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SPRING, YEAR 0
“I can’t believe it’s another three years before the next exam!” Kanne whines, throwing herself onto Lawine’s bed. She marched right in without knocking, hardly even offering a courtesy announcement of her presence before throwing the door open. Lawine wishes her parents would listen when she told them to at least give her a warning when Kanne comes over instead of just her free reign of the house.
Lawine sighs, closing the book she’d been reading before Kanne decided the best use of her time today is to be an annoyance. “At least we can take it again together,” she offers. She supposes the least she can do is try to offer a bit of comfort, since Kanne was nice enough to not gloat in her face after she flunked the second part of the exam.
Kanne groans, the sound muffled by the pillow she’s shoved her face into. Why she treats this place like she lives here, Lawine will never understand. “Yeah. In three years! And I failed Serie-sama’s vibe check, so does that mean I’m just doomed to never pass?”
“The third test does not typically consist of an interview with Serie-sama herself. And besides, after three years of rigorous training, perhaps you will be able to stand up to her so-called ‘vibe check’.”
Kanna turns her head, peeking at Lawine. “You think so?”
In all honestly, it is more that Lawine hopes so. If their roles had been reversed, she doubts she would have passed the final portion of the exam either. According to Frieren, Serie’s determination for passing examinees was whether or not they could imagine themself as a first-class mage. It makes sense, given that magic itself is founded on what one can imagine they are able to do with it, but had Lawine stood across from Serie in that room, knowing Kanne had already failed…
She cannot imagine becoming a first-class mage without Kanne, is all. All of their growth over the years has happened in tandem, so it would be strange for one of them to pass the exam while the other failed.
“Yes,” she replies, instead of voicing any of that. It is nothing Kanne needs to know; it will only serve to boost her ego and give rise to endless teasing. “I do. And besides,” she rises from her seat, making her way over to the bed so she can sit beside Kanne. Carefully, she places one hand on her head, offering a rare gentle touch, “Frieren-san told me three years is not much time at all, in the grand scheme of things.”
Kanne humphs. “Easy for her to say. She’s, like, a billion years old.”
“Regardless, I don’t believe she was incorrect,” Lawine argues. “And we will need every second of that time to prepare for the next exam.”
“I suppose,” Kanne relents. She flops herself over, laying her head on Lawine’s lap and looking up at her. “Will you train with me, then?”
Lawine sniffs, looking away. “If I must. I doubt anyone else would want to.”
She expects retaliation for the insult, but instead, Kanne just cheers before wrapping her arms around Lawine’s torso. Lawine stiffens, instinctively, before belatedly realizing it’s not an attack; it’s affection.
She relaxes into it slowly, her hand finding Kanne’s hair again. They will need every second to train in preparation for the next first-class mage exam, yes, but… Perhaps they can afford just one quiet moment while they are still recovering from this one.
SUMMER, YEAR 1
Ice magic is most difficult to wield in the summer heat.
It’s not that Lawine is incapable—far from it, given the amount of time and energy she has poured into her training over the years—but it requires much more power to freeze something when everything about the environment is fighting against you. The sun blazing overhead, the humidity heavy in the air, and the way the heat seems to sap Lawine’s own stamina faster than cold weather ever does.
“This is pointless!” she snaps, releasing her spell. The ice crystals she’d been using to defend against Kanne’s attacks all drop to the ground. They’ll be gone in a matter of minutes, Lawine is sure.
She kicks the dirt, just to make herself feel better. It doesn’t work. “I hate this weather. I hate summer. I’m going to move far enough north that I never have to worry about this sort of thing ever again!”
“You’re giving up?” Kanne questions, tilting her head. It’s half-teasing and half-something else Lawine can’t name. Almost like she’s concerned, or something, which makes no sense. She should be taking this opportunity to fight back instead of following Lawine’s lead and giving up on their sparring match.
“No,” Lawine bites, even though that’s exactly what she wants to do right now. “I just—” She grits her teeth, hands curling into fists. She can’t even think straight with the weather like this; how is she supposed to spar? And how is she ever supposed to become a first-class mage if she can’t handle a little heat? This is all so stupid!
“I think you need to cool down,” Kanne decides.
“I’m not angry!” Lawine shouts, angrily.
