Leilani had made her way over to the tenth generation, letting herself fall down on one of the chairs.
Tsuna, not having forgotten the last time, immediately served her some tea.
She inclined her head in a thankful manner, while pulling her legs up to sit cross legged on her chair.
The heir looked at her with still wide eyes "How did you even stay calm? I panic if I just see a dog, which is still far tamer than a snake."
"My godfather is a dog."
"A dog?"
"Yeah, a big fluffy black dog." she took a sip "I didn't like dogs before him either. My cousin's aunt was breeding them. Wasn't a fun time."
"And you stayed calm back then too?"
"No, I climbed on trees." she tilted her head "The perspective matters. Ripper was always out to get me but my dogfather loved me. I had an unfavourable meeting with a snake though who actually wanted to kill me but… Nirvana is different, she's a normal snake. Which means no danger. Why fear something if you have no reason to."
"But the what ifs?"
Leilani shrugged "Well don't you regret it more if you didn't try it? The 'what if I had just done or tried it' always outweighs the 'but what could happen to me'. But well that's just me. I guess caution can be good too."
She snatched up one of the small italian cookies from the table, which she definitely couldn't name "furthermore the fear of the uncertainty is more often greater than the actual thing. To be honest whenever I feel fear I just know that I have to push forwards. Just chin up and keep going."
Yamamoto tilted his head "Isn't fear something like an alarm? So that one doesn't get into danger?"
She nibbled on the cookie "That's true."
"And I don't think most people can just ignore their fear."
She shrugged "I can. If push comes to shove you still have to act after all. Can't Tsuna sing a song about that too?"
The heir slightly blushed "I guess."
She grinned, throwing a quick glance at her rain who was kept busy with the arcobalenos. She had asked them to just let her be for this. She wanted to work with the tenth generation so even though she usually didn't part much from him right now Tsuna needed her full attention and she didn't want distraction.
Leilani leaned forwards "So Tsuna. How's your patronus?"
"I can keep him sustained for several minutes now." he proudly claimed.
She stuck up a thumb in approval "Show me."
The heir closed his eyes for a moment and it barely took two seconds until his Lion jumped out again, prolling near him through the room and searching for danger.
Leilani jumped from her chair, crouching down slightly to examine the animal and as she thought there was no real difference between his and hers, it was a true fully formed and corporal patronus. "Did you only practise to sustain him or did you do anything else with him?"
He stuttered, almost sounding embarrassed. "I… only produced him, nothing more."
She looked over her shoulder, taking his ashamed expression in "I didn't expect you to do anything more."
"But you just asked-"
"Yeah, I asked. Maybe you experimented with it but I never told you to. I never set it as a standard that you figure everything out yourself or perform miracles. How would you have known?"
"But… Reborn always-"
"Yes, Reborn. Reborn's a bastard."
He spluttered.
"He puts way too high standards on you, assumes you can just do it and never takes into consideration who you are. He has his weird standards that no one but himself can check and he's an ass for expecting you to learn everything by throwing you into cold water."
"But I learned stuff."
"Yeah I did too. Still my greatest teachers were aware of my capabilities, pushing me but not overwhelming me and they actually guided me and explained stuff to me. Not like Reborn."
"He isn't that bad."
She shrugged, before standing up "Suit yourself. You can have him all to yourself afterwards. Still I plan to actually teach you this time. Not like last time where I just gave you the information. I'm not testing you, I'm teaching you."
With a wave of her hand Prongs was infront of her and she stepped closer, her finger burning with her skyflame on it which she pressed against Prongs forehead, silently translating her command to him and whispering her message to him.
Prongs bowed his head for a moment before sprinting away. In less than a fraction of a second her patronus appeared next to Reborn and her voice rang out from Prongs 'You sure what you're drinking is espresso?'
The hitman actually dropped his cup, for once getting completely caught off guard.
Leilani didn't pay him any mind though, even when he asked what she did with it, instead turning towards her new student "Patroni can send messages. They are untraceable, unstoppable and find the recipient in a matter of seconds, no matter where they are. Even greater, it is always clear that the message is undoubtedly from you as you're the only one in this world with this exact patronus."
His eyes widened, same as how everyone's attention had snapped to her.
"The proceder is relatively easy as long as you can sustain your patronus long enough. it will vanish on its own when it has finished his mission but for that you still have to sustain it long enough to fulfil it. It's why it was important that you had enough of a grip on it before I even started this. So… interested in learning?"
Tsuna nodded, enthusiastically "How do I do it?"
"It's rather simple. You activate your flames, if you struggle with just your finger use the whole hand. In this matter overpowered isn't that bad, it will exhaust you more but you should be able to learn to minimise the power outlet the more you practise it.
Concentrate on your flame and have the objective in mind that you want your patronus to be a messenger, you want him to deliver it. As assistance you can use the incantation 'mittere' which is latin for send messages. I'm not sure if it helps you but in my experience it makes it easier.
