After a pause of silence the man from before steps forward and raises his arm, “This match has been concluded. Participants may return to the stands as we prepare for the next match.”

As I turn I catch a glimpse of someone helping Stephanie up. She nods her head a few times before heading back to her seat slightly shakily, and I can’t help but smile a little bit.

“I worry about that side of you,” Shiva complains as I head back up to my seat.

“What side of me?” I tilt my head as I ignore the stares from the crowd.

“The side of you that takes joy from scaring others,” she sighs, “I blame that man.”

“If it weren’t for that man I would likely have wound up dead long ago.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like the way that he trained you.”

“You didn’t put anywhere in your applications that you were a Witch,” Marion sighs as I sit back down, “This is going to cause me so much more paperwork.”

“But it is rather exciting isn’t it,” Sarah interjects excitedly, and I look back and forth between them confused. I also listen in on everyone around whispering as well.

“Do you think it’s true?” one asks.

“Didn’t you see how fast that was,” another one says, and more and more of the same so I turn my attention back to the small group in front of me.

“To think that one would have snuck in without being found out about,” Marion shakes her head, “You really are just full of surprises aren’t you.”

“I’m not sure that I follow,” I look off to the side as movement draws my attention, and when I look back everyone has a look of disbelief on their faces.

…

…

…

“Unbelievable,” Marion rests her cheek in the palm of her hand while she looks at me, “One or two in an generation nowadays. Actually I thought that it was an entirely dead art at this point, and you don’t even know.”

“That’s even more amazing,” Sarah appraises me up and down, “She is a genius since she can do it though.”

“I don’t even know- what can I do?” I feel myself get more lost as they run their conversation around me.

“Who taught you how to cast?” Marion asks.

“No one. Master told me that there were better ways to spend my time training when I was younger and to figure Magik out on my own time, so I did.”

…

…

“She might be a monster, instead of a genius,” Sarah lets out a low whistle after a pause.

“Will someone explain what you are all going on about?” I rub my brow in exasperation.

“You are using a Magik system that mostly went extinct four eras ago,” Marion crosses her legs and then continues, “And on top of that you cast it fast, with almost no mana pool at all. I had thought it odd that you could cast such complex illusions without having much mana, but now i understand.”

“So, if it is no longer used, and was forgotten about then it must be the worse system,” I yawn, growing bored at the notion of talking about history.

“…No it wasn’t forgotten,” Sarah slowly shakes her head.

“I-I remember growing up li-listening to tales of old Magiks, and the strength of the heroes that wielded it,” Aya adds.

“Indeed,” Marion taps on her knee, “Many of the Elfen races still tell the tales, but anyway back to the topic. It is no longer used not because it was the worse of the systems or as a result of the common system being better. It is no longer used because it became an increasingly rare ability to be able to cast it even if one did know all of the proper steps and procedures. No one was ever quite able to figure out why we lost the ability to cast and draw under the old system as the common system was being established.”

“I see,” I tilt my head to the left.

“What does casting feel like to you?” Sarah asks excitedly as she leans in slightly.

“Can you explain the question?” I sigh as a small headache begins to form behind my brow, “Did you know about this?”

“No...Yes...In a way. The last time I was contracted was during the time that you call the third era,” Shiva explains, “I noticed that Magik cast by other people felt odd but I just attributed it to a change in style.”

“No one ever brought it up before either,” I shrug, “Then again most people that saw it didn't survive.”

“Well perhaps if you actually talked to people you might have realized so sooner,” Shiva laughs slightly and I just nod her off.

“…I mean we have to go through generating and managing our energy, and then our glyphs take time to form and project. There is always the risk of backlash as well,” Sarah apparently continued with her explanation while i wasn't paying attention, and then she looks at me expectantly.

“I think I missed something important in that conversation,” I stall while trying to think of something to say.

…

…

…

“I just borrow energy and give it a form that I want it to exist in,” I finally manage a sentence after a time of silence, and then think of something else, “And although they are slower from what I have experienced I believe that the sigils that everyone else uses are more useful and elegant.” I sigh as I remember my many failed experiments, “I've never been able reproduce some Magiks that I have seen.”

“B-borrow?” Aya questions.

“This conversation won’t really go anywhere,” Marion laughs, “We understand the world in such a fundamentally different way that we would likely have more success explaining color to a person that was blind from birth, or flight to a fish.”

“How can you be so sure?” Sarah looks reluctant to give up on the thought.

