If one thing rang true in the whole of Leoria, it was that the services of a healer were expensive. That resulted from a multitude of factors, rocketing the price of healing to almost the same heights as even rare skillsets like space magic. Those factors were importance, difficulty and most importantly, scarcity.

  In an even rarer case like Felicia Tiller, who was one of the first mental healers in the kingdom, the prices became quite ridiculous.

  “Fifteen silver? That’s basically a regular worker's monthly salary!” Valar exclaimed, more confused than anything else.

  “It’s a reasonable price, considering the results I’ve gotten in the past,” Felicia smiled. “I do hope your salary as an adventurer has made you enough… We could ask Elaine to pay for you too.”

  “That’s not it, I have the money,” Valar sighed. He cringed at the thought of his coffers draining so quickly, but as he wasn’t exactly strapped for coins, he would be fine. Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just fine…

  “That’s good then,” Felicia opened the door. “I’ll send you my schedule in a couple of days. You can pick one and send a letter back, alright?”

  “Alright. Also… Thank you, Felicia.”

  “I’m glad I was of help. Now, let me get out from under your feet and-.”

  Elaine, standing in the doorway with food in hand, grinned as Felicia impacted her like fly against a brick wall. “Going out so soon? I thought you wanted me to bring food?”

  “Oh… I forgot,” Felicia muttered under her breath. In front of Elaine, she seemed more of a normal woman in the middle of her 20s than a wise healer. Seeing that, Valar’s confidence in the woman only rose. She’s as human as anyone else, just an expert in her field. Not a god, not a king, just a woman living her life like everyone else.

  “Back to the office you go!” Elaine took a step, then two, pushing the bronze rank healer along. “I got food for three, so you’re eating with us!”

  Felicia gave up after only a second or two of struggling, sighing and walking back to Valar. She plopped herself down on the sofa next to him, and Elaine sat on the chair the younger woman had been sitting in just a few moments ago.

  “I think I found some really good fare for us this time,” she started, opening the brown paper bag she had carried into the office. She pulled out three bowls of food.

  None of the dishes were ones that Valar knew beforehand, so he inspected them carefully. All of the dishes resembled stews of different colours, but the aromas differed from regular Leorian food by quite a bit.

  “I found an actual Khateshi restaurant in the artist’s district,” Elaine started excitedly. “They’re pretty rare nowadays with the somewhat frequent attacks and all, but Khateshi food is good stuff.”

  Valar’s brows rose in patriotic anger. “Khateshi food? But the empire is a-.”

  “Rotten wasteland full of slavers, criminals and villainy, yes, yes,” Elaine scoffed. “It’s a nation like any else, Valar—just a bigger one. The northern tribes attack us almost as often as the empire does, but we don’t see the same hate for them. Taste the food, and maybe you’ll like it.”

  “Mhm…” Valar leaned in towards the food, still quite suspicious of the whole affair. “Right.”

  Felicia didn’t seem to have the same reservations about Khateshi food, spooning some stew into her mouth and humming in contentment. “So good…”

  “They really do use so much more spice in their food, don’t they?” Elaine smiled. “Leorians could learn something from the imperial chefs.”

  Valar gazed at the stew Felicia had tasted suspiciously, but his hunger won out after only a few seconds. The dark red stew full of some kind of bird meat and herbs in addition to bright green vegetables he didn’t recognize certainly smelled appetizing, if nothing else.

  “Here goes nothing…” he muttered before taking a spoonful.

  What’s this? The boy’s eyes went wide as saucers as wholly unfamiliar flavours overwhelmed his pallet, making his mouth water. It’s so rich and sweet, but it still doesn’t feel like too much. And it… burns?

  To his own surprise, the burn wasn’t bad by any means. The sensation was akin to a weak flame burning his mouth, but it only amplified the flavours—made them better than they already were. Is the burn good? But-.

  “Is the level of spiciness alright for you, Valar?” Elaine asked. She pointed at one of the other two stews. “That one is a fair bit milder in spice, or so the owners said...”

  “No, no, I actually kind of like it,” he mumbled. “It burns, but it’s… alright?”

  Felicia smiled. “There are different kinds of pain. Some hurt because it’s your body’s way of telling that something is wrong, some hurt just to hurt, and others…”

  “And others?”

  “They are the good kind of pain—the pain that makes your experiences better or teaches you new things. Not every kind of pain is bad. Good pain is worth it, you just have to learn how to differentiate it from the bad.”

  Huh…

  When Valar was leaving Elaine’s office, surprisingly with a smile on his face, Felicia turned to him. “Valar?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’d like to discuss a few things about your situation with Elaine. Do I have your permission to talk about your general wellbeing? I won’t reveal any information that I consider sensitive.”

  Elaine watched as the boy turned around with a frown on his face. He seems to be focusing on people’s intentions regarding him more and more. Good.

  “I’m not against the idea, but why do you even need to ask?” Valar questioned. “You yourself said that you wouldn’t be revealing any sensitive information, right?”

