That Cter was standing in the shadow of the Monster King was less of an accurate description as it was a mockery of the intense shadow that swallowed Cter whole as the Monster King spread his arms wide to embrace his latest Monster Mage. "You arrived so early, Cter," he greeted warmer than the midday sun still peeking over the castle walls as if standing on toes to reach over with curiosity as to what was to take place amid the dancing fractals created by the many different leaves swaying in the soft breeze its curios peek brought with it. "Golly, I barely had time to heat up the kettle."

Asgore's left arm and its accompanying robe and mantle hanging underneath like a wing surrounded Cter while his right arm gestured for permission to let her be led over to the set table to join His Majesty. "Kry came to retrieve me," Cter said as an answer as she was coaxed over the narrow road craving a path between shrubbery a blooming plenty. "My guess is that he came to me as soon as you gave him the order."

"Well..." the Monster King playfully prefaced as his mighty hand grabbed the backrest of the chair Cter was to sit on. She did not need her name to have been written on the chair Asgore had approached for her to know that it was hers. As Asgore put his hand on the backrest his hand covered it entirely, so there was no mistaking it.

Starkly contrasted to the chair on the opposite side of the flower-patterned tablecloth which tickled the crown of the young oak behind it. "Ordered and ordered," was accompanied with King Asgore's head bouncing with tilts side to side. His ears flopped as he did, slapping heavily against his golden pauldrons. "I never said anything to him directly. Once we'd concluded our talk he inquired as to whom was next and I merely mentioned that it was you more in passing that anything else." King Asgore dragged out Cter's chair and opened his palm towards the seat. "Please," he invited with a wide smile that pushed up his eyelids to soften his eyes even more.

Cter froze for a moment as she debated whether or not accepting the invitation was part of the test. On the one hand, which King Asgore held on the backrest of the cast-iron chair painted white on its swirling patterns, it was an invitation from the Monster King himself. On the other hand though, the one which he had opened and pointed down towards the cushioned seat embroidered with the Delta Rune, it was the Monster King acting in a lower status than his subordinate. The way Kry–

"Kry mentioned that this was an evaluation, didn't he?" King Asgore interrupted with a quirk of his golden, bushy brow and his smile changing just the slightest into confidently knowing behind his dense beard. It broke after a silent second into a chuckle through his nose as he shook his head. "Golly, golly. Sometimes you can't tell the difference between him and Sir Gerson, can you?" Asgore nodded for Cter to not worry. "An invitation from me still holds more water than his straightened back does, right?"

Who was Cter to argue with the King of the Monsters?

She took her seat on the purple pillow with her utmost courteous thanks up to the bearded smile shining the same as the sun behind it. As Asgore stepped aside though to sit down on his chair Cter was momentarily blinded by the sun surprising her eyes. She blinked away the purple dots to find herself sitting too far away from the table to properly reach for the cup King Asgore was pouring her. Was it because he needed the knee space? No, the table was large enough to accompany for his large legs.

Guess she had to jump closer herself then. She grabbed the bottom of her seat and–

"Not like that," King Asgore marked without taking his eyes off the tea. "You should be able to carry your own weight with stasis magic, correct?" Once Cter's cup was full he moved the kettle over to his own porcelain cup with his shadow sweeping over the table like clouds sweeping over the countryside. "Last time I felt your magic it was borrowed, wasn't it? I'd like to feel how it is now that you have your permanent magic. Let your aura out as you do, please. You have my kingly permission to sneeze out loud without covering your mouth."

Cter had never really thought of it that way, but in a sense it did make sense for him to describe it that way. Professor Leraull never did put it like that during Cter's time at Soul's School.

Oh well, if the Monster King insisted.

While it wasn't too heavy for Cter to lift the cast-iron chair with herself on it in terms of raw effort there was still the matter of balance which she had to keep under control. Projecting the sense of her magical self for her purple stasis magic while still also keeping track of her physical self and making sure the two communicated properly lest she fell over and slammed her chin against the edge of the table to ruin the quaint atmosphere did necessitate a certain finesse to her magic.

