I didn't expect them to come back.
After that strange, sudden meeting under the tree, I half-thought it had been a one-time thing, a momentary kindness from two strangers passing through. But the next morning, I found Kael waiting at the edge of our fields, arms crossed, that cocky grin on his face. And behind him, quieter but no less present, was Rina, her eyes scanning the horizon like she didn't trust the sun to rise on time.
That's how it began. Every day since, they came back.
It started with simple walks, talking about nothing and everything. Kael would crack dumb jokes, mostly about food or whatever poor soul had tried to spar with him last week. Rina, on the other hand, seemed to study everything — from the way birds flew to the way my hands fidgeted when I was unsure of myself. She didn't speak much, but when she did, it stuck in your ribs.
I'd never had friends before. Not like this. Not ones who didn't treat me like a ticking bomb or a fragile thing to be protected.
A few days in, Kael challenged us to a duel. Not a real one, more like a show-off session.
"We've been talking so much," he said, bouncing a flame between his fingers like it was nothing. "Let's see what we can actually do."
I didn't want to embarrass myself. I still couldn't touch Ice magic, and even Light only responded to me sometimes. But pride got the better of me. I agreed.
Kael went first. He stepped onto the field with the confidence of someone who knew he'd already won. Flames wrapped around his arms, bursting in wild arcs before twisting into coils of black lightning that cracked the air with a hum. Then, without warning, he vanished — only to reappear behind us with a stumble. "Spatial jump," he grinned. "Still working out the nausea."
Next, Rina. She stepped forward without a word, lifting her hand. Water gathered into a sphere, shimmering like glass, then froze into jagged ice. A second later, it pulsed and turned into crystal, refracting the sun in fractured color. Her expression never changed, but something in her magic did, controlled, elegant, purposeful.
Then it was my turn.
Wind came easiest. It always had. I called it out and let it slice through the air like a whip, trimming a nearby branch clean. Then I reached for Light. It responded slower today, like it was testing me. But when it came, it spread like a shield, glowing warm and gold, making the dust shimmer as it caught the edges.
I reached for Ice… and nothing.
I lowered my hand. "That's all."
Kael clapped anyway. "That wind spell was clean. You could take a guy's ear off with that."
"Or a head," Rina added softly.
Their praise surprised me more than it should've. I wasn't used to being seen.
As the sun began to fall, we collapsed back under the same tree a ritual forming quietly between us.
Lying there, our magic spent and our breath slowing, Kael spoke again.
"You and I should become Royal guards when were older."