Andal and Jeva sat with several of the townsfolk from the village they’d just saved on a makeshift arrangement of logs with a fire in front of them. They were eternally grateful that they''d killed the Haverdash, and thought Andal and Jeva would be able to stay in their homes. Jeva told them, however, about the transport team the Haverdash had mentioned that was on its way.


    Now they were fleeing North across the low hills to cities. Some were going to the closer city, Hesin-re, which was a fortress in the expansion days of Donfas. It was also where Jeva’s parents were. Others were going past the low hills to the plains, which were far more lush with plenty of work opportunities in farms.


    A lady was carving up a chicken that had just been over the flames, but it was so natural for her she barely had to look, and could easily maintain conversation. She addressed Andal and Jeva, “It’s rather shocking for our saviors to be so young, where are your parents?”


    Jeva answered readily, “They’re in Hesin-re! I was here delivering a message, since I’m a courier.”


    She thought that was terribly strange, “A wizard like you is a courier? That seems like a waste of your talents to me!”


    “Oh, no no no, I couldn’t use magic before I came to town! I was delivering to the wizard, and when he got attacked I ran upstairs to hide. I read one of his books and bam! I can do magic!”


    Her voice became more solemn, “By the way, he had a really hard name so I don’t remember it, but the wizard killed one of them too. And he had to fight three at a time, he saved you too.”


    One of the men joined in, "Atrali Narium Ofestus Randrol. He was a good fellow, always wanted to learn." Then he turned to Andal, "What about you? Where are your parents?"


    It was a hard question, but he felt comfortable around these people. "I''m from the coast, where the Haverdash first landed."


    The sounds of realization rose from the group. A young lady asked, "Did anyone make it out?"


    He shook his head and tried to say, "No, just me." He was trying to keep his cool, but was suddenly having a very hard time of it. He didn''t normally think about home, he intentionally avoided it. That was easily done when with the Templars, because he had a close community with brotherly fellowship.


    Now even thinking of those close companions caused grief. He''d made it through this past week able to maintain his sense of duty as a templar, largely helped by that surge of strength that has partially stayed with him occupying his thoughts. He didn’t know how Lars did it, how he had always been so invincible. He wanted to be like Lars, and for a moment believed that he could. Now there was nothing shielding him from reminiscing, so he gradually broke down into tears.


    Jeva asked, "So you wander around fighting the Haverdash all alone?"


    Andal nodded, "Mhm," and couldn''t hold back a tear from dripping.


    “Aww,” the woman who had been carving the chicken set it down and went to embrace him. Jeva saw that and hugged him too, agreeing that it was the right thing to do. The men around the circle were silent in a sort of solidarity, though there was at least one, who the others ignored, who was definitely eying the chicken that had been seconds away from being split up.


    One man told him, “You know, Andal, there’s nothing wrong with being a kid. You’re doing good, you know, you’re helping people, but you can take some time to just play too. Take your time to grow up and process things, okay?”


    He answered through tears, "Okay."


    The lady hugging him said, "Do you need a home?"


    Jeva spoke first, "No, I know what you need! You need to go to academy! That''s where I''m going next. It''s perfect! You get to grow up and still have fun, but you''re also being responsible because you''re learning!"


    Andal was interested, and he tried his best to speak normally, "How would I get into an academy?"


    "There are all kinds of academies! There are some for magic, some for knight stuff, as soon as they saw what you could do they''d beg you to join! That''s how I''m getting in. Since I can do magic now, they''ll accept me!"


    A man asked, "What about your parents?"


    "This is what my parents have always wanted for me, though they didn''t know what academy I''d end up in!" Jeva explained. "We''ll go to Hesin-re and tell them before we go. Well, Andal, are you in?"


    "Yea, actually.” He smiled weakly, “That sounds great."


    *


    Andal and Jeva knocked on the door to her parents house. They had been given backpacks with basic tools and lots of dried food in them for their journey. The academies Jeva had mentioned were back in Tubarai, and it would be a three day journey to get there if they traveled four to five hours a day. The trip could be made faster, but that couldn''t be reasonably expected from two people so young.


    Jeva''s mother opened the door. Jeva stepped forward and hugged her, "Hi mom!"


    She was shocked at first, then recognized that it was her daughter and hugged her back. "It''s so good to see you Jeva! They''ve kept you so busy that we''re hardly seen you!" She looked over at Andal, "Who''s this?"


    Jeva turned to where she had one hand around her mother''s back and one hand to gesture between them. "Mother, Andal, Andal, my mom.”


    “Lovely to meet you Andal, come inside!”


    “Hold on!” Jeva said, “Andal, could you make a shield over there? I want to show her.”


    “Sure thing.” Andal raised a shield.


    Jeva’s mom was immediately shocked, “He can do magic? That’s amazing!”


