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The shaft of light I was basking in had shifted up to my face and shone down relentlessly on my eyes, waking me from my nap. I sat up lazily and rubbed my face, and was surprised to find it wet with tears. Quickly scanning the wagon, I was relieved to find Lia napping across from me, slumped awkwardly in the corner. I wiped the tears from my face, cleared my throat quietly, and attempted to suppress the memories of Hedaat.
Lia woke up an hour later with a large stretch, which brought a pained expression to her face. She rubbed her neck tenderly and attempted a few cautious shoulder rolls. When she finally noticed that I was watching her, she quickly turned her face away. “Good morning, Lux—” Lia cut herself off. “Oh, I mean, good afternoon. No...umm…”
I watched as she struggled awkwardly to find the right expression, doing my best to keep a straight face. My face broke out into a grin, and I quickly gave up resisting and laughed heartily. “Good morning to you too, Lia. How did you sleep?”
She put a hand on her shoulder and pressed gently against the muscle. “It’s hard to find a good place to sleep in here.”
“I could remove those for you,” I said, motioning to her cuffed wrists. “It might be easier for you to—”
Lia shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I don’t want to cause any more trouble for you.”
I moved to respond but decided against it. I already know where this conversation goes. “How about some meditation, then? I find that it can do wonders for sore muscles.”
“Actually, I was hoping we could talk about...things.” Lia spoke quietly as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap.
I sat up straight and gave her an encouraging nod. “Of course.”
She took a deep breath, held it for a beat, then sighed. “Okay. I wanted to say I’m sorry for letting you down in Atsal.”
“Lia, you didn’t—” I stopped when she held up a hand in protest.
“I’ve finally figured out what I want to say, and I want to say it all at once. Is that okay?” I nodded in silent agreement and let her continue. “I’m sorry for Atsal. I let my guard down and didn’t pay attention to my surroundings. I panicked when the guard grabbed me and didn’t think about how to get away until it was too late. You taught me those things, and I forgot them when it was most important.
“After we were taken, I wasn’t thinking straight. The only thought going through my head was that I let you down, and you were going to have to leave me behind because of that. My brain was all fuzzy after the fight and I wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.” She chuckled to herself. “And that’s what I did. But I knew deep down that I was wrong. I knew you didn’t blame me for anything, and that you wouldn’t leave me behind.”
Lia spoke with confidence as she continued. “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my mistakes, and I’m really sorry for that. I know that this situation is what you were trying to avoid above everything else, and I’m going to try my hardest to make it up to you. I’m going to practice and train every day to make sure this doesn’t happen again. No matter what happens when we get back to Yoria, I’m not going to leave your side.” She paused for a moment, then added, “If you’ll have me, of course.”
My jaw dropped as she finished. “Lia…” I managed to say, struggling to keep my emotions in check. “I’m so proud of you.”
Her eyebrows shot up as the sentiment caught her by surprise. “P-proud?”
I nodded. “Yeah, proud. Despite our current situation, you still managed to look back at everything that happened and gain some rational insights from it. You know what went wrong during our fight, you’re talking about how you’re feeling, and more importantly, why you’re feeling that way...” I gave her a slight shrug. “I guess your maturity caught me off guard, is all.”
Lia’s face burned a bright red. “Why wouldn’t you expect that I could be mature?! I’m an adult, and we’re basically the same age!” She fumbled over her words, clearly flustered. “I’m mature!”
“Now THAT’S the Lia I know,” I teased. She looked away and pouted as I laughed. “I’m sorry, Lia,” I said as I wiped a tear from my eye, “you know I’m teasing you, right?” I stood and moved across the wagon to sit beside her, and she glared daggers at me in response. “Oh, c’mere, you,” I chuckled playfully, putting an arm over her shoulders. Lia looked away and held her nose up in feigned indignation, but she eventually leaned her head back in my arm.
