Henry’s assessment was right. They practiced through the day and until the light coming into the shed started to fade. Moving into the yard bought them another hour, but the sun was soon completely gone.

In that time, the only one that managed to grab ten strands of Ether at once was Viv, and even she could only hold it for a second. Damien tried everything to explain methods, but everything pointed toward their problem not being technique but practice.

“I don’t think I can do another second of this,” Elania groaned, rubbing her head. “My head is going to split open.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right,” Viv said. Her lips were pressed thin and she was doing an admirable job of keeping the pain from her face. “I don’t think I can go much longer without hurting myself.”

“I guess we’ll stop then,” Damien said reluctantly. He’d been hoping that they could finish today, but that was clearly not going to happen. Within him, he could feel Henry’s smug energy. The Void creature was clearly taking pleasure in something, Damien just wasn’t sure if it was watching the girls struggle or proving him wrong.

“Are you lot finally done?” Hilla asked, poking her head out of a window. “I’ve got dinner ready, so why don’t you come in and have some dinner?”

“We need to get Sylph too,” Damien replied.

“Oh, I’ve already called her in. She and your other friends are already inside.”

“Lucky,” Elania muttered under her breath. Damien rolled his eyes.

“Alright, thanks mom,” Damien said before nodding to his trainees for the day. “Let’s go, then. The headache will get better once you stop trying to use mental energy and let it relax for a bit.”

They all headed inside. Hilla had added several new chairs to the table so that everyone had a spot to sit. Damien wasn’t entirely sure where she’d found that many extra chairs, but it wasn’t important enough to ask.

Like Hilla had said, Sylph and her group had beaten them back. Sylph was sitting in her chair. On the far end of the table, as far away from her as they could get, was Gaves, Nolan, Eve, and Yui.

Of the lot, Gaves looked the best – but that wasn’t saying much. All four of them were pale and matted with sweat. They sported a multitude of thin wounds and all looked about an inch from falling asleep where they sat.

“I take it back,” Elania muttered. “What did Sylph do to them?”

“We started training,” Sylph replied. “The Corruption isn’t going to go easy on you, and its important to be able to fight against them without magic if things go poorly. After you get a grasp of what Damien is teaching you, you should probably join in with me to get an understanding of what your partners are dealing with.”

“And if you don’t get a grasp on it, maybe we’ll just try swapping you with someone on Sylph’s side,” Damien put in with an evil grin. “Maybe they’ll take to it faster.”

The girls shuddered and they all sat down. Damien claimed his spot beside Sylph and his mom emerged from the kitchen with a plate bearing a huge stuffed and roasted bird. It was nearly as large as a pig.

“Please, eat up! You all clearly need to keep up your strength,” Hilla said with a smile. “I won’t stick around to bother you. I’ve already eaten. I trust you’ve all got places to stay? I’m afraid we don’t nearly have enough room to house all of you.”

“We’ll stay at the inn,” Nolan promised. “We don’t want to be any more of a burden than we already are. Thank you very much for the meal, Mrs. Vale.”

“Of course,” Hilla replied. “Any good host would provide food for their guests.”

Elania took a carving knife from the plate and sliced off a large portion of the golden-brown bird. She took a large bite out of it and her eyes widened. “This is amazing!”

That was the end of the conversation at the table. It was the politest mad scramble that Damien had ever seen. Even Princess Yui, who he would have thought would remain prim and proper no matter the situation, still impatiently grabbed for the knife when Gaves took a little too long cutting off a piece.

The food lasted all of ten minutes. They all leaned back, contented expressions on their faces.

“Your mom is a brilliant cook, Damien,” Sylph said.

“Can you cook like this too?” Viv asked. “Nolan is right, that was amazing. It was better than anything I’ve had at Goldmist by a wide margin.”

“No,” Damien and Sylph replied at the exact same time. Damien reddened. “We’ve got some basic cookware set up in our room. I’m… not very good.”

“Can’t be good at everything,” Nolan said with a relieved sigh.

