Since the duo has increased into a trio, they decided to wait a bit longer, for Amelia to pack her things before they left. Their stay was prolonged an extra three days before their journey could begin.
“Come on Amelia! If you move any slower, Darius and I will end up leaving you behind,” Krista cried from in front of Darius to Amelia who brought up the rear, but she didn’t respond. “Hey, I get it, first time away from mom, and it feels strange, but that means we can talk about anything.” Still no response. “Don’t be like that, I don’t like it when you’re this quiet.”
“I-I’m sorry Krista, it’s just like you said. I’m not used to this new feeling of… freedom? Before three days ago, all I wanted to be, all I knew, was being Madam Hearts apprentice. Sure, I would love to attend the University of New Dawn, but now that we’re leaving home, I just don’t know anymore.”
Kristina could feel that her cousin was not taking this transition well, but she really didn’t know how to help. In her own experience, running from home was one of the most exhilarating moments of her life. Honestly, she thought Amelia would share that sentiment considering how strict Madam Heart could be, especially to her apprentice.
“Hey Amelia, where do you see yourself in 10 years?” Darius asked as he slowed down so he moved side by side with Amelia.
“Excuse me?” Amelia questioned. “There’d be no real point in telling you, it wouldn’t be anything significant.”
“No, no, I’d like to know too.” Krista intervened. “Whenever you’re doing my hair, it’s always us talking about me. I’d like to hear more about what you want to do.”
“Nothing, it’s nothing!” Amelia shrieked. “I don’t have any aspirations like you Krista. I’m not brave like you! I’m not strong like you! I’m just scared, and it feels like the world is going to collapse on me.”
“Your dreams don’t have to be big.” Darius said. “In 10 years, all I want is to be able to sit at a table, in my home, happily, and with all my friends. It’s the reason, I’m here, but I’m scared too. Scared that I might fail, scared that everything I’m doing is all for nothing, but I try not to let that fear control me. I work myself through each and every day knowing that I’ll make it to the next, because if I don’t, then it really doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Little dark at the end there, but I think your message got through,” Krista said. “You already know my dream, to be the best warrior in Stellar. Like Darius, I’ll fight every day to achieve my dreams, and I know one day my dreams will become true.”
Amelia didn’t speak up for a time, but Darius and Krista were both content to let it go. They could already see a noticeable change in Amelia’s demeanor. Luckily, she eventually decided to talk.
“I wanna… cher … tian” Amelia muttered.
“Sorry, I didn’t quite get that Amelia.” Krista responded.
Almost immediately, Amelia shot up, face flushed a bright red as she screamed, “I want to be a great teacher or famous beautician!” Immediately following her shout, she grabbed onto the hood of her blue cloak and tightly wrapped it around her face. She was filled to the brim with embarrassment.
“Thatta girl!” Darius shouted.
“Amelia, why did we never talk about this before?! I knew you loved doing our hair, but I never knew you wanted to be a beautician.”
“I-I don’t know.” Amelia said lightly. “With you always talking about becoming a hunter, I thought that because my own aspirations were much more mundane than yours, that you might… I don’t know.”
Gingerly, Krista dropped the hood back off her head revealing a red, teary-eyed face. “I’d never make fun of your dreams, just like how you never made fun of mine.”
Slowly, Darius pulled ahead of the two girls letting them share this moment, before thinking to call back, “You know what, maybe later you can fix up my hair. It has been getting messy, and I’ve been needing someone to help take care of it.”
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Nearly three weeks passed by of uneventful traveling, save for the occasional strange beast the trio encountered along the way. Krista was practicing some of her weapon skills while Amelia continued to teach Darius the basics of wattiez. The group decided that, every three days, they would stop traveling. This way Amelia could add language arts to Darius’s curriculum.
“Darius, remember that feeling from when we first found out your affinity.” Amelia commanded. “Feel the energy seep into your body, and instead of expelling that energy hold it in. We’re just trying to get your body acclimated to wattiez, especially because of last week.”
