Ollowyn left Karthan’s house well after midnight. Sarafina had fallen asleep alongside Thasun, cuddling with the little fox, shortly after using her magical abilities.

Karthan, Alissa and Ollowyn had tried to replicate the magic themselves with the marble, that the little fox had created, but neither of them was even able to feel the slightest thing. They had discussed the implications of this and both Karthan and Alissa wanted to keep this as secret as possible. Ollowyn understood their concerns. Sorcerers and magically gifted people were often a thing that kingdoms or baronies waged war over and the longer this stayed a secret the better.

Still, they all agreed that Ollowyn had to tell master Iordai at the very least. The old man knew a lot of things and he might know what would be the best thing to do in the situation.

It was very, very late when Ollowyn opened the door to the sanctuary, passed the gathering room and knocked against the second door. Instead of silence, he received an immediately answered.

“Come on in. I’m awake.” Iordai spoke loudly.

Ollowyn entered and saw the old master meditating. “Sorry to come so late.”

The master gestured him to sit. “Is it about your training? Did you feel something new?” Iordai asked curiously.

“No master. Training is going well. The breathing technique feels more natural now and I can use Arrágatâ more than fifty times now, before I cannot go on.” Ollowyn spoke proudly.

“Good. It sounds like you are close to the second stage now. That is promising.” The great master frowned. “What are you doing with that fox?”

Ollowyn lifted Thasun on his lap and the little white fox yawned eyeing its surroundings. “This is why I came so late. Master do you know about magical creatures? It came to me while I was training. It eats wood and..”

Iordai interrupted him with wide eyes. “You found one of the eight divine beasts. Ollowyn, listen to me very clearly. Whatever you do, never harm this fox. Never. Attack. It.” The old master was very serious and Ollowyn nodded immediately. “These beasts are a lot stronger than they look and that it found you is great luck. I have heard stories about those beasts before. A black raven with three eyes that spits large fireballs. A giant red snake that embodies fear itself. There are a lot of stories about those two beasts in the east, since they have existed over there at one point.”

The old master sighed. “But there are eight beasts according to legends and they are only briefly mentioned. It is very unlikely to encounter a single beast in a lifetime, much less two. The white, nine tailed fox is also mentioned, but there are no real stories about it.”

Ollowyn nodded. “He has one tail, but when he is eating wood, he has two. Maybe it is a young one?”

Iordai agreed. “Yes. You are very lucky to find one indeed. It's a good sign.”

The silver haired boy continued. “I was over at Karthan’s house today, to ask them about the fox. And something very strange happened. Thasun ate a lot of wood throughout the day and spit out a magical marble. Their daughter, Sarafina, used it to cast magic! She grew a large branch out of the table with flowers and…”

Iordai chuckled. “You named it Thasun? Hehe, that’s a good one.” Then the old man grew more serious. “We should wait to see if it was really her that cast the magic. It could have just as well been the little fox. Keep it a secret and time will tell. There is no reason to have huge expectations of a two year old girl, we should really wait and see.”

Ollowyn nodded. “If you say so, master. I will tell them to do just that.”

“Now that I have you here already, we might as well talk about our next steps. I plan on visiting Lord Enguráll in Rukbrick as soon as we can. I want to introduce you there as my successor, like we have talked about already.” Iordai noticed Ollowyn’s concerned frown immediately. “What is it?”

“Can’t I stay here and train more? I want to get stronger.” Ollowyn spoke carefully. He did not want to disappoint the old master, but he was kind of scared of going there. He was a Valurén and his silver hair exposed him as such immediately. What if they tried to kill him? What if they took revenge on the Valley of Ending as well? He could not bare the thought of bringing danger to anyone that lived here. They should not be in danger because of him.

The old man sighed. “Ollowyn. Why do you want to grow stronger?”

The boy blinked confused. “I… So that I can be stronger than anyone else. I want to be the strongest at fighting.”

“But what for? So you can go and force anyone to do what you want?” The great master asked with a frown.

“No!” Ollowyn shook his head. “Then I can go and find Thasun and bring him back.”

Iordai’s face saddened. “He is dead Ollowyn. Do you want to go and take revenge? Kill whoever killed him? What is that going to achieve? You won’t feel better doing that. Trust me, I have done that more than once in my life and it is not a good goal to have.”

Ollowyn bit his lower lip. “I just want to bring him back. I don’t care about revenge. I just want everyone to be safe and happy together!” Tears formed in his eyes and Iordai closed in for a hug.

“You want to protect everyone? I know you miss him. I understand..” He said quietly as Ollowyn cried out his sorrow.

“If you want to go and find out what happened to him once you are stronger, I will not stop you. But think about everyone else here as well. If you are strong you also protect others. Like me. We protect all our students. All the villagers in the valley. All the newly arrived refugees. Karthan and his wife. Their little girl that maybe is magically gifted.” Iordai spoke softly. “But just being strong will not protect them. It would be much better if we go and make some strong friends that help us protect them, instead of training a few days.”

