The next morning Angelica sat in the open door of the sparring room, looking out over the mountains. Clouds drifted around the tops of the snow covered peaks. She took a sip of warm raspberry tea. There was a small plate of cookies sitting beside her.

Knowing that Dylan was not normally friends with demons like Trenir had made her feel better in some sense of the word. At the same time she could not help but think about the sister Paicy had mentioned. Where was she now? Did she and Dylan contact each other often? Both of the men she lived with went off every few days. Sometimes they told her where they were going, and sometimes not. It was not as if she would be all that surprised to find Dylan had been courting someone without her knowledge. Angelica popped one of the cookies into her mouth and chewed and swallowed without tasting it.

“Good morning, Miss Angelica.” Dusty had entered the room and strode over to where she sat.

She tilted her head back and looked up at him. “Do you know anything about Trenir’s sister?”

He furrowed his brow. “I wasn’t aware that he had a sister. Where did you hear he had one?”

“Never mind.” Angelica grabbed the sheath on her right hand side and slid to her feet. “Get your sword. Let’s see if you forgot anything with the lack of practice recently.”

Dusty chuckled and got his own sword before returning. He saluted her briefly before falling into the ready position. All of the pent up frustration of the past few days was unleashed at once, and Dusty found himself on his back before he could blink, gasping for air.

“Get back up. We’re not slacking today.”

Dusty nodded, climbing to his feet. To his credit he was ready to meet her blade when she attacked again immediately, but he did so a bit clumsily. He had improved, it was true, but she still felt no challenge from sparring with him. With a sideward slice she drove his blade into the floor and held it there.

“Use magic.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m much more talented with the sword than you, but you know magic. If you use your strength, it might help even the spar.”

“But using magic…”

“Use small spells if you’re that worried about it.” Angelica moved her sword and backed up a few steps.

“You really are quite energetic today.”

Angelica nodded once and then attacked. Dusty dodged to the side of her weapon, and she went after him.

“Dance around me.“

Angelica saw a quick intake of magic, which started at his center and spread outward in a ring. She tried to slash it, but it moved past her weapon unhindered and slammed into her chest. She managed to retain her feet. Okay, so weapons don’t work on magic. Should’ve figured, but I had to try. She rushed forward again.

“Dance around me.“

This time she ducked forward under the beam of light and came up to knock the flat of the sword into Dusty’s chest. She kicked out with her feet to trip him, but he rolled away, casting the spell again as he did. This time the spell shaped differently, and angled downward instead of straight out as it had before, though the whole spell remained in a ring.

She hopped over it, her sword meeting Dusty’s with a crash. Even if she could get past the spell, it did sort of narrow the area from which she could easily attack, so he would more or less know exactly from where she was coming. Was there any way for her to alter his magic? Even if there was she would not know until she learned some. Angelica thought of the spell Dylan had taught her. It was too long though. Saying the whole spell would take long enough that she could just be attacked. She would have to wait until she learned some shorter spells.

She was happy to note that Dusty and his spells were providing a good challenge. She had to think her way around the spell, hit him from where he was not expecting. They finally collapsed to the floor, both sweating.

“Not bad for using only one spell,” Angelica said.

“Well you don’t have magic at all, so I figured it only fair,” Dusty grinned. “I am really starting to worry about our swords though.”

“How so?”

“Well banging them together like that damages them, plus you have to pull your blade so as to not cut. Seems kind of worthless practice.”

“Well some people use wooden swords, but it’s hard to get them to the proper weight without having to make them too big, and some other men would wrap their blades in cloth, but that also threw off the weight, and then the cloth would get cut up and start falling off.”

He touched the edge of the sword, and then slid it into its sheath and pulled it back out.

“Where did you come from?” Angelica asked.

“Well I was in the kitchen, though I stopped by the library for a moment.” Dusty was still examining the edge of his sword.

“No, I mean when you were a baby. Paicy said you’ve been here since you were a baby, so why are you here?”

“Master Dylan found me.” Dusty said looking up.

“Found you? What, just in the woods?”

“Paicy always did talk too much.” The young man chuckled.

“So?”

“I asked Master Dylan a few years ago if my parents were alive. When he said no, I asked if he had killed my parents, and he said no to that too. That’s all I really ever cared to know.”

“But what about knowing who you really are?”

Dusty looked confused at that. “I know who I am. Everything I’ve known up until now has made me who I am.”

Angelica stood up. “I couldn’t imagine what my life would be like without my family, especially Penelope.

Dusty looked back down at his sword, running his fingers down its length. Angelica sighed. “I’m heading to the library. I’ll see you later.”

She was not sure if Dusty acknowledged her leaving or not.