June – Chapter Sixteen

I’m my own master now

“Dubro has been really ansty lately. It’s like he’s worried about us losing the upcoming match or something, and I can’t understand why.” I explained, Arceia humming an understanding noise alongside my rambling. “Maybe something’s happening in his personal life, I’m not sure. Whatever is going on he really needs to get sorted out. As the team captain, he’s been pulling everyone else down and we haven’t gotten much done.” 

“June, consider this.” Arceia spoke up, a certain stern tone to her that I knew meant I’d overlooked some major detail. “Have any of you rallied around him and asked what’s going on?” 

“Well no, but-” She cut me off. 

“Exactly.” she clicked her tongue at me as if scolding a child, which at this point I was used to out of her and though she couldn’t see it, I had a smile on my face. She was trying to help, and I knew that, so I never got mad at her for her berating me this way. 

“Dubro probably feels isolated from you all in his own world. He’s the macho type so I doubt he will ever open up to you about it. Probably raised that way, you know, that whole ‘be a man’ mentality. If he’s in a fog, it probably has nothing to do with your game. It’s probably some stress at home. And telling me that he needs to sort it out does very little to shift him off that vibration – if anything it perpetuates his notion that he’s an island.” 

“That makes sense.” I nodded. “Guess I didn’t consider that. And after all he’s done for us, too. I’ll ask him about it during practice today.” 

“That’s more like it.” she sounded so thrilled that I’d made that declaration, once again going back to that tone she always took with me. “You’re a team, so you should also do a better job of being friends outside practice.” 

“I thought I was, but I guess that was just on my end? Alright, thanks Arcy. I appreciate the advice.” I happily hung up with her after that, and could begin my day a bit more properly. I was already dressed and fed, so that was no issue, but today was going to be my first free day after spending all of my off days catching up on the work I’d missed while in the hospital. In fact, while it hadn’t been a long absence from class, I had definitely lagged behind. In just one week, I remember Elodie having demonstrated some strong mastery of her affinity. Usk was well ahead too, and the rest were roughly average. My own skills with magic had done very little to improve, though I had learned a few things to help me concentrate that power more effectively. Today, before I went out, I promised myself I’d practice with that. 

The dorm had been much more of an open space with Arceia not here, though I did miss physically chatting with her. Ragnis and I had spent the better part of a week working on a magic idea together using the empty room as our testing ground, fitted with a new wooden table and several crafting tools for carving, trimming, heating, and drawing. Upon entering that room, I was greeted by Ragnis with a small stone in hand, smiling. Her hair was pulled more forward these days, which I told her to do as it looked nice on her, but otherwise a week doesn’t change a person’s build much. I say this knowing both her and my own hair colors changed within the last week prior to this one. 

“I’ve got another base crafted out.” she said, tossing it gently in my direction. I caught it underhand and examined closely – yes, this was perfect. The size would fit just slightly larger than my palm. It was a deep black, and felt almost like tar that would stick to my hand. I did so, and flipped my hand upside-down to confirm this. However, the best part was that removing it from my hand left no mess, and didn’t burn the way you’d expect tar to. It had the consistency, and the shape, now all it needed was the magic fingers – literally. 

“Seems like we’re getting closer to the physical shape we need.” I confirmed, clutching it in my left hand, with my Sending Heart still in my right. 

“So, remind me. Your uncle was the one who supplied this specific rock because…?” 

“He says it has high conductivity, whatever that means, for magic. And considering we need something that will hold a charge for a long time, I trusted him with the actual choice.” I confirmed, closing my eyes. “I’m gonna try it right away.” 

“Alright, I’ll start carving another.” 

As she said this, I’d already blacked out into the spell. I knew very little of how this worked and this reflected in the recklessness of the idea – the stone itself heated very quickly for example. I was trying to will my energy into it with the purpose of containing my thoughts, or memories, and storing them. This way whoever picked up the stone after me could live those memories. It was sort of like a Sending Heart, but for the past. 

Unfortunately it didn’t go over very well, and I could feel my hand burning before I could finish translating the specific memory I wanted into the stone. I had to drop it quickly or risk it igniting in hand, and the drop shattered it to bits quickly. Ragnis jumped a bit at the sound, probably her Lopriel hearing making it much worse, and gave me a pout that was equally as cute as it was upsetting. 

“We need to pad the floors in here.” she said, sighing as she returned to carving the stone with the peeler-looking tool. “No luck imprinting anything on that one?” she asked. I shook my head. 

“I think we’re closer though. It’s not the shape this time for sure, I could feel it staying stable for longer. It was a perfect spiral of power I felt.” 

“So it’s the specifics of the spell. You may be trying to put too much information on too little a space. Remember, magic is tied to the gas in your blood. It has physical weight. Condensing it will heat it up faster. That’s-” I cut her off. 

“Why the Sending Heart is so big in the first place, I know.” I sighed. “But I don’t like the methods we use to make these things. Golem hearts being repurposed like this, especially having a golem friend, just feels so backwards to me.” 

