“We can never be gods after all- but we can become something less than human with frightening ease.”

- N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

“STOP” Julia Parka von Ulms Wall gestured sharply and Mireille stepped back. Her sparring partner was breathing heavily and favored his right leg as his left was developing a colorful bruise from the hit he had just taken.

“Gerald go put some ice on that. Liriel should be able to spell you some.”

Then the large woman grabbed Mireille by the neck like a recalcitrant cat and pulled her to the side. “What is eating you? Normally I have to remind you to take the sparring more seriously what happened?”

Mireille looked rebellious for a moment then sighed. “It’s a friend of mine. She has some...problems.”

“At the moment we have still half an hour of lessons left so I cannot spare the time now but do you want to talk afterward?”

“I...don’t know. It’s personal and I don’t want to betray a trust.”

“I understand and can commend that thinking but do take care that you don’t hurt yourself or your friend by inaction. I will listen if you want to talk about it. Take your time. But until you are more stable I will assign you some exercises that don’t risk other students' legs.” She gave a half-smile and slapped Mireille on the back causing her to cough. “Do ‘Serpent strikes the Deer’ at least fifty times.”

Mireille groaned but nodded.

“33, 34, 35, 36…”

“That looks as if you have calmed down some.” Julia looked at her critically.

The cold wind swept over the mostly deserted training field. The hedges were evergreens that still boasted thick foliage but the rest was mostly wilted brown grass and gravel, some dirty snow. The sky was light grey with a thin cloud cover.

“Come here, let me spar with you for a moment.” The tall woman shrugged her neck and rotated the wooden longsword in her hand. Mireille stopped what she was doing and readied herself.

Parrying an overhead chop by sliding the blade along the guard of her sword Mireille jumped back before swiping the tip of her degen towards Julia’s legs. “You like to set your target low, mh?” Jumping the large woman nimbly closed the distance and hit the blade of the smaller girl's sword where it joined the grip and with a soft crack, the wood broke.

“Mh. Drat. Those ironwood swords are expensive.” Julia cursed.

Mireille’s fighting spirit was roused and after discarding the useless grip she concentrated and a blade made of lightning rose from her hand.

“Oh, so the kitten has grown some claws.” Julia grinned and focused before her blade began to shimmer with a metallic sheen.

Solidified lightning crashed against wood reinforced with metal. Mireille became faster as she began to subconsciously draw on her gate, shooting from place to place with sparks flowing along her feet. Tendrils of energy shot through the metal and wood blade and grounded into the towering woman who gave a fierce smile. “Good! Come on I can take it.”

The flat of her blade hit Mireille in the stomach and she somersaulted backward while rolling with the blow. Flipping back to her feet her left hand began to spark and a spear emerged. Parrying with the haft she cut with her sword and scored a hit on Julia’s left upper arm. Turning and cutting with the backhand she was -just – blocked by a metallic fist.

Lightning arced while thunder rolled. Dismissing her weapons she spun back putting her hands against each other and pulled another large sword from in between.

Mireille relished the fight, the unthinking physical action, and Julia seemed to do the same.

The ground was blackened by energy discharges and both were covered with blue and black hematoma as the fight finally ended.

Julia shrugged her shoulders and jabbed her sword into the frozen ground. Then she spoke a spell and light flared from her hands. One she put on her own breast with the other she grabbed the neck of her student. “Hold still.”

Life-giving sunlight flooded into their bodies and the bruises lessened and the pain smoothed out a lot.

“Thank you.” Mireille panted after the exertion, still drenched in sweat but at least no longer hurting.

“You are welcome. It’s rare that I get that good a workout.” The larger woman laughed. “So thank you for that. But you know what that means do you?”

Mireille looked at her with a bit of apprehension.

“You will have to work a lot harder in the future as I now know you can.” Julia laughed harder still then calmed herself. “Still not going to talk?”

The girl looked at her with a conflicted look. “What would you think of someone who gave up a part of themselves, an arm say, for being better at magic. To gain more power. And I fear she might hurt herself further.”

“That’s not so strange a question as you think. I could have exchanged a hand or an arm with a metal one possibly enchanted. I could even use them better with my magic. Probably. But- I would ask: What for? There might be a lot of legitimate or even admirable reasons. But there are a lot of bad ones too. So decide if the reason they have is a good one. And if not...you are her friend are you not?”

