They moved back through the forest to the hideout.
Because of the children, the return journey took a significantly longer time to complete than their journey there.
Tess spoke to Marcus as they walked. "Hey. you feeling alright?"
"Not sure."
"How did you react to your first dead body up close? I didn't get a chance to look over at you."
"I vomited. Twice." The answer drew laughter from the woman.
"You vomited? Your convictions sure changed quickly."
"They didn't. I need to murder them for what they did to the orphanage, to my family. I'll probably vomit again if I see more bodies. I'll probably piss myself in fear when I stare death in the eye. But I'll kill them. I'll take revenge for my home."
Hearing such words come from the mouth of a twelve year old child formed knots in Tess's stomach. She had never liked the fact that people as young as 12 were considered adults in this land, but she worked with them nonetheless.
"Just remember, you're only twelve. You can still be a child, you know. No need to throw yourself into this fully."
'That's rich, coming from someone who led me here. To this place where I had to kill.'
"I'll be thirteen in a month. I can't be a child. Anyway, how did I do?"
Tess threw him a confused look.
"This was partially a test, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Passed. With flying colours." Her reply nurtured a smile on his face.
"Roxanne, what about you? This was your first official mission, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I've trained for a while now. I'm not green like him."
"I still need to check. You're only just 14 yourself."
A silence fell over the group, smothering them in an awkward feeling.
Arriving back at the hideout, they found the commander waiting for them.
"Mission complete?" he asked the group as they approached.
"Mission complete," Tess answered with a mocking salute. She hastily moved to the bar and grabbed herself a drink.
"Who are all these?"
"Prisoners. Not our prisoners," she hastily added, sensing the confusion it could cause.
"Alright, leave them with me. They'll have a home at the outpost. How were the aspirants?" the commander asked, shifting his gaze to Marcus and Roxy.
"Good. They did what was needed of them, and followed my lead."
"Glad to hear it." The commander approached the children with a smile.
Tess turned to Marcus and Roxy. "Good job out there, you two. Take tonight off, do whatever you want."
Roxy excused herself and left. Marcus lingered around, wanting to talk about something but not having the courage to do so.
"What's up, kid. Got something you want to say? Or do you want some of this?" Tess asked, gesturing to the bottle she held. She had taken a seat at a familiar table, and occupied it by almost laying on it.
"No, not that. uhm, back there, there wasn't a fourth, was there?"
"A fourth?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "A fourth what?"
"A fourth member."
"No, just us three. Why do you ask?"
"You don't happen to have an air elemental attribute, do you?"
"Air, no. No air for me, I'm afraid. Why do you ask?"
"Could it have been Roxy, then?" he mumbled to himself.
Tess answered him. "No, Roxy only has two elements. Now, why do you ask? Don't make me ask again."
"When I looked into the back of the carriage, I was attacked by someone in there. I went to create a wall, but nothing happened. At first. Then a gust of wind shot out of nowhere and killed him."
"Did you consider it was you?" she asked, suddenly leaning forward in her seat.
"I did, but that's the least likely answer."
"Why? You're the youngest of us three, it only makes sense you would awaken a new one compared to me or Roxanne.
Marcus lowered his head to the floor, his mind wrapped in thought.
"Tell you what, get some rest tonight. Tomorrow, we'll test to see if it was you."
"Yeah, sure. Thank you Tess," Marcus nodded his head in agreement.
He swiftly headed to his room and fell asleep.
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He was woken in the morning by the sounds of the surrounding forest waking up.
He sat himself upright, rubbed his eyes, and stretched. He tried to recall anything about his dream, but once again they lay just out of his reach.
"Just like every morning,' he muttered.
He quickly dressed and headed downstairs.
Tess was sat at the table. She smiled as he approached.
'Has she been here this entire time?'
"Ready to get right to it?" she asked him.
"Why not?"
They went to the same location as last time.
"Okay!" she began, clapping her hands together. "Try cutting a tree with air."
"How can I use air specifically?"
She stared at him with a blank expression. "How do you differentiate between Earth and Fire?"
"I can't explain. I just do."
"So do."
'Of course, if I can use two I can use three. How? You idiot, you've been doing that for how long now? Maybe I should have paid more attention in class instead of being led astray by Bran.'
Marcus snapped his fingers three times.
The first cleaved the body of a wide tree into multiple chunks.
The second launched the various chunks into the air, and launched the discarded leaves, branches and other bits of debris away.
The third moved them onto the ground, and stacked them into a neat pile.
His eyes widened.
He jolted his head around, seeking an onlooker who could have been possible for the magic.
"Well, it's certainly something. A tri-elementalist, at twelve? Not bad at all."
Marcus looked at his hand and laughed.
"That settles it. Marcus Grant, I am officially making you my protégé."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, first, you'll accompany me to our next mission. Gather your things, we're leaving this hideout."
"Where to?"
"Not too far south. We'll still be working with Commander Garnell. I'll fill you in on the mission once we arrive."