Aether’s Apprentices: Chapter 44

After their class, they arrived back at the clan hall in time to join part of physical training. Gregory was all smiles when weapons training ended up as a three-way fight between him, Ling, and Clover, all using the bo staff. They both focused on him, with occasional jabs at each other. The fight was fluid, all three straining to be the winner. In the end, Ling caught Gregory in the head, then Clover in the gut in a perfect combo.

Ling and Clover were excited when they went to magic training, which had been switched to after weapons training, but before their bath. They were explaining their match to Daciana as they went inside.

“Your skill with that weapon is improving,” Gin said. “They are improving faster than I thought they would.”

“They really are,” Rhea agreed. “They’ll be my equal by the time they leave, I think.”

“But I still think they shouldn’t join the group combat,” Gin added. “That decision is yours and theirs, though. Is the plus worth the risk of pain and injury to them?”

Gregory considered it. “I don’t know if we’ll get another group training session against the Hardened Fist, but maybe we can judge it then?”

“Perhaps. Go train your magic, Gregory.”

“I’ll learn with Yuki today,” Gregory said.

He made his way to the interior garden where Inda and Yukiko were training. Inda was explaining how to mold the shadows to form better-concealed traps with them, but paused when Gregory joined them.

“Gregory,” Inda said. “You are going to be with us today?”

“If that’s okay, Inda?”

“It should be fine. I was going to have her work on concealing her shadow weapons better,” Inda said.

“I’ll sit over here and watch,” Gregory said, sitting on a bench by the door.

Inda went back to telling Yukiko about how she’d worked on this specific magic before. Gregory listened, hoping to grasp the details, even though he couldn’t grasp their magic. When Yukiko started to spin her magic into blades of shadow, Gregory studied each one with aether sight, then stretched out his resonance and felt them carefully.

He didn’t know how long he sat there as Yukiko pushed to hide the blades in darker shadows and disguise them. Time lost its meaning as he felt the shadows, but after a while, the shadows grew welcoming. His resonance shifted and, for a moment, he matched their thrum.

Yukiko gasped and jerked around to face him, snapping Gregory out of his trance. “Greg, what did you do?”

Blinking slowly as he lost his connection to resonance and his aether sight faded, he just stared at her for a moment. “Huh?”

“You touched my shadows. I felt your aether directly touching mine.”

Inda watched them with an impassive gaze, but her ears bent toward them.

“Resonance. I just felt connected to them.”

“Can you…?” Yukiko asked, then stiffened when she suddenly remembered that Inda was there with them.

“No,” Gregory said. “I felt it and it was right, but no, I can’t mold shadows. I just… know.” He frowned as he considered what he’d just said.

“It would be unusual in the extreme if you suddenly had a second affinity,” Inda said. “Though there is an old story of spirit path followers who could feel others’ magics. They can’t do anything, but it could warn them of a trap.”

“Maybe that’s what it was,” Gregory said.

“Of course, those magi were magus tier,” Inda finished after Gregory spoke.

“Oh…” Gregory faltered.

“Interesting, but only conjecture,” Inda said. “Yukiko, back to work. Gregory, leave her shadows be for now, please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said together, though each was clearly thinking about what Gregory had just done.

When sixteenth bell chimed, Inda called Yukiko to stop. “You are progressing well. We’ll continue with that for the next few weeks, at least. The hidden blade is the weapon of the shadow magi.”

“Yes, Inda,” Yukiko replied, bowing to her.

“Don’t talk too long,” Inda said as she let the shadows swallow her, vanishing from the room.

“She knows we want to talk?” Gregory asked.

“It’s obvious that something happened and we didn’t want to say it,” Yukiko sighed. “She’s gone… do you know if she’s listening?”

Gregory turned his aether sight back on and scanned the garden. “Not that I can see.”

“Okay. What happened?”

“I resonated with your shadows. That was all, but it was a pure connection.” Gregory paused, thinking of the feeling he’d had when he touched her magic. “Let me see your ring.”

Yukiko pulled her ring off and handed it to him with wide eyes. “You think?”

Gregory put the ring on and motioned her to him. “Shadow me, please.”

She went to him instantly, her shadow falling over him. Gregory reached out to the ring he had put on, feeling the enchantment infused into it. It refused to listen to him— his aether was not what it wanted. Pausing and taking a deep breath, he tried to recreate the resonance he’d felt when he’d been in tune with Yukiko’s magic. Seconds ticked by before the ring suddenly hummed with energy. Head snapping up, he focused on a shadow across the garden and willed himself to that spot.

Yukiko gasped when the shadows rose up, swallowing Gregory. She spun around, looking for him, and found him sitting across the garden with a stunned look on his face. She rushed to him.

Gregory blinked for a second as his sense of self stabilized. Going through the shadow felt like being pulled through a tunnel to him, and his sense of awareness had been thrown into chaos. It only took a second, but he grinned when he stabilized. “It worked!” The two words were an exclamation, but a soft one as he grinned at Yukiko rushing to his side.

