Theo was right. Fixing a bone wasn’t an easy thing to do, even with Iron Bones. It did shorten the recovery process to a matter of minutes, but fighting through the pain to do was not an experience Theo wished to repeat any time soon.

He breathed heavily in the silent room as Esther and Sparrow watched on dispassionately. Bringing a shaky right hand up to his pale forehead, he wiped away some of the sweat that hadn’t joined the puddle on the ground.

He ran his right hand through his hair, as he inspected his left arm.

Turning it over, he found no traces of anything that would indicate how Esther had snapped his forearm into seven pieces (but the floor and his pants were covered in evidence of his response).

His bones felt straight and strong as before. No pain was left (thankfully), but he wasn’t sure if that just his mind still reeling in shock and he would calm down in a few hours and just start screaming and clutching his arm.

Internally, there was no difference between his arms, but that was only after heavily infusing and cycling mana through his left. If he could get through the rest of the day without deliberate injury Theo would be happy.

Sparrow led him into a side room which held a chamber pot, some water and towels, and a spare pair of pants (which made Theo wonder about the labyrinthine and almost recursive nature of the College of Song…as well as if Sparrow had expected this, or if this was just a standard feature of the room).

Sparrow checked him over and Theo felt that same tingle he had when they’d checked him after Motion, before they chanted Hymn of Healing once just to be sure.

Looking both at him and through him, Sparrow patted him on the shoulders. “You’re good to go, physically. But if you want to take a break after…that, I understand.”

Theo nodded, still taking shallow breaths. His face twitched, as he thought of the worst joke. “I think I should rest before I Rest.”

After a moment, they both started howling. It was loud enough that Esther ran in, wondering about the commotion.

---

“I want you to focus. Concentrate on Meditation. Discard everything else.” Esther instructed. Theo nodded, eyes closed. He saw the mana flowing through him, as it cycled.

“Now, start with Iron Bones and don’t lose your concentration on Meditation.” Theo felt his bones, and his concentration slipped as his arm almost twinged with the memory of what had just happened.

Theo opened his eyes, gasping for breath, feeling sweat forming on his back. Esther waited patiently, almost expecting this result.

He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, and closed his eyes again.

Meditation came easily, and he wrestled with Iron Bones, and he managed to maintain it longer this time, but it still faded. Theo shook out his limbs, grumbling under his breath about Iron Bones’s mother (which, as magic, it literally could not have… unless you count its long-dead inventor).

He tried a few more times, each getting encouragingly closer to properly maintaining it, until finally it clicked.

It felt like he was holding two links in a chain, connected yet still separate. He could feel the way Meditation held onto Iron Bones and vice versa. He was reminded of the sensation of simultaneously reaching for the third step of both Meditation and Self Awareness. It was nothing alike, but somehow still reminded Theo of it all the same.

“Now, let the mana seep into your muscles. Striding Wind.” Esther said. Theo wondered why she specified Striding Wind. It wasn’t like he had anything else to use in that situation. Shaking his head, Theo focused on what he had to do.

The chain grew longer, a third link starting to form in his hands. He tended to it carefully, even as the two other links threatened to warp it.

Thankfully, as Striding Wind was almost instinctual by this point, it didn’t add much to the strain of his concentration.

“Good. Stoneskin.” Esther said.

Theo hesitated, trying to maintain his hold on the three internal magics he had already.

“Stoneskin.” Esther prodded, a little more forcefully.

Taking in a deep breath, Theo added Stoneskin to the pile, and a fourth chain formed in his hands.

It was hard holding onto them all, as each grew slippery and threatened to leap out of the reach of his fingers. After mentally juggling all four, they calmed down, and the chains grew close and tight, weaving in and out of each other.

What was left was a tight knot of four rings, perfectly stable.

Theo didn’t need to open his eyes to know that he had succeeded. Neither did Esther or Sparrow, as the surprise moan that left his mouth was incredibly loud.

He deliberately kept his eyes closed to avoid seeing their reactions (even as he felt himself blush and heard Sparrow chuckle).

“Trust me, you wouldn’t be the first to respond like that.” Sparrow said, in a comforting way.

In Theo’s defense, it was as if he’d just walked out of the best massage of his life, after being pampered at a good bath. To say that he felt refreshed would be a massive understatement.

Finally opening his eyes, he noticed that not only did he feel better, but his skin had a healthy glow to it (and by glow, it was almost literally glowing).

It was hard to fully quantify the world of difference this single internal magic made. It was as if he was back lying under a tree in the park at noon, and even though he wasn’t eating or lying down, he felt as lovely as if he was right there under the shade of a tree that smelled like spring.

Every single injury, scar, burden on his body was gone. A whole zoo’s worth of sensations (normally a cacophony rivalling The Pub in the middle of a bar fight) was quiet.

