by D. S. Craig
I let out a yawn of my own as the adrenaline faded. My exhaustion had started to catch up with me. “I agree. Let’s all get to bed.”
No one seemed to have any complaints, so we all agreed to meet out on the training field the next morning before returning to the dorms. Aurelia carried Fang in her arms the whole way back, her brow furrowed in thought.
* * *
The next morning Lesti and I woke up at our usual time and went to get breakfast before heading out to the training grounds. Usually, we would run into Aurelia there and eat breakfast together, but she seemed to be missing today. Lesti scanned the room while waiting for her soup to be served with a worried look on her face. “It’s unusual for Aurelia to miss breakfast. I hope nothing happened with Fang last night.”
The lady serving the soup seemed to notice her concern and spoke up as she handed Lesti her bowl. “Oh if you’re looking for your friend, little miss, her and that hound of hers already had their breakfast and left a bit ago.”
“Oh, really? That’s a relief. Thank you for letting me know.” Lesti smiled brightly at the kind woman before turning and finding a table to eat her breakfast.
I hopped up next to her as she started to cram food into her mouth at an alarming rate. “What are you in such a hurry for all of a sudden?”
Lesti started to try and respond but realized her mouth was full and spent several seconds trying to swallow before finally succeeding. “I mean, aren’t you curious? Aurelia never leaves without us anymore. There must be some reason, right?”
“I guess that’s true…”
Thinking back on it, she was right. Since the pair started eating breakfast together after the beast attack, Aurelia waited for Lesti in the dining hall, even if she was done eating. My mind began to wander through the possibilities, and soon I found my tail flicking about impatiently as I waited for her to finish.
After a few minutes, she drained the rest of her soup and slammed the bowl down onto the table. “Done! Let’s get going!”
She hurriedly returned her dishes, and we made our way to the training grounds. Lesti shivered slightly as we walked across the lawn. The mornings were still quite chilly, and the thin mist that still hung in the air didn’t make things any better. As we approached our destination, I began to pick up on a strange sequence of sounds.
A loud thud echoed through the morning air from somewhere in the mists. It was shortly followed by the rustling of leaves. Then there would be a long pause before the cycle would repeat itself. After we walked a bit further, Lesti noticed it as well. Knowing no one besides Aurelia would be on the field this early, we headed toward the noise.
Eventually, a large tree near the edge of the training grounds came into view through the mist. Aurelia stood just about an arm’s length from the tree. She had a low, wide stance and her eyes were screwed shut with focus. After taking a deep breath, she pivoted at the hips, and her right arm exploded forward toward the tree with incredible speed. Just before she made contact, her fist stopped, hovering in the air just a few inches from the trunk of the tree.
Thud.
My eyes went wide as a dull thud echoed from the tree. The branches swayed back and forth as the tree shook slightly from the impact, causing a few loose leaves to flutter to the ground. Nearby, Fang began to dart around, trying to catch them all before they hit the ground. Aurelia watched him with a faint smile before noticing us and waving.
“Good morning, Auri! It looks like Fang is doing better today?” Lesti called out as she waved to her friend.
Aurelia nodded. “Mm. He’s back to his usual self this morning, thanks to everyone’s help.”
I closed my eyes and checked Fang’s magical energy. Just as I had suspected, it had already started to fill back up. It would still be a while before he was in danger again, but I wanted to make sure it didn’t get to that point. “It looks like his magic is filling up really fast still. Make sure you draw some of it out every once in a while. Otherwise, it’s going to build up again. Okay, Aurelia?”
“Mm. I will.” Despite saying she would take care of it, Aurelia looked at Fang with a worried expression. “Still, I would like for him to learn to use his magic on his own. That way, he’ll be safe even if I’m not around.”
I highly doubted that a situation like that would ever occur, but it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared, just in case. Besides, having some extra magic at his disposal would only help Fang out in the future. But I wasn’t sure how to teach him. From what I understood, most magical beasts could just use some form of magic naturally. For elemental hounds, this was based on the type of magic they absorbed. Unfortunately, I had no idea what sort of abilities would come from having absorbed Thel’al’s magic.
As I was mulling over the problem in my mind, Lesti pointed at Aurelia. “We can worry about that later! More importantly, how did you do that thing with the tree? You didn’t touch it, right?”
“Oh, right. You couldn’t see it, could you?” I turned my attention back to Aurelia. “It looks like you figured out how to manipulate your magical energy a bit after last night, huh?”
When Aurelia punched at the tree, my eyes had seen the wave of magical energy that had extended from her hand to hit it. That energy had condensed into something like a magical barrier and had struck the tree before dissipating. She had punched the tree with her magic—but it didn’t seem like she had perfected it yet.
“Mm. When I drew out Fang’s magical energy, there was so much of it that I could sort of feel it.” Aurelia stared down at her hands as she continued. “After I understood what it was like, I was finally able to pinpoint the energy in my own body as well. Although, I still can’t manipulate it very well without a spell.”
Her explanation lined up with what I had seen as well. During her punch, Aurelia had been casting a relatively quick and simple spell. I could see her magical energy doing something to her body at that time, and now I knew what it was. She was using it to help propel and harden her magic. Even if she had to rely on a spell, for now, it was fantastic progress after over a month of no breakthroughs.
