Allanar nodded excitedly and began to concentrate on the mist. After a few moments of focus, he was able to pull out a small blob of water. His smile of excitement was quite exuberant and Joe smiled to see it.

“I can really affect the mist… I can control mist! It is…” Allanar chuckled softly to himself, obviously still excited by his new found ability.

Allanar stopped speaking, his mouth dropping open as ice began skittering across the surface of the water in the bowl. Tiny crackles from the freezing water became audible when silence fell. Joe smiled, then reached in and poked the ice, breaking it. The others glanced up in surprise and Garnedell followed after excitedly when he saw Joe’s encouraging smile and nod.

Soon, everyone was poking the ice and breaking it up, but it wasn’t enough to slow it and soon the entire bowl was full of solid ice. Once it was frozen, Joe waved off the five ‘ice’ mages and flipped the ice cube out onto the table.

“Ice.”

Gwenvair stared at the ice, shocked. The Matriarch and Allanar seemed to have a difficult time breathing. Joe smiled and allowed them their time to ponder the situation until they quickly broke from the moment and began avidly interrogating him, questions fired so rapidly Joe struggled to keep up sometimes.

However, after another few moments of questions, they died out and Joe smiled. He picked up the chunk of ice and dropped it in his water, swirling it around to cool his drink. When he took a sip, he leaned back and sighed.

“Ooh… that’s so good. I miss cold water so much!”

Gwenvair stared at him then interjected in surprise, “Cold water? Does it taste better?”

Joe shook his head, “Water has no taste, for the most part, but cold water can be very refreshing on a hot day. It feels… very good.”

Kilniara bounced, “Can I try it?”

Joe smiled and passed over his cup, “Sure.”

Kilniara grabbed the cup, took a swig, shivered, gulped, and then sat back, putting the cup down on the table, “Cold!”

Joe laughed, “Of course! You have ice in the water.”

Kilniara smiled up at him and tried one more time, taking a smaller more measured sip. She allowed it to play through her mouth a bit before she smiled then nodded, “It is… nice. Different.”

Joe nodded, “Yes, but something that my people tend to enjoy a lot.”

Kilniara nodded then quickly handed it off to Gwenvair, “Try it! It’s nice!”

Gwenvair looked to Joe and he smiled, nodding, “If you want. I’m not offended if you choose to.”

Gwenvair smiled and took a sip as well, but a smaller one, having noticed Kilniara’s initial reaction. She also allowed it to play across her tongue and mouth before swallowing and nodding.

“I can see how that would be quite enjoyable in the heat of the day.”

Joe nodded, “Yes. Yes, it is.”

Suddenly, several small balls of ice formed in front of the Matriarch and then flew around the table to drop into everyone’s cups. Everyone offered their thanks and Joe raised an eyebrow.

“I might need to become an ice mage just do be able to do that.”

The Matriarch looked at Joe with some affront, “Just to make ice for drinks?”

Joe grinned, “Maybe, yeah.”

She shook her head, “Magery is a profound and powerful profession.”

Joe nodded, “With lots of cool tricks to make life easier, too.”

She chuckled at that, then frowned, “The ice… it’s growing… smaller.”

Joe frowned in return, “Yes? It’s melting. So... yes?”

The Matriarch grew interested and focused in on the ice melting in everyone’s cups for a time before she made another one and held it in front of her, floating in the air. Her frown grew.

“This one is not melting.”

Joe frowned, considered, then began nodding his head slowly in consideration, “You want it to still be ice, yes?”

The Matriarch narrowed her eyes and thought on it, “Yes? I want ice, so… it is ice.”

Joe nodded at that, “Set it on the plate here and leave it. Don’t … I don’t know but … don’t ‘hold’ it as ice anymore.”

The Matriarch did so and it only took moments to begin melting, and the Matriarch stared at it with interest.

“Hmm… Yes. I’ve seen this before. It begins to shrink.”

Joe frowned at that, “But you haven’t noticed the water forming around it?”

The Matriarch grimaced, “Ice mages do not usually waste their constructs in this way.”

“How do you mean?”

She shrugged, “One of the best ways to maintain our mana is that we can re-collect it. Water and ice mages are powerful in this way, as well as earth mages. This is why air mages are difficult and costly.”

Joe frowned, “Can you show me?”

She nodded and the ice floated back up into the air, moving in front of Joe, before it suddenly vanished and Joe saw mana explode into existence around where it once was before it was somehow sucked back towards the Matriarch. A massive amount of it dissipated into the surroundings, but a portion return to the Matriarch. Huh… then…

“Does that allow you to recover mana?”

The Matriarch looked at Joe with thought before nodding, “It does. That was quite… insightful.”

Joe nodded back, ignoring the compliment out of embarrassment. I can actually see it… so not… insightful at all. Joe turned to Allanar with some embarrassment.

“You can do the same?”

