p align="left""And it is with souls and hearts enlightened that we now bid the Fourth Monster Mage Cter farewell and wish for her travels to be smooth and safe!"/p
p align="left"Just as with her entrance, Kallorean and his squad stood to form a saluted path for her to enter her carriage again. It had been the better part of a month which she had spent at Fenkeep Castle, adding up to the better part of three months which she had been in Hjearta altogether. It would be a more direct journey back to Jarasevo Castle, with the carriage traveling at top speed through both Hjearta and Monster Country. Just like how the Royal Guards of both Monster Country and Hjearta had cleared the way for the Royal Mage of Ice to return home to Fenkeep Castle, so would the Fourth Monster Mage also have an open road all the way home. The ice transport she was to escort through Hjearta and to Jarasevo was seen in the distance from where Fenkeep Castle stood./p
p align="left""We thank her for her visit! For the stops she did at our many villages we thank her! For her displays of magic we thank her!"/p
p align="left"She nodded knowingly to Kallorean stood misty-eyed wanting to thank her in person. Huvett and Huvtvao's speech was above his rank though, so he kept quiet. He was a soldier. He'd keep his posture like his human squad mates would too! Through his aura he did thank her though, and Cter returned the feeling in kind./p
p align="left""Safe journey, the Fourth Monster Mage Cter!"/p
p align="left"The crowd of humans cheered together as Cter mounted up the steps to her carriage. In its door frame she turned, sweeping her mantle and robe behind her. "For months now I've traveled through the country of Hjearta!" Of course she had to do a speech of her own before she left. "I've seen her people, both human and monster, and basked in the love and diligent work that goes on each day from the glacier-covered north to the Golden-Flower-covered south! This is a country most beautiful, and its people even more so. It has spoken to me, both as a human and as a monster, and as I stand here, I feel more as both than I was when I crossed from Monster Country!"/p
p align="left"With a deep bow, Cter took farewell to the court of Hjearta. As she entered her carriage for the journey home, she left behind a glimmering conjuration of the crest of Hjearta lingering above the carriage. It raised up into the sun, exploding into rainbow-colored rays that swept across the courtyard, bathing it in a splendor of color and light./p
p align="left"Her entrance was with a Delta Rune, so to put her money where her mouth was about being human and monster as a Monster Mage it was fitting to make her exit with the Hjearta sigil. Not as elaborate a scene as with the Delta Rune, but with flashing rays of rainbow and glimmering magic it was good enough to again put the humans in awe./p
p align="left""Driver, please take me home," Cter said once she closed the carriage door behind her. "Quickly, if you would." The applause and cheering raged outside, fading away as the carriage began moving. Eventually the stone road underneath became louder than the cheering./p
p align="left"Cter had missed that sound, in a way./p
p align="left"Once the color out the windows became green rather than stone, Cter sank into her seat rather than sitting in it properly. She had been so formal for so long she just had to make her body limp for a couple of minutes. Just be sleazy for a bit. Like a Royal Guard at Jarasevo Castle instead of a Royal Guard at Fenkeep Castle./p
p align="left"She was a monster, for fluffbun's sake! She wasn't supposed to be formal for that long!/p
p align="left"With that out of the way she could then also finally wince at how the ballroom dance went. Despite her best efforts to mimic how Priestess Frioke danced, it was a total and utter disaster. A strange, mesmerizing disaster that probably caused a lot of the participants to become colorblind with how strangely Cter's magically enhanced dress snapped back and forth without rhyme or rhythm. The undeserved confidence she had gained from letting her dance partners lead her throughout the many varied dances came to a head, or a pair of feet, when she was asked to perform a dance from Monster Country./p
p align="left"Mixing Priestess Frioke's memories as well as the brief dance lecture she had gotten from the handsome and powerful suitors asking her to dance with them was a good idea in theory. The best idea, in fact. The fact of the matter though was that even though she chose the best course of action it wasn't nearly enough./p
p align="left"Not. Even. Close!/p
p align="left"And from that day forth it was something she would have to live with. The memory of how she made herself a fool in front of the Hjearta Court who had up to that point seen her with nothing less than total admiration./p
p align="left"From what Cter gathered after mustering up enough courage to poke her head out her guest room the day after it was chalked up to her being a monster. Silver lining, if ever so thin./p
p align="left""Never again."/p
