The next three weeks were more of the same. One hundred and five wishes, sixty three of them being given over to the Beast Lord Garden and forty two of them for personal use, all of which I traded for attacks. I'd started pacing myself on stats given the cap coming up. I was already starting to get close to it. For the stats I got a hundred and eighty nine points out of those sixty three wishes, twenty to Vitality, forty to Focus, forty to Creation, forty nine to Fantasy, twenty to Might, and twenty to Perception.

A total of eight hundred fifty nine points for me across all my stats wasn't bad. We rotated through all twelve of the Beast Lord Garden elites that had been sent out, since Sloane, Beric, and Croll only had so many points to give, but that had always been the plan. The forty two other wishes I'd traded for attacks. Ten healing bursts (I'd used up the two I had), nine fire attacks, five more triple strength tranq blows from Benny, eight more triple strength density shifted attacks, nine more spider leg attacks, and Callie had even given me access to one of her shadow clones made to look like me.

I'd also collected all ten of Alden's gravity attacks, so I was pretty much completely stocked up in the direct stuff, though the shadow clone thing had opened up the possibility of Jessie giving me taming or animation abilities, something I was eager to look into in the coming days. Still, all the attacks had helped my friends out a ton too. Benny had put thirty of his sixty six points into Might, thirty into Focus, and six in Fantasy just because it was so damn low bringing them up to one hundred fourteen, one hundred five, and sixteen respectively.

All twenty seven of Jessie's points went in Vitality of course. Callie put her three into creation, bringing it up to one hundred thirty five, and Cark put all his into Might, though I still hadn't really asked what his stats were. I'd even gotten three of my subskills modified over time. Touch of Tears and Consecration of flames had both been boosted to ten minute durations instead of five, and Double Trouble let me teleport behind someone and leave an illusion without needing to be restrained any more.

I'd been insanely busy the whole three weeks, not even mentioning the whole Abel thing. We'd spent that first week getting our ass kicked by just Abel, and when we were finally able to start actually taking some of the punishment and even landing glancing blows back, he brought Mel in to 'really start our training, and we officially began the process of getting truly brutalized. They didn't use Skills, which was the only reason we were probably still alive, but they put us through the ringer.

Shockingly though, Abel had informed us that we actually had this week off from training. There were three weeks left in our two month deadline, (there had been a few days before and after that one week of training, which was a week in itself, and then three we'd just done) and when I brought this up, my teacher just shrugged. "You can't train nonstop, I told you that. Everyone burns out, even Ascendants. Plus you don't want to get a rep for being a grinder. That shit follows you for life. But you also don't want your edge to be dull when you get to the actual tournament. Take the week off now, and the last two weeks before showtime we'll drill you into the ground."

Despite his wolfish grin, which normally would have terrified me, I actually smiled back. I turned to Callie. "So, I'm thinking we might be able to take that trip back home we've been talking about, if you think it's a good time." I'd actually considered that this might come up and talked to Melinda about it, we'd agreed that any wishes I'd done for them past my contractually obligated three would roll over, with about ten days of those and one spare I was at twenty one extra, which would give me a week off from that too, so it worked out.

Callie hadn't been granting wishes, but she'd been constantly training with her shadow manipulation, and had actually reached out to her uncle a few times. She was running on fumes too, and it occurred to me that Abel had a pretty decent grasp on what we were up to doing. Her shoulders seemed to sag in a relief I hadn't even known she needed to feel. "Oh gods, yes. That sounds amazing. I'm so damn tired. Not physically obviously but...mentally I'm just fried. Healing just doesn't do anything for mental fatigue."

It didn't. My own stomach was unclenching at the sudden lack of the stress that had been plaguing me for weeks. Sometimes you couldn't even feel the weight crushing down on you until it was gone. I honestly think if it wasn't for my time with Callie after training (I'd taken to sleeping in her room pretty much every night now, though most nights it really was just sleeping given the exhaustion) I'd probably have snapped. The more I thought about this the better it sounded for everyone, we could all use some down time.

Callie stepped up and pulled me against her, seeming happier than I had seen her in a while, at least at the Pavilion. "I'm sure mom would be so excited to have us. She's been talking about you visiting for ages. She really wants to meet my first serious boyfriend. It's honestly been getting kind of annoying lately, so this will really help me out." She shot me a wink as she looked up at me, her beaming smile more than enough to make the whole idea worth it. I loved seeing her smile like, and loved being the cause even more.

