"You remembered to ask for my robe that I forgot on my last visit, right?"

The welcome Cter received from her three colleagues as her carriage slowed down outside the large castle gate of Jarasevo Castle wasn't as glamorous or...well...welcomed, as her arrival at Fenkeep Castle was. She was coming back home and not visiting a castle in another country, so fair enough that the red carpet wasn't rolled out for her and splitting the excitingly bobbing lake of important humans.

She should have figured that Sund would have been a bit informal and grabbed the opportunity for a jest, but while his complete lack of greeting and cutting straight to asking Cter if she had remembered would have summoned a chuckle from her in any other case...

Problem was that she had forgotten about it, and as she stepped out of the carriage, Sund's question hit her like a wall, causing her to recoil and stumble back inside. "Dammit!" she cussed with her entire body before grumbling and turning back outside. "Sorry, Sund."

The Third Monster Mage's neck had craned back from Cter's violent reaction. "Uh..." His eyes shimmied over to Kry and Kurant stood next to him shaking their heads with the same disapproving look plastered on the respective pale and darkly tan face. "I was kidding, Cter." Sund smiled at the stunned expression that took over Cter. He shrugged innocently. "Sorry."

After letting a beat pass as punishment for Sund, Kry cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up his nose. He collected himself so that his loose and welcoming demeanor wouldn't seem disingenuous. "Welcome back, Cter," he wished the Fourth Monster Mage stood in the carriage door frame. "How was your journey?"

She had a lot to tell, that was for certain.

"Well, I can begin with–"

"Oh no no no no," Kry interrupted with his hands waving. "Not here."

Not...here?

Then why did he ask?

"You'll present your journey later when all of the Royal Councilors have gathered, Cter."

Again!

Then why did he ask?

For small talk? From Kry?

Cter had been through some absurd scenarios but that one took the cake without even a single slice left for anyone else. "We heading there now?" It seemed to be what Kry was hinting at. It was clear that Cter wasn't gonna get a warm welcome back with tea in the Royal Garden for her to tell all about her journey to Fenkeep Castle and back. No offer of a second biscuit as she told how she met her human family to Kurant. No scoot forward from Kry when she told about how she had used Huvett and Huvtvao's magic to create conjured images acting independently, probably. No long ears shooting up when she told about which room she stayed in at Fenkeep Castle.

Just straight to either Sir Gerson's office or Priestess Frioke's study to report her journey.

Cter sighed.

At least she could steal away Idyll later and have a bit more soul to soul with her. She had plenty of recipes to show her, as well as a lot to tell her about Hjearta.

More importantly, Cter had magic to show Idyll. Magic that she wanted Idyll to feel. Her own magic.

Cter's own magic.

Firstly to the Royal Councilors, then to Idyll. If Cter could have had it reverse it would have been perfect for her, but she also understood why it was important for the Royal Councilors, especially Priestess Frioke, to be present for her first real usage of it. With Cter learning that the Royal Mage of Ice was unknowingly wielding a Cooperative Connection spawned from negative emotion there was no real debate about it. Monsterkind was more important than Cter wanting her best friend to be the first witness to her new magic. That choice would protect Idyll more.

Protect everyone more.

"Sir Gerson's office or Priestess Frioke's study?" Cter asked as she stepped down onto the cobble. She motioned towards the castle. "Any chance we could be done before dinner?" Towards the myriad of monsters poking their various head out the windows. "Because I..."

Wait…

Myriad of heads?

Cter squinted at the bright marble wall. For a brief moment she couldn't tell the purple spots from the windows, but as her eyes adjusted, she saw that the castle ran the risk of tipping over from just how many monsters were crowded looking out through the many windows. At the balcony near the top of the castle between two flags were silhouetted King Asgore and Queen Toriel, whom Cter quickly bowed towards. Once her head raised up again, she turned to her unfazed colleagues with her sleeved index finger pointing over them.

"Why is every window crowded with monsters?"

In unison, Sund, Kry, and Kurant turned over their shoulders which they then shrugged.

