They walked to the outside area where the lake lived at the corner of the castle. Jon remembered Tallow and Mercy skipping rocks here a few days before.

“Alright.” Macy stepped in front of Jon and pulled him by the arms of the chair. “How much spellcasting can you do? Not much, right?”

Jon reached behind his chair and grabbed his gun which hung on the handle by its strap when he wasn’t using it.

“I use this,” he said. “That’s it. It’s a spell.”

“Yeah, alright, put it away.”

Jon hung the gun back on the handle of the chair.

She crouched in front of him so that they were closer to eye level. “What do you think of when you think of fire?”

Fire? Jon took this into consideration. Before, fire used to mean danger. He was supposed to be scared of fire.

Then, he remembered that fire was used to cook, so maybe, it wasn’t that bad. Jon hadn’t cooked in forever.

No… Hector… Whenever Jon saw fire, it was a good sign. That meant that Hector was there to help protect him. Usually, if it was something like lighting, he would have to run away.

What did Hector remind him of? Safety? Protection?

“...Home…” Jon finally said.

“...Huh. Okay. I thought it would have been like, ‘super scary’ or something. Fine.” Macy took Jon’s hands and put them on her face. “Think about home a lot.”

Jon’s hands felt warm.

Like… fire…

“Your hands are soft,” She said, “but just focus on the fire.”

Jon didn’t know what that meant, but he tried anyway. He tried to focus on Macy’s warmth.

“Most spellcasters summon fire from the mana around them,” she explained. “You know that, right?”

Jon nodded. “Mallory explained.”

“Of course he did.” Macy adjusted her face on his hands. “The way my family uses our fire… it’s like muscle memory. It’s body mana. We conjure it from our skin. It’s spellcasting… but it’s cooler. Means we can’t cast normal spells, though. The only ones who can do that are Marjorie and Lana, but even Lana can’t cast-”

A small ball of fire suddenly appeared in front of Macy’s face.

“You did it!” Macy said.

I did that? Jon was surprised. He was still thinking about how warm Macy’s face was. It didn’t seem to feel like anything.

“Do it again!” Macy said.

Jon tried to force a spell.

An even smaller ball of fire popped in front of her.

This time, Jon had felt the surge of mana quickly flowing through his arms.

I… did that?

“Ooops…” Macy put her hands over her mouth in a cute way. “I might have lied.”

Lied?

“That was your first time casting fire,” Macy explained. “The other time was me just pretending.

Really? Jon didn’t know he could be tricked into learning something. Like always, he found something new to be impressed by.

“Do it again,” Macy encouraged.

Jon tried again. Nothing came. No surge of mana, and no fire.

“Try to use a type of movement,” Macy added. “One that you associate with fire.”

Jon remembered Mercy’s clap when she was casting fire from her hands.

Using that as a base, he clapped, and the same fireball from earlier appeared momentarily before extinguishing in front of his face.

“Awesome!” Macy said. She rubbed his leg, which Jon couldn’t feel, but he appreciated the gesture.

“I’m surprised you didn’t snap your hands, like my brother,” she continued.

Jon wasn’t very good at snapping. The clapping was good for now.

“Can you make it bigger?”

Jon tried. It wasn’t much bigger than before.

“I can’t,” he answered.

“It’s probably gonna take a while, hun,” Macy said. “Probably, in like, a couple of months to a year, you’ll do something you can hurt someone with.”

Oh. Well, Jon didn’t want to hurt people. He just wanted to learn to make fire.

“Even then, maybe if she had let me finish..."

He rolled back to Tallow and Amalia, who were talking nearby.

“What’s up, Jon?” Tallow asked.

Jon clapped and conjured his few sparks of fire.

“Holy shit!” Tallow, moving back in shock. “You actually learned fire!”

“I told you,” Macy said, coming to his side. “I follow my word. In fact, just leave me in a room with him and I’ll probably have him-”

“Yeah, yeah, we don’t need his legs working around you.” Tallow waved her hand towards Macy. “You’ve done enough.”

“You want to learn too?” Macy offered. “I’ll teach you as well.”

“Uh, no thanks. Does it involve you touching me?”

“Do you want it to?”

“Nope!” Tallow went behind Jon and took him, pushing him away. “Let’s go!”

“Wait!” Jon said.

Tallow stopped. “Yeah?”

