It was hard to stay suspicious of the Outlander when he kept looking at everything with such obvious wonder. 

He was clearly doing his best to take in his surrounding and catalogue everything he saw, while also trying to keep up with my practiced gait through the thick undergrowth in the deep part of the forest we found ourselves in, while still yet trying to keep quiet, as the beginning of a question slipped out under his breath every so often. I thought the Outlander seemed very much like Sinsa, and I smiled to myself thinking of how happy Sinsa would be to have someone to explain magic to from the absolute beginning.

Another wave of exhaustion hit me, and I closed my eyes, fighting to stay awake as my paws stumbled stumbled forward a few steps.

Breath in, breath out, 1..2..3.., breath in, breath out.

I kept my breathing calm until the feeling receded, not entirely, but enough to keep the pain to a dull headache. I knew the spell was going to be rough on me, but he was clearly in so much pain. I could bear a headache for myself if it meant the pain of that many injuries could be disappeared for another. 

"...ansai? Uh, you alright?" his tone was anxious.

"Yes, it is not much farther now." I mentally wiped the exhaustion from my face before turning back to face him. I didn't need to worry him at the moment, he was likely relying on me to get him somewhere safe at least. I could deal with myself later.

The worried expression on his face pointed at me defied my efforts, but I payed it no mind as I turned back and continued through Yeril Forest. It truly was not far, in fact it should come into view just about...

As we broke the treeline, a small mining village could be seen nestled as best it could into the side of Mount Loguerpo. To its south, the lake that was the beginning of Tinsen river rested, with a dozen different streams falling down the mountain into it, and the Tinsen river stretched lazily westward past the horizon from the lake. The town had once been home to nearly 800, though the days of the mine's opulence had passed, and further, many who had stayed past its height had gone east for the conflict with Ponpriness. 

That history was not obvious just at a glance though, so I introduced it simply to my companion "Welcome to Tinbron, I live in the house right at the edge here" I pointed to the closest house, with it's back nearly pressed against the woods a short ways away. 

"Oh, it looks lovely, and larger, honestly, than I was expecting." His voice was clearly intentionally bright, though it did not seem an insult. In truth, I'd prefer somewhere smaller if it was just me.

I opened the door and beckoned the Outlander follow me in. Sinsa sat at the drafting table, so thoroughly engrossed in his drawings he hadn't even noticed us arrive. His blue robes looked as though they were trying to drown him with how much of him they covered, but he still managed to keep the flowing sleeves out of the way of the ink he drew with. His hat sat skewed on his head, something that would bother him to no end as soon as he noticed. Between the robes, hat, and wide rimmed glasses, almost no part of his body was visible, save for the end of his pink hair spilling out from under his pointed cap, and his dark brown hands delicately holding the pen and paper he was using to craft his current spell. It had only been a morning away, but I always missed him when I left. 

"Sinsa." His hand froze so as not to ruin the spell as he looked up at me, his face breaking into a smile.

"Pransai, you're back early!" his voice was soft and kind, like always.

He shouldn't be happy about that. It will be harder to get food this year, less grain was sown with fewer hands to do so, and it will be difficult to purchase food because of that. I had to be out, stockpiling as much game as possible while the woods were still plentiful.

Sinsa set the materials aside as he made to embrace me, but stopped short in shock when his eyes caught sight of the human behind me.

"He's an Outlander, found him in bad shape, and before you ask anything else, is it possible for a summoning spell to just drop a summon somewhere random?" That was a lot of information to drop on him at once, but I knew that's how he preferred it. I could already see his mind sorting through all of that and coming up with answers and questions in equal measure.

"If it was a normal summon, then I believe it should have summoned them directly to the circle after bringing them to them to this plane. But I studied that circle years ago, if the spell was interrupted in the split second after getting them to the plane, but before the inter planar teleportation matrix was activated, you could have them essentially just appear randomly somewhere on the plane. It should be a spellcrafters job to stop that from happening, so if something like that did occur it would require..." Apparently something about my expression displayed my befuddlement "Yes, it is possible."

"Okay, in that case, I would ask you and Casai to help the Outlander, who I believe has just had whatever convoluted mess you explained happen to him." Sinsa nodded in agreement and turned his expression to the Outlander with immediate pity for his situation. Gods he was the best. He could certainly struggle to take care of himself, but he was always willing and happy to help others, in the ways that he could.

"Wait, you're leaving? You look tired, and I'm not sure what exactly to do, and Casai just left, she won't be back for..."

"You will be fine, I'll be home by dusk." I tried to smile but another wave of exhaustion rolled over me. I fought to stop myself from wincing, and turned to the door.

"But..." I was out before he could see the exhaustion. I could push through the tiredness, I'd done it before, and someone needed to provide for them. I had to, so, taking more deep breaths, I ventured back into the woods.

***

***

"But, will you be fine..." Sinsa's voice trailed off as Pransai took off through the entryway. His eyes stayed locked on the doorway for several moments, his hand barely outstretched as though he'd wanted to stop her, but had frozen partway through the action.

I stood awkwardly to the side, not entirely sure what to do with myself after Pransai had bolted.

After a moment, Sinsa sighed and looked at me with an apologetic expression. "I... s-sorry about that, she tends to, uh, to be a bit headstrong... is she... I mean to say did something s-seem off... sorry, um, nice to meet you! My name is Sinsa." He stretched out his hand, although it seemed like his body moved somewhat unnaturally for the action. Though it was hard to tell with how much robe he was wearing.

