The night Kael had brought his smartphone had been one of the strangest nights in recent memory. Talking through text had felt strange, slow, and clunky at first, but he quickly began to enjoy the freedom of time. Composing his answers without pressure before sending them. In the end, they had set the meeting for Friday at 3 pm.

There was not much for Kael to do in the days leading up to the meeting. He had stubbornly tried to work on his magic by himself, but remained without progress. At the same time, he felt it a waste to look for work now. With magic on the horizon, there was no way he could concentrate on a normal job. So he was left with a lot of free time.

Visiting different districts of the city quickly became boring, and Kael decided to do something with his time. He had somewhat gotten used to his improved senses by now but had never really experimented with them. What exactly was improved? How far did the boost go? Then there were the questions about his body. Years of living alone on the street had seemingly been wiped away, leaving him as healthy, if not more so, as he should be. So he began to work out.

From the first hour of jogging through the empty streets in the morning, he was hooked. There was a kind of pure joy to running. In addition, the joy of feeling his healed body work again did its part, but what really got to him was the freedom of control he had. As he moved, he began to imagine people and things standing in the way. Dodging left, ducking right, and spinning past an imaginary dumpster. Kael could not stop grinning as he moved.

His training slowly evolved and he incorporated more and more activities. Running was quickly joined by amateurish shadowboxing, basic parkour, improvised weight lifting, and whatever else he could imagine. Still, he was not superman and needed to rest just like any other human being. In those times of rest, he worked on his mind.

He picked out a random passerby and gave himself ten seconds to observe. Then he looked away and tried to remember whatever he could about the person. From simple things like clothing or hairstyle to more obtuse subjects like gait or possible emotional state. Spending his time training every day was a rush, and time passed quickly.

By the time it was Friday morning, the meeting had almost slipped his mind. Thankfully Martin texted him to confirm the time. After eating something for breakfast, the rest of the day was spent getting ready. Though possible, it was incredibly hard to find a public shower and bath he could use to get clean. In the end, most of the day was spent moving from place to place.

The clock on his smartphone showed 14:54 when Kael arrived at the meeting place. Looking around, he could not spot Martin yet. Nervousness, born from a conundrum of conflicting emotions made him feel sick to the stomach, but there was nothing to do other than wait. Scared and excited, he fiddled with his hair and clothes as he waited. Thankfully it only took a few minutes of waiting for Martin to show up and seeing the dopey smile on his face released the knot in Kaels stomach.

"Hey! Nice to see you again Kael." Martin greeted him. "Hi. Good to see you out and about again. Your parents forgive you yet?" Although he already knew that they had not, from all of Martin's complaints, he had received through text, it was still a decent place to start their conversation, Kael thought. "Man! No. Can you believe it? I only got out today because I told them that school would run longer. Remind me to check the time Ok? I need to be home by six at the latest. Man, but it's good to see you again. How have you been?"

"Good, thank you. I have been training a lot these past few days. Somehow it seems that my senses have improved since the... events last time." - "Oh? Really? Nice, seems like we know something about your affinity, at least." - "Affinity? What are you talking about?" - "Ah! It's like, a focus, or talent I guess. But we can talk about that later. Right now, I am parched and in dire need of a sweet treat. You ready to move?"

Kael nodded, and they began their walk through the bustling streets. A quarter of an hour later, they stood before an old building. The small window showed various baked sweets, and the smell of coffee wafted out through the door when they opened it. The inside was apparently as old as the front of the building. To their right, a long counter stretched into the back of the store, while the left was full of tables and chairs in pleasant but faded colors.

Martin was already standing in front of the counter, looking at something behind the glass barrier, when Kael was finished taking all of the interior in. He joined him and saw what it was that Martin was staring at so intently. Behind the glass cover of the counter, Kael could see cakes, a lot of cakes. There were fruit cakes, chocolate torts, cream cakes, and different pies, most of them missing a few pieces. Overwhelmed by the number of choices, Kael just repeated what Martin did, trusting in his companions' taste.

A few minutes later, they sat in a corner seat on the second floor with coffee and cake ready to be consumed. It was only after he had his first taste of the cake, that Kael remembered his experience with the bread rolls a few days prior. After a minute or two of taste overload, Kael got used to it.

Looking up, he could see Martin grinning. "Hahaha. Been a long time since I saw a physical eat something new. You are in for a wild ride my friend!" Maybe his focus should be on the implications of what Martin had just said, but there was one word that demanded all of his attention. It was one he had not heard in years, representing a concept that he had thought lost.

Friend.