Vilvarin couldn't believe her eyes. Her, a little — just a super tiny bit! — standoffish, daughter actually bared her heart out. Jibril was right in the middle of her teenage rebel phase where she became too shy to say what she really felt, so Vilvarin really wasn't expecting a sudden emotional breakdown from her on the morning of her 16th birthday. Just yesterday, Jibril was a bit reserved around her and was careful with her words and actions.
She had initially wanted to wake Jibril up with a surprise announcement. She was going to give her money for the train fare and a few days worth of lodgings to the empire's capital so she could take the test for the Academy there; she was absolutely sure her daughter could ace the exam in her sleep! Vilvarin was sure her daughter would've been overjoyed considering how much she spoke about wanting to live in an urban environment instead of their current home in the middle of nowhere on the southern end of Edelasse.
Holding and moving her sweetie to sit in front of her, she started weaving her hands though her hair.
"My beloved baby. I'm here. I'm here. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. You'll be kicking and screaming before you can even get me to leave you alone."
She kissed the crown of Jibril's head.
"I made the decision to take care of you, fully aware of everything that motherhood would entail. I have never, not even for a single moment, regretted the choice I made that day onya⁽¹⁾."
She paused as she closed her eyes in thought for a second. Having made a decision, she spoke. "It's a bit early to do this as soon as you turned sixteen, but."
She drew her daughter closer and called upon her mana.
"Limyafëa. Nalyë onnanya. Essëlyë Jibril Lalwendë."⁽²⁾
She injected a sliver of her mana into her daughter's heart. With her daughter's newly-formed mana circuits and mana-self, she had to be super gentle in the integration of her mana into Jibril.
"With this, you'll always have a piece of me with you. Okay?"
"Look at me." She softly nudged her daughter to turn her face up to her. "What's your name?"
"...Jibril."
"Jibril?"
"...Jibril Lalwendë."
Vilvarin tightened her hug on her daughter. "Now, even though you're not my child by womb, no one — and I mean, no one — can ever say you're not my child. You're now, and forevermore, my baby by your mana."
She initially didn't want to do it like this and so soon. She was planning to do it right before Jibril left for the Academy so her mana-self had time to stabilize and self-actualize without any outside interference. It would simply be a simple connection between the two of them that would allow each other to check on each other and feel each other's presence and nothing more. By doing it right now while her mana-self was still raw, her mana-self would forever be changed to somewhat resemble Vilvarin mana-wise.
Uhh...
With her actions now completely setting in, her demeanor completely shifted as she realized that she got carried away and forgot to ask Jibril's permission.
Oh no.
Oh no.
Oh no no no no no.
"JIBRIL-BABYYY I'M SORRYYY! I FORGOT TO ASK IF IT WAS OKAY FOR ME TO DO THAT! I — I... I GOT CARRIED AWAY WITH THE MOOD AND EVERYTHING!!! I'M SO SORRY!!!"
What am I going to do if she'll never come back to see me?!
This time, it was her turn to cry her eyes out as she panicked over the thought of her daughter disliking her.
It was a super big decision that I really should've asked her for her permission first! Uh oh. Ummm... I'll uh...
"AH! IT'S NOT TOO LATE! I CAN STILL TAKE IT OUT JIBRIL! DON'T WORRY! YOUR MOMMY'S THE BEST ELF IN THE WORLD! THERE'S NOTHING SHE CAN'T DO! IT'S ONLY BEEN A MINUTE OR TWO OR FIVE AT MOST! IT SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT MUCH CHANGES YET!"
"WAIT! UH, THE CHANT TO UNDO STUFF IS UMMM... NANSAR? NANTAR? NANCAR? I THINK I GOT IT JIBRIL-BABY!"
Jibril finally couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. She forgot just how silly her mom could be when worked up.
Vilvarin noticed her laugh and calmed down a little.
She's not mad? Thank Ygg!
