"Vader the First is the Diery family's ancestor?" The Empress spluttered. "That-tha-"

"Is great?" Althea prompted.

"Oh, great? Yes, it's great, alright. I don't think you understand what it means-" A wave of mana interrupted her. The Empress grimaced.

“I must go, but we will talk about this. I don’t think you even begin to understand what this means. The First Empire might be gone, but its shadow is what we base our lives on.”

The Empress teleported away, leaving her in her garden. A garden that suddenly felt very hot.

"Are you done?" Pulsie asked.

"Now I am.” Of course, the conversation ended at an important tipping point. And if she knew anything about how society worked, it would be a while before she heard from the Empress.

“What happened?"

"What happened? What happened?" This was the second time she was hearing something like this today. "Fire mana is coming! Whatever you did in the hidden land is attracting it like crazy."

Althea frowned, extending her senses into her surroundings. Three things came to her notice.

First, her senses had expanded significantly, allowing her to see across the entire city and more.

Second, there had been a sharp increase in fire mana in her surroundings, hovering over the entire city and further. The mana was still coming, rushing in like mad.

Third, if this continued and the concentration of fire mana continued to increase, then the entire city would very soon be on fire.

“How do you know I had anything to do with it?” she asked.

“I am not an idiot. Now, can you fix it?”

Althea sensed out, using her extraordinary affinity as a crutch. The city and its surroundings appeared in her mind. Not an image, but more of a sense of where mana was. Fire mana was roiling throughout the city, flying around, dipping into the sewers and circling the palace in the sky. There was barely any part of the city that fire did not hover over.

To be honest, she wasn't exactly sure what would happen if there was too much fire mana in her surroundings, But it also wasn't something she wanted to know. The probability of it having something to do with fire was too high. Althea tried to move fire away, using her newly increased affinity. Fire followed her will.

A tremendous amount of mana moved at her command, moving into the sky. The clouds lit themselves on fire, the air turning hotter as fire swirled in the sky. And then it dropped. Althea dispersed it, not allowing it to swirl anywhere near land. That had been way too fast, and way too close.

Now she at least knew what would happen if there was too much of one kind of mana.

As the surroundings affected pure mana, giving it affinity, mana with affinity would affect the world right back if there was enough of it. A sigh escaped her as she brainstormed ways to solve her current situation. Perhaps she should try talking?

Althea gathered her thoughts, and then projected them forward, like she was speaking telepathically.

"Please keep away from the city. There is no need for you to gather." she said. A shiver ran through the mana, and hope blossomed in her chest. Perhaps mana would listen.

A hope that was destroyed a few seconds later when mana instead rushed right into her garden.

"What are you doing?" Pulsie's frantic voice asked her. “This garden is not fireproof!”

"Trying to solve this? I am sorry if I don't have a solution for everything." she snarked back.

"Have you tried sensing at it? That seems to work for you." Pulsie snarked right back.

Althea gave him a look. "Have any ideas, mana genius? Speaking to mana doesn't work."

Pulsie scoffed. "Of course. Mana isn't sapient. I am not even sure it has emotions, no one else seems to be able to sense those."

"If mana doesn't have emotions, why is fire mana rushing over here?" she asked.

"I don't know, you're weird. Perhaps you could replicate what you did with fire? Water should be able to counter fire."

That could work.

Althea nodded and sensed at her surroundings with renewed vigor.

Water. Water flowed through the city. There was water in the sewers. There was water in the air. There was water even in her body, flowing alongside her blood. Or maybe inside it. That part she wasn’t sure of.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Althea could sense so much more than she could before, but it wasn't enough. Mana was at her fingerprints, her understanding far greater than it had been even a few days ago. But there was no answer to be had. Althea understood water, but she did not know how to befriend it, relate with it. As a human, she lacked a crucial part of the equation. The ability to flow.

So she did the next thing she could think of. Althea ate the Fruit of Alto.

The fruit was tangy and sweet, melting in her mouth as it turned into energy. The energy appeared in her mind, slipping her into a trance as images flashed before her eyes.

A seed germinated below the soil, growing from little to greater. Struggling against the soil to shove itself outside the soil. Struggling to let its leaves take the sun's rays. Struggling to extend its roots towards water. The life of a plant was a struggle, and the Earth, its mother, saw it. Even if it could do little, it gave it energy, giving nutrients and what it could to support it.

The Earth struggled with its children.

Althea watched it, not sure what she was seeing, but imprinting it in her mind. Perhaps it would be worth it later. But this was not what she wanted.

A breeze moved the plant's leaves, and she slipped into it. The air flew freely, joyfully twisting around as it enjoyed its freedom. As it traveled the forest, it found a collection of heat and light that fed on it. At first the air resisted, but then it went inside, curious about what it entailed.