"Waiting to see you destroy your carriage, of course," Kurant said as if it was obvious.

To that, Cter leaned forwards with a lean-in with one ear. "Come again?" That wasn't at all the answer she expected. "In my good ear?"

Although not an answer she immediately dismissed either.

"It is tradition for a Monster Mage to destroy their carriage at the return of their first solo journey out of country," explained Kry with a soft motion of his sleeved hand across the length of Cter's carriage. "I did it, Kurant did it, as did Sund. Now it is your turn to celebrate the end of your first solo mission as a Monster Mage. This carriage has been your home for months on end." His hand opened up, with a shimmering conjuration of the carriage hovering in his hand. "We three know the disdain that you feel towards it. We've all gone through it." The cyan carriage was crushed by Kry clenching his hand. Pieces of magic shot out from between his fingers, gracing by Cter with a sprinkle-like shimmer.

She turned in reflex to follow the trajectory of the magical splinter that brushed against her cheek. It shattered against the window on the far side of the carriage, covering it briefly in a circle of dusty magic before fading away, only to reveal a crowd standing at the bend of Castle Hill.

"So that was what they were whispering about," Cter whispered to herself. She had noticed some of the monsters leaning to the other with eyes wide and auras brimming as she passed them by waving from inside the carriage. Even some of the few humans were talked and whispered to, with eyes shining as well. She could make out some humans in the crowd, with one man carrying a skeleton child on his shoulder. The monsters behind him, while annoyed, could still see between the ribs.

"I'm guessing you were the one to start this tradition," the Fourth Monster Mage hazarded to the first Monster Mage. "Was it also to Hjearta?"

"Xoff," Kry responded with his head turning towards where the country was behind the horizon. "My last stop was at my family's estate where my parents and I had our last...talk." A subtle grimace fought for dominance, but Kry managed to suppress it with a hard furrow of his deep, dark brow. "Sir Gerson suggested I make ashes of what was burning in my soul."

"The flames reached above the flags at the top of the castle," said Sund with a nod up to where Queen Toriel and King Asgore stood. "Almost made soot of the clouds far above. They say that the carriage didn't have time to burn, and that the rising heat from the magical fire had it standing for a few seconds completely as ash. It was only when Kry, the First Monster Mage, turned around, that the breeze from his mantle knocked the carriage of ash over, shattering into a cloud of gray large enough to summon lightning and thunder."

At the end of the story Sund's cheeks were vibrating with a giggle at the brink of bursting into a roaring laughter.

"Word of mouth has a tendency of adding more magic with each new mouth that speaks of the event," Kry said as an explanation, but not as a refutation. He very much enjoyed hearing Sund tell the tale, even if it was with a building giggle underneath.

Cter didn't blame him for enjoying it. In fact, she felt that he was enjoying it too reservedly, but then again it was Kry. That he was visibly enjoying it was proof enough that the tradition wasn't birthed from any lesser event.

"Yours is the first with an audience, Cter," said Kurant after letting Kry bask for a bit. "It only really became realized as a tradition with Sund's return from his first mission on his own as a Monster Mage." She indicated towards Cter's carriage. "I only destroyed mine after Kry recognized a similar frustration within me. Then and there it became a tradition for us Monster Mages, but it's only with you now that it's become a tradition for everyone else as well, Cter. I hope you don't mind?"

So they planned it, in a way? Seemed like it what with the audience from the Jarasevo citizens as well as the monsters in the castle watching, including Queen Toriel and King Asgore. Cter didn't mind the audience, however to make the best show for them she did have to ask a bit more from her colleagues.

"So did you destroy your carriage differently than how Kry did it?" Cter asked Kurant. They still had some time to talk as the Royal Guards unloading the carriage were told via Sund's aura to slow down for a spell. Wouldn't want the audience to get restless. "He did fire, how did you?"

"You don't have to do yours differently," Kry intersected calmly. "You can do the same as we did. There's no reason to do differently just for different's sake."

