The days inbetween fall away with nothing to show. You can’t make a drawing for Mizu that you are happy with, and none of the geometric patterns you put together are good enough either. Copying down the runes for Holy Circle is a simple matter-- but getting good results from them is anything but. They just…fizzle out part way through your channel. You never learned to cast it on your own, so you wonder if the problem lies within you rather than in your designs.
Whenever you’re frustrated, you gravitate back to Erden. He can’t help you, obviously, but watching him work helps take your mind off of it all. You hold things in place for him while he nails them together, paints and varnishes until it looks beautiful and glossy.
You start spending less and less time trying; the failure has been eating away at you. Sitting alone in your room trying the same patterns with the smallest of iterations to produce something new burns through ink and paper, forcing you to make supply runs. Unfortunately, you never really know for sure if you just needed more expensive materials to make it work properly, so you’re forced to save your ‘best’ designs-- just in case.
Your lodestone is not much help either. In theory, it can be used alongside thaumaturgy to help someone cast fire spells for just a bit longer, but a more immediately practical application for you would be to absorb the aether within to balance yourself towards the astral. Good for your long-term health, but arguably bad for the development of paladin spells which are umbral in nature. Why did Himoto give this to you…? Did he realize ahead of time that you were overaspected to light?
Every time you seek answers you end up with more questions. Erden has questions for you about thaumaturgy, and at least you can try your best to answer those, but that doesn’t help him with any breakthroughs either, it just gets him closer to understanding the theory of what he reads in the journal K’yoko gave him.
An accident occurs in your quarters one day while you are designing, where the fire light you have been maintaining sets some loose papers ablaze. A simple lapse in concentration for long enough can cause it to sway about. Luckily, there wasn’t much real damage, you just burned some papers with dud designs. Extinguishing fire magic is hard, because you start to panic, and then your emotions fuel the spell again, but once you’ve steadied yourself it’s as simple as snapping your fingers. After you’ve put it out, the smell of charred paper lingers in the air.
You start to cry.
You try your best to fight it-- this is such a stupid thing to be so upset about, but you can’t stop yourself.
Some scions come to check on you because of the ruckus you made while the fire was still burning. You try to explain that you’re fine, you weren’t hurt, and nothing is wrong, but choking that out through your tears doesn’t exactly help your case. You manage to explain it away as ‘holiday stress,’ and they tell you in a way that is meant to be kind to ‘not worry’ about it all. If only you had thought of that.
It’s so much easier to set your woes aside when you’re with him. It suddenly seems so small, and it becomes a wonder that they ever bothered you in the first place. You have no deadlines, no real obligation either, and even if the extra money would be nice it’s not like you need it. So why do you care so much? Why does each failure tear you asunder and make you feel less than you are?
Time slips by, and the day of the party arrives. You try to keep a positive attitude.
You are woken up by Erden gently shaking you awake.
“Good morning, Anah’to!” He says, which still makes your ears flicker. He sets up a small wooden stand next to you and bestows upon you luxurious, fluffy pancakes delicately drizzled with maple syrup-- the good stuff, with a side of bacon and eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice. Any gloom you have been feeling immediately crumbles away-- it is no match for a heartfelt breakfast in bed. Today is perfect, and everything is awesome.
“Aw, Erden, you…!” You fumble all over your words, but eventually you manage. “Thank you so much…”
“Happy Starlight.” He rubs your head, which makes you feel flushed but you try to play it cool. You enjoy your meal to its fullest and your guests start showing up around when you finish.
You, Erden, Olahr, Phekda, Mizu, and K’yoko all end up gathering within one of the common areas just outside of the dorms
“S’anah’to!” Mizu runs up to you and gives you a big hug, dropping the presents she was carrying all over the place. “Erden, get over here!” Erden comes over and picks you both up. “AGH! NooOO!” She struggles to break free. You can’t stop laughing as she punches his arms to no avail.
“You brought this upon yourself.” Erden smugly says, moving the presents she brought over to a more organized pile with his legs. He drops you both off on the couch and takes a seat next to you.
“It’s nice to see you again, S’olahr!” K’yoko walked up to him and gave him a hug.
