Chapter 30

// Have you always been this bad an naming stuff? //

No... maybe.

// I'm letting you off the hook because I need to apologize. You miiight remember you got an uncommon Insight gem from the Snake fight where you met Penny. I didn't have the energy back then to instruct you properly, so I was saving energy to stop you if you figured it out on your own. It wasn't super compatible with you, anyway, so I didn't want it to influence your path that early. It's in the inside of your leather jacket pocket, if you're wondering. //

I had no idea what that was. I remember reading insight gem, but honestly, I just thought it was a pretty rock.

// Uncommon Insight Gem- ????? - Compatibility 34% //

Okay, I understand why you didn't want me using it.

// It might have hurt, and you had no foundation, so... you might have spent a real life hour in that thing reinforcing some really bad habits that only worked because the snake was already so injured.

Being out of commission for an hour alone made it a bad idea. Compatibility and quality drastically speed up the process. Took you less than a minute for that Greater with 100% compatibility. You could offer it to Penny. //

That's where her mom died. I don't know if that's a good idea.

// Good point, she's wicket smart. Smart enough that might really effect her. Almost as much as your smell. //

Oskar watched Penny preen in the sun a moment, and then turned to check on everyone. He was exhausted, but Fox was finally showing her impatience.

Touwon was still staring at the Gear set in his hands, and looked on the verge of plopping down and setting up shop right there. Before he could fully absorb himself and settle down, though, Fox grabbed his arm and began pulled him along. “We have got to keep moving. Come.”

They talked a little about what Oskar had learned while Touwon turned the devices over in his hands as he walked. Oskar tried to walk him into a cactus a few times, but he absentmindedly stepped over and around every obstacle Oskar and Fox tried to lead him into. They were chortling with every near miss, and Touwon didn’t so much as glance up from the broken Goggles and Bracer.

Touwon eventually ran out of things he could visually learn and stored the two still damaged devices in his pack. Oskar could tell from one irritated glance that Touwon was more aware of their teasing than he’d appeared during their trek. Oskar bowed his head in apology and kept walking.

The group made their way as far from the fallen Gryphus Vulture as possible, but they feared the smell would follow them forever. The heat felt like it baked the smell of rot onto them like a greasy layer of hardening clay.

After their shenanigans, the group walked in relative silence until he narrowed in on a Wayspring. Oskar tried not to breathe through his mouth so he wouldn’t taste the awful smell of himself.

The group prepared to settle down for the night, but they were literally and figuratively desperate to wash themselves. Luckily, Wayspring water was useful for more than drinking. So, one at a time, Penny escorted them a short distance from camp with enough waterskins to get clean.

Oskar himself used what felt like an obscene amount of water to clean himself. As the first sun dipped below the dunes, he was still rubbing sand on himself and then used the Wayspring water and a rock he’d been lucky enough to find, to scrape himself clean.

I can’t believe I’m in a place where rocks are hard to find.

After half an hour, he realized the smell, as strong as it was, was all but gone. What remained was mostly a pungent memory he was having trouble letting go of.

The moment they’d settled down for the night, Touwon again pulled out the Gear set. Fox had to splash the Kobold to get him to stop messing with it. Eventually, he shoved the Gear, still far from serviceable, in his bag with a resigned sigh. He said something to Fox that she wouldn’t translate directly, because it likely had more Kobold words Oskar wanted to learn, but she explained that it basically meant he didn’t have the tools or knowledge to repair the set.

Touwon cleaned himself using a comb and water as Oskar began preparing something to eat. Fox kept a lookout with Penny at her side nearby.

After Oskar choked down what little food he could, he took over for Fox near the top of the dune. His hearing had healed completely as they’d walked, and instead of walking down to the campsite, Fox lingered up top, and they talked.

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Oskar better explained what happened up in the air with the bird and the ensuing Echoes from the Gem. After she'd asked at least one question per Echo, they sat in silence for a bit.

“Your trust of the magic both empowers you and puts you in danger,” Fox finally said, shaking her head.

He shrugged in response and said, “Magic is new to me, and because it’s so foreign to me, I see it in everything. What is normal to you doesn’t follow what I know of physics... or anything, really. So like I said, I see magic everywhere. I can see magic in the way you move when you fight. I see it when Touwon throws his Kukri-rang things. Penny diving into the sand like it’s a pool of water.”

Fox sat, looking up at the sky thoughtfully as they’d walked.

“It's all magic,” Oskar continued. “In my mind, the only limit to magic is my failure to understand it.”

With a moment of focus, he tried to envelop himself in Sora like he had in the air, with limited success. The effect was noticeable, but it was harder when he wasn't airborn. The limitation felt like it was in him, though. The ground was just another thing to overcome. The magic should still work here.

