Kaia was fascinated the moment she stepped into Awa’s ‘workroom’. The room was close to sixty feet long, with one half being filled with worktables and benches full of strange, in some cases gently glowing devices that Kaia didn’t recognize and the other half playing host to writing desks, reading lecterns and a large number of towering bookshelves. “This is all yours?” “Well, more or less. Sometimes other researchers and scholars join me here, but mostly it’s just me. It’s not that impressive, really. There’s a lot I can’t do with the equipment here, so I visit the university labs a lot to do practical experiments.” “It seems pretty impressive to me.” Kaia said as she picked up a data sheet covered in neat handwriting. She frowned curiously when she felt the strange, almost rubbery texture of the thin sheet. “What’s this? It looks like paper at a distance, but it clearly isn’t.” “Oh, that’s a pressed sheet of earth-water meld resin. You need special inks to write on it, but it’s a lot more durable than paper, it’s cheaper to produce and it doesn’t burn. Some traditionalists don’t like it, but most people prefer it to paper these days.” Kaia nodded thoughtfully as she scanned the data sheet, and unsurprisingly she couldn’t make heads or tails of the information it held. “Right. How quickly do you think you can teach me the basics of magic theory?” Awa smiled brightly. “Let’s find out.” Jarak was writing letters. Jarak always wrote letters whenever he had a moment to spare. After all, if he didn’t keep in touch with all his friends they might forget about him, and if they forgot about him he wouldn’t have as many friends. Jarak hated it when he ended up with fewer friends, no matter what the reason. Right now, he was writing a letter to an old baker in a small coastal village that he had met almost ten years ago. He liked the old baker. He liked all his friends. But he worried about him, too. The man was almost seventy years old, and the spreading twilight was getting rather close to the village where he lived. If the twilight beasts attacked the village, Jarak was likely to lose a friend. Jarak really hoped that the new girl would find a way to stop the twilight. If the world was really ending, like Kio said it would if they couldn’t find a way to stop it, then Jarak might end up losing all his many friends, and that was simply not acceptable. Of course, even if the twilight was stopped, a few of Jarak’s friends were getting rather old, so he might end up losing them anyway. But that was a problem for later. First he had to make sure the world got saved, then he could start worrying about making sure his friends lived forever. Maybe Awa and the new girl could help with that as well. With a strange gleam in his golden eyes, Jarak finished his letter and carefully placed it inside an envelope. Kaia and Awa proved to be an incredibly efficient team. Awa might not be the greatest teacher, but she seemed to possess an endless energy and enthusiasm for any matter related to magic theory. Kaia had quickly realized that if she didn’t pay perfect attention to every word out of the girl’s mouth, she’d be bound to miss something and end up completely lost amid a roiling ocean of unfamiliar words and ideas. As such, she had very quickly sunk into a meditative state, pushing aside every stray thought and impulse she had and focusing her entire being on comprehending and filing away the flood of information that threatened to overwhelm her. Awa practically bounced around her workroom, reading from books, showcasing illustrations and even demonstrating a few quick experiments, but the torrent of words never seemed to cease. And Kaia sat cross-legged atop a chair quietly taking it all in. As the hours passed, she gradually felt her own understanding of the subject taking shape and growing ever more solid. As evening fell, the castle staff very nearly had to bodily drag the two girls out of the workroom and towards the dining hall, where they were seated next to each other on the north side of the large, square table. Jarak and Miriam sat across from them, Kio and Willow to their left and Albert and Mora to their right. The rest of the massive table was empty, save for the large platters of diverse and luxurious food all around them. But Kaia didn’t really notice the odd seating arrangements. In fact, she barely even noticed the food. She was far too busy talking to Awa. Her understanding of the subject had finally reached the point where she felt like she understood what questions she needed to have answered to learn more, and so the two girls were having a hushed conversation at an almost frantic pace, only managing the occasional bite of food in between their trade of questions and answers. Albert eyed them with some interest before turning to Mora with a raised eyebrow. “Do you understand a word of what they’re saying?” “A little bit, I think. It’s all kind of beyond me. I was never all that interested in theory.” Mora admitted. “Quite. I did take a few courses of earth