Kanne raises her hands in defense. “Not what I meant, but yeah, that too. The heat is getting to you, so let’s head in for a bit and get some water.” Her face lights up. “Oh! Maybe we could get ice cream!”
“I do not need ice cream,” Lawine argues. She folds her arms over her chest. “And how would you know the heat is ‘getting to me’?”
“Because it does the same thing to me. Why d’you think I’m dressed like this?” Kanne gestures to her outfit, which consists of barely enough cloth to cover her breasts and a pair of shorts Lawine would never be allowed out of the house wearing. Honestly, she doesn’t know how Kanne gets away with such clothing. “Meanwhile, you’re wearing all that.” She waves a hand in Lawine’s direction.
“What about it?” Lawine’s outfit is perfectly respectable. Her skirt allows for sufficient airflow, even if it is paired with knee-high boots and half-length sleeves. Besides, it shouldn’t matter—she uses ice magic, for heaven’s sake! She should be able to keep herself cool, even in extreme heat.
“It’s just…not very weather-appropriate,” Kanne responds. “Even if it is cute.”
“It’s—” Lawine blinks. “What!?”
Kanne giggles, and Lawine lunges for her, intending to pin her down and give her pigtails a solid yank (or twelve). Unfortunately, the heat has her slow-moving, so Kanne is able to dodge. She grabs hold of Lawine’s arm in the fray, and proceeds to tug her along, heading back towards town. Lawine tugs her arm away, if only because the skin-on-skin contact is sticky and uncomfortable right now, but she doesn’t try to argue. It’s clear Kanne has made up her mind, so there will be no more sparring until she believes Lawine is feeling better.
Whatever. They’ve still got three years.
AUTUMN, YEAR 1
Lawine is having a peaceful afternoon focused on studying spells in the library when someone sits down beside her. They don’t say anything, but she knows it’s Kanne based on the restless energy radiating off of her.
Lawine does not look up. “You know, I decided to study here instead of at home to avoid distractions.”
“Okay, but, your mom said you’ve been here basically since sunrise, and it’s past lunchtime now.”
Curse Lawine’s mother for giving Kanne an itinerary of her day. Unsure what to say since she has no defense for herself, she remains silent and continues staring at her book, pretending to read. She would really like to add a greater variation of magic to her repertoire before the next exam. The more tricks she has up her sleeve, the easier it should be to pass.
When Kanne gets no response, she smacks a hand over Lawine’s book, forcing her to look up and glare.
“I’m busy.”
“Is starving yourself going to help you achieve your goals?”
Lawine hesitates. She hadn’t exactly intended to skip lunch; she merely lost track of time, and as long as she was fixated on her studies, she experienced no sensation of hunger. Unfortunately, now that her trance has been broken, she is acutely aware of just how empty her stomach is.
“Fine,” she grumbles. “I will get food. On my own.”
Kanne rolls her eyes. “Like I’d believe that. Come on, I wanted to stop by the bakery anyway to pick up something for Edel.”
Lawine heaves out a sigh. “Very well. But no dawdling; I would like to get back to this as quickly as possible.”
“Deal!”
WINTER, YEAR 1
It is this time of year when Lawine is at her peak. The only unfortunate thing is that all snow is halfway between ice and water, which means for as long as the ground is blanketed in white, Kanne is also a difficult opponent to beat.
They spend much of their time outside of the limits of Äußerst, where they’re free to trade blows back and forth to their hearts’ content without wreaking havoc on any innocent bystanders or accidentally causing property damage due to the heightened range of their attacks. Not that Lawine would ever do such a thing, obviously, but Kanne is not as precise with her attacks.
Lawine darts through the trees, chasing after Kanne’s mana. She’s gotten better at hiding it, but Lawine has always been more in tune with her movements than most, so she’s able to pick up on even the slightest traces of it. It doesn’t take long for her to catch up with Kanne, who has surrounded herself with a watery shield of melted snow.
The best thing about water, though, is that it can be turned to ice. And when it’s this cold, it doesn’t take much power at all.
Lawine readies her staff.
SPRING, YEAR 1
“Ugh,” Kanne complains as she peels her muddied shoes and socks from her feet. Her face pinches in disgust at the sight, and then she drops them. They hit the ground with a wet thwack.
