If you had been dealing with a mystical creature, tracking down her place of origin would potentially be important enough to merit further investigation, but as it stands, you can't really see how it would be worth the time or effort, however minor they might be.
You make a mental note to avoid this particular river on future visits to Bali Ha'i, and to keep a closer eye on the water in general, and then leave the croc to her rock and her sun.
While you have a bunch of plans in the works, most of them are waiting on raw materials and, consequently, on the funding to pay for such. As a result of this, the last couple of weeks of your summer are… almost mundane.
Of course, the gradual turning of the season and the return of so many vacationers from their summer breaks means that Sunnydale's night life starts picking up a lot more as well – or so you have been informed by Lu-sensei, when you inquired after the matter. In response to that, you start sending Shadow Alex and Shadow Briar out on nightly walks more often, which will get you a clearer idea of how conditions compare to your foray with Robin for future planning, hopefully increase your earnings of petty cash and Corpse-Demon Dust, and (no less importantly) just make unlife difficult for whatever parasites the pair encounter.
On that note, how often would you like the Dark Selves to patrol? More frequent outings will obviously have the greatest impact, and thus the greatest potential reward – such as it is; you aren't expecting to earn a lot this way – but they also run the greatest risk of drawing significant attention from the locals. As far as anybody except a few dust-devils is currently concerned, the Independence Day Killer was a one-off anomaly, and possibly an out-of-towner besides, but if you set the Shadows to serious pest control, the dent they're likely to put in the blood-rat population will make it pretty obvious that the Killer must be a local – or maybe an Oxnardian. Either way, there would undoubtedly be attempts to identify the Killer, followed by reprisals, ambushes, and other annoyances that you'd have to take steps to deal with.
Your schedule doesn't really allow for much wiggle room. If things start getting busy in Sunnydale, you might have to delay or cancel various projects to make sure your family and friends are okay.
The other issue with putting the Shadows to work that way is that time and magic spent hunting the walking dead are time and magic not spent doing other things. And while Shadow Alex can't help you with item-crafting, there's quite a bit else he's good for.
Conversely, if you kept the Shadows on a relatively short leash, you could delay that sort of outcome for a time; avoiding pushback forever is pretty much impossible, if only because sooner or later somebody will notice the dip in cheap undead muscle-for-hire and care enough to look into the cause(s), but given you should have a permanent demiplane with workshop up and running by next summer at the very latest, keeping the boat from rocking for a few months' time might be all you really need.
The real drawback there is that more corpse-demons will still be walking around in the interim, meaning people are going to get killed. And while that is in no way your fault, it does prick at your sense of responsibility.
So, what do you want to do about this?
It is perhaps generous to call your occasional after-dark forays upon the streets of Sunnydale "patrols," much less to imply that they happen each month, but when you add things up and take the Independence Day Incident and your recent investigation of the Ironworks into account, that is pretty much how the math works out. Allowing that particular status quo to stand costs you nothing, while still providing a trickle of resources.
This isn't to say that it doesn't bother you that you're allowing the corpse-demons and other nocturnal predators to continue to roam unchallenged – because it does – but the fact of the matter is that you aren't prepared to go on a one-boy-and-one-fairy crusade against the local Forces of Darkness. This isn't like the Silbern Raid, which largely amounted to a smash-and-grab and had the distinct advantages of a pre-existing military organization that was willing to work with you, as well as everybody important to you being at least one entire plane of existence removed from the danger – aside from the wizard, at least, who is more than old enough to have known what he was getting himself into and make his own choice about whether or not to take his chances.
Besides, you aren't going to bet against Ambrose having had an emergency escape option or three up his sleeve that he just didn't mention to anybody.
As you were saying, as military or paramilitary actions go, securing the Hellmouth would be an entirely different beast from invading the stronghold of the Wandenreich. You've got no standing forces to back you up, no safehouses for them – or yourself – to shelter in, no supply chain to equip and maintain said troops or bases for the long haul, and (at the moment) no money to support the effort. On top of that, you're right in the middle of hostile territory, along with a number of Very Important People who have little if any means of defending themselves if things take a turn for the nasty, and no way out of danger that doesn't depend almost entirely on you being there to get them out of harm's way. And then there's tens of thousands of civilians and millions of dollars' worth of civil infrastructure to think about.
The long and short of it is that if you want to genuinely change things in this town for the better and then make those changes stick, you can't try to do it all yourself. Any enterprise founded on the premise of you, your Shadow, or your eventual Simulacrum being there to throw magic at problems until they go away is only going to last as long as your reserves hold out, and while you have a lot of personal power to call upon – especially now that you're getting a better handle on divine magic – your reserves are ultimately still finite. The moment you ran out of energy and couldn't down another restorative, things would start falling apart, to say nothing of what would happen if you got hurt.
The history of Hyrule is proof enough of these facts. More than once, Ganondorf has had functionally unlimited personal power and control over the entire kingdom, and yet time and time again, his only legacy has been one of vanquished Evil and prophesied return. A reign built solely on one man's power simply cannot endure without that man; it takes the power of others, of many others, to make such a thing happen.
To put it another way, you can't truly solve the problems of the Hellmouth by acting like a sorcerer or warrior, blowing in and subduing all opposition through sheer personal prowess and style. No, what you need to do is come at the matter like a wizard or a warlord, by gathering information, resources, and allies, planning ahead, and only moving when you are ready – and then blowing in and subduing all opposition through overwhelming force, coordinated action, and sheer personal prowess and style.
So, less Dinnite, more Nayrian.
Sounds about right.
Sounds like blasphemy, you mean...
There, there.
Speaking of personal prowess, there was one other experiment you wanted to attempt. It took some time to talk Briar around into letting you use the Spell of Blood Money to try and cast a Limited Wish, and you really only succeeded by making the point that it was better to experience what that felt like under controlled conditions, before you ran into a dangerous situation where you actually needed to make a Wish, didn't have the requisite diamonds available, and had to make the attempt unprepared.
Using a Limited Wish to emulate the Spell to Move Earth is a bit peculiar, but it's what came to mind. As for where you cast it, you had considered finding a spot in the desert, but…
You've probably disturbed the harmony of Bali Ha'i enough with your recent magical tests without going and digging a big hole in the island. Particularly when you don't really have a follow-up plan to do anything with the hole. Maybe if you were going to build a permanent house or hotel or something else beyond your Stone Cellar, you might feel differently about, but just rearranging a bit of the landscape solely because you can? Yeah, kind of rude.
On a similar note, you just Hallowed a portion of the Drake estate. It might be best to wait out the year you asked for and then deconsecrate the site before you go asking Altria's family to loan you the use of another patch of their grounds, or at least to wait for them to invite you to so some other magic on and to their property.
Of the other people you know, you can rule out asking everybody in Sunnydale and Karakura out of hand. Even if you weren't concerned about drawing attention from supernatural watchers in either town, most of them don't have the space to even try to hide an earth-moving project on their property. Cordy's the only one of your fellow 'Dalers whose home has the space for something like that, and her folks would notice and probably not take it well unless you broke out the Enchantment Magic, which you'd prefer to avoid given half a choice.
As for Karakura, Urahara's secret training ground is the only spot "open" enough for the sort of digging you have in mind, and you're pretty sure he dug into the bedrock to build that place, which makes it pointless. You also can't quite get the image of Urahara Shop falling into a sinkhole out of your mind…
You've yet to visit Emiko's residence, so even if the Hayashis have the space, showing up and asking to dig a hole in their yard would not be appropriate.
You still don't know where Kasumi and Ayane even live, beyond "Japan," and while both the Hakuba and Higurashi Shrines have a certain amount of space out of sight from passersby, they also get a fair amount of traffic – at least some of which, you have seen in the past, includes law enforcement. Granted, that was in the lead-up to Dracula's resurrection and probably had the Shuzens involved behind the scenes, but even so, it's best not to leave your acquaintances facing questions they might have difficulty answering.
So really, that just leaves a couple of choices, and between the Shuzens and the Southern Water Tribe, you're honestly leaning more towards the latter.
Partly, it's because the Water Tribe might genuinely be able to use a little magical landscaping, but mostly, you're remembering that look that Kahlua gave you that one time you got hurt bad enough to draw blood, down in that cave on the Shuzen property.
You can probably trust her not to succumb to temptation in the presence of your magically-charged blood, and her parents likewise. Her sisters, on the other hand, you're less certain of, and then there is the question of what the spirit of Castle Shuzen would make of you intentionally wounding yourself to cast a spell. Briar isn't particularly happy with the notion, and she has a rather less childish mindset than the young place-spirit.
You do check with Miss Akasha about this on a visit, and she generally concurs with your thoughts on the matter, noting that aside from Akua, all of the girls are young enough to have some issues resisting the temptation of freshly spilled human blood. Even the eldest girl's discipline is somewhat compromised by her magical training and awareness, which would make your blood even more appealing to her.
So, Antarctica it is. You just need to arrange a time and a spot…
"Hey, Sokka?" you call through a Spell of Scrying.
"VOICE FROM NOWHERE!"
…you'll just… give him a minute.
Some days later, you're bundled up and walking through the snow along the edges of the Southern Water Tribe settlement.
"I'm just saying, voices from nowhere aren't something normal people have to deal with that often," Sokka complains as he trudges along beside you. "And it's almost never a good sign when we do. Either you're going loopier than Katara's hairstyle-"
Katara, walking along beside you and hardly stumbling at all now, nonetheless pauses to give her older brother a flat look.
"-or a spirit's decided to play tricks on you," Sokka continues, apparently not noticing the sibling disapproval, "or some horrible thing out of the old hunting stories is after you and trying to eat your brain."
"Well, you should be perfectly safe from those," his sister notes.
"Excuse you, my brain is one of my best features!"
"Then why didn't you use it to figure out that the voice was just Alex calling you again?"
"I'd like to see you do any better," Sokka shoots back, not actually answering the question.
"Well, maybe I will!"
Issues of voices with no apparent source aside, your guess about the Water Tribe's opinion of a Spell to Move Earth turned out to be accurate. It's currently late winter here at the bottom of the world, and while it's "only" minus sixteen Celsius here in the settlement, that's because you're along the coast; most places inland would easily be ten to twenty degrees colder, to say nothing of the wind chill. Regardless, this is plenty cold enough to make soil too hard to dig through by mundane means – assuming you can even clear away the snow and ice – even for a community of monsters. As such, your offer to clear out a space is quite valuable to them, even if they'll have to do the actual work of building anything themselves.
Of course, it's not all sunshine and daisies. There's quite a lot of stone here, which your Spell to Move Earth can't affect, and of course, there's all the ice and snow. The former you can deal with via a combination of the Spell of Stone Shaping and the Spell to Transmute Rock to Mud, though you'll have to be mindful of the caves and the hot springs. You don't have quite so convenient a means of dealing with all the frozen water, but you can improvise something.
You can alternate. That's fair, right?
"You don't have to change-" Sokka begins, in response to your statement.
"I can do it, really-" Katara says at the same time.
The two of them pause and glare at each other.
"Stop interrupting me, Katara!"
"No, YOU stop interrupting ME!"
"Yes," you say aloud, to no-one in particular – unless it's Briar, currently hiding under your tuque even while protected by Spell to Endure the Elements. "Perfectly fair."
To either side, the Water Tribe siblings continue to argue.
You'd considered how you might clear the ice. The Spell to Control Water alone wouldn't do it, as it's meant to work on liquid water rather than the other states, but if you combined elements from that spell with the Spell to Move Earth, it might be possible to get something workable.
Then you come into view of the dig site and are reminded that you're in a settlement inhabited by Waterbenders, several of whom have graciously taken a few minutes out of their day to come clear the spot where you're going to do some magical excavation. Four of them are working on that just now, swirling snow and chunks of ice up, around, and away from the largely bare earth below, and forming it into a series of blocks that they quickly freeze solid, building up a modestly large pile of ice to one side of the exposed patch of frozen dirt.
Watching them work reminds you that, while an individual Bending Art might not have the raw power of a School of Elemental Magic, it certainly doesn't suffer in the field of versatility, and is considerably smoother besides.
And then again, who knows? You haven't had the opportunity to observe any legendary Waterbending Masters at work yet; it could be that some of them might be able to match the greater feats of Water Elementalists.
