Chapter 16

Full of energy and good food, Holly made her way to the hunting grounds on the edge of town. By the time she got there, the sun had long since clocked out for the day, and the moon was beginning its shift in the Pietri skies.

The process was the same as last night. However this time, the now tenured plant knew exactly what was expected of her. Such direction got her in and out of the line quicker than the evening prior.

This gave her a little time to browse the stalls that set up shop at the base camp. It was a lot of food, she noticed. She wasn’t too hungry given she just had dinner, but maybe if they were still here on the way out she could grab a snack for the trip back to the hostal.

Sadly, no one sold seeds. She figured as much given the three Resonators she worked with last night didn’t know of anywhere to buy them.

Either way, her curiosity ran amok as she basked in the ambiance of the hunting grounds. She filled her lungs with the deep scents of fried food and exhaled sharply. She was… happy.

Once more, Holly had a skip in her step as she made her way into the woods, the whispers of the surrounding trees guiding her through the darkness to her group for the evening.

Her mood deflated instantly. It was the dudebros again. Somewhere she knew Sage Sahji was laughing his ass off at Holly’s predicament. She recomposed herself and greeted the Resonators.

“Oh, it’s the plant!” said the solar Resonator with a casual wave.

“Hope you found those seeds,” added the fire Resonator.

“Couldn’t get enough of the drama?” The water Resonator gestured to their dudebro Maestros who were once again causing a disturbance.

“S̶̞͛̍ę̵̥̽͝y̶̺̭͂͌m̴̮̳͂̕o̵̢̩͒́ǔ̷͈r̸̖̯̈́̊!” One Maestro called one of the others.

“Yo?” responded the Maestro in question.

“I made you a sandwich”

“You made me a sandwich?”

“Yeah.” The first Maestro nodded.

“You made me a sandwich?” repeated the second, in disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s right here. It’s ready to go.” The first Maestro held out a sandwich for the second.

The second Maestro stared at the food in continued disbelief. He sniffled, his gaze meeting the first’s with tears in his eyes. “You made that for me?” he asked.

By this point, the first Maestro was tearing up too. “Yeah, that’s for you.”

“Can I take a bite?” asked the second.

“Take a fuckin’ bite man.”

The second Maestro accepted the offered food and took a hearty bite out of the sandwich. He chewed on it for a moment before giving his verdict. “That’s fuckin’ delicious dawg!”

“I fuckin’ love you, dude. That’s for you man!”

“I fuckin’ love you man!”

“I love you!”

And then the three Maestros hugged it out.

Holly wondered if she was having a stroke as she watched this play out.

The hunt began like the last one had – the Maestros were on bait duty while their diligent Resonators kept their eyes and ears peeled for any trouble.

Trouble which was bound to find them pretty quickly due in part to the Maestros arguing loudly about something called “Match of Sovereignty”. What that could possibly be was completely lost on Holly, but they sure were passionate about it.

The first brave Scherzando that tried to attack the boisterous boys was a bird-shaped shadow that descended upon the oblivious humans, blazing embers trailing behind it.

Water cleaved through the beast with ease and the trek continued.

“So what are you even doing here?” asked the fire element of Holly.

“Yeah, you lot are pretty rare,” the solar element agreed.

“Trying to find my way home, but I’m getting distracted. Everything is so fun!” Holly said with a titter.

“Oh? There’s more of you out there?” questioned the water element.

“A lot a lot of me! Many more! A whole big city!” exclaimed Holly.

The three larger Resonators shared a contemplative glance.

“A whole zalavan city?” said the water element.

“That’d be wild to see,” spoke the fire.

“Bro, they’d execute you on the spot for breathing.” The solar element gently shoved his fire counterpart.

Holly simply enjoyed the casual conversation. It made the time pass that much faster. Though, her brows pinched tight as she found her lips tugged down. What was she going to do next? Nobody knew where Inverna was, not even her. Not that she planned on going back just yet (if ever). There was that plausible deniability again.

“You alright in there?” The water element snapped Holly from her thoughts.

When she looked up, the sole zalavan saw the three Resonators sharing concern for her.

“Ah, sorry, was just thinking of where I wanted to go next,” she admitted – it was the truth. She didn’t really know where to go.

“Well, if you’re just exploring, get on a bus and let it take you wherever,” suggested the fire element.