“I know, but look, maybe we can start with just voice imprinting? Full memories, even choppy ones, may be beyond our skill level right now. Neither of us particularly uses magic like Third Hunter Arceia after all.” 

“Yeah…” I nodded. “Alright. Let’s try that then.” 

“Here. Try it on one of the rougher draft stones. Smaller information might be okay.” 

I nodded, and took one of the earlier cuts we had done in hand. It resembled more of a teardrop shape than a circle or a gem, so the fit in hand was a bit less comfortable, but I gave it the same treatment. I closed my eyes and tried to put a simple sentence into the material, and felt the spiral of energy stabilize quickly. My arm was a little numb from expending energy back to back like this, but it felt like it may be working. The heat of the stone subsided, giving way to more of a cold, metallic feeling after long. I took a deep breath and squeezed hard onto the stone, and felt the temperature stabilize once again. 

Had my sentence been transmuted into the stone? I had to find out. With a bit more of a gentle touch than before, I placed the stone down on the table before giving it a look – and my immediate surprise upon seeing it was at once replaced by optimism. The stone was now glowing a dim orange, all along the runes that Ragnis had crudely carved into it. This is exactly what we had hoped to see! 

“I think… This might have worked. But we need to test it. Can you-” Ragnis picked it up before I could even finish asking. It was here that I felt a twinge of a memory enter my thoughts. The black and orange next to Ragnis’ face like that reminded me of a battle for some reason, and I couldn’t bring myself to understand why. The thought left me quickly as I saw her flush deep red and look away, which was exactly what I needed to see to know I was right. This time, conveying a simple sentence worked. I’d gotten to tell her that I really liked her hair and makeup today without saying a word. 

“Alright, it worked!” I pumped my arm in satisfaction, reaching out for a high five from Ragnis, who had to respond to mine without looking due to her current state. She extended an underhand palm which I gave a hearty slap to, both of us recoiling from the sting. 

“So the shape being perfect on the last one, it should be able to contain a lot more than this. I wonder what the limit is?” I asked. Ragnis shrugged. 

“Don’t ask me, I’m just as rusty as you are new.” Ragnis sighed. “Maybe we’re pushing a physical boundary in size like I said, or maybe it’s related to the crude beginner nature of both of us. We should ask Lady Aldritch when we see her.” 

“Sure. Until then, I’ve got practice today and then some study hall in the afternoon again. Will you be alright on your own?” 

“P-please don’t forget I’m your senior and already knighted… Yes, I’ll be fine.” she said, a tint of red returning after it had only just subsided. Were all Lopriel this cute when they were teased? I doubted that, but it was fun to think about nonetheless. I let a small chuckle escape as I threw my uniform vest on, signaling I was ready to leave, and we bid each other farewell for the day. I pocketed one of the more well formed tar stones for now as well, thinking Imay be able to play with it a bit more on my walk to practice. After all, the streets would likely be flooded by now. The Ouzo building was quite a distance from the race track, and so I made sure to hit my usual stops along the way to supply myself with necessary caffeine and morning snack. A simple coffee that was inferior to Arcy’s brewing skills but still got the job done, and a pleasant but possibly unhealthy sweet roll would be all I needed for now. Nobody of real note behind the counters for me to interact with, unfortunately. Maybe that was me being desensitized by the city, but it was what I noted at the time. 

Along the way, I would run into some friends as well. Key and I crossed paths near one of the great staircases to the Tower District, and she told me she would probably be dropping by the track today herself for some training. Alongside her, a new friend I’d made recently through Arceia was also on the way. 

“Allie!” I called out. I found humor in referring to her the same way I would my baby sister. She turned to face me, teal hair flowing unnaturally well behind her. 

“Alarice. Please.” she sighed. “Hello there June. Practice today?” 

“Always.” I said, ignoring her protests. “Where are you off to this early?” 

“Just running something to the Archive. Where’s Ragnis? Is she not coming with?” 

“Not today.” I took the small tar stone out of my pocket. “We spent all morning refining these guys, and she had some other stuff to do.” 

“You didn’t ask her what she was up to?” 

“Not really. She can handle herself.” 

“Fair enough I guess. How’s she handling the whole… You know.” 

“What, me being friends with her ex? I don’t think she cares. She’s never had an issue coming to practice with me before and they’ve had chats and stuff. I feel like if she had an issue she would tell me.” 

“You’re very trusting at face value.” she shrugged. “Well, who am I to judge? Oh yeah, for your fortune today, don’t stay out past sundown. If that can’t be helped, make sure you’re with someone. I get vibes of danger later today for you.” 

This was something Alarice had been doing for me lately. When we first met, she misguided me in where I was supposed to go, which led me to speaking with Key more and becoming friends with her more strongly. Ever since then every time we’ve interacted she’s given me some sort of fortune, and it’s always been accurate. I didn’t question it much as I assumed it was another form of magic. 

“Got it, thanks Allie!” I took off before she could express her annoyance at my nickname, making my way into the next quarter over from the Ouzo building. By now I’d gotten pretty familiar with the water trails of the streets of Magnum, so finding my way there wasn’t the hard part. Dealing with the immense crowds during peak travel? Now that was true torture.