While the Waterbenders are working, several other members of the Tribe, including Hakoda and Elder Tiriaq, are talking to each other over a map that two of them are holding steady against the slight wind, obviously comparing whatever's shown on it to several markers that have been laid out at various points on the field. Four of them mark the corners of the area, making their meaning perfectly obvious, and quite a few more indicate the individual areas that the Water Tribe would like to have dug out to create separate foundations for various buildings – storage sheds, homes, and a new workshop – but there are several others whose purpose eludes you, at least until you greet the older men and get involved in their discussion. Then the other markers turn out to signify locations where various geological features are known to exist, based on past surveys. There's no volcanic activity to worry about in this spot – that's one reason why it was picked for you to dig out – but there are a couple of rock formations with accompanying faults, and possibly an isolated cave.
You can only "dig" about ten feet deep with the Spell to Move Earth, at least in a single casting, and the Spell to Transmute Rock to Mud doesn't extend down further than that either, so you're not too concerned about the cave. The charts do help you figure out where to cast your Transformation Spell, though, and once the newly-made mud has settled, the Waterbenders quickly dry it out, making it a more suitable target for your big spell – or at least a less messy one.
On that note, it finally comes time to attempt your spell. Briar gets out from under your hat, and you take off your gloves – not REALLY needing them, thanks to Endure Elements, but they're comfortable and put people's minds more at ease than seeing you walk around bare-handed in the cold – and get out a small knife.
Neither Hakoda nor Tiriaq seemed impressed by the Spell of Blood Money's requirement for you to cut your hand. The shaman called it a "needless, stupidly dramatic gesture," whereas the chieftain just said that he'd accidentally cut his hand once when he was a younger man, and it made the next week or so of his life rather frustrating, as even with the wound cleansed and closed by the shaman, it still stung every time he went to pick something up.
The main reason Briar agreed to let you cut yourself for the sake of magical science was your argument that it was better for you to find out what using the Spell of Blood Money to a higher degree feels like under safe conditions, than to attempting it for the first time in response to a hazardous situation.
With that in mind, you probably should forego the Spell to Delay Pain, on the grounds that you can't be sure you would have it active or have time to cast it in that theoretical future incident.
Shooing your partner out of her warm hiding place, you gather your magic and your resolve, utter the words of the spell, and raise the knife-
Ow.
-once again surprising yourself with how casually you're able to go against natural instincts and inflict a degree of self-harm, however minor. And this time you don't even have the excuse of a pain-numbing spell to explain it.
On the… okay, not positive, but less-creepy side of things? The fact that it actually hurts this time, however minorly, strikes you as entirely normal, and weirdly reassuring for it.
Then the weakness hits. It's not the pain of a serious injury, or really of any injury at all, despite the freely bleeding cut on your hand, and neither is it the creeping, all-encompassing hollowness of energy drain that you've experienced through the Spell of Sharesister. Instead, everything from the coat on your back to the knife in your hand to the head on your shoulders simply feels heavier – nowhere near the extent that you suddenly drop the knife or collapse into a heap under the weight of your winter gear, but the difference is still far more apparent this time around than it was when you tested this spell once before, more than a year ago.
Is it just your imagination, or does it actually feel a little harder to breathe…?
Gained Breath Control E (Plus)
The magic doesn't slow down while you're considering and compensating for its effects; as happened the last time, the blood running along the blade in your hand gathers together, takes on a distinct shape, and then solidifies into a diamond. Where the previous gem was about the size of your thumbnail and a fairly typical clear and colorless specimen of its kind, rough and uncut, this one is considerably smaller, not even the size of your littlest fingernail. Even more surprisingly, instead of "white" or faintly yellow like other diamonds you've seen, it's a shade of translucent red just off from the congealed crimson that it was formed from.
"Huh," you muse. "Blood money, indeed."
"Do you really have time for puns?" Briar mutters.
Not really, no, and you quickly focus your power and make your second-ever Wish.
"I Wish-!"
"-for a Hole!"
Once again, deep yellow light flares about you and the materials involved in your Wish-making. The particular shade of the diamond balanced in your non-knife-wielding hand lends an appropriately Dinnite hue to the golden gleam radiating from the triangle under your feet, while the snow piled about and drifting through the air catches the light and reflects it every which way.
"Is the Sun coming out?" Sokka wonders as, in your peripheral vision, you see him raise one hand to shield his eyes.
"Not from the ground, Sokka," Katara replies from beyond her brother.
"Are you sure? Because this IS Alex we're talking about…"
"…pretty sure, anyway."
The red gem in your palm dematerializes into flecks of Power, which fly out towards the ground before you, their number increasing rapidly until they are scattered across the entire cleared area, with no more than a couple of inches between any one shimmering speck and its neighbor. Then the glittering ground shifts, frozen earth breaking up and moving as quickly and easily as does the newly-made and hastily-dried mud, if not quite so swiftly or smoothly as the ice and snow did when the Waterbenders were clearing the area. There is a peculiar slithering sound-
"Do you hear drums?" Katara wonders.
"You're hearing things, sis."
-as a dozen small rectangular depressions form all at once and begin growing deeper and wider, until most of them cover the same area as the residences you've seen hereabouts; a few more are about half that size, or slightly larger, while one has a footprint as big as two of the intended residential basements put together.
Down and down your magic digs, dirt not billowing out in streams to pile up alongside the growing holes, but instead acting almost like some kind of massive scale, one side going ever higher as the other sinks lower. For the sheer amount of earth that's moving about, the process is remarkably gentle; you do feel a slight unsteadiness as the ground is readjusted, but it's less the rumble of a passing truck or a mild earthquake such as you've experienced a couple of times in Japan, and more akin to what you feel when an elevator first begins to move or a Spell of Flight sends you skyward.
Motion under your control, rather than imposed upon you against your will, as it were.
Whether because of how much work you're trying to do or because of your unfamiliarity with Wishcraft, the magic doesn't resolve quite as quickly as it potentially could have; a full minute goes by before the last of that raspy hiss dies down and the faint shaking of the earth stops.
…
"…is that it?" Sokka asks, somewhere between cautious and hopeful.
"That's it for my part," you clarify, before turning to Hakoda and Tiriaq and nodding.
They returning the gesture, and then chief and shaman begin speaking to the Waterbenders, who quickly go to work breaking down the ice-blocks they created a minute earlier and moving the material into the newly-dug pits, lining the sides with walls of ice a solid foot thick. These, you're given to understand, aren't intended to be permanent features, just to keep the edges of the holes from crumbling and collapsing due to the weather.
Considering how many holes there are and how deep they are, the Waterbenders quickly use up the supply of ice they made before, but there's no shortage of raw material for them to work with, and they start pulling more snow in from the surrounding area and even from the air around them. You don't see anybody reaching up to the clouds, but whether that's because it's too far for any of these Waterbenders to reach, too far to be practical, or just not a good idea to mess with, you can't say.
Then your hand starts stinging and draws your attention away from what everybody else is doing. A minor Spell of Healing closes the wound, but unsurprisingly, does nothing about that feeling of physical weakness.
While it might only take a few days for this feeling of weakness to go away on its own, you would honestly rather not try making your way back to Sunnydale in such a condition. The prospect of running back to town like this just doesn't appeal.
As such, after Briar has looked you over, you go ahead and cast a Spell of Healing. You aren't particularly worried about it failing to restore your mystically impacted strength, as that portion of the spell's formula is largely identical to the same aspect of the Spell of Restoration, which you've used successfully in the past. Not specifically to replenish someone's physical prowess, admittedly, let alone your own, but the differences are pretty minor.
Sure enough, when the rush of revitalizing energy has faded and Briar inspects your condition for a second time, she pronounces you healed.
"Let me get this straight," Sokka says. "You cast one spell that requires you to hurt yourself to get something."
"Yes," you reply.
"It's basically a sacrifice of blood and strength for whatever you need to cast some other spell."
"For any one thing that I need to cast some other spell, but yes," you clarify.
"Doesn't work for multiple items?"
You raise one hand and waggle it uncertainly. "May not work at all, may just not be safe."
You went over the matrix of the Spell of Blood Money with Briar, way back when, with an eye towards investigating the possibility of conjuring multiple reagents. The results were somewhat inconclusive, but with your greater understanding of Metamagic, you can see that it should be possible to apply Marked Spell Metamagic to yield multiple reagents with a single casting. The problem is that you're pretty sure you'd have to pay for each item separately, and that would quickly get into dangerous levels of self-sacrifice for any spell that required multiple material components of significant value.
Considering that you can supplement your use of at least moderately costly spell components with pure mana and conjured replacements, it makes more sense to use those approaches, and save Blood Money for single, high-value materials like these diamonds.
"Okay," Sokka continues. "But then after making this apparent sacrifice, you cast another spell that just… heals all the damage?"
"…yes?"
He squints at you. "…I'm not going to lie, man, this feels like some kind of cheating."
"I'm still paying the price of all the time it took to learn the other spell, and how it interacts with the body," you assure him. "Not to mention the energy that it takes or the fact that it's powerful enough to draw attention whenever I cast it."
"Indeed," Shaman Tiriaq notes dryly from nearby.
You wordlessly gesture at the older man while looking at Sokka, as if to say, 'see?'
Although Sokka nods at that, he doesn't look entirely convinced, only thoughtful.
By this point, the Waterbenders have put support columns into one of the pits and covered it over with a thick plane of ice, to keep people from falling in until they're ready to work on it. No sooner is that done than a couple of them step out on the platform, stomp on it a few times, and then nod in satisfaction when it fails to break, crack, or groan under their weight.
…it occurs to you that the basement intended for the workshop is just about big enough to serve as a small ice-rink, once it's covered over.
"Hey, Sokka?"
"Yes?"
You nod towards the biggest hole. "Does that look big enough to make a small skating rink to you? Once they have it iced-over, I mean."
"…why yes, yes it does. You thinking a free skate, or hockey?"
You didn't exactly come prepared for hockey, so…
Simple skating would be the least hassle to prepare for – you can just apply some Ice Magic to the bottom of your boots and start sliding about, with no fuss or delays. That aside, the prospective "rink" isn't really big enough for a game of hockey anyway, not unless you limit things to two-on-two or maybe three-on-three, and enough kids and teenagers showed up to watch your little display of magical hole-digging that if two or three of you take to the ice, another dozen are probably going to follow.
Sokka nods in agreement.
Little more needs to be said there.
While you're waiting for the "rink" to be finished, you spend some time talking with Tiriaq and Hakoda. Back during the Great Island Boar Hunt, you saw Hakoda flare his spiritual aura to fend off the disorienting aura of the outraged Great Island Boar, Hinana, something which was undoubtedly helped along by the chieftain's possession of a then-recently-won Heart of Spirit. You're curious if he's found other uses for his prize since then, or if Tiriaq has noticed anything which Hakoda himself missed.
Hakoda doesn't exactly go out of his way to find spirits to talk to or otherwise interact with, and while there are various small ceremonies that ostensibly involve seeking the favor of one or more spirits or offering thanks to them, he hasn't experienced any particular difference in those or their outcomes. That said, there have been a couple of more significant events where Hakoda noticed… well.
Apparently, the Southern Water Tribe holds a big communal party in the middle of winter, partly to celebrate the passing of the old year – by the local traditional calendar – and partly to help keep people's spirits up in the coldest and darkest time of year. And while this snowbound festival isn't precisely open to all comers – because there are evidently some scary things that roam in the dark months – an invitation to the friendlier spirits and those that are allied to the Water Tribe is supposed to be implicit.
Hakoda's been attending this festival for his entire life, and while he does note that he's felt the presence of the spirit-guests a few times – mostly since he took over as chief and became responsible for "hosting" the event – he'd never actually seen one of them before.
"Or at least, not without having had a bit more to drink than was probably good for me," he adds with a rueful grin.
Tiriaq snorts. "Yes, we all remember the Chief of No Pants."
"…I don't even want to know."
"It really wasn't that bad," Hakoda starts to say, sounding like he's about to explain.
"SO!" you interrupt. "What you were getting at is that, before getting the Heart of Spirit, you didn't see any spirits at these celebrations, but afterwards, you did?"
"Well, yes, although calling it 'seeing' is probably generous," the chieftain admits. "More like… blurry presences in the air, shadows moving on their own, or food being eaten by an invisible person."