She grabbed him, pulling him to his feet and hugging him tightly. “It did. You… are growing… into your soul.” She sniffled, happy, but worried.

Holding her just as tightly, he kissed the top of her head. “I am. Darkness will be happy. I wonder… I’m just an initiate now. If I can just barely touch your magic enough to trigger the ring, how long will it be before I can do all the things Darkness told me of?”

“We need to keep this as close to ourselves as we can,” Yukiko whispered. “Even this should be impossible.”

“Unless the ring was enchanted to allow anyone to use it,” Gregory said. “Then, it could be explained.”

Yukiko relaxed in his arms. “Yes, there is that. Okay, we can make that work for us. We should still keep it as secret as we can for now, though. A trump card is always good. Take the ring. If you’re seen with it now, it’ll be easier to sell the story later.”

Gregory nodded slowly. “We need to go bathe for dinner.”

“Yes,” Yukiko whispered as she looked up at him, her chin on his chest. “Maybe a quick kiss?”

Smile touching his lips, Gregory murmured, “As my heart wishes.”

~*~*~

Bath and dinner slipped by for them and, when it was time for bed, they instead went to find Dia. The others had come with them, curious how things were going to go. Dia had gone out to smoke after dinner and looked at them in surprise when they all came outside.

“How can I help you?”

“Since we’re initiates now,” Jenn said, “we wanted to try polishing our aether channels by holding aether. We thought it would be best to do it with supervision.”

“And we came to watch,” Ling said. “Since they’re ahead of us, we can gain knowledge by watching.”

“The same for us,” Nessa added.

“I see. We should get Bishop for this. She’s more inclined to the body side of the Peaceful Fist,” Dia said.

“I had followed them, curious as to why the entire group was not going to bed,” Bishop said from behind them. “I now know why.”

The novices stepped aside for Bishop to exit the clan hall. She took a seat beside Dia and motioned Gregory and his wives to the bench across from them against the railing. Once they were seated, Bishop nodded.

“It’s very simple— cycle your aether, then stop it in place. I suggest a small part to start with, like a single foot. It will be painful and you will not enjoy it, but as long as you don’t feel like your channel is fracturing, you can continue to hold it. If you feel something is wrong, let it go at once and tell me,” Bishop told them.

“The idea of cycling aether is one you need to work on before this stage,” Dia explained to the others. “You have to have good control of your cycle before you ever attempt this, and you should never attempt this before the initiate tier, at the very earliest. Most wouldn’t do this until adept or magus, but if one is advanced enough in the body and spirit path together, it can be done earlier.”

Gregory glanced at Yukiko and Jenn, then nodded as he cycled his aether to his left foot. He stopped the cycle and gritted his teeth. His foot burned, and the aether felt like a fire inside of his body. Exhaling roughly, he didn’t feel anything wrong with his channels, so he held the flame. “Krogg’s—!” He bit off the curse and exhaled again.

Yukiko was pale as she held her aether in place. “This is like dunking my foot in flame… but it doesn’t feel wrong… just painful.”

“Not as bad as last time,” Jenn gritted. “Not pleasant at all, but not as bad.”

Bishop watched them all impassively. “Let it go and cycle back through that spot.”

All of them let go of the aether and let it cycle. When it came back around, their feet tingled like a sleeping muscle waking up. Gregory explained the sensation, and the other two agreed with him.

“You can do this on your own now,” Bishop smiled. “If you had damaged your channel, you would have screamed when you cycled back through that spot. Each time you hold the aether in the same spot in the future, it will hurt less and less until it stops hurting altogether. That is why it hurt less for you, Jenn.”

Jenn nodded. “I see. How often should we try this?”

“Once a day is enough, especially at your tier,” Dia said.

“Dia is right. Start with your feet, then work up from there. I’d say work through your whole body once, then go back to the feet again. It’ll be less agony for you, in the long run, that way.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Gregory said. “Our thanks.”

All three bowed where they sat as they thanked Dia and Bishop.

“Now, you normally go to sleep at this time,” Dia said with a smile. “I suggest sticking to that routine.” She fixed her gaze on the others. “Do not, under any circumstances, attempt this until you reach initiate. Understood?”

They all agreed, and then Dia turned to look at Clover and Ling specifically. “You two should wait until mid-initiate rank, since you started on the Peaceful Fist later.”

“Yes, Dia,” the pair said together.

They all thanked Dia and Bishop again before they went inside.

~*~*~

They didn’t go to sleep right away, instead all funneling into Gregory’s suite.

“How was it?” Daciana asked as soon as they were seated.

“The aether burned like fire inside us,” Yukiko explained. “It reminded me of…” She trailed off, touching her face where she’d been badly burned before.

Clover and Ling winced— they’d seen that fight and thought she would lose her eye because of it. The novices had heard about it, but hadn’t seen it.

“Yes, it felt like a molten rod of metal inside my foot,” Gregory said. “The cycle after it was unpleasant, but soothing after the fire.”

