Dawn carried Niphru through town, both of them notig the wary gazes directed to the man beside them. As they reached the gate, the guards ope up, revealing the other twelve members of the Church of flict waiting outside. They looked both amused and annoyed seeing Dawn there. As they approached, the warriors o the man beside them.

  “Okay, now that we are all together, my men would like to see proof that you will be useful in the oning flibsp; If you ot provide suffit proof, they will ignore my orders and resume hunting you. Dawn, could you please put him down so he give an example?” the man said.

  Dawn looked flicted, but set Niphru down beside her. He looked over and nudged her with his head before walking forwards towards the men. As he approached, he flipped his foxfire back to illusion and spoke, “First off, does anyone have any minor wounds or is willing to cut themselves slightly? I do minor healing, but it is easy to cim that without proving it.”

  One of the men stepped frabbing his axe and lightly sshed his arm across the bde. He then spoke up, “You had best not be lying, fox.” Arm cut, he shifted his grip on his axe.

  Niphru replied, “Of course not. Now this will look bad, I heal with my fire. To prove it is harmless unless I choose…” and then flipped his illusion bato foxfire, throwing it at Dawn’s head.

  Daell aware from past experie wouldn’t burn, and simply stood there with her eyes closed for a moment before stepping away unharmed. The man snorted and held out his arm, maintaining his grip on the axe. Niphru him ahe foxfire over his arm. The man jerked back as the fire approached before holding steady again, rexing a moment after the fire reached his arm.

  After a moment he pulled his arm bad rubbed it, revealing undamaged skihe blood had been. He then Niphru, returning his axe to his side and moving back to the others.

  “Well, that was something I was unaware of, and quite useful. Do you have any other tricks you didn’t show before?” the leader remarked.

  Niphru flicked his foxfire back to illusion to reply, “Yes, I just figured out basic magic today before you came to get me.”

  He theurned his foxfire and shot a light bst of air towards the men, then fire towards the ground to the side. As the grass ignited, he moved his fme over it, extinguishing it. He then spoke through illusion again, “And as you see, I put out fires with my own, as odd as it seems.”

  Following this, he spun his foxfire back out into a ribbon, pulling it through intricate patterns in the air. Done showing off its agility, he darted it around at the highest speed he could, leaving a trailing blur around himself. He then dragged it through the grass, igniting a wide swath of it nearly instantly.

  Niphru put out the fire before using the illusion to speak once again, “As you see, I burn things at will with a great deal of speed and trol. I was able to kill quite a few of the ants when I discovered them, and they fall quite quickly if struck properly with the fme.”

  He then tinued, “Though I don’t believe it will be useful, I also use the illusion I’m speaking through to hide things, or produce things that are not there.”

  Following his speech, he then ed himself in an illusion and vanished from sight, only to return a moment ter as a giant bear, then a copy of Dawn before returning the illusion to foxfire.

  “Now, does ahink he won’t be able to provide aid during the battle?” the leader questioned his men.

  The men thought for a moment before most of them shook their heads, one however stepped forward and spoke, “I don’t believe a mere beast is trustworthy, but if it sticks around and does actually help, I won’t argue. If it runs, though, we should cut it down.”

  Niphru spoke up to the man, “I ’t leave my friend Dawn here when she would be in danger! I came back even knowing you people were here and I expected to have to run after giving my warning. I’m not running unless it is the only option, and Dawn has to be safe first!”

  The man chuckled before responding, “You certainly have guts to speak up like that. We will have to see how things go for the rest of it.”

  The mauro the others as the leader nodded and spoke up, “I see that we are in agreement then. Until after the battle, Niphru will be sidered a fellow warrior, though he will not be staying with us. Should he attempt to flee, he will be deemed a traitor as well as a beast.”

  Niphru the man, theurned back to Dawn, notig she was g. She promptly picked him up and hugged him again, burying her fa his fur, worry and relief flooding their link.

  After a few moments, Dawurned back to the vilge, the guards opening the gate for her. Behihe warriors headed out into the forest.

  As they arrived back at home, Niphru heard several voices ihe door opening to reveal Amilya, Harold, Diara, Monti, and a few others he did nnize. When they ehe versation died down, Amilya turning to speak to them, “Wele back, Dawn, Niphru, I hope you don’t mind the arra with Devon, but it was the best way to keep you safe, and we were both fident in your abilities.”

  “I am okay with it, though I still don’t trust them,” Niphru replied, Dawn nodding as he spoke.

  Amilya nodded before speaking again, “You trust them, they are the good sort pared to the rest of the Church of flibsp; Just don’t try to run and you will be fine. Dawn, have you mao figure out fire magic yet?”

  “Yes, Mom, I haven’t practiced it much, though, since I don’t want to burn anything down,” she replied.

  “Great! Feel free to practice with Niphru, fire is going to be our best ohe Bck Tide arrives. I don’t want you to be in danger, but at the same time you will be more capable than most. Now you should get going while we discuss what we do to prepare,” Amilya excimed.

  Niphru spoke up before anyone could get going, “I would like to speak with Monti for a while, I want to learn how to heal with magic rather than just my fme, if I .”

  Monti shrugged, turning from the group and walked towards them as he spoke, “Well, I already know the pn for myself, so I spare some time. Lets go to my home, Dawn, you too, we don’t want to bother the others.”

  They headed out the door, Niphru hearing the versation resume as the door closed behind them. After a few moments, they arrived at Monti’s house aered. There were no injured present at the moment, and Monti sat down before expining a bit about how healing magic worked. After about an hour of expnation, he grabbed a knife and cut his arm slightly, asking Niphru to heal it.

  Try as he might, he couldn’t figure it out, res to using his fme in the end. Dawn sat and watched, ied in the proceedings. After several more tries, Niphru decided to give up on it, before Monti reached over and sliced his side with the knife. In shock, he jumped backwards, swinging his fme towards Monti, only to stop as Monti stayed where he was and began speaking.

  “Now if you ’t heal others, how about yourself? That is typically the way most healers begin, after all,” he said.

  Dawn was g and jumped frabbing Niphru. He felt an odd flow of mana rush through himself and found he wasn’t bleeding anymore.

  “Well, that wasn’t what I intended, but I suppose I should gratute you, Dawn. You are now able to heal basijuries as well. But how to manage for Niphru… Ah, right,” he excimed, before he threw the k Dawn, slig across her leg.

  Niphru yelped and hurled a bst of air at the man, knog him from his feet, then struggled with his mana, pushing it towards Dawn with the i of healing even as he moved his fme towards her. With a sudden snap, things seemed to shift, ached her wound close before the fme could reach it.

  “That was cruel!” he excimed, running over to Monti and biting his hand as hard as he could, feeling the bone crack before he let go and ran back to Dawn. He jumped up onto her chest where she had fallen and nuzzled her face.

  Monti simply sat back up, holding his hand for a moment before speaking, “I suppose I did deserve that, but two more healers is worth it. gratutions, both of you. I hope you don’t need what you just learned. And I am sorry for how I acted, but in light of the current situation, I have to do what is best for the vilge even if it pains me.”

  Niphru stared at the man for a moment before finally giving in and replying, “Fine, I five you, but I am not happy with you!”

  Dawn finally got over what had just happened, gring at the man befrabbing Niphru and running out the door, heading towards the western gate.