Chapter 130 - Magical Reevaluation

I awoke, this time far more confident in the fact that it was morning, and noticed that my bed was tragically empty. And Eira's side wasn't warm either. I did not like this, but my fears were assuaged when I heard her singing softly in the room. And someone else singing.

My sleep-addled brain was having trouble putting together the familiar-sounding voice, and I remembered the harpy we had placed on the couch for the night.

I sat up, blinking my bleary eyes, to see Eira and Nene singing something to each other, and passing a little light orb between them.

"What's all this then?" I asked, my voice sounding like a frog with a fever. A headache caught up with me immediately. I then remembered the potion she gave me, coupled with the fact I was probably dehydrated from the day before. I neglected to actually drink the water I had been handed once we put Nene down to rest.

I swear, Alta, you are a stupid woman sometimes. The headache throbbed at my self-deprecation, likely out of revenge.

"Good morning my beloved one! There's water with some minerals mixed in, and some headache medicine on your nightstand. Minerals should help with the rehydration." Eira said, dismissing her spell.

"Hello, thank you for letting me sleep on your sofa! It was very cozy." Nene said, her voice chipper and lacking any of her nervous stutter from the night before.

Before answering, I took the medicine and downed the water in a single gulp. It was the most heavenly tasting water I had ever had, medicinal mineral taste aside.

Now I could be conversational.

"It was no trouble. Did you sleep well, Nene?" I asked, sliding out of bed, and found a sleeping robe waiting on a nearby peg. It was really soft. I made a mental note to consider thinking about maybe stealing it. I mean, why not?

"I did, thank you. And thank you for, well, everything last night. You saved my life from the weird cultists; you helped me in that meeting thing. I was too scared to talk!" Her head feathers drooped a bit at that, before rebounding. "Eira was telling me all about Dungeon School! I'm even more excited!"

"She's also a spellsong, or I guess amongst harpies the term is siren. A little different though." Eira added.

"What was with the light ball thing?" I asked, sitting on the second sofa with Eira. This room had so much furniture, I had no idea what to do with all of it. My room when I was still a noblewoman was nice, but after some thought, this guest room was nicer than mine.

"That's a little spellsong game. You pass the ball of mana back and forth, trying to harmonize with each other's song. If you do it right, you can maintain the spell between two casters. I don't know if other disciplines can do that, now that I think about. Something to look into." Eira said with a shrug.

"So what do you plan to do when you get to dungeon school, Nene?" I asked, shifting the conversation. I was still working through my thoughts about giving up the magic part of being a sword-witch, and I wasn't quite ready to challenge my life choices this soon after waking.

"Well, first I need to meet up with the harpy representatives in the city; Sasa and Lele are their names. And then I have orientation, and they need to assess me to see if I need to take extra magic classes." She explained, her wings twitching excitedly.

I had remembered the magic assessment. I was so very nervous about it, and I ended up having to take extra courses for a few weeks.

"Eira has done well as a spellsong, so I'm sure you'll be fine," I said.

"Maybe? Spellsong is just for fun, though. I'm a regular mage too. Worked really hard, and I don't need to use incantations or spell poems anymore!" She puffed up proudly, the feathers near her neck fluffy up.

That really was impressive. Really, really impressive. I made a mental note about that for the future. I had the beginnings of an idea stewing in my head, but I was on vacation, and those ideas were school-related, and they had no place in a tropical paradise under siege.

"We'll probably see each other quite a bit. Sasa and Lele live just down the hall from us, and we both take magic courses." Eira added.

Right, needed to talk to her about that.

We chit-chatted for a bit, but eventually Nene decided to go get food, and honestly, I was starting to feel pretty peckish myself.

After Nene had left, Eira and I set to getting dressed. I decided some swimming was in order today, so I wore my blue two-piece under my cloth shorts and a loose tunic. I'm glad I packed extras. My one from last night had inadvertently turned into a crop top after my makeshift mask.

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"Hey Eira, could we talk about something over breakfast? It's not super important. Well, it is, but mostly important to me." I said casually.

Eira stopped and looked at me hard for a moment. "Please tell me you're not leaving me after all that ptarm-shit with my mother."

"What? No! You're stuck with me, woman. I don't want anyone but you. No, it's something to do with my magic, and all that. Your uncle said something, and my practice on this trip has made me realize a few other things, and I need your opinion on it before I commit to said decision." I explained.

"Oh good! That level of life-altering decision I can deal with. Barely slept last night because I was worried about what your reaction was going to be after it all percolated in your brain." She pulled me into a hug.

"Don't worry, you tall magical warrior woman you. I love you too much to let your scary mom push me around. I really would have fought her." I said resolutely.

"Yes yes, and I would have patched you up afterwards." She said, patting my rear playfully.

"What? You don't think I'd win?" I said with mock offense.

"Absolutely not, no." She nodded firmly.