“It isn’t as bad the second time, but it’s still bad,” Jenn added. “I’m not looking forward to working that same pain through our whole body, but we can do it.”

“And we will,” Gregory said. “We have to.”

“To be as strong as we can,” Yukiko nodded.

“It’ll be a while before we get to try,” Clover said.

“At least you can start resonance training,” Victoria sighed. “I’m a little jealous, but I don’t hold it against you.”

Ling held out her hand across the table to Victoria. “We wish we were as advanced as you will be next year. We understand the jealousy and don’t hold it against you any more than you do us.”

Victoria smiled and took Ling’s hand, then giggled, her face turning pink.

“What?” Clover asked.

Nessa started to laugh as she figured it out.

Daciana blinked, then barked a laugh. “She isn’t your cat, Vicky.”

Ling blinked slowly. “Her cat?”

Victoria looked at the table, embarrassed. “I had a tawny shorthair at home. She used to curl up with me at night. She would pat my hand when she thought it was time for bed.”

Ling looked down at their hands, then snorted and laughed. Squeezing Victoria’s hand, she shook her head. “Well, it is time for bed, but maybe not together.”

“Not without me…” Clover muttered softly.

Ling’s face blazed, as did Clover’s when she realized what she’d said had been audible. Ling snatched her hand back and began to try forming words, and Clover covered her face with her hands, moaning in embarrassment.

The novices were all red in the face, looking away from the two.

“We don’t mind,” Jenn said softly. “There’s nothing wrong with loving each other. Yuki and I love each other. If you worry about how we might view it, we’re not disgusted or upset.”

“We’re happy that you have someone to love,” Yukiko added.

“Umm,” Nessa said slowly. “Since Clover and Ling have already admitted it…”

Daciana covered her face. “Oh….” She moaned.

Victoria snickered. “It was my hand Ling was holding.”

Ling swallowed, looking at her with worried eyes before Victoria continued, “Nessa, Daciana, and I… are like you two.”

Clover’s hands came away from her face in record time. “Really?”

Nessa was flushed, but she nodded. “The tournament… Daciana wouldn’t calm down, and well… things happened. Since then, we’ve… experimented. We saw Jenn and Yuki and thought it would be okay if we tried things.”

Gregory swallowed hard. His face was burning as he sat there, thinking about how he shouldn’t be there and that he needed to shift, but didn’t want to get their attention, either.

“Oh, good. It wasn’t just us.” Clover looked happy, then leaned over and hugged Nessa. “Thank you.”

Nessa was still blushing, but she hugged Clover back. “You’re welcome?”

“Well, that was unexpected,” Yukiko smiled at them all, “but promising. If you can already admit your feelings for others, it bodes well for later.”

That got them all looking at Gregory, who blinked under the combined gazes, his face burning hotter and hotter. “I’m fine with it,” he croaked out.

Daciana sniffed the air. Her eyes went wide and she began to laugh. “Yes, yes he is.”

“What?” Jenn asked.

“She can smell emotions at times, if they’re strong enough,” Nessa said.

Gregory’s cheeks burned hotter and he covered his face. “Oh, gods.”

“He likes the idea of us together?” Clover asked.

“Yes,” Daciana grinned. “Good. If the alpha approves, then it’s good.”

Ling stared at Gregory with a smile. “Yes… the pride leader approving of all his mates is very good.”

“Calm yourselves,” Yukiko said with a giggle. “Greg, go ahead. We’ll see them out.”

Gregory nodded as he fled the sitting area of their suite. Leaning against the door, he exhaled as the images of his friends entangled with each other kept filling his head. He admitted to himself that he was absolutely okay with those images. The scenes changed to include Yuki, Jenn, and himself; in different sets with his friends; or, in one case, all of them.

“Later… much, much later… but yeah, I can’t say no to what my desires are,” Gregory murmured.

Eight pairs of eyes watched him go, a few looking lower than his face. When the door shut behind him, Yukiko addressed the group, “Ladies, he’s worried about hurting us and each of you. To answer your question, yes, he does like all of you and we’ve talked about it. Daciana is right— he was probably very interested. We will hold to what we’ve agreed on, though. Right?”

They all agreed quickly, not wanting to risk being excluded later.

“Then we should go to bed,” Jenn said, standing up. “Yuki and I need to comfort him.” She had a knowing smile as she stared down at the others.

A couple of wistful sighs escaped a few, but they all stood and wished everyone a good night before they left the room.

Yukiko followed them to the door, locking it behind them before turning to Jenn. “That was faster than I expected. I thought Ness, Daciana, and Vicky might, but I wasn’t sure about Ling and Clover.”

“It makes me happy,” Jenn said as she began untying her obi. “The fact they’re fine with it from each group, too? It bodes well.”

“Agreed. Let’s go help our heart. I’m sure he is having a hard time. I know someone who can help ease his troubles.”

Jenn smiled happily when Yukiko put a hand on her back, guiding her toward the bedroom. “As my dear ones wish.”