Tim whistled to himself as he set about sharpening his sword by the flickering light of his lantern. With Kai out of the city, their sparring and training sessions were still going, but they lacked some of the urgency and drive the Sorcerer brought with him.

They were still doing them, of course. No one wanted to face whatever punishment Kai would invent if they didn’t, but they were treating the time Kai was away as days off from the hectic preparations.

All that led to Tim sharpening his sword in peace and quiet, with no worries and no responsibilities until tomorrow.

“Brother, you in here?” Tom called out, sticking his head into the room where Tim had settled himself.

“Yeah, is everything okay? Anything going on?” Tim called back, leaning forward to make eye contact with his brother.

Tom had put on some serious muscle since he’d become a Sorcerer. Tim had always been the smaller of the two of them, but Tom looked like he could knock out a horse at the moment. It was impressive.

“Yeah, Sergeant Falk came by to talk to Verdan, but he’s gone now. The bossman went to see Natalia, so he should be taken care of for a few hours. It’s Ruan’s shift for gate duty now as well, so I’m chilling for a bit. You?”

“Not much, just relaxing in here,” Tim said with a laconic shrug.

“Ah ha, and where’s Sylvie?” Tom asked as he came over and sank down onto one of the crates opposite Tim, gesturing around the underground storage room that Tim had hidden in.

“I think she’s on a run,” Tim said with forced nonchalance, not looking his brother in the eye.

“I don’t see what your issue is, Brother,” Tom said with a mournful shake of his head. “A weedy little man like you should be pleased a good-looking woman like that is interested.”

“Weedy is it, suddenly someone’s cocky with all their earth powers,” Tim said, mock-glaring at his grinning brother as he sheathed his sword and set it aside. The sharpening was done for the day, and he wouldn’t get anything else done with what was coming next.

“I don’t need my amazing and powerful magic to beat you, ‘big’ brother,” Tom said, flexing his admittedly impressive muscles.

“Oh really?” Tim asked, pushing up to stand over his brother, who squared off against him a moment later.

Tim wasn’t sure who started it, but they were wrestling on the floor in no time, laughing as they struggled back and forth. Tom was stronger and had a resilience to him that was new, but Tim was agile and had been learning a lot from sparring with Kai and Sylvie.

Eventually, Tim managed to put his brother in a lock, but Tom simply brute-forced his way out and hoisted Tim in the air, declaring his victory.

“Men,” Sylvie declared from the entrance, looking on with visible amusement. “Some things never change.”

“Yeah, well, erm, thanks for the wrestling practice, Brother,” Tom said, putting Tim down and brushing him off awkwardly. “I’m going to go and do that thing we talked about. Yeah, bye.”

“Coward!” Tim shouted after his brother as Tom beat a hasty retreat, ignoring the distant insult Tom called back at him.

Sylvie’s eyes were dancing with restrained laughter as she walked over to him and slid onto the crate that Tom had sat on a few moments ago.

Tim loved his brother, but the sight of Sylvie leaning up against the wall in the flickering lamplight, dressed in a shirt she’d stolen from him that was tight in all the right places, was much more appealing.

“Sorry about that,” Tim said, clearing his throat and tearing his eyes away. He still didn’t know what to do about Sylvie. She was clearly a woman, but the whole wolf thing was messing with his head so much.

“No, please, I like it when you look at me like that,” Sylvie said with an evil grin, laughing throatily as Tim flushed and fumbled with his sword. Reaching out, she put a hand on his leg to stop him, her laughter fading to leave behind something more serious. “I’m sorry; I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s alright; I know you don’t mean it,” Tim said, not meeting her eyes or looking at her as he tried his best not to make a fool of himself. He remembered what she’d said to Blane about him saving her life and her obligation to find someone outside their clan. It wasn’t him she actually wanted, just what he represented.

“I’ve done this all wrong again,” Sylvie said with a sigh, pulling her hand back and carefully considering her next words. “I’d like to have dinner with you later, just us, somewhere else where we’re alone.”

“What?” Tim said dumbly, completely caught off guard by her question.

“Dinner, just us, somewhere in the city. I’ll pay for us,” Sylvie said, her amber eyes all but glowing in the dim light as she caught Tim’s gaze.

“Yeah, sure, that sounds nice,” Tim said faintly, his heart pounding in his chest.

“Good!” Sylvie declared, pushing off the crate to kiss him on the cheek before bounding off once more. “Adrienne said she’d find me a dress.”

“A dress?” Tim muttered to the empty room, his heart still pounding as his hand found the burning-hot part of his cheek where she’d kissed him.

