Theo slowly opened the door to The Pub. Shuffling in, he winced with each footstep. With each careful, wheezing breath he tasted blood. He understood how wild animals felt when they were tracked and hunted until they were too exhausted to outpace humans.

Alan looked up from polishing a mug as he entered, eyes registering Theo’s form and acknowledging it, before doing a double-take.

“You alright?” Alan asked, voice laced with worry (which for him was not that obvious, just the way he pronounced and put emphasis on “alright”). He put the mug down, and began to move from behind the bar. Theo waved him off, put on the strongest smile he could muster (which, right now being the strength of a rotting fish, was admittedly very weak), and gave a thumbs-up before moving to the first bar seat on the left. Alan moved back to his usual spot, and grabbed a stein as he prepared to listen.

“Yeah, it was just,” Theo had a coughing fit as he tried to continue the sentence, “more intense than I expected.” He lamely finished. His throat felt raw, and the sound of his voice was much rougher than normal. “I came in to tell you that I’m taking it easy, until I’m feeling better than I am right now.” Alan nodded along, placing a stein of beer from somewhere in front of him.

“They’re gonna miss you, y’know?” Alan said. Theo felt a pang of guilt for all the regulars who came to hear him perform, but he was too tired to do anything about it. He started downing the beer as fast as possible. “How long til you sing again?” He finished draining the beer before responding.

“I have no idea.” Theo mumbled, sheepishly, not meeting Alan’s eyes. He looked irritated, but didn’t respond, allowing Theo to slowly make his way to the exit.

After practically dragging himself home, Theo collapsed in his bed, and fell asleep instantly.

---

Theo stood, sweaty but triumphant, as his lungs no longer burned. Sparrow quirked their lips, and walked up to where Theo was currently kneeling, body screaming, but chest barely moving.

“It took just over a week for you to understand the first level of Endless Song.” Sparrow nodded to themselves with raised eyebrows, mildly impressed. “A talented warrior might take half a week to get that level of understanding, but for a bard you’re doing well enough that I’d suggest you look into taking body strengthening classes. Now, you can recover faster, and your throat will be fine enough for you to sing at The Pub again.”

Theo was surprised Sparrow knew he sung there, but in all honesty he’d already started to miss those late nights. There was nothing to do early in the morning before training, so he’d taken to practicing Endless Song, and it was marginally better than being bored him out of his mind.

“In fact, I want you to use Endless Song while singing. You might find it useful. The three later levels will come in handy, especially so don’t slack now that you have the basics down.” Theo wondered if he could use it while singing at The Pub, and decided to try it out as soon as he went back.

Sparrow’s smile turned feral, and they let go a guttural chuckle. Theo was shaken out of his train of thought, and felt a sense of dread pass through his body. Suddenly, the park they always trained in felt less welcoming, and the trees grew taller, as the sun was covered by thunderclouds.

“Now that you won’t have to take as many breaks to catch your breath, it’s time to train your endurance.” Theo felt the way his body was already starting to tire, and swallowed.

---

“You pull the mana through your body and muscles. If you do it right, you won’t feel as sore.” Sparrow instructed to Theo. “Not like that. It’s supposed to stimulate your muscles, not move them.”

It was hours later, and Theo was facing his fifth self-induced cramp of the hour. He could see how this could be useful, but to try to learn it while already physically very fatigued only made it more difficult. He lay on the grass (a position he was becoming intimately familiar with) and tried to focus on massaging his muscles with mana, instead of the way they felt. At the very least, he wasn’t wheezing. Theo just tried to get through this, with the thought that maybe Striding Wind would be just as useful as Endless Song.

“Again. Or do you need to run another lap of the park?” If it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t think most of his muscles could move on their own right now, Theo would have been afraid that he might shit himself. As it was, that was one of the few remaining things he had going for him at this moment. He swallowed, and steeled himself, repeating a mantra that he hoped would actually help.

It was going to be worth it. It was going to be worth it. It was going to be worth it. It had to be.

---

That night, Theo entered The Pub for the first time in a week, still walking incredibly carefully, but at least he had a smile on his face. An odd feeling filled his chest. Alan spotted him as soon as he walked through the door.

“Boy! How’re you feeling?” Theo looked around, and was glad to find that nothing much had changed. He knew logically that a space couldn’t change much in a week (let alone somewhere like The Pub, which classified chairs less than ten years old as new), but there was still the worry that the place wouldn’t be what he remembered.

“Still pretty shit, but well enough. I think I can sing here again, at least.” Theo proudly replied, with a full voice. Alan looked at him carefully, at the way he moved, and his eyes creased with worry.

“When do you think you’ll start again?” Alan tentatively asked. Theo could understand that he looked like he wasn’t up for it yet, but even if he didn’t feel like it, he had to start singing again or he’d scream.

“Tonight.” Alan took a second to process that, considered saying something, and then decided not to. Instead, he took out a pencil and paper, and wrote something down.

“Your funeral.” He muttered, continuing to write. Clearing his throat, Alan continued. “I’ll let people know that you’re performing here. Tonight only. If I think you’re not up to it, that’s it. If you handle it I’ll let you sing again tomorrow. Understood?” Theo sighed internally, but a part of him understood why Alan was doing this, and appreciated the concern the barman had.

