Aida looked up through the sky light of the small single-person massage room Connie had brought her to. The sky was clear, so she could see the stars through the glass.
The Tulvers slept in the same room together, on Japanese-style floor mattresses. Connie had insisted that Aida stay in one of the rooms in the commercial wing, so that she could be more comfortable. “We get up early, so you won’t be disturbed in the massage room.”
The massage bed, though comfortable, was quite narrow as a regular bed. It was even narrower than her original twin-size bed. She was worried she’d fall if she rolled in her sleep.
She sat up, sighing. After a whole day of sleeping, it was hard to actually go back to sleep. It was weird, though, having her mana so depleted that she couldn’t sense anything beyond the room she was in. She felt like she had cotton in her ears, or a stuffy nose, or blurry eyes. But whatever the mana-sensing equivalent of that was. She didn’t realize how quickly she had adapted to having superhuman senses.
She quietly slid open the massage room door. Might as well get some fresh air, and maybe do some Mana Circulation on the veranda. Part of her had always romanticized the scenes in animes where the protagonists would sit on a veranda, contemplating the peaceful scenery, perhaps receiving some critical guidance or acquiring a breakthough that would allow them to smash through whatever power ceiling they were faced with at the time. Now was her chance to live out that kind of childhood dream.
Aida stumbled as she stepped through the door, spooked by the massive figure already sitting on the veranda.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Caleb asked softly, not looking at her. He had his gaze trained on the moon, which was just starting to wax. The slim crescent looked down on them with glee.
“You couldn’t either?” Aida padded out, sitting next to him. Her feet hung comfortably above the ground, while the bottoms of Caleb’s clogs skimmed the earth.
She looked over the zen garden. The light from the moon wasn’t much, but with how white and fine the sand and stones were, the garden still glowed with a celestial quality. The windows from neighboring buildings were dark, and the main gate was shut, giving the illusion that they were completely alone.
“…How are you?”
“I’m alive.” Aida smiled briefly at him, though her assurance didn’t seem to lift his melancholy. She poked him. “Hey, come on. Surviving a charred zard is a huge accomplishment!”
Caleb shook his head remorsefully. “I shouldn’t have brought you today…we should have made plans for next cycle.”
Aida frowned at him. “I wanted to come. You didn’t force me.”
“I should have known better,” Caleb lamented. “You already warned me that you wouldn’t be able to run, but I didn’t think—“
Aida shoved his shoulder, not hard. But hard enough to interrupt his spiraling.
“You should listen to your mother more. Neither of us are at fault for landing in this situation today - the road from Maglica to Buddington is supposed to be safe in groups of two. Your proposal to run was purely to save time - it wasn’t a necessary condition to be safe.”
Caleb was silent for a moment. “But if I didn’t insist on running, then you would have had more mana…”
“And we might never have made it to Buddington either, because we were too far to receive help,” Aida countered. “This can go on forever, Caleb, but it’s not productive.”
He shrank into himself, his eyes downcast. He looked so much like a chastised little boy, despite his size and musculature.
Aida softened her tone. “Caleb, what happened? Your parents said the Strongholders found us just in time?”
Caleb perked up slightly. “Yes, your Freeze was genius. It didn’t quite extinguish the flame on its tail, but it was enough to make it hibernate for a few moments until the flame recovered. That gave me time to rest, and grab you so we could go a little further…and when it started running after us again, some of the Border scouts arrived in time to subdue it…They gave us a ride in their golem, and I received some healing while they questioned me.” Caleb sighed, reaching up to rub his shoulders. “Maybe joining the Border Stronghold wouldn’t be too bad, if I could patrol the woods around Buddington…”
“Did they say anything about why the charred zard was around here?” Aida asked. “You said it shouldn’t be down here…”
Caleb shook his head. “They were just as confused as us…though they did mention they were seeing a lot more monster activity down here.” He shook his head again, baffled. “I wonder what’s happening…”
Aida bit her lip, hesitant to say what she thought. Caleb sensed her agitation. “I’m certain it’s not related to what happened at school,” he said hastily. “For one thing, we actually know what the charred zard is…”
“But what if it got driven away from its natural habitat by the thing that attacked me and Ezra?” Aida whispered. She wrapped her arms around herself. The night had been pleasantly cool before, but now it was downright chilly. The fluffy robe Connie had given her, nominally a luxuriously soft garment, all of a sudden felt too flimsy. “The teachers couldn’t identify what that thing was, and don’t even know where it went…”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Caleb reached out to her, worried, before quickly excusing himself. Leaving the clogs on the ground, he dashed silently on stockinged feet into the hot spring’s locker rooms. Aida didn’t even look after him, instead pulling her knees up to her chin.
The glowing zen garden had been beautiful before, but now the luminescence made the rocks look ominous. Like bones jutting out of a barren landscape. Everything bleached white. Aida scooted away from the edge of the veranda, so that her toes were pressed into the warm wood.
A heavy blanket dropped around her shoulders. Gripping the edges of the blanket, Aida blinked up at Caleb.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention…you’re still recovering from your overexertion today, so I should have made sure you wouldn’t catch a chill,” Caleb apologized, tucking the blanket in tightly around her so that no air reached her body.
