“You poor, poor dear. I can’t believe you had to live in a place like that!” Lumina held Brin tightly against her chest, stroking his hair as if calming down a frightened animal.

“I don’t think I’m communicating it very well if that’s the impression you’re getting. It really wasn’t a bad place,” said Brin.

“No magic? You said there was no magic! What’s the point of even living at all?” she said, her voice choking with empathy.

“It had other things that made up for it. Electricity, for example.”

“We have electricity here, too. The tower has a line in several rooms. An oddity, with a few applications, I suppose,” said Lumina.

“An oddity…” Brin spluttered. “We have light in every room of every house!”

Hogg could barely move, so it was a surprise when the old guy reached over with a trembling arm to tap his enchanted lamp. It turned off. He tapped it again and it turned on. He crooked an eyebrow.

“That’s different,” said Brin.

“Well, you don’t have to worry any more. You’re in a real civilization now,” said Lumina, hugging him tighter.

“No. Hold on. No. This isn’t how you react,” said Brin.

Lumina finally released him, letting him move back to arm’s length. Her eyes looked confused and oddly vacant, which confirmed it. She was doing a dumb blonde routine. “It’s not?”

He shook his head. “You’re acting like this to put me at ease, which I really appreciate because I was frankly terrified of how you’d react when I told you this. But it’s not spontaneous. You, um… you already figured it out, didn’t you?”

Her eyes narrowed, her features relaxing back into her regular expression, one that bore her dangerous intelligence. “Oh, well, I suppose I did. I didn’t know all the particulars, of course, but I had guesses.”

“What gave it away?” asked Brin.

“Thinking back to when we first met, all of us were delighted to find the subject of our Quest. All of us except for the most perceptive of our group. Hogg was immediately suspicious of you; don’t think any of us missed that. And why should he be? Our Quest was clear that we should help you, and honestly I would’ve been ready to ignore nearly anything for the power in store that comes from completing a System Quest. I wouldn’t expect a [Rogue], for that is what I thought Hogg was at the time, to feel any different. And yet, he acted as if helping you were a matter of debate. Then later, he saw something in you that satisfied his concerns and all was well. That speaks to some kind of unconventional origin.”

“Like what?”

“I’ll have you know that a transplant from another world was only the third most likely scenario in my estimation. My first choice was that you had been frozen in time, and in second place, that you were a secret immortal. A secret elfin lineage, perhaps. Or judging by all the undead present, some kind of half-vampire?”

Brin felt his eyes go wide. “Wait, are elves real? And are half-vampires possible?”

“Only in stories to the first question, and no to the second,” said Hogg.

Lumina nodded. “Once Hogg pledged himself as your father, I knew we had nothing to fear from you. And when I pledged myself as your mother, I meant it. I will do whatever I can for you, regardless of how you came to us.”

Brin didn’t know exactly how to answer that. He couldn’t exactly tell Lumina she was his real mother now, because it would ring hollow. He had nothing against her, but there were some things that could only come with time. He finally decided on “Thank you.”

He scratched behind his ear as the awkward moment lasted a bit too long. “So you aren’t mad I didn’t tell you?”

Lumina shrugged. “You told me as soon as could be expected, and honestly I don’t think it would speak well for your judgment if you ran around blabbing that particular secret to everyone you met. Honestly, I wish you had waited a few minutes longer. I think I very nearly figured you out.”

“Sorry,” Brin said with a chuckle. “But it’s not weird that I’m basically an adult?”

“No. Even given your special circumstances and the fact that you’ve gained majority due to this town’s System Day rules, I can’t see you as anything other than a child.”

“Oh. Ok,” said Brin. That was totally fair, but why did his heart suddenly ache?

Lumina clapped. “Well, then. Your training. We’ll start with the Language.”

She left her spot on the sofa and then transferred to the floor, tucking her skirts under to sit in the lotus position. She gestured for Brin to sit in front of her, which he did. He kept his back straight, palms up on his knees, just like Hogg had taught him when he’d first started meditating.

She lifted her staff, and tapped the ground twice. Suddenly, everything disappeared. It wasn’t enough to say the lights went out, because that would imply that he saw darkness. Instead, his sense of vision was simply gone. He couldn’t hear either, or smell or even feel. The sensation of weight from gravity or the feeling of his clothes against his skin were absent. There was nothing.

There was a brief moment of panic, and then he felt something. Hands, grasping his. Then a voice, Lumina’s. “Don’t be afraid. And don’t try to pierce the illusion, please. That would rather defeat the point, and I’m afraid it’s not as strong as it could be. This isn’t my forte, it’s just a little trick stored in the staff. The illusion will help filter out distractions. By holding your hands, I’ll be better able to feel the flows of magic within you. Is that agreeable?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Very well. I’d like you to concentrate now. Erase every thought from your mind except for thoughts of magic and Language.”