“A bus?” Holly tilted her head. She had read the word before and knew the dictionary definition of it, but couldn’t claim true familiarity.

“Sure, there’s a terminal downtown. They usually have routes you can browse through and find something that sounds interesting. You pay your fare and they take you there,” the fire element explained.

Holly nodded. Her eyes darted to the side for a second. She held out a palm toward the Maestros. One, two; “Bolide, Piano,” she spoke where a response should have existed.

As pepper seeds burnt away she fired a ball of flames, sniping a hungry Scherzando who thought it could interrupt their conversation with a meal.

The three larger Resonators stared in awe at the plant before them.

“That sounds wonderful,” said Holly with a smile.

----------------------------------------

The night dragged on in a fairly mundane fashion. Small talk passed between the four Resonators while the Maestros continued messing around.

That was until the humans ceased their bickering and turned back to the Resonators, unusually serious.

“Hey, we just got called to the main group. They need backup,” one of the three Maestros informed the Resonators.

Holly noticed the carefree attitude of the entire group vanished in an instant. The air felt heavy as the Maestros led the way in silence.

“What’s going on?” asked Holly quietly.

“Dunno, if we get called away from our assignment, it’s usually bad though,” the water element informed her.

“You can cast healing magic, right? You probably want to get ready,” the fire element advised.

“Also be ready to fight,” the solar warned.

All of their advice was welcomed. She kept her alertness up, but thankfully she wasn’t alone. The dudebros were actually calling spells of their Resonators now, who moved with their Maestro’s commands.

She wanted to ask what it was like, following a Maestro’s command; but now wasn’t the time. Holly remained focused. Lightning and fire, that’s what she had available to her. A bird swooped down from the trees. A Corrente Elettrica at Piano rank easily dispatched of it. A monkey-shaped shadow descended next – she felt bad for sniping a fellow nature element with fire, but one Lanciafiamme in Pianissimo easily dispatched with it.

Now that she was casting in true combat scenarios she noticed something interesting. Spellcasting speed. Basic spells like Corrente Elettrica and Lanciafiamme were faster and easier for her body to process than more complicated advanced spells such as Bolide and Fulmine a Catena.

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It really went to show how much experience truly mattered over just theory alone. Even so, her heart pounded with anxiety. What was happening that changed these carefree people into such efficient hunters all of a sudden?

Whatever it was couldn’t be good.

One of the Maestros held up an arm and the group crouched.

“We’re close,” advised one of the Maestros.

“She have a way to cast lunar magic?” asked one of the Maestros of the Resonators.

“Well, do you?” asked the water element.

Holly furrowed her brows. She didn’t, but depending on what they wanted…

“Why?” she asked.

“Rilevare l’intenzione, it’s a lunar element detection spell. We’d be able to see how bad this is if you could cast it,” one of the Maestros explained.

The zalavan nodded. She was familiar with the spell but never saw a practical use for it – until now. “I’d need plants in the nightshade family, or ones that make your brain all fuzzy.” Her innocence leaked out at the end, as she didn’t think saying “psychotropic plants” would fit her bubbly persona.

“Make your brain all fuzzy?” questioned the water element.

“Like plants that have stuff that makes your head all spinny if you eat them.” Holly was really fighting to get her point across through the mask, but it remained stuck to her face and she just couldn’t express herself properly.

Thankfully the game of mental charades wasn’t for naught as the fire element turned to his Maestro. “Ŗ̵̢̛̛̙͕̱̱̻͎̖̟̀ô̸͉̾̃̒̀͂͝y̷̧͉̮̦͎̯̰̌̈́͆͘͜͝, you bought some didn’t you?” he asked.

“Oh, man! No! I just bought them!” hissed the Maestro.

“Well I’d rather not get my ass kicked tonight; hand ‘em over,” growled the fire element.

The rest of the group watched as the fire Maestro sheepishly pulled out a small bag of buds, which Holly instantly recognized.

“Cannabis?” she asked. It certainly fit the description, and the baggie of buds was still valid for her use as she felt the wafts of lunar magic even from inside their plastic pouch.

“How many do you need?” asked the Maestro reluctantly, opening the bag.

Holly reached over and touched the buds. They were still quite potent, one bud held enough magic in it for a full-powered casting of Rilevare l’intenzione.

“Just one,” she confirmed, much to the Maestro’s relief.

The zalavan plucked the bud from the bag.

