"Xoff sure is different from Hjearta, innit, Cter?"

The Fourth Monster Mage looked up from her book penned by a Royal Guard about his life while stationed at the capital of Xoff. "Tourest sure thinks so as well."

"Tourest?"

"Author of the book."

"Ah."

A conjured bookmark poked out of the top of the pages as she closed the pages shut. "Although I'm not really in total agreement with his prose, to be perfectly honest. Seems a bit...amateurish?"

Sund angled his head away from the carriage window he was studying the Xoff landscape through. "Well he was a Royal Guard so I'm assuming he was used to writing quite differently before trying to make a novel about his experiences of novel character." The light had him squint, hiding the red of his eyes in a way that gave his expression a similar one to that of Kurant. "I did manage to read one of his old reports a few years ago before you became a Monster Mage, funnily enough, and it is quite uncanny how similar his writing is, but in the formal charted down in his reports and such it feels expertly penned. Same pen, but different context." He nodded to himself.

"You'll have to show me where in the Jarasevo archives you found them when we return home." Hopefully Sund wouldn't mention that Idyll only wanted Cter and Sarbor home without any mention of Sund. He'd done it a few times already during the carriage travel, and eventually it would just become annoying had he decided to continue. "But yeah, Xoff is different from Hjearta." Cter gestured towards the different outside compared to Hjearta. "Much less green and blue and much more yellow and brown." One thing Cter was curious about though, and what she didn't manage to experience the first time visiting Xoff with Kurant was Xoff's people. She did meet a few of them at Clinic Hill, but those humans seemed a bit too...magical, for lack of a better word, to be representative of the quote unquote true people of Xoff.

It was the reason why she brought with her the Royal Guard Tourest's book about his life as a Royal Guard stationed in the Xoff capital of Noitaidarr, after all, so that she could finally get something substantial about life in Xoff. She had Kry, Kurant, and Barbeqa to ask about it back at Jarasevo castle, sure, but for some strange reason she didn't really feel either of them to be a good representation of the Xoff culture. Neither did the County General and his entourage strike her as representing the entirety of the Xoff people.

Just a slight hunch that she had.

What the book described, in stark contrast to the aforementioned three, was a rather calm and sleepy people who's energy were still the highest the Royal Guard Tourest had seen. It was all in their communication. A quick, gesture-full, and energetic quirk to how they spoke that could express an entire discussion in the blink of an eye. Tourest reckoned it was why it was common for the Xoff people to feel sleepily to people from out of country, as with a more-slower angle to speaking as it pertained to the monsters and Hjeartians required more time to voice the piece on one's mind. Less time spent communicating what needed to be done meant more time getting to the task at hand, which ultimately meant more time spent after the task is done.

No need to then do more work when work was already done, so why not then relax and enjoy the rest of the day?

Because of that, the monsters in Xoff relied more on communication via aura, reckoned Tourest. Both from observing other monsters, and from doing it himself eventually to keep up with the hectic pace of the language spoken in Xoff. That alone piqued Cter's interest right there as it wasn't something she would have figured. Even at the forefront of magic there were still so many basic things Cter had no idea about. She might have pushed the circle of knowledge out into a long and sharp spike made out of crystal, but there was still the rest of the circle that she had no idea about!

"I do wonder how much the balance of power would be if the Xoffians utilized the day more than the Hjeartians did," jumped a slightly morbid thought off of Cter's tongue. "It's a bit like if us Monster Mages used the true Cooperative Connection and its efficiency, but only enough to keep up with those using the full extent of the lie of the Cooperative Connection." She dragged a short distance with her finger on her sleeve. "Like, only using one small line instead of the entire sleeve at our disposal."

"Would you have everyone be Monster Mages though?" retorted Sund curiously. "Do you think everyone would be up to the task of having a full sleeve of the true Cooperative Connection day in and day out? I don't mean it as a one-to-one parallel, of course," he clarified with a circular motion of his hands that ended in his fingers coming together at their tips while he searched his mind for the right words to continue with, "but more in the spirit of things."