“The food really is good, but I bet part of the reason it tastes this great is because of how tired we are,” Bella said.

Gaves grunted in agreement. “I haven’t worked like that in ages. I didn’t realize how far behind I’d gotten relying on my magic.”

They traded a few more niceties before Yui rose from the table and inclined her head. “Thank you for your hospitality and training today. We should be off to get enough sleep to prepare for tomorrow. What time will you be ready for us?”

“An hour before sunrise,” Damien replied. “We have a lot of progress to make.”

“Agreed,” Yui said. “Until tomorrow, then.”

She and the others bid farewell, heading out the door and leaving Damien and Sylph alone once more. They gathered the dishes up and brought them to the sink.

“What did you make them do?” Damien asked as he washed a plate. “I thought for sure my group would be exhausted, but they looked spry compared to yours.”

“A lot of laps,” Sylph replied. “And then a lot of fighting without magic. If the Corruption manages to drain all the Ether in an area, they need to be able to kill the monsters without magic.”

“Not an easy task for people who have been using Magic most of their life,” Damien observed. “How were they?”

“Not good,” Sylph said. “Gaves and Eve had some skill, but the others were worthless. Yui is fit, but she’s never fought without magic before. I suppose Nolan was okay as well, but he relies too much on magical techniques as well. How did things go on your end?”

“Not much better,” Damien admitted. “None of them are very good with mental energy. They’ve got a lot of practice ahead of them.”

He finished up the dishes and beat Sylph to the shower. She took his place once he’d finished, and he returned to his room. Damien slipped under the covers and Henry pulled away from his shadow, escaping from the other side of the bed.

“It’s goat time,” Henry proclaimed. “And I might pay a visit to your fellow students along the way. I’m curious about a few things.”

“Try not to get into any actual trouble,” Damien said. “And what are you curious about? Do you think they’ve got ulterior motives or something?”

“Everyone has ulterior motives,” Henry said dismissively. “I don’t care about stupid mortal politics. You can deal with that so long as it doesn’t actually involve any danger to us.”

“Then why are you observing them?”

Henry’s dark eyes sparkled. “No reason at all. Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”

He shot through the window with a cackle, vanishing into the night before Damien could respond. Damien rolled his eyes and pulled the window shut behind Henry so the crisp air wouldn’t chill his room.

“Goats again?” Sylph asked, pulling the door shut behind her.

“Among other things,” Damien said. “Nolan and the others might be in for an interesting night.”

“Henry’s come a long way from making sure he stays hidden from anyone and everyone,” Sylph said, nudging Damien out of the way and climbing into bed.

“He’s pretty confident in his new form, I think,” Damien said.

“That’s good. Maybe you’ll have your full manifestation soon,” Sylph said with a sly grin.

“Hey, it’s not like you’ve got one! You’ve just got a battle manifestation.”

“For now. I’m making progress with my companion. Give me a few weeks and we’ll see how things look.”

She pulled the covers higher and snuggled against Damien’s chest. He put an arm over her, more than happy to let the conversation fade, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

A rattle woke Damien. He was just barely able to make out Henry slipping through the window out of the corner of his eye. His companion was in the three-tentacled orb form. Damien sat up with a sigh.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Henry said. “Good.”

Sylph rose as well. She pushed the hair out of her eyes, then raised an eyebrow. “Did you manage to beat your record with the goats?”

“Five of them this time,” Henry said proudly. “And, in case you were wondering, just about all your friends are convinced the inn is haunted. Don’t worry, I waited until just a few minutes ago to bother them, so they’ll have gotten all the sleep they need.”

“Of course they are,” Damien said with a sigh. “You weren’t seen, I hope?”

“Nope,” Henry replied. “Also, Princess Yui sleeps with a little fuzzy yellow hat.”

“Right, we don’t need to know that,” Damien said. “Wait. What did you do with her hat, Henry?”

“The goats were hungry.” Henry snickered. “I believe that is what most people refer to as comedy.”

“No, that’s just called being a dick,” Damien corrected him. “You wouldn’t like if someone took your hat, would you?”

