After the introductions were finished, Ariom suggested that they all stay out in the front garden for a while, since Namyis' magic would dissipate more quickly outdoors. They could move inside after he'd made sure the insulation collars were functioning properly.
No one had any objections to that. Namyis and Seyli took the dragons over to play on the lawn on one side of the driveway, while Ariom sat on a nearby bench and alternated between studying a thick book on flesh enchantments and keeping an eye on Iggy and Tava.
Humerus was also sporting a brand new collar made of red leather, but his wasn't enchanted. Thenio had actually made that one. Ariom decided to use the collar-making project as an opportunity to teach him the basics of leatherworking, and Humerus' collar was one of several simple projects he'd done so far for practice. Ariom thought the revenant would feel left out if he didn't get one, even if he didn't need the insulating effect.
When they'd given it to him, Humerus had acted annoyed and said he was only going to wear it because Thenio had worked so hard on it...but later, Thenio happened to catch a glimpse of him wearing the collar and floating in front of the large mirror in Iggy's bathroom, clearly admiring himself....
While everyone else went over to play around on the grass, Thenio and Bero went back to the golem to continue their riding lesson.
Bero had Thenio practice trotting in a circle for another ten minutes or so before having him do a few laps around the house, moving from a walk to a trot and back again, to make sure he could control the golem properly throughout the process.
"Good. I think that's enough for today," Bero said, smiling and nodding as Thenio slowed the golem to a halt in front of him. "You and Ariom are supposed to be resting up for a couple of days, so let's not overdo it. Why don't you go put the golem away and then join the others? I'm going to head inside to start on lunch."
Thenio turned the golem around and rode it to the storage shed, where he removed the riding tack and put it away, then wiped down the golem with a cleaning cloth and steered it into its charging stall.
In addition to riding, Bero had also been teaching him about basic golem operation and maintenance. Thenio was grateful for that, since it was the kind of thing that a normal magic assistant ought to be able to do. He liked having another way he could be useful to Ariom.
When he got back to the garden, Seyli and Namyis were sitting together on a blanket under the shade of a tree, watching Iggy and Humerus chasing one of Iggy's toys across the grass—a little enchanted bird holding a worm in its beak that hopped around in random patterns.
If you simply caught the bird or knocked it over, nothing happened. But if you pulled the worm out while the bird was still hopping, it would stop and sing a short song. It was quite fast, so getting hold of the worm without disturbing the bird was difficult, but Iggy enjoyed the challenge.
Humerus could easily cheat by pulling the worm out with magic, of course. But he usually played fair for Iggy's sake.
...usually.
Tava had apparently gotten tired of playing and was sitting on Namyis' lap. Namyis was stroking her with a happy expression while she chatted with Seyli. Her friendly manner and enthusiasm for dragons seemed to have won the shy princess over already, since Seyli was looking much more relaxed than she had earlier.
Ariom was still sitting on the bench, seemingly trying to focus on his book. But unlike Seyli, he was looking rather uncomfortable. When Thenio got close enough to hear the conversation, he understood why.
The girls seemed to be talking about their favorite cosmetics and hair styling tools. It was quite the daunting subject.
It wasn't really surprising, though. They'd been expecting the two of them to get along largely because they seemed to have a lot of common interests. Like cute magic beasts and pretty clothes and accessories.
They both waved at Thenio as he approached. He waved back but decided it was better to leave the girl talk alone and headed over to the bench to sit next to Ariom.
"They're...uh...getting along well, aren't they?"
"They are. Probably too well," Ariom replied gloomily. "What was I thinking...letting a battlemage corrupt my poor cousin...?"
Thenio gave an awkward laugh. "Well...I mean...it's not that bad, is it? Doesn't Seyli have a hard time getting close to other people? So it's good if she can make a friend, isn't it? She looks pretty happy right now. They both do."
