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Max didn't notice Kylm's worry, nearly ripping her arm from the mage's hands as she looked fearfully at the woman. The brunette took deep breaths to calm herself as the icicle was slowly removed from her hand. She didn't dare whimper or whine for fear of scolding. Max watched the skin on her hand stitch itself together under Kylm's green magic. "I'm sorry..." The young girl whispered, close enough to be heard. "I didn't know how to get rid of some of the magic. I didn't mean to overdo it." At least they were alone so she hadn't hurt anyone but herself. Yet the girl had still messed up. That usually meant something bad would happen. Kylm, however, usually just made her practice more. Hopefully that trend would continue.
 
Kylm hardly registered Max's words, her focus entirely on the wound being healed. Once it had disappeared the wizard sighed and withdrew her hands. "I understand. Mistakes are made." She half-muttered her words and stood up. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. To cancel a spell you close your hands and gently lower your arms. You'll feel the flow drain out. If you feel like something is going to go wrong don't try it." The last sentence was made stern as Kylm rose and took a few steps back, making a gesture at the target.
 
Max smiled as her master told her how to cancel a spell. "Alright. Thank you, Kylm." She looked over her healed hand before going back to aiming at the target. Taking a deep breath, she started again. The magic trickled into her palms. She stood there for a long time, focusing on getting her magic flow right and cancelling out when she felt too much pool for fear of a repeat of the rebound. Finally, she was ready. "Duratus Ika Jeni!" With that four large icicles shot toward the target, two landing on the target and two near the target. She looked over at her master for any suggestions before getting ready to try the spell again.
 
As Max tried the spell again, Kylm stilled her heart and attempted to regain her thoughts. Alas, they were shattered and cluttered by her short panic attack. She couldn't even remember what she was thinking about. The wizard was cut from her thoughts again by her apprentice looking at her. She glanced at the target, then back at her. "You want a spray of small spikes. The flow of magic should be continually going into your hands. It's important you keep the flow controlled and not too powerful."
 
Max took the advice in stride, continuing her practice. The young girl took note how the wizard seemed a bit off. She'd have to ask her after she was done. The spell was harder to master than Max thought, but by the end of the second hour of practicing she was reliably using Duratus Ika Jeni. Panting a bit, Max wiped off her forehead before turning to Kylm. "Are you okay? You seem a bit lost in thought." The wizard was probably thinking about the journey ahead or something similar, but Max wanted to make sure. If there was something she could do to help then she would do it.
 
Kylm nodded at the progress. "Trying to regain my thoughts actually. Forgot what I was thinking about." She clapped her hands together and moved to dismantle the target. "You did well. Time to get on the road again." She thought about the town they would be staying at. Calmwater, a little fishing village set by a large lake. Nothing ever happened in Calmwater, or at least, that's what they say.
 
Max nodded, accepting the explanation. Getting Sugar ready, the young girl asked her master, "Where are we going? You mentioned warlocks when we first met so what are we going to do if we find some?" She had heard many a tale about masters losing their apprentices to the warlocks. Her friend's faces with their masters flashed across her mind. Were they...? No, they were okay. Her friends were better than that. They wouldn't get captured by some warlocks. They would fight first. The young girl bit her lip as she rubbed her steed's head. She gripped the reins. Everything was going to be fine.
 
"We'll be traveling for the rest of the day and spending the night at a village called Calmwater." Kylm looked up from untying Clipper at the next question. She was hoping Max wouldn't ask that yet, not wanting her to be worried for the whole trip. "If we find any warlocks we will use our invisibility potions to observe them and try to discover why they are kidnapping apprentices. If we are able to stop it we will try." The last sentence was colder then the others. Kylm suddenly heard herself add in: "However I will not go through with it if it puts you in any danger."
 
Max nodded. She hadn't heard much of Calmwater, well she hadn't heard much of any town really, so the new place sounded interesting and exciting to the young apprentice. Kylm explained their plan, how she would try to stop the warlocks. As the mage stated that she wouldn't risk it if Max was in danger, the young apprentice felt her heart start to warm. Maybe this master really was starting to truly care about her, not just as a prize or as a challenge. The thoughts made her giddy as she followed her master.

