Theo sat in The Pub, first seat on the left, as he reflected on the past month. He drank from the stein on autopilot, in between messy mouthfuls of cheese, apple, and bread. It was simple fare, but it did the job and kept him full, which was harder than it used to be. Still, he savoured the complexity of the cheese, how its richness was cut through by the tart, green apple, and appreciated the slight yeasty sourness of the bread and its chewy texture. He had found that Dog’s Nose had also improved his sense of taste, and had found an entire world of vibrant flavours that had previously been muted and blurred insensate.

Speaking of discovering whole new worlds, it had been odd to go from training with Sparrow every single day to having free time again. He had spent one day drinking until the world span, and slept in until evening, but after that found he was restless and couldn’t go back to doing nothing like he had before.

So, he had been working hard on his internal magic, and with his free time found himself practising his music much more often. Both were satisfying in different ways. Internal magic made him noticeably stronger, and music was, well, music. If he didn’t like the way he sang, Theo might never have ran in and around The Pub singing loudly enough that Alan gave him a time to sing (if for no reason than to occupy him and keep him contained in one location). Theo was starting to think that the internal magic improved his body, and his music improved his soul.

Frankly, the two melded together. Theo cycled Endless Song, and managed to figure out its third step, which removed the need to breathe (in general, and while singing). So he started singing impossibly long ballads, interspersed in his sets. Someone had even set up a betting pool to see who could guess how long the next one would last. People kept trying to bait him into singing songs of certain lengths just to fix the bets, but Alan would just look at them and they would stop. Gambling was fine in The Pub, cheating was not.

He also walked around the city more than he used to, visiting Chris at The Glass Stopper, and just seeing what was in Union City. It was smaller than he expected, to be honest, but walking around and sightseeing while infusing Striding Wind was definitely enough stimulation and challenge for him. It did get easier as he got used to it, but the way it improved his body made it a constant back-and-forth between Striding Wind and Self Awareness. He figured eventually that would also become automatic, but for now Theo just tried to enjoy it the way one enjoys a puzzle (or a particularly challenging hike).

That was another thing. Theo had managed to consistently cycle the second step of both Striding Wind and Endless Song, so along with Self Awareness, there was always some mana moving around his body. He only cycled Meditation in his shack, afraid that he would accidentally drain mana from someone (or something) else. It only took one incident where the magic lights and runes stopped working in a perfect circle around him for Theo to decide on that. Oddly enough, Sparrow’s coin was exempt to the mana absorption.

He was a lot stronger than he used to be. Even as he sat here, he felt his clothes sitting a little tighter on his frame. If Theo hadn’t started performing longer sets (thanks to Endless Song-granted endurance), leading to Alan giving him extra payment, he would have started to worry about the amount of food he was now eating. He had even started using Striding Wind’s first step on his jaw, as it was getting tired and strained from all the chewing.

His thoughts were interrupted by Grant entering The Pub, and Alan scowling at him. Ever since that night where Grant offered entry, a feud had started. Grant also made a point to come by every week or so to ask if Theo had changed his mind. He had had no luck so far, but that was mostly due to Alan not-so-politely asking him to leave before he could properly pester Theo.

Today was no different, as the glare shared between Alan and Grant was strong enough to physically move people and kill any who stood in the way (although both of those were less because of the glare, and more because it was entertaining and any of the numerous warriors in The Pub would politely object to those accidentally stumbling in the middle, and rudely object those who repeatedly did it on purpose).

After enough time for Theo to eat another wedge of cheese and an apple, Alan broke the silence.

“Get out.” In another corner of The Pub, someone updated a betting pool. Grant sighed, breathing in deeply, ready to shout in reply, before they deflated and thought better of it.

“Fine, fine, I’ll leave. But why get pissed off at me?” Grant asked, as he got up to leave.

“You broke my stein.” Alan replied, with as much venom in his voice as Theo had ever heard in his many years of being around (and in places that a child probably shouldn’t have been). Grant nodded his head slightly.

“Fair. How can we put this behind us?” Alan looked at Grant like a child who asked a painfully stupid question to a teacher who had just said that “there are no stupid questions”.

“Pay for the broken mug.” Alan replied, briskly. Grant had the decency to look sheepish (as well as the eyes of someone stuck on a riddle for an embarrassingly long time before having someone else tell them the answer that was obvious in hindsight).

“Right. How much was it?” Alan had readied up to say something before Grant had responded, and mentally unwound that thread of thought as Grant just accepted it and asked for the price. Theo could see the calculations in Alan’s head regarding what he could offer to Grant that he’d accept, what would happen if they haggled, and much it was worth to keep up the feud.

“…ten copper.” Alan eventually said. Grant blinked, rummaged around in his pockets, and ended up pulling out one silver. Alan readied himself to count out 90 individual coins, before Grant just gave it to him.

