“You weren’t kidding.” Esther muttered to Sparrow, as Theo’s skin turned a dull grey, before reverting back to normal, over and over.

Sparrow nodded. “Like I said, a monster.”

It was an interesting sensation, in the sense that it didn’t have a sensation at all. To Theo, his skin felt no different. And yet, when he grabbed something else, it was that much more fragile. And dull. Esther’s sword no longer scratched his skin, let alone cut it. And his fingers dug into the table more when he gripped the wood.

Apparently, the lack of grip meant friction and carving grooves into things were the only ways to hold things in this state. Sawdust clung to his skin as he shifted. It was easier to shake off when his skin was stone, but he still had trouble moving while stone (almost like stone wasn’t a very mobile material).

“Is it okay to only turn part of myself to stone? Could I activate it on every part besides my fingertips?” Theo wondered aloud. If he could only partially activate Stoneskin, then that would mean he could use it like armour, and keep joint mobility.

“You could, but it’s a bad habit to get into so I wouldn’t recommend it. Like I said, Achilles.” Esther answered, with some edge in her voice (almost like she was repeating what she had said earlier).

“If you’re worried about mobility, it will come with more practice.” She demonstrated once more, shifting to that same pink marble, moving with assuredness even as Theo swore he heard the faint sounds of stone grinding on stone.

Theo’s brow furrowed. “Why do people have different colours or kinds of stone?” He asked.

Esther breathed as she prepared to answer, then paused, mouth open.

“I don’t know.” She eventually answered.

Theo continued his line of thinking. “Could you change the colour?”

Esther’s head reared back, confusion very visible on her face. “Why would you-“

“Camouflage. Disguise.” Sparrow interjected, a proud smile on their face. Esther closed her mouth.

“Monsters.” She muttered, under her breath (and she was correct, although more about humanity in general than just Sparrow and Theo in particular).

Esther shook her head, sighing. “Okay, let’s move on to Iron Bones.”

---

The good thing about Stoneskin, Theo mused, was that it was very easy to see when it was working. Meanwhile, Iron Bones was internal to an almost frightening degree. He wouldn’t want to have to break a bone just to learn it, even if it was temporary and easy to fix (which it wouldn’t be).

“Now, the secret to Iron Bones is to understand and feel all the bones in your body. Which is hard to do without an understanding of anatomy.” Esther said, a smile threatening to creep onto her face. “Normally.”

Theo didn’t like the way she was talking about this.

“Normally, you would add mana to specific bones that you can feel with your hands, or your teeth. The problem with that is, it’s hard to tell, and only nobles do that to their teeth. It also doesn’t utilise the strength of Iron Bones, which is making sure that every bone is unbreakable. Again, I bring up Achilles.” Esther continued.

Theo had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time that Achilles was brought up (which was a sucker’s bet).

He felt a little confused. “I could push mana into my muscles with no problem for Striding Wind, and I definitely don’t know every muscle in my body.” He interjected.

Even though it was one of the first pieces of internal magic he ever learned, Striding Wind had come rather intuitively to Theo, and he was confused as to why Iron Bones might be different.

Esther nodded her head in understanding. “Let me guess, you learned Striding Wind after getting exhausted and sore?” Theo thought back to all the ‘training’ (torture) that Sparrow had put him through. It definitely qualified as getting exhausted and sore (the same way a ballista qualified as a crossbow).

Theo was starting to understand why Iron Bones might be different. “…yeah.” He answered lamely.

“Well, as you can imagine, it’s quite hard to feel your bones themselves. You can feel around them, and you can feel them using other parts of your body, but you can’t feel them moving the same way you can with muscles, or even your skin.” Esther explained, as Theo moved his body and tried to feel his bones.

It was easy to feel his muscles shifting, and even his skin had some stretching when he splayed his fingers out, but the only way to feel his bones was the way they made his muscles feel (like a ghost you could only track by their shadow).

“But, if you have experience with other internal magic such as Striding Wind and Stoneskin, you could use your understanding of those and how they use mana to find the places where they’re not, and strengthen them that way. Of course, you have to be careful, otherw-“ Theo knew where she was going with this.

“Otherwise Achilles.” The silence that followed made him think that he didn’t, in fact, know where she had been going with that. Sparrow snorted as they lounged and watched him learn, making no other comment, happy to let the awkward silence stew.

Esther’s face scrunched up in confusion. “No, not like Achi- why did you – Achilles has nothing to do with this.”

She cleared her throat. “As I was saying, you have to be careful, otherwise you could push mana into places you aren’t intending, like cartilage or internal organs.” Esther glanced over at Sparrow, who simply raised an eyebrow in response. She rolled her eyes.

“As we’ve discussed, that’s how you become mana cursed. So be careful. A full-body Iron Bones makes it much easier to survive and escape, and increases how far you can safely push your body.” Theo cocked his head at that, prompting Esther to elaborate.

“If something like Striding Wind becomes too powerful without something to balance it out, it can tear your muscle from your bone, or even worse, break your bones.” Theo winced, as Sparrow nodded knowingly.

“Keeping internal magic balanced is something I’m sure you understand the benefit of.” It was Theo’s turn to nod, as Esther muttered. “Not that you’ll ever have to weigh the pros and cons of what to infuse.”

Theo pretended not to hear her with Bat’s Ears. He also pretended not to flush (to lesser success). He understood that he was gifted, but it still made him uncomfortable to hear such palpable envy coating someone’s speech. He had enough of that in the Outskirts.

