Despite the eventful day, everyone got back home with little trouble. Andromeda was in the office filling out some paperwork regarding employee pay when she heard Chi loudly announce she had arrived back from getting everyone dinner for the night. When she walked out, Alice and Eli were already standing around the table in the center of the main hall. In the beginning they would just eat their dinners in the lounge and talk, but eventually everyone got tired of having all their meals without any kind of silver wear.

For weeks Eli and Alice could barely occupy the same room without getting snippy with each other. But now they peacefully gathering their plates, and at one point Alice even asked Eli to pass the butter and he did it without a word.

When Andromeda sat down, she silently sat and observed the both of them to get an idea of what might have happened. Alice seemed overall happier, smiling with every bite and chatting idly with everyone sans Eli, while Eli would occasionally add in a small joke or remark. Nothing hostile, or overly nice for that matter, but they weren’t at each other’s throat. Garret and Chi even seemed to catch on and were confused, but pleasantly surprised.

But then Eli and Alice reached for a plate containing the last slice of some sweet bread. The room was instantly tense, but before it escalated, Eli just pulled his hand back and gestured for her to take it. This being the closest thing to a polite gesture he had made toward Alice for as long as Andromeda was aware. This was enough to make her break her silence and get down to it.

“So, you two seem to be in a good mood. Did something happen?” Andromeda asked. The question seemed to catch both of them off guard. Alice blushed, but Eli’s mood soured.

“Oh, its nothing much. Earlier I met a wonderful person named Alexis, she told off some rude merchant folk who were bad mouthing me in town. We got to talking and she invited me to tea. I had quite a lot of fun.” Alice said, Andromeda’s heart practically fluttered at seeing Alice smile so wide. She had been going through so much that seeing her happy put her at ease.

Of course, Eli was running counter to that. But even as he sat there Andromeda could tell that there were gears turning behind his eyes. He breathed and spoke up.

“If I’m being honest, I met someone as well at the Smithy, things happened, and we ending having a sword fight outside of town.” Eli said.

The tension that manifested a moment before returned in full force, and everyone both looked toward and avoided Andromeda’s burning gaze, but as she was still processing the words, Eli continued.

“I tried to get him to stop, but he pushed me into drawing a sword he gave me. I don’t know why, but in the moment I felt something. He offered that we fight again, and I think I’m going to take him up on that.” Eli said. Andromeda managed to swallow the gall she felt that someone would attack Eli without prompting, but that turned to subtle joy as she noticed that Eli smiled while he spoke.

“If you’re happy, I guess there’s no reason to complain. Just let me know if anyone gets hurt.” Andromeda said.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Eli said. Ah, the grump was back. But he didn’t call her a horrible person or curse her name, so incredible progress. As everyone finished their food, things was cleaned and put away, they migrated from the hall to the lounge to have another meeting. Arranged in their usual formation, Andromeda began.

“Alright, with the exception of making enemies with a noble woman, becoming a surprise non-profit, and both Alice and Eli being accosted on the streets, I’m gonna say it was a productive day. Any thoughts?” Andromeda asked, half joking, half not.

“From what I understand of your finances, we should be solvent near indefinitely, but we’ll be treading on thin ice for as long as we remain here.” Garret said.

It was a good point, even if they didn’t earn a dime for anything they did there, Lady Wren would be breathing down their throats any chance she got, and that was nothing to say for what the rest of her apparently sizable estate felt. If things got too out of control, she’d probably have to evoke her status as Arch Mage, but that would be the nuclear option.

“Can’t we try to placate her? I’m not suggesting we pay the tithe, but perhaps try something more helpful then a rivalry?” Chi said.

Alice shook her head. “Lady Wren is well known for her personality in the capital and among the nobility. While I haven’t spoken to her in person, I have endured her presence at many functions. Anything less then complete capitulation will be seen as an affront.” She said.

“I see…” Chi added, the wind gone from her sails.

“What good is there about her?” Eli asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Alice asked. Surprising the group by her genuine reply, and further surprising them Eli replied peacefully.

“We can call her selfish and a pain in the ass all we like, but she has to have some redeeming qualities. If she was just an awful person all the time to everyone, then she’d make a lot of enemies, if you know what I mean.” Eli said, as dark as his point was. He wasn’t wrong. They were all aware to some extent about the criminal underbelly of the country, and while powerful, she wasn’t that influential. If she upset enough people, she’d become a problem only in the past tense.

“I’m not sure myself, but you are right. Perhaps we can look into this and find a way to reach out to her. If not an olive branch, then maybe a helping hand.” Alice said.

The idea was like this, identify something that Lady Wren cared for. Once they had done that, all they’d have to do was pump their efforts whatever that was. After all, it was hard to hate someone who seems to share the same interests as you. The challenge was pressed onto Garret and Chi, who seemed both interested, but hesitant to dig elbow deep into the situation. However when Garret was tempted with a “drop”, and Chi was presented with another shopping trip, they agreed without hesitation.

The night came to a close, and everyone went to bed besides Andromeda. She had some work left, and because she didn’t really need sleep anymore due to White, she thought now would be the best time for it. So she turned on one of the mystically powered lamps she had bought in King’s Grove. Sitting nearby was a mana catalyst, or mana crystal, people used both interchangeably it seemed. There was a small blue line drawn from the lamp to the crystal sitting below, and a mechanism like a light bulb made of smooth stone lit up, illuminating the table below.

