Turasijr had examined the footprints and matched them to a set she found in one of the library’s ecology books. They were Goblin prints. Turasijr’s face softened once she figured it out. She looked around, seemingly understanding the situation now.

“Just a small robbery by some little gremlins”, she sighed.

“Gremlins?”, Vyth asked.

“Goblins is the more used term. Either way, it’s nothing to worry about. It does explain, at least, why they only took the candlesticks”.

“But, what if they come back? Shouldn’t we go after them?”.

“Oh, they’ll come back alright. I’ll ask everyone to keep their eye out for them and scare them off if they see them. They usually don’t return after encountering some resistance. Anyway, it’s about time we got started on today’s lessons!”

Turasijr took us to her house for the day. On the way there she asked some of the villagers to repair the windows of the library while we were gone. Her home was small, but cosy. Most of the floor was covered with colourful carpets with intricate designs. Each one was unique. It reminded me a bit of typical Middle Eastern carpets back in my old world. The living room also had a large, red brick hearth. In front of it were chairs with thick, velvet cushions. Turasijr gestured us to take a seat. They were just as comfy as they looked. She took a third for herself and brought it closer to us.

“You two seem comfortable”, she said.

“Yeah, it’s so nice and warm”, said Vyth.

“Well, don’t get too used to it”, she chuckled.

With that began our last language lesson. We had a good time. Laughing together, seeing just how far we had come and gleaming of pride from it. At the end of it, she even rewarded us with a nice berry pie. By the time we were done it was a couple of hours past noon. I thought about maybe tracking those Goblins. Try stopping them from robbing this village again. But as I was about to leave, Turasijr grabbed my shoulder.

“I…wanted to apologise”, she said in a soft voice, “I shouldn’t have just outright accused you like that”.

“No, no. It’s fine”, I quickly retorted, “I get it. I seemed the most likely”.

“Still, that is no reason to accuse you of something. But, I have an idea to make it up to you. Follow me”.

She took me away from the village, to a small meadow. I looked around in confusion. What could she possibly have in mind?

“Right. This should be a safe enough distance”, she said.

“Safe enough for what?”.

“I’m teaching you one more thing. A spell I learned when I travelled to the Ember monastery. It’s called Falkner’s defence”.

I nearly jumped in the air from joy. She was finally teaching me some magic!

“You seem even more eager than I expected”.

“Well, yeah! It’s rare that I get to learn a spell. Thank you so much for doing this for me!”

She laughed, before saying: “That eagerness will certainly get you far in life. Now, let’s start with learning the chant. Maskan, oh maskan! Aegis salen venner! It’s pretty short, but the control needed over your magical energy is far harder”.

“Maskan, oh maskan! Aegis salen venner! Is that correct?”

“Impressive. Now, for your magic. Try to form a bubble of it in you”.

I tried to do as she said. It was harder than I thought it would be. Forming it wasn’t that hard, but keeping it from instantly popping was another thing entirely. After an hour of trying, I finally managed to hold on to it for half a minute.

“Good! Now make three of them”, she told me.

“What?!”, I yelled.

“Hahaha! I never said this would be easy! But it will be useful, so keep at it!”

Concentrating on another bubble always made the first one pop. And somehow she expected me to make three of them. I sat down, closed my eyes and focused as best I could on my magic. The world almost seemed closed to me. I was no longer aware of the light breeze flying past me or the grass I was sitting on. Even Turasijr’s voice seemed distant. Eventually, after another half hour, I managed to do it.

“I’m guessing there’s more to it”, I said in a tired voice.

“But of course there is!”

She seemed to be enjoying this far too much.

“Now try to burn those bubbles without popping them and, while you say the chant, expel them from your body”.

I let myself fall back on the ground. I was tired. How am I supposed to even burn bubbles? It makes no sense. Then, I heard her say the chant and felt a warmth. I sat back up and saw three small bubbles of fire floating around her.

“What does it even do? Is it to keep you warm or something?”, I asked.

“No, it’s a defensive spell. If anyone tries to attack you or your friends, it will fire back at the attacker. Try it! Attack me!”

I didn’t feel like getting burnt, but fuck it. I got up anyway and tried to scratch her. I wasn’t trying to hit her, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. She moved out of the way with grace. I looked back at her, only to see one of those bubbles fly towards me. I quickly ducked underneath it and watched as it slammed into a patch of grass.

“More motivated now?”, she asked.

I sat back down and went into my focus mode again. It took me a while, but eventually I was able to cast it. Once I had finally done it I jumped in joy. I was finally making real progress in learning magic. And it was an awesome fire spell as well.

“Well done! I knew you were cut out for this. Let’s return back to the village and show Eidechse your progress. I’m sure he’ll be proud!”

Once back, we saw Eidechse and Vyth also seemingly returning back home from somewhere. Both were sweating profusely. They’ve most likely been training all day. Guess I wasn’t the only one making progress. The sun was now almost below the horizon. Watching it sink below, I couldn’t help but smile. Eidechse and They may not be the best of people. They sell drugs and have done who knows what else. But, life has been a lot better ever since we met them. Life has been something to enjoy, rather than a constant struggle for survival.