  “I’m serious about my occupation,” Elaine’s former—probably upcoming too—disciple said. “Even though I won’t be revealing your secrets, I won’t discuss your health with others without your say-so.”

  “That’s fine then. Elaine knows most of it anyway,” the boy nodded. “I’ll go to sleep…”

  “Have a good night,” both women echoed as he closed the door behind him.

  Any second now… She’ll change any second…

  As soon as the door clicked shut and the sound isolation enchantments activated once more, Felicia’s aura shifted.

  In Elaine’s magical sight, great walls rose from the depths of the young woman’s soul, presenting the outside world with an impenetrable barricade. Felicia’s emotions—so open to everyone who looked upon them just a few moments ago—became utterly impossible to read. Even Elaine’s peak gold rank aura could gain no purchase upon the life mage’s impenetrable bulwark.

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  “I was pretty surprised when you didn’t shut me out immediately when you let me in my office,” Elaine commented. “A lack of security like that isn’t up to your personal code, is it?

  “I made an exemption, as based on what Valar told me, you knew most of his situation already. Besides, a showcase like that would’ve damaged the trust between us,” Felicia explained, her voice as chipper and kind as before. “Being able to have a casual dinner with you and him will help him heal. It isn’t anything major, but it helps nonetheless. Baby steps, and all…”

  “Damaged the trust? Should you be keeping secrets from your clients, Fel?” Elaine teased.

  “You know very well that I cannot do that, Elaine,” Felicia grumbled. “Also, stop calling me by nicknames. You were my professor, not my aunt.”

  Elaine grinned. She really has grown…

  Felicia Tiller had always been a curious case. Elaine had first heard about a young and upcoming healer from one of her Thornton based associates, and needless to say, she had been an intriguing individual for an iron ranker. At that time, there had been nothing that marvelous about the girl, except one singular thing: her aura.

  Ever since she had awakened, Felicia’s control of her aura had been peculiar to say the least. By some common metrics, those being ones of fine control and power, she frankly sucked. That was because the young healer had exactly two ‘modes’ to choose from: Open and closed.

  “Your aura is as impressive as always,” Elaine grinned. “I can’t find a single crack in your defence.”

  “That’s because there are none,” Felicia grinned back. “Although that is based on my own perception, so if an onyx or diamond ranker has found them, I could be unaware of a nick in my armor.”

  “Or a particularly skilled lower ranked combatant,” Elaine suggested. “Even though aura control isn’t a big focus in our lands, I’ve heard that there are some who specialize in its use; You know as well as me how much aura supremacy matters in spellcasting.”

  “True, true…” Felicia shrugged. “Still, you could crush my aura just fine due to your higher rank. It’s just that reading it would become impossible at the same time.”

  “You would be a great spy…”

  “I don’t have the personality for it.”

  “Liar.”

  Spending time with Elaine and Felicia after his session with the latter had been a good distraction from all the negative thoughts stemming from his ascension to bronze rank. That distraction was good enough to hold those thoughts off until he reached his dorm. But it didn’t last forever…

  When Valar was finally completely alone, wrapped in his bedsheets and without a comforting shoulder to cry on, the pain finally resurfaced. It was the type of pain that gnawed you from the inside out, the source of the suffering lying deep inside the boy’s very core. With outside pain—often caused by one’s hated enemies or their loved ones—they could somewhat curb it by focusing on its source. Anyone could shift blame on others, moving some of their own pain on someone else’s shoulders. It was not an ideal way to cope, but sometimes, it was a necessary one.

  Valar could not do that.

  His pain came from his very soul, radiating out into his body and mind, poisoning his thoughts with suffering, sadness and rage. He could not focus on the pain’s source either, as that only brought more pain with it. Defences against the outside world were useless, and so were defences against his own mind.

  Still, his situation could’ve been much, much worse. Having been able to vent out most of his frustration, anxiousness and grief to Felicia had centered Valar somewhat, creating an island of calmness inside the storm that was the boy’s mind. It kept him from breaking, from being swept away by the rough winds.

  He endured, weeping endlessly beneath his covers. He cried late into the night, but the poison that was doubt never spread further along his psyche. His motivations, his ideals, and his innermost self endured the storm. That respite from the pain allowed the boy to finally fall asleep.

  That night, he dreamed of fire. His nightmares were of an endless inferno that consumed everything on its path, He was powerless to stop it, consumed by the flames as the vibrant forest around him burned.

  …

  Waking up with a headache was never great. Waking up with too little sleep was never great. When you combined those two, you had all the ingredients to a supremely not-great day.

  Considering that particular truth of the world, it was no surprise that Valar’s day absolutely sucked. Breakfast tasted like cardboard, the city below his window was covered by rain and fog, and his own mind kept reminding Valar about every single thing he had managed to fuck up in his short life. Considering the eventful recent months, there were a lot of fuckups to go around.

  Valar laid on his bed, looking at the ceiling and feeling awful in general, when a soft knock could be heard from his door. Can’t be bothered… It’s probably some annoying student going around knocking at doors.