Last week was Darius’s first personal attack of the wilt. “It wasn’t so bad Teach, after a few days.”
“That’s because it was a minor instance.” Amelia countered. “If I hadn’t been there to stop you, you might’ve been stuck with it for the duration of our journey.”
“That’s why I’m glad to have you Teach.” Darius said. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“Didn’t I tell you to just call me Amelia? If you want to show me some respect as a teacher, then call me Mistress Heart!”
Darius couldn’t help but laugh to himself. Over the last few weeks, Darius and Amelia had gotten fairly close, resulting in him giving her the nickname Teach, much to Amelia’s annoyance. Krista wasn’t really sure how to feel about the whole situation, on one hand, Amelia was becoming close friends with someone who wasn’t her. On the other hand, Amelia was becoming close friends with someone who wasn’t her, and she wasn’t sure that was the only reason she didn’t like this situation. She tried taking her mind off everything by doing her drills, but it wasn’t working, instead, it just left her sweaty.
“Isn’t he supposed to be doing something other than just sitting there and meditating?” Krista said as she finished the last of her 300 practice sword swings before switching to knife throwing. “Not that I really care.”
“Practical exercises are something I considered, but after his experiences, I think it’s best we take things a little slow,” Amelia responded. “Right now, we’re focusing on learning the size of his vase.”
“There you go throwing words out like I should know what they mean Teach,” Darius complained. “Unless you’re talking about a bowl, I don’t know what vase means.”
“Right, sorry,” Amelia commented. “The vase is your internal storage of wattiez. It’ll dictate how much wattiez you can allow into your body before succumbing to wilt, and how much intensity you can produce for your abilities.”
“Alright, then shouldn’t I work on increasing my vase?” Darius questioned. “Who cares how big it is now if I work on making it bigger?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Amelia responded. “Think of your vase like its namesake, but everyone’s vase is a different size. Some are large like my mother’s, and some are smaller like myself. I think yours is somewhere in between.”
“So, there’s nothing I can do about it?” Darius said somewhat angrily. “Wattiez is just luck of the draw? Then what’s the point of practicing?”
“Not exactly! Inside the jar is a bunch of… compressed energy wanting to come out. What you can train, is the efficiency of the use of that energy.” Amelia took her staff and placed it over a patch of empty grass. Her eyes turned that familiar orange, and she focused on a single word. “Grow.” In that place, a sole yellow flower grew where she pointed, sprouting up and facing towards the sun.
“Impressive, you grew a plant,” Darius said sarcastically. “If I sound sarcastic, that’s because I am.”
“Quiet and look at this.” She focused on a place beside the first plant and another one grew beside it, but it wasn’t just that, several smaller plants and some weeds grew around it. “Just so you know, I only wanted to grow a single plant just like I did last time.”
It took Darius a short time, but he eventually got the point Amelia was trying to make. “I get it, even though you grew more, it was wild and out of control. The first time you got the desired effect without losing any extra energy. I always kind of wondered wat the chanting was for, I’m guessing it has something to do with this?”
“Correct, again. Wattiez is all about imagination, understanding, focus, and control, IUFC,” Amelia explained. “The chanting helps with the first step, giving you an auditory que to help focus you on your mental picture. Though with enough practice, it’ll become unnecessary, like for my mother. I wouldn’t try it myself for the time being because you might suffer from wither.”
“Another side effect of using wattiez?!” Darius complained.
“It’s the opposite of wilt.” Amelia continued. “Expending all the wattiez from your vase. Usually, less life threatening than wilt can be, it’ll just leaving you unconscious for a few days.”
“I’m just going to ignore the vagueness of usually,” Darius remarked.
“Good, then let’s go back to finding the size of your vase. I’m trying to get a decent estimate, so I’ll need you to gather and use wattiez on your own. Obviously, meditation isn’t doing it for you, but I don’t really know how else to empty your mind.”