Aida ducked her head into the blanket. It was irrational, but being wrapped in a thick cocoon felt much safer than just wearing the robe. “Thank you,” she said softly. Caleb sat back down next to her, smiling at her as he patted her head like a child.
“You might as well sleep out here. This is the best bedtime tuck I’ve ever done.”
“Did you tuck your parents in?” Aida asked, laughing softly. Caleb’s gaze dropped, along with Aida’s heart. Why did he look so sad?
“…I had a younger brother.” Oh no.
“I’m so sorry,” Aida said softly. Connie’s words and stricken expression made so much sense in retrospect. “He’s the only one we have left in the world.”
Caleb shook his head tightly, letting out a breath. “It’s all right. It was a long time ago.” He smiled sadly, his pupils drifting in memories. “…he was the whole reason we started this bathhouse.”
Aida looked at him inquiringly. She didn’t want to push him, but she was curious. He continued speaking softly, slowly, choosing his words carefully.
“He was always sickly growing up, because we never had much…Mother worked at a health spring, which was where she learned her massage skills, while Father would work whatever heavy-lifting jobs were available.” Caleb leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “That meant he was out of the house a lot…and my mother would take my brother to the springs whenever she could, because the spring water would help improve his constitution a lot. But…what he really needed was a dedicated Healer.”
Caleb pressed his hand to his eyes briefly, before straightening. His eyes were dry, though his voice was strained. “Before he passed, he told Mother and me that he really enjoyed going to the health spring, and that he would love it if our family could have our own hot spring.” Caleb smiled grimly, gesturing at the entrance of the old wing that was carefully covered by beautifully embroidered partitions. “We’ve been living here for as long as I can remember. Once…once Father’s pay didn’t have to go to my brother’s treatments anymore…they talked about moving into one of the better districts, where they could commute more easily to their jobs.
“I…I begged them to stay. Build their own hot spring business.” Caleb closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I was eight. And already incredibly gifted at manipulating earth.” He reached out his hand, and the white sand streamed slowly into the air, like water. Aida watched him, her eyes wide. He didn’t have his wand on him, yet the sand moved like the water she had become so adept at controlling over the past five weeks. Caleb opened his eyes, watching the sand flow through his fingers pensively. “I created the zen garden. And built the hot springs. Father spent the money on remodeling this wing. On piping in the spring water. Mother has been working on advertising…”
“So that’s why you don’t want to leave this place when you graduate,” Aida said quietly. He built this place. He was already invested. He had a purpose.
Caleb nodded, suddenly shy. With a flick of his wrist, he deposited the sand. “That’s why we wouldn’t be able to pay you much,” he said, abashed.
Aida tried to smack him, but she was wrapped too tightly in the blanket to free her arm. Shifting her weight, she collided with his shoulder in a soft thump. “Stop talking about pay,” she scolded gently. “I don’t even know what I’m doing yet, and my goal is to just learn whatever your mother can do.”
Caleb was looking down at her with wide eyes, violet the only other color in their monochromatic setting.
Aida sighed, pulling her gaze away from him. Caleb’s backstory was similar to hers - except he actually lost somebody. Her father’s accident was painful, but Caleb’s loss was tragic. She didn’t know how the Tulvers’ business was faring, but at least they - Caleb - had the ability to build something of their own. He was lucky to be an Earth practitioner.
She worried her lip. She wished the Tulvers well. And if Caleb decided to stay with his family, or managed to find a job close to them, they would certainly be safer than if he left. Even though they were within the walls of Buddington Town, they were still at the edge, closer to the woods. If some flying monsters decided to bypass the town’s meager defenses (from her impressions of the last time she visited with Sue, the guards on the wall were more adept at stopping law-abiding visitors than actually stopping monster attacks), their district would likely see danger.
Aida resolved to gather more information on what Buddington’s citizens thought was happening on the morrow. The Border Stronghold had already mentioned more monster activity…surely the citizens would be buzzing. Neighborhood gossip was always more accurate than what official reports said, accounting for near misses and close calls. Things that would never make it into a report, because “no crime occurred.”
Real perspectives, from those who had to live the experiences.
Caleb reached his arm around her bundle, squeezing briefly, though she could barely feel it through all the layers. “Thanks for listening. But I’ve kept you up too late - you need to rest.”
“Sounds good,” Aida agreed. “Is the bathhouse open tomorrow? I’d like to help however I can - maybe cleaning, or checking in customers or something. I’m not sure how much mana I will have recovered by tomorrow to learn what Connie can teach me.” A quick glance at her mana pools showed that they were still thoroughly depleted, even though she had recovered some usable mana.
She couldn’t believe it. Even though she had been on the edges of the charred zard’s fireballs, never getting directly struck, the brushes still managed to deplete all of her elemental defenses. The fire pool was the lowest, desperately drawing on the wood pool, which overdrew from water - all the way around the ring of elemental interactions. I guess even my natural affinity doesn’t mean anything when the opponent is so much stronger.
“We’ll be open tomorrow, and I’ll check with Mother,” Caleb promised. With one fluid movement, he lifted Aida’s bundled cocoon. “But it’s off to bed with you.”
Carrying her like a rice sack in his arms, he deposited her on her guest room’s bed. “If the bed is too narrow, you can sleep on the floor. Let me go grab you a spare futon and pillow…”