Jibril's laughter continued on for a few more moments. It was the first time she laughed like this since her mother's passing. Completely out of sorts, she eventually coughed to a stop. Still wheezing, she tried to reassure her mommy that it was okay.
"It's okay Mom. I loved it. More than that, I wanted it too so everything's fine. Don't worry."
Honestly, it wasn't that funny to warrant a response like that, but... it was the mixture of mirth, relief, and happiness all at once. If being dead meant that she'd just live in dreams like these forever, she'd be the first volunteer.
With the burst of emotions now subsiding, Jibril could now think much more clearly. She'd been in the same dream for an awfully long time now. She still had to wake up and finish consuming Diabolos. Who knows when that guy would come back to finish the job.
Come to think of it, this dream's pretty weird. Isn't it?
For one, her image in the reflection was exactly like when she was around sixteen. She couldn't use her mother's appearance as basis for date-keeping since she was just as youthful as ever.
Second is the sensations she felt. In normal dreams, the things you feel tend to be a bit subdued compared to reality. Here, however, everything felt real. The familiar feeling of her mom's mana was exactly like how she remembered it. When her mom cast the ear-lengthening spell, she distinctly felt the feel of the mana shaping up to form artificial ears.
Third is what her mom did just now. It was the same spell that she used right before she left home to study in the Academy, but the effects just now was completely different from back then. Was it normal for a spell to change its effect so dramatically even though the chant and usage was the same? Or was this just a subconscious desire rearing its head to the surface? And thus, changing subtle things in her dreams to make her accept it.
Think, Jibril. Think.
Fourth is the sense of time. Dreams had a weird sense of time. It could stretch a minute in real-time to an entire hour in a dream or the reverse of making it feel like a second when minutes have already passed.
"Mom, quick question. How long has it been since you woke me up? And what day is it today?"
Her mom averted her eyes, "Um... Like 30 minutes? Maybe an hour?"
...yeah, that's on me for expecting mom to keep track of time.
"Anyways! Is this a new scheme of yours to get multiple birthday gifts or something?" Her cute mom puffed out her cheeks reminiscent of a squirrel.
"It's my birthday today?" Her eyes narrowed as she did a double-take.
"Yup! It's September 29! Happy sixteenth birthday Jibril-baby!" Vilvarin spread her arms out wide and tried to imitate the sound of a horn tooting by blowing her mouth. "Pfffooooooot!"
Feeling the sizable lack of pomp and pizzazz of her greeting, she quickly followed it up with a chant.
"Lassëwinta."
Immediately, green, red, yellow, and brown leaves entered Jibril's room through the window. The deluge of colors scattered and spun around her room in concert.
The impromptu indoor autumn viewing was beautiful. The various leaves danced together as her room was filled with the slight smell of sweet autumn air. She was sure had she asked her mom for more, she'd capture a bird and make it sing just for the occasion or even add snow into the mix or something.
"Thank you, Mom. I love you so much."
She, for the hundredth time today, engulfed her mom in a tight hug. "But, um, can you undo this one? It'll take too much time for me to clean it up by myself."
"Fine, I love you too onya."
With a quick flick of her hand, Vilvarin chanted: "Tucië.⁽³⁾"
Each and every piece of leaf had a little bit of her mana embedded in them. By changing the polarity of each individual speck of mana in each leaf, she could gradually make them magnetize to each other one by one until they formed one big clump. Then it's an easy flick of her mana to throw it back out the window.
There were other much simpler ways to clean the mess up. Like the brute-force method of just making wind blow everything out the window. There's also connecting all the leaves with a single tendril of mana and then throwing it out the window. Her way, however, was the most mana-efficient. It was also great practice for controlling mana. It was by doing the most you can in every little manner that one can fine-tune their control over their mana.
"There you go! Quick and easy!" She wiped her hands and wiped an imaginary sweat on her forehead looking incredibly proud of herself.
Jibril quietly watched her mom clean up, with a hand under her chin while deep in thought.
Did I... did I go back in time?