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It's cold. It's hard to move my arms and I have to keep holding my breath. I just barely held onto his arm, he's not moving at all. I have to get out now, I don't think that I can hold my breath any longer.

*Gasp*

The water at the bottom was far more calm. We were still taken back a bit, but I'm able to get a good arm on land. I climb up while still keeping one hand on black hair. I use all my strength to pull him out of the water. I fail lots of times but I finally get him out.

"Haah. Haaaah."

I breathe heavily.

I glance over at his unconscious body. How much water did he swallow? I'll have to get it out of him.. I roll him over to his side. I nervously put both hands, one over the other, on his chest and push. Again and again I do it, until finally, he coughs up the water.

With that done I sit down. What do I do now? Should I wait for the others here? No, night's coming soon, I have to find somewhere to rest. Alyss said, The most important thing for us adventurers is finding shelter.

I don't know if I can carry him to a safe place. We're both soaking wet and it's starting to get really cold out. I lean down and grab onto his arms.

"Ugh!"

I slowly start dragging him towards the forest, he's a lot easier to move now then when he was in the water. The mud blends in with his already brown robes.

After going for what seemed like forever, I found a suitable place to rest, a cave. I don't really want to go inside but it's dark out and the winds have really picked up, I'm shivering. I drag him inside the cave and leave him close to the entrance, I'll go inside to see if anything lives here.

My slow steady steps make no sound, my boots have dried enough so that no noise is made.

"Byu." I call.

The spirit comes out. It stares at me with a confused face.

"Can you make some light?" I ask.

It nods and its body starts glowing. I motion it forward into the cave.

------

We reached the end of the cave and found nothing. I moved black hair more to the inside and went out to get some firewood.

As I break off twigs and gather fallen branches I start to wonder why I didn't save myself up there. I could have let him go and held onto the rocks, without him I could've made it.

I shake my head.

He's my partner, he saved my life, I should save his too. It just occurred to me that I didn't check if he hand any injuries, I'll do that when I go back. I continue gathering wood until I hear the bushes rustle from behind me. I freeze in fear, just like I did after that giant brushed off our attacks. If I hadn't done that then black hair would probably be fine right now.

I muster my courage and spin around, a barrier surrounding me.

From the bush comes a squirrel. My shoulders relax. Better than not being prepared I guess. I bend down and pick up the dropped firewood. The ground isn't wet so it's no problem to use the wood, I just have to make sure that my clothing doesn't touch the wood too much.

I make many trips bringing what I think would be enough wood for the night. I drop the last group and fall to the ground. I'm exhausted. These last two days have been hard, I've walked with the party without uttering a single word of complaint, when we finally rest at night my feet are sore and I can barely feel them.

Sleeping on the ground is not a big deal but I've had to get up during the nights sometimes because of the increased monster activity. This kind of life isn't for a country bumpkin like me. Even at the village I didn't do much work, my family just kept me away from it, they locked me in.

I see black hair's shoulders and chest shakily rise and fall, I hit my head with my knuckle a bit. This isn't the time to rest, I've still got to make the fire and heal him.

I get up and put the wood into a small pit, I use fire magic to light it. I sluggishly move towards black hair, I sit down next to him and lift the back of his shirt up.

"..."

I'm surprised by what I see, for a magician he's... fit.

Those thoughts quickly disappear when I notice the big black mark on his back. The place that got hit when he protected me. I extend my hand to touch the bruise, he didn't even hesitate to block the attack. I'm sorry that you got hurt because of me.

I start casting healing magic, the bruise doesn't go away completely but he shouldn't be in too much pain. I glance at his sweat stained face, he looks to be in much less pain now. That's good, I let out a small sigh of relief and stare into the fire. Soon my eyes start closing and I rest my head on something a little bit softer than the wall of the cave.

------------

A little girl sat in a room. It had one bed, a nightstand, a carpet, a dresser, a closet, and a window. That window was the only interaction with the outside she had. All that she had ever known was this room. Her only memory of being out of the room came from when she turned 3.

She was surrounded by smiling faces, all big people. Her birthday was being celebrated, an old woman lifted her up but in the next instant they both fell to the ground. She didn't remember what happened after that, just loud screams from the people around her.

Ever since then she had been locked in her room. She didn't know why she was being punished in such a way, what had she done wrong? Whenever it was time to eat her parents would quickly come into her room and give her a tray and a smile.

Even as a child she knew it wasn't a happy smile.

"Wass wong?" she asked.

They'd just look at her quietly and say, "Nothing, don't worry." and close the door.

Every day she'd look out the window and watch as the other children played. For three years she watched, for three years she longed for someone to talk to. And for those three years in which she was all by herself, she turned to books for comfort. In those stories it would tell tales of a group of friends who went out together on amazing journeys and they would conquer impossible challenges.

