Ash never felt as exhausted as she did in that following half-lune. She awoke stiff and sore, then went to sleep even stiffer and even more sore. Still, she didn't let that deter her. Every day, she trained, and every day, she performed as many hands-on tasks as she could without burning herself out.

It was the worst she'd ever felt, but it was also the best. Although she didn't know how long it would take her to be on par with the pirates around her, she noticed the improvements between when she started training and now.

But they'd finally hit a wall.

"This was your idea," Linden pointed out.

"I know," Ash said. She rubbed her sweaty palms across her trousers. They'd been standing here for five minutes, and she had yet to summon her magic.

"You can't just back out of it when it was your idea—hey!" Linden shouted. A small pebble hit the deck and rolled, having just bounced off his head.

Willow rolled another small pebble in her hand as she scowled at her brother. "She very much has a choice, you lout."

Linden stuck his tongue out, and then he ducked when another pebble soared at his head. "You're so violent today, sister."

"Because you're so much more dimwitted today, brother."

Linden grinned mischievously. "Has your bleeding arri—"

"Linden, if you finish that sentence, you will find rocks in your food for a sol, do you hear me?"

Linden pressed his lips together at the threat, but the wicked delight hadn't left his eyes.

Far from the first time, the siblings' antics both warmed and chilled Ash. On the one hand, their joy made her happy. On the other, their banter made her ache for her twin. She fiddled with her ring for a moment before clearing her throat, cutting off Linden's next dulled barb.

"My training?"

"Oh? You're ready for that now?" Linden teased, grinning good-naturedly.

"No, but that doesn't mean I should stop trying," Ash pointed out.

Linden conceded that point, and the atmosphere sobered as both he and Willow studied her. Ash forced herself not to squirm.

"So," Linden said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "You said you cast illusions on yourself?"

Ash nodded even as her cheeks flamed. When she'd approached them for that day's training and said she wanted to explore her magic instead, she'd proposed showing them it. She hadn't expected to fail at her first attempt.

"But it's more than that, isn't it?" Willow asked. At Ash's blank stare, she expanded upon the thought. "That night when the Modika appeared and you lost control—sorry," she added at Ash's wince. "But when you lost control, you summoned illusions of other... things." Willow's eyes flicked to Linden for a mere heartbeat before returning to Ash.

Once again, Ash winced. She didn't wish to remember the illusion of Linden petrifying anymore than Willow did. "Yes, that happens when I lose control. I don't know why, though. When Ro—when I was given this magic, I was told that it was simply glamouring my appearance."

Linden snorted. "As if he would give you all the information."

Ash shrunk into her shoulders. It was so easy in hindsight to see how often he only gave her breadcrumbs to keep her from seeing the whole picture. Why wouldn't he have done the same about her magic? "So, what do you think it is, then?"

"I'm not sure," Willow admitted. She paused for a moment and frowned. "It's possible he told you the basest form of what the magic can do without telling you what it could achieve should you train it. Mine, for example. Can I see your arm?"

Ash shocked herself with how quickly and willingly she handed over her arm without any further information. It wasn't as if she thought Willow meant her harm, but there hadn't been even a flicker of the hesitation that had plagued her since she stepped aboard. When had that faded away?

Willow placed her palm on Ash's forearm. A few seconds passed, and nothing happened except a stiffness in her wrist. She likely irritated it through the day sometime. But with each passing moment, the tension worsened. Willow watched her expectantly.

"I'm sorry," Ash finally said, retracting her arm. She rotated her wrist and found some relief. "I don't understand what you were supposed to show me."

"You felt it, though." Willow held up her own arm and mimicked Ash's wrist movements. "My magic is a form of petrification from what I've gathered. It took time to figure that out, because all I knew to begin with was that my prolonged touch could leave someone feeling stiff. I only thought I could do more if I played with it after Linden did more with his magic."

The memory of Willow's illusioned fear flashed through Ash's mind. It had been Linden's slow petrification. She didn't think it right to ask about that, but the new information made her wonder.

"And mine," Linden said, drawing Ash from her brief thought by placing a hand on her arm, "started off as just heat. I exuded it much more than I ever had, and I stopped getting cold. But once, when I got heated during a, uh, altercation—"

"Tavern brawl," Willow supplied gleefully.

"Yeah, yeah, a tavern brawl," Linden grumbled. "Well, my temper got out of control, and next thing I knew, I was getting hotter and hotter until..." As he spoke, his touch grew warmer. Not to the point it hurt, but it definitely made her want to pull her arm away. Then, he raised his other hand, and fire erupted around it.