You will want to let your flames wash into your Patronus at this point while you say it and have your mind completely focused on what you want it to do and to whom you want to send it too.
If you nail it you will feel it, like something clicks, like he's listening… you will feel it, it's hard to describe and then you just word out your message. How about you just try it?"
Tsuna nodded eagerly and Leilani leaned against the table, munching on the biscuits while the Vongola tried to figure it out, the results were slightly better when he actually spoke out the incantation but before he could word out his message it seemed to crash together. His Patronus vanishing every time.
Leilani hummed before stepping towards him "Tsuna? Would you be alright if I examine your process?"
"What do you mean?"
"I want to feel how your flames work?"
"H-huh?"
"I would have to touch you while doing so, you would feel my flames and it would be like I'm watching your inner flame workings, not interfering just feeling how your flames wander through your body, it's like a scan in a way… would you be alright with it?"
"I-I guess?"
"Thanks. I might be able to figure out where the problem is." She stepped forwards, just placing her hands on his back on the height where his heart was supposed to be.
She slowly and as gently as possible let her own flames flow into him, willing it to be nothing else but a silent observer, not impairing him or mingling with his flames but being able to feel them and in a way examine his process.
His breath hitched and she looked up worryingly "Does it feel bad?"
"N-No." he stuttered out.
"So is it okay or not?"
"I-it's o-okay. It… It feels good."
She could only see his neck and ears but they were bright red. She stopped herself from being loudly amused by it, instead giving her best to make him a bit more comfortable "Just try it again when you're ready."
He did take a moment and some shaky deep breaths before he started the progress.
Leilani stayed quiet, her flames just being present to let herself feel the whole procedure and she realised that while his flames seemed to want to help him, it was like they were clueless. They didn't know how to do it exactly, overpowering in the wrong moments and almost pointlessly swirling around until they shortcutted so aimlessly were they.
His flames clearly wanted to assist him but she had to admit it was different to her own magic. Flames were always just a byproduct, they never really mattered to her. Tsuna's flames… they felt like magic but… lesser in a way. Not that they weren't concentrated or strong but in a way they felt inexperienced, not because of his general few years of flame studies but she dared to say that her own magic was riddled with the magic from her homeworld, nurtured and fed with the secrets of her world. Her own magic always had seemed to know how to do things, long before she had even known about magic as if the air had been loaded with magical secrets that fed it to it since or before she was even born. She told it her commands and it already knew what to do.
In a way it felt like Tsuna's flames didn't have that advantage. Like the world hadn't fed them enough, like a newborn but still… she felt it. it was so unbelievably similar, just the overwhelming sentience was missing, it was there but.. not enough, too young, too fresh. Still she was sure Tsuna's flames were willing to learn, as if they would soak it up if they got it, as if they were able to learn it if they just experienced it.
It made sense in an odd way. Just from the experience with Reborn she had gotten that idea. It was like her and this world magic worked in synchro. Her own more formed, while she was certain that every mage from her world was able to use every or almost every flame… this world was different as the single flames were more pronounced but limited.
And… the way Tsuna's flames flowed were vastly different then Reborns, as if they viewed it differently. The manifestation was different, not that Reborns flames had been more sentient or knowledgeable… ever after decades Reborns flames were reminiscent of a toddler, while Tsunas was more of a newborn.
She didn't see it the same way, magic was magic, sure it had different purposes but in the end everything was the same old magic.
She had theorised that in this world while they all agreed it was flames that they didn't look at them the same way, as if they all had completely different superpowers. Sure… sky flames weren't sun and transfiguration and charms weren't the same either but… it was still magic for her, her own magic that did all of it.
Nevertheless it seemed like this world wasn't meant to figure out the true nature of flames, of magic. Keeping it locked away, hidden for no one to discover it. The way his flames weren't fully sentient… It was a harsh theory, to assume that no one here was meant to figure it out, that fate hadn't planned for this, that it wasn't meant to be. But since when had she ever liked fates plans?
She was brought here after all and she could feel the potential in Tsuna, the similarities. She would just have to feed his flames, to make them figure out what they could do, nurture them so long until they understood, until they activated and whirled and thrummed through him, until they were able to act by themselves, until they knew what they were capable of.
She had to get rid of his limits, to make him understand the basics of magic and how it worked.
In a way Tsuna was like a hedgewizard, way too similar, forced to only have limited power in certain aspects but she knew the one or other hedgewizards had talents and could excel at them and Tsuna, same as everyone here, had talent. He could do it, she was sure. He just needed to understand it, which seemed like the greatest challenge. How could one truly understand it that easily after all?
Still she was certain she could teach him this skill at least.
"Tsuna? Would you be alright if I try to guide you? Like… my flames would guide yours, you just have to listen to them, act the way they show you to? I will let mine wander through your body, show you the exact way it has to go, show you the strength and the way it has to act… you just have to imitate it. I will nudge you in the right decisions. Is that okay for you?"
