195 - Mirror (Patreon)

Murmuring broke out as Arielle stood in the center of the clearing, staring steadily at Riorke. Confusion dotted his expression too, reflecting the questions that were chanting around them.

“What’s happening? Why did she hold his hand?”

“What is she doing?”

"Is she a healer?"

“No. She’s the one they were talking about. The apprentice turned Master.”

Arielle briefly glanced at Elric, who wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t telling her to stop either. She did have to be careful, though, because she couldn’t reveal that she could see exactly what Riorke was doing. 

But she could tell them what she felt.

“Who are you?” Artis finally voiced the question a few people were probably curious about. 

“Arielle Blacksoil,” she responded. 

“Blacksoil?” Artis frowned, rubbing his chin. “That’s a Mossborne style of name, is it not?”

“I’m adopted,” Arielle said at the same time as Riorke said, “She’s adopted.”

“She’s my cousin,” Elric further explained. “And a very talented mage, soon to be Master.”

That gave Artis pause, although he didn’t look any happier for the explanation. “Talented or not, what gives you the right to interfere with clan business?” 

Arielle ignored him, focusing on Riorke.

"I know what your problem is," she said. "You don't really feel the essences when you're casting, do you? Not strongly, anyway, not like you should."

Riorke's face heated up. His eyes dropped to the ground, even as his jaw clenched.

"It feels like you don't know what you're doing sometimes," Arielle continued. "Like you're trying your best, but the natural way in which everyone else seems to sense spell forms doesn't feel so natural to you. It feels like the sensation is so far away from you that it’s just at the very tips of your fingers. It's better when the spells have lots of Calor in them, but when that's not the case, it's almost like flying blind."

"What type of play is this?" Artis spoke up. "Archmage, with all due respect, we're busy warriors and have better things to do than to watch your ward pretend to be an oracle."

"She's trying to help," Lord Camhanach said.

“You’re telling me that this child is going to help him when tutors and experts have not been able to?” Artis’ tone was filled with humor, as he crossed his arms. “Okay then. Let’s see it.”

Arielle nodded towards Riorke, encouraging him to get closer. 

“What is the spell that you said you tried to use? The one you said didn't work."

“[Aerial Push],” Riorke murmured, his face darkening. .

“May I see it?” she asked the Lord. “The spell form as well."

He stared at her for a second before he materialized a spell book and extended it toward her.

The Lord had written the name in scrawled handwriting, crafting the spell form using different symbols to represent the elements. An adept-tier spell, but not one that was in the spell book. It must either be created or modified by Lord Camhanach himself.  Or maybe it was a bloodline spell.

“I see.” Arielle was right. The spell form really was like an advanced [Kinetic Push] with more Calor added to it.

"Can you attempt to do it right now, Riorke?" Arielle asked. She wanted to see exactly what his problem with it was.

"I'm not sure I can," he said.

"Just try. If it looks like the spell is going to fail, you can just drop it."

He sighed, but didn't argue. He began to cast the spell, and Arielle saw the problem right away. It was as she suspected. The Calor moved much quicker and much smoother than all the other essences. The Luxa and Massa that were closest to him also arranged themselves much more smoothly, and he managed to fit them into the needed spell form, but he struggled to grasp the Massa and Luxa that were farther away, towards the midpoint and the ends of the spell.

He dropped the spell before it completed, but Arielle had what she needed.

He definitely had a sensitivity issue, and the problem was that not only was the spell loaded with Massa to stabilize, it also had a long Luxa chain added to the Calor for specific directionality. It was a spell created to enact force on an object far away, meaning that the spell had to travel some distance before it completed activation and it had to be precise so as not to cause collateral damage.

Arielle could simplify it, eliminate the directionality component, and make it such that the majority of the spell form remained close to Riorke, making it easier for him to feel it and control it. However, that would also make it less stable and potentially less powerful too. 

Unless she did one other thing.