“K’yoko, hi! It's great to see you too.” He gives her a big hug. While K’yoko and Phekda have met in passing before, they haven’t had much time to talk with each other, so they introduce one another as well.
You, Erden, and K’yoko all have placed any gifts you got others into bags, while Mizu has taken the time to (somewhat poorly) wrap each gift, while both Phekda and Olahr have pristine wrapping. You suspect that Olahr did the wrapping for both of them, since the gift Phekda got Olahr is mysteriously in a bag instead of beautifully wrapped-- very suspicious!
You organize all of the gifts and place them where each person is sitting so nobody needs to get up and move around. It also nicely allows you all to open gifts one by one in a circle, and it makes it easy for others to see them-- it’s perfect design.
Since you plan to challenge Mizu to an amazing duel, you convince everyone to start with the oldest and work your way down, which will end with her.
“That way, we’ll save the best for last!” You tell her, and she’s immediately on board. The oldest is surprisingly K’yoko! You always sort of assumed she was on the younger side, but she manages to beat out Erden. Once she starts opening gifts, you realize that everyone had the same idea. She gets carbuncle earrings from you, a carbuncle decorative statue from Olahr, and a carefully whittled carbuncle on a chain from Erden to wear as a necklace. You were worried she’d be disappointed getting exclusively carbuncle-themed items, but she seems happy about it-- you’re just not sure what you’ll all do next year.
Erden opens the bag K’yoko got him and inside he finds a surprisingly well-crafted doll of…you. It’s beautifully made with fabric and big button eyes, and just big enough that you could cradle it like a baby. It’s not made with the perfect stitching and weaving that you would expect from a shop, and with each visible stitch you see love instead. She even got the details of the suit right, down to putting little button cuffs on the wrist! Erden seems to really like it, and gently sets it down on the seat next to him.
“I also got something extra for you, Erden.” K’yoko walked up to him and presented a page from her grimoire-- a sophisticated glyph that almost looks like a flower, though Mizu insists that it looks like an explosion. “I managed to put together a new geometric pattern that Mortar can use!”
“...Huh?” Your ears perk up. “You managed to come up with a new spell?”
“I put together a few runes I found in some old Allagan texts we have sitting around in the guild.” She moves her hand over her grimoire and nothing happens. “Originally I thought it wasn't gonna work since it didn't do anything on paper, but putting them on Ruby carbuncle gems did the trick! After a few weeks of refining it, I managed to recreate the spell Firaga!”
You wish you had listened to the wisdom of her words-- but you were too overcome with envy to take them to heart. You want to say that you treat K’yoko just as well as all the other arcanists in your guild, and you certainly do a better job than most of the others, but seeing her succeed like this makes your blood boil.
There is a certain degree of prestige that comes with one’s willingness to venture out into the field and find answers, and she simply isn’t on that level. But then she goes and does something like this-- finds success that you can’t, because she is willing to put the time in to review entire tomes of historical accounts and sift through what’s worth reclaiming from what is just crude theorycrafting. Most allagan spells aren’t useful to anyone-- there is some key component that is missing, some detail lost in translation, but she’s gone and found value in it regardless.
You can’t handle that nuance at this point in your life. So it isn’t “you managed to come up with a new pattern?” it’s, “you managed to come up with a new pattern?” The words feel like venom as they leave your mouth, but luckily she doesn’t seem to notice the lapse in your composure, or at least doesn’t comment on it.
“Wow, K’yoko! That’s amazing!” Erden looks carefully at the pattern. “What will it let her do?”
“It’s a more long-ranged attack than a regular flamethrower. It shoots a condensed fireball, and then when it hits something it explodes!” She clasps her hands together. “If you want, I can inscribe it on her gem for you!”
“That would be great!” He hands her the gemstone. “I doubt I’d be able to do a good job at it.”
“Man, that’s so cool!” Mizu pleaded to K'yoko. “Can I have a carbuncle like Erden’s too?? I could double my explosion output!” Olahr looks a little concerned upon hearing that, and looks to you. You certainly aren’t going to explain it away-- that’s who Mizu is, so you just smile.
“I’d be happy to make you one!” K’yoko flipped through her grimoire and began to write. “I’d just need a new ruby gemstone. The bigger it is, the stronger it will be, but it will also take more out of you to summon them.”
