I groaned, trudging through Henesys and feeling like my back was about to break. I made a mental note to thank Mina again for suggesting I avoid the warrior career path, there was no way I would've been strong enough for it. I glanced over my shoulder at the large cart that was practically overflowing with firewood I was pulling along and sighed. The things we do for mesos.

I looked to my right at Leon, who was pulling a second, much larger cart of firewood behind him and barely even sweating. To my left, Kiro was pulling the smallest of the three carts we borrowed for the job that was piled high with sticks, she didn't seem to be having much more difficulty than Leon. Once again, I found myself being reminded I was the weakest of our motley trio.

"This sucks." I complained in Leon's direction.

"It's work. Deal with it." He replied, not even looking at me.

"I would just like to say that Nella is, has been, and always will be a soulless, slave-driving, sadistic sociopath complete with fangs."

"For the hundredth time."

"Yes."

"And also for the hundredth time, those aren't fangs, Nemo. They're normal canines, her bottom ones are just more... pronounced." He insisted.

"I think they make her look unique!" Kiro said brightly.

"Yeah, like the spawn of a human and balrog." I muttered, beginning to lose feeling in my arms. Not good, but it beat the pain at least.

Leon sighed. "Give it a rest, would you? We got the wood, we can rest while it's being processed. Once we take it back to the building site and get our payment we can probably take a week to relax."

"Sounds like a good idea to me."

"Good, then shut up and pick up the pace. The sooner we get this to Vicious, the sooner we can rest."

xxx

We arrived at Vicious' woodworking stall not long after that, thankfully. I was about ready to collapse when Leon came to a stop. Everything was getting blurry. Then I realized my glasses had slipped off the end of my nose because of all the sweat. I pushed them back up as Leon swore and turned to me.

"Damn it, Nemo. You know this guy, right?" He asked, his tone irritated. I wondered what he was getting angry at me about now. For some reason he'd been getting mad at me a lot easier lately. "I thought you said he was almost always at his shop."

"He is." I said tiredly, letting the cart's bar in front of me being the only thing keeping me from landing face-first in the dirt. "Vicious is committed to his craft, so much at times he might need to be committed. Much like Nella."

He glared at me at the mention of Nella's name. "Don't start on her again. Just tell me where the hell Vicious could be if he's as reliable as you say he is."

I looked at Vicious' stall, which honestly looked a little odd without him behind it. I looked up, the sun was almost directly overhead, so it must have been around noon. "Maybe he went to lunch or something." I shrugged.

"Of all the times..." Leon began, but Kiro interrupted him.

"Everybody's got to eat, Leon. You can't get mad at someone for that, can you?" She asked with a smile.

He made a groaning noise and sighed, looking off in the other direction. "No, I suppose not. I'm getting hungry too, anyway."

"Let's hit a restaurant, then." I suggested, hoping I could stay upright for the walk to it.

"I have a better idea." Leon said. "You stay here and watch the carts, Kiro and I will bring you something in a bit."

"Wha? Why me?" I demanded as best I could, given how much I wanted to just pass out.

"Coming to Vicious for processing was your idea, and someone has to make sure the wood isn't stolen." He explained, beginning to walk off. "We'll be back in a while. Come on, Kiro."

"Oh, alright. See you in a bit, Nemo!" Kiro said, hurrying to catch up with him.

I watched them leave, wanting to shout more than a few rude things at the both of them, but felt too tired to try. I just sat down on the ground with a sigh, recalling something Kiro had told me back on Florina. Some family this is. I must be the youngest brother that they all pick on.

xxx

I must have fallen asleep sitting there, or passed out from exhaustion, since the next thing I knew I was being shaken awake.

"Hey, Nemo! You still breathing?"

I groaned, weakly swinging at them to leave me alone before trying to sit up. "Lunchtime already, Leon?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"Actually it's sometime past that, and my name's not Leon."

