Three days came and went much faster than Lucas had expected, not that he minded. Keeping his present secret from Fay had been torture, especially after Fay went out of her way to give him some late birthday gifts of his own.

  Sprawled out across his bed as the sun began to peak in through the curtains, Lucas smiled as he held his left arm up above his head, the light glimmering off the smooth silver of his new watch. His new magical watch. It was a gift that he knew he would treasure, and he had plans to potentially get the watch made magically durable as well in the future so that it wouldn’t break or get damaged.

  He and Fay had spent the whole day hanging out, traveling around Helstrum, and just relaxing for the day. As much as Lucas might have wanted to practice and train, he gave in to his friend’s request to take it easy for the day. Convincing Magnus hadn’t been that hard once Fay had gotten involved, the man didn’t last more than five seconds under the glare of the young blonde.

  By the end of the day, Fay had managed to wear down Lucas’ resistance, and he finally agreed to ease up on his training a bit. While he wasn’t going to stop entirely, he agreed to take at least a whole day each week to relax and allow his body and mind to recover.

  And after spending Tuesday relaxing, Lucas had to admit that he woke up feeling much more relaxed and ready for the day on Wednesday. Despite his drive to improve and learn as much as he could, Fay had managed to drive it through his thick head that he needed to pace himself, at least a little.

  But once Wednesday rolled around, Lucas went back to work. Rather than go about his usual routine, he ended up tracking down Sasha first. Magnus’ advice to talk to the brunette hadn’t been forgotten and he kept thinking about the sort of things he could do to make a combat style of his own.

  He and Sasha weren’t the closest of friends, but after settling their differences the two had at least warmed up to one another. It helped that neither of them wanted to fight and cause Fay any issues.

  Grabbing a small, quarter-sized disk of metal from his bedside table, Lucas smiled as he began to roll the disk over his fingers with his left hand. His pace started out slow, but after a few times he increased his speed slightly. He kept it going until he made a mistake and the coin slipped from his fingers onto the bed. Then, he grabbed the disk of metal and began his practice again, starting slow and steadily speeding up.

  Sasha had been able to give him some advice that he needed, and the coin-like disk of metal he’d gotten Magnus to make for him was the perfect practice tool that he could even do when relaxing. Though, it was debatable whether Fay would let him pull it off on one of his ‘days off’. But the lessons that Sasha had taught him to help work towards wielding his blade in either hand were invaluable and still fresh in his mind.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “You want me to do what?” Sasha asked as she looked over at Lucas.

  “You’re ambidextrous, right? I need to learn how to be ambidextrous, too, so can you teach me?”

  Sasha just gawked at the other teen, glancing between him and Fay as the three sat in some chairs in Fay’s backyard. The request had baffled the brunette, and she’d clearly not been expecting it.

  “Ok, first off, where did you even hear about that, and two, what do you expect me to be able to do? I didn’t learn this from scratch; I was good at it already as a kid.” Sasha replied.

  “Magnus mentioned it to me after we sparred,” Lucas replied. “And I’m hoping you can give me some advice so I can figure out how to do it myself.”

  “Say that I could offer you any advice, why do you even want to learn that in the first place? Shouldn’t you be focusing on learning how to fight, first?” She asked.

  “Well,” Lucas replied with a challenging grin as he slowly drew the practice sword he was working with. “I could tell you, but it’d be way more fun to show you why I want to learn.”

  “Now you’re speaking my language!” Sasha responded with a grin of her own. If there was anything that Lucas had figured out about the brunette so far, it was that Sasha was always eager for a fight or a good sparring session.

  The match that followed didn’t go much better than Lucas’ first attempt against Sasha had. He still lost handily and wound up with her blade at his throat. But she didn’t win the fight unscathed like the first time. While Lucas’ trick with his illusions hadn’t worked against Magnus, he’d managed to trick Sasha and land a solid blow against her when he’d pulled his trick.

  Of course, after that Sasha had chosen to take him seriously and began using her magic to close the gap between them faster than Lucas could react. It wasn’t even thirty seconds after he’d smacked Sasha with his blade before he was on the dirt, defeated.

  The loss stung, but not as badly as it had the first time. He was making progress, and Sasha even agreed to help him with his idea once he’d explained it.

  She wasn’t a perfect teacher, though. The brunette was naturally ambidextrous, and while she’d practiced to get better, she had a good grip of it from the start. Her advice for Lucas had been fairly simple at first. Use his left hand for everything he’d usually use his right, such as opening doors, eating, grabbing things, every basic task he had to use his left hand instead. And then she tossed him a coin and showed him how to roll it between his fingers.