“I can get one!” Mizu puffed out her chest. “I’ve been trying my hand at mining these days to get goldsmithing supplies, and if push comes to shove I’m sure I can find a good one on the market.”
“Mining?” Erden looked at Mizu’s arms, which were nearly thin enough to be confused for a stick bug.
“If I can’t break the rocks with my pickaxe, I can break them with my magic!” She drew her staff. “Care for a demonstration?”
“We got to see that just after I met you.” Erden crossed his arms. “If you don’t knock yourself out, I can see it working.”
“Drop by the arcanist’s guild whenever you’re ready and we can get started.” K’yoko said to Mizu, closing her grimoire. She took Mortar’s gem and brought it over to a side table to begin carefully chiseling away at it. While the pattern was intricate, her craft was clearly refined-- it didn’t take her very long at all before it was finished.
While she worked, he opened the gift from Mizu and revealed a large rod with sharp spikes along its top, and within each spike shone a fiery red diamond. You’re almost certain that it’s meant to be a thaumaturgy rod, but with its spikes it honestly looks like it's meant for thrusting like a spear. The entire thing is black and red, and carrying it around really screams ‘I am evil!’ Erden’s smile was a malm wide, and he immediately gave it a good thrust into the air to get a feel for holding it.
“Mizu, this is AMAZING!” He held it up high.
“Just make sure you’re careful with that!” Phekda leans forward in her seat. “Thaumaturgy is easy to lose control of.”
“I KNEW you would like it!” Mizu throws her hands up. “Now when you finally realize that thaumaturgy is the ultimate art, you’ll have a high quality rod to get the job done!” She flipped her hair dramatically. “It’s made using the diamond I found in Sil’dih! Perfectly enchanted for the most powerful of explosions! Courtesy of the finest craftsmen in Ul’dah.”
Olahr narrows his eyes after hearing her talk about explosions for the hundredth time this evening, and you understand that she has just crossed a threshold for him. He opens his mouth to speak and you interrupt him before he can.
“Oh wow, Mizu and I had a similar idea!” You say happily. “Open my gift next!” He opens the thaumaturgy book and bracelet you got him. “The bracelet is supposed to help with learning ice magic-- I’m sure that new rod will come in handy for that!”
“Oh sweet!” He puts the bracelet on and flips through the first few pages of the book. “You’re a real lifesaver, Anah’to. I had no idea how I was going to get started with umbral spells…”
“You want to learn ice spells?” Mizu asked.
“I’m trying to make sure my aether is balanced.” Erden said.
“Mmm.” She nods thoughtfully. “Very smart of you. If that book doesn’t get you there, let me know, and I can give you some more of my old notes.”
“This is great!” Olahr says excitedly. “We can get started with training tomorrow morning.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Moving on, Erden opened a joint gift from Phekda and Olahr-- an exceptionally large and intricately crafted cooking pot, complete with beautiful patterns that have been carefully painted to depict imagery of waves and nature.
“Now the next time you bring a massive crab home with you it’ll be easy to prepare.” Olahr says.
“Wow, thanks so much!” He feels alongside the outer edge of the pot. You’re no expert, but it seems to be made of fired clay. “Did you make this yourself?!”
“Heh, yeah.” Olahr smiled. “No big deal, just a little stone weaving! Phekda helped a lot with the decorations and carvings.”
“Thank you both, this is great!” Erden took the time to dispose of the discarded gift wrapping and tidy up a little bit.
“No problem at all!” Phekda said.
Phekda goes next, and opens your gift. She thanks you for the boots and tickets, trying the boots on and walking around in them before telling you that they’re perfect. She moves on to Olahr’s gift to reveal a treasure map, which feels like a very whimsical gift.
“You found another map!?” Phekda studied it very carefully. “I don’t recognize the location…”
“I couldn’t figure it out either, but I’m sure we can ask around.” Olahr said.
“A map? A map of what?” K’yoko asked.
“Back in the day, Olahr and I would go treasure hunting together!” Phekda explained. “It’s been a long time with how busy we’ve been.”
“Maybe one of us can recognize the map?” You suggest. She passes it around one by one and Erden looks at it carefully for a while.