"Yeah...I guess they do...." Ariom stared silently at the group on the blanket for a moment. Then he sighed and looked back down at his book. "The collars are looking reasonably good so far. Iggy says it's still a little uncomfortable when the ice mage touches him, so the design obviously needs some more work. But Tava seems to be fine with direct contact, since her magic power is higher. We'll see how well they hold out through the afternoon, but even this much is enough to call it a successful first attempt."
"That's good. Namyis seemed really happy to finally be able to pet a dragon."
"...right. She did." Ariom cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Your riding practice looked very good," he said after a moment, clearly trying to change the subject. "I knew your acrobatics training would give you an advantage, but I still didn't expect you to pick it up quite so quickly. You really don't have any riding experience?"
"Well...." Thenio hesitated. "Only a little. And not on a horse. Or a golem."
Ariom looked surprised. "Oh? Have you ridden a hippogryph or something?"
"No...uh...." Thenio scratched his cheek, feeling a little embarrassed. "Dream beast."
"Say what?" Ariom's eyebrows shot up. "Ki'shiu let you ride on his back? A mythic beast did that? Seriously?"
"Well...yeah. I told you he usually meets me in my dream forest and then takes me somewhere else for our magic lessons, right? That's how we get there. He lets me climb on his back, and then we fly to wherever he wants to take me that night. It's...." Thenio looked away. "...it's really fun. The flying is my favorite part of having lessons with him. It's one of the reasons I wanted to learn to ride your golem...."
Ariom stared at him for a long moment. "'Born to fly,' huh...?" he muttered.
Thenio blinked. "What?"
"Nothing." Ariom shook his head. "It's just something that Jasel told me the first time he came here. He said it was a pity you weren't born with a wind affinity, since you'd obviously be good at flying."
"Oh." Thenio wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Um...when Ki'shiu noticed that I enjoyed flying a lot, he pointed out that if I learn to control my chaos magic and change it to different attributes, I should eventually be able to use wind magic. So maybe...well...I might be able to try flying with magic someday...."
He tried to say it casually, so as not to trigger Ariom's aversion to magic acrobatics too much.
"That makes sense." Ariom let out a short, bitter laugh. "I'm sure Jasel would be thrilled. He might try to recruit you for the Magic Corps."
"Wouldn't you kick me out if I joined the Magic Corps?"
"Probably. Though if your magic gets stable enough for you to do that, you wouldn't really need to stay here anyway."
"I guess that's true...."
They both fell silent, watching Iggy and Humerus chase after the toy bird.
A few minutes later, Iggy finally managed to snag the worm out of the bird's beak. He pranced triumphantly around it as it sang its song, holding the rubbery pink worm in his own mouth. When the song was finished, he jumped up and flew over to the bench, landing in between Thenio and Ariom and setting the worm down like a mighty hunter bringing home his prey.
"Ariom, Thenio, look!" Iggy stuck his chest out, his tail waving wildly. "I did it! I got the worm!"
Ariom patted his head. "Well done, little guy."
Thenio also reached over to give him a congratulatory pat. "You're really good at that game, aren't you? It must be because you practice chasing birds so much."
"Mmm!" the little dragon agreed happily. "Chasing birds is super fun!"
He picked up the worm again and flew over to where the girls were sitting so he could show them his prize.
"Tava, Seyli, ice cream lady! Look! I got the worm!"
While Seyli and Namyis were also taking their turns praising the little dragon, Ariom glanced over at Thenio.
"Well..." he said slowly. "I guess Iggy would be pretty upset if I kicked you out. I still hate the Magic Corps, though."
Thenio raised an eyebrow. Why did it feel like Ariom was trying to remind himself of that fact, more than he was trying to remind Thenio...?
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They had lunch on the patio in the atrium. Bero had made an assortment of small sandwiches, so everyone could pick and choose the flavors they wanted.
Iggy and Tava each got a plate of some of the same meats, cheeses, and vegetables that the sandwiches were filled with, cut up into small pieces.