"Ey, careful over there, Linden!" one of the other pirates hollered, but Ash didn't take the time to check which one. The fire captivated her. She had already seen him do this once before, but it still amazed her to watch a flame appear out of nothing.

"Always," Linden called back to the other man, beaming. He closed his hand, and the fire vanished. "Anyway, yeah. We found out that if I concentrate enough on the heat, I can summon fire."

"Or losing your temper," Ash put in.

He laughed. "Or that."

She studied Willow now. Once again, the other woman rolled something in her palm. A rock, just like the ones she'd thrown at Linden. She pointed at it. "And that's what you do when you focus your magic, right?"

Willow tapped a finger to the center of her forehead. "Exactly. It's almost like I harden the air itself. So, both Liden and I had magic we initially thought simple and limited. We know yours isn't, and not just because of our own experiences. You show it every time you lose control."

Though she hated to be reminded of her slips, Ash conceded the point. If Linden could summon fire even while calm, then she should be able to summon illusions without panic inducing it.

"Before we test how far you can push your magic, though, what can you do with it now? You wanted to show us, didn't you?" Willow asked.

Ash bit her lip as Willow's words reminded her of her initial five minutes of failure. Surely that had been nerves, or perhaps even rust. She hadn't intentionally used her magic in over a lune. If she just focused, then surely she would be able to accomplish it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes—

Yes, that's it. Will the magic to appear as you desire.

She'd barely touched the magic resting within her when the familiar voice sounded. She recoiled, and her magic returned to its dormant state.

Without opening her eyes, she blew out an irritated breath. "He's there. Every time I try to use it. I hear him, and it's like he's right next to me, guiding me through it all over again."

There was a pause, and she yearned to open her eyes. But no, she still held on to a thread of the magic, and she would not release it until she'd made some sort of progress. If only she could get herself to shove through the pain and uncertainty that every thought of that blasted Scion brought about.

This was his creation. He'd been the one to craft her magic into being, even if he had based it on her innermost self. She still didn't even know how to tackle the truth behind Roan's words. Somehow, he'd acknowledged a part of her that she didn't know. How could this magic ever truly be hers?

"Are you only the pawn he made you to be, Ash, or are you more?" Willow finally asked.

More. She knew she was, or at least that she wanted to be. She would be, even if she had to dig herself out from beneath the collapsed weight of his hold. Her determination took the form of a chant that she would, she would, she would. When she reached for her magic again, Roan's voice was still there, but her chant nearly drowned it out.

The magic greeted her. It had become her friend at one point. A companion that followed her throughout the long days she spent in Volant. She could imagine her losses of control as the magic lashing out and trying its best to protect her.

Her first impulse when she gripped her magic was to form Odella's image. She knew that one so well she had done it on accident at Varno Cove. But if her goal was to push the boundaries of her glamour abilities, then she couldn't rely on what she was comfortable with. Since she'd been the last to speak, Willow popped into Ash's mind first. The tingling buzz spread from her middle and out to her skin as the glamour took shape.

But then she found out that a nearly drowned out voice wasn't drowned out enough.

"Had you not desired so strongly to be someone else, Ash, you would not have taken so completely to this ability. Something is missing within your essence, something you are trying to fill."

Ash flinched, and her grip faltered. The magic streamed away like water from her hands.

"Ugh!" She kicked the crate Willow sat on, earning a surprised shout. Shame rushed heat to Ash's cheeks. "Sorry. This is just so frustrating." She would be more, but she wasn't yet, apparently. She fought off the urge to groan again.

"You're fine, Ash, truly," Linden assured. "You said you're struggling against a mental Roan. Nobody expects you to get over that in one go."

She did, but before she could decide if she'd push the issue, another voice spoke up. "Ashlin, the captain needs you."

The failure had already soured Ash's mood, but the sight of Garman glowering at her made it near acidic. It astounded her that on a ship filled with such a lively group, the two most unwelcoming stood at Lorica's sides. At least Caspian tried to act cheerful.

"Is everything alright?" Willow asked as she slid off the crate.

"We've drawn close enough to the Eltheria," Garman said. He turned and started walking to the quarterdeck. "It's time to cast the tracking spell."

After a quick glance at one another, Ash and the others made their way to the quarterdeck.

Lorica and Caspian crouched down as they rearranged various ingredients. They were the same sort that Roan had carried around: gems, plants, bits of fur. Some things varied, though, like two wooden bowls. A dark red liquid sloshed within them.