The snickering look both Kurant and Sund gave Kry told Cter plenty. "You said the same to these two as well?" she challenged playfully while pointing with her index fingers to the snickering Monster Mages.

A defeated sigh was heaved by Kry's shoulders. "Yes," the sigh carried. "Yes, I did."

Cter bounced her fingers to show that she was addressing the increased snickering. "And did either of you listen?"

"No," Sund and Kurant answered together with the exact same shake to their heads. Reminded Cter of Huvett and Huvtvao's monster side.

"So how did you then, Kurant?" Cter repeated while all ears. She had some guesses as to how Kurant went about, with her primary guess being that of stasis magic. With how Kurant was eager to demonstrate it to Cter during their joint Xoff trip it was what Cter had come to associate Kurant with.

The Second Monster Mage's sleeve lit up with a shimmering orange that knotted itself around her arms like thick ropes made out of honey. The orange ropes tied themselves around her shoulders, securing them and clutching them close. "I went with a bit more simpler approach," Kurant smiled with her face bathed in the orange of her strength magic. "Back then I still was partly a farm girl, so it's what my soul wanted." She slammed her fists together, with the sound echoing out with the soft texture of a drop of water landing in a puddle, but with the power and intensity of a hammer hitting an anvil. Gasps of awes were heard by the people of Jarasevo, which turned into a round of respectful applause as Kurant held her magically enhanced arms high. "The dust that remained after I was done with the carriage was finer than the ash that remained after Kry's carriage."

Nice!

Something did bother Cter about that story though, or to be more precise, something bothered her about the way Kurant retold her story.

She told it without the strength magic enhancing her knee.

However, Cter managed to catch a glimpse of orange magic forming at Kurant's hip with both her eyes and with her aura. She didn't that time while showing Cter, but she most certainly did back when she destroyed her carriage. Could not do it again because of what Bonny and Kry did to her knee…

"Don't think like that, Cter."

She winced as she had let her aura wander to Kurant for comfort and empathy. Felt pity towards the Second Monster Mage.

"Please. This day is a celebration for you, not anything about me." Her face was paler than normal after her strength magic, and the shine on her sleeve looked irregular to boot.

"I'm sorry," Cter still felt that she should say. She didn't mean to pour pity over Kurant, but it was what she did, and for that she should apologize for.

On a more happier note Cter knew exactly at what point Barbeqa fell in love with Kurant. The exact point in time where the fire monster's upbringing among humans came to ahead, causing her to later make a deal for an anatomical chart in exchange for cake.

Cter even caught a glimpse of Barbeqa flames flaring up in one of the lower window's as Kurant summoned her strength magic. If she was to bet, then Kurant would come to have a rather-more splendid dinner than the rest that evening. Perhaps it would be the time where Kurant finally accepted her feelings too? Awakening them during the destruction of her carriage, and accepting them during the destruction of Cter's carriage. If Cter could tie it together with what Sund did with his carriage it would become too poetic not to happen!

"So what about you, Sund?" Cter posed with a rather-excited fling to her question. "How was your carriage destroyed?" She nodded as far from subtle as possible towards the Jarasevo audience. "I'm guessing it was really, really spectacular, yes?"

With a tug of his cheek, Sund scoffed and swiped his nose with his sleeved thumb. Before he could begin though, Kry stepped between him and Cter both figuratively, "I'll make sure to correct any...forced beautification," and literally. With an eyebrow raised towards Sund he stepped back and allowed him to continue.

To a reasonable degree, of course.

"This was before my discovery of my barricade magic," Sund began with some of his prideful air deflated. "Therefor I didn't crush it inside a shrinking box of white-glowing magic, as you would think at first."

He was correct in that assumption. It was Cter's first thought before she remembered that Sund discovered his barricade magic later into his Monster Mage career. Since it was the magic Cter associated him with it was also because of that which she based her initial guess on before realizing that it was wrong. Then again, she was wrong with her guess about Kurant's magic so perhaps Sund did use barricade magic but wasn't aware of it?

Or...something...