"Korey" glad to see shaking hands was a common greeting, lot of lucky coincidences so far. "And to answer what I think your other question was, she cast a spell to heal my wounds earlier, and seemed to be pained or something afterwards. I'm sorry if I was supposed to do something..."

"No no, that... would probably explain it. And yes t-that was my... question." his expression looked sad but less worried after hearing that, and then his eyes got wide as he looked back at me. "Wait injuries... oh goodness you're hurt! Why didn't you... of course, you wouldn't know how... and she wouldn't know how to explain... I see." It was impressive the speed at which he had apparently caught himself up on the situation.

"First things first, follow me, we need you to cast a proper healing spell on yourself." My eyes lit up at the suggestion that I would be casting magic.

"Is that something I can do! How does it work, I saw it earlier and it was amazing!" Sinsa turned to me with the same glimmer in his eyes upon seeing my excitement.

"You can, I'll craft a spell quickly but I'll need you to pour mana in so it will function." his voice oozed with excitement at the prospect of showing someone magic for the first time.

"OH, I can't s-stand when my hat refuses to stay where it's supposed to!" he exclaimed suddenly, adjusting his hat following the softest yell I'd ever heard. He sat down and, still adjusting his hat with both hands, extended another pair of arms from underneath his robes and began quickly sketching a circle. I couldn't help myself but gasp, and he turned to look at me.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to... I was just surprised!" great, now I looked fantasy racist.

"OH, of c-course, Outlander, I keep forgetting. No worries you t-traveled a great deal and likely are seeing many things you aren't used to. I'm not human, though with the robe on you can c-certainly be forgiven for thinking so, even if you were from this plane. I'm a Feisen, uh, we were s-supposedly made by the gods, or at least the first of us were, in order to craft spells, but we are quite rare these days." Yet another pair of arms had emerged to help him draw, doing so while looking at me and maintaining our conversation. Just watching him work was mesmerizing.

"Alright, there we go, not a complicated one." Sinsa folded the lower two sets of arms back under his robes and showed me the picture. It was a perfect circle with one symbol drawn connected at the bottom of the circle, and another symbol connected at the top.

"So, in order to cast a spell, as long as you have a crafted circle, all you need to do is pour mana into the circle. Everyone can do so, and s-since you are a summon, you should have more than enough mana to fill it easily. We'll measure how much mana you have afterwards, but this takes precedence." 

He must have seen my panic, because he immediately reassured me "D-don't worry Korey, it's very easy to do. You can cast a spell from anywhere, but it's easiest to imagine it coming from your hand. Just s-set your hand on the circle, and imagine power bottling up in your chest, and then flowing through your hand, and into the circle. It has to be you who does it, Feisen don't have any mana to use."

I did exactly as he told me to, imagining mana swirling around my heart, then down my arm and into the circle. After a few moments, I saw the circle begin to light up, as a soft blue glow filled every stroke of the pen on the paper.

"Holy shit, it's working, you're amazing!" I was casting magic. Sinsa smiled at me, happy for the praise. A soft green glow enveloped my whole body, and I squinted a tad at the brightness. I felt what was left of my wounds close and the pain almost entirely disappear, much quicker than when Pransai had cast the spell.

"Does all magic need to be cast with a circle?" I was still staring down at all of nonexistent wounds in wonder.

"M-most magic does, though the spell you just cast can be done without. There are several basic spells, which can be simply spoken aloud and used, though a circle still works. They can only be cast that way because they aren't a full spell. each of the basic spells has a Great Circle s-somewhere in the world. Each time a basic spell is cast, it's just a reference to a Great Circle, which is doing the actual work of converting your mana into something useful. Most of them are lost, but when I was younger I saw the Great Circle of Fuco, or fire, in the North. It took up more space than ten of these houses. The only two required things to cast a spell are a basic spell, and a target word, like Ut for a person you're looking at, or Il for a direction. In fact I've even attempted to recreate some of the basic components of the Great Circles, and... sorry I've probably been talking too much, I just find it all so fascinating." He had such a look of pure joy while describing that, but his expression became apologetic as he ended the explanation.

"No, I thought that was very interesting." I was afraid of the answer but I had to ask "Um, is there a way to make a spell that could transform me? Just hypothetically, if I wanted, like spikes, or to be bigger, or... something?" That hope that was building inside me refused to stay small. I hadn't even gotten an answer yet!

"Um, I'm sorry but not really? M-most spells are just re-factorings of the basic spells, with added effects tacked on. For something like that, you'd need a trully magnificent feat of spellcrafting, and it would take a lot of time to get it right."

I did my best not to look like I'd just had the floor drop out from under me. Apparently my best wasn't enough, because Sinsa immediately started trying to comfort me "I'm s-sorry, if there was something specific you were hoping for. I, uh, can't guarantee anything, but if you tell me what you are hoping for, I, I'm the best spellcrafter around, at least, no one else in the village c-can, so, I can, uh, try to make something for you?"

I smiled and held in a sigh. I'm sure he was just trying to make me feel better. "Yeah, thanks. You had said something about measuring my mana?"

Just then I heard the front door open, and what looked like a shorter version of Pransai walked through the door, wearing a simple green tunic. Her muzzle had almost the exact same marking on it, and her fur was the same color. She was holding an assortment of clothes in her arms, all neatly folded and sorted by color.

I raised my hand "Um, hi I'm..."

"Human!" she dropped what she was holding, pulled a knife from her belt, and began sprinting directly at me.