Kiro lounged on his bed, letting out a relaxed sigh as he drifted off to sleep. Finally, after a week of stress and pain, it was all over, and he could just do nothing.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

Something was going on across the room, but he just turned over and ignored the noise. He’d address it when he woke up, and plus, his doors were locked. It wasn’t as if anyone could —

A red-and-black blur tackled him, and he yelped, falling off of his bed and onto the hard wooden floor.

“Kiro, you did it! You actually did it!” Seira squeezed him even tighter, and he tapped her shoulder, struggling to inflate his lungs.

“I knew that you’d be able to! Oh, this is going to be so amazing, and —”

“Seira… can’t… breathe…”

“Oh, sorry!” She pulled away, and he coughed. “But I saw the new elixir in your alchemy chest!”

“How did you even get in here?”

“Your window! I was going to come in through your door, but I sensed you napping and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

He looked across his room, and sure enough, there was a new hole in his wall where his shutters used to rest.

“And you thought that jumping onto me would be less disruptive?” he teased.

“Well, I got excited, alright? Anyways... is that the one?” Seira grabbed his shoulders, and he grinned.

“The one I’ve been working on for the past month.”

She cheered, throwing her arms up and blowing a puff of fire in an exaggerated victory pose. That position proved unstable, however, and she toppled backwards a second later.

“So,” she giggled, effortlessly jumping to her feet, “did my notes help?”

“They did! Once I figured out that the frostfrond could neutralize the fire aspect instead of clashing with it, it was just a matter of trial and error. It’s —”

His stomach growled, and he looked hungrily towards his kitchen. “Ah, I haven’t eaten since last night.”

“Actually, I haven’t either. Elder Fang wanted me to spar with his students at lunch, and then my advisors took me to study, and then some Scouts wanted lessons, which led to me lecturing a whole crowd of Warriors… Ooh, how about I make us some soup?”

Visions of the charred mess that had occurred the last time he’d let her cook flashed in his mind, and he grabbed her by the arms, pushing her back onto the bed.

"Here, how about I make the soup. You can help me by grabbing some sparkleaf."

"Fine." she rolled her eyes, sorting through his alchemical ingredients. "I don't understand why my cooking is so much worse at your house, Kiro. It’s usually pretty good!"

She threw him the correct bag, and he popped a handful of the green-and-yellow herb into his mouth. Its rejuvenating effects began to course through him, and he gave a satisfied sigh. "Hmm. What do you normally do for a soup like this?"

"I cut the meat and veggies, and then I torch the pot for a few minutes?"

He laughed, throwing the bag back at her. "Seira, for non-mana infused food, you actually need to prepare it and cook it a specific way, because the fire mana won't break it down for you. Also, have you ever seasoned your dishes?"

"Hey!" she puffed out her cheeks, "I use seasoning!"

"Like what?"

"Uhh… dayspore?"

He snorted, withdrawing a bit of salted meat from his cabinets. "Seira, that's an alchemical herb, and way too bitter to use in a soup."

"Alright, so maybe I'm not the best at cooking without mana. But more importantly, how did the harvests go after I left?"

He frowned. “It went relatively well. The Elders sent another supervisor in — I didn’t know them, but anything is better than Supervisor Ba."

"Finally! I swear, that woman makes me so angry!" Seira crossed her arms, sitting back down on his bed.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Did you follow through on your threat?"

She nodded, anxiously rubbing her Brave mark. "Yeah, I did. She’s always been a corrupt hag, but blatantly stealing spirit stones from a worker? Agh. I only wish I could do more."

He finished preparing the ingredients and placed the pot into his fireplace, giving her a smile. "It’s alright, Seira. You’re doing all you can. By the way, could I get a little help with this fire?"

"Oh, mhm!" She put out her hand, shooting a stream of flames into the opening. "There you go. Nice and hot."

“Perfect. Now, the elixir?” He walked back to the chest, picking up the glowing white liquid.

“Yeah! Will it get you to the First Level?”

“Well, it’s not that simple, but that’s the gist of it. Before I use it, though, could you test it out? It should be less volatile than normal fire mana, so you shouldn't have any problems controlling it."

"I'm hearing a lot of shoulds in there," she said with a smirk.

"Yes, well, I'm treading new ground with this elixir. All my research points to the compound being safe, and I've done extensive tests on less potent versions, but I understand if —"

"Kiro, I was just teasing! I trust you." Seira took the vial from him, removing the cork with her teeth. "How much should I drink?"

He grabbed another sheet of parchment and sat down next to her. "Just try a little for now."

"Alright. Here goes!" She tilted the potion, letting a couple drops fall to her tongue. "It's different from a normal mana elixir. It's weaker, but not like it's diluted. The mana itself is calmer."

He furiously scribbled notes onto the parchment. “Good, good. That’s exactly what it should feel like.”

“Mmm. Circulating it through now.” She closed her eyes, adopting a cultivating position.

A few minutes passed, and they sat in silence as she finished processing the elixir. Finally, she opened her eyes, and he looked at her. “Did it pass through your channels smoothly? Did it do anything weird to your existing mana?”

"Kiro."

He dropped his notes, grabbing her in a panic. "Seira! Did something go wrong? Are you ok?"

She laughed, hugging him. "No, silly! It's amazing!”

He let out a relieved sigh, poking her in the side. “Heavens, you scared me for a second. How so?”

She lifted the rest of the elixir, letting its glow wash over her. "It's weak, but you don't need anything strong just yet. If you just made a lot of them… Yeah, this will definitely do. And I swear, normal elixirs just don't compare to this one. It’s almost like the mana wants to help me! Can you show me how you did it?"

“Of course. You already know about how the fire releases from the crimson lotus, and how the heat of the burner agitates the dayspore into action, but the real interesting part happens after the frostfrond.”

Suddenly, Seira sat up, looking out the window.

He followed her gaze, taking in the beautiful mix of red and orange that dotted the sky. “Oh, it’s already almost sunset. I think the soup might have boiled over, but —”

“Eek! Sorry Kiro, I gotta go! I totally forgot I have to be somewhere at dusk!”

He turned towards her, but she was already out the door, sprinting away. How strange. The Hong almost never arranged meetings at night.

He chuckled, moving to take his soup off the fire. That was just part of being the clan genius, he supposed.