“Yes, mother.” With an unamused look (and another note on a piece of paper), Alan shook his head and grabbed a wineglass to polish. Theo got up, walked to where he normally performed, and started to warm up.

He almost choked for a moment, as he used Endless Song while singing for the first time, but that passed quickly enough.

---

“That was incredible! I’m glad you’re back singing already.” One of the regulars, Rick, patted Theo on his shoulder, as he finished up his set.

“Yeah, it felt more magical than I remembered! Learning useful stuff already, eh?” Sean, (the man more scar than skin, who collected them like tattoos) asked. Theo paused, wondering if using Endless Song was that noticeable. He used it as he breathed, and while it did take some time getting used to using it while singing (especially since he was extra careful after almost choking), he’d been using it every waking moment for a week up until this point so he sometimes forgot he was still using it. He still wasn’t efficient with it, and so looking carefully he could see the mana glittering in his breath as he exhaled.

Or maybe Sean was just being metaphorical. That would be unlike him, but still possible.

“Yeah, it’s great to be back. I,” Theo paused, looking back at Alan, who nodded back. Theo smiled at Alan, and continued, “I’ll be back to performing as I normally do.” It was really heartening to see everyone’s genuine joy at knowing that he was back for good, and not at some reduced schedule to manage his new commitments. Of course, Theo knew that they would be accommodating and understanding if he did, but it was lovely just seeing them all react the way they did.

“I’ve learned a lot less action magic than I thought I would. Mostly internal magic and making me run for hours a day.” Theo complained, and the circle of regulars around him chuckled.

“I thought I recognised Endless Song. Great internal magic for bards.” Sean nodded, confirming that his previous statement was definitively not metaphorical. “What level are you at?”

“The Dancing Wind said I was pretty solid with the first level, so they’ve got me learning Striding Wind now.” Rick whistled, and Sean winced. Theo was confused at that response, and it must have shown on his face.

“It’s one of the more difficult base internal magics.” Rick supplied. Theo definitely felt that way compared to Endless Song.

“It’s also one of the more painful ones.” Sean added. “I remember giving up on it because of how bad the cramps were.” Theo’s calves twitched in sympathy at that, and he winced at the feeling of his legs almost tying themselves into knots.

“You had it easy. At least you could give up. With what I do, it was…” Theo tuned them out, as Rick and Sean argued between themselves. It was amusing, and frankly quite fun to listen to the regulars bicker over the smallest things (well, at least until a fight broke out, but those usually didn’t happen until someone’s mother was insulted). The rest of the circle of regulars egged them on, and Theo thought he even saw some money surreptitiously change hands.

Theo mulled over the internal magic he’d been learning. He started to understand why Sparrow was teaching him this stuff instead of any spells. Those would take time to get down and might not be that useful, while for these, the effect was pretty immediate and would help him with mobility, stamina, and his ability to sing.

Theo excused himself from Rick and Sean’s increasingly spirited discussion, and moved towards the bar. Sitting down at the first seat on the left, Alan passed him his pay for the night, and a stein of beer, before grabbing another stein to clean.

“I thought it would take longer for you to be in any shape to sing again.” Alan grunted.

“I mean, I’m surprised too. But honestly? If I wasn’t ready yet, I would be going crazy. If I’m coming here, I’m going to perform. And if I don’t, there’s nothing else worth doing. So my life’s been training, being exhausted, sleeping, and then going back to training.” Theo sipped the beer, and sighed in appreciation. “Don’t get me wrong, every muscle in my body is screaming at me like I just murdered their family, but it’s better than doing that in bed, trying desperately to fall asleep.”

Theo consciously raised his voice, as Rick and Sean’s argument escalated further. It was really jarring to be able to use his voice so long without any discomfort, but he could chalk that up to Endless Song doing exactly what it promised.

“Fair enough, boy. Glad you’re back. Just don’t push yourself too hard.” Alan nodded, and Theo smiled. It was becoming harder to hear him, and Theo wondered if there was any internal magic related to hearing that he could pick up. He looked over his shoulder, and chuckled.

“Rick or Sean?” He asked, watching the verbal fight finally escalate into a physical one. It had been a foregone conclusion, but it helped that both were proper Warriors, and this was more blowing off steam than actual intention to seriously hurt the other. The other regulars solidified the circle, and signalled to everyone around them that something was about to break out, and to either get out of the way, or get a good seat.

Honestly, the bar brawls were half the reason tourists came to visit The Pub. It was a point of pride for them to have witnessed one, and nobody bothered to tell them that if anyone actually was serious about causing damage, there wouldn’t be any roof left intact (partially from their actions, mostly from everyone else piling on them for breaking the unspoken truce of the unwritten rules of polite murder).

“Me.” Alan replied, as he walked out from behind the bar and towards the brewing storm of trouble and broken furniture. Alan was not a Warrior, nor really that magical. But confidence didn’t have to come from force; as the barman, he had the strongest weapon of all: the ability to cut people off.

And as Rick started shouting (and threatening) bloody murder, and Sean threw back insults (and tables), and Alan rolled up his sleeves, Theo realised what that feeling in his chest was. He had missed the chaos of this place.