Author's Note: And here's the reason I wish Corentin and Geela got side stories: if you put them near each other in Chapter 3, Corentin at least seems to know who Geela is. Also, there's a very tiny bit of ship bait if you squint hard enough.

Chapter Two: Explanations

Over the next few weeks, Corentin and Geela met up several times for practice. They reviewed notes and spells and other information; Geela was unsurprised that Corentin took to healing magic quickly. And, in return, he'd taught her some ice magic, too. It was…very different from Frederica's fire spells, but somehow just as interesting.

"Now, let me see what you've done so far," Geela said, holding out her arm and pulling back her sleeve. "I don't think this will take you too long to heal."

She'd gotten a small scrape on her arm earlier. It was nothing serious—she'd just tripped while trying to carry too many supplies—which was why she hadn't bothered to heal it herself. Corentin nodded, held his hand over the injury, and squinted in concentration as his fingertips emitted a small pulse of light.

The energy surrounded the cut on her arm, and Geela felt it stitch together soon enough. Once the light faded, she pulled her arm back and carefully examined it. Her skin had healed quite cleanly; there wasn't even a faint line to indicate where the scrape had been.

"Very nice," she commented appraisingly. "You're a quick study, Corentin."

"As are you," he replied. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to produce such a large ice spell the last time we practiced together."

"Perhaps you wouldn't be if you'd seen how much I had to study to keep up with Lady Frederica." Geela snorted. "It wasn't long before she was exceeding me, honestly."

"Maybe not, then; clearly your teaching skills aren't lacking, in any case."

Corentin paused, studying her for a moment. While curious, Geela remained silent. She recognized the look of concentration on his face—chin held in his hand, eyebrows slightly furrowed—that meant he was deep in thought. Best not to interrupt him in that case, and Corentin spoke up again soon.

"May I ask you something, Geela?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You just did, but you may ask me another question."

"Fair enough." Corentin chuckled. "Well…I meant to say, why did you act as if we hadn't met when Lord Serenoa visited Hyzante? I know we spoke several times before you left the ministry."

Geela sighed. She figured this would come up eventually. While her story wasn't quite as dramatic as Corentin's was, she was also sure he'd understand why she simply didn't like to dwell on it very often.

"Well, I hoped no one would recognize me, which clearly didn't work out." Geela laughed before going on. "I suppose it was silly, since I'd already agreed it was a good idea for Lady Frederica to see what Hyzante was like, and we were already there. I just had to lie a little in order to leave—as you did—so I'd hoped to avoid any awkward conversations on why I hadn't come back yet."

Corentin hummed in understanding. "Naturally… It seems that is the only way to leave in one piece, isn't it?"

"Indeed; I am grateful for my time at the ministry, but I do wish leaving had been less difficult."

Corentin nodded in agreement, and they were quiet for a few seconds. They both understood that, while Hyzante had its good qualities, it was far from perfect. Still, they were much better off now, so there was no point in worrying about it. Eventually, Corentin shrugged and decided to bring the conversation back to the topic of magic.

"Very much so, but I'm glad for these study sessions we've had," he said. "For example! If not for our practicing, I may not have consciously realized different forms of magic are slightly more potent depending on where you concentrate them in your hand. Such as…"

Before Geela had time to realize what was going on, Corentin reached out and grabbed her hand, and he traced his finger along the back of it as he continued speaking.

"…both healing and ice magic are effective in your fingertips," he explained. "However, healing spells are also powerful in the palm, while ice magic is, surprisingly enough, much stronger in the heel of the hand! And without the conscious comparison, I might not have noticed a way to improve my own casting."

"This is true, and an interesting point," Geela mused. "But I didn't expect you to be so…touchy, Corentin."

"W-what?"

Apparently, he hadn't noticed the potential awkwardness of his demonstration, which Geela had to admit was amusing. Corentin froze, still holding her hand, and a faint tinge of pink crossed his face. The flush was barely there, really, but it was noticeable given how pale he was.

However, Geela didn't have time to call attention to it. Corentin's default reaction to embarrassment seemed to be twitchiness, as he gripped her hand tighter, jerked his head to the side, and instinctively pressed his finger into the back of her hand. This caused an ice spell to erupt from her palm, which in turn prompted them to scramble apart. Corentin coughed awkwardly as he looked back at her.

"S-so you can see what I was saying," he said lamely. "Your hand acted as a barrier, unless you think your own magical skills helped the spell there… Perhaps I should be writing this down; it's truly fascinating!"

Corentin quickly reached for a notebook he'd set nearby earlier. Geela hummed lightly as he proceeded to frantically scribble down his findings. She wasn't upset; Corentin had his quirks, but he was a good study partner.

"Indeed it is—so what do you say we get back to practicing?"

Corentin nodded, and Geela sat down and reached for a book she'd brought along earlier. They had a long afternoon ahead of them, so the sooner they got back to work, the better.

"Absolutely!" he agreed. "I'm glad we can keep these sessions up. Here's to many more of them!"

Geela smiled and nodded in return, and they turned to the tome she was perusing. Before long, the two of them were absorbed in magical theory and spell crafting—and Geela decided she was thankful, too, that Corentin had made the suggestion way back when.