A finesse she managed with flying colors.

Or really just one.

The purple of her stasis magic.

"Well done," said King Asgore as the metal legs of the hovering chair sank back down into the gravel. He held his cup raised for Cter, prompting her to pick hers up to join him. "Your magic sure has changed since last time, which is to be expected. Not only your magic, but you as well, no? Last time you were a prisoner, and now you're a Monster Mage." He sipped his tea almost like a kiss., prompting Cter to drink some too. "Perhaps next time you'll have usurped my throne?" said King Asgore without warning, prompting Cter to choke on her tea.

The expensive cup fell out of her startled hands, as did the hot tea within it. Large, turbulent drops began to assert their freedom from the shackles of their negatively curved porcelain prison, closing in on both the quaint tablecloth depicting various flowers and herbs along with their names, as well as towards the formal-casual robe Cter was wearing. The drops did not fare for long though, as Cter caught them all in a translucent, purple haze. Their liquid forms bulged and bent as they hovered in the web of her stasis magic, reflecting the midday sun's light into tinted circles that flicked across the tablecloth. A web from her hurried memories of the Spider Butcher.

"These are called 'sun-cats' in Hjearta, aren't they?" wondered Asgore as he managed to catch one of the tea-tinted reflections in his white hand. The golden-brown tint from the tea drops gave his hand a slight birch color to it which he inspected with a few scratches on it with one of his claws. "It's too bad we don't have our own name for it." To Cter's gasping surprise the circle followed King Asgore's hand as he lifted it up to get a better angle of it. The tea in her stasis magic didn't change, she had them all suspended as Asgore took an interest to them. To confirm she looked down at the tea, but none did move to facilitate the sun-cat's movement on King Asgore's hand. "I'll save this one for later, if you don't mind?" It was some form of magic from him, but what type Cter couldn't tell.

"Y-Y-Yes!" was coughed as an answer both from Cter confusion and the few tickling drops of tea that still haunted her throat. "I m-mean, no. No, I don't mind, my King." With the confusion fully taking her over she watched with her jaw on the ground as Asgore pocketed the sun-cat into his robe underneath his armor like it was a pretty pebble.

A few long moments passed between the two before Asgore realized that he needed to thaw Cter out of her frozen stare. "Your tea, Cter," he reminded with a gentle nod. "I think it might taste better if it is in your cup. Helps to have it roll onto your tongue just perfectly."

"Oh," Cter realized. "Yes, right." She guided her tea back into her cup, pushing it upright with the drops before letting the liquid settle into it again.

"You're quick with your magic too, Cter," King Asgore congratulated. "Even when startled you caught each drop and droplet without even as much as a thought. Straight from your soul." A few taps with one of his claws on his half-empty cup passed by as his brow furrowed on him in thought. "It did feel close to Sund's magic, yes," the Monster King said to himself with lip sucked inwards. "You must be close to making your own magic, Cter. That I am eager to see. It took Sund years for him to figure out that he could make magic of his own soul, but you're on your way to have it done by the end of the year, if I'm allowed to be too bold to guess. Although..." King Asgore put down his cup on its saucer with a solemn clink. "The way you've reached this incredible height is not the most healthy one. I am not at all gonna deny the fruit which has stemmed from that, but..."

Cter wasn't sure if she was being scorned or not. It did not feel like she was being scorned, but she wasn't really feeling like she was being congratulated either. In a way it felt like King Asgore was blaming himself, in a way. Specifically it was the way he sat down his tea that gave Cter that impression, and it was only reinforced by him sighing with a slight shake to his head.

"A wonder built upon tragedy."

"If I may, King Asgore," said Cter in response as she sat down her own cup. Her flower-patterned saucer did not clink solemnly though. There was a more clandestine tone to it.

Clangdestine, even.

"A wonder built upon tragedy to me sounds like the Cooperative Connection." Cter paused for a brief moment to ask herself if she would be able to explain herself clearly enough to get her point across. "In the way that it is a necessary lie for monsters to still have the advantage of magic over humans."