p align="left"Cter's sigh had her entire body sinking, almost sliding off the cleaned seating. She caught herself with stasis magic, and lifted herself back up onto the seat to sit on half-properly. There were things she had to do still during her journey home./p
p align="left"Things that she couldn't do at the castle./p
p align="left"Before she left, Cter personally took farewell to the important figures at the castle. The king and queen, naturally. They were the first and the most ceremonial, with Cter walking down the red carpet in the throne room and kneeling before the two Hjearta Royals who then bestowed her their thanks and gifts back to Jarasevo, along with a favor to ask. A locked box to be delivered to the Third Monster Mage Sund as a tribute for his help with the book 'Hjearta Glaciers', the book Cter drank out of before./p
p align="left"Gifts for Cter as well, but those she did not really care about. Thankful and a bit greedy for having them, yes, but her saying farewell to the king and queen was more a formality rather than something heartfelt./p
p align="left"Soulfelt though./p
p align="left"That was what she wanted!/p
p align="left"First from the Royal Mage of Ice, Terri Fyed./p
p align="left"During his farewell he thanked Cter for helping him getting colder with being the Royal Mage of Ice. He had finally talked to someone else who could understand his woes, and he felt much better for it. His magic and his comfort in his title, and for that he was ever so grateful. He promised to continue his growth as a Royal Mage until the day came when or if Cter needed his help./p
p align="left"Cter was grateful to Terri as well./p
p align="left"He took her sleeved hand in hers, which was what she wanted. A refresher on how his magic felt./p
p align="left"Second came Huvett and Huvtvao, the Royal Butler./p
p align="left"His farewell was very similar to the Royal Mage's, albeit on Cter's human side rather than her monster side which was for Terri. Ever so thankful, ever so teary-eyed about what Cter had done for him. Ever so glad that he could speak about something that he couldn't have before. Through magic he had become more human, and found a more serene balance within himself./p
p align="left"Yes, yes, Cter was glad to be of such great help to the Royal Butler. His words she took to heart and soul, and all that. His aura that he also thanked her with she took to her sleeve though, storing it next to Terri's aura, like two different species of tree branches growing out of the spiraling stem of her sleeve. She felt some friction between the two auras in her sleeve afterwards which meant that she had done it correctly./p
p align="left"In her carriage she could release the two auras without anyone else noticing. Make the observations that she couldn't at the castle./p
p align="left"Exactly how deep did Terri and Huvett and Huvtvao's feud go? Why was that feud important to his ice magic feeling different for Cter?/p
p align="left"She couldn't engineer a situation for the two to come to clash at the castle, but she could in her carriage./p
p align="left"Seeing a Monster Mage with a conjured image of herself in the carriage might have looked insane./p
p align="left"Seeing a Monster Mage with a conjured image of Terri and Huvett and Huvtvao though?/p
p align="left"Exactly what that would have looked like, Cter didn't know. It wouldn't look insane though, not at first glance. With how fast the carriage was moving the glance would've been even briefer./p
p align="left"With Cter making a temporary Cooperative Connection with Huvett and Huvtvao's aura she could also solve the problem she had before about not being able to be in two minds about the situation. With her using others magic though, and specifically Huvett and Huvtvao's magic among the others' magic, she believed that she could not only be two minds about the situation, but three minds! Her, Terri, and Huvett and Huvtvao. Having Huvett and Huvtvao as one was enough, as Terri's gripe was with both heads and not one in particular./p
p align="left"It was complex magic that she was planning on, but it wasn't wholly complicated. She would first have to prod the magic from Huvett and Huvtvao, and let that wash over her, while in the meantime focusing on funneling that sensation through her conjuration magic. Not only to have the conjuration take the form of Huvett and Huvtvao, but also to influence it enough by Huvett and Huvtvao so that it would take on the properties of being a split personality separate from Cter./p
p align="left"To have Huvett and Huvtvao be the start, journey, and goal of the conjuration, basically. Terri's aura would be journey and goal too, but a different journey leading to the same goal./p
p align="left"Cter cleared her head and aura of any other thoughts and sensations than that of Huvett and Huvtvao. She recalled the talk she had with him. The talk he was ever so grateful about. It was what she connected the Cooperative Connection with. It was a strong memory to Huvett and Huvtvao, a memory she let flow from both her own soul and the borrowed soul in her sleeve. A second, smaller spiral was carved itself in arcane on Cter's sleeve, growing twigs and vessels out from it, reaching up towards her hand. It took on a subtle, yellow color as it reached up towards Cter's hand. Before it could reach far enough to manifest itself as purely Huvett and Huvtvao's magic, Cter injected her own conjuration magic into the smaller, spiraling line. The subtle yellow turned green from the conjuration magic injected into it./p