It was actually slightly unnerving.

“And that’s enough introspection. Let’s stop that before you start thinking some things you shouldn’t think about.” Sparrow interjected, and Theo panned over (as he noticed the lack of any cracking or grinding sounds in his neck). He nodded.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Monster.” Theo’s attention was drawn to Esther, as she started to stand up and walk over, stretching. By this point, he had an idea of what was to come, and braced himself…as she continued talking.

“Rest is mostly used for its third step. The first step makes you look better, so only Nobles focus on that. The second makes your whole body sturdier and healthier. It strengthens your whole body, but also depends on the first tier internal magics you used as your base.”

Esther started to walk around Theo, arms behind their back, as he closed his eyes and tried to engage the second step of Rest (mostly because Esther intimidated him) and infuse mana in to strengthen his body (as he tried to ignore the person who literally broke his arm with her bare hands earlier that day).

“Rest is an interesting piece of second-tier internal magic. Most second-tier internal magic has strict requirements on what must be first learned, but for Rest it’s just Meditation and any three internal magics which strengthen and repair a part of the body.” Theo heard the sound of Esther’s footsteps stop as she paused.

He gave up on concentrating, peeking out the corner of his still mostly-closed eyes to check if she had brought a weapon behind him somewhere he couldn’t see (and if she did, it was definitely somewhere he couldn’t see).

“Some use more offensive internal magic such as Deft Hands or Swift Swing or One-Inch Punch as the foundation for their Rest. But the problem with those three in particular is they’re mostly concentrated in the hands and the upper body. Unbalanced.” Esther spat that last word out.

“Makes for an unbalanced Rest.” She paused. “…but it does make it easier to learn.” She conceded.

“So what about internal magic like Iron Bones and Stoneskin and Striding Wind?” Theo asked. Esther was prepared for that question, starting to answer before he’d even finished asking.

“Internal magic that covers the entirety of one aspect of the body like Iron Bones and Stoneskin are some of the strongest and hardest internal magics to use as the base. Striding Wind applies to muscles, and although someone clever could use it with their whole body, it is normally focused in the legs.”

Theo was tempted for a moment to mention that he was one of those that could use their whole body, but decided against giving Esther more reason to be harsh towards him. Instead, he just nodded, before his brain caught up.

“Wait, so that means I-“

“Yes, you absolute utter prodigy.” Sparrow said, pride in their voice. Esther clicked their tongue.

“Utterly arrogant, more like.” Esther commented, pausing. “I’d intended to teach this over a few more lessons, but I can see my services aren’t needed here. You’ve successfully learned Rest, congratulations.” For some reason, Theo felt she wasn’t being entirely honest when she said that, tone deadpan.

“Now, if you can just infuse a little bit and understand how to activate the third step, then we can relax until everyone else gets here to discuss coins. Get infusing.”

Theo closed his eyes in response, as he felt the way the mana was circulating through his system. He started building it up again, starting with Meditation, and slowly working his way through Iron Bones, then Striding Wind, and finally Stoneskin.

It was faster than the first time. Theo felt like he was getting used to this pattern. This time, instead of simply letting the mana percolate, he pushed it into each and every one of those internal magics at the same time. In the back of his mind, he absently wondered if this was skirting close to being mana cursed or whatever they had all mentioned.

He paused, and it all unravelled again. “Is this how you become mana cursed?” Theo asked, tentatively.

Esther sighed. “No, this isn’t even close to becoming mana cursed. Get back to it. You have an hour.” She replied, the same way you tell someone something obvious for the fifth time, exasperated.

Theo settled in for more meditation, closing his eyes once more.

He engaged all four first tier internal magics, and grabbed the mana inside his body. Gradually the mana stopped cycling around, and started to be absorbed. He continued like this for a while, smiling as he sunk into the heady feeling of getting markedly stronger and healthier.

That is, until he found his shirt sticking to his body, particularly his stomach. Needless to say, he opened his eyes.

Theo realised that he had been stabbed, and Esther was casually wiping blood off of her three-hander with a rag with a satisfied smirk on her face.

Sometime during the period where he had been focusing on the second step of Rest, Esther had stabbed him.

The fact that he was nonplussed about it just went to show how weird his life had become. He shrugged, even as he felt his blood seeping into the shirt.

“Sure, fine. Practice for the third step?” Theo said with resigned acceptance, as Esther nodded, a hint of amusement on her lips.

Theo didn’t respond, simply closing his eyes once again.

---

It took a few tries, but he managed it. The clothes he had just changed into after getting his arm broken needed to be washed, but otherwise it was fine (even though he was very tired, both physically and of Esther and her penchant for injuring him).

Esther, on the other hand, was not.

“I’m happy to stab you again when you’re not paying attention, help with your vigilance and ability to-“

“I’m good, thanks.”