A blue flash filled her vision as Althea saw things from the fire's perspective now. The fire burned, it rejoiced life as it danced with the wind. The wind and the fire were friends that had similar interests and enemies that could not coexist at the same time. The blue flame burned, rejoicing at the simple truth of living, before it ceased.

Falling water took away the support of air from it, killing it as rain fell from the sky.

Althea finally found herself getting what she wanted. Water flowed from the sky, following its own will, into the depths of the water. There it flowed into the trees into the root. Not stopping, it continued on. Water flowed through the world. In the bodies of plants, animals and humans. In the earth, in the sky.

Water would flow.

The vision faded as Althea found herself back in the garden. The fruit had given her much, but she was still lost. Water would flow. But she could not.

What now?

"Try air? Air can help, right?" Pulsie suggested. Althea nodded, closing her eyes as she tried anew. But once again, she found herself with the same problem.

Freedom was an important part of humanity. A core part of many people. But it wasn't a core part of her. Althea was bound by many things, so many things holding her here in the county.

There was little freedom for her. And didn't trouble her at all, heck, she embraced it. The bounds of responsibility might be a cage to some, but they were welcome to her. Perhaps she should be more worried about that, but for now she simply shoved it aside. This wasn't the time to think about that.

What else had the vision told her?

Earth struggled and nurtured.

Air sought freedom to explore the world and satiate its curiosity.

Fire simply wanted to live its life as it willed, to enjoy living.

Water would flow.

A piece clicked into her mind, a minor breakthrough. The elements were emotional. Not sapient, but perhaps sentient? Emotion is what drove them. A bit like dogs and other animals. Althea had already known that, though. This was simply...a better view of the nature cycle. A significantly better view that expanded what she gained, but it was not what she wanted. A pity.

"Althea! Pulsie screamed at her as she turned her attention back on the fire mana. The mana had only grown in power and concentration. So much that even she felt threatened by the sheer amount of it.

Was this what happened every time someone befriended an element? Or was this something unique to her? If her gifts were normal to druids, how was it that she hadn't heard of anyone befriending any element before? Perhaps it was something Vader had done? Had he faced this issue too?

Althea was simply lost as she desperately tried to convey to fire that it should stay away. Shouting at it clearly isn't working.

A burst of fire coiled as it struck down towards the garden, not unlike a lightning strike as it shot towards the center. A pulse of spread, nearly igniting her surroundings. A pulse of fire spread through the garden, touching the plant in front of her. But the plant did not light on fire. The plant struggled, mana shivering as it shrugged off the fire.

Althea looked at it in surprise. What was happening? How did a plant shrug off fire? Extending her senses gave her the answer.

Earth was fighting back.

Earth's struggle was giving the plants power to fight back.

Althea gave it a helping hand. Struggle wasn't a core part of her, but it was...something she could relate to. To be honest, she hadn't really had to struggle since she had come to this world. The only time she remembered was the fight with that beast Prince. And perhaps her struggle against paperwork.

The great mountain of paperwork that she had to fight against to maintain control over her county. The sheer mountain of work that threatened to drown her if she let up even a little. The growing number of plans she had to make on a whim, and act like they were a part of some greater picture. A thing that she had predicted.

The struggle to keep one step ahead of disasters. The struggle to let the county compete with the Zerolain duchy.

If she were being honest, she was starting to realize that the duchy was far ahead of the county in anything but money. Heck, not even there, the duchy’s gross income was many times theirs.

The only thing they had an advantage in was food. If this was any other time, the duchy’s businesses would leave her in the dust. But right now there wasn't much demand for the luxury products the duke sold, and that gave her a chance.

The Zerolian duchy had over four times as many adepts, so many Masters that she should not even think of competing, but she still would. For she was Althea fucking Diery- actually, that sounded wrong. No, she was not fucking her ancestors. Just Althea Diery, thank you. But back on track.

The Duke had made a mistake by targeting the county back then, and she would make him realize that. No, she would not fall to some collection of mana that was only here to help her. That would be stupid.

Althea conveyed her intentions to Earth, and for a moment, she joined with the mana. The vast land around her greeted her, and responded to her call. An agreement was forged then, not in blood or words or in any manner that she knew. But it was forged nonetheless. The two of them would struggle together. Not friends, perhaps, but they were comrades that wanted the same thing.

Title gained: [Earth's comrade]

Earth sees you, and it sees kin. A comrade that struggles with it, a comrade that shall not stop until it has done what it has to.

The plants glowed. The Earth rumbled. A great rush of Earth mana emerged as fire was thrown back into the sky. The two forces hovered around the county, locked in a struggle for dominance, but neither gave up.

Fire would burn. Earth would struggle. And it was time for her to breakthrough.