Sure, I promised Kiki I'd get to the capital by the end of the day to check on the "situation" there, but I really didn't feel like getting angry just yet, so I went to deal with something else in the capital instead.
I kind of...may or may not have...forgotten my siblings with our grandparents. And I forgot why I left them there at all...
"Sissy, you didn't answer my question," Hera leaned in, eyes wide while Grandmother held her somewhat tighter to enjoy cuteness even a few moments more. She cupped her hands around her mouth and put them to my ear. It was an uncomfortable feeling, with her hot breath blowing with abandon on my face where I was snuggled up in my scarf and kimono again, but she would've been sad if I shrugged her away, so...
"About?" I asked, lifting up a teacup Grandfather gave me for where I sat on his lap. There was no escaping, it seemed.
Hera glanced left and right, seeing the other siblings inspecting thoroughly some new books...magic, of course...that they were given, while flipping each and every page standing at the coffee table at our feet.
"You know." Hera became even more secretive, glancing back and forth. "About that. That thing."
The extremely-obvious sign she gave me consisted of her pointer fingers pointing straight up into the air placed on either side of her head, and very wide eyes as if the wider they got, the more I was supposed to understand.
"...antennae?"
"I believe those are supposed to be representative of horns, prodigal granddaughter."
My heart caught in my throat while sipping from that teacup I'd brought through my scarf which had become intangible for that reason alone. Light pink spilled down my green and white ensemble as I coughed and coughed, turning wild eyes of my own on the girl who thought that was somehow intuitive to pick up to me alone.
"Hera-"
"Mm, mm," Hera nodded, intent on my answer. Adri and Chord turned around skeptically, wondering what all of the fuss was about. "I can see it, right?"
"You...I'm never giving you cookies again."
I'd never heard a more horrified gasp from all three children at once. Chord looked particularly stricken, hand flying up to her chest in object terror, as if checking to see that her heart was still beating.
"Not you two."
"But Sissy, why?!"
"I told you that that was something only to be discussed in the dead of night with the blankets over your head, yet you're talking about it in broad daylight with eavesdroppers all around. Hera, of course I'm not going to give you any cookies when you've committed such a blunder."
It wasn't hard to ignore the crocodile tears that sprang to her eyes as she turned into Grandmother's chest for comfort. The blind noblewoman took full advantage of the opportunity to feed the child cookies produced from...well, I wasn't sure I wanted to know where...to get Hera hooked on her own.
But mine were superior, in every aspect, obviously, so Hera turned them down and merely turned to wallowing in her own defeat. The others turned back to their books, surprisingly cold to their sister.
"You reap what you sow," Chord answered in response to my questioning look, flipping another page. "More cookies for us."
That earned a bitter glare from Hera, but the rest of us went about our business being doted upon or reading books until a servant came knocking upon the door.
Ah...isn't that the same servant I brainwashed into not requesting an etiquette for me?
The butler came in once summoned to enter, and managed to harbor his surprise well at seeing more than just the one person he'd come for.
"Marquis Van Landingstorm is here."
What the...first Russians, now we have...I don't even know what that is...
"Ah, Granddaughter, it's your time to shine," Grandfather stood up, holding me tightly to his side when I tried to lean back and look at him questioningly. "Come in, come in, Asoko. The timing is just perfect."
"...Van Landingstorm?"
I really wasn't sure where to start with that one. Laugh? Cry in confusion?
It was that court magician-like guy, the one we'd had dinner with a while ago, and showed up to the earl's birthday party a while ago, and was at the twins' birthday as well a while ago. The one that I felt some sympathy towards as he battled against...er...Galen, was his name, probably, who was constantly trying to question my common sense and make me irritated.
"...? Grandfather?"
"Don't you remember, Granddaughter?"
The two men stared at me, the other one that wasn't holding me, nodding his head in greeting to me while locking eyes and refusing to let go. There was some sort of hunger there that reminded me of...ah, yes, that.
"You wish to learn teleportation."
"I do."
"Hm..." My eyes narrowed while looking up at the one that held me. I stared at his green and white robes, since I'd given them to him too to match Adri and fit the theme, sending the children crazy in their simple pleasures, and then reverted it back to its original color. "You planned this."