“Perhaps you should look into different footwear for this time of year,” Lawine suggests. Her own boots keep her feet pleasantly dry, even when much of the woods has essentially been reduced to a mud pit between the melting snow and spring rainstorms. “And in general. Those are beyond saving.”
“Nuh-uh!” Kanne argues. “I don’t have money for new shoes anyway. I’ll clean them in a bit and they’ll be good as new, just wait and see!”
Lawine sets her boots aside. They will need to be cleaned as well, but a simple cleaning will be perfectly effective in restoring them. Kanne’s are soaked all the way through. Even if they could be cleaned, it seems a waste of time to Lawine. That is time they could be using to study, or train. And though Lawine would not have to join Kanne in that endeavor, she can’t afford to let her fall behind. If they intend to become first-class mages together, there can be no great skill gap between them.
Lawine sighs. “In that case, I will buy you new shoes. For now, you can borrow a pair of mine.”
She doesn’t bother waiting for Kanne’s response, and ignores her blabbering as she walks to her room. Kanne follows behind her, as expected, and Lawine draws two pairs of shoes from her closet. She generally prefers wearing boots, so she passes a pair of flats to Kanne and keeps her spare boots for herself. Walking through town should not prove as hazardous as sparring in the woods, and even if Kanne does ruin the shoes, it will only give Lawine a good excuse to throw them out.
As Lawine laces up her boots, Kanne simply holds the shoes like they’re going to come alive and bite her.
“Are you, uh…sure this is okay? I mean, weren’t these a gift from your brothers?”
“Yes.” Lawine blinks. “Is that a problem?”
“They’re just so nice! And they probably cost, like, a hundred silver coins or something crazy! What if I get these dirty too?”
“Then you can clean those instead of the soiled ones you left downstairs,” Lawine answers. “Put them on so we can leave. The sooner you have suitable shoes for yourself, the sooner we can resume our training.”
Kanne looks like she’s going to continue arguing for a moment, but then relents with a huff and a small smile. “Alright, alright. Whatever you say, Princess.”
“I will push you into a puddle,” Lawine threatens, but she can’t emphasize her threat with any sort of physical aggression because her heart is pounding violently at the nickname, and at the sight of Kanne slipping Lawine’s shoes onto her own feet. She’s afraid if she gets any closer, Kanne may discover what is hidden beneath her cold words and icy glares.
SUMMER, YEAR 2
The inside of the restaurant doesn’t offer much relief from the summer heat, but at least the sun is no longer beating down directly on them. Lawine and Kanne drag themselves to a table in the corner, where Edel and Laufen are waiting for them.
“No Richter yet?” Kanne asks as they take their seats.
Laufen shakes her head. “He’s probably late because of work.”
Lawine scoffs. “Figures.”
“You two were late too,” Edel points out. Even though they’re only five minutes behind schedule, at most.
“It was Kanne’s fault,” Lawine replies.
At the same time, Kanne claims, “It was Lawine’s fault!”
Before an argument can break out, Richter’s voice sounds from behind them: “I’m inclined to believe you were both at fault. If this dinner is going to consist entirely of your bickering, I will return home where it is significantly cooler.”
Lawine glares at Kanne, and Kanne glares back. But they both know Richter isn’t bluffing, and if he leaves, Laufen will be upset with them, and Edel will take her side just so the numbers are fair.
“It is ridiculously hot,” Laufen agrees, fanning herself with one hand. “Richter, I don’t know how you’re surviving in all that.”
“Practice,” he responds, deadpan. Edel squints at him, and even Lawine has a hard time believing he’s really sane wearing such obviously thick fabric with long sleeves in this weather. Especially after working all day?
But, whatever. It isn’t her business if he wants to die of heatstroke.
He sighs tiredly. “Can we just order our food? It looks weird that I’m here with four little girls.”
“I’m twenty-one,” Laufen argues. “None of us are children!”
“You are to me.”
“You can always just say you’re our grandpa,” Lawine comments innocently.
“I am not that old—!”
Kanne reaches over, patting his arm in faux sympathy. “It’s okay. You don’t look a day over seventy-five!”
Lawine, Laufen, and Edel all burst into fits of giggles while Richter threatens to go home. He makes no move to leave, though, so obviously he isn’t too upset by their teasing. Or he’s just a lonely old man who is desperate for a friend, no matter what form that friend might take.
