It was early the next morning when Andromeda finally woke up. The sun had managed to catch her in the eyes and rouse her from her deep sleep. Her whole body felt heavy and slightly sore. She rolled over to see that Eli wasn’t where she left him. He had probably woken up before her and didn’t want to wake her. She got up, stretched her body, and grabbed her outer robe that Eli was sleeping on, and started looking around.

He could also have run off, but they were several days deep into the wilderness and he didn’t take the food from her bad, so that probably wasn’t the case.

“Eli!” Andromeda called out. She heard some rustling in a nearby bush and Eli came out a few moments later.

“You’re up?” Eli asked as he was readjusting his belt.

“Yeah, just got up a moment ago.” Andromeda said, she slung the dirty outer robe around her shoulder then put a hand to it. A faint green glow engulfed it and it was purified and mended in one swift motion.

“Sorry about taking off. Nature calls.” Eli said.

“I’m sure it does, come over here we need to talk.” Andromeda said. She brought him over to a pair of gnarled roots that formed too makeshift benches for them to sit and talk. Once they were sat down, Eli looked at her expectantly. If he was nursing a grudge for yesterday he wasn’t showing it.

“So?” Eli asked.

“We need to talk.” Andromeda said.

“I’ll say.” Eli said. That response surprised Andromeda, she wasn’t expecting him to have much to say in return.

“Do you have anything on your mind?” She asked.

“Yeah, I do.” Eli said. His mood changed in an instant, he glared at her with an air of barely restrained anger. Not violent rage, but cold fury.

“You are reckless, uncooperative, and apparently suicidal. You rushed into that fight with barely a plan at all and expected it to end alright. What would you have done if I was a coward and stayed hidden?” Eli said. This had drastically gotten away from Andromeda already.

“This is not something we should be talking about right now.” Andromeda said, trying to steer the conversation back to what she originally intended to talk about. Eli didn’t let the issue rest however.

“No, I’m not letting this go. I don’t care what your personal feelings on the matter are, your reckless behavior could get someone killed. I will not let your ass backwards reasoning get us both killed!” Eli said. Andromeda could feel White in the back of her head practically screaming in solidarity with Eli.

“Eli, seriously, this is not the time-” Andromeda started to say, but she was cut off.

“What could you possibly have to say that is more important than your death wish nearly getting us killed!?” Eli yelled. White chimed in with a wave of anger as well, she knew that Andromeda had nothing in her mind to justify moving past this and had no interest in letting her try it. She was being attacked on the outside and assaulted on the inside. Andromeda just wanted to apologize. But no matter how much she wanted to, the words would not come out.

A feeling radiated through her mind and body that she couldn’t place. But it felt as though it was coming from White. Her vision went dark and her body went numb.

-----

Eli watched as Andromeda started glowing in front of him. The color was a pure bright white that was so overpowering that it was still blinding him when he averted his eyes. He worried at first that he had pushed her too far, but when the light died down enough he turned back to see that something had changed about her.

Her skin and hair had become as white as fresh snow, and her eyes turned blood red. Not only that, but she seemed to radiate an energy around her that Eli could feel down to his bones.

The next thing Eli felt was a different feeling washing over his body. His skin started radiating a faint green light and he watched as the bruised flesh on his hand faded and returned to perfect health. The perpetual fog that rested on his mind receded into the back of his mind.

Every color seemed brighter and sharper, every sound was louder and more crisp, he could smell everything around him with unmistakable clarity. He could feel his heart in his chest and his lungs breathing quickly.

With all of his increased senses, he could clearly see that Andromeda wasn’t standing in front of him anymore. It was someone else.

“That can't be good.” The figure said. Eli was completely taken aback at Andromeda’s sudden change. The figure looked at him confused.

“You’re Eli, right?” She said.

“Uhh, yeah?” Eli said. Too shocked to give a better reply.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how confused I am right now. But I need to tell you something right now. Andromeda is going through a lot right now.” She said.

He stared at her for a moment, completely flabbergasted by how casually she was speaking. She exploded into light and now says that “Andromeda” is going through a lot right now.

“So you aren’t Andromeda?” Eli managed to say. That being the first question that came to mind.

“That’s complicated, I am, but not completely. It’s better to say that we’re two parts of a larger whole. I use the name White.” She said. That was a name that didn’t need an introduction. The Arch Mage of King’s Grove. White.

Eli was warned never to mess with a magister, let alone a high magister. They were arbiters of law across the country. The High Magisters were even more dangerous to mess with even considering how rarely the average person would interact with them. Above them in terms of danger were the Arch Mages.

If you upset a mage, you are liable to die.

If you upset a magister, you are liable to disappear.

If you upset a High Magister, you’ll meet the Arch Mage.

“I- I- Uh…,” Eli stuttered. He had just gotten done calling Andromeda suicidal, not a good impression.

“Look, I can’t get Andromeda to answer me. So I guess we’ll have to talk until I can get her to respond.” White said.

“Are you not upset about me calling Andromeda names?” Eli asked. Momentarily worried that he was about to be un-existed by a mage of unfathomable power.