"Thank you." Arielle closed the Lord's Grimoire and sent it back to him.

Then she pulled out her own small notepad and began to sketch on it a copy of the spell.

She removed the string of Luxa attached to the Calor for direction and precision. She removed some of the Calor too, to help with balance, only keeping those that were closest to Riorke’s body. But by doing that, she shortened the length of the spell such that it didn't have to travel as far to meet its target and that also reduced the strength of the spell. Now, the spell would merely be a small explosion at the origin, which would be at the end of the wand.

By removing the Luxa and Calor, she also reduced the amount of Massa needed to balance out the spell which was good.  All the Massa left was the ones he’d been able to hold onto with relative ease, in the innermost parts of the spell, while the spell ended with Calor built on the outside.  

This made it less stable as well, and by getting rid of the directionality and with Riorke performing the spell so close to his body, he would get impacted by the explosion because it would hit everything within its vicinity.

She could fix this by adding Vacu or Massa around it, but Riorke was not currently good enough with either essence.

There was something else, the thing she’d remembered which gave her the idea for this whole thing in the first place.

Weeks ago, Vittoria had broken into the warehouse where they produced the flame swords and stolen the blueprints for it. She had shown it to Arielle at one point, and Ari had been fascinated. It seemed that to stabilize the hyperactive Calor gamma, the researcher had not used too much Massa or Vacu, probably because the gamma would react to it and it would weaken the effect, the blue flame it produced.

That much Calor gamma packed together was hyperactive, and made for an extremely unbalanced spell form, and one would think that the rune used to balance it out would have tons of Vacu or Massa. 

But no. 

Instead, they used a rune with a pattern that she had never seen before, a formation of Calor-Calor in a series of double bonds with a bit of Luxa linked to a mirrored spell form that produced the sword's signature flame. It didn’t make logical sense to Ari at first, but Vittoria explained that essentially, what he’d done served several functions.

The spell mirror exerted the same charge which repelled the initial spell, forcing the flame into the other direction so that the wielder did not experience backlash. The added Calor also made the flame much hotter and stronger than it would be if it was stabilized with Massa or even Vacu. It shouldn’t work because now the spell was ultra-positively charged, but what did was it attracted what Vittoria called spectator essences into the spell. 

Spectator essences were charged essences of opposing force, weakly bonding on the outside of the spell simply for the purpose of balancing out the spell without actually changing the purpose of the spell. 

Arielle had inadvertently used them for simple spells, but with complex spells there was always the risk of unintended interaction. They were some of the most complex runes to form, because you had to get the precise amount of positivity in the precise shape for the spell, for it to work.

But when it worked, it pulled massa to the outskirts of the spell, holding it at a distance where it would only form weaker bonds, just enough to allow Riorke to stabilize the spell with minimal effort. 

It was hard for Vittoria to explain exactly how the Calor-Calor shape did that, only that it was ‘the work of a genius.’

The rune was inked on the sword handle, and its directionality was tied to the hand and the motion of the sword, which activated the flames in whatever direction that the sword was sliced in.

That was what really gave her the idea of Riorke using his body as a weapon. 

Arielle had the idea for using a similar rune here too, except that the trigger here could be Riorke's fist, to further simplify things.

She crafted the parts of [Aerial Push] that Riorke found easiest to form, the closeby Calor and the closeby Massa, then created the attachment she'd seen in the swords, along with a mirrored version of the [Aerial Push] she’d just formed. It would be easier to outfit him with a rune, just like had been on the sword; however, she didn't know the right materials for a rune, and she wanted to see if it would work first. She needed to test to ensure that this shape would also work. 

The spell was shorter now, however more complex, but the complexity was manageable without the things that had weighed Riorke down. 

When Arielle finished sketching, she turned over the pad and showed Riorke the image she’d drawn. His eyes widened, and he shook his head.

“Yeah, I definitely can’t do that.”

