“Ah, shoot!” Lani sulked as she watched the white spotted deer escape from the Slaad’s grasp, “He was so close too.” 

She flopped to the forest floor in frustration as grass and twigs crunched under her body. Crouching down, Percy tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. 

“You’ve done a great job showing off all the cool things you can do now, but I think it’s time we actually catch some things.” 

Lani shot up, a determined look in her eye, “What? No, I can totally do this! I just don’t have my usual partner with me, the synergy is just off.”

“What?” Percy gasped in feigned hurt, “The synergy is off? Lani…” Percy groaned as he dramatically draped himself on top of her, fits of giggles being suppressed under his weight. 

“Are you saying you’ve outgrown poor Percy? You abandon little Percy for greener pastures?” he cried in a baby voice, “Lani doesn’t think we have combat synergy anymore!”

“Noooo, you’re great, Percy,” she giggled, “But you know how it is when you travel with someone for a while though. I’ve practically got all of Celena’s moves and strategies memorized by heart.” A sly smile cracked onto his face.

“Oh yeah? You two just travel around like partners in crime, huh?” Percy rested his cheek knowingly against his hand as he watched Lani squirm in her spot.

“Something like that…” a slight blush crawled onto Lani’s face.

“Closer than friends, thicker than thieves, ” Percy shifted his weight as he cheekily loomed over her, “fated to be lovers.”

 Lani squeaked and looked away, the blush rising to her ears. Percy chuckled and ruffled her hair.

“I’m only teasing. Sorta,” Percy’s voice softened, “You’re a real intuitive kid, you have to have noticed.” As her fingers twisted in her own cloak nervously, she turned her head back with her eyes glued to Percy’s shoes. Lani looked conflicted, her mouth open yet noiseless.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Percy gently cooed. Lani shook her head.

“I’m just afraid,” She almost whispered to herself, “Things are good right now. I don’t know what would happen if we took things in a new direction.” 

“I mean,” Lani’s eyes flicked up and pierced into Percy’s, “What if I ruin everything? What if she figures out I’m not what she wanted?” Percy’s lips stretched into a thin line. He was very familiar with this situation. He went through it and lived to tell the heartbreaking tale.

“It’s ultimately between you and her. But from what it looks like, Celena would be willing to wait another millenia just for you,” Percy smiled before hoisting himself up to a standing position.  

“Don’t waste your time wondering whether the arrow is gonna hit the target or not,” he stretched a hand down to her, “just let it fly and hope for the best. You’ll be strong enough to figure out the collateral from there.”

Lani stared at his hand a little dumbstruck before she grinned and took it. With a sharp grunt, Percy tugged Lani back up. As soon as she was rebalanced on her feet, she lunged at Percy and wrapped her arms around him.

“Thanks, Percy,” She pulled back and squeezed his hand. Percy cocked his head to the side with a smile.

“Anyt–AHH!” A short burst of lightning shot at his feet, a black spot sizzled just inches away from his boots. Grey smoke drifted lazily from Celena’s pointer finger as she marched to the two of them, Rein being dragged by her other hand. 

“What the hell? Didn’t they teach you about magic safety?” Percy whined as he checked his clothes for any singe marks. Lani tilted her head quizzically as Celena and Rein came to a halt. 

“He’s useless,” Celena simply signed. 

“Excuse me?” Rein asked incredulously, “I didn’t spend years studying this world’s natural and magic phenomena for nothing.” Celena rolled her eyes at him and gestured snappily back.

“That’s the problem,” she turned to Lani and Percy and continued, “He’s only got textbook knowledge. It’s gonna be the anniversary of the marriage if I continue at his rate.”

Percy bit back a smile as Rein opened his mouth totally flabbergasted.

“Well, I’m sorry for not going at your preferred pace,” he grumbled. Ignoring him, Celena took Lani’s arm and pulled her close.

“I’ll be faster with Lani,” Celena signed, “You do your thing, we’ll do ours.”

“But I'm so close–” Lani began before she was cut off by Celena jerking her away. Percy chuckled as he watched Lani fumble against Celena’s grip, but never complained.

“Sorry,” Rein’s voice cut through Percy’s thoughts. Ah, right.

“Hey, no need to apologize. You know how Celena is,” Percy shrugged.

“Just so you know, I won’t slow you down,” Rein scowled in Celena’s direction and Percy let out a short laugh. 

“I know you won’t, I’ve seen you in action,” Percy walked forward towards the spot where Lani’s Slaad stood, “So, judging from the deer’s speed and the typical migration path of–”

“Northeast,” Percy turned to see a gentle purple light swirl around Rein, his right eye glowing a faint lavender, “612 paces, it’s feeding on some berries.” Percy grinned as he slipped his bow off of his shoulder. As the magic faded from Rein’s body, he began to walk towards the direction he divined.