magic theory in my university days, but beyond a few technical terms I must confess I have no idea what they’re talking about. I suppose the field has developed quite a lot in the last thirty years.” “I suppose it must have. I only visited Awa’s workroom the once, and I’ve never seen so much math in one place before. But she’s given me some excellent advice on controlling my earth magic, which is not something I expected to get from the magus of water, let me tell you.” “Well, they do say she’s a prodigy.” “I just hope they’ll be able to figure something out. Sun knows I couldn’t. But if they need a very big rock moved, I’m sure I can be of service.” Albert chuckled good-naturedly. Kaia slid into bed next to Awa, fidgeting a little in her unfamiliar blue nightgown. Someone who was supposedly her chambermaid (Kaia hadn’t even known what a chambermaid was, let alone that she had one) had told her quite firmly that she had an excellent suite of rooms here in the castle. Kaia had refused the offer equally firmly, because her head was swirling with exciting new information and ideas, and it seemed a shame to have to part with her teacher simply because she was going to bed. The fact that Awa’s guest suite only held a single bed might have been a little awkward if not for the fact that said bed was more than twice as wide as Kaia’s bed back home, giving the two of them ample space to sleep. Theoretically, anyway. Neither of them were in any hurry to drift off just yet. “So you’re saying that these ‘hearts’ are actually just solidified magical energy?” “That’s right. Small fragments of the hearts are actually harvested semi-regularly these days. But only by teams of skilled elemental mages, of course. The trials you have to pass to reach the hearts of the cradles are very dangerous. But the fragments are more than valuable enough to justify the risk involved. There’s a whole school of engineering based entirely around the magical resonance of heart fragments.” “And every fragment has its own unique resonance pattern?” “Yes. It seems to depend entirely on the exact circumstances in which the fragment was broken from the heart.” “And the fragments are practically indestructible?” “Well, they can be destroyed under extreme circumstances, but it’s very difficult to achieve, and extremely dangerous. A broken fragment will instantly dissolve into a violent burst of magical energy. Except for the ones that the Godslayer and King Aro cut in half.” “My dad cut one of these fragments in half?” “Oh yes. And with the exception of king Aro, no-one has ever been able to replicate the feat. The split fragments are considered national treasures of the respective republics. Although right now they’re both in my lab. I requisitioned them for my research in accordance with the global emergency act, which earned me some enemies among the curators of the national museums, let me tell you.” Kaia lay silently for a while, staring up at the ancient stone ceiling above her. Then, she turned to look Awa in the eyes. “Tell me more about my dad.” Kio was an early riser by nature, and the two years he spent in the army had only strengthened those tendencies. As the twilight of dawn painted the sky in purple and gold, Kio was already stood atop the western tower, practicing the forms and movements of wind-magic-assisted close quarters combat. It was no secret that he had always wanted to be a front-line soldier, protecting the realm from the rising magical threat. But just as he was about to apply for the specialist training necessary to fight on the twilight front, he had somehow ended up surpassing his aunt as magus. He couldn’t help but resent the title a little. It was an important job, and he fully intended to perform his duties to the best of his ability, but he wanted to be on the front line, making a difference. Not stuck in the capital while other people fought and died in his stead. It didn’t help that his aunt, who had only become magus fairly late in life after a very successful military career, had reacted to being surpassed with absolute glee. She was an old warhorse of a woman, and had bribed, threatened and nagged her way back into the armed forces in less than a month. “Lucky old bint.” Kio muttered as he threw a particularly nasty kick. Kaia lay in bed as the morning sun streamed in through the window, her mind whirling with information. She’d gone from listening to stories about her dad to dreaming about magic to waking up once more almost seamlessly, and it was almost difficult to tell what parts had been dreams and what parts had been real. It was like her mind had been kept right on working on all the problems she had posed to it all through the night. And there was something about everything she’d been told… Something that just might… “Awa! Wake up!” Awa made an unhappy grumbling noise and buried her face in the pillow. “Come oooon! Wake up already!” Kaia snatched the pillow away from the girl, who responded by sleepily reaching out to grab it. What she actually managed to