He was safe, back in the bed that he had gotten used to.
Muddled and nauseous, Cyg tossed and turned in his sleep. The stretch of time till dawn was long and rough, and he teetered on the edge of wakefulness throughout most of it. Otherworldly pain gripped him, no doubt a result of the prior struggle involving his soul.
There were no further threats to his or Alicia’s safety, but the taste of death lingered. It was so easy to take his own life now, and half-awake he worried about how he would act when or if he’d escape the loop. The ease with which he could perform the act unnerved him, the intimacy of the death different than when activating a bomb. All these miserable worries eventually settled and sank into the depths, gracing him with peaceful rest for a single hour.
When Alicia shook him awake, he still felt awful. A terrible change of pace, considering he always got up feeling fine.
“Wow,” the apprentice said, “You look worse than I felt this morning.”
That caught the interest of the witch, causing her to check up on the thief while he tried to stand. Their eyes met, and the thief uncomfortably shifted his weight. She didn’t know anything, but it was still hard to forget what happened in a fight that had taken place what felt like moments ago. It was a struggle for his expression to be neutral.
Merry asked, “What is it? Did the poison somehow return?” She approached, gave him a look over, and concluded, “...You suffered soul damage? How is that even possible?”
“...I don’t really know what happened,” Cyg answered while rubbing the back of his neck. The thief weighed what he was about to do, and it only took him a second to decide that nothing could be gained without some risk. “I think I awakened to my second Aspect.” As he spoke, he felt that his soul was shaking from anxiety, and as his confidence in his words grew, it settled down into something more peaceful. “I’m pretty sure it’s soul magic, and since I had no idea what was going on, I ended up hurting myself.”
Alicia’s eyes opened wide, and she wanted to ask about everything that happened oh so badly. But while in front of the witch, she had to clamp her mouth shut and let the scene proceed as Cyg intended.
“Hmm.” Merry considered his words with a hum. “That does make sense. I was planning on hurrying you out the door so you can stretch your legs, but I think I should give you some guidance on how to proceed. After all, I do have some knowledge on this topic thanks to my domain.”
“Wait, I feel mostly fine,” he interrupted, “I was looking forward to actually walking around outside again. Though maybe later, if you have time, I’d be grateful for your tutelage.” A brazen lie and the thief and the apprentice knew it, but this time Cyg tried staying calm using the technique he discovered last week, when he was trying to sleep under the effects of the Salt. It wasn’t perfect, but it was meditative enough for the job.
“Your injuries do seem light...” With a hand on her chin, the witch scanned the thief up and down once more. “I’ve no inclination teaching an unwilling pupil, so if you don’t bother coming, I won’t chase after you.”
The thief made an inscrutable face before nodding and reassuring her he’d show up on time, eager to start the breakfast they’d delayed. He may have lost track of just how many times he’d eaten that same meal, but hunger was the best spice, and rarely one wakes with a full stomach. So, it passed as always, mindlessly and without much further consideration, and before Cyg and Alicia knew it they were walking to their usual spot at the creek.
The latter shared what happened on her side with two sentences bereft of detail, far more interested in the former’s story. And, noticing her curiosity, he considered embellishing the story a little—but it was already full of thrills. She listened and took mental notes as he spun his yarn, hardly interrupting. When the story ended, they had arrived at their destination.
“This means a congratulation is in order, isn’t it? And here I thought you were making a bad joke earlier,” she said, taking her usual seat, “Especially since you don’t seem that excited.”
“Thanks,” he replied, “If I’m being honest, I was expecting something a little more helpful. Or maybe with a bit more flair.”
“You mean dropping meteors or parting seas like the archmages of yore had done?”
He was a little embarrassed being caught with such a childish fancy, but he replied, “If I was allowed to pick, I know which one I’d go with. But, it is funny that she seems to have the same Aspects as we do.” They both agreed that in hindsight it was obvious she had some form of soul magic. From the way she tracked visitors inside of her domain to how quickly she understood what was going on with Cyg earlier, it would be silly to chalk it up to experience alone. “It does explain her supposed ability to detect lies. Her magic’s a little different than mine, but I bet she can sense souls and was using that to gauge our reactions. Like playing cards with people who didn’t know you could see their faces.”
“Could her third Aspect be as simple as just controlling the wind?”
“Probably not. If it were, I think she’d be far more liberal using it, especially since she flies around while we’re watching.”
“Then, conjuration? That would explain why she needs to hide herself to get scrap metal,” Alicia tossed out, “She’s not lacking in mana in any way either.”
“But, if she has that kind of ability, the court would have found her out already,” Cyg answered, taking off his boots to get into the river.
“Is that right?” she asks, unfamiliar. She was about to ask a follow-up question when it was derailed by what he was doing. “You want to go find the faerie again? Seeing what happened last time, I thought you’d want to stay far away from it.”
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“Stay away? It helped me find my second Aspect! If anything, I should be on my knees singing its praises.” He then saw Alicia hadn’t budged at all. “Need help? I can lift you across, but a princess carry is off-limits.”
The apprentice rose with a huff. “I can cross a river just fine by myself!”
At an almost leisurely pace, they crossed over, Cyg staying close enough to catch the elf if she ever fell. Physically, she managed, but emotionally, she was left indignant after almost losing her balance halfway. On the other side, she dried them both off with her magic, maintaining a set of pursed lips and the slightest hint of color on her cheeks.
A few minutes of walking in silence later, she spoke up again. “So, I’m assuming you have a plan for the faerie.”
“...Beyond trying out some more Salt? Not really.”
She returned an exasperated look. “We’re going there to just get high?”
“Hey, now’s the only time we can see what the thing can do, and who knows? Maybe I’ll awaken something else or gain new understanding,” he answered. Well, a third magic for both of them would be ludicrous.
