Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
Vesa spent an hour in her next therapy session with Fransisca the following morning. Once she finished, she made her way to the training arena. Once outside, she noticed as Fecto Elfilis was in the middle of practicing a spell. She took a moment to adjust her apprentice robes before she stepped towards her partner.
"Good morning," Elfilis glanced over their shoulder, "are you ready to start today's lesson?"
"I'm prepared," Vesa nodded.
Elfilis turned to face her and fanned out their winglike ears, sensing her reserves were recovering from the atrophy from not having magic at a young age.
"So what do you want to learn today?" Elfilis asked her, "we could learn a new magical discipline if you want."
Vesa took a moment to examine her palms.
"What options for a focus do you have?" Vesa asked.
Elfilis perked up their feelers.
"Well, there are plenty of options," Elfilis reached into their pocket dimension, "I obtained most of them from defeated enemies so they wouldn't be able to fight me as effectively if they got back up."
Elfilis laid out a ruby amulet with a necklace chain, a yellow tome full of blank pages, a wooden staff that seemed to have grown from a tree, a variety of different wands, a cane with a sapphire on top and a set of gloves with gems embedded into them. Vesa examined each option until her eyes locked onto a particular wand the length of her forearm with a rather ornate floral design on its head and its shaft had a twisted texture. She didn't hesitate to wrap her fingers around it.
"An interesting choice," Elfilis mused, "but it seems to fit you well enough. If you want, I can make you something custom so long as it's made of biological material. Other than that, I could simply edit this one to fit your needs better."
Vesa took some time to figure out how to handle her new wand with both hands while Elfilis stashed the remaining focuses into their pocket dimension.
"I'm sure I'll manage," Vesa assured Elfilis, "I'm eager to give it a test run."
"Very well," Elfilis nodded, "it'll likely take a couple hours of practice to get used to it."
Vesa took a moment to examine the wand in her hands. She blinked twice as she noticed its primary gem glowed.
"This wand has a spell set into it," Elfilis commented, rubbing their lower jaw, "I can remove it if you want and put something else in. It seems to be a pretty basic beam spell; a lightning based attack used by novice mages."
Vesa smiled and shook her head.
"Actually," she corrected, "I think it's worth learning in case of emergencies."
"You might as well test it out a little and see if it works for you," Elfilis replied, "if not, I might just put the scalpel spell in it."
Vesa scanned her surroundings in search of a training dummy. Elfilis placed their fingers to the ground and grew a wooden dummy from the soil like a strange looking tree.
"Thanks!" Vesa chirped.
"Anytime," Elfilis nodded.
Vesa aimed her new wand at the wooden dummy and began to concentrate. She transferred some of her mana into the wand until its main gem flickered. The head of the wand shot out a whip consisting of electric particles before she swung it at the wooden dummy. Once the particle whip dissipated, the dummy sustained some small scorch marks on the spots which the electricity touched directly, but otherwise intact. Vesa examined her handiwork for a brief moment before she shifted her focus to her new wand.
"I guess this spell will do," she said.
"Good," Elfilis nodded, "glad to hear it."
Elfilis twitched their feelers as they tilted their head towards the sky, staring off into the distance as they noticed a large shape began to pick up off the ground. Vesa tilted her head sideways, giving them a puzzled look. She turned her head in the direction her partner was staring.
"Looks like Meta Knight has finished all his preparations," Elfilis mused, "I assume he'll have the Halberd patrolling the skies of Dreamland for the foreseeable future."
Vesa didn't say much as she stashed her new wand into her pocket dimension. After a moment of silence, Vesa and Elfilis made their way back into the tower. As they ventured down the hall, the ultimate life-form's feelers twitched as they sensed someone enter the wards from the outside. They extended their superior senses to identify the visitor and turn off the barrier around the entrance. Elfilis rushed down the hall, so Vesa began to sprint alongside them. When they set foot in the foyer, they both noticed as Elfilin and Kirby greeted King Dedede.
"Poyo!" Kirby chirped, waving his arms.
"Hello, sire!" Elfilin squeaked happily.
Elfilis approached the king and held the door open.
"Good afternoon, sire," Elfilis greeted.
"Good afternoon to you all as well," Dedede replied cheerfully but with a hint of dread, "I've got some important news about the kingdom going forward!"
Vesa slightly tilted her head sideways for a second before she took a few steps towards the front door.
"Oh?" she blurted, "what news?"
