Nezani sat in silence listening to the arboretum lock its doors.

Previously sitting on her shoulder Spirit was now human sized and sitting next to Nezani with sad longing eyes.

"What? I don't know what she expected me to do or say after seeing that thing. I don't think I can do it Spirit, I'm definitely not a fighter and i most definitely cannot fight that thing!"

"Yes you can" Henri's voice floated out of the trees.

Spirit walked over to the base of the tree placing her hand on the trunk and Henri's soul quickly materialized in spirits body shifting until Henri was fully present in front of Nezani.

"Being scared is normal, I can't think of a single Guardian in this family that has never been scared at one time or another" Henri said walking over to sit with Nezani.

"How am I supposed to fight it Henri?" Nezani sighed.

"Well, maybe you can't but who says you need to answer Madame now? How about spend some time here in the arboretum, you can sleep here and train here for a bit and then decide what you want to do."

"That doesn't sound bad, I didn't know I could sleep here" Nezani questioned looking around at the vast space of trees and grass.

"This is your home, you are always welcome to come here, and stay." Henri said digging her hands into the grass.

The ground beneath the pair began to rumble and a mound of grass began to protrude from the grass stopping at a few stories’ height.

"There, ask and you shall receive".

Henri walked over to the mound and placed a hand in the grass pulling back on a doorknob to reveal a door. Just inside Nezani could make out a wooden dining room set, a kitchenette and every supply one could need for a cozy night or morning.

"Now that that is settled let’s start the next part of your training".

“Now that you can connect to the source and hold mana in your body for a considerable amount of time. Now I want you to focus on output, try pulling the mana from your veins into a ball in your hands, like this”.

A bright orb of mana appeared in Henri’s hand swiftly. The dense ball of energy swirled around itself but moved slow and calmly.

Nezani looked down at her palm studying the mana that had etched through her veins.

“You don’t have to create a sphere Ani. It can be whatever you want it to be. Yo’ve worked so hard to bring mana into your body. Let a little bit of it out, not all at once, not from everywhere. Pick a spot on your body and let a little mana escape.”

Nezani’s intrusive thoughts won and she shook her head to clear them.

Hmmm what spot should I try? Maybe a finger.

Nezani sat and started at the tip of her finger trying to visualize the mana escaping from that point. She thought back to when she was trying to bring mana in, and thought maybe she should use her minds eye again.

First she visualized the flow of mana through her body, she had done this many times prior when training on her mana retention. She saw in her mind the flow of energy up through her core, and down her arm to her finger.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Now to get it out.

She began to visualize the tiniest hole in her finger. She concentrated on opening a space in her finger. As if following her command, the mana flowing to her finger began to put pressure on that one spot. Noticing a sensation in her hand she opened her eyes to see a glowing spot at the tip of her finger.

Opening for a second mana shot out of her finger into the air, fizzling out.

“Good job, that’s a start” Henri said noticing Nezani’s small victory.

“Now concentrate on slowing down the mana just before you release, and almost creating your own gravity so that when your mana flows out of you it does go to far, to fast in the wrong direction. Someone could get hurt that way”.

Nezani spent the rest of the day trying to get her mana to flow consistently out of her finger.

“Why don’t we call it day, you’ve exhausted yourself for today and I think some relaxation is needed”.

The pair moved from the training area walking over to Nezani’s home in the mound of grass.

The windows were lit up with a soft glow, she opened the door to see the space glowing with fire from the fire place on the other side of the small cabin. In the middle of the room was the cutest wooden dining room set. Adorning the table were fruits, bread and some cobbler. Nezani looked up to see there was an even cozier loft fitted with a mattress for sleeping and a small reading lamp.

“Woah, this looks so cozy and relaxing, you did all of this with mana?” Nezani questioned turning to look at Henri but found Spirit looking back at her.

Henri had returned to her tree, but had conveniently moved to be just outside of the window.

All things are possible with mana, it lives in all things, the possibilities of mana are endless as a Guardian you will one day be able to manipulate mana to have whatever it is that you need. Spirits voice vibrated in her skull.

“Any chance there’s a tub in here for a bath?”

“Why don’t you take a walk around the arboretum” Henri spoke from her tree.

“There is a hot spring around here somewhere, but you must find it, sometimes it does not want to be found. Maybe you’ll get lucky”.

Nezani had never soaked in a hot spring but desperately wanted a hot bath. After having a bite of fruit and some water she began walking around the circular forest with Spirit laying across her collar bone.

Spirit is Henri the only soul I can talk to in here?

No, you can speak to others, but you’ll know when you can. They will always speak to you first, for a reason.

Getting bored with the stroll Nezani started to hum a rhythm she always heard her mom sing when she was relaxing or out in her garden.

Hmm hm hm hmmmm hm hm hm hmmm hm hm hm hmmm hm hm hm hmmmm

Nezani could see Spirit swaying her body to rhythm clearly enjoying the sound.

“You called?”

Nezani stopped in her tracks at the unfamiliar deep male voice.

She didn’t feel threatened, just startled. She moved her gaze from Spirit on her shoulder to the space in front of her.

In front of her laid a small hot spring, big enough for a few people. Perched tall next to the thermal pool was a breathtaking rainbow eucalyptus tree. Its colorful bark gleamed next to the steamy body of water.

“Welcome to the regeneration pool. Where did you learn my song, you are but a sapling.” The tree spoke to Nezani.

“I got it from my mom, she sang it all the time while she was relaxing or tending to her garden”

“Interesting” the tree spoke. “My name is Beaux, I’m the keeper of this here body of water, I typically do not show myself but I heard you singing my song and I thought you were my dear friend whom I have not seen in ages”

“Since I am here, please feel free to soak in the waters to relax and revive yourself. Do you know much about the properties of these waters?” Beaux asked.

Taking her silence as an answer beaux explained that spring is a mixture of mana and the rainwater. While soaking in the hot spring the body soaks in the mana and it helps to heal any physical injuries or exhaustion that is being experienced.

After carefully listening to Beaux Nezani slipped off her robe and stepped in the water and sat on a perfectly placed rock ledge that allowed for her to sit in the water up to her neck and comfortable rest her head on the ledge.

She soaked in the waters for what seemed like hours listening to Beaux hum the familiar tune before getting up deciding it was time to head back and get some rest before her next day of training.

“Get back safely, see you next time, whenever that is” Beaux chuckled.

As she walked away the spring disappeared. Looking around at the dimly lit forest she caught the reflection of some light on the side of the wall of the inner dome.

I wanna peak

For a second she contemplated going to press her face against the glass dome wall to see what was waiting behind the next set of doors but decided against it. It had been a long day and the soak in the spring made her eager to crawl into her bed in the loft and have a good nights rest.