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Relief floods over Jake as she steps through the door and enters the cozy study; the anchor's still working!

"Place her down gently, there is fine." Comes Calmar's voice, full of assertive urgency as his figure approaches swiftly with a remarkably controlled calm in stark contrast to the situation at hand.

Doing as instructed, Jake softly lays the unconscious woman on the wooden floor.

"Quickly," Calmar says as he kneels beside the woman, "Use a bit of ice magic to stop the bleeding."

Winter takes control of Jake's body immediately and bends down to the woman's severed legs. She places a paw just above each stub and mutters a word as blue light flashes under her paws. Pulling her paws back reveals a thin layer of ice over the wounds that seems to block any further bleeding.

"Good," Calmar says clinically as he checks the woman's pulse and then goes to her eyes which he gently opens and nods to himself. He moves methodically as he checks the rest of her body for any other wounds.

Jake simply observes as Winter controls all of her movements. It's as if she is watching a movie through her eyes. Wanting to do something, anything, she thinks desperately to her companion, <Can you help her?>

A coldness spreads in Jake's mind as a dreadful feeling hits her heart <This is beyond simple healing and outside of my abilities to heal->

"We no longer have enough mana here to perform the healing necessary to help this woman." Calmar says solemnly, interrupting Winter's thoughts. "Maybe at most we can generate some blood so that she will live."

<-but he has the knowledge required.> Winter finishes. Hope comes back to Jake as Winter continues aloud, "I collected as much mana as I could on the way here. There was still enough of the galmag to fully invigorate myself."

"Then we'll try." Calmar responds as he takes out a finely crafted stick - a wand Jake realizes - that he holds delicately in his hand. "Just don't use any mana from here, understand?"

Winter nods as she kneels across from Calmar.

"Recovery magic is my expertise," Calmar states as Jake realizes he is talking to her. "Recovering limbs requires more than a simple spell and it requires a large amount of mana. For this to work, I will be using your mana."

"My mana?" Jake asks surprised. "So, I'll be like a battery for you?"

"Indeed. Winter will explain further as I prepare myself."

A newfound appreciation starts to form in Jake for Calmar. He is strange but everything he does is purposeful. When he needs to do something, he will act with all his being. Calmar's confidence, even in this dire scenario, is infectious. With determination, she thinks, <Tell me what to do Winter.>

<I will manage our mana,> Winter starts. <Our output must remain steady and constant. I will tell you what to say. That may sound simple, but you will be responsible for the vocalization and cadence of the casting as well as the flow of mana. This is an advanced casting and will be difficult. You'll need to split your focus at times. You will determine this woman's fate.>

Jake swallows hard. The pressure feels enormous. She nods mentally as she chokes out, "I'm ready."

<Repeat after me.>

Foreign and complex syllables come to Jake's mind slowly. She starts to repeat each strange sound aloud but quickly stutters and tries to repeat the third sound. Realizing she's fallen behind and barely remembering what Winter had just said, she quickly falls into spouting gibberish.

<This will be hard, try again.> Winter says encouragingly.

Going silent, Jake waits for Winter to start again and as she does, Jake is able to follow along better. Winter keeps the sounds slow and as Jake hears and says them more, the easier it gets. Winter starts to increase speed and Jake does her best to keep up as the different sounds seem to form long incoherent words. After a few more words a feeling starts to build within Jake, like an ethereal mist moving inside her. Some of her attention starts to wonder what the feeling is but this loss of focus causes her to stumble over an entire set of sounds as the movements within her dissipate.

<Good,> Winter says with a cool, infinite, patience. <You felt the mana within you. This is where it gets difficult.>

Taking a long breath, Jake looks up to Calmar who has his eyes closed and he is taking long shallow breaths as if in a meditative state. Deciding to follow his example, she closes her eyes and mentally looks to Winter for guidance.

Winter flattens out before reforming into her normal ball shape as if stretching for the coming task. <I will be releasing all of your mana quickly. What you felt just then was a mere pittance of your true potential. The speed of the casting will also increase. The last part you will need to learn is controlling the mana's flow. You will feel Calmar's pull. Guide the mana to his calling with your thoughts.>

"I am ready." Calmar states softly in an all too serene voice.

