Chapter 79 - 80
Closing his eyes, he focused intently so as not to repeat the same mistakes that he had made so many times in his attempts at lighting candles, and then carefully cupped one of the potatoes in his hands. Mindful to use the smallest amount of energy possible, he willed a light layer of flames to cover his hands, which were completely unaffected by the spontaneous heat source. It wasn’t that his flesh was immune to being burnt, but that he was focusing intently on the last remnants of his swordsman’s aura to protect his skin, which would come to harm in the event that his focus was broken. Still, he’d done this hundreds of times in the year that he had been practicing under Mr. Albeck, and he now had a considerable amount of control over the basic fire magics.
The potatoes cooked quite poorly in the end, edible on the inside but completely charred on the outside. This didn’t matter to him, however, as he was so hungry by now that his stomach was constantly grumbling in complaint of its neglect. Taking up the little twig again, a thought crossed his mind and he tossed it aside, instead relying on his index finger as a medium for the tiny amount of swordsman’s aura that he carefully formed at its tip. Like this, he cut both potatoes cleanly in half, his mouth watering as the resultant clouds of steam directed a starchy smell up his nostrils.
He ate the simple meal with a fervour that he hadn’t shown since his days in Crystellum, back when he had been forced to eat that same, tasteless porridge day in and day out. He left the training grounds as soon as he finished his meal, aware that even the older kids were watching him as he made his way across the practice grounds. Just before the shaded courtyard disappeared from sight, he saw Mr. Ashel walk over to the benches where he’d been sitting, the man stooping down to pick something up. It was the twig that Alistar had used to poke holes in his potatoes.
***
Alistar stood outside of Mr. Herst’s little cabin that was located near the base of the Hanging Hill, which he had just rounded at a desperate sprint. It had taken him over four hours to cut the remainder of the log away, mostly because he had been experimenting with different arrangements of energy in an effort to improve the method that he had first come up with. He hadn’t made much progress in the end, but had still managed to sever the log in question, at which point he had rushed away from the collegia and sprinted all the way to the Hanging Hill despite the exhaustion that had come with using up so much of his swordsman’s aura.
Running through Mayhaven had reminded him of Kaila, of how they had spent countless days playing tag within the upper levels of Crystellum, of their younger days when they had been ignorant of the realities around them and had truly enjoyed their time playing together. The days when their families were still intact.
"Good lad," smiled Mr. Herst, who had just opened the door despite the fact that Alistar hadn’t knocked. "Why the long face?"
"S—sorry that I was l—late."
"No need to worry, now. Just catch your breath and then come on inside. I’ve got some stew on the fire and it’s nearly finished."