I looked up at him, straightening my glasses. Blonde hair aside, he was right... he wasn't Leon. Guess he'd know that best though. "Oh. Hey Vicious, how's business?"

He sighed, shaking his head at me. "Apparently booming. You expecting me to make arrows out of this lot?" He asked, looking behind me at the three carts of wood. "Because if you are, I'd have to ask if you were preparing an army or just a really, really bad shot."

I gave a half-hearted laugh, grabbing the closest cart's handlebar and pulling myself up. "Nah, I just need it processed into wood. Getting started soon might be a good idea, too. You remember the warrior I told you about? He's on the warpath about getting this done."

"I see..." Vicious muttered, glancing at his stall. "...there's a little problem though. I've closed up shop for a while until I can resolve it."

"What?" Leon asked, making both of us jump. He'd returned and gotten behind Vicious without our noticing. How I could have missed his giant sword was a mystery to me. "How long will fixing your 'little problem' take?"

"Er..." He took a couple quick steps away from Leon. "I don't know. I've been looking for a while, but..."

"You lose your tools or something?" I wondered.

Vicious leaned against one of the carts, looking at the ground. "I wish I had only lost my tools. I have two backup sets of them, so that wouldn't be a problem. I can't replace what I did lose."

"Which was?" Leon asked, glaring at him.

"My niece."

Leon's expression went from dangerous to surprised, before quickly turning more neutral than anything. "When you say you lost her, you mean she's just missing, correct?"

He nodded. "I can't find her anywhere in Henesys. I was supposed to be taking care of her while my Brother was in the hospital, but I'm not exactly good with kids. She kept wandering off. I didn't think it was too big of a deal since she only went to play with the local kids and didn't leave town, but I haven't been able to find her for quite a while."

"What's her name? And how long is quite a while?" Kiro inquired, walking over to him and leaning down to get a look at his face. "Like a few hours?"

"Her name's Alanis, and I haven't seen her in... well..." Vicious kept his focus on the ground and bit his lip. "...a couple days."

Kiro's eyes widened and Leon's sword slid from his grip, landing tip-first into the ground with a thunk. Then they both looked at me. I barely noticed, suddenly feeling very awake and like someone had just punched me in the stomach.

"Alanis has been missing... for two days?" I asked slowly. "Does Clint know?"

"Are you kidding, he'd kill me! He warned me she-" He stopped suddenly, looking up at me. "Wait... you know Clint?

"You're damn right he would." I snapped, ignoring the question. "Right after I beat you up and Artemis tortured you for a week."

Vicious flinched at the name Artemis. I would too. Alanis may have been one of the friendliest people around, but her Mother scared the hell out of me. And everyone else that knew her, by the look of it.

"Look, Clint's still recovering from that golem attack and I didn't want him to worry." Vicious explained.

"Yeah, right." I glared at him. "You didn't tell him because you didn't want to risk Artemis getting involved. Alanis told me her Mom's not that fond of her Uncle, and something like this won't get you on her good side. If she has one."

"Are you going to keep this idiocy up or start looking for her?" Leon interrupted. "Vicious, we'll go look for the kid, you stay here and get to work on the wood."

"But..." Vicious began, quickly deciding against an argument after seeing the stern expression Leon was giving him.

"I'll go ask around the town. Kiro, you take the park. Nemo..." He tossed a paper bag at me, I barely caught it since my arms were still half-numb from the cart workout. "...eat your lunch and make sure Vicious does his job. We'll meet back here in an hour."

"Right!" Kiro said, dashing off in the direction of Mushroom Park.

Vicious grumbled something, but went over to the largest cart and began pulling out firewood.

I opened the bag as Leon departed and grinned at the food inside. "Thank you, Leon!" I called out to him, before dropping onto the ground and starting to eat.

xxx

By the time I had finished eating, Vicious had only finished one piece of wood. Sure, I had practically inhaled my lunch, but he was still going much slower than he usually did. He must have been too preoccupied by Alanis being missing to focus. I guessed he was only finishing one every fifteen minutes, since he only had four done by the time Leon and Kiro returned.