Questions swirl in Jake's mind about how she's supposed to control the mana but Winters responds, "Go," before any questions can surface.

The familiar syllables come quickly as complete words now as Jake immediately takes control of her mouth and repeats everything that is told to her. After the fourth word, she feels a torrent of ethereal power building within her as she faintly hears Calmar start his own casting. A feeling, like a strong tug toward Calmar alerts her to what Winter was explaining about his pull. She nearly lisps a word before refocusing on her main task. Allowing herself to fall into a seeming rhythm with Winter, she realizes there's a stanza-like quality to the words, like a song, with some occasional variations. This understanding helps Jake gain some confidence as she allocates some of her focus to the movements within her.

The swirling energy is untamed and fierce. There is so much unbound power within her! She wonders how she can contain so much mana without it bursting from her in an explosion. How had she not noticed? As the hurricane swirls, she feels Calmar's yearning call again. Tentatively she imagines a bit of her energy breaking from the storm, going down her arms, and out of her hands toward Calmar.

Immediately a bit of the storm breaks free, like a stray cloud. As it moves through her, it breaks apart into strands that flow through her arms and down to her hands. Her hands tingle as the energy leaves her body and is consumed by a growing hunger coming from Calmar.

<Steady and continuous.> wafts through Jakes mind as she continues to repeat what Winter is saying.

Realizing what she had missed, Jake starts to imagine things differently. She can't let her mana be uncontrolled like a hurricane, she has to make her mana orderly and then have it leave her body. It's hard to imagine things with so little focus as she feels Calmar's need growing ever stronger. How does something drain? From where? Maybe water? Water from a full sink? A sink drain!

As an image of swirling water comes to Jake's mind, she feels the mana within her spiral around into a long rope of energy. Allocating a bit more focus to this task, she wills the tornado to fold itself into a U-shape with both ends traveling down either arm and out of her hands. The swirling mana moves as the ethereal feeling travels down both of her arms and starts to flow from her paws.

A slight stutter nearly rocks Jake off balance as the releasing mana chokes for a moment. Winter had changed the wording just now! Putting all thought immediately into listening to Winter, Jake recovers quickly as relief comes to her. She feels the tingling in her fingers again confirming she's still sending mana to Calmar.

A new rhythm and repetition manifest itself as Jake focuses completely on learning the new words and how they've changed the "song" being chanted. She can also feel the all too familiar feeling of weariness starting to come to her. As she continues, enough confidence builds so that she feels comfortable splitting some of her attention back to her mana.

It's flowing nicely but the middle of the tornado, the part that was collecting mana from the rest of her body previous, seems to be unstable. Like it's a swing blowing in a strong wind. She can also feel the mana within her is moving slower now. This fact is confirmed as she feels her fingers are not tingling as much. She must be missing something still. Can she push the mana to move faster? She thinks that but nothing happens. Can she force the drain to collect more or create more suction? Imagining both cases does nothing again as the middle of the swirling energy continues to move within her.

Continuing her chant, she lets more of her mind consider the problem at hand. How does mana flow within her? She's felt Winter moving with her before. Is Winter a form of mana? No answer comes, of course, as Winter is occupied with her task. How has Winter moved within her before? Her movements always felt strange but there seemed to be ways she moved. It wasn't through Jake's skin or bones. Her muscles? That wouldn't make any sense as they're not connected. But her blood veins do; and they cover her entire body. If mana flows through her blood then the logical connection point for a collector of mana is her heart!

The swirling energy moves quickly up to and bisects itself as both ends connect to Jake's pounding hear. An intense gush of mana races through her entire body as it coalesces into every vein in her body. Like a pipe system carrying high-pressure liquid, the mana races into her heart, warming it instantly, as both streams of twisting power pulse with new life.

Light nearly blinds Jake even though her eyelids are shut. She nearly stutters the next word but catches herself as all her attention returns to repeating Winter's words. Turning her head helps to shield her from the new light as it seems to be growing ever brighter as weariness really starts to build quickly. She can feel her feet and hands growing numb.

The fatigue starts to travel up her legs and arms as she does everything she can to focus on saying what Winters tells her to say. The light starts to dim as her pronunciation of a word is sloppy though the rest of the stanza is correct as is the next. The numbing feeling is starting to travel up her lower torso now too. Her lower body is so numb now that she's not even sure if she's kneeling or sitting.