Mireille looked at her and pursed her lips before nodding.

“I think I get the gist of it. This friend of yours, she sacrificed something, her arm? Her health? It’s quite common really. Mostly it's some sort of fay pact or other. The broken kingdoms have some of those. I recommend strongly to think before you jump. Those pacts don’t favor the ones asking for them, at all. I would talk to her about it and try to find out what she is wanting all that power for. And then try to get her back on track. There is a lot that can be gained in magic and life without sacrificing something more precious than your time and work. If you need my help you can ask. Does that help?”

Mireille nodded.

“I have to go and get some rest. Tomorrow will be another busy day. Be careful with exerting yourself for today. I am not very proficient in light magic and the healing might unravel when tested. If anything hurts go to the infirmary.” Julia squeezed Mireille’s shoulder and then turned to go.

Mireille was stunned for a moment and then called after her, “Thank you!”

Without turning the muscular woman waved over her shoulder, “You are welcome. Treat me to another spar some time!”

The red-head winced. “Sure thing.” Then she also went back to the dorms. If she hurried she would still be in time for dinner.

In the Wisteria Dorms.

Alea looked at Butler One. “Commence dialogue function.”

“Enabling dialogue, shutting down arms.” The buzzing words slowly grew more distinct before sounding nearly human at the end of the sentence.

“I am worried about Alyssa.”

Butler One tilted his head as if in contemplation. “Did something happen?”

“She always was driven in regards to her void magic. I cannot really understand, is it not something that will come with studying on its own? Why sacrifice parts of your body, your life?”

“If you don’t understand an equation either your intellect is lacking or you are missing some parameters. My master and I used to hold your mind in high regard so I think it is the latter. If you don’t know something look it up or ask someone who knows. In this case that would be the subject itself. The correct designation was ‘friend’ was it not? That is slightly lower than family which has the highest access level other than the creator himself. So she should answer you.”

“I should simply ask her?” Alea looked troubled. “Are you sure?”

“This automaton is a facsimile of a normal person. It was made by transferring knowledge and patterns of thought from voluntary subjects. So I cannot be sure how close I am to a ‘normal’ person. But in my estimation what I said should be correct. Simply ask. You will gain in knowledge either way.”

“What do you mean?”

“If she declines to answer I recommend the lowering of her designation to ‘close acquaintance’ because it seems like this question carries a lot of importance to you. Either way, you benefit.”

Alea frowned, “That is not exactly how I would put it.”

“Why? Please clarify.” Butler One swiveled his head towards Cecily her spider.

“A lowering of her designation would hurt me, I don’t have many friends.”

“This was noted. I then recommend putting her in a position where it would be problematic for her to refuse. You could also hire persons to force her to divulge the answer. So you could avoid the lowering of her designation. You would gain the knowledge required. It seems a satisfactory conclusion.”

“Butler One. End dialogue function.”

“Ending dialogue.”

Alea got up and the automaton followed her at a respectful distance. They had been in the dormitory, Alea had gotten back a bit earlier and used the quiet moment to have this chat with the construct. At least she had gotten back the memories pertaining to its commands. There was more but that was for potentially dangerous situations. She was glad that she had refueled Cecily at least. She did not want to have to do it with Butler One so soon.

Putting on her coat she exited the building. A light snow had set in about an hour ago and the streets were dusted with a light layer of white. Like powdered sugar. The small girl hugged herself and quickly walked towards the noble housings. Something Butler One had said about being friends had resonated with her and she wanted to talk to Lieseleta.

A boy glanced at her and took a step toward Alea. Butler One quickened his steps and came to stand between the two.

The boy looked embarrassed. “Excuse me?”

Alea looked at him uncomprehendingly, “Yes? Do you need something?” She was very glad for the presence of her automaton at this moment. Strangers made her uncomfortable.

“I have Light-Magic together with you and was impressed by your Eye of Arun. Do you have some time in the evening? I would love to talk to you about that.”

“Sorry, I have something I must do and am quite busy besides. Might I suggest Alexandra von Stetten? I discussed the spell with her and she should be knowledgeable about it.” Silently she added ‘I hope she is not bothered by my unasked for recommendation.’

The boy's face fell a bit. “Then could we perhaps get lunch together sometime?”

Alea got more confused by the second. Would he want to be tutored about light magic during lunch? “Sorry. I will think about it and get back to you. It's very cold and I have to get inside soon to warm up again.”