"S-sure."
She nodded before she started the progress, it wasn't that hard, sure she had to sometimes almost forcefully nudge him in the right direction and she actually had to close her eyes to focus on it solely.
It was a slow process, very slow as she tried to not let him go anywhere wrongly but she could feel how his flames soaked up the knowledge, getting more trusting by the second and trying it's hardest to follow her steps. She even could feel the riffs from the broken seal on him but she gave her best to shield it from him so that he only had to focus on her flames leading the way.
Sure, she was almost certain that this alone wouldn't awaken the sentience he was partly lacking but… she wasn't here to make the tenth generation into real hedgewizards. She was here to find out if they could do it. If it was really possible for them to use magic the same way she did. So she was fine with this shortcut.
If it worked she still had to change her methods if she wanted to teach the arcobalenos real magic but for her experiment today it would be enough to see if they could perform magic.
To her immense joy she could feel his hitched breath as soon as it clicked, as soon as the sensation came and he stuttered the words.
She still stayed connected with him until she could hear Tsuna's voice mirrored, loud and clearly, staying with him until she could feel his patronus signalling that he had finished the mission and vanished.
Leilani finally broke off the connection, stepping back slightly as the sky turned around to look at her with wide eyes "I did it!"
"Yeah." She grinned "Think you can try to do it again? This time alone? Don't worry if it needs a bit longer, just try to follow the same procedure."
He hastily nodded, already conjuring his patronus again.
He took almost two minutes but in the end his Patronus vanished to land next to Gokudera and repeat his greeting to his best friend.
Leilani lifted her hand to signal him to give her a high five, which the teen immediately over enthusiastically did.
Leilani laughed "Alright, now that you have figured it out… Why don't we go a step further? I already told you that your patronus can go anywhere in the world, even if you have no clue where the recipient is. If you manage this we can say for certain that you understood it, right?"
He nodded determinedly.
"And I got the perfect candidate for this… your father is currently travelling for the CEDEF right? Lal mentioned it."
"Y-yes?"
She went on her tiptoes, hiding her mouth behind her hands while whispering something in his ear.
His eyes widened "I-I couldn't"
"But you want to, don't you?"
"B-but-"
"Come on. I know you want it. Enma texted me all about his last stunt. Just give in. I know you want to do it."
"B-but what if he gets mad?"
"I will protect you."
He looked at the vastly smaller tiny sky in front of him "You sure?"
"Yeah, just gimme a call if you know he's coming or if he's already there. I have my ways."
"You sure it won't end badly?"
"Positive."
He let his head tilt from one side to the other, contemplating it "I mean… he deserves it."
"Exactly what I said."
She could see how his mouth corners twitched upwards, before he went through the process again.
Reborn who had watched the whole spectacle since the beginning stepped closer "What are you doing? And again… what did you do to the espresso? You weren't even here before me."
She just winked at him "Well, if he wants to be my proper student I have to teach him how to prank, right?"
He raised an eyebrow "And the espresso?"
She ignored him again, only dodging his attempts to keep her in place to get an answer out of her, which turned into her weaselling through the room while he slowly followed her, pretending to be exasperated.
They were still busy with their little game when Lal's phone chimed up, signalling an incoming call.
Leilani, who had been busy climbing on the fireplace, yelled out "Turn it on loud!"
The rain raised her eyebrow but did as instructed and Iemitsus wailing rang out "A lion just told me my wife is considering divorcing me for you!"
Lal literally took a moment to take it in while Leilani had jumped down from her fireplace, mouthing at the female rain 'He deserves it!'
Lal still took a moment before clearing her throat "Well… Iemitsu. I have to admit she did send me some glances when I last met her. Maybe you had a hallucination out of the guilt that you left Nana alone for so long. Who knows what thoughts she gets out of loneliness… I mean… maybe it was your intuition?"
Leilanis mouth literally dropped open, delight sparkling in her eyes as Ieimitsu immediately stated he would take a vacation as soon as he finished the delivery before hanging up to call his wife.
She jumped straight down to run to Lal, hand raised in the air "You're awesome, Lal! Totally awesome! I think I'm in love!"
The female rain chuckled slightly "And I fear you're a bad influence on me." She still lifted her hand for the high five that Leilani enthusiastically gave her.
The sky grinned up but turned around as soon as she heard Tsunas stuttered "I-I did it!" behind her.
The redhead just smiled "Obviously. You're talented Tsuna. Everything is already there, you just have to try it. You're awesome like that."
Tsuna stared at her, a blush on his skin but brightly lighting up at the pure confidence in her words and before he could stop himself he had hugged her "Thank you!"
Leilani just laughed, hugging him back before grinning up at him "Oh and as homework I want you to try to send messages on every occasion. Like don't even get off the couch if you want Snacks, just send Gokudera your patronus to tell him to bring you some. I'm certain you can get even better at this."
