Katherine and I travel as far as we can before it becomes too dark to continue. To find a place to spend the night, I take us away from the road. Never sleep by the road. That’s a sure way to get robbed. Rather, we go through some nearby trees and into a clearing on the other side. Thanks to my mastery of Elemental Magic, I can use my own hand as a fiery lantern. It’s convenient and it doesn’t hurt at all since it’s actually my mana energy molded into magical fire and not natural fire. There’s a difference. A big difference.

One such difference is that you can’t cook without natural fire. Well technically you could, but the amount of mana that it would take to make magical fire burn with enough heat and consistency to cook food thoroughly makes it impractical. So I get Katherine situated in the middle of the clearing and return to the trees. Smacking at some branches with my staff, I acquire the necessary wood to start a fire. Then using my own supplies, I provide the necessary rocks to encircle the wood, thereby creating a makeshift fire pit. As per Katherine’s suggestion, I place a small cauldron on top of the wood and fill it with water, beef stock, potatoes, carrots, radishes, and smoked sausage to make soup. Then finally I cast Fire Pebbles, the weakest fire spell, to set the wood on fire.

While the soup cooks, I take to doing my evening exercises. Sitting with my legs crossed, I slowly inhale for five seconds and exhale for ten seconds. With each in breath, I expand mana energy throughout my body. Then with each out breath, I let the mana energy lessen and contract. It’s a basic exercise that any mage worth his salt does twice a day.

Meanwhile, Katherine watches me closely. Then, after observing a few repetitions, she tries to imitate my meditation. She does it wrong of course. But I don’t care. It’s not my job to teach her anything. I just have to let her follow me around for three months, and then I’m sending her straight back to her mother.

“Master am I doing it right?”

“No.”

“Well, teach me how to do it right please.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Katherine’s whining ruins the rhythm of my breathing. Irritated, I chide her with a raised voice. “Listen Katherine. I’m not teaching you a darn thing about magic. So shut up and leave me alone!”

I stop my exercise and dig through my supply bag. I take out two bowls, two spoons, and a ladle. Then I pour a bowl of soup for myself first and next one for Katherine. It’s a bit hot, but I don’t warn her. I just hand her the bowl silently and start to walk away.

“Meanie,” she murmurs the instant I turn my back. I spin around immediately and squint my eyes at her. She looks off to the side as if she hadn’t said anything. That’s what I thought. I sit down next to the fire across from Katherine. We eat dinner together in silence. Just the way I like.

After we finish eating, I prepare two separate sleeping bags for us. I always have two in case one gets wet in the rain or what have you. There are few miseries worse in this world than trying to sleep in a wet sleeping bag. I would know. I’ve done it before. Once Katherine gets settled into her bag, I move to my own. Before getting inside, I remove my outer coat, vest, cravat, and shirt. Out of the blue, Katherine squeals.

“Huh? What?”

“Oh sorry. Nothing. I just didn’t expect you to be so muscular. Sorry. Nevermind!”

Katherine’s rounded cheeks burn bright red. As fast as she can, she turns her body to the other side to hide her face from me. I just shake my head at her. Whatever. Silly girl. I get into my sleeping bag and also turn my body away from Katherine. Finally, this long day is over. Hopefully by the end of tomorrow, I’ll be in the king’s city of Magali, the center of the mage world.