“No, I’m not a spirit either.”
“But you’re a kitsune, right? I thought kitsune were fox spirits.”
“What’s ‘kitsune?’ Is it Fae for Vulpus?”
“Oh, right, I guess that’s not English. Hm. Do you know what a ninja is?”
“Well, yes, it’s a stealth class, specializing in two-handed swords with archery support.”
Shock, curiosity, excitement. Belladonna’s twin began scribbling furiously on her note paper.
Belladonna and her sister were hovering in front of a huge desk on the ground floor of Rocket’s home, behind which sat Miss Cadmea, there to tutor the twins for the first time. Miss Cadmea had no idea where to start, so opted to begin with a basic questions and answers session with the twins. And Lia, as usual, was flustering her elders with a constant stream of confusing questions.
Belladonna was thoroughly amused by the exchange.
“So, now that we’ve established that therianthropes aren’t born from animals in any way- “
“Well, technically- “
”In ANY way,” the vixen emphasized as Belladonna burst into laughter at the interruption, “are there any other questions before we begin our discussion on magic?”
“I have questions!”
Cadmea sighed. “How many questions?”
“I dunno, we’re two days old,” Liandan replied with a shrug. “A lot?”
Belladonna nodded. Lia had her odd ideas, sure, but they both had come into the world with a baseline level of knowledge.
The woman shook her head. “Okay. I’m going to do my best to educate you two, but I’ll be honest, it’s going to take a lot of learning from both of us. It’s not normal for therianthropes and humans- “
“Animals.”
“Therianthropes and humans to know English, or much of anything for that matter, at two days old. So, we’re going to have to figure out what you don’t know, what I don’t know, and what we don’t know that we don’t know.”
Wait, don’t know what we don’t know? Ow! Just thinking about something that confusing hurt Belladonna’s brain. This must be what a headache was.
“I’m with sis on this one,” Lia interpreted. “What would we know that you don’t?”
Well, she wasn’t quite right, but close enough; it was better than trying to comprehend a loop of ’don’t know don’t know don’t knows. She offered a nod of confirmation to her twin.
“The three of us have the dubious honor of being some of the few people to have ever seen a greater god, let alone spoken with one,” Cadmea explained. “I’m sure we all have questions we can help each other with. For example, Liandan, Tetra told me to ask you to explain what a ‘multiversal supercluster’ was.”
Lia gave off a brief flash of confusion before a look of understanding fell across her face, accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and suspicion. “That’s… I have an idea, but I’m sure about it.”
“You do? So, what do you think it means then?”
Lia closed her eyes and crossed her arms, clearly deep in thought. “This is just guessing because of the name, but… hrm… could it have to do with other worlds? Is that a thing?”
“Maybe. I’ve heard the idea that the road not taken in one world is taken in another. Just an odd notion. Or, at least it was, before Tetra mentioned that there are an infinite number of places that could use her help more than I could,” Cadmea said. “I used to think that was just wishful thinking some people used deal with regretting their decisions. Now I don’t know what to think.”
The grey fairy nodded. “That’s about what I figured. This is just me guessing, but a multiversal cluster like that could be something like worlds, universes, that all share a few key traits,” she explained. “Like the Earth and humans coming about, Fairies being born from flowers, the system going kaput, us meeting you, that kind of thing. That’s a bit specific, right?”
Belladonna took it back. This was WAY more confusing.
“We’re constantly making decisions,” Cadmea said. “That’s still countless worlds.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“But still fewer than it could be. Maybe a supercluster is, like, including places don’t have much in common at all. Maybe just one thing? I couldn’t guess what though.”
Miss Cadmea flicked her ears, her tails swishing behind her. “I could. It’s all speculative, but it helps with trying to see the bigger picture. Still, thank you, Liandan. It’s pleasant having such an unexpectedly civilized conversation with you. It’s a surprisingly plausible idea for a fairy’s.”
A shared irritation flashed between the twins. What was that supposed to mean‽ “Gee, thanks,” Lia deadpanned at the backhanded compliment.
Belladonna frowned. “Jerk!”
…
Cadmea and Liandan turned to stare blankly at Belladonna, who could only sense shock and surprise from her counterpart. The elder twin started to feel nervous. Was that too far, or-
A wide grin crept up on Lia’s face as surprise fell beneath a sea of giddiness. “HeheheHA!” she giggled before tackling her sister in an airborne bear hug. “OHMYGOSH that was a word! Bella!” she laughed as she nuzzled Belladonna’s cheek.
Belladonna for her part was surprised by the reaction. Lia had always known how to talk. She was a prodigy that even the king was surprised by. Belladonna could never hope to measure up.
So why? Why would one word make her so happy?
Liandan pointed at Cadmea. “Jerk!” she parroted, radiating happiness and enthusiasm as she looked to Belladonna. “Jerk! C’mon, sis!”
Belladonna blinked. She didn’t know what to think.
