Broken Lands

Sophia frowned at that. It didn’t make sense to her that having something available in both your Sphere and your Species would restrict you from other options, but at the same time she wasn’t all that impressed with the Guide. It might do something like that.

When she thought about it, her initial Sphere had some odd issues. She could copy others’ spells and techniques … but both spells and techniques were rare, so she picked up very few. That was probably part of the reason she moved away from it. The other piece was the experiment she did with feathers and an Ability in one of the stable Challenges, but she’d already started moving away from her initial focus by then.

Now that she thought about it, the problems with her initial Sphere might have been more to do with where she had it than what it was; in a place like Mazehold, there were probably hundreds of spells and techniques, many of which were on display regularly. So perhaps that wasn’t the Sphere’s fault as much as it was the fact that she just gave up on it.

It seemed entirely possible that this was the same thing, but Sophia couldn’t be certain. Maybe the Guide just didn’t account for flying species who could also maneuver on the ground. That wasn’t something most birds were particularly good at, after all.

That didn’t mean the line of inquiry was dead. “Okay, so, what sort of flying enhancements do you have available? Do any of them talk about how they work?”

“I can fly faster, more easily, or turn better,” Arvinn answered quickly. “I have the last one. It doesn’t give anything about what magic I’m using.”

Sophia asked a few more questions and even had Arvinn read out the options, but the girl was right: the Guide didn’t give any clues as to what it was doing and it was definitely handling all of it. This was a dead end.

“I guess we can’t do it the easy way,” Sophia admitted. “Now, have you ever felt a heavy aura?”

Arvinn just looked confused, so Sophia pushed her aura out and concentrated on weighing down the girl. It took a moment, but Arvinn seemed to realize what was happening. “Oh, yeah, that! Upgrade suppression. I feel it around the Clan elders sometimes.”

It was a strange term for it, but Sophia guessed that auras probably did grow with upgrades, and if you never learned to control them, you would control the space around you more than a lower-upgrade opponent who also didn’t have the knowledge to control their aura. Sophia could use hers to actively control the space around her, but that was because she had practice. She could also prevent it from affecting people who were weaker, which was only polite. Clearly it either wasn’t seen that way here or people forgot occasionally.

“Can you normally take off vertically or do you need some sort of moving start?” Sophia knew she really should have asked that first. Many birds needed at least some forward motion, like planes, though other birds could manage a vertical takeoff. She wasn’t sure about bats and whether or not bats could do it didn’t really mean much about Arvinn’s capability. That mostly had to do with her magic, not her wings, anyway.

“I can’t really fly without a running start,” Arvinn admitted, “But I can float, for a while at least. That’s pretty useful too.”

“And it will be useful here,” Sophia agreed. They had the space for someone to float in the air; they didn’t have the space for even a few steps of a run. “Can you go ahead and try now, with my aura on you? I want to see if I can isolate what sort of magic you’re using that way. If not, it’ll teach you something about aura and we can go from there; aura can be used to manipulate mana.”

Arvinn looked both doubtful and hopeful at the same time when she hopped into the air. She didn’t get more than a couple of inches off the ground, but when she snapped her wings open, she stayed there for a long moment before Sophia’s aura pushed her to the ground. In that time, Sophia was able to see the mana that surrounded Arvinn press against her aura, fighting to keep the girl in the sky.

It was a very familiar sort of mana, too: exactly the same mana as Sophia’s flight Ability used. It wasn’t conceptually tied through feathers, but Sophia was pretty sure it was connected to the girl’s wings and the concept that someone with wings should be able to fly.

It also felt a little less rigid than Sophia’s Ability, which made Sophia guess that it was probably natural to Arvinn, possibly tied to her wings themselves rather than supplied by the Guide the way Sophia’s flight was. Sophia guessed that her Ability was probably modeled on the natural magical fight of people like Arvinn, especially if the tales about the Guide being created on Arcatiz were actually true.

Flight mana was really only good for making things fly, which was really limited. Sophia was pretty sure she was going to have to figure out another way to find out about the girl’s affinities so that they could focus on …

Sophia’s thoughts jumped as she realized what she’s just thought: Making things fly. Making objects fly through the air in a controlled manner.

Telekinesis.

She was an idiot. Yes, the Arcatiz focused on utility, everyday magic to help them do things their bodies couldn’t easily do, the way Reko moved the teacup and lifted the tea to where she could drink it because her body didn’t have a flexible neck. They also focused on utility magic because it helped them fly more easily.

Sophia reached into her pack. What would make a good candidate item? Aurichalc was out, it was magical and that wasn’t the place to start. Anything too big was also out; awkward and heavy would make it harder to learn. No, she needed something small and light, but not something that could drift in the wind like a sheet of paper or a feather. A foam ball would be perfect, but she didn’t have one. Sophia could check with Xin’ri; she’d probably have something, but Sohia was certain there was something in her pack that would work too.

