It was time for Kazue to re-enter the fray, which started with diving back down to the ground to retrieve the staff she'd dropped when the moose kicked her. When she got back up in the air she let Fintan roost on the shoulder that Moriko had pushed back into place.

Having one hand occupied by a staff and the other resting while Fintan healed her shoulder slowed Kazue's casting speed — unlike Mordecai, she almost always had to use some amount of gesturing to finish her spellforms. But this made it a good time to practice using her tails in place of her hands and fingers.

The battle was frantic enough as it was, but a second wave of seven teleported in as soon as this group dropped to three. Kazue only tried to block one teleport this time, deliberately timing the disruption to kill the target the way she had before, but that was a tiring trick.

Her brief struggle left everyone else dealing with the other nine moose, though at least three of those were injured. Kazue joined that assault too, of course, and started casting her larger lightning chain spells, and creating the occasional cone of flying crystal shards when she had a chance to.

It was exhausting; this was not the sort of magic she was strongest with. Even with her battle spirit's support, she didn't dare close in on any of the moose, who were sturdy enough to resist most of her physical magic. So she switched back to interfering with them instead.

This required focusing most of her attention on just one of the great beasts at a time, but sending one of them off running in circles as it fended off imaginary wolves meant that every one else was free to ignore it, and tired the moose out. She could still send out the occasional small shock spell to interfere with other moose too, which did little damage but helped her friends either defend against or attack the moose when it stumbled briefly.

Kazue's concentration on keeping that one moose trapped in an illusion broke when she sensed yet another wave of moose teleporting in. She only had time to pit her magic against one of them, and the moose almost had time to break free before Kazue felt Mordecai's will and power come to her aid, giving the little bit of push she needed to create another pile of moose mush.

There was a pile of mush on the other side of the group that had nothing to do with her interference, and she had the feeling that Mordecai had figured out what she was doing and managed to duplicate it. But the rest had gotten through, and almost everyone was feeling as tired as she was, which made the battle even more frenetic than it had been before.

She soon had her attention locked onto another moose. This one had tried teleporting up to where she hovered, but Kazue had sensed it in time to cleanly dodge the attack, and she now had it trying to fly in circles away from winged wolves that only existed in its mind. The result was a rather ungainly flailing of its legs and wings as it slowly spiraled down to the ground.

Between that and her level of exhaustion, Kazue was unable to react when events unfolded in what felt like slowed time.

Fuyuko's shout brought her gaze to a moose that was charging at Shizoku, who was tending to an injured Rika. The intensive training that Mordecai had put Fuyuko through was reflected in her actions as she rapidly swapped to her daggers, threw them, and then shadow stepped into the moose's path with her falcatas now in hand, all while shifting into her new monstrous wolf form.

Amrydor was there a tiny moment later, though Kazue's liminal spirit was confused about what technique the boy had used to cover that distance. He crouched at Fuyuko's feet and planted the butt of his war scythe into the icy ground just in time to receive the moose's charge.

Between impaling itself on the polearm and having Fuyuko's heavy blades crashing against its antlers, the moose's charge was massively slowed, but not by nearly enough to prevent injuries. Amrydor was pushed back and half trampled, but he held his position solidly, despite the battering he was taking from now being almost directly underneath the moose's head, and well within range of its frantic hoof strikes.

But Kazue's horrified gaze was caught by the scene above him, where the impact of antlers had driven into Fuyuko's belly. The tough, enchanted leather armor had held long enough for her to be pushed back, much as Amrydor had been, but it gave before the moose's momentum was entirely spent, leaving Fuyuko impaled on several of the antler spikes as the moose belched out a cloud of noxious, corrosive gas.

This did not seem to slow Kazue's daughter down as Fuyuko smashed her blades into the moose's head, who then tried to shake its head and back away. But Fuyuko had other ideas, and quickly dropped her swords to free her hands and grab onto the moose's antlers, while planting her knee against Amrydor's upper back and bracing herself.

The boy looked a touch dazed by the repeated impact of the moose's hooves and his helmet had split on one side, but he held his position and his grip with grim determination. Their combined actions left the moose trapped, and by now, others were reacting. Three enraged hatchling dragons landed almost simultaneously on the moose's back, sharp claws ripping and tearing, while spells and weapons alike tore open the moose's flanks.

