“So, the basic structure is like that, see?”

Lily finished drawing out a simple circle with two empty nodes on the piece of paper in front of her. She was actually pretty excited to get to demonstrate how her magic worked to someone who might be able to understand and have an additive conversation.

“These two circles here are nodes. At least, that’s what I call them. The mana can flow into the circle from anywhere, but this little symbol designates this as the first node. So, mana will enter from there. It’s like the Main method in a programming language… although I guess that’s not a reference that works here. Hmm. Well, it’s the entry! Then mana flows along these lines and through the second node. Then it can return to this one. It’s a loop by nature, unless you create an exit, or use it up with the nodes. See?”

Adelina was staring hard at the piece of paper. Lily almost giggled. She was studying it as if it was a ‘Where’s Waldo’ or something. In an attempt to be accommodating, she spoke up.

“Um, any questions?”

“So many.”

“Well, go on then.”

“What do you mean that mana flows along the lines? Which lines? There are so many. How do you know which ones it will use?”

“Um, well, it’s not actually that complicated. See, it goes around in a circle, from the entry… It’s like a circuit. It uses the path of least resistance the same way… er… I was going to say electricity. Maybe water? Imagine it like water. It’ll take the path that’s easiest to reach. Going around in a circle.”

“Miss Flamewalker.”

“Hmm? You can call me Lily.”

Adelina looked up and met her eyes with a serious expression on her face.

“Whatever! This is not as simple as you seem to think it is. There are a lot of lines. Even putting aside how mana flows between them and how to predict it, how did you even know to create this structure from the outset? It makes no fucking sense.”

“Well. I mean. There’s two nodes. So, it has to be shaped like this. If there were fewer lines the mana wouldn’t have enough of a pathway and the circle could become unstable if too much flowed from one to another. And as for the shape, it’s just about finding the optimal path for all the lines, see? It’s just common sense. Er… logic?”

The balaur girl was staring at Lily as if she were an alien. Lily was starting to get confused. It looked like a simple circle to her. She’d made this version a thousand times. It was her basic two node circle. Sure, it was a little different and more stable than the ones she found naturally occurring, but she’d only added a few lines here or there.

“Is it… shifting?”

“Huh? No! It’s not. Here. I learned by copying them down from naturally occurring magic. So, why don’t you just try drawing that same circle? Don’t worry, the spell won’t activate if there aren’t glyphs in those nodes.”

“Wait, the spell can activate if I make a mistake?”

“No no! Only if you draw the right symbols in those two circles. Or I guess if you happen upon one entirely at random, what are the odds of that? There’s only… Well, I don’t actually know how many there are. But trust me, just leave those two circles blank and nothing will happen.”

Adelina took the pen from Lily and started trying to copy the circle on the next page. She did take a few close looks at the pen too, but seemed to write off that question for later. Lily decided she’d try to continue on with anecdotes while she waited.

“Not to say a circle can’t be dangerous on their own. They can get overloaded with mana if you aren’t careful. Though, it’s usually because you created a way to draw in mana and not a means of getting rid of it. I almost died like that once, and that circle was just on a sheet of paper. It overloaded and created one hell of a shockwave when it went off. Cut some of my furniture in half, and got my hand so good that I almost bled out. I was an idiot back then!”

Lily laughed to herself. It really had been an extremely stupid mistake. Looking back on it, she hadn’t realized at the time how tired and emotionally drained she was. Well, she had, but she hadn’t factored that into how it would affect her thinking process as much as she should.

Suddenly, she realized that Adelina had been awfully quiet for a while, and when she turned to check the girl’s progress, her shining blue eyes were fixed on Lily.

“That’s– You’re laughing about nearly getting cut in two? And then you just went on playing with this stuff? Do you have a death wish?”

“What? No. I mean, I lived didn’t I? And I was more careful in the future. Um. With that. Specifically.”

Adelina narrowed her eyes.

“How many times has this magic nearly killed you now?”

“Oh. Well. Let’s see. There was the library, the exploding page, the pit if you count it, The big one outside the pit, the teleportation spell… I might be forgetting one or two.”

“You shouldn’t experiment with unfamiliar magic! That’s like, the first safety lesson for year one students! Try new things with a teacher nearby!”

“Oh, well… I never had a teacher.”

“Then don’t learn magic until you do!”

“I uh… I actually think that’s impossible.”

“In what possible way?”

Lily gave the girl a sheepish grin. She started to feel nervous when people took angry tones with her. But she was trying to remind herself that Adelina wasn’t a bad person and probably wasn’t really mad.

“Well, it’s just that I don’t think there’s anyone other than me who knew how to use this stuff where I came from.”