"Nothing worse than that, though?"
"No. I tried not to stare or even let on that I was noticing anything unusual, and then spoke with Tiriaq the next day."
And for the shaman's take on this?
"If he'd had this much spiritual potential as a child, and wasn't the chief's son, it might have been worth training him to bring it out," the shaman says. "Not as my own successor, no, but to oversee one of the outlying lodges, a ship, or one of the lesser sacred sites on our land? He'd definitely have been capable of that by now. But as someone whose most likely future lay in following his father's footsteps and becoming a hunter, a warrior, and a future leader, not to mention a father himself?" Tiriaq shakes his head. "Too much effort, for too little reward."
"And now?" you ask.
"And now he's a grown man who actually has all of those responsibilities," Tiriaq replies. "He does well enough balancing them not to neglect any one, but he does have to balance them. Adding serious spiritual training on top of that would just throw everything off and hurt Hakoda, his family, and the rest of the Tribe by extension. Best to leave it alone until he's had enough of being in charge to hand it off to Sokka or whoever else thinks they want the job. He wouldn't be the first chief to move on to becoming a shaman, though it has been a while..."
"Talk to me again in twenty years, and I might even consider it," Hakoda says easily.
The Waterbenders work pretty quickly, and once you see them stomping on the ice that now covers the empty foundations of the future workshop, you excuse yourself from your conversation with Hakoda and Tiriaq and head over to join Sokka, Katara, and the other kids that have started gathering.
"Is it good?" Sokka calls to the Waterbenders.
"It's good," one of them calls back.
"Last one on the ice is a walrus-yak!" Sokka declares, to general cheering and a small stampede.
You aren't sure what a walrus-yak is – though the name seems like a pretty straightforward description – but you make a point not to be the last one onto the ice all the same.
Now, if Sokka had mentioned a boar of some sort…
Anyway, you take a few steps on the ice and try sliding a bit like most of the Water Tribe kids are now doing-
"Ooof!"
-when they aren't falling over, anyway-
"Heave!"
"Ho!"
"Whooooaaaaa-!"
-or… sliding around on their stomachs after being pitched forward by two of their buddies… but your boots prove to have enough of a grip on the surface to make an attempt to skate like this awkward. Your balance and reflexes are sufficient to prevent a tumble-
"Watch out!"
-or a collision, you muse, taking a casual step back-
"Thanks- wha-!?"
-as one of the kids zips past you, miscalculates his approach to the edge of the ice-patch, and falls over the edge into the fresh pile of snow that the Waterbenders thoughtfully laid out on the previously-cleared earth, no doubt for exactly this sort of occasion.
Beyond avoiding issues like that, though, your physical abilities can do little to make this whole experience more fun.
Time for the Ice Magic, then.
*Zap-sheen*
"Oooh…"
"Hey, he did something magic to his boots!"
"Is it going to help him skate better?"
"Or maybe just fall better!"
For most other sporting activities, you would dismiss such doubts, but the guy isn't entirely wrong to be doubtful of your ability to stay upright once you get some sliding speed going. You rarely see natural ice in Sunnydale, and certainly never enough of it to go skating; as for unnatural ice, there is a rink in town, but you've never visited it. As for your previous visits to the Southern Water Tribe, those were in the local summer, and while there was snow on the ground at the time, ice was another matter, let alone ice thick enough to be safe for people to walk around on. And for a rarity, there's nothing at all in your memories of Ganondorf that seems like it would be helpful.
Oh, you can vaguely recall seeing some frozen dungeons, or Zora's Domain and most of its inhabitants trapped under ice, but the view is remote, suggesting that the Demon King was looking in on the locations in question through some Spell of Scrying rather than visiting in person.
Did Ganondorf not like the cold? Usually, when one thinks of deserts, it's heat that comes to mind, but you know that it can get fairly chilly in a desert at night, too…
Ah, well. There's a first time for everything, right?
Adjusting your footing, you push off.
Gained Skating F
You tool about on the rink for a time-
"Whoa-!"
"Oh, he almost fell!"
…
"Hm-!"
"And again!"
…
"Ha-!"
"I thought for sure that time!"
Gained Skating F (Plus)
-not achieving too much in the way of speed or artistic displays, but managing to keep your butt off the ice, which is an outcome you're perfectly comfortable within.
"Let's see how he handles being tackled!"
"Guys, no," Katara starts to say.
"Get him!" Sokka cries.
"Sokka!"
But then some of the kids get bored with waiting to see if you'll fall over on your own, and try to lend a hand, with Sokka cheerfully joining in.
You defend yourself, of course using only physical skills.
The first couple of kids that close with you are small enough and clumsy enough – not just because of the ice, but also from a general lack of skill at (playful) grappling – that you're able to deflect their charge and send them skidding, mock-screaming, and laughing off to either side without losing your balance or getting pushed too far back.
But you DO get pushed back by the brief impacts, and seeing that Sokka and two more guys not far behind him in size are leading the "second wave" of the oncoming mob, you conclude that trying to maintain a static defense is not in your best interests.
And so you turn and skate away as quickly as you can manage.
"Don't let him get away!" somebody cheers.
"Don't let him get off the ice!" Sokka corrects, with a hint of concern.
He HAS wrestled with you in the past, after all, and consequently knows better than any of the other kids what you can do with steady footing.
On almost any other surface, you'd give yourself good odds of keeping pace with the majority of this bunch without having to dip into your ki, but on the ice, against members of the Water Tribe, it's a completely different story. Where you typically only see snow on the ground a few days of the year, these kids have grown up dealing with frozen conditions, and most of them aren't bothering to hide their non-human heritage either, meaning they're able to put more strength into the chase. Plus one or two of them may be Waterbenders themselves, if ones who lack Katara's potential and training.
You still manage to deflect the first one that gets close enough to try and jump you-
"Whoa!"
-which was somewhat literal on his part, but while that guy's flying into the snowbank, another one practically collides with you, spinning you about. It isn't enough to knock you off your feet, but you're still struggling to correct your stance when Sokka reaches you.
*Crash*
And at that point, you do go down-
"What the-!?"
-although in his enthusiasm, Sokka isn't quite able to stop you from dragging him down alongside you.
The two of you slide the rest of the way to the edge of the rink, and spend a second or two wrestling half-in the snowbank before the other kids catch up and try to pile on. Letting go of Sokka, you drag yourself into a half-roll that carries you the rest of the way off of the ice and helps you get your feet under you once more, this time on ground that won't slide out from under you.
Your gloved hands also pick up a layer of snow in the process, so when you move to grab the next person who comes at you, the guy next to them gets hit in the way with a loose spray of flying snow, which stops him in his tracks out of sheer surprise.
"Snowball fight!" comes the enthusiastic declaration from another party.
-but as a consequence of the aggressive enthusiasm that sees some participants spinning off the edges of the rink and into the emergency snowbanks, the impromptu skating party soon turns into a snowball fight.
"Katara!" you call out.
Sokka's eyes go wide with alarm.
"Partners?" you offer.
"Oh, no," Sokka whispers.
Your answer is a gleeful cackle and the sound of snow slamming itself together into ammunition – kind of a fluffy, poofing noise.
"RUN!" Sokka shouts to his cohort.
Alas for them, it is too late. Katara's first round only consists of four snowballs, but the other side's complete lack of preparation means they can do little but duck, dodge, and dive for cover.
This buys you time enough to back away from the crowd a bit while beginning a Merciful Spell to Create a Flurry of Snowballs.
"STOP HIM BEFORE HE FINISHES CHANTING!" Sokka warns, while being too far away to do so himself.
To their credit, the kids nearest you recognize the older boy's lead and have the guts to try and jump you again, but Katara catches one of them from behind with an "attack" that's more a spray of snow than an actual ball, you foot-sweep the second without breaking focus on your spell, and the third sees the fates of his companions and hesitates just long enough for you to finish.
And then, there are snowballs. Even when deliberately fired at minimal power, your spell still fills a cone-shaped area some thirty feet long and over forty wide at its greatest extent with packed powdery projectiles, with devastating effect on the force of Water Tribe kids.
"Return snow!" somebody other than Sokka cries, as the other Waterbenders in the group desperately try to rally.
They get off their first shots – four snowballs in total, from three different throwers – before Katara nails two of them with her next volley.
"Aaaagh!"
"So unfair!"
"I'm hit, I'm hit!"
"Mercy!"
"No mercy!"
"Bwahahahaha!"
You throw back your head and laugh a rich, hearty, menacing laugh at that last one, for once channeling just a hint of your Inner Villain. You figure it's safe enough to do so under the circumstances, since if Ganondorf hated the cold and avoided wintry locales as much as you remember, then the odds of you accidentally re-enacting some childhood snow-brawl of his must be somewhere between diddly and squat.
"Mercy? You ask for mercy, when the wind blows cold-"
"Actually, this is on the warm side…"
"-and the snow is wet and clingy-" you continue, undeterred.
"Oh, the stories I could tell…"
"-and the ice is hard and treacherous?"
"Whuh-!" somebody helpfully adds, as they go *splat* on the rink.
"Alright, there?" you ask, pausing in mid-monologue along with everyone else when you realize that the kid seems to have gone down face-first.
A mittened hand rises, thumb pointing up.
"As long as you're sure… where was I?"
"'Hard and treacherous,'" Briar supplies from your shoulder, pausing in mid-chant to do so.
"Thank you."
She makes a sound of acknowledgement as she goes back to spellcasting.
"-and the ice is hard and treacherous?" you repeat the earlier line, and then pause, giving the kid who originally begged for clemency a leading stare.
"…yes?" he asks, going for extra effect by widening his eyes as much as possible and clasping his hands together before him in an entreating pose. Given that the kid looks like he might be part otter, this is actually pretty effective, and you suspect he's leveraged the cuteness to get himself out of trouble more than once before.
"Oh, my small fuzzy friend," you say, shaking your head with a sigh. "Have you not realized? THERE IS SNOW MERCY!"
And right on cue, Briar finishes the Spell to Create Water that you telepathically suggested to her earlier. Given the environment, this supernaturally comes out as a Spell to Create Frozen Water, which very briefly buries about half the kids in a light blanket of… you're going to be generous and call it snow, even though it's probably closer to slush.
And then, while everybody involved is screaming – half in delight, half in protest – Katara mimics the move with a rather larger and more genuinely fluffy mass of frozen water.
And there are no survivors.
Outside of visiting Gen's – which is attended to by Shadow Alex as often as it is by you yourself – your foray to the Southern Water Tribe is your last significant overseas trip of the summer. A good part of the reason for this is that, as September nears, most of the people that you know are getting ready for school.
"Looking forward to daycare, Zelda?" you inquire one afternoon, while picking out school supplies.
"I 'unno," your sister replies with a shrug. "Mom says it'll be fine, 'cause all my friends will be there, but Mom also said I can't take Moblin with me, an' Briar goes to school with you."
Well, yes. As much as you love your little sister, you cannot deceive yourself that she isn't nearly as magical as you are. Powering a spell to ward off attention for having a dog following her to class is simply not in the cards for her, not without several years of magical training that she really just isn't focused enough to manage right now, and it'll be at least as long before she's capable of sustaining a familiar bond with a fairy partner. Maybe training with Lu-sensei will help with her concentration, and then again, maybe it won't; you'll just have to wait and see.
For the nonce, you would prefer not to cast spells on Zelda before she goes and spends most of a day apart from you. There are some exceptions, of course – the Spell of Nondetection comes to mind – but in general, there's too much possibility of someone or something noticing active magical effects on Zelda for you to feel comfortable with the idea.
You also can't really do anything about Zelda's lack of suitability to have a fairy companion, but you could certainly ask Briar if she'd be fine with keeping an eye on your sister some days, or part of some days, instead of going to school with you. Because really, you're a ki adept with ready access to a magic sword, on top of being a sorcerer with access to magic of the eighth circle or better in every major school – you think you can take care of yourself for a few hours without having somebody hovering over your shoulder. Plus, you would feel more assured about your kid sister being out of sight of you or your parents with Briar there to keep an eye on her.
Not that you're terribly worried about something bad happening at the playschool – it's the same one you went to, and they've been operating longer than you've been alive, without any incidents like the ones that evidently plague Sunnydale High – but you're also not unworried.