She loved those books. Her favorite would be one of a prince that came to save a princess. He would fight tooth and nail for the woman that he wasn't allowed to be with. He would defy her father's wishes and defeat evil knights that wished to covet her for themselves. And after all that he would whisk her away from her dreadful life and they would live happily ever after.

For three years books were her only friends. Until, one day, her mother gave birth. The little girl had seen the large stomach but didn't know what it meant. She finally had someone she could play with, she had a sister. But, her parents kept them apart.

They sent her back into her room where she just read her book. Tears fell onto the pages, she didn't understand. Why couldn't she be playing with the other kids? Why did her parents give her such a look when she asked to hold her younger sister? How was she different from everyone else? From what she knew, she looked just like the other children in the village.

She cried alone in the dark for a while until...

*BONK*

Something hit her window.

*BONK*

It happened again. Then a bunch of rapid taps came.

*TAP TAP TAP*

The little girl put down her book and went to peer out into the night.

"Hey." came a whisper. "Are you in there?"

"Who's dere?" she asked.

"I'm Kalran. Are you the one who's always watching us play?"

She thought about not answering him for a second. She always thought that she'd go unnoticed by anyone.

"Yeah." she said. "I can't go an pway."

"Why not?" the boy asked.

"My pwarents say I can't."

"Who cares about the grown ups. You should just come and play with us." he said.

"Bwut dey'll be angy." she nervously looked at the door.

"Don't worry, I promise they won't catch you." the boy pointed at the window. "Open it and come play with us."

The girl looked around again. This was her chance to go play like she always wanted to.

"Okay..." she opened the window and climbed outside with the assistance of a chair.

A young boy with bright blue hair stood in front of her with his hand out.

"Let's go!" he said cheerfully.

Her heart was filled with a strange feeling. She hesitated to take his hand.

"Hehehe, don't worry." he grasped her hand and pulled her along.

"Kalran, who's that girl?" another girl asked.

"She's the window girl, I brought her along to play."

"Is that true or is he forcing you to?" she asked with a suspicious face, the other kids were also staring at Kalran.

"I-I..." the little girl mustered all of her courage. "I wanna pway!" she declared.

"Okay." the other girl smiled. "Then you're it first!"

Every night Kalran would come back to ask her if she wanted to play. Every night she'd leave her room and go play with them. For her, it was a dream come true. Kalran, her prince, gave her the freedom she never had.

Four years passed. The girl was ten now. In that time, her younger sister had learned how to speak and walk. Her parents still forbade her to see her younger sister but she didn't have to go find her. The younger sister, curious about her older sister, would sneak into her room. At first they didn't know what to say to each other, like two people who were new to love. But soon they became the closest of friends, bound together for their love of books.

Still, like before, some nights the window girl would sneak out and play with the other children. Over the years they had become close. She knew each one of them by name. Less and less she'd see Kalran, the boy who gave her freedom. The better she got along with everyone else the further away she grew from him.

---------

"Master!" a young boy called out.

The boy was dressed in a heavy leather vest, and long black pants.

"What is it kid?"

The master sat on top of a large tree.

"The new guy isn't very good at fighting."

A mud covered boy stood up.

"I'm just not made for hand to hand." he brushed the mud off his face. "If it were magic, I'd crush you!"

"That's not even fair. I can't even use magic." the boy wearing the leather vest said.

"Shut it you guys. Unless you two want to go meet the nice lady in the sky." the master said.

"I thought it was a man." leather vest said.

"I like women better." the master answered honestly while swinging his leg back and forth.

Both boys shook their heads.

"H-hey! Don't look at me with those faces. You should respect your teacher!"

"If only he had other things on his mind than women and teasing people." the mud boy said.

"Get back to training or else I'll have to show both of you guys a smack down."

"Got it teach, come on Gerald.

"Coming!" the mud boy said.

--------------

I wake up feeling a dull pain in my back. I move my hand.

"Mmmnhh."

I hear a quiet moan, I look a bit to my right.

Blue hair rests her head on my chest. What's going on?

Ah, the memories come back to me. We were knocked into the river and fell off the cliff. She must've saved me.

It's morning already, I've been out for a good ten or twelve hours.

I glance at blue hair, I'm not going to move and wake her up just because I feel slight back pains. For a girl like her it must've been tough walking and having strange sleep schedules. Magicians usually don't have very good endurance anyways. For the next few seconds I stare.

Her face seems so serene, I definitely can't wake her up now.

"Mmmnhh."

She stirs and rubs her eyes.

"Sleep well?"

She turns her head to me and her eyes open wide.

"W-wha..."

"Morning."

She quickly gets up.

"M-morning."

"So did you have a nice dream?" I tease.

"..." silence.

"You didn't?"

"N-no. I just didn't... have a dream." she responds.

"You were sleeping quite peacefully you know."

"..." more silence.

"I-"

"Thanks for taking care of me." I say.

She nods her head while still facing away.

"Thanks for saving me." she mutters.