“Because I have read some of the documents that describe the old system, and how it works. Honestly it is far beyond my understanding,” she laughs again and a runner comes over to her and hands her a letter that she quickly reads before she turns to me, “Anyway we have decided that the groups that completed their third event can continue on to the fourth. So if you head over to the gate someone there will explain the rules.”

“And afterwards?” I look over and spot a small crowd forming near the gateway.

“You are free to go,” Marion waves her hand as she turns back to the ring.

“Well it was wonderful to meet the two of you,” I nod to Aya and Sarah as I stand up and turn to leave.

“Y-yes, I-I look forward to wo-working with you in the future,” Aya says.

“Quite so,” Sarah adds, “and on our days off we should perhaps have a meal together.”

“Perhaps,” I respond as I walk down the stairs.

“It wouldn’t kill you to say yes,” Shiva complains.

“You don’t know that,” I shoot back, “What if we were buried alive from a building collapsing?”

“Well if you were to be buried alive then you wouldn’t be dead.”

I move forward and stand next to Stephanie, who has already made her way over towards the tables near the side gate.

…

After we stand in line for a few minutes a Lamia man waves us forward and hands a rolled up sheet of paper to Stephanie, “For the next hour it is your job to protect this document, and it is your partners,” as he says this he turns towards me, “job to take it. The rules are simple. As you will be walking around in the city there will be no combat or destructive Magik use. The protector will be given a path to walk, and allowed a five minute start, after which the hunter will be given a vague idea of the path and be allowed to give chase. The time will start once the hunter has left the grounds, and the event will be over once both parties have returned here for the final evaluation.”

“That’s all?” Stephanie asks, and the man nods his head and gestures with his hand towards a table set up a bit farther away, and she throws a glance at me before turning and walking over to the next person.

“So how are you going to handle this situation?” Shiva lazily yawns as I move of to the side of the table and look down at the other scrolls.

“Well since winning and losing doesn’t matter I could just go find somewhere nice to relax,” I yawn as I look at the red wax ring on a scroll; it has a very simple form of a long sword imprinted on it. Shiva sighs slightly and I laugh, “I’ll just take it fast and simple and then find something to do to fill time.”

When the man looks away for a moment I grab a piece of blank paper from the table, loosely roll it up, slide it into my sleeve, and then I head over to the table that Stephanie was at a couple of minutes ago.

As I approach a young woman looks up to me with a smile on her face. “Your target is that of a noble messenger,” She begins with an accent that is similar to Leyla’s, “Carryin a letter with important information that your client doesn’t want out. You know that today is the day-”

“I didn’t realize that there was a back story waiting for me,” I shake my head.

“It could be worse,” Shiva laughs, “And she seems to be enjoying herself quite a bit.”

“…and your target will deliverin the document through the market, though ya aren’t quite sure where exactly,” she continues pausing to take a breath, “Any questions?” I shake my head and she nods, “Good, then you may be on your way.”

“Do you suppose she has a story for every single person that comes along?” “I walk through the gate and back into the bustle of the city.

“Perhaps she just repeats the same story to everyone,” Shiva laughs as I turn towards the market district.

I duck into Forest, and Crystal walks over as I look around the store. “Is there anything I can help you find?” She asks politely, “Or are you here to place another order?”

“I’m looking for a red candle, or a wax circle,” I tell her, “And ink and a quill would be useful.”

“Hmm,” she hums while tilting her head, “Why don’t you step back here to my counter, I might just be of some use.”

I follow her as she leads me towards the back of the store and standing on a small plate is a singular burning red candle releasing a faint scent of honey.

“If it is alright with you,” she smiles, as she pulls a closed jar of ink and a quill from underneath the wood, “You can use my counter to write whatever message you need to, and I assume you want wax to seal it, correct?"

I nod my head before asking, “Isn’t just letting me write it losing out on business?”

“Not to worry,” She laughs lightly, “With the amount of food, and wine your household orders I think I can afford the cost of a little ink, and the candle is already burning.”

“It is really amazing the amount of food that the four of you go through,” Shiva murmurs with a bit of awe in her voice.

“It’s ridiculous,” I complain as I unroll the sheet of paper i lifted, “I knew that Dargoths ate a large amount of food, but I would never have guessed that a Lamia diet could rival that, let alone having two of them.”

I pull the top from the well of ink and lightly dip the quill and begin to quickly write using a basic code.

“You have lovely writing,” Crystal says, “Though I can’t make kings or queens of what you wrote.”

“The corner of Aric at eight,” I tell her, and the front bell rings so she heads towards the door as I put the quill back down. I quickly draw on energy and form a small insignia out of ice from my memory of the other scrolls.