I paused as I had another thought. "Wait...why the hell did you make us come all the way down here to tell us we didn't have to come in? You could have just texted us this?" I was wearing my mask, but my annoyance must have been audible, because Abel's smug grin made it clear he knew he'd gotten to me. This asshole. Even Callie turned and glared at him a little as Mel lounged at the table they'd been playing chess at, trying not to snicker at us too obviously and failing even while wearing a mask of her own.

Abel just shrugged. "Because it was funny? Honestly how was I supposed to know you were going to take a vacation? Still, if you're leaving there are a few things you should iron out here anyway, so it's not too bad you ended up here." He looked over at Mel. "You had paperwork for them to sign right? Might be your last to chance to get anything done if they're going out of town." I grimaced as he clearly just came up with a reason off the top of his head, and even more as he tried to make work for me.

I reached up and placed a finger to the middle of my mask. "Not it." I said seriously. Callie's eyes widened with shock which quickly turned to annoyance. She glared at me but I just waved it off. "Don't be a spoil sport. Nose goes is a sacred code of honor. It's not my fault that you weren't fast enough to notice what I was doing. Aren't you supposed to be trained to be attuned to every movement I make?"

She growled at me, which was more cute than scary since I knew she wouldn't hurt me. "Only during combat. You're a bastard. But fine, you called it so I suppose I have no choice. I'll have my revenge someday though. Be on your guard." I snickered as Mel led her away. Abel was just looking at me quizzically. I shrugged. "What? Nose goes is sacred. It's like dibs, or shotgun. They're the basis of the modern concept of honor."

Chuffing out a laugh, my teacher shook his head. "You kids are all crazy. But whatever. Since I don't have to train you today I'm going to go take a nap on top of one of the tents. No one ever finds me up there." He shot me a grin and a cheery wave and headed off to find some building sized circus tent to climb. I assumed he was using his ability to get up there, but still, it was an impressive amount of effort to go to to avoid being woken up.

I stopped to let Alden know we would be gone for a while, and he waved me off with a congratulations on my vacation. Once that was done and I let Sloane and the others know I'd be gone a week and to tell Melinda when I'd be back. Then I went to go track down the others to let them know what was going on. Jessie was excited to go home and visit, happy for the opportunity to see Maria and to check in with her brother's old teammate Lindsey, with whom she was extremely close.

Benny was the last person I went to talk to, and I found my best friend relaxing on the benches. He hadn't gone to visit Celine today luckily, and I sat down next to him, staring out at the pavilion. "Hey man, you look bored. You didn't have to come with today. Could have gone to hang out with your girl." I poked him in the ribs, earning a light grunt and an annoyed glare before he rolled his eyes with a chuckle.

"I could have." He said easily. "But absence makes the heart grow fonder. Not all of us are part of a co-dependent battle couple who spend all their time together. It works for you and Callie and that's great, but Cel likes her privacy too. Being underfoot all the time would only bug her. Not that she would ever actually SAY anything about it, but still. Taking some time to hang with you guys lets her decompress, and makes our next time hanging out more fun. Don't want her to get sick of me."

I shrugged. "We're not codependent, we just love each other's company. I spent years alone. It was fine I guess, but Callie...being with her doesn't feel like being in a crowd. We're both happy to be alone sometimes, but we can be alone together if we want to." Benny just rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Anyway, I didn't come over here for your opinion on my relationship. I wanted to let you know that we're planning a trip back to Valen. I wasn't sure if you were in. You can bring Celine if you want."

He jerked upright. "Wait. Really? Fuck yes I want to go home! I've been missing my family like crazy, and I want to introduce them to Cel. When did you want to leave?" He stood up and started to pace. "Shit, I have to get presents for mom and dad, and something for Maria to shut her up so she doesn't bitch I skipped her. Plus I need to buy something nice to wear, I've been in my costume for ages and mom will expect me to be dressed to impress when I introduce my girlfriend."

It was hard not to chuckle at his frantic muttering given his lackadaisical attitude just a minute ago. I didn't think he had much to worry about. Amber was a social butterfly and a big fan of high society. Bringing home a pretty, noble, elf girl would thrill her. If anything Benny would have trouble getting her to leave them alone. Still, I let him ramble, enjoying the comfort of the familiar voice of my best friend. Pretty soon I would be home again. I wondered how everyone was doing. It would be nice to see them all.