Jon turned to Macy as much as he could in his chair. “Thank you.”

“Sure. Yeah. Okay.” Macy shrugged. She turned away slightly.

“...Are you blushing?” Tallow asked, “Or is that the hot air blowing up your ass?”

“Tallow!” Jon turned to see Mercy jogging towards them with Hector taking his time calling her name while she and Hector walked down from the barracks.

“We were looking for you,” Mercy said when she got close to her and Jon. “Hector woke up Avery and he was gonna-”

She stopped upon seeing Amalia and Macy, giving them a glare.

“Princess,” Macy said. “Brother.”

“Sister,” Hector responded, crossing his arms. “We’re going to the ball again tonight. I’ll expect that you’ll be there.”

“Of course,” Macy said. “Same to you.”

Hector looked at Amalia, but she turned away shamefully.

“Let’s get out of here,” Hector said. “We-”

“I hope you enjoy your new family better than your old one,” Macy interrupted. “Cause family’s a thing you can just replace when you don’t like it, right?”

Hector groaned, but as he turned to respond, Mercy was already making her way to Macy.

“He wouldn’t have to replace his family if they didn’t treat him like shit!” Mercy yelled, getting in Macy’s face.

“Oh, really?” Macy shrugged, not concerned about Mercy’s encroaching on her personal space. “I think Hector’s gonna find out that it’s not the family that’s the problem. It’s him.”

Hector opened his mouth to respond but was cut off again.

“It’s you who's the problem!” Mercy continued. “Maybe if you learned to work together with him instead of trying to hurt him-”

“Mercy!” Hector said, finally getting his words out. “It’s not-”

“It’s not him I’m trying to hurt,” Macy continued.

Mercy clenched her fist.

Hector sighed.

“Guys! I…” Hector looked down at Jon. “What do I say?” he asked quickly.

What do I say? Jon wondered. He thought about stepping in as well, but couldn't find the words for himself, let alone Hector.

“Mercy!” Jon called, shifting his body around in the chair as much as he could.

She ignored him.

“Why don’t you try to hurt me, then?” Mercy gritted through her teeth. “Since we’re about to be family real soon.”

“Oh boy,” Tallow muttered.

“You can’t!” Hector turned Jon’s chair around with one hand so that he was immediately facing the action, then went up to the two girls. Jon was grateful that at least he decided to act.

“Don’t start an incident!” Hector begged.

“Don’t worry,” Macy said to her brother. “We’ll make it official.”

She turned back to Mercy. “You and me. Ringside. In the barracks. Fight ‘til submission.”

“Deal!” Mercy said.

“What the-” Hector put his hands on his head. “Why are you doing this? You’re-”

He turned to Macy. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you!”

“That’s fine,” Mercy replied, drawing back his attention. “I can't fight her in the tournament, right? So I’ll fight her out here.”

“No! You don’t get it!” Hector yelled, frantically switching his gaze between both women. “Hurting people, that’s her specialty, like-”

“The girl’s spoken, Hector,” Macy told him. “Or are you gonna be one of those husbands.”

Hector lost his words. He turned to Tallow.

“Say something!” He yelled. “Be reasonable! Like you always do!”

“I can’t stop her from making her own decisions.” Tallow crossed her arms and looked away.

Hector turned to Amalia. “Amalia… you’re doing this, aren’t you?”

“No!” Amalia said. “I’m not making Macy do this! Please!”

“You know Amalia likes to fight her own battles,” Macy said. “Just like how I like to fight mine. That’s why we’re all from the same cloth.”

“Except for Jon,” Tallow pointed out. Everyone turned to her.

“He fights everyone else’s battles… because you’re all too stupid to figure out who the real enemy is.”

“And who’s that?” Macy asked.

“Your father. Her father. All those old crusty dudes in there.” Tallow pointed to the castle. “We all should work together, you know? Hector and Mercy wins, it’ll be like kicking all of their asses at once. We’ll have a lot to say in what goes on around here.”

“Not enough,” Amalia said, speaking up. “They still have a lot of power. Even if you were to get married, you wouldn’t have much of a say, decision-wise.”

“But, with my family and the Highlander clan…” Macy said, “that would make a lot of people want to bow down and ask for your help. They like to pretend to be tough, but they can’t do anything without my Father or the King’s Guard. You couldn’t make big decisions, per se… but the amount of favors people would want to do to get you on your side…”

“That was the plan our fathers had set for each other,” Amalia added. “But, now the power will shift towards the Highlanders, instead of my castle.”

