Emily and Juliana sit in silence, enjoying each other’s pany, for the first hour of the night watot a single beast approaches their camp aually, Juliana breaks the silence.

  “Why do you o leave?” she asks quietly, catg Emily off guard.

  Emily opens her mouth to respond but has to pause for a moment to work out an expnation through the twistings of guilt and grief threatening to choke her again. Juliana notices her hesitation and tinues quickly.

  “It’s not that I’m bming you or anything. I uand the Mandrago family did some horrible things and you need revenge. But, why does that mean you have to leave The ant?”

  “Ah,” Emily breathes a small sigh of relief, her emotions calming a little. “Since I’m a vassal of their house, what I want to do will be seen as insubordination arayal. The royal family and The ant won’t take kindly to that. It’s likely I will be senteo death or life impriso if I don’t flee afterwards.”

  “Why ’t you tell everyone about what they’re doing and just leave them then?” Juliana asks, pulling away a little to turn to face Emily. “I looked into the w about flict between noble households and if you separate a granted a le then, even if you attacked them unprovoked and killed several of their members, you’d only get a sp on the wrist. There’s even a past example of someoi off fhtering aire noble househht after being graheir title.”

  Juliana’s face sches in distaste at the end.

  Ha, that’s probably Jenny.

  “Unfortunately, it’s not that simple,” Emily says with a pained smile as she reaches up to push a few stray strands of hair out of Juliana’s face. “There are a lot of households doing the same so they’ll likely support them and try to cover it up. Also, even if I separate from the Mandrago family, it will still be seen as a betrayal if I turn on them afterwards. There will be a lot of pushback from their fa, which will likely make my senteng harsher than the past cases, and nobody, allied to them or not, will look positively on me assassinating one of the kingdom’s fourth circle mages. Also, they believe I’m brainwashed right now. If I request a le, they’ll realise I’m not and will probably expect me to e after them. That, and they could target Anna instead, who they currently have no reason to harm.”

  Tears start to form in Juliana’s eyes as she looks for a way out.

  “’t you go collena, then request a title? That way you kill them with the least punishment and risk.”

  “I’m not fident I take a fourth circle mage head-on, especially if they’re expeg me and given time to prepare.”

  “Then wait till you ! You take your sister to my family’s territory. We’ll happily protect her while you grow, and I’m sure, seeing how talented you are, it won’t take long,” Juliana says desperately, her eyes begging Emily to say yes.

  “And turn the hostility of a marquess on your family as well?” Emily whispers sadly. “Would your family go to war for me? Fight the Mandragos, maybe their allies as well, so that I get revenge? A surprise attack is my best ce. The longer I drag this out, the more variables are introduced, and the more dangerous it gets.”

  Juliana falls silent for a few seds, holding Emily’s gaze with an expression of heartbreak and sorrow. Emily feels herself starting to cry as a hollow, selfish thought gnaws at the back of her mind, weeping for a suggestion she knows will never e.

  Did she never even sider the possibility of ing with me?

  “Is that it then? Are we done?”

  Juliana’s words fall like a bde on Emily’s heart, severing her final hope as she wipes the tears from her girlfriend’s cheek with her thumb, her mind alight in a bze of chaotic thoughts.

  I want to tell her no. I want to say we’ll live long lives and I’ll be ba a few years. But I also don’t think she’ll ever be able to keep up with me. Or want to. I want to fight strong oppos. I want to explore the wonders of magic. I want to go to space. I ress… She doesn’t…

  Emily’s emotions and the mana around her reacts to her plight. It bubbles into water, f a shifting cloud of sadness around the two of them, small artificial raindrops joining the natural drizzle. Juliana doesn’t even notice, her attention fixed solely on Emily.

  “Yeah. I think so,” Emily finally answers, the icy lump f in her heart once again.

  Juliana’s barely restraiears turn into a torrent as she grabs Emily and pulls her in tight, sobbing into her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry,” Emily apologises meekly through her sorrow.

  ***

  They cry in each other’s arms for a while until their tears run dry and Emily’s spider spots inis. Her eyebrow creases in irritation as she sends one of her birds to intercept them and moves a hand from Juliana’s hair to tap her back.