“I don’t have a hat.”

“Well, presume you had one.”

“Then I wouldn’t let someone pluck it off my head,” Henry replied, crossing two of his tentacles like arms.

“Maybe stick to bothering goats,” Sylph suggested. “You don’t want to accidentally mess up something someone actually cares about.”

Henry made a face. “Fine. It might be problematic if someone caught onto me anyways. Not like they’ll ever find that hat, the goats didn’t leave much of it behind.”

He darted under the covers and merged with Damien.

“It’s like he’s going through the phases of growing up in reverse,” Damien said with a sigh. “I think pranks usually come before snarky attitude.”

“I wouldn’t know, that wasn’t something I covered in my studies,” Sylph said, rubbing her chin. “I’ll take your word for it, but we should probably get ready for now. Henry has clearly gotten everyone up.”

Damien nodded and they hopped out of bed, setting out to meet the others when they arrived. None of them mentioned anything about the previous night, so they split off into their groups and set off once more.

The next three days fell into a routine. They would train through the day, only stopping to eat, and then go back to bed and start it again the following morning. Everyone started to show varying degrees of progress, although it was faster for Damien’s group than Sylph’s.

Viv was the first one to be able to grab twenty four strands of Ether at once, and the others weren’t far behind her. They couldn’t hold it for long, and more than once someone passed out mid practice, but Damien took what he could get. They still couldn’t hold it nearly long enough, but at least they were almost at the point they needed to be.

Damien warned them that, even once they figured out how to fight against the Corruption, he had no way to teach them how to actually locate it. He wasn’t about to reveal Henry’s secrets, so he told them that responsibility fell to Delph.

On the fourth day after Nolan and the others had arrived, Damien pulled Yui aside before dinner.

“Delph should be dropping by pretty soon to pick me and Sylph up,” Damien said. “Before we leave, there’s a small thing I need to take care of here. It’s not exactly my field of expertise, so I was hoping you might be able to help me.”

“Of course,” Yui said smoothly. “What is it?”

“The mayor of Ardenford is trying to replace the Rune Crafting teacher,” Damien replied. “He wants to hire his son as a replacement, but –”

Yui raised a hand. “Damien, I’m going to do you a favor.”

He blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“I know you’re new to dealing with nobles, and while Nolan has clearly done a lot to try and inform you, there’s much that you need to learn. When a noble owes you a favor, you don’t explain why you want something. You just tell them what you want. Oversharing is dangerous, and people will use the extra information you give them against you in the future.”

“I’m not trying to be a noble, though.”

“But you deal with them regardless,” Yui said. “Look at the company you keep. Nolan is in debt to you, and you keep company with the princess of the kingdom. If you were to enter conflict with someone, it is not unreasonable for multiple noble houses to get dragged in along with you.”

“Nolan is my friend,” Damien said firmly. “But I didn’t look at things like that. Could that much drama really come from me misspeaking?”

“Probably not,” Yui admitted. “But it is still possible. Now, reword your request.”

Damien thought for a few moments. “I want you to stop Mayor Shindal from removing the current schoolteacher, Mrs. Hubbard, from her job.”

“Very good,” Yui said, a grin stretching across her lips. “It will be done, but it does not cancel out the debt I owe you. The information I seek is greater than the service you request.”

Nolan’s warning ran through Damien’s mind and he pursed his lips, searching for a way to cancel out Yui’s debt.

“Then I’d like to spend the rest of what you feel that you owe me on information that I would find important,” Damien said.

“You learn fast,” Yui praised. “Deal. Here’s your information – I’m well aware that Nolan didn’t do the runes on my staff. You did. I don’t mind, of course. But Nolan’s father is growing impatient to choose an heir between him and Reena, and Nolan’s talent with runes is tipping the scales in his favor. I do not believe Nolan wishes to be chosen as heir, nor does he know about his father’s thoughts. Do with that as you will.”

Yui inclined her head and headed inside, joining the others and leaving Damien outside, a worried frown crossing his face.