After the celebration of the Seven Heroes came to a close, the sun rose on a new day. Or at least the sky box within Sarayul’s humble mountain abode illuminated with daytime blues, signaling the start of the ninth of August.
“Breakfast…” Taika groaned as they shuffled along to the kitchen. It was nice she was getting to stretch her culinary skills again after learning the ropes from Priscilla.
But the lethargy that accompanied the constant drain on her rhythm sucked, in no uncertain terms.
Regardless, she was sharpening her kitchen-based talents by the day. This place truly was a boot camp, wasn’t it?
Today’s breakfast was one Taika found on her tuner last night. As expected, the appliance needed for this was readily available in the kitchen.
“What are we making today, Taika?” Pacifica inquired through a yawn.
“Lyangao Waffles,” replied the chef.
The prospect of their impending breakfast perked the otter right up. “Oooh, those are really good! What do we need to do?” Pacifica’s tail was already swishing excitedly.
Taika and Pacifica wandered around the kitchen, Taika barking orders to her ottery assistant. Shouri and Rebecca stayed out of the way, watching the production unfold.
In all, they had gathered flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, eggs, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla.
“Sho!” Taika called out.
“Yeah?” he replied.
“Can you cut up some fruit for me?”
“What kind?”
“Whatever you want!”
Well, that was certainly an order. He shuffled over to the fridge and began browsing the selections of fruit on offer.
Rebecca yawned loudly and continued to watch from a stool she had planted her rear on.
A mess was made, but all the ingredients came together to form some airy, delicious waffles… after a couple of tries.
Yes, waffle makers, as Taika learned weren’t as easy to use as they initially appeared. It took her three failed attempts to get the amount of batter right and then another two in order to get her timing down on when they were done.
Once she had those trial runs down, she could easily produce many waffles of excellent quality.
Next was decoration! A waffle on its own was tasty, but as she learned on her birthday, pairing it with delicious fruit and syrup was a match made in heaven.
When it was all said and done, Rebecca was handed a plate with a large waffle topped with fresh-cut fruits, a perimeter of whipped cream, and a small cup of syrup for the consumer to pour over it if they wished.
“Take that to Sarayul please,” Taika requested of her fellow fox.
“Sure,” Rebecca said. She stopped short of the plates and failed to suppress a yawn of her own. After a couple of blinks, she got herself into gear and scooped up the plate meant for their host.
Excusing herself from the kitchen, Rebecca wandered down the hallways finally making her way into the main chamber to give the Ethereal his morning offering.
“Oh, Lyangao Waffles, I haven’t had these in quite a long time.” Sarayul cracked a smile.
Rebecca sat and watched the nine-tailed Ethereal study his meal. Without thinking, she spoke, “What’s it like?”
“Hm?” Sarayul glanced up from his dish.
She hadn’t realized she spoke her thoughts. “Uh, being an Ethereal I guess,” Rebecca said. “You used to be just a normal guy, right?” she further questioned.
A thin smile rose on the immortal’s lips. “The dead should not lead the living,” he spoke. “Though we may still guide those who seek our wisdom.”
Rebecca hummed in thought. It was a strange aspect of their world, now that she was face-to-face with an Ethereal. A person who should have died gets immortality just because of their impact on the world or history.
“But who decides that?” Once more, Rebecca’s inner monologue slipped out.
“That…” Sarayul trailed off for a moment, considering his choice of words. “Is knowledge not meant for the living,” were the words he decided on.
Shockingly, Rebecca felt satisfied with that answer. “Yeah, that tracks.” She smirked. “Would be pretty boring if everyone knew the cheat code to immortality,” said the Renard with a shrug.
“Indeed it would, though it doesn’t stop those desperate enough to try.”
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Taika returned to the training room she had been assigned to and found not only had the target been replaced in her absence, but the bead that had been stolen from her was waiting for her in the center of the room.
“Back to work I suppose,” she said. She bent down to pick up the bead, but a thought occurred to her as her hand hovered over the obsidian pearl.
“Let’s start there,” she muttered to herself.