p align="left"A slight, empty feeling began to build within Cter, just enough to have her aware of it. To her it was good, as it meant that she was putting as much as she could of Huvett and Huvtvao into the conjuration. The first conjuration finished, formed into the cyan-colored shape of Huvett and Huvtvao. Not as detailed as the real one, but enough to read emotion on the two faces./p
p align="center""At your service, Monster Mage."/p
p align="left"The voices were more hollow and distant too, but again, not enough to make a big deal about it./p
p align="left"Cter would have loved to make a big deal about it. Creating a conjured image of another that she didn't feel any connection to when it came to thoughts and feelings? Jarasevo Castle was gonna be ecstatic about that! Even if it took the very specific magic of Huvett and Huvtvao it still would not have been possible by a human mage to do it, even with a Cooperative Connection. Blending magic was possible, but not to the extent that Cter could. All of her suffering during that night with Idyll, and the subsequent day where she had to rip her grandmother away from her best friend's soul…/p
p align="left"No! Stop! Focus!/p
p align="left"Cter still had Terri to conjure as well!/p
p align="left"And she had to be quick as the Cooperative Connection she made with Huvett and Huvtvao's magic was but a lingering waft compared to the full meal she had begun with. However, Cter still had Terri's aura sampled and at the ready. Not nearly as much as Huvett and Huvtvao's influence, but a human's aura was more potent, even if it was just the strange feeling of it. On top of that, Terri and Huvett and Huvtvao already had a Cooperative Connection between the two. That Cter could exploit! Mingling the lingering waft of Huvett and Huvtvao with the aura of Terri, Cter gave up a part of her sleeve to allow the two a magical environment similar to their Cooperative Connection./p
p align="left"It resulted in Cter essentially making a patch of her sleeve into that of Terri Fyed's magic, with its icy blue shimmer reacting to the amount of magic around it, and trailing frost behind it as Cter pushed it like a wave pushed a boat on a lake./p
p align="left"She had to be a bit-more invasive for Terri's conjuration, with an injection of her conjuration magic even deeper than with Huvett and Huvtvao's image to get through Terri's magic and get down into Huvett and Huvtvao's part of his and Terri's Cooperative Connection. Had she done it with the real Terri it would have been a faux pas similar to that of denouncing Terri as a mage altogether, and ripping apart the veil of the Cooperative Connection. It was powerful magic she wielded. It was scary magic that she wielded./p
p align="left"But Cter was a Monster Mage./p
p align="left"It had to be her./p
p align="left"Who else could have?/p
p align="left"And even if she was the only one that could, summoning a conjured image of a human through the usage of the monster part of his Cooperative Connection that she had created on top of her own while also digging deep into that on-top Cooperative Connection to bypass the human part and force the monster part to activate by Cter's whim and not the connected human's was still a bit exhausting, even for a Monster Mage./p
p align="left"But she did it./p
p align="left""Don't exert yourself too much, Monster Mage."/p
p align="left"Cter smiled through her heavy breaths as she fell back onto the backrest with her arms sprawled over it. She had done it! She had summoned the conjured image of both Huvett and Huvtvao as well as Terri Fyed! The combined cyan glow snuck in underneath her loosely closed eyelids, congratulating her even more. "How are eggs best eaten?" she asked to prompt an answer from her two conjurations to probe for an answer and to feel if it was her own they would give./p
p align="center""Without shells."/p
p align="left""Without shells."/p
p align="left"The two images answered different from Cter, but that wasn't enough. What was enough though was that Cter felt a connection to the answer from either of the two. Their answer were their own!/p
p align="left"That covered that she had successfully used Huvett and Huvtvao's magic for both images, but Cter also had to make sure that they were separate from each other as well. "Milk or lemon in your tea?"/p
p align="center""Lemon."/p
p align="left""Lemon and milk."/p
p align="left"Cter's hand clapped so hard that they ran the risk of breaking her wrists. "Yes!" she cheered to herself, sweat bouncing off her eyebrows as she flung herself up from the backrest. "Perfect!" With heavy breaths turned excited she observed her two conjured images standing quiet and cyan with eyes towards her. Huvett and Huvtvao with necks bent due to the low ceiling of the carriage, and Terri with arms folded behind him and a gentle haze emerging from underneath his mantle. The tips of his spiky hair brushed against the roof, cutting the magic off./p
