After a couple more internal sounds of thinking, Hector finally formed his thoughts into a clear question.

“How does it work?” He asked. “The spellcasting?”

“Omigod, I’d thought you'd never ask!” Mallory made an even bigger smile than the one he already had, adjusting himself in his seat with even so much as to slick back his hair before he began his spiel. “Well, spellcasting is a way of interacting with the world mana through a number of different processes and-”

“I get that stuff!” Hector quickly replied. “I mean, how does my spell work?”

“Ah…” Mallory gave a smirk as if he had expected that. Jon noticed this and appreciated how Mallory knew enough to let Hector ask the question first. Jon really underestimated how much power Mallory had in a social situation.

“I can do it, right?” Hector asked. “But I can always cast fire. I just…”

“Whenever you try to cast a different spell, it’s hard?”

Hector nodded silently to the interjection.

“How would you describe the spell you’re casting now?” Mallory asked, relaxing his shoulders.

Hector looked down at his own hands as he tried to gauge a response. He might have opened his palms if he wasn’t holding on to the reins.

“I can sort of… grab things, you know?”

“Yep.” Mallory nodded quickly.

“And normally I can’t grab things with my fire. I can only like explode things, or knock them over, you know?”

“Oh yeah, I know,” Mallory responded. Jon also knew as well.

“So, like, um…” Jon observed Hector struggle to get the words out. “I guess, I’ve always thought of my fire as pushing things, you know. Even the explosions are like a push. So, when I started to think of pushing things, then the question began of how do I pull-”

“Yes-” Mallory quickly covered his mouth. Before he could finish reacting, letting Hector finish.

“It’s not exact,” Hector explained. “It’s like… rubber, I guess?”

“Elastic,” Mallory added.

“Yes, elastic.” Hector nodded calmly in agreement. “And I don’t understand why.

Mallory shrugged. “I could give you the literal answer, which would be the number of different processes that are happening in your manastream in order to make that happen. But, really, I’m gonna give you the practical answer.”

Mallory nudged Jon as if to nudge Hector. Jon simply nudged Hector in turn.

Mallory began his explanation.

“You’re used to using fire as a peripheral detonator, first of all.” He moved his hands up and down as if he was saying things. “Then, you started using it as an extension of your body.”

“I guess,” Hector said. “But I didn’t like… train them. I mean…”

His eyebrows scrunched together. “I trained in the beginning. The later stuff… I don’t know where it came from.”

“It came from adaptation.” Mallory shrugged again. “You adapted to the needs of your situation. At first, you only needed to get close enough to swing your sword and make things explode. Then, you started needing more situations where you actually had to sustain a strong mana spell.

“You mean… like on the farm…” Hector seemed to feel ashamed at admitting the answer.

“Yep.” Mallory nodded. “When you needed to strike far away, and you didn’t have your sword to rely on. More and more, you’ve started to stretch the limits of your mana. Remember when you caught Tallow in the Period of Power?”

Jon remembered. Hector had shot up into the air to decelerate Mercy and Tallow’s fall. It had seemed so natural.

Was that a spell?

“Yeah…” Hector spoke through his teeth as he turned red. “You noticed that… and you didn’t say anything.”

“Well, there was a lot going on,” Mallory said matter-of-factly. But, what I mean to say is that the more and more you needed to adapt your fire spewing to do different things, the more and more it adapted and you started moving closer to pure spellcasting.”

He gestured with both of his pointer fingers at Hector. “It’s up to you to dig inside and understand, why did you come up with that spell.”

There was a moment of thought in the air as Hector waited to answer. Jon could tell that it was Hector thinking carefully, and not just ignoring the question.

Jon followed Mallory’s cue and relaxed in the seat, not concerned about when Hector would finally come back. He just took in the creaking of the wagon’s wheels, which set a rhythm for him and helped him settle into his seat. He was glad to have just this little reminder of home, and not too much else.

Jon had watched the green grass slowly turn to yellow before Hector finally talked again.

“Oh, wait, I got it!” Hector answered after an indeterminate amount of time. “I know! It’s because… it’s…”

Hector’s hands were jittering in excitement, but his tone stayed calm. He turned as much as he could towards the others without taking his eyes away from the front.

“I guess, I wanted a way to connect and maneuver people on the battlefield,” Hector began. “So, like, Jon, for instance, can shoot at people and reposition them at a moment’s notice. Mercy and Tallow, and even Jon can move themselves around the field an incredibly high speed. I can’t move that fast myself because I would get dizzy. So, I wanted to come up with a way that I could hold everyone together and-”

“Awwwww…” Mallory slapped his cheeks in awe. “You wanted to be able to keep all of your friends together? Oh, that’s so sweet, Hector! We love you too!”