“That’s stupid. There are always people studying magic somewhere. If you’re new–”

“I’m pretty sure. No one other than me can do this magic where I come from. Also, you’re drawing that circle all wrong. Those lines aren’t straight. The mana will break those lines and the circle will pop under even a little bit of pressure.”

Adelina looked down. Her circle looked like a poor doodle of Lily’s. It was pretty clear to Lily that it wouldn’t work.

“What do you mean it won’t work? I copied it exactly! It looks the same!”

“No, it doesn’t. The circle isn’t a perfect circle, that line doesn’t belong there at all, this one is curved weird… honestly, maybe we should find you a tool for drawing straight lines? It’s hard to free hand it. I’ve got a Skill and lots of practice.”

“Whatever. I’ll work on drawing them later. For now, what do you mean that you’re the only one you know that casts this magic where you come from? Didn’t you say it was naturally occurring there? Where do you even come from?”

“I told you! California. It’s not my fault that you don’t know it.”

“Hmm. Okay. So then where is California?”

“The United States.”

“Where is it from here?”

“I don’t know. I came here by way of teleporter accident.”

Adelina made an exasperated sound.

“Neighboring countries!?”

“Canada and Mexico. Oh, and I guess like, Cuba and stuff if you count it.”

“Are you making this stuff up?”

“Nope.”

Lily gave the girl a grin. It was a little fun watching her get so worked up about this stuff. The girl threw her hands into the air.

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“But you’re some kind of important person there? A [Lady]?”

“I’m the most important person in the entire country.”

This time as Adelina made a pained noise, Lily tracked her eyeline and saw her eyes dart down to a ring she was wearing. It briefly changed color. She pointed.

“Hey, what’s that thing!?”

The girl looked a little surprised, and lifted her hand to show Lily.

“It’s a truthstone, obviously. As if I’d take statements like that at face value without some kind of confirmation. But it keeps saying you’re telling the truth. I don’t know what to do with that. Maybe you’re just crazy?”

“I’m not crazy.”

The ring flashed white. Adelina snorted.

“You sure?”

“Okay, I’m not crazy in that way.”

The ring flashed purple, and Adelina shrugged. The blood was rushing to Lily’s face. She was feeling a little irritated! Using a ring like that felt like an invasion of her privacy, even if it did help that Adelina would believe her.

“Hey! How come you get to use a ring like that? That’s not fair. Give it here. I got some questions for you, too!”

Surprisingly, Adelina removed the ring and handed it over. Lily slipped it onto her pinky finger.

“I’ll gladly confirm that I have no ill intentions towards you and expressed my interests genuinely.”

The ring flashed purple. It seemed like that meant ‘truth’. But, it didn’t go over Lily’s head that Adelina had swapped back to her diplomatic way of speaking. A grin spread over Lily’s face as a wicked idea entered her mind.

“Okay, cool. But I don’t want to know about that.”

“Well, what do you want to know then?”

“What’s your favorite thing to do in Veni?”

“Huh? I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

Purple.

“I bet it’s something un-princess-like when you get into town and aren’t as supervised.”

“Ah–”

A blush spread across Adelina’s face as she caught on. It was tinted blue, which was strange but cute.

“I’m not a princess.”

Purple.

“Okay, something unbefitting of the [Matriarch’s] daughter then?”

“That’s ridiculous!”

Purple. That surprised Lily. Although, maybe it had to do with the wording. If she meant that the question was ridiculous it might be true.

“Then you won’t have trouble answering the question honestly, right? Riiiiight?”

“I would never be caught doing something scandalous while representing my family. I can assure you.”

Purple again. But that cemented Lily’s thoughts. She sure would never be caught doing something scandalous.

“What about something you won’t get caught doing then, huh? Something no one else knows about?”

“I– I don’t know what you mean.”

White. Lily cackled and showed her the ring.

“This is a grievous invasion of my privacy!”

“Is it? You didn’t seem concerned about my privacy using this ring without telling me.”

“I assumed you knew! They’re common tools of nobility, and you are a [Lady] are you not?”

Purple. Well, Lily supposed she really hadn’t been doing anything as underhanded as it seemed. If she assumed Lily knew about such things.

“Wow, I guess I was wrong. Okay, if you didn’t think you were doing anything wrong I guess I can go easy on you.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you can understand–”

“I’ll keep it to one question. So, what is it? What’s your favorite thing to do in Veni?”

“I suppose the local cuisine is quite to my liking?”

White. Lily smiled at the girl and waited.

“I enjoy seeing the animals?”

The ring flickered between white and purple on that one. That wasn’t something Lily had seen before so she stared at it for a second, then turned back to Adelina.

“I’m not giving up until it’s purple.”

“I enjoy…”

She mumbled the last bit of the sentence. The ring turned purple.

