There was silence for a while.

Is this thing really working? I've never used it for—

"Hello, Carl," Ir'alith said, sounding somehow different than he remembered.

Gah, they must've rolled back that fix to the messaging system. Carl grimaced. Has that processing again. He shook off the minor annoyance. "How's everything going?"

There was another long moment of quiet, and at one point he even thought he heard a sob. "Not as I had hoped," she replied, her tone sad.

That doesn't sound good. Maybe… Nah, she couldn't be getting bullied again, could she? "What's wrong?" he tried.

The silence was shorter this time. "Nothing that can be healed, I fear," she said. "Tell me, Carl, with what matter do you seek my help?"

Carl frowned. She sounds really down. Maybe she could use a distraction too, just like me. "I, uh, was…" he trailed off. Shoot, is she gonna expect me to be in character? Really don't have the energy for it, but I don't want her to get even more depressed if I'm not making any effort. Alright, compromise: I'll do business formal. Ish. Maybe. "I was hoping you could help with something magic-related."

"Magic?" Ir'alith said, sounding somewhat skeptical.

"Yeah," Carl said, absently rubbing some dried flakes of blood out of his beard. "I, uh, don't know how to use magic, and I need it for something."

There was another pause in the conversation. "Is this an attempt to raise my spirits?"

Carl shrugged. "No, I'm still figuring things out a bit here, and magic's one of those things I haven't really had time to look into yet."

There was a brief pause. "I will be there soon," she said.

"Message ended," the game's voice announced.

Carl frowned. She'll be here? Like, here here? "Dismiss, I guess?" His friends list faded out of view.

Purple lightning sparked in the air to his left, then grew in intensity until it formed a large oval of glowing light.

Carl stared.

The shape rotated, becoming a thin, horizontal line of brilliant purple. A green-glowing, armored figure dropped out of it and landed easily with both feet flat on the ground. A giant axe fell through and planted itself behind the new arrival.

The portal disappeared, and the helmeted head turned back and forth. Then clawed hands reached up and removed the helmet.

"Greetings, Carl," Ir'alith said, shaking her blue-skinned head to reveal a mane of purple hair that Carl now realized was the exact shade of a certain wig his wife had recently worn. Ir'alith's horns were a bit longer than he recalled them being—longer than the ones his wife had selected too, he also realized—and her eyes were a deep shade of blue. Her face was also much prettier than he recalled.

Carl blinked. Get it together, Carl. He took a breath. The similarity to Annie's costume is really messing with me though. "Hi, Ir'alith," he said, hoping that he wasn't showing any of his inner thoughts on his face. "Good to see you again."

Ir'alith's skin tinted towards pinkish-purple. "Yes, I feel the same way." She stepped closer and looked down curiously at the car he was sitting in. "What manner of device is this?"

She must not have been to that city. Makes sense that most people wouldn't have seen a steam-powered car if they're not common outside of it, I guess. "It's a magic-and-steam-powered car," Carl said, hoping that was enough of an explanation and that he wouldn't be asked to do a deep dive on the exact science behind it. "I was driving around in it for a while, but it ran out of magic so I was sort of stuck here."

Ir'alith was circling the vehicle, her expression changing to one of intrigue as she stared down at it. Her skin had returned to its previous blue, and her tail twitched energetically behind her. She came to the passenger side and stared at—

Oh. Right.

"Who was this?" she asked in a very casual tone, nodding to the bloody, headless corpse.

At least she's not flipping out or anything. Or maybe people drive around with bodies all the time in this game? Could be some kinda transportation service when people die really far away from the spirit graveyard thingy and their bodies get brought to them. "This is Mina," Carl said, "she's the one who built this car."

Ir'alith prodded the body with her tail, then nodded approvingly, a small smile stretching across her lips. "You killed her and ate her head, then took her car? I would expect nothing less."