"I'm setting up a council of advisors for myself, to help with decision making an' to keep me informed of what's goin' on at a local level," Dedede explained, "I was hopin' to get some of ya to help me out on a magical level, for advisin' me on decisions of a mystical nature and to help me figure out when an issue is likely to involve magic in some way."
Kirby and Elfilin exchanged glances while Vesa scratched her head.
"I hope your endeavor goes well," Vesa replied.
"I hope so, too," Dedede agreed, "but I was hoping that a few of ya would be interested in a more permanent position…somewhere a bit more near the castle and close at hand in case of emergencies."
Vesa tilted her head towards Elfilis.
"Should we call over the others?" she asked.
"Probably," Elfilis nodded, "a court mage is a highly appealing position for almost any mage, even in our society. A large part of that is because as a court mage, you have access to large amounts of wealth; and wealth can be used to further research easily by obtaining rare materials or hiring people with skills you need for whatever you are working on."
Elfilis turned their head away.
"If I didn't let them in on it," they added, "they would probably get mad."
Elfilin raised his paw.
"Ok then," Elfilin declared, "I'll go get the others!"
Elfilin didn't hesitate as he flew off. The others simply waited for several minutes before the small chinchilla returned with Hyness, Fransisca, Flamberge and Zan Partizanne following close behind. From there, Hyness led everyone into the library, where they all sat at a table.
"So, what exactly are you offering?" Elfilis asked.
"I'm offering access to a hefty amount of money for your services," Dedede clarified, his voice hinting a boost of confidence, "a free home with whatever specifications you have in mind within reason, access to researching any magical items you can find in the treasury so long as you can identify them properly and catalog them, and you'll get additional pay whenever you can lend worthwhile assistance to me on matters of importance or magical relevance."
Elfilis raised their brow, noticing Dedede was really nervous about going into full politics.
"Wow," Flamberge commented, "that's a heck of a lot."
Zan placed her hand behind her head as she thought of the offer.
"That's not even getting into the influence or political power of such a position," Elfilis pointed out.
"Of course," Hyness nodded.
"I don't see us turning down such an offer at all, honestly," Elfilis added, "but we'll probably need to end up drawing straws or something."
Elfilis glanced at the other four fully fledged mages in the room. Hyness didn't seem interested, but the Mage Sisters were certainly thinking about it. After a moment of silence, Flamberge raised her hand.
"So," Flamberge clamored, "who's going to bring the straws?"
Elfilis quickly made a simple wooden cup with three sticks in it, all appearing the same height. They held out the cup. Zan, Flamberge and Fransisca exchanged glances for a brief moment.
"On three?" Fransisca asked.
"On three," Zan nodded.
"One," Flamberge began.
"Two," Fransisca fixated her eyes on the cup.
"Three!" the Mage Sisters barked in unison.
The Mage Sisters reached in and grabbed a stick each. Flamberge pulled out a stick the size of a hotdog. Fransisca pulled out something closer to the size of a baton, but Zan pulled out a stick something closer to one side of a ladder. The lightning mage grimaced as the stick kept going while she pulled on it. Vesa noticed as Elfilis let out a soft snicker.
"Poyo?" Kirby stared in confusion.
Elfilin tilted his head sideways when he heard Elfilis's snickers grow into an amused chuckle. The ultimate life-form quickly calmed themself. Still, Dedede gaped at the size of the stick in Zan's hand. It wasn't long before the lightning mage noticed Elfilis made another amused chuckle.
"Juh? Elfilis?" Zan blurted.
Elfilis immediately stopped and blushed in embarrassment, turning their head away.
"Are you…doing ok?" Zan asked.
"Better than I have been in a long time," Elfilis admitted.
"Hey," Flamberge mused, "it seems we're getting the old Elfilis back sooner than I thought!"
Elfilin perked up his ears.
"W-We're getting a bit off topic here," Elfilis stammered, "we can talk more about that later."
Zan returned her gaze to the stick in her hands.
"It seems my stick's the largest," Zan commented, "so…"
Dedede patted his chest with one hand.
"Welcome to the team, girly!" Dedede laughed, shaking her hand, "now that that's out of the way, what exactly are you looking for in terms of accommodation? Depending on what you want, the Waddle Dees can whip something up in a few days to a week."
Zan smiled at the penguin king before she took a moment to think.
"Probably something small to start with," Zan began, "we can do a lot of the additional construction on our own. Just a tower is fine for now."
Dedede nodded in agreement.
"Alright," Hyness asked, "now that's all settled, what else is there?"
"Well, right now," Dedede clarified, "we're in the middle of a harvest if anyone wants to help out. It would certainly be appreciated and depending on how much you can help, you'll be paid for your work."