"What?! That's no reason to deprive me of my finery-"
"I feel deceived."
"I dare not deceive you, Firea, come now," Grandfather held me out under my arms, staring me straight on and blocking his view of his friend to only look at me. I was brought in for kisses on the forehead, but my foot lifted to plant on his chest.
"Shave first. Your stubble is more painful than you think. And you," I bent backwards until I was staring at the marquis...didn't know he was one, but whatever...upside down. "Mana, image, and a word. That's all it takes."
"...I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific than that, little miss."
Floating, I spun around in the air to reach out the tip of my finger from beneath my long sleeve, pressing it into his forehead. It was the second time today that I was teaching someone something, and still feeling deceived, I wasn't in the mood to go through explanations though I generally loved teaching things. It was funny to do it with words rather than transferring knowledge as I was doing then, because they misinterpreted it so well and, well, then the screwups and mischief and secret recordings began.
Oh, that's right. I still have that recording from almost a year ago, when Father...er...the earl, first learned how to...
I snickered to myself while pulling my finger away. "You know what, no. I want to do this the old fashion way. Out to the training grounds we go, sir, because I can't wait to see you screw it up."
"What?" He'd stayed perfectly still, likely thinking I was going to do something weird. When I didn't do that weird thing, he was conflicted about whether his response should've been relief or not.
"I was planning on just transferring the knowledge of 'how to do it' into your brain, since that's the easy way, but I just remembered I enjoy watching people learn real magic for the first time. So," I snapped my fingers, having us appear exactly where I'd said we were going. Turning around in the air, I watched the court mage step back rapidly, disturbed, lifting his hands up as if to feel around for something to grab in his disorientation. "Here we are."
There were others in the training ground, clearly, but I didn't pay them so much mind. They were extras in that moment, since I was too busy figuratively rubbing my hands together and getting ready for something good.
"How did you..."
Well that's what we're here to find out.
"Sissy-!"
Hera came flying through the same window I'd seen earlier that day in the training grounds of the other de Libellule estate, trotting up to stand under me where I hovered in the air. She had tears in her eyes, ready to fall, but held them back just long enough to pose her question.
"A-Are you sure you won't give me cookies anymore? I'm sorry, really, I didn't think they'd understand..."
Asoko turned to the literal window just randomly hanging in place and the fuzzy edges where Hera's mind stopped conjuring. His eyes scanned from top to billowing bottom, where a curtain much longer than the window hung in place.
"That...did you not say your siblings couldn't do this?"
"I did. She just learned today. Surprised me, too, since I never taught her how to make portals."
"You never-"
"Hera, dear, could you make the window wider for your grandmother to step through?"
"Uh," she turned back to the window where Grandfather waited with Grandmother, hoping to come through the other side. The other two popped through with their books under their arms and coming to stand beneath where I was. Chord peered strangely into the distance towards some equipment near the walls, floating a bench over for inspection. A shake of her head dismissed it back to stand with the weapon racks, and a snap...or, well, she tried to snap, but her little fingers just weren't doing it in the cold despite coming from warmth...of her fingers made a more ornamental bench appear for her to hop up on alongside Adri. Hera tried to stand up on it to reach out to my feet and pull me down, but Chord lectured her for "putting those dirty boots on my bench" and forced Hera to float up herself with her own magic. "Sissy..."
"Yeah, yeah," I snapped my fingers, earning Chord's ire as she again tried to make the snap work, and the window elongated enough for Grandmother to comfortably walk through. "Chord, do you think you could make Grandmother a coat for the weather?"
"Hmmm...white or green?"
"There's already a lot of white and green going on. Why not another color?"
"Then...brown."
The color of our house. Alongside green, at least. I completely forgot that "white is the Church's color," since it looked good together, and we'd already been wearing white shirts all our lives.
Either way, Grandmother stood in place as Chord struggled to shimmer a fashionable cloak into existence, because if it didn't look good, then there was no point in having it at all.
"Thank you, Chord," Grandmother approached the bench where she was led, and allowed to become a cushion for the two children that snuggled right up to her. I had my own problems while drifting away from my sister pushing me to forgive her.
"Hera, it's not forgiveness if it's an offense again."
"What? Why?!"
