"I'll teach you. Properly."
Jibril couldn't believe her ears.
What? What made her change her mind?
She had always avoided it before. Even when Jibril graduated from the academy, her mother had still refused her attempts in having her directly teach her her way of magic.
"What... made you change your mind Mom? Can I ask?" Jibril carefully prodded the subject.
"Take it as my apology for getting carried away earlier and leave it as that for now."
For now? So there's a deeper reason?
Getting her mom to teach her would also definitely make her stronger compared to going to Vier Academy for the second time. She wasn't good at Standard Magic at all, which was basically the main thing you'd learn from there. Re-attending the academy might improve her Standard Magic significantly, but it's mostly inconsequential since she relied more on her aspects over Standard Magic anyways. She hadn't seen anything quite like her mother's unique magic; so although she didn't know how strong her mother was, it's okay as long as it gave her new avenues of attack.
"Let's have breakfast for now Jibril-baby." Her mom's words were normal on the surface, but her tone was most definitely not. It was subdued and sullen; a far cry from her ordinarily excitable attitude. She was preoccupied, her mind somewhere far away.
Her somber demeanor lasted for the entirety of breakfast. Her mother was completely out of it. It was an especially worrying change considering this shift in personality never occurred before from what she could remember. In the first place, there must have been a reason why she didn't want to teach her.
"Mom..." Having finished eating breakfast, she wanted to cheer up her mother's mood as soon as possible. It was jarring having her act like this.
I shouldn't have asked for it in the first place. Why did I get greedy? Just because I think I'm in the past? That's it? Ugh. I... I need to think more. Think. Think. Think.
She had really only wanted to spend more time with her mom. She just thought it would be a great bonus if she got stronger through her mother's tutelage at the same time. After all, she still had to fight against them. On top of that, she had to make sure that her mom won't face the same fate.
The first step in saving her mom was already done. Which was to let her mom stay here. The only reason her mom was in the vicinity of Edelasse's Dungeon in the first place was because she convinced her mother to move to Edelasse. A decision that eventually led to her death. All because she didn't want to have to keep traveling back to the middle of nowhere where no one else lived just to see her mom. All because she wanted to have her cake and eat it too.
"I act with joy. I act wi—" She stopped. Oh right. I'm back in the past where I can't use my mana yet.
"Hm? Did you say something Jibril-baby?" Her mom finally raised her head from her long-finished plate in order to look at her.
"It's..."
Oh wait. Does mom know anything about aspects? Jibril only awakened her first aspect after her mother died, so she never got the chance to ask her about them. She had a feeling that her mom might have an idea about them, considering no one else did. Her mom having her unique brand of magic made it much more likely she'd know of even more esoteric knowledge about mana.
But how can I bring it up? She couldn't tell her mom she came from the future because then she would also need to tell her about the things to come. She knew it was selfish and short-sighted of her, but her mom's safety was her number one priority. Besides, there was one way for this not to matter: she just needed to become stronger. That's all. Strong enough that her mom would never be put in danger ever again.
Her primary focus was to recoup her previous strength as soon as possible.
Even if her mom goes back on her word and decides to not teach her magic anymore, she could still incorporate elements from it on her aspects or Standard Magic. A good example would be what her mom showed this morning. She was able to generate the result she wanted with minimal mana expenditure. Through methods like these, she would still be able to display nearly the same level of strength without reaching the same amount of mana she possessed after absorbing two of their kind. Hopefully.
"Baby?"
"Oh?! Right! I was just thinking Mom." Startled, Jibril hastily tried coming up with an excuse. "That's right! Since I won't be going to an academy anymore, when will you stimulate my mana?"
"I already did."
"Come again?"
"Your mana should feel much more mobile now."
"What? When did you—"
"Jibril-baby, change clothes to something that's practical to move in and meet me outside in five minutes." Her mom then just up and left the table.
She was completely stupefied by her mom's actions. She was utterly clueless on how to even begin to rectify the current situation. Deciding to go along with her wishes at the moment, she changed and met up with her mom outside the house.
"Jibril."
"Mom? What is it?" Her mom was serious.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry Mom! It's completely fine!"
"You don't even know what I'm apologizing for yet." Her mom gave a small smile and sighed. "Earlier, you asked me what made me change my mind. I'll lightly answer a bit." Her mom turned away from her and blankly stared north into the evergreen forest surrounding their home.
"I don't like using magic."
"No. I absolutely abhor it."
"And because I got carried away earlier, I linked your mana to mine. This would have been fine had I done this later, like in a month or two when your mana stabilized. It would just create a simple connection between the two of us. But because I did it while your mana was very much still raw at the morn of your birthday, this affected your mana intrinsically. This made you, for all intents and purposes, my daughter in terms of mana."
You can do that?! What? Why didn't she tell me she could do that?
"Isn't that a good thing? I love that a lot! It makes me feel even more connected with you Mom!"
Her mom went silent, and then, after a pause, softly spoke.
"It's not." Her mom lightly touched her forehead with her fingertips, closed her eyes, and chanted. "Etsen. Hampa perenyalië."⁽¹⁾
Her mom's eyes opened wide.
"OKAY JIBRIL-BABY! LET'S START YOUR MAGIC TRAINING 101! STARTING TODAY, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY APPROVAL! YOU'LL HAVE TO LEARN A LOT! VILVARIND LALWENDË MAGICAL ACADEMY STARTS NOW!"
"What?" Jibril was flabbergasted. The turn-around was nothing but jarring.
Is 'what' going to be my word of the day or something? This is just too much, too fast.
"Chop-chop, honey! Your mana should be responsive to you now so go and feel it out. Get into the position you feel most comfortable in."
Unsure of all this, Jibril slowly got into a meditative position and relaxed.
Her mom sat down by her side, a tree root raising up to serve as her seat. "Do you need me to show you how mana feels like?"
"I don't think so Mom." Jibril replied.
I need to meet — no. I need to crush her expectations of me and make her be able to tell me everything. What better way to start than to be able to control my mana right off the bat?
She closed her eyes and concentrated.
"Do you know what mana is Jibril-baby?"
Her eye twitched. "Mana is energy we are able to control."
"Hmmm. Okay~!"
She breathed in.
"Do you know what magic means Jibril-baby?"
She pursed her lips. "No?"
"Hmmm. Okay~!"
She breathed out.
"Do you know what magic is Jibril-baby?"
Her jaw tightened. "Things we make happen using mana."
"Hmmm. Okay~!"
She tuned ou— "Do you know what's the difference between a normal fire and fire made of mana?" She tried to tune out her mother.
She has to be doing this on purpose.
She sighed out loud. "Normal fire needs fuel, oxygen, and heat. Magical fire only needs oxygen as mana can serve as heat or fuel, or even both."
"Hmmm. Okay~!"
She tried focusing up. "Can you turn normal fire to magical fire and vice-versa?"
She was getting really annoyed now. "Yes. When a magical fire runs out of mana, it will try to consume any available physical fuel present. When a normal fire runs out of physical fuel, it will die out. You can feed it mana and it will turn into a magical fire, but it won't consume surrounding mana."
"Hmmm. Okay~!"
"Mom, can you stop it? Please?"
Her mom's cute face scrunched up. "Stop what?"
"Will you always be like this throughout?"
"I have no idea what you mean. Don't worry about me and just keep on trying to draw out your mana."
Maybe I should have just gone to the academy instead.