"I'm not sure I want to do this."
"Come on, Iffie! I can't believe you never did it before!"
"I didn't, and I don't plan to do."
"I can't believe you! You're at the world's best University with the newest equipment, and you never tried it. You don't even have to pay for it!"
"Look, I just don't want to. This is not the kind of thing I ever wanted to do."
"Oh, come on! Try it, just once! You'll like it."
Ifalna sighed. When Lucy was in this kind of mood, it was easier to agree than to argue.
"Okay," She said, "but only one try."
"You will not regret it," Lucrecia promised, pulling her by hand out of their room.
The semester has ended, and the Univesity grounds were almost empty. All students who had homes and were welcome there went away to visit their families. Those who stayed were mostly orphans. Ifalna's parents died just a couple of months ago, and she missed them badly. The thought of returning home was unbearable. Lucrecia's parents, both archaeologists, were off to one of the excavation camps in the Northern Continent, and she chose staying with her friend over going to the empty family house.
The Materia training ground, a small grassy field behind the Mako&Materia lab, was empty save for an old bald man who was reading a fresh ShinRa-issued newspaper at his table in a tiny yellow booth. The sign on the top of the booth said, "MATERIA INSTRUCTOR". Below the large red sign, there was a smaller one: "If no one is here, the training ground is closed." Below it, there was a paper sheet glued to the wall, that read: "Don't try to pick locks on drawers, the Materia is stored elsewhere."
The girls went up to the booth. Lucy knocked at the window frame. The man looked at them over his newspaper and asked, "What do you want, young ladies?"
"Two Fire Materia, lowest level, please," Lucy said.
The man put the newspaper down, opened one of the drawers, took out two green orbs and gave them to her. "Do you need moving targets?" He asked. Lucrecia shook her head, "No, thank you. The stationary ones will be enough."
The man nodded, again hiding behind the newspaper.
"Well, here we go," Lucy said, grinning. "You stay there," She gestured to a narrow area at the nearest side of the field, paved with stone and separated from the rest of the field by a low stone fence. "And the targets are there," She pointed at the field. The targets were thin and wide rectangles, about the height of a human, made of unpainted grey metal. "You concentrate on the target and then imagine a fireball that flies to the target and wish really hard to it to appear. If you do it right, the Materia reacts and sends the fireball."
Ifalna looked sceptically at the Materia in Lucy's hands. She didn't want to touch it, even less to use it, but probably Lucy was right. She should try at least once. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Reluctantly, she took one of the orbs. It was slightly warm to the touch and felt like the warmth inside was shifting. It felt alive somehow, whispering something into her ears. Struggling with her uneasiness, she went to the stone fence and stood, unsure what to do next.
"It's easier when you point your hand at the target," Lucy said, stopping a few steps to the left of her. "Helps to concentrate."
"Okay." Ifalna sighed, lifting her hand and pointing it to one of the farthest targets.
"Good, now imagine a fireball."
Ifalna tried to picture a fireball, but nothing happened. She looked at Lucy, shrugging. "I tried. It doesn't work. Let's go back."
"Oh, you just didn't try hard enough. Concentrate, and it will work."
She sighed, returning her attention to the target. "Well," She thought, "Fireball. Come here, fireball."
Nothing happened.
"I want a fireball," She thought. "I really want a fireball."
Not even a spark.
"Damn you! Burn, stupid target!" She thought, irritated, and reached forward, - not with her hands, but with something else, hidden in her mind. "Burn!" And Materia she was holding grew warmer. "Burn!" And the whispers it gave went up in volume, turning into a song, - a song of fire in the fireplace, a song of burning forests, of explosions, of great fire burning in the sun... For a moment, nothing else existed, not even Ifalna herself, - only fire. Warmth mixed with heat mixed with pain mixed with ashes... And then it was over, and she was back in her own body, suddenly extremely exhausted. She swayed forward and would fall down, if not for the fence. She looked in horror at the training field. All the targets were burning, as well as the grass between them.
"By Ifrit's fiery ass! How did you do that!?" Lucrecia screeched excitedly.
Ifalna tore her gaze from the fires that already were going down. The instructor was running up to them, shouting, "What are you doing? Who allowed to bring your own Materia here?"
Ifalna thrust the green orb into his hands. "It's yours," She said angrily, "you better check next time what are you giving the students."
"What?" He examined the Materia. "Mastered? But how... How you then... I was sure I gave you the first level Materia..." He scratched the back of his head, glancing at them sheepishly. "Uh, I, uh, I apologize, young ladies. Must be my poor sight. I'll bring you another one."
"No, thanks." Ifalna said. "I'm done."
"But, Iffie, you were doing so good," Lucy began, but Ifalna wasn't going to give in.
"I'm done," She repeated. "I promised you one try, and I did it. The topic is closed."
In the following years Lucrecia more than once tried to persuade Ifalna to try using Materia again, but didn't succeed.
The old instructor retired several years later, never managing to solve the mystery of a missing first-level Materia and the extra Mastered Fire Materia that appeared, it seemed, from nowhere.