“Put the rest on my tab.” Alan nodded, and Grant turned to Theo. He mentally readied himself for the conversation to come. It wasn’t that he hadn’t come to a decision – he completely agreed with Sparrow’s reasoning once they had explained themselves – but having to actually reject the offer was not something Theo was necessarily comfortable doing.

“Have you considered my offer?” Yep, there was the question Theo had been dreading. His brain was working overtime, and while it processed, he decided to stall.

“I have.” Grant waited for Theo to continue, and was unimpressed when he didn’t.

“And?” Grant prompted. Theo’s brain finalised the response, mentally adding his imaginary seal to the response.

“I’m not going to take it. Thank you for seeing potential in me, but I will have to pass.” Grant nodded, seemingly expecting this response.

“And what if I said that The Dancing Wind didn’t have to hear about it? If you could do this secretly on top?” Grant half-whispered. Theo paused, unsure what he would do if that was the case. He probably wouldn’t, but he had to hear more.

“How would that even work?” Theo asked, more rhetorically than anything, but Grant still answered.

“You would attend night classes, after dinner.” Theo’s brain didn’t consider the logistics of that, or how difficult it would be to fool Sparrow, or even if he actually wanted to go in the first place. His brain heard one thing, and viscerally rejected the offer.

“I’m good, thank you.” Theo wouldn’t do anything that cut into his performing time. Grant nodded, disappointed but not saying anything else, as he moved away from Theo and towards Sean and Rick, who waved at him and also in Theo’s direction.

Theo blinked, not expecting this to end so easily. He turned his attention to the remnants of his food, and quickly finished off whatever was there mindlessly. After taking a moment to take in The Pub and its regulars, and Alan polishing another stein, Theo smiled and relaxed. Minutes later, he left The Pub, on his way to the new (and his favourite) addition to his daily routine.

---

Theo sat in the park, on the side closest to the College of Song, within earshot of the circle of performers in the courtyard (which wasn’t earshot for most, but thanks to Bat’s Ears strengthening he was able to hear it loud and clear).

He leaned on a pear tree, sitting in the shade with eyes closed as he listened someone play an accordion. Their playing was almost spicy, in the sense that it was pulse-quickening and spoke of adventure and intrigue. One thing he loved about that performer’s circle was that there was no way to predict what would be played, or who would be playing it.

He sighed in contentment, body un-tensing and muscles relaxing. Well, that was until he heard a laugh ring out in the silence, and his eyes snapped open and he nearly hit his head on the tree’s lowest branch from jumping up. He did feel something brush his head, and a pear fell and landed on his head before falling onto the grass.

Standing there, casually playing with a rapier, dressed in rich blue finery, was Sparrow. The tension left Theo as quickly as it came, as a wide grin took its place. Without thinking, he moved in and hugged them. Sparrow instantly tensed, but forced themselves to relax. A small part of him was happy that he made them panic like he did.

“How was the mission?” He asked, disengaging from the hug and taking a closer look at Sparrow. The clothes, though fine (and probably worth more than his shack) were dusty and dirty, and there were even a few dark stains. Sparrow, although calm and the picture of poise, was covered in sweat and their hair was messier than usual.

“It went well.” They said. Theo noticed the strain in their voice, and the bags under their eyes, and said nothing. “How have you been spending your days without me babysitting you?”

Theo scoffed, and saw the glimmer of mischief in their eyes. “I’ve been practicing internal magic, singing at the pub, and sitting here listening.” He said, quickly adding, “Oh, and chatting to Chris now and then.”

Sparrow nodded in approval. “Any progress in terms of steps? How about Self Awareness or Meditation? Are you even more of a monster than I thought?” Sparrow teased.

“No progress on the third step of Self Awareness or Meditation. And I still can’t get Tome of Memories working, but I have been practicing. I did figure out the third step of Endless Song!” Theo proclaimed, proudly.

“Okay, I want to see how much stronger you’ve gotten. Try to push me with third step Striding Wind active.” Sparrow commanded, holding out his hands. Theo grabbed them, and mentally releasing the restraints of Self Awareness, pushed.

Nothing.

Theo tried again, this time activating Striding Wind.

He watched as they didn’t even budge at all, standing casually there, unmoving. Sparrow nodded appraisingly, mildly impressed. Theo re-evaluated the distance between them.

“That’s quite an improvement indeed.” Smiling at a joke only they knew, Sparrow continued. “Have you been back to the obstacle courses?” Theo shook his head, and the joke dawned on him.

“Well, we’re going to have to fix that, aren’t we?” Theo groaned, eyes wandering back to the circle in the courtyard. Sparrow’s followed his.

“That can wait. I think it’s about time you actually sat in. Maybe sing, even.” Sparrow patted him on the shoulders, gently pushing Theo in the direction of the circle. He looked back, as they smiled encouragingly. Sparrow nodded.

Theo paused, nodded back, and had to stop himself from running as he made his way to the circle, and murmured thanks as they shifted and made enough space for him to sit.