Another missed word causes the light to flicker. Correcting herself and finishing the next stanza keeps the light and her mana going but she knows she's at her end as the numbness is up to her shoulders. She can't even feel the strange warmth in her heart let alone the tingling in her paws.

Continuing to say words, Jake can still see light faintly in her closed eyes as the numbness moves up her head and into her mind.

Are they done? She can still hear Calmar chanting though it's getting harder to hear him. So no, they're still going.

She can feel herself wobble as her head sways. The numbness fills her muzzle as she's no longer sure if she's saying anything. She can still hear Winter though and she does everything she can to imagine sayins what Winter is.

The numbness takes over her head, and thus her entire body. Is she even awake? She can feel the numbness so probably.

Wait, Wasn't Winter supposed to be saying things?

Jake knows she's supposed to be doing something, right? Before she can answer herself, she loses all thought.

---

Kendra's eyelids flutter open. The world around her comes into focus after a few blinks. Where is she? The room's light is dim and wavering, as if from candles. A dull ache radiates from where searing agony once reigned as she bolts upright and freezes in shock. How does she have legs!? Reaching down to her torn jeans she touches the appendages that shouldn't be there and verifies there's no surgical marks either. Confusion swirls within her as she tentatively bends her legs and brings her feet closer to her curious hands. The absence of pain feels like it should be impossible. Had she been in a comma for years?

"Truly remarkable," an elderly voice murmurs nearby. "How did she come up with that?"

Kendra's hazy thoughts coalesce into sharper clarity at the sound of conversation. Her heartrate quickens as she gathers herself and puts her should-be-gone feet under her.

"I was surprised myself," comes a young, crisp, feminine voice. "She was doing great and when she realized the streams were weakening... How did she know to use her heart to power the magic?"

There is silence for a bit before the older voice responds, "You would know better than I." There's a soft laugh before he continues, "But yes, I was not expecting that either. If I was any less experienced and you were any less skilled, that could have been disastrous."

"You have my full confidence Calmar." The young woman says. "To be able to correctly route that amount of mana would have been difficult for a wielder. For one that is not, well, I would have said it would have been impossible if I had not seen you do it."

Bewilderment fills Kendra as she listens to their strange conversation. What's this about mana? Had she been brought onto some movie set? Was everything around her fake? Impossible! She remembers the blaring alarms, the heat of the fire, the old man she was helping, the loud noise as she got out, the terror of knowing she was going to be crushed, the odd sensation of flying, and then an unimaginable pain!

<You failed him.> Says her other voice with distain.

No, this is not a movie-set, and she is not dreaming. Her terrible self is still with her.

Standing up she looks over to where the two voices are coming from. She sees two wooden chairs and a small wooden table between them illuminated by a cozy fire in a fireplace along the wall. In the far chair there's an old man who's wearing grey robes. The other chair has its back turned to her, so she guesses the young woman is sitting there. She sees the old man look in her direction.

"She's awake!" He says joyfully.

Warmth fills Kendra's face as she blushes, realizing how rudely she's staring. "Sorry," she whispers as she looks down at her feet that are still there.

A chair creeks and footsteps approach. A wrinkled hand comes into her view. Kendra looks up and meets the eyes of the old man. His gaze is warm, comforting, and inviting. "You may call me Calmar, my dear."

Tentatively, Kendra accepts his offered hand noting how rough with age and use it is. She allows him to make the shaking motion as she softly says, "I'm Kendra... Marency."

"Marency?" Calmar asks as if in recognition.

The strange comment draws Kendra out of her shyness as she asks, "Have you heard of my family?"

"Nope!" Calmar says jokingly, giving Kendra a warm wink. "Just a quick test to see how alert you are. You pass!"

Uncertain if she should be offended or find his comment humorous, she opens her mouth but can't find an adequate response to say.

"I will get you some water." Calmar says as he lightly pats Kendra's shoulder. "Go sit down and recover."

Kendra's heart thumps erratically from the exchange. Unsure what's going on or, for that matter, where she even is, she glances toward the now empty seat.