It's Zelda, after all.
A part of you would be perfectly happy to have Briar looking in on Zelda on a daily basis, or even just going to school with her to make sure nothing goes wrong, but most of the rest of you acknowledges that this would be a bit much. A fairly BIG bit, at that, given that nothing bad has ever actually happened to your sister, even here in Sunnydale.
Granted, when Zelda gets to kindergarten – and assuming you're still living in Sunnydale at that point, which isn't a given – you're going to check her schedule on a regular basis to make sure you know when that demon from the school board is due to turn up again, because you very much do not want anybody getting their hands on accurate readings of your sister's aura.
Forget sending Briar to school with Zelda that day, YOU may just tag along in some form to make sure everything stays under the radar…
That having been said, Zelda is clearly a little bummed about the prospect of leaving the whole family behind for most of the day. The daycare is just a couple of blocks down the street from Sunnydale Elementary – close enough to be convenient for busy parents, but not so close as to feel crowded, or to make issues like pre-K kids getting picked on by schoolyard bullies much of a worry – which is a trip Briar could make in a couple of minutes at any size. So perhaps just a few visits, early on, to ease Zelda into things…?
You telepathically float the idea to your partner through the familiar bond, who hums in consideration.
"Maybe," Briar replies aloud. "Can I count on you not to mind-control the school again in my absence?"
"I never used mind control on them," you reply with mock offense. "It was influence at worst."
"I mean, between your magic and the effects of this town, how sure about that are you?"
"At least seventy percent."
Briar pauses at that. "Only seventy? Really?"
"Like you said, the Hellmouth does stuff to people's heads, and I was actively taking advantage of that to get the magic to work at all."
"Fair. Okay, Zelda, tell you what…"
Briar explains-
"Yaaay!"
-Zelda is happier about going to preschool-
"Can we take Moblin, too?"
"No."
"Awww…"
-but not completely enthused.
Sometimes compromises must be made, and at least this way, neither of you will be getting scolded by your mother for taking the dog to school again.
With your shopping taken care of and concerns about Zelda addressed, you turn your attention to the matter of scheduling. Of course, you can't fully plan out your personal schedule until you know what your classes at school look like and how much reading, homework, and general effort will be involved, but you can at least start to sort out what your out-of-class business for the coming months will look like.
Let's see…
Aside from attending Sunnydale Elementary, the other major academic drain on your time in the coming year is going to be working with Urahara on improving your understanding of Earth's spiritual environment and associated phenomenon, and how to deal with them, whether peacefully or otherwise. Training in Karakura will also account for some physical activity and exercise of your spiritual abilities, though as with your mundane education, you'll have to wait and see to determine how tiring it will all be.
It can't be more tiring than working with Lu-sensei, though, right? Right.
…probably, anyway.
…
Maybe.
But speaking of Lu Tze, your training in the Five Elements Style will also be proceeding apace, as the old man still has plenty to show you in the martial arts.
The same cannot be said for your DARK MASTER, but if you have surpassed Batreaux in sheer breadth and potency of arcane capability, the ex-demon sorcerer still has several thousand years' worth of accumulated arcane lore in his head, plus various Hyrulean contacts and the ability to actually interact with them and others in that neck of the cosmos without Horrible Things happening. That's the sort of resource you'd prefer to keep around regardless, even if you didn't still have a debt to clear with him.
Well, half a debt, given your considerable, albeit not total success in reverting Miss Boley's unwanted demonic transformation. Still.
Those are your biggest long-term priorities for the coming year, and you already have enough familiarity with two of them to have a good idea of how much time you need to set aside.
For the smaller stuff, you've got Khamsin's riding lessons, keeping up your letters and occasional visits to your friends around the world, doing business with Gen and your handful of contacts in Hyrule, and attending to the tasks assigned to you by the priestly trio.
On that note, you've largely off-loaded dealing with Gen to Shadow Alex in recent months, and with some assistance from Briar and her Shadow, you've also "convinced" your Dark Self to spend some time in your backyard garden. The argument there was that it would be a way to get him outside once in a while, while still doing something productive enough not to trip his hang-ups about practicality. Likewise, Shadow Alex has (grudgingly) agreed to convey Madam Lanora to her various meetings with Earthly spiritual experts, at least when you aren't available to handle such things yourself – such as your upcoming training with Urahara, which the Zoran woman has been quite interested in seeing for herself.
While you can't quite see your Dark Self being content to take over your extradimensional trading enterprise on a permanent basis, that was never actually your plan. Rather, you're hoping to assign a Simulacrum of yourself to oversee that particular business, at least once you've sourced enough ruby dust to create the thing, enchanted another Calling Circle to handle the magical "heavy lifting" involved, and arranged a method of round-travel teleportation.
After all, when you ignore the supernatural qualities of the creatures and goods you deal with, as well as the need to actually call them up from other planes, the whole affair is really just a lot of mundane negotiations and deal-making. A Simulacrum should be able to handle that sort of thing well enough, at least as long as you keep it working with the minor entities you've been calling up at Gen's, Dekon the Deku Scrub, and the Hyrulean Church. Any greater creatures or more significant business arrangements would still need your personal involvement, partly because of the power and skill requirements that a Simulacrum couldn't match, and partly because more powerful entities are just more likely to recognize a Simulacrum as a fake, especially if it tried to make some sort of magically binding deal with them.
You expect that getting everything set up for your "replacement" will take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months at the outside, which is a span of time Shadow Alex is rather more willing to put up with than having to deal with things for the next year or more.
It bears noting that your Dark Self does not actually object to the prospect of making money, acquiring reagents, or building up contacts and influence – far from it. It's just that, thanks to sharing your memories of things his past instances have done, Shadow Alex finds the prospect of personally engaging in trade, particularly at the modest level of your current arrangements, to be a bit… dull.
Considering your second-hand memories of the Silbern Raid and the more direct recollection of clearing the Memorian Base, you can see where he's coming from.
On the matter of the Simulacrum, you aren't quite sure how much of your time and energy its existence will eventually free up, but "less than Shadow Alex" seems like a reasonable estimate. While it will have access to some of your magic, the Simulacrum won't be nearly as powerful as your Dark Self or able to use its power anything like as freely. Going by Ambrose's notes, normal methods of magical restoration don't work on Simulacra any more than normal methods of healing do, and while the wizard did mention that it's possible to use a variation of the procedure for repairing a physically damaged Simulacrum to replenish one's mana reserves, he also said that it's decidedly impractical, being just as time-consuming and costly as making repairs.
The wizard also rambled a bit about the potential for damaging a Simulacrum while you're trying to fix it, which can result in anything from slight alterations to its appearance or behavior to a sudden decline in one or more of its abilities – forcing you to either spend more effort to get the thing back in full working order, or take your chances with the damaged version. Outright destruction of a Simulacrum that's "in the lab" for repairs is technically possible, but Ambrose claimed that he has never seen it himself, and has only heard of it happening with specimens that were quite badly damaged to begin with.
Or, you know, if somebody invaded the arcanist's workshop and started smashing and/or setting fire to everything. But that almost goes without saying.
Anyway, reviewing your revised schedule, there is one more element to consider, this being how to approach your investigation of the influence that Ganondorf's memories, and through them, the Curse of Demise, have on you. It's not really a question of when you do this – sooner is unquestionably better – but rather for how long you continue the assessment.
You could simply spend a few months making extra-long visits to Urahara Shop, accompanied by the various arcane and spiritual experts of your acquaintance, or you could arrange to continue the examinations for a full year. Either method has its obvious benefits and drawbacks, trading time for information, but there is also the matter of how your past life's influence will invariably have more chances to grow stronger the more often you actively poke it. You also have to consider the inconvenience to your associates, who would have an easier time making it to regular sessions for a few months than they would for the entire year.
From everything you've been told and everything that you've been able to recall, you are the first of Ganondorf's reincarnations to realize the existence of the demonic influence upon your soul, much less to put a name to it or be in a position to investigate it without immediately waking it up.
Distinct benefits of not being born and/or growing up anywhere in or near Hyrule.
Based on your past self's less-than-sterling track record and the sheer improbability of your rebirth in another world, this lifetime could very well be your only chance to safely study the Curse of Demise, let alone to do so with assistance from world-class experts in spiritual, arcane, and/or general supernatural phenomenon. With that in mind, it would behoove you to be as thorough in the investigation as you reasonably can – and now that you have access to the Spell of Limited Wishing for purification purposes, the exact definition of what is "reasonable" is somewhat more forgiving than it had been previously.
With that in mind-
Gained Priority Past-Life Experience Investigation
-a year-long period of observation makes the most sense.
You are reminded that, while you have already performed cursory examinations and historical Divinations of the magical items you picked out as part of your share of the loot from the Silbern Raid, there is still a lot of stuff that could stand a more detailed investigation. The pieces of Quincy spiritual technology in particular are something you want to look into, but you also have a huge backlog of files – both paper and digital – that still need checking.
You and Shadow Alex have been poking at that information on and off in the weeks since you obtained it, but between the fact that most of the Wandenreich were forcibly relocated to Earth rather than killed or captured, and that you said you'd let Soul Society know if you found anything pertinent in your share of the intelligence haul, you really do need to put more effort into clearing that backlog than you have been doing thus far.
Also, while the study of spirit-tech was going to involve Urahara from the start, and summoning Batreaux for his input is easily handled, the notion of including some of the mortal item-crafters that you know in the project has occurred to you. Adding Robin wouldn't be too much more difficult than getting your DARK MASTER involved, but considering that Amy, Dave, and Beryl all live in the States – and different parts of it – you'd need to invest rather more time and effort to coordinate travel plans for everybody if they were going to be involved. And if Dave gets involved, Balthazar will know by default, which could lead to Ambrose sticking his nose in – though that might happen anyway, given the old menace will be involved in your spiritual examination and observation – and Beryl has demonstrated a certain respectful wariness of the wizard which might require some… smoothing over.
That isn't even getting into how you'd probably end up bringing Amy home at night at least a few times.
Do you have time to deal with all the extra hassle?
Another thing you want to look into is improving your understanding and applications of Power. Considering how much energy is involved in using those abilities and how the drain will impact essentially ALL of your supernatural projects, you will have to schedule testing sessions very carefully indeed. It's a shame that there isn't anybody else around who could offer you any insights in the matter, to increase the benefits incurred with those considerable costs, but…
…
…well, that's not entirely true, now, is it? There is a certain dead man resting uncomfortably in the back of your mind and soul who knows a thing or three about the Golden Power – perhaps not via the same medium that you use, but the techniques fueled by the lingering touch of the Triforce upon your soul have the same ultimate source as some of the feats of raw Power that Ganondorf performed in various lifetimes.
It's undoubtedly the fact that you've been planning a long-term investigation of Ganondorf's influence upon your person that stirs the idea of digging into his memories of using the Triforce of Power to supplement your training going forward, at least for this year.
You can't really claim that this is a good idea, considering who's involved, but whether or not it's a worthwhile notion will have to await the outcome of your training and research before rendering a verdict.
Gained Power Experimentation Priority
Also, it occurs to you that, between the increased workload you'll be putting on Shadow Alex and the fact that you're planning to make regular use of Simulacra in the coming months, you should probably spend some extra time interacting with them, not just to keep yourself up-to-date on their efforts or make sure that your magic isn't exhibiting any unwanted, Curse- or corruption-related side-effects, but also just to see how they handle being active for so long.
If nothing else, you don't want Shadow Alex to start nursing a grudge over being exploited as cheap labor, as that might result in him going the same, hostile-to-the-original way as so many other Dark Selves evidently have. Similarly, letting a Simulacrum of you succumb to the workaholic tendencies that Shadow Alex somewhat embodies might end up being counterproductive.
Gained Shadow Management Priority
You consider the differences in time zones, and how likely you'd be to end up escorting at least one of your theoretical fellow students back home after dark – and how often that might happen. You also ponder the number of extra teleports you'd need to make to pick up and drop off everyone you'd like to bring along, and how that would impact your energy budget (if you cast the spells directly), your schedule (if you went with rituals), or both.
The numbers you come to, while only estimates, are not encouraging. Not so bad as to make the whole idea completely unworkable, but not great.