His father came up behind him, stared at the drawing, and said, “This is even more complex than [Aerial Push]."

"I knew this would be a waste of time," Artis scoffed.

“Not really,” Ari said. “This spell will be easier for Riorke to perform than [Aerial Push]. It’s shorter and the Calor is on the outside with all the difficult parts on the inside of the spell. He has to create a series of Calor-Calor double bonds on the inside of the spell as well. It won’t be a problem, as Riorke’s Calor cores are the most developed out of all the others and he already has a problem with adding too much Calor into his spells, because that's the only thing he can sort of feel. This simply takes advantage of that, and to form the double bond all he has to do is hold it in place. That in addition to the hyperpositive attraction created by this link here, will pull more Massa into the spell and make it easier for him to hold. ” Arielle said. “I've taken out most of everything else that makes this a hard spell, and stabilized it with the same spell except in reverse."

"That doesn't look very stable to me."

"It is. Because of this complex." She pointed at the part that linked it together. "This is the only thing he truly has to learn right now. Everything else should be quite doable for him."

"What is it? I've never seen that spell form before."

That’s because it’s likely a patented spell form and the work of a genius scientist that I’m borrowing for the purposes of this experiment. 

Arielle couldn't say that though, so she deflected tapping on the pad again. "This part is important, but we can get a rune with this spell form inked on him, so he doesn't have to worry about it as much, especially if he's in the middle of a fight. I don't know much about runes, so you'll have to visit a rune maker for that. All he has to worry about is pulling in the Calor here and the little bit of Luxa and Massa within that.  But we should be able to try it first to see if it will work."

"This is insanity," Artis sighed. "I will admit I'm not much of a scholar in magery, but even I can tell that spell looks dangerous. Look at that arrangement. There's not enough balance or insight built in. If he gets it wrong, he could blow his wand and hand it off."

"He won't. This side of the spell balances the active side of the spell, and so that side won't form bonds unless the stabilizer is there. That’s part of why it works, to counteract and prevent the spell from blowing back towards him, so it makes it safe," she said. "But just to be sure, do you have a blast-resistant glove, Lord Camhanach?"

"Ridiculous," Artis said, pressing the bridge of his nose.

But Lord Camhanach looked thoughtful, albeit conflicted.

"Yes," he said. "Yes, we do."

He gestured with his finger without looking, and after a second of hesitation, one of the footmen he came with hurried off, presumably to fetch the glove.

The man came back with a heavy metallic glove that looked like it was made of pure obsidian.

Riorke stared at it, then at Arielle, and she nodded.

"Trust me," Arielle said, and Riorke worked his jaw. He still looked perplexed and doubtful even as he put the glove on. He seemed to handle the weight with ease, but then again, he was very strong. 

"Okay, now hold the wand in your other hand," Arielle directed.

He obeyed silently, still looking at her. 

"The part of the spell that will be the rune also attaches the spell to that gloved hand. That means that once the hand moves, the force follows." She pointed to the wand hand. "Let’s start the spell. It’s a multiple step spell, so we’ll take it one part at a time. Just remember, it’s almost the exact same spell as [Aerial Push] except that all the hard parts, the parts that you can't truly feel, are gone. Everything else is just about the arrangement, and you have to do it in both directions and form the little double bonds in the middle in that specific shape. That’s the only complex part."

"I don't know if I can do all that," Riorke admitted.

"You can," Arielle said. "You'll feel it. And I'll be here to tell you if you're getting it wrong."

"Like how you corrected Rose in class?"

"Yes. I can sense which direction the essences are moving and can tell you if you're off."

"You can sense that?" the man who led them in asked, his voice disbelieving.

"Yes," Arielle said. "Now let's try it. You really can do it, Riorke. Don't doubt it for one moment. Just start by meditating and feeling the Calor around you. Deep breaths."

Riorke nodded, inhaling deeply, then exhaling. He did it again, and the Calor shifted toward him with each inhale. The connection grew stronger.