There was also a large platter of sliced fruit for everyone to share.
Humerus, as usual, was going to have his meal separately, so he sat on the side and watched as everyone else ate. That always worried Tava a little, but Seyli reassured her that he would get his food later, and she finally turned and started daintily picking pieces of roast beef and boiled egg off her own plate. Iggy, who was better able to understand Humerus' unusual eating habits, already had his face buried in a small pile of flaked salmon.
"Don't worry, Humerus. I brought something special for you," Namyis told him with a wink. "Some special spicy ice cream."
"You can make spicy ice cream?" Iggy raised his head, ears perked up with interest. There were little bits of fish all over his snout.
"Right! I can!" Namyis said, nodding happily. "I know how to make all kinds of ice cream! I said I would bring dessert today, didn't I? And Ariom said he wanted to test out your new collars with a little bit of active magic use. So I brought ingredients to make ice cream. We can do both at once!"
"I want to help make ice cream!" Iggy's tail waved enthusiastically for a moment. Then it stopped, and he flattened his ears. "But we're not making ice cream out of Thenio, okay? I told you before—Thenio will not be tasty as ice cream!"
"Right. No Thenio ice cream. I promise." Namyis said solemnly. She looked at Ariom. "I'm not sure if it's safe for Thenio to help out or not. It doesn't take a lot of magic power, and the ingredients are all non-magic, apart from the premade stuff I brought for Humerus. It should be safe for him to eat, though. He didn't have any problem with the sorbet I brought over the other day, did he?"
"No, that was fine." Ariom looked at Thenio thoughtfully. "It might be all right for him to help. Depends on just how much magic you're putting out. Worst case, he can watch from the dragon box in the kitchen while you're doing the freezing part."
Thenio made an awkward expression. He was used to the dragons watching him from their box while he cooked, but he wasn't sure how he felt about the situation being reversed....
After they finished eating, everyone helped clean up and then assembled in the dining room to wait for Namyis' instructions.
"First of all, I'll give you these." She pulled a stack of several covered paper cups out of her space pocket and set them on the table. "I brought over a few different flavors for Humerus to try. These are more concentrated versions of the spiced ice cream I usually make for humans. The ingredients are written on the sides, so you can check them and make sure they're safe before he eats them."
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"Looks tasty..." Humerus said, eyeing the cups with great anticipation from his perch on Bero's shoulder, his tail waving behind him.
"You're not eating those all at once," Bero told him sternly. "You can try one at a time. Do you want to go eat now? Or do you want to help the others make their ice cream first?"
"Oh...." Humerus looked indecisively between the stack of cups and Iggy, who was sitting on Thenio's shoulder. "Uh...I guess...I want to help...."
"All right. We'll go put them in the storage room, and you can have one in a little while. Now, you should thank Namyis properly. It was very kind of her to bring these for you."
"Right. Uh...thanks, Namyis," Humerus said, fidgeting awkwardly.
"You're welcome," she replied with a happy smile. "I hope you like them."
Bero passed Humerus over to Thenio and then went to go put the ice cream away.
Thenio and Seyli took all the dragons into the kitchen and started giving them a thorough paw-washing.
"I have things partly prepared already, so there's not that much for them to help with," Namyis told them apologetically as she took a box of ingredients out of her space pocket and started setting them out on the counter. "But they can help mix things together. Dragons can do that, can't they? I've never cooked with any before...."
She was obviously excited about the prospect of it.
"Yes, as long as it doesn't require too much force," Seyli said, nodding. "And all three of them can handle pretty high temperatures, so it's fine to let them stir things while they're cooking."
"Good. They can help while we make the bases, then." Namyis turned to Ariom, who had been getting out a saucepan and several mixing bowls and spoons, and gave him a bright smile. "Thanks, Ariom. Those are perfect."
Ariom gave her an annoyed look. "Was there anything else you needed?"