Her feet carry her outside of the cave, I use the wall to push myself up. The pain in my back isn't as bad as I thought it would be for some reason. I guess that my protect body spell did a lot more than I thought.

Blue hair and I will have to meet up with the others soon. In this state, although it's not that bad, I won't be able to fight very well. I do a lot of twists and turns when I fight so it'll be troublesome if I don't have it checked soon. I let my body automatically guide me outside where the sun is.

I don't really appreciate hot days but I still like the warmth of the sun as it hits my body. Blue hair and I are doing the same thing, standing still like a plant absorbing the rays of the sun.

"Where is the waterfall?" I ask.

"It's over there." she points straight ahead into the forest. I see a weird trail, it was probably made by her dragging me here.

"Okay, let's get going then. Ugh." I let out a groan.

She rushes to support me.

"Y-you okay?"

"Y-yeah, don't worry about it."

She doesn't seem convinced and she continues to walk with my arm over her.

We follow the trail. Many of the nearby trees are missing some branches, that would probably be our firewood. The ground is solid, no rain yesterday. The forest is peaceful, as if we're the only living things within it. The only sounds to be heard would be the chirping of the birds overhead and the crunch of the grass as we step on them.

I always felt that the morning had a distinct smell to it. It always smelled fresh to me, I know that it's a new day but fresh felt like just the right word for it. So far, we've gone unmolested through the forest. I notice the leaves rustle as birds fly through the trees, light shines through momentarily blinding me. I put my hand up, only allowing the rays to go through the gaps in my fingers.

"So~" blue hair starts. "W-what did you dream of?"

"Are you curious or just can't stand the silence?" something my teacher always used to say.

"...A bit of both."

"Hehehahahahaha!" I wasn't expecting such an indecisive answer. It's probably what she really thinks though. "Sorry about that. I dreamed of nothing much, just the time I spent with my master. He would always ask me that question."

"Really?" she looked at my face. "You must really respect him."

"Yeah, I do." I paused. "Also, there's nothing wrong with silence."

"I agree but it makes me a bit... uncomfortable."

"That's fine. If you want to talk I don't mind."

"Th-then can I ask you a question?"

"You already did." something my master always said to me.

"You know what I mean." she knits her eyebrows.

"Hahahaha. Yeah, go ahead."

"Are you really-"

Her sentence is cut off by growls.

We both turn our attention to the three hounds. One has a massive scar across its eye, the other two fan out and form a triangle with us inside of it.

"I'll take the one with the scar."

"Okay."

She puts a barrier around us. I throw two knives at the monster but it hops to the side.

"[Water Ball]!"

*SPLASH*

I can't tell if she hit, I don't have the time to look away. The beast charges.

"[Earth Pillar]!"

The ground underneath it rises, only its front paw is caught, it's able to use the pillar to push itself to the side. I throw three more knives. Again, it easily dodges them.

"Let's switch, I'll focus on the barrier." I say.

"Got it."

Her's goes down and mine comes up.

"[Water Ball], [Ice Arrow]!"

One of her hounds dodges the water ball but the ice arrow lands in its head with a thud. The beast topples over.

"[Water Ball], [Ice Arrow], [Bolt of the Arcane]!"

Unlike the other one this monster is able to dodge the two spells but is hit by the bolt. Unexpected that she could use arcane style magic.

"I'm going to charge it." I say.

"What?"

I lower the barrier and rush the hound. It doesn't expect it and I tackle it to the ground ending its life with a mana punch.

Standing, I walk back to blue hair.

"Let's get going." she starts following the trail again.

"Wait!" she spins around.

I hold out my arm. She gives me a wry smile and supports me there.

-----------

"Thank the gods you're alive." Kazuo comes to give us a hug. "I promised to protect you guys but I've failed."

"Ah... don't worry about that. I told you it wasn't necessary."

"I understand. I'm just glad that you both are fine. We didn't think that you'd make it after taking that giant's hit. Very remarkable for a mage!" he slaps me on the back.

"AAHH! Not there please." I recoil.

"Hahaha, sorry about that."

Aethel comes over. Her eyes are looking up and down at me. She's trying to appraise me.

"How bad is the pain." she asks.

"Not the worst I've ever felt. I'd like it if Alyss or Claire could check it out though."

She nods and turns to blue hair.

"Are you fine?"

"Yes!" she says stiffly.

"That's good. Claire and Alyss, come take a look at Rainen."

They rush over and have me sit down. Their hands move around my back brushing the sore spot.

"You're pretty fit for a magician." Claire says.

"I concur." Alyss says.

"So how is the bruise." I change the subject when I notice Aethel's stare.

"I can see the traces of healing magic on it." Alyss says.

"Is that how it is." thanks blue hair. "Then we should get moving, we can't waste too much time here."

"Fufufu!" Avie laughs. "The villagers are preparing a feast for us! We're going to stay one more day."

I sigh. I've never really been one for parties.