“Sorry sis,” Clara hung her head, “I…yeah. Sorry.”

Petra looked like she was sucking a Warhead candy as she thumped the stirring spoon against her arm.

“You,” Petra said, turning to Jasson, “How long does it take to cook a meal from scratch!?”

“No idea,” Jasson said, “Hours probably.”

“Right,” Petra said, rolling her eyes, “Not in this reality you idiot. Forty-five minutes tops.”

Jasson raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t the most culinarily cunning, but even he knew that cooking should take longer than that. Especially on a wood fire.

“So,” Petra said, “Why is it that I’ve been waiting an additional thirty minutes for the lazy butts who didn’t even help me cook?”

“You didn’t want us-” Jasson said before Clara put him in an emergency headlock.

“So sorry sis,” Clara said, silencing Jasson, “Shall we start? I see that you’ve already set the table.”

Petra sighed, then said, “Yes, if that would be at all convenient for you.”

Clara let go and Jasson collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

“Hurry and wash up,” Clara said, walking toward the kitchen sink, “Come on!”

They gathered around the table, three of four sides occupied by person and plate. The food was an assortment of delicious if culinarily confusing dishes, including one that Jasson was ecstatic to find.

“It’s anime meat!” Jasson said, grabbing a bone sticking out of roughly ten pounds of meat, “Awes-OW!”

“It’s still hot idiot,” Petra said around a mouthful of meat, holding her own food casually, “the bone is cooked as much as the rest. Don’t you see the steam?”

Jasson looked at the others and said “How come you’re able to hold yours then?”

“Because we’re not a wuss,” Petra said, mouth steaming, “Just cut the meat off with your knife. It’ll cool faster that way.”

“Never!” Jasson said, grabbing the bone again as he tried to power through, “I will eat this like a man sh-OW!”

Clara swallowed and said, “You better heal him when he gets hurt.”

Petra sighed then said “Fine. Look, me and Clara are fire resistant. It takes more than this to damage us. Just take care of yourself, okay? I got plans for my mana tonight and I don’t want to waste it on an idiot.”

“Really?” Jasson said, dipping his burnt fingers in his water and ignoring her insult, “You’re a magic user?”

“I’m a Mage,” Petra smirked, “What? Are you surprised?”

“Kinda,” Jasson said, “You got all those bandages on your arms, and I can see some scars poking out. I thought you were a melee fighter.”

Petra laughed and unwound her bandages, showing off a network of unique but small scarring. There were fresher injuries as well, with some being scabbed over and a couple having stitches.

“Simply a byproduct of my craft,” Petra said, “Each one from a magical attempt or experiment gone wrong. Magic! There are a thousand ways it won’t work, and I’ve found quite a few of them. That’s why not just anyone can use it. Yes, you need mana, but the ability to develop your mind is critical to actually controlling it. As you can see, Healing magic is difficult to use on it so a mage must master magic or die.”

Before Jasson could say anything Clara put her foot on the table and pulled back a scandalous amount of dress, revealing sport shorts and a gnarly scar running down her thigh.

“Check mine out,” Clara said, “Guy with a giant ax got me here. Wasn’t able to heal it in time to prevent the scaring. Don’t have the money to get it buffed out, and I don’t really want to. It’s cool, right?”

Jasson stared at Clara and Petra put her face in her hands, then she turned to Jasson and said “Stop looking! You can see her knees!”

“A little late for that,” Jasson said, fascinated, “besides, that is a really impressive scar. How did it happen?”

“The guy cut through my sword!” Clara put her leg down and took a fighting stance, “Just like this.”

Clara proceeded to make descriptive motions and special effect sounds as Jasson watched.

“So,” Jasson said, “If Petra’s a Mage then…Clara are you a fighter? You said that you were using a sword.”

“Um,” Clara blushed and said, “It’s not ladylike of me but…yeah. And not some fencing blades, the real deal. I swing swords around that are almost as big and heavy as I am. Not that I'm heavy, I'm the right weight for my age. Um...are you surprised?”

Jasson could tell that she didn't want to get into it and decided to move on, saying “Yeah, I'm surprised. I thought you had to be smaller for that.”

Petra and Clara looked shocked at Jasson and he said “The smaller the girl the more likely she is to hit like a truck, right? I mean, classically they’d be big beer-chugging and sometimes oddly hairless men, but these days? It’s gotta be shocking to see, and nothing screams creativity like a tiny girl doing a big man’s job.”

Jasson was finally able to pick up his meat and dug into it, talking as he chewed “Don’t get me wrong, you’re no giant. But you’d barely be petite, and that’s what I expect. Four and a half feet tall, sword twice her size, that sort of thing. Ya know?”

“I don’t think you know a thing,” Clara said, crossing her arms, “I mean…What? Do you know how unusual I am?”

Dang it, Jasson thought, I annoyed Clara. What did I say?

“I agree sis,” Petra said, “I think that he’s an ignorant little twerp.”

Fire exploded in Jasson’s soul at this final insult, and the opportunity to learn was put aside. He needed to prove Petra wrong.

“Absolutely not,” Jasson said, “I know stuff about magic and fighting. I’m not stupid.”

“Oh?” Petra said, “I bet you can't name three elements of magic.”

“Yeah I can!” Jasson said, “Umm…”

It was at this point Jasson realized that, with due consideration, this wasn’t his best idea.

“You don’t know?” Petra said, mocking, “Do you need a hint? Maybe a refresher course? I'm sure I could teach you. If you begged for it.”

This was enough for Jasson to plunge blindly into the challenge.

“I know a lot of them!" Jasson said, memory clicking, “There’s healing magic.”

Petra snorted and said, “I should hope so. And?”

This wasn't the reaction Jasson had hoped for. Pride teetering on collapse, Jasson scrambled to think of another magic. From his past life came the first thing that came to mind when he thought of elements and magic.

“Umm,” Jasson took a guess, “Air?”

Petra stopped and looked a little surprised, then said “Okay. Not the one I expected.”

What did she expect? Jasson thought wildly, looking around the room. What else have I seen-

“Light!” Jasson said, pointing out the floating lights illuminating the room, “See, I knew three.”

“Fairs fair Petra,” Clara said, “He got you there.”

“Fine,” Petra said, “I underestimated you. Name five now.”

“True,” Clara turned to Jasson, offense forgotten, “Come on. I believe in you.”

“Umm,” Jasson thought through his answers, “I think…Air was one right?”

“Yeah,” Petra said, then seemed to realize her mistake, “Wait. Guess seven now.”

“What?” Clara turned to Petra, “Hey, that’s not fair. Jasson, just name five-”

“I’ll do it,” Jasson said, “Water, Earth, Fire, Air. Long ago- never mind. That’s six I’ve named.”

“I said guess seven,” Petra glared at Jasson, as if personally offended that he would get that many right, “the first six are easy.”

“Fine,” Jasson said, “But since you changed the rules mid-question, isn’t it fair that you reward me for getting the seventh?”

Petra glared, then sighed and said “I’ll teach you for five minutes. That’s all I’ll give you.”

“I’ll take it,” Jasson said, then made his final guess, “Where there is light there is darkness as well. Darkness magic?”

It technically wasn’t even something that existed, just the absence of light, but Jasson had never seen an anime that didn’t have it. After a few furious seconds, Petra’s shoulders sagged in defeat.

“Fine,” Petra said, “But only after dinner, okay? The food’s getting cold..”