The great master let him out of the hug and Ollowyn had calmed down. “Are you sure, that they will accept me as your successor? I am-”

“Yes, you are a Valurén. It doesn’t matter. I will make sure they accept it. Trust in me Ollowyn. Everything is going to work out.” The great master said calmly. “How is the woodcutting progressing by the way?”

Ollowyn spent the next half hour discussing his progress with Iordai. The old master pointed out a few things that he could improve on and as the great master started to tell a very long winded story about how important the breathing techniques were, Ollowyn sunk against the recently repaired walls and dozed off.

When he woke up it was already way past the morning hours. The sound of cracking wood had apparently woken him. Thasun was chewing on one of the wooden training swords. “Ah, no. Don’t eat those! I will get you something better.” Ollowyn said as he picked up the white fox.

“We will depart in a few hours, Ollowyn. Make sure you bring the fox to Karthan, he can look after it for now. I don’t want to overwhelm Lord Enguráll with too many things that quickly. And it's not like he needs to know about it. And make sure you wear your black armor. We want to look impressive when we introduce you.” The great master said quietly. He sat in a corner, meditating.

“Yes, master.” Ollowyn grabbed his axe and left the sanctuary towards his hut, grabbed his black clothes and left the estate. About twenty minutes later he knocked at Karthan’s house, where he immediately realised that he had gotten pretty lucky again. It was dinner time. It smelled really good as he waited at the door.

Karthan opened him with a grim look. “Hi Ollowyn, come in. You have really, really created a lot of trouble for us this time.” He sighed.

“Why? What’s up?” The boy asked, but his question was immediately answered by the room itself. Sarafina was sitting at the table, playing with a certain marble, magically growing a bright red flower in front of her. In fact, the large dining table now resembled a green garden more than anything else. Even the wooden pillars on the ceiling and the wooden walls were growing odd stuff here and there.

This officially ruled out the possibility that Thasun had cast the magic through her. No, the girl really was magically talented. And a lot apparently.

“She is having so much fun with this… she barely does anything else ever since she woke up today.” Karthan complained.

“Maybe you should find her some earth to grow stuff in?” Ollowyn said. “By the way, what smells so good?”

“Sara has grown some fruits that looked really good. I am cooking them.” Alissa said. “She said they are for eating. I wouldn’t try to cook them if she hadn already eaten four of them when i was not looking.” The pregnant woman did not look happy.

Ollowyn now shared Karthan’s frown. What if those fruits had been toxic? Full of poison. There were many fruits outside that were not safe to eat. Did the girl have that much control, to control what she created already?

“Ollo!” The little girl yelled when she finally looked up from the large red flower she had grown. It was bigger than her own head. “Look!”

The silver haired boy sat next to her and let her show him all the things she created. Tree branches with odd yellow-purple shaped fruits on it. Red and blue flowers of all shapes and sizes. Leaves that folded up when you touched them. Roses without any thornes. The girl had made all this up in her mind. It was really impressive what she was able to do.

Thasun had hopped on the table as well, curiously looking at all the things that had grown there. But the fox was not all that interested in the living plants. He began to sniff at the table. Ollowyn had an inkling that he would soon chow down on that piece of wood. Immediately he lifted the fox off the table and carried it towards the kitchen.

“Can I borrow one of these logs?” Ollowyn said, as he pulled a large log out from the pile next to the oven. “Thanks.” Soon Thasun was eating away at the piece of wood instead of the table. “Sara, keep an eye on him so he doesn’t eat the table okay?” After leaving the fox with Sarafina, Ollowyn pulled Karthan aside.

“I will go to Rukbrick with Iordai in a few hours. Can you take care of Thasun for me? I can’t take him with me.” Ollowyn asked with concern. “He will probably spit out more marbles. So magic will very likely be a thing from now on.”

Karthan sighed. “Yeah, I figured as much. It will be alright, I will not leave her out of my sight for a minute anymore.”

“Come eat boys.” Alissa said, putting a few bowls on the table between the greenery.

It was a bit awkward eating in between all these flowers and branches growing out of the table, but his hunger made him forget about it quickly. Ollowyn took in the roasted meat and the three strange looking pieces of fruit that made him drool. As he cut it the juices flowed out towards the meat and Ollowyn had a taste. A multitude of different tastes assaulted him. He had nothing to really compare it to, but it was bitter and very, very sweet at the same time. And it made the meat all the more delicious.

He smiled as he took in everyone sitting around the table. The cute little girl with a deep frown of concentration on her face as she cut her meat. A girl he loved like a sister. Alissa and Karthan that smiled at each other lovingly. This was home.

And he would protect it.