grab was Kaia, who didn’t quite know how to react to the girl hugging her tightly and snuggling into her chest. In the end she settled for gently prying the girl away and softly shaking her. “Seriously, wake up! It’s important.” Awa opened her eyes groggily. “Kaia? What are you…” “The fragments! You said they all had their own resonance pattern depending on how they were broken free from the hearts?” “That’s right. Why…” “What about the pieces of the ones that were cut in half?” “Oh, the halves actually have identical resonance signatures. It’s quite fascinating, but no-one’s really figured out a use for…” “We’re going to the lab. Right now.” “Right now? But it’s soooo early! And what about breakfast?” “We can grab something on the way. Now come on!” Willow was not an early riser by nature. When the sun invaded his bedchamber his usual response was to pull the curtains, turn over and go back to sleep with a grumble. There was only one thing that was sure to get him out of bed in the morning. “Wiiiiiillow! Up you get! I’ve got coffee and muuuuuffins.” Miriam sing-songed. Willow blinked his eyes open blearily. As his vision swam into focus, he was greeted by the sight of Miriam sitting at the nearby table wearing a bright smile and not a whole lot else. Once that image registered, it took about fifteen seconds for Willow to go from lying prone in bed to sitting in Miriam’s lap and giving her a rather passionate kiss. “Well now…” Miriam trilled. “Someone’s in an excellent mood this morning.” “I challenge you to find a single person who won’t be in an excellent mood when a beautiful woman brings them fresh muffins first thing in the morning.” Miriam grinned and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I also brought strawberries and cream.” She didn’t say anything else for quite some time after that, because her mouth was otherwise occupied. Kaia looked at the little crystalline fragments. Their surfaces were jagged and uneven, playing host to so many facets and edges that they sparkled almost blindingly in the light of the lab. Blue, green, red and yellow. Water, earth, fire and air. And none of them were larger than the tip of her thumb. But the cut fragments were different. Each one was almost as long as her forearm, and while on the outside they were just as jagged and sparkly as the others, the plane where they had been cut was perfectly smooth, providing a perfect, if strongly tinted, reflection when viewed at an angle. “Your father split the fire fragment to convince King Aro to join his cause. And the king later split the earth fragment to convince his goddess to attend the diplomatic summit.” “Where she was killed.” “It’s almost universally agreed that this was for the best.” “I suppose it did end a war.” Kaia muttered as she studied the bisected fragments. “And they used their artefacts to split them?” “That’s right. First River and Eternal Rain can cut anything that is less pure than the heart of their wielder. But these fragments are formed from absolutely pure elemental magic. No water magus since has been able to replicate the feat. It is said that the only way to do it is to focus your entire body, mind and soul on the task. I think every water magus since has tried it at least once, but none have ever succeeded.” “I think they were doing it wrong.” Kaia muttered. “What?” “Could you stand back a little?” Awa took a few steps back warily as Kaia drew her sword. With a small frown she placed it against one of the small fragments and pushed down, not leaving so much as a scratch. But this was what her father had been teaching her, wasn’t it? You can’t live your live in a state of true purity of intent. Life is too complicated. Too full of problems and doubts and worries. That kind of purity was something that might only happen once in a lifetime, if that. But you didn’t need your whole life to revolve around a single course of action. All you needed was an absolute purity of focus in the moment. For just one instant, you can narrow your entire existence down to a single desire. A single swing of the blade. Closing her eyes, Kaia fell into a trance. Like her father had taught her, she started pushing away every thought, every impulse, every emotion and desire. One by one, she took every single thing about herself that wasn’t the need to cut this fragment and carefully sorted it away until her entire mind held only one desire, one dream, one need. The need to cut. Kaia opened her eyes with a small groan, nursing the back of her head with her hand. The pain of banging your head against a stone floor was becoming too familiar for comfort. “What happened?” She asked blearily. “You… You cut through the fragment. And the table. And a bit of the floor. And then you fell over.” Awa said weakly. “Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. I kind of forgot about the whole standing up thing for a moment there. Next time, maybe we could put some pillows down or something…” “Next time…? Don’t you get it? You just did something that’s only been