Then you consider that Amy, Beryl, and Dave have met each other a grand total of one time, and that none of them have met Urahara. Dave's a bit less problematic in that regard, given Balthazar has met and taken the measure of the Shinigami exile, but you'd probably have to take time out for the Madisons to meet the man and vet him, whereas Beryl… honestly, you can't say much about what her relationship with her parents is like, save that she was able to convince them to let her and her younger sister go somewhere without them for a few days.
Of course, that did result in Cecilia having to leave her seat in the Ring of Trials and take a walk to calm down after seeing one too many monsters with eyes in unpleasant places, and more importantly, challengers attacking said eyes.
…Beryl's parents might actually not be best pleased by her association with you, come to think of it. It hasn't come across in the teen sorceress's letters, but she says very little about her family and personal life.
Tying into that, when you struck a deal with Urahara for an introduction to spiritual technology, it was fairly implicit that you were going to be the recipient of those lessons, not "you and everybody you happen to bring along." The scientist-turned-shopkeeper might not be entirely pleased by having a small class dropped on him, or he might simply charge extra.
Again, this doesn't altogether rule out the possibility, but it's another mark against it.
The thing that really settles you is a question of aptitude for and interest in the subject of spiritual technology. You know Amy well enough to say that she's not overly interested in the making of machinery or electronics, and when it comes to spiritual matters, she very much approaches them from a witch's perspective. Her own spiritual reserves, while somewhat above average in a general sense, aren't really suitable for the sort of direct use favored by most of the people you know in Karakura – something that can be said of Dave as well. And while the young Merlinean certainly has an interest in technology, he always manages to give the impression of being a bit in over his head when it comes to sorcery; he would probably not thank you for piling even more work on him, especially when it comes from an entirely different tradition.
Beryl, on the other hand, has quite a strong spiritual signature, no doubt due to her use of Necromancy, but that in and of itself is actually a reason not to introduce her to Urahara. You know very well that she deals with undead entities, and while neither the corpse-like energy-drainer she summoned in the ring nor that giant of shadows bear much resemblance to Hollows, they're still very much the sort of thing you expect a guardian of souls and the boundary between life and death would be obligated to object to.
Summoning such beings tends to leave a mark, and if Beryl was using spiritual energy directly, then even with a Nondetection ward up, Urahara would eventually notice something was off.
No one of these points is quite enough by itself to discourage you from the idea, but all of them together make you think it's best given up, or at least set aside until later. Maybe you can arrange for the Urahara Shop crew to meet more of your out-of-Karakura acquaintances first…?
Gained Silbern Item Analysis Priority
Getting away from the mystical side of things a bit, you were also hoping to shore up your combat skills in the coming months, particularly in regards to your swordsmanship. It's not that the Five Elements Style can't teach you how to swing a blade, merely that the types of swords most compatible with Lu-sensei's School are not hand-and-a-half cruciform weapons. There are some lessons that carry over regardless, of course, but even then, many would be better-learned if you had a teacher more familiar with the use of Western-style weapons – or in this case, Hyrulean-style ones.
Which is why you're planning to retain Jermafencer's services in the matter. Between your Rupees, gold, and the magical services you can provide, you're quite sure you can at least make a down payment worthy of the knight's time, with further payments being much easier to handle once your more monetary shares of the Silbern Loot start coming in.
Aside from the Fae knight, you're also hoping to get Briar's brother Mouse to agree to give you some lessons, or at least spar with you on a regular basis. There, you're helped by the familial connection, as well as the fact that you've traded tips with the fairy swordsman once before – not to mention that, if you can convince Jermafencer to take him on even as a temporary student, Mouse might well waive any need for financial compensation right then and there.
Even if it falls short of becoming one's squire, being able to study under a Knight of the Realm at all is still kind of a Big Deal.
It's occurred to you that, since you'll be working primarily with Hyrulean weaponry, techniques, and tactics, this is another area of training where you could potentially call upon Ganondorf's memories for tips. That being said, it might not be quite as beneficial as you would hope; while the Gerudo King undoubtedly had at least basic training in a wide variety of weapons, the only ones you can really recall him making significant use of are swords, daggers, and of course, his Trident – and the latter was largely a Ganon thing.
Considering that you've already made plans to tap into Past-Life Experience rather significantly for the coming year, do you truly want to delve even further into it?
While you've gone to some lengths to avoid stirring up your past self's memories, the threat of potential side-effects is a bit less compelling now that you have access to your own method of purging unwanted changes. Even if it DOES cost several thousand dollars every time you want to make a Limited Wish…
You'll still hold off on calling upon Ganondorf's memories until after Urahara and the rest have had a chance to establish a baseline for your condition, of course but after that, it should be interesting – and hopefully, educational – to see what assets the Thief-King brought to a fight that didn't involve throwing magic around in one form or another.
Gained Weapon Training Priority
Once again, you review your schedule, which is definitely starting to look very crowded.
You could probably fit in a few more long-term training or research projects, depending on what was involved – your head is already aching in protest at the notion of anything involving non-magical books – but looking at everything laid out like this, you can't help but think that you're probably at or even past the point where you should stop, if only to leave yourself a chance to breathe and adapt to any unexpected developments down the road.
Are you done with Priorities for the coming year?
With a long-term outline in place, you turn your attention to more short-term scheduling, taking down the calendar that hangs above your bedroom desk and proceeding to make notes with a non-magically erasable marker. You'll still use a cantrip to wipe it away any mistakes or re-scheduling that need to take place, of course – there's no used-up eraser or dirty rag afterwards that way – you've just found that the "erasable" aspect of the ink makes it easier to remove than more intentionally permanent varieties.
Anyway, school largely takes care of its own scheduling, as do lessons at Lu-sensei's. Similarly, the dates for your riding lessons at the Drakes' have already been planned in advance, organized more around the convenience of the stablemaster than anything else.
Considering that the woman in question is doing you a favor for the (comparatively) low cost of a chance to train a horse from another world and observe the uses of minor magic during the breaking-in process – mostly the Spell to Speak with Animals, but also the possibility of various healing spells – you aren't inclined to make a fuss over that.
Your current set of monthly appointments with Urahara are already marked down as well. You refrain from making further additions in that area for the moment, as you aren't yet sure if the Shinigami means to just slide your additional examinations in alongside Moblin's check-ups, or if there will be more frequent and/or extensive testing to come.
You make a separate note to check with him about that in the next few days, so that you can inform Ambrose, Balthazar, and your summoned experts and let them sort out their own schedules.
A block of time set aside each day for writing or making visits to your friends, and after that, it's mostly training, which you try to arrange so that you'll get a decent amount of work done each week, but not so much on any given day that you'll risk burning out.
Due to your Priority-heavy schedule, you have only 1 Ki Action for the coming Quarter.
When it comes to martial arts, focusing on your basics is rarely a bad idea, particularly when you have the guidance of a master in the field to support your efforts.
Granted, Lu-sensei has mentioned that you are reaching the point where there isn't much left for you to learn about said basics, whether that's in terms of the physical forms of the Five Elements Style or the associated ki exercises. You'll need to adjust a few things as you continue to grow in the years ahead – doubly so if and when you get around to claiming more Heart Containers, particularly of the standard variety – and of course, you'll have to keep practicing on a regular basis to ensure that you don't lose any of the progress you've made.
Those factors aside, though, it would not be entirely inappropriate to consider yourself a master of the basics, though Lu-sensei has also noted that you shouldn't call yourself such a thing aloud, "master" being a term that carries certain connotations in the world of martial arts.
How bad could it be? Well…
"As your teacher, it would be my duty to drub the arrogance out of you by whatever means necessary," Lu Tze sighs dramatically, when you inquire on the matter while arranging the intensified lesson plan with him. "And should you continue to describe yourself in such a way despite my efforts, any other ranked master that heard of you would take it upon themselves to administer further disciplinary action, until the lesson took, your ability to practice the art was permanently impaired, or you died. The exact outcome would depend on the philosophy of the individual administering the instruction, and, of course, on your own stubbornness."
They take their titles seriously in the martial realm.
"No less so than they do in the magical world, or so I am given to understand."
Mm, fair. If some pre-teen with command of second- or third-circle arcana ran around calling himself an archmage, some people might find it cute – the first couple of times, anyway – but it would get old pretty quick. And there are plenty who would take umbrage immediately.
You can see something similar in how Balthazar has been training Dave. While the Merlinean Master is careful not to undermine his student's self-confidence, he also doesn't hesitate to burst young Mr. Stutler's bubble if he thinks Dave is getting cocky.
You can only IMAGINE what sort of methods Ambrose might call upon to handle an arrogant student…
Funnily enough, your second-hand memories don't have much to offer in that regard. If Ganondorf was ever scolded by the Twinrova for overreaching with his magic, you can't recall it. Actually, when you think on the issue, a lack of humility being knocked into the young king's head at an early age might have been part of the problem…
The two final portions of your autumn schedule are both magical matters, the first being spell research, the other being item crafting.
When working out the former, you spend a pleasant couple of hours reviewing your extensive mental spellbook and associated physical notes, going over what you already know and projecting how you could build on that knowledge.
There is a certain amount of focus on rituals that have proven useful to you in the past, but which would be a lot more convenient if you could cast them as proper spells, whether because of how much quicker it would be to cast them, or for the additional benefits that your arcane skills would enable you to work into the magic if it had a more stable foundation.
That said, there are also some spells that you just want to learn bigger, more effective, and/or just plain cooler versions of. Din's Fire comes to mind-
As it should.
-along with the other spells named for the Goddesses-
I'll take it.
-but there are some others as well.
Looking at your current schedule, however, you can't see the time to do more than cursory research in the coming weeks, meaning that barring any sudden breakthroughs – which there is no accounting for – you can reasonably expect to develop only a small number of the spells on your list.
To be sure: You currently have 3 Yearly Magic Actions remaining. How many of them do you wish to spend on additional spell research?
You always have a lot of spells that you want to learn, but for once, many of the spells on your list aren't just magic it might be nice to know at some theoretical future point, but rather things that you honestly need to know in the near future, to reach various goals you've set for yourself.
The Spell of True Creation, for instance, just offers so much convenience and utility for your future item-crafting projects that you can't see yourself NOT taking the time to study it, especially not with your desire to build a new and properly outfitted workshop this year.
Similarly, there's the Spell to Create a Demiplane, which you require a greater understanding of if you're going to make that workshop as secure and productive as possible. For that matter, it would also give you a place where you could practice a lot of your more powerful magic without having to worry about uninvited guests showing up or spend so much time and energy cleaning up after yourself.
You wouldn't test out a Meteor Swarm on the same Demiplane that you'd set your workshop up on, of course – not unless you'd made the pocket realm in question VERY large – but less destructive or otherwise hazardous spells would be entirely doable, and you could always conjure a temporary Demiplane for more violent trials.
Technically, you could do that right now, but the Lesser Spell to Create a Demiplane conjures a rather small volume when compared to its bigger brothers. You'd prefer a bit more room to run for it if you were going to set off All the Explosions.
Arguments of this nature can be made for many of the magics on your list but eventually you pare it down to something manageable for the coming months, with three spells in particular earmarked for your greatest effort.
The Spell to Create a Demiplane, you've already reviewed.
The Greater Spell to Share Memory is something you've been using through kludged-together rituals for over a year now, ever since you first gave that version of yourself from another world a leg up on the hazards of life on the Hellmouth. It was fine in that state when you were only making significant use of it when you ran into Xander – if you had a shiny nickel for every time that's happened, you'd have two nickels, which isn't much, even if it is weird that it happened twice – but the spell has become a lot more relevant since you started making use of the Heart of Courage to conjure Shadow Alex, and needed him to catch you up on his experiences. Throw in your plans to start making use of a Simulacrum of yourself at the earliest opportunity, and you really do need to get the rough edges of this spell smoothed out.
Finally, although the Spell of True Creation is very, very tempting, you decide to work on a druidic ritual called the Spell of Tectonic Communion. It came up in discussion with Briar, when you were inquiring about ways to investigate the layout and natural contents of the surrounding landscape. Your partner doesn't know how to cast the spell herself, of course – at seventh-circle, it's far beyond her – and she's never seen or heard of her mother using it, but it is a known effect in Hyrule, if a rare one.