“Seems like you’ve picked up some neat tricks too,” Percy said as he fell into step with Rein. Rein smiled a bit but kept his eyes forward.

“I didn’t earn my title for nothing.”

“I can’t imagine what the process was even like,” Percy paused before looking at Rein, “What was it like?”

“Hm, nothing that special. Not sure what image you have in your head, but it’s a lot of examinations and essays. School work but worse,” Rein hummed. 

“So be honest with me,” Percy stopped in his tracks. Rein’s own steps faltered when he realized Percy paused. He turned, seeing an uncharacteristic nervousness in Percy. Percy’s eyes darted off to the side before he spoke.

“Did you use your divination skills to cheat on those exams?” Rein’s face fell as he watched an impish smile grow on Percy’s face.

“You’re so weird,” Rein rolled his eyes and turned on his heel.

“No, I’m actually curious!” Percy scrambled to catch up to Rein’s pace, “If I had skills like that, I’d totally use it to my advantage.” Rein simply raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t think I’m capable of reaching my rank without cheating?” His voice was cold. 

“Oh, I don’t doubt your capability at all, don’t get me wrong,” Percy raised his hands in defense, “But in the time span it took you? You would’ve had to spend every waking hour in those books, maybe more. I’ll be equally scared as impressed if you didn’t use divination to help yourself at all.”

The two fell into an awkward silence. A sinking feeling started to manifest in Percy’s gut. He opened his mouth to apologize when Rein uttered a single word.

“Once.”

“...huh?” 

“I used divination once in my High Wizard examinations.” An astonished look manifested on Percy’s face as Rein’s words started to sink in.

“Wait, really? No, no, I gotta know the details. Wait, you cheated though, if anyone else knows about this you could be stripped of your rank. But I really wanna know, ah! What happened, tell me, tell me! Wait, no don’t, I don’t want to be the ass who got you kicked out from wizarding. Is it called wizarding? No, there’s a specific term for you guys. What was it called?” Rein watched Percy’s rapid fire chattering with a soft smile, “Do you guys just call it the Academy? Is there a guild for this? Or like–”

“Do you wanna hear the story or not?” Rein stopped as he tapped his staff on the ground. Percy’s mouth shut with a pop as he nodded. Satisfied, Rein continued their pace forward.

“You’re right. Most wizards take at least 10 years to be able to qualify for the exams. I was able to cut that time in half,” Percy whistled in response before Rein continued, “but at the cost of my time and health”

“Well, you look pretty good for someone who crammed ten years into five,” Percy winked. Rein rolled his eyes, and Percy had to ignore the warm feeling of embarrassment on his cheeks. 

“Anyways, by the time I was into the third exam, I was absolutely shot. But I wasn’t going to just quit. I knew the material, hell the proctors knew I knew the material. If I divined the answers for one exam, who cares!” Rein sighed and ran a hand through his hand, “Sorry thinking about that time gets me a little riled up.” Percy chuckled lightly.

“All good. So, you did your thing and walked into the exam. What happened then?” Percy watched as Rein’s hand slid down his own neck, rubbing over sore spots. He blushed and admonished himself for staring.

“Well, I finished it, walked out, and took the biggest nap of my life,” Rein chuckled lowly and sighed as his head flopped back, “Then I woke up to the entire senior faculty banging on my door.” Percy gasped.

“No way!” 

“Oh yeah,” Rein laughed incredulously, “I thought for sure I was going to the wringer. Fun fact, every magic school has an unsolvable scenario. Whether it’s due to lack of current knowledge, resources, or theoretically impossible, each one’s got at least one.”

“Ok, so?” Percy’s voice lilted. Rein tilted his head down and gave Percy a bastardous look.

“I solved them.” 

“What?” Percy’s brain short circuited, “What do you mean you solved them?” Rein shrugged.

“Whether it’s to troll candidates or test the limits of their knowledge, the board decides to present the scenarios in the form of an exam. Most leave it blank or others fail to solve one, maybe two if they believe in themselves enough,” Rein shook his head.

 “But I was so exhausted that I divined for answers the night before. I looked as deep as I could, memorized what I saw, then I did the deed. I didn’t even know or care what was being asked as long as I had the answer. You know what I opened my door to?” Percy had to take in a breath when he realized he hadn’t breathed in a while.

“What?”

A shameless grin cracked on Rein’s face.

“My certificate for my High Wizard status.” 

“Really!? Right then and there?” Percy laughed in disbelief. Rein nodded and began laughing too.

“Turns out I accidentally developed a new divination technique along the way, too. The whole place was in shock,” Rein shook his head as if he still couldn’t believe it. 