From the withering stare Sparrow was giving Esther (that she was pretending not to notice), they also didn’t approve.

“Green doesn’t fit you, Esther. Makes you look like copper.” Sparrow commented.

They clapped their hands. “Okay, that’s enough theory. I think it’s time you gave it a shot.” Sparrow said, smiling warmly at Theo (and pointedly ignore Esther as she rolled her eyes).

Theo nodded, taking in a deep breath to centre himself. He closed his eyes, feeling the mana in and around him. He felt it pool in his muscles, the way they almost drew it in. He felt it lurking around his skin.

He felt the voids where mana wasn’t. The empty twigs in his hands, the branches they attached to. It was hard trying to hold the image of all of those together, from his toes to his teeth, but felt the mana inside respond to his call, as it gathered around those voids.

He gently pushed mana in, although he didn’t really feel much of a difference. He opened his eyes.

“How…how will I know that it worked?” Theo asked.

Esther smiled (strained and forced it may be), and pulled out a small compact mirror. Theo looked between her and the mirror in confusion.

“Open your mouth and smile.” Theo hesitantly followed her instructions, and smiled wide, struggling to keep his cheeks from fatiguing.

It was only after Esther had snapped the container shut (rather loudly at that), that he let his face relax. Almost reflexively, Theo used Striding Wind to magic the soreness out of his face (one more reason why nobles liked to pick up a little bit of internal magic).

“Your teeth are the same colour as before. If you had succeeded with Iron Bones, they would look less yellow.” Esther said. Theo ran his tongue over his teeth, suddenly insecure about something he’d never considered before.

“Let’s go again.” Theo said, eyes set in determination.

---

It took a few more tries (and a few more mirror checks) for Theo to get the hang of it. It wasn’t just pulling mana into the voids where his bones were, but to let it pool on the outside before slowly integrating it inwards (or at least, that felt slightly more correct).

Theo had to figure that out by himself (not from lack of trying by Esther, but just because it was too difficult to exactly articulate the sensation in a way that Theo could use).

Still, he wasn’t quite there, so he kept his eyes shut and tried again.

This time, he didn’t need to look in the mirror to confirm whether or not he’d managed it. His jaw felt different immediately.

Theo realised he previously had a slight tooth ache. Emphasis on the word ‘previously’, as Iron Bones had stopped it aching entirely. It wasn’t painful enough for him to pay attention, but its absence released some tension from his jaw (which was very welcome).

Turning his head towards the mirror sitting on the worn (thanks to Stoneskin) tables and genuinely smiling, Theo found the change in tooth colour to be noticeable. It reminded him of the marble he’d seen in the Housing District.

Mind wandering, he wondered how long it would take a noble to get to this colour.

Esther clapped a hand onto his shoulder, jolting Theo out of his tangent as she leaned her body weight on him (in a way that would have been suffocating if his internal magic was weaker).

“Good job! We’re making good time – at this rate, I can get to Rest before the others get here.” Theo turned his head to look at Esther, who was still uncomfortably close. Her face was only a hand away from his.

“The others?” Theo asked. He turned to look at Sparrow (half for an answer, half to avoid memorising the contours of Esther’s pores).

“The coins.” Sparrow helpfully supplied. Theo nodded in comprehension.

“Now, it’s good to practice using the first step of Iron Bones on various bones in your body, partially as practice for the third step, partially because you’ll only want to add so many minerals to the bones. Don’t want teeth so bright they’re a beacon.” Esther steered his attention back to the task at hand.

“But, I think you’re ready for the second step. An hour?” She looked over at Sparrow, who simply nodded.

---

His bones felt…heavier. It wasn’t the right word for what Theo was feeling, because they didn’t weigh any different, or take more to move. They just had more presence, more finality. They felt more solid.

Real.

Theo spent a minute moving his arms, feeling the bones in his fingers shift as he wiggled them. Infusing mana also had the benefit of improving his perception of his bones, which was a rather jarring sense to have (but less jarring than being able to properly sense mana, admittedly).

“How do you feel?” Esther asked.

“Stronger.” Theo replied.

She nodded, before throwing the (now-very beat up) table at him. Reflexively, Theo braced himself with his arms in front, and although the chair he sat on shrieked as it inched backwards, the actual impact didn’t affect him much at all. It wasn’t jarring, it wasn’t painful.

In fact, the much maligned table was a table no more, now a pile of scrap wood destined for a fire.

Or at least, it would have been, if Sparrow hadn’t gotten up as they sighed, and moved next to the pile of splinters and sawdust.

Theo was slightly confused, as Sparrow started to chant the Hymn of Healing, and watched as the table reverted back to its unblemished form from before today’s internal magic.

Esther scoffed. “Waste of mana.” She started to clear her throat, gearing up to spit on the floor, before realising that such an action would probably be too crass and rude, even for her. Esther swallowed as Sparrow looked on in disinterest, not deigning to rebut her remark.

“I thought it only healed people?” Theo asked Sparrow.

“Don’t forget, action magic is all about intent.” Sparrow replied, winking.

Esther walked in front of Theo’s view of Sparrow, crossing her arms as she did.

“Now, it’s time for the third step.” She cracked her knuckles, and a bloodthirsty smile asserted itself on her face.

“W-what does that involve?” Theo asked, cloth starting to stick to his back as he sweated.

“Well,” Esther cracked her neck, moving it side to side. “You need a broken bone to mend and manipulate. And right now, I’m very happy to assist.”