First, sorry for the lack of updates, but I am extremely busy because of the holidays and will be in the next few weeks as I will be traveling. So I'm not sure I'll be able to write new chapters soon, although I want to so much with the new update.

Second, this is a bit of a nothing chapter. Nothing really happens, just chilling with the gang. I seriously had the intention of scrapping it entirely and going directly to the next one, but then I decided to publish it since I already wrote and edited it. Plus, I don't really have the next one ready, and I don't know when it will be. So yeah, sorry for the not-so-exciting update :).

Chapter 15

Clorinde was coming at Furina at full speed, her blade charged with the power of Electro. She dove to evade a stream of Hydro from the seahorse, then swirled to the side to escape a bubble explosion from the octopus. The last thing between her and Furina was the crab. Clorinde winced, still running at full speed. Crabaletta's attacks particularly, although slow, could truly be vicious, and they had become Furina's best way to inflict damage. The day before, Aether failed to predict Crabaletta's attack and got launched into the air, painfully falling five steps from where he was standing. Clorinde, however, did not underestimate the crab and leaped into the air, narrowly escaping the popping bubble around it.

Furina saw Clorinde overcome her defenses and readied her blade... well, pipe. As always, she was nervous; she preferred standing in the background and directing her Salon Solitaire to facing her opponents directly, just like she had started to prefer it in real life. She gulped. Clorinde was just so damn fast! But she observed Clorinde's movements and thought she knew what was coming. "Okay, Furina," she thought to herself, "you know this! Aether showed you how to deflect these types of attacks at least 50 times!" She managed to lift the Ferryman at the right time... Clorinde's Electro-charged training blade clashed into Furina's pipe with a loud ringing sound... and got deflected to the side, Electro still sparkling in the air all around them.

For a second, Furina just stood still, incredulous at what had just happened. Then Clorinde withdrew her blade and said, "Well done!" giving her one of her rare smiles.

Furina threw the pipe to the side, her summons lost form and splashed on the ground, and she started hopping around with excitement. "I did it! I did it! Aether, did you see that?" she rushed towards him, jumping from time to time on the way. "I deflected Clorinde's attack! For the first time, I did it!"

"Of course I saw it! Great work!" exclaimed Aether, holding back his laughter at her excitement and giving her a hug. His heart didn't allow him to tell her that Clorinde made her move extremely obvious and slowed down in the last few seconds, or that she had ample time for a follow-up attack. Furina herself had probably figured out that they were sometimes making it easier for her to boost her confidence.

Navia laughed cheerfully at their side. "You guys are just so cute together!" She apparently thought it was her duty to tell Furina and Aether every time they hugged, kissed, or even held hands. Which was very often. But they didn't mind.

"Well done," repeated Clorinde, who was slowly approaching their picnic spot. They decided to keep their training in the same meadow with a small beach that Aether found on the first day, as it was spacious and away from prying eyes. "Next time, I'll be faster."

Furina ripped herself from Aether's embrace. "Even faster than that?!" she exclaimed worriedly, prompting everyone's laughter.

Furina's training had been going on for a few weeks now. Naturally, she still didn't stand a chance in a real fight with Aether, Clorinde, or Navia (who took turns training with her, depending on who had time), but her progress was still amazing. Her Salon Solitaire was now complete to her liking, just as she imagined her favorite characters. Gentilhomme Usher had a fancy top hat, Surintendante Chevalmarin had a cute bow tie, and Mademoiselle Crabaletta, her pride and joy, had a maid bonnet, just like a real maid. When she showed those needless but absolutely adorable details to Aether, his jaw dropped (again).

"How do you manage this? I once fought an actual Oceanid, and her summons were just... birds and boars, and frogs. But not only do you manage to control all three of them at the same time, you can even add these unnecessary details!"

"Hmhm," chuckled Furina. "They are my Salon Solitaire, and they deserve nothing but the best. As they are my besties!"

"Hey!" Aether seemed offended. "I thought we were your besties. Me, and Navia, and Clorinde." He frowned.

"Well, you aren't around when you are on commissions. And Navia and Clorinde both have duties to attend to. Besides... sometimes when I'm lonely, I need a different kind of companion," she said with some kind of melancholy in her voice while cuddling her Surintendante Chevalmarin. Aether never imagined he could be even slightly jealous of a Hydro summon, but there he was.