Immediately, Cter voiced her comment. "Not in the soul of things?" The connotations were different, but since Cter and Sund were talking about humans, and considering that he paused before continuing to speak, perhaps it was Cter that blurted it out rather than Sund. "Spirituality sounds good, sorry."

That she said it though prompted Sund. "Well actually..." He tapped the side of a finger against his lips. "It could be in the soul of things if you meant to go more about mages later on?"

"No, not really. I was more thinking about just Xoffians in general."

"Then spirituality then."

"Yes."

Where were they again?

Oh, right, if Cter would have everyone be Monster Mages. "Not really with everyone being Monster Mages," she answered with her arms folding as she leaned back into her seat to better think. "Would be a great deal more than just us four though."

"I'm not so sure about that," said Sund while leaning forward with his interlocked fingers underneath his chin. "You see, I'd actually argue that when humans are given the chance they will try their best to take it."

Hm…

"So you'd be in favor of the truth of the Cooperative Connection being revealed to the masses?" Had it been raining like it did in Monster Country when the convoy crossed the border it would've probably been a thunder strike to go along with Cter's question. It was what Sund was implying, and he did no indication to the contrary.

Cter knew that he was supposed to be the Monster Mage looking forward the most, but that far forward?

"Eventually, yes." Sund again showed no signs of indicating the contrary. "Once we reach that point then humans and monsters have come as close to each other that they can possible get." He sat up straight, unlocking his fingers so that he could motion towards the landscape passing by Cter's carriage. "The lie exists because we can't trust the humans that much just yet when it comes to magic. Once that trust has been reached though, there's really no reason for the lie to exists anymore. It'll be a few weeks or maybe months of late nights for us to try and figure out a good way to explain it away in a way that makes fully sure that it won't be discovered that it ever was a lie, but to me it'll be worth it."

Sund spoke with a fair tone to his voice.

"Maybe we'll be five or perhaps even six Monster Mages by that time, who knows?" The motion of Sund's sleeved hand towards the passing yellow-and-brown landscape moved to point between Cter and him. "Maybe it'll be the last thing we do as Monster Mages too?" He shrugged innocently. "Who knows?"

A chuckle had Cter's body bouncing. "Really?" she said with a playful tilt to her head. "Your idyllic view of the future doesn't have room for us Monster Mages?" Cter knew exactly what Sund meant by it, but she wasn't gonna pass up the chance to have a bit of fun with it. "We do all the work, but everyone else gets to enjoy the fruits of it, except us?" She clicked her tongue with her eyes rolling dramatically. "Jeez, what a future to look forward to."

Sund chuckled too. "You work shy, Cter?" He shook his head, also dramatically. "Can't enjoy a day's good work just by the reward of feeling satisfied of a job well done?" The shaking ended with a nod towards the outside again. "We're in Xoff now so a full work day will be shorter than you think it'll be."

Cter wasn't sure that Sund thought that through completely. Her brow lowered with musing amusement. "So what you're saying is that we'll have the lie of the Cooperative Connection revealed much earlier than we can imagine?" No, no he didn't think that through at all. "And here I haven't even gotten my study decorated as I've always wanted it to be. I won't even get to enjoy it before my Monster Mage title will be taken away and I'll be dumped outside the castle with you three with a hearty goodbye and then a loud slam of the castle gates right in our human faces."

Sund leaned back with his hands folded behind his head. "Monster Mage life not what it's made out to be, is that your argument? Not a lot of human mages would enjoy having a study and the most powerful magic teachings available to them?"

"Well, we're both quite biased about it, that's the gist of it. Ask the human mages of the world and I'd be sure that many will answer yes initially, but when they realize what in entails, many would just go back to the corner they've sliced out for themselves. Maybe become a Royal Mage at most?"