"Fair enough. Now let us go feast! I may have to chew my own arm off soon, and if I do that, I have fewer hands to get all touchy-feely with!" I declared dramatically.

Eira snort-laughed and gave me a gentle push towards the door.

I had begun to notice that the food on the island heavily leaned on fruits, crustaceans, and fish. That was not a complaint. Sea Spider and Sea Scorpion meat was particularly delicious with butter. I probably ate more than I should, but I did not for a second regret it.

"So what was it, you wanted to talk about?" Eira asked after wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Ah, yeah. So. I had a revelation. And suggestions from a few sources, and it's made me rethink my magic." I started, setting down my utensils.

"How so?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't actually like doing magic. I was forced into learning it to begin with. I keep struggling with it, either not being able to cast it, being inconsistent with it, or letting the spells get away from me. The only magic that works comfortably is activating enchanted weapons and equipment." I continued, just letting it all flow out of me, like I was confessing my sins.

Eira looked at me, lost in thought for a moment.

"Ok. I get it. You have mentioned that magic has often been a struggle to you, but I remember you felt really out of place when you lost your magic when that core had been bonded to you." She reminded me.

"Yeah, I think I had thought I had to do magic because of all the training Cassandra had forced on me. And now that Myth had quit dungeoneering, I thought I had to double down on learning, but I can't do it, Eira. I can't, and I don't want to." I exhaled, feeling like I'd let a weight off my chest that I had been holding for so long I had forgotten it was there.

Eira was quite for a long moment, looking like she was calculating something complicated. Which, for all I knew, she might have been.

"So. If you're not going to be doing magic, what is the plan going forward? You'll have a lot to consider when planning your dungeon exploration patterns." Eira finally said.

"Well, I like the sword fighting. And I won't completely ditch magic. I have self-healing, a light spell, and a simple barrier that don't challenge me too much. I figured I could just double down on those three instead of learning a whole gamut. And I might look into more enchanted gear. Ice Moon is easy for me to use now, and I'm sure other gear I could get used to." I continued, trying to keep my excitement at her acceptance from dancing joyously across my face.

"Smitty suggest learning shield." A voice from behind me said. I nearly jumped out of my seat in surprise, as did Eira.

"How did you sneak up on me? You are massive, Smitty, no offense." I said, trying to force myself to calm down.

"Is fine. Smitty gotten good at being quiet, yes yes. Smitty still suggest shield, if friend Alta no do magic no more." The big Kobold said, sitting down in the empty chair next to me.

"I've never fought with a shield before. They always seemed to heavy for the kind of fighting I do. I like to move quickly, and a shield like yours is too bulky for me. I'd have to retrain from the top." I retorted.

"Silly friend Alta. There are many kind of shield. Big shield. Small shield. Alta tiny quick elf. Alta should have buckler shield." The tall white hound person said with a nod.

A buckler? I had heard of bucklers, but for the life of me I could not remember what one looked like.

"I guess it's something to think about." I shrugged.

"No think. Just try. There training hall here. Tonight, you and Smitty train. Pups want to swim during sunlight, so no train then. We swim, we eat, the Smitty teach you shield. Yes yes." And just as soon as she arrived, she stood and walked away.

I was dumbfounded at her suggestion.

"She is assertive when she wants to be, huh?" Eira commented, sipping her iced coffee.

"Aye, she is at that. But she might be on to something here. If she knows something I don't know about shield fighting that lets me keep with my quick sword style, I'd be a fool not to look into it. Right?" I asked her, sipping my own iced coffee.

It seemed like heresy at first to intentionally make your coffee cold, but this was really good. I would have to remember this for the future.

"So, you wanted to go swimming, right?" Eira deftly changed the subject, which worked perfectly for me.

"Yup! I've never really swum in the ocean, and your running training doesn't count. Today, I want to play and I think I've earned it." I declared petulantly.

Eira smiled and shook her head in amusement.

"Fine. Since your training with Smitty tonight, and yesterday was so rough, I'll let you off the hook. We can play today. However!" She pointed a finger at me sternly, he face reminding me a lot of Artemisia at that moment.

"However?" I felt a pang of nervousness threatening to dampen my mood.

"You will put the sun salve on. I do not want my beautiful beloved getting burnt again. Any more and you'll look like a roast fowl." She insisted.

I also did not want to get burnt again. That was not fun, and I did not want a repeat of yesterday.

"I concede to your wishes, my personal goddess of the sea." I gave a playful bow.

She smiled happily at my silliness. I liked to see that.

"Plus, I get to slather it all over you, and then see you in that cute little two-piece. I've been looking forward to that since you bought it." She waggled her eyebrows at me lasciviously.

"You've seen me in it already, love," I smirked at her.

"Yes, but you'll be all wet this time. It's a different thing altogether." She insisted.

"Fine, fine! You win!" I laughed, standing up from the table.

I hoped and prayed to whatever gods would listen, but especially to the god of sun and waves, to please let me have one single day of peace in what was quickly turning into a vacation of chaos.