Almost nearing the town, a pair of horses seemed to get closer to them from in the distance. A master and an apprentice, it seemed. Max squinted to see who was on the horses before recognizing the smaller figure. "Rachel? Rachel!" She smiled, stopping her horse and getting off of the mare to run to her friend.

"Max?!" The black haired girl responded, mimicking her friend to meet her in the middle. The two girls smashed together in a hug, turning and laughing as they reunited. Rachel set her paler friend down, running a dark hand through her hair. "What are you doing here? Did the academy get rid of you? Did you run away?" Looking over her shoulder to see Kylm following Max, Rachel gasped. "No way."

"Yes way! I am now an official apprentice!" Rachel squealed and hugged her friend tighter. Rachel's master, a well known mage by the name of Rocksen, pulled his two horses to see what all the commotion was between the apprentices.
 
What was that she said? Did she really just say she would not stop the warlocks, whom are stealing apprentices, practicing the dark and dangerous arts, and causing havoc?! All for a child with a very high chance of killing herself with her own magic?!?! The thoughts and questions plagued her throughout the ride to Calmwater, so she did not speak until her apprentice's sudden cry.

Kylm watched as who mirror images met. She smiled at their happiness reunited, then attention turned to her. She tipped her hat to the one named Rachel. The wizard hopped off Clipper and led him with Sugar to where the two apprentices were meeting.

"Master Rocksen. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kylm bowed to the fellow mage while swiping the ground with her hat, a formal wizard greeting. She was unaware that her movement had briefly exposed her dead eye to Rachel and carried on with introductions. "I am Kylm Arcania Desoto and this is my apprentice Maxine, whom appears to have already met yours."
 
Rocksen nodded back to Kylm. "The pleasure is all mine. Though, I am quite surprised to see that you have an apprentice. I thought the council had banned you from ever taking one on." He folded his arms across his chest, waiting for some kind of explanation.

"What? Why is Max with her then?" Rachel quickly took on a protective aura, pushing Max behind her. She had taken notice of the eye, making Kylm all the more suspicious in her book. "She hasn't hurt you, has she?" The young girl turned to her friend, sounding much too serious,

Max huffed behind her friend. "You're being ridiculous. Kylm's ban was lifted. She's nice!" Rachel kept Max behind her as Rocksen waited for further explanation.
 
Kylm studied the wizard and his apprentice's reactions plainly. He suspected as much, and was glad that Raven so quickly protected her friend. "With the resent kidnappings and plenty of good behavior my ban has been lifted. I personally chose Max from a rather long list of possible apprentices. My tutoring of her is purely legal." She replied surely, running her fingers across the rim of her hat. "So what brings you two this way?"
 
Rachel huffed as Rocksen nodded. Max quickly moved out of her friend's protective aura, standing next to Kylm. The man waited for his apprentice to calm before answering Kylm's inquiry. "I've been trying to keep Rachel as far away from the warlocks as I can while furthering her studies. I thought these plains would be a good place for her to study as we've moved onto earth magic. "

The black haired girl looked Kylm up and down before walking straight up to the mage. Rocksen tried to pull the young apprentice back, but she just shrugged off his attempt. "How've you been teaching Max? Are you telling the truth that you chose her?" Max looked completely mortified that her friend was asking her master such questions, but also felt extremely touched that she cared so much for her. "Max, what have you learned? Has she been actually teaching you?" Rachel never took her eyes off of Kylm as she asked this.

Max jumped at the chance to defend her master. "I've learned loads! Kylm taught me three different ice spells and even helped me learn how to better control my magic! She even healed my hand when I messed it up and taught me how to disperse spells!" The girl exclaimed, pointing out every pro to her master she could.
 
At Rocksen's words Kylm chuckled. "Funny that we're actually-" Then Raven broke in, demanding to know if what Kylm had said was true. "I-" Now it was Max. Very quick to defend her master, touching.

The wizard waited until everyone was done talking and cleared her thought. Kylm looked Rachel in the eye and spoke in a calm and collected tone. "We've been at it for a single day and most of today. Your friend is a very quick learner. As I was going to say I have been assigned with the task of gathering knowledge on the warlocks. I was shown a list of grade A students, prodigies, perfects and immediately demanded a actual list of all the Academy's students."