Vesa immediately stood from her chair.
"Sign me up!" she declared.
Kirby also jumped up and down on his chair.
"Poyo! Poyo!"
"I'm not sure if you're exactly cut out for that kind of work, Vesa," Elfilis pointed out, "Kirby can at least use copy abilities to make up for his lack of physical strength, but you haven't built up your stamina to the point you'd be capable of helping for more than a couple hours."
Vesa folded her arms.
"I'm sure I'll manage," she insisted.
"I won't stop you," Elfilis shrugged, "I'm just informing you."
The Mage Sisters exchanged glances before they shrugged.
"I will assist," Elfilis proclaimed, "just direct me where you need me and I'll help."
"Excellent!" Dedede smiled.
Everyone soon filed out of the library.
"My knowledge of actual farming is lacking," Elfilis said, "but I have an idea of what I'm supposed to do. I'll need some instruction just in case when you're ready to start."
"I'm sure the farmers there would show us how it's done," Vesa assured Elfilis.
It wasn't long before they exited the tower and began strolling down the dirt path until they arrived at the outskirts of Capupu Village. They could see the Waddle Dees and Cappies busy with the harvest. Elfilis watched with their enhanced perception to figure out how they were harvesting. Kirby immediately sprinted over to the farmlands, catching everyone's attention.
"Hey," a Cappy commented, "is that Kirby?"
Kirby happily waved his arms at a nearby Waddle Dee before he approached a tool rack. Vesa approached a nearby rice paddy, noticing it had already been drained of water. Several Cappies and Waddle Dees were in the middle of harvesting the rice stalks using sickles. Elfilis pulled out their spear and ran their hand over the blade, the normal sharp tip slowly extending into a blade as they waved their hand through the air. Their spear morphed into some kind of scythe which still retained its colors of purple, yellow and aquamarine. All the while, Vesa approached the nearest Cappy.
"Excuse me," she asked, "but is there anything I can do to help?"
The Cappy paused in his tracks and locked eyes onto the human.
"Well, you can help tie up these stalks and place them on the drying rack if you want?"
"Sure!" Vesa nodded.
Vesa watched as Elfilis moved in and swung their scythe to reap a bunch of rice stalks at a time. While Kirby grabbed a basket and raced to help some Waddle Dees harvest some vegetables, Vesa grabbed some pieces of twine before she started gathering rice stalks, tying the ends into a bundle. The Cappies stared at Elfilis warily.
As Vesa made bundles with the twine, she went on to carry the bundles of rice stalks onto the nearby wooden drying racks. With Vesa and Elfilis excelling at their tasks, Kirby would fill up a basket of vegetables he plucked up before he placed it among the other baskets. From there, the pink star warrior would fetch another one while Elfilin simply floated alongside him. It didn't take long for the Cappies to get used to Elfilis's presence as they found enjoyment out of harvesting. Of course, with plenty of rice stalks coming from Elfilis, Vesa went on to keep up with the effort of tying them into bundles and placing them on drying racks.
By the time an hour and a half passed, the rice paddy had been emptied. Elfilis shifted their scythe back into a spear and stashed it away. Kirby had also finished helping the Cappies and Waddle Dees with harvesting the vegetables, so he went on to help Vesa carry the rice stalk bundles to the drying rack while she continued tying the bundles. The ultimate life-form went in to assist with transporting the rice stalks and laying them on the ground. A few more Cappies also pitched in to help tie up the rice bundles and place them on drying racks. By the time another half hour passed, all the rice stalk bundles were resting on the drying racks.
"Thanks for your help, Kirby!" a nearby Waddle Dee smiled.
"Poyo!" Kirby chirped, waving his arm.
Elfilis let out a small yawn while they sat down under a tree. Vesa approached the nearest Cappy.
"So," Vesa asked, "what happens next?"
"Now we wait a few weeks and then we'll start to thresh and hull the rice," the Cappy explained, "the rice should be done drying tomorrow."
"Then I'd like to help with the threshing and hulling," Vesa requested.
"Thank you," the Cappy smiled, making a brief glance at Elfilis, "we'll take any help you're willing to give. The harvesting has been quicker this year than it has in a long time."
Soon enough, I'll be including characters from the Kirby anime as the story progresses. Since I watched most of the anime series in Japanese, however, I'm going to referring many of the anime characters by their Japanese counterparts or even hybridized versions of their names.
Feel free to make some fanart related to this fanfic!
And leave a review so Kirby can use them to buy snacks for him and Elfilin.