"Hm." Vincent mumbled.

"De-stress, huh?" he asked.

"What about that one spa?" he suggested. "The one that you go to a lot for such things, and the people there are actually on good terms with your family... and buy relaxation teas from your sister..." he then said further.

"You know that they take 'emergency' book-ins, especially for a Fyrane." he chuckled.

"Could really help."

"That's fair." Vincent responded.

"I'll leave you to that, then." he told her, as he gathered up all the books that had been brought into the den.

"Won't need these anymore." he chuckled. "So I'm going to take them back down to my study." he said.

"Love you." he finished.

She responded in kind, and he left with the stack, rendering her alone in the room, with plans she had to make.

Ash had been looking into the woods that spread out behind the Fyrane manor, but immediately walked over towards Rowena when she called out to him. He smiled a little when she asked if he had a minute, and nodded.

"Yep." he said.

"Was just thinking about going for a walk in there." he told her, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the woods.

"Not sure if I want to or not." he admitted.

"Anyway, sup?" he asked.

Ash thought for a moment, and nodded.

"Yeah, sure." he responded.

"I can do that." he told her.

"They really should learn from someone with practical experience, that isn't teetering on the brink." he reasoned.

"...not that you are, but... yeah, for you, slippery slope." he clarified.

She saw the light in his eyes when he heard that.

"Welp, you DO know how to properly sell past the closure." he laughed.

"I'll get right on it, though." he told her.

A lot of time had passed, and Mikhail and Alice had made a lot of progress. A LOT. Alice had become quite skilled at controlling and suppressing her empath capabilities, and Mikhail had been reunited with his sister. As thanks, he continued to mentor Alice, even after his services were no longer needed, and was now even a friend of the family. Ash had helped both Vicki and Alice with their runes, and the two were becoming quite adept at them, much to Rowena's relief.

Ash was currently making up some lunch for himself, when he felt familiar mana appear in the den area of the manor.

"...Alice?" he muttered.

"In the kitchen!" he called out, so she'd know where HE was, at least.

Ash seemed to pause as he heard her sudden request.

"...fight?" he asked, looking at her.

"I mean... yeah, sure." he said. "I can do that." he told her.

"If you want, join me for a light lunch and we can start immediately." he offered.

"But why the sudden interest in it?"

Ash raised an eyebrow when he he heard that Rocky, Demi, AND Jaden all rejected it. It didn't insult him that he was this far down on her list, but he had to wonder why they rejected her.

"Yeah, sure." he said, as she then headed off and he watched her enter the backyard from the window in the kitchen.

She was out there for about 10 minutes, before she saw Ash come out with a pair of (rather nice-looking) sandwiches, and a small cooler, which had a bunch of ice and drinks inside it.

He walked over and sat down where she was at.

"Feeling hungry?" he asked.

"Eat if you are, have a drink if you're thirsty, but after I eat, we'll start training."

"Dead?" Ash asked.

"Barely any." he said.

"Generally speaking, the animals in there know when they're outclassed, and leave when I assert my dominance." he told her. "Only time I ever have to kill an animal is if it's got rabies or some weird mental disorder." he explained further.

"...or if it actually becomes life or death." he then added.

"But there's also a lot of things I need to remember if I kill something." he went on. "Can I eat it? Is it even edible? Should I leave it out for scavengers? Would they get sick as well if they ate the carcass? Should I bring the body to their herd for a proper mourning and burial?" he asked rhetorically.

"I don't know of an exact number, but for every 35 times I enter those woods for a nice long walk, I kill 1 animal." he guessed.

Ash finished his sandwich, and gulped down some of a bottle of water, before looking over at Alice, and rising to his feet.

"All right." he said.

"If you want to learn to fight, let's do it." he told her.

"Hand-to-hand, come at me with everything you have." he continued, as they walked to a more clear area of the backyard. "We'll see what needs improving." he said further.

Sure enough, by the end of it, which was close to 2 hours, Alice was weakened, had a few bruises, and had definite cuts from rough landings. And she was exhausted.

"I see." Ash commented.

"You have a minor amount of skill, but it needs to be amplified, and then refined." he told her. "You'll need to refine your aggressive fighting, and learn counter-measure fighting as well." he went on.

"But... you DO have potential." he admitted.

"You all right?" he then asked as he approached her.

"Good." Ash responded.

"Once you've stopped being sore, we'll continue." he told her.

"Oh, right." he then muttered. He made his way to the cooler, and then returned with a bottle of water.

"You're going to need to hydrate." he said.

"Even if it hurts to move now, you're going to need to drink something now." he went on.

"It'll speed up your recovery more than one would think."