Apart from the Salon, as Clorinde had predicted on the first day that she saw the vision, Furina could indeed use both Pneuma and Ousia and change between them at will. Nobody had an explanation for that, and, according to both Clorinde and Navia, nobody had even heard of that. Which, of course, didn't mean that it was impossible or that it had never occurred before. Clorinde speculated that it was either some form of remnant from Focalors in Furina (who was not too keen on that explanation) or it was simply some kind of internal predisposition that only she had, perhaps as a result of all the time she had spent living a double life. Curiously, her Arkhe alignment had another effect as well: Furina could only use her summons offensively when she was in Ousia alignment. And they discovered she did actually have healing powers, but they only manifested themselves in Pneuma alignment. But healing did not come as naturally to Furina as directing her Salon Solitaire. When she was healing, she could not control more than one summon no matter how hard she tried, and she had to fully concentrate, leaving her unable to attack at the same time. However, Aether assured her that healing on demand is an exceptionally useful skill for adventurers, for obvious reasons, so that wouldn't really be a problem.

Lastly, a rather curious incident had occurred just a few days prior. After Aether took a tumble from one of Crabaletta's particularly strong attacks that he didn't notice, he decided to exact revenge directly on Furina. He lifted her in his arms and, completely deaf to her protests that it would ruin her beautiful morning suit, he attempted to throw her in the lake. Emphasis on attempted, because Furina somehow managed to remain stable on her legs on top of the water, while Aether, perhaps from the shock, lost balance and fell into the water himself. Furina laughed her ass off while Aether was spitting out water, completely confused. Until she lost concentration, her Salon members dissipated, and Furina fell into the lake right next to Aether. At least he paid for a new suit.

Only her sword practice needed a lot of work. Furina was convinced that she could just stay back and let the Salon Solitaire and her other team members do the fighting, but Aether, Navia, and Clorinde were all adamant that she needed to at least be able to protect herself from a direct attack. So now one-on-one sparring was the routine almost every day: one of them would try to get past her summons, while Furina had to block any incoming attack should they succeed. Blocking Clorinde's attack right now gave a huge confidence boost to Furina, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to repeat it if Clorinde was even faster.

"Mind if I borrow your boyfriend for a while?" smirked Clorinde.

Furina was fully aware that she was talking about sparring, but she couldn't help herself and gasped. "Oh, what an indecent proposal, Clorinde! Is this what transpires behind my back? My lover and my best friend! And here I wondered why you were so vicious against me in sparring. Take him, if you desire him so!" she finished theatrically. She was pretty sure she was quoting some crappy romance piece she once made the mistake of attending. Aether laughed together with Navia and went to spar with Clorinde.

"It won't be fair if you use all your elements though," Clorinde said.

"Only Electro?" suggested Aether, and she nodded.

Furina, of course, remembered how fast Clorinde was when she dueled. She didn't attend every duel, only when they were truly important (she dreaded seeing people die, even if they were guilty, so she avoided it), but she had seen enough to know what Clorinde was capable of, hence why she used her as a personal guard as well. And Navia still remembered the last time she saw Clorinde in action—when she fought about a dozen Clockwork Meka head-on. But seeing her spar with Aether one-on-one was something different. Even during duels, her opponents were usually significantly weaker than her.

Now she was going against Aether at full thrust, her training blade charged with Electro so much that the air around it sparked and made noise. Only now, having tried some fighting herself and knowing the difficulties of it, could Furina truly appreciate how fast and precise Clorinde truly was. Even someone as inexperienced as her could tell that Aether was on the defensive. He was barely in time to parry every strike and had to slowly step back to put some distance between them. Despite having known Clorinde for so long and respecting her greatly, Furina found herself rooting for Aether. She just hated the thought of him losing. He was only allowed to lose to Furina herself. "Come on, love, you can do it!"

As if he had heard her thoughts, suddenly his training blade (courtesy of Clorinde; he didn't need to use a stick anymore) started glowing purple, and three talismans shot at Clorinde. With her reflexes fast enough to deflect bullets, she managed to block all three of them, but that gave Aether enough time to recuperate. He suddenly seemed energized. His blade was not infused with Electro like Clorinde's, but now, with every one of his hits, lightning bolts appeared out of thin air and lashed out at her. Now it was Clorinde who was on the defensive, finding it difficult to block his attacks and dodge the lightning strikes at the same time. This continued back and forth for several minutes until they were both completely exhausted.

At first, their display of power discouraged Furina. "Could I ever be strong enough to fight like that?" She felt completely out of her field. She had always been an artist at heart and always preferred peaceful solutions to problems, even when she had wielded considerable military power as an Archon in the face of the Meka. Now her lack of power in comparison to her friends was eating away at her.

But as she watched Aether approaching with Clorinde after declaring the sparring session a tie and ending it, she told herself, "Of course I can do it. I have to." Like when she was on stage, she just had to concentrate on what was important. He promised her they would go on an adventure together. He promised her. And she wanted to go so, so badly. Even without Aether, she wanted to be able to do what she desired; she wanted to see the world; she wanted to be free. But the thought of going on a grand adventure with him filled her with confidence. She knew she was going to be strong. For herself and for him.

And she still hadn't given up going with him to Natlan. He might have. But she hadn't. She had never given up in the past, even at her lowest, and she wasn't about to start now.