Disbelieving, malicious, laughter comes to her. <How did you not even realize you didn't know where you were!?>

Ignoring her persistent demeaning self, she steps over to the warm fire and sits down in the offered chair. She keeps her eyes down, not wanting to intrude on the other woman's privacy.

No response comes from the woman as the fire gives off occasional cracks and casts a soft warmth onto Kendra's chilled body. As the excitement from her awakening and the exchange with the old man pass, she realizes how tired she is. Letting her eyes close she leans back and takes a deep breath as the fire's radiant warmth helps to calm her even more. Slowly, her eyes open as they seek to watch the fire for a bit. As they move downward, she notices something swaying easily out of the corner of her vision. From the side of the other chair there's a large, bushy, white furred, black tipped, fox tail!

Kendra's eyes dart immediately to the other woman and can only stare transfixed at something that should not exist. An anthropomorphic arctic fox girl! Her white fur is cast with a golden-orange sheen as the fire's flames cast marvelous shadows behind each long piece of fur.

Looking down, Kendra can see the fox's hands and feet are certainly more pawlike than a human's. As her vision travels back up the vixen's form, she notices a gorgeous blue, gem lined, collar wrapping around her neck. Letting her eyes travel even further up the strange figure's face, Kendra can see a small muzzle pushing out from her face with a fox's black nose at its tip. As her eyes continue their scan, their eyes meet. The fox woman's eyes are striking, their deep blue color is like a pool of water with no bottom.

"Curious?" The furry woman asks with such a chill that it's surprising that Kendra can't see the woman's breath.

"What... Who are you?" Kendra stammers, her academic mind trying to categorize the impossible.

"Questions for later, perhaps," Winter responds, her tail wagging a bit more. "For now, relax."

---

Jake moans internally as her mind starts to function again as a throbbing pain assaults her brain. She tries to reach a hand up to help manage the new onslaught of agony and realizes she's disembodied. That should have sent her into a panic; but, instead, she feels safety in the notion. She's also not able to open her eyes. It's as if she's in a deep warm fox den, sheltered from the outside world, as she deals with her own problems. Winter's presence sprinkles a cooling feeling through her hot, throbbing, brain; but, it's nothing more than snowflakes on a pool of lava. It's still comforting to know she's not suffering through this alone.

<The woman you saved is awake,> Winter explains softly. <Her name is Kendra. She's fully recovered. You did everything you needed to do and more. Let me say once more that I still do not condone your original actions; but, at the same time, I will say you should take pride in your accomplishment.>

Jake floats in her disembodied state as she slowly processes the vixen's words. She marvels how happy she is to have gained such praise from Winter. She also takes her companion's dissatisfaction to heart as well. She knows her actions had been reckless.

Feelings start to come back to Jake as she feels the pain slowly decreasing. Vision sparks to life now too as she blinks a few times. The room is dark now with just the fireplace emitting light. Winter's currently just watching the warm fire. She can also feel the chair they're sitting in. It's hard and not very comfortable, though her fur helps act like a cushion.

Curiosity grows in Jake's mind as he wonders how the woman, Kendra, is doing. She makes her desire known as she gains control of her eyes. She glances over to the other chair and sees the woman she had saved. Against the firelight, the woman is rather cute, roughly Jake's age by her guess. She has auburn hair and freckles dotting her cheeks. Her brown eyes occasionally turn to glance in Jake's direction before they dart back to the fire.

<I've seen her before,> Jake says as she tries to get her mind to work a bit. <She's in one of my classes. Comput-> A jolt of dizziness stops her as she keeps her focus on the woman. There's a strange need to know who she is. <Physics? Yes! This morning, she had bumped into her!> The memory of that contact bleeds into her mind with a sense of shame. <I should have said more...>

<I know your mind is in pain,> Winter says slowly with a cooling comfort. <Overextending oneself and going into a state of mana deprivation has consequences. The pain will pass and you will have time to make amends.>

Considering her words, Jake doesn't respond and simply does nothing as the dizziness returns. She acquiesces full control back to Winter as darkness fills Jake's vision again.

<What would you like to do for now, Jake?>

The question would have been so odd this morning; but now, given her current pain-filled state, it makes perfect sense. Her two options are taking full control now or letting Winter continue on as Jake recovers. With no thought required, Jake responds, <Let me recover some more, thank you, Winter>

A warming chill covers her mind as she does her best to drift in the boiling waters.

