Garden of Winter


IV

The Borderlands


Gray Fullbuster

It had been a year to the day on which Ultear had retuned that Ur had announced during breakfast that the four of them would be going on a trip. A trip to where exactly remained a mystery for the following few days as Ur offered little information outside of that they would be leaving Iceberg for another country and they could be gone for months if not longer. Now, a little over a week after the announcement the four of them, master and students, shared a cabin on an old rickety train that was to taking them to somewhere in the country of Seven after having spent several days on foot beforehand.

Out of all of them Ur seemed to be the only one who didn't look ready to pass out from the sheer heat of the desert country. Even if they'd only crossed the border an hour or two ago the sudden spike in temperature had Gray feeling like his brain was melting and it was taking all of his will power not to just throw his clothes out the window and hope being in the buff would at least help him cool down somewhat. That or stick his head our the window and hope the breeze was a cool one.

Next to him it was clear Lyon was in a similar state of distress though he was doing a better job of masking his growing discomfort than Gray. Ultear, being the girl she was, had her face buried in a book which sat in her lap but her forehead was glowing with sweat and, seeing as Gray had nothing better to do than watch her, he hadn't seen her turn the page in over twenty minutes which made it clear she was finding it all but impossible to concentrate on what the words actually said.

"Are you trying to kill us," Gray demanded as he finally gave up and tore off the top he was wearing and instead wrapped it around his head. It was rather disgusting but given how the vest was soaked with sweet it'd at least keep his head cool for a little while.

"Yes," Ur said without missing a beat and all three children stared at her horror struck. It took a moment before the her poker face cracked and their mentor burst into a fit of hysterics. Gray cursed at her and the reply was a swift smack to the head as he was chided for his language. "In all serious though, no I am not trying to kill you," Ur sighed as she frowned at Gray for the briefest of moments, as if reconsidering that course of action when he muttered another curse on his breath, "however this trip we're going on is very important as it could very well mean the end of your time with me."

"What do you mean by that, exactly?" Lyon said as he folded his arms over his own now bare chest, having opted to follow Gray's influence.

"I mean the three of you have had a incredibly easy time of it until this point." Ur replied without batting an eye. "Much like I was, the three of you were all taught the basics of Ice-Make in an environment which would help you adapt and develop at a fast pace, providing you with an edge, so to speak. However you can't spend the rest of your lives under my tutelage and you'll have to go out into the world on your own to learn and further develop but you need to be prepared for that so we're going from on extreme to another.

"Seven is for the most part one massive desert with a few highly populated areas and this heat will make it extremely difficult for you to make anything with you magic," Ur said as she gave Gray and Lyon a pointed look before they could argue. "That being said if you can make a stable object out here that doesn't actually melt within a few minutes then you'll be able to utilise Ice-Make almost anywhere. One of the first things I taught you all was that Ice-make works on a basic level by projecting the image you want to create in you mind into the space in front of you by harnessing the cold and freezing the water vapour until it takes the form of the thing you want it to. The natural cold of Iceberg helps, especially at the entry level but given how there are almost no clouds here and hot the wind is I'd say pulling that off here isn't exactly how we're supposed to pass this test.

"Likewise," Ur added with a jerk of her in the direction of the window, "Sand is a rather effective way of dealing with ice as it causes traction and with the right amount of fiction can also cause it to melt. At first glance this environment is the perfect counter for wizards like us - except it's not. This trip will be entirely about the practise of of Harness and Channel: the theory of using one hand to harness the desired element and another to channel it into the thing you want to create."

"That's why mother is always telling you to use both hands, Lyon," Ultear snickered as she looked up from her book for a moment to stick her tongue out at the white haired boy. As par usual Lyon quickly fired off a retort whilst Ur pinched the bridge of her nose and Gray rolled his eyes as he slumped further in his seat. He liked to think he got along with Lyon, or at least tolerated his superior than thou attitude at times and got along well with Ultear as any bards they exchanged were meant as light hearted banter but Ur's daughter and his senior always seemed to butt heads.

Gray wasn't sure it if was down the fact with Ultear had almost occidentally frozen Lyon or the fact Ultear could never accept the idea of Lyon mastering something her mother taught them before her but the pair of them just couldn't seem to get along. Everything was a competition between the pair, Ultear with her natural talent for the magic and Lyon with his determination to not only out do the dark haired girl but surpass their mentor who he still viewed as the most powerful wizard on the continent despite Ur constantly speaking of stronger wizards in the west. Gray was pretty sure he also heard her mutter something about the monsters from the western continent to once.

