In the morning, when the sun started shining into the open windows of the cottage, Aoi's eyes twitched to the dawn's new light and slowly opened. She felt something pressing on her chest. She looked down and saw Arunika laying there and clinging to her waist. A smile bloomed on her face and she reached out and pet her hair.
"Wake up Aru-chan. It's morning."
"Nrm... huh? OH CRAP! It's already this late?! We had to leave at dawn!"
"Fufu, well, stop clinging to me so I can at least get up and help you." Aoi pinched her nose and Arunika looked down and saw herself hugging Aoi. With a blush, she released her arms and shot up off the bed. Arunika scratched her head bashfully and mumbled, "I better get packing as quick as possible before the enforcement teams find out I'm still here."
Arunika started busying herself by throwing everything she owned haphazardly into her knapsack that was laying to the side. Aoi wasn't paying too much attention, but the bag was able to hold everything thrown in there despite its size and didn't change shape at all.
"Alright, I'm ready. Let's eat the rest of this stew for breakfast and I can pack it when we're done eating."
Aoi nodded and proceeded to ladle out the remaining stew into their bowls from yesterday. Once they were done eating she washed the bowls quickly with water from the barrel by the door and threw them into the knapsack as well. She turned around looking at Aoi, gave her signature bright smile, and said, "Ready to go Aoi-chan?"
"En, let's go honey, but what about the cottage? Will it be okay to just leave it here?"
Arunika just giggled at her and gave a small smile. "It's fine, don't worry. We're taking it with us."
"Huh? How? It'd take forever to take this apart with the time we have left."
"Don't worry about it. C'mon, just follow me outside and you'll see what I'm talking about."
Once they got outside, Aoi finally saw the beauty of the landscape they were in. They were sitting atop a knoll covered in luscious green grass surrounding it, and the direction the door was facing in was a bay like beach with golden-white sand with water a bright blue in color glistening from the sun at their back. To the North of where they were was a quaint port town the size of a large village with moderately sized fishing vessels and one or two galleons docked there.
'Huh... so I really am in a different world. I mean... I can easily tell because of the two moons in the sky. Should I be shocked? ... Nah. Just the fact I got pulled through the water like that was enough to startle me. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.'
"an." "-chan." "Aoi-chan? You okay?"
"Huh? Sorry, I was kinda out of it. Guess I realized I am pretty far from home."
"Yeah, you probably washed up when your ship met with some accident in the sea. Go just to the horizon and you'll be met with some sea beasts. It's not uncommon for unknowing sailors to meet their doom that way."
Aoi just turned her head away, scratched her cheek, and laughed with uncertainty, "Hehe, yeah, I guess that's what happened." 'Oh man, how am I gonna tell her I'm not even from this world?'
Just as Aoi was thinking of a backstory for herself, she noticed a faint green glow coming from the direction Arunika was in. When she turned her head, she widened her eyes. "Um... Aru-chan, you're glowing.. and not in the good way."
"What do you mean? I'm just retracting the cottage."
When Aoi heard that, she looked to where the cottage was and saw the leaves on top retracting in the branches followed by the rest slowly making their way back into the ground. It just left an open space like nothing was there before. An object that looked like a seed, glowing in the same shade of green Arunika was, rose from the ground and made its way to them. It landed in Arunika's hand and the glow faded from her. Just as she was putting the seed away in the knapsack, Aoi exclaimed.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
Arunika, startled by her new wife's sudden outburst, turned and asked, "Magic. What, do you mean... you've never seen magic before?"
"Wait! Magic?! It exists?!"
"Have you never been tested for any aptitudes?"
"How could I have?! I thought magic was just fiction!"
"Nope, not fake. It's as real as you or me. I can use nature magic which includes plant and earth magic, and if I train hard enough, life magic. I got lucky in my travels and met someone kindly enough to test me and get me started. He helped activate my mana and taught me how to utilize it but never fully trained me so I'm still a novice even though I've been able to use my magic for a few years now already."
Aoi just stared at her wide-eyed and unblinking trying to process everything. 'Well fuck! Imagine me telling myself I can't be anymore surprised and here goes a slap right to my face!'
"OH! I just remembered. Lucky you." Arunika wiggled her eyebrows and reached into her knapsack pulling out a small knife and a round object the size of a walnut that looked similarly to a crystal ball. "I found this washed up off the shore while foraging a few days before I met you. I was planning to sell it before finally leaving here, but we'll use it to test your aptitude and see if you can use magic too. Must be fate, my fated one!" Arunika beamed Aoi her biggest smile.
"Hah?! I can use it too? No no no no, just sell it. I doubt I can use magic."
"Oh, come on. It's not like I don't have other stuff to sell or make living expenses on. Here, hold your hand open." She placed the aptitude stone in Aoi's palm. "We just need a drop of your blood to activate it. I'll prick your finger and you'll just put a drop on the stone and we'll see what magic you can use."
Unsure of what to do, Aoi just follows Arunika's instructions. "Itai!" Arunika pricks her finger with the point of the knife and has Aoi squeeze a drop of blood onto the stone. After, she takes Aoi's finger and puts it to her mouth, sucking on it. Aoi blushes a little because she thinks her wife is flirting with her but gets disappointed when she stops.
"All better!," she smiles. "Look at the stone. Let's see what you can use."
When they focus their attention back to the testing they noticed the stone turning black in color. "Ooh, you can use darkness and shadow magic!" It doesn't stop there though. Slowly, flickering pinpoints of light start appearing inside the darkness in the crystal, which then starts to disappear as if it didn't exist. "*gasp* NO WAY! That's space magic! You can use space magic!"
"Is that good?"
"GOOD?! It's amazing! It's one of the rarest aptitudes to get! Not only can you use space magic for a personal storage space, but you can also create storage bags like my knapsack here. After higher levels of training you can also use teleportation magic! But that's not the best part of it! You can also use gravity, darkness, and shadow magics. I've also heard you can use an extremely powerful form of fire magic that could destroy complete nations but only a few people have been able to figure it out."
Aoi stares at her hands when a thought pops in her head. 'Teleportation magic could be through wormholes and if that fire magic is what I think it is... I can basically create a FUCKING NUCLEAR BOMB?!'
Aoi's hands start shaking. "Th-that's too much power."
"It's okay. You probably won't figure out how to use it. Most magics need an understanding of the principles behind it to get them to work anyways, so it isn't likely to happen."
"No, you don't understand. I know how stars burn and create light. They go through something called nuclear fusion. Objects invisible to the naked eye get combined under immense pressure causing a nuclear reaction. My people even have a way of creating weapons similar to this effect that could literally destroy a large city in a single explosion."
"Wha-"
"Like I said, the noble's education here pales in comparison to what I've learned. I understand the cause and effect of a majority of these including your magics too."
It was Arunika's turn to be stunned. "I- is that true Aoi-chan?" She slowly starts smiling brightly. "Then that's great!"
"How is it great?! I could literally destroy this empire alone single-handedly!"
"It's great because you can teach me magic! That and I'm glad my wife is really powerful! That means you can protect me as well."
Aoi just shakes her head and sighs. "You're just a big ball of optimism aren't you, Aru-chan?"
"How can I not be? I got a pretty wife, who is my fated one, who is really strong, and who can teach me alot of things! And if you teach me about the principals behind my magic then that means I can protect you as well!"
"Haah... I guess so. By the way, are we okay just standing around here? Shouldn't we be leaving soon?"
"OH CRAP! You're right! I was just so amazed by you that I forgot!" Arunika grabs Aoi's hand, interlocking their fingers together and walking toward the northeast to the road leaving the port town.