  When the sound returned with newfound ferocity, Valar still found himself unwilling to get up. I don’t care… I don’t care… I do-.

  “If you don’t open this door in ten seconds, I’m kicking it open!” Valar’s eyes went wide with shock as he heard the familiar voice of a certain dark-skinned abstract mage from outside his dorm. Shit! “Ten, nine, seven…”

  Nonononono… Valar jumped off his bed and rushed to the door, pulling it open. “You counted wrong!”

  “Did I?” Zeke’s smile stretched across almost his whole face. “You rushed to the door faster because of it, didn’t you? Can I come in?”

  “It’s a mess in here.”

  “As if I couldn’t see that from here already,” the abstract mage scoffed. “Mr. Bronze ranker…”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Valar grumbled. “There were… complications, though. It wasn’t nice.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “No.”

  “Alright.”

  With the appearance of the energetic mage, Valar’s bad day was turned on its head. Despite his initial resistance to the idea, Zeke managed to drag Valar out of the academy and into the city proper. Unfortunately, they had no idea what to do.

  “The docks?” Zeke suggested.

  “It’s raining…”

  “Merchant’s district?”

  “Nothing to buy… And it’s raining.”

  Zeke sighed loudly. “Do you want to go and see my parents?”

  “Huh?”

  See… his parents? The young mage’s suggestion was a total curveball, as it hadn’t even entered Valar’s mind before Zeke voiced it. But… Why not?

  …

  When they had lived in Rosthorn, the Forger house hadn’t been big in the least, or so Zeke had told... Looking at the mansion—because that’s what it was—in front of his eyes, Valar found it hard to believe that Zeke had lived in an apartment comparable to Pixie’s small abode.

  To start, they were in the noble district. Normal people didn’t live in the noble district; nobles did. That exclusive group didn’t usually let just any old commoner live near them, but Zeke’s house laid smack-dab in the middle of the district. To be fair, it wasn’t in the academy’s protective magical bubble, but it wasn’t far from the edge either.

  Location aside, the mansion was the very thing Valar imagined when someone said the word ‘opulent’. Marble walls, golden ornaments and beautiful statues made the mansion’s front look noble indeed. Sure, the garden wasn’t as well-kept as the neighbouring estates’ greenery, but the house itself matched those around it—save for the extra wings built on their sides. Zeke’s family wasn’t in the rat race of nobility, so they hadn’t bothered.

  Besides, that required funds, and based on Zeke’s explanation, they didn’t have thousands of gold laying around.

  “Before you say anything, this isn’t technically my family’s mansion,” Zeke started. “It’s more so a free lodging from the royal palace as long as I keep working for them. I don’t have the funds to buy or even upkeep such a big estate. At least not for a while”

  “Not for a while?” Valar questioned. “Do you think you’ll have those funds in the future?”

  “As long as I keep ranking up and being useful for the royal family, sure…” the young man muttered. “I’m contractually obliged to not let any secrets spill, but let’s just say that my magic could be very useful to them at the later ranks…”

  Valar was young, but he wasn’t dumb. The tone in Zeke’s voice suggested that they should stray far away from that particular topic, and Valar had no reason to pressure him on this. Let him keep his secrets. I wouldn’t want him to pry into my secrets either.

  “Have your parents enjoyed living here?”

  Zeke grinned, walking up to the front door. “Ask them yourself. They should be-. Oof!”

  As soon as the energetic man opened the door, a woman that looked like a spitting image of her son trapped the abstract mage in a crushing hug. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago, son! Where have you been dawdling this time?”

  Valar looked on in amusement as his friend squirmed in his mother’s grasp, trying to break out and failing miserably. “Let… me… go, mother! I brought a friend with me!”

  When the domineering woman’s head snapped in Valar’s direction, he had practically no time to react before he was swept up in an embrace of his own, Zeke breathing out in relief as he was freed from his trappings.

  “Oh, and who are you?” Zeke’s mother asked. “Actually, don’t answer that. I’m Farrah Forger, Zeke’s mother. Nice to meet you, Valar! Zeke’s talked a lot about you!”

  “Nice to meet you too,” the boy mumbled, his voice muffled by the woman’s chest. “How’d you know that I was that particular friend of Zeke’s?”

  “How’d you think?” she drawled. “You do know that you look pretty young, right?”

  “Right…”

  As Valar soon found out, Zeke’s parents hadn’t stopped working just because they had moved to Rhondell. The young man’s father, a similarly swarthy bronze ranker named Eaton, had built a small smithy behind their new mansion. There, he perfected his craft: Crafting weapons.

  “I’m pretty gods damned sure that this axe could cut through the hide of a behemoth ursa!” the man yelled from the sweltering heat of the smithy.

  “He’s so cute when he works,” Farrah muttered.

  Zeke’s roll of the eyes was worthy of a mural in the artist’s district. “You’re embarrassing me, mom…”

  “What’s embarrassing about me finding my husband cute?” she asked matter-of-factly.

  Yeah, this was fun. Just some lighthearted, harmless fun.

  Just what Valar needed.