“I think this might be in La Noscea.” He points along the edge of a coast. “See, we have the coast here and then there’s this collection of lakes here too. There’s a spot just like it south of Wineport.”
“Ooo, this is so exciting! It’ll be just like the good old times-- Sweet, simple, and out of control!” Phekda stowed the map away.
“I got you and S’olahr a duo gift.” Erden says, walking into a backroom. He comes back carrying two large wooden sofa chairs with different colored cushions and sets them down in the circle. The polish and care in both of them is a little surreal to you-- Looking back and forth you aren’t able to notice any differences between them.
“Oh my goodness, these would be perfect around the fireplace!” Phekda takes a seat and sinks into the chair. “Great for taking a load off.”
“Wow, Erden, these are great!” Olahr ran his hand across the side of it. “It’s even got a cup holder!”
Olahr opens his gift from you to reveal a new cookset which he seems very happy about. ‘Finally, some new knives!’ He says, and you quietly note that if Erden had said the same thing he would’ve lost his mind over it.
His gift from Phekda is a cooking apron which says “KISS THE COOK” in big, bold letters on the front and an apron pocket with a heart on it. He tries it on and it fits pretty well, and she immediately kisses him on the cheek when he does which causes him to blush like crazy.
Moving on to your gifts, you open the gift from Mizu and are shocked to receive a necklace with a large crystal embedded in the front. The necklace is well-crafted but has slight faults in it that can only be noticed when it is closely examined. When you look on the inner side, you realize that your name has been carved into it too!
“Mizu…did you make this yourself?!” You ask, combing over the finer details.
“Hoh ho!” Mizu covered half of her face dramatically with her hand. “YES! I have mastered the art of the goldsmith to create the strongest jewelry in Eorzea!” She pointed at the crystal in the necklace’s center. “This crystal will draw in ambient aether over time, and when you run your hand over it, it will draw it into you all at once! It’ll let you cast a spell super fast, and you won’t even feel drained after!”
“Woah, that’s…incredible!” You put it on-- it looks pretty good, too! “I wonder if this would work with Resurrection…it would certainly save us in a pinch. Thank you so much!” She sits back in her chair, silently confident that she has officially been the best gift-giver of the evening, and with the combined utility and generosity of the items in question, it’s a tough claim to dispute. If you had to argue against it, you would point out that she only had to get two gifts, allowing her to dedicate more time to their quality. But hey, you’re not complaining about such premium treatment.
From K’yoko, you receive a wonderfully made matching doll of Erden. His horns are even well-shaped, a challenging feat for even a refined weaver. While your doll had a pleasant smile, his has a confident smirk, and features him in his typical silver armor which K’yoko has mostly seen him in. You set him down right next to the doll of you and have them lean against one another.
“They both look wonderful, K’yoko!” You say. “I’m surprised you managed to get these done so quickly…”
“Mina gave me a few books on how to make them, and they’re full of useful tips!” She says. “Making them has helped me take my mind off of things, and it’s really nice once they’re all finished.”
Phekda got you an unexpected gift-- a fully detailed journal covering Red Magic from her teacher X’rhun. It covers the fundamentals as well as more advanced techniques in later sections. You look at her a bit confused, as you had never expressed strong interest in it before, but she opens your eyes to the truth of the matter.
“It’s important to remember that when you and Erden exchange aether, it isn’t canceling the other out-- rather, you are both aspected umbrally and astrally at once.” She explains. “In the lower amounts you have exchanged so far, you probably won’t be able to do much, but once you’ve exchanged more, it’s possible you’ll be able to cast it or imbue it into your weapons.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a little while now-- you might even be able to cast red magic spells by performing the incantation while pooling your aether together!” She muses. “I’m not too sure about its limits, but either way getting you these notes seemed important. Obviously, let me know if you don’t understand anything, I’m all too happy to help.”
Her theories are intriguing, and warrant further study on your part, so you thank her and set them aside for future reading. If nothing else, there’s a chance it’ll help you with your current arcanistry rut.
Erden already gave you his gift-- your grimoire! You hold it out for everyone to look at like it's a storybook-- you just wish that you had more spells to show them. The black pages look very pretty when they’re contrasted with white ink.