Allanar nodded but didn’t reply, only popping a bubble of water into existence before he then had it poof away, a massive explosion of mana similar to the Matriarch’s also flooding outwards. Allanar, however, only recovered a tiny proportion of it compared to the Matriarch’s efforts. Joe frowned.

“Then… if you just leave it sitting there, the ice melts and you lose your mana?”

The Matriarch nodded, “Yes.”

“But not you, Allanar, right?”

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Allanar nodded, “To some extent. This is the benefit of water and earth mages. Our constructs and formations last for longer, allowing us to release intent on them. But fire, ice, and air mages lose their mana. It is a balance. Fire and ice have great power and attacking capabilities. Air mages are easily able to simply use their element, although it does cost more to use the element already created. Earth and water are lucky because we can leave our constructs without constantly exercising our intent, but… water is generally weaker in attack and defense.

Joe frowned at that, “And earth?”

Allanar sighed, “Earth is the king of mageries. They can create constructs without intent, defend well, and even attack. Ice is behind earth only in that they must maintain intent or they lose their constructs. Although, mana costs for earth are often… much higher.”

“Which ones are the lowest?”

“Usually air. They are quite low.”

Hmm… interesting. So… don’t let the ice melt, or you lose the mana… huh. Oh!

“Can you take mana from any element that is yours?”

Allanar cocked his head, “What do you mean?”

Joe grabbed his cup of water, “This water, where did it come from? Another water mage?”

The three clanners looked to the maid in curiosity and she quickly replied, “While clan water mages can offer water during times of need, we have many wells throughout the clan lands. This is from the well for this villa.”

“Huh… so, then can you claim this water as your own mana?”

Allanar nodded, “Yes, but it is mostly worthless. Attempting to claim elements from another mage or cradle costs more than the mana regained.”

“And if you leave your water just sitting here?”

Allanar nodded, seemingly understanding, “It slowly loses connection to our mana and becomes property of the cradle. As I said, the walls of the city are earth mage made, but they were made long ago and have now become the cradle’s.”

“And becoming the cradle’s means pretty much the same as this water in my cup now?”

Allanar nodded, “Yes. It becomes fully of the world.”

Fully of the world… “Huh. That’s… interesting,” Joe lost himself in thought as he did so. So… is this… pretty much the mana version of E=MC squared? That’s… so bizarre… and should be insane! The amount of energy! Joe’s thoughts were interrupted when Allanar continued his experimentation.

Allanar turned to the five ‘cold’ mages and popped another small bubble of water in the air in front of him, “Could you freeze this as well?”

The five nodded and the small water ball became an ice ball, rapidly frozen over. As soon as it began freezing, however, the water ball began bobbling, as if Allanar was loosing control of it.

“It’s… disappearing. The water is no longer… there. I can’t…”

The ball of water froze completely and immediately fell. Allanar quickly reached out to catch it before bringing it up to his eyes, peering closely at it.

“I can’t… touch it!”

Joe pursed his eyebrows at that. Huh… then… maybe… “You also lost it when it was boiling, yes?”

Allanar nodded, looking at Joe, “Yes.”

“And when it froze, then…”

“Yes.”

“But when the mist formed, you could feel it… manipulate it then, yes?”

“Yes, although it was… difficult. It felt like I was grasping something… so small.”

Huh… discrete units of water… is that by molecule? No… bigger pools of water are easier for him to grasp, so… wait!

“Can you make another small ball of water, as small as you can?”

Allanar nodded, and a tiny bead of water formed in the air before them.

“Now, cut it in half. You can let one half go, but just try to hold that other half.”

Allanar did so easily enough, and Joe repeated his request, cutting the half a bead in half once again. Allanar was able to cut the mass of water in half another two or three times before he struggled.

“It’s… too small. I cannot easily… cut it in half again.”

“Then, does it feel similar to grabbing the mist?”

Allanar paused at that moment, then his eyes widened in surprise before excitement overwhelmed his surprise, “Yes! Exactly… well, not exactly! It’s still easier, but … it is the same feeling!”

Huh… so he can feel liquid and manipulate liquid, but not gas or solids…so… then… He’s not a water mage… is he a liquid mage! The realization hit Joe like a bolt of lightning and he turned to the three fire mages.

“How is your mana? Is it recovered?”

The three fire mages responded with a bit of hesitancy, “Possibly, eccentric.”

Joe thought, then came to a rather easy solution, “Can you show me your status page? I can tell you if you have recovered.”

The three seemed surprised before looking towards the Matriarch. She quickly nodded to them and all three opened there status and Joe glanced at them quickly. All three were about three quarters recovered and Joe nodded.

“Almost recovered. You are about three quarters full. You will be full soon. Could I ask you to heat another thing up for me?”

The three nodded easily enough and Joe turned to look through the bowls on the table until he found one that looked like it would be a bit easier at withstanding the heat. He then cleaned it out and placed it down in the middle once again. He then turned towards Allanar.