“I appreciate that you talked to me about how you were feeling. I hope we can always be open and honest like this in the future, too.” I gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You’re the only person I’d want by my side in this world, Lia. I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
She snuggled into my shoulder and let out a contented sigh. “Thanks, Lux.” We sat quietly and enjoyed each other’s company, comfortable in the temperate autumn weather. The road had smoothed significantly since our morning departure and made for a much less jarring ride. After a few minutes Lia was dozing against my chest, and I made no effort to resist falling asleep myself. As I rested my head atop hers, I caught the familiar airy scent of mint from her hair, and I joined her in sleep with a smile on my face.
The sky was a pale orange when the wagon stopped again and roused me from my nap. I gently extricated my arm from behind Lia’s head and shifted back to my bench as a single set of heavy footfalls moved along the side of the cart. The locks on the door were removed and, without a shout of warning, the doors creaked open. To my surprise, the commander of the guard company stood at the exit. He examined us with a chiseled, emotionless grimace that looked as though it hadn’t left his face in decades.
I gave him a jovial wave, clearly displaying my bare wrists. “Good afternoon, sir. I didn’t expect to see you bringing us our dinner.”
His cold, steely eyes bore through my false cheerful demeanor as he stared at me wordlessly. After a long pause, he turned to look at Lia. “Girl, come here.” She flashed me a quick look of uncertainty before she stood and crept carefully to the exit. The commander gave her a brief inspection, then reached into his pocket and fished through its contents. His hand emerged with a small steel key, which he inserted into Lia’s manacles and gave a hard turn. The cuffs fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
“This is your last chance to relieve yourselves for the night,” he said, his gruff voice cool and even. Turning to allow us exit, he motioned to a patch of trees. “Any attempts to escape will be met with severe punishment.” He met my gaze as he spoke his warning and gave me a knowing look.
I nodded in return as I stood to exit the wagon. “Thank you, sir.” Lia hopped down to the ground, and I followed suit. We were at the side of a road I recognized, having traveled it by foot in the other direction only a few days prior. Two wagons flanked our prison cart on either side with a large collection of guards milling about between them. Directly to our right, four men with crossbows eyed me anxiously.
Lia and I returned to the cart immediately after finishing our business in the thicket. I waved at the men with crossbows as we passed, which drew looks of disgust from two of them, and a look of panic from the others. My lips tightened as I resisted the urge to laugh. When we reentered the cart, the commander set another bag of food on the bench. “Don’t make me regret this,” he called out as he picked up the unlocked manacles.
“Of course not, sir. I greatly appreciate it,” I responded in earnest.
He turned to close the doors but paused to look over his shoulder. “It’s Savitz. Third Company Commander Savitz.”
The statement surprised me. “Oh. Thank you, Commander Savitz.” Without a response, Savitz closed the wagon doors and locked the latches before heading back towards the front of the caravan. I moved to the door and retrieved the food, only now realizing I hadn’t eaten anything for almost a full day. After choosing a plump asperfruit from the meager selection, I handed the bag to Lia and took my seat.
“So…” Lia said as she picked through the offering, �
��What do we do now?”
I smiled as I took a bite from the fruit, pausing a moment to savor the delicious spiced jelly inside. “Well, we’ve spent two days relaxing in luxury here so far. I think it’s time we get to work.”
***
2. BREAKTHROUGH
A bead of sweat dripped from Lia’s nose down to the wooden floor, jostled by the rumbling of our wagon. She sat cross legged with her hands folded in her lap and her eyes closed. Although the morning air was cold enough to make our breath visible, we were both hot and red faced from exertion. I studied Lia intently through my closed eyelids, watching her mana rush down her limbs and cascade back to her core in time with her breathing. The warm amber glow her energy radiated grew brighter every day we practiced together. She’s getting stronger. Quickly.