When the moose started to sag, Amrydor reacted swiftly and yanked out his war scythe in a spray of bone shards and gore so that he could thrust it upward, pushing the edge against the outside of the moose's antler. Fuyuko growled and struck the antler to smash it against the blade. The antler shattered just before the moose's falling body could drag Fuyuko with it.

Then Fuyuko's strength gave out, and while Amrydor was able to cushion her fall, he was not in much better shape, which left the two of them collapsed into a pile together while others rushed to tend them. Paltira had already manifested golden dragon wings to tackle the moose Kazue had been occupying, so she dived down to Fuyuko's side, worry eating at her heart as she gathered enough mana to blow away the lingering traces of acidic toxin.

Both of them were breathing, but Fuyuko's wound looked bad, especially with half an antler still stuck in her. "I can remove that," Kazue said softly to the young healers as she laid a hand on it, "just tell me when."

Allania and Shizoku glanced at each other to confirm that both of them were ready, then Allania nodded at Kazue.

Kazue teleported the horn a short distance away, using her recently gained understanding of the magic, and Shizoku immediately poured a healing potion into Fuyuko's mouth while the young priestess cast a small healing prayer. Even combined with Fuyuko's swift healing, these were little more than enough to stop any bleeding.

Teleporting the antler away had required understanding where it was first, which meant that Kazue was now unfortunately aware of just how deeply it had gone. The only reason it hadn't been poking out of Fuyuko's back was that the back part of her armor had held by the time the antler had penetrated that deeply.

Moriko touched Kazue's shoulder and gently drew her back to give Allania more room. The girl was mixing medical techniques with her magic and Shizoku's alchemy, and rearranging things Kazue didn't want to think about in between each step of the healing.

So Kazue forced herself to look away and searched around to see what was happening with the rest of the fight. It was fortunately almost done — the last moose was pinned to the ground by a weave of shadow that was almost certainly Mordecai's work, though he was letting others finish it off while he walked toward Fuyuko with a level of calm that made Kazue suddenly angry.

He'd already shown that he could split his attention and spend magic to help others; why hadn't he helped Fuyuko? Why had he let their daughter nearly die‽ Hot tears of rage formed as she took a breath to yell at him, but Moriko moved in front of Kazue and placed a hand over her mouth first.

"No," Moriko hissed out quietly. "First, trust his judgment enough to wait and learn. Hold onto your emotions until you know more before you judge. But also, now is not the time. If you must yell at him, do so in private, and certainly not in front of our daughter! We've each put our trust and our lives in each other's hands; you can give him a little more trust here."

Kazue's core spoke softly to her through the connection of her earring. "I think she's right. It's just, there's a lot to process. Wait a moment, I'm still working on it."

Having both her core and Moriko stop her like this hurt; it felt almost like an attack, but it did dampen her anger and resentment, and made Kazue question herself and her judgment. She nodded and then closed her eyes and pulled Moriko into a tight hug.

Moriko hugged back tightly for a moment, then pulled back a little. "Come on, I think the healers are done with them for the moment, though it looks like all the injured are being gathered now."

Fuyuko and Amrydor were still lying on the ground, both of them placed on blankets while others finished examining their wounds. Fuyuko's belly was exposed, healed just enough to show raw skin, which was a stark contrast to the rest of her currently furry form. The outer edges of the rips and gaps in Fuyuko's armor had started to soften as the semi-living leather began to repair itself, which was allowing the damage to reform itself into smoother shapes.

Amrydor had to be stripped more heavily; his armor had been badly deformed in the process of protecting him, and there was a pile of broken metal nearby, along with all the sections of padding and cloth that had been cut away. The boy also didn't have Fuyuko's fast healing ability, so he needed to be checked more thoroughly for hidden injuries. Based on all the bruises still visible after his initial healing, Kazue guessed that several of Amrydor's bones had been broken before he'd been treated.

They weren't the only ones who were in poor shape, but they were the worst off. All of the teens looked beat up and exhausted, so all of them had been brought over to where the badly injured pair were laying down, to rest while the adults took care of dealing with clean up.