p align="left""Please," Cter motioned for the seating at the front of the carriage. "Have a seat, you two." They had no choice, nor did they have means to do it on their own, but it felt oh so good for Cter to play pretend in the moment./p
p align="left"With small bows to their heads that had Cter's smile widening, Huvett and Huvtvao and Terri seated themselves as per the whim of their conjurer. Huvett and Huvtvao with a kneel first to easier lower his body onto the seat, and Terri with a heaviness that had the thin cloud of cyan frost shooting out from underneath him./p
p align="left"A scoff of pure disbelief shot out of Cter as she shook her head. "Singe my soul," she muttered with another huff of baffled pride. From her robe she fetched her journal, flipping it open to an empty page which she marked with a flick of her sleeved thumb at the corner. It didn't work the first time, as she had spent herself and her soul to conjure the two images. The second flick she pushed more harder with magic, which managed to leave a slight, glowing mark./p
p align="left""So," Cter began as she leafed back through her notes to where she had written down the formulated questions to get as much out of her conjured images as quickly as possible. She had no idea how long she'd be able to keep them up, as with using Huvett and Huvtvao's magic she couldn't feel any of it. Couldn't gauge the thoughts of the conjurations, which was the boon, but couldn't gauge the strain it put on her, which was the condition. "How come I can't figure out Terri Fyed's magic?"/p
p align="left"Cter had to specify that it was from her point of view in her questions, as the conjured images were how her soul interpreted Huvett and Huvtvao and Terri. It was her point of view, yes, but it was her subconscious point of view. Cter was asking herself the questions, but a much, much deeper part of herself than she was aware of. If she could understand how her soul understood Terri's magic she would be successful./p
p align="left"That Cter was in a way talking to her own soul had Bonny Sallus' magic prodding at the back of her mind from her sleeve. She quickly suppressed that, as she had to think of the two images as not her own soul, but the ones their form represented./p
p align="left""You can't figure it out because you don't know enough yet," answered Terri's image, hollow and distant./p
p align="center""You need to understand more about the relationship between Terri and Huvett and Hutvao. In the way they were before and after he became a Royal Mage and his dog ran away."/p
p align="left""So his dog did run away?" Cter posed. "It wasn't because of any bad blood between the two?"/p
p align="left"The images tilted their heads while breathing in through clenched teeth./p
p align="center""It was because of their relationship that Mika ran away. The Royal Mage wouldn't have confined her in his study had he not felt the animosity he has towards Huvett and Huvtvao. So while not directly, it was still causative."/p
p align="left""Had Terri not had the animosity towards Huvett and Huvtvao he wouldn't have had Mika to begin with though, as it was his time at the glacier that began the animosity towards Huvett and Huvtvao. Again, not directly, but causative. A different excitation and outcome to their relationship."/p
p align="left""With the Cooperative Connection being another outcome to their relationship?" Cter again urged further to the conjured images. "A change in how they were from before and after Mika ran away?"/p
p align="left""No."/p
p align="center""No."/p
p align="left"The answers was said in triplet, but even with that Cter didn't understand. She scooted forwards on her seat, feeling that her body was heavier than usual as she sat on the edge with hands put together underneath her chin. "How do you mean?"/p
p align="center""Which one?"/p
p align="left"They were different?/p
p align="center""Huvett and Huvtvao did not feel any different towards Terri compared from before Mika ran away and with afterwards. That includes his trip to Jarasevo Castle."/p
p align="left"Includes the Jarasevo trip as well? The trip didn't change things? But…/p
p align="left""What Priestess Frioke did was only giving the Royal Mage a different structure to his sleeve to allow him to express his magic in a more powerful manner. Increased efficiency. The Cooperative Connection between Huvett and Huvtvao and Terri Fyed didn't change in that process. It was still the same one, only with him being able to do more."/p
p align="left"Had Cter's body not been as heavy as it was she would have stood up with eyes widened. She knew that it wasn't the same on Huvett and Huvtvao's side, but that it hadn't changed on Terri's side either meant…/p
p align="left"It meant…/p
p align="center""He's not aware of it though. To him it's because of the respect he has towards Huvett and Huvtvao. It is what he draws his magic from, the respect he feels towards Huvett and Huvtvao."/p
p align="left""You already considered the possibility. It was one of your theories. All of this that you've done was just you not willing to accept that you weren't correct. Terri Fyed unknowingly made a Cooperative Connection out of negativity against Huvett and Huvtvao. That is why is magic is different. It is a negativity that has reached his soul, and which he bonded with Huvett and Huvtvao over."/p
