Sophie was still standing in front of the Adventurer’s Guild, deciding whether or not she would really be able to resist the pastries at the bakery when she noticed an odd, blue shimmer of mana pass in front of her. She took a sudden step back, nearly tripping over her own feet. A man passing by across the street glanced at her oddly before shaking his head and continuing on his way.

Did he not see it then? She glanced around, but there were only a handful of people about, and four of those were a woman with three young children all trailing in a line towards some unknown destination. Sophie frowned, glancing back towards the shimmer as it continued down the path.

Should she follow it? Her feet felt frozen to the spot in uncertainty for a brief moment before she pushed herself forward, making the decision to follow after the strange mana impression. She watched as it passed by a few other people – a man in a grey suit coming out of a shop, two older women chatting on a bench – it even passed in between a young child holding the hand of a guardian. No one seemed to notice it.

After a few days of using Mana Sense, it had begun to fade into the background more as Elowen thought it might, but it still pinged along Sophie’s senses sometimes when something noticeable like this occurred. She tried calling on it more clearly now, focusing in on the wisp, as she followed it, but Mana Sense didn’t seem to make much of a difference. It looked the same at this distance – like a faint, nearly translucent shimmer, barely noticeable. She probably would not have even given it a second glance had it not been right in front of her eyes at the Adventurer’s Guild.

She followed it for another block, intensely curious as to what it was and where it could be going, until it slipped into an alley up ahead. Sophie hurried her steps again as much as she could without outright running. She didn’t want to draw any undue attention to herself, after all, especially if no one else noticed it or thought it unusual if they did.

The alley was far cleaner than those she used to walk past in Seattle, but it was still an alley, after all. There were a few crates and a large bin she imagined was used for refuse from the surrounding shops. There was also a gate at the back that seemed to separate the commercial entrances from the street. She took a cautious step off of the path onto the rougher cobblestones of the alley, scanning the area for any sign of the mana she had seen previously.

Mana Sense pinged again, then, right behind one of the empty wooden crates, and she saw something moving. She felt hopeful for a brief moment that maybe she’d discovered something when a thin black cat scrambled out from behind the crate. The creature arched its back and hissed at her once before frantically leaping over the gate. Sophie frowned as she watched it retreat.

So much for a creature affinity, she supposed. Not that she had really imagined she would have such a thing anyway, but that poor stray cat didn’t seem to be a fan of her presence in its alley.

And there was no sign of that wisp of mana anymore, either. Whatever it was, it had probably followed the same path as the frightened cat, if it had even existed in the first place. The thought gave her pause…

She felt silly, suddenly, for even following it to begin with. What was she doing? What could she have possibly learned from the experience? It was just so strange, but she had seen many strange things since coming to this fantasy world.

She wandered out of the alley, back to the main road, and then she remembered –

The wyvern landing on her, and that warm burst of mana.

Could it have done something to her after all?

She glanced down at her arm, at the spot where the wyvern had landed. The mana hadn’t felt all that weird, but Sophie felt awfully peculiar about the whole experience now.

She had really wanted to go to the bakery to talk to Acacia – pastries or not – but now she felt like she should return to the shrine, instead. If the wyvern had done something to her, surely Elowen would be able to tell.

She hurried out of town, back onto the path, worrying the whole way.

By the time she got back to the shrine however, Elowen released her from her fears.

When Sophie explained what had happened, Elowen burst out laughing. “It channeled mana into you?” She giggled again. “What are you, a mana lamp?”

Sophie agreed to a point, but she felt exasperated. “Isn’t it serious?” she asked. “Couldn’t it – I don’t know – corrupt me?”

Elowen shook her head. “It’s highly unlikely,” she explained. “First off, that little wyvern hasn’t felt corrupted at all since we’ve seen it. Although there’s the small chance that it could have picked up some corrupted mana along the way – but you don’t feel corrupted either. And as a priestess, you do have some defenses against such a thing. Your own mana would try to reject the corruption. It would not have been a pleasant experience.”

Sophie shivered at the implication. Luckily, the wyvern’s mana hadn’t been unpleasant at all. In fact, her own mana responded quite well to it. “But why did it do it?”

Elowen raised a semi-translucent shoulder. “Who knows. Why do wyverns do anything? It’s a wild creature. That’s partially why people aren’t fond of them.”

“Then what was –” Sophie started, and then shook her head. “I saw something weird, though. In town. I saw – well, some kind of mana… thing.” She waved her hands trying as if trying to show Elowen what it looked like.

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Elowen just stared at her blankly. “A mana thing? Like another creature?”

Sophie shook her head again. “No – it was just… Um, free-floating? Like free-floating mana?”

Elowen frowned at this. “Free-floating mana?” she repeated. “In Caulis? Well, there’s ambient mana. It’s the mana that’s given off by all life-forms and anything that uses mana.”

