The next morning, Yuriko woke up in the other bedroom. It was dusty, and quite bare, but she couldn’t sleep in her own bed simply because it didn’t have any beddings after last night’s breakthrough. Krystal’s help had been quite welcome, though she wondered why her friend saw fit to knock on her door in the middle of the night.

She had been awakened by Krystal’s knocking, which was a good thing, she supposed, otherwise she would have slept through the night. Anyway, Krystal stayed the night, sleeping on the couch after it took them a couple of hours to gather all the dirty things, rinse off as much of the blood as they could, and dump the clothes in the laundry hamper.

The Golden Willow provided laundry services for a little bit extra. About a silver penny per load, but it would probably cost more than that for the bedsheets, pillows, and blankets. The mattress had been spared, thankfully. Most of the blood had stuck to her clothes.

Fri’Avgi was back in her room, under the bed. She doubted anyone could carry the artefact easily, even if they saw it. Yuriko was responsible for cleaning her rooms anyway and since she mostly ate at the cafeteria, the kitchenette was woefully underused.

Krystal was still snoring away on the couch and Yuriko was tempted to wake her, but no--signs of exhaustion were clear on Krystal’s sallow cheeks and the dark rings under her eyes. Well, it was a Restday anyway.

Instead, she got ready for her morning training, feeling more than a bit excited. Her body felt amazing! There was a sense where she was in absolute control of herself. She knew instinctively that she wouldn't break or tear something accidentally, which had been a problem for her after the first time she used the Golden Silhouette’s Strengthen Physique.

As soon as she exited the building, she hit her stride and ran as fast as she could. She sped to the Academic Roundabout and had finished a lap without breaking a sweat. She went another round, at full sprint, before she was content. Back at the Willow, she proceeded with her strength building exercises, mostly bodyweight training, though she continued her repetitions until the strain made her arms and legs tremble. Afterwards, she did a round of the sword dance, then sat in a meditative position to activate Recovery. From the pinpricks of pain, she thought the exercises were effective.

Still, the sun had risen far above the eastern barrier, and it was almost midday. The intensity and duration of her training had used up at least three hours. Funnily enough, Krystal was still snoring away on the couch when Yuriko came back, though now her upper body was splayed out on the carpet while her legs were on the seats.

“Krys!” Yuriko crouched down beside Krystal’s head then ran the tip of her fingernail over the other girl’s nose. “Wake up.”

“Five more…hours…” Krystal mumbled while flailing her hands at Yuriko.

“Suit yourself.” Yuriko rolled her eyes.

She took a nice long bath, got into casual clothes and headed down to the cafeteria for a rather late breakfast. When she was done, she got a ham and cheese sandwich for Krystal, though the other was still snoring away, this time half curled under the living room table.

Yuriko left the sandwich on a platter at the dining table then picked up her textbooks. While studying, she had to take a break every ten minutes or so to rest her eyes, during which she performed some Animus manipulation exercises.

The braided strands spun around in her hand and then danced in the air to create loops. She kept the Animus pure except for the controlling strand and saw an immediate difference. Before her breakthrough to Apprentice, she could hold her Pure Animus about three inches away from her skin without dissolution. It had been two inches when she started out but constant practice gave her an inch of improvement. Now, the distance had doubled.

What that meant for her abilities, she would have to slowly explore and find out. In truth, other than strengthening her Anima, she didn’t know what the Animus manipulation exercises would do for her. Well, since she didn’t know how to use Sorcery she didn’t have the techniques to take advantage then.

“I wonder what Sorcery is, exactly?” she muttered.

Master Alfein hadn’t mentioned it at all during their lectures and she didn’t read it anywhere either. She knew what a Rune Scribe did, and she even knew what a Spellweaver did, or at least how they did the things they did, thanks to Spellweaver Merill. But Sorcery? No one in Faron’s Crossing knew, and Da never told her.

Still, all in good time, she supposed. Well, practicing Animus manipulation helped her get a better feel of the sword dances so it wasn’t completely a waste. And, she supposed, that if she decided to improve her Facet, she’d need the practice. If she was still headed that way.

She had been holding it inside her all this time, as if she were partially holding her breath. She still breathed, but instead of inhaling and exhaling fully, it felt as if she used only half of her lung capacity. Now, she breathed it all out.

A halo of golden flame covered her body, billowing with the wind. When she took a breath, the ambient Chaos in the air rushed at her, but before it could enter her nose, it was burned, refined by the golden flames of her Anima. She could feel her Anima straining as it took in the Chaos and distilled it. The parts that her Anima didn’t find useful were expelled with her breath, leaving the bright green motes dancing inside her.

The motes spun in her Anima, filling in the cracks left after the straining. It was strange. The very act of breathing while her Anima was exposed had the effect of training and the result of the breath was also the thing that helped her recover. If it continued like this, she would strengthen her Anima to Journeyman level soon enough.

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“Like it’s that easy,” she snorted.

This effect was probably because her Anima was new to this sensation. Once she got used to it, the effects would diminish until it ground down to nothing. She would have to find a new method to train then.

She continued until her mind wearied, afterwards, she restrained herself and the golden flames receded into her skin.

“What was that?” Krystal said from behind her, and Yuriko fell over in surprise.

“Ancestors, Krys, don’t scare me like that!”

“Uh huh. Speak!” Krystal caught her by the sides and started tickling.

“Haa...haa, noooo, ahh, stahp!” Yuriko gasped. “How ken I telz ya whe’ you won’t stahp!”

“Hie hie!” Krystal giggled. “Oh, nothing, it’s just fun to mess with you.”

Yuriko gave her a reproachful glare.

“Oh, you brought breakfast! Thanks!” Krystal picked up the sandwich, took a bite, then gobbled it down.

