"No, I'm not in love with you, Cter."

Phew!

That was close...

"I...wanted to ask you if you could change my magic."

Whelp!

Cter's harsh inhale of her relieved sigh had her coughing violently which didn't really instill the confidence and support she had promised herself she'd show Idyll when the two came back from work and sat down to finally say what they wanted to have the other hear.

Throughout the day all the monsters on Cter's route had noticed that there was something amiss. Hard for Cter to hide it when her work required her to open up her soul for the monsters and share with them her emotions. They didn't pry further though out of respect, but they did offer some encouraging words and let her know of their sympathies if she wanted them.

She lost count of how many times she thanked, but declined, at around lunch. Luckily she didn't have a lot of heavy magic to do that day, but since Idyll had asked her to save strength for later she still packed a more magical lunch in the morning. The potatoes in her lidded bucket were the only parts of her lunch that would actually feed her, with the vegetables and herbs complimenting her meal being magical. The bitterness, or more the lack of flavor making it so that only the bitterness registered on her tongue, she complimented additionally with some leftover ale. The alcohol boiled away when she let it stew inside her cupped hands.

No visit to the Spider Butcher that day so no magical meat. He'd begun to ask her human opinion on some cuts of meat not so long after she'd begun lending out her ice magic to him. Too with some of the meat gathered by the Monster Hunters. Cter didn't say no to that, and even as the amount of times she'd laid a piece of mystery meat on her tongue and it would retract with haste were up there with the times her tongue wrapped around it instantly to savor, the amount of times the cut was just fine and edible without being on either side of the taste extremes vastly outnumbered. One in each ten cuts was surprising, give or take.

Sure would've helped even with one of the worst cuts though…

For even as Cter had finished her meal lunch she could feel that it wouldn't be enough for her to not be anxious about what Idyll had planned. That she chose a day when Cter's magical round was in a lull was indeed evident that there was some planning going along. It again gave Cter the impression that what Idyll wanted to say was even more grave than what it was she wanted to bring up.

Grave…

She scoffed at her choice of words.

Nothing could compare to the death she felt between Idyll and her the night before with that bottle of Ebott's Cellar. Not even the grave. Still, at least the two friends had reached rock bottom between them and survived, hopefully.

That knowledge is what had them sitting down at their kitchen table after hugging each other. It felt good for both of them to do so. From there they could sit down and open up their souls on warm terms.

And so it was that they both inhaled at the same time with their auras embracing just as much, if not more, than what they did physically. It was the best terms there was ever to be had between two friends. They both knew about the depths their friendship could sink into, and they both were lifted higher by the other in the moment. As they exhaled, Cter was the first one to speak.

First one to cough violently too.

"Change magic?" she forced out of her between two coughs. Good thing that she was coughing too, otherwise she'd screamed it loud enough that the Monster Mages would've heard it all the way from Jarasevo Castle. She shook her head while her coughs kept assaulting her. "No."

How the hell would Cter even go about to begin even to think about doing that? Change a monster's magic?

Cter only knew magic, not…magic magic! Her hands moved in a variety of dismissing gestures of an even more varying degree of insulting, albeit consciously skewed towards friendly as best as she could. The sheer shock of Idyll's request had her on the brink of confused hysteria though, and her mind raced how she could best explain to Idyll that what she asked of was impossible.

It had never been done before!

"But you being able to share magic? Had that been done before?"

"It had..."

Not…

Not to Cter's knowledge. Although that was not really vast even as her abilities and expertise with those abilities grew.

Still!

Something as drastic as a human mage being able to change a monster's magic had to been in the curriculum! If the revelation that human magic is based on the human and monster conception of death was taught then changing monster magic had to have had its own lessons, right? In comparison it wasn't like comparing a pebble to a mountain!

Like…

How even?

Cter could only stretch Reaction-Action so far, and she inverted it! That was far enough to reach around the planet! How could she even reach further? There was nowhere to reach further?

The moon? Or something?

Yes, the moon actually. There was the answer. On the moon the trick and procedure to change a monster's magic was laid naked and up for grabs to Cter!

Because the answer was out of the world and not within reach even with hundreds of years of progress! No one, be it monster or human, didn't stand the slightest sliver of a chance of figuring it out even with the prosperity surrounding the lands like a hot blanket!

Wasn't it enough for human magic to be able to change the world? Did it have to change the monsters too? Humans next? How long until the two were one and the same then?