Both Sund's sleeved and naked fingers drummed on the back of his lean-backed head as he took in what Cter had said. "You..." He bit his lip before he began blurting before formulating properly. "You sure you're not just patting yourself on the back with that theory? You're biased, and being a Monster Mage is quite the pinnacle of achievement, so by all means pat your back." Sund did on his own. "Please, we all deserve it." His sleeved hand emerged from patting on his back to his fingers forming a circle which he spun at his wrist. "However, we might have lost this metaphor a bit by this point."

Cter snorted a laugh. "Just a bit?" She shook her head in the afterglow of her snorted laugh. "Try again on the way home after we've gotten some thinking done on it?"

"Should we really think about it more though?" Sund quirked an eyebrow. "I mean, in a nutshell what it boils down to is how quick we want things to change in this world." It sank down. "It's already moving at a pace worthy of that of the most prized stallion, but it does so on a straight, well-maintained road, if I may try and employ another metaphor." It was a risky move, but he still had faith in it. "When the first corner comes up is where we have to be vigilant to steer things in the right course. What's behind that corner we won't know until we get to it to boot. Perhaps it'll be another straight, well-maintained road that goes on for as long, if not longer, than the one we are on right now."

The carriage was shook by a rough bounce as Sund said it.

"Faith," he commented as the carriage settled down before continuing. "If we're unlucky then that corner will be just one out of many, and the road turning into a muddy dirt road that creation forgot about. If that happens I will probably also echo your stance when it comes to the strife of being a Monster Mage, because then we will have more on our hands than I think was ever expected of us."

"That's saying a lot, what you just did."

Sund shrugged. "We're heading towards a corner now." He knocked on the carriage wall behind him with his naked knuckles. "There's no denying it. You are about to prove that it is possible to change a monster's magic at will and with method to it, and that will bring things to a new precipice. Our priority when returning will be to formulate it in a way that doesn't threaten monsters. The news will most likely cause others to try, both human mages and monsters, and for that we outta be overly specific that it is something that only Monster Mages are capable of. It's not the...best explanation, but it is at least one explanation. What you did during Crystal Day hopefully will be proof enough that your magic is the only one capable."

Slowly, Cter raised her hand behind her head.

"Yes, you may pat yourself on the back for that one," Sund allowed. "Play your back like a drum if you want."

Cter wouldn't as it would hurt her shoulder doing so at such an awkward angle. "Hopefully it won't be a curve for me with changing Dr. Sallus' magic." She brought back her sleeved hand in front of her, inspecting it with her palm limply closed. "I've quite enjoyed this straight–"

Another larger bump interrupted Cter, shifting her to the side enough that she had to brace against the wall. She looked to Sund who also had his hands pushed against the wall. "Faith," he said again after the two shared a titter. "Tempting it like nothing before!" His sleeve ignited with a brilliant white, filling his lines up with shapeless bright that flocked up to his hand. "However, us Monster Mages are not bound to faith!" With a slashing motion down at the floor, four disks of barrier magic were sent through the floor. "We are the ones that forge it!" The constant white noise of gravel and dirt run over by the wheels of the carriage stopped, replaced by smooth silence.

"Can always just tell me to ease things down!" came an angry, muffled voice from the driver seat.

Sund didn't reply, instead he moved his hand in an arcane pattern before closing his fist and breathing out. The earrings depicting the theoretical, upside-down soul belonging to humans settled on his cheeks again, and he closed his eyes.

Good thing it wasn't only Cter who enjoyed making a show of her magic. "The four disks of barricade magic that went through the floor were just illusions, right? Because otherwise you've been lying to me and everyone else about your magic not being able to penetrate solid material." Plus they also disappeared from view earlier than they should have had they actually gone through the wall, so Cter was perfectly confident in it being just a flair that Sund added for dramatic effect.

"Perhaps," said Sund with a couple of mysterious tilts to his head. "Or perhaps not?"

Perhaps.

Definitely perhaps.

