Author's Note: And, the solution you've all been dying to read! *drum roll*....

I could see that Isabella was really uncertain what she wanted to do, and for some odd reason, her uncertainty made me smirk. The more she seemed to fret over what she was going to do, the more I found the corners of my mouth twitching, until finally I just couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore. I’m sorry, Izzy, but if you’re going to giggle at me all the time, then I guess it’s only fair that I get to return the favor sometime.

“It’s not funny!” She pouted and stomped her tiny bare boot on the ground. “I was being serious. I’m not certain what I want to do, or what would be best! To learn them all for versatility, or to train just a few for more reliable usability!” She pouted her lip out and me and looked almost ready to cry again. I was beginning to wonder If she was close to THAT time, since she seemed so emotional. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more the idea bothered me. It bothered me more than the choice which seemed to have her all undecided at the moment.

“Izzy.” I coughed a few times uncomfortably. How the heck was a guy supposed to ask a girl about such things? Finally, I just bit my lip hard enough to make it lightly bleed, and then I swallowed down the lump in the back of my throat. Sometimes a man just did what a man had to do.

“Izzy,” I tried again. “Are you, by chance, near… umm… THAT time?”

“That time?” She looked at me with a puzzled look.

“Umm.. You know.” Why was trying to ask about such a thing so impossible for a guy?!

She just stared at me blankly.

“Youperiod.Areyouclosetoyourperiod?” I just blurted the whole thing out in one sudden blob or rushed speech. She looked even more confused than ever. Finally, deciding I had to just man up and say it, I forced myself to talk slowly. Probably too slowly. “Your. Period. Are. You. Close. To. Your. Period?” Why the heck couldn’t I say such a thing normally? Curse my stupid man-mouth!

Isabella just blinked and looked at me like I was a stupid little Creeperboy Bugman. At least that’s how it felt to me. I guess I can’t blame her. She’s trying to talk about what magic to learn, and suddenly I’m asking about her period. I’m such an idiot.

“I’m not.” She finally answered me, sounding puzzled. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was thinking that, umm… you know… THAT time.. THAT time might be terrible in this new world.”

She asked, “Why? I’m certain that I can handle any cramping or anything like that. I always have. Unless you think those cracks might somehow change things for a woman?”

“Well,” I was starting to blush. This type of talk didn’t suit me at all. “There is that. We don’t know how the changes to your body is going to affect you doing that time now, but that wasn’t what I was worried about. Do you know why men were often the hunters and such in tribal days? It’s because a woman’s blood smell could attract predators or alert prey. What are we going to do when you have those bloody days? We might not always be in a ‘safe-zone’ like it seems like we are now.” I was actually worried about the issue quite a bit. What to learn, that didn’t bother me so much – eventually learn them all! But, having a week each month that said, ‘Here I am monsters, come eat me.’, didn’t sound very appealing at all to me.

And, much to my surprise, it was Isabella who laughed out loud this time! I swear, I’ll never understand a woman! Fret over what to learn, but not whether your body might betray you and get you on a monster’s meal list.

Seeing my puzzled look, she just smiled. “No need to worry about that. At least not anymore.”

“Why’s that?” I asked confused.

“Thanks to my class, it’s something I don’t have to worry about. I’m a LifeStealer. Apparently, from what I was reading in that book, that means I even steal the life out of my own bodies. I’m 100% barren and eggless, if I use my magic. The only way a LifeStealer female can have a child is if they don’t use ANY of their magic until after they’ve conceived and then delivered the child. There was even a tale in there of a Lady Madelyn who was nearly ready to deliver and had to use her magic to fight off bandits. She consumed her own child doing so, and then became known as Mad Madelyn the Banditslayer after that.”

Her voice trailed off to silence for a moment and then shook her head to clear her thoughts before she continued quietly. “So see, you don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have that worry now. At least not until I decide to stop using magic completely for a while. But,“ she leaned over and hugged me, and I have to admit, I was starting to get used to enjoying the feel of her soft melons pressed up against my chest, “thank you for worrying about me.” She leaned up and gently bit me on my left ear once, before stepping back once again with a slight smile on her face.