Macy grinned. “You really are a tactical genius, Hector. Do that, and then imagine when you finally have kids. You can ship them off and..”

She saw Mercy’s and Hector’s saddened faces.

“What?” she asked. “You don’t want kids?”

“We don’t want powerful families,” Hector said. “We just wanna live.”

“My family was formed from a bond between clans,” Mercy said. “The Highlander and the Ninja clan. It’s shameful...”

“And ours were also a power couple,” Hector remarked. “I don’t think… I could live like Mom and Dad.”

“Gee, you guys are downers,” Macy said. “And besides, you know Mom and Dad got along.”

“Yeah,” Hector said, but-”

“What’s your point, sand girl?” Macy asked Tallow. “What are you trying to say?”

“This sand girl says that we make this a wager,” Tallow said assuredly.

Hector’s eyes widened. “No, Tallow!”

“If we win,” Tallow said, “you’ll have to fight for us in the tournament. Both of you.”

Tallow’s pointer finger switched back and forth between Amalia’s and Macy’s direction. “And if you win-”

“Mercy has to fight with all of her injuries,” Macy said. “No healing allowed.”

“That’s stupid!” Hector said. “You already know-”

“Deal!” Mercy held her hand out. Macy glanced down at it before shaking it herself.

“Tomorrow, right after noon sun,” Macy said. “I’ll be waiting.”

“I’ll be seeing you,” Mercy said. She walked away.

“So, that’s how it feels when you make a deal with the devil…” Tallow wiped her hand on her cape. “That felt disgusting just watching it.”

Jon didn’t know. From what he remembered, the devil played a fiddle or something.

In any case, Jon thought that the situation went well without too much yelling. It turned out that he had felt relieved too soon, as soon as they got back inside the building, the arguments began again.

“You’re gonna put all of this in jeopardy!” Hector began on the first step into the stone entrance.

This time, Jon couldn't even piece together most of what was being said between Hector and Mercy. They weren’t even listening to what was said, opting to yell over each other.

Jon had been rolling his own chair to stay ahead, but even for him, the noise started to get too much. Eventually, he stopped rolling so that he could let Mercy and Hector pass him.

“Are you alright?” Mercy asked as both she and Hector turned to check on him.

“You good, Jon?” Hector inquired.

“Yeah,” Jon said, nodding.

“Okay.” They continued to yell at each other, pressing forward.

“Everyone’s gonna hear how stupid you sound if you keep yelling by the time we get further in the castle!” Mercy said while yelling herself.

“You mean they’re gonna hear how stupid you are when we get nearer!” Hector yelled back. Jon was glad someone mentioned it, but he thought it could have been better presented.

“You’re trying to start shit with my family!” He added.

“They’re the enemy!” Mercy yelled. “They’re always trying to start shit with me!”

“You don’t need to antagonize-”

“They antagonized us!” Mercy lowered her voice. “Me, Jon, Tallow, Mallory… They even antagonized you when they forced you to get married!”

“I mean…” Hector was also quieter in his response. They both stopped walking. “I… I…”

Mercy’s eyes widened. “You… you… you changed your mind?”

“Uh- oh…” Tallow said. “The levees have broken.”

Jon thought they had already broken. He learned about levees from his mother.

“You…” Mercy was still in her state of disbelief.

“I mean…” Hector frowned. “Look at the mess I’ve started. My friends are becoming public enemies… And now everyone’s gonna start looking at me and my family like we’re a whole bunch of trouble-”

Mercy slapped Hector hard.

“Grow some balls!” Mercy yelled at him.

The slap shook Jon in his chair. He had never felt such vitriol from anything Mercy did before. She had slapped Hector, but Jon felt like she was the one that was hurting. On the inside at least.

“Oh… I see…” Hector didn’t try to do anything back. “So, it’s just the same, no matter where I go, is it?”

“It’s not… it’s not…” Mercy seemed like she was gonna cry. “You’re not thinking about my feelings, or-”

“It seems like the only thing you’re thinking about is your feelings,” Hector remarked. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re gonna have to tell Mallory everything anyway.”

He kept walking forward.