“I advanced to Apprentice, I told you,” Yuriko replied.

“And that’s the ability your new Facet gave you? Looks a lot like Field.”

“Er, it’s not. Well, I suppose you can say it that way,” Yuriko fidgetted.

“Oh…” Krystal stared at her with narrowed eyes.

“Ehehehe.”

“Hmm, Vital Point Strike.”

“Huh.”

“That’s my new Facet,” Krystal said. “I grew tired of being practically useless when we face off against stronger opponents. My Facet allows me to pinpoint weaknesses in someone’s defenses. It’s not that simple, of course, but that’s the gist of it.”

“Ah, yeah.” Yuriko chuckled awkwardly. “Well, I didn’t get a new ability from my Facet, and I didn’t open a new one either. Instead, I advanced by directly strengthening my Anima. That’s what you saw.”

“Eh, but that’s impossi--well, since you actually did it then that means it’s possible,” Krystal frowned. “Why though?”

“That’s what my Facet told me to do,” Yuriko shrugged. “You know my Heritage is from a much older generation but what I didn’t know until recently is that the Ancestor I got my Heritage from preceded the Empire.”

“Huh, but…the Atavism Ritual…”

“Yes, well, some sort of throwback? I dunno. But anyway, you know what that means right.”

“An incomplete Heritage,” Krystal shook her head. “I’m not sure if I should pity you or admire you.”

“Yes, well, use the cards you were dealt with. That’s what Da said to me,” Yuriko shrugged, and blinked away the sudden tears that came unbidden.

“I know.” Krystal sighed.

Yuriko pulled Krystal close and hugged her. “They’re safe. They’re both safe!”

Krystal’s fists tightened, crumpling Yuriko’s shirt. “Yeah.”

They sat there, on the carpet, for a good long while, until Krystal pushed away and swiped at her eyes. Yuriko hiccupped and swallowed as she stood up to stretch.

“Well, then, I suppose I should return to my room. I shouldn’t have slept here,” Krystal added, “it’s against dorm rules.”

“I’ll speak with Mistress Aine and pay the fine for you,” Yuriko offered. “You wouldn’t have stayed if not for the mess I made last night.”

“Thanks.”

The two of them brought the laundry hampers with them on the way to the lounge. Krystal’s tummy gurgled in hunger and Yuriko’s did the same and, much to her chagrin, the noise was loud enough that a couple of girls passing by them did a double take.

At the dorm’s reception counter, she found Mistress Aine reading a pamphlet with her forehead scrunched into a frown. Yuriko tapped on the desk to catch her attention.

“What can I do for you, luvs?”

“Miss Zorin here spent the night in my suite to help me clean up. I’d like to pay the fine in her stead.”

“Sure.” The auburn-haired dorm mistress pulled out a form and filled out some details, then she gave it to Yuriko for her signature. “The funds will be debited from your account at the bank. Don’t do it again. If you must, at least get a request form.”

“Ehehehe, apologies,” Krystal said. “It was a spur of the moment thing.”

The woman eyed both of them, sniffed and turned back to her pamphlet.

“Thank you, ma’am!” Yuriko said.

Mistress Aine just waved and the two of them headed to the laundry station where they handed Yuriko’s hamper along with a silver mark, to a woman in her late twenties. Yuriko was given a chit in return and that was that.

Krystal returned to her room to get changed and Yuriko went out to soak in the sun. She brought a book with her, part of her reading assignment from Social Studies which depicted the varied forms of government across the plane of Rumiga. It was dry, boring, and made her head spin, but she had to read it anyway. Master Nuada said they would have an exam next week.

She settled for a bench in the middle of the Central Reserve. The falling leaves gave the ground a splash of colour, though the edges were already turning brown. The pond in the middle of the park had pairs of swans paddling along, every now and then dipped their heads under water and came back out with a splash. The water droplets gave off mini rainbows behind them.

It was already the middle of the Season of Air, and the Season of Fire’s heat was nothing more than an empty memory. Truth to be told, she loved the colder weather. It was much easier to put on more clothes to warm up than to cool down. She couldn’t remove her skin after all, and after shedding as much as her modesty allowed, that still left her with a pile of clothes on.

Still, after the Atavism Ritual, she’d never been that affected by the heat. The warm rays of the Radiant Sun invigorated her and made her feel lethargic at the same time, odd as that was.

She spotted a greenish lizard sunning itself on a rock overhang. When the sun moved the shadows, she saw it scurry out of the shade and back into the rays. Yuriko put down the book she had her nose on, closed her eyes and tilted her face up to the sun. She breathed, just breathed. The events of the past weeks, the events that lead her here, flashed before her eyes.

A whirlwind of emotion welled up from her heart, pushing and prodding at her. She breathed. The grisly scenes beneath the mountain, the bloodstained ground, the half-eaten corpse, and the sight of those students trussed up in webbing. She could not do anything about them now, but she would. She would have the strength she needed, so that she would no longer be a passenger of her own fate. She would determine where she wanted to go, and do what she wanted to do.

Unbidden, her Anima spread out from her skin. The golden rays of the sun hid it from casual view though, otherwise people would have definitely stared at her. But her breath didn’t bring in ambient Chaos. Instead, the sunlight seemed to focus around her, creating a slight corona of shadow a dozen paces away.

The heat warmed her entire being, filling her with comfort and peace. When she opened her eyes, the events that had haunted her subconsciously now seemed so distant. She sighed, and with the return of her control, her Anima retreated back into her body. She looked down at the book, lamenting the remaining pages she had to struggle through.

But she wouldn’t finish reading by sighing and moping about. She opened the book to the bookmark and continued to read. It would be a long day of reading and headaches, but she had to do what she must do. And so she did.