"Good," Arielle said. "Now close your eyes, so you can feel it better when you cast the spell."

He closed his eyes. He breathed again and held out his wand hand. He didn't start the spell instantly. He inhaled, exhaled, inhaled; each time, the pull toward his Calor core was even stronger. He was priming the sensation there. Very good.

When he started the spell, Artis sighed and said, "This won't work."

"Be quiet," Elric said sharply. "You'll distract him."

That seemed to shut the man up as Riorke began pulling the orbs together. He started with the side that was essentially a deconstructed [Aerial Push], and it came together easier. The calor did not move at perfect speeds, but they all gathered in a familiar pattern, with Massa in the center, although the bonds were not very tight thanks to the shaky structure. 

The other part, the part that would become the rune, was much harder because it was a newer spell and because it was a complicated shape with double bonds that Riorke had to essentially force into being. Arielle chose not to help him in forming it, because his cores had to become primed to that spell form. It was mostly Calor, so it should not be impossible for him. She did help him with the directions, saying, "The first Calor essence to the left; try to shift it to you.”

He inhaled again, and a sweat broke out on his forehead. The essence moved in the opposite direction.

"The other way," she said, and he inhaled again.

In the end, the spell time elapsed before they could complete it, and they had to drop the spell and start again.

The second time, Arielle told him to do the hard part first, form the link with the double bond before forming the spell around it. She coached him, instructing him to hold the Calor in place to form the double bonds. He seemed to struggle but Arielle was patient, guiding him every time he lost control of his orbs, while trying not to start at the essences, and emphasizing that this was simply something she ‘felt’. She even closed her eyes at some point, although she could still feel the essences doing so. 

When he got it in the general shape, she helped him hold on to the linking spell, until the double bonds formed, then had him remember what it felt like before he let the spell go. 

The third time, everything came together much more easily. Riorke seemed to have confidence, perhaps because he trusted that someone else could sense what was going on in the spell. He used Arielle as his eyes, and she assured him when he was moving in the right direction. He still didn’t hold the linking part strongly enough to form the double bond, but Arielle had him drag it closer, and she patiently waited, as he inhaled and exhaled.

“Next time, close your eyes,” she told him. 

He did. The next round of the spell, he did with his eyes closed, and that seemed to help with his perception as well as his hold of the Calor. 

But the stabilizing part of the spell still needed work, and he struggled even as Arielle tried to direct him, until she finally had to say, "Drop it."

He did.

"Let's go again."

The soldiers around them muttered doubt, but Arielle did not let that sway her. Neither did Riorke. He nodded.

The fifth time, she only had to guide him a little bit, but she did have to hold one side of the spell, because the more he focused on the stabilizing part of the spell, the less he focused on the active side. Both sides of the spell needed to come together at the same time, and he needed to keep control of them. She told him this.

The sixth time was much better. He managed to form both sides of the spell, but it didn't come together in time.

The sixth time was also a valiant effort, although he once again struggled with the stabilizing part of the spell. Arielle told him that it was a confidence problem.

“You have it and then you doubt yourself,” she said. “Stop doing that. It’s Calor and you’re good at Calor. Just hold it.”

His eyebrow furrowed and he nodded.

The seventh time they ran out of time again. 

The eight time he got it but she needed to make a slight adjustment before spectator Massa was drawn into the spell in the right configuration. 

Ninth and tenth Riorke needed help thanks to the change, but he followed her directions well and his moves as his confidence grew. 

The tenth time was the charm. 

The spell came together in a solid glyph that zapped his gloved hand.

Riorke gaped as it sizzled with energy.

Then, to practice, he used his hand to punch the ground.

It was a bad idea.

The explosion shattered the earth, the ensuing wave rippling outwards, blowing dirt and splinters into their faces as the ground cratered. The ground underneath Arielle's feet gave way, and her heart skipped as she was suddenly falling.