But then, wasn’t that what being with Lia was always like?
So she may as well go with it! Belladonna pointed at their tutor. “Jerk!”
“Jerk!”
“Jerk!”
“Jerk!”
“Jerk!”
“Jerk!”
Cadmea stared at the two fairies making fun of her. She sighed once more. “Now this? This is more like what I expected a conversation with fairy children would be like,” she groused, unheeded by the laughing twins.
“Jerk! Jerk! Jerk! Jerk!”
A chuckle escaped the vixen’s lips. She cracked a smile. “I suppose I had this coming, huh? Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” she apologized. Liandan stopped chanting at her, and so Belladonna followed suit. “Tell you what, we’ll skip the Q&A. Tell me what kind of magic you want to learn.
“Now I’m not a specialist in anything but ritualism, and there’s no guaranty you’ll have a knack for what you want. However, I had to learn a bit about everything to practice it. I should be able to give you kit’s first magic lesson on any of them.”
The fairies looked at each other. Lia shrugged. “Heck if I know. I kind of just want to learn. Like, in general,” she said. “Bella?”
Belladonna thought about it. Liandan had seemed really interested in poison to her, so she wasn’t sure why she wouldn’t jump at the chance to learn poison magic, if that was even a thing. But Belladonna wasn’t really that interested in it. Being bad to eat was nice and all, but she only valued it insofar as it was a deterrent to help them survive. It was cold comfort to take your attacker with you; you still died.
No, what interested her was the opposite. She pulled out her pencil and paper, wrote down two words, and showed them to Lia to read aloud.
“It says ‘Healing magic.’”
Cadmea looked at the purple fairy. “Healing, huh? That’s a tricky one to explain without the system. Do you know what HP is?”
Belladonna shook her head. She sensed a curious shiver run down Lia’s spine.
“It’s a measure of one’s vitality given by the system in a numerical value. Full HP meant you were totally uninjured, and if you HP hit 0, you died. Healing magic would restore HP and heal the body in the process.”
“Question!” Liandan asked, hand raised high. Cadmea gave her a confused look, and Lia sheepishly lowered her hand. Embarrassed, she asked “Heh, sorry. Is it that it would restore HP to heal the body, or heal the body to restore HP?”
“A good question,” Cadmea replied. “Until very recently, they were considered mutually inclusive, so the question itself was like asking which came first, magic or the system? But I can tell you firsthand that healing talismans still function properly, so I’d say it’s safe to say that the magic restored the body first, and the HP seamlessly updated to reflect that.”
“But then why would- sorry, that’s off topic, never mind,” Lia said. “Please continue.”
“Yes, as I was saying, general healing magic restores the body to proper working order,” the fox woman continued. “There are several different mechanisms by which this can be achieved. With a natural base, the body can grow anew, regenerating tissues or reattaching limbs. I’ve never heard of anyone unlocking it, but there were mentions in the system of fully regrowing missing limbs or organs.
“A more advanced version is healing with a temporal base. With that, healing magic can speed up the healing of the wound by hours, days, even months in the span of seconds, or it can even reverse injuries that were sustained a short time ago. “
She reached into her pouch, pulling a piece of vellum out. “This is a healing talisman using a natural base. It restores about- ah, moderately heals wounds, and applies a mild painkilling effect.”
“How does it do that?” Lia asked.
“Well, this is a miniaturized array that channels- “
“No, no, I don’t mean that,” Lia interrupted. “It’s fascinating, and I’m going to want to learn all about it too, but I mean the underlying principle behind the natural base healing magic. Does it use cellular regeneration?”
“I don’t follow,” Cadmea said. “What do you mean by that?”
“Well, if you don’t know either…” Liandan never finished the sentence.
It wasn’t surprising to Belladonna that her tutor didn’t know either. If you could heal people anyway, why would you need to know how it worked? Of course, the answer was obvious: because maybe it could let you heal them even better!
“Can I ask for some supplies? It’ll help me explain, I promise!”
“Supplies? What kind of supplies?”
“Well, I’m not sure how much of this we have around the village,” Liandan admitted, “but… dish soap, lye if you don’t have it-”
“We have it.”
“I didn’t mean-!” Liandan groaned. “No. L-Y-E. Also salt, isopropyl alcohol, and a glass cup.”
Cadmea raised an eyebrow. “I know spirits are born with certain knowledge, but that seems oddly specific,” she remarked. “I’ll ask your king if he can provide those for us. Anything else?”
“Oh, yes! Some small, flat glass sheets. Say, seventy-five by twenty-five by one millimeter? A playing card, something to punch a hole in it, a needle, petro-, no, some beeswax, tin foil, and glue.”
Belladonna tilted her head. What was her sister up to this time?
“Again, oddly specific,” Cadmea noted. “I’m starting to get the picture here. You two aren’t exactly normal, are you?”
The violet fairy shook her head at that. “Mo.”
Drat. So close.