A Shadow in the Mist

“The training of a Warden and Weaver is usually that of a master and apprentice, often done by their parents or the local Warden and Weaver of whatever settlement they are assigned to by the Church. Sometimes, however, there are those with a great deal of promise who are invited to academies to better hone their skills and challenge them.”

-from Training a Warden by Sir Lindren Beige, 455 AB

Aranea- Monday, September 2nd, 564 AB

I rushed down the hall to class, I’d forgotten my ivory comb and had to run back to my apartment to get it. I rounded a corner and ran face first into a boy in heavy armor. I only just managed to smash my face against his breastplate as I fell to the ground, my basket with my weaver’s tools falling to the ground.

“I’m so sorry!” I said, almost crying.

“It’s all right,” the boy said, kneeling and helping me gather my things.

I looked at him and froze. He was gorgeous. Long gold hair tied back in a warrior’s tail with long bangs swooping down the side of his face, accenting his short beard and brilliant blue eyes. He was a year or two older than me, and wore metal armor with a silk gambeson beneath it.

“I’m Noah,” he said, extending his hand.

“I’m Aranea,” I said, taking his hand and he helped me to my feet.

“Well Aranea,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “You’d probably best get to class; you don’t want to leave a bad first impression.”

I gasped and pushed past him, his soft laughter following me as I ran for my class. I slid into my seat just as a loud bell tolled from the castle’s spire. Lady Mirian looked at me askance but, luckily, she quickly turned her attention away.

“Welcome girls,” she said. “I am here to introduce you to our instructor for our first year Weavers.” She gestured to a woman by her side with blonde graying hair. “This is Madam Layrora. She will be teaching you until you ascend to the next tier.”

“Good evening class,” Madam Layrora said, stepping forward. “Today I want to begin by seeing which of you can draw corruption out of their core. Which of you currently have any corruption in your core?”

I raised my hand, Cain had killed a few imps when collecting my wards again the other day. It wasn’t enough for him to level up and I hadn’t had the chance to purify my core yet. It was only eighteen points of corruption. Barely anything, even for a level one Weaver. A few other girls raised their hands and Madam Layrora bade us step forward to the front of class and sit down.

I joined twenty or so other girls, not even a fifth of the class. I had to guess there were around three hundred girls in the auditorium and I suddenly felt very isolated. I wished Cain was there but he had his own training to go through.

“Now I want you to draw the corruption out of your cores,” Madam Layrora said. “Show me how you were taught to do it.”

I nodded and nervously began spinning my hands. I closed my eyes and tried to forget I was surrounded by hundreds of other people. Sweat broke out across my skin as the burning heat inside my core was dragged out through my nervous systems and pushed out the pores of my fingertips.

I heard sobbing and opened my eyes; looking to my right, I saw a girl had broken down in tears, weak golden light at her fingertips but not emerging. Madam Layrora didn’t offer any help, merely stood and watched, waiting to see what the girl would do. I closed my eyes and went back to focusing on my own work. Jewel climbed down from my hair and I heard another girl shriek in surprise next to me.

“Calm down!” Madam Layrora snapped at her. “Don’t let outside influences distract you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as I focused on not showing any outward sign of pain. The glimmering hairs pushed from my fingertips were gathered and spun, Jewel helping to snap them and add them to the long thread I was creating on my drop spindle. It didn’t take me long, only around thirty minutes to spin the little bit of corruption into thread. I sat back, feeling exhausted but also triumphant. I was the first one done, but it was probably because I had so little in my core to begin with.

The other girls finished one by one, even the girl who had broken down in sobs. She still whimpered the entire time but managed to spin the corruption into a loose thread on her spindle.

“Well done, all of you.” Madam Layrora said. “Some of you clearly need some improvement.”

The crying girl blushed and looked down when she said that.

“But that is why you are here,” she continued, stopping in front of me. “What is your name, girl?”

“Aranea Le’meer,” I answered.

