"Before I leave I want to extend my deepest thanks one more time, Monster Mage."
A small part of Cter wanted the hedgehog monster to say it louder so that she was sure that the other Monster Mages heard it, but the well-raised part of her overruled that thought and instead returned the salute the hedgehog gave her. "Don't mention it." With her left hand. "Equivalent exchange, I feel." With her left arm which glowed faintly of white. "We Monster Mages are here to serve like you guards are, right?"
The hedgehog's eyes tore their way over to the three sitting at the far end of the dining hall before he got control back of them and returned them to Cter. "You're humble, Monster Mage. Humble as well as generous. I am not going to go against your feelings and the way you see and reflect upon your actions, however I am going to dismiss them in the most positive sense I can muster." He pointed to the gentle shimmer inside Cter's sleeve with a birthing smile upon his thin lips. "I'm sure you can feel it in my aura now more clearly, but there is nothing equivalent at all about what you've done for me."
He even spoke louder when he said it.
Nice.
"You only asked to borrow after giving to me. That is enough for you. You are kind of soul, Cter." His hand extended with confidence and determination in what he intended. Just a few turns and hallways before the Royal Guard was worried about sitting on Cter's shoulder because she was of higher rank than him, but here he was extending his hand like Cter was an old friend. No fear at all of any repercussions that might come his way with such an informal gesture. "A Monster Mage, you truly are."
Cter's cheeks blossomed into two bright-red circles. "Heh..." she tried to dismiss with a chuckle, but it went nowhere. She had to take the compliment, there was no way the hedgehog would let it slip her by. "I'm just doing what I did as when I worked in Jarasevo."
"Couldn't take any compliments down there either to save your life!"
The voice gossiping loudly behind her swept around Cter like a warm blanket, furthering her red blush. She wanted to turn around and rush over, but she was a Monster Mage, and also she had the outstretched hand of her Royal Guard escort to take. With a deep squat she managed as low as she could while not making it disrespectful for the hedgehog. She extended to him her index finger which he gripped surprisingly sturdy. "I'll put in a good word for you when asked," she promised with a nod which she got back. "Perhaps even two."
"Next time I'm assigned to you I promise to have strengthen my magic enough for you to borrow more of it if you need, Cter," replied the hedgehog with devotion. "It'll be strong enough for me to reach up to you via my staircases so that you don't have to squat down."
Cter would like that. It had her imagination conjure up whether the hedgehog would study human construction so that the staircases would have magical supports akin to the wooden supports used when humans build tall staircases that are not important or permanent enough to be out of stone. A fully magical set would be a sight to behold too.
"Until then, Royal Guard," Cter wished well.
"Until then, Monster Mage."
With a rigid maneuver the hedgehog holstered his spear over his shoulder and marched out of the dining hall.
"Boss wants to know what you want for breakfast," came a jolly reminder that Idyll was still waiting for Cter to answer. There was a slight chiming hum to her too. Not in her voice, but still from her.
Cter let her aura spread as far as it could, but with the sparse magic she received from the Royal Guard that escorted her she couldn't reach to her friend. At the same time it ate into the sliver of magic she needed to make greeting sprites for her friend.
How, really?
Just...pellets? Magical pellets of whatever sort?
Cter looked down towards her left hand. It was difficult for her to decide the exact form and nature of what she would greet Idyll with. Idyll asked Cter to make the sprites something that would represent the way she saw herself. That way the two would have it even easier to settle into their new lives that had been given to them.
So what and how did Cter see herself at in that moment? On the first morning of her life as a Monster Mage? After having mutilated Idyll's soul and somehow managed to make good on it, even if it resulted in irreparable change. Again, it was the point of it all for Idyll to have her magic change, but not like how it happened.
Cter's hand clutched, revealing the peeking, white strands from the Delta Rune on her sleeve over her knuckles and between her knuckles. With a tired sigh she forced herself to calm down before the recent memories took her over.
She had to.
For Idyll. For her best friend. Idyll wanted to move forward from it, so Cter had to as well. What they did to reach their promise would haunt them forever, but they could choose to either dwell on what it took for them to reach the promise.
Or they could choose to live it as best as they could.
Idyll had made her choice, that Cter could hear clearly in her voice.
And wanted Cter to make the same choice too.
So what did she see herself represented as? What is it Idyll wanted her to see herself as?
A deep furrow was lowered over Cter's eyes as she opened her left hand again. She reached out to the memory of the hedgehog monster to ask for everything it had. To give itself so that Cter could make good with what it represented. To be as happy as the hedgehog was when riding his grandpa's shoulder and seeing things from a perspective he could never on his own!
Yes!
There it was!
No thinking. Cter had to let her soul do it all. Her monster part took over to help her monster friend.
