Within the hour, I was bathed, and standing in front of the polished silver mirror. For the first time in months, I actually noticed how much I had grown. My muscles were much larger than before, and incredibly defined. While I had noticed my diet consisted mostly of meats, greens, and sweet potatoes here, I'd never thought that it would help me grow as much as it did. I also may or may not have flexed once or twice in the mirror for good measure.
That seal must have also been doing a number on me. I wonder what Meliss will think when I get to see her again. I haven't told her about the changes I've gone through in any of the letters I've sent, but gods, I'm excited! I thought, feeling the butterflies in my stomach doing somersaults.
I got dressed in another green and silver tunic. At this point, I'd already gotten used to how their clothes worked, working the folds into each other and making sure nothing was loose. I had to learn quickly to avoid another similar situation to that of my first encounter with Ysevel. It always brought an awkward smile to my face to think about how the princess of Caegwen wrapped her arms around me to unfuck my training gear within the first minute of meeting me.
I shrugged off the thought, as I slipped my feet into the closed-toe shoes that color matched the rest of my outfit, and combed my hair over to where most of it was to one side, leaving a nice, straight part down the middle-left side of my head. I stepped out of the room, and began making my way to the meditation room, where Ysevel and I often met.
After what was about a fifteen minute walk, down the palace corridors and far away from any overly active areas, I made it to the meditation chamber. I pulled the latch on the door, and swung open the masterfully carved oaken door. Inside the room were two flat pillows and a mana crystal situated in the center of a large, runic ring. There were similar mana crystals along the walls placed inside glass housings that glowed a pale blue when infused with mana.
As far as I could tell, that was their only purpose. Beneath these glowing crystals were bookshelves about twice my height that lined the circular room, wrapping from one side of the door to the other.
"Oh, you beat me to it," Ysevel's voice came from behind me. She was wearing a similar tunic to mine, though she also wore fur draped along the width of her shoulders. "I've only just opened the door," I replied. "Well, I'm sure you've learned, during your cultural lessons with Anwill, that you're supposed to hold the door open for a lady," she said playfully.
"He did teach me that, though I can't say my mother had anything to do with that portion of my lessons," I said, returning the playful tone. She chuckled at that, knowing exactly what I meant.
Over the months that I'd been in Caegwen, she was always very much the swing first or be swung upon kind of person, though I never understood where she got those kinds of comments from.
"Well, far be it from me to teach her anything. When you've lived over two hundred years like I have, you quickly realize that no matter how hard you try, there are some people who will simply never change. I've known your mother since I was born, and she's never once faltered in her attitude," she said with a chuckle, taking off her fur and setting it on the ground beside her pillow.
She sat cross-legged in front of me, and I mirrored her position so that our hands and arms formed another circle around the mana crystal. We'd been doing this almost daily since the first week of my arrival. The temporary mental connection we had allowed us to not have to speak when doing this.
Apparently, as I found out through our mental connection, Ysevel was a lot like her mother in the realm of mana manipulation. I knew she was a fourth stage, though she never told me what her specialty was or why she'd never tried to break into the fifth.
Keeping it secret as usual, I see, I thought, feeling her warm, soft fingers gently wrapped around my palms.
"Shall we begin?" she said, already closing her violet eyes slowly, as she had so many times before. "Lead the way," I said, immediately feeling her mana pulsate through my body. The meditation we performed was simple in premise, but difficult to execute. It involved pulsing mana through each other's bodies until we achieved an equilibrium.
Once that was established, she would have me perform some exercises on the crystal in front of me; making me manipulate the mana inside the crystal and mold the crystal itself into whatever I wanted without breaking the equilibrium.
In the event that the equilibrium was broken, she would guide my mana back into balance, helping me to remember the sensation of being one with the internal mana-reinforcement of my body from the second stage, as well as external and environmental mana all at the same time.
Up until this point, however, I'd never been able to mold the crystal into anything even remotely recognizable. I tried to do something simple, like a rock or a cool stick I once found in the training area, but it always came out wrong, as if there were something I was missing.
You're doing it again, she sent through our connection, her mild frustration at my inattentiveness seeping through. Sorry, I'll try to focus a bit more, I replied, mentally chastising myself.
I focused on the rock again, this time really looking into the mana that flowed into and around it. Mine and Ysevel's connected arms helped re-channel the mana towards the crystal, in the event that any more leakage than what came from my eyes was present.