But she was caught by an unseen force almost instantly. 

"What the hell?"

As she was set right, she heard the groans and coughing of others who had fallen too, pulling themselves up and out of the cracks. 

Through the dust she saw Elric with his hand up, mending the splinters and putting the ground back underneath people's feet.

Meanwhile, Riorke was frozen. He had fallen at some point and dropped his wand, but he didn't seem to care. His jaw had unhinged and he stared at his gloved hand as everyone tried to get their bearings, some of them looking just as stunned as Riorke did.

Particularly Lord Camhanach and General Artis Pissguzzler.  

"That was incredible," Riorke whispered, his eyes wide with awe. Then he looked back at Arielle and said, "I did that?"

She nodded. She hadn't helped him that last time. That was all from him. 

"You did that," she affirmed.

***

Lord Camhanach watched as his son stared at him, releasing a sound that was halfway between a sob and a laugh.

Riorke stared at his hand silently, as though it didn’t belong to him. It was like he couldn't believe that what had happened came from him. Lord Camhanach couldn't believe it himself.

When he'd seen the spell that Arielle had drawn, he hadn't trusted that Riorke could achieve it. He already knew what Arielle was capable of, but his son struggled with even simple spells. They had tried everything: tutors, runes, core experts, so-called shamans.

None of them helped much.

So he didn't have much faith that this would help either, and the spell looked terribly complicated, with most of the stabilizing essences at the inside of the spell rather than the outside, and with bits of Calor hanging on to seemingly nothing. 

He would have shut this down, especially given how unstable the spell looked, so much Calor and so little of anything else.

But Arielle had looked so confident, even with Artis' derision. Lord Camhanach had glanced at Elric, expecting the Archmage to shut this down, as he always seemed like the cautious type.

But Elric was comfortably silent and expectant, which raised his belief somewhat.

Most importantly, it was his son who really needed something to restore his faith.

So Lord Camhanach allowed it to happen, despite Artis looking at him like he was crazy.

Even then, he didn't expect much. The longer it went on, the more he was sure it would fail. 

Right until Riorke broke the ground underneath their feet.

"Holy mother of mercy," Dan said, picking Riorke back to his feet. A wide grin sat on the large man's face. "Did you really do that? That was incredible. But you shouldn't have aimed for us. If the Archmage, we’d have been in trouble and it would have created a mess.”

"I didn't think it would be that strong of an effect," Riorke said, laughing. “Wow.”

"It's much stronger, because the massa on the outskirts drawn in by the rune were only weakly bonded and not very stabilizing." Arielle said. "You will also be able to build up the Calor of the spell, once you get the hang of the spell and the rune attached."

"My system says it's an Upper Adept spell," Riorke said, releasing another awed laugh. "I just did an upper adept spell with no problem. That’s insane."

"Yes," Arielle said. "It will be even easier with the rune."

"Can we all do that?" A soldier who had been part of the crowd spoke up tentatively. "Those who can use magic, that is."

"I don't see why not," Arielle said. "Although the runes might differ slightly depending on the person. This just happened to work for Riorke’s specific needs."

"And it can get more powerful?" Riorke asked. 

"Yes. What I did was sort of a rudimentary, quick fix that might not even be the best one. If we had more time I would test out more things, but also if you train hard enough, and adjust the runes to perfection, you might not even need the wand to cast the spell anymore. And who knows?" Arielle shrugged. "Maybe one day, you'll shoot fire out of your fist."

Lord Camahanch's head cut toward her sharply. He suddenly remembered the first time he'd seen the flame swords in action, how they shot large waves of fire with every slice, following the direction of the sword. 

Might it be a stretch, but...had she seen them? Did she know?

He recalled that everyone thought the mysterious helper at the Iverson ball was Vittoria's soul clone. And Vittoria had been the one who discovered their association with the flame swords.

It all knitted together in his mind.