The lines gathered up towards Cter's hand where they made the Delta Rune stand up, sway, and almost fizzle with excitement. Cter turned around as she widened her fingers and let her magic flow outwards to greet her friend.
A cloud of crystal-like magic emerged with glimmering and shimmering that coated the white floor with both sharp and blurry dots of colors that danced as the crystals spun. Like a handful of pebbles thrown over a lake, the crystals sailed through the air to greet what Idyll sent out. Flakes of snow and ice coated in flickering flames that snaked through the patterns in the flakes collided with Cter's crystals, where both clouds combined into one which collided together with chiming and fizzling as the friends' respective greeting sprites evaporated upon contact.
An impressed whistle emerged from one of the Monster Mages sitting at the end of the dining hall, but Cter couldn't make out exactly who it was of the three. She stood still for a couple of seconds with her hand still in the air looking towards the Monster Mages in case there was any follow-up to the whistle, but none came. "Okay," said Cter to herself before lowering her hand and walking over to the kitchen window where her friend was leaning forwards on her arms.
With a distinct lack of orange magic surrounding them...
And the distinct addition of the black, raven feathers covering the right side of her face. It hadn't spread further down her throat or into her hair though, which was as light as it had been the day before. Cter remembered being worried that it could've been the last time she saw the sunset-pink and orange reflect in her hair the evening before, but seeing that Romrom's black in her hair had receded completely during the previous night and current morning was a relief. It meant that there was a chance for Romrom's influence to be completely gone from Idyll soon enough.
"Crystals, ey?" the blue monster commented with a raised, feathery eyebrow. "Glad to see you're not being humble with your magic, at least." Her beaming smile relaxed a bit after a second or two. It was because Cter had spent everything the hedgehog had afforded to her on the greeting sprites. Her aura was again just human and her own, within her body, so she couldn't extend it to meet Idyll which she most certainly was trying to do. "Oh, so you borrowed for it," she quickly and correctly assumed. She nodded at Cter's sleeve. "It looks more intricate than the one you had before though, so no wonder you managed to do that with just some slightly borrowed magic. I could lend some of mine and–"
"No!"
The pained denial halted both Cter's steps and Idyll's smile, freezing the air between them as sudden and decisive as Cter's cry.
"Sorry," the Fourth Monster Mage without any magic to her muttered as her clenched hands softened, yet with her teeth clenching. She did her best, her absolute and exhaustive best, to lift her head up and look Idyll in the eyes.
But she couldn't. It was too heavy for her. With anyone else she was able to weather it, but with Idyll… With Idyll Cter wasn't strong enough. She wasn't strong enough to accept what her friend had become because of her. Appearances didn't hold a candle to the literal appearance sprouting out on the right side of Idyll's face.
"No, no. It's fine, Cter." Idyll's voice was pained too. She also winced against what she said. The human inflection in her voice took over enough that in a brief moment she was the human and Cter was the monster. In a way they were. Cter with being one of the highest ranking in the monster military and Idyll expressing her emotions so physically. "I...we will get through this. Together."
"Together."
Together.
The two friends leaned over both sides of the serving window and embraced each other. The roughness of Idyll's left chin chafed with a comforting familiarity that made Cter's shoulders relax and sink into the hug even more. She gripped the back of Idyll's apron to get closer, and she burrowed her head into Idyll's hair to let it wash over her like water. Heavy enough so that the worries could be pushed down.
Cter breathed out.
"That tickles, Cter."
The Monster Mage scoffed a chuckle, which again lifted up Idyll's hair like a gust, prompting another held-back snicker from the monster chef. "Sorry."
The two retreated from the embrace and instead held hands over the scorched sill.
"Together," Idyll again stated as she squeezed her friends hands.
"Together," Cter returned.
The moment was tender.
"Alright, with that done!"
But only lasted for a second before Idyll's excitement blossomed back in full force.
"How about breakfast, finally?" she suggested while motioning inwards towards the kitchen beginning to turn busy. "If you want something special like your new colleagues over there I suggest you tell me now rather than thinking about it." She leaned in with the back of her hand against her feathery cheek to whisper. "I'll remove the eggshells for you as best as I can if you really don't feel like learning to enjoy them like everyone else in the castle, but I don't know how often I can do that." She stood up with a nod towards somewhere behind her. "I might be moved to lunch or dinner once I get my magic sorted and felt for. Maybe I'll even meet the Monster King and Monster Queen like you have?"
Cter knew why.
"I hope so too, Idyll."
A tear rolled down and between the thick plumage of raven feathers on Idyll's right cheek. Her mouth tugged and molded into different states of managing to hold in that she wanted to explode with joy and excitement, but she kept it in. "We made it, Cter."