Leon hadn't had much luck, commenting about how everyone he went to question either ran in the opposite direction or gave him suspicious looks. Fortunately, Kiro was much more of a people-person than Leon. Or rather, a kid-person. She had spoken to the kids Alanis played with around town and one of them told her Alanis kept going on about all the stories she had read about Ellinia and wishing she could see it.

"So you think she went to Ellinia?" Leon wondered.

"That makes sense." I said, thinking back. "She always had a fascination with nature and magic. Hell, she told me it was the first place she was going to visit when she was old enough to leave home. I should have thought of it sooner."

"Why didn't you?" Leon asked, glaring at me.

I glared right back. "Thanks to your firewood haul, a late lunch and you making us skip breakfast this morning, my mind was too focused on how much pain I was in to think clearly."

"She couldn't go to Ellinia, though! I mean, the monsters-" Vicious began.

"Monsters wouldn't be too much of an issue for her." I said, scratching my head.

Kiro was by the smallest cart, spinning one of the sticks absent-mindedly. "You mean they leave kids alone? That's nice of them."

Leon looked at her, clearly wondering if she was being serious.

I just sighed. "No, Kiro. It's because I... well, I taught her a bit about how to avoid monsters and fight when she needs to. Maple may be rock-bottom on the list of dangerous places in the world, but there are still threats. Clint couldn't teach her much since Artemis was so against it... so Alanis asked me to teach her a bit. I didn't see the harm, really." I glanced at Vicious. "And if you breath a word of that to Clint or Artemis, I'll stick to the idea of beating you up."

"Geez... what's got you so violent today?" Vicious inquired, taking more wood off the cart.

"I've been working for a pair of slave-drivers named Leon and Nella practically non-stop for the past two weeks, and now this happens. My normal partly-sunny disposition is overcast at the moment." I said, trying to keep my voice even.

"I'd hate to see a thunderstorm." Vicious commented.

"By now, you'd be unconscious from a mallet upside the head if it was even rainy." I stated. Then noticed Leon and Kiro giving me curious looks. "What?"

Kiro pocketed the stick. "What are you talking about the weather for? Besides, the sky's clear today."

"Yours always is." Leon grinned. Kiro looked even more confused at this, but didn't get a chance to speak before he continued. "If you're feeling stressed, you might want to just rest up here. If the kid's only gone to Ellinia, Kiro and I can find her."

I shook my head. "No way. If she used what I taught her to get there, it's partly my fault she's gone. I wouldn't be able to relax with her missing, anyway."

"Suit yourself." Leon shrugged. "Let's get going, then. Vicious, I expect that wood to be processed by the time we get back. Got it?"

Vicious looked from Leon to the overloaded carts and back. "Right..."

"See what I mean?" I said when Leon and Kiro had gotten out of earshot. "A slave-driver."

Vicious nodded, getting to work as I hurried after them.

xxx

Leon and Kiro chose to walk to Ellinia, looking for Alanis along the way. I, on the other hand, volunteered myself to get there first via return scroll and save my already sore legs the effort. Leon didn't seem to happy about it, but I'd teleported quickly enough after telling him the idea he didn't have a chance to get a word in. No doubt he was going to give me crap about it later.

However, I'd forgotten the biggest problem with return scrolls. When you arrive at your destination, you're about ten feet off the ground to keep from teleporting into somebody, which can lead to very messy consequences. The higher arrival prevents that, but it doesn't keep you from landing on somebody. Which was the unfortunate case this time. Not to mention the human-cushion I hit was wearing a helmet with horns. Lucky me.

"Whoever made those things needs a kick in the head." I complained, rubbing my rear and hoping there wasn't a large tear out of my pants now.

"The only one going to get kicked is you, if you don't get off me!" The person I landed on snapped.

