The words, for some reason, visibly caught Vesper off guard.

"Oh?" Vesper asked, uncharacteristically stumbling over her words as Morgana's knees suddenly pressed into hers, Morgana leaning slightly forward with her hands outstretched. "Why?"

"The ability to detect mana is a sixth sense of sorts. And I can help you. I could liken it to shining a flashlight in a pair of eyes you've never used. Sort of. It's complicated. But it's easier with skin contact." She curled and uncurled her fingers repeatedly in a 'come-here' motion, gesturing for Vesper to hurry up. "It gives me better access to your imprint on the Ether."

The [Thief] hesitated, but after a short pause placed her palms on Morgana's. Morgana closed her eyes and focused. She couldn't help but note the feel of Vesper's hands before she started—the girl's callouses. Morgana felt oddly embarrassed by how soft her own hands must feel, just then. Vesper had lived a very different life from her own.

Questing out with that sixth sense, she noted the impression Vesper made on the Ether. The way it swirled and conformed to her body. It wasn't physical sight she used; she could see it as clearly with her eyes closed as with them open. Mana-sensing. The skill she needed to train Vesper on before they could even begin working on invocation.

Morgana wasn't entirely sure why, but the Ether around one's own body was both more sensitive—easier to notice—and also, strangely, capable of being manipulated by a talented mage. An entirely pointless skill to develop, since the Ether had no effect on the outside world. Well, beyond specific niche exceptions, the academic in her insisted on clarifying.

Useless as the skill might be, though, it could at least be used in this specific scenario. To help a novice mage orient themselves to their magic-sensing abilities.

Right before she began, Morgana opened her eyes and looked at Vesper, readying herself to explain.

She paused.

Because…were her cheeks turning red?

Was she blushing?

Morgana looked down at their hands, then, all at once, grew flustered herself.

She supposed she had invaded the other girl's space without much ceremony. She hadn't thought twice about it, since it was just for the purpose of helping Vesper with her magical sensing abilities. Now that she thought about it, though, scooting up, pressing her knees into Vesper's, then leaning forward and demanding she place her hands into her own was maybe, in some ways, a bit presumptive. Especially to a woman who, from her reaction, obviously preferred keeping her personal space. Probably because of how she'd grown up…not that Morgana really knew what the pickpocket had been through in her childhood and adolescence.

At Morgana's eyes meeting hers, Vesper jumped in place.

"Uh. Sorry? What? Did you say something?" Vesper looked down at their hands. "What should I be doing?"

"Uh, no," Morgana said. "I didn't."

"Oh."

A brief, awkward pause filled the air, Morgana becoming even more acutely aware of Vesper's rough hands resting on her own.

She hurriedly returned to the lesson.

"I'm going to poke and prod at the Ether around your body," she said. "It's easier to manipulate and sense the closer it is to you. Hence the skin contact." The Ether surrounding both their hands would be easier for Morgana to push on, and easier for Vesper to feel. "So close your eyes and focus."

Vesper did so immediately, as if happy for the excuse.

"Focus on what?"

"What I'm doing."

"With your hands?"

"Ignore my hands." Though that was maybe easier said than done, because for some strange reason, Morgana was nearly burningly aware of Vesper's. Probably thanks to the awkwardness she had created. Morgana should definitely have asked before she had so suddenly shuffled up to her. "Ignore your other senses. Look for something different. You know that sensation you get when I'm casting? Try to remember that."

Vesper's brow furrowed. Seconds ticked by. Morgana manipulated the Ether around them, poking it into Vesper.

"O-Oh," Vesper said suddenly, her hands twitching atop Morgana's in surprise. "Did you—I think I felt that."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She doubted it. Even with the assistance of an experienced mage to prod at the Ether to draw Vesper's attention, it would take more than a few seconds to be able to open her magical senses with any reliability. Morgana was ready to sit here for a good half-hour before Vesper even started recognizing the sensation. Likely, it had been Vesper's mind playing tricks on her, since she was expecting something to happen.

Because despite the fact that anyone could cast spells, anyone could also be a master swordsman. And even that analogy didn't fully work. Anyone could swing a sword, but there were many so-called 'gates' or 'barriers' when it came to magic that most people simply couldn't overcome, stopping them in their tracks. There was, inevitably, some level of talent required. Whatever mysterious trait gave a person 'the spark' necessary for greatness. Not genetic, but present nonetheless. Magic was a skill that technically anyone could pick up, but also one that the majority of people would only ever, at best, flounder with.

Putting Vesper to the test, Morgana paused her prodding for several seconds, then poked the Ether firmly toward the other girl's palm.