As the laughter dies down, Lawine looks over towards Kanne. And she finds Kanne is already gazing at her, with a soft smile on her face.
AUTUMN, YEAR 2
Lawine walks into Richter’s shop, and heads straight for the counter. She tends to avoid this place, because despite finding some common ground with him during the second stage of the exam, Lawine still hasn’t quite forgiven him for belittling her and Kanne. However, when she asked Edel for advice on where to find the best gifts, she highly recommended Richter’s shop for anything magic-related.
So. Here she is.
Richter groans at the sight of her. “What do you want? And where’s your little ginger girlfriend? She’s usually the one in here bothering me.”
“I need—” Lawine falters, her intended script failing at the unexpected comment from Richter. “What? Kanne isn’t my girlfriend.”
Richter stares at her like he doesn’t believe her. “It doesn’t bother me if she is.”
“She’s not!” Lawine insists. She shakes her head; there’s no point in getting worked up over this. That’s probably Richter’s goal, and she refuses to let him win. “It doesn’t matter. I’m looking for a gift for her, for her birthday. Edel said this was the best place in the entire city to search for magical items. Do you have anything that would appeal to a mage who specializes in water magic? Price is not an issue.”
Richter lets out a low whistle. “Alright, princess—”
“Do not call me that.”
“I do have a few things that would fulfill your request, yes. But I also happen to remember some of the things Kanne has fawned over while loitering in my shop.”
Lawine presses her lips together. Can she really trust Richter to be truthful? He could just as easily lead Lawine to something Kanne explicitly said she hated and make a complete fool of her. Or he may simply point out the most expensive items he sells in order to take advantage of Lawine’s family money.
Then again, Lawine could probably tell if his suggestions will be suited to Kanne’s taste. And if he believes Kanne to be her girlfriend, surely he must believe they know each other too well for him to fool Lawine.
“Okay,” she relents. “That would be…appreciated.”
“Wonderful.” Richter stands, and Lawine follows him around the shop as he points out a variety of items, and even a few books. Most seem like silly things that would only offer Kanne brief entertainment, though Lawine can easily tell why they grabbed her attention while she was wandering around aimlessly.
But then Richter gestures to a pair of bracelets that appear perfectly ordinary, despite the minuscule amount of mana coming from them. There is one silver and one gold, and they have a floral sort of design engraved in the metal. “She stared at those for a while, too,” he comments. “Not really sure why. She didn’t even pick those up, though.”
Lawine steps closer, peering at them curiously. “Are they sold together? What do they do?” They’re clearly imbued with magic, but it must not be a spell Lawine has ever encountered before.
Richter pauses, frowning. “They’re a set, yes.” He steps past Lawine, picking them up, then places one in her hand. “The magic connects them, regardless of how far apart they may be. When you touch the lotus on one,” he presses his thumb over top of the lotus carved into the bracelet in his hand, “it notifies the other.”
Lawine looks down to her own bracelet, and gasps. The engravings in the silver are now tinted gold.
“How much?” she demands.
Richter raises an eyebrow. He hands the other bracelet to Lawine as well. “Not your girlfriend, huh?”
Lawine’s face flushes, and she turns away. “Just tell me what they cost!”
Richter laughs. “Alright, alright. Tell you what,” his lips twitch up in a smirk, “I’ll give you a discount if you promise you’ll invite me to the wedding.”
Lawine stomps on his foot.
WINTER, YEAR 2
Lawine spends most of her birthday being doted on by her brothers. They shower her in gifts, then take her shopping for more. They buy her more food than she could hope to eat, taking her to all her favorite places and insisting she pick out anything and everything she would like. It isn’t bad, of course—Lawine is very grateful for her family and how deeply her brothers care for her. She just wishes they saw her as less of a pet and more of a person.
The sun has long since sunk below the horizon when Lawine is finally able to retreat to her room. But no sooner has she thrown herself onto her bed, there’s a tapping sound against her window.
She turns, glaring at the offending pane of glass as if it’s the window’s fault someone is trying to bother her. It shouldn’t surprise her to find Kanne on the other side, staff in hand as she floats mid-air. She’s woefully underdressed for how cold it is, so of course, Lawine has no choice but to haul herself upright once more in order to let her inside.