“If they were so impressed with you casting just think of how amazed they would have been if you showed them that you could do that and more with frozen Magik,” Shiva laughs, as I roll the paper, “Being able to imprint without a sigil at all.”

“The headache that would have caused,” I laugh as I gently pour some of the wax onto the scroll and I carefully press my makeshift insignia into it and when I pull it away there is a perfect impression of a long sword in the wax.

After giving the wax a moment to cool, I slide the new scroll back into my sleeve and move away from the counter. As I approach the front of the store Crystal is talking with a Kitsune woman, with lovely red hair that flows to the middle of her back and two red tails, in a Priestesses robes. “Thank you for your time and assistance,” I call to Crystal.

She turns to me and the other woman continues to admire a piece of glassware, “It was not a problem,” She smiles again, “Have a nice day.”

As I step out onto the street I turn towards the left and begin to walk in the direction that I last saw Stephanie. I round a corner and catch sight of her talking with a vendor at a stall.

“Luckily she is looking the wrong way,” Shiva smirks.

“E-excuse me miss,” a young voice accompanies a slight tugging at my skirt. I turn, look down and a young blond Kitsune girl with four tails in a simple dress is looking up to me with big blue eyes. I catch sight of a basket on her arm, “W-would you like to buy some flowers?”

I look back over my shoulder and notice that Stephanie is still at the same stall, apparently arguing with vendor over something. I smile to myself before I kneel down and look back to the young girl and say “I have to stop into a store,” as I say this her eyes start to water, “But afterwards I would love to buy one, and I know someone else that would love to buy one as well.”

“R-really?” She questions with wide eyes.

“Mm-hmm,” I turn and point towards Stephanie’s back, “I am sure that she would love to buy one, all you have to do is go ask her.”

“And you promise to buy one as well?” She asks sticking her lower lip out slightly.

“That’s right,” I tell her and after a moment she starts to walk over towards Stephanie and on her way she throws a glance back at me.

“Using children in your plans again?” Shiva sighs slightly distastefully.

“You say that like I didn’t make sure that anybody I recruited had a full stomach,” I shoot back as I begin to make my way through the crowd toward Stephanie, “and working for me was better than working for the other Streetlords anyway. I was far fairer.”

“The things that you are proud of.”

As I get near Stephanie I can make out what she is arguing about and she says angrily, “A knife can’t be worth that much.”

“Seems as though you had an impact on her,” Shiva mocks in surprise.

“I really don’t know what to make of her,” I respond just as surprised. I spot the girl standing to the side biting her lip slightly.

“A good quality tool cost this much minimum,” the man complains back to Stephanie.

“That’s outrageous, these prices are highway robbery,” Stephanie says as she turns and walks right into the girl, and she pauses and a small amount of panic sets into her voice as she bends down “Oh, I’m so sorry, are you alright?”

“I-I’m okay,” the girls nods slightly tearfully as she picks the basket back up and puts a few small flowers back into it.

I move in close and see the scroll sticking out of the pouch on the back of Stephanie’s belt, and she says to the girl, “Are you sure?”

The girl nods her head and says, while looking up at her “I thought you might want to buy a flower.”

“I would happily buy one,” She says almost too quickly as she reaches around, undoes the pouch with a practiced movement, and pulls out a small bag that rattles slightly.

“Can your luck be any more perfect?” Shiva scoffs in mild irritation as I quickly slide the scroll out of her pouch and into my empty sleeve.

I pull the fake scroll out of my other sleeve and as I am reaching to put it into her pouch she turns her head towards the crowd. Her eyes shift towards me before looking away, and after a quick moment she turns around settling on me with surprise on her face.

…

…

…

“D-did, you come to b-buy your flower?” the girl asks me after a few moments of silence, breaking the trance, Stephanie reaches out while wearing a slightly irritated look and takes the scroll and puts it into the front of her belt before turning back towards the girl.

“I did,” I nod while moving closer to the girl, “Why don’t you show us what you have?”

The girl nods and opens up her basket. Inside it are a multitude of colorful types of flowers. Stephanie picks up a pink rose and begins to dig in her coin pouch. As she moves her hand away she uncovers a Lily from my past, and my breath catches.

The petals are long, thin, and droop downwards. They are covered in splotches and bands of red that remind me of blood splatter, and there are are several purple specks that get denser as the petals converge on the twisted heart of a seed pod. Finally the sepal are a sickly green color and they look like they have been covered in a thick oil.