"Anyways," Cter said after a cough into her fist, "before I was interrupted, what I wanted to say was that I've quite enjoyed this fairly straight road I've had after the extreme swerve that got me this purple mantle."

The mysterious tilts faded into sympathetic nods. "Was quite the swerve alright." Sund then met Cter's forest-green eyes with his own red ones with nothing but complete respect glittering from the heavy midday sun outside. "Trust me when I say that few could muster themselves past that."

"I've had you three to help me, as I've said many times before. Maybe not when you were interrogating me in the dungeon while I was cold and afraid." Cter shrugged rather forwards.

"Nowhere to go but up after that though," Sund replied with a snap of his finger to make sure that there wasn't any bad blood between him and Cter.

There wasn't. Over the time Cter had been a Monster Mage she had come to understand why they went so hard on her.

If that was another sign of her being biased to hell and back or just her way of dealing with the trauma of that night, Cter couldn't tell.

Maybe it was both.

In any case though, it was behind her. "The breakfast the day after was some of the most surreal experience I've had in my entire life." All the bad stuff. "Not only was I released from being locked up and having to save my friend from dying." Not the silly stuff. "But then when I enter the dining hall after having been offered to become a Monster Mage I'm greeted by the three legendary Monster Mages throwing chairs at each other with magic." Never in a thousand years. "Bloody baffling, it sure was."

"I mean..." Sund put the flat of his palms up widely. "I was there." He lifted them up a bit more. "And we had barely an hour of sleep between us during the whole...well...debacle. Even King Asgore and Queen Toriel had to step in to help with the situation, and that they decided to then offer you the position of the Fourth Monster Mage due to your potential had us three wondering if the lack of sleep had caught up with us." The flats came down as Sund flashed a warm and friendly smile. "Worked out for the better though, I think."

"Because you got to see Idyll Fech every single day?"

Inside, Cter screamed with joy, but outside she kept her raised eyebrow stiff and accusingly. There wasn't a chance that she would ignore the most perfect of chances to finally put her finger on that spot of Sund's.

The red in Sund's eyes diminished as the widening white took over. Instead the red rushed to his cheeks, blushing them a bashed pink. His head fell down in defeat. "She told you, didn't she?"

"Of course she told me," Cter replied with her arms folding over her chest and her eyes narrowing. "She's my best friend." The gall of Sund to suggest otherwise! Cter had nothing against Sund having feelings for her best friend, but that he didn't immediately understand that Idyll would tell her?

Pah!

"How much did she tell you?"

"That she has power over you the same as you have power over Barbeqa." I mean what else was there to tell? "And that you look really cute while blushing."

The defeated head snapped up. "S-She said that?"

Maybe it was a bit rude of Cter to lie about that in particular. She breathed harshly through her teeth, "Well actually..." with her naked hand pushed up against her cheek. "Actually it was me just making a jest." Yeah, Cter felt bad lying about it. "Sorry."

Sund's own naked hand found itself wrapped around his neck which he wrung as he battled with some morality. "Would it be too exploitative of me to ask of you to let it slide about me blushing about Idyll in return for that rather unnecessary lie?"

Cter was already gonna do that, so it was fine by her. "Then we'll just put it behind us then." She swiped in the air with both her hands crossing over. "Nothing more said about it."

"Fine by me."

While he did say it, the slight offset in his aura said something a bit different. He wasn't hurt, but he was a bit disappointed in having been excited all for nothing. It furthered the slight discomfort Cter had made for herself in lying to him.

The air between them wasn't hostile, but it was very...adult, in a way. They both knew that the conversation had to pause for a bit to clear anything that might linger along. The two were still friends and colleagues, but they just needed a bit of time to just…

Mull.

Or something.

Cter returned to her book, but her apatite for reading more was drained as her consciousness reminded her of the dumb thing she did for no damn reason whatsoever.

She sighed, flipping the page she had already read over.

Oh well…

Hopefully it would be the worst thing to happen on the trip?

She had faith in that.