“Here, put your hand on my tuner. It’ll make sure whatever you sense with the spell transmits to our maps,” advised the water Maestro, offering their blue tuner to Holly.

She did as instructed and took hold of the device. Finally, she did it. “Rilevare l’intenzione, Lento,” she verbalized the spell for the sake of those present.

Mind-based magic like this was rare to come by even in Inverna. The poisons of plants simply did not affect those who allied with nature itself, so little care was given to having such substances around.

It was an interesting sensation. She knew what this spell did from its pure textbook definition. However, as she established for herself earlier, experiencing it was an entirely different world than the pages of a book.

A pulse left Holly’s body, invisible to all but her. As her rhythm washed over her surroundings, her mind became acutely aware of everything surrounding them. The six that surrounded her bore no hostility, they were allies. The wave continued out further and further. Her breath hitched suddenly as she gasped. “That’s… a lot,” she trembled.

Hostility.

A huge ball of hostility assaulted her wave and relayed back to her. The water Maestro lifted his tuner from her grasp to check the results, while his Resonator steadied the shaken Holly.

“No kidding.”

The tuner display was offered for the group’s study. Their cluster of green dots was huddled not too far from a mass of red with little spots of green enveloping them.

Thankfully, other clumps of green like their own were approaching from the other parts of the woods, so it wouldn’t be just their group of seven attacking alone.

“You re-stocked those seeds of yours, right?” asked the fire element.

Holly nodded. Her seed satchel was filled to the brim with fire, lightning, and healing. Though… they were in the woods, so she did have another trick up her sleeve.

“If there are any earth element Scherzando, I can get them,” Holly told the group.

“Huh, why?” asked the solar element.

The zalavan smiled. “Nature is all around us, silly.”

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Scherzando worked best when they had the element of surprise. That was something Holly learned in her very first outing against the beasts.

Unfortunately, she was learning a new lesson today – Scherzando also worked well with a numbers advantage. That’s what she witnessed when their group breached the site of the battlefield. Her heart stopped, yet her blood flowed faster as her body warmed uncomfortably. So many Scherzando, she didn’t even know this many could be in one place.

Yet here they were, swarming like a cloud of pestilence, devouring anything unfortunate enough to be in their wake. And the lost souls were the Maestros and Resonators desperately trying to hold their ground.

“Lanciafiamme, Forte Staccato!”

“Idrante, Forte Staccato!”

“Luce del Sole, Forte Staccato!”

Holly recognized those as the basic spells of fire, water, and solar. Though the staccato modifier was a mystery to her. Clearly, it did something to how the Resonators would cast the spells, like the Tutti modifier turned inward magic outwards.

She shook her head; she needed to focus – she’d pick up a book on Maestro spellcasting later. She placed a hand on a tree directly next to her. Thankfully it didn’t betray her trust and held plenty of nature element shots for her to capitalize on. As the trio of Resonators rushed into battle, she stayed with their Maestros – she had their trust she’d keep them safe.

While they began picking off the swarm of Scherzando with fire, light, and water, Holly aided in the efforts not with damage, but with restraints.

Rullante di Radice was just the restraining force she needed. She bled the tree dry, stealing all of its seeds to summon a flurry of roots from the Riterran soil to grab and contain as many of the Scherzando as she could get her roots on.

With Holly’s timely intervention, the struggling Maestros and their battered Resonators finally got the breathing room they so desperately pined for. Scherzando within the grasp of Sage Lanvi’s blessed plants stood no chance as they were mopped up like a bad stain, through fire, light, and water.

Some broke free of Holly’s entrapments and turned their attention on the little zalavan and the delicious Maestros. The nature element was already ahead of them, as she changed which tree she drained.

With a deadly palm pointed at the advancing Scherzando, she spoke, “Foglie a Lame, Forte Staccato.” The mystery modifier allowed for wordless repetition. As she was the Maestro to the tree, it would bow to her command and continue offering itself up so long as she willed it. A storm of bladed violence erupted from her hands, slicing away the charging beasts. Their hunger clouded the judgment that existed not – they foolishly threw bodies into a blender of foliage.

Holly’s hand dove into her seed satchel to continue her assault – however there remained none who stood in her way.

One of the Maestros whistled. “God damn, zalavan are busted.”

She wasn’t familiar with the phrase but sensed the praise behind those words.