She shook her head. "No. I have everything measured out already, so we just have to dump and mix."
He glanced at the ingredients she'd placed on the counter, which included eggs and cream. "You must have a stasis pocket if you can carry around things like that."
"Yep! Perks of having a crystal primary! I helped one of the enchanters at the military's equipment workshop make several of them and got to keep one as payment. It's really great for carrying meals with me when I go out on longer missions. That dried military food is okay once in a while, but it really does get old in a hurry...."
A stasis pocket was a more advanced version of a space pocket, which could both store items and apply stasis magic to them. A well-made one could preserve things like food indefinitely as long as it had a constant supply of magic, which obviously wasn't a problem for someone like Namyis.
It was almost impossible to make one without the help of a crystal mage, though. Even Ariom couldn't do it, as far as Thenio knew. He could make space pockets and stasis containers, but he couldn't combine the two like that.
And naturally, it was astronomically expensive to buy one....
"I can help you make some too, if you want!" Namyis' smile turned a bit sly. "Especially if you're willing to design some better dampening cuffs for me...."
"No. I don't want," Ariom said firmly, glaring at her. "I don't take jobs from the military. How many times do I have to tell you that? And I'm a grandmaster enchanter. I'm perfectly capable of hiring a crystal mage if I need one, thank you very much."
"Aww...too bad...." Namyis let out a disappointed sigh. "It was worth a try...."
Ariom rolled his eyes. "I'll be in the next room. Tell me before you start using any magic."
He turned and walked out to the dining room, where he sat down at the table, pulled his flesh enchantment book back out of his space pocket, and began reading with a slight scowl on his face.
"What did you do to annoy him this time?" Bero asked mildly, walking out of the doorway that led into the pantry area.
Namyis made a pathetic face. "I'm just trying to hire him to make something for me...."
"Ah." Bero nodded with a small, understanding smile. "Well...I wish you luck."
Her expression brightened again. "Thanks!"
Bero chuckled a little. "It looks like you have the ice cream making operation well in hand, so I guess I'll go do some studying with Ariom."
He went out to the dining room, sat down across from his nephew, and pulled out a book of his own.
"All right, then." Namyis set the saucepan on the stove and turned on the heat. Then she poured in the jar of cream she'd gotten out and picked up a mixing spoon. "Who wants to stir first?"
The three dragons happily took turns moving the spoon around the saucepan while Namyis added in the ingredients to make a basic custard sauce. Once everything was mixed in, they kept stirring it over a low heat for a few minutes to let it thicken.
"That looks good," Namyis said, dipping the spoon into the liquid to check the texture. She lifted the pan off the stove and poured the contents into a waiting bowl. "This will be our sweet ice cream base. Next, we'll make a savory one."
"A...savory ice cream base?" Thenio asked, wondering if he'd heard correctly.
"Yep! Aren't a lot of the recipes for creamy soups similar to recipes for ice cream? You just have to modify them a little and then freeze them like you do ice cream, and you end up with all kinds of interesting flavors. Iggy and Tava both really like fish, don't they? So we're going to make them some fish ice cream."
Thenio stared at her. "Fish ice cream...?"
"Right, fish! We'll make some other meat flavors, too. Chicken's quite good."
"I've heard of people making meat-flavored ice cream for magic beasts," Seyli said thoughtfully. "But I've never tried it."
"Well, you see, Isia.... Ah, that's my trainer. You probably know her as Sword Queen. She's a metal mage, right? But she's a crystal primary, like I am, and over the years she's become kind of an expert on training people to use crystal magic. That's one of the reasons I was assigned to her. Anyway, she has some pretty unusual training techniques. One of the things she made me do when I was younger was to work in the cafeteria at the training center. My job was to make frozen desserts. Here, rinse this out for me, will you?"
Thenio took the saucepan that Namyis handed him and carried it over to the sink. "So you had to make ice cream as part of your training?"
