Melinda spotted the trio shortly before they reached her. She raised a hand in greeting and waved the guards away. She walked over to them, smiling grimly when she saw the blood covering Ethan’s twin swords.

“I believe you two were responsible for alerting the caravan of an attack,” Melinda said.

Jasper and Ethan nodded.

“Then we owe you our gratitude. I’ve never heard of gremlins on these roads. They could have done a lot more damage if they’d surprised us. How did you manage to notice them so early?”

“I smelled them,” Ethan said seriously.

A smile started to cross Melinda’s face, but it died in its tracks when she realized the swordsman wasn’t joking.

“I see,” Melinda said, drawing the last word out. “Nonetheless, I appreciate your efforts. We didn’t lose a single guard, and only four men were injured. We’ll reach Aaron’s Vale this week without any issue because of your help.”

“Do we get a bonus?” Jasper asked eagerly.

“Do Visions even need bonuses? You two must be filthy rich,” Linna said with a disapproving glare.

“Money makes the world go ‘round. And being a Vision doesn’t buy me triple grade A steak from King Typhon’s personal herd of cattle,” Jasper replied.

“No amount of money would buy you that,” Melinda said. “Typhon won’t even let outsiders see his cattle, let alone eat one. Being a Vision won’t help you there.”

“That’s exactly why I need money!” Jasper said gleefully, pounding a fist into his open palm.

“I suppose we can arrange for something,” Melinda said reluctantly.

“Great! Say, how far away from Stormfront are we?” Jasper asked, his smug grin fading.

“About two weeks,” Melinda replied after a moment of thought.

“Thanks. I’m going to go train my student now. Have fun dumping these gremlins on the side of the road!”

Jasper spun and strode toward the back of the caravan. Ethan sent Melinda an apologetic look and followed after his friend.

Melinda watched them leave with a bemused look on her face. Once she was certain they were out of range, she turned to one of the nearby guards.

“Next time we hire Visions, remind me to do it myself instead of letting a third party do it for me.”

Jasper was beside Linna’s wagon tapping his foot impatiently by the time she arrived. The Vision held a hand out to stop her from passing him. He pointed at the sword strapped to her side with a raised eyebrow.

“You’ve got a sword?” He asked.

“Yeah, but I haven’t had a reason to use it before today,” Linna said with a careless shrug.

“Sure you did! We could have sparred with real weapons instead of twigs yesterday!” Jasper complained.

Linna put a hand on the hilt of her sword and took a step back. She sent a desperate glance toward Ethan, but the man just gave her an encouraging grin.

“You want to train me with real weapons? You would have chopped me to shreds yesterday!”

“Bah! Semantics,” Jasper said and waved his hand dismissively. “Getting cut builds character.”

“And removes limbs,” Linna muttered.

Jasper threw his hands up into the air and huffed angrily.

“How do you want to train then? By meditating? Or maybe you’d rather chew on some mushrooms and hope for enlightenment?”

“Would that help?” Linna asked thoughtfully.

“What? No!” Jasper barked. He saw the smirk on Linna’s face and crossed his arms in front of his chest with a huff.

“You’re making fun of me,” Jasper grumbled.

“What? I would never do something like that,” Linna replied with wide eyes.

When Jasper glanced away, she winked in Ethan’s direction. The tall man suppressed a snort and turned his attention to wiping the drying blood off his swords.

“Jokes aside, do you have any idea how we can figure out what my Vision is?” Linna asked seriously.

Jasper twisted his nose in distaste but shook his head.

“Nada. I just figured I’d hit you with a stick until something happened,” Jasper said, wistfully looking at Linna’s sword.

She put the weapon out of the insane gremlin’s line of sight and sent him a warning glare.

“That’s not happening. Isn’t there some kind of training you do to keep your Vision powers in shape or something?”

“There is,” Jasper admitted.

“Perfect! I’ll just do that,” Linna said with a sigh of relief.

“I haven’t done it recently, but I used to seek out other Visions to fight them,” Jasper continued. “Perhaps I’ve just been taking things too slow with you. A new Vision needs stimulation, not coddling!”

Linna paled and she shook her head quickly, holding her hands up to ward off some unseen attack.

“That’s definitely not what I meant!”

“You’ll be fine,” Jasper said dismissively. “But we’ll need to find someone closer to your level for you to fight. There’s no point in trying to use your Vision powers against me.”

“Thanks,” Linna said grudgingly. “I think.”

“You’ll have to get some serious training so you don’t get slaughtered,” Jasper continued, completely ignoring Linna. He trailed off and gave Ethan a contemplating look. The swordsman blinked at the sudden attention, chewing his lip for a moment. Then he gave Jasper a small nod. The Vision clapped in excitement, causing Linna to jump slightly.

“What is it?” Linna asked.

“E – ah, Jackson, will train you in swordsmanship. He’s far better than I am, so it should do you well. Meanwhile, I’ll try to see if I can scrounge up some backwater Vision for you to smack around.”

Jasper nodded to himself and wandered away from them, muttering under his breath all the way until he disappeared within his wagon. Linna gave the tall swordsman a skeptical look.

"Did you agree to this?” She asked.

Ethan gave her a small nod. “And I am a much better teacher than Jill is,” he said. “Let me see your sword.”

“I appreciate it, but that isn’t a particularly high bar you’ve set for yourself,” Linna said, looking regretfully at her wrist as she handed the sword over to Ethan.

The man gave the blade a few quick swings. Once he was satisfied, he handed it back to Linna and gave her a small shrug.