Raven woke up to Elimona brightening the lamps to the point of blackening the glass in which they were held. After seeing that her eyes had opened, the she-demon obligingly lowered the lights and began stoking the fire in the hearth on the other side of the room. To Raven's great surprise, the room was cool. Not chilly enough to be called 'cold', but cool enough. Raven got up from her bed, realizing with some embarrassment that she'd fallen asleep on top of the covers with two of the three books she'd recovered from the library spread out before her.

The trip to the library had been difficult. There was no organization to the books at all and she'd gotten distracted more than once by reading material she hadn't encountered anywhere before. The types of books that the monks had frowned upon were plenty here, and they enticed Raven using her curiosity alone. Nonetheless, she'd found three books on the subject of mirror-communication and had started studying last night. To her knowledge, she'd only been up for about three hours, which meant she'd gotten five-or-so hours of sleep and had completely missed out on communicating with her anger.

Raven stifled a yawn and stretched, nodding when Elimona explained that the bath had been prepared for her and that breakfast would be waiting when she came out. She was afraid of falling asleep and drowning while she was in the water, and went as far as swimming from side to side in the enormous 'tub' to stay awake. Her muscles were still sore, but in a slightly different way. It felt like power had gathered into her limbs during her short rest; her energy coiled like a spring. In an attempt to relieve some of the tension, she stretched a bit once she got out, the stone pleasantly warm under her skin. After an awkward incident where she nearly slipped back into the water, Raven decided it was better to do this later, when the risk of getting her hair annoyingly wet wasn't present.

Elimona had laid out clothing that she could wear during her spar with Malchior today on her bed. She could tell it was the kind from his kingdom again; thin ropes and leather thongs held slightly billowy parts of the clothing to her body to keep it out of the way. The pants were larger than she was accustomed to; she guessed they'd actually been made for a man, maybe even Malchior, but the various ties on them kept them fastened to her. After she dressed, she tentatively ate the eggs that had been left for her, then exited the room.

Adrian stood waiting for her and, with an enthusiastic greeting, led her to the room she and Malchior had been training in yesterday. There was no audience today, and as soon as they'd entered, Adrian left, making sure to wish her luck. Malchior got up off the chair he'd been in and walked over, taking in her appearance.

"You didn't sleep enough," he remarked mildly, "Not good."

Raven's brow furrowed. "You're impossible to understand." At his expression, she continued, "First, you agree to train me. Then you go on to insult me with every opportunity you get. Now, you're choosing to show concern." She crossed her arms and attempted to strengthen her use of empathy; current evidence proved he wouldn't be eager to tell her what was on his mind.

He scowled, likely sensing what she was doing, "My concern is for myself. You are a prominent factor in the whole mess. Every mistake you make affects my livelihood. And stop that!"

She released the energy, smirking a little at the irritation on his face, "Can you blame me for trying to figure you out?"

He seemed to deflate, "No. I suppose I can't. After all, my attempts at figuring you out haven't yielded any results." She added that to her list of things to be relieved about: she posed a mystery to Malchior. What kind of mystery, it was unclear. But there was something about her he didn't know, and it gave her a slight advantage. At least, she hoped. Seeming to decide the silence had stretched out long enough, Malchior continued, "We will resume our sparring today; remember to dodge if you can't attack."

Raven nodded and allowed her shadows to swallow her before his glowing fist met its mark.

[-M-]

What seemed like three hours in, Malchior called them to stop. To her immense satisfaction, she was unscathed, except for the spot on her ankle where he'd grabbed it to drag her back down into his range while she'd been flying. She'd attempted to kick him in the face when he'd done that, but only managed to pull herself free.

They both slouched slightly, the spark that the fight had ignited dying out. They were both sticky, breathing heavily, and a bit more tolerant of each other now that they'd had the chance to beat each other senseless. Neither one had succeeded, but the tension was almost nonexistent now.

Malchior concentrated, then looked at a pitcher of ice water and a glass near the far wall that hadn't been there before. After taking a drink, he offered some to Raven, who took it gratefully. Malchior spoke, "Your control over your power improved. Was it the meditation?"

She inwardly flinched at the knowledge he could still remember how her powers worked. "Yes. The changes from the miasma were observed by me and I altered my control to accommodate them."

He nodded, "The miasma will continue to increase your strength. It will probably increase steadily from now on, unlike before, but you should continue to meditate to keep it in check."

Raven blew a strand of hair out of her face, then gave the glass to Malchior when he reached for it. She watched him take another gulp. "Is there anything I can train to do magically? My shields can cover large distances; can I push the enemy back?"

He considered, "Yes, but they will undoubtedly have those with the same skills as you. It would end up a power struggle, and they would likely win," he handed the glass back to her, "Any competition between us and the enemy should be avoided. They are greater in number and likely greater in stamina. It is best to just attempt to eradicate as much of their force as possible."

Raven frowned, "Why not just aim for the center of it all? Can't we attack the leader directly?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Do you really think there won't be precautions taken against that? It's not just us who want him dead. There have likely been hundreds of assassination attempts in the kingdom already. Lord Bane is capable enough to quietly dispose of everyone who wanted him gone. The battle is likely the first time he's been 'out in the open' about anything."

"No," she shook her head, "What about during the battle?"

"Then he'll be sitting quietly on a beast of some sort at the back, behind hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers who have sworn to stop anything before it gets too close." Malchior shook his head, "The best we can do is what we're doing already. Now," he looked at her, seeming to discard all of his previous tired-ness, "You try to land a hit on me."

Raven jumped and levitated several feet backwards, black energy whirling around her hands in preparation for a beam.

Something about his resignation bothered her, though she couldn't put her finger on it.

...

…

A/N: I'm a BAD author! Waah! – But look! Look! They're being civil! AND sharing a glass! That's totally an indirect kiss right there, right?

Review, please!