  “There’s something ing,” she says gently while pulling away. “I’ll be right back.”

  Juliana nods and releases her. Emily stands up and turns away to walk across the camp.

  Her bird reaches the approag foes before she even makes it halfway across the clearing. She sees four mudscraps darting through the trees towards them. Emily quickly arrives at the edge of the barrier, looking out into the forest, dimly illuminated by the light of the moon above.

  She holds out her left hand, internally casting a spell and juring a fial bow. It falls into pfortably in her hand, the metal formed perfectly to her anatomy. She calmly shifts into a firing stand raises the bow, grabbing the string with her free hand. A pulse of mana leaves her circles, f an arrow oring as she draws it back.

  A pale green magic circle s the arrow as Emily casts an acceleration spell on it. She closes her eyes, watg the mudscraps through her bird’s vision, before shifting her aim and releasing the arrow. The moment it leaves the string, she adjusts again and pulls back for another shot, the bow automatically juring an arrow as she casts acceleration once again, pushing her casting speed to the limits with the simple sed circle spells.

  Four arrows fly out almost simultaneously, silently carving through the air towards their targets. They cut through the underbrush, drawing a straight lihrough Emily’s targets. Three of the four arrows fly true, smming into the mudscraps’ heads and tearing a hole straight through them. The fourth though, hits a tree on the ung through but meeting enough resistao knock it off course. Instead, it nds in the ugly creature’s shoulder, embedded down to the tip of the shaft, sending the beast tumbling.

  “Tsk, the power of the shot was good, but all these trees make accuracy difficult. If only arc wasn’t so noisy,” she mumbles to herself, drawing back the bow again and sending a fifth arrow, this one unaided by an acceleration spell, sailing into the downed creature’s head.

  Emily turns away from the corpses sending her bird bato position and taking o g the bow in her hand.

  If I ge the arrows to something with less weight and add in arc’s trag...

  She adds a remio her notebook to tinue expl the idea ter and turns back. She returns to find Juliana staring at her, eyes still red fr, but a lot calmer. Juliana pulls Emily down before climbing into her p and ying her head on her chest. Emily hugs her tight, shutting her eyes and rexing.

  “Are you pnning on leaving the day we return?” Juliana asks after a few minutes.

  “No. I’m going to vert anythi from this expedition into useful resources first. I also don’t have transport sorted out, so I’ll have to visit the docks and ask about it, and I ’t guarantee how long that will take. I hope to leave in no more than a week if possible though.”

  “Why are you in such a hurry?” Juliana asks, her tone one of pure curiosity, now that she’s accepted Emily’s decision.

  Emily sighs, leaning her head bad opening her eyes to gaze up at the starry sky above through the gaps in the opy.

  “I o see Anna, make sure she’s alright. I still don’t know how those assholes hurt her, and I didn’t eveo talk to her after Dad… That, and I feel impatient now. I’ve finally reached the point where I actually have the strength to achieve the goal I’ve been w towards sihe day I awakened. It was easy to force it out of my mind and not think about it when the finish line was out of sight, but now it’s all I think about,” Emily expins, anger and sorrow seeping into her voice as memories of the day her clock first turned back bubble to the surface of her mind, rising from the deep trehey’d been forced into.

  “I see,” Juliana says, sitting up and ing her arms around Emily’s neck.

  She fshes her a sad, resigned smile while leaning in close.

  “We have to make the most of the time we have left together then. Hopefully, then you’ll have to think about me instead.”

  She leans in for a kiss, and Emily allows herself to accept the temporary fort.

  ***

  A short while ter, their wates to an end. Emily stands up, lifting Juliana from her p and pulliowards the camp. They wake Ivor for his watd then disappear into a tent together.

  Emily sends her ons and armour away into her ste space, knowing she be fully equipped again in seds, if the need arises. Juliana does the same before they both climb into a sleeping bag and she curls up on top of Emily’s chest.

  “Goodnight,” Emily says, stroking Juliana’s hair.

  “Goodnight,” Juliana mumbles back, quickly falling into sleep’s embrace.

  Emily smiles and shuts her eyes, diving into the Spellweave to work on a new spell.

