When they reached the mess hall, Damien dumped the pile of sand into the dirt and brushed his hands off on his coat. The line was short, so it didn’t take long for them to reach the woman with fish netted hair.

“The dumplings, please,” Sylph said. “On Professor Delph’s account. He owes me lunch for the rest of the year.”

“Yes, he mentioned that,” the woman said, jotting Sylph’s request down and nodding. She glanced at Damien and raised an eyebrow.

“Free meal,” Damien confirmed. She shook her head and clicked her tongue, but jotted his request down regardless.

“Your loss.”

After they’d found a table, Sylph raised an eyebrow at Damien.

“The free meal?”

“Food is food,” Damien said with a shrug.

“Fair enough,” Sylph agreed. A few minutes later, their rune circles lit up green and their food appeared before them.

Damien’s was the same slop as it had been the previous day, down to the consistency and color. Sylph had gotten a plate of three skewers of round, steaming dumplings.

The two of them eyed Damien’s plate with disgust. Then Sylph grabbed her plate and moved it slightly farther down the table to keep it away from the vomit on the boys’ plate. Damien couldn’t blame her.

A thought struck him. He raised his hand over the gelatinous mixture before him, drawing on a mote of Ether and molding it to his will. He visualized the food shrinking and forced the energy into it.

The slop shrank down until it was only around the size of a single spoonful.

“Don’t even think about it,” Henry snapped. “That is going to expand to full size in your throat and suffocate you.”

Damien sighed, allowing the food to become normal sized again. Sylph took a slow bite out of her dumpling.

“Were you going to try to eat that while it was shrunk?” she asked.

“What? No. I wouldn’t do that,” Damien muttered. “I was just practicing some more.”

“I see,” Sylph said, her tone making it apparent that she didn’t believe him for a second. “Do you want a dumpling? It’s Delph’s money after all.”

“A dumpling would be nice,” Damien said. Before Sylph could give him one, Damien grabbed his plate of mush and tilted it back, scraping everything into his mouth and swallowing as quickly as he could.

He mentally thanked all the teleportation for training him on avoiding vomiting, then shuddered once it was apparent that the food was going to stay down.

Sylph handed him one of the skewers, which Damien took with an appreciative smile. The dumplings were full of some barbequed meat that he couldn’t quite place. The meat was soft and juicy. It was packed with smokey flavor with just the right amount of salt to let the taste shine. The dough itself was light and airy. It had little flavor, but the texture felt like biting into a dense cloud.

The two of them finished their meal and headed back to the base of the mountain. Damien’s legs groaned protests at him, and he could already tell that he’d regret the morning’s training the following day.

Sylph looked to be in better shape, but Damien spotted her hiding a pained grimace several times. The climb back up the mountain proved to be even more painful.

Damien’s calves burned with every step, and by the time they’d reached their rooms, he almost let out a cry of joy.

The two of them managed to make it back to their room without falling over. Sylph peeked into the room Damien had carved while the boy flopped onto his bed with a groan.

“It’s empty,” Sylph announced, sitting down on her own bed and letting out a relieved sigh.

“Well, that’s good,” Damien said. “I would have been shocked if anyone came in after yesterday, though. Speaking of which…”

He let out a mixture of a groan and a sigh, grabbing the chalk from his pack and pushing himself upright.

“I’ve got to go do some interior decorations.”

“Have fun with that,” Sylph said, lying back in her bed.

Damien grumbled under his breath as he staggered over to Mark’s room. He turned the edge and glanced inside, only to find himself only inches away from Mark’s face. Damien jumped and let out a curse.

“What are you doing?” He snapped.

“I heard you get back and figured you might be coming to draw the runes in my room,” Mark said, frowning. “Did I do something wrong?”

“I – just don’t stand so close to the entrance,” Damien sighed. “You’ll scare someone.”

Mark nodded and stepped out of the way as Damien made his way inside the other boy’s room. It didn’t look like he’d done much in the way of furnishing it. The room was basically identical to how Damien’s room had looked before he’d started carving it.

Aside from the additions of the rugs and a sword collection on the wall, it was rather plain. Damien chose a spot near the edge of Mark’s bed and took his chalk out. After the other boy approved the location, Damien spent several minutes drawing the circle.

Once he’d finished, it lit up with a dull blue light. Damien stood back up, groaning as his legs protested his actions once again.

“There you go,” Damien said. “It should last for a week or two as long as you don’t rub any of the chalk away.”

“Thank you,” Mark said. He grabbed a brown bundle and offered it to Damien, who almost dropped it. It was much heavier than he’d expected.

“It’s authentic Dire Bear fur,” Mark said. “Their skin is very tough, which makes it heavy. Makes for great armor too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Damien said. “Thank you.”

Mark just nodded as Damien lugged his prize back over to his room, dropping it on the ground before trudging towards the Grays’ room to take care of their runes as well.