For your part, you want to learn this spell for three main reasons.
The first is so that you can start mapping out Sunnydale's subterranean layers – and yes, you're quite sure that there's more than one of them. Call it a hunch passed on by a guy who has made more than a few Underworlds in his time… anyway, any serious plan of cleaning up the Hellmouth is going to need some very good maps of the local underground, and while you know that Tectonic Communion won't reveal the locations of individual demons, just being able to pick out likely spots for lairs, means of access, and potential ambush sites – in both directions – would be invaluable.
Your second concern is a bit more mercenary, but your item crafting plans require funds and raw materials, enough of them that sourcing them through mundane markets and even supernatural suppliers may be difficult to impossible, if only due to your age. You don't begrudge jewelers or metalworkers fair compensation for their craftsmanship, but being able to cut out the middleman wouldn't just save you money – or help you make it, for that matter – it could also save you a lot of time.
For everything you're capable of, Time is still your most precious and least renewable resource.
Thirdly, and going back to your original goal of clearing out the Hellmouth, you do need a place for the forces involved to take shelter when they aren't out crusading against the corpse-demons, the demon-demons, and Ye Forces of Darknesse. While you might be able to find some spots in Sunnydale proper, setting up a secure location outside the city limits, where it's less likely to be discovered, still wouldn't be a bad idea. Especially if you could put it underground, as that would not only hide it from mundane notice, but also provide a nice layer of earth and rock to muffle any spellcasting you did to fortify, furnish, and populate the place…
"Resist the urge to make an Underworld, Alex," Briar advises.
"Yeah, I really don't have the time for something like that now, anyway," you admit with a sigh. "But one day, Briar!" you continue, punching the air with an upraised fist of determination. "One day!"
"What's he yelling about, Briar?" Zelda wonders from the hall, as she passes by your room.
Moblin also looks in the door, his expression revealing that head-tilting doggy curiosity.
"It's just your brother being weird about magic, Zelda."
"Oh, are you gonna do a spell?" your sister asks eagerly.
"Not right now, Zelda," you and Briar reply.
"Aw, foo…" Sighing like the weight of the world is upon her, Zelda turns to your dog. "Come on, Mobbin; let's go play Catch the Ghost."
Moblin's ears perk right up at the name of one of his favorite things to do, and he dashes down the hall, a once-more-laughing Zelda hot on his heels.
Over your mother's warning against running in the house – called upstairs from the living room, by the sound of it – you almost fancy that you can hear that Poe wailing in distress again.
With your arcane research sorted for the coming months, you are left with the question of item crafting… which, considering the current state of your finances, will largely have to wait another week or so.
The good news is, that gives you time to attend to your prearranged lessons in potion-making with the Mistress of the Dark-
HAIL!
-with no distractions or delays.
…well, no, there IS one matter you still have to consider, that being the question of the "tax" you agreed to pay Lady Chloe for using a Gate Key to come and go to and from her domain. You had been leaning towards simply paying her one silver coin per trip, as one of her initial offers suggested, but there was also the possibility of doing her a very small favor.
The letter that the Postman returned when you inquired about what that might involve could be summed up in one word: "Babysitting."
Less succinctly, Lady Chloe was wondering if you'd be willing to keep a few of her kids from getting themselves into too much trouble when they went on a little adventure into one of the wilder corners of her territory. Not the boggard-infested swamp, thankfully – you have your doubts as to how well you'd manage, trying to keep several dumb little fairies from being snatched out of the air by the tongues of human-sized frog-people – and not the region where Miss Liantiel and her brood made their nest – oversized intelligent spiders wouldn't be any better for fairies than giant frogs – just areas where the trees and plants grow more thickly, and the influence of the Great Fairy and her Great Tree spouse aren't quite as total.
You like kids.
You also like fairies.
Logically, then, fairy kids should be one of your most favorite things ever, and looking after a few of them a perfectly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon!
…
Yeah, no, that doesn't fly even in your head. There are just too many data points to the contrary:
Briar grumbling in exasperation about little idiots.
Your being ambushed by a swarm of color-bombing knuckleheads.
Robin grumbling about damage to his workshop.
Altria's wariness whenever the subject comes up.
That sort of thing.
So, yeah, paying Lady Chloe in silver is fine. A coin a day for a few weeks is a small price to pay to not have to deal with fairy shenanigans.
"Smart choice," Briar approves.
"Not a fan of the idea of looking after other Great Fairies' kids?"
"Considering that even the smallest of them are almost a whole tenth my usual size, they come in swarms, and I wouldn't be able to leverage the threat of Biggest Sister being disappointed in them to encourage even a little good behavior? That'd be a no."
"Fair." You pause. "How well does threatening your siblings with Summer work, anyway?"
"It convinces most of the ones that are old enough to think about more than one thing at a time to be good," Briar answers. "That's only a few dozen, of course, and it only lasts for a while, but that many of them behaving themselves even that long tends to convince some of the real dummies to play along to see what's up. And the ones that are smart enough to think ahead take the hint and try to rein in some of the others."
Ah.
Anyway, you sent a reply to Lady Chloe via the Postman, along with a down payment on your entry fee.
Spent 10 silver pieces
Her return letter confirmed receipt of the silver, and didn't give any indication one way or another if she'd been hoping for you to take some of her kids off her hands for a few hours.
You wouldn't blame her if she did feel that way – having to mind THAT many kids would wear on the patience of even the most tolerant and loving parent, and that's before taking the frustrating potential of all the fairy antics into account – but if she's not going to make a subtle reference to it in this correspondence, you're not going to dig into the matter.
With that settled, you have lessons to attend to.
…
Many, many lessons…
Before you get into your training regimen, however, there is one task that needs attending to, particularly since you hope to exploit some of Ganondorf's memories to buffer your training in the coming months. And after exchanging phone calls and magical messages, making a few trips, and just waiting for the openings in other people's schedules to line up in a mutually-convenient manner, the day comes when you return to Urahara Shop accompanied by Ambrose and Balthazar.
None of your three "local" experts in mystical matters objected to you bringing in some experienced outside help, although Urahara did wonder at why, exactly, you felt the need to get second-through-sixth opinions on his findings.
"If I were a less self-assured genius, I might be hurt by that," he said over the phone when you were discussing the matter.
"Oh, if only," Yoruichi sighed, from somewhere else in the room at Urahara Shop that was just inside your hearing.
You avoided giving Urahara a straight answer on the matter by simply saying that you DID have a very compelling reason to want to be as thorough as possible, but also that said reason wasn't something you wanted to talk about over the phone or outside of well-warded walls.
"Concerning," the Shinigami mused. "But at least it isn't going to result in an apocalypse, right?"
You would like to respond in an affirmative, reassuring, or at least harmlessly humorous manner, but considering what's involved here, you find that, for once, you can't muster up one of your usual witty remarks.
The ensuing silence is brief, but persists long enough for Urahara to notice.
"…that was supposed to be a joke," the shopkeeper says slowly.
"I get that," you reply. "It's just… well…"
"Something you'd prefer to talk about in person."
"…yeah, that."
"That may or may not involve an apocalypse."
"…yeah."
…
"I'll let Tessai know to put on the good tea for this one, then, shall I?"
"Yeah, that would… wait, have you not been serving good tea in the past?"
"I mean, we've never served BAD tea – Tessai wouldn't stand for it – but not all brands and blends are created equal, you know? Or so I'm reliably informed."
As for the matter of just which non-local experts you will be calling forth once you've reached Urahara's basement, Batreaux had absolutely no problem agreeing to turn up, and when you put the matter to your priestly tutors, they kicked it up the chain back in the Golden Realm until someone with a lot more experience in matters of the structure of the soul – but who would still be safe for you to meet with in person – agreed to make an appearance.
Given how important this matter is to Din and her sisters, and to Hyrule in general, the priest in question even waived the usual required compensation. Or at least, they forewent financial payment; getting to see how multiple masters in a whole different world approach this kind of issue would be quite a valuable opportunity all on its own, which leads you to wonder exactly HOW the faithful of the hereafter sorted out who would be going.
Given the importance of physical prowess among the followers of the Goddess of Power, you can't quite get the image of a clerical wrestling match out of your head…
That aside, Navi likewise agreed to make an appearance, both as an expert in Hyrulean-style magical healing of spiritual issues, and as someone who's actually worked on your soul once in the past. You also extended an invitation to Grey Voice, and while the Chozo ghost cautioned you not to expect too much-
"Soul-healing was not among my skills in life," he explained, hanging spectrally in your summoning circle. "Even if it had been, I would be lacking the tools my people developed to assist in the field, to say nothing of the specialized technical knowledge required to build them."
Ah. "And since you not only don't have that knowledge, but ALSO lack the practical knowledge of the subject itself…"
The avian head nods. "You see the issue."
-he had no qualms about making sure there was nothing wrong with your soul that his psychic abilities could detect.
With so many people already scheduled to show up at his store, Urahara made a half-joking remark about inviting Isshin, Ryuuken, and Akkiko to join the party.
While the Karakura Quincy do owe you one for saving them and their relatives from the threat of Auswahlen, you aren't sure that this makes you close enough to trust them with the knowledge of your soul's origins. Similarly, you have to question what they'd provide that Urahara can't – yes, a Quincy's perspective on spiritual power and souls is probably almost as different from that of a Shinigami as a sorcerer's take on arcane magic would be from a wizard's approach, but as far as you know, Ryuuken isn't a spiritual surgeon or anything like that. Neither is his father, who's the only member of the family to have had direct contact with the Wandenreich.
THOSE people, you would expect know enough about souls to have something worthwhile to add, given all the advanced techno-spiritual equipment you saw in and pulled out of Silbern. Almost makes it a shame that they'd shoot you on sight…
Almost.
Anyway, if you're leery of bringing the Ishidas in on this, you're no less uncertain about Akkiko. Again, getting the perspective of a mortal spiritualist might provide some insights, but there's the question of trust. Do you trust the woman with oni heritage, some connection to one of the local Hells that has never actually been explained, and a demonstrated drinking habit, to know that your soul was previously that of a demon king from another world?
Not unless you want to put up with her trying to pair you off with one of her daughters, you suspect, and that's the least concerning outcome you can think of. And Tatsuki, at least, would undoubtedly thank you for avoiding such a situation.
All in all, it's probably best to leave the Arisawas out of this.
As for Isshin, the fact that he's known you were a conscious reincarnation since the World Tournament, and has kept that fact quiet for over a year, is a definite mark in his favor. He also owes you, big time, for saving his wife and possibly his kids from Auswahlen, and also for helping him kickstart the recovery of his Shinigami abilities. You could easily leverage those debts to extract a promise from him to keep quiet about your origins… but honestly, you don't really want to do that, at least not if you've got a choice.
Which, in this case, you do. Not only was Urahara trained by the same spiritual tradition as Isshin, he's also the guy that the Kurosaki family have been going to for assistance with spiritual matters – and while Isshin might have lost the ability to apply his training, he wouldn't have forgotten those lessons or the information they provided him with, which is enough to tell you that he considers Urahara competent and trustworthy.
Not infallible, admittedly – that business with Ichigo's spiritual bindings accidentally acting as resistance training for his soul proves that much – but more than qualified to give good advice in spiritual matters.
So, really, there's not much help Isshin could provide that Urahara and Tessai won't already be giving you, unless it comes to moral support – and you already have several people along for that.
And really, this whole exam is going to be crowded enough as-is.
The *blink* of the Greater Teleport ends, depositing five people and a dog in a somewhat out-of-the-way corner of Karakura Park.
It does go against your usual approach of passing through the Tokyo Tower with a different disguise each time, but that's something you do more for personal amusement and a passing nod to local regulations than because it's a true necessity – and more to the point, you don't want to encourage Ambrose by letting him see you troll the authorities.
Another reason you skipped the Tower is that, for once, you've shown up in Karakura in your normal appearance. This is partly to avoid the hassle of having to change forms and clothes for the upcoming exam and then change back when you leave, but mostly, it's because you're going to have a few Hyruleans in attendance for this thing, and even when your magic is behaving, your adult form bears enough of a resemblance to Ganondorf to be… potentially problematic.
Of course, Batreaux didn't live during any of Ganondorf's eras of activity and would have no particular issue with your resemblance to the Gerudo King, but Navi is an entirely different story, and then there's the priest.