“The self-pity wasn’t just gonna disappear, you know,” Tallow said to Mercy who seemed downtrodden. “It’s gonna take some time. Let’s go see Mallory, he’ll smooth it over.”

Jon nodded. He was glad that they’d be able to see Mallory again. Hopefully, he would be able to stop all of the yellings and have everyone get along again.

Unfortunately, Jon’s hope turned out to be in vain.

“You what?” Mallory ran his hands through his hair frantically. “You made a deal without me? You don’t make any deal without me!”

“I thought I was supposed to start learning to make my own decisions,” Hector said.

“I… Hector, when did I…” Mallory covered his face. “I can’t! I can’t! I have too much going on!”

Jon felt sad seeing Mallory fall apart. They had all convened in the room the boys were sleeping in.

“I already gotta make sure none of these royal guys don’t stab each other in the back while they’re all staying here!” Mallory said. “And now, I gotta deal with my friends trying not to get killed!”

“I know,” Hector said, while Mercy turned away and pouted. “She doesn’t understand-”

“What happened to your face?” Mallory asked Hector in a momentary state of non-panic.

“Oh,” Hector felt his cheek. “That was Mercy.”

“You’re gonna... Actually kill each other… I…” Mallory shook his head. “I can’t do it anymore.”

He walked to the corner and put his head on the wall. “I can’t do it anymore.”

“Look at what you did,” Hector said to Mercy. “You caused Mallory to break down.”

“...Don’t you take any responsibility for yourself?” Mercy asked.

“Do you?” Hector replied.

“I can’t believe... I don’t even want to look at you.”

Mercy turned to Jon, but upon seeing him next to Tallow, sighed and went to the other corner.

“Why does everyone blame me?” Hector went to the bed and sat down.

“You’re all just a ton of children...” Tallow muttered. She stayed at her position by the door.

Jon expected Tallow to turn around and leave but she didn’t. She just looked down, hiding her face under her headwrap. Jon wondered if she was sad.

“I thought friends were supposed to be helpful,” Tallow said under her breath. Jon probably only heard her because of his low position. “Not tear each other down like this....”

Hmmm… Jon didn't know what to do. He had never seen everyone like this. He had to decide something. But what could he do?

After some thinking, he decided that everyone should have a new common cause, something to bring them together. Especially since the first cause wasn’t working well.

And he figured he knew the thing to do it.

Jon rolled to the center of the room. Tallow looked up and followed him with her eyes, but didn't say anything.

“...I think Mercy can win,” Jon said.

“What, the tournament?” Mallory turned around. “I mean, yeah, but-”

“I think Mercy could beat Macy,” Jon said. “With our help. We should help her.”

“It’s a one on one,” Hector said with some thought. “I mean…”

He looked towards the group. “I guess it wasn’t specifically stated, but-”

“Not like that,” Mallory said. “I think what Jon is saying is that we can help prepare Mercy for the fight tomorrow. So that she walks away with minimal injuries.”

“Can’t you just heal me anyways?” Mercy asked.

“Let me take care of the healing,” Mallory said. “But I have to let you know, it’s not that simple. First of all, even if we take care of your injuries, it’ll still slow you down a bit. Just like how Tallow’s injury has been slowing her down for the longest.”

“Uh, what?” Tallow was caught off guard. “I.. I… you bastard! You can’t just blow my spot like that.”

“You’ve been slower because of your injury?” Mercy turned around in shock. “You can move faster?”

She can move faster? Jon had not only assumed that Tallow was already fast, but that she had walked off the large cut on her back given to her by the other Vindazi. Then again, if Jon had gotten this debilitated from a punch and a shove, he could only imagine what a cut like that did to her.

“I... Shut up… I didn’t… I didn’t think… that I would be here that… shut up!” In a rare turn of events, Tallow had become flustered. She turned away to the door. Jon was sure she was blushing before she did.

“The other reason is because of Macy’s fighting style,” Hector added, standing back up while ignoring Tallow's bashfulness. “If you hadn’t spent the whole time prancing…” Hector saw Mercy’s glare, then coughed into his hand innocently.

“I mean… being my fiance… then maybe I could have told you that Macy’s fighting style is one of attrition. She… she gives people injuries that they can’t walk off.”

“Are you talking about pressure points or broken bones?” Mercy asked.

“Both,” Mallory and Hector responded at the same time.