Cter had to mentally disregard that idea because it actually sounded positive in her head.

Because again! Human! Magic! Can't! Change! Monster! Magic!

"You done?" asked Idyll without displaying any emotion towards, or against, her human friend breathing deeply and roughly with her arms and face stuck in the midst of a trying-to-explain-but-can't motion that had her face twisted in a grimace and her hands half-balled into fists.

The table rocked as Cter's arms fell onto it. "Yes," she sighed. Her face was as bright-red as her cheeks, and her aura was even more flustered. Had Idyll picked her up and given her a light shove upwards while Cter was in the middle of her rampant denial the mage would've probably floated away all the way back home to her village before landing in the village lake and evaporating it completely. "I'm done now."

And with that the two could then try and actually solve the situation.

"You borrow magic to and from monsters all the time, Cter," began Idyll slowly. "Have you never thought about it having a permanent effect before? You still have lingering monster magic in your soul when you come home after your work, don't you?"

That was true. "Yes." However it wasn't entirely true. "Here's the thing though." Cter jumped in closer with her chair and put her palms together. "There's a distinct difference between human and monster magic," she explained while pointing her put-together hands on one side of the frilly doily in the shape of a Golden Flower underneath her mug, and then on the other side. "Monster magic can linger afterwards. That you know, Idyll."

She nodded.

"And you also know that human magic, my magic, is not inherently lingering. It lasts longer, but that is because the human soul is more powerful. It does not retain heat after a fire like coals, but instead stops like the snap of a finger."

She nodded again.

"The way I'm lending out my magic is that I give my customers a projection of my soul and my magic for them to tap into and use on their own. It's only a finite amount." With the more magic meaning a higher cost, but Cter omitted that since she was damn sure Idyll wasn't asking about pricing. "So while it gives the illusion of my magic lingering it's more that they're exhausting a supply that they pay for." She pressed down with her fingers hard on the table to indicate the weight of what she was saying next. "It's not their own magic. It's my magic which I connect to the monster soul inverse to how I prod at my sleeve. Think of it as me handing over a cube of ice and it melting in their hand over time. It might sound simple that I can just have the monster make its own ice cube..." Cter paused for effect, gently opening her palms like a shrug asking for forgiveness. "But it's not easy. I can only inverse how my own magic interacts, not someone else's."

It hurt Cter having to pull the rug out from underneath her friend, but for as much as it hurt Idyll, the question scared Cter. What it would imply was...too much. She was scared all the way into her soul at the prospect of even trying to. Changing a monster's magic…

It would be like messing with another human's brain. It could change more than just magic and mind, it could change who the person was completely!

Whether Idyll had realized or not, the gravity of her question wasn't clear when she turned her head to the side with a murky shadow falling over her. The same cold that the two experienced between them began to take root again, and Cter rubbed her forehead with her right hand. Consciously chosen, as if she'd done it with her left hand, her magic hand, it would've made things worse.

"Why do you even want to change your magic?" said Cter with a deep sigh. It was somewhere between asking for curiosity and asking to hopefully have her friend realize if she heard it from someone else. "It's your own magic, Idyll."

"But it's not who I am!" cried Idyll while slashing the air in front of her with her fist enhanced by her magic. As the streak of orange faded from her outburst the room fell into darkness. Her swipe had snuffed out the candles on the table, leaving only the faint light of the moon hidden behind nightly clouds. The subdued silver from it was enough for Cter to see her friend's mouth gritted in anger.

It shocked her as the anger was genuine. Genuine towards herself. It gave her aura a volatile appearance, shaking with both fear and ire. Cter did her best to try and comfort, but she was herself afraid of getting too close. Absentmindedly she lit the snuffed candles with her fire magic, stopping only when the yellow sclera of Idyll's narrowed eyes became visible. Disappointingly, Cter stared at her left hand with fingers cupped to provide the necessary cage for her fire to flicker. "Sorry," she apologized as she opened her hand to let her fire fade away into just a final, sorrowful crackle. To be honest she didn't even know what she was saying sorry for.

She felt she had too much to be specific about.

"Monster magic is an extension of who they are," recited Idyll with disgust. "It's a manifestation of what they feel are themselves, and what themselves feel like they should be." Her hand which had just recently been covered in her magic balled as the shimmer of her lingering magic reflected the soft shine of the candles lit my Cter's snapped-alive magic. The blue monster's dust reacted to the more discrete magic as it recognized who it was, and glowed one last time like fireflies before dissipating. "And my magic is that of a brute." The tear she fell became as orange as her magic due to the light of the candles, causing Idyll to choke them back to the best of her abilities. "Of someone who'd punch rather than talk."