“Ah,” Madam Layrora said, the light of recognition flashing in her eyes. “Lady Mirian spoke of you. Gifted was the word she used. How much corruption did you purify just now?”

“Only eighteen points ma’am,” I said.

“Eighteen points in thirty minutes,” Madam Layrora said. “It isn’t a record, but it is very impressive for one so young. You may be the prodigy Lady Mirian described; we shall see.”

I felt the eyes of my classmates on me and felt even more nervous.

“Th-thank you ma’am,” I stammered.

“You may all return to your seats,” Madam Layrora said. “We will begin with a quick meditation to center you all and help you connect with your cores.”

I hurried back to my seat and sat down. The girl next to me had dark black hair that ran in ringlets down her back, she extended a hand to me smiling.

“I’m Deliah,” she said. “I hope you’ll teach me some of your tricks sometime.”

“Of course,” I said blushing. “I don’t know if I have any tricks, but I’ll be glad to help you in any way I can. I’m sure everyone is just exaggerating about me.”

Deliah shook her head. “No, it takes me about an hour to purify eighteen corruption. Have you had much experience yet? I see you’re level twelve so you must have, your boyfriend must be quite the accomplished Warden.”

“Boyfriend?” I asked, the word unfamiliar to me.

“She’s a provincial,” a girl behind us whispered to Deliah who made an O face.

I blushed suddenly, feeling ashamed though I didn’t know why.

“So, you're already married?” Deliah asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Does that mean… you’re not?”

“By the Voice no!” Deliah said. “I’m only seventeen. My boyfriend and I might get married next year as long as he distinguishes himself enough for my family's approval.”

“I don’t believe you can meditate and have a conversation,” Madam Layrora’s voice rang out.

She didn’t shout but her voice carried and our conversation, as well as a few other whispers across the auditorium, cut off. I closed my eyes and pushed my senses inwards, focusing on my core and the pathways that lead from it through the rest of my body.

Cain

Enoch and I stood in the muster yard outside of the castle. We were in a group of around fifty other young men, all of them also Mist Wardens. There was another group about the same size behind us, all with older boys in it from the school's second years. Behind them was another group of third years, but I noticed there weren’t as many of them as there were of the second years. The fourth years were even fewer, a sober reminder that not all of us would make it to Knight rank.

The other elemental schools were all accounted for and, surprisingly, there were the same approximate number of students for each school. They must have come from across the kingdom to get so many Storm, Sun, and Fire Wardens all together. I looked at them and pushed aside the twinge of envy I felt; all of their families had to be wealthy and prominent to afford those Relics. It had taken my father years of fighting on the frontier in the most dangerous conditions to get enough to purchase Relics of those elements for my brothers.

I could see Sir Rineer talking with our instructors. Though he wasn’t the master of the Mist School he was still one of its instructors. A man with flowing white hair and silver-smokey blue relic armor stood with them. His helmet was retracted for now and he stood tall and proud. The other instructors, even Rineer, treated him with obvious respect.

Our master stepped forward and spoke. “I am Lord Scarisen. For you new-bloods who haven’t figured it out yet, I am the Master of the Mist School here at the academy. Today we will gauge your skill as warriors. You will duel with each other; you will each have three attempts to make a successful bout. If you win at least one duel you will get a chance at another duel. If you win your fourth duel you will continue to duel your classmates until only one of you is left.”

I looked at Enoch, but he didn’t look surprised. I remembered he was a local, and his father taught here, so he had likely grown up with this knowledge unlike me. I grimaced, I did not like dueling. My brothers had often engaged in it but I wasn’t good at it. Sparring was fine but there was just something about being in a ring with people watching me that always threw me off.

Lord Scarisen continued. “This is a test of only your martial prowess, no using your skills, summoning your Relic. You can use your Relic armor of course, you new-bloods may think that unfair, but neither is battle. You will all duel with your classmates from your own class before you can duel classmates from a lower or higher class than you.”

“Ready?” Enoch asked me as people began pairing off.

