Orrin fell into a squat, cast [Camouflage], and pulled up his [Map]. If Daniel was near enough, maybe he could scream. If he couldn’t hear, Orrin could toss enough buffs on him, using the [Party View] option to cast spells from a distance.

Instead, he saw a second dot approaching him on the map.

“Madi?”

Lady Catanzano was dressed in her leather armor and holding a spearhead. No, it was a tiny spear. The shaft of wood was only about a foot long.

“Hi, Orrin.” Madi rounded the corner and looked confused as her eyes slid off him. She squinted and tried to focus on him.

“What are you doing here?” Orrin stayed low. He primed an inverted debuff in case this was an assassination attempt.

Her eyes still looked above him, but his voice gave her a direction to look at. “It is my house. That spell of yours is amazing. I didn’t realize you were stealth too.”

“You locked the door,” Orrin spoke and then tried moving to the side. Better to be somewhere else if she threw her short spear at him.

“I wanted to talk.” Madi kept looking at where he had been. “I- I didn’t want my father to overhear. Is that alright?”

Madi and Orrin had not had the best relationship. Sure, he’d saved her life with Daniel. But then she had wanted to kill him. She’d paid them off for the quests they’d given her. But Orrin believed both Silas and Madi thought of him a waste of space. So when Madi said she wanted to talk with him, he had only one response.

“No. I’m good. Bye.”

Madi’s obvious privilege shown through. She pouted prettily but must have felt silly with no obvious response coming from a nearly invisible Orrin. She tried demanding instead.

“You can’t leave until I dismiss you.” She actually stamped her foot on the ground. “I’m in charge here.”

“Sorry princess, Daniel is in charge, not you.” Orrin tried to move quietly by her but had spoken too loudly and to near.

Madi held her spear out in his direction and twisted her wrist. The short spear burst in length, growing into a full spear in an instant. The metal sunk into the wood a handbreadth in front of Orrin’s nose.

Orrin dropped his [Camouflage] and backed up with his palms facing Madi. “Ok. No need to get stabby.”

Madi had blanched. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were so much further back. I would- I shouldn’t have-“ She started to cry.

Orrin had never had a girlfriend. Sure he’d had a few crushes but standing next to Daniel did him no favors. So he had no idea how to react to a girl his age crying in front of him. After she had nearly impaled him.

“Maybe try again?” he questioned. “What are you doing in the library?”

Madi retracted her spear so it was small again and wiped tears from her eyes. Orrin noticed they shimmered in the morning light. “I really came to just talk. We are in a party now and should get to know each other better. I know you probably hate us, but you should know, we only did what we thought best.”

“If all you are going to do is give excuses, I will make my way back to my room thanks.” Orrin did not move though. Best not to chance it with her magical weapon.

“No. That’s not what I want to do. I am sorry. I did see how close you and Daniel seem, but I think part of me was too excited to meet a true [Hero] to consider your feelings.” She took a step towards him. “But since we are going to be fighting together, I do not want bad blood between us. I mean, we are going to be protecting each other’s backs out there.”

“So truce?” She put her hand out.

Part of him wanted to push by her and leave. He couldn’t [Teleport], as he had found out last night. The third hazy trap around the house was an anti-teleport rune set up to keep away thieves and killers. The other part of Orrin craved another friend. Maybe she really means it. She seems friendly enough with Daniel, why couldn’t I have a friend who is a girl too?

Madi noticed his pause and let her hand droop a little. “I mean, I get it. I’d hate anyone who tried to keep me from being on a [Hero]’s team too. Just know, we are a team now. I will fight for you now that Daniel has decided that.”

Orrin grabbed her hand just as she turned to leave. “Just don’t be so commanding. Our party should be equals.” He smiled.

Madi beamed. “Thank you. I won’t let either of you down. Father said he wanted to talk with Daniel more before he goes out again, but I heard you are still a few levels down from us. Maybe I can get Sir DeGuis and Sir Bennett to take us out for the day? Some more cloudsabers were spotted near the southern forest line a few hours out.”

“I’d rather wait for Daniel,” Orrin responded. “But I have been slacking on my training. Maybe a few rounds?”

Madi nodded.

Orrin landed on his back again. Madi’s spear skills were only level one according to her, but Orrin’s dodging skill had yet to level.

[Side Steps] -93/100

While Orrin could hit her with a [Lightstrike], Madi’s own magic could reflect half the damage back on him. Daniel had not been kidding when he said her light magic was on another level.

In their first practice fight, Madi had cast [Shimmersight] on Orrin. Ten minutes later, when he could see again, she’d laughed and said she’d thought he could dodge it. While [Lightstrike] was low damage but unerring in hitting a target, Madi had to manually aim her spells. She said [Shimmersight] was best used against stationary targets. A first strike type of spell.

Orrin had pulled it up:

Shimmersight- send a ball of light floating towards a target. Brilliant lights explode across the target’s vision for 10 minutes upon hitting. 20 MP. -15AP

“That’s quite the spell,” Orrin commented. Madi smiled at the compliment.

They’d taken turns casting a few spells, Orrin showing her both the [Increase Will] and inversed version. Unlike her father, Madi did not hold down her breakfast when she lost three points of Will.

“That was...enlightening.” Madi wiped her mouth and pulled her spear to full length. “Weapons?”

And that was how Orrin learned the hard way that even one level in a weapon meant all the difference.

Brandt had shown up and stood smirking as the Lady of the house beat the intruder soundly. Every once in awhile, Orrin slipped past her with his [Side Steps], but more often than not, Madi just left him on his ass.

Her laughter filled the small courtyard turned battleground. Every time [Meditate] filled up enough of his MP, Orrin topped off his [Increase Dexterity] but he simply could not get through Madi’s guard.

“Huff. Huff. So what else you got,” Orrin chuckled as he put the bo staff back on the small weapons rack. He’d failed with the staff, sword, spear, and even tried a mace before realizing how terrible that matchup was.

“A few different light attack spells,” Madi glowed in victory.

“Anything worth showing off?” Orrin’s entire reason for sparring with Madi was to try and help Daniel create a better fighting strategy.

“I’ve got something like your [Lightstrike], just a beam a little bit tighter in diameter than yours. It can cut through a target. Then I have a few party trick spells, floating light butterflies and things like that. Not useful in battle.” Madi waved her hand at the last.

Orrin shook his head. “If they distract for even a second, anything could be useful. Do they cost a lot of MP?”

“One mana per butterfly, or two for each light stream.”

“Light stream?”

Instead of answering, Madi pointed and let out a flash of blue light out of one finger. It shot into the air and splashed as if hitting a roof.

“Like a firework! Nice!” Orrin complimented. “Wait, can you do different colors?”

“Yes. Why?”

Orrin smirked. “I think I’ve got an idea.”