A deep-blue core of magic formed inside Sund's hand, with dust, slight moisture, and a single leaf falling into it and layering outside it. "Weight magic," he said as he dropped the deep-blue core on the ground where it landed with a thud loud enough to fool anyone that it was an entire house that had collapsed in the distance. The cobble shattered as the core landed, with its shards imploding into the deep-blue core rather than exploding away from it. Sand from underneath formed between and above the shattered pieces of stone until it reached a height where it began to pour off.

"I crushed the carriage until it became but a tiny ball of dense wood," Sund revealed half-threateningly as he clutched his fist and collapsed the magical core and its layers, creating a uniform sphere of glass covering over smooth stone. "I still have it on my desk in my room." He flicked the marble back into his hand while he scanned the audience. His eyes caught a group of young monsters to which he rolled the marble to. After a few seconds of magically assisted rolling it was picked up by a slimy tendril. "Has a few spots of glass and fabric on it, but the overwhelmingly majority comprising it is wood, just like the carriage."

Dense like how Kurant were dense in not accepting her feelings for Barbeqa?

That really was the only connection Cter could fathom between Sund's destruction of his carriage and Kurant's feelings towards Barbeqa. It was a very, very flimsy connection, which Cter was ultimately forced to give up on as it didn't really bring her anything good trying to fit it into her theory.

She still felt that it would be poetic if Kurant confessed her feelings towards Barbeqa on the day that Cter destroyed her carriage, but it wouldn't be as poetic had Sund's destruction also fit in.

Oh well, what could she do?

Just another annoyance, however slight, to add to the pile so that the destruction became even more spectacular, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

So that covered Cter's options of what magic to use. Kry used fire, Kurant used strength magic, and Sund used weight manipulation. It allowed Cter to use stasis, conjuration, ice magic.

And…

"When it comes to demonstrating my new magic?" she asked low and hushed to her colleagues. "Can the people be the first witnesses to it?" With her left arm she swept over the audience, who's murmurs became louder in anticipation. "Is it a must that I demonstrate it to the Royal Councilors first?"

"Told you she would figure it out," boasted Sund with an elbow into Kry's side. "She already collected it all on the way back. No need for her to do it here alone like how I did. She's the next generation of Monster Mages, of course she figured it out earlier. Just accept that your pride is shattered instead of trying to hold it together. Goes down easier when you swallow it."

"Just because I planned for the other case of doesn't mean it was what I believed or even wanted," replied Kry to clarify his stance. It was unnecessary, as it was his duty as the First Monster Mage to be cautious, as for Sund it was being forward-moving. Cter knew Kry wasn't doing it because he doubted her, but she was thankful with him saying it too. He even cracked a proud smile at her.

Kurant too gave her blessing with a quiet nod. "We'll be on your side if it doesn't sit well with Sir Gerson and or Priestess Frioke." Tilting her head over her shoulder, she surveyed where the two Royal Councilors stood behind the window looking out from Sir Gerson's office. "I don't think that will be a problem though."

Well, if it was the same to everyone else then.

Cter gave a nod to the Royal Guards unloading the last from her carriage, which had them hurrying up. She walked around her carriage to be in view of the Jarasevo people, with the inhabitants of the castle being able to see her over the carriage. Her colleagues cleared to give her space, with Sund extending a large area of transparent barricade magic so that Cter wouldn't have to worry about holding back. The sunlight through the magic surrounded Cter with a hazy shimmer as she walked around the carriage one last time, her sleeved fingers trailing behind her on the painted wood.

"I, Cter, am the Fourth Monster Mage!" she declared to the gathered audience with a sharpened look. She slid her hand off the carriage, with an imprint of the Delta Rune left behind on the wall to act as a temporary Cooperative Connection for her to use. A deep, purple pulse had the carriage covered in stasis magic, causing the carriage to float up in the air.

The clutched, left hand of the Fourth Monster Mage displayed the Delta Rune present on the back, with the spiraling line breathing as Cter did. She moved her clenched fist in front of her face, with the floating carriage following to be positioned in the middle of the barricade-surrounded courtyard.