“Alright. For now, I want you to continue to focus on perfecting this technique. However, rather than trying to use your energy outside of your body, I want you to work on changing the way it flows inside your body. Think you can do that?”
“Mm. I can, but”—Aurelia nodded, then looked at her hands with a confused expression before turning her gaze back to me—“why wouldn’t I just focus on using the magic in my hands?”
I sat and thought for a moment, trying to think of the best way to explain my reasoning to her before responding. “Let me ask you this. Do you think you could beat Elliot in a one on one fight if you mastered that punching technique?”
Aurelia shook her head without even a moment of hesitation. “Mmm. Even if I mastered this, Elliot is incredibly skilled at close-quarters combat. He would easily negate such a straightforward attack.”
I felt a gentle thrumming in my chest as Aurelia noticed the exact problem. She had a good sense of her abilities and what their limits were. Unlike Lesti, she could recognize when she was outclassed and understand why without even needing to fight the person. “Now, what if you had more angles of attack? For example, if you could use the same technique with kicks or even your daggers?”
“Mm. It would be harder to defend against.” Aurelia furrowed her brow in thought. “Okay. I’ll work on moving my magical energy around. Will you help me, Instructor?”
“Sorry, but I have something else I need to work on.” I turned my gaze over to Fang, who was sniffing around the base of the tree. “Now that his abilities are starting to manifest, I want to figure out what they are as soon as possible. I’ll check in with you when I can, though.”
“Mm. I’ll be fine.” Aurelia followed my gaze. “I’ll leave Fang to you. Take care of him for me.”
“Now, as for you.” I turned and faced Lesti.
“M-me?” She looked down at me with a slightly fearf
ul expression on her face. “I was just planning on reading through my books.”
“You’ll be doing no such thing.” I glared up at her, my tail twitching about. “Starting today, you’re going to use the morning to practice sparring with Elliot.”
“You really think doing that’s going to help me? I’m not suddenly going to turn into a master of close-quarters combat overnight, you know.”
“I wouldn’t be recommending it if I didn’t think it would help.” I gazed past her at the figure of Elliot walking towards us through the morning mist, my tail twitching about in excitement. “Besides, I’m not expecting you to fight normally. I want you to do what you usually do.”
“What I normally do?” She looked at me with a confused look on her face.
“That’s right. I want you to blow his and everyone else’s expectations out of the water in your own crazy way. You can think of a way to do that, right?”
Lesti grinned with her usual fearlessness and puffed out her chest. “Ha! Of course, I can do that! After this tournament, I’m going to be taking that number one spot after all.”
“Well, sounds like you’re rearing to go. Did I miss something?” Elliot called out as he finally finished crossing the field and joined us. He was carrying a wooden practice spear today as well, clearly ready to spar.
“Actually, Elliot, I was just telling Lesti that she would be sparring with you in the mornings from now on. You don’t mind, right?”
“I mean, I don’t mind, but I’d like to get some training of my own in, too.” Elliot grimaced as he threw a sidelong glance at Lesti.
“You’re still saying that?! Alright, let’s go, then!” Lesti snapped at him, pointing out toward the field. “I’ll show you exactly why I’m the number two in our year now!”
“Oh, is that right?” A dark expression came over Elliot’s face as the two began glaring at each other. “Let’s see what you can do, you cocky brat.”
With that, Elliot turned and marched off toward the center of the training grounds, Lesti hot on his heels. The pair badgered each other the whole way with an intensity that I’d never seen from either of them before. I wonder if I got Lesti a little too worked up there? I’ll do Fang’s training nearby just in case.
Getting Closer
Later that day, we were all packing up our things to visit Rose again. It was about time for classes to finish, and we figured she would be working on her garden after that. We hadn’t gotten the chance to ask her about her ability yet, thanks to Fang and me falling from the roof last time, so we planned to try again today.
“Everything still hurts,” Lesti whined as she packed up her things. She was covered in bruises from her morning training with Elliot. Despite both their attitudes earlier today, neither had gone overboard—but that also meant Elliot had come out on top in every bout. Lesti wasn’t used to having to hold back her magic in combat, and her inexperience showed.
Until now, she either fought alongside me or was able to use her spells at full strength. She had never needed to be particularly clever about how she used her magic. That was why I had asked Elliot to spar with her. Lesti was a bright girl, and she wasn’t afraid of hard work either. It was a bit harsh, but throwing her to the wolves like this would be the fastest way for her to improve.
“Oh, quit your whining,” Elliot called from the doorway with a playful smirk on his face. “My brothers gave me bruises ten times worse than that during our training sessions. You’ll be fine.”
Lesti glared back at him as she shoved her last book into her bag. “You’re lucky we’re going to meet up with Rose, or I’d give you a piece of my mind.”
Elliot’s smile faded at the mention of Rose. “You’re still planning on trying to befriend her, huh?”