"We made it, Idyll."
"So!" Idyll coughed out as she dragged her hands down her face. "Breakfast!" The third time was the charm, surely. "What do you want?"
Oh come on now. "You know exactly what I want, Idyll."
"Is that an order, Monster Mage?" replied Idyll with a quirked brow. "Are you taking advantage of your higher rank?"
"It is a favor from a Monster Mage," came a quick rebuttal from Cter as she folded her arms. Without thinking she folded them in a way so that the Delta Rune on her sleeve was presented. "Are you saying that it is not in your best interest to have such a high rank owing you a favor?"
Idyll had to concede on that point, and seized her cocky drumming on the window sill with her fingers. "You make a good point." She shrugged and threw a towel over her shoulder. Cter had no idea where she got it from. "Have a seat, Monster Mage," the blue monster suggested with a wipe sweep out the serving window towards the end of the dining hall. "Let your colleagues know we'll be out with your breakfasts in a couple of minutes."
Oh…
Yeah…
Right…
Cter's new colleagues.
Those that she slipped past and escaped from. How were they going to react to the prisoner that they had brought to both a dungeon cell and a well-furnished one coming and sitting down next to them wearing the same type of purple robe they did, the same type of intricate sleeve as they did, and having the same high rank as they had?
Cter turned her head over as Idyll disappeared into the kitchen with her fingers interlocked and stretched before her to crack her knuckles. The rather-plentiful cracking went past Cter as she studied the three Monster Mages busy with conversation. Not loud enough for her to discern exactly what was said, but logic dictated that it had to be about her. Either logic or her worries. There were no one else in the dining hall except some guards as well as long wooden tables and chairs a plenty.
Maybe there was a slim chance that the three were talking about the weather? It was a rather beautiful morning, with drops of dew dotting the bountiful garden seen outside the tall windows that let in more light in one day that anyone would need in a year. Jarasevo couldn't be seen, but the hills and lakes beyond it could be. How beautiful they glittered in the morning from so high up. From Cter's room in the tower she would come to enjoy it even more as the steeper angle gave the reflections a more abstract glare to them.
"We can move closer to the window if you want?"
With both worry and anxiety causing friction in Cter as she turned her head, she painstakingly slowly looked over to where the distinctly human voice distinctly asked her. The three Monster Mages all had one hand on the backrest of their chairs ready to stand up.
"Uh..." was all Cter could answer. What kind of first impression would it be if she just made a demand the first thing she did? Her left hand went behind her head and gripped her neck. "I...If you're already sitting down you don't have to."
"It's better light there," Kurant voiced after an amused snicker at Cter's bashful demeanor. "Better for reading." With one fell swoop she moved her arm over her scrolls and gave them all a hazy, purple radiance that stood up when she did, and followed her in a neat line as she walked over to a table closer to the windows. The two others followed along without any purple haze to them.
Guess Cter had to sit down then. Kinda forced to as she was the one that apparently suggested them all to move. She swallowed and breathed out before heading over to the chair which Kurant had angled out for her to sit down on.
"Room to your liking?" asked Sund as Cter sat herself down. His question was cut by the sound of the wooden legs of Cter's chair scraping as she sat down. With a worried look she blinked rapidly.
"Um..."
She didn't hear the question!
A deep sigh came to her assistance from Kry who leaned forwards with a smile dangerously close to smug. "Forgive Sund," he implored with the smug finally blooming on his sharp cheeks pushed up by his smile. "He has a habit of ignoring important bits of grammar." Kry made a show of inhaling through his nose which lifted his glasses just the tiniest. "What he meant to ask was if you're finding your room to your liking, Cter? If there are any furniture you wish to have, perhaps a desk to study on? Maybe some books or scrolls that you might want to read? We can visit the Royal Library later should you want for that. Informally, that is," he corrected with an informal bounce to his head an informal roll of his wrist. "You'll be studying there with Frioke officially for the foreseeable future if not in the Royal Study."
Oh…
Cter again began blinking, but more out of disbelief rather than bubbling panic of not having heard the first question her new colleagues had asked her. "I don't have anything in mind now," she said indecisively. "I slept well so I don't have any complaints about the bed." She almost curled up under the three-way looks from the Monster Mages. "I'm not..." Her right hand gripped her sleeve, but there was no magic for her to comfort herself with. "I mean..."
"Hey," voiced Kurant sat next to Cter. "We're just trying to get to know you now, Cter. You're one of us now, as decided by King Asgore and Queen Toriel." There was a brief second of pause which Kurant realized why afterwards. "And us three, of course," she added while pointing rapidly between her, Kry, and Sund. "Same with Sir Gerson and Frioke. What happened the night to yesterday is behind us now. You've proven not only what the next step of human-monster cooperation is, but you've also shown that you can utilize it too."
