“Kiro, you did it! You actually did it!” Seira squeezed him even tighter, and he tapped her shoulder, struggling to inflate his lungs.

“I knew that you’d be able to! Oh, this is going to be so amazing, and —”

“Seira… can’t… breathe…”

“Oh, sorry!” She pulled away, and he coughed.

“How did you even get in here?”

“Your window! I was going to come in through your door, but I sensed you doing alchemy and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

He looked across his room, and sure enough, there was a new hole in his wall where his shutters used to rest.

“And you thought coming through my window would be less disruptive?” he teased.

“Well, it worked, didn’t it? Anyways... is that the one?” Seira grabbed his shoulders, and he grinned.

“The one I’ve been working on for the past month.”

She cheered, throwing her arms up and blowing a puff of fire in an exaggerated victory pose. That position proved unstable, however, and she toppled backwards a second later.

“So,” she giggled, effortlessly jumping to her feet, “did my notes help?”

“They did! Once I figured out that the frostfrond could neutralize the fire aspect instead of clashing with it, it was just a matter of trial and error. It’s —”

His stomach growled, and he looked hungrily towards his kitchen. “Ah… I haven’t eaten since this morning.”

“Actually, I haven’t either. Elder Fang wanted me to spar with his students at lunch, and then my advisors took me to study, and then some Scouts wanted lessons, which led to me lecturing a whole crowd of Warriors… Ooh, how about I make us some soup?”

Visions of the charred mess that had occurred the last time he’d let her cook flashed in his mind, and he grabbed her by the arms, pushing her back onto the bed.

"Here, how about I make the soup. You… can help me by grabbing some sparkleaf."

"Fine..." she rolled her eyes, sorting through his alchemical ingredients. "I don't understand why my cooking is so much worse at your house, Kiro. It’s usually pretty good!"

She threw him the correct bag, and he popped a handful of the green-and-yellow herb into his mouth. Its rejuvenating effects began to course through him, and he gave a satisfied sigh. "Hmm. What do you normally do for a soup like this?"

"I cut the meat and veggies, and then I torch the pot for a few minutes?"

He laughed, throwing the bag back at her. "Seira, for non-mana infused food, you actually need to prepare it and cook it a specific way, because the fire mana won't break it down for you. Also, have you ever seasoned your dishes?"

"Hey!" she puffed out her cheeks, "I use seasoning!"

"Like what?"

"Uhh… dayspore?"

He snorted, withdrawing a bit of salted meat from his cabinets. "Seira, that's an alchemical herb, and way too bitter to use in a soup."

"Alright, so maybe I'm not the best at cooking without mana. But more importantly, how did the harvests go after I left?"

He frowned. “It went relatively well. The Elders sent another supervisor in — I didn’t know them, but anything is better than Supervisor Ba."

"Finally! I swear, that woman makes me so angry!" Seira crossed her arms, sitting back down on his bed.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Did you follow through on your threat?"

She nodded, anxiously rubbing her Brave mark. "Yeah, I did. She’s always been a corrupt hag, but blatantly stealing spirit stones from a worker? That’s… agh. I only wish I could do more."