Cter threw open her hand, her fingers spreading out in front of her more sharpened glare demonstrating her focus to her audience. With the gust of wind her hand gesture summoned hitting the carriage in the air behind her, Cter had the Delta Rune she left on the carriage grow in size until it covered the entire side of the carriage. Behind it she cut it up with quick, conjured slashes from the Delta Rune's backside, but made sure to keep the cut pieces together.

"I have returned home!"

The carriage fell from above, tumbling down while still held together by stasis magic. As it smashed into the cobble, Cter had it fly into smaller pieces than normally, made easier by her cutting it up before. Once in pieces floating as if in water, the Delta Rune hovered down. Its bottom touched the ground, and the many wooden pieces filled its shape as best as Cter could. It was like solving a jigsaw without looking, or stacking cut wood in the dark, but she only needed the rough shape of it for her next step.

Just a bit of illusion to her magic.

"With magic of my own!"

The Delta Rune flashed, and as her audience squinted, she quickly collected all the pieces into as small a sphere as she could which she then let drop. She didn't need the pieces for her magic, but it gave her audience a clue as to what she was to do.

Her own magic.

Like with her ice magic that she made her ice cubes with, Cter began first with a core that she had growing out, a snaking, growing stem of smooth crystals that flowed first like soft honey as they explored their way into the shape of the Delta Rune. Once they connected, a wave of hardening had her magic solidifying with a melodic chime that echoed loudly against Sund's barrier magic. Similarly, the growing lines on Cter's arm too exhibited solidifying into shards of crystals, changing in size as the focus from her soul ebbed with the details of the Delta Rune. The triangles and circles were easy, resulting in small, almost smooth veins of liquid crystals from her spiraling line. The wings, however, had the expanding veins extruding jagged shards that could skewer an apple easily.

Most of the jagged veins Cter made sure to have facing her rather than her audience. Something to mention to the Royal Councilors that her focus necessary meant more extreme shapes of her veins, yes, but not to the Jarasevo audience.

As Cter stepped aside with a bow and arms spread to present the Delta Rune stood twice as tall as her made out of magical crystals bathing the entire courtyard with reflecting light of every color imaginable, there wasn't even the slightest gasp. Only the slight cracking of sand and cobble as the weight of the crystal shape settled itself stable was heard.

It was a problem since Cter was exhausted from her demonstration of her own magic. She was planning on catching her breath among the applause, but with the silence being deafening, she couldn't. It began to hurt…

Why weren't they–

"Oh..."

Oh no.

"No..."

Cter shouldn't have turned around to look at it.

"What have I..."

Whatever it was.

Its magical crystals were splendid in their color and flawless in their purity. The gradient from their core outwards gave the refracting sunlight an uneven rainbow from each angle that of which not even the most intricate of painted glass could produce. Cter's crystals were magnificent to look at. A marvel of magic that properly demonstrated how powerful she was as a Monster Mage.

However…

"It's fine, Cter."

She bit off a bit too much than she could chew with her demonstration of her newly discovered magic.

"I was also a bit...overconfident with my barricade magic the first time I showed it off."

What she had created didn't look anywhere near the Delta Rune.

"We'll just say that it was a combination of the Hjearta sigil and the Delta Rune sigil in honor of the human country that helped you realize your magic."

It didn't look anything near anything at all! Just…weaved chaos!

"Come, let's head to Sir Gerson's office."

It took a few gentle tugs from Sund's hand laid securely on Cter's sunken shoulder before she was persuaded to follow him with her head hung.

"Just make it explode into a cloud of shimmering dust or something so that they think you had this as a dramatic pause. I'll do the same with my barricade magic immediately afterwards, okay?"

Cter nodded, and shattered her crystal...something...with an even louder melodic clang that resonated with the shattering barricades that together cascaded over the gasping audience in a rainbow-flickering snowfall. The gasps quickly turned to cheering that had the awkward silence but a memory away.

Far away for the people of Jarasevo.

But what would be forever close for Cter.

Forever embarrassing.