    Jeva tried to get her attention, “No, mom, me. Watch me. Mom, that wasn’t it. Okay, you ready?” She watched Jeva, despite thinking she’d probably already seen the coolest thing she would today. Jeva pushed the air as hard as she could, and a fireball shot from her hands to the shield at blinding speed. She looked at her mom, beaming.


    Her mouth was stuck in the “wow” position. Hopefully it wasn’t permanent. “Jeva… that was amazing! You’re magical? When? How?”


    “Like, yesterday?” She laughed. “I read a book, or skimmed it really, and turns out I’m pretty good at it!”


    Her mom put her hands on her hips. “Well no more being a courier for you, little lady. Are you going to go to an academy now with Andal, is that it?”


    “Yes it is! Where’s dad?”If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    She let her arms drop, “I’m sorry, he’s stuck at the mine! He’ll be there for a few days cleaning up an accident.”


    “Aww… Could you tell him I miss him?”


    “Of course, sweetie! I’ll tell him all about this, we’re so proud of you. And Andal? I may not know you, but I’m happy for you too.”


    He smirked, “Well thanks.”


    “Though, why don’t you just tell him yourself? There’s no rush, right?”


    “Actually,” Andal answered, “You should probably get your husband and prepare to leave Hesin-re. I don’t know how long it will be until the Haverdash get here.”


    Jeva looked from Andal to her mom sadly, “He might be right.”


    She was stunned, “We’ll be fine, really! After all, look at those walls!”


    “Hesin-re is impressive, but the City of Grace fell in a single day, and it’s much larger.”


    She was visibly upset, placing her hands on her hips and changing the subject, “Do you have enough food and clothes for the trip?”


    “Yea, we were given a bunch by the people from the last town we were in.”


    “Show me.”


    Her forwardness caught him off guard, but he called for the horse and showed her their packs.


    “No no, there isn’t nearly enough here. Hold on.” She went back inside her house and started gathering food and clothes into bags. Jeva ran in and made sure that she grabbed the stuff Jeva loved, and Andal stood awkwardly, but thankful. In little more than an hour they were all packed with food and clothes. She made sure the horse got an apple before they left too. “You know what path to take?”


    “Yes mom, we’ll follow the river.”


    “No picky eating! The most energy-packed thing is your pack is the lard, and you’d better not waste it!”


    She avoided answering that by hugging her mom goodbye. Andal and Jeva got on the horse, and everyone waved heartfelt goodbyes. Jeva and her mom continued to wave to each other as Andal steered the horse away and they rode out of town. They followed the river as planned, and with nothing else to do they got properly acquainted.


    Since Andal had already cried in front of her he was willing to open up, telling her about what happened in his hometown and since then. He talked at length about Lars, who was the last person his age that he’d been around, and who he strongly wished was here now. If Lars was there, maybe Andal wouldn’t be afraid, because he’d see that Lars wasn’t afraid.


    He inevitably brought up climbing trees, which he felt he was pretty good at even if he wasn’t as good at it as Lars. Turns out, Jeva loved climbing trees. She wasn’t able to do it as often as Andal though. In Tubarai, at least the part where she was from, the winters were such that nobody would want to climb trees, and since coming to Donfas she’d had a job that had kept her busy.


    That led to a discussion of Tubarai’s winters. Andal’s town got snow, but it fell lightly and infrequently. He was shocked to hear of snowbanks taller than a person, and frankly didn’t believe her.


    After a couple hours of riding they stopped for a break. The horse could have kept going, and aside from a little peckishness Andal was okay, but Jeva hadn’t ridden in a saddle much. They let the horse graze and took out some cheese and crackers. Jeva pointed at a mountain range in the distance, "On the other side of those mountains is Tubarai. It goes down a bit, then up waaay higher. We have mountains in Tubarai, you''ll love it."


    "We have mountains in Donfas," Andal objected.


    Jeva looked back at Hesin-re with an exaggerated eyebrow raise.


    "Not there, farther south!"


    "Hills."


    "We have mountains too!"


    "Okay, okay, but we have real mountains in Tubarai."


    "They are real mountains!"


    "But I mean big mountains. Have you ever seen a mountain peak sticking up above the clouds?"


    Andal had never heard of such a thing, "No." That was pretty cool though, if it really was a thing.


    "We have those. I haven''t been to the top of one, but I''m told there''s less air up there."


    "There can''t be less air, what are the clouds floating on then?"


    "The clouds are below the top, so what''s wrong with there being less air at the peak?"


    Andal thought about that for a second, "Actually, that does make sense. "


    "See?" Jeva finished her food and rinsed her hands in the river. She stood up and pointed to a tree, "We should climb that!"


    Andal looked at where the sun was. They wanted to take advantage of the sunlight if they wanted to get there within three days and avoid having to eat the lard, but they probably had time. "Yea, sure!"