With a gentle push, I sent my mana skating off along the floor to cover the entirety of the cart. My mental world grew brighter as the details of the wagon appeared in sharp white lines, contrasting against the empty black void surrounding me. Before my mana reached the wheels, I paused with a slight grin on my face. I’ve never tried detection magic while moving before. This may prove...interesting. With my scientific curiosity piqued I pushed forward, moving the energy down along the wooden wheels to the ground.
The increased draw on my mana reserves was immediate. As soon as the energy touched the ground it was quickly whisked away behind us, leaving a long streak of vision in my mind of the distance we had traveled back to the first point of contact I had made. I compensated somewhat effectively by attempting to match the speed of my mana spread along the ground with the speed of the wagon; my efforts created an odd zone of vision where the road ahead entered my mental map, rushed through to the edge of my mana behind us, and then vanished as quickly as it came. Unfortunately, the effect also wreaked havoc on my inner ear and churned my stomach violently.
I withdrew the mana after a few more seconds of observation. When the energy receded back into the wagon my gut lurched again; once I could see only the cart displayed in my mind, the movement I had grown accustomed to compensating for ceased immediately and confused my sense of balance and direction. I took a few seconds to breathe in an attempt to settle my motion sickness. That is an...interesting caveat to this ability. I guess I should have practiced with walking before I jumped straight into cart travel.
Once my head had stopped spinning, my attention shifted back to Lia. She was channeling mana in a circuit around her body, increasing and decreasing the flow in time with her breath. I watched as a wave of energy pulsed down one leg, bounced back up to her core, and then moved to her right arm. A wide smile spread across my face. She’s having fun with it. My eyes opened as I recalled my mana and let out a contented sigh. I bet she could handle it now.
“Lia,” I called out softly to avoid startling her, “I have something new I’d like to teach you.”
Her eyes snapped open in response, and I could see the excitement play clearly across her face. “What is it? A new spell?”
“Sort of. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a spell, but it’s an ability using your mana.” I chuckled after hearing the words aloud. “I guess that sounds a bit silly. Semantics aside, yes, it’s a new spell. I’ve been calling it detection magic, or Detection for short.”
Lia leaned forward to rest her chin in her hands and looked up at me excitedly. “Detection magic...okay! What does it do? How do I do it?”
I laughed at her unbridled enthusiasm. “Alright. Place your hand flat against the bench beside you.” I moved my hand to demonstrate, and she mimicked the position. “We’re going to channel our mana down to the bench, but instead of trying to suffuse the whole thing like we do with our swords, we’re going to let it flow out along the surface in a thin layer. If you can maintain your focus, you should be able to see whatever the mana is touching displayed in your mind.” I paused for a moment, uncertain. “Does that make any sense? I’m not sure if I’m putting it to words correctly. It’s hard to describe stuff you can’t really...see, you know?”
Lia nodded. “No, I understand! We’re outlining the objects instead of completely filling them, because we aren’t trying to use the mana to activate a spell, right?” I tried to respond, but she continued with a new idea. “Oh! That means we don’t actually use the mana at all! We can pull it back without wasting it.”
“That’s right!” The speed at which Lia picked up the idea was impressive. “You’re getting pretty good at this magic stuff, Lia. You must have had a good teacher.” I raised my eyebrows jokingly and laughed. She rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically as she settled into her meditative stance without a response. Mana flowed down from my legs to the floor and covered the interior of the wagon once again as I prepared to give Lia pointers. “Okay, give it a try. Even though you’re not losing the mana, it can still be a taxing—”
I stopped short and watched in awe as the glowing amber energy flowed down Lia’s arm and spread out over the bench with effortless speed. The aura expanded in a circle from her hand, climbing up around the rest of her body and down to the floor below her. She paused for a moment to laugh and waved her hand in front of her face. “I can see it!” she exclaimed. “I can see my hand! And the bench, and the floor too!” The mana resumed its steady crawl forward and flowed towards me. When it reached my boot Lia squealed loudly, and the energy recoiled to a tight circle around her.