"You're harassing me for forgiveness. That's another offense. Now, you have two things to apologize for."
"What..." A spark came to life in her, and I was almost sure those lime green eyes were trying to consume the forest green ones. Worried, I checked her Status, but her race hadn't changed. "I'm sorry, Sissy, for...har...har..."
"Harassing."
"Harass-ing you."
"And for speaking about what we agreed not to speak about."
"And for speaking about what Sissy said should only be spoken about under the covers at night."
"There, you're forgiven," I stopped in place, nodding where we'd wandered over to where some people were swinging their swords diligently. "Now please go join the others, it's not long before I send you back to Koraco so you can show off to the earl and Anastasia-"
"Your father and mother!" Grandfather called out from afar, where he spoke to Asoko confused and standing in place looking at all of the different magics going on around his head so casually. Grandmother appeared somewhat appeased by her new fur-lined coat, and having two arm warmers glued to her again, vying for her invaluable attention.
"-so please spend some more time with Lord Markov and Lady Frosya while you can."
"L-Lord...?"
"Grandfather and Grandmother."
It seemed like the appropriate time to start recording. I held the phone invisibly in front of me, catching her confused expression of panic while trying to look over at our grandparents and again see them as "people."
No...that's too uncomfortable, her face seemed to say while shaking her head and stepping back through the air to trot away from me and the reality I had to offer.
"Alright then, back to business. First order of it: don't scare so easily."
Asoko jumped in place since I'd teleported to appear beside him, which did not settle well with the court mage.
"You have no presence."
"Oh?" Huh? He was right. When did that happen? "Sorry. I cut it off sometimes without even thinking. Force of habit."
"..."
"Anyway," I drifted a bit apart, beginning my lesson somewhat gleefully. Thinking of it as "phase two" of my "teaching brats" curriculum made it somewhat more of something to look forward to. "So about this portal business that you wanted to learn. There's probably a chant for it obscured in some ancient text or whatever, but since chanting is stupid-" Asoko flinched "-time-consuming-" Grandmother looked up from her peaceful atmosphere around the bench, likely looking to scold "-and just overall ridiculous, silly, poor in concept, and suicidal in execution in a real fight-"
"Firea-Madeline, your etiquette instructor will arrive soon enough."
I pretended not to hear that-
"-and-" yes, I decided to add on just because "-I would never be able to take anyone seriously if they were screaming about wind spirits or whatever to come to their aid, we're not learning a chant for this today."
The court mage swallowed. It wasn't as if I just insulted his fascination and life's work, after all.
Oh wait...Grandmother doesn't look so happy-
"Should I stop?"
"No," he shook his head, lifting his hand only to drop it back down to his side. It was likely going to massage the wrinkle out of his forehead that was allowed to stay. "Keep going."
"...so basically, you're learning real magic today, since that's faster than me hunting down-"
"Sissy, hurry up already! You're rambling!"
I jerked my hand up in the air in silent recognition, waving off the impatient girl. "Definitely no cookies for you anymore!"
Then, a barrier went up to stop her from approaching and again pulling up those crocodile tears.
"Hold out your hand."
Hesitantly, though without wasting too much of my precious time, the court mage lifted and placed his hand into my tiny one, fingers stiff and straight out while I latched on.
Before he could question any more of my process, I began to do the same thing as for Anastasia when I first taught her: showing what real mana flow felt like.
When people used chants, they didn't generally have the "image" in mind for what they wanted to happen. Chants were passed down for generations and generations, taught in school the same ways, given as examples the same ways. The image imprinted in a learner's mind generally took on the real-life example that an instructor provided by casting, and without much of an imagination, not much would deviate from the standard path. It was why when I asked Anastasia to cast the spell [Ignite] for the first time, she didn't have an image in mind for what should've appeared because a chant would already have the preprogrammed image in mind. She didn't need to think about it. But when casting a spell, just a word without any power to it unless she made it powerful, she needed to come up with the image herself - something simple that tripped up everyone when they first learned.
Well, I blinked, conjuring a memory of a certain loud-hearted queen of Chardrent from back in the day, not everyone.
"This is mana flow. I'm sure you already know what this is, but I don't know what they teach in your propaganda-ridden institutions, so..."
