Cassiel had arrived early to warm up, as she usually did. Flexing out her wing felt good, after keeping it tucked in close all day at the shop. Her failed Implant twinged as she did so, sending little shocks of pain branching into her back, but she was used to those by now.

Well, mostly. There were still times when the constant pain got… overwhelming, and she had to shove her face into a pillow and let everything out.

That was even without mentioning the damnable itch - sometimes, despite a lack of actual feeling in the shard of crystal, the edges and the inside would start up the familiar tingle, and she’d scraped her back raw trying to get to it. It never helped - usually, it just made it hurt more.

Regardless, nothing relieved the constant pinch better than stretching out her back muscles and flexing her wing out as far as it could go.

She glanced up at the sky as she twisted her upper body, moving on to more mundane stretches now that her wings were properly shaken out. Illumina was high in the sky, and the edge of her sister, Susuli, was peeking over the horizon - it was midnight.

Danion was late.

Cassiel sighed, turning to face her practice-stone. She set her stance - shoulder side on to her target, legs slightly crouched and braced, wing half-draped over the front of her body, just underlining her eyes. She began charging a Sunray as she did so - her term for the specialised Sunshot she’d developed. She pressed the suffusion of her wings into the tiny crystal thorns built into her wings, focused, and swiped.

The whistling screech of her attack rent the air, sounding like nails on a chalkboard, and tore another ragged gash into the stone. This time, however, she didn’t stop.

Instead, she turned the swipe into a spin, building up another charge as quickly as she could and releasing another, weaker Sunray at conclusion of the pirouette. This one was quieter, and off-centre, barely scratching the edge of the boulder.

Cassiel gritted her teeth, but didn’t let that stop her - she braced her legs and jumped, this time flaring her wing and filling it with suffusion.

Her Implant-assisted jump lifted her a dozen feet off the ground - maybe more, but she couldn’t tell in the exhilaration of that moment - and she hovered, for just a moment, weightless.

The third attempt at the Sunray, however, proved her undoing - the difficulty of both maintaining levitation and firing off an attack proved too much for her single, overworked wing. The pitiful, barely-humming stripe of yellow-orange energy went shooting off randomly into the air, angled above the treeline.

Then her shoulder hit the ground, and she let out a pained cry.

At least it hadn’t been her bad shoulder.

She lay there, slumped over the lip of the crater for a moment, fighting to hold back tears of pain. Even if it hadn’t been on her dead Implant, the pain still lanced across the entirety of her back, and the shard of Crystal embedded there felt that pain most keenly.

She slowly levered herself up and into a sitting position, hissing as she did so. Thankfully, the heat of the Sunlight Aurora behind her was already serving to build her suffusion, and the buzz of energy it brought with it helped dull the pain.

Cassiel waited until the pain had mostly subsided before standing up again, and inspecting her clothes. The simple, plain shirt and billowing trousers that she wore for practice were stained with grass and mud up one side, but thankfully they hadn’t torn. She hated sewing, but it wasn’t really like she had much other choice.

She glanced up at the sky again, and saw that Susuli was substantially further along its slow climb towards Illumina. Which probably meant that Danion wasn’t coming.

She tried not to hold it against him - there could have been any reason for his lateness, all she could do was make baseless speculation. But it still stung, for some reason. She’d been hoping that maybe Danion was different from the others, more… accepting?

She berated herself internally for expecting anything different. He was a lordling, after all, and his attitude disgusted her - but he had come to show her his Implants. Why? He had been showing off, certainly, but it wasn’t in the mean-spirited way she’d come to expect from the Valley Wards, or even the other heirs.

With a final shake of her head, she turned to start the walk back to her house.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Danion’s voice, a little panicked, descended from above - and Cassiel looked up to see the noble boy himself following in its wake. “Sorry I’m late, I swear I didn’t mean to miss midnight, there was just this thing with my master trying to make me do this training thing- you know how it is.”

No, I don’t, thought Cassiel with an edge of bitterness. She paused for a moment, wondering if he would correct himself.

“Anyway, what did you want to meet about, Cass?” He touched down in the crater, wings folding behind his back, and scratched at the back of his head.

Apparently not, Cassiel thought. Also, don’t call me that.

“No need to apologise, Lord Danion,” she responded with her bland, customer-service smile. “I was hoping that you could teach me that suffusion-tracking technique, first.”

“Oh,” Danion replied, seeming oddly disappointed. “R-right. Um, sure, yeah, I can do that. Oh, but call me Danion when we’re alone, right?”

“... Of course,” she replied, then hesitated. “... Danion.”

“Cool!” Danion grinned, then sat down and crossed his legs. “Um… okay. Tracking, right, lemme think…”

Gingerly, Cassiel picked her way over to sit across from him, mimicking his position.

“Okay, I think I remember how my dad taught me,” Danion said, his expression screwed up a little in concentration. “Okay, uh, first of all, close your eyes.”

Cassiel did so.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Okay, um, so…” Danion began, voice seeming a little uncertain. “Firstly, describe how the suffusion feels.”

“Describe how it feels?” Cassiel replied, opening one eye and raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, like… in your body,” Danion said. “Is it in your wings, your muscles, your head? That kind of thing. Oh, and eyes closed!”

“Of course, L- … Danion,” she said, closing the eye and focusing. “Okay, well… It’s kind of everywhere. It’s sort of like my blood, except that it starts in my wing and… flows downward, outward into the rest of my body, reinforcing everything, filling me with nervous energy.”

“How does it start?” Danion asked, and Cassiel thought she could detect a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Well… Juediel says that your wings generate suffusion just in virtue of being formed of Sunlight Crystals,” Cassiel hazarded.