“So bright!” Lia called out, her voice full of wonder. “That was so bright! What was that?” Without waiting for a reply she probed out again with her mana until it reached my foot, then retreated away with a squeaking laugh.
You never cease to amaze me, Lia. “That’s me. More specifically, it’s my toes.”
“Your toes?!” She laughed incredulously. “Why was it so bright? It hurt my eyes! Well, I guess it didn’t actually do that...but it felt like it did for a second.” Lia opened her eyes and examined me. “It was like I was staring at a bolt of lightning, but it was bright blue instead of white. Why does your foot look like that?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. My current theory is that everybody’s mana looks a little bit different. The color, the...feel of it, I guess? It’s still pretty new to me. The brightness, on the other hand, is something I’m pretty confident about. The more mana something has, the brighter it looks through your detection.”
Lia leaned back against the wall and took a breath. “Wow. You looked so bright, I could hardly see myself in comparison.”
“Well, I’ve been training for a lot longer than you have. The more you practice, the brighter you’ll get. I think.” I reached out and patted her knee. “Don’t forget, you’ve only been training for a few weeks! The progress you’re making is incredible, Lia.”
“Thanks, Lux. You are a pretty good teacher, after all.” She clapped her hands lightly and put on a serious expression. “I’m going to try it again.” She settled into her meditation stance and placed her hands down flat on the bench beside her. Almost immediately, I saw a puzzled look on her face. “Everything looks...different this time. It’s darker.”
“Oh, right.” I sent out a wave of detection magic and chuckled as Lia shivered in response to the rush of mana. “How about now?”
“I see it! Because it was covering everything already on my first try, I didn’t realize it was actually your mana.” Lia reached out towards me once again, pausing for a moment when it met my foot. Slowly, the amber aura crept up my legs and surrounded my body, covering me in the warm familiar feeling of Lia’s energy. “This is...incredible,” she said, barely louder than a whisper.
We spent the next hour in meditation as we both experimented with detection magic. I tried to scan further along the ground with each successive attempt and succeeded in reaching the nearest wagons to us in the caravan before I had finished. The queasy feeling in my stomach amplified every time I transitioned from the wagon to the ground, and I took frequent breaks to avoid getting overwhelmed.
While I worked on
extending my range, Lia focused on examining objects out of her visual range. She picked up on the technique much quicker than anything we had practiced before; with a few minutes of training, she was laughing with joy as she watched the horses pulling our cart in her mind. At my warning, she kept her mana confined to the wagon to avoid the disorienting effects I was experiencing, although I could tell she was tempted to try regardless.
Despite working on my own experiments, I kept a close eye on Lia throughout the training. I found her immediate progress fascinating, given how hard she had to work at other magic and combat techniques. Her sunny disposition was comforting to see after the incident in Atsal, and the ease with which she controlled her new ability only strengthened her resolve. By the time we had finished our session she was flushed and covered in sweat, but nonetheless had a shining smile on her face.
“At the rate you’re picking this up, you’ll be teaching me about it soon enough!” I laughed as I rested my head against the wall behind me. “I only figured this out while we were travelling, so I haven’t found all the nuances yet.”
“I wish it didn’t make me so tired! All I want to do is keep playing with it,” Lia sighed and leaned back on her hands dreamily, until a look of recognition flashed across her face. “This is how you knew the guards had found us back in Atsal, isn’t it? Did you use it to keep track of everyone during the fight, too?”
“Yes, and no. I was practicing with Detection when I found the guards waiting for us that morning, but I’ve never used it during a fight.” I cocked my head to the side in thought. “I’m not sure my brain could keep up with all of that information in combat. I’ve never tried it, though.” I’ve got to try using Detection during our next sparring match.
A few moments went by before Lia broke the silence. “So...are there any other new abilities you can teach me?”
Restart Again: Volume 2 Page 2
