Lily and Sunica had left the city after retrieving Lily’s new clothes. The fit was shockingly perfect, and even Lily was forced to admit that she’d never owned clothes quite so perfectly made for her. Apparently there was something to seeing a professional tailor. It still felt like something she shouldn’t have been allowed to do. Tailored clothes were for the rich and famous, not gutter trash like her.
Sunica had paid for her too. Lily really didn’t have a frame of reference to know whether it had cost a lot, or if Sunica got a good deal. She held her questions until she couldn’t walk anymore, and they found a place to sit under a tree. The snow wasn’t so deep around the roots, so they sat almost on the ground, but the cold still seeped in somewhat. Luckily, with her new clothes it was bearable.
Sunica broke the silence.
“I’m sorry. I know you warned me, but I didn’t understand how bad it was.”
“Oh, my um… Yeah. It’s a problem. Honestly, I should be the one apologizing. I caused so much trouble. I wish I could just be normal. Everyone else manages to do it. But I can’t. I desperately want to, but I just… I can’t.”
There was a pause as Sunica digested what she had said. The balaur girl rose after a minute, and gestured to Lily to stay sitting, so she did. Sunica walked to a nearby tree, lept lightly and grabbed something out of the branches. When she returned she had a small orb the size of her palm in her hand. It looked almost like a snowball at first glance, but as Lily looked closer it was some kind of spherical white fruit. Sunica held it out to her.
“I have something cool to show you. Here.”
Lily took the fruit. It was slightly cold, but not as much as she’d have expected. She stared at it. Sunica spoke again.
“Do you know what that is?”
“Um, no?”
“It’s called a Kindleberry. They grow around here. The trees that grow them don’t look all that different, so you’ve gotta have a sharp eye. They blend in with the snow too. But they’re super useful.”
Lily turned the fruit over in her hand, examining it.
“Do you eat it?”
Sunica smiled.
“Yeah, but that’s not all. You gotta peel ‘em with a knife, because the rind is thick and has a really bitter taste. The fruit inside is really sweet though and comes apart in three pieces with a seed in the middle. Every part of it is useful for something too. Like, the rind is super flammable. So you can use a few of them to start fires easily. That’s where they get the name. Kindleberry.”
Lily oohed and held the fruit tighter like a trophy.
“That’s so COOL! I wanna eat it! Wait, you said all the parts are useful. What does the seed do?”
“Oh, alchemists like to use them. They’re also extremely fire resistant, so some people pack them into walls and things to make it more difficult for places to burn down. That’s definitely for the rich folks though.”
“Huh. That’s so interesting. I wonder how a plant like this came to be. Is it part of their lifecycle somehow?”
Sunica made a face.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I mean. Hmm. How can I put this. Plants and animals usually are the way that they are for a reason. So, I was thinking these kindleberries being the way they are are also probably that way for a reason. Usually the reason has something to do with making them reproduce more easily. But I think I already see it! I mean, if I was doing this right the next step would be experimentation, but I think I can see how this makes them spread easier.”
“You do? How would them being delicious or burning easily make them spread better?”
“Well, normally tree fruits are delicious because getting eaten is part of their plan. Birds and animals eat them, seed and all. Then later, new trees grow out of the poop.”
“Eww. What, really? Wild fruit trees are usually made like that?”
“Yeah, that’s the point. That lets them travel far further than normal. But I bet this tree came into being someplace where forest fires are common. Because they do the thing fruits normally do, but also if the forest burns down, the seeds are fine.”
“Wait, then why are they super flammable? That doesn’t make any sense!”
Lily grinned.
“Doesn’t it?”
“...No?”
“I bet if you looked around long enough, you’d find patches of forest where most trees are this kind of tree. Nature is competitive. There’s a limited amount of space to gather light from the sun, or nutrients in the soil. So, if this tree can make fires easier and also be the only thing that survives them… Well. That’s all just a guess. But it’s the solution that comes to mind for me.”
“Are you sure you’re not some kind of [Scholar] in your past life?”
Lily giggled in reply. It did feel nice getting to teach Sunica something for a change.
“No, I’m really not. Nature working that way is common knowledge where I’m from. Besides, I might be wrong. It’s possible it doesn’t work like that here at all. It’s just a guess. But, I feel confident that it’s at least partially right.”
“Hmm. You’re talking about trees as if they made a conscious decision to be the way they are though. That seems… weird.”
“No no, not like that. It’s like… Ugh, it’s complicated. We’ll do a lesson on evolution sometime! Although, the more I think about it the more I think it must work somewhat different here. After all, I don’t think it accounts for a lot of the things I’ve already seen here. I need to sit down and write ‘On the Origin of Species 2: Basically I’m Monkey’ sometime.”
Lily couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Sunica had completely lost the thread of the conversation and just stared at her. When she stopped laughing, she had a question.
“Okay, your turn.”
“Huh?”
“Time for you to teach me something. How do I get a class? You mentioned [Scholar] like it was something I could just… be. Am I stuck as a [Fragment] now that I have that? Can I get something cool? Like, I’ve thought about it, and I think it’d be really cool to be a [Magitek Engineer]. Is that something I can make happen?”