Suffice it to say, you see no point in borrowing trouble by needlessly upsetting any of the experts you'll be relying on for information today.
Granted, the sight of a(n apparent) teenager, two old men seemingly from opposite sides of the world, a man of indeterminate age, and a mutt all walking through the park together makes for a bit of a spectacle, all the more so considering that none of you look a thing alike.
Anybody who could see Briar would only be more puzzled, even if… no, make that especially if they could also see auras, because thanks to your respective anti-Divination wards and energy-restraining techniques, Moblin is probably the most supernatural-seeming member of your group as far as the average mystical passerby would be concerned.
On the positive side, no punks or other locals – living, dead, or otherwise – were hanging around to see you pop out of thin air.
"Character testimony is all well and good in general," Ambrose is saying, continuing a conversation that started in Wales. "But in the specific case where the character in question is capable of throwing around high-end Enchantment or Illusion Magic, it becomes rather less reliable, you know?"
"Oh, I do," Lu Tze agrees, "but even so, I have a responsibility to support my student – and also to make sure that he isn't likely to turn into a rampaging boar demon."
"Especially not in your school, eh?"
"I do have other students to think about," Lu answers mildly. "Not to mention repair bills. And that is not even getting into the Hellmouth…"
"Yes, that damn hole in physics and sanity would make everything worse, wouldn't it…?" Ambrose trails off, muttering.
While your teacher is not well-equipped to provide any spiritual insights into your condition on his own, his possession of the Heart of Wen provides access to someone who is rather better suited to that side of things.
After all, if an ascended grandmaster of a ki-using school of martial arts can't give a student of his style advice on the state of their spiritual health and well-being, something has gone rather wrong somewhere.
When you arrive at Urahara Shop, you find that Ginta and Ururu are not present despite it being a Saturday. Urahara evidently called in a favor with the Kurosakis, to make sure that no little people were underfoot during this examination.
Based on some of your past meetings here, you have to wonder if Urahara would have gone this far without you not-quite-saying that there was a potential apocalypse involved. Still, it's convenient.
Since you only want to go over your, ah, "backstory," the one time, to make sure everybody involved is on the same page, tea is delayed a bit while everyone files into the hidden basement. Here, you find that Urahara and Tessai have, once again, somehow, relocated a bunch of the scanning equipment that was tucked into one of the back rooms. This includes the reclined, bed-like platform, which Moblin grudgingly hops up onto for his monthly checkup after Briar enlarges herself and coaxes him onto the thing.
Speaking of animals and people who aren't their owners, Yoruichi and Ambrose are engaged in a stare-down for some reason, with Balthazar sighing and quietly waving you off when you glance and gesture at the odd pair.
Leaving whatever that's to the more experienced wizard-wrangler in your group, you do as you have once before to avoid placing undue stress on Urahara Shop's wards, opening up a Magnificent Mansion to serve as the site of the Summoning Spells you're about to cast to call the rest of your experts.
It occurs to you that if you're going to keep using "Mansions" of this nature, you might want to look into devising a variant of the spell that comes pre-equipped with summoning circles and other arcane accouterments, just to save yourself some time and energy. But that's a thought for another time.
Your first spell calls up Batreaux without issue, and while you get to work opening the Gate for Navi, your Dark Master saves you some time and energy by calling up your three priestly tutors. The trio aren't much better off than Lu-sensei when it comes to being able to do anything about your spiritual condition, but due to their abilities as followers of the Goddesses, they are a bit better off in terms of being able to notice things, even if they don't have the experience or advanced training necessary to fully understand what they see. Combine that with how often you interact with the three – whether individually or collectively – and it just makes sense for them to be here to take notes.
"RISE!"
*Crack-a-THOOM*
"We aren't undead, you know," Koron mutters after appearing in the circle.
"But you ARE returning from BEYOND THE GRAVE!"
*Rumble-BOOM*
"That's just a technicality!"
Navi steps through the Gate you open without nearly so much dramatics. Once she's cleared your circle, you take out the focus the priests provided you-
The scale you were given to help attune your calling ritual to the correct priest is about as big as the end of your thumb. A battered-looking thing, it's a pale shade of green, scarred along what you're assuming was the exterior face and with chips and cracks about the edges – some of those might be due to the shedding process, but others strike you as signs of age, whether of the flake of shed skin itself or its original owner. It's thin enough that you can see through it if you hold it up to a light, though it's fairly rigid for all that.
While you're far from being an expert in comparative biology, you've seen enough animals at this point to recognize that this scale definitely came from a reptile or similar kind of creature, rather than something piscine like a Zora. The notion of it being a dragon's scale immediately comes to mind, but is dismissed almost as quickly, due to the strength of the aura clinging to the scale – or rather, the lack of said strength.
To be clear, the original owner of this bit of cracked and dried-out skin wasn't lacking in supernatural power, but it doesn't feel like the raw elemental power of a dragon, not unless you're dealing with a very young one, which really doesn't tally with the apparent age of the scale or the priests' assertations that the person you're calling is some kind of spiritual expert.
Guess you'll find out shortly.
A few minutes later-
*Poof*
"Tooookaaaa?"
-you frown in bafflement at the strange utterance that is the first thing to escape the cloud of summoning-smoke your magic produced. The voice sounds old, slow and creaky and a bit high-pitched, though not quite to point where it squeaks.
Then the cloud clears up, and you find yourself looking at what you can only describe as a bipedal lizard. A thin and yet flabby body is held up by gangly legs that end in clawed digits, and further supported by a moderately long tail that seems to serve as one-part third leg and one-part chair. The arms, themselves stick-like, are folded over a walking stick that you initially take to be made of wood, but shortly realize is actually a large piece of coral. The newcomer's neck is long but also bent forward, as if not quite strong enough to hold up the rather flat, broad head, from which a pair of slightly bleary dark eyes squint at you. A crest of orange spines runs from the top of the creature's head down to the tip of its tail, some of them upright, others leaning to one side or the other. The only stitch of clothing the lizard-person wears is a thin shawl or scarf or something of that sort, long enough so that the ends hang almost to the ground from the bony shoulders, which are about four feet off the ground.
This is not a Lizalfos or a Geru, and definitely not a Daira or Zazak, but that's about all you can say for certain – well, that, and the creature definitely has the feel of a divine magic-user, beyond the general aura of a celestial.
"I can hardly see you, toka," the lizard-person says in that raspy, creaky voice, as their eyes stare unblinkingly in your direction. "You'll need to drop whatever protection you're using for this to work, you know, toka?"
Yes, that had occurred to you…
And this is how you meet Razi, once of the Tokay of Crescent Island, in Labrynna.
Which at least explains why you drew a complete blank on who and what he is.
After Razi has shuffled out of your summoning circle-
"Is it supposed to be this shiny, toka?"
-you call up Grey Voice. The Chozo looks around at the other beings that have been summoned, and then asks you, "Is this everyone?"
"You're the last to be summoned," you reply. "There's a few more people outside."
He seems to count the individuals in the room again, and then add a few more, before shaking his head. "I must say, I am uncertain if assembling this many minds for your project constitutes 'going overboard,' or if it's simply a sensible precaution," Grey Voice says, as he steps out of the circle.
You're a bit unsure of that, yourself. Here's hoping.
Leaving the circle to fade on its own, you lead all the summoned beings out of the Mansion and into Urahara's basement, where the shopkeeper looks up from a monitor and actually blinks at the assortment of species emerging from the doorway-in-space.
Ex-demon turned human (two of those, even), Great Fairy, child-like plant person, fish lady, rock man, lizard person, bird man…
"Fascinating," Tessai rumbles, adjusting his glasses. "And you are all from the same world?"
"All except Grey Voice, here," you clarify. "Which reminds me… introductions."
That takes a bit, long enough for the guests to sort out where they're going to sit, and whether or not the seats that Urahara and Tessai brought down on the elevator – an assortment of upright chairs, lawn chair recliners, beanbags, and even some cushions laid out on the rocks – are suitable for their particular needs.
From the way Ambrose tests out three of the available seats in succession, you start to wonder if he's going to conjure up the chair he used in that meeting at the Arcana Cabana some months back. Perhaps fortunately, it doesn't come to that, with the old man finally settling on one of the lawn chairs.
Tessai serves the tea, and despite the diverse range of physiologies involved, the blend seems to go over well enough. Is tea a cosmological constant, perhaps?
Anyway, once everybody knows who everybody else is and has had a chance to enjoy the tea – or milk and water, in the cases of Yoruichi and Moblin – you get to the meat of the issue.
"As all of you are aware, I am not normal for my age. There are reasons for this, which some of you already know, but for the sake of those who are less-informed, I would like to take a few minutes to make sure we're all on the same page."
You pause, looking around, and receive no objections.
"Alright. So, from the top…"
You begin by re-telling the Hyrulean Creation Myth, calling up illusions much like the ones you've used in the past. After covering the creation of Hyrule and the Triforce, you discuss what little you know of the relic's assigned guardian, the Goddess Hylia, her struggle against the Demon King Demise, and the actions of the ancient Hero of the Sky, and how that ultimately resulted in Demise's death and dying curse upon his killers and the land they sought to protect.
With a little assistance from Batreaux, Navi, and the priests, you offer up examples of the various evils that have assailed Hyrule and its neighboring lands down through the ages as a result of that Curse, from the races of lesser monsters that have become endemic to the kingdom, to the more powerful but not quite unique giants that tend to lead them, to the overlords that have emerged to corral and command these potential armies.
Onox.
Veran.
The Twili.
Vaati.
And this isn't counting the various royals, nobles, warlords, church leaders, or magic-users – as many of them domestic as foreign in their origins – who have caused large-scale problems for the kingdom down through the ages. Most of those haven't ended with somebody turning into a demon, but quite a few have made use of monstrous mercenaries, so there is some argument as to whether or not the Curse was really involved.
And then, of course, you come to Ganondorf, who is a tale unto himself.
You begin with the Gerudo, describing their desert homeland, their physiological quirks, and the martial, mystical, and malfeasant cultural qualities that grew out of the prior combination.
Urahara, Tessai, and Yoruichi take that in without so much as batting an eye, as does Grey Voice. Wen is more obviously surprised, as while he's neither unfamiliar nor uncomfortable with the idea of female martial artists, a culture where the vast majority of warriors are women is distinctly unusual by the standards of his mortal lifetime or his centuries in the Punch Dimension.
Next, you explain the phenomenon of the Centennial Kings, those rare male Gerudo who inherit all the physical traits of their mothers, sisters, and daughters – although you're taking the word of the Hyruleans at the table on that last one.
This gets a more open reaction from the Shinigami, with Urahara wondering aloud if there's some sort of magic involved in that.
You admit that there would almost have to be, but the Gerudo Kings are an ancient and little-understood occurrence, and one that may not have originated in Hyrule proper, as there is some evidence that the tribe were not present in the most ancient days still on record. The combination of such nebulous origins, the Gerudo bent towards armed conflict with most of their neighbors, and the sheer amount of time that has transpired, has left the answers buried in the sands of time – and if the Goddesses know anything, they're not talking.
…
…
Really? Not even a peep?
Save it for another time.
Well, alright.
With the background properly established-
"Is that a pipe organ?" Urahara wonders.
"Yes."
-you begin the tale of the last known Gerudo King, the King of Thieves and Great King of Evil.
"Concerning titles," the shopkeeper muses.
You speak, briefly, of an ancient war among the diverse peoples of Hyrule, wherein the bulk of the kingdom was unified, save for the desert, where the Gerudo remained isolated and unfriendly for most of a decade, until their young king grew into his full power and sought peace with the King of the Hylians.
You speak of the treacherous ambition that underlay the oaths of friendship and fealty, of Ganondorf's discovery of the truth behind the legend of the Triforce, and his merciless hunt for the keys to the Sacred Realm where the Golden Power slept. You speak of threats levelled against the uncooperative guardian spirits of the land, of curses so potent and vile they took on corporeal form as hideous monsters, tormenting their victims from within.
And you speak, unavoidably, of the coming of the brave young Hero, the clever plans of the child Princess, and how Ganondorf not only outwitted them both, but used their efforts to undermine him to advance his goals instead, allowing the young Link to defeat his minions, gather the keys, and open the doors of the Temple of Time, leaving the way to the Triforce bare.