Kanne tumbles into the room, landing clumsily on the floor. Lawine stands over her, arms crossed, glaring.
“Whaaaat?” Kanne complains, rubbing her arm where she banged it on the ground. “You’ve been busy all day, and I wanted to see you! It’s not my fault this was my first chance!”
“I do not think freezing half to death outside of my home would be a very pleasant birthday gift,” Lawine returns.
“I didn’t freeze,” Kanne points out. “And—” she gasps, “you made it sound like you actually care!”
“I do not—”
Before Lawine can even finish voicing her denial, Kanne has left to her feet and tackled her in a hug. Lawine stumbles backwards, legs hitting her bed, which causes her to fall back onto it. Kanne, of course, goes down with her because she’s clinging to Lawine like a leech.
They end up in a mess of tangled limbs, with Kanne on top of her.
“Idiot,” Lawine grumbles, using all the strength she has to forcibly flip their positions. Unfortunately, with their legs still somehow linked with each other, she ends up falling flat against Kanne, head landing on her chest.
And then Kanne laughs.
Not a mean, teasing laugh either—something gentle, humored, affectionate. Even when Lawine sharply pushes herself up, bracing herself with one hand on either side of Kanne’s head, the sound doesn’t stop. Kanne just keeps giggling, face flushed, while Lawine stares down at her and thinks—
She looks so pretty like this.
The silver bracelet on her wrist glints in the moonlight spilling in through the window. The matching golden band rests around Kanne’s arm, as it has ever since Lawine gifted it to her three months ago. She has very pointedly been trying to forget the accusation Richter threw at her when she purchased them, just as she has resolutely ignored her own blossoming feelings ever since she and Kanne were in school together. But at the end of the day, any attempts at ignoring and forgetting are futile. The mind cannot trick the heart.
At her laughter patters out, Kanne’s eyes open, meeting Lawine’s gaze. She lifts one hand, tucking a strand of Lawine’s hair behind her ear, a soft smile still gracing her features.
“Happy birthday,” she says. Her touch lingers, knuckles brushing against Lawine’s cheek. “I wasn’t sure what gift could possibly suit a princess who can fulfill any of her material desires herself, but after a lot of thought and talking to Edel and Richter, I think I figured out the perfect thing.”
“Oh?” Lawine bites back a snippy comment of disbelief towards Richter offering help considering she went to him for advice about Kanne’s present and he did, in fact, help her out as well. “And what might that be?”
“This,” Kanne whispers, uncharacteristically quiet, so much so Lawine has to strain to hear it. Her hand makes its way around to the back of Lawine’s neck, pushing her down. Kanne lifts her own head at the same time, meeting her halfway and pressing their lips together.
It’s a clumsy kiss—messy and wet, with too much teeth. Lawine could write a book consisting of only complaints.
She kisses back anyway, because she’s wanted this for years and it wouldn’t be Kanne if it wasn’t half a disaster and entirely underwhelming when compared to the fairytales. No matter how terrible the kiss is, it’s theirs, and Lawine would not trade it for the entire world.
By the time they part, Kanne’s face is even redder than before and her pupils are blown wide.
“I want a proper gift, too,” Lawine insists. “Buy me something sweet from the bakery tomorrow.”
Kanne’s face falls. “Oh, uh, okay—”
And then, before she can commiserate any longer, Lawine kisses her again.
SPRING, YEAR 2
The snow melts, the flowers bloom, the animals emerge and the bugs return. Spring creeps back in, and another year has passed. Lawine wonders, absently, how Frieren and her companions are doing. She knows there’s no reason for Frieren to return and attempt the first-class mage exam a second time—they needed only one person in their party to pass so they could cross the Northern Plateau—but still, Lawine would like to see her again. She would like to ask her for advice—to get one more lesson from the greatest mage she has ever worked with.
She’s shaken from her thoughts when Kanne comes bounding up to her, calling her name and waving enthusiastically.
Lawine folds her arms over her chest. “You’re late,” she notes.
“Sorryyyy…” Kanne pouts. “I got distracted.”
When Lawine does not respond, Kanne attempts placation by kissing her cheek, and then pulling her pout into something even more pitiful.
Lawine huffs, valiantly trying to suppress the heat rising to her cheeks. “Fine. I suppose I can forgive you.”