“That’s like the craziest thing I’ve ever heard, but honestly it’s a little less crazy knowing you achieved it,” Percy smiled, “You never fail to amaze me.” Rein coughed and looked away, the tips of his ears a slight pink.

“Thanks. It means a lot,” he quietly murmured before turning back to face Percy. 

“Yeah well, I certainly didn’t do anything like that. I think I spent that amount of time just exploring the country. Not much time to sight see when you’re trying to stop an apocalypse,” Percy chuckled to himself, “I’m wondering though, why did you decide to cram all that studying in one go? You probably would’ve gotten to the same position even if you decided to take all ten years.” 

A few paces forward, and Percy found himself alone. 

“Rein?” he pivoted on his heel to find Rein gripping his staff and spacing out. Percy took a stride towards Rein, cloak flipping behind him.

“Rein?” He waved a hand in his face, and Rein gasped. 

“S-sorry. Sorry, I–” Rein clutched at his mouth, shutting himself up. 

“You ok?” Percy hovered a hand over Rein’s shoulder, body heat radiating ever so slightly on his palm. 

“Yeah, I just…I’m–” A loud snap drew their attention. Standing several yards away from them was the target. Percy grinned as he slid an arrow from his quiver.

“Alright, here we go,” he notched an arrow into place and slipped behind a tree. Rein followed suit, swinging his staff behind his back. 

“I can trap it in some–” Rein was immediately shushed by Percy. 

“No,” He drew the arrow back, the friction of the arrow on the bow gracefully sliding back, “We don’t want it to feel scared or confused. This will be a quick ending.” A light breath escaped from Percy’s lips as he released.

In the blink of an eye, the bow string shook back and forth from the tension as the arrow planted itself firmly through the head of the deer. It unceremoniously keeled over and came to the ground with a solid thud. 

“Welp,” Percy slapped his thigh and stood up, “That was sadly easy. You wanna carry this thing or should I?” Rein grimaced and approached the deer as he scrawled a note in his hand.

“How about neither?” He tacked the note onto the creature and took a step back. With a few muttered words and a tap of his staff, the deer was enveloped in a yellow-white light and dissolved into the air. Percy opened his mouth to make a comment but quickly closed it and nodded.

“Ok, cool.” is all he said.

“Teleportation spell. I sent it to Poppy’s place with a note. Should make it easier to gather the next venison,” Rein casually leaned on his staff.

“Alright, good to know,” Percy nodded, “how many of these do we need to hunt down?”

“Poppy asked for enough to feed the whole town.” Percy sucked in a sharp breath at that. 

“What?” Rein furrowed his brows.

“First of all, the deer around here are real small, it’s gonna take a lot of deer to feed the whole town,” Percy slung the bow over his shoulder.

“Ok, and second?” Rein gave him a quizzical look. Percy chuckled nervously and scratched his head.

“Second, is more of a question than a statement,” he pursed his lips, “Is that teleportation spell people safe?” 

“People safe?” Rein’s brows scrunched together in confusion, “Yes, it’s safe for people to use, why?” 

“Ever had Bison?” A devilish grin broke on Percy’s face as Rein scowled.

“Maybe once or twice. I don’t know, but they’re not indigenous to this region, they appear in–” Rein paused before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose, “We are not going to teleport to the Central Plains of Derma to hunt Bison.” Percy groaned and shot his hands up to the sky.

“But think about it! Bigger meat, less to hunt, less time spent out here! Besides,” Percy raised his eyebrows expectantly, “You don’t wanna watch me shoot arrows at deer all day do you?”

“I’m here to help you hunt, not watch you do it,” Rein scoffed.

“C’mon, you saw how easy that was! Bison are way more tricky, and I’m sure you’re itching to try some new spells or whatever. Rein, it would be so much fun and MUCH more productive,” Percy slapped his hands together in a prayer position and smiled warily, “Please?”

Rein stared right at Percy, expression totally unreadable. A pause. A moment. A minute.

With a sigh, Rein turned and muttered, “Fine.” Percy did a double take before rushing up to face Rein.

“Sorry, what was that?” Percy said with the biggest shit eating grin on his face. Rein scoffed but smiled.

“You heard me.” Percy cheered and punched the air.

“Yes! Alright, Central Plains here we come! How do we do this?” Percy looked expectantly at Rein. A rush of red dusted Rein’s cheeks as he shifted. Percy’s eyes flicked down to see the outstretched hand being offered to him.

Percy squashed all of the mental screaming and heart palpitations he was experiencing.

“Neat,” he grabbed Rein’s hand a little too aggressively and grinned, “Let’s go hunt some Bison!” And the two vanished from the Quility woods with a brief but bright light show.