---

Shifting some in the uncomfortable chair as her butt becomes numb, Kendra feels courageous enough to ask, "Where are we?"

The fox woman remains silent as she continues to watch the fire as her tail continues to sway contently.

Building up as much confidence as she can muster, Kendra asks, "Do you have a name?"

"I do."

A long pause follows, but before Kendra presses for more, the fox woman finally adds, "You can call me Winter."

"Did you save me?" Kendra asks, hoping to learn something, anything, more about her current situation.

"I did," The fox responds simply as the room seems to grow colder with condemnation.

Startled by the response, Kendra fights her first instinct of shutting down but fights through it. "Thank you," Kendra finally manages to say. "For saving me, Winter."

The mood in the room seems to soften as Winter responds, "You are welcome. You should thank Calmar for restoring your legs too. I simply assisted."

"'Restored my legs?'" Kendra presses, needing to know more. Her drive for knowledge winning the fight over her desires to stay silent.

The fox shakes her head as she comments, "You like questions..."

"I like to learn!" Kendra retorts. She can tell Winter is either not in the mood or not the type to give information easily. She turns her attention back to the fire and closes her eyes as a sudden, strange sensation grips her mind, like a thread pulling at the side of her mind. She winces, clenching her fists as she tries to focus on anything but the bizarre pulling inside her skull.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Winter asks with a surprising concern in her voice.

"I - I don't know," Kendra admits, her brows furrowing as she scans the room. "There's a weird feeling in my brain, like something's pulling me in a direction." She rubs her temple trying to ease the discomfort that doesn't seem physical.

"Interesting," the vixen muses as her tail starts to move faster. "Pay attention to it. Such feelings may be more significant than they seem."

"Significant how?" Kendra asks, but her question fades as she becomes lost in the peculiarity of the sensation. She can almost see it, it's like a thread of energy woven through the fabric of her consciousness. It's almost pulsing with an unfamiliar power that only seems to grow in strength with time. It feels like something is reaching out to her. Not just to her physically, but as if it's reaching out for her very soul.

A shirl malevolent voice says, <Why would anyone want to be with you? You'll fail them too!>

Ignoring herself as best as she can, she stands up and follows the pull toward a door in the room.

"That's it..." Winter breathes out slowly. "You are being called. You have been chosen." Her voice carries a note of a thrilling blizzard.

Kendra looks back at Winter and shakes her head assertively. With melancholy in her voice, she says, "No one would choose me, I'm a worthless person. I'm easy to forget and everyone will be better off when they forget about me..."

"Really?" Winter questions as she raises an eyebrow curiously. "When I saved you, you were saving an old man. Should he forget you?"

"Yes!" Kendra responds emphatically. "I failed him! I lead him to his death! I failed him like I fail everyone!"

Winter's stare is intense, as if looking into Kendra's soul. "Yet everyone left him to die. So why did you stop to help him?"

"Because... I - I couldn't leave him! He was so scared..." Memories of the event fill Kendra's mind as she speaks. Tears of fright and terror come unexpectedly to her eyes as she looks down. "I couldn't just leave him there to die alone..."

"You see?" The vixen asks as she stands and walks over to Kendra. Reaching out a paw, she lifts Kendra's chin slightly so their eyes meet. "You are not worthless. Even the simplest meeting should be remembered. Heroic ones? Those meetings should never be forgotten."

Footsteps approach before abruptly stopping. "Oh, am I interrupting something?" Calmar asks, as he looks at the two women from across the room. There's a glass of water in his hand.

"No," Winter answers in a seriously cold tone as she returns to her seat before mentioning, "She's been chosen."

A shattering of glass against wood causes Kendra to look over to the old man again. His face is full of surprise. He quickly collects himself and hides his emotions under a mask of impassivity.

"I feel something pulling at my mind..." Kendra explains still uncertain what's going on.

"Then please, follow me to the other room." His tone of voice is kind but seems to leave no room for questions. Oddly, this does not concern Kendra like it should; it seems that she trusts this man implicitly for some reason. Despite her thoughts, Kendra simply follows the man into the next room.