"I know what this is."
"Then, direct mana manipulation?"
His mouth closed to that answer. "I believe we have different terms for it. But I know this feeling, yes."
The one I was circulating between us, making sure he knew the basics-...though I probably shouldn't have had to do that for a court mage...was what we were referring to.
"Do you know how to take impurities out of mana, then?"
"Impurities..."
"Ah. It's not something I know much about. It was tedious to learn and didn't really serve a use, so I stopped learning before really getting into anything."
And then I got on terrible terms with my grandfather who had taken his ploys to kill me a little too far, so I definitely wasn't going to finish learning that.
"No, I'm afraid I don't know anything about that. My work primarily lies in researching old chants taken from archaeological sites and trying to translate them from ancient languages. The actual workings of magic theory and mana manipulation lie in another department."
"Huh-" you should've joined that one "-interesting. I mean...chants are...interesting as a system, and very cool when you look back at their conception. I like languages, especially ancient ones, and very, very old books - I've found quite a few in Venxian auction houses and noble houses from the Dark Age that particularly struck my fancy, because as much as I like the Golden Age, the books from those times are overrated - but I'm more focused on culture when I read. So don't get me wrong, the theory and system are cool, but the actual chants to me...are, well...and the reason they came to be completely turns me off to the idea of even bothering to study them for fun, so I'll stick to cultural and historical studies, thank you. Now, if you'll try to cast this spell for me, while imagining what you want to appear: [Ignite]."
"[Ignite]."
My memory was failing me in that moment. Whether or not I'd let Anastasia trip over herself in order to learn the "hard" way how spells worked was beyond me, or if I was clear in my instructions like then.
I just knew the outcome was different. What actually appeared in the air just a bit away from our heads was a red and orange flame, burning bright yellow in the center, flickering uncontrollably like one might've found in a fire pit, rather than an oil lamp. It didn't really seem to have a set point of origin, dancing a few inches to the left or right. He was probably struggling to maintain it while the winter wind was coming in from behind me, trying to blow it out.
"..."
My hand lifted from his and snapped in front of the older man's face, disrupting his attention. The flame went out and he turned to look at me where my hand remained still in mid-snap.
"Chanting magic is simple. Take this flame for example: you chant, give it mana, the magic takes effect, and you have a nifty flame floating in the air here. Once you're done saying the words, you've given it as much mana as you wanted to apportion it. The flame will continue to exist after you've cast it, until the amount of mana you've given it has run out. However," I dropped my hand back to my side. A brief distraction of a child on the other side of my barrier knocking on it, demanding attention, had me shooing my hand towards her.
Threatening the disappearance of cookies is an effective punishment, I see.
"Chantless magic is different. It is, in a way, for the price of its freedom, more dangerous. While executing the spell, you apportion it a certain amount of mana, and have to maintain the image of what you want while the spell is active. You have to keep imagining that flame, keep it going, because it is alive. It is not preprogrammed and will not be bound by the constraints of a chant built to constrain it - this is something you have created, a moment of your eternity, a piece of you, and something you solely have control over and something you need to be responsible for. If you are unable to control your imagination - if you imagine the building engulfing in fire next to you, and you have the mana for it, and you can't control it - that building's going down. Focus, image, control, proper mana apportionment," I held up a single finger, snapping it again to let a wonderful ring of fire sizzle up on the ground and roar around us, stopping Hera from peering on, "are all key. Miss one, and you pose a threat not only to yourself, but to everyone around you."
Well, to keep Hera away, and because it was getting somewhat cold. Just a bit of toast to keep us warm was necessary.
I noticed it was getting a bit serious when sweat leaked down his brow and backed up a few inches while letting the fire die down. Were my pupils showing something they weren't supposed to...they certainly felt like they were glowing...
"But the main point of this lesson is to teach you that, if you screw up while doing something as dangerous as teleporting, it's over. Imagine you're hopping someplace across the world, hesitate, and end up at the bottom of the ocean." The court mage's face warped, and I nodded in complete understanding. "I know, sounds bad. Happened to me before, and I didn't get crushed by the ocean over my head only because I was fast enough to teleport myself away in time before I died."
