I awoke the next day, feeling much better. My throat didn't feel as raw and the pain in my body had slowed to a dull ache, rather than it being a heavy pounding.

Astral snored a bit in my ear, his body sealed to mine. He had his arm around me, his chest rising and falling in my back. I felt so safe. Even his snoring didn't bother me. It soothed me.

I moved back a little, so we were closer, and his snoring stopped. His arm around me clenched me closer and he kissed me under my ear.

"Good morning," he whispered, no doubt still very tired.

"Good morning," I murmured back, fitting my fingers in between his.

"How're you feeling?"

"Much better. The tea helped a lot."

"You're genius with those remedies, Mars."

I felt warmth spread in my chest. This was a perfect way to start the morning. Him complimenting me, holding me close. I counted myself blessed and lucky every day I didn't wake up in the cell, and I'd probably continue to do so until the day I finally perished. If that day ever came.

"I missed you," he whispered. "I was afraid I lost you."

"I'm immortal..." I said hesitantly and turned around, facing him.

"I know, but... If it weren't for Zeke, we might've never found you. They could've kept you. Forever. I was so scared, Mars."

"I'm here now," I said as softly as my throat would allow me.

"Yeah," Astral said with a shaky voice. He hugged me closer. "I can't... Without you."

"You won't have to." I ran my fingers through his hair and softly kissed him. He was less gentle in returning the kiss, almost crushing my body to his. It was fierce and unlike him. He was pushing a lot of emotions into it, and I had no doubts he was serious about being afraid. I wasn't sure how he'd fare in this world without me. Or me without him. We had grown entirely co-dependent and had been for many years. We wouldn't function without each other. That went beyond love or romance. This was a bond so strong it didn't really have a proper word for it. It wasn't familiar – clearly family wasn't something that was bound by blood, but something that was actively chosen. We had chosen our family and we were it. Astral had chosen to let Zeke in too, as I had before him.

Family wasn't blood. It was chosen.

We left the city, and it was a relief. A carriage took us to the next city, a half a day's travel away. The further we got away from that awful town, the better I felt. And it felt like we were getting back on track with our studies.

Zeke peered into my notebook, probably trying to see what I was writing. I snorted and showed her.

"I'm noting down how mint tea helped me regain strength after my death," I explained. I had sketched the leaves onto the pages as well.

"You're a very talented artist, Mars," she said and smiled. "Can I see the rest?"

I closed the book and handed it to her. I kept notes on all of my remedies in it, hoping to maybe one day publish it as a medical journal. Maybe it could help others. I wanted to help others.

Since I wasn't a mage, I had thrown myself into the studies of healing without magic. It was taught at the college as well, as using magic drained the mages and they'd have to know how to heal themselves without the use of their powers. I had been the best in my class too. Many didn't take the class all that seriously because most could just heal themselves within minutes, but as I didn't have that choice, I learned this. It was one of the only classes that didn't require magic. It was also open to those studying medicine, so I wasn't even the only one without magic there.

"So, how come just brewing tea and using different herbs like this actually... Works?" Zeke asked and glanced up at me.

"Well, usually everyone has a tiny bit of magic. That's the theory anyways," Astral said. He was sitting next to me, with Zeke across from us. So far, he had been reading through his own notes, but our conversation seemed to have pulled him from his work. "So, this might not work for everyone who does it. There is a whole science to it as well as that one bit of magical touch. We know of mages who're technically mages, but their magic is so weak, it has only coloured their hair or eyes. For some, it's even just one eye or a strand of their hair."

"So, Mars does have some magic," Zeke concluded.

"Most likely, yeah. Enough for his remedies to be actually successful. And they're very successful too." Astral was almost beaming, smiling widely at me.

"The arch mage believed I might've had a little more magic in me than a regular person, but not enough to be a mage. It might also be a side-effect of my curse. I might've absorbed a little of the magic from whoever cursed me."

"Do you... Know who cursed you?" She was hesitant in her questioning, and I appreciated the sensitivity. Usually, people would just blurt it out with no regard of my feelings on the topic.

"No." I shook my head.

"Mars and I are from a generation where there were a lot of really bad mages. They'd curse random people. Kill entire families. A lot of the mages we went to college with have similar stories. Came from long lines of enormously powerful mages who were targeted by these bad mages and now there's just our classmates left."

Both Astral and I made the sign of the sun in front of our chests, showing respect for the dead. It was as simple as drawing a circle in the air not far from your heart. At this point it had become a habit, also used to fight off a jinx.

"What happened to the bad mages?" Zeke asked, handing me my notebook back.

"The military. I reckon that's why the other town had so many soldiers. Probably a town that used to have a lot of mage families, and now not so much. Maybe they thought Mars was one of those bad mages. Maybe they're all just assholes. Who knows?" Astral shrugged.

"I'm gonna maybe go with a bit of both there," she said, the side of her mouth curling up.

"You're already learning." Astral looked almost proud.

The next town wasn't as much a town as it was a cluster of houses. It was barely a village, but this was as far as the carriage would take us. We were grateful and paid the driver handsomely. He promised to ask around if anyone could take us further in the morning. Until then, we could sleep at the inn. It was lucky this was a well-travelled road, because basically every village and town had an inn. And they were always well-stocked since there were always hungry and tired travellers.

The inn was the largest house in the city, with a nice porch outside of it, so you could sit and enjoy your food in the sun.

I put my specks on the second we left the darkness of the carriage and squinted at the inn. Mayflower Inn was written with a beautiful font on a sign, hanging above the small roof covering the porch.

We got keys to our rooms and were quick to order food too. I was starving all the time these days. Who would've thought dying made someone so hungry?

We opted for sitting outside. Me in the shade and Zeke and Astral chose the two sunny spots by the round table. Astral handed me some of my skin lotion as my face started to feel hot. I was probably getting a little red already, despite not sitting in the direct sun.

"It's to keep my skin from burning," I explained, taking off my specks while rubbing the lotion on my face. Zeke might as well get all the information now rather than forcing her to awkwardly ask. "I can get sunburns easily because I'm so pale. But only on the pale spots."

"What about the discolouration?" Zeke asked and very gently touched my knuckles.

"It's how I scar. I don't get scar tissue the same way you do. My skin heals itself, but it gets this off-colour."

"And it doesn't burn as much as the skin that isn't discoloured?"

"No. It also tans. The discolourations. The rest of my skin doesn't. But it's all very sensitive."

Astral's hand moved, his fingers fitting in between mine. "There are perks to that too." He smirked at me, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"So, besides the skin condition and the immortality, you're a regular boy?" Zeke asked.

"Mars isn't a boy," Astral said a little too harshly. I appreciated it but he didn't have to be so harsh. I brought his hand up to my mouth, placing a kiss on his fingers. "He's just Mars, alright?"
Zeke nodded.

"But besides all that," I said and glanced at Astral. "Yes, I'm regular. Well, my eyes are quite sensitive as well, but I think that's unrelated. Might need glasses down the line, like everyone else though."

"You'd look cute in glasses," Astral mused.

"You have a real one-track mind," Zeke snorted.

"When it comes to Mars? I can't even deny that."He smiled oh so sweetly, thinking it'd probably make me all smitten. He wascorrect in his assumption.