Kanne grins. “YES! Okay, let’s go!” She grabs Lawine by the hand, pulling her along. The spring sun breaks through the morning clouds, offering a bit of warmth through the chill of winter still lingering in the air, and Lawine feels herself smiling as they make their way outside of the city.
Two years down, one to go. And this time around, she’s determined that both she and Kanne will pass the exam.
SUMMER, YEAR 3
“Now you’re the crazy one,” Richter complains. He’s lying in the dirt, making no move to get up, which means he’s either accepted his defeat or he’s trying to lure Lawine and Kanne into a false sense of safety. “How are you fighting in—that?” He gestures vaguely towards Lawine. “Walking around town is one thing, but we’ve been out here for hours!”
Lawine looks to Kanne, grinning. “You inspired me, actually,” she admits. “I assumed you were using magic to keep yourself from overheating. I couldn’t find a spell to cool oneself down anywhere in the library, but I realized I don’t need that when I have ice.” She rolls up her sleeve, showing off the frosted-over bandages wrapped around her forearms.
“They’re super handy,” Kanne agrees, skipping over to Lawine’s side. She takes Lawine’s arm and presses it against her face, then lets out a contented sigh. “For me, too.”
Richter sighs. He pushes himself up into a sitting position, and Lawine and Kanne both tense, preparing for the fight to continue.
He waves them off. “I need a break,” he tells them. “I need to drink some water instead of being doused in it, and you two should do so as well.”
“Alright, alright,” Kanne agrees. She walks over to him, offering him a hand. He eyes it warily for a moment before relenting with a sigh and taking it, letting Kanne help him to his feet.
“You know,” Lawine muses, “I could make some of these for you, too.” She holds up her arm. “It might be a fairer fight if we’re not worried you’ll pass out from heat exhaustion in your old age.”
Richter rolls his eyes. “If this is your way of trying to get me to pay for lunch, I’m not falling for it.”
“It’s me trying to be nice,” Lawine bites. “Might I remind you that you were the one who suggested we train together, because you said there are things we can learn from one another?”
Richter glares at her. Lawine glares back.
“Fine,” he relents. “I’m still not buying you two lunch, though.”
Lawine grins smugly. “We don’t need your pity money. Come on, Kanne.” She links their arms together and begins walking back towards town, leaving Richter to follow behind them.
AUTUMN, YEAR 3
Lawine remains stone-still, scarcely daring to even breathe as the sound of Kanne’s footsteps grows closer. Leaves crunch under her foot, but she is otherwise silent, focused on tracking Lawine down via mana detection. Lawine, meanwhile, is trying to suppress her mana as much as she can to avoid detection.
If she runs now, she’ll certainly be caught, so her best bet is to stay as still as possible and hope Kanne cannot pick up on the trace amounts of mana she knows are radiating off of her even despite her best efforts. This is hard to do for long periods of time. She understands how Frieren could manage the feat, but Fern is about the same age as her and Kanne; there’s no way she should’ve been so good at it—
“Found you!” Kanne exclaims. It’s all the warning Lawine gets before she’s being tackled to the ground. Kanne kisses her then, firmly on the lips, and they have much better things to be doing with their time, but Lawine indulges her anyway. She’s found it’s nearly impossible to resist Kanne’s kisses, try as she might—she can only hope it won’t prove to be a fatal weakness when they’re inevitably pitted against each other during the exam.
Kanne sighs happily as they break apart. “Okay,” she says. “Your turn to seek now!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Lawine sits up, taking Kanne with her. Before she can stand, however, Kanne reaches forward with a giggle and plucks something from Lawine’s hair.
“What—?”
Kanne holds up a brightly-colored leaf, smiling sheepishly. “Maaaaybe I shouldn’t have knocked you over.”
Lawine purses her lips. “How many leaves are in my hair?”
“Just a few! Here, I’ll get them—” Kanne drops the one in her hand, then scrambles around Lawine to pick out whatever else got stuck in her hair as a result of the fall. And though she’s irritated that Kanne’s carelessness is costing them precious time, she also has to admit it’s sort of…nice, to have Kanne taking care of her like this. It’s different from when her brothers or mother style her hair for her—it’s both more casual and more intimate, somehow.
It’s something Lawine thinks she could get used to.
WINTER, YEAR 3
“I am so glad the exam won’t take place until all of this snow has melted,” Richter grumbles.