That's… Nope, that's not even close. Oh, I bet that was a joke. Edgy character, dark humor, I get it. "Well, actually, the queen had her killed as we were trying to escape," Carl said, trying to give a sense of the scale of their grand getaway without getting into the girl's private matters. "She wanted the body so she could—"

"How vile!" Ir'alith interrupted, her eyes turning red and an expression of disgust forming on her face as her tail thrashed behind her. "I know what you speak of. Good that you were able to prevent such a thing from occurring."

Carl nodded vigorously. Yeah, she gets it. "Definitely. She, uh, got gnawed on a bit by some big wolf-thing with bone spikes on its back—"

"A fang-spike," Ir'alith said.

Fang-spike? Great name. Functional, descriptive, it's perfect. "Yeah, a fang-spike. So I had to take care of that, and then I came out here since I wasn't really in a mood to deal with people, if you know what I mean."

"Yes, I have been of a similar mind of late," Ir'alith said, turning her gaze down. "It seems the more time I spend near them, the less…sane I become."

Yeah! Exactly that! All this stuff lately is driving me crazy! Wow, we're really on the same wavelength today. And she's laying off the role-play stuff a bit too. Lot easier to talk to her this way, that's for sure. "Yeah, sometimes I just need some me time," Carl said, nodding again. "So I can relax a bit and cool off."

"Me time," Ir'alith repeated, the tip of her tail moving in a circular motion behind her. "I am uncertain how relaxing such time would be for me." She looked up and focused her blue eyes on him. "I have no desire to let my thoughts remain with such matters. You seek my aid for learning magic? I still have difficulty believing it."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Carl shrugged. "Haven't needed it until now. I was just fishing before."

Ir'alith chuckled. "Yes, fishing. I assume you were successful?"

He considered it. I did catch a bunch of fish. Forgot to ask Bobby what she thought of 'em though. I thought they were cool. And then there was that huge one I caught… "Yeah, I'd call it a success," Carl said. "Sent some souvenirs to my youngest daughter."

Ir'alith stared at him for a moment, her face gradually changing to a light shade of purple, then she turned her head away. "That is…good," she said. "You are a strong, caring father. Your children are fortunate to have you."

Carl grinned at the compliment. "Thanks, Ir'alith."

The heart-shaped end of Ir'alith's tail came up and blocked his view of the side of her face, bringing back further memories of Annie's short-lived tail from Friday night.

I gotta cool it with this.

They each remained silent for a moment.

"Magic," Ir'alith said abruptly, her tail falling away to lay behind her, "is the result of discipline and focus." She looked over at him, then tossed the helmet she'd been holding into the air. It sailed overhead, coming to land gently on top of her axe and balancing on top of it with improbable precision. "I can attempt to teach you, but know that not everyone has talent. I expect you will have no difficulty."

Discipline and focus? Yeah, this sounds like something I can handle. What'd they do, make it some channeling interface where you've gotta think about building—

"Stand with me here," Ir'alith said, hopping gracefully, an action which sent her in an easy parabola over the car to land on the side next to Carl. She held out one of her hands.

That was a heck of a jump, especially wearing all that armor. And her armor's pretty freaking cool-looking. Almost wish I'd given myself a set, though it'd be a bit overkill to wear just for the looks. Carl stood up out of the car and took a couple steps towards the blue-skinned girl who was maybe his new magic teacher. He held his hand out and placed it on top of hers.

Ir'alith's face turned a lighter shade of purple, verging on pink. "This… This may seem challenging, but I will guide you," she said, the words tumbling out in a rush. "It can be helpful to close your eyes."

Carl closed his eyes, eagerly awaiting—

His mind zoomed into sudden action, and a parade of bright colors flew across his thoughts. He felt as though he was being sucked from his body and into an abyss that was void of all senses and clung to his consciousness with every fiber of his being.

"Let go," Ir'alith's ethereal voice echoed in his thoughts.

He felt the tugging intensify, and then he was ripped away from himself.

He opened his eyes, and he was in a space which had no light. He couldn't feel or smell or hear anything. He wasn't breathing either.

