~*~*~
“That was a long game. Ling did well,” Gregory said as they left the building. Stretching, he looked at the night sky and sighed. “Won’t be any training tonight.”
“It took longer than I thought it would... Ling understood more than I thought she did,” Jenn said. “Her use of the archers was perfect.”
“Clover is amusing,” Yukiko giggled. “Her encouraging Ling nearly made Magus Erichson rebuke her.”
“She means well,” Gregory chuckled, thinking about Clover’s antics.
“She just wanted Ling to feel better,” Jenn smiled. “Those two will make a good team when we have team games.”
“Yes, they will,” Yukiko agreed. “Reminds me some of Daciana and Nessa, honestly, but with less aggression and more unbridled cheer.”
Gregory laughed. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“Who do you think the cook will be tonight?” Jenn asked, looking up at the star-laden sky.
“I think Steva,” Yukiko replied. “Not that it matters. Dinner will be delicious, no matter who it is.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
Nearly a month passed by with a very broken routine— they were still able to study every morning and practice the Peaceful Fist every night, but their magic and combat training was hit and miss. It all came down to how long the games ran during class. The majority ended before dinner at the clan hall, allowing them to get training in, but occasionally, the game would run long. Those long games would have the entire class staying to watch, as Paul considered it educational for them.
The expanded Magi Squares were slowly becoming easier for them to complete, which gave them more time to read again. Daciana had been challenged twice during physical training, and won both times, which didn’t earn the three novices any new friends. Winning did earn Daciana some notice and invitations to talk with some clans, and an invitation for Nessa, as well.
It took Yukiko explaining the politics of the situation for Daciana to understand that, even if she never wanted to join those clans, it would still be good for her to visit and listen. It would buy time for them, and maybe even keep the other students from causing the novices so much trouble if they thought she was likely to join a clan with clout.
The physical training had gone back to no-aether sparring against their clan instructors, which lacked a lot of the flair the fights with the Hardened Fist had, but drilled the idea of basic teamwork into them better. They’d started to use single words or hand signals to relay basic ideas to each other.
~*~*~
Gregory frowned for a moment, then smiled when he realized where he was. “Hello, Darkness.”
“Dear one. It is good to speak with you again,” her liquid voice sounded happy. “You are all rank five this morning.”
“Thank you,” Gregory said, sitting up on the side of the bed closest to the pooled shadows. “I know you had to work to make it happen.”
“Yes, but for you, dear one, I would do nearly anything.”
“Except let me see you,” Gregory said with a smirk.
“You are still not ready, but you are growing quickly. It will still be years before you are truly ready, but that is almost no time at all.”
“It’s barely been over a year since this all started, and it feels like ages,” Gregory said softly. “So much has changed in that time...”
“Yes, and all for the better,” Darkness added. “Now, I know the questions burning in your mind but, before I answer them…” The bed flexed as Yukiko and Jenn appeared beside him on the bed. “There we are. One big, happy family.”
“Oh... we must have grown again. That’s good,” Yukiko smiled. “How are you, Darkness?”
“I am fine, Yuki. Thank you for asking. I was going to ask for that favor after I answered questions for our heart. Is that okay with you?”
“Oh, yes. It’s been a while since we did that, but I’m fine with it. Jenn?”
“Huh? Oh. Yes, that’s fine, Darkness.”
Gregory frowned, knowing he was missing something.
“You will find out shortly, dear one,” Darkness laughed. “The medallion… I know you have been wondering what you can do with it right now. Instead of letting you fumble around with it, I am going to show you the safe things you can use it for.”
The shadows pulled back slightly and a table appeared before them. The medallion from the temple rested on it, along with copies of their enchanted items. Disembodied hands of the darkest shadows lifted the medallion up and touched it to one of their armbands of shielding. A pulse of aether flashed between them— a bright blue arc that was there and gone in an instant.
“And it is fully charged,” Darkness said. “Just touch them and will it. The same goes for your aether storage items, including Jenn’s, but if you charge hers fully, it will have a clear impact on the aether in the medallion. I suggest only charging her ring as far as your earrings, Yuki.”
“Okay,” Yukiko replied.
“As for the items that recharge by pulling in ambient aether...” The medallion stayed in the air, and the table now held copies of the healing rings and the necklaces that let them go invisible. “This is a bit trickier, as you have to discharge some of the aether into the air. Focus on letting a tiny trickle of aether out, and only a tiny trickle. Have the items near it when you do.” A small burst of flame came from the medallion, and the sparks were quickly sucked into the items around it.
“And that’s the least it can do, isn’t it?” Gregory asked softly. “This was Aether’s medallion?”