“Allanar. I do not think you are a water mage. Not as you know it.”

Allanar seemed surprised, “But I am?”

Joe nodded, “From your understanding, yes. But it is not water that you control, although water would be the easiest and most abundant of what you can control. Oh! We don’t need…”

Joe turned to the maid, “Do you have any oil?”

She quickly nodded, “Yes, eccentric.”

Joe nodded, “Could you bring the oil here please?”

She bowed and rapidly left the room before returning shortly with a bottle of oil. She handed it to Joe who shook it a bit then set it down on the table between them.

“Right. Let’s try this first. Can you touch the oil?”

Allanar stared at Joe, surprised; even shocked, “I’m a water mage!”

“If you were a water mage, why can you not touch solid water or gaseous water? Only liquid water.”

Allanar stared at Joe, his thoughts rapidly parsing Joe’s statement and meaning. After a bit, he looked up at Joe with some consternation before turning to look at the jar of oil. He nodded then poured a bit out in the bowl. He then stared at the small spot of oil for a good time before sighing, looking up at Joe.

“I do not think I can.”

Joe nodded, “Do not think it is oil! It is not oil you seek to control. You seek to control liquid. That which moves like water. It flows, moves, settles, drips. You control flowing, moving, settling, dripping things. Does oil do these things?”

Allanar slowly began nodding his head, thoughtful, before turning to look back at the oil in the bowl. After a bit of time, the small blob of oil began shakily moving before abruptly stopping. Allanar stared at Joe in shock!

“I touched oil!”

Joe smiled, nodding, “Yes, you did!”

Allanar quickly returned to the oil and soon had a small blob floating in the air for a moment before it dropped back to the bowl. Allanar was so excited that he quickly lost himself in attempting to control the oil and move it about. After a bit, Joe interjected once again.

“You can make water, yes?”

Allanar nodded, but his eyes were still on the small blob of oil floating before him, “Yes.”

“Can you make water or liquid?”

Allanar heard the question but didn’t seem to parse it until his eyes widened drastically and he stared at Joe.

“Liquid! If it’s…liquid, then!”

Allanar quickly dropped the blob of oil he was playing with and began struggling to form a small floating ball of oil of his own. It took quite some time which Joe spent answering some of Gwenvair’s and the Matriarch’s questions. A whoop of excitement from Allanar drew Joe back. Before him, a tiny bead of oil wobbled above the table.

Well… infinite oil! From one person with a bit of magic… better not tell big oil! Try … tin next?

Joe looked to the ‘fire’ mages, “Full?”

The three flipped up their status for them and he saw all of them at max MP. He nodded to them, “You’re all full. Are you willing to help once again?”

The three bowed, “Of course, eccentric.”

Joe took out a tin bit and dropped it in another bowl then turned to the ‘fire’ mages, “Could you please heat this tin bit up as hot as you can?”

The three looked at Joe a bit strangely but schooled their faces and Joe watched the mana flow out into the tiny tin bit and disappear. The bit acted like a sink hole, eating it up. If Joe hadn’t seen what happened with the water, he would have been fascinated by how much was able to stuff itself into the small tin bit. That being said, he was fascinated just trying to understand where the mana went. It disappeared, fading away as if traveling a great distance but it didn’t move in any direction Joe could readily identify. It went somewhere, but… it’s not going up, to the sides, or away. It’s going… Joe blinked, the tin bit collapsed in on itself as it quickly liquefied into a puddle. This caused no small amount of surprise amongst everyone, the tin now a puddle of flowing silver in the bowl.

“See. Everything… well… almost everything, can be melted, becoming liquid.”

“But how is it… what is happening?”

Joe nodded, “I can speak of this, if you wish, but I think the three ‘fire’ mages are losing their mana, yes?” Joe asked, looking at the three servants.

The elder one grunted softed but then nodded, “It is becoming a bit… tiresome, eccentric.”

“OK then, Allanar. Go ahead and try to manipulate this tin.”

Allanar stared at Joe, seeming much more skeptical of this before nodding. His brow furrowed in concentration before the tin began to wobble into the air. It floated poorly, obviously not something Allanar could easily control. But, he was able to control it.

“Well… I guess then you are a liquid mage, not a water mage.”

Allanar seemed a bit confused, dropping the molten tin back into the bowl, “Then I am not a mist mage?”

“Oh, no… definitely you are. You can manipulate mist because mist is just liquid water floating in the air. But you are not only a mist mage or only a water mage. You can manipulate anything liquid. Water mage is probably the … wrong name for your job or magic ability. A liquid mage is much more powerful because you have lots of options.”

Allanar seemed surprised, “Then, I am a mist mage?”

Joe smiled, “You are more than a mist mage. Mist is only some of what you can do. Here, get some water… not too much. Good, now split it smaller and smaller into the smallest pieces you can do so.”

Joe waited patiently as Allanar continued to split the water ever smaller and smaller until he was struggling. Joe nodded then started again.