“To be honest, that’s one of those things that my mother used to call a ‘Worrisome Relief’. It’s a relief for right now, as we don’t have to worry about anything during that time, but it’s going to be something to worry over later. Can we ever be certain that anyplace in this world will stay safe for a whole year?”

“But, I guess we’ll cross that bridge whenever we come to it.” I tried to sound strong and certain for her. After all, that’s what a man is supposed to do at a time like this. “And, since you cleared up that worry for me, I think I can clear up yours.”

“How’s that?” She asked while slightly chewing on her bottom lip.

“Simple.” I leaned over and flicked her on the nose. “BIP! Problem solved.”

She just blinked and look at me all puzzled, which made me laugh. “You’re overthinking the problem. You’re trying to decide which thing to do to maximize your growth potential, when it’s impossible for you at the moment. You’re trying to predict this, and compare that, and weigh choices against which is the best…. And you can’t possibly do that, as you don’t have enough information at the moment!

“For starters, you haven’t even truly casted ONE spell yet. How can you worry about which one you want to learn next? You don’t know how quickly you can improve the spells, as you haven’t had the one you know even successfully cast yet, much less improve! We simply don’t even know how hard it is to learn and improve the magic you *almost* have yet. You’re jumping the gun on worrying about what else to learn until you learn more about this spell, and the process behind how it works.

“So, here’s your solution,” I told her. “Spend a day or so to improve the spell you currently have. See how hard it is to get it where you can make use of it. See how quickly you can improve it. And only THEN, worry about making the decision on what to do next. You’re trying to decide on what order to do sixteen different things in – learn eight skills, and improve eight skills. What you need to be focused on is simply, ‘What is the NEXT thing I need to do.’ Anything beyond that might change at any time, considering the world we live in now.”

Slowly, she nodded in agreement with me. “You’re right. I’m getting ahead of myself. One thing at a time. I guess I should give it a try again and see if I can do it right this time!” She was starting to sound enthused again, and was starting to bounce back up onto her tippy toes. I have to admit, I find that to be a cute habit as well.

“Wait a moment!” I rushed to interrupt her before she could begin her chant again. “How much energy did you use last time, when you failed?”

“Umm… Stats!” She stared off into space for a moment and then answered. “Two points. I have 98 MP left now.”

Two points to toss a ball of fire wasn’t bad, but that was just with a fizzle. We’d have to wait and see what it cost to cast the actual spell itself, or if it was any difference at all. Satisfied with her answer, I told her, “Then eat my life.”

“Now?” She sounded puzzled by my demand.

“Yep. Now’s an excellent time. You’re only down by two points, so we can see how much of my life it takes to refill your energy. You shouldn’t kill me or anything major, if it’s just two points.”

“Oh!” She brightened a little, seeing my logic. “You’re right. But are you certain you want me to do this?”

I just nodded and asked, “So, do I need to do anything?”

“Just stand there and let me touch you,” she replied.

Slowly Isabella came over and leaned in and gave me another tight hug. She closed her eyes as she leaned up against me, and nothing happened for a few moments. I’ve got to admit, standing there like that wasn’t so bad while it lasted. But then, finally, I started to feel a warmth seep into my back where her hands were wrapped around me.

At first, it wasn’t so uncomfortable. It was almost pleasant, in fact. But then the warmth started growing and getting a little more painful. Nothing so major as to be unbearable, it was very similar to the burning warmth you feel on your chest after you go to sleep on the beach and lay out in the sun too long. A burning, prickling sting that seems to ever so slowly seep a little deeper under the skin.

As the sunburn feeling was spreading where her hands were, I noticed that what looked like blue little sparks of static electricity arced off the ends of her hair where it was disheveled around her neck and face. In fact, I was so immersed in watching the little sparkle fest that I almost forgot to pay attention to the time it took before she finally quit.