  Once more in the night, during Enzo’s watch, enemies are spotted by one of Emily’s birds; this time three rocky howlers. She simply flies the closest bird over to Enzo, nding on his head once before flying towards the approag foes. He quickly gets the message and goes to meet them, sending a few fast-flying rocks back at the monkeys and shredding holes in their chests.

  The rest of the night is quiet. As Daakes over from Enzo, Emily switches sleeping cores, and, after a couple of hours spell crafting with fresh cores, Dante calls for everyoo wake.

  Juliana doesn’t stir, so Emily gives her a light shake while sliding out from under her.

  “Wake up, breakfast time.”

  Juliana’s eyes flutter open at Emily’s words, bringing a smirk to Emily’s face.

  It just takes mentioning food to wake her.

  Emily slips out of the sleeping bag and stands up. She summons her body armour bato pce, taking a few moments to adjust how it sits to make it more fortable, before summoning her various pieces of battle gear and fastening them bato position.

  Juliana rises as she’s gearing up, throwing on her own clothes and armour. Emily helps her adjust the body armour before they leave the tent together, meeting Dante aer sitting around a small fire with skewers of meat suspended above it, a barely perceptible drizzle falling on their heads.

  “M,” Hester greets them casually as they approach.

  “M,” they both say back, sitting down beside the fire.

  “Sleep well?” Dante asks with a teasing grin, gng towards the tent they shared.

  Emily rolls her eyes and ignores him, but Juliana throws her arms around Emily’s neck, hanging off her, and responding with a cheery grin.

  “Of course! Emi’s really fy.”

  Hester and Emily giggle at her answer, and Dante chuckles before turning back to the fire, uo keep teasing Juliana after her ho response.

  Ivor, Enzo, and Tom slowly join them as the skewers finish cooking, and their breakfast passes peacefully. Afterwards, they pack their tents bato Tom’s bag. Ohe clearing is empty, and they’re ready to set off, Emily recalls all her scouts but one.

  She has the st bird fly up to the sound barrier disding on top and pressing a button. The disc hisses as the anchors are ripped free from the surrounding trees and swiftly pulled bato their housing. The disc drops into Emily’s waiting hands, and she sends it straight into her belt before leading the group onward into the forest.

  ***

  They walk on through the trees and fog, with Emily occasionally cheg the guide pose to make sure they’re going in the right dire. They enter nothing more than small groups of beasts in their first few days in the forest. Emily has Tom, Hester, and Juliana deal with most of them, to get used to real bat, but takes over whehe groups ing at them exceed four in number.

  On the m of the fifth day, Emily finishes w on her new spell a few minutes before the end of Dante’s watch.

  Perfect! I fi just in time to test it in the forest before we ehe caves. Let’s call it... Scattershot!

  With a new spell ihird circle se of her spellbook, Emily slides out from under Juliana and leaves the tent early. She finds Dating alone against a tree, his hood pulled down low to protect from the violent rain above. With a small flex of her magical prowess, a pulse of water spreads from Emily, f a thin shield over their cramped camp, packed into a small clearing barely big enough to fit their tents.

  The water shield blocks the ining rain, giving Dante respite.

  “Thanks,” he says, looking up as Emily approaches. “I wish I had mana to burn on a defensive spell against the rain.”

  “Ha, your defensive spell would burn all the trees around us along with your mana,” Emily says with a smirk, sitting dowo him.

  Dante clicks his tongue, as if all his pns have been ruined, drawing a chuckle from Emily as she casts se to dry him off. They sit in sileer, waiting out the st few miill they wake everyone else.

  Wheime es, Dante walks over to where Tom’s bag is left outside his tent and starts getting things out to prepare for breakfast while Emily calls for everyoo wake up, and moves back to her and Juliana’s tent. She pokes her head in, chug as she sees Juliana crawl deeper into her sleeping bag.

  “Wake up, Jules. There’ll be no food left if you take too long,” she threatens softly.

  “Lies,” Juliana grumbles, peeking her head out of the sleeping back to gre at Emily. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  Emily doesn’t respond, fshing her a cheeky grin. Juliana’s cheeks puff out as she finally sits up.

  “Meanie.”

  Emily ughs, resisting the urge to pinch her cute cheeks, as she turns around: choosing to ighe quietly muttered promise of revenge.

  KeroKeron