"This is the root of your magic in this plane," Ir'alith's voice resounded pleasantly in his head. She appeared before him as a featureless silhouette of purple energy. "By bringing you here, I have opened your mind to it. When you begin to cast a spell or draw energy from one of the elements, it will help if you return your mind here in order to focus. As your skill grows, you will be able to retain that focus more naturally." She held her glowing hand up and a sphere of fire appeared, then froze, then shattered into a small electrical storm, then blew away into nothingness.

He tried to speak, but he could not.

"The first draw of energy is the most difficult," she continued. "Fire is the easiest. You must feel fire. Become it. Then, once it is a part of you…" She trailed off, staring at him.

A pillar of fire was shooting upwards out of Carl's hand. This seemed pretty easy now that he had an explanation of how the heck it worked. He just had to focus a little differently than he had been when he'd tried it before.

Also probably that mind-opening thing was important somehow. Some kinda passive skill she'd shared with him, maybe. He thought it was pretty cool that skills could be shared.

A tail of purple energy flicked out and dispersed the fire. "Attempt wind," Ir'alith commanded.

Carl thought about it. He remembered driving around that night and feeling the wind on his face. Then he flipped it around and imagined he was the wind.

Nothing seemed to happen, but he felt like he was doing something.

"Good," Ir'alith said, the silky sensation of her thought-voice giving Carl what he felt must be the mental equivalent of goosebumps. "The power flows to you naturally as I anticipated. You are strong, Carl."

Carl wished she would keep talking. He'd thought the singing elf from the auction place had an amazing voice, but at that moment he could have listened to Ir'alith speak inside his head forever and been very content to listen.

"You seem pleased," Ir'alith said, moving a little closer. "If… If you are willing, I would attempt something…"

He tried to nod. He assumed whatever she was going to try would involve more talking. While he was typically an active listener, right now he was hoping that she was about to start explaining some very complex game lore to him that would take a considerable amount of time.

Her purple energy form reached out slowly and touched him.

A dizzying array of feelings that he knew were not his entered his mind. No, from how they conveyed themselves, he knew that they belonged to Ir'alith.

She was holding onto a fiery rage that leaked into her every other emotion.

She was nervous at this moment.

That she was nervous enraged her.

She harbored deep caring and respect for her father.

That he constantly offered her advice enraged her.

She felt protective towards her people.

That her people needed protection enraged her.

She was being consumed by a hatred that overshadowed everything else she felt.

That she could not act against what she hated enraged her.

She trusted Carl unequivocally and felt strong affection for him.

That she could not—

Carl's mind was suddenly thrust back into his body, and he staggered backwards, coming to lean up against the car. He pressed a hand to his head as his thoughts unscrambled themselves, leaving vague fragments of what he'd just experienced. He wondered what the heck had just happened.

"I apologize, Carl," Ir'alith called, her voice no longer quite as pleasing but, as Carl considered it for the first time, still very enjoyable to hear. "I severed the connection abruptly and our minds were split while they were still entwined."

Carl struggled to reply. His thoughts weren't moving how he wanted them to. His feet felt uncomfortable. He tried to shift them into something more useful, but it didn't work. He frowned down at them, feeling his anger growing.

Something touched his forehead, and his thoughts cleared. He felt his emotions settling once more. Being angry at his feet was stupid anyway. "What was that?" he asked as he stood back up.

"I temporarily linked our minds," Ir'alith said, facing away from him. Her tail twitched back and forth behind her glowing, armored shoulders. "I…wished for us to grow closer."

Carl took a long blink, and her tail seemed to wave at him. Linked minds? His own mind was functioning more or less as it usually did now. Is that a thing? I guess it makes sense if the headband's already reading our minds that it could sort of mix the data streams, but that was insanely disorienting. Growing closer… That's cute. She—

A thought suddenly occurred to him. It made no sense, but he somehow knew that it was true.

She's older than me? Carl frowned. But…how? I was pretty sure… He considered it. Well, it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong about her. And mistakes do happen. Huh. That's… Huh. That sort of changes things a little. Guess I can't keep thinking of her as a kid. And she's got some serious anger issues.

Ir'alith turned around and looked at him with her arms crossed over her chest. "Do you grasp the essence of magic now?"