Enora rested her head on my lap again. The carriage bounced along the road once more after our break. My face was on fire. "Did I really say all of that?...So embarrassing…"
"Dork, if it was that embarrassing to say, then why did you say it?"
"I mean…It was all true…" I meant every word I said from the bottom of my heart. Still, It was embarrassing.
"I hate both of you. We didn't even learn anything about magic during that stop because you became so sappy."
"It's fine chibi. We still have tonight." The poor green bird didn't even bother to quip back. It was likely she just accepted it at this point. I pinched Enora's cheek. "It's Nai-chi-bee…"
"Are you making fun of me!?" Nychibi got loud again. "No, no. I would never dream of…" I waved my hands trying not to laugh. "Hehe…who is the evil one now?" Enora smirked.
"This is why I hate both of you."
"I'm sorry, Nychibi. You are just easily teasable." Nychibi went red before turning her head out the window again. "Whatever…"
—------
I poked the cheek of the sleeping princess in my lap as it started to become dark outside. I knew we would soon be stopping again. "Five more minutes, Melle Melle…"
"If you don't wake up I will bite your cheek." Her cheeks were very squishy and easily biteable. "Mghhh…Ow!"
I clomped down on her cheek, nomming away at the squishy. "Why did you do that?" I pointed out the window of the carriage. "It's getting dark outside." She sat up from my lap just as the carriage stopped. "Does that mean you have to bite my face? Are you the vampire here?"
"Hehe, I could be…" I stared at her face which I had just bitten. My eyes wandered all over it, but before anything could happen, Nychibi interrupted. "Come on you two. We need to set up camp, and don't forget you said we would learn magic tonight!" She said, pointing at my girlfriend.
We listened to our new friend as we piled out of the carriage. We helped Ethora pull out food for the piris, and Enora pulled out more of the owlbear meat from her storage. "How much stuff do you have in there?" I was always curious about it, so I decided to ask while feeding Snowberry. "Piri! Piri!"
"Not too much. There was this outfit…" She pointed at her frilly gothic dress. "There are the outfits and toothbrushes we got from those stores. There is the rest of the owlbear meat, some coins from my home, and a few mementos. Some of them are from Earth." After laying down the owlbear meat, she started to feed Crowberry. "Piri. Piri." I wondered what she had from Earth, but I would have to ask her later.
Ethora began to cook the owlbear meat in a pot over the campfire. She was making owlbear stew, and Nychibi was sitting near the campfire, tapping her bird foot impatiently. After the piris were fed we also sat down next to the fire. The pot boiled away; meanwhile, we were leaning against Crowberry. He seemed to like Enora a lot, and he didn't mind me laying against his black feathers. "Piri. Piri." This time Snowberry was the diligent guardian of the carriage.
"It's time to teach us magic, vampire!" Nychibi didn't often call Enora by name. Most likely it was her way of getting back at my love who opted to call her 'Chibi'. "I will teach you both after you have eaten. Patience is a virtue, chibi."
"Fine. I will hold you to that then." The stew finished in no time. Ethora handed bowls to everyone. "Say…Why do you want to learn magic so badly, Miss Nychibi. I watched you take down that owlbear. You seem strong without…"
"I have to! Without magic I will never be able to achieve my goal." Ethora raised her eyebrow as she brought a spoonful of stew to her mouth. "It is good to have goals. I also have something I want."
"What's that?" The green bird asked between bites. "You all met my cousin Belethor. He settled down as a merchant in Fallicri, but that isn't a life I want. Sitting in one place, nothing ever happens. He asked me so many times why I hadn't tried to settle down yet. Roaming around with these two…"
"Piri!" "Piri."
"...That is something I am more suited for."
"Right…But that doesn't answer the question. What do you want?" I asked after my own bite of the stew. It was delicious, but still, why were there the same vegetables again? "I have no idea what I want…"
""Huh!?""
"I have no idea what I want. I figured at some point in my journey I would find it, but I still don't know. Maybe I will find it this time…" She looked up towards the stars twinkling so far away. "I am going to sleep. Can you three put that pot away when you are done?"
"Sure."
—------
"I wonder what that was all about?" I asked as soon as Ethora fell asleep. "More importantly! Magic Time! Miss, Vampire!"
"Sure, 'Miss' chibi." Nychibi didn't quip back; instead, we both sat intently awaiting Enora's words. It was like I was in school again. I was down bad for the teacher in this instance though. "You know…Maybe I should get you glasses afterall."
"What are you talking about now, dork?"
"I was just thinking that you would look really cute in glasses, and it would fit the situation." Her cute face went red, but sadly there was a buzzkill among us. "Seriously! You two need a room! I don't want to hear anymore! Magic…please."
"Right…the next part is actually hard, so listen closely. Especially you, dork." I straightened up my back, and made sure to pay close attention to the lesson. "You have both already learned to move the mana in your bodies, and you have both succeeded in pushing the mana out. The next part involves visualization and instinct."
She pushed a thin black mist out of her hand. "You need to be able to visualize the effect you want as well as the element. At the same time you have to convert the mana inside of your body to the desired element. This is the part that is more instinctual and different for everyone. Your body already knows the elements it can use, but you can't actualize them without a trigger. For me it was easy to use shadow, since I lived in it. Imagining a shadow was simple, and the instinct of changing my internal mana was the same."
"So it has to be instinctual?But earth should be easy since I lived on Earth? There was earth everywhere."
"You lived in a city, dork. Maybe it would have been easier if you lived in a mud hut. Then you would have had water and earth around you. I don't really know how to explain something instinctual, but that is how it is for me."
"So I just have to imagine the wind? I have to feel the wind in myself? This will be easy since I can fly!" Nychibi proclaimed as she puffed her flat chest out. "I wouldn't be so sure…"