“No,” I said. “I hate dueling.”

“It will be fine,” Enoch laughed.

He and I paired up at first in a section of the muster yard marked in a circle on the grass. The circle was only twenty feet across. The duel would end if one of us stepped out of, or was pushed out of, the circle. Or was in some other way incapacitated.

The duel’s referee dropped the handkerchief and Enoch and I tensed our legs. It touched the ground and we moved. I dodged to the side of his first spear thrust and tried to move inside its reach but he always circled away, his massive shield blocking any of the attacks I could make with my dagger. This was my major problem, my Relic was completely unsuited for duels. I didn’t have the reach of my opponents and, as long as they could keep their distance, I would never hit them. If I could use my skills it would have been a different story, but the rules of etiquette prevented that.

Enoch and I moved in circles around each other for a minute. I was fast enough to dodge most of his attacks but not fast enough to get around the tip of his spear. I tried to rush in, but he bashed me away with his shield. I rolled to the side to avoid the thrust of his spear and the referee blew his whistle. My right foot had gone out of bounds and, just like that, the duel was over. Enoch and I shook hands. I was glad I had lost to him, but I was also disappointed in myself. I also couldn’t help but dread my next two duels, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to win any of them today.

I waited for my next duel and stepped into the ring. I was facing a swordsman with a two-handed longsword. I tried being more aggressive this time. I moved in, blocking his sword, but he was able to get a lot more force behind his attacks with his longer blade and pushed my dagger to the side. He sliced a long gash down my chest, but I pushed past the pain and stabbed forwards. My dagger slid off his breastplate as he turned his body to the side. The hilt of his sword came up, hitting me in the face, and I staggered back for a second. His boot came up next and kicked me square in the chest, knocking me out of the ring.

The referee’s whistle blew again, and my opponent helped me to my feet.

“Good match,” he said politely but his voice conveyed its disinterest.

“Good match,” I agreed and sat down feeling more disheartened.

My next match was against a fighter with a halberd. It went worse than all my others, my opponent charged me and I tried to sidestep but he swept the axe part of his polearm at me. I jumped over it and he hit me with his shoulder sending me flying. I hit the ground hard, and my opponent didn’t even bother to help me up. I’d lost all three of my duels so I wouldn’t get a third. Dejected, I sat down and watched as the other schools all went through the same process. In the end one student from each school remained. Enoch hadn’t won, which was to be expected since he was far less experienced than most of his opponents, but he had still done well winning six different duels before finally being disqualified. He sat next to me as we watched the eight winners of each school pair up. Their duels were intense bouts of skill and technique, but they all lasted less than a minute. When they were done, the remaining four were paired against each other in two rings. As was to be expected, the champions from the schools of Storm, Sun and Fire had all made it to the final round, as well as a third-year student from the Wind School, the only other third year student to make it to the finals.

The remaining duelists were all fourth years, which had been the expected result from everyone. Their dominant arms were all clad in the metal of their relic armor with most if not all of their chest starting to be covered, along with the shoulder of the other arm. Their fights were more cautious now. They circled each other before stepping in for a furious exchange of blows and then stepping apart. The duels lasted a little longer, but still felt quick.

The two schools left were Storm and Wind. The boy from the wind school had auburn brown hair and a clean-shaven face. His weapon was a rapier. An unusual weapon since the materials to make one were rarely etheric efficient. The young man from the storm school had long golden hair and a closely cropped beard. He wore metal armor, unusual for a Warden. You could increase the durability of stone and metal by setting an earth ether gem into it, but it was vastly more expensive than just enchanting leather or cloth.

The two duelists circled each other, the Wind student trying to keep his opponent at bay with the long reach of his rapier. He also carried a buckler for defense, but it was a small thing, even smaller than my own shield. The Storm student carried a heater shield strapped to his arm and a golden warhammer, the hilt looking like it had been made of ivory or bone. He bashed aside the tip of the rapier, pressing his opponent.