"Right! It sounds crazy, I know, but I really did! That's why it was so funny when Iggy started calling me the ice cream lady." Namyis laughed as she started getting out another set of ingredients. "I didn't start out with that, though. Using ice magic to make ice cream is actually a lot harder than it sounds. I had to practice for a long time before I could get the texture right. I actually started by just making plain ice cubes. Then I moved up to shaved ice. Then sorbet. Then finally things like ice cream."
Seyli tilted her head curiously. "What's harder about ice cream, exactly? Is it because you have to churn it while you're freezing it?"
"That's the thing—I don't churn it. The point of the training was to help me learn to control the crystalline structures that form when I freeze things. To get a smoother texture, you need smaller crystals."
"Ah, that makes sense." Seyli nodded. "Directly controlling the texture like that does sound difficult."
"It was horrible at first." Namyis made a face as she took the clean saucepan back from Thenio and put it on the stove again. "I thought I'd never be able to do it. But, well, after years and years of practicing, now it's easy." She laughed a little. "Sometimes I look back and wonder how I ever managed to get to this point, when it seemed so impossible in the beginning."
Thenio was quiet as he watched her starting to pour ingredients into the pot again, with the dragons eagerly stirring them together.
Namyis wasn't obviously addressing him as she told her story. She wasn't even looking at him most of the time. But somehow he felt like she was telling it on purpose for him to hear....
Maybe he was just overthinking things.
"All right, we have both our bases ready," Namyis said a short time later, after the second pan of sauce had been poured into a bowl. "Now it's time for the fun part!"
She pulled yet another box out of her stasis pocket. This one held a number of small glass jars that held what looked like jams and syrups.
"Here are all our flavorings!" she announced, setting the box down in front of the waiting dragons with a flourish. "One of the advantages of making ice cream with magic is that it's easy to make really small batches, so you can try out a lot of different flavors." She looked over toward the dining room. "Why don't we take everything out there so Ariom and Bero can join in?"
A few minutes later, they were all seated around the dining room table, with the bowls of ice cream base, the jars of flavorings, and several stacks of tiny paper bowls set out in front of them.
The ice cream tasting party began. Everyone took turns choosing a flavor to try and mixing a small amount of it into a spoonful of the appropriate base, then passing it over to Namyis for her to freeze.
It was similar to watching her make stasis crystals. All she had to do was tap the bowl lightly with her finger, and the liquid inside was instantly frozen, with a perfect, creamy texture.
She made it look so easy.... If she hadn't told them about the extensive training she'd had to go through to be able to do it, Thenio never would have realized what an impressive feat of magic control it was.
Seyli picked out flavors for Tava to try and helped her mix them together. Thenio was in charge of helping Iggy, with Ariom keeping an eye on him to make sure Namyis' magic didn't affect him too much.
Bero stayed long enough to try a few different flavors, but Humerus was clearly getting restless watching everyone else enjoying their ice cream. The two of them soon excused themselves and went upstairs so that the revenant could try out one of his own frozen treats.
Thenio wasn't surprised to discover that he really wasn't a fan of meat-flavored ice cream. But Iggy and Tava both enjoyed it. They especially liked the fish flavor, so Namyis used the leftover savory base to make a larger batch of it, which Ariom stored in the ice box for later.
"I guess I should get going soon," Namyis said when everyone had eaten their fill of ice cream and finished cleaning up. "My train leaves in a few hours, and I need to go do one last check to make sure I've packed everything." She shot a playful grin in Ariom's direction. "The amazing grandmaster is going to scold me if I don't do a good job picking up our research materials."
The atmosphere in the room immediately became more sober.
Yesterday's practice had gone well enough that they had decided it was time to go ahead with the real analysis. It was scheduled for the day after tomorrow. Ariom and Thenio had two full days off to rest. But Namyis was leaving the city tonight to go prepare for the raid on the hideout where their research subject was currently staying.