“It was yours, yes. It is one of the reasons why the aether flame is seen as it is. As for your other question, Jenn, take off the ring and look at the inside band.”
Jenn slipped the ring off and looked at it. On the inside was the same emblem of Aether’s temple, modified just as Gregory knew it would be. “Greg was right.”
“Yes. The ring belonged to one of his wives,” Darkness said, a hint of melancholy in her voice. “I can still recall the sadness you felt when she passed, dear one.” With a small sniffle, Darkness cleared her throat. “But now, one of your wives has it again, and that is good. Hemet was far wrong about its capacity, but you should do your best to never have it charged over what a magus could store until you reach an equal power. It would make sages demand it if they knew what it could hold. Toja would wish to possess it if it became known.”
The three of them looked at the ring on Jenn’s hand with respect and a bit of trepidation.
“The same is true of the medallion, but magnified a great deal more. Toja knows that items like it exist, and he has a couple that he guards jealously. He would come himself to take it from you.”
The three of them felt fear begin to creep into their hearts.
“It is not that bad. As long as you do not use it in front of others, there will be nothing to warn him of it. No one in the clan would whisper a word of it, either. It is as safe as it could be here.”
“That makes me breathe a little easier,” Gregory exhaled as his fear faded.
“I do not wish to make you afraid, but you should know the dangers,” Darkness said. “Now that I have answered your questions, we can move onto the other part of this.”
“Yes, we can,” Yukiko said as she pressed into Gregory’s side. “Dear one, will you let us pleasure you?”
Gregory blinked slowly, then recalled when he and Yuki had done similar with Darkness watching in the corner before. Swallowing, he looked from Yuki, to the corner, then to Jenn. “This is what you were talking about?”
“It is as close as I will come to being with you for now,” Darkness said softly. “If you do not want it—”
Gregory held up a hand, and she cut off. “Darkness, we owe you, and I do care for you. It’s awkward, but I’m not against it. Why not join us?”
“Because none of you could bear me being that close. Not yet. In time, you will be able to, and I do long for that day, dear one. I dearly do...” The longing in her voice was palp
able to them, but that was replaced by sorrow when she continued, “If I came close to you, I could injure your aether without meaning to. I had to hold myself tightly leashed when I touched your head the one time I did, and even then, it was hard to keep myself so tightly wrapped. I never should have done even that... but it was so hard being close to you and unable to touch you.”
“Oh...”
“And when you are emotional, it’s harder to control yourself?” Yukiko asked.
“Yes. Just the light touch on his head taxed my willpower,” Darkness whispered. “I almost hurt him a great deal. I cannot risk it again, no matter how much I wish it.”
“I see...” Gregory said softly. “A year ago, I would have been shocked at even the thought of being watched. But now…” he trailed off as he recalled the inn and Dia telling them it was almost time for dinner.
“Oh, yes... I recall that vividly,” Darkness purred.
Taking his tone and words as consent, both Yukiko and Jenn began to kiss his chest and neck. Surrendering to his wives, he thought of Darkness and hoped to one day they’d be able to share their love with her.
~*~*~
Gregory was slightly bemused at how their morning had gone, but also a little melancholy. I feel bad for her... She’s doing so much for me, for us, and we can’t even give her what she wants... We will in time, but how hard is that for her? Waiting six months with Yuki was near torturous, and Darkness is talking about years before we can even do anything, even something as simple as holding her. He set the thoughts aside when he saw Daciana heading their way.
“Good morning,” Daciana grinned. “How are you?”
“We’re fine,” Gregory replied. “Did something good happen?”
“We grew!” Daciana beamed, showing off her medallion with the fifth novice rank lit up.
“We did,” Nessa said, her medallion out and glowing on the fifth circle as well.
“Me, too, even if I am still behind them,” Victoria said, her medallion showing four circles lit.
“That makes all of us, then,” Jenn smirked as she pulled her medallion out.
“Oh. We’re an even year behind you,” Daciana said as she looked at the five yellow circles on Jenn’s medallion, then at her five clear ones.
“But they say next year, it’ll take us even longer to gain a rank,” Nessa said as she took her seat.
“We’ve been pretty even,” Gregory said softly. “It could be because we’re training the way we are, though.”
“Maybe it’ll be the same for us, then?” Daciana grinned.
“Could be,” Gregory chuckled. “How are you all doing?”
“Good,” Nessa smiled. “Indara worked us hard yesterday, but we’re improving. She said so.”
“I look forward to class today,” Victoria said. “There’s a novice who has made a few snide comments about my friends. I think I’m going to spar with him today.”
“Just tread softly,” Gregory said. “If it becomes known as a point that they can leverage, they’ll use it. I’ve had to temper my responses to those types of comments, myself.”
