A brand new scarlet backpack filled with new supplies rested outside Rose's door the next morning. Curious about the seals placed on it, Rose examined it thoroughly but couldn't find any noticeable seals or runes. It was certainly possible Professor Rina made hidden seals, which would have taken a lot more effort.
Rose was simultaneously happy for the protection and distressed by a gift that would probably be worth a good amount. Hidden seals were seals placed inside a rune. Since runes were so difficult to make (as only an enchanter could do so) they were extremely expensive.
Galio described the expense as: "One rune would be like buying two brand new computers."
Having a (possibly) rune-enchanted backpack would be like carrying around a few thousand dollars. It honestly made Rose tempted to put it away in her room to make sure nothing bad happened to it, since it was easily the most expensive thing she had ever held in her entire life.
But then Professor Nigel and Professor Rina might be upset with her since they had gone through the trouble of providing her with such a backpack in the first place. Rose vowed she would take extra care of her backpack as a compromise.
Using her new backpack, Rose headed out to her classes. As the day wore on, she noticed more than a few frustrated and confused looks on some of the passersby in the hallway, and by the end of the week, word had gotten around the school that she was using an enchanted backpack.
Rose hadn't had a chance to see what would come of that knowledge being given to her bullies, as the weekend rolled in like fog on a chilly morning and Rose was adamant about not being seen by the other students if she could help it.
Saturday morning, she asked Lanna to bring her back some breakfast, so she could study in her room. Her knight obliged with a pat on the head and a comment of how cute her little chicky was. She finished her homework and enjoyed a meal that was more like a dessert than breakfast (chocolate chocolate-chip pancakes with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, chocolate covered bananas and strawberries, and candied bacon).
With her homework out of the way—and enjoying a sugar high—Rose decided to run to the library as quick as she could to re-check out the books on meditation and finding her magical core.
She didn't want to take too long, and she moved as fast as she could. Any time she thought she saw someone, she went down a different hallway to avoid them. When the library came in sight, Rose nearly sprinted to reach her destination.
She approached one of the statues—a snake this time—and held up her books. "I'd like to check these out again for another month."
The statue turned its head, "Accepted."
Sighing with relief, Rose tucked her books back inside her backpack.
Now I just have to get back to my room and I'll be safe, Rose thought, walking out of the library. She nearly jumped when she found Mortem seemingly waiting for her. Her eyes widened in surprise and her breath hitched.
"What are you doing here?"
"Going for a walk." Mortem held up a slim, black-leather book. "Grabbing a book."
"O-oh." Rose's shoulders sagged. "Sorry, um… I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Why don't I walk you back to your kingdom?"
"Oh, no. There's no need for that—"
"I insist," Mortem said. "What did you check out?"
Rose blushed. "Books about finding my magical core. Er, I re-checked them out, at least."
Mortem shifted his weight, tucking the book he had in his hands inside his jacket pocket. "Having trouble, Miss Rose?"
Rose hesitated. Mortem had been able to help her before, and while he could be ornery, she did count him as one of her friends here. He never seemed afraid of her or even really cared that she was a dragon—something that couldn't be said for a lot of others at the school.
After a minute of debating with herself, Rose finally admitted, "Yeah."
"How are you trying to find it?"
"Meditating and visualizing it. I've gotten close a lot, but it's never enough. It's like trying to hold smoke," Rose muttered dejectedly. "Every time I reach out to grab it, it slips away."
"What makes smoke?" Mortem asked her.
Rose blinked, looking up at him. "What?"
"You're a dragon. Your affinity is fire. If you're getting smoke from your magical core, then maybe you're not looking in the right place. Where does the smoke lead to? Where does it come from?"
Rose stared at Mortem as she reflected on his words… then it clicked in the back of her head and she gasped. Her gaze lit up like the sun and she threw her arms around Mortem, jumping up and down.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Mortem patted her back. "I'll always help you, Miss Rose."
Excitement made Rose sprint back to her room, eager to try out her new theory. She scrambled to change into her swimsuit, tripping and hitting her shins on her furniture multiple times. None of that could deter her—although it was hard to fit her tail through the swimsuit hole when it was already out from her excitement—and soon she was diving into her delightfully warm lava pool.
She swam around in it for a while, allowing the bubbling lava to wash away her excitement and coax her into relaxing long enough to sit. Many minutes later, she finally sat cross-legged on a smooth black rock in the center of her lava pool. She took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly, breathing through her belly.
Her tail curled around her, and her wings tucked themselves against her back. She continued to breathe deeply as she tried to calm her mind and body for meditation.
The books said that once she finally found her core—and was able to find it consistently—she'd be able to skip the meditating entirely. She was really looking forward to that.
It took more time than Rose would care to admit for her to keep her mind cleared enough that she could start to become aware of her magic. Like all of her attempts before, Rose tried to follow her magic inside her body. She had previously been able to feel it around her heart, but all she was able to find was smoke. She had been under the misconception that the second heartbeat inside her was her magical core and she had stubbornly clung to that belief despite her numerous failures to try and find it.
Mortem was right, though. Fire was her natural element, and it was what her magic was best at.
Only smoke couldn't be her core…
But smoke came from fire.
Rose had only ever looked around her heart due to her previous belief, but now she was looking below her heart.
She followed the smoke in her mind, only barely feeling the stir of her magic inside her. Down she went, focusing her complete attention into tracking down where that smoke was coming from until—
Fire!
Burning brighter than any sun, it spun into a beautiful dance inside her gut. Her magic was filled with such life and heat that Rose was amazed she hadn't found it before. It was burning and soothing to touch and oh, the way it swelled for her was simply breathtaking.
At long last, Rose had finally found her magical core and it danced for her like a dear, dear friend.
It was a triumph unlike Rose had ever known.