Chapter Four

-

Lloyd made it back to the camp to find Chey was already there, snoozing by the dying embers of the fire.

The elf looked up as Lloyd approached, and smiled. “How’d it go?”

“Well enough.”

“Any bruises?”

“Several.”

“Breakfast?”

“Sure.”

The two of them set about stoking the fire up again and putting together some breakfast for the group. Chey proved himself to be a reasonably good cook, well, at least passably.

The smell of food roused the others. First Raine, shortly followed by Genis, and then Sheena and Collete. After eating they packed up camp and set off north, on their way back to Lake Umacy.

-

It was a long walk, and unfortunately Raine decided it was a good opportunity to give another of her lectures to her ‘class’. For an hour she babbled about some obscure ancient civilization that may have lived in the area, boring the others close to tears.

Lloyd wondered just how someone could talk about absolute nonsense for so long, before shutting it out and turning to more pressing issues, like his new teacher. Falling to the back of the group he mused about the woman he would now call ‘sensei’, whatever that meant.

She was obviously a skilled warrior, well versed in the art of combat and probably a master swordswoman. No doubt she’s had time to practice in whatever realm the summon spirits dwelt...

He sighed. It was going to be hard to get to talk to her, surrounded by the party all day. So how was she going to train him?

“Hey, Tenchi-kun!”

Lloyd started, jolted out of his thoughts at the sudden noise. ‘What was that?’

“Take a wild guess kid.”

‘Sensei?’

“Got it in one. At least you were smart enough not to speak aloud.”

‘Dare I ask...how?’

“My mana in you provides a link. As long as I maintain it, it’ll stay.”

Lloyd was somewhat impressed. ‘You had this planned all along, haven’t you?’

She sent him the mental impression of a sly smile. “I felt something interesting about you during our fight back at the seal, so I thought I’d try a little experiment.”

‘To see if I would react to your mana?’

“Bingo. Now I should be able to complete some of your training on the fly. Your situation is odd for an elemental student, but we’ll manage.”

‘What’s the usual situation?’

Undine paused, as if considering her answer. “Well, my sensei, a long time ago, kept me mostly in one place, near the village of Heimdall.”

‘Eh? Heimdall?’

“The elven village, it’s in Tethe’alla.”

‘Tethe’alla?’

“Oops.”

‘Ok, spill!’

“No.”

‘Sensei...’

“No.”

‘So you don’t trust me, do you?!’

“Tenchi-kun!” Undine whined, upset. “I do trust you, it’s just...”

‘You don’t trust me.’

“Oh for the love the Goddess! I want to tell you, really! It’s just, I don’t know how well you could keep a secret this big form you friends!”

‘So you have no faith in me.’

“Good grief! Are you trying to guilt-trip me?”

‘No. I’m just upset that you have no more faith in me than my companions. So far they’ve never trusted me with anything particularly important besides brute strength, save for Collete, but she’s a bit ditzy anyway, so she doesn’t count.’

“Fine, but keep this an absolute secret! Truth is there are two worlds, Slyvarant and Tethe’alla, connected to each other. They used to be one whole planet, but an event during the Karlan war ripped it in half.”

‘Let me guess, they have to share mana...’

“Unfortunately, yes. One will be flourishing, the other in decline. Each seal on this side has a counterpart opposite on the other side, mine is the seal of Lightning, Volt.”

‘So if a seal is released on the dormant side, mana starts to flow to that side?’

“That’s it in a nutshell.”

‘Were all the summon spirits living people at the same time, during the war?’

“...”

‘I’ll take that as a yes.’

“Oh fine. We were. Each was an elemental master, so we were kind of ripped from the mortal plane by the split and forced to govern the seals.”

‘Ouch...’

“Yeah, no kidding.”

They were silent for a while, Lloyd musing over what he had just been told and Undine brooding.

After a time, a thought struck Lloyd. ‘Hey, sensei?’

“Hmm?”

‘What exactly did you call me earlier? Ten-something?’

“It’s Tenchi-kun, and it’s my nickname for you. Don’t tell Chey.”

‘Why?’

“He and I have nicknames for nearly everyone, but he hasn’t been able to name you. I want to let him guess it first.”

‘Ah, drive him crazy for a while...’

“Yep.”

‘What does it mean?’

“You’ll figure it out eventually.”

Lloyd inwardly scowled. ‘Are all of you spirits as insufferable as you?’ he growled.

A light laughter echoed through his head. “Cute, but Luna’s worse than me. Don’t fall for the whole demure act she puts on for her audiences!”

‘Wonderful.’

Unfortunately their conversation was interrupted by attacking monsters, and Lloyd had to jump into battle, blades drawn.

“Damn overgrown grasshoppers!” he growled, slicing the head off of one about to spit it’s paralyzing venom on him.

“Behind you!”

Lloyd whipped around at the hissed warning in time to block an attack. Two stabs into it’s head left it dead, vanishing in a flash.

Five minutes later all the monsters were gone, and the party cleaned their weapons before setting off again. Lloyd once again stayed in the back of the group, this time with a new question for his tutor.

‘Sensei, why do monsters disappear like that?’

“They’re mutated animals, made by corrupted mana. Killing them releases this mana, which by then comprises their entire structure, so the corpses disintegrate instantly. Normal, untainted bodies take a long time to release their residual mana, hence a longer decomposition.”

‘Ah. I guess that makes sense. Raine said something like, ‘the evil power that forms these monsters takes their bodies back to realm they came from’, or something. Sounded bogus to me.’

“Bogus is right. That woman has very little understanding of the nature of mana, good or bad. But, didn’t you call her ‘Professor’ before?”

‘Someone as narrow minded as her does not deserve such a title.’