"Wouldn't it be kind of hard to kick me when I'm lying on your legs?" I asked, pushing myself up and taking a couple steps away from the irritated warrior.

"Oh, shut up. That sounds like something my brother would say." The warrior replied, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off his armor. He glanced over his shoulder at me and stared for a moment. "Hey, don't I know you?"

"I don't meet many other adventurers working with someone as antisocial as Leon, so I don't have many faces to remember. Makes it easy to recall certain faces like yours." I said, crossing my arms. "Obviously it's not the same for you, Lucas."

He blinked, thought for a moment, then got the expression that's usually accompanied by a lightbulb over someone's head in cartoons. "Ah, my Brother's rival! Nemo, right?"

It was my turn to blink at that. "Yes, but... since when am I Austin's rival?"

"That's what he calls you. Something about proving the superiority of crossbows to bows. He's always like that with people that use normal bows, though." He explained, turning to face me. "Speaking of my Brother, have you seen him recently? He was supposed to meet me here a couple hours ago and he still hasn't turned up. I'm getting worried."

"I haven't seen him... but Austin's missing too?" I wondered. "Great, more problems."

"What do you mean him too?"

"I came here looking for a friend of mine. She ran off a few days ago and I'm pretty sure she came here. Have you seen her? Somewhere between four and five feet tall, bright red hair, answers to Alanis."

Lucas shook his head. "Nope, sorry."

"Damn." I grumbled, looking up. "Well, I guess I'll check with Grendel. If Alanis did come here, I'm betting she went to meet him at least once."

"I'll go with you, maybe he can use some sort of spell to find my Brother too."

xxx

Lucas tapped his foot impatiently on the wooden floor, and the clanging his steel boots were giving off made me want to break something. Like his leg. I wasn't keen on waiting either, but it's not like someone as important as Grendel was an easy person to meet with. Oh wait, yes it was. Most days he didn't even close the door to his house. Sure up-and-coming mages sought him out daily, but they never took long to set up and shove out the door. At least if things here worked the same way as when I became an archer.

Of course, none of that mattered right now. The normally open door was locked, and the glowing magic runes on the door informed anyone passing by that he was out. It didn't specify where he had gone, or when he would return either, which added to my frustration. I started to think that maybe being vague and rather annoying was a prerequisite for Mages, but since the only ones I knew well were Kiro and Artemis I wrote it off as a biased idea.

With no other ideas, I left Lucas on the doorstep and wandered off to ask around town about Alanis. Normally, getting simple information from most people on Victoria was easy. Then again, usually Leon or Kiro asked during our jobs, and they carry a lot of intimidation and cheeriness respectively, which probably helps in being persuasive. I, on the other hand, am as scary as a snail and as bubbly as week-old soda pop. I used to think it was only having contact with Clint and his family regularly for the past few years that killed most of my ability to convince people I wasn't just some scruffy oddball, but after finding out Kiro only had her adoptive Father for most of her life, it didn't seem like a valid excuse anymore.

After getting funny looks from almost half the people in Ellinia, I finally met someone who was happy to tell me that she had seen someone matching Alanis' description earlier leaving town toward Perion. I thought it was odd she would be going that way, but was glad I had some sort of a lead. I was just on my way out of town when that oh-so-familiar voice called out.

"Yo, Nemo! Wait up!"

Not slowing my pace at all, I waved back without looking. "In a hurry, Lucas. No time to stand around right now."

The warrior kept running until he fell into pace beside me, panting. "Damn it. Weapon aside, you remind me way too much of Austin. He never slows down for me either."

"I can't imagine why." I muttered, feeling a bit of sympathy for Austin, it couldn't be easy to have a Brother like this guy. No wonder he vanished. "What did you want?"

"Well, Austin was on his way here from Perion, so I figured I'd head there and see if he got held up. If I'm lucky, I'll meet him on the road." He explained. "Besides, after seeing you under those slimes, I'm betting you could use a bodyguard."