Cter leaned forward on the back of her clasped hands as she listened intensely without blinking. She made her aura fully open for Idyll to fall into if she needed. Magically, Cter was a bed for Idyll to throw herself on and cry for as long as she wanted.

"Or punch rather than cook..."

Even when Cter's teeth clamped together and chomped off a bit of her inner cheek as Idyll's large hand fell down tiredly onto the table, she didn't blink. The coppery taste of blood in her mouth wasn't enough for her to leave her friend alone in her moment of need. Not when it was this dire. Not when Idyll was about to explain why she would come to hate her magic so much as to want to change it completely.

It stirred within Cter's sleeve as Idyll began to tell her story.

"I said long before when we first met that I wanted to cook good enough for my brother. What I didn't say was that I wanted to cook good enough for him so that he would think of it as more than home-cooked." She swallowed. It was clear that it hurt. "I want to be able to cook a meal good enough for him that he forgets about home."

Forgets about home? What did she mean by that? The way she said was as if it hurt her just mentioning it. Mentioning home...and having it hurt through the depths of her soul.

"I want him to forget about the cooking our mother and father did!"

Idyll's voice quivered with each syllable that she spoke. Her hair began sticking to her cheeks as the strands glued against the slick trails they left as they rolled down her face. Again Cter reached out with her aura to offer comfort for her friend, but it was rejected. It was as if her aura bounced against solid rock. "Idyll..." she whispered while silently gasping.

"I want him to be happy again!"

Cter again pushed into Idyll's aura to help, but again she was rejected.

"I want him to come back to me!"

She tried again, with tears forming in her own eyes seeing her friend on the verge of collapsing.

"I want to see him again!"

The raw strength of her sadness Cter let pour into her own soul, taking as much as she could so that Idyll wouldn't become fallen down. Cter was a human! She could take it! She was Idyll's friend! She had to!

On knees wobbling from the heavy sorrow her friend was drowning within, Cter rounded the table's short side and into Idyll's arms where the two friends embraced together both as humans and as monsters. They cried the same tears that darkened their clothes for minutes on end, tugging at the others back to get even closer.

"Let me see," coughed Cter through her clasped teeth. "Let me help, Idyll." She felt on her the roughness of her friend's scales scrape against her neck as Idyll shook her head. "I want to," Cter repeated. "It's too much for just you to know. Share with me."

Idyll's refusal held strong though, and Cter again felt their auras beginning to disconnect, as well as their embrace loosening. She wouldn't falter though. Idyll needed her help. Even if Cter couldn't change her friends magic, the least she could do was to be more than just a shoulder to cry on. That was within her power.

"Just grab my sleeve, Idyll," pleaded the human mage. "Show me what happened." Idyll couldn't put it into words. She would never be able to properly explain what had happened. Her memory of it was too much filled with sorrow and agony to be properly explained with her voice.

Her soul though.

Her soul knew, and could tell. Cter, as a human mage, could listen. She could listen in a way no one else could. Have Idyll's memories come to life, have Cter experience it as Idyll. She'd understand then. She could mourn the same as her friend did. Feel the same pain, and comfort it more. She would…

Cter blinked.

Her eyes had been open for so long to try and listen and understand, but she couldn't. Not to the extent that Idyll needed. What she needed was for someone to understand it the same as she could. Her own memories.

Her own magic.

Timidly, Cter moved away from the embrace with Idyll so that the two could look the other in the eyes. So that they had a direct view through the windows of their souls. Cter held her look as her mind raced again and again to sift through the knowledge she had from her studies and the knowledge she'd acquired from her work in Jarasevo. Of all the lessons she had sat through and all the monsters she had helped with her magic. How her magic had improved the way it did.

And how it would improve to its next step.

She inhaled deeply.

"It'll make it possible for me to change your magic."

The shivering visage of Idyll froze completely still. Even her tears stopped on her cheeks and eyes. There were no sharp breaths or sobs to lift her chest and shoulder. The only movement from her was a few strands of her hair bending down and resting against the base of her neck. "How?" she spoke without moving her lips or tongue. It was her soul that asked, and its sound reverberated through Cter's like thunder. "How?" repeated Idyll, pleadingly.

