Sybil tossed me her waterskin, and I drank from it deeply.

  "It never gets any less strange, Soph, seeing you practice for hours without getting tired."

  I felt the coolness of the water in my mouth before swallowing.

  "... Sorry. I'm really not doing it on purpose."

  "I believe you, Soph."

  As I handed her back her waterskin, she hesitated.

  "Maybe we ought to take you to Corone to see a witch. Or if you know of any medical scholars here that can help, we can take you to see them?"

  I felt a weight fall on my entire body, and I breathed deeply to calm myself.

  "... Until I pay off my debt to the Faraldi, Corone might be out of the question. And I don't think we can see any of the medical scholars I know of that might be able to help with my issue."

  I kicked a rock out of the practice circles. "Most families have their own scholars for private research, but I'm legally a bit too dead to see my family's."

  Sybil grimaced, looking down at the ground.

  "Well, I'll send a letter, regardless. Maybe I can convince someone from my homeland to come here."

  I looked up at her, carefully inspecting her reaction. "Speaking of... this is the second time you've spoken well of mages. I thought you... hunted us? I'm sorry if that's upsetting to ask about."

  Her face tensed, but slowly relaxed.

  "Ah... you don't know much about Corone, I suppose. Not something they taught in school?"

  I thought of some of the things that Baroness Adler had said about the southfolk's many deviances, but chose not to relay them.

  "Not really."

  I sat down on the wild grass at the edge of the yard, and gestured for her to sit.

  "Would you tell me about it?"

  Sybil sighed, and laid out next to me, her eyes watching the clouds go by.

  "Corone is... a sea of golden sands. Dry. Rich. Not a lot of food, but wealthy in luxuries that the northfolk love."

  She closed her eyes.

  "I grew up in a village by the Safi river. A little place, full of little people. We ate rice, mostly."

  "In Corone, children die a lot. It's a harsh place, after all."

  Her face screwed up a bit, and she didn't say anything for a short while.

  "But they're cherished because of it. The whole village raised every child, to give them the best chance."

  "There's a lot more people with magic, there. About one in three. They're not nearly as powerful as you northfolk mages, if what I've heard bears true, but they're still quite dangerous if they get a mind to cause mischief."

  She rolled over to face me, and looked me in the eyes.

  "That's why people like my mother and I exist. Most people don't wish to cause harm to others. But for those that do, it was my job to put them to the sword."

  She continued to hold my gaze, and I felt unnerved.

  But eventually, she relented, moving back to look at the clouds.

  "I came here originally to follow a fugitive that had made it to the colonies. But when I cut him down, I ran into some trouble with the northfolk law."

  She chuckled, and her eyes sparkled as she gazed distantly into the sky.

  "That's where Alana and I met. In a holding cell. Me, barely speaking the language, and her, drunk off her ass. She paid my fines and recruited me into the Nightingales."

  Her smile grew wide.

  "She even tried to hit on me, you know."

  I flushed a bit. "O-oh?"

  "Yeah. Ask her about it sometime, I'm sure she'd love it."

  She smirked, and I had the feeling that Alana would rather I didn't.

  "... But you still joined the Nightingales?"

  She tapped her knuckles in my knee playfully. "Hey, I guess I'm just that good looking. How could I blame her?"

  Her laugh resonated through the yard.

  ---

  I dumped a bucket of water over my head, and continued facing the wall.

  "You sure you don't want a beer? Nothing beats a cold beer in a hot bath."

  "I'm sure, Syb."

  She shrugged, taking the glass with her to the other side of the bath.

  "How about you ladies?"

  I scrubbed at myself, sighing.

  "I just can't get a hang of this..."

  ---

  It was much harder to bathe myself, after eleven years of always having someone to help me.

  Even something as simple as that. As normal as bathing. As everyday as washing my hair...

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Reminded me of her.

  ---

  Mother has us bathe every day, by the river.

  Sis loves getting wet, but I'm scared of the water.

  What if it pulls me down? Far away from home?

  Far away from Mother?

  Far away from Sis?

  Mother told me that it goes out to the ocean.

  And I read that the ocean is bigger than the land.

  Would they ever find me?

  ---

  I awoke on the floor of the bath.

  "Soph? You okay? The innkeep's about to turn the lanterns out."

  "..."

  "Soph?"

  Sybil knelt down beside me, and shook me by the shoulder.

  My heart was hurting so bad, I couldn't move.

  "Soph! Fuck!"

  Something sticky was coming out of my nose, and it clogged my breath.

  "Fuck!"

  I felt myself lift off the ground, and Sybil's breath grew heavy as she started running with me in her arms.

  "Soph, you're gonna be alright. Just say something."

  "...Syb..."

  "Keep talking. Anything you can."

