ORIGIN

Oblivious to exactly how Imp's magic sight functioned, Fahl burst into another fit of overjoyed nods at the compliment and small bite taken out of the fish. His offering had actually been taken, and he must have said something right because they were going to be masters—surely this could only mean good things.

He bent down and took a bite out of the fish as well, something to chew over in the face of yet another question not entirely understood by him. What was magic? It must be something he had, otherwise why include it in the lesson or ask him now. Imp had been using it apparently, but that was the problem; how could he know it if he couldn't even see it? Were his eyes simply not attuned to whatever this force was to witness its demonstration? When had he ever encountered—?

Wait a minute. He just might have. All this excitement of fishing had drowned out the earlier experiments at the pond's edge from his memory. Failures, all of them, but it'd all been started by that strange and life-saving warmth. Would it be worth another attempt to draw upon it?

Fahl breathed in deeply and demanded an answer from himself. And this time his call was not refused. First, his tongue heated, then his head, and eventually it spread to his entire body. Like when he clung to the ledges on the cave wall, the surrounding chill melted away, replaced by a cocoon of warmed air.

He stepped a little closer to Imp, seeing if the other could sense the radiance. "No know. You know?"

"Fi... err," Fahl mumbled. He stared up at where the air now shimmered with barely perceptible ripples, eyes blown wide with awe. That... he could do that? Although too young to scheme or assign any significant purpose to the display, he was not too old to recognize the power contained in that blast of heat. And it was his to use.

Not just his—Imp's as well. He'd expected good things; this went beyond that and into greatness. They were the same. The perfection of the entire situation evident to him now, he bellowed out his delighted revelation.

"Masters! Fire masters!"

Just thinking about the prospect gave him a surge of energy. In his overactive state, he grabbed what remained of the fish and threw his head back, gobbling it up with unprecedented speed. And when Imp turned back and delivered that wonderful praise again, the excitement became too much to contain. Unconcerned by consequences, he launched himself at his teacher, shrieking.

He did not account for the slick rock beneath him though. His back legs slipped at the attempted leap, and his upper torso hit the ground with a thud. Air whooshed out from lungs.

Recovery from the rough landing was a bit of a mess. For who knew how long, Fahl remained thoroughly grounded, his breath snatched from him. A brief flicker of awareness wondered how much worse this might have felt if he'd fallen from the ridges; had that happened, would his bones be aching even more? Or would he feel nothing since the impact pulverized his bones? It turned out with this line of thought that his imagination had a dramatic streak. Although the danger was very much real, the soreness of his limbs compared little to this hypothetical.

Then he heard something lightly tapping on the ground. A softness brushed against his face. Putting in the tiniest of efforts, air whistled into his mouth, which hung ajar. Imp's words registered, and he groaned. Next time, maybe, he'd be careful when he jumped. Thankfully, his body was built so that he did not need to move much to return to a standing position. Fervently ignoring the stinging pain, he shoved himself upright.

"Okay," he insisted through wheezes. His teacher deserved more food for the help he'd given, and this setback would not stop him from putting those lessons to work. "Can fish. Be good fishers too."

Live here? He'd been evicted from his last home, so Fahl had naturally assumed this was as good a place as any to call his new home. So, if that was what Imp meant, then, "Live here."

Mind already fixed on catching more food, he began to awkwardly drag himself back to the water. If his body cooperated, the denizens of the pond would not know what hit them.

"First?"

The question almost could have been a statement for how harshly Fahl pushed it from his throat. In forcing himself to catch up to Imp, the wheezes had not yet returned to normal exhales. But soon he too was back at the pond to stare at the fish. They'd swarmed back during the conversation, sensing peace take hold once more. Of course, that was not going to last long with danger hovering above them.

He took in gulps of air before speaking again. "Yeah. Can see who catch first." It was a novel idea—for him, nearly everything was. Perhaps it would be fun to try. Attempting to demonstrate his wellness, he sucked in more air so that his voice rang true without a hint of rasping. "No hurt."

Without further attempts at communication, Fahl went into action. His dive was more of a tumble, legs not quite extending to their full length on the push off. Although his body still moved with greater speed underwater, the previous jostling of bones left his limbs somewhat sluggish. Nevertheless, he ignored any disadvantages and repeated his first performance as best as he could. He swam after whichever target seemed the slowest. The chase was a tiring one, but eventually his teeth closed around it.

Once he'd broken through to the surface, catch secured in mouth, Fahl searched left and right for wherever Imp might be.

It didn't take long for Fahl's scanning to catch a brown, feathery mass heading for the shore. Arms flailed about in the water, aches a continuing burden on him as he aimed himself to pursue. Ever reliable, his tail whipped to provide the necessary propulsion so that he could sail forward. He sliced through the pond, ripples spreading outward in his wake.

Upon also crawling onto land, he followed suit. The fish was swiftly deposited onto the ground, and a claw hindered its squirms. When the struggling became a tad too strong for even his pinning to contain, Fahl struck down so that it finally stilled with the loss of its life.

His position in the water hadn't been ideal for judging, so he offered a guess. "You win." That seemed reasonable enough, though the thought of a potential loss cast his gaze down. Sure, Imp deserved triumph if his assumption was correct, but still... it would've been nice to impress. Maybe it was all the swimming, but the disappointment almost felt like it was clogging his nostrils.

Fahl took a bite out of his fish—or was about to before he tilted back and let loose a rip-roaring sneeze. A mixture of water, salt, and snot spewed everywhere. At least that answered his breathing difficulties.