"Feels weird having only my limbs wrapped up." Nin comments as he moves his arms and fingers about. And while I was happy to see him dressed up again, I was also extremely tired. I didn't even wait for my magic to revitalise itself before I went out shopping with Larishazza...
"You're the one who wanted it like that!" I complained as I smashed my fists onto the table. Knocking over some of my new supplies in the process. And, as such, I moved about to pick it all up while complaining about it.
"I know, and, again, thank you." he said as his hand gently patted my back. And I found myself giggling as my cheeks turned slightly red.
"Maybe we should make sure your outfits are destroyed more often!" Larishazza comments as she looks at my face. She was faring much better than I, but that was because she had been spending the last few days snoring away.
"So, what is the plan to avoid suspicion?" Vadei asked quietly from her spot at the edge of the room.
"Suspicion?" Nin repeats.
"Y-Yeah, if you just come off the airship, the people who've seen the real you will spill the details to the rest of the village. It will be a nightmare to sort it out!" she elaborates for us as she starts to stand.
"So, what, we pretend he's a friend from out of town and he is here to make sure the osibindah are all gone?" Larishazza puts forth as her head sways from one end to the other.
"That could work. We could even just have it being that I know none of you and I am just a traveller." Nin adds on to the prior statement.
"What kind of lonely traveller has your kind of power?" I asked as I held my aching head in my hands. Yet, none of them answered, they just looked at me and stared. And it was during that I collapsed and tried to hide my face.
"Rela-" one of them began to say.
"SHUT UP!" I moaned as I tried to hide my embarrassment. I always seemed to do this. Walk straight into the things that got me teased.
"Don't worry, Einervaene, but, I might need your help with this one." Nin tells me as he rubs my back. Something which eventually eases my still pink face out into the open.
"Why?" I asked as I stared at his masked face.
"You can get me a good distance from town. It will let me walk with a more convincing stride, I think. Because I'd be sick of walking by the time I get back." he explains before cracking a bad joke at the end.
"I see... Okay... Let's go." I sigh out tiredly as I get up. Only to fall on him as I had been ignoring how tired I truly was for a while now.
"Easy there, don't worry, I got you." he tells me as he begins to guide me out of my workshop. And, as he did so, a small smile appeared on my face.
"Have you found it yet?" I ask him once we are on our own.
"The little bit of magic you've left in the clothes?" he answers as if the thing I was alluding to was never hidden at all.
"Yeah." I say with a smile as I sense the minute piece of lightning magic dance across him. Any metal pieces on his clothes had been used to wipe up any blood I intentionally drew. Liada's work on the airship had inspired me to do that. Now I could sense him to some extent.
In a way, it would help prevent another situation like where Salahma stole him. I needed Vadei to find him, and I did not want to risk lives needlessly should it happen again. So, with that bit of magic in him, I could reach out and see if I felt a tug. A very slight arcane gesture telling me where he is.
"I hope it helps keep me safe, then. More magic there is in something, the stronger it is." he then comments. And, I never actually considered that when I did it. I was just focused on being able to find him. But, he was right, that magic I put there had more purposes.
So long as its vessel was not destroyed or damaged too much, that is. Thankfully, it was not a single piece of metal I did it to. I did it to all the buttons, hooks, staples and bands this outfit had. It was like staring at a rough outline of a person made of my magic.
Yet, that made me sad, as even like this, when I concentrated it so finely for someone I loved. It still looked blue, my lightning was not even transitioning into a white colour. It was still the lowliest colour for lightning out there. A vile, disgusting blue.
"Why the sudden foul mood?" the one I wanted to admit to so badly asked me as we made it outside. And, under the light of a full moon, I huddled up next to him. Unsure of myself as other things began to weigh on my mind. Was my magic ever going to become pure?
It's been months since I learned to stop sacrificing bodily control for spell use. It's been months since I proved myself capable enough to be enrolled into a high-end academy for magic. I've slain a wyvern that those stronger than me could not. Yet it was still blue.
"It's, nothing..." I say in an effort to slip his attention off of it. And my eyes began to water slightly as I held onto him.
"I know it's not that, Einervaene. Come on, open up. You know you can tell me."
I sigh before saying another word, "I know I can... There's nothing I could hold from you, even if I wanted... I just..."
"Are too tired to really think of how to say it?" he asks, completely wrong about it. But, it offered an opportunity.
"I'd think that would be obvious, I've been flying about the skies days-on-end." laughing out this lie just so I could avoid talking about it. I did not want Nin to see me as weak, especially after I've proven myself capable of defending him. I don't think I could take it if we ended up like before. Where I abandoned him to the beasts at Suhurlodst.
Thankfully, however, he seems to have forgiven me for it. Just like how I forgave him for his abrupt disappearance in the wastes below the Anvil-Peak. At least, I felt like I had forgiven him. So much happened in so short a time after Vadei picked us up.
We found out that her people needed saving, chiefly among them, her family. We eventually found out that Nin was desperate to go home. But, I could see right now the results of that failure. And I did not want to lose his confidence...
Even if I was worrying over my weakness right now, I know for a fact I will stay weak without him. I just can't go back to the way it was before where I was alone in my travels. I want to have special moments with Nin, I wanted to be annoyed by his teasing. And, of course, I wanted to have fun with my friends.
"Alright, when you've had a moment to sleep well, we'll be talking about this when we can." Nin assures me as he pulls me into a tight hug. And it was in that hug that I realised that I had been crying silent tears while I was in my head. I had become so oblivious to how I was acting as I was just too focused on other things.
"I wish that moment would come soon then." I told him with a sniffle as I returned the hug before sighing. But, this hug had another purpose, he was feeding some magic into me with it. And once we had spent enough time hugging, I felt confident to use my magic. We could go and enact this plan of ours the moment he gave the word.
"Would you like to come meet us then, Stranger?" I joked with a slight smile as I looked up at his head. Taking in the difference in our sizes while I waited for an answer.
"Drop me off somewhere nice, at least?" he requested with his own smile. It was something I laughed quietly at before sparks started to come off of me. Then, in but a moment, we were both entirely made of them. And we were soaring high into the sky before we went the great distance.
And with a crash and boom, we came back into being, "Oh." I let out with some surprise as I realise where I landed us. I had caught something shining down below, so I thought that would be nice. Turns out, it was someone's terrace farm. And the farmer or farmers down below had caught sight of it.
"HEY!" they shouted up at us before I was left laughing just before I left.
"HEY!" I barely heard Nin shout after me as he quickly caught on to what I had just done.