Sunica cocked her head and stared at Lily for a moment, before busting out laughing. She looked like she was going to fall over into the snow.
“Hey! Don’t laugh. I know I don’t know how it works. That’s why I’m asking!”
When Sunica had collected herself, she responded.
“It’s just funny! I’m sorry. What the hell is a [Magitek Engineer]? That sounds so fancy.”
“Well, it’s someone who makes cool technology, and adds magic to it to make it do even cooler stuff! You know, magic plus engineering.”
“I’ve never heard of that class. [Engineers] already use magic though. I mean, the good ones will hire an [Enchanter] or something to reinforce the stuff they make.”
“Hmm. That’s not exactly what I’m talking about. But I’m not sure I can describe it. Remember that laptop I showed you? I’m talking about stuff like that, only using magic too! So that it like, never runs out of electricity and stuff!”
“Does that thing not already use magic? It looks like an artifact…”
“Nope. Entirely mundane.”
“But it was constructed with magic, right?”
“No! It was made by… Okay, I don’t know exactly. But no magic!”
“If you say so, Miss Lily.”
Lily frowned at Sunica, and got up to start walking again. Sunica rose too and hurried after her.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Right, just Lily. Sorry about that. Listen, you’re gonna have to get over that, ‘cause strangers are basically all gonna call you Miss around here. It’s totally normal.”
“Yeah, okay. But not you! We’re friends, right? Do you keep calling each other Miss when you’re close?”
“Uh. I… Are we close? We practically just met.”
“Yeah! We’re plenty close! I’ve been inside your clothes!”
Sunica snorted.
“Might want to think about phrasing that a little better.”
Lily flushed, and stammered.
“I- I. Shush you!”
Sunica laughed hard. Lily tried talking over her.
“Okay, so it doesn’t work like that. I can’t just say I want to be a [Magitek Engineer] and it happens. How does it work? If I’m going to be here, I want a cool class. Am I really stuck with [Fragment]?”
“Nah. Plenty of people have more than one class. I used to have [Fur Trader]. But, I lost it around the time I hit level 7. Guess I wasn’t doing enough trading.”
“You can lose classes?”
“Sure. Normally it’s kids who lose them, or people who have classes that denote a position that lose that position. A [Queen] who’s dethroned is no longer a [Queen] you know? That sort of thing. Or kids growing out of their youthful hobbies and into what they’re gonna do long term.”
“Okay, but how?”
Sunica shrugged unhelpfully.
“It just happens. You wake up one morning with the announcement. It’s not something people often try for, because having more classes is something to celebrate right? But when you lose it, you usually wake up going, ‘oh yeah. I guess that makes sense. I’m really not that anymore huh?’ you know?”
“Not at allllll. Okay. So I can’t choose to ditch [Fragment], but I can get something else. How do I do that?”
“Well for one you don’t just pick something. You’re really overthinking this. Just do what comes naturally, and you’ll eventually get classes and levels that suit the things you do.”
Lily paused and thought to herself for a while, before making a declaration.
“Nah.”
“What do you mean, Nah? I’m telling you, that’s how it works.”
“That’s silly! I refuse! If it’s about what you do, I’m gonna choose to go for something cool, and only do things related to that until I get a cool class! Are you telling me that if I went out and got a sword, and did nothing but train from here on out I wouldn’t get like [Fighter] or something?”
Sunica rolled her eyes, but humored the human girl.
“[Warrior] usually. You’d get [Warrior].”
“Okay, [Warrior] then. But that’s not who I am. And if I focus on magic, am I just gonna get [Mage] or something lame like that?”
“Lame? [Mages] are highly sought after practitioners of magic–”
“Lame! Besides, you keep telling me my stuff is different. The last thing I need is to actually get that class you don’t want me to have.”
Sunica grimaced, and Lily slowed down. She really ought to be more delicate about things.
“Sorry. Look. I just don’t want to luck into that. So, let’s find something else for me. I wanna be a [Magitek Engineer]. So, I’m gonna do things related to that until I get the class. How’s that?”
“Even if you say that, that sounds like a very advanced class. You’re much more likely to get [Mage] or [Engineer] and then get an upgrade far later…”
“Upgrade?”
“Sometimes, classes become stronger classes when certain conditions are met.”
“What kind of conditions?”
Sunica snorted again.
“If I knew that, I’d be royalty instead of a [Trapper].”
“Huh. That’s fair. Okay. Well, fine then. I’ll just work on enchanting my technology, and maybe I could get [Enchanter] or something. That’s like, a trade class right? Useful skills, some money. That sounds nice.”
“Okay Miss Human if you say so. Just don’t be too disappointed when you get your first [Mage] levels.”
----------------------------------------
When they made it back to Sunica’s cabin, Lily immediately pulled out her notes and started going through them. She had so many things on her mind she wanted to try, she felt like she was buzzing.
“For someone who needs to rest every ten minutes of walking, you sure don’t know when to take a break do you? We just got home! At least catch your breath first.”