“We haven’t tried warning it of danger yet.” It would certainly result in more options. “...Hold on, if Merry never gets her hand on the faerie, she would have no reason to head back to town on Sunday. Maybe there’s a better way to go about this... but we should try it at least once, just to see.”
Cyg countered, “It could be dangerous.” He pulled at his shirt to check his shoulder, counting teardrops again. “We have five tries left, but then again, I’m not worried about running out of resets.”
“And where is that confidence of yours coming from?”
“You, of course,” he replied, “How lucky I am that my partner-in-crime is such a wicked weaponsmith.”
“Please, I prefer a more refined title, like ‘scholar’ or ‘artificer’.”
Crossing his arms, he tried to put on an air of confidence. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scholar invent such lethal designs.” He’s never spoken to one at length, but she doesn’t know that.
Likewise, Cyg doesn’t know Alicia’s lacking common knowledge of that sort. So, the slighting jest slid off her like water off a duck’s back. “Oh, there we go again with your mysterious past. What deep, dark secrets have you been keeping under wraps?”
He frowned. “That’s...”
“...I was joking.” Only half, but she was highlighting the important part.
“I know.”
They continued on their search, and this time, they found the faerie with a bit more difficulty. The time of day was different and so was the place, but the advantage they had was knowing what their target looked like before it was mangled up. The creature, instead of being up on a branch, was on a rotten log now, watching beetle larvae squirm around after dissolving the layer of bark that sheltered them.
“Hey there,” the thief said to announce their approach.
Not that it was needed, because the faerie noticed early. Just like before, it performed a few laps around to check them over.
Tentatively, Alicia asked, “Can you understand what we’re saying?” It stopped in front of her, flapping its wings. “There’s a basilisk after you—if you don’t want to get eaten by her, you should leave the area.” And it kept on staring, as if waiting for some grand reveal. “...Cyg, I believe any kind of language might be beyond it.”
“Let me try.” The thief walked up, and without any sudden movements, raised a hand as if to poke it, but before he could make contact, it flew off to a nearby tree. It wasn’t stupid enough to let strangers get physical, they learned. “I don’t suppose you can transmute and make things other than Salt, can you?” he asked.
While the past had proved it to have some sort of voice, it had yet to raise it once this time, dashing away any hopes of meaningful communication.
Alicia suggested, “This may sound absurd, but what if we drew a picture?”
“Go nuts,” he replied, watching as the faerie transformed wood into Salt. Part of him believed last week could be chalked up to inattentiveness, but when it flew up to Cyg now and held out the small ball of blue expectantly, the previous surprise “attack” couldn’t be mistaken as anything but a practical joke. Cyg accepted it, feeling the feathery touch as it settled on his hands, the substance beginning to sink into skin.
“How are you meant to take it? You’re not meant to have it blasted all over your face, are you?”
“No clue, but I think we just breathe it in? It doesn’t seem edible,” he said, holding it up to his nose for a cautious whiff before outright inhaling it. Meanwhile, Alicia received her own portion.
The thief, instead of being dizzied and reeling, felt clarity instead. A slight chill began in his chest and spread through his body, but unlike mana deprivation, it was crisp and refreshing, tracing along and highlighting all the lines and arcs of his inner fire. No wonder it was popular. For the slightest moment, everything felt right—and then it slipped into prickling oversensitivity.
Shuddering, he turned to Alicia. “Hey, did you try it out yet?” Cyg asked, just in time to see Alicia tripping on her own legs. A rippling laugh came from the faerie as the thief went over to check on her. “Everything alright?”
“Uh...” she said, wincing and raising an arm to shield her eyes from sunlight. “Wow. Um...”
“Better take it easy.” Cyg lifted her by her shoulders and brought her to a nearby tree to lean against. Halfway over he felt the ground underneath his feet rise and churn, making him stumble and drop Alicia—a wave from the Sea had come out of nowhere to strike him. He could hear more giggling, which more or less gave away whose fault was it. Like an imp splashing about, the faerie was effortlessly unsettling the Outer Sea.
“Oooh...” Alicia groaned, “I think I’m going to be sick.” She clutched her head, trying to calm down through steady breathing. “It’s nothing as you described.”
Another wave came sweeping past, smaller than the previous. The thief, not wanting to test his endurance, sat down on a large tree root nearby before it washed over. “I gotta say, if this is what the actual ocean is like, I don’t want to be anywhere near it.”
The faerie returned with more Salt but they immediately rejected it. Feeling spurned, it then fluttered away, back to playing with the larvae.
“Hmmm?” the apprentice hummed, “So there’s stuff you haven’t seen before?”
He leaned forward, placing his forearms on his legs. “...You know, I haven’t told anyone about my past.”
“Oh? Was I right before? What terrible sins have you committed?” she said with a half-lidded smile.
“It’s more shameful than anything else. If you were annoyed with how I was so clammed up with it, I’ll tell you that I haven’t even told my friends and family. My current ones, anyway.” Not even Griff. They more or less knew he was hiding something, but they trusted him enough to give him time and space.
“Cyg, please!” Alicia hissed, “If you’re going to keep teasing me with little trickles of information, I’d rather stuff my ears full of sap! Either hush already or get on with it! I’ve never met a human noble before, but are they all as self-absorbed about their lineage as you?”
“W-Wha!?” the thief recoiled, face flushed, “I revealed that to you already!?”
“I have... half a dozen pages on all your little eccentricities!” she revealed, pointing a finger at him, “Besides, do you ever hear the way you speak sometimes? I can smell the gold in your blood.”
“I’m not that...” he mumbled, blushing harder than ever, “Fine! If you want to hear it so bad, I’ll tell you.” Rubbing his nose, Cyg then leaned forward even further. “I’ll tell you the story of House Scelwyn.”