“I can do that,” said Brin. He activated [Directed Meditation] and the anxiety and anticipation, as well as all the background noise in his mind fell away.

“Good. To start, I’d like to hear you say . Put a tiny bit of mana into [Call Light through Glass], but not too much. As little as you can.”

He hadn’t known the word for before, but somehow he could understand the meaning. Maybe because of the way Lumina had said it, or maybe the illusion she’d placed on him let him hear it better. He repeated her phrase in the Language. “”

Even through [Directed Meditation], it was a thrill when he felt the magic connect. He’d nailed it on the first try.

“Hm. You haven’t thought about the concept of light as much as you have glass. That’s to be expected. We’ll skip that one for now. As for , I’d like you to think of connections, the way that emulating can form a connection between two concepts. Also, is a little more blue sounding than the way you said it. You came across as very yellowish. Try again.”

For the next hour, Brin repeated that single phrase, and Lumina corrected him. He’d thought his Language training with Chamylla had been harsh, but with Chamylla once he’d been able to pronounce a word well enough to put power through it, they’d moved on. Lumina was exacting in phrasing, pronunciation, and especially intent.

This was why they called it the Language, he realized. Whatever else it could do, it was all about communication, pure and simple. And with it, you could speak so much more than dull, primitive words. You didn’t speak the Language with your mouth alone. You spoke it with your heart.

She could read his mind, or perhaps hear his magic, and knew exactly what his intentions were behind each word. Once, he tested if she could actually hear what color he was thinking of when he said a word. She’d picked up on it immediately, and threatened to cancel the training if he didn’t pay more attention. After that, he put all the focus that he could muster into executing her instructions as perfectly as he could.

The training was intense, and after an hour passed, Brin’s brain hurt so badly that he found he couldn’t continue. Lumina was clearly on a whole other level than Hogg or Chamylla the [Enchantress]. The System agreed.

Through training, you have increased the following attributes: Magic +1 Mental Control +2

[Call Light through Glass] leveled up! 18 -> 19

“Oh, I felt your magic grow. Training bonus, I assume? How grand. Which reminds me, how have you been allocating your points?”

Brin blinked up, and noticed that the illusion blocking his senses was gone. Now it was only the pounding headache that made his vision swim. Even a simple question like that was suddenly very hard to answer. “Um. Magic. Everything in Magic. I have some points that I haven't spent yet.”

“Excellent. Split them between Magic and Mental Control.”

Brin sat in silence, feeling the way that his head throbbed with every heartbeat. Oh, Lumina probably meant now. He assigned his leftover points: three into Magic and three into Mental Control.

“Good. Now, that headache you’re feeling means that you’re done with Language practice for the time being, but there are other things we can work on. We’ll–”

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“Don't you think this is a little much?” Hogg interrupted.

Lumina scowled at him, and Hogg scowled right back. Even on his back, it was clear which of the two of them were better at it.

Lumina’s eyes went to the ground, and then she looked back to Brin. She winced and said, “It is a lot, and the worst is yet to come. There are benefits to what I’m doing, and to how I’m doing it. But if you don’t want to continue I wouldn’t fault you for taking a break.”

“I’d like to keep going, please,” said Brin.

“See? He wants to keep going,” Lumina said hurriedly. “Let’s take this outside, such a nice day!”

She hustled Brin outside. It really was a nice day, not that he could enjoy it. The bright sun seemed to gouge into his eyes and set his headache on fire.

“Now, what I have in mind to do next may… to tell you the truth, I’ve gone back and forth in my mind several times whether or not to do it at all. I’d like to build up your resistance to mageburn. It’s no good to start bleeding out the ears any time you’re in the presence of tolerably powerful spellcasting.”

Brin nodded, letting the Scarred One take over a bit. “Let’s do it. ”

“Normally this is where I would explain what mageburn is, but I don’t believe you’re in a state to absorb such a lesson… Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to remember it for later, so here’s the short version. Think of mageburn as something akin to heat from flame, a side-effect of calling so much newness into reality all at once. A competent [Mage] can of course restrain the amount she emits from her magic, but that takes power and effort that are better spent elsewhere. A clever [Mage] might also use tricks to increase the amount of mageburn that releases from a spell, and use that as a weapon. That’s what I’ll be doing to you now.”

She was right, Brin wasn’t in a state to understand anything right now, but he was recording every second of his lessons with Lumina with [Memories in Glass]. He’d look back at this later.

“Let’s do it, then,” said Brin.