  “It helps with fine control. Work on it till you can do it just as easily in both hands. And try doing all your sword exercises again with your left hand after you’re done with them normally. It’ll build up the muscles in your left so that you can use it just as well as your right,” She’d suggested.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  He’d spent all of Wednesday and Thursday working on that, practicing with the weapon exercises that Magnus had shown him and playing around with the metal coin while he was cooling down and resting. He even got to practice with his magic as well, working to create a stable illusion of his right hand doing the same motions as his left.

  He hadn’t made any massive leaps or bounds in his progress, but he was able to roll the coin around on his left hand at a steady pace already. The hardest part of it all had been remembering to use his left hand for daily tasks rather than his right.

  As he went to spin the small disk across his fingers again, he was interrupted by a small ball of fur jumping onto his chest, pushing the air from his lungs.

  “Dusk!” He pushed at the little fox, rolling her off his chest and back onto the bed. Rather than look upset, the familiar just looked smugly back at him.

  “Guess you’re eager for today, too, huh?” He asked, reaching down and rubbing behind Dusk’s ears.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  She yipped at him, leaning in to lick his face before jumping off the bed and bounding across the room to his new backpack where he’d hidden away his gift for Fay.

  “I know, I know. You’re really excited.”

  Lucas laughed as he got to his feet. He grabbed the bag when Dusk dragged it over to his feet, and he pulled out a small, wrapped box that held his gift. He’d been lucky enough to get some help from Lissa to get his gift wrapped before Fay’s birthday.

  After checking it over, Lucas tossed the present back into his bag and made his way towards the kitchen. Dusk followed close behind, but the moment she caught a whiff of breakfast cooking, the fox bolted ahead, much to Lucas’ amusement.

  As he expected, he found his familiar perched upon his usual seat at the table, already digging into a small plate of bacon that had been prepared for her. But the big surprise was seeing Lissa sitting at the table while Magnus stood by the stove, cooking.

  “Morning, Lucas,” Lissa greeted the young man.

  “Morning, Lissa. Morning, Magnus.” He replied.

  “Mornin, kid. Breakfast should be ready in a few minutes,” The man said over his shoulder.

  “What is breakfast? And aren’t you usually the one making breakfast?” Lucas asked as he turned to Lissa.

  “I usually make breakfast, but it’s Fay’s birthday and we like to make some of her favorite meals on her birthday. Ever since she’s been a kid Fay has absolutely loved how her father makes biscuits and gravy.”

  He knew that Magnus could make some pretty good meals since the man cooked somewhat often for dinners, but it was the first time Lucas was seeing him cook breakfast. But biscuits and gravy did sound pretty good.

  “You mind waking Fay up? Breakfast will be ready soon and it’s better eaten hot,” Magnus asked as he pulled a tray of biscuits out of the oven.

  “Got it,” Lucas replied. “Dusk, want to come along?”

  Silence greeted Lucas as the fox completely ignored him and continued to devour her plate of meat. Lucas just shook his head as Lissa giggled.

  “Should’ve expected that one,” He mumbled as he left the room.

  “Hey, Fay,” Lucas called after he knocked on the blonde’s door. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

  He could hear some shuffling inside the room, followed by a sudden ‘thud’.

  “Uh… Fay?”

  When only a quiet groan answered him, Lucas opened the door a crack and took a quick look inside. He was worried at first but soon ended up having to muffle his laughter instead.

  “You… You ok?” He asked between chuckles.

  Fay was sprawled out on the floor beside her bed, her limbs tangled up in the sheets that she’d slept in. The blonde’s hair was a bit of a mess, hiding half her face as she sent him a tired glare.

  “You saw nothing,” She threatened as she pointed at him. It would have been more terrifying if the blonde wasn’t blushing while still trying to untangle her legs from her bedsheets.

  “Saw what?” He replied as his shoulders shook.

  After a few seconds, Lucas took some pity on Fay and slipped into the room. Between the two of them, Fay was soon free of her vicious sheets and Lucas was helping her up to her feet.

  “So, what were you saying before?” She asked.

  “Oh! Yeah, your dad is making breakfast. It’s probably ready by now.”

  “Dad’s making breakfast? He barely ever does that. What’s he making?”

  “Biscuits and gr-”

  Before Lucas could even finish, Fay vanished in a blur and Lucas was left standing alone in the room.

  “Guess she’s hungry,” He joked to himself.

  By the time that he got back to the kitchen, Fay had already taken a seat and was ravenously devouring a heaping plate of sausage gravy covered biscuits.

  “Hurry up and eat before she eats your portion,” Magnus joked as he took his own plate.

  Laughing, lifted a content Dusk and placed her in his lap as he took a seat. Without any hesitation, he dug into his own plate of food and found out why Fay loved the meal so much. Magnus really knew how to make a delicious meal. Fay finished first, but Lucas didn’t take too much longer to finish his own portion.