"The only way for me to change magic is if it is my own," reminded Cter. "That's the fundamental rule which I've based it on. It's my own rule for me to understand and use this type of magic. Nothing can change that rule. I can't do anything that rule doesn't permit. No matter how much I'll try, that rule will stand as solid as Mount Ebott."

A shine of realization sparked inside Idyll's eyes.

"However..."

Cter smiled as she saw Idyll's lip begin to quiver again. The resonance that bared and hid her teeth had changed though.

Not of sorrow.

"I've not tried to change my own magic yet."

But of joy.

A temporary joy which melted into subdued and shaky suspense that gripped Idyll as hard as her hands did Cter's in response. As it became clear what Cter and Idyll had to do for Cter to have her own magic change the monster's, the two wanted to simultaneously stand up and sit still. The restlessness before an uncertain event spread throughout Idyll's aura like a whirlwind, whipping its edges against Cter's as her head lowered in thought and preparation.

"If you feel that it is too much I'll not say anything else, Idyll. I want to help you however I can, but for me to do that it means that I have to do something very intrusive to you." The mage squeezed her friend's hands to reassure. "I'm not gonna force it on you, I promise." It was more than just Idyll pouring her sorrow and lamenting into Cter's soul, it was Cter taking in all that Idyll was. More than just a connection between friends, and more than a Cooperative Connection. Cter would in a way become Idyll, and maybe not just one way.

Perhaps even enough ways that Cter would come to forget that she was human once she emerged back outside Idyll's soul. Perhaps she'd stay there, with the two becoming one? What would happen then? Would she just take over Idyll? Something as frightening as Cter losing possession over her arm?

The more Cter thought about it, the more it scared her. The more she let it stew in her head, more and more consequences came to her. Consequences for her. Consequences for Idyll. Consequences for the two. She could both see and feel Idyll thinking about the same things behind her wettened hair clinging hard onto her face and muzzle.

It really put what she wanted to ask Idyll into perspective. That it had at least a tangential similarity to what Idyll had asked was a fact. She asked because she wanted to find another way to reach an employment at Jarasevo Castle. Cter missed her chance to tell Idyll that she was content with just being a lower-case monster mage. A normal human mage working for monsters. Not a proper-noun Monster Mage.

Although, if Idyll and Cter went through with, and more importantly succeeded, in changing Idyll's magic, perhaps then Idyll could invite Cter up to the castle where she could put in a good word for her friend. They'd certainly want to ask about how Cter managed to change a monster's magic, that was for sure.

It gave her some hope imagining the scenario succeeding which was surely needed. Candle-lit wouldn't do to bring Idyll's request into light, it needed additional shine from Cter's and Idyll's souls too. Cter suspected with good reason that the two needed not just to be on the same page, but on the same letter as well. To find exactly which specific letter among all the similar ones would be a challenge in of itself, and Cter and Idyll's books were written in totally different languages to boot. If there even were any similar letters inside a human and a monster soul without the translation through the Cooperative Connection was another barrier to pass.

Idyll lifted her head gently up. One of her hands let go of Cter's, and she brushed away her tear-washed hair from her face to reveal a pair of eyes burning with resolve. Had Cter not known her friend as well as she did she would've thought that the monster would attack her at any moment. What Idyll said though was the complete opposite of an attack though. Instead of trying to push her away, Idyll asked for Cter to come closer. "We'll get to the castle, Cter," she said with a confident growl as she grasped at her chest with her hand.

The room became filled with a blinding white light as Idyll brought forth her monster soul. Hovering timidly inside her hand, it was clear that it hurt her very much. That it frightened her as she held her life in her hand.

What frightened Cter in turn was how it didn't hover in place inside Idyll's hand, but that it moved towards her.

That it was Idyll giving her life to Cter.

No...no that was too much! Idyll didn't have to take out her soul like that! Cter could change her magic another way! She could…

She…

She could…

"I trust you, Cter."

No! Don't!

"You're a mage."

Not good enough for this! Not even a Monster Mage could do it!

"You're my friend."

Cter felt Idyll's shaky hand take hold of her left arm and lift it up towards the white manifestation of Idyll's magic and being. "We'll get to the castle," she repeated through lips dragged back in harsh pain.

A pain that Cter felt on her own lips.

"You and me."

On her long and blue muzzle covering her lower vision.

"Together."

Talking through her own uneven teeth.