Chapter 173: The Sonata
Irwin lay on his odd bed with high edges that prevented him from rolling off in case the ship had to make a sudden move. He'd been on the deck for a long time, but now it was his time to rest. Rindiri and Daubutim were on deck together with the girls while he, Greldo, Bendi, and Zender could rest.
"Brinni is far up on the sail," Ambraz whispered beside his head. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Three things," Irwin whispered back as softly as he could. "Can you explain a bit more about how I'm going to be able to sense those portals, and is my heartcard stable enough to absorb cards to start filling it up? Also, I want you to start teaching me those Galadin music notes."
"I was wondering when you were going to bring that up," Ambraz muttered. "Alright, the easy thing first. Yes, you can start absorbing more cards, and I think it's not a bad idea to do that right now."
Irwin didn't need to hear that twice, and he took out the stack of cards that he had prepared back on Scour.
"Alright, now what?" he whispered, getting excited.
"Focus on your heartcard and place one of the cards before your chest," Ambraz said.
Irwin took the top card of the stack, glancing at the Topaz ranked card with the image of a burning dagger before holding it before his chest. At the same time, he began focusing on his heartcard.
Unlike with his hand cards, his heartcard almost seemed to jump forward like a hungry puppy, ready to do as he wanted. There was none of the difficulty in focusing on it to pull it to the foreground that he remembered from when he had tried to pull his old hand cards to the top of his hand.
The cabin suddenly lit up as a bright, fiery aura spread from his chest. Irwin glimpsed down to see a beautiful card hover before his chest. It had been months since he'd last seen it, but as he gazed at the tendrils of fire, he couldn't help but smile happily.
The handcards had always felt like some external thing, and even his first card, which had bound closely to him, had never felt like a true part of him. Not his heartcard, though. No, his Firesteel Elemental Vaelite Heart card felt as much part of him as his fingers or his nose.
Such a long name, he thought as he smiled at the image of a burning Heart that covered the center of the card. Vaelite Heart should do, he decided.