“Touche.”

Lloyd bit back a chuckle. ‘Besides, you’re my teacher now Sensei. What’s the plan?’

“Wouldn’t you like to know... we’ll be starting on the basics, like energy theories. You already have some understanding of the two properties of physical mana, Innate Manipulation and Force Manifestation, so we’ll be learning their applications. And as for your sword training, we’ll start with weights, defensive and evasion maneuvers, and battle scenarios.”

‘How do you propose we get the weights?’

He got the impression of an evil smirk coming from Undine, and shivered. ‘...Sensei, I not going to like this am I...?’

“Sure as hell you won’t! Heads up!”

Lloyd had just stepped over a protruding tree root when he felt a sudden pull on both his legs, tripping him up and making him land face first on the path with a yelp. He bit back a stream of curses as the rest of the party looked back, puzzled.

“Are you ok Lloyd?” Genis asked timidly, still wary of the twin-blade’s temper from yesterday.

“I’m fine.” he spat, picking himself up. “Keep going.”

They moved on, giving Lloyd his space, save for Chey. The elf chuckled as he helped the teen dust himself off. “Un gave you the weights, eh?”

“No, I’m pickin’ daisies, of course she gave me the goddess-damn weights!”

Chey grinned and ruffled Lloyd’s hair. “You’ll get used to it. More than likely she’ll remove them whenever you’re in a serious fight, don’t worry.”

“Still gonna kick her ass as soon as I get the chance.”

“You’ve got a long wait ahead of you for that kid.”

‘Oh shut up.’

-

The party reached Hakonesia Peak just as the sun was setting. Having to fight numerous battles all day, so they decided to set up camp early. Genis was, as usual, on cooking duty and Sheena volunteered to gather firewood, freeing up the others to do as they wished. Kratos immediately set about sharpening his sword, the ‘shick shick’ sound of whetstone against blade ringing through the area.

When the food was ready, they ate quietly, exhausted. One by one they fell asleep, save for Lloyd.

As soon as it was clear the others were sleeping, he set off into the woods to find a nearby stream.

“Took your time, didn’t you?”

Lloyd growled quietly at Undine, not answering.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?” she quipped. “Ready?”

He sighed. “As I’ll ever be.”

“Relax,” she cooed. “We’re not doing any physical stuff in the evenings. I’ll be getting you up early in the morning for that.”

“So now what?”

“Sit. You’re starting on mana manipulation.”

Lloyd pulled off his gloves and boots, sitting on a nearby rock and letting his feet hang in the water.

“Good. Contact with the water will make it easier to move. I want you to relax and just wait for the current.”

“Yes Sensei.”

He relaxed, letting the cool water flow past him. After a while, he started.

“What is it?” Undine asked.

“Something’s...different.”

“Elaborate.”

“It...feels like there’s something...behind the current or something...”

“That’s the mana flow. Now, try to move it.”

He looked at her curiously before settling down again, trying to find the current he had felt earlier. In minutes he had it again, and with a slight twist of his wrist, he willed it to move upwards.

He got a rather violent spray of water for his efforts, the mana rushing upwards at his command before the current broke.

“Very good. Now do it again and try to hold it.”

He repeated the process, and soon had a steady column arching over his head.

“Now reverse.”

At another command, the arch of water turned against the current of the stream before breaking. Lloyd frowned at the failure, but did it again to greater success and twisting the column into a whip he could move at a mere twitch of his wrist.

Undine smiled. “Looks like you have a natural grasp of water mana, the things you can do are only limited by your ingenuity. That whip is one of the more basic techniques, but it’s the base form of most water-formed weapons. Try to shape it.”

He struggled with this, dropping the whip several times as he tried to form it further. He looked to Undine, a slightly pleading look in his red-brown eyes. “Help?”

She laughed at his cute pout, and relented a hint. “Think of the water like clay, and shape it. Most all the elements work that way, since the masters have a tangible grasp on them.”

She could have sworn she saw a light go off in his eyes as he started again, this time forming a curved blade, condensing the mana until the water felt solid.

“Wonderful! You really are a natural!”

“Really?”

“Of course. Most of this stuff is mental process, I could get all technical, but basically the mana moves to your thoughts.”

“How do you do it?” he asked, curious.

“I can’t tell you. Each master’s mental technique is different, as no two minds truly think alike. The main point of this kind of training is to do so in as few words as possible, and let the student figure out their own method.”

“Example?”

She paused, musing for a moment. “Well, you’re a crafter, right? You take raw materials and shape them, so that has to have an impact on your thought process.”

Another light lit up in his eyes. “I got it, the elements are the raw materials, and the Master is the sculptor. So I take the element, and treat it like I would clay, metal, or some other medium!”

“If that is the way you see it, then yes. Your personal experiences have impact on how you see the world, so everyone is different.”

“Cool. Guess that means only I can use my powers, even if by some bizarre circumstance they’re stolen or my body gets taken over.”

Undine winced at that last bit. “As disturbing as that thought is, you’re right. Mind control, while possible, can’t use a Master’s powers. Their abilities are directly linked to their thought process, so any difference causes them to fail, even under the influence of drugs.”

“Good.”

“Well, we’ve done enough tonight, you should get some sleep.”

“Alright, I was getting tired anyway.”

“Good night.”

-

AN

I’m so sorry for not updating for so long! Things have been really screwy around here for me and my scattered thoughts kept me from getting anything actually done for any of my fics aside from frequent and random plotbunny attacks.

It took me several months, but I’ve worked out most of the bugs in this fic’s plotline that were keeping me from writing anything good, so here’s hoping that I’ll actually get to the end of this story.

Later,

Lunan