King Asgore's eyes narrowed slightly while he cocked his head to the side. "Monsters?"

"Us monsters, my King," Cter added before continuing with the flat of her hands pressed together and gesticulated throughout her explanation. "It is the underlying threat that should the humans find out that the Cooperative Connection is just a lie and that the monster soul catalyst does not need to be positive that is the tragedy in this case. From how you and Queen Toriel have acted with the goodliest of faith towards the humans I do feel safe to assume that you'd prefer the Cooperative Connection not be a lie had you been given an actual choice apart from the survival of your people?" Cter opened up her hands for her question. "From that though you've managed to build something wonderful with the human countries."

King Asgore's eyes glanced briefly towards the spiraling lines on Cter's arm. He saw them glow. "You are well spoken, Cter. It is quite nice to hear you get comfortable in your role. I hope that you'll convey yourself similarly when out on the diplomatic missions that lay in your future. While I suspect that there is some of Bonny Sallus fueling your words, from how you still have your voice be human throughout it all it is a slight influence at most." The king's large index finger slid comfortably into his cup's ear, however his chair creaked slightly as he bent forwards to reach it. "You are correct in your assumption too about the Monster Queen's and my opinions about the Cooperative Connection. We both lament its necessity, but we also understand the grave reality that would arise had it not been conceived."

The king stopped the cup as its porcelain lip touched his golden and furry one.

"Or perhaps deceived is a better word in this context."

Then he savored some more.

Cter followed her king's example and lifted her cup with her sleeved hand underneath. From it she heated the bottom of the tea as it had gone a bit cold on her from having been floating, suspended in the air. Hovering naked in the air does so to a liquid. The sweet and sour taste of the Golden Flower tea helped her tongue relax from speaking against her king in a sense. "You and Queen Toriel would be the ones to understand most the necessity of keeping human magic under control. Sir Gerson told me about your first visit to the Xoff court in Noitaidarr."

"It's the memory I decided to give to the first of the Monster Mages," King Asgore began while reaching over with a basket of cookies and bread towards Cter. She helped herself to some buns that looked to be baked by Idyll which she placed on her saucer. "At first we feared that Kry would be overwhelmed by a Boss Monster's magic, as well as the gravity the memory held for me." The way King Asgore's kingly fingers fluttered around in the air while he scoured the bread basket for what looked most appetizing showed that the fear had been long overstepped. "And that was on top of him being the first to also reject his humanity."

Reject his humanity? That was a bit of a mouthful with the way King Asgore formulated it, and he had yet to take a bite out the buns he'd chosen out of the almost empty breadbasket. While yes, it wasn't wrong that Kry and the other Monster Mages, including Cter, had rejected their humanity, but it had mostly been a quiet rejection, really.

At least it was for Cter…

"I've rejected my humanity, Jonathan!" King Asgore gestured grandly with a cardamom bun held high in the air, startling Cter with the sudden outburst. "That was what Kry declared towards his father that still tried to insist his family name be added to the Monster Mage title." He lowered the bun towards his mouth slowly. "I've not told Kry that I heard that, and I confer it to you under the assumption that you won't either."

"I won't tell him," Cter promised as King Asgore took a large bite out of the bun leaving but the pinch of bread held between his fingers. "And if I may, King Asgore?"

He gave Cter a nod as he was busy chewing. A spitting king was no king to follow.

"I am not entirely comfortable with referring to me becoming a monster to me having rejected my humanity," she laid bare for him to judge while tapping her bun on the rim of her saucer. She meant to dip in her tea, but missed. "If that is what you want me to have done then so I have done, but it does not feel right to me. It sounds like an accusation rather than the more uplifting situation of becoming a monster. I've not met any real angry glances towards me because of that, but..." Cter shook her head. "I predict that I will be facing those looks in the future. Idyll and I did kinda sneer up towards this castle when we were living in Jarasevo, and if people believe that I've rejected my humanity then that's a reason too for sneering, isn't it?"