While nodding in my own little world, I didn't notice anything of the court mage's face. He was being awfully quiet. I took that as the sign of a good student, and kept going further.
"Oh, that's another thing. This sounds dangerous, I'm sure, but the benefits far outweigh the risks. You can cast magic quicker than anyone else, because all it takes is half a thought and it's there. You don't need to open your lips and sound crazy yelling at spirits to help you that don't want to help you. You can specifically tailor what you want to your magic, without having to research extremely obscure chants to maybe come up with something similar. And when you get used to using chantless magic, you do it without even thinking - like me cutting off my presence - and come to know exactly that, so you rarely make mistakes. It becomes like breathing: you do it without thinking, and you wouldn't think to breathe in any other way, because other ways to breathe besides what your body naturally tells you to do are stupid. You don't often choke for no reason while doing nothing but sitting and breathing, right? It's that rare."
Well, there was that one time I almost cast a spell that was too big for me and emptied my mana reservoir in a second, about to trigger my stupid mana disease from forever ago, but...that's whatever, I guess. It was one time.
"Asoko!" Grandfather called out from beyond the barrier, watching the remnants of my fire down and not a trace be left as the smoke drifted off to the air. "Is that hesitation I see?!"
Asoko turned to look over at my grandfather. The expression on his face was just generally unreadable to me, so as per usual, I kept pushing forward for my student.
"Hey, now, I'm almost done. Turn back, turn back. Next, we move to the actual portal creation-"
"Isn't that a bit fast-"
"Hm? Well, this is what you came for, right?"
"I only just learned a new way to use magic that is beyond everything I've ever been taught. Might I learn to use this for a while before almost losing myself at the bottom of the ocean?"
His brows pressed down anxiously, trying to keep a blank face and some poise, but I brushed it off.
"Don't worry about the ocean thing. If you get good enough at magic, and increase your mana reservoir enough, you can create protective barriers to prevent any accidents from happening when stepping on the other side. And, unless you have a clear picture in mind for teleportation, it's highly unlikely that your spell will execute right. If you've never seen Laohr before, and you randomly decide to go to Laohr, then...well...I wouldn't know what happens, actually, since I always end up where I want to end up without ever having been there before...Kiki...?"
People attempting to teleport to places they've never been before will not reach. If they have no image, then the spell will not execute. Same with [Ignite], Master...
Of course...I knew that...
"You need to have an accurate image in mind for where you want to go in order to get there. If you want to go to Laohr but you've never been there, then it won't happen. But if you want to go to Laohr and you have been there before, be careful: it's a guessing game with how much mana it takes to get from point A to point B. You need to have at least a couple thousand mana points before trying to get halfway across the world. If you have, like, only five hundred MP in your tank left, and you say 'I'm in Bytriste and I want to go to Laohr,' and it really takes two thousand or so, then...well, good luck with mana exhaustion, a failed spell, and a bed as your best friend for the next few days. You might as well have burned yourself with your own fire magic, because it will backfire on you."
"But that has never happened to you before."
"Hm? No. I've always had a large mana reservoir, and if I don't have enough mana, I know how to properly take from the environment around me to make up for what I'm lacking."
"And as for how you get places you've never seen before with your own eyes..."
"..."
For once, I was at a loss for how to explain that.
Swallowing, I tried to make up as best of an excuse as possible. "Well, there are a lot of ways to get around that if you're advanced enough. Like, if you have [World Sight] like I do...well, I only recently acquired that as a Skill, but I would typically cast it as a spell...I can look across the globe like looking down from the sky and pinpoint where I want to go. Or, if there are foreign-looking people in my surroundings, I could look at their memories of a place and think, 'I want to go to the place that looks like *this* that I have extracted from their minds,' and I'll end up there because I have a clear image of it. Or, just, you know...do it the old fashioned way."
"The old..."
"Travel there yourself, physically."
His head lifted to nod in, "Ah," kind of recognition.