    He started walking toward the tree, but Jeva started running. He tried to race her there, but she pulled even farther ahead. She touched the bottom of the tree and said, "First!"


    "Not first to the top!" Andal retorted. She grabbed a branch and started pulling herself up but Andal spotted a much better foothold and hoisted himself onto the first branch with just a little hop off the tree. Jeva finished pulling herself up, but Andal was already on the next branch.


    She tried to use her better athleticism to catch up and pass him, but there wasn''t really an opportunity to since she was mimicking his hand positions to catch up anyway. Her options were running out, Andal was almost at the top. She grabbed him and started climbing over him, it was her last chance!


    Andal made a shield just over his back to cut off her route over him. Jeva protested, “Hey, if I can’t use magic then you can’t use magic!”


    “You can’t use magic because you’d light the tree on fire!” Andal answered with a big grin. He pulled away and reached the top of the tree. It felt like he was playing with Lars again, but just for a moment, he felt like he was Lars.


    They got going again later than they should have, but still made good distance that day. They had to stop more times than they’d thought to pee in the bushes, which was a little embarrassing for both of them. They had a good night’s sleep though, which should have set them up for a good second day.


    Instead, the second day was long and arduous. They had to slog through a flooded area, had already eaten all their best food on the first day, and Andal had sat in an anthill at their lunch break. Day three was drastically better by comparison, not because their food wasn’t getting worse as they went, but because they knew they were almost there. The mountain range Jeva had pointed out on day one was just in front of them, and around noon they’d reached the top of it.


    A basin opened up in front of them, and on the other side a steep incline that rose to mountains. Sure enough, Andal could see a distant peak standing above the clouds. Finally, they saw towns. “So where do we go?” Asked Andal.


    “Closest village and ask where the magic academy is!”


    “You don’t know?”


    “...No?”


    “So what if it’s another day away? We’ll have to eat the lard afterall!”


    That got her attention, “Well maybe it isn’t, let’s just go down to that town and see.”


    And so they did, but to no avail. There was nobody in that town who knew the location of any specific academies, so Andal and Jeva were dreading another day on the road knowing what was in their bags. Then a young man got their attention  and ran to them. He was part of a caravan heading to the capital, and he could guarantee that they could travel in the caravan and have all their food, water, and shelter provided for if they would provide protection. The man’s name was Yacan, and they loved his offer.


    The people in the caravan loved to see Andal and Jeva demonstrate their magic. There were a few times that they were worried about being attacked, but they never actually were. They had been concerned because they were carrying a lot of valuables in their wagons, and it was well known that caravans loaded with valuables would be making the trip to the capital around this time of year.


    It was the season of pilgrimages for all who worshiped Ratam, a god known for his mercy. He may not have been the only one worshiped in Tubarai, but he was the most prominent god around the capital just as Nishir was prominent in southern Donfas. They had other guards, but Andal and Jeva were the only ones who could use magic.


    The capital was a full two days away, so they were extremely grateful that this caravan had found them. There was also someone in the caravan who knew the location of the academy they wanted! It was twenty miles or so away from the capital, and a mile higher. It was called Tubarai''s Military Academy of Magic and Magic Affiliates. His brother had gone there, so he knew a bit about it. He said the people attending called it Mamma, since the abbreviation TMAMMA was so close.


    After they''d reached the capital they thanked the people in the caravan and said goodbye. They had the location of TMAMMA pointed out to them, and set off again. They were allowed to take some more food from the caravan, so it seemed they''d successfully avoided eating the lard. As they approached the mountain, which was called "Protector" because of how it overlooked the capital, Andal asked Jeva, "Since you''re from Tubarai, do you worship Ratam?"


    "Not really. I always thought he sounded nice, but my family lived far enough away from the capital that Mahash was a bigger deal. He is good to  immigrants, so my parents like him even more since we moved to Donfas. Nishir is kind of like Ratam, right?"


    "All I know about Ratam is that he''s known for mercy. But, I guess grace and mercy are pretty similar, so yea."


    "So what does someone in Nishir''s church have to do?"


    Andal thought about it for a minute. It was a good question. He did templar stuff, there was always church stuff. "Since the Haverdash destroyed his cathedral, maybe nothing right now?"


    "Okay! So if anyone asks, I worship Nishir too. How''s that?"


    "That works for me!"


    They shared a laugh, then Jeva pointed up to a complex of buildings not too far above them, "That must be it! Go there!" They went to the door and knocked. An older woman opened the door almost immediately, and Jeva blurted out, "Is this Mamma?"


    She smirked, "Tubarai''s Military Academy for Magic and Magical Affiliates, yes. And you are…?"


    "We''re a couple of youngins who know magic!" She shot a fireball behind her, and Andal made a sword and shield. "And we want in!"


    The lady laughed at their boldness, "Come inside! Let''s work this out."