"I, knowing full well that there would be moral danger involved, chose Max. And I knew she would stumble and fall along the way, that's why I chose her. That is the truth the full truth and nothing but the truth, I'll place my hat on it." Kylm finished with a phrase among magi that meant she bet her whole magical career.
 
Rachel listened carefully to Max and Kylm before nodding at the mage's placing her hat on it. "Alright. You take good care of her, alright?" Max sighed and shook her head, gently pushing her friends shoulder. Rachel pushed back, the two giggling and moving a bit away from the masters to talk and play around, acting a bit like school children as they caught up with each other.

Rocksen watched with a small smile as he noted how excited his apprentice seemed to interact with her old friend. "So strange, seeing kids like that." He sighed before turning more serious. "So I'm assuming you're pursuing the warlocks. It's quite the risk you're taking. Have you any news on where they've been? I would help go after them, but I have a charge to take care of." He glanced over at Max and Rachel. "I'm not going to risk her."
 
Kylm placed one hand on her heart and raised the other. "You have my word miss." Then she watched as Max and her friend reminisced, a smile playing across her face. "Makes you feel a bit nostalgic or is it just me?" The wizard smiled to Rocksen before he went back to his serious self, raising the question in Kylm's mind, how could anyone be that serious that often?

"We're headed to what remains of Castle Blackwood. As you know it was the base of the warlocks before they were driven out a few years ago, but the kidnappings started while they were there so I'm hoping to find something on what they are planning to do with the apprentices, possibly where they are hiding currently." Kylm then looked at Rocksen with a touch of nervousness in her face and tone. "H-hey, you don't believe those rumors do you? Of the castle being, you know, haunted?"
 
Rocksen made a small noise of agreement as Kylm noted how nostalgic seeing the young ones play made him feel. However, he couldn't help but roll his eyes at Kylm's worries. "Ghosts haven't been around since we were younger, Kylm. I very much doubt that the Castle is haunted. However, I have to ask you..." The man looked over at the two young apprentices. "Are you sure you're ready for an apprentice, Kylm? She's not just some pet you to can drag around on adventures with you. She's a human being, a child. With your current mission, it's a very real possibility that the warlocks will want to take her. With who you are, that risk is tripled." The serious man turned back to Kylm to observe his fellow master. Was she truly ready help such a young girl become a proper mage?

Off away from the adults, Rachel and Max were catching up, Rachel showing off a bit of what she learned. "Can you show me anything you learned?" Rachel asked, excitement glinting in her eyes.

"I wouldn't want to try. I don't have a target, so I might hurt somebody." Rachel drooped her head. Max rushed to remedy this. "I can show you next time we meet up though! I'll probably have learned something a lot less dangerous by then!"

The dark haired girl smiled at Max before frowning. "Does Kylm know-?"

"No." Max cut her friend off, becoming a bit closed up. "She asked."

"And you didn't answer?" Rachel asked. She rose an eyebrow, crossing her arms across her chest.

"No, I answered." Max crossed her arms, turning her head away from her friend.

"So you lied." Rachel sighed. "Max-"

"She'll never need to know! It was just a little white lie, and as long as we don't pass through there then everything will be fine!" Rachel shut up at Max's rushed words. Taking a moment to look her friend up and down, Rachel sighed before pushing her friend's shoulder and starting to play again.
 
Kylm nodded her head nervously. The list of the woman's fears was short, but the spirits of the dead was on it. She tilted her hat down slightly to shade her eye at Rocksen's question. She spoke quitely so the apprentices wouldn't hear her speak. "You think that's not what the Order is expecting? Come on, I get allowed a apprentice at the same time I'm given the mission of investigating the warlocks. I'm pretty sure they've got a curse of location on her. They want her to get captured so they can find out where those bastards are hiding and what their up to. It's doubtful they actually trust me."

Kylm sighed and pushed her hat back up, looking her fellow wizard straight in the eyes. "Rocksen, I'm not sure I'm ready either. But the thing is... I need her. Much more then she needs me. It's lonely in that cluttered house of mine, my only sanctum is the people of the small nameless village I reside in. I feel it unhealthy to live alone for so long a time, with nothing to care about, with nothing to really, truly feel responsible for. I'm still learning Rocksen, but for her sake and my sanity, I best learn fast."
 
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