Lumina bit her lip. “Brin, I need you to understand that this will be painful. Truthfully, I would rather have someone else administer this portion of your training, but there’s no one else around who can. On the one hand, vulnerability to mageburn is a weakness I’d rather you didn’t have. On the other hand, this will be painful. If I am to do this, I’d rather do it now and get it out of the way.”

“Lumina, I am asking you to do this. I won’t hate you, I promise,” said Brin.

“If you hated me but you were prepared for the world, I could accept that. If you are angry with me after today, I will accept that as well,” said Lumina. “Shall we proceed?”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

“,” Lumina said. A strangely flickering flame arose from her palm, but Brin barely noticed it.

The words were painful daggers and since he was waiting for it, he felt the exact moment that his ears popped. He didn’t think they were bleeding, though. She must’ve been restraining her power more than when she’d destroyed Awnadil. He was grateful. No matter how much she claimed that mageburn wasn’t a big deal and the damage would heal on its own, bleeding from the ears couldn’t be healthy.

He blinked, and something irritated his eyes. He put a finger up to the tears suddenly running down his cheeks, and saw a dot of red. His eyes were bleeding.

He grinned through the pain. “Thank you, may I have another?”

Lumina didn’t hesitate. She spoke the words again.

Again, the words stung with physical pain. Another wave of heat ran through his body. He felt dizzy. But somehow, the dizziness from mageburn lessened the headache from learning the Language. What an interesting cycle. He wondered if this really was as necessary as Lumina said. Part of him thought this was a test, a way to measure out his determination. Or maybe she wanted him to drop out, to realize his own weakness and give up. He didn’t actually care what her intentions were. He wouldn’t give up. He giggled. “Again, please.”

The door to the house opened, and Hogg stepped out. [Know What’s Real] told Brin that it was a mirror image, made with hard light. That made sense, since Hogg couldn’t actually walk around. He didn’t say anything; he just leaned against the door frame, folding his arms and glaring at Lumina.

She pretended not to see him.

“I’m fine. Keep going,” said Brin.

“Just one more,” said Lumina.

“You can’t be serious,” said Hogg.

Lumina sighed. “I know how this looks, but if we do this correctly, we won’t ever have to do this again. When I went through this training, it took one session a day for a week, and wasn’t any less painful than what he’s feeling now. The headache he must be feeling, the strange concoction running through his veins, even the exhaustion in his muscles, it will all work together to great effect.”

“Just do it already.” Brin tried to say it normally, but it came out as a growl.

“”

The pain was intense, and he was so dizzy that he nearly collapsed, but the Language headache was nearly completely gone. He laughed, using the sound of his own voice to ward away the pain.

Through training, you have increased the following attribute: Will +1

“Well done. We’ll take a short recess, and then we can start on something a bit more fun, hm?”

She gave him something to drink, something that smelled like lavender and lime, but he was too out of it to ask what it was. He drank, then lay down and stared up at the blue sky.

The “short” recess was nearly an hour long, but he didn’t mind that one bit. He lay in the grass, staring into space, listening to the sound of his own heartbeat. Beat by beat, the pain in his mind and body lessened and then fell away. When he stood again, he felt healthy, though very tired.

“Now,” said Lumina. “Let’s try this. ”

For once, the effect of her magic was exactly what it sounded like. Ten brown rings of earth popped into existence, hanging in the air around them. They were all spread out, facing different directions.

She placed the bead of glass he’d made earlier in his hands. “Take this, and put it through each of the rings. Use the Language, and only the Language.”

Brin took the bead and used [Shape Glass] to make it levitate in the air, and started thinking about which words he would use to guide it around.

“Start over,” said Lumina. “Use your words.”

Brin let it drop into his palm. “”

The bead popped into the air at an angle and then fell to the ground.

“Start over,” said Lumina. “Don’t let it touch the ground.”

Brin picked up the bead, and tried again. And again, and again.

“Why is this so hard?”

“Can’t you tell? Your magic is responding more readily than you’re used to. It’s like when in puberty you have to get used to your limbs suddenly getting longer,” said Lumina.

Hopefully that was coming soon, because as much as he wasn’t looking forward to it, he also didn’t want to stay this short forever.

After ten minutes, he finally figured out how to get the bead to levitate in the air, and started working on moving it.

When he said “” the bead would shoot forward until he lost control of it, and he’d have to start over. When he said “”, same problem, with the added bonus that it would also pick its direction randomly, seeming to not understand what he meant by “”.

It was slow going. Lumina could instantly tell if he ever fed any power into the bead intuitively without the Language, and she made him start over each time.

Through trial and error, he figured out a strategy. He said, “” and watched it inch forward at a pace that would’ve been overlapped by a snail. “” and then when that was an overcorrection “ ”. Changing course, stopping and going again, until slowly, slowly, the bead finally went through the hoop.

