“Oh, they’re back,” Shouri noted upon arriving at the dining hall. A breakfast banquet was awaiting the hungry group.

Taika, Pacifica, and Rebecca each had a rhythm beast riding on their shoulders, one of light, bubbles, and fire respectively.

“And you appear to have been training well,” said Nina, noting the trio of different beasts in their company.

“On all fronts it seems,” Talys chimed in, carefully observing the four.

“I can move things now,” Taika boasted proudly, demonstrating on one of the forks on the table. Unfortunately, her ego had been bigger than her actual skill because all she managed to do was yank the fork off the table and send it clattering to the ground.

All eyes were on the vixen who slowly shrank, her face reddening. “È ancora un lavoro in corso...” she admitted quietly.

A slow clap alerted the small crowd to Vienna’s presence at the table. “Good job,” she said, her voice oozing with sarcasm.

Instantly the trio of Resonators were glaring at the red-head before them. Vienna couldn’t be bothered interacting with them any longer. She gave a small bow in thanks for her meal and left the room, ignoring the scowls on her back as she did so.

“I don’t like her,” Taika grumbled.

“Not asking you to,” Shouri said with a shrug. “She is useful though,” he said rather clinically as he moved to sit down.

Pacifica’s face contorted in confusion. What a… strange response from Shouri.

He wasn’t one to use people… or so she thought. The way he felt about Vienna, or at least when he spoke of her; it was as he said – she was useful to him. That was it. It was a similar feeling to how Maestros like Lyle or Shawn Hawk looked at their Resonators. Like objects.

But Vienna was a Maestro… right? Even if she wasn’t (somehow) what went on between them to make even the boy who accepted Naturals as friends take such a stance?

“Darn itchy rhythm,” Pacifica whispered to herself as she sat down for breakfast.

Breakfast was as good as usual. Taika made a bit of a mess as she attempted to flex her rapidly blossoming telekinesis to little success.

“Maybe you should use your hands to pick up the utensils instead,” Shouri suggested after yet another failed attempt at diplomacy between Taika and the material world.

“Mrrpgh.” Taika puffed out her cheeks, a splash of red brightening them up. She picked up her fork like a normal person and ate her food the boring way.

Satisfied Taika wouldn’t send the rest of breakfast on a one-way trip to the floor, Shouri addressed his other Resonators. “What are you two gonna do today?”

“Probably more endurance training for her,” Rebecca said, motioning to Pacifica.

“Yippee…” Pacifica failed to hide her lack of enthusiasm for yet more exercise.

A thought came to mind as Pacifica’s gaze shifted to Taika begrudgingly using her fork like a normie. Was this how Taika felt back in Canolapra every morning when they went swimming?

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“Where are we going, Rebby?” asked Pacifica.

Water and fire walked down the breezeway. They passed by the walkway that led down to the fields they had been training in for the past couple of days.

“So where are we going?” Pacifica repeated, bringing herself up to match Rebecca’s pace.

“Training, I told you,” Rebecca replied.

Well, she wasn’t lying, Pacifica could sense that much. The otter poutily glared at the back of the fox’s head – was it so hard to just say what they were doing today?

The two turned into the same training room they had been capitalizing on. Neither Nina nor Talys joined them, leaving the pair to their own devices, as had been the cast for the last couple of days.

“Alright.” Rebecca turned and faced Pacifica. “Dodge,” she said with a wicked grin.

“Wha-!?” Pacifica suddenly dove out of the way of a fireball, landing on the ground.

“I said DODGE!” Rebecca barked, shooting another ball of fire at her fellow Resonator.

“What the fuck?!” Pacifica cried, rolling out of the way.

“It might not be as effective against you, but I know this’ll hurt if you get hit!” shouted the fox as Pacifica ran away screaming.

Today sucks, Pacifica decided.

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“Questo è… molto,” Taika mumbled.

Her training room was in a different configuration than the day before. No longer was the floor barren as it had been prior. Now there was a whole tiny obstacle course of metal and wood. The scale of it looked like a children’s playset gone horribly excessive.

The course spanned the entire floorspace of the room, all interconnected in a wide array of twists, turns, loops, and other surprises that Taika couldn’t hope to parse in the limited time she had to study it.

“This my child, is the true training,” Sarayaul said from the other side of the training room. “Your first goal is from that end of the room guide your bead through this maze to this side.”

Taika furrowed her brow. She didn’t see how that was a challenge. The metal wiring that made up the maze was big enough to allow the bead passage, but narrow enough that she could just push it through with little resistance.

As if he read her mind, Sarayul laid down the biggest stipulation, “without your bead touching the rails.”

The mortal fox gulped. Suddenly, this looked much more daunting than it appeared.

“Good luck,” tittered the Ethereal, leaving the Resonator to her own devices.

There had to be a catch… that much Taika knew. He wasn’t even watching her. How would he know if she did it successfully? She figured it was a test of her conviction. It’d be pretty useless training if she just cheated it. No, she had to want her skills to improve. That’s why he told her up front how to properly utilize the obstacle course.

Taika’s eyes flickered blue with stubborn willpower. She was going to make this work. Stepping up to the test, she set the bead down on the little wooden podium that marked the entrance to the course.