  “Training is on pause today, by the way,” Magnus said as he looked over at Lucas.

  “Kinda figured,” Lucas replied. “Got more fun things to focus on today.”

  As much as Lucas wanted to train, seeing the bright smile on Fay’s face made it worth putting things off for a day. It was her birthday, and he wanted to help make it special for Fay.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The day had gone incredibly well, at least in Lucas’ opinion. While Fay claimed to not have too many friends, plenty of people wished her a happy birthday when they saw her. And quite a few people had even stopped by the house to give some birthday wishes or to drop off some gifts. Predictably, Sasha showed up shortly after breakfast and spent the whole day hanging out with the other two teens.

  Thomas and Jessica, Sasha’s parents, showed up later in the afternoon with gifts and well-wishes for Fay as well. The two were incredibly kind and sweet people, as Lucas came to find out. Thomas was a clerk for the Trade Guild while Jessica apparently worked as a chef in one of Helstrum’s local restaurants. So, it wasn’t much of a surprise when she’d joined Lissa in the kitchen when it came time for dinner to be made.

  Leonidas showed up at one point, though he didn’t stay for long. He left behind a gift and promised Fay a chance at getting tested for the Hunter’s Guild whenever she wanted. He’d shared a single handshake with Magnus before taking his leave soon after.

  Even George and Henry, the two gate guards, managed to stop by and wish Fay a happy birthday before their usual shifts at the gates.

  It had been a good day, full of jokes, laughter, games, gifts, and good food. Lucas barely saw Fay without a smile on her face the whole day. As he came to find out, turning eighteen was the major milestone in the magical world. It was the age where mages could officially join up with any of the guilds and was seen as the age of adulthood in the eyes of the magical community.

  By the time dinner came around, Lucas was tired from a long day of partying and fun. Even Fay’s boundless energy was looking drained, but she got excited when she saw the feast of her favorite foods that Lissa and Jessica had made.

  The finale to the night came when Magnus brought out a large, delicious looking chocolate cake. Eighteen candles decorated the cake along with a golden bird in flight. The words, ‘Happy Birthday Fayth’ were written in royal blue icing to finish it off.

  “Fayth?” Lucas asked as he looked at his friend.

  “It’s my full name. I like Fay more, so I never really go by my full name,” She sheepishly admitted.

  “I think Fayth sounds sweet,”

  When his words got a faint blush from Fay, Sasha took full advantage to tease the blonde as the candles were lit.

  Luckily for Fay, blowing out the candles and eating cake distracted Sasha from teasing her any further. And then the time for presents came around. Quite a few of the items that Fay got, Lucas didn’t quite recognize or understand what they did, but some he did.

  Sasha gifted the blonde a pair of golden bracelets that she explained would always allow them to find each other. The bracelets were linked to one another, and a small application of mana would have the bracelets pull in the direction that the other was. It wasn’t anything overly complex, but it had gotten Sasha a massive hug from Fay.

  Magnus and Lissa gave Fay their gifts together. From Magnus, she got a set of six deadly looking pitch-black throwing knives and from Lissa, she was given a beautifully made bandolier to hold those new knives. The two went on to explain that the bandolier and knives were inscribed with runes that made them always return to the bandolier when thrown. The knives, made of obsidian, were also insanely sharp and were enchanted to be far more durable than normal. The holster, likewise, was made to be durable enough to hold those sharp knives.

  Fay hadn’t wasted any time putting the bandolier on, proudly displaying the hard work of her parents.

  And then, finally, it was Lucas’ turn.

  “We haven’t known each other for very long,” Lucas admitted as he held out his present for Fay to take. “But I think I’ve known you long enough to get an idea of what you’d like. Happy birthday, Fay. I hope you put them to good use.”

  When Fay opened his gift, she and everyone else seemed a bit confused when she pulled out the pair of sleek aviator-style goggles. It made sense, since Jack had said that the goggles were something he’d only made recently. It felt weird to be the one explaining something magical, but he told Fay and the rest about what the goggles could do and how useful they’d be for a mage who could fly.

  She clearly agreed with Lucas’ idea as she threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug so tight that Lucas swore he could feel his ribs cracking. But he still hugged Fay back, happy beyond words when he saw the bright, beaming smile on her lips and the joy shining in her eyes. The gift wasn’t just something to help her, it was a sign that Lucas believed that she would be able to fly one day.

  All in all, Lucas felt like it had been a really good birthday. But as the party wound down and Fay spent some time talking to her parents, Lucas couldn’t help but wonder if his eighteenth birthday would have looked something similar if he hadn’t left that day.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~