"Oh. That one too," Vesper said. "Left hand, right?"

Morgana's eyes widened.

Just a coincidence, surely?

After a long fifteen-second break, Vesper's brow remaining studiously furrowed as she strained her senses, Morgana poked again.

"Left hand again," Vesper said. "This is easier than I thought. I definitely feel that."

"Are you serious?" Morgana demanded.

Vesper peeked an eye open, caught off guard by Morgana's tone. "Huh?"

"How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?

"Sensing me!"

"Isn't…that what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"But you picked it up so fast!"

Vesper blinked. After a second, a lopsided grin appeared. "Ah. I'm doing that good, huh?"

Morgana might have rolled her eyes at Vesper's playful smugness, but in this situation, she was too shocked.

"Absurdly fast," she emphasized. She shook her head. "Here, keep going. Maybe it was a coincidence."

She discovered shortly that it wasn't. Vesper easily identified each and every time Morgana manipulated the Ether around one of her hands. Only when she started being purposefully subtle did Vesper start being unable to sense her actions—so even the girl's absurd talent had its limits.

Frankly, Vesper shouldn't have been able to feel anything at all, and not for some time yet. Certainly not right away, like she had.

After a few moments of baffled consideration, Morgana said flatly, "I'm trying to decide if it's simply normal for your people, perhaps because of your constant familiarity with magic thanks to this…System's…pervasiveness, or rather, if you're extraordinarily talented."

"It's definitely the second."

This time, Morgana did roll her eyes. "Honestly, it might be. Simply being around magic shouldn't mean you're inherently better at sensing it." Obviously, there'd been many people in such situations in Morgana's world, and no such phenomenon had been noted, at least as far as she knew. And she would know, being a student of the Institute. "Hm. I suppose we can move straight to the actual test, then."

She grabbed the vial of fire mana and placed it in her palm, then held her hand back out. Vesper replaced her own hand too, so they were cupping the vial between their palms.

"I'm trying to sense the mana, now?" Vesper guessed.

"Yes," Morgana said. "I can guide you toward it." Through the same sort of magical perception Vesper was feeling the Ether's distortion through. "Just aim your senses to where I'm poking you and try to find the vial of mana."

Morgana did just that. She waited patiently as Vesper sat there, face scrunched in concentration and her eyes closed.

After barely a minute, Vesper made a noise of frustration.

"I don't see anything," she said.

Strangely, Morgana was relieved that Vesper couldn't simply seize hold of the mana on her first try. She'd already demonstrated a shocking level of aptitude by how quickly she'd started sensing the Ether's manipulation, but actually seeing mana, much less taking control it, was a task of a different difficulty entirely. Even mana as loud and easy to control as fire.

"That's normal," Morgana said. "Just keep trying."

Another few minutes passed, Vesper visibly growing agitated as she failed to progress.

"Ah…" she finally groaned, her eyes opening. "Maybe I'm no good at this after all."

Morgana snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. It's supposed to be hard. It's only been a few minutes."

"Bet it wasn't hard for you," she grumbled.

Morgana raised her eyebrows. "It took me hours to be able to sense my tutor's manipulation of the Ether, the first time I did this," she said, irritated in an amused sort of way. "I was never a prodigy in that regard. You've already far outpaced me."

Vesper blinked as she took that claim in. "I…have?" Then, she raised her eyebrows. "Wait, a prodigy in that regard?" she repeated with a grin.

Morgana paused.

"In what ways are you a prodigy, Miss Archmage?" Vesper continued teasingly. "What was all of that you were saying earlier, about being in the fourth strata? The youngest to earn your mantle?"

Morgana blushed. Declaring all of that had been rather egotistical, looking back, but to be fair, she'd been trying to establish authority in a tenuous and stressful situation.

"My talents lie more in the academic than the practical," Morgana admitted, glancing away. "At least, my natural talents. I've always found more aptitude in spell design and theory than the actual process of casting, or mana sensing, or other similar fields."

"Huh. I figured you'd be good at everything."

"Don't be ridiculous. And I wasn't a slow learner, I'm certainly not unskilled at those things. You just figured it out freakishly fast."

"Freakishly fast," Vesper repeated. "Good for me." She frowned down back at her hands. "But still. I can't feel it. The first step was a lot easier."

"It takes time. All skills do. How about you stop complaining and stay focused? That's how you'll see progress."

Vesper raised her eyebrows, seeming amused. "So you're a bossy teacher," she said. "That's cute."

She closed her eyes and returned to her efforts.

Which was good.

Because for some reason, Morgana's face had immediately started burning several times hotter than any of the interactions before.

Cute?

Why had she used that word?