“Hmm... I will be mindful of it,” Victoria nodded. “Today, I will just ask him to spar and beat him soundly. Even the teacher has been taking notice of how the three of us are doing.”
“I expect his clan to speak with us soon,” Nessa said. “Them and the Iron Hand. A few of the adepts are from the Iron Hand, and they’ve been taking note of us, as well.”
“The Iron Hand is friendly to us,” Yukiko said. “The Hardened Fist… aren’t really friends or enemies with anyone. They hold their neutrality highly, though the Iron Hand doesn’t care for them at all.”
“That explains some of the friction in the class,” Victoria nodded. “Some of the adepts have nearly come to blows a few times. We’ve had a handful of ‘demonstrations’ over the last two weeks.”
“You should read more on the clans so you know about them,” Jenn suggested. “It might help when they approach you.”
“I’d been considering it, just so I can have knowledge about the ideals each clan holds highest,” Nessa said.
“We’ve chatted enough,” Yukiko said gently. “It’s time to study.”
“Yes, Yuki,” the three novices said. They each pulled out some paper and ink and started creating Magi Squares for each other.
Chapter Forty
Nearly two more weeks of routine passed without major incident for them. Two of those days had been taken up by Hayworth’s group and the apprentices from Yamato Shipping having a challenge. Surprisingly, it wasn’t combat, but Empire’s Gambit, with Egil being the adjudicator of the matches.
All of the apprentices were in the main room, watching the five games play out. Though they were given breaks to get some food and relieve themselves, they were otherwise observing the matches for nearly two straight days.
The instructors walked around the room, waking any student who nodded off with a cuff to the back of the head, a loud word in the ear, and other jarring actions. The ones who used aether to keep themselves awake were obvious in small ways— the body path users looked refreshed, but it was obvious they couldn’t follow the game easily. Mind path users had bright eyes, but their movements were sluggish and jerky. The few spirit path magi seemed the best of the three with bright eyes and sure movements, but they would go still for hour-long stretches, clearly meditating without seeing.
Both Elkit and Harrison stayed near Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn, waiting for a chance to rebuke them for sleeping. They never got the chance, as all of them took turns meditating with their eyes open and burning their aether to stay sharp and focused.
In the end, Hayworth’s group won the fourth and deciding game out of the best-of-five format, but Egil still made them play the fifth game. The last match didn’t take long, as the player for Yamato Shipping was mind path while the apprentice for Swift Wind was body path.
That game helped reaffirm what Dia had told them about their aether being used to help them stay awake. They knew that it would be obvious that they were on more than a single path, and that they would need to play into being on the spirit path during those moments.
~*~*~
Gregory was looking forward to the game today, as Paul had promised a change from what they’d been doing. “Do you think he’s going to start us playing on multiple fronts?”
“It’s a possibility,” Yukiko said, “but I think he’s going to force us to play nations other than the empire.”
“Oh,” Gregory said, his excitement ebbing. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“You have to know what your opponent is capable of if you want to have a better chance to defeat them,” Jenn said. “Clover and Ling have been studying hard. I wonder what they’ll do?”
“We’ll find out shortly,” Yukiko said. “It’ll probably be like us dabbling with the other nations— a learning curve. What about Farin?”
“He’s been a surprise,” Gregory said. “He’s willing to learn and is even eager, in his own way, but he’s obviously not on the mind path. He’s been determined to learn since Paul got him a trainer. You can see his drive. He was very happy about the book too.”
“Farin is vastly different from Chucky,” Jenn said, “and he is glad to be away from Nick’s group.”
“Can’t blame him for that. Wonder if Chucky regrets his choice of leaving now?” Gregory snickered.
“Or if their mutual dislike of us has caused a new friendship?” Yukiko suggested.
Gregory went silent as he considered that.
“There they are,” Clover said, bouncing up from her seat. “We grew, we grew, we grew!” She fished her medallion out as she did a fun little dance. “Rank ten! We made it to rank ten!”
“Both of us,” Ling said. She had her medallion out when they looked at her. “We never expected to reach this rank so quickly after the last one.”
“Congratulations,” Gregory grinned at Clover. “You’ll be in the apprentice tier in no time now.�
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“All that extra studying must be paying off,” Yukiko said, going to Ling. “How does it feel?”
“Amazing,” Ling smiled. “Since we’ve been learning with you, it’s felt so much easier.”
Yukiko glanced at Gregory, who gave a micro-shrug.
“It has been,” Clover agreed. “And we have friends now, too.” She grinned and lurched forward to hug Jenn. “I like friends! Thank you.”
Jenn laughed and patted Clover on the back. “We like friends, too, and we’re glad you’re ours.”
“Friends make things easier,” Gregory said.
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