An hour had gone by before he got the bead through the first hoop. He had the bead hang in the air while he rubbed his eyes. He felt like he should be on his hands and knees, gasping for breath, but his body wasn’t really that tired. His mind was, though.

By now, Lumina had pulled out a book and was reading, but she still never failed to notice when the bead hit the ground or Brin accidentally moved it without using the Language.

She didn’t say anything about his success, so he took that as a sign to keep going. If he could do one, he could do all of them.

He carefully, slowly, moved the ball through the next hoop. On the third one, he accidentally hit the rim and had to start over.

Hours passed. Through constant work, he finally got the bead through five of the ten rings.

“Alright, time to stop for the day,” said Hogg.

That much of an interruption was enough. The bead fell.

“Start again,” said Lumina.

Brin just looked at the bead at the ground in disappointment. He’d been halfway there.

“Come on in, you’ve done enough for one day,” said Hogg.

“There’s still plenty of daylight left,” said Lumina.

Brin felt like all the weariness that Calisto’s potion had cured was suddenly back, and with a vengeance. He didn’t want to stop though. He’d promised he’d give this his all, and the benefits were obvious.

[Shape Glass] leveled up! 25 -> 26

He hadn’t had this many attributes and skill-ups without putting his life in danger since he’d first gotten his Class.

“I’m fine to keep going,” said Brin.

“You’re not. I’m putting my foot down on this one, Lumina. He’s done for the day. The [Bard] and his best friend are putting on a performance in the town square today, and he’s going to be there.”

Lumina pursed her lips. “Fine.”

They ate a quick dinner, and then set off. Brin walked in between his two parents, though Hogg was a mirror image. They were making severe “We’ll talk about this after the child is asleep” eyes at each other and the tension was palpable. He was too tired to think of something else they could talk about as a distraction, so it stayed hanging in the air. The trees crowding over each side of the road made it all seem much more stifling than usual, so it was a literal breath of fresh air when the forest opened up into the clearing around town.

No one approached them as they crossed through town, and quite a few people stopped and bowed or curtsied at Lumina, holding it until she passed. It was almost the same degree of reverence that Ellion received, and Lumina hardly seemed to notice it. Or more likely, she accepted it as her due.

When they reached the town square, Brin looked around for his friends. He saw Davi on the stage, and then Myra. But when she spotted him with Lumina, she ducked away, hiding in the crowd. Zilly was nowhere to be seen.

The town square had grown over with grass again. It was strange that a [Farmer] had used his time and Skills just to give the town a nice green carpet to stand on, but he appreciated that they didn’t have to stand in the mud.

Even more unusual was the crowd. People were putting out blankets or setting up collapsible reclining chairs. Rather than a performance, it looked like they were all getting ready for a picnic, although there wasn’t any food in sight either.

“What’s going on? Normally if a [Bard] is playing, then people will be clearing things away and getting ready for a dance. Instead, everyone is sitting down,” said Brin.

“The town doesn’t need a dance right now,” said Hogg. “You need something else, and you’re not the only one.”

He also had a blanket tucked under one arm, and he lay it out on the ground before bowing to Lumina. “My lady.”

She smiled in amusement and sat daintily, then patted next to her for Brin. Brin sat.

Before long, Jeffrey arrived on stage with Davi. Jeffrey was still suffering the after-effects of the curse, and looked as bad as Hogg. His eyes were sunken, his flesh rotten and unclean-looking, but he stood tall and strong, making Brin wonder what [Bard] Skills were letting him function right now. The Hogg with them was a mirror image, and the real body couldn’t stand yet.

Davi walked up to stand next to Jeffrey and they began playing without prelude. The song was an epic that he knew, but they didn’t sing the words so the music played pure and sweet. The emotions came on strong, and without context, which forced Brin to fill it in. He couldn’t help but imagine this song was about them, about their bravery and sacrifice, their victory and terrible tragedy.

“There will be an epic of Hammon’s Bog,” said Jeffrey simply when the song was over. “But I won’t rush it, so that will have to do for now.”

The next song was slow and sweet. A lament for the fallen. It spoke of compassion and understanding, for all they had lost.

“I’ll be leaving tomorrow, as many of you know, to make contact with our neighbors and see what help can be found. I wish I could’ve done more for you. I wish there were more of us together today. This last song is the best gift I can give for now. I’d advise any of you not yet seated to please do so now.

Brin leaned forward, wondering what the song would be. Jeffrey had been mighty in battle, and [Bards] were also strong in peacetime. Whatever this was, it had to be something special. A town-wide buff? But why give it now instead of in the morning?

Despite his best attempts, Brin didn’t actually get to hear the song. The instant that Jeffrey’s fingers touched the strings, his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed into a perfect, dreamless sleep.