And so her training resumed once again. She focused on her rhythm, trying to push it out towards the bead. Rather than hopping up to her hand, all she managed to do was shoot little marble to the other side of the room.
Instead of frustration at yet another failure, the fox sighed, slumping to the ground. “What am I doing wrong?” she asked, resting her head in her hand.
No one answered her question though. Sarayul provided the training environment, but he was not holding her hand – she had to figure this out all on her own.
Her base instinct told her to brute force it. Keep trying until she found a way to make it work.
Somehow that felt wrong to her. Taika couldn’t be sure, but there was a small voice in the very back of her mind that said this was not a power that could simply be forced to work. It required something. What that something was… well that was the root of the problem.
Then a spark of inspiration hit her: they literally had a book on lunar Resonators! She smacked herself on the forehead. It was so obvious, why didn’t she think of it sooner?!
She rushed from the training room back to the bedroom. Thankfully everyone else was out training, so she could slip in without having to explain herself. She found their main clothes bag and tore it open, retrieving Chandra Nikini’s Lunar Resonator Field Guide that they had purchased in Naiza.
Taika sat on the corner of the couch, flipping through the mass of information stored within the sacred texts. Finally, she found it:
Volontà Estesa
To master Volontà Estesa, begin by staring intently at the object you wish to move. It’s crucial that you squint with the force of a thousand moons, as this will absolutely not increase your telekinetic abilities but will provide a good facial workout. Next, wiggle your fingers in the air like you’re conducting an invisible orchestra; this does nothing for moving the object but is excellent for finger dexterity. Now, mentally fortify yourself with positive affirmations, ‘I can do it! I can do it!’ which, despite its profound lack of rhythmic properties, adds a touch of dramatic flair. Finally, imagine the object enveloped in a glowing aura of energy—preferably in a shade of neon blue for maximum efficacy. Remember, the key to Volontà Estesa is the unwavering belief that, despite all your efforts, the object is not part of you and has no obligation to listen to you.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Her jaw hung loose, her eyes narrowed as her brows pinched together. She scanned the page over and over again, but the meaning of the gibberish splayed before her refused to change. Was she stupid? Taika sure felt stupid right now. Her face reddened as the words remained a mystery.
Perhaps she missed something?
She turned the page and only then did she launch the book across the room (making a nice dent in the wall.)
The frustrated fox stomped away.
“Usage of Volontà Estesa varies based on the individual. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to mastering the ad-Lib; after all – everyone’s brains are different! The only way you’re going to get better is with practice! Hope you enjoyed my little joke~
-Chandra”
God help Chandra Nikini if Taika ever met them.
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As usual, Shouri and Vienna sat in silence, making beads and healing hands respectively.
The lyrebird suddenly perked up, her wiry tail feathers appearing behind her. “She’s coming,” Vienna said, draping her tail “net” over herself and vanishing in an instant.
Shouri remained focused on his work but shook his head. “It’d make your life easier if you weren’t a bitch to them,” he commented, his eyes never leaving the current ball of clay.
“I’m sure,” she whispered back. He didn’t need to see her to know the bird’s eyes roll with that.
Not a moment later, Taika burst through the door. “Sho!” she shouted.
“That’s me,” he greeted her, stopping what he was doing to address the fox.
“I’m stuck!” she cried out.
The Maestro looked his vixen up and down. “You made it here just fine,” he pointed out.
“Non! I mean I’m not making any progress!” Taika leaned on the table.
Shouri set down the half-completed bead he was working on. He gently held the bottom of her head and leaned forward, pecking her lips.
“Bu-buh buh?” The vixen’s eyes bugged out, swirling with ecstasy at the sudden, unexpected affection. Her tail wagged behind her as her heart fluttered in her chest.
“Shh shh…” he whispered, giving her another taste of his lips. “Focus, think it through logically, I know you can do it,” he continued to speak breathily.
“S-si… I’ll think hard about it hehehe…” Taika giggled, skipping off joyously.
When the vixen was out of earshot, Vienna appeared once more. Shouri resumed his bead-making.