done twice before in the history of the world!” “Yeah, yeah I know.” Kaia muttered as she got off the floor and withdrew her sword from where it sat embedded in the stone floor. “Now I just have to do it three more times so we can actually start working.” Mora was baking. She always baked whenever she wanted to take her mind off her worries. She ended up baking quite a lot. She was fine with clear and present danger, or any problem that she could do something about. If she was beset by a big, ghastly monster, she would smash it between a pair of boulders without even flinching. If a house was on fire she would immediately call the fire fighters and organize a bucket chain before rushing in to see who she could save. If she found a crying child in the street, she would do everything she could to comfort them while trying to find out what the problem was and if there was some way she could help. No, it was the problems she couldn’t solve that got to her. Things like the growing twilight. It wasn’t like she could just go there and start smashing monsters and everything would be fine. There were always more monsters, and the twilight was getting bigger and bigger with every passing season. Clearly something needed to be done, but she had no idea what or how. And so she worried. And so she baked. As a result, she had become a rather expert baker. Currently she was making a type of cake known for its delightfully light, airy structure, and she was extremely careful as she mixed the ingredients together. At this stage, the cake was incredibly sensitive to shocks and bumps, and if she so much as put her foot down wrong it might make the entire thing collapse. A powerful wave of elemental magic shot through the room, making every hair on Mora’s body stand on end as it passed through her. She only barely had time to gently levitate the stone baking pan into the air with her magic before the aftershocks of the burst of elemental power shook the entire castle. She sighed deeply in relief as she carefully manoeuvred the pan into the oven, and as such completely missed the high-pitched keening noise that was steadily getting louder. And so she was completely taken by surprise by the explosion that followed, shaking the castle so hard it sent her stumbling to the ground. After a few seconds she stood back up with a tired groan, throwing a sad look at the completely deflated cake in the oven. “Now that’s a result!” Kaia crowed as she peered up from behind the massive table they’d toppled to take cover behind. Her ears were still ringing from the explosion, and whenever she touched anything little flashes of elemental magic erupted from her tingling fingers. “A result?” Awa said incredulously. “Everything blew up!” “That’s a result in my book.” “You just exploded fifty thousand scrip worth of lab equipment and blew a hole through a twenty thousand years old wall!” “How much is fifty thousand scrip worth?” “It’s about the yearly wage of an assembly worker.” “Well that’s fine, then. You’re basically old money, right? I’m sure you’re rolling in it.” “My family is old money. My father is, as you put it, ‘rolling in it’. I’m on an allowance.” “Then just bill it to the government. Saving the world has to count as government work, right? Now help me find the fragments. I want to see if anything’s changed.” After a lot of scrabbling around and a lot of grumbling from Awa, they managed to locate all eight pieces of the four bisected little heart fragments. They had sort of a strange rainbow shimmer to them, but nothing else seemed to have changed. “That’s odd, but it’s not really helpful. I suppose I could run some tests on them once the lab is fixed up.” “Yeah, I guess so…” Kaia picked up four of the fragment pieces, one from each element, and looked at them closely. The rainbow shimmer really was odd… And it seemed stronger the closer together the pieces were. She idly flipped one of the fragments over… And heard a scraping noise from the table. Keeping a real close eye on the pieces still on the table, Kaia flipped over the water fragment once again. The half of it still on the table turned over as if flipped by an invisible hand. She flipped over the fire fragment, and again the corresponding piece turned seemingly by itself. With a small frown she tried moving the water fragment to her other hand and turning it over. Nothing happened. She flipped over the fire fragment once more, and again nothing happened. But once she brought the four fragments together again, rotating one of the fragments caused its counterpart on the table to follow suit. Curious, she reached over to flip the air fragment on the table, and almost jumped when she felt its twin moving against her hand. If Kaia had been a more classically minded person, she might have taken this moment to shout ‘eureka’. This would have been completely pointless, since Awa wouldn’t have understood what it meant. What she did say was perhaps not as catchy, but it was certainly more useful. “Awa! Come over here! This is so cool!”