“Oh, right, yeah, of course,” Danion replied, stuttering a little. “What, um, what I meant was… uh, where do the Sunlight Crystals come from?”

“From… the… Valley? The ore veins down in the canyon?” Cassiel replied, mystified as to where he was going with this.

“Right, yeah, and, um… what do they produce?” He continued to press, voice becoming a little more frustrated now.

“... More Crystals?” she guessed.

“No, I mean- what does the vein of Crystals as a whole produce?” He said, definitely frustrated now.

More Crystals wasn’t the right answer? Cassiel wondered, feeling lost. Unless he means-

“The Sunlight Aurora?”

“Yes!” Danion exclaimed, loud and relieved. “The Sunlight Aurora, yes, yes.”

“... Why didn’t you just say that, then?” Cassiel replied, utterly lost.

“I’m- this is how I was taught, okay?” Danion replied, voice sounding annoyed. “So just- this is pretty valuable stuff here, alright? I don’t have to teach you anything.”

“Of course, my lord,” she replied, bowing her head. “My apologies for questioning you.”

“Thank you,” Danion replied, smug once again. “Now- ugh. You can sense the Aurora, right? In your wings?”

“... In my wing, yes,” she replied, fighting to keep the irritation out of her voice.

“It feels like a constant level of heat and energy, stronger the closer you are, yeah?” Danion replied. “You can feel it now, even.”

Cassiel nodded a little. It wasn’t something she thought about much, but yes, the Aurora was essentially a constant sort of buoyant pressure - not one that pushed her down, but lifted her up. It was reassuring, replenishing - there was a lot of poetry in the Weathered Page about the Aurora.

“Well, try and… tune that out, but see if you can feel any of that energy from anywhere else,” Danion said, stumbling over his words a little.

“Tune out… the Aurora?” Cassiel replied, skeptical. “How- I mean, do you have any suggestions for how I should do so, Lord Danion?”

“Um… yeah, I guess,” Danion said, but sounded hesitant. “So… you can kind of tune out certain sounds, and focus in on different ones, right? Like when you’re trying to listen to a conversation while one of the teachers is giving a boring lecture.”

“... Sure,” Cassiel replied, though she was internally exasperated.

How in the heavens did one ‘tune out’ such a fundamental feeling? The Aurora was always present, even when you were sleeping - it was like trying to ‘tune out’ the feeling of her dead Implant.

Well, admittedly, she was fairly practiced at that - she could work through the pain, most of the time, even when it got really bad, and go about her day with only a minority of wincing. It helped to focus on other… sensations…

Brow furrowed, she focused on the suffusion within her body, ignoring the feeling of energy that ebbed against her back from the Sunlight Aurora. Her body was full of it, but it was especially concentrated in her wing - an internal glow, a well of energy and warmth that flooded her body.

But that glow was external, too - the Sunlight Aurora was proof of that. So maybe if she tried to feel the glow of suffusion from elsewhere… then-!

Her eyes snapped open.

“I can feel it!” She exclaimed, breathless with excitement. “From- from you! It’s faint, and weak, but there’s that same glow coming from you!”

“Yes!” Danion replied, just as excited. “Ha! I knew you could do it! I am a good teacher!”

I wouldn’t go that far, Cassiel thought, but didn’t voice.

“Thank you, Danion,” she said, smiling at him honestly this time. “I really appreciate it.”

“Of course,” the boy replied with a cocky smile. “It’s my duty as nobility to help out the less fortunate.”

It had probably been intended to sound cool, but the words made Cassiel’s smile turn brittle.

When have the nobility ever helped me? She thought, an edge of fury tinging her thoughts. When have they done anything except deny me, withhold from me? Steal my birthright from me?

She didn’t voice those thoughts to Danion, of course.

“Okay, well, just keep practising,” Danion said, blithely ignorant of her sudden mood shift. “See if you can tell the difference between other Implanted, see how far away you can detect it from, that kind of thing.”

“Thank you again, Danion,” she said, bowing her head.

The boy flapped a hand in her direction and stood. “Don’t mention it,” he said, as she climbed to her feet. “If you need any more tips, feel free to ask.”

Cassiel hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was too audacious, too risky- but the Tournament wasn’t that far away, and she needed all the help she could get.

“Say, Danion,” she began slowly. “What would you think about meeting here and practising a little more regularly?”

Danion turned to her, blinking in innocent confusion.

“I would really appreciate more help,” she said, doing her best to flatter him without making it too obvious. “I mean, look how quickly you taught me that sensing thing! Maybe… you could help me out with some other stuff I’m struggling with?”

“I- I don’t know, Cass,” Danion replied, rubbing at the back of his head. “I’m supposed to be really busy with my apprenticeship from now, training for this Tournament thing…”

Cassiel gritted her teeth. She really hated doing this, but… What choice did she have?

“I understand,” she replied, not having to fake the bitterness in her voice. “After all… you’re the noble, and I’m just the worthless cripple.”

Should I try and squeeze out some tears for added effect? She wondered, turning away from Danion a little. I don’t even know if I can…

Just in case, she turned her face fully away and pretended to wipe beneath her eyes with one hand, as though brushing away tears.

“No, no, no!” he replied, and then surprised her by striding closer and taking one of her hands in both of his. “You aren’t worthless. I- I’ll try to make time, I promise.”

“Thank you, Danion,” Cassiel said, smiling outwardly, but inwardly nervous at the taking of her hand. “I knew I could count on you.”

He kept hold of her hand for just a shade longer, before dropping it, smiling, and taking off. As Cassiel watched his shaded form drift off into the night, she couldn’t help but scoff a little to herself.

“Nothing about the cripple comment, huh,” she murmured to herself sardonically. Then, with a shake of her head, she turned to the practise rock and took up her stance once again.