She channeled her rhythm into the bead and guided it into the maze. The first segment was easy enough. A couple of wide turns to test her ability to direct the bead around in space. Slowly the complexity built with the turns becoming narrower and narrower. At first, she was trying to take her time to guide the bead through the labyrinth, but she quickly grew frustrated with the speed she was at and decided to pick up the pace.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This was a mistake.

It was only then, did Taika learn of the punishment game. The bead touched one of the rails and then….

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

A high-pitched squeal emitted from the course. Now for most, this would just be a slightly annoying whine. But for one with the Canid Sense trait like Taika…

“AUGH!” the girl bellowed, grabbing her ears and immediately falling to her knees. It was so loud and piercing that tears formed instantly from how harsh the assailing noise was on her sensitive hearing.

As soon as it had begun, the chaos ceased.

“What the hell was that?” Taika whimpered, wiping her face dry with her robes.

“Oh, I forgot to mention,” Sarayul said, leaning on the doorway. “The way this is constructed, any contact with a material channeling rhythm will cause it to make that noise.”

“Woulda been nice to know before I blew up my ears,” Taika mumbled under her breath.

“Just don’t let it touch the rails my child, good luck,” he sang before departing again.

“There’s the catch,” grumbled the fox, still rubbing her ears.

Taika studied the maze again. The bead had made it roughly about a fourth of the way through before her blunder, and even that was only because she had grown impatient and rushed things. Patience, that’s what she needed.

Stepping around the various bits of the maze, she located the bead, and with a little fiddling about she freed the pearl from its prison.

Returning to the start of the trial, Taika studied the path. As she had observed, it opened quite gently. Some easy twists and turns, no doubt to get the trainees used to manipulating the direction of their chosen objects through three-dimensional space. Gradually the soft turns become harsher, with some being near twenty-degree bends with next to no room for error. There were even segments where one had to force their chosen object upward through a zig-zag of bends – not only competing with the harsh directional changes but gravity as well.

She sighed. “This is gonna suck,” mumbled the fox to herself.

Bellyaching wasn’t going to solve the problem. It was time to get back to work, whether she wanted to or not.

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Shouri and Vienna were, as usual, sitting alone in the store room. The actual Maestro of the pair was focused entirely on his craft. By this point the number of dud or failed pearls was minimal, and he got into his own pace with it.

The key, he found, was to not rush it. Ease not only his blood but his very rhythm into the clay. Doing so resulted in the shining black pearls he was looking for. Taika had excitedly bragged about how sturdy they were, being able to deal significant damage to the wood beams that constructed the temple. She had yet to try it on other materials, but with the results he had witnessed, he did not doubt that they would be quite sturdy little things.

Having 107 of these would be of great use to Taika. Though, she seemed to have some trouble moving objects that weren’t the beads. He theorized that moving objects without latent rhythm like the beads possessed was much more difficult, but the skill would come with time.

He deposited another bead into the bowl and held out his hands for Vienna. The lyrebird snapped to and tapped into their persisting connection, executing the healing spell without a word to him.

Shouri had words for her, however.

“What did I say about the sass?” he questioned her.

“I haven’t said anything in at least an hour,” she countered.

“You know what I mean,” he retorted.

Vienna glared at her Maestro. “This is a waste of time. They’re such… fodder,” she decided that last word carefully.

Even so, Shouri took exception to that. “What’s your game?” he finally asked.

The lyrebird cocked a brow. “I just want your rhythm-”

“Bullshit, what are you actually after? The rhythm is just a happy consequence.” His expression told her he was done playing games.

She, however, was not. With a defiant smirk, she reclined back in her seat. “What are you gonna do-?” she stopped.

A sudden burning feeling in the back of her head instantly set off alarm bells for her. Shouri held her tuner up, the red button pressed down. “You wouldn’t dare,” though she said this, her confidence wavered.

“I told you, push me and you’re gonna wake up in a field with no idea who I am,” he warned, releasing the button. “Don’t fuck with me Vienna, what bullshit are you dragging me into?” he questioned.

A harsh, almost hateful glare is what Shouri earned. He thought he deserved it in all honesty. Threatening her like this probably wasn’t his wisest course of action, but also he wasn’t about to be taken for a ride. Especially if it meant Taika and the others would get hurt again.

“This whole Ilea Vim thing is bigger than you’ve let on,” he guessed.

She remained quiet, maintaining her glare.

“You’re personally involved, aren’t you?” came another guess on Shouri’s part.

Her expression remained resolute, her scowl persisting.

“Let us help you.”

Finally, her conviction wavered, the pressure of her brows cracking as her expression relaxed into concern as she hung her head. It was a strange look on her face, usually because she was always so self-assured and smug. Seeing the worry on the wingless bird’s face was wrong somehow.

“You can’t beat him,” she mumbled.

“Not alone, no,” he agreed. “But I’m not alone – I have them.”

Vienna shook her head. “They’re not strong enough, either.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Well, you’re wrong.”

The null element stole a glance at the Maestro, who had resumed his bead-making. “Logically, I have no idea of what Ilea is capable of. I have no idea if we even hold a candle to him,” Shouri spoke quietly.

“But, what I do know is they’ll follow me straight into hell without hesitation.”

The lyrebird furrowed her brow. She wasn’t sure what that even meant, but for some reason… it spoke to her heart. Her words were stuck in her throat, but her curiosity was piqued.

…could he actually do it?

That would be something she’d have to find out.