Mizu is up next, so Erden leaves and re-enters the room carrying a very large wooden statue which is shaped like Rhalgr’s iconic symbol-- a circular bottom with four spiked parts on top, except you notice that there are only three spikes with a gap in the center. You think it might be a mistake on his part until he grabs Mizu’s staff and slots it directly where one of the spikes would have been.
“HUH?!” Mizu gasps. “A statue to Rhalgr…AND it holds my weapon!!” She gives Erden a big hug. “Thank you so so much! I’m gonna put it right next to my bed.”
“No problem at all.” Erden smiled. “It was fun to try and capture such an unusual shape in wood.”
Mizu retrieves her staff and looks at you expectantly. You were never able to produce a drawing you were happy with, so you have foregone that part of the gift in favor of what she is really looking for. You get up and crack your knuckles.
“Alright-- let’s do this.” You say.
“YES!” She gets in a quick stretch.
“Hmm?” Erden looks between you two. “What’s going on?”
“Every year since I started my training, Mizu and I have dueled as my gift for the Starlight Celebration.” You roll your eyes. “She wanted to take the opportunity to prove to me every year how much better Astral magic is so I would become a thaumaturge instead of being a paladin.”
“Being a paladin is awful, you have to follow so many rules!” Mizu exclaimed. “I’ll show everyone here how much better thaumaturgy is…and this time, I’ll even use ice magic!”
“Ice magic?!” You gasp.
“Isn’t using umbral magic to win kind of contradictory?” Olahr points out, very correctly.
“Hmph!” Mizu crosses her arms. “I will concede that sometimes-- SOMETIMES! Using umbral magic briefly is a legitimate strategy. But paladins use it all the time, which means they don’t produce anything strong!”
“That’s an interesting concept.” K’yoko pondered this. “It is true that ruby carbuncles have the highest damage output…but both topaz and sapphire carbuncles have it beat for utility! I’m curious who will win.”
“I think trying to pick one over the other is a bit reductive, but as long as it’s all in good fun.” Phekda laughed.
“I guess I’d better be ready on standby in case you hurt one another.” Olahr said.
You all head outside and take your place on the raised stone platform by the ocean-- it is long and narrow, not leaving much room for creative approaches, nor is there cover of any kind-- which should make for a very straightforward duel arena.
Mizu had always been a very predictable combatant. Most of her spells require a lot of time to cast, and if you watch her movements you will see where the spell is going to land based on how she aims her staff. If you are quick, you can dodge them, and if not, you at least will have a good idea of when to block.
You are not quick.
You hold your grimoire close. You have always dueled her in the past using a sword and shield, blocking her attacks and getting close enough to force her to yield once she is exhausted. Now, your tome must be able to do both.
She starts as you expect-- with her strongest spell.
“I CAST…THE ULTIMATE DESTROYER OF ALL THINGS FOUR!” She shouts.
It’s a bluff-- probably. You’ve never figured out if she really tries to cast it or not. If you ran towards her now, you might not make it in time before the lightning starts hitting the ground, so instead you stop her the old fashioned way.
Sliding your hand across your grimoire, you cast holy spirit, aimed directly at her staff. The burst of light causes her to falter, giving you room to begin running forward. As you take your first few steps, she begins to laugh, and touches her choker before swinging her staff.
Lightning immediately hits the ground in front of you, and then behind you. You barely have enough time to switch to Ward and hold it up above you before a barrage of attacks fall from the heavens. Your shield holds, but maintaining it for longer than a second rapidly begins to drain you, and each strike against the barrier makes it harder for you to walk forward. Unfortunately, you must walk.
“You didn’t think I’d make you such a powerful necklace without getting myself one too, did you?” She cackles as she begins to cast again. Your right arm holds your grimoire and your left keeps the barrier above you stable-- you can’t stop her. If you drop your shield, you might be able to run, but would you make it far enough before you get hit? The lightning hit in front of you before you put your barrier up-- just how big is its radius?
You don’t know, but you do know that lightning hits the highest point. You collapse your shield and immediately dive under the lamp post to your left, launching another holy spirit at Mizu to interrupt her cast. The magic cracks against the pole behind you and the stone nearby, but you remain unscathed. You use these precious seconds to fish Brick out of your pocket and summon him.