Tim still felt conflicted, but a date wouldn’t hurt. Probably. He’d just get on with his work and take it all as it came.

Despite his intention, Tim found himself dwelling on it all afternoon. He just wasn’t able to focus on anything else.

Verdan took a trip down to the glasshouses with him to check on some sort of iron spike that had been put through the wall of a storage building, which helped take Tim’s mind off things for a while.

Once they were back, though, Ruan had a quiet word with the Wizard, who gave Tim an amused look before giving his approval to whatever the old guard had said.

“Good news, kid,” Ruan said, his raspy voice thick with suppressed laughter. “Sylvie told me about your dinner date, and Verdan says your fine to come off the guard rota for tomorrow morning, just in case.”

Tim started to protest, but the older man simply waved him off and headed for the gates, chuckling as he went.

Realising how late it was getting, Tim hurried back to his room and got changed. He didn’t have anything too nice, but he had some decent clothes for special occasions.

Verdan snagged him on his way back outside and cast what seemed to be a cleaning spell on him before sending him on his way with a broad smile.

Sylvie was waiting at the gates for him in a simple black dress. There was an understated elegance to it that took Tim’s breath away; it was like he was seeing Sylvie for the first time.

“What do you think?” Sylvie asked with a surprisingly shy smile.

“You look beautiful,” Tim said honestly, flushing as he saw that Pania and Barb were on station at the gates and studiously not looking his way with big grins on their faces.

“Thank you,” Sylvie said, sweeping over to press against him and loop her arm inside his own. “Now, let’s go.”

Tim had no idea where they were going, but Sylvie seemed to have a plan of some sort, so they set off into the city.

The immediate area around the estate was still poor, though it was starting to recover thanks to the reopened glasshouses. Thankfully, however, the locals greatly appreciated Verdan’s presence, which extended to the people working for him.

Tim subtly enjoyed the looks that Sylvie got as they made their way toward the heart of the city; while he still wasn’t sure what he wanted, it was definitely an ego boost to be seen with a beautiful woman on his arm.

At first, their conversation was a little stilted. Sylvie was from a very different culture from what Tim knew, and with everything happening, there hadn’t been many occasions to get to know each other.

Still, she was clearly trying to learn, so he put the same effort in for her.

The Airta were a fascinating people; that much was clear. Sylvie wouldn’t go into too much detail, but she told him a few details about them and how they lived. In return, Tim told her about his childhood and growing up with Tom, though he was fairly confident he got the better deal in that trade.

Sylvie had been particularly shocked when Tim mentioned how his father had left when they were children and how his mother had died some years later. Tim had been forced to work where he could to feed them both himself until they eventually became caravan guards and left the city.

Airta society was matriarchal, which explained quite a bit, and children were precious to them, so any that lost their parents would be looked after by the clan. If only such a thing happened in human society.

The eatery that Sylvie brought them to was a more upscale location for the wealthier of the city’s residents, with prices reaching up to a full silver for their meals. It was going to cost enough to feed them for at least a week, but as he wasn’t paying, Tim couldn’t exactly refuse on those grounds.

The conversation turned to lighter subjects, and Sylvie did her best to explain to him how it felt when she was in her wolf form and how the whole process worked.

All the talk of souls and Parada went over Tim’s head, but he enjoyed listening to her nonetheless.

The food was nice, and though Tim did feel out of place, he did his best to ignore it and focus on having a nice relaxed meal.

All too soon, they were done and heading back to the estate. Sylvie’s arm was looped through his own once more, but it somehow felt more natural to Tim this time.

“Thank you for coming with me,” Slyvie said as they paused in the stairwell of the workshop, his room was the floor above hers. “I’d like to do it again sometime if you want to?”

“Yes, that sounds good,” Tim said, enjoying the warm smile she gave him.

Tim started to wish her a good night, but she was abruptly up against him, her lips on his. His arms encircled her naturally as they kissed, his heart racing in his chest as he lost himself in the moment, only recovering his senses as she pulled away and eyed him hungrily before tracing one hand across his chest and leaving without saying another word.

Tim watched her go with a numb sensation, eventually managing to get his thoughts together and head inside.

He’d been sure that she didn’t want him, that it was about what he was, not who he was, but there had been passion in that kiss.

Closing the door to his room behind him, Tim found his thoughts going in circles in his mind. He did his best to banish them, but he still felt as conflicted about it all now as he had earlier, and her giving him the best kiss of his life hadn’t changed that.

Eventually, Tim found his way to sleep, but his dreams were haunted by silver hair and amber eyes.