You describe the moment of Ganondorf's victory, and its thwarting by an unrecorded safeguard that caused the Triforce to divide itself into three fragments, each of which sought a host who was most in tune with its essential nature.
To the young Hero, the Triforce of Courage.
To the clever Princess, the Triforce of Wisdom.
And to the dread King, who sought power and primacy, the Triforce of Power – a "mere" third of the complete Triforce, yet sufficient to turn an already mighty man into something akin to an incarnate god, and to usher in a reign of darkness upon all the land that persisted, unchecked, for seven years, until the return of the Hero-
"TIME TRAVEL?!"
-the capture of the Princess, and the final confrontation, wherein Ganondorf shed even the guise of mortality and became, for the first time and forevermore, the Demon King Ganon.
Hearing that the Hero was slain and the Princess maimed does not appear to surprise anybody who wasn't already familiar with the tale. That they and their allies still managed to seal away the otherwise triumphant Demon King gets a few impressed looks, but when you continue on that Ganon would eventually return to plague Hyrule anew, there are just nods of acknowledgement, as if you'd presented an obvious fact.
Which, really, you did, at least to anybody who knows anything about demon lords, evil sorcerer-kings, and other such villains. They ALWAYS come back for another go if you don't kill them the first time around, and all too often even when you do – as Ganon himself proved.
Hearing that the Hero and Princess were eventually reborn to face their ancient nemesis doesn't surprise anyone at the table, it's just another one of those things.
Learning that the next Link succeeded in defeating Ganon is likewise not a huge surprise, although the fact that he got through that adventure with all limbs intact does provoke some comment.
It's only when you mention Twinrova's resurrection and subsequent attempt to revive their son that the Shinigami REALLY start making noise, because exiles or no, divinely unsanctioned revivals are the sort of thing that are always going to get a death-god's goat.
You finish up with brief accounts of Ganon's subsequent rampages and ultimate demise, as well as the follow-up attempt by his loyal followers to sacrifice the current Link to restore him, and how that was ultimately thwarted by the Hero's quest to reunite the three fragments of the Triforce. Between Link's successful reclamation of the Golden Power, the breaking of the curse of ruin Ganon's passing had left upon the kingdom, and the sheer number of monsters that the Hero cut his way through in the process, the Demon King's death became a great deal more certain.
You've said quite a bit already, so you pause for a moment to wet your whistle and soothe your throat, making a wordless gesture for patience from your audience before doing so.
The unspoken request is granted, with several of your current companions taking the opportunity to sip at their drinks themselves.
"Now then," you continue a moment later, as you set your cup back down. "Would you care to guess as to why I've spent all this time talking about villains from another world?"
"Considering that we convened on the pretext of examining your soul," Urahara replies easily, "and taking into account various data-points previously collected in relation to your person, I would theorize that you're about to tell us that your soul originated from this kingdom, and may or may not be subject to this Curse."
"Supporting evidence?" you inquire lightly.
Urahara proceeds to recount… well, basically every interaction you've had with him that involved a scanner and/or high energy mystical techniques, and several more incidents besides.
He has charts.
To make a long story short, your incredible aptitude for sorcery – especially that of the Hyrulean Style – your occasional displays of divine power – so very similar to the energies of Golden Goddesses, if on a vastly lesser scale – and your (super)natural tendency to reach towards Hyrule when invoking Summoning Magic – whether you mean to or not – all point to a connection with said world, and one of rather greater potency than just having learned its particular magic.
Urahara compares it to the difference between a Plus that's strong enough to attend the Shinigami Academy and complete the training, coming out a Shinigami with bonded zanpakuto and at least some knowledge of the spirit arts at the end of it, and the much rarer true-born souls of the Seireitei and Rukongai who undergo the same process.
Both types of soul are capable of excelling as soul reapers, but it must be said that those who began their existences in the Soul Society and have lived their entire conscious existences according to its rules tend to advance more quickly in the development of their abilities, simply because they aren't hampered by a lifetime of memories where they couldn't knock over an object or make other people freeze in terror with a sharp look and an exertion of willpower.
Urahara also admits that he WAS guessing about the Curse, but given your not-a-statement over the phone about potentially apocalyptic consequences to poking into your soul, it was a pretty safe guess to make.
"That is a good theory," you finally reply, "and it's accurate on pretty much every point."
Urahara grins.
"So, did you also guess that I'm Ganondorf's reincarnation?"
…
"…I had not thought quite that far ahead, no," Urahara admits after a moment. "That's why your spirit animal is a boar, isn't it?"
You did mention the Dark Beast, as well as Ganon's usual porcine aspect.
"That's my theory, at least," you agree. "Also, since it's probably relevant, I have conscious recollection of that or those lifetime(s)."
"What," Urahara and Yoruichi say in unison.
"Well, PARTS of them, anyway," you correct yourself. "I found out a while back that Mean Old Me starts getting grumbly if I dig around in his memories too much-"
"What."
"-so I've been avoiding doing that as much as possible. And Navi's help in suppressing and reverting the side-effects was very appreciated," you add, nodding to the Great Fairy.
"And yet, I can't help but notice that you're starting to look more Gerudo again," your partner's mother replies with a frown.
"Yeah, some of that seems to be an unavoidable consequence of just growing up while having access to so much of his magic and memories already, but some of it is also, well, accidental memory-flashes… and the occasional invoked-on-purpose sort," you add quickly. "Good news, though, I'm pretty sure I can treat that with Limited Wishes going forward! At least for a while!"
"What?!"
"I know, I know, the diamonds are going to be a hassle-"
"Tessai," Urahara interrupts, getting to his feet, "start up the machines!"
"Yes, Manager!"
Well, then. Guess it's time to do some Science.
Of course, for the examination to go ahead, you have to drop your Spell of Mind Blank. You've done this before, relying on the Urahara Shop's wards and your lack of a blatant resemblance to the form your Shadow was using during the Silbern Raid to fool the not-quite-all-seeing eyes of Jugram Haschwalth, should he happen to have been looking for Yhwach's killer.
The fact that Shadow Alex is either in a completely different location or entirely non-existent during those scans has been a distinct comfort in those situations, and proves so once again.
Even with all of that, though, it's better to be safe than sorry. Ambrose's presence in particular has the potential to be a little worrisome, since he didn't bother with a disguise during the Raid, and hence is undoubtedly known to the Quincy commander. That said, the wizard is currently under his own Mind Blank ward, and he apparently spent a good part of your explanation quietly readying a spell, as he now raises a very large Private Sanctum around the area where your experts will be working.
Balthazar follows that up with a Spell to Detect Scrying, a reasonable "just in case" measure to let you know if Urahara and Ambrose's respective defenses are thwarted.
You dismiss your Mind Blank, settle back onto the recliner, and make yourself as comfortable as you can when people are aiming scanning spells, devices, and powers at you.
…
"Done already?" you ask, about half an hour on, as Urahara and Tessai finally draw back the not-actually-PKE Meters they've been using.
"Done with your standard monthly check-up," the shopkeeper clarifies. "Nothing unusual for you, although now that I know you're aware of your past life, some of the readings DO make more sense."
He sounds a little annoyed about that, which is fair. Not telling Urahara about your spiritual status WAS pretty much keeping important information from your soul-doctor.
Regardless, with that stage of things done-
"Is everybody else done?" you inquire, looking around.
"A little more time, if you please, toka," Razi replies, still Squinting Into Your SOOOOUUUUL…!
-you eventually sit up and reach into your pocket for the diamond reagent you picked out for your (hopefully) soul-cleansing Limited Wish.
"I Wish for the Power, Wisdom, and Courage to triumph over the Curse's influence and remain myself!"
Perhaps unsurprisingly, since you called upon the prime virtues of the Goddesses, golden light radiates outwards, briefly forming the Triforce emblem beneath your feet. It breaks up almost as quickly as it came, but it was there.
And then, a sensation runs through you that is akin to several things happening all at once. It's as if you've stepped out of an air-conditioned and shaded building into direct sunlight on a hot summer day, while simultaneously feeling like you've been caught in a mild rain, with the wind blowing slightly.
Only, you know, you're feeling all of that on the INSIDE.
It is… an experience.
Definitely learned Limited Wish
Gained Past-Life Experience D (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Power Aura D (Plus)
Gained Power Word E
When the brief lightshow fades, your experts take a moment to look around.
"…I admit, that's the first time I've been in a position to directly observe a Wish being made," Urahara says slowly. "With that said, I have to ask if the golden light show is normal, or-?"
"Yes," Navi sighs.
"No," Ambrose replies grumpily, in the same moment.
The two of them do a mutual double-take, trade gestures for a moment, and finally Navi concedes and accepts Ambrose's unspoken offer to go first.
"He's a devotee of the Golden Goddesses, he invoked their major aspects while making the Wish, AND he's handled the Triforce in the past and still has traces of its power running through him. With all of that being true, a certain amount of, well, 'golden light show,' is only to be expected."
"Ah," Ambrose says after a moment. "Well, I was going to say it was just the boy being his usual ridiculous rule-breaking self…"
"That works, too," Navi agrees.
What few eyes had turned away from you for that short conversation now rejoin the rest of the audience in staring intently at you.
…
"…back on the table?" you guess.
"Back on the table," Urahara agrees.
"If you please," Tessai adds politely.
"See, this is one reason why everybody likes you better…"
"You're polite," you finish.
Tessai beams at your compliment.
"I'm polite," Urahara grumbles.
"No," Yoruichi corrects, "you're just not offensive. Most of the time."
"That's polite!"
"It's really not, Kisuke – or do you need to me to remind you of the matron?"
For a split-second, Urahara almost looks like he's about to glance over his shoulder.
None of your gathered experts actually stopped scanning you at any point, but their readings did get a bit disrupted when you made your Wish, Limited or not. As the residual energies of the reality-warping magic fade over the next few minutes, rendering its proper effects become more clearly discernible, you start hearing beeps from Urahara's equipment that aren't quite the same as the ones you recall from previous scanning sessions – whether today's or the older ones you've undergone – and these are accompanied by sounds of discovery, interest, and… mm, not quite excitement, but definitely some sort of heightened emotional state among the examiners.
You hold off on asking questions until everybody is done taking their respective readings, which takes somewhat longer than your first round of being studied. Well before it's done, Moblin has gotten bored and wandered off, with Briar going with him to make sure he doesn't get into trouble.
Not that you would normally say there's a whole lot of trouble to be had in a big underground room, but it's URAHARA's big underground room, and that makes all the difference.
Eventually, the beeping and sense of being probed on various metaphysical levels dies down, giving you a chance to discuss findings.
The results are at once positive, in that your Limited Wish has definitely reduced certain aspects of what can now be clearly identified as the influence of your past self – and through him, the Curse of Demise – upon your current self, but also negative in that it illustrates just how MUCH influence your past self actually had. You hadn't quite built up to the point where you were when Navi previously purged you of the bulk of Ganondorf's influence and appearance, but you were pretty damn close to it, possibly even more so than you'd realized.
The lack of accompanying exterior tells, while generally a good thing, would seem to have at least one downside…
While Urahara and Tessai provide the most technically-detailed breakdown of the results, Priest Razi and Lady Navi's findings concur on the spiritual level, while Ambrose's, Merlinean Master Balthazar's, and DARK MASTER BATREAUX's provide arcane equivalents that you can really sink your (metaphorical) teeth into.
Grey Voice's psychic scan doesn't go into as much depth as the others – he did warn you it wasn't his area of expertise – but by being more focused on your mental condition than the general picture, he's able to point out how Ganondorf's second-hand memories have quieted down, as well as how certain regions of the brain linked to dreaming are slightly less active now.
As for Grandmaster Wen, his results are probably the least precise of the bunch, but they're also the most holistic, since the nature of ki means that he was technically looking you over physically, mentally, and spiritually all at once. While he didn't look as deep as the others – even Grey Voice beat him there – the wider angle of the Grandmaster's observations turns up a few things that have the arcanists and the spiritualists going back, re-checking their findings, and making more of those sounds of realization.
On the whole, you would say it's a productive hour.
You haven't seen Urahara show that sort of nervousness before, and it leaves you curious as to who or what could condition such a response into him.