Heck, a rock would work if it was the right size. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it would work. Surely she’d picked something up somewhere that … ah. Yeah, that would work. Sophia wasn’t sure why it was still in her bag after she thought she’d emptied it to fit all of the roc eggs, but come to think of it, she hadn’t pulled everything out, had she? The last roc egg might or might not have fit at all but it didn’t matter because it wouldn’t go through the mouth of the bag.

Sophia pulled the short stick out and passed it over to Arvinn. She wasn’t sure if it was in her bag as something to whittle or for firewood, but it was only about six inches long and an inch in diameter. It wouldn’t be great firewood and truthfully, if they really needed a stick they could find another one. There was no shortage of windfall around the roots of the World Tree. “Here, hold this and do the jump-and-float again, but concentrate on the stick and how it’s floating instead of how you are.”

Arvinn did exactly as Sophia asked, but she didn’t notice anything. It clearly wasn’t going to be that easy.

Sophia grumbled internally, but she knew she wasn’t really unhappy about the result. If it were that easy, they’d already know how to do it. This was going to take time and effort. “Okay, now, I want you to focus on the stick and try to grab it with your aura. It’s going to float the same way you did when you drop it…”

Three hours later, when Reko, Xin’ri, Ci’an, and Leo returned from the market with a collection of small objects Arvinn could practice with, Sophia was convinced they were making progress. Arvinn wasn’t as certain, but she was willing to keep trying.

Sophia wasn’t willing to keep going that day, however. They’d meet again the following morning for a couple of hours, then prepare for the auction for the roc eggs. Arvinn and Reko were thrilled to be invited to it; they’d never been to a large auction. That would take up most of the afternoon. The following day, they’d all be back in the World Tree; Sophia and her team were ready for the third upgrade area and she’d easily given permission for Leo to accompany Reko and Arvinn on their explorations. It would give Arvinn a place to practice … and Leo would be fine, even without a Sphere. He was a dragon and back home he was Tier One; that made him more than ready for the non-upgrade area of the World Tree.

Tonight, though, Dav and Sophia were going to have dinner together in the Starflower Garden. Dav had ordered a wide range of food that Arvinn and Reko shouldn’t eat and they were going to enjoy themselves.

Getting rid of everyone else was easy enough. All they had to do was ask.

Figuring out what to do afterwards was not so easy. Sophia wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt awkward; she’d been with Dav for years. Sure, they hadn’t gone on that many formal dates, but they’d certainly spent a lot of time with just the two of them. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it.”

Dav seemed to follow her thoughts without any difficulty. “Back in Mazehold, I think. There really hasn’t been a chance since we got to Arcatiz. I don’t count dinner at the Registry, so … was it the time we went to the place run by Arak Shade’s wife?”

Sophia shook her head. “I don’t think we can count that, she spent half the night watching over us and trying not to cry. I think it was the evening at the desert elves’ place.”

“You liked the food,” Dav said with a teasing smile.

“You’re the one who decided to try the Scorching Scorpion,” Sophia grinned as she spoke. It was probably the only time she’d seen Dav eat something that was way too spicy for him.

“You wouldn’t even try it,” Dav protested.

“I know better.” Sophia countered. “I won’t eat ghost peppers, either. I like having a tongue that can taste things other than pain.”

“That sounds like you tried it once.” Dav grinned as if he thought he’d caught her out.

“Not ghost peppers … but I did once have a friend make a salsa that used five different peppers that were all high on the scale. It was too hot to eat,” Sophia admitted. “Well, after the first couple of bites. They were good, but the chips did not stop the burning after that. I know there are things that are too hot for me.”

Dav nodded, then reached over and picked up one of the Seven-Spice Rice FireBalls. “Then you won’t mind if I eat all of these.”

“Don’t you dare,” Sophia said with a fierce but cheerful grin. “The FireBalls are spicy but they’re not that spicy. Especially not when you spread them on the fish.”

Sophia wasn’t certain she’d want to eat a rice ball on its own the way Dav was. They were meant to add spice to the main course, and she liked them that way, but on their own they were a bit much.

A light caught her eye and she glanced over at it, then pointed. “The flowers have started to glow. Look over there; it’s pretty.”

The entire garden lit with light as one flower after another started to glow with its own internal light. It wasn’t nearly as bright as daytime, but it was enough to easily see each other and the food.

At the end of the evening, Dav presented Sophia with a small starflower, cut like a single rose. She had no idea where he got it, but she had to admit that it was beautiful. It glowed a soft purple, barely shedding any light on the area immediately around it.

“It will glow for a few days, but that’s all,” Dav admitted. “I just thought I’d give you something to help remember tonight. Since there wasn’t any Scorching Scorpion.”

Sophia chuckled and moved to hug Dav, careful not to crush the flower. It was a good night.