Allania, Shizoku, and Derek did not get to rest as swiftly as the other teens did. Each of them had some ability to heal, and so their duty was to tend to the other youths. It wasn't fair, really, not when adults with more capacity were around, but it was a painfully realistic part of their training. Healers were the very last ones who got to rest most of the time.

Mordecai knelt on the ground between Fuyuko and Amrydor with a smile. "You did well there. That was impressive teamwork, and I am proud of you both."

Amrydor just smiled slightly and nodded.

Fuyuko looked just as pleased, but also thoughtful. "Thank you, Papa," she said, then took a moment before she asked, "You knew what I was about to do, didn't you? Ya could have intervened, yeah?"

The pained expression that flashed across Mordecai's face made Kazue's heart ache and left her feeling even more confused as Mordecai nodded and said, "Yes."

Fuyuko smiled and tried to laugh, but it turned into a brief coughing fit instead. When she recovered, she said, "It's alright, Papa, I understand. And thank you for trusting me like that, for believing I was strong enough to do my part there."

Kazue stared at Fuyuko in shock as her mind spun. Fuyuko seemed happy that Mordecai had deliberately chosen to let her get that badly injured. The girl could have easily died because her father hadn't intervened, and she was cheerful.

The girl's words also made sense, in a way, but Kazue had trouble holding on to the idea that it was worth being that sort of injured just to prove that she was strong enough to take it. While Kazue was lost in a daze, Moriko went over and knelt by Fuyuko's other side.

"We're all proud of you," Moriko said before kissing Fuyuko's forehead, "but give Kazue a moment, alright? This isn't how she thinks about things, so it's tough on her." Moriko gestured for Kazue, and she complied slowly, moving over to also kneel down next to Fuyuko.

"I," Kazue started to say, then shook her head and took a deep breath before trying again. "I love you so much, and that scared me a lot. I hate seeing you get hurt like that. So I'm sorry if I was acting a bit strange there, I was just very worried, alright?"

At Fuyuko's nod and smile, Kazue leaned over and hugged her daughter carefully before kissing her cheek. "Rest up, I want you safe and healthy." When she sat back up, she looked over at Mordecai. "I, um, I'm sorry I was angry. I, just, well," she floundered for the words, but couldn't find them.

Mordecai smiled and reached across Fuyuko to brush Kazue's cheek gently. "It's alright, I understand, and we can talk more about it later." Then he leaned forward to kiss her briefly, before Fuyuko made exaggerated retching sounds.

"Eww, go away, I don't want to see that so close up!" she complained at them, but she was grinning, so Kazue didn't think Fuyuko minded too much this time.

Kazue smiled at Fuyuko and then rose with Moriko, while Mordecai turned his attention back to Fuyuko and said, "This seems like a good time to practice how to use your shape changing to accelerate your healing."

Moriko led her away and then pulled Kazue into a hug that Kazue leaned into, resting herself against Moriko. After a long while of just holding Kazue while surrounded by the clatter of work around them, Moriko asked, "Are you alright now?"

She nodded and then sighed. "Yes, mostly. It still doesn't sit well with me, but he acted the way Fuyuko wanted him to act, and if he has to choose between making her happy and making me happy, I do want him to choose making her happy. But if he'd been wrong; if she'd died, Moriko, I don't know that I'd have been able to forgive that."

"I understand," Moriko said softly. "This is very much not the sort of life you would have chosen to live. It's been thrust upon you. It had sort of been thrust upon Fuyuko as well, but she's embraced it, and I think she'd have chosen it herself if she'd been given the chance. I can offer you one small bit of comfort, though." She smiled and nodded over to where Mordecai and Fuyuko were talking, with Fuyuko now in her normal form and looking much healthier. "Think about everything we know of our husband, his skills, and the way he understands life and death. Do you really think he doesn't have some drastic and probably dramatic last resort for keeping her alive? I can't imagine that mere injuries are enough to kill one of us so long as he's nearby, not without incapacitating him first."

Heh, Moriko was probably right. There were limits, as little could be done about a body just simply being destroyed, but Fuyuko's armor alone showed how malleable the difference between something being alive or not alive could be, and that Mordecai understood how to push those limits.