I remembered the first time I'd actually seen and felt mana that I hadn't drawn myself. It was a beautiful display of power that the Master had shown us during a training session. Memories of my time with Pyle up in Fangsdalr also resurfaced, seeing the ambient mana for the first time, even though it was a little blurry back then.
Since then, however, I continually honed my second stage to the utmost.
Why don't we try something simple today. How about a simple geometric shape? She asked. You mean like a cube? I've done plenty of cubes and spheres, those aren't a problem, I began, my frustration also evident in my voice. True, but you've never tried combining them before, have you? She prodded, knowing the answer already. I'll give it a try, I replied as I began to push mana into the crystal once more.
The first thing I made was a cube, to which the crystal responded easily enough. Then, splitting my consciousness even further than it already was, I produced a cone. Try as I might, I couldn't quite find a way to combine the two, regardless of how many different ways I spun the pair of objects.
It's not working, I sent over along with a bit more of my self-deprecating thoughts than I would have liked. It's fine, but you sure picked some odd shapes to combine. Why don't you try a sphere and a cube? See if you can find a way to make those fit together a little better, she said, guiding my mana from the cone back into the crystal.
I pulled more mana and pushed it back into the crystal and pulled out a sphere and brought it over to the cube. As I began to try to fit the two together, I noticed that they were extremely different, but there had to be something I could do with them.
Why would you suggest it otherwise, I thought, knowing she would hear my undertone.
As I meshed the two together, sinking the sphere into the cube, then expanding it repeatedly, or folding one into the other, I came out with a number of odd looking shapes. Most were uneven and strange, but there was one that stood out to me. A cube with perfectly rounded faces that were bulging outward as the edges and vertices of the cube sliced into the sphere.
Curiously, I pulled it apart, and tried to replicate what I had done, only this time, I felt a small pulse of mana respond to my command as the cube and sphere took their final shapes. I stared at it for a moment, and then realized what the exercise was about.
It has nothing to do with whether they fit together perfectly, it's about taking the two different pieces and creating something new. Like a bladesmith forge welding two different pieces of steel together to create a sword with a soft spine and a hard edge, I thought as I transmitted my findings to her. While our eyes had been closed the whole time, I could feel her smiling and nodding her head in agreement.
Good, now try other combinations, only this time, compound your new knowledge with other shapes and forms, she said. I could sense a feeling of pride emanating from her, but I refused to acknowledge it in case my concentration failed.
Slowly but surely, I crafted new shapes with the crystalline material between us. Eventually, I came to the realization that almost everything I had tried before had failed because I didn't understand the fundamentals of form. Basic shapes, like cubes, spheres, and cones made up most of the objects I knew, it was just a matter of figuring out which ones formed what objects.
Then how was I able to mold mana into my Whip of Doom? I asked, trying to figure it out. Probably because you'd seen that form so many times when drawing from the Ethereal, she answered readily and in an amused tone. It was already familiar to you, and so it was much more easily crafted than what you're doing now, she continued her explanation which made perfect sense to me.
I continued the exercise for a few more iterations and only stopped when I heard both of our stomachs growling. "Oops, we've been here way too long," I said, finally noticing just how hungry the exercise had made me. "It's a good thing dinner should be soon then, if it hasn't started already," she retorted. "I'm fucking starving," she said. I sat there, frozen in time and space with my mouth agape. "D-did you just swear?" I asked, one foot in disbelief, the other in astonishment.
"I've spent a lot of time with you, Siraye, and Bernar. You really thought I wasn't going to pick up on your habits? Pfffft, please," she scoffed, blowing a raspberry with her mouth. I chuckled, but raised my hands placatingly. "Alright, alright! I didn't know you had it in you, is all. Only took you all of these months to open up like that," I said in response.
"In truth, it only took me about forty-five seconds to be comfortable enough with you to correct your armor that first day, remember?" she said, her tone both playful and…demeaning? I didn't know and I definitely couldn't tell what was going through her mind.
Except, obviously, making me the ass-end of her jokes.
"Y-yeah. I remember that," I said, scratching my cheek as I looked away. She giggled, covering her hand with her mouth, opening the door leading outside the meditation room. "Come along, Thoma. We should get some food and good rest tonight. Tomorrow's a big day for you," she said, offering her hand to lead me out.
"I thought holding doors open and offering hands was for me to do for you, at least that's according to what Anwill taught me, anyway," I said, lifting an eyebrow and taking her hand. "Meh, a little role reversal here or there never hurt anyone, right? It costs nothing to be kind, after all," she said with a smile that could have melted a glacier. "No, I suppose it doesn't," I said, feeling the smile tugging on my own face.