The philosophies of the two schools were on clear display. Wind was about evasion and striking before retreating, while Storm was about the relentless onslaught using your armor to soak up attacks while pressing forward to confront the enemy. The Wind duelist tried slipping around the golden-haired man, but he always moved to intercept, pushing his opponent up against the ring. Getting desperate, the Wind duelist lunged forwards and tried to go for a gap in the other man’s armor.

The Storm duelist knocked aside the rapier and stepped in, lunging and knocking the breath out of his opponent. His knee came up, catching the other boy in the chest and dropping him to the ground. The Wind duelist held up his hand in surrender. The golden-haired man helped him to his feet and his classmates all cheered.

Sir Valren stepped forward, his voice booming. “And for the third year in a row, Prince Noah Hastelburh has won the starting duel for the year!”

Applause rang out as the prince bowed and returned to his school.

“Your instructors have watched your duels and will begin instructing you on ways you can improve,” Sir Valren said. “You will now be expected to start undertaking quests given by the school so find a classmate to partner up with to complete them.”

Enoch put an arm around my shoulder. “What do you say?” he asked me, his face marked by a giant grin. “Wanna be partners?”

I smiled and shook his hand. “Why not, what’s the worst that could happen to us.”

“Le’meer!” a stern voice called out.

I stood up and snapped to attention as the Master of the Mist School approached me. “Of all my students you are only one of three this year who failed to win a single duel. This is not acceptable; I understand the limitations of your weapons reach but I would expect you to be able to best at least one opponent.”

“Apologies sir,” I said, his words stinging my pride, but I held back any rebuttals.

“I am not familiar with the Le’meer family,” Lord Scarisen said. “Who is your father?”

“My father is Sir Jason Lanceren,” I said. “I am not one of…his legitimate children.”

“Sir Lanceren?” Lord Scarisen asked, surprised. “I didn’t know he had a bastard, I’ve only met him briefly but his honor is well known; I wouldn’t think he’d be the sort to sire a bastard.”

“It was during the war, he was behind enemy lines,” I said, hating the fact I had to explain my existence every time my father came up.

“Ah,” Lord Scarisen said with understanding. “I remember hearing about him getting stuck behind enemy lines. Your father is a renowned war hero, why didn’t he instruct you on proper dueling?”

“My father went through more traditional training, he didn’t believe dueling was an effective training method,” I said.

“Well, you aren’t in the provinces anymore,” Lord Scarisen said. “You will be required to undergo extra weapons practice under Sergeant Acheron until your combat is up to his standards.”

“Yes sir!” I said.

Lord Scarisen turned his back on me and I was dismissed. I pushed aside the anger that bubbled up in me. It wouldn’t solve anything and would just get me in more trouble. I buried the anger deep and left with Enoch to go to the quest hub.

The large circular room had billboards made of spongy wood, with various papers tacked to them. We scanned the papers, seeing various requests from different townsfolk, local settlement and farmsteads, all of them djinn related. Some needed monster cores charged or replaced, a farmer needed a Moon Scythe and was willing to pay good gold for it as well. Then there were quests from the school. Mines needed to be cleared of earth djinn that had spawned within, fell beasts had been preying on livestock and needed to be hunted down, Mist imps had been wandering out of different sections more frequently and patrols were needed to go and clear them out.

Enoch and I grabbed those last quests, taking three each. We had to do one quest each, every week. But we didn’t want to get by on the bare minimum. We left the quest hub and headed to the Mist School. Stepping into it, I looked about the entrance halls. It looked more like a temple than a school. We passed murals on the wall, and the floor was a mosaic depicting a massive battle in the Mist.

We got in a line and grabbed our schedules. Not all our classes would be taught by Mist wardens, and we would interact frequently with the instructors of the other schools. Enoch and I had most of our classes together. We only had three hours of mandatory instruction every day, with the rest being reserved for us to go and practice or work on our quests.

There wouldn’t be classes today, so Enoch and I got our horses and rode out to the Mist. We let them graze outside as we entered into it.