I scowled at him, simply because he was probably right. After being stuck with Leon for so long, I wasn't used to fighting monsters on my own, but still... why him of all people? Why not someone more female? Someone female I could flirt with and wouldn't punch me in the face for it. Hell, that's a pipe dream... I'd settle for someone less annoying of either sex. Mina was wrong, I've got no luck at all.

xxx

Shortly after the forest parted and made way for the desert around Perion, Lucas and I were intercepted by a kid about Alanis's age. I just stared down at him as he peered up at me from under a fancy blue wizard's steeple hat, grinning after making a very tempting offer.

"Come on, a hundred mesos a stick is easy money! I'm sure guys like you could use it!" He said, slightly bouncing in place and making his oversized blue robe kick up sand.

Ignoring the last little insult, he was right. It was easy, and if it wasn't some sort of trick I could split it with Leon and Kiro and we could take the next few days off at the least. However, Alanis was more important than a vacation.

"Thanks, but no thanks, kid. I'm looking for someone and don't have the time to play monster hunter for you." I said, walking around him and continuing on.

"You don't have to be rude, Ne-" Lucas began, but was cut off by the little mage.

"Hey! I'm not playing around here! I need to get these sticks for Grendel!" He shouted. "This is important!"

I looked over my shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him. "What, the great mage sent you out for kindling?"

"Of course not! This is a challenge! I'm one of the most promising students he has next to some jerk, and he sent us out to collect sticks! Whoever gets more in two hours gets an advanced lesson! I have to get it or else that jerk will!"

I scowled at him. "Okay, that gives me less reason to help you. Hasn't anyone ever told you it's not right to cheat on tests?"

"It's not cheating, it's making sure the one who deserves it gets the prize! Better me than some punk from a backwater island like Maple!" He insisted.

"Maple?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "This other kid, what's their name?"

"Alanis-something. I try not to associate with pe- hey! Where are you going?"

I had turned and kept walking right after he said her name. If Alanis was hunting stumps for Grendel, I knew a few places she could be. It also meant she must have started mage training... her Mother was not going to be happy about that. Luckily I'd only have to face Clint, who'd probably just grin and congratulate Alanis for sticking with her dream.

"Don't ignore me!" The kid yelled.

"Sorry, find someone else to help on your little hunt or man up and do it yourself." I called back.

"D-do you have any idea who my Father is? If you help me, you'll have a good reputation with him too!"

"No I don't know, but more importantly, I don't care."

"Even if it's Jonathan Devric?"

I stopped dead at that. Devric. Hell, there's a name that brought back memories and emotions... ones that managed to even push Alanis out of my mind for the moment. Glancing back at the kid, I tried to judge his age. He had to be about the same as Alanis, or a little younger... which meant... "Jacob?"

He blinked. "So... you have heard of us!"

I turned and approached as he went off on some little rant. I ignored whatever he was saying, gritting my teeth and trying to settle the pounding in my head brought on by the sudden surge of anger brought on by hearing that name again. Once the kid was in arm's reach, I grabbed the front of his robes and lifted him off the ground with one hand. He fell dead silent, a look of shock on his face.

Lucas took a quick step toward us. "Nemo, what the hell are you-"

"You stay out of this." I snapped, keeping a vicious glare on Jacob. "Kid, Devric's not a name you should toss around at random. They've got their share of enemies, you know. People with longstanding grudges. Like me."

"Y-you've... got something against my Father?" He stuttered.

"He's scum as far as I'm concerned, but he's not the one I want to pitch off a cliff. That's something I've reserved for your big brother."