Lily stuck her tongue out at the balaur girl, who was herself already setting up to brew tea over the furnace in the center of the cabin.
“You’re one to talk, oh almighty tea brewer.”
“I have a guest. Do you want some or not?”
The human girl smiled.
“Yes please. But I really do want to get to work too. I’ve been thinking about it, and there’s probably some variations of the translation glyph that might let me speak long distance. I really want to find any glyph with any of the same radicals and try them out asap!”
“Translation glyph…?”
“Yeah! I mean. I don’t speak whatever language you’re speaking. I’ve got a spell on me. Can’t you tell?”
“Is THAT what that is? I just thought you talked weird!”
“Huh? Do I sound weird?”
“Well, like. It’s like you have an accent and dialect I’ve never heard before. That’s all.”
“Oh. Well. Yeah. No. I just speak the language of where I’m from. This earring does the rest.”
Lily pointed to her earring.
“Damn. Well, I have to admit, you could probably pass yourself off as an enchanter and make money like that if you wanted to. Do they wear off?”
“Um. Honestly, I haven’t been doing magic long enough to know. I don’t think so?”
“Well, that’s not exactly a selling point.”
Sunica chuckled.
“Yeah yeah, laugh it up. My magic’s cool.”
There were a few glyphs that immediately stuck out to her, looking even somewhat similar to her translation glyph. She’d definitely be trying them each out. She wasn’t sure how to make the targeting work yet though. Could she just focus really hard on Star and cast? Would that work? Maybe she could focus on his bandana? She cast a spell on it. Her mana was on it. She had to still have some connection to it. Even if you lopped off one of your fingers, you still had DNA in common with that finger. It’s not like you were entirely disconnected. Right? It’s got to work like that. Nothing else made sense to her.
She’d interacted with spells at a distance before, and they were all harder the further they were though. Even a couple hundred feet and she didn’t have the strength to do it.
She’d have to figure it out as she went. For now, she also wanted to take steps to ensure she got a class she wanted. So, instead of just casting the spell, she should enchant something right?
What could she enchant? She looked around the room. Sunica hummed while she gathered the loose leaf tea into a little device meant for steeping. Her backpack was here. She wished she had her phone. That would be perfect for this spell! She could use her laptop, maybe?
Her eyes drifted across the small pile of her belongings. Clothes, bag, sleeping bag, meds, bottles of water, Bay, and the laptop.
“Hey Bay. You wanna be a magical item, huh buddy?”
He gave her a skeptical look.
“Oh what, after all this time you still don’t trust me? Look, I’m just gonna make it so I can talk to Star through you. Although, now that I think about it, I could add other features too. You could be like the mascot character in my magical girl anime!”
“What’re you talking about?”
Lily nearly jumped out of her skin. She’d forgotten Sunica was in the room.
“Oh, uh. Oh jeez, I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Let’s start with you talking to that doll like it’s alive.”
“Hey! You take that back. Bay is a distinguished gentleman, and he was my first companion after the world ended.”
“You really went nuts spending so much time alone huh?”
“Wow! Mean!”
Sunica handed her a cup of tea. There was plenty, and it was so warm. The mug was made of a glazed ceramic like substance. Lily was a little surprised, but it really wasn’t much different than anything she’d find in a little gift shop back home.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. So, what were you thinking about?”
“I’m gonna enchant Bay. I just thought it was funny. There’s a whole section of stories back home about girls who get magic powers.”
“So, [Mages]?”
“No no. I mean, not quite. See, we don’t have magic where I came from. I mean, not until recently.”
“So… how did you have stories about it?”
“What do you mean?”
“If magic didn’t exist, how come you had stories about magic that line up at all with the real thing?”
“Um. Huh. I guess I didn’t think about that. That is a very interesting question. But! Not the point! I was telling you about the stories!”
“Fine fine, go on Lily.”
“Anyway, they were stories about girls who got magic powers. But they usually had to hide it for one reason or another. So, they’d pretend just to be normal girls. But at night, they’d transform into a magical form and go out to… well it depends on the story. Usually, they go out and do good deeds. Also a weird number of them are tragedies.”
“So, what does that have to do with your stuffed friend?”
Lily glanced over at Bay.
“Oh, well, a lot of the time they have an animal companion, who could easily pass as a doll like him. So I was just thinking he could be my companion if I enchant him. Not that he’ll come alive or anything.”
Sunica took a long sip of her tea.
“I really want to make fun of you, but honestly it’s not all that different than what I liked when I was a kid. These stories are for kids, yeah?”
“Well, I mean. Yes and no… Lots of them are. Others are uh, very much not. I like them all.”
“It’s okay, it's okay. Don’t get too embarrassed. I used to pretend to be a [Dragon King].”
“King? Why not Queen?”
“Duh, ‘cause Queens in the stories never have as much fun as Kings.”
Lily had to laugh at that, but it might be true. She could think of a lot of stories about Kings going out to do silly stupid adventurous things, but not a lot of Queens.
“Well. I think you’d make an awesome [Dragon King].
Sunica turned a shade more pink, and downed her tea.