"But I mean, that takes far more mana and far more time. It's also annoying, because if you forget a compass or a map, you'll fly straight over the ocean and end up a couple hundred thousand pouriks off from your destination. I did that, once, aiming for Koraco from the passage between Kera and Larjulias, and ended up all the way in the waters of northern Zueltina." My head shook at the same time as his began to. "I know, right? Ridiculous. If only I'd been smart enough to use a compass spell at the time...I just thought that if I kept flying straight, I'd get somewhere eventually. Oh! How could I get so off-track...anyway, about the portal-making, since most people seem to prefer when I present a door to them as opposed to just teleporting instantly like earlier-"
"I think...I truly would prefer to practice this on my own for a while, young miss, before attempting any portals. Knowing the basic theory, I believe it will come with time..."
My lips opened and closed, trying to find an answer for my pupil that was suddenly deciding to abandon me. There was no way he knew about Brownie fainting...unless he predicted his own future? But there was no reason to faint-
"Wait!" I reached out to my latest pupil before he could begin to run away from me. "Here, look, I'll give you a freebie, just don't run away so fast..."
I clamped onto his hand again, likely looking like a cause for alarm because I'd flipped in the air to extend myself outward. Pulling up his Status, just to make sure that he had enough mana to be doing whatever he was going to do, I just printed out the whole thing on paper and put it in his hand with a lot of bullet points at the bottom as guidelines for what he should and shouldn't do. Then, some detailed instructions on making a portal, or just teleporting if he found portals tedious.
"Here, you'll see your exact values of strength, vitality, stuff like that - keep in mind, by the way, that intelligence primarily refers to how many memories you have, since your brain is basically a storage space of information, so it's not really a measure of how 'intelligent' you are - and here's your MP value," I pointed to the little abbreviation at the bottom. "Hoh...1120? That's not bad for a human...ah, sorry, anyway, so as it is now, you would only have enough to jump to Chardrent one way, barely, or enough to get to mid-Bytriste and back. That's not very practical because you'd probably faint on the way...so, you're right, it really is best to practice increasing your MPs for a while before trying anything...but you know, you could safely teleport inside the house and back a few times, or just a hop across the city. You saw my little...er...big sister, Hera, open that portal. I mean, sure, she has far more mana than you do, but still. If a little girl can get it, then you can. So, good luck!" I teleported him over to where my grandparents were, and he spun around in place, disoriented yet again, trying to figure out what happened. For years he'd been after my magic, and finally having gotten it, it seemed like he was second guessing himself again.
Now, as for my own business-
"Sissy!"
Hera...just didn't know how to give up, did she...
"Yes?" I finally allowed her to approach, taking down my barrier from earlier. Grandfather let out a loud chuckle from over there for some reason, while Asoko stood completely still. Grandmother's face drew down in a frown, before taking on a...pleased look? What was going on in that conversation?
The girl held onto the ends of her dress in manga-like fashion, causing my brows to raise and wait for what she had to admit to the air. She twisted the fabric between her fingers, coiled hair falling to the side as her head dipped.
Adri, bonded to his twin as I often forgot he was, attentively snapped his head up and burst from the bench to teleport over to...well, I guess becoming of another race does instantaneously teach you how to teleport...her side.
"Hera?" he leaned over on his knees, crouching slightly. "Hera, are you alright?"
"N-Noooo...?"
"[Successful Guessing]. Ah, Hera," I sighed, dropping down from the air at the same time as my chest decompressed from that tired breath. My barrier went back up again, stronger than before, for the surroundings to not listen in or feel the need to look over, curious. "We've talked about this. You can't talk about Demons or anything like that, no matter what, out in public. Or, even in closed spaces. You know 'the walls have ears.'"
"I-I know...but S-Sissy won't e-e-even-n-" she sniffled big, letting the drops fall hard uncharacteristic to her buoyant nature "-n-n..."
Discomfort at knowing I was the source of her distress, I approached and let the snotty mess descend on me in a hug of vengeful tightness. As if the laws of hair dictated the need for disarray if even a single tear was shed, it was instantly frizzy and had flyaways strong enough to stick up in the wind for days.
Adri clumped onto us, for once strong in his actions instead of somewhat shadowed by his energetic sisters and just running to keep up with their antics. His silent strength...though I wasn't sure if calling it "strength" was right for a kid, held us both together until Chord swooped in and crashed on the other side, adding her own to the mix.
"Guys..."
