew fell ill one by one. Even when I found bits of food to add to the soup pot, I couldn’t get the sickest to swallow much at all.”

  “Because withering cough ruins the throat until you can’t speak or swallow,” Rin said softly.

  “And then you just don’t wake up in the morning.” Dahni’s tone was hollow with the horrible memories. “Every morning, we lost more. Until three weeks later, I was the only one to wake up.”

  Amil moved in and put an arm over Dahni’s shoulders. He looked up and gave him a grateful look.

  “I didn’t want to wake up. In fact, I laid there among my dead crew for a full day, shivering and coughing myself, hoping I could just join them and have it all be over.” Dahni blew out a slow breath before continuing. “I almost didn’t get up. The only thing that got me moving was what my best friend said before she died. She made me promise to keep fighting. She said that if we all gave up, we’d be letting them win, right?”

  Around him, the others nodded, expressions stricken by what their friend had endured.

  “Eventually, I decided that what I needed to learn was to take care of the people around me, so something simple, like a cough, wouldn’t kill them all.” He smiled and looked around. “And that’s what I’ve been doing this year, keeping all of you alive with my and Neptid’s magic.”

  “You’ve definitely done that.” Pax reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m pretty sure you’re one of the main reasons we’ve made it this far without losing someone.”

  Dahni’s eyes widened in surprise. When the others nodded their agreement with Pax, he blinked and happiness pushed away some of the sad memories in his eyes.

  He cleared his throat to finish. “And now, I have nature magic. That will make all the difference, which is why I’m so excited.”

  Pax wasn’t the only one giving him a perplexed look.

  “Food.” Dahni almost shouted the word. “It all comes down to food. If my crew had had enough to eat, more of us, Vitur, maybe all of us, would have survived. With nature mana, the people I care about will never go hungry again.”

  Pax suddenly understood and saw the others who’d grown up on the streets did, too. Despite how much they’d gotten used to the seemingly endless supply of meals since they’d arrived at the academy, years of starving and living on scraps had left an indelible impression on each of their psyches.

  “And wait until you hear the spell that Fenix 3-one helped me find.” Dahni’s almost giddy excitement was back.

  Smiling, Pax motioned for him to share.

  “It’s called Verdant Vines. It lets me summon two types of vines. Listen to this description. Producing Vines. These slow-growing vines are designed to be planted in a safe location. Over time, they will take root and produce small mana-infused fruits which can be harvested to provide a boost to energy and mana regeneration. The nurturing vines continue to grow even after the spell ends, becoming a sustainable source of nourishment and support for the mage.”

  “Nice.” Rin looked impressed.

  “And in case you’re wondering how this will help in the war, the spell can also be used for combat vines.” Dahi’s gaze went out of focus as he read the description. “These fast-growing, aggressive vines can be directed toward enemies within a target area. Upon reaching their target, the vines quickly entangle and restrain foes, restricting movement and creating openings for allies to strike. The combat vines are temporary and will wither and disappear when the spell’s duration ends.”

  “Even nicer,” Amil said. “That’s going to mesh really well with our set of abilities.”

  “So, you can trap enemies out in combat and get some growing back at the base to produce boosting fruit?” Bryn looked fascinated. “How long does the combat version last?”

  “Fifteen seconds with a one-minute cooldown. But with the buffs I usually cast, that’s fine. I’m unlikely to have the mana to cast it more often than that. It’s only short to medium range at level 1, but I figure it’s a great emergency spell to tie up anything that makes it in close to threaten our squishy crew members.”

  “I’ll schedule some team training this next week so we can work with the new spells.” Bryn pulled her notebook out and jotted down notes.

  “I wonder if we can use the fruit to make potions.” Tyrodon had an intrigued look on his face. “And how many can you eat at once? Do the effects stack or get weaker the more you eat?” He pulled out his own notebook and began writing as he mumbled to himself.

  Dahni chuckled. “Find me a good place to plant them, and I’m happy to get some growing right away so we can start tests.”

  Tyrodon nodded, not interrupting his note taking. When a thoughtful silence fell over the group, Amil cleared his throat.

  “Oh, sorry.” Pax let out a half laugh and scooted his chair over to face Amil. “Almost forgot about you. You ready to get some lightning?”

  “As long as you don’t paralyze me this time.” Amil’s grin took the sting out of the jab.

  The others smiled at the memory and quieted down as Pax and Amil sat down to attempt a repeat of the process that had succeeded so well with Dahni.

  Here are twenty more chapters to keep you up even longer:. #sorrynotsorry :)

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