The way Kurant's braid swayed over her shoulder as her neck moved forward with her last words had Cter trusting in her. It was such a human gesture from a Monster Mage. Cter nodded with a slight smile to her lips. "Thanks."
"We three felt the same when we were asked to don the purple mantles."
Mantles? Weren't they robes?
"Although I am not going to lie," continued Sund while making sure each syllable was grammatically correct as to please Lord Kry, Master of Pedantic. He threw a sideways glance as he breathed in. "And I am also not just telling you this because you need reminding, you of all are the last one to be reminded, however it is important for you to know what makes you distinct from us. Why the magical number of three has been decided to be turned into a four."
He let a few seconds pass by for his words to settle with Cter and for her to brace herself enough. "You have been ascended in your mage status due to the possibilities of this new magic you've demonstrated. Proving that you have the ability to further develop and refine your abilities is what lies ahead of you, Cter. You've shown that you can pave a street, now for the main road that will lead us to a brighter future that lies over the horizon. It will be a journey, and a tough one, but it is also a journey we hope that you are excited about. We will all work together on this."
Together...
Cter followed Sund's outstretched arm as he pointed out the window, but not where his fingers were outstretched to. Not the glistening shimmer of the rising sun through the dew-slicked glass, but the glowing lines of his sleeve. They glowed differently. Same language, but a different accent to it. More...colorful? Not the intensity, but more that the color was more...intense…
It was hard to describe. As if there needed to be another name for the vivid yellow eagerly wanting to blossom for Cter to properly accentuate the tint of it. The fur on his Delta Rune insignia wasn't standing up either. It did when Cter made the Cooperative Connection with the hedgehog Royal Guard, as well as when she used his memories to make her magical pellets for Idyll. There was a correlation between magic and the fur, but why wasn't it with Sund's glowing lines?
Kry was seemingly the only one that caught on with Cter's staring, as both Sund and Kurant lost themselves for a moment appreciating the way the dew on the outside of the large windows refracted the morning light shining through their shimmering drops. "You'll figure it out sooner rather than later," he said to Cter while apparently ignorant of how his dark cheek was painted with a faint rainbow. "We," he punctuated so that Kurant and Sund heard as well, "won't tell you, as it is something Frioke will be using to make sure you've taken her teachings to your soul. Trust that it is both for your and our sake that we're doing it."
Back to the school desk for Cter, it seemed. Maybe she would be lucky that it would be a more comfortable one compared to the ones in Soul's School.
"It is a lot to put on you before breakfast, I know," Kry offered with a slight bow of his head. "Do forgive, yet also understand, why this is the case. You are a Monster Mage now, Cter, and we look forward to helping you to get into the role."
Cter bowed back to Kry's deepened head, and extended it to Sund and Kurant as well.
"Just to prove that there will be no secrets among us and that we now see you as an equal," Sund had to add as a final note as he spotted the head chef herself emerging from the kitchen door with a large tray heavy enough that it tensed her flaming muscles. "We have all guessed how long it will take for your name to pop up in the curriculum at Soul's School as a Monster Mage."
"Oh," was really the only thing Cter could say. "That's..." And that too as her brow furrowed so deep over her eyes she couldn't see anything. However not a lot more. It brought a chuckle out from Sund. A friendly one.
"I'm thinking next semester, Kurant is thinking three, and Kry here is thinking upwards of six semesters. When I became a Monster Mage it took quite a while for the books to become up-to-date that there were three Monster Mages. Maybe...two or three semester before you began your schooling, Cter." Sund turned to Kry for confirmation. "Three or four, maybe even?"
"Something along those lines," Kry agreed while not looking at Sund and instead at the nearing tray of breakfast. "But now I think it's best if we let Cter digest what we've put on her while she digests her food too," he so-subtly added with a more lower tone to his voice for Sund to take the hint.
Truth be told, Cter was in a bit of a stupor with it all. She expected a loud bell to ring out a lot of anger and anxiety, and while it was even louder than she imagined, the clang it made was in all senses pleasant.
It felt good. There were ulterior motives to her becoming a Monster Mage, but those motives seemed to fall parallel to where she wanted to go. Could it have been that she finally got lucky and everything just fell into place?
"This will be your orders from now on," the head chef stated as she served from the tray. "If you want to change then you're free to do so an hour before at the latest." Once all the meals were served she gave a quiet wink to Cter. "The new hire has promised me a week before you come into your shells, so to speak. You better develop both your taste with as much dedication as you'll be doing your magic, Monster Mage. She's wagered two weeks of washing dishes on it."
Alright...maybe one piece wasn't exactly in its place.
"Wait, you eat your eggs with the shells off?"
Or two.