“Hector would always take at least a week to recover whatever fights he and Macy had,” Mallory continued. “That’s part of the reason why their father stopped them from sparring.

“He didn’t want me injured so that I could do more work,” Hector remarked, “but he didn’t want Macy to start pulling her punches, since that was useful in the field…”

“That makes sense!” Tallow said excitedly, bringing the attention back to her. Jon was facing the other way, so he was content with just listening to her speak.

“I knew she was pulling her punches today.” Tallow shook her hand in thought. “She was trying to act like she was some sort of ninja or martial arts expert, but I knew she wanted to hurt me.”

“Macy pulled her punches?” Hector raised his eyebrow. “That’s… different.”

His expression suddenly turned to concern. “Why were you sparring with Macy?”

“Cause I was working with Amalia,” Tallow said.

“And why were you working with Amalia?” Hector continued. “I thought you said-”

“One, none of your business!” Tallow said. “Secondly, because I wanted to know how she fought. Just in case… you know…”

“You… were spying?” Mallory grinned.

“It’s not spying! It’s reconnaissance! That’s what we do! Reconnaissance!”

Jon saw Mallory grin at Hector, who gave a cough that Jon assumed was to hide his own smile.

“Why does everything have to be an attack with you guys!” Tallow said. “Us Vindhazi wouldn’t have to do it if all of you people didn’t keep starting fights with each other!”

“So, I have to learn how to deflect all of Macy’s techniques to beat her?” Mercy asked. “Isn’t that cheating?”

“It’s not cheating,” Mallory replied. “It’s reconnaissance.”

He chuckled to himself while receiving Tallow’s eye roll.

“Honestly, she’ll probably be doing the same,” Mallory answered finally. “Plus, she’s really strong.-”

“And there’s more at stake,” Hector added. “We…”

He stopped.

“Go on, Hector,” Mallory said. “Say it.”

“I suppose it is tactically sound to have more people on our team,” Hector admitted.

“How do we know if they won’t forfeit?” Tallow asked him.

Hector’s eyes furrowed. “It was your idea.”

“I just took an opportunity.” Tallow shrugged.

“I don’t think Macy would do that,” Hector continued. “She has too much pride.”

“And, if we really don’t trust them,” Mallory said, “you never have to send them in. Just keep doing all of your fights. It’s a gamble anyway, right?”

“Right,” Mercy said.

“So, what if you lose?” Hector asked. “And you’ll have to fight the next day?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Mercy said, “Together. I believe in all of you.”

“I don’t like to just put things in faith,” Hector added. “Things should always be supported by clear-”

“Hector, you have faith in all of us,” Mallory said. “That’s why we’re all here. And we have faith in you.”

“I…” Hector looked around at everyone. “I…”

“So, what if your fiance made a maybe-not-excellent decision,” Mallory continued. “You should support her.”

“I… don’t like infighting,” Hector replied.

“The only way they’re gonna get along is if they fight,” Jon said.

Hector took a good look at Tallow and Mercy.

“Why are all the girls I know so obsessed with getting hurt?” Hector said, putting his hands on his head.

Mallory patted Hector on the back. “You’re obsessed too.”

“...My sister almost hurt me…” Jon said suddenly. It just felt like a good time.

“Huh?” Hector looked down at him. “How?”

“She… started a fire… making something…” Jon started to explain.

“Dinner?” Mallory asked.

“Is she a spellcaster?” Hector asked.

“No,” Mercy said. “I think Jon said something about his sister being an engineer.”

“Oh right.” Mallory nodded. “Susan, right? It’s different on that side of the land.”

“How about you shut up and let him finish!” Tallow yelled.

Nobody else talked after.

“...An engine… I forgot…” Jon didn’t have much more to say.

“...I can go speak to my uncle tonight,” Mercy said, filling the void. “Maybe he can teach me some more stuff.”

“She’s still my sister,” Hector muttered. “Don’t… you know…”

“I think your sister can defend herself,” Mercy said. “And I can defend myself. And besides, if we get married, she’ll be my sister too, right?”

“Right…” Hector looked around. “So… we’re doing this?”

“We’re doing this…” Hector said. “I’ll try to support you, Mercy, I-”

Mercy went up and gave Hector a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks,” she said.

“I.. uh… Sure…” Hector looked down in embarrassment. Jon thought that he looked redder than his fire spells ever were.