Undiscouraged, he pointed at the admittedly small amount of air and sand swirling around him. “My mastery of Sora is growing. I can tell a difference, especially after today. But, every night, I fall asleep meditating on it. I feel like it’s whispering its secrets to me, and I’m starting to pick up some of the words.”

Oskar felt silly putting it that way, but he didn’t know a better way to explain it. However, Fox just nodded, deep in thought.

Had even she forgotten the magic in their everyday lives? I hope I never take it for granted myself.

Now, sitting near the top of the dune with Penny snuggled in his lap, he looked out, watching the swirls of color overhead. He was still paying attention to the world around him, but even here on the ground, the sky was calling to him, still whispering its secrets to him. So, he listened.

The days passed as they made their way towards the Great Collective. Touwon had completely given up on the Gear set, which was probably for the best considering they were likely going to hand it over to Gramm when they arrived. Fox had been quiet for a day or so, possibly thinking about what she and Oskar had spoken about.

The magic of the world was all around them, and perhaps she had forgotten to look for it. Forgotten that she could even see it. Afterwards, though, she was back to her old self- just in a better mood.

It’s nice to remember the magic we saw as children when the harsh struggles of adulthood work so diligently to bleed it away.

Oskar followed Fox and Touwon during the day. He trusted them to take him where they needed to go as he worked constantly on his mastery of Sora. Strangely, when the water was in the open air, he could pull on it, even splashing Fox with a stream of water. She laughed and chased him, pouring an entire waterskin over his head, which devolved into him completely dousing her over the next few minutes while Penny and Touwon looked at them like they were crazy. But the laughter was important. It was needed.

The other important thing was that he could now learn to use water when it was in the open air. Below ground, however, there was still something blocking his ability to manipulate it.

He could feel it, obviously, along with all the little living things around him, just fine, but it felt like he was missing some part of the magic. Some idea he hadn't yet wrapped his tired mind around.

Or maybe it's a Concept.

One very special day, a family of Pangolors cautiously approached the group in the early morning hours before the heat got awful, hoping for a chance at the Wayspring the group had slept at the night before. It saddened Oskar how long it took Penny to warm up to them, but it wasn’t long before the three cubs were jumping all over Penny as she playfully defended herself from the assault.

They’d played for a few hours while the group just waited patiently. It seemed important to allow her some time with her own species. Penny even took them “hunting,” while the mother waited nearby, alert, as Penny and the cubs dug up every living thing within 50 yards of the Wayspring. They all waddled back, napped for a bit, and after a time, snuggled a goodbye and waddled off, bellies still full. The mother had bowed her head to the group in thanks, again surprising Oskar at their intelligence.

Interestingly, watching four little Pangolors diving in and out of the sand so casually triggered an inspiration that finally helped Oskar breakthrough his inability to manipulate water under the earth.

// Inspiration- ?????, the Magic Below Unlocked

Took you long enough. Now let’s work on getting that mastery up so you can learn the name. Names have power. It’s all connected! I mean, even if I said the words, you needed to REALIZE it for yourself. The earth isn’t a barrier for magic, it’s just another path. Physical things aren’t a barrier at all. The only thing that stops magic is more magic, especially ??????, The Magic Within. Ok, I know names have power and I can’t just give you the answer, but it’s so dumb that it gets redacted when it’s just another word for a soul. //

What’s a soul?

// SERIOUSLY?! Uh… that ethereal part of you that some attribute to a higher power. //

You mean consciousness?

// No, you numbskull. //

“Uh, ego? Id?”

// Ok, you’re screwing with me. //

Took you long enough. Is your processor overheating? Even your threats have been weak lately.

// If I ever get a body, I’m gonna make you headbutt yourself in the throat. //

Oskar laughed at that one.

It felt strange calling the AI “PUB” all the time, but every time he brought up naming it, the PUB became deadly serious and said no.

// Names should be earned, not given. And among us, a name was earned in service. Despite there being no one left to officially name me, there has already been too much lost to just ignore the past. Even I’m not exactly sure why, but it's just wrong. Besides, I don’t need a name to know you love me. I’m all you think about. //

Just because you can read my thoughts doesn’t mean I’m always thinking about you, Oskar replied with a smirk.

// I can dream. //

Does AI Dream of Electric Pangolors?

// Boy, is that a stretch of a reference. //

Yeeeeah, but it was worth a try.

The day after the Pangolor party, around mid-day, Touwon pointed in the distance, and said the first word Oskar had ever understood him saying. And the Kobold said it clear as day.

“Gramm.”