Gray carried Rebecca’s words like a second heartbeat.

  They settled deep in his chest — not heavy, but constant.

  The way she had spoken about Gauis’s past, about how they weren’t blood but chose to be family, about how they had always seen him and Tamemoto as their own children… it burned brighter than any aura flicker ever had.

  He didn’t speak much about it. He didn’t need to.

  The will to get stronger flared up inside him — quiet, steady, like a river carving stone over time.

  More time passed. It flowed naturally, like water down the Tile River.

  Gray studied everything.

  He asked Gauis about his experience fighting mages from all levels — how a knight commander from Avalon had faced mana users who could bend fire, water, earth, even the air itself. Gauis spoke in short, clipped sentences:

  “They cast slow. Use the gap. Close the distance before the spell finishes. Aura coating on the blade disrupts their focus. One good strike ends it.”

  Gray noted it all on a fresh parchment Rebecca had given him — small, neat handwriting, every word memorized and stored in his mind and heart.

  He asked Rebecca how she had fought both mages and aura users in her prime. She answered softly, voice sometimes cracking with coughs: “Mana is about precision. Aura is raw. Against aura users, I used illusions to confuse their reading.

  Against mages, I disrupted their circles with quick bursts of raw mana. But always… always protect your own core first.”

  Gray wrote it down.

  Every detail.

  Every lesson.

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  He now understood why Rebecca and Gauis had insisted he recover first — why they had held him back from pushing too hard. His body wasn’t ready.

  Forcing it would break him before he could grow. He became more conscious of how to manage himself — resting when the pain in his channels flared, eating what little they had carefully, breathing slow and steady to calm the flickering spark inside him.

  He talked to Tamemoto about it one evening by the river.

  They sat on the bank, feet in the cool water. Tamemoto’s aura coating was stronger now — a faint shimmer that Gray could feel more than see.

  The younger boy’s body was maturing, shoulders filling out, movements surer.

  “I’m in the late stages of Awakening,” Tamemoto said quietly. “But I still need to learn how to use it in a real fight. It’s different when it’s not just training.”

  Gray stared at the river. “You’re getting there.”

  Tamemoto looked at him. “You’ll get there too. With mana.”

  Gray didn’t reply.

  Suddenly, a sharp knock echoed from the hut door.

  Rorik — a tall, lean scavenger who often traded with them — burst in, breathing hard.

  “Gaius! Everyone! Get ready!”

  Gauis stepped out from the back room. Rebecca followed, hand on the wall for support.

  Rorik continued, voice urgent. “News from some travelers. A horde of trolls is planning to attack Ashfall. It’s not heading straight for Camp Tile, but everyone is preparing regardless. The river road might be cut off. We need to fortify or be ready to run.”

  Gauis’s face hardened. Rebecca’s eyes flashed with worry.

  Gray and Tamemoto stood up immediately.

  Gray spoke first. “We’ll go.”

  Tamemoto nodded beside him.

  Gauis looked at both boys. “No. You’re not ready for a horde.”

  Gray met his gaze. “We’re not going to fight the horde. We’re going to scout. See if it’s real. If it is… we come back. We run if we have to.”

  Rebecca stepped forward. Her voice was soft but firm. “You’re still healing. Both of you.”

  Gray looked at her. “We’ll be careful. But we can’t just sit here if danger is coming.”

  Gauis studied them for a long moment.

  Then he nodded once.

  “Good,” he said quietly. “You’re learning.”

  Rebecca smiled — small, tired, proud. “Take care. Both of you. Come back whole.”

  Gray and Tamemoto nodded.

  They grabbed their packs — Gray with his knife and a small pouch of silver thorns, Tamemoto with his practice blade and bow. They stepped out into the fading light.

  The camp was stirring. People were boarding up windows, gathering weapons, whispering about the trolls. The market square was emptying fast. The river road looked longer than it ever had.

  Gray looked at his brother.

  “Stay close,” he said.

  Tamemoto nodded. “I will.”