“No, that’s not… shut up!” Hector’s face made it very clear that he was embarrassed, and he didn’t raise his tone that much, showing that he wasn’t completely denying it. “It’s practical! I told you! I can’t move around the field that fast. But I also wanted a way to control things from far away, and not just blowing them up…”

Jon remembered when the moment Ultimate was hanging over Hector, and so Hector casted fire from the ceiling using a spell. He accepted that Hector wasn’t just breathing fire down Ulitmare’s back, but he was holding him down as well.”

“Now that’s thinking like a spellcaster,” Mallory said. “Trying to manipulate your mana in order to fulfill your needs.”

Hector didn‘t speak, but Jon could tell that he was at least more accepting of this explanation than the others.

“Adapts to what I need, huh?” Hector finally muttered.

“Yeah! That’s how you know you’re maturing because your magic is adapting. You had to branch into spellcasting instead of body mana because you needed to perform more complicated tasks.”

Mallory elbowed Jon, but this time it truly was meant for Jon.

“Jon here, for instance, doesn’t need to cast a whole spell. He just needs to shoot things. It’s really simple, so it can stay as body mana. However, if he needed to do any extra things…”

When Mallory stopped speaking, Jon turned to Mallory and saw that he was thinking really hard about something.

“Nah, I think Jon’s still at the shooting stage,” Mallory concluded. “At least in combat.”

Jon agreed with that statement.

“But, what if,” Hector continued, “What else could Jon learn if he needed to add something?”

“Hmm…” Mallory put his finger to his chin. “It’s easier to learn adjacent mana categories, and I don’t know if Jon fits into a specific mana category, so… it’ll be a while before he casts a whole spell without the gun, but…”

He shrugged. “You could maybe use wind mana. To run really fast, like Tallow for instance.”

“Yeah,” Hector added. “And maybe he could use it to add fire to his gun or something.”

“We already tried that,” Mallory said. “Didn’t work out. But his gun is very akin to wind mana, so maybe…”

Mallory reached out for Jon’s gun before he immediately withdrew it.

“Ooh, spicy.” Mallory licked his finger as if he had just burned it in the oven. “I shouldn’t get too comfortable with it.

Jon hadn’t noticed Mallory before he had reached over for the gun. Jon tried really hard to will the gun so that it would be nice to Mallory.

He then remembered that he had been working on a spell.

“I can’t do a spell,” Jon said, “but I can use mana.”

“Yeah, your body’s been adapting,” Hector began. “Especially after recovering from your-”

Jon clapped.

A small ball of fire appeared before him before exploding in a woosh of flame.

“Whoa!” Hector pulled back hard on the horses, making the carriage come to a complete stop.

“Hold up, hold up.” Hector finally turned away from the front of the carriage and looked at Jon. “You can do fire?”

“Small.” Jon raised his thumb and his index finger to represent a pinch.

“Alright.” Hector gave a firm nod. “That’s cool.”

“Don’t you mean that’s fire,” Mallory quipped.

Hector snorted, just barely stopping a laugh.

“That’s stupid,” Hector muttered, though Jon caught a small smirk.

Jon looked at Mallory expecting a smug smile where instead he saw Mallory backed away as far as he could in the seat.

“That… was cool,” Mallory said. “And also, a bit loud.”

“Yeah, a bit loud,” Hector said. “Warn me next time, so we don’t scare the horses.”

Jon hadn’t meant it. He grimaced in shame.

“I think the horses were less scared than you were,” Mallory said. He patted Jon on the back. “Don’t worry. It’s a little hard to control at first. You’ve taken your first step in the long path of-”

“When you’d have the time to learn fire?” Hector asked suddenly.

“When you were off being busy while we were at the castle,” Mallory answered. “Tallow told me about it . She said Macy taught her-”

“Macy?” Hector let go of the reins completely. “Macy taught him?”

“I know, right?” Mallory said. “It’s almost attractive.”

He nudged Jon again. “I knew I felt some fire mana somewhere when we were fighting that doufus! That was you!”

“Wait, wait, wait.’ Hector clearly wasn’t done on the subject of his sister. “Why did Macy teach you?”

“It was a bet,” Mallory answered. “She wagered-”

“Why would she wager that?” Hector looked over Jon. “Does she like you?

“Everybody likes Jon,” Mallory said simply. “You already know that.”

“But not everybody likes Macy…” Hector muttered to himself as he looked both Jon and Mallory down. “Alright then.”

Hector set the carriage on its path again. On the way, Mallory explained more about how Macy had helped out Jon and his situation.

“So, she helped fix his back?” Hector raised his eyebrow, though he stayed focused on the road. “That’s the most I’ve seen her do for anyone without asking for anything back.”

“Your sister’s a human too,” Mallory said. “All of them are.”

“Well, yeah, whatever,” Hector didn’t seem to care. “Just when did Jon start walking again.”

Mallory’s and Jon’s glances met. Jon tried to hide what he was thinking, but he felt his face contrast, and Mallory saw it all.

“I think… it has something to do with a thing that rhymes with Ruther…”

Jon nodded silently. Mallory sighed.

“Roofer, what?” Hector picked his head up. “What the hell is- oh, wait, we’re here.”