“Keep an eye out for more monsters. Maybe also retreat to a different spot if the location of the fight is bad.” Leodin offered.

“Sure, though I don’t think we could retreat easily with a direwolf trying to kill us. Still, you’re correct. What else?”

Edwin sighed. “We just don’t have enough people. I barely made it back in time to stop the second wolf.” He turned to Salissa. “Which I wouldn’t have had to if she’d actually done something.”

“Bah, what do you know.” The mage replied arrogantly, causing Edwin to bristle.

“Guys, please.” Bordan said. “Edwin, what’s gotten into you?”

“She’s the reason we’re here, Bordan, the Chaptermaster said so himself: They wouldn’t have sent us on assignments, not with four people, if it weren’t for her. I just think that if she’s worth two of us she should start pulling her weight.”

“How dare you!” The mage jumped to her feet, face red with anger. “You question me? What does a rube like you know of magic? You’re no more sophisticated than the oxen that pulled our wagons!”

“I’d say I know more than you!” Edwin replied hotly. “And if all you can do is convert fire we could just as well bring a torch and save us your foul mood and baseless arrogance!”

“You want a torch?” Salissa screeched, raising her hand towards him. “I’ll turn you into a torch you cretin!”

Edwin vaulted the table in a single leap, his hand closing around her neck as he loomed over the girl in the twilight of the room. “Do it!” he hissed. “Come on, give me a reason to execute you for treason!”

“Enough!” Bordan bellowed, jumping between the two and gripping Edwin’s arm. “What are you two doing?” He pushed them apart, looking from one to the other with disbelief and anger. “We’re a team! If we can’t work together, we might as well turn around and go home! Now, it’s been a long morning, so let’s just stop this here, cool our heads and return at dinner.”

Edwin looked around. Leodin was standing by the wall, looking alarmed and uncertain. Salissa had retreated from him, eyes wide, holding her throat. She nodded at Bordan and shakily climbed the stairs to the second story where the rooms were located, shooting Edwin a last, fearful look.

“Edwin?” Bordan said, returning to the table. “We should talk.”

Edwin sighed, rubbing his eyes. He rounded the table, righting the chair that had been sent flying by his acrobatics and sitting down heavily.

“Want to explain what just happened?” Bordan asked calmly. “Because I have no idea.”

Edwin took a deep draught from his ale, trying to sort his emotions while Leodin quietly exited the room. What had happened? Neither he nor Walter had ever been aggressive or confrontational.

“I honestly don’t know, Bordan.” He finally said. “She just makes me so angry.”

“Why?” the former soldier asked, watching Edwin with his hands folded in his lap.

“Because she should be better!” Edwin growled, his anger bubbling back to the surface. “She’s a mage, gods damn her. She should have been able to fight those wolves alone! Instead, she almost lets Leo be eaten, then sets me on fire? She’s a disgrace to her craft, and yet she walks around like she’s so much better than us. If there are two things I hate, it’s incompetence and arrogance, and she’s the epitome of both!”

Silence descended on the room. After a while, Bordan spoke up.

“I don’t know much about magic, certainly less than you, so I can’t tell if you’re right or wrong about her capabilities. One of these days I’d like you to explain how you know so much about it, but that’s beside the point for now.” He waved off Edwin, who closed his mouth. “I’ve been a soldier for a long time, almost as long as you’ve been alive. Certainly longer than the other two have. And I still forgot to pack medical supplies. Leodin missed his first shot, you left yourself open to attack and she used her magic too close to you. It was our first fight against monsters, our first day as an adventuring party. Mistakes are normal, you said so yourself. You forgive Leo and me, but you go after Salissa.”

Edwin leaned back in surprise. Bordan was right. He had laughed away their mistakes just moments earlier, but the girl’s actions had made him furious.

“Now, I’m not really sure about this,” Bordan continued slowly, as if measuring each word. “but I feel like because Salissa’s a mage, you forget that she’s really just a young girl. With what I know about mages, it was probably the first time she was in a real fight, and definitely the first time she used magic to harm something that’s alive. Maybe you could cut her some slack for that? I’m sure she can learn if given time, like the rest of us.”

Edwin closed his eyes, breathing out slowly. Some of Walter’s colleagues had sworn by meditation, but he’d never cared for it. Still, he calmed himself, trying to clear his mind. Why was he really so angry at her? Sure, she was arrogant, but Walter had known plenty of mages who thought that they were something better. He didn’t even necessarily disagree with the sentiment, simply that it had to be earned through skill. And while she might be incompetent, she was young, and even if she had to know more magic than she did, she was also in a new and dangerous situation. Maybe the problem was that he compared her to Walter. While Walter could have killed the two direwolves with a thought, he had been a mage for decades, studying all kinds of magic in preparation for the Immortalizer. And while Edwin was sure that Walter had been much more competent at her age, he also vividly remembered being uncertain, immature and often scared. How would he really have handled himself in that fight? He might not have failed in the same way as her, but he certainly would have made mistakes.

“Fine. You’re right.” Edwin said finally, rubbing his face in annoyance. “She’s still a self-important pile of dung, so don’t expect me to like her. But I agree that I was being too hard on her.”

“Good.” Bordan nodded. “Just apologize to her later and I think we’ll be fine.”

Edwin grunted, dissatisfied. The thought of apologizing irked him. He hadn’t apologized for a mistake since Walter had been a Journeyman himself. He wasn’t too proud to admit his own failure however, and the rational part of him saw the necessity. If the argument created a rift between him and the mage, the entire group would fracture.

“I guess.”

Bordan smiled, emptying his mug and rising. “Would you look at that. I might be better at this party leader thing than I thought.” With that he left Edwin to his brooding. The upcoming apology left a sour taste in his mouth, but he pushed it away to focus on a different issue. Bordan was suspicious. Clearly, Edwin was incapable of keeping his mouth shut when it came to Walter’s knowledge. He hadn’t expected this to be a problem, but then he also hadn’t expected to have a mage around him at all times. He needed to adjust his cover story before anyone got the wrong ideas. The problem was that mages were famously insular. Only few people outside of the College itself knew much about the craft, usually only mages’ families. Pretending to be the son of a mage was an option, but it might lead to more problems later. He needed his fake family to be bland and inconspicuous, a mage as one of his parents would be the opposite.

What would bring a mage out into a village in the sticks to teach young Edwin about magic?

A smile slowly crept onto his face as an idea formed.

You have done plenty for me while you were alive Master Tordov, but I know that if you were alive, you would gladly do me one more favor. In fact, you would love this. Pretending to be someone else, the disguises and lies… just like in those adventure stories you liked to read by the fireplace on cold nights. And now, you’ll be in one too.

Edwin raised his mug, toasting Walter’s long-dead friend with the last of his ale. He had a plan.