“What do you mean you guessed? How do you guess something like that? Nobody just guesses a whole new field of magic!” Eliza spluttered wildly.

“But it’s not a whole new field of magic.” Sharna insisted eagerly, “it’s not like I came up with the idea from scratch, soul genesis has been theorised by lots of soul magicians.”

“But not put into practice? No one else has figured out how to do it yet, right?” Eliza asked intently.

“Are you sure that you just made it up?” Myra asked carefully, “Kenji or your grandmother didn’t show you what to do?”

Sharna looked from Eliza to Myra. “Kenji has never tried anything like soul genesis before. I asked him. Or my grandmother. She didn’t want me to even try yet, but after she died I felt like I had no reason to wait anymore.” Sharna looked down, “I just combined all the information that I could obtain in the area and then used what I knew from my image-manifestation.”

Everyone was silent again as they processed what Sharna had just said.

“Please will you teach me how to make a fairy,” Gogo asked fervently, reaching over the table to grab Sharna’s arm.

“Of course,” Sharna said, “I’d love to teach anyone who wants to learn, as long as Myra and Anna don’t mind.”

“Please can we?” Gogo begged them, dropping Sharna’s arm and putting Anna’s hand against her cheek, batting her eyelashes sweetly. “Please?”

Anna and Myra shared a look before Myra spoke, “Anna and I will have to discuss it. It is very generous of Sharna to offer, but she still needs time to settle in here. Also, she is heading to Beau’s today to learn barrier magic so that she can hopefully shield her presence a little better. That needs to be more of a priority right now.”

Gogo looked disappointed, she was still hanging off Anna who was now patting her head gently.

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

“Why does she need to shield her presence?” Gabby asked Myra with concern, “I thought the house was already warded.”

“It is.” Myra said, “however, Beau thinks that Sharna’s image-manifestation technique may draw the attention of others due to the way that it affects the mana around her.”

“Can’t you just do the same as we do then?” Gabby asked Sharna sharply, “we don’t want to draw extra attention to ourselves. Our techniques work really well.”

“I am working on that too,” Sharna said, shrinking back, feeling attacked.

Eliza looked at Gabby with bewilderment. “But don't you want to learn new techniques if we can too? What if they work better than the way we do it now?”

Gabby stared at Eliza flatly. “I just don't want any drama. We're all busy enough with the palace's image-manifestation and our side projects without adding on extra work.”

“I definitely want to learn more! I wanna make a fairy too! Myra said Sharna's going to learn to make her own wards, so what's the big deal, Gabby?” Gogo asked earnestly.

“I just think we have enough to deal with already,” Gabby muttered.

Anna looked at Gabby with concern and reached over to pat her arm, but Gabby pulled away.

“If that's all that you wanted to talk about I've got stuff to do,” said Gabby, as she pushed her chair back from the table, “we all have work to do” she continued, looking at Sharna pointedly.

Myra looked at Gabby with narrowed eyes, “I think that was everything, as long as no-one has any further questions for Sharna?”

“I have heaps more questions,” Eliza said, "I'm just not sure what they all are yet. This was a lot of new information, I need to get my head straight. Can I take a rain check?”

“Of course,” said Sharna quietly, “I'm happy to answer any questions, any time.”

Eliza, Gogo and Gabby all left the table and headed upstairs, Gogo looking at Sharna curiously as she left.

Marjorie also excused herself, smiling at Sharna as she left, gathering the dirty plates as she headed back to the kitchen.

Only Sharna, Anna and Myra remained at the table.

“Well, I think that went reasonably well,” said Myra slowly.

“Did it?” asked Sharna credulously. “I didn't think that went very well at all. Gabby seemed really upset.”

“Yes," said Myra. “I was a little surprised by Gabby's response too.” She looked over at Anna. “What did you think?”

“Gabby has seemed a little tired lately,” Anna mused thoughtfully. “Gogo also seems a little off. It may just be that everyone needs time to settle into our new configuration.” She smiled at Sharna sympathetically, “don't worry about it, honey. It's not your fault. They'll be back to their normal selves in no time.”

Sharna smiled back, but felt the stress sinking down and settling into the pit of her stomach. The only change in the house was the addition of her presence. She could still feel Quinn hiding in her hair and reached her hand up to the back of her neck to feel the warm comfort of her presence.

She desperately wanted this place to be her new home and vowed to increase her efforts with the other members of the house.