  "You're... not dressed..."

  "Why the fuck would I care about that right now? Shit, at least I know you're still in there. Only you'd say something like that right now."

  "...Sorry."

  ---

  When I awoke the second time, I wasn't in my room, nor Sybil's.

  The room was large, but rather plain. The bed was the nicest thing in the room.

  "You alright, darlin'?"

  I stirred, looking to face Alana, who was sitting in a chair by the bed, her face lit by the light of a single candle.

  "I..."

  My heart still hurt, but less than before. There was a burning sensation running clean through my entire chest that I recognized as my own magic.

  I tried to will it to stop, but the moment I tried, it felt like I was twisting a knife into myself.

  "...No... It hurts..."

  Sybil opened the door with a bang.

  "Lana, how is... Soph! You're awake!"

  She made her sign with her hands as she knelt by the bed.

  "Soph, I've packed your things. I'm taking you to Corone."

  "Syb... I... My debt."

  "Screw the Faraldi, and screw your debt. If they try to stop us, I'll kill them."

  Her face was full of so much fury and worry that it made me tremble a bit.

  Alana put her hand on Sybil's shoulder.

  "Calm down, Sybil. You can't fight them alone."

  Sybil reared back, looking ready to say something rather venomous, but Alana held up her hand.

  "I'll pay the debt."

  Sybil blinked in confusion. I barely understood what she had said.

  "Alana...?"

  "Yes, darlin'?"

  "You... can't. That's so much money."

  Alana sighed, reaching out to pat me on the head.

  "You're still an apprentice, Sophie. Let your seniors take care of this one for you. You just worry about getting better."

  Sybil stood up, indignant.

  "Lana, how the hell..."

  Alana shook her head.

  "And about going to Corone... that might be harder than you think."

  Sybil let her hands fall to her sides in shock. "Why?"

  Alana took a deep breath.

  "... There was some kind of muck up with a new Hiems patrol, and they attacked a southfolk settlement. Things are getting pretty bad down there."

  She sighed, pressing her fingers to her temples.

  "Those idiots somehow got it into their head that the settlement was hiding weapons. Southfolk aren't allowed to have them in the colonies."

  Sybil's face contorted into a grimace.

  "And let me guess, someone finally paid your stupidly high fee to get involved."

  Alana nodded. "Yeah. I'm going down there to help figure things out. I'll be taking Ruben and Tor with me, and I'll be mediating the dispute while the diplomats fight it out."

  I strained myself to reach out, and grabbed Alana's hand.

  "Take me with you."

  Her face softened, and she held my hand gently.

  "Soph, you haven't finished your training. There's nothing you can do, there."

  "I have to pay you back. If you're going to pay that much for me... you should use me."

  Alana smiled, shaking her head.

  "Try again. There's no debts between Nightingales."

  "... My father was last seen headed to the colonies."

  Alana scoffed. "It's just some stupid recruits doing stupid things, Sophia. Why would a duke be involved?"

  My face fell. "I'm almost certain he's involved..."

  My thoughts lingered on the stories that Duke Hiems had told of Father's underhanded tactics.

  "Do you know why he would want to do something like this? What motive could he have? And even if he were involved, are you really in any condition to do anything about it?"

  I stayed silent, and she patted me on the head again.

  She then made her way out of the room, but stopped at the door.

  "Just get better. Finish your training if you're able, but focus on resting if you're not. Don't push yourself."

  Sybil squeezed my hand tight.

  "I'll get a doctor, Soph. Okay?"

  "...Okay."

  But as she left the room, leaving me alone, I couldn't help but feel uneasy.

  ---

  It had been a long time since I had borne this familiar pain.

  Every step I took, I felt the tearing, ripping sensation that my magic brought.

  I knew this feeling well. It was the pain that I had felt so often, back home. It was this suffering that Father had trained me to bear.

  I knew its source, thanks to Diana. It was my own magic pulling my body apart, as I began storing more than it could hold.

  I tried, desperately, to let it out. To let it run its course, like Diana had helped me to do so long ago.

  But every time, my heart started hurting again. My magic refused to let itself out of my body.

  I couldn't even breathe it out, anymore. The only thing I produced when I tried was the strange, burning heat.

  Whatever was happening to my heart, my magic was now devoting itself almost entirely to holding it at bay. It refused to heed me any longer.

  Sybil's doctor had brought with him a strange dark brown powder, meant to ease the pain, since there was nothing else he could do for me.

  It didn't help.

  But still, this pain was familiar.

  And I had many years of practice in hiding it.

  So I carried on. I trained, and I learned.

  I poured out the strange brown powder, and I lied. I told Syb that it was working.

  And I waited for Alana to return, with news that the way to Corone had opened.