“We uh, just gonna ignore that?” asked the lyrebird.
“Ignore what?” Shouri asked.
“Never mind,” Vienna decided, shaking her head.
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Taika pouted as she trudged down the walkway. “Hrmph,” she grunted, furrowing her brow in thought. She said she’d try to think this though, but nothing was coming to mind.
She stopped and giggled, her tail whipping back and forth.
Okay, Shouri’s lips were coming to mind, though that didn’t help her current problem.
As she was considering what to do, her ears flicked. It sounded like… complaining.
“Pleaaase have mercy, Rebby…” whined Pacifica.
“Not until you finish these squats!” Rebecca barked.
Now there was a thought…
Taika followed the source of the trainer and the trainee. They were quite a distance away Taika discovered, which told her just how loud they were being. She was grateful that there were so many vacancies at the temple, as their shouting may have qualified as disturbing the peace.
Thankfully, it made them easy to find.
“Senti!” Taika shouted as soon as she spotted the pair.
As had become custom over the last couple of days, Rebecca had reprised her role as drill sergeant while poor Pacifica was slowly melting into a puddle of sweat.
“Hey Taika,” Rebecca greeted her fellow fox. “What are you doing out here?” she questioned.
Taika eyed the collapsed otter for a moment before deciding she’d be fine. “I’m still trying to figure out this ad-Lib, but it's not working,” she told their combat expert.
Rebecca hummed thoughtfully. “I’m really not sure if I can help you,” she admitted.
“What did they teach you when you learned your ad-Lib?” Taika tried.
The ombré fox grunted, shifting her jaw as she pondered how to answer. “To get my flight I needed enough energy to fight against gravity. We fire elements can’t be burned,” she paused for dramatic effect, “under normal conditions.”
“What’s that mean?” Taika asked.
“We use so much power trying to defy gravity, it burns us in the process. Some people have said it's Sage Cielto punishing us for entering his domain,” Rebecca said, shrugging.
“Who… is that?” Taika furrowed her brow.
“Sage of the sky, same kinda dude as Sahji,” Rebecca summarized.
“Ohhh.” Taika nodded, getting the gist of the idea.
With that in mind, Taika stroked her chin in thought. The entire exercise Sarayul had set up for her was defying gravity, so maybe it was an energy problem. She turned to rush back to the training room but was held back.
“Wait!” Rebecca turned her around. “Your ad-Lib probably doesn’t use the same principle as mine. You’re not trying to move your whole body, right?”
Taika shook her head.
“So, figure out what Sarayul wants you to do. Look over the different parts of his test,” Rebecca advised.
If all this thinking kept up Taika wasn’t going to have any brain power left to practice.
But…
Rebecca did raise a good point, and it seems exactly like something Sarayul would expect of her (from what little she knew of the Ethereal). At any rate, Taika had an idea now at least. She leaned forward and pecked Rebecca on the cheek.
“Thanks, Rebby!” Taika shouted as she ran off, leaving a beet-red Rebecca.
“All of you people have no shame!” shouted the fire fox.
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What was Sarayul asking of her?
That was the question.
On a surface level, it was pretty obvious – make the bead fly. Rebecca was right though; it wasn’t as simple as just the bead touching the paper. If that’s all it took, she could have just thrown the darn thing and achieved the same results.
No, he was asking for something completely different.
Taika gripped the bead tightly. She wasn’t alone. She could feel Shouri in the bead. He was working hard, he believed in her – truly. She couldn’t let him down.
How could this bead fly?
That’s not the question.
She opened her hand and stared at the shining black pearl.
“I remember a few times you’ve done things that shouldn’t have been physically possible for you.”
“Lunar Resonators developing Volontà Estesa will find themselves either boosting their physical attacks like punches without realizing it or won’t tire from carrying heavy loads.”
His voice rang in her head loud and clear. The yellow logic of his soul swirled with her stubborn blue will.
And it clicked.
“It’s all in my head…” she whispered.
In that moment the bead shot from her hand and clean through the target.