Quest

Type:

Search

Difficulty:

Lethal

Search the Mist and find the Soul Forge to upgrade your interface.

Reward: Soul Anvil, 15,000 XP

Yes/No

I dismissed the notification, and we kept moving. It only took us ten minutes to spot our first djinn. It was a Moon djinn made of snow-white plates and an eyeless fanged mask, with silver light giving its etheric outline shape but no real substance. Enoch threw his spear and the djinn died in a single hit before it even knew we were there.

Next we found a group of four earth imps. I used Hurricane Step and popped into the middle of them, sweeping about with Cyclone Strike.

17 XP gained, 3 Corruption absorbed into your Core, 15 ether regained

Three of the imps went down right away. The fourth staggered back, and Enoch rammed his spear through it. I harvested two and he got the other two, splitting the corruption we’d have to manage.

6 Corruption absorbed by your Relic; 6 Corruption absorbed by our Core

We kept scouring the rest of Fog Land. We stopped when we came across a ruined building.

“Should we go deeper?” I asked.

“We might run into the Skitterer nest,” Enoch said. “But… our quest is to clear the fog land of threats. We can’t really do that if we don’t check the entire area.”

“All right,” I agreed. “But we go in quietly, so we don’t rile up the nest. You do your veiling and I’ll silence any noise we make.”

“Agreed,” Enoch said.

Enoch had an ability that made himself almost transparent. It only worked on himself but, coupled with my Ghost Walk skill, we were a pair of ghosts. Rineer had taught us to move quietly, even without skills, as well as how to do some basic tracking. We moved in among the buildings, still impressive even after centuries of abandonment, constructed with skills and materials we couldn’t replicate anymore.

We spotted a hole in the ground and stepped back. The black carapace of a Skitterer moved through the grass, its glossy black carapace was spotted with viper green markings, and its bladed limbs and stinger were a bright scarlet. The alien looking creature disappeared into a crack in the ground with a rat clutched in its feeder tendrils. Despite being mostly carnivorous, a hive of Skitterers could support a population into the hundreds or even thousands. They would eat a single meal, then hibernate for months at a time. Studying them was really hard since they would die within hours of being taken out of the nest and attacking a nest was suicide. Even Exarch tier Wardens would fall under the hundreds of poisoned attacks launched by the swarm when they were enraged. With venom that could drop a man with a single drop, and with stingers that could pierce hardened steel, they were not mere beasts that could be easily bested.

We kept moving through the ruins, scouting them for signs of any djinn. We came upon the scene of a battle, dozens of skitterer bodies lay about along with the broken remains of mist djinn. More skitterers were swarming over the bodies, devouring their own kin and the djinn. This was how skitterers were able to survive in such large numbers, they sustained themselves mostly on corruption and needed very little physical food. We edged around the site of the battle; this wasn’t something we needed to involve ourselves in. We came out the other side of the ruin into a clearing.

Here another battle was taking place, but the djinn were winning. Six skitterers against three times their number in djinn. Enoch tapped me on the shoulder and gestured to the djinn, then me shrugging, asking me what I wanted to do about them. I thought on it. We could just leave them be. The skitterers might win or retreat but… If the djinn won, they’d feed on the skitterers. They were fell beasts, and would have a decent amount of corruption in their flesh. From there, the imps we were facing now would evolve from a group of sixteen easily handled imps to a much more dangerous group of beasts. From there it was much easier for them to snowball in strength, advancing to soldier, and so on.

Quest

Type:

Hunt

Difficulty:

Moderate

You have come across a group of fell beasts and djinn that endanger nearby humans with their presence, exterminate them and purify their remains to ensure safety for nearby settlements.

Reward: D Grade Boots, 100 XP

I chopped my hand down and punched my fist forwards, the Warden hand signals for attack and charge. Enoch nodded and spread out, going to the left. I went to the right, keeping low in the grass and underbrush. Leaning out behind a tree, I made eye contact with Enoch; he held up five fingers then dropped one holding four. When he had counted down, we both moved forward flanking the djinn from both sides.