p align="left"A negative Cooperative Connection.../p
p align="left"On the sleeve of the Royal Mage of Ice.../p
p align="left"But wait./p
p align="left""A negative Cooperative Connection prompted by a positive intent?"/p
p align="center""Yes."/p
p align="left"If that was worse or not Cter wasn't sure with directly. On the one hand it meant that Terri Fyed was unknowingly very adept at the truth of the Cooperative Connection, and if he ever found that out it ran the risk of dismantling everything about the Cooperative Connection./p
p align="left"On the other hand it meant that despite him being unknowingly very adept at the truth of the Cooperative Connection, he still believed in the lie./p
p align="left""Did my visit move him more towards the lie of the Cooperative Connection or more towards the truth of the Cooperative Connection. To him I am a paragon of the lie, and since he was so thankful for what I managed to teach him, does that mean that he's become more adamant about what he was taught and not what he has experienced?"/p
p align="center""Can't say."/p
p align="left""Yes, he's become more adamant in your way."/p
p align="left"Of course Huvett and Huvtvao wouldn't know. That the image of Terri leaned towards the more safe side though had Cter relieved./p
p align="left""So what about his magic can I take away? What in its difference can I utilize to make my own magic? What is it that I have learned from him?"/p
p align="left"Not really questions Cter, or anyone else, for the matter, had asked before. As the words left her mouth they tickled at her tongue with how strange they were. It was her only chance to ask it though. A chance that relied on too many variables to happen again. She would come to regret having not asked many other questions, but at least she didn't regret asking those that she did. Those were the ones she felt her soul urged her to ask herself./p
p align="center""That you might think that you're doing something like everybody else, but that it is something you would never think of being different. Something that makes you who you are. Discoveries that would never be thought of as such, even though the mean a world of difference. The difference hidden due to the belief that one knows as much as they can. Despite you making the Royal Mage more confident in his abilities and title he still believes in the Cooperative Connection. You are no different from being blind to differences."/p
p align="left""You want your own magic to be that of crystals because you think they would look pretty in your hair now that you've found a hairstyle that fits you extremely well."/p
p align="left"Uhmmmmmm…/p
p align="left"Cter did ask for two side of the same coin when she conjured the images, but she didn't mean for her to be that coin. She had humored the thought of having her own magic being crystals during the ballroom dance. Yes, the thought had stuck with her deeper than the embarrassment from her dancing when she went to bed. Yes, it was similar, yet not, to her familiarity with her magical ice cubes./p
p align="left"Nothing wrong with starting from somewhere you knew to travel to a place you didn't know./p
p align="center""Exactly."/p
p align="left"Well, Cter should've seen that coming./p
p align="left""You should have."/p
p align="left"Yes./p
p align="left""So what is the difference that I don't see?" she asked after some straining. Her body was becoming exhausted, as were her soul. "What is it that I need to have an epiphany about for me to be able to make my own magic?"/p
p align="center""Wouldn't be an epiphany if you already know about it."/p
p align="left"Cter's soul was being snarky with her./p
p align="left"That was slightly worrying. Either that or the building exhaustion had her thoughts spoken out of the conjured images' mouths rather than supposedly theirs./p
p align="left""You are also not the type of person to not figure things out on your own. If you sit down and focus the rest of the way to Jarasevo you'll have it figured out by then. There's nothing complex about it, there's just a lot of just doing. To get better as something you gotta do, so do. There's no other way than that."/p
p align="left"Snarky and inelegant, her soul seemed to be./p
p align="center""But that is something you'll have to start with tomorrow though."/p
p align="left"Cter waited a few seconds to see if the image of Terri had something to add. It didn't. It only stood there looking at Cter. "Why?" she asked with a shrug that felt like a full sack of bricks on each shoulder./p
p align="left"As if waiting for her to ask that, the two conjured images of Huvett and Huvtvao and Terri began fading. At the same time, Cter became more and more aware of how exhausted she was, creeping out from her torso and spreading throughout her body as if being kneaded out./p
p align="left"Snarky./p
p align="left""Oh..."/p
p align="left"Inelegant./p
p align="left""I..."/p
p align="left"And dramatic./p
p align="left""...see..."/p
p align="left"Seemed like Cter's soul was just like her./p