“Hmm. I couldn’t hear you. You’re gonna have to speak up.”

“I enjoy chasing the chickens when no one is looking! There. Are you pleased with yourself?”

Lily took the ring off and tossed it back to the girl.

“Very. Now put that in a bag or something? Friends don’t spy on friends.”

Adelina opened her mouth to object when they were cut off by a deep laugh coming from Sunica’s room. She stepped out, nearly doubling over.

“You got her ass Lily! Good job! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

Adelina turned an even darker shade as she realized Sunica had been listening in.

“It’s an entirely normal exercise to test the vitality of Veni’s animal stock!”

“Sure, yeah, totally normal!”

“Cease your laughter at once before I– Before I rip out your tongue and drop it down the outhouse hole!”

Sunica did not in fact stop laughing. Adelina going back and forth between diplomatic and her more familiar way of speaking was fun to watch. But, Lily eventually spoke up and tried to get things back on track.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Really, I’m glad you have interests like that. Besides, I was working on a farm recently, and chasing the chickens around is pretty fun.”

“Don’t patronize me!”

“I’m not! I promise.”

With a yawn, Sunica started getting ready for the day. She seemed to just accept that Adelina was here and that it wasn’t going too badly. So, while she started cooking up some eggs, Lily decided to keep talking.

“Anyway, look. I really am not sure how I got here. I’m from somewhere really different, and I used a teleportation spell. It wasn’t a smart thing to do, and it almost killed me. Sunica seems convinced it messed with my mind somehow, but I’m just happy to be alive. I’m not in a rush to go anywhere, since I’m quite comfortable here.”

“You can’t even point to your country on a map or something…?”

“I know this is hard to believe, but I’m completely sure it wouldn’t be on your maps. And your country wouldn’t be on ours.”

Adelina went silent for a minute, before she perked up and gave Lily a surprised look.

“Wait. Wait wait wait. You aren’t saying you’re from beyond the firmament are you? Strange magic that’s naturally occurring where you are from, no [Mages], and a place that isn’t on maps…?”

“Beyond the what?”

“Firmament!”

“Pretend I don’t know what that is.”

“The barrier at the edge of the world!”

Lily giggled.

“Oh no, please don’t tell me you all think the world is flat? It’s not. It’s round. There is no edge.”

Adelina gave Lily a puzzled look.

“Maybe where you’re from, but not here. The firmament is real. You can go visit.”

“Just an edge of the world? What happens if you go off the side then?”

“You can’t. It’s solid. Well, not quite solid. It’s a permeable barrier that only allows certain matter through. Like the monsters that come through from the other side.”

Lily stopped. Okay. Well. That was… different. A wall at the edge of a flat world? Well, with magic she wasn’t about to rule it out. But there were stars in the sky! Space!

“Um. Okayyyy. Let’s say I believe that for a moment. What makes you think anything is beyond, much less where I come from? Maybe monsters just sorta spawn there?”

“No. The firmament shifts like an ocean. It moves in waves. And rarely… it suddenly moves a lot and quickly. Entire nations have been swallowed in the past, and were never heard from again. But! You could be from one of them! Maybe they all still exist beyond the firmament?”

That… didn’t sound correct to Lily. She was pretty sure her earth was not just a piece broken off of this world. But it was interesting to think about.

“I don’t think so. But, I don’t really have enough information to disprove that either. Wait, you say nations have been swallowed? Why would anyone live anywhere near the edge if that happens sometimes?”

This time Sunica spoke up.

“They don’t have a choice. In the more active zones, if the monsters aren’t culled regularly it becomes a threat to everyone. Someone’s gotta fight them off.”

Adelina nodded.

“It actually becomes a stupid unstable political situation.”

Lily cocked an eyebrow.

“Huh? Why? I’d think everyone would get along with whoever is fighting off the monsters.”

Sunica grimaced.

“Even I know that one. It’s ‘cause those nations end up with the highest leveled fighters in the world. Almost all of them.”

Oh. Of course. People with power, misusing it. It always came down to that, didn’t it? Fuck. Well, Lily had no intention of getting involved in anything political if she could avoid it.

“Ah!”

Sunica suddenly made a sound. Lily looked over at her.

“My traps have caught something! Several of them. I just noticed. I’ll go take a look.”

“Honestly, I could use a walk. Can I come too?”

Adelina huffed.

“Hey! We aren’t finished talking yet. You’re really going to leave me to go accompany her simple labor?”

Lily gave her a look, then shrugged.

“You can stay if you want, but I’m going. We can talk when we get back, or you can come along and have a good time out with us. It’s up to you.”

She gave Sunica a covert smile, then continued.

“Just gimme a minute to get into my warm clothes.”