"W-what... w-why..." The kid next to babbling, possibly bawling, I didn't care much either way at the moment. However, the look Lucas was giving me made me think he was almost as freaked out about my sudden change as the brat was. I wasn't, I knew my temper could flare like this even though it rarely did since... hell, since I'd moved to Maple Island. This little punk was bringing me back to a time well before that, no wonder I was losing my cool.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm myself down a bit, I looked Jacob straight in the eye. "Shut up, do your own damn work for once in your life instead of hiring goons and start learning to rely on something other than a name. You'll be better off." I said, abruptly dropping him onto his backside and turning to leave. "Oh, and next time you see your Brother Julie, tell him Nemo says hi and that if I ever see him again I'll put an arrow through him."

I stalked off, the thought of Alanis still being in trouble drifting back into my mind at last. This silence I had left was broken by the hurried sound of boots meeting dirt and Lucas' voice.

"Nemo!" He called out, I ignored him. At least until he screamed. I looked back to find him with his back to me and his shield at the ready.

"Idiot! Why'd you get in the way?" Jacob shouted, though I couldn't see him since Lucas was between us.

"Because attacking someone when their back is turned is one of the lowest things you can do, regardless of the circumstances!" He yelled back. "And if you try that again, I'll knock you in the head with my shield, kid or not!"

It was quiet for a few moments and Lucas lowered his shield, turning to join me. I saw Jacob's retreating back behind him, along with the scratches on his shield and one across the right side of his face where a magic claw spell had struck. Once the intial thought of the punk trying to do that do me and how much I wanted to squish him like a bug with my mallet passed, I nodded to Lucas since I was having trouble finding my voice.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I shook my head, since I couldn't believe he was asking me that and because, well, I wasn't. Not after finding out a simple name could make be crack like that. Either the old me was just waiting to come back, or I was just overworked. I hoped the latter, it'd be easier to deal with.

I returned my attention to Lucas, and the blood working its way down his cheek. "I think that's my line."

"I'll be all right, taken worse hits than that before." He assured me, grinning like a fool.

"I'm sure." I removed a small healing potion from my jacket and offered it to him. "Thanks."

Lucas took it as he passed. "It's what I'm here for. Want to explain what that was all about, though? Who's Dev-whatever?"

Heaving an irritated sigh, I figured he did deserve something for watching my back like that. "Devric, they're big shots on Orbis."

"You know them?"

"I knew Julie... er... Julian. Sort of."

He stared at me, curious and waiting for a better explanation.

"The guy helped make my life hell for like ten years, alright? I have plenty of reason to detest him and his damn family." I snapped, glaring at the ground. "It's in the past, and as far as I'm concerned it can stay there."

Nodding and looking at the road ahead, Lucas kept his mouth shut even though it was pretty obvious he wanted to know more. Of course, I was also making it pretty obvious I didn't want to get into it, and he wasn't dense enough to push it. Lucky for both of us, I was letting myself get so worked up it's hard to say what I'd do on sheer instinct. I also couldn't tell who was more angry with, Devric or myself for letting myself get like this.

All the time on Maple and I still ended up like this. Guess I just wasn't ready to deal with things from my life before that. I'd have to avoid them whenever possible, even though there were some things I simply couldn't. Avoid them, ha. I thought harshly. Looks like it's not just my muscles that are lacking strength.

"You said her name was Alanis, right?" Lucas asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Yeah."

"Okay, so let's find her. Austin can take care of himself long enough for me to help you find a defenseless little girl out here."

I couldn't help grinning at that. "Thanks, Luc."

xxx

We found Alanis at the third place I considered looking, my mood much improved since the run-in with Jacob. Especially after seeing the look on Lucas' face after we first spotted her, it almost made me burst out laughing.

"That's... Alanis?" He muttered in shock.

The "defenseless little girl" as he had called her before was in the midst of a horde of stumps, laughing like a lunatic as they exploded from a single shot of her energy bolt spell. "Let's see those slimes on Maple pick on me now!" She practically cackled.

"Aww, look. She's having fun." I said, shaking from silent laughter at her display.

"She's being reckless." He mumbled.

As if on cue, one of the stumps didn't break after she hit it and she didn't notice, having turned to deal with others. I swore, but was in a good position to take it out for her. Stumbling with an arrow, it barely touched my bowstring before something struck and it toppled over.