Perhaps the little one is working with Vittoria.

When he looked at her, she avoided his gaze. It was different from her usual avoidance of general eye contact.

She knew.

"Thank you," Riorke whispered, his voice shaking, eyes fierce with emotion and gratitude. "Thank you, Arielle."

"It's okay." She looked uncomfortable, scratching at her neck. "Can you try it again? I want to see if you truly have the hang of it without the rune. That way it will be effortless with the rune."

Riorke nodded and tried the spell for the second time. This time, Arielle gave him minimal instruction. It took him two tries before his metallic-gloved arm began sizzling again.

"Take it easy, Rory." His soldiers swore and jumped back in anticipation of another earth-shattering surprise, but Riorke didn't punch the ground this time. He merely grinned and watched the spell sizzle until it elapsed within a few seconds.

"Again," Arielle said, in very commander-like fashion.

Riorke did it once more, and this time, he got it on the first try with no instruction. A disbelieving laugh escaped him. His face was red with the effort, but it also glowed at the same time.

Lord Camhanach grinned too. He was happy for his son, and even happier because Artis had been suspiciously silent since Riorke had used his fist to shatter the ground.

After the shock passed, his expression settled into an attempt at impassivity, but they could all see that he was fairly disgruntled and annoyed, probably because his plan to humiliate Riorke had not panned out how he wanted to.

Ha. 

It would be undignified for a Lord to chortle, but damn, he sure wanted to.

Dan wasn't as restrained as he was, and had no qualms with saying quite pettily, "I guess he doesn't need your help after all, General Artis."

Artis’ eyes narrowed on Arielle as she walked back to Elric's side, her cousin giving her an amused but also proud look. 

"I guess not,” Artis said. 

Camhanach stared at the girl too. She seemed very casual about the whole thing, despite the fact that everyone was now staring at her, like she was some kind of never-before-seen phenomenon. Which he supposed she was. He could still recall the feeling of awe that struck him when he'd seen her ripping that demon apart.

But even after seeing that, this was a shock to him.

He had spent a lot of money and time on Riorke's problem, just as his father had spent money and time on his. No one had been able to fix it, but they had learned to manage it.

And perhaps it was too soon to say that Riorke had been fixed. It was only one spell, after all, and she had said it would require a rune.

But she had done more than anyone had done for Rory. Her instructions showed that she had insight that the other tutors he'd hired, some of whom were experts in their field, didn't. She had managed to change the trajectory of his son's life in one afternoon.

Thank you, Arielle Blacksoil. I don’t know what you are but…thank you.

"That was just one spell," she told Riorke. "But try as much as possible to build at least one stabilizing core, either Massa or Vacu, even if you can't feel it. It will help you to be able to manage more spells than that. And continue building your Calor as well."

Riorke nodded, then blurted out. "Will you help me? When the academy resumes, that is?"

"I don't know if I can," she said. "I won't be in the academy for at least another month, because we will be hunting demons, and also healing my mental health, maybe."

"I don't care," Riorke said. "I'll wait for you."

"There are probably other tutors you can–"

"I don't want any other tutor," he said stubbornly. "I'll wait."

"Oooh, what a strong declaration, Rory..." Dan and some of the soldiers had shit-eating grins on their faces. They even cooed, and Lord Camhanach knew that Riorke would likely get teased for this mercilessly in the coming weeks. Riorke didn't seem to care. He continued to stare at Arielle, waiting for her answer.

Arielle thought about it and sighed. "Okay. But in the meantime, you should keep working on your own, especially with core stabilization and meditation. That will help with your sensitivity issues. If possible, go to the core stabilization lab as many times as you can, even after school hours."

"I will." And in a move, very uncharacteristic of Riorke, he bowed, with his hand on the opposite side of his chest.

"Oh," Arielle held out her hand. "You don't have to do that. I'm not a master yet."

"I know." Riorke straightened, grinning. "It's a sign of respect amongst your people, right? I mean your adopted people."