“At least these aren't a good pair,” I sigh as I pull on a pair of leather gloves, gently pick it up, and sternly ask, “Did you get stuck by this flower?”

The girl steps back looking afraid and shakes her head. “What are you doing?” Stephanie grips my arm tightly, “You are obviously-,”

“Shhh,” I hiss at her, before turning back toward the girl, “Are you sure?” she nods her head and I sigh in relief, “Don’t pick any more of these flowers ever again. They a very scary. Okay?”

“O-okay,” the girl sniffles, “I just w-wanted to help mama.”

“And you are a good girl,” I tell her, “But you have to be careful, and stay far away from plants if you don’t know what they are. Some of them are very dangerous.”

“I know it’s dangerous, but if you scold her to much the poor girl will be afraid of flowers for the rest of her life,” Shiva whispers gently in my ear.

I sigh again and notice that Stephanie still has a tight grip on my arm so I pull back away from her and she gets a look of surprise on her face again and she lets go of my arm. I rub it a bit with the back of my hand and she mumbles, “Sorry.”

I shake my glove off and reach into my pouch and grab a handful of Siltas and as I drop them into the girls hands her eyes widen even farther than I thought possible when Stephanie drops a single gold Burin into her open palm.

“Now you hurry home,” Stephanie says to the girl in a kindly voice, and she turns a quickly runs off through the street after she hides away her coins. After the girl is out of sight Stephanie turns towards me and asks, “What’s so special about that flower that makes it dangerous?”

“It’s named Death’s Lily, or at least that's the common name I know,” I bring the flower close enough to my face to catch the sickly sweet smell of blood, “It is said that the only place that you find them growing naturally are places where a large amount of blood was spilled by very old Magik.”

“I’ve never heard of them before, and that just sounds like a story,” she complains, “Nothing that would make them dangerous.”

“I’m not surprised, it is a very old legend, and it is very possible that they are now known by a different name, and the story isn’t what makes them dangerous. Have you ever seen bug hunting plants?” I force my hand back into my glove.

“Yes,” she sounds surprised, like it is silly of me to ask, “Most everyone has.”

“Well a Death’s Lily doesn’t hunt bugs; they hunt anything foolish enough to get to close to them. Although they generally only get to keep smaller animals. They have multiple thorned vines that sense heat and strike quickly. The plant itself is quite toxic as well, but subtly so. The venom slowly works its way through the body without any symptoms beyond a slight numbness and once the pain sets in chances of survival drop drastically.” I glance over at her and she has paled slightly, “On top of that something about the plant generally attracts a large variety of snakes; I have yet to figure out why though.”

“Doesn’t something need to be done then if they are growing in an area that a child could get to?”

“Perhaps,” I tilt my head, “I will have to take a few days and see if I can find any Heartroots nearby.”

“And if there are?”

“I will extract what is useful and burn the rest,” I explain while I reach into the flower and break the seed pod spilling oil over the fingertips of my gloves and I resolve myself to burning them once I am done with this work.

“What do mean extract what is useful?” she asks in disgust, as I open up a small vial from my pouch, “How can anything that dangerous be useful?”

“If distilled properly its oils are a quite useful numbing agent with minimal side effects, and the seeds can be used in making anti-venom, as well as other things,” I shake the small seeds out into the vial before replacing the stopper.

“Are we going to be growing more of those?” Shiva asks and I can just imagine her rubbing her temple.

“It has been awhile since it was cut, but I should have enough here if we hurry home,” I tell her and begin to move back up the street.

“What are you going to do with that then?” Stephanie calls out from behind me.

“Plant it and grow it,” I shrug my shoulders, before turning down an alley.

There is the sound of quick footsteps and a hand grasps my shoulder and I turn my head and Stephanie is standing beside me again, and she declares “I can’t let you grow something so dangerous in the city.”

“It will be fine,” I roll her hand off, “If you grow them, and prune them properly they are relatively harmless; assuming that you don’t eat them of course.”

I begin walking again, and Stephanie calls out, concern in her voice yet again, “What about the training?”

I turn and look at her suspiciously, and I see concern written across her face, “So strange.”

“So says the pot to the kettle,” Shiva says sounding amused.

“It doesn’t matter if we succeed or fail so its fine, and I will be back at the field at the appointed time. Oh and one more thing, go to a blacksmith and ask them to forge a dagger for you. Those knives at the stall are likely to get you killed,” I offer her my expertise before I turn back and quickly move before she can say anything else.

Just before I exit the alley a very faint voice says “Okay,” but when I turn and look back again Stephanie has already moved on.