The faint blue glow reminded her of when she first used magic at the Lander’s home. She focused her mind with all her might, and witnessed as a small blue glow twisted between her fingers. But it faded away just as quickly.

There were some tests performed on her following the events Aeroae, and they discovered her soul was nearly completely destroyed. The only bits left were the three shards that everyone theorized contained her, White, and Whisper. This should have killed her, but then again, many things should have killed her and failed.

One small positive they found was that the situation wasn’t as hopeless as they thought. Because the results from Carrion and Ferdinand’s rushed field test and the more precise instruments in the capital didn’t match, they did a number of shorter tests during her stay, and it seemed that each of the “shards” of her soul were slowly healing, however at the rate it was going due to the damage sustained, it would take 10 years for her to fully heal.

Another piece of good news was from an unlikely source. White and Whisper had shards of her soul equally as large as her own, and the dead space inside her was given them a chance to recover as well. Meaning that their own souls were recovering at the same rate. That meant that after three and a third years she would have the equivalent magical regeneration and storage of a normal person, and after 10 years she would have 3x the natural average.

Which was all well and good, but it still weighed heavy on her mind that she was thinking of it in terms of decades. From what she understood, it took people their entire lives to learn magic to any appreciable level, and she not only spent the first 20 years of her life with no chance to learn, she’d be spending the next 10 years barely able to practice.

In the short few weeks since, there had been minor progress. Ferdinand impressed an idea on her that she hadn’t considered until now. Mastery. Which might be what leads her back to the path.

Mastery, as she understood it, was as much a part of using magic as any other. Book learning and study was what got the information into your mind, and practice is what got it into your muscles and bones, but mastery is what impresses it on your soul.

Mages have a constant balance to maintain. Magic uses mana, and mana is a limited resource. So there are two methods mages use to overcome this. The first is by amassing more mana, this is why mana crystals and catalysts are so common with mages. Having what amounted to a spare battery meant you could play more fast and loose with magic and get away with it. The other method was more difficult, but paid greater dividends in the end. Mastery.

All magical techniques have a price to perform, and in the cases they need to be maintained, they also have a maintenance cost. However, those costs were not set in stone. A mage could practice a particular technique, and with time ingrain it into their very soul, and the more they do, the easier it is to perform, and the cheaper it becomes.

Andromeda already had extensive experience with mending, more so then any other magical technique. Even as limited as she now was, she felt that she could still mend something in her sleep, let alone awake. She looked out of the corner of her eye at the floor by the door. There was a small doorstop sitting on the ground near the door. It was scuffed and scratched from regular use, and waste of a request as it was, she didn’t want to stand up, so she had Whisper fly over and grab it. Now in her hand she looked it over. Just as her journey began, it would begin again here.

No one is born masterful of the mystic arts. Mastery is gained through repetition and practice. With great effort you will stand with your peers, with great patience you will stand next to your masters, and with great experience you will surpass them both.

Entai’s book told her what she needed, even when she didn’t know she needed it.

She closed her eyes, and focused herself. She imagined the flowing river, water flowing down its banks, and through into the middle distance. Then it rose, higher and higher, until it peaked at the edge. When she opened her eyes, the subtle blue glow she had grown to love enveloped the doorstop, and once the light faded, it was fully mended. But she knew it, deep down. She knew that even that was a lot for her. Her heart was beating faster, and her breathing was stressed. The one thing she never got to learn before now was to pace herself.

Andromeda chuckled, that really was the issue at the end of the day… She never knew when to slow down, even when she sped off the road and over a cliff. From inter-dimensional transient, to a mage, to an Arch Mage, to now. She wasn’t even on the road anymore, she had a new title again, “White Mage”. It didn’t even have a meaning beyond what she gave. Despite that, she was spinning her tires all the way to the ground.

It all caught up to her now, she burned out, broke down, and was a patchwork of minds and souls holding itself together by sheer force of will. It would take a decade for her soul to repair itself, and White and Whisper were anything to go by, the fractures in her mind would only continue.

Just after the Vague, Ferdinand made an offer. Because she was so recently brought into the Arch Mages, it wasn’t too late to let her go peacefully. She had the entire world at her finger tips, she could go anywhere, do anything, and with no risks at all. She would have the unmitigated backing of the entire country, every drop of influence Ferdinand could muster, and no matter what, she would be protected to the best of his abilities.

But she refused, not because those things didn’t sound nice. But because she couldn’t step away. The Arbiter attacked because of her, and everyone that was harmed had to suffer entirely because she was involved, running away now would have killed her much more then the spear through her chest.

Even now, on what should be some kind of vacation, she was filling out paperwork in the dead of night, in a guildhall she had to furnish with her own two hands, all the while needing to track down artifacts, juggle four (soon to be five) people’s salaries, and on top of all of it she had to play chicken with a noble woman who had it out for her. Which by extension made her need to pay for everything out of pocket.

…

When she was younger, her young cousins and her were close. Auby and Owby, or just Audrey and Owen. When they were old enough to read and write, they learned her middle name, they innocently made a joke that Andromeda was sure neither of them meant harmfully.

“When it rains (reien), it pours.”

They didn’t know how right they were, or how much she missed hearing them say it.