"Don't leave," Adri looked into my eyes straight, as I was somehow at the center of the bundle. Chord was too busy squishing her face into my hair, while Hera just cried and wrapped herself around the rest of me. "Not so fast, Sissy."
"But I've been coming by more, recently..."
"We want you here," Chord lifted her chin to be placed atop my head, bending over my shorter form to speak down my forehead. "Every day. Like it used to be."
The reason for Hera's extreme discomfort was the "divide" I'd put in between us...in her mind...
No, I think you've done well physically and emotionally avoiding them for a good while now-
I don't think I asked you.
Already, I was hardly present-
Went to the store for milk, never came back-
I came back. Many times.
But you still keep going, as if you run out of milk that fast...or a reason to stay.
A reason to stay. In Hera's mind, they were not a strong enough reason for me to stick around. They were not a strong enough reason for me to keep coming back. It was fine if I saw them once in a while - I didn't need to see them as much as they needed to see me.
As bizarre as it was, when they became Demons...though they weren't really Demons...it was something in her mind to relate to me with. Magic was not something we could relate through anymore, since they already knew how to grow on their own and I - for the time being - had nothing left to teach them. And they were at a magic school, quite literally, so whatever they didn't learn from me, those seasoned people would likely fill in the gaps. And, well, probably try to berate my beloved little munchkins for using a different magic system, and try to lead them down the "wrong" path, but that had yet to happen. Our parents had actually succeeded in driving me further away, so not even when they came home could they see my face. Looking forward to seeing me in school was the wrong way to go, since Grandmother had offered for me to skip it when I was with them, and they all knew I wouldn't waste time when there were other places to be.
So the "Demon" thing would at least have me coming back to teach them, at least? At least, that was what Daddy said. He said Sissy would come back to teach us, since he didn't know a lot, and Sissy had to-
Er, I mean...Pulling my thoughts out of Hera's, I embraced her back while continuing to analyze objectively the problem.
She wanted something to relate to me with. Magic didn't do it, family didn't do it, school didn't do it, not friends, not even baking together anymore, or running around the house. So the Demon thing-
"I love you guys."
"We know. But you don't spend enough time with us. We're supposed to be the Power Four, not the Power Three."
"I'll be at the school next year, somewhat. Just not in a way you'd expect."
"Will Sissy be an instructor?"
"What...how'd you..."
Chord pushed back further on my head so I looked up at the sky and my siblings all peering down at me from every side. It felt like I was dying after a dramatic scene, about to fade away, when looking at all of the red faces, snot, and tears.
"Sissy would never have the patience to sit through class with Madame Fleur, or any others. Also, Sissy would probably be kicked out of class after correcting all of the instructors constantly. I already managed to do it - there's no way Sissy wouldn't manage it too."
"What...Chord, are you making trouble at school-"
"Madame Fleur shouldn't have said that Tasega is flat."
"Adri..."
Hah...they...
"We're taking Sissy's class next year. Reserve eight seats, please."
"What? Eight?"
"Yep. For Adri, Hera, me, Louise, Milo-"
"Milo is a year younger, remember-"
"But it's the year you turn seven, isn't it?"
"No, you already have to be seven by the time you go there. That's why we're eight right now and it's our first year. We started off as seven."
"Oh...that's right. So Sissy will turn seven soon, and then Milo will turn seven next Octav, and then he'll come next next school year..."
"Yep, so seven seats."
"Oh, but what about the girl from Madame Fleur's class?"
"Hm...didn't her daddy tell her not to play with us anymore?"
"Hm...we'll find her during the winter solstice and make her play with us, then. It's probably been long enough, so she'll forget."
"Or, we can just make her forget-"
"A-Adri?!"
My angels, they were corrupting themselves as they spoke-
You corrupted them...
I have even been here to do that...
Hence Hera's crying. The girl who never-
Alright, alright. I'll do it soon. Right after this.
"Okay, guys, I'll reserve them, don't worry, just, who are the other people-"
"Sherry, Courtney, and Sarena."
Alarms went off in my mind. "You know Courtney and Sarena?"
"Uh-huh," Chord pulled me to lay back on her lap as she summoned up another fancy bench to lay on. It was so smooth I didn't even notice it appear. "They come over to play sometimes. They say they like you and want to meet you again after your mini debut from last year."