Edel nods. “You can say that again.”
Laufen just groans.
All three of them are half-buried in the snow, frozen in place and rendered completely immobile. Accomplished in record time, too—Lawine wasn’t keeping track, but she figures it was five minutes at most. Then again, magic is about what you can imagine, and she’s fairly certain none of their three opponents could imagine beating mages who specialize in ice and water magic, in the middle of a bitter cold snow-covered forest.
Lawine looks to Kanne, grinning, and finds Kanne with a smile that shines brighter than the sun. She holds her hand up for a high five, and Lawine fulfills the request.
“I don’t know why I even agreed to this,” Laufen complains. “I would have more luck training by letting Edel brainwash me.”
“It’s called hypnosis,” Edel corrects.
“Whatever!”
“It does not matter,” Richter interrupts. “For now, we need our captors to unfreeze us before we die of hypothermia, and then none of us can re-take the exam.”
“I don’t know…” Lawine muses, tapping her chin. She shoots a sideways glance towards Kanne. “If we leave them here, that would be three less competitors we’ll be fighting against…”
“You make a good point,” Kanne agrees, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
Unfortunately, their fun comes to an end when the ground starts rumbling beneath their feet.
“If you don’t melt the ice,” Richter threatens, “I will find a way to break it myself which jeopardizes your safety.”
Kanne yelps.
“Fine, fine,” Lawine agrees. “We’ll free you.”
“And I want hot cocoa as repayment!” Laufen adds.
“That does sound good,” Edel agrees.
Richter rolls his eyes. “Must you people act like such children all the time?”
Kanne skips over to him and pats his head. Since he’s still frozen, he can’t do anything but take it. “Don’t worry, Grandad,” she says sweetly. “You can have a glass of hot water instead. That way, the sugar won’t rot your elderly bones!”
Richter lets out a sound of deep despair while everyone else laughs.
SPRING, YEAR 3
Standing outside of the exam hall, Lawine asks Kanne, “Are you ready?”
“Honestly? I’m not sure…” Kanne scratches the back of her neck. “I know it’s been three years, but… I dunno, maybe Frieren-san was right. It kinda doesn’t feel like any time has passed at all. What if I’m exactly the same mage as I was when I took this exam the first time around?”
“You’re not,” Lawine insists. “Neither of us are. It may be true that three years is nothing at all, in the grand scheme of life, but it is enough time to substantially improve your skills. Think of where you were when we first entered into the magic academy, compared to where you were when we graduated.” She turns looking to the entrance of the building. Some part of her feels the same as Kanne—that she hasn’t prepared enough, that she hasn’t improved at all, that she is, essentially, the exact same person she was three years ago because it feels so short in retrospect.
But she knows that is not true.
Three years ago, she felt suffocated by her feelings for Kanne—trapped in them, choking on a love she did not know what to do with. She did not trust Richter as far as she could throw him, and she tried to maintain a careful distance from Edel and Laufen. Now, though, she and Kanne hang out with Laufen and Edel regularly, and she’s come to at least respect Richter for the powerful mage he is. And she has Kanne by her side as a partner in every meaning of the word, no longer afraid of the enormity of what she feels for the other girl.
If she has grown so much as a person, even in such a short time, then surely she has grown as a mage as well.
“I have watched you improve, as you have watched me,” Lawine continues. “Would you say I am at the same skill level as I was three years ago?”
“Of course not! You’re, like, a billion times stronger! Not that you weren’t strong before, obviously, but—”
“So,” Lawine interrupts her rambling, “how could you have plateaued while I grew?”
Kanne snaps her mouth shut.
Lawine holds out her hand. “We were not prepared to be first-class mages the first time we attempted this exam,” she says. It wasn’t something she wanted to admit at the time, but over the past three years, that much has made itself abundantly clear. “We didn’t know what it would take, but now, we do. We have trained with the knowledge of what the exam is like, and with others who are at that high of a skill level. So this time around, we will pass. We will become first-class mages, together.”
Kanne’s lips twitch up in a hesitant smile.
She places her hand in Lawine’s, linking their fingers together. “Together,” she agrees. “There’s no other way.”
Hand-in-hand, side-by-side, they walk towards their future. Together, as they always have been and as they always will be.