A knock hit my door as the sun began to crest the horizon, waking me up to behold the cursed morning. I rolled off my bed and slammed onto the ground, letting out a groan and a grumble, but I got up and headed for whoever the fuck decided to interrupt my sleep. I turned the lock with a hum and opened the door.

  In front of me was a girl who'd stood there with arms crossed and a hint of...oh gods, not empathy, anything but that.

  "You look like shit, but that's not a surprise," she said.

  "The fuck do you want, Xae?" I said.

  The girl gave me a shrug. "I heard the lovely story of what you did to your arm, wanted to check on a friend and see if they were doing okay."

  "How considerate," I drawled. "I'm doing peachy, care to fuck off now? I've got things to do."

  Xae gave me a predatory smile when I said that. "No you don't! Today's reserved as a girls day whether you like it or not. We're gonna go enjoy life, no matter how much you try to do the opposite."

  "What're you gonna do, force me?" I scowled.

  "Nope!" She shook her head. "Even better, I'll give you an ultimatum!"

  I scowled harder. "Like what?"

  Xae's smile stayed remarkably still as her eyes sized me up. "Either you join me on a jaunt through the city, or our time as sparring partners is over. I know you're willing to suffer, but being part of whatever the fuck you're doing is starting to get disturbing."

  "You're just saying that because I'm close to winning."

  "As if," she scoffed. "I'd never lose to such brainless tactics as yours."

  "Sure."

  "So?"

  I let out a sigh. "Fine. We can have a girls day or whatever the fuck you wanna call it. Just don't do any crazy shit in the city."

  "I would never!"

  "Come on, slow ass motherfucker!" Xae yelled from across the street. "We still have plenty of stalls to sample and games to find."

  "Can't we go at a reasonable pace?" I grumbled as I jogged up to her.

  "Nope!" she chirped. "You've been running yourself ragged for so long that this should be second nature!"

  I rolled my eyes. "Girl, I run myself ragged where it makes sense. This is just being a pest to the city-goers."

  Xae let out a chuckle. "Sucks to be them then!" she said. "Bastards need to learn to make way for the youth. Especially a pair that can beat them bloody."

  "We aren't assaulting anyone," I glared.

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  "Party pooper."

  "It's called being sensible, you eedjit. I have no intention of being on the guard's bad side. That's a guarantee to a painful encounter with a flogging."

  "Is that why you've been brawling so much, to get on the guards good side?" Xae chuckled.

  I scowled. "That's different, those assholes deserved it."

  "I'm sure they did."

  "One of the groups was beating a mother dog to death! In front of her cubs!"

  Xae tilted her head as she jogged, because yes, this entire conversation happened while we were jogging. "Okay, they definitely deserved it then, what's your excuse for all the other ones?"

  "One jackass wouldn't take a hint with all his flirting," I said.

  Xae snorted. "After all the rumours, and that magister's son pining after you? He must've been a real idiot."

  "Yeah, well, I'm sure the brain damage I gave him didn't help with matters."

  Xae chuckled and kept on with her jogging, eventually we reached our destination...which was a dart throwing stall. I rolled my eyes and joined the girl in her silly carnival game, it was going well. Until I lost, and lost, and lost.

  "This is bullshit!" I fumed. "How are you so good at this?"

  Xae shrugged. "You're pretty pretty shit at this for one, and I've been living the dart life since I came to this city."

  "Then why haven't you mentioned it till now?" I said.

  "Because I didn't have a reason to? We were both kinda doing our own thing after sparring and the hunts."

  "Ugh, don't mention hunting," I groaned. "Aira's been on my ass since I took on that diod. I have more monster knowledge resting in my brain than half the guild."

  "Probably for the best." Xae nodded.

  "Bullshit! This is injustice incarnate," I whined.

  Xae gave me a raised brow. "No offence Yir, but most aren't stupid enough to enter a hunt without some knowledge of their prey, and the ones that are don't survive for long."

  "But I need to get stronger," I sighed. "And learning a bunch of bullshit biology and behaviours is a waste of time when I could be training. Besides, I'm a mage. I work on a different scale than you plebians."

  "Fuck you, I win every one of our fights."

  "Only because I don't use my chunkier magic," I said.

  Xae scowled at me. "Yeah? Then I want you to go all out from now on so I can beat your ass into something humble."

  "That sounds like a bad idea," I said.

  "Don't back out now, bitch! Back up your claim or admit that I'm stronger than you," Xae said.

  I scrunched my brow at the childish logic...and how it was working.

  "Fine, tomorrow we fight properly."

  "It's a deal!"

  I plopped myself on the beanbag thing I'd found on our adventure through the city, relaxing in the the luxury of something I assumed was reserved for much more developed society while in my hand I carried a skewer of dear meat. Xae chuckled and made herself comfortable on my bed, laying down with a grand stretch.

  "That was fun. We should do this more often." Xae yawned.

  "No," I shot down.

  Xae huffed. "Why not? You had fun, I had fun, and it was only one day. A wise man way back when would always say that a rested warrior was a strong warrior. This torture spree you're putting yourself through can wait every now and again, can't it?"

  I let out a sigh. She was right, this was...pleasant, and wouldn't cut into my training enough to matter.

  That wasn't the issue though.

  "I'm not gonna waste my time," I shook my head. "I've got too much shit I have to focus on and manage, there isn't time to split—"

  "Blah, blah, blah. Sounds like a bunch of bullshit so you can keep wallowing in your own self-hatred."

  I scowled. "I don't hate myself."

  "Coulda fooled me."

  "Whatever, I won't be wasting my time anyway, so what does it matter?"

  "Doesn't really." Xae shrugged. "Not if you care about living long at least. Keep stretching yourself like this and eventually you'll tear."

  "Does this wisdom also come from your enigmatic master?"

  "Nope!" Xae chirped. "Straight from the brain to mouth of the magnificent me! Which makes it more valid of course."

  I narrowed my eyes and refused to respond to that.

  "Whatever, you don't want to take a break? Fine. That's your choice, but I'm going to be remarkably annoying until you either leave the city or cave in to more girls days. Like a mosquito. Or multiple mosquitos."

  "Good luck with that," I snorted.

  Xae chuckled. "You have no idea."

  I, in fact, indeed had no idea.