"Nice shot." Lucas commented.

"Yeah, nice..." I murmured, waving the arrow I was still holding in front of his face. "...but it wasn't me."

"Would you be careful?" Someone called out over Alanis' laughter.

She quieted down. "Oh, you're such a spoil sport." Alanis complained, blowing away the last three nearby stumps and spinning to face the speaker.

An archer stepped out of the nearby shadows. "I just don't want you getting hurt, alright?"

"Sure, sure. Makes you sound like my parents though." She grumbled.

"You don't have to tell me about family that worries too much." The archer commented.

Lucas had already taken off and was halfway to them before I hurried to catch up. "Austin! This is what you've been doing?"

The archer glanced at him and sighed. "Speak of the devil."

"Nemo's here too!" Alanis said brightly after catching sight of me tailing after the speedy warrior.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece." I said, giving her a pat on the head once I was close enough. "Your Uncle's worried sick, you know."

"Oh boo." She swatted my hand away. "I left him a note telling him I was going to Ellinia, if he was really worried he would have come get me himself."

I thought back, and was sure Vicious never mentioned that. "What note?"

She frowned. "He didn't find it? That bonehead, I left it laying on my bed!"

Shaking my head and making a mental note to bop Vicious with my bow for not thinking to check her room for clues in the first place, I set the arrow I was still holding and let it fly at another stump that was wandering by. "Well, his missing the obvious aside and seeing as Austin's been found, let's get you those sticks for Grendel."

"You're going to help? That's great, but... how did you know about that?" She wondered.

"We ran into your competition on the way here." Lucas spoke up quickly, clearly so I wouldn't have a chance to slip back into that mood at the thought of Jacob. "He was hiring help, so us helping you would make things even."

"He was getting help? That jerk! I'll show him!" She turned and unleashed another volley of energy on a few stumps that had been unfortunate enough to be nearby. "Watch my back again, Austin. I'm going back in!" With that, she charged off in search of stumps to massacre.

"If she just started, how in the world is she tossing around magic like that without getting tired?" Lucas wondered as Austin chased after her.

I found myself laughing again. "Well, her Mom is a pretty powerful mage, and knowing Alanis she probably started teaching herself magic a long time ago using the old tomes on it I saw sitting around their house."

"Yeah, that might explain it." Lucas started after the two of them. "Coming?"

"Of course. I don't want to lose track of her again."

xxx

Another hour or so of exploding stumps later, and we headed back to Ellinia to meet the deadline Grendel had set. When we got back, the door was wide open. Muttering about that as we entered, the great mage was in his usual spot, hovering at the far end of the room. Jacob was already there, standing next to a huge pile of sticks and donning a smirk to match. I thought it dropped a little after seeing me, but that's to be expected.

"Welcome back, Alanis. Please place what you've collected on the floor there." Grendel said calmly, gesturing to the floor and making a glowing white circle appear.

Alanis and the rest of us dumped them onto the floor as requested, before stepping back and looking at the piles next to each other. Jacob's easily looked like it had more, but the floating mage just stared down as the piles, as if silently assessing them.

"Very well then." He murmured, holding his left hand out and flicking his wrist. Jacob's pile floated into the air, I thought I saw Grendel's eyebrow twitch, and he snapped his fingers. The floating sticks vanished in a puff of smoke. "A fine collection, to be sure. Now, Alanis." He did the same with his right hand and Alanis' mound floated into the air.

At least, that's what I was expecting to happen. Not even half the pile of sticks drifted into the air and that time I clearly saw Grendel raise his eyebrows. "Well now, this is impressive." He said, snapping his fingers again and making the floating sticks vanish. "Alanis wins my little challenge."

"What?" Jacob exclaimed. "But- but-"

"You had more? Yes, you did. Nearly twice as many, in fact." Grendel stated calmly. "However, none of them passed my inspection."