Sophie considered that for a moment, but it seemed too specific, too full of intent to be something like that. It had seemed to be going somewhere. Almost like it had a purpose. “I don’t think that’s what it was,” she said, but Elowen had an odd, faraway look on her face.

“I wonder what Caulis is like now…” she said in a sort of dreamy voice.

“Do you remember something?” Sophie asked, suddenly excited at the possibility now that her own fears were mostly allayed, but Elowen’s gaze snapped back to her own and the spirit frowned again.

“I don’t – well, I’m not sure. I suppose I might though. If I were to visit. And then you could show me this free-floating mana.”

Elowen had a point, Sophie supposed. A lot of things would be a lot easier if Elowen could just come with her.

“We’ll work on your bond more,” Sophie said decisively. “Maybe not tonight –” Although the little wyvern had replenished some of her mana, it still didn’t seem like a good idea to push herself too hard after this morning. The memory of the morning still lurked in the back of her mind. “But you have to promise not to do that again – whatever bond thing that happened this morning! You nearly made me pass out!”

Elowen had the presence to look guilty. “I am sorry about that,” she said. “It was just – It was so…”

Sophie lifted a hand. “It’s fine,” she said. “You don’t have to explain.” She snorted. “I can’t believe I’m finally the one telling you to be careful.”

Elowen smiled a little at that, but she still had a wistful look on her face. Sophie wondered if they would really be able to get the mana stone to work.

Well, there was nothing left to do about it but try in the morning.

***

With her newfound focus on working on moving Elowen’s bond to the smaller mana stone, Sophie had all but forgotten about the class festival. In fact, two full days passed in a sort of haze of working with the bond, reading more about the Magewood tree, and experimenting more with the nasty Magewort tea.

Sophie found that if she didn’t drain her mana completely, she could have some of the tea and regenerate it again, but she’d end up dealing with some sort of fog for most of the day. Part of her wondered if the odd mana shimmer she had seen in Caulis had been some sort of side effect of the tea, in fact.

Sophie hadn’t been to Caulis for two full days, and they also hadn’t been able to transfer the bond over to the mana stone, yet. She felt like she was almost there, but she couldn’t quite get her head around moving the bond. As soon as she would get a hold on it, it would slip right out of her grasp, solidly attaching itself back to the shrine stone again. Elowen seemed to be much more careful when Sophie did have the bond, however, and they did not have a repeat experience of their first try, where Elowen had nearly drained Sophie.

Sophie woke up on the third day with sunlight streaming in through the shrine’s windows and an immediate Understanding that she was now Level 6. She sat up quickly, her excitement bubbling over as she thought about working with the bond again today. Surely the boost in level would help!

She was about to call out to Elowen to tell her the good news – even though the spirit likely already knew – when she paused.

Why did it feel like she was forgetting something?

She sat on her fold-up mattress for a long moment pondering her new level and poking at her improved mana reserves when she suddenly remembered.

“The class festival!” she half-shrieked, stumbling to her feet. “I needed to ask Acacia about the class festival!”

Drat! She had completely forgotten after the weird mana thing in Caulis, and the worries about the little wyvern, and then working with Elowen’s bond. There was – how many days left until Midsummer? Twelve now? Eleven? She had already lost track, and there was still so much to plan.

Or she could only assume there was. She didn’t even know what she was supposed to do. She started frantically dressing. She had to go to town today to ask Acacia about it.

Elowen floated over, obviously confused. “A class festival? Is it that time of year already?”

“Do you remember them?” Sophie asked, slowing her preparation slightly. She had assumed Elowen would not, but Elowen nodded hesitantly.

“I do,” she said. “Only somewhat… I know there were days where I would give out dozens of classes.” Her expression brightened a bit at the memory for a brief moment before it darkened again. “But. I don’t remember when the last time that was. Or even what classes I gave out. Your class is the only class I remember giving.”

“Mine?” Sophie asked, surprised.

Elowen nodded. “Well, until we had that Bard stop by, of course.”

That seemed… oddly sad. Sophie had no idea how old Elowen was or how long she had been handing out classes, but to not remember any of it?

“I’m sorry,” Sophie said softly. “We’ll get your memories back.”

Elowen nodded, but she looked away. “I do regret not being more helpful. It seems that I do remember some things, but not enough to help you plan for such an event. I know we held them in the courtyard, and I remember many people attending. I’m not sure what else would be expected, though.”

“It’s alright,” Sophie insisted. “I’ll ask Acacia. Although, if Caulis hasn’t had a festival in so long, perhaps we can make our own traditions.”

Elowen smiled fondly at the idea. “We could,” she agreed.

Sophie continued her morning preparations at a bit more of a sedate pace – at least stopping to have some tea and collect all of the library books she hadn’t had a chance to return yet before she headed into Caulis.

A festival! She felt oddly excited about the idea. She hoped Acacia would be willing to help.