You point down the side of the platform you’re on and command Brick to make more space to walk on close to the water, and with a mighty stomp he creates a narrow cliffside for you. Right on queue, Mizu blows up the lamp you are hiding under, forcing you downward as lightning begins to strike where you just were.
“Make some stairs!” You hold on to loose bricks to keep your balance. Brick kicks the wall to create large, spiked protrusions that make a path up to Mizu.
“Isn’t this dangerous??” K’yoko tensed up. “If even one of those bolts hit S’anah’to…”
“Give me some credit!” You shout back. You kneel down next to Brick and whisper in his ear. “Think you can throw her off her guard?” He nods attentively and scurries up to peek over the cliffside before dropping back down. He takes a few steps back before slamming into the wall with his whole body, causing the ground to tremble. You make your way up the steps as quickly as you can, staying low to stop yourself from falling off, and find Mizu struggling to keep her balance.
You run up behind her and pick her up. Even for a weakling like you, she is easy to grab and carry to the edge of the platform.
“Ready to give up!?” You ask as you dangle her over the water.
“NEVER!” She kicks wildly, holding onto her staff for dear life, so you let her go. As she slides down the wall’s side, she unleashes a concentrated wave of ice down onto the water below, creating a small peninsula for her to stand on. As the waves crash against it, the ice begins to crack, forcing her to mend it with more casts.
“Are you paying attention, Erden?!” She shouts. “Using ice lets me cool my body down and survive to keep going.” You flip through your pages to Holy Spirit and begin to cast it on the ice directly. “And once you’re ready, you get right back into it!” She suddenly swings around with her staff and fires a spell aimed directly at you. Your light blast flies through the air, shattering the platform she’s standing on and causing her to fall into the water, while hers explodes directly in your face, knocking you onto your back and causing you to scrape against the bricks from the force.
“Anah’to!” Erden yells, immediately running up to you with Olahr close behind.
“Shit…SHIT!!” Mizu starts swimming back to the shoreline as quickly as she could. “Are you okay?? S’ANAH’TO!”
You have a hard time sitting up-- your glasses were cracked but everything feels alright. After a moment, you realize you feel a little bit of blood trickling down the side of your face. Brick runs up the rest of the steps to you and nuzzles your leg; you return him to his crystal to help conserve your energy. You reach around for your grimoire and find it next to you aflame! You immediately slam it shut to snuff the fires before inspecting the pages themselves. The astrally-infused paper took to the fire very quickly, ruining most of them, including all of the ones you’ve written on. Erden carefully pulls you onto your back to rest in his arms, keeping your head propped up.
“Are you alright?” He asks, looking into your eyes and taking your broken glasses off for you.
“The grimoire you got me, it’s…”
“Who cares?!” He brushes your hair out of your eyes. “Are you hurt? You’re bleeding!” You reach up to your forehead and begin to heal it, but Olahr smacks your hand away.
“Don’t do that!” He says sternly, treating the wound himself. “You’ve pushed yourself way too far today. Any more umbral magic out of you and you’ll go catatonic again.” He mutters under his breath. “I was so stupid to let you do this…”
Mizu reaches the dock and is pulled up by Phekda and K’yoko. She throws her staff on the ground and rushes her way over to you.
“Stay back, give him some space!” Olahr barks at her, tightening his grip on his wand.
“I’m sorry!” She said, panicked. “It was supposed to hit in front of him, but when the ground collapsed under me, I…”
“It’s okay, Mizu.” You clear your throat. “We’ve had accidents before, I just had less armor this time.”
I’ll get you a new grimoire, I promise!” She says confidently. “I’ll spend one million gil on it! No, TWO million!”
“It only cost a bit of time and some paper for me to make.” Erden says. “I’ll make another.”
“I’ll pay Erden two million gil!” She adds.
“Erden, take Anah’to back to your room and do another aether exchange.” Olahr says once he’s finished touching you up. “Just make extremely sure he doesn’t get any void aether from you.” He glares down Mizu. “In the meantime, I’d like to have some WORDS with you!”
Erden doesn’t argue and takes you straight back inside. You can hear Olahr getting increasingly angry in the distance as you’re carried away. Gods, you hope they don’t kill each other.