“Cyclone Strike, Lunar Smite!” I shouted cleaving into the back of their right flank.

22 XP gained, 4 Corruption absorbed into your Core, 11 ether regained

Four imps went down right away with my attack. Enoch stabbed forward, his Wind Phalanx skill taking down another five of them. A skitterer’s tail snapped forward like a scorpion with its stinger but I skidded back, blocking it on my shield and ramming the etheric section of my relic still affected by Lunar Smite through it. The etheric blade blinked out, but it had already bisected the fell insect, slipping into the gap of its carapace sections to the vulnerable flesh beneath.

12 XP gained; 1 Corruption absorbed into your Core

We might also be fighting the djinn, but we were just as much enemies to them as the Mist imps to the fell beasts.

“Lunar Smite!” I said.

My etheric blade swept forward and cut through the heads and torsos of three imps. They only came up to our thighs, so it was actually somewhat awkward to swing so low. But they were barely physical, so it was easy to disrupt the ether that kept them present in our world.

15 XP gained, 3 Corruption absorbed into your Core, 9 ether regained

Enoch blocked the stinger of a skitterer that pounced at him, knocking its blade-like limbs off his shield then stabbing down and taking it through the head. A bone tipped spear hit me in the gut and hot blood dripped out. The pain was intense, but I fought through it.

“Lunar Smite, Cyclone Strike!” I said.

I whirled through the ranks of the imps taking out a further three.

16 XP gained, 3 Corruption absorbed into your Core, 7 ether regained

Only one imp remained and Enoch took it down. Of the six skitterers who had been in the fight at the start only three remained, one killed by me, Enoch and the djinn each. Lunar Smite ended and I activated it again. I slashed, and out the etheric blade sparked as it hit the carapace of the skitterer, sliding off. I slashed out again, aiming more carefully this time, and took off the head of one skitterer then cleaved into the other in one as it tried to rush me.

31 XP gained, 2 Corruption absorbed into your Core

Enoch lunged forwards as the last skitterer leapt towards me, his spear shooting forwards and taking in its belly. He pinned it to the ground and the skitterer screeched in pain before curling up and dying.

Quest Succeeded

You have successfully completed the Quest, Hunt, Moderate by killing all the djinn in the immediate area.

Reward: D grade Boots has been added to your inventory. 100 XP gained

Level Up! You have reached level 12! 15 Stat points are available to spend, Ether core increased by 5.

“Let's grab these and run before any more of these things come after us,” I said.

Enoch and I bent down and began harvesting the djinn.

15 Corruption absorbed by your Relic; 15 Corruption absorbed by our Core

We left the skitterers for last. We could absorb the corruption from them but their bodies would have to be carried if we wanted to take them back. I pulled out some cord from my pack and began tying the tails of them together. I plunged Achlys into each of them, pulling out the corruption from their core.

17 Corruption absorbed by your Relic; 17 Corruption absorbed by our Core

Slinging three of them over my shoulder while Enoch grabbed the other three, we left the Fog Land after quickly searching it for any other djinn. As we approached our horses they snorted, their nostrils flaring wide as they smelled the scent of skitterer blood, but they didn’t bolt. We mounted up and rode back to Mistwall. Going into town, Enoch led me towards a trapper lodge where we could sell the skitterers.

Laying them down on a table, the trapper inspected them.

“Good specimens,” he said. “Weavers will pay good money for their carapace for making armor. I can give you three gold for each one.”

That was more than I had thought we’d get for them.

“They’re really worth that much?” I asked.

“No one wants to tangle with their nests,” the trapper said. “You can lure a few out sometimes, and get them without alerting their hive, but it’s always risky. Their carapace is always in demand, so it sells fast. I can give you three gold every time if you want to bring in any more.”

“If we come across more, we’ll be sure to bring them in,” Enoch said as we shook on the deal.