“That’s right, and nothing is going to stop me, so don’t even think about trying.” Lesti pushed past Elliot and walked out of the classroom with Aurelia. Typically, this is where Elliot would have parted ways with us, but he followed the pair down the hall for some reason.
Confused, I trotted to catch up with him. “You’re coming with us, Elliot?”
“Yeah.” He kept his gaze fixed on the back of Lesti’s head as he spoke to me. “If she’s going to get involved with Rose, then I need to be aware of what’s going on. Otherwise, it could become an issue.”
“What’s the big deal? We’re just getting to know her.”
Elliot glanced down at me. “You expect me to believe that one of the most famous students here at the school took an interest in a first-year girl, a commoner no less, completely at random?”
So, he knows more than he let on last time after all. I wonder why he’s so secretive about it?
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter either way.” I turned my gaze back to Lesti. “At this point, she’d still talk to her even if you told her it would make her the enemy of your family.”
Elliot’s eyes went wide at my statement. “She really thinks Rose’s ability is that valuable?”
I let out a short laugh at just how off the mark he was. “Of course not. Lesti would never put her own people’s future at risk over something like that.”
“Then, why?” Elliot asked, looking down at me as if I were some sort of alien.
“It’s simple.” I broke out into a trot and glanced back over my shoulder at him. “She wants to be friends with her.”
Without waiting to see Elliot’s reaction, I turned and caught up with Lesti and Aurelia. Still, thanks to my sharp hearing, I heard the words he muttered under his breath as he chuckled. “What a stupid reason.”
* * *
As expected, we found Rose working her garden behind the girls’ dormitory. Upon seeing our approach, she waved nervously, keeping a close eye on Fang and me. Apparently, our previous meeting hadn’t been enough to get rid of her fear of us. At least she wasn’t running away screaming this time.
But just as she started to relax a little, her eyes went wide, and she froze. “M-Master Elliot, what are you doing here? Is there some sort of problem?”
Elliot smiled gently at the flustered girl and waved his hand. “No, nothing of the sort. I’m just here as a member of their training group today. Also, there’s no need to refer to me by my title here, Rose. We’re all equals according to the rules of the academy.”
Rose let out a sigh of relief. “I see. Then, is there something I can help you all with?”
“Well, we were wondering if we could help you with your garden.” Lesti grabbed Rose’s hand and pushed her face quite close, causing her to lean back. “Can we?”
“My garden? Well—” Rose glanced nervously over at Elliot, who just nodded with a defeated smile on his face. “I-I guess it will be alright. Honestly, it will help me out as well. This is more work than I expected.”
“Great! Just tell us what to do, and we’ll get to work.”
“Okay. I was planning to plant the seeds today.” Rose walked over to a large sack lying near the edge of the field and returned with a handful of seeds. “I’ll show you how to do it. Then, each of us can work on a different part of the garden.”
“Mm. Please show us.” Aurelia took off her cloak and handed it to Fang, who clumsily carried it over to the edge of the field. Rose began to show the girls how to properly plant the seeds, including the correct depth and spacing for each one. Meanwhile, I sat off to the side and pretended to take a nap, while actually watching Rose’s magic.
She didn’t inject any of her magic into the seeds as she had done with the soil. She was just planting them like any average person would. As they went to work, I kept a close eye on her, but she didn’t change anything, no matter how long I watched.
After about an hour, Rose finished up her portion of the field and moved on to help the others, but she was turned away by a rather indignant Lesti, who insisted that Rose take a break while they finished. Faced with Lesti’s unusually strong will, Rose couldn’t argue with her, so she went and sat down in the shade of a nearby tree, waiting for
the pair to finish.
Seeing my chance, I got up and stealthily moved to sit over by her, making sure to keep enough distance so she wouldn’t freak out. “Can I ask you a question, Rose?”
She jumped a little upon hearing my voice, her head swiveling about until her gaze finally locked onto me. Her expression told me that she was nervous, but she didn’t look outright scared this time. She stared at me for a long moment, her gaze darting over toward Elliot once or twice before responding. “Sure. If it’s something that I can answer, then I don’t mind.”
“Thank you.” I sat upright and wrapped my tail around my feet, trying to look as unimposing as possible. “I’m just curious why you didn’t infuse the seeds with your magic like you did with the soil. Is there some difference between the two?”
Rose’s eyes went wide when she heard my question. “How do you know about that? Don’t tell me you’re some sort of spy sent to make sure that my secret doesn’t leak to the world, and that you’ll kill me if it does?!”
Rose’s expression grew frantic as she clearly spiraled off into some delusion of her own creation. I was so caught off guard that I couldn’t respond immediately. However, I soon saw that she was about to continue, and decided it best if I nipped her misconceptions in the bud.
“S-sorry. I wasn’t trying to spy on you or anything like that. It’s just that one of my abilities is that I can see magical energy.” I looked toward the tree on the other side of the field. “The other day when I was napping in that tree, I noticed that the parts of the field you had tilled were filled with magic. I was planning to ask you about it when you suddenly ran away.”
“Oh, is that all? Thank goodness. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m not very good with animals.” Rose looked at me apologetically before turning her gaze toward Lesti and Aurelia working the field. “Did you tell them about my ability?”