"O-Oh..." Trouble always follows, doesn't it...
"Sniffle-"
A handkerchief appeared and shoved itself into Hera's face, wiping all the mess away in the stead of my hand.
"Hera."
"Uh-huh..."
That nose sounded congested enough to last a while.
"I can't show you 'that' you know."
Red-rimmed puffy green orbs turned up to me. She had somehow taken to laying next to me on that bench, and we were just chilling in the middle of the training ground like there weren't swords going clink-clink-clink in the background off to our right.
A hoarse young voice mumbled, "Why not?"
"Because I've never had a reason to use it before, so I don't know what it looks like. And, it'd probably be very dangerous, since..."
Everything about me is dangerous...I'm a walking jungle.
"Oh..."
"Yeah. But I can show you what I look like as a Dragon, if you're interested. You've never seen one before, have you?"
That, they all sprung up at. Eyes were glowing and crowding over from above again, wide as lips opened to begin the waterfall of questions. It was like in slow motion, truly seeing that their endless bombardments would be the end of me, as I closed my eyes and slowly face-palmed myself.
What...have I locked myself into?
"Si-"
"What do you look like? Are you really red?"
"Do you have horns? Dragons have horns, don't they?"
"Ah-"
Adri was crowded out as their faces got closer, vying for my attention. I couldn't keep the flow at bay while teleporting away from them all, trying to catch some air.
"Can we go flying together? With Sherry? Sherry was saying she wanted to stretch her wings but we'd have to ask you first-"
"Can you breathe fire? Is it true you can cook meat with one breath? Do you think you could bake a couple of cookies-"
"That would roast them, Hera-"
"But what if they were a special batter-"
"Hm...maybe, but Sissy would have to experiment-"
"What? No, I'm busy-"
Utter silence. I'd never been hit with such deafening silence. Eyes, all narrowed at me, even from Adri, with pressed lips. It was a look of...what?
Distaste? Bitterness?
[Successful Gue-
Master, you don't even need to use a spell to figure that one out. Just scrap those words, it's taboo to them at this point.
...
"...I'll work something out with Magaris later."
It was somewhat eerie, seeing them all smile at once like that. I looked around for the camera to tell me we were in a horror film, but when failing to find it, only took a few steps back for good measure-
"So we'll go flying next weekend? We will, won't we?"
The child caught me as I drifted, drifting forward herself. Not a single tear in sight remained, and like that supernatural beauty was shining through, the redness was already seeping away.
...now, I need to make a saddle, it seems...
That's a while away.
"...for my birthday."
"What? But that's-"
"Either that or nothing. You know, Sissy's bus-...I have a lot of stuff to do before then, so I'd appreciate your patience in the meantime. Be good children, alright? Or else..."
Having succeeded in adding my own horror theme and making them giggle shyly, I looked back over at my latest pupil and saw him intently discussing something with Grandmother. Grandfather, for once, wasn't taking the reins, and merely had his arm across the back of the bench while staring off towards us.
My hand lifted, and I waved over that way. We weren't really that far away, but still far enough - twenty pouriks, as was the standard it seemed - that I couldn't hear what they were saying and they couldn't hear what we were saying. All I could tell was that he seemed satisfied with his surroundings, and relaxed, despite having had us interrupting in the middle of his workday.
Peaceful. It was peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, that I could almost forget all of my promises, and all that lay ahead of me. I could look up to the sky and see cloudy gray, but in my heart, feel that that was the best color of all to be shown. A beautiful one, with silver linings everywhere, and little gift packages in the form of snowflakes that came down to dance for our eased minds.
"I love you, brats."
"Love you, Sissy."
"Goodbye, Sissy."
"I-I love you mo-" a quick glare from her brother and sister made Hera change her ways "-too, Sissy. See you tomorrow!"
"...we'll see about that. Now, off, hooligans. I have no doubt that you guys can teleport to Koraco on your own if you want, so I'm not going to do it. You're on your own on that part now, my prodigal siblings. I'm proud of you."
Seeing their faces glow was almost enough to keep me there.
But I turned away, and went on my way, before they could keep me there with their little red noses and bright eyes and joyful everything. It seemed they'd already also found the portal to my heart.