Me and Enoch each got nine gold from the deal. We clasped wrists, looking up at the low hanging sun in the sky.

“I’ll see you at class tomorrow,” Enoch said.

“See you then,” I said, and we parted ways.

I headed back to my apartment. I needed to wipe off the sweat and blood of battle, and was looking forward to a hot meal.

Aranea

The door opened as Cain entered. He looked weary, but his face split into a smile when he saw me. I gave him a hug, ignoring the smell of death that surrounded him.

“How was your day?” I asked.

Cain’s face soured somewhat. “I’ve had better,” he said. “They had us duel this morning.”

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked, confused. Wardens were all trained to duel. The stories of Warden’s dueling each other were infamous, and I had heard many the minstrel sing of two Wardens fighting to the death over the love of a Weaver.

“I don’t like dueling,” Cain said. “My Relic just isn’t suited for it. I lost all three of my duels and now I’ve been assigned extra training.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Hearing that Cain didn’t like dueling was like learning your horse didn’t like the taste of apples. I just couldn’t understand it. I pushed that aside; he just needed some encouragement and some successes to feel confident in fighting.

“I’m sure you’ll do better,” I said as I helped him out of his armor, noticing a hole in the stomach of his armor and shirt. I pulled it aside and revealed a pink scar where something had recently stabbed him.

“You got hurt!” I said, pulling off the silk shirt I had made for him.

“Just a lucky shot by a Mist Imp,” Cain said. “I think this armor has seen the last of its use though, I got a new one from the Voice awhile back, but I’ve been waiting to swap them out.”

“You shouldn’t wait,” I scolded him. “Your life is worth more than the repair cost or replacement of some armor. Promise me you’ll never go into the Mist again unless you’re wearing the best equipment you have.”

Cain smiled. “I promise.” He said, leaning in for a kiss.

I swatted him away. “Good, now go take a bath you stink.”

He laughed but moved, kicking off his boots to leave by the door before entering our bathroom. The sound of running water was soon coming from it. Fifteen minutes later he emerged in a fresh pair of clothes. I was stitching up the hole in his shirt. I still had some silk thread left over and, when I was done, you could barely tell the shirt had ever been damaged.

“How was your first day?” Cain asked me.

“Good,” I said, feeling my cheeks redden. “I got publicly praised by my teacher for my ability to purge corruption from my core; she said I’m really fast. I’m hoping to get even faster. I want to be the fastest in my classes’ year.”

“I think you can do it,” Cain said. “I’ve watched you do it on the trail. If you can keep your concentration while on horseback then you have the focus you need.”

“We just went over the primaries after that, what about you? I heard training was short for everyone today,” I asked him as I finished mending his shirt.

I took it over to the washbasin and started to plunge it into the soapy rinse and dragged it against the washboard. I pinned it up on the clothesline in the bathroom over the tub.

“Enoch and I went out and completed a quest,” he said. “There was a farm in the southeast that had some imps coming out of the nearby fog land and we cleared it. We killed a few imps and some skitterers. I got about nine gold after I split it with Enoch from selling their corpses.”

“They’re worth that much?” I asked, surprised.

“Apparently a lot of Weavers want their carapace,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll try to get you some of their carapace next time I come across one.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not sure how much I’d like that; animal corpses aren’t really my thing.”

“I’ll clean it before I give it to you,” he said, rolling his eyes, a slight smile tugging at his mouth.

I set out some dinner for us I’d taken from the mess hall and kept warm on the stove. Cain dug in with the hunger of a starving wolf. I would have made us some tea, but it was too close to evening and we needed to get up early tomorrow for our training. Cain grabbed our dishes and started washing them while I slipped out of my day dress and set out my clothes for the next day.

Cain pulled the shutters on the ether sun gems to cut out their light. I slid under the covers next to him, feeling the heat of his bare skin on mine. His lips met mine and I wrapped my arms around his neck as his hands caressed my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.