“What? No, not really, she has been acting like a maniac ever since we left Cylas. She’s barely been listening at all for days.” White said.

“Does that include when she threatened me when we met at the inn?” Eli asked.

“Absolutely, I was screaming at her the entire time to not do it. But she was sure that you were some kind of assassin.” White said.

“Is that something we need to worry about?” Eli asked.

“Yes, I’m guessing it's part of why Andromeda has been so on edge. She knows full well that she is walking into a set up and literally can’t avoid it.” White said.

“That sounds like something she should have told me before now.” Eli said.

“I’d be willing to bet it's because she’s worried you’re going to run off again.” White said.

“Oh for the love of-” Eli said. White shrugged. How many times was that damn day going to come back and bite him?

“Don’t shoot the messenger.” She said.

“Changing the subject, why are you glowing? Why am I Glowing?” Eli asked. It was very upsetting to see that his entire body was engulfed in a faint green light.

“I have no idea, but I don’t think it's a problem. I can kind of feel everything around me and I think that’s because of the glow.” White said. She waved her hand casually in front of her and a wave of brighter green light flew out like a cartoon gust of air.

“Second question, what are you? Are you a Medea?” Eli asked.

“I don’t think I am, Andromeda definitely isn’t at least.” White said.

“But you have the white hair and pale skin. You look just like a Medean version of Andromeda.” Eli said. Instead of giving him another Answer, she reached over and grabbed a stick and snapped it in half.

She dropped one half of the broken stick on the ground and held the other in her hand. The stick on the ground faded away and the one in her hand restored to its original form. Then she tossed it away.

“It’s not healing, It’s mending. Andromeda can do it too, but it’s incredibly painful when she does it. That didn’t stop her from spending several hours yesterday putting you back together.” White said.

“She heal- Hold on, am I supposed to just believe that you just so happen to look like a Medea, and just so happen to heal with magic instead of Medean techniques? I’m also supposed to believe that Andromeda can do that too?” Eli asked.

“Yeah, because that’s all I’ve got for you. Neither me nor Andromeda have any idea how or why we can do it.” White said.

“But that’s insane, actually that’s beyond insane.” Eli said.

“Call it whatever you want, but Andromeda spent the better part of a day in sheer agony just so you could be awake without screaming. So take a moment to think if it even matters” White said. She was giving him a harsh stare. Not angry, but the way you would look at someone who is being rude to another without realizing it.

With the fog in his mind gone, Eli could remember perfectly what happened before. He felt something welling up in him and it let him beat the bandits, but he mangled himself in the process. He remembered getting hit in the head, breaking his hand, and a terrible burning pain in his arm. Then the shock of thinking he killed a man hit him.

For some reason, he felt a strange peace about him. It wasn’t as though he didn’t feel awful about what he did, it was like there was something preventing it from hurting him.

“I can feel that you know.” White said. Eli looked up in shock.

“Feel what?” He said.

“I can feel your mind hurting itself. This field or whatever I’m radiating is mending it just as quickly as you do it to yourself.” White said.

“You’re mending my mental state?” He said.

“I guess? I’m just learning about this myself, give me a break.” White said.

-----

Having covered the basics, both of them gathered their things and got back to the path. White continued having no luck getting a mental response from Andromeda, so she was taking point for now.

They walked down the road for a few minutes before Eli got scrunched his face up in confusion. Despite White walking ahead of him she could still tell that he was confusing himself again and turned around to him.

“What.” She said, spooking Eli.

“I was just thinking, Andromeda wanted to use code names to avoid people finding out our identities. But she chose the name “White”.” Eli said.

“Yeah?” White said. Her blunt tone starkly contrasted Andromeda’s usual measured response.

“Should I use a different name for you?” He asked.

“I don’t really care. I shouldn’t be out here for much longer anyway. Might as well use the same name.” White said.

“Okay.” Eli said.

Eli couldn’t help but feel intimidated by White. He knew that Arch mages were special among mages. But to see one up close put it into perspective for him. White literally radiated energy, and not only did it heal and repair everything around her. It seemed to improve Eli’s senses. He felt more alert and ready than he ever had before.

If that was it, then she would be one of a kind. But she was so in tune with the energy that she could sense things as small as him being confused just by the way it was mended with her field. It was like she had telepathy. What’s more, she wasn’t even doing it on purpose. All she had to do is exist and it did that.

Beyond all of that, she was healing using magic. That was the only explanation for being able to repair the stick from earlier. That was a miracle, something people had been telling stories and making legends about for all time.

White and Andromeda were two sides of the same whole. If White was one side, and assuming they were equal, then what was Andromeda capable of?

Eli put it from his mind. Musing on it too much longer would make White turn around again and he didn’t want to upset her.

He cast his mind back to his suddenly clear memories of home. He could remember what his parents looked like, he remembered old stories his mom used to tell him, he…

He remembered other things.

He remembered something from a long time ago. He didn’t know if it was a memory or a nightmare, but he had the vaguest memory of seeing something in his old room many years ago.

The memory was so old and forgotten that he could barely remember any details even with the extra clarity White’s Energy gave him.

He could only remember a sound. A voice.

A whisper.

A whisper.