Arielle nodded slowly.

"There you go." He sighed. "You really are a great person, Arielle Blacksoil. I'm sorry I was such an arse to you in the past, when you said that stuff. You were right." His face turned hot, and the words were somewhat awkward on his tongue, because Riorke did not do well with apologies. "Thank you for your help."

Arielle gave a small, shy smile. "It's okay. It's what friends do."

***

Arielle soon got drained at the Camhanach estate. 

Before she made it off the training grounds, she had to talk to many of the soldiers who approached her, asking her exactly how she had created that spell for Riorke and if there was a way they could learn it too. Most of them were not mages, so she told them no, but they also wanted to know about her personal life and how she felt about their ‘Rory’.

Ari told them they were friends at school, and she didn't know why that made several of them smile widely and wiggle their eyebrows as they said things like, "Just friends? Are you sure?"

"Our Rory is a bit rough around the edges," another said. "But he has a charm to him if you look beyond that."

"O...kay?" Arielle responded because she didn't know what else to say to that.

Lord Camhanach had eventually pushed them away from her, but when they got to his study, he too wanted to know the details of the spell she'd crafted.

She explained as well as she could, and he stared at her with the same intensity Lord Wesley had that made her a little uncomfortable. He said he would get Riorke to a runemaker as soon as he could to see if he could craft the rune with the spell form she'd suggested. 

Then, Elric and the Lord moved on to what he'd actually come for, and Lord Camhanach assured them that he would never share the secret of what he knew.

"I will guard your secret with my life," he declared emphatically. "On my Camhanach honor."

That seemed to be enough for Elric, and the Lord gave them a brief tour of the castle and invited them to return for a banquet or even an intimate dinner whenever they could.

“We’d love to host you, whenever you’re available,” he said. “And we extend a formal invitation to the Empire’s banquet, the Princess’ Inauguration.”

“You can invite us to that?”“Of course,” Lord Camhanach said. “You will be our guests. I can put your names down if you want.”

Arielle shrugged. She hadn’t really enjoyed the Iversom ball but perhaps that was because she was the center of attention. Maybe it would be okay watching it from a different perspective.

“We’ll let you know,” Elric said. “Thank you Lord Camhanach.”Arielle thanked him too, and Lord Camhanach bowed to the both of them. 

Ari wanted to go and visit Lacey afterward, but Lord Camhanach said that wasn't a good idea. Lacey's mother and sister were going through a hard time and weren't accepting any visitors right now.

"They want to focus on his healing," he said. "And they're fiercely protective."

Arielle nodded. "I understand."

So, afterward, she returned to Vittoria's home to find her on the porch, legs crossed and a scroll in hand.

"You're back," Vittoria said as they walked up. "Anything exciting happen today?” 

Arielle couldn't remember being particularly excited, so she said, “Not really.”

As she walked inside toward the kitchen to meet Inara, she heard Elric mutter something to Vittoria, who chuckled. 

At dinner, Vittoria told them that she had gone hunting today and had rounded up everyone she suspected of consorting with demons. She also already knew that Arielle would be challenged at her induction in two days.

"Which is all the more reason we should start training immediately," she said. "You can go home after the induction, for a brief spell before we start our travels."

"Okay." Arielle was excited about being able to visit her family at home and being in that environment again. She missed Fenway Basin somewhat.

 Then she remembered something. "Vittoria, erm, the physical training Inara and I will have...it won't be anything like what the Camhanachs are doing, will it?"

Vittoria smiled.

"Of course not." She spoke slowly, taking a slice of meat and chewing it. "I would never put you through anything like that."

"Oh good," Arielle said, and Vittoria kept smiling. 

Nevertheless, Arielle believed her.

Until she was woken up after what seemed to be four hours of sleep with a blare and a voice chanting, "Rise and shine, my little rascals. Time to begin your descent to hell."