Ash gulped. "What's that?"

She'd directed the question to Willow, but Caspian answered without diverting his eyes from his task. "We drain our victims of blood occasionally. Got to keep up our stores of blood ritual magic."

Her insides lurched for only a moment before her panic turned into exasperated annoyance. This was Caspian. Of course they didn't actually do blood rituals. She crossed her arms and glared down at him. "I'm sure you're running low. Maybe you should donate your own."

"Look at that. The drygill is finally getting it." He peeked up at her with mild amusement tucked into his smirk. As his amber eyes met hers, she found herself transported half a lune back, her training sword fighting to hold back his, then his hot breath on her skin as he whispered in her ear. Thank you. She'd yet to deduce what he'd been thanking her for. His prickly treatment the following days didn't help her any. This was the closest to a kind expression she'd gotten from him since that moment.

Maybe it had something to do with the lightening of the shadows beneath his eyes, but better mood or not, she couldn't just ask him what he'd meant. Well, she could, but her pride refused to let her, and even if she did, she doubted he'd give her a straight answer.

"I wouldn't say she's a drygill after a whole lune. She even managed to not puke during that storm a few days ago," Linden chimed in, pulling Ash from her reverie.

"Unless you mean she's still one because she is still figuring you out. In which case, that's all of us." Willow grinned, then laughed when Caspian rolled his wrist and flicked his hand at her, making a sideways L with his pointer finger and thumb.

She didn't quite understand what the motion meant, but from Ash's time aboard the ship, she'd deduced it wasn't a very kind gesture.

"That should be everything," Lorica said after she and Caspian made a few last adjustments. "Ash, step behind the bowls right there. Everyone else, move away." A few other pirates had joined them to watch. They, along with the siblings and Capsian, put distance between them and the magical circle. Only Garman remained at Lorica's side.

Lorica shot Garman a sharp look, but he ignored it and stepped closer to the circle. "Direct me as needed, Captain."

She sighed, and Ash had the distinct impression that the pirate captain had planned to do the spell. Instead of fighting her first mate, though, she nodded.

Garman wouldn't do anything to harm Ash, no matter his unpleasant disposition, but she couldn't help the unease that wormed its way through her.

"Are you both ready?"

Ash gave a firm nod that didn't accurately reflect the nervous pixies dancing in her stomach while Garman grunted his affirmation.

"Then Ash, I need you to put one hand into each of the eulia blends—the red water right there in the bowls. Focus your magic into your hands. Garman, do the same, but to the central navere crystal right there."

Ash tuned out Lorica's whispered instructions to Garman and focused on her own task. She slipped her hand into the cool liquid. A sensation like crawling ants overtook the submerged skin. When she focused her magic to her hands, the feeling erupted into the gentle poke of needles. It was slightly duller than if she'd let a limb fall into a deep slumber.

"Don't worry if it's not comfortable, Ash," Lorica said, apparently noticing her unease. "The eulia plant draws out magic. That's all you're feeling. It would take a substantial amount of the petals to do any damage."

Gulping, Ash nodded.

A charge filled the air, and she glanced at the sky. Clear blue, meaning there wouldn't be lightning anywhere near them. But the sensation didn't come from above, anyway. It was closer to below. When she looked down, she found out why.

Strings of energy snaked between the various ingredients on each side of her. When the magic touched each component, they glowed the same orchid purple as the energy. The strings grew closer, and she realized the point of conversion would be right in front of her. She held a deep breath as she watched each end touch the bowls—

Something punched her straight in the gut, and the air rushed out of her. She folded at the waist. Her hands would have knocked over the bowls, but something held them fast within the water, refusing to let her yank them away. The needling sensation raced up her arms, along her shoulders, to her head—

Then nothing. All sensations vanished. She couldn't even feel the ship. A strange weightlessness made her stomach pitch. Fog settled over her surroundings, but color leaked into it, creating a blurred scene that she couldn't make out. She spotted mostly brown, so a wooden room perhaps? Maybe a ship?

The blobs of three people took shape next. One of those blobs grew more distinct by the second until, suddenly, he stood in front of her.

*****

Ash is trying to tap into her magic, but seems Roan just won't leave her alone v_v Also, more stuff on Willow and Linden!  Woot!  Linden's power has stayed the same between versions, but Willow originally created a type of stiffening goo because, originally, the siblings were inspired by Hanzel and Gretel, so she was the sugary sweets and he was the fire of the oven.  Fun facts for you today!

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D Let me know if you want to join!