“Two minutes,” is what I told her when the sparkles in her hair stopped and the warmth that was feeding my sunburn quit spreading on my back. “So currently, it takes you a minute per point of magic to recharge. You could steal sixty points in an hour from me, but I heal twenty…

“Which leads me to the conclusion that you’re not going to be killing me anytime soon with that ability right now. It hurts a bit, and it’s annoying, but it’s not unbearable. We’ll be able to do this!”

Isabella just kept hugging onto me, so I wrapped my arms around her in return and held her for several long moments. Finally I coughed a few times and cleared my throat. Heck, after the ‘Are you on your period?’ chat, I think I could get out just about anything right now, so I just had to say something.

“Izzy, if I can ask, just why the heck are you running around naked in here? I wanted to take care of the clothes, not do without them. Somehow it seems like you misunderstood me.” My cheeks were flushing, but holding her close against me she couldn’t see it, so that was alright for now.

She was quiet for a moment, and then she spoke in a whisper in my ear. “If you want to know the truth, at first I did it because I was afraid of you. The way you looked when you first showed up, and how you made me strip. I was kind of scared that getting dressed might offend you somehow and then I didn’t know what’d happen.” She snuggled into my shoulder and hugged me tightly.

“Of course, I’m not worried about that now that I’ve gotten to know you better,” she reassured me.

She was quiet for a moment, and I was left to wonder why she was still dressed like she was for a bit longer, before she spoke again. “But now, “ she sighed slightly. “Now, I honestly don’t think I can wear them.”

“Huh?” I wasn’t expecting her to say anything odd like that!

She sighed deeply with her head nuzzled into my shoulder. “Ever since that book has changed me, I’ve been as weak as a new born. Lifting just about anything is impossible for me now. I just don’t have the strength to hardly lift up the frying pan to cook sometimes… And, I guess it makes sense, considering what we thought about the stats. If a twenty was the peak of human performance in one direction, then a zero must be the peak of human performance in the other direction. So, on a scale of zero to twenty, with zero being an invalid and twenty being an Olympic weightlifter, I’m a two now.

“Just putting on one of those dresses feels like it drags me down. Like wearing a lead lab coat when you work in the X-Ray department all day long. It just wears on you, and I figured it was better to get used to being naked than tired. So, I decided to just do without for now and deal with it later.

Ruefully she sighed lightly. “It seems like it’s ‘deal with it later’ for just about everything, but that’s just the way it is right now.”

“But,” she giggled that lighthearted titter of hers once again into my ear. “It’s not too difficult to adjust to right now. I’ve been to a lot of beaches and stuff with father when he traveled, and a string bikini doesn’t cover the most anyway. Once you decide it’s not so bad, you can get used to it easily enough. To be honest, I find my hair more distracting to me, than the lack of clothes. I keep seeing those silver strands and try plucking them to see what they are before I realize it’s just my own hair.”

Ohhhh! It made sense to me now, but I have to admit, her answer bothered me. If she was that puny, she couldn’t pull herself up a rope or climb a tree in an emergency. She probably couldn’t even carry one of those packs that I’d gathered for her, once it had anything in it. That book had given her the magic of Merlin, and the strength of a mouse!

Luckily, I was thinking, once we level her up later, she can pump some points into strength. It shouldn’t cost much to go up from two to five, or something like that, and that should make a heckuva difference in what she could lift and carry for now.

We stayed like that, just holding each other, for several long moments enjoying the quiet comfort of each other. Finally though, Isabella pushed herself back away from me and then put her hands on her hips and wiggled. Then giggling lightly, she skipped over and sat down on the ground cross-legged near the coffee table.

“Don’t you have work to do?” She asked. “I’ve got magic to practice, and you just standing there like a lump on a log isn’t helping anything. Go finish skinning those rats and get them out of here before they stink us out of the only safe room on this side of the school!”

Blinking, I just nodded my head. “Yes ma’am. Right away ma’am. Whatever you say, ma’am.” Grumbling, I turned and walked back over to the kitchen counter and started back in on the dog-rat I’d half finished earlier.

I muttered under my breath, “I thought you were supposed to be the one that I told what to do, ma’am…”, but somehow Isabella must’ve heard me as she just giggled back at me in response.