"A mage on the mountain?" Keefe asked and frowned a bit.

"Yeah, she might be able to help." Astral shoved a piece of steamed potato in his mouth.

"A priest at the temple said she might help," I explained further.

"So, are we going?" Zeke asked and took a sip of her water.

"We're not. If anyone's going it's going to be me and Mars. Not you two. It might be dangerous."

"If it is dangerous, you shouldn't be going alone." Keefe waved a bit at us. "I am here to protect you, yeah?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm with Astral on this. It's something we have to do on our own. If it is dangerous, we know how to take care of ourselves. I mean, I literally can't die and Astral is an immensely powerful mage. I don't want to put anyone in danger. I know you're both very capable and have done marvellously in the past, but this isn't about that." I poked a bit at my food and sighed. "We started this journey together in the hopes of finding the roots to The Sight. Maybe find a way to make it easier for Astral to just... Be. We need to finish this as we started it. And after that. After that we'll be a proper family. And we'll travel the whole nation. Maybe the whole world."

Zeke didn't look too convinced, Keefe nodded very enthusiastically, and Astral was leaning his cheek against his hand.

"Mars, your nesting syndrome is showing."

I snorted at first and then laughed. The others did too.

"So what if I wanna make a nice little travelling home for our family. Someone needs to be the responsible adult around here."

"Yes, mother hen. We are but your little chicklets." He chuckled and leaned in, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek.

"I've done some more reading," Astral said and sat down next to me.

I was getting very distracted by how handsome he looked in the dimmed lighting of the library. It was hard to focus on anything when he looked that good. He had pulled the top half of his hair back into a messy bun, letting the rest curl around his throat and ears. The last time he had done his hair like that was the night of the festival. Where he had complimented my make-up and hadn't been able to keep his hands off me. I needed to do more with my looks. Especially when he acted like he did that night.

"Are you listening?" he asked and fought down a smile.

"Always."

"Right, so I found this book about a lot of different cultures, yeah?"

I nodded and imagined what he'd do if I wore the same outfit again with the same make-up. Or if I didn't wear anything but the make-up.

"And in it they talk about gender and gender performance, right?"

I nodded and snapped out of it. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, and it outlined like how some people are like male or female but switch over."

"Right, like Gem at college."

Gem had been the only girl at our all-boys college. It wasn't exactly unheard of and she had switched over to the girl's college once her application went through. Just like Auro had switched from the girl's college to ours.

"Yeah, like Gem. But then it also went on to describe how some don't fit the binary. Like neither male nor female. Outside of that. And some don't fit any gender at all. Like, they don't ascribe to any. They're..."

"Like me," I said and bit down on my lip.

"Yeah." Astral smiled widely and showed me the book. "Look. Agender. Like, they use the A in front of it like in 'affluent'. Or asocial. Okay those are bad examples, but doesn't that sound a lot like you? Agender?"

"I..." I choked up a little and nodded. "I... I didn't even know you knew this much about what... I was thinking."

He smiled and put his arm around my shoulders. "Then you're an idiot."

"I just didn't explain a whole lot about it."

"You said enough." He shrugged and kissed my cheek.

"And you just stumbled over this book?"

"Maybe not so much 'stumbled' as 'I asked for recommendations from the librarian'." He put on a winning smile, showing off all the pearly whites.

"But... Why?"

"I wanted to understand better, and I realise I might've not been the most supportive. You're very important to me and I wanted to understand better."

I grabbed his face and kissed him. Deeply. And for a long time. "Thank you."

"It's nothing to thank me for. I mean, we're writing a whole thesis about my visions so we might find a way to make the side-effects easier. This was the least I could do."

"I love you," I said before I could stop myself.

Astral widened his eyes and moved back a little, looking absolutely stunned. He swallowed hard and opened his mouth, just to close it again.

"You... You don't have to say it back," I hurried to say. "But I've been wanting to say it. For a while. A long time. A really long time."

He leaned in and kissed me, but only briefly. "I want to wait for the right time. And not just say it because you said it first. Is that alright?"

I nodded and smiled. "You kind of already said it without saying it."

"But I want it to matter the first time I say it. Like... It needs to mean something."

"Just don't wait too long, alright? I grow impatient and who knows. Maybe there's another green-haired, arrogant, smart-mouthed, not-very-tall boy out there for me."

He laughed softly and kissed me. "There's no one like me."

"I know," I breathed.

I sat with Zeke and went through the different remedies in my rucksack, teaching her which one helped with which problem or ailment.

"Are you going to go to the mage?" Zeke asked just as I was showing her some fire-root.

"I don't know," I said and carefully rewrapped the root. One wrong move and it'd explode if it weren't carefully wrapped.

"What do you want?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "I honestly don't know. If there's a mage who can help Astral, then I'd wanna go. But the way the priest talked about this mage... I don't know. Sounds like bad news, to be honest."

"Like one of the bad mages?"
"Maybe? I just have a bit of a bad feeling about it."

"Your gut is rarely lying. I'd listen to it if I were you." She gave me a saying look.

"How are you this wise?"

"I've got The Sight," she said and then smirked at me. "I'm not wise, Mars. I'm just trying to put myself in your situation and see what I'd do." She pulled her knees up to her chest and circled her arms around her legs. "And I care about you two. I'd hate to see you put yourselves in harm's way."

"I mean, we'll be fine. We're both capable of taking care of ourselves."

"Sure, but I don't wanna see you die again. It didn't... It looked really painful for you."

I smiled and patted her elbow. "What Astral goes through is worse though, because it happens so frequently."

"I guess." She sighed a bit and then stretched her legs out again. She wasn't tall but she had really long limbs. She was graceful to watch.

"How are you doing?" I asked and carefully brought out some rose petals. "Rose petals are really good for your skin, by the way. I use rose oil for mine when it gets burned."

"I'll remember that." She smiled at me. "And I'm alright."

"You sure? You've been through a lot and I'd hate if you didn't think you could talk about it with me. Also, you can tell me to bugger off if you don't wanna talk."

She sighed deeply. "I guess I was kind of hoping my mum would look for me. That'd I go home and resume my regular life and we'd never be bothered by the visions again."

"Are you bothered by the visions?" I asked, concerned. I realised I hadn't really asked Zeke a whole lot about how she was feeling, and I was feeling like the worst friend in the world.

"Sometimes. Not like Astral but it's not like it's pleasant to go through them. Astral is good at helping me though. He's been a really great mentor. Even told me about ginger tea and how it helps with the headaches."

"I'm sorry I haven't asked more about this sooner," I muttered and poked at a knot on the wooden floor.

"Honestly, you've had your own things to think about. And you take care of Astral a lot, so I reckon there's not a whole lot of people who ask how you're doing either."

I bopped my head from one side to another. "Astral is there for me. He always has been."

"You two also gotta realise, it's not just you two against the world anymore. Keefe and I are here too, you know? You don't have to worry or take care of us. I mean, it's really nice you want to, but we can also take care of you for a bit, yeah?"

I nodded having a hard time looking at her. I was sure if I met her gaze, I'd start crying my eyes out. It was really odd to feel so... Cared for by anyone but Astral. I had been so alone for so long and then there was Keefe and Zeke, and they were so nice. It was still such a foreign feeling for me. Having friends. Multiple friends.

"Thank you, Zeke," I murmured and held my hand out towards her. She slipped hers in mine and gave it a squeeze.

"We're family now. Family looks out for each other. Now, rose petals. What did they do?"

I smiled and continued her lesson.