"Inspection? What... what kind of-"

Grendel raised a hand and Jacob fell silent. If that was a spell, it was one I'm sure one a lot of people that knew him wished they could do. "Each person's magic is unique to them. If you're skilled enough and know what to look for, you can tell who used what spell. Each of these stick remaining in Alanis' collection all have her... magical fingerprint on them, if you will. None of the ones you brought in bared yours." He explained simply.

"You didn't even get one stick yourself? Ha!" Alanis picked one up out of her pile and pointed it at him. "What, you think mages have it easy? You gotta work twice as hard to practice magic than you do to fire a bow or swing a sword, that's what my Mom always says!"

A chuckle came from the old man. "Yes, that certainly sounds like her."

"It also sounds like a typical Devric to never do work himself." I commented, apparently more loudly than I intended since everyone looked at me.

"I can't believe this!" Jacob snapped, thankfully apparently unable to not be the center of attention. "This backwater brat beat me even though I collected more? Who cares how I got them, I got more!"

I sighed. Way to miss the point entirely you spoiled little punk.

"You'll be hearing from my Father about this!" He shouted, storming out the door. Silence followed, aside from a light snickering coming from myself at both the typical Devric reaction to loss and Alanis sticking her tongue out at his back.

"Well then, about your prize, Alanis." Grendel said, acting as if the outburst had never happened.

They talked quietly between each other for a couple seconds while Lucas and Austin went to gathering up the sticks again. I was about to help when a voice to my right made me jump in surprise.

"What did we miss?"

Taking a few quick breaths, I gave him an irritated look. How the hell is he so stealthy with that giant sword? "Oh, the usual random nonsense we normally get into. Be happy you got left out of it this time, Leon."

"Ohh, but I like the random nonsense! It's always such fun!" Kiro chirped, patting Leon on the shoulder. "Isn't that right?"

Leon just shrugged in reply.

"Ah, Kiro. It's a pleasure to see you again." Grendel said, traces of cheerfulness in his voice. "Are you well?"

"Of course!" She stepped between Leon and I, throwing her arms around us. "I've got these two to keep me company now, so I'm doing fine."

"That's good to hear."

"Alright, let's get back to Henesys so I can tell my Uncle how much of a bonehead he is." Alanis said, her arms wrapped around a book nearly half her size.

"That's your prize?" I wondered.

"Yep! Grendel said it would help me improve where I need to, so I'll start on it tonight." She stumbled a bit as she tried to walk with it. "Maybe tomorrow, depending on how fast I can get back carrying it."

I was about to offer to carry it for her, but Leon snagged it first, tucking it under his free arm and turning to leave. "There, now we'll make it back sooner." He said, walking out the door. "Provided you three get moving!"

Alanis and Kiro quickly said goodbye to Grendel before jogging after Leon. I did the same with Austin and Lucas, who were looking a bit surprised as the sticks they were gathering up suddenly poofed at the snap of Grendel's fingers. They got enough sense back to wave as I ran out the door after hearing a grumpy swordsman shout for me to hurry up again.

With that little adventure behind me, I tried to reflect fondly on it, but had some difficulty. My thoughts kept drifting to the Devrics, which just ended with my mood souring. I was probably right about what I had said before. If I ever ran into Julian again, I probably would shoot him without even thinking about it, but hopefully that would never happen. I certainly had no plans to go back to Orbis. As people unhappy with me go, I'm just happy I won't be around when Artemis finds out Alanis is officially a mage. She'd probably find a way to blame me.

"So Alanis, have you thought about what kind of magic you're going to specialize in when you get the chance?"

"Well, I'll probably go with what my Mom did. That seems like a fun choice."

"Oh, I'm sure. Just promise me you won't start taking after her as far as your personality goes and I'll be happy."

"Forget her Mother, her Uncle's the problem. He'd better be done by the time we get back, or he'll be finding out the definition of his name first hand."