King Asgore took Cter's concern to soul. That Cter could clearly feel in his aura and the slow nod he gave her. "While I do agree that the term is a bit...blunt, it does serve its purpose." He pointed down towards one of his remaining buns, a cinnamon one. "For Kry, rejecting his humanity meant stepping away from his parents that had told him that emotions weren't for him and their clique. Magic was the only way he could express himself." Then towards a honey-glazed one. "For Kurant, rejecting her humanity meant continuing to walk up the hill despite her injured knee, finding a way to move past her human-induced handicap." And lastly towards one covered in jelly. "For Sund, rejecting his humanity meant accepting that he wouldn't be able to come back home ever again."

The one free index finger King Asgore had left was raised in the air. "However, all of these rejections have been of something that held them back. Kept them from realizing their true potential. You can't just add onto something that's already full. If I were to pour more than my cup could handle it would spill over. For a Monster Mage to be a monster they have to leave something behind from their human life. Kry, Kurant, and Sund all left behind something which held them back as humans. They all chose to reject the part of their humanity which shackled their souls. It is because I respect and value their sacrifice that I give it the weight worthy of the tough choice they had to make."

Cter looked to her own bun which she held half-eaten in her hand.

"There will come a time when you will have to make a similar choice, Cter," the Monster King advised rather than warned. "And despite the potential of your new magic, that is a fact that will still remain as such. I am not saying that you aren't a Monster Mage yet, Cter, for you very much are. Just like with how you four are considered monsters, this rejection is very much from the soul rather than anywhere else. From the human senses you are as human as the day you were born, but from the monster senses you are as monster as monster can be. It is up to you and you alone to find that balance, and for that you will have to give up something that you feel is human, Cter. You'll have to reject it to prove to you and your soul that you're determined about what it means to be a Monster Mage. What that will be none of us can answer for you. It is something that will be yours and yours alone. We will be with you every step you take though. While our paths are different they all lead to the same horizon."

The same horizon, and what lay beyond.

"Could it be that I've already rejected it?" asked Cter after her king had refreshed his mouth with some more tea.

"Is that what you think?" Asgore pushed his hand against his armor-covered chest. "Or is that what you feel?"

To be perfectly honest the only thing Cter really felt was some tensed exhaustion. She'd not heeded Kry's advice and collected herself before talking with King Asgore. "I can't answer that." She needed things to sink in for her. "Forgive me, my King."

"You have nothing to ask forgiveness for, my Monster Mage. I wouldn't want an answer from you which you didn't believe in yourself." Again he reached over with the breadbasket. "Take your time. We have all day. If you need more then we have all week." Once Cter had chosen another biscuit to add to her pile Asgore offered her some more tea. "And then all month. Then all year. There is no hurry." As he poured he saw how ripples formed on the surface of the filled cup from Cter's hand. "If anything you should slow down a bit, Cter. It's been quite the sprint for you these last few months, hasn't it? Even I would be tired from it."

The King sent Cter a warm smile that enveloped her like a comforting hug, full of respect and delight. He truly was glad to have her as a Monster Mage.

And that Cter could never thank him enough for.

Nor the silence he so graciously offered to share with her among the dancing fractals of shadow that surrounded the table decorated in the middle of Jarasevo's Royal Garden. Cter had meant to take a walk just to explore it for a while, but she never really had a good chance to do so. Perhaps after her evaluation she could. Just her and her own thoughts. They'd been second to her ever since she became a Monster Mage, she felt. Always something new for her to do.

She'd give a lot for just a couple of hours just to herself and her thoughts.

"King Asgore Dreemurr!"

But it would have to wait.

"You dare sit and drink tea while the human countries surround us on all sides?"

Since Cter's evaluation wasn't done.

"With trident sheathed and nowhere to be seen?"

While she had passed it on King Asgore's side.

"Have at you, I declare!"

There was still Queen Toriel's side left.

"Prove to me that you can handle your kingdom!"