Seyli looked at her new friend with concern. She still didn't know the details of the job, but she knew Namyis was leaving for a mission, and she was smart enough to read between the lines and figure out that it was going to be a dangerous one.
Ariom glanced at Namyis with a complicated expression before looking away again. And Thenio couldn't help feeling a bit guilty that his part in the project was so much safer than theirs.
Even Tava noticed something was wrong. She looked back and forth at the tense faces around the room and whined softly.
"Hey, don't look so worried," Namyis said, giving them a reassuring smile. "I've done this kind of thing before. And I'll be with a really good team. We'll be fine."
"Well, there's no reason to doubt your abilities," Bero said with a gentle smile. He and Humerus had returned to the dining room a few minutes before. "I missed most of your magic display, but I saw more than enough to be impressed. Still...take care of yourself, all right?" He closed one hand in a fist and held it out to her. "Fight well."
Namyis' smile widened when she saw the gesture. She reached out and lightly hit her fist against his. "I'll do my best."
It was a sort of ritual that members of the Magic Corps did before a mission. It was quite famous. Thenio had seen children doing it when they pretended to be battlemages.
He hesitated briefly and then held his own fist out. Namyis gave him a playful wink and hit her fist against his as well.
Seyli also repeated the gesture and then looked at her dragon. "Tava, paw."
Tava obediently held one of her front paws out.
Namyis' eyes lit up with delight. "Thanks, Tava," she said, bumping her fist gently against the small violet paw and then patting Tava's head.
"Me too! Me too!" Iggy had been starting to doze off after eating so much ice cream, but now he jumped up excitedly, trotting across the table and holding out his paw to receive a fistbump and pats.
"Hmph. Well...I guess if everyone else is doing it...." Humerus made a reluctant expression, but he, too, held out his paw.
When Namyis finished patting the revenant's head, she turned to Ariom with a teasing smile and held out her fist. "You too? Wish me a good fight?"
But Ariom simply scowled at her. "Don't be stupid. I'm not doing that. Come on. I'll walk you out." He turned and headed toward the door.
"Aww...he's always so stingy..." Namyis said, pouting and lowering her hand. But her expression brightened as she looked back at the others. "See you again soon," she said with a smile and a little wave.
Then she followed Ariom outside.
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The two of them walked out to the front of the house and down the driveway. Ariom didn't look at Namyis, and neither of them spoke until they were almost to where her golem carriage was parked.
"Hey...Ariom?"
He paused and turned around.
Namyis had stopped walking and was looking at him with an unusually serious expression. "Thank you for today. Really. It meant a lot to me."
He looked away. "It's not like I did it just for you, you know. It was part of the research I've been doing for Thenio. And Iggy's very sensitive to magic, so those collars should be useful for him in the future."
"I know that. But you still let me come and help test them out instead of finding another high-ranker to do it. And you let me play around with Iggy and meet Seyli and Tava. I had a really wonderful time. So thank you for that."
Ariom glanced at her. It was a mistake. The brilliant smile on her face almost blinded him.
He quickly looked away again and was irritated to feel his own face growing slightly warm.
Really. She was just thanking him for the work he'd done. What was wrong with him today? He must still be tired from the long practice session yesterday.
So annoying....
"Well, that's all I had to say. I'd better get going. Have a good rest, and I'll see you in a couple of days, all right?" Namyis started walking again, moving past Ariom and over to the door of her carriage.
Ariom glanced at her again. "Don't do anything reckless. It's going to be a real hassle if we have to delay the job because you get injured...."
For some inexplicable reason, Namyis laughed at that and turned to give him a playful smile. "Thanks. I'll be careful."
She waved and got into the carriage. Ariom moved off to the side as she steered the white gryphon golem around and down the driveway. There was a deep scowl on his face as he watched the carriage disappear through the front gate.
Why did he feel like he'd just lost somehow...?