“Oh, sorry to keep you. Until next time.”

“Goodbye.”

And as she hurried along she heard him calling behind her. “I’m Robert, Robert Marksman of the Lambrecht Marksman!”

She quickened her steps and lowered her head. What did those people want from her?

Arriving at the noble dorms she knocked on Lieseleta’s door. Jera answered her call and ushered her inside. “Her highness is still with some potential supporters. So if you want I could bring you into the kitchen to warm up. It would be best if we don’t interrupt. The negotiations are delicate this time and we would not want to frighten them off.

“That’s fine. Do you know how long it will be approximately? If it gets too late I should simply come again another time.”

“Not that is perfectly alright. The princess planned for a late dinner, you are cordially invited of course. And did not plan for the guests to stay for that. So...perhaps three-quarters of an hour?”

Alea nodded and adjusted both her spider and the blindfold before she followed into the kitchen. Butler One positioned himself in a corner

“That is some mighty fine automaton you have there.” Jera looked admiringly. “What does it do?”

“It is a butler first and foremost. It can do most household functions though cooking is sometimes a bit rough. It is primarily for self-defense.”

“Defense?” Jera looked the construct up and down. “It looks a bit unwieldy and frail for that.”

“That is misleading. It was made using the latest magics used for war golems and it was then customized personally by my grandfather. There is only this one. There were some prototypes but they lack many of the functions this one has.”

Butler One lifted its porcelain mask and the painted eyes seemed to regard Jera. The eternal smile on its mask was eerie in the dim light at the corner.

“The only problem is that it was planned to be powered by a mana jewel with a gathering array. The jewel was damaged when I reactivated it so I could only replace it with a dust generator. That is far from satisfactory.”

Jera’s eyes glazed over and she nodded along.

After approximately half an hour the door to the living room opened and they heard voices in the corridor leading to the entrance.

“...very nice...thank you.”

“..high time. Good night!”

“….care.”

Then the front door closed with a thud and steps neared the kitchen before the door was opened with a bit of force and a drained-looking Lieseleta entered. “Jera! I need some wine.”

“Your highness, you have a guest.”

The princess coughed and cleared her throat. “Ahem. Alea!?”

The smaller girl smiled. “Good to see you Lieseleta, do you have some time? Or is it inconvenient? I can go if that is the case.”

“No, no you are not inconvenient. But I really need a drink. Is that ok with you?”

“Do take care not to get drunk. Tomorrow is a normal workday after all but no, I don’t mind.”

Lieseleta sat down smoothed her long dress and took the proffered glass filled with white wine. She wore a pale gold dress with flowers embroidered in off-white. She took a deep draft and shook her head while tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. “Ah, that was necessary.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Not really.”

“What happened.”

“I am still far behind my brother. And he is not working hard at it. I twist myself into a knot to simply keep the supporters I have and he gains them by simply being him. It’s more than a little unfair.” She swirled the wine in her glass.

Jera meanwhile got some cold dishes and arranged them on the table before she warmed up some soup to go with it.

“Butler One, please help Jera.”

The automaton swiftly and surely grabbed the bowls of soup and distributed them on the table. The movements were smooth with only a slight jerkiness.

Jera nodded. “Smooth. Perhaps there is something to what you said.”

“Why are you here Alea? Not that I am complaining, but you normally don’t like to leave the dorms after dark.” The princess looked at Alea curiously.

“I had something I would like to talk about with you.”

“Please, distract me. I am all ears.”

“It’s about Alyssa. Please keep what I say in strict confidence.” She got a nod in return and then continued. “She used an old elven artifact and it fused with her. She hopes for it to alleviate the damage using her void magic does to her. But her left arm looks like it’s dead, I heard that she has expended vitality and life expectancy and her left eye is like a marble made of onyx. I cannot fathom this.”

“Sounds pretty special when you say it like this. Did it work?”

“She seemed...satisfied by the result?”

“I did not get to know her very well but she seemed like a quiet serious kind of girl.”

“Yes.”

“I would recommend talking to her. There must be a good reason. But even if there are, there are most likely less invasive solutions to her problems. If it is something I can help you with, please ask.”

“Thank you.” Alea felt a bit better. “I tried to talk to Butler One and he advised the same.”

“Your construct?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know if I should feel insulted?”

“It's a very advanced construct?”