"Yes, thank you, Ultear," Ur said in a manner that showed she didn't appreciate the interruption but Ultear just smiled back up at her, knowing that was probably as far as the reprimand would go. "Getting back on topic," she added before anything else could be said, "Ultear is right to extent I taught you to cast with both hands because every brand of Maker Magic has it's own default stance in which one hand is used to harness the chosen element of choice whilst the other is then used to channel magic into that shape. That being said I've taught you all at the same time their are exceptions to this rule when trying to cast certain spells: this being an adaptive stance."

"So this trip is about learning a new adaptive stance stance?" Gray asked and Ur gave a slight nod, but at the same her expression told him he wasn't entire correct.

"Yes, and also no," Gray just raised an eyebrow and waited for the explanation, "simply learning a new stance in the long run isn't going to solve the problem as you'd still have the same problem as before. What I've taught you to this point is how to harness the cold and then channel it so if you can learn the correct stance the same problem would remain - there is little to no natural cold air for us here to work with."

"Advance stances, then," Ultear spoke up as turned away from her book for a moment, "you're going to teach us a stance that will help us generate our own artificial cold and we then have to learn to incorporate into our default stance. It's how you're the only not ready to pass out from the heat in here, isn't it?"

"That actually sums it up quite nicely," Ur nodded before snapping her fingers as the temperature in the cabin suddenly plummeted and Gray found himself letting out a low sigh of content as he suddenly felt like he was back in Auorth. Ur snapped her fingers again a moment later and the cold vanished however, and heat set upon him like a rabid dog and the young boy could only grown as he pulled his sweaty t-shirt down over his face slightly. "As any proper elemental wizard you all need to be able to create and master every aspect of your element if you want to truly master the art. As such well be doing a lot of work with water during this trip as well as trying to create our own artificial cold aura, if you will.

"Maker Magic is about more than harnessing an element," Ur said in a lecturing tone with a straight face before cracking a soft smile, probably recalling how her own master had given her this exact speech she was now giving, "it's about becoming one with it, reaching a state of limitless potential where you can do anything with it. Even manipulate your own body or converting an existing object into a different one, perhaps even change a completely different element into a new one. And that's the kind of magic you'll be learning after this trip if you can master want I have to teach you before we return home."

"Earlier you said this trip very we'll be the end of our time with you," Lyon pointed out nervously, voicing the concerns all three of them had.

"If you fail to fully master what I have to teach you by the trips end then there's nothing more that I can teach you," Ur suddenly sounded deadly serious, giving Ultear a rather pointed looked, telling she was not exempt for this rule: daughter nor not. "What comes after this is an entirely different brand of Ice-Make Magic, we're talking about highly experimental and dangerous magic that will kill you if not used properly. So, think of this entire trip as a giant trip which, if you fail, means you will no longer be my student any more. It's that simple."

As angry as the sudden bombshell made him, Gray couldn't really bring himself to get angry as a sudden sense of dread overwhelmed him. It crept up on him but hit like a fist to the face - that nagging voice - that asked him just what if he failed? Then what?

"You don't have to look so worried you know?" Ur chuckled as she looked out the window for a brief moment. "My own master brought me on this exact trip that I'm giving you now and I passed whilst being half as capable as he three of you are now. I have the utmost faith in all of passing with flying colours. Now," turning back to the three children, "besides the heat there are a lot of dangers here in the country of Seven: it's nickname of the borderlands is joke on how the country seems to be teetering on the border of full blown anarchy. That said we'll be going to a place called Midway which as one of the more populated areas is thankfully much more... safe."

"So basically everything wants to kill us out here," Gray said and Ur said nothing to deny the comment.

"Welcome to the borderlands, kids." Ur shrugged one shoulder with a small smile. "This place will chew you up and spit you back out, but you'll thank me for this experience one day. I mean, you're going to have to face the world as it is eventual and you might as well have me there to hold your hands the first time you do."


A/N: So this one took a while, largely because I scrapped a lot of what I had originally planned and started over at least twice. Admittedly this is the chapter that starts the first real arcing plot line and the next one will also largely be a set up chapter to help define what's ahead and building some characterisation and dynamic between the three kids and Ur. Hopefully this storyline doesn't drag one forever as a large part in world building but you guys need to see some of the things which happen during this trip so when we skip ahead a few years afterwards the events taking place make a little more sense and means I don't have to do needless amounts of flashbacks later.

Like I said this chapter is partially world building and starts defining the rules I'll be using when doing things with Maker Magic in general and doing something I really wish Hiro did a little more which is flesh out how all the different types of magic work in detail. That said I can understand why he doesn't but I feel the development of the kids as wizards becomes more interesting if there are ground rules and we see them develop and explore the boundaries of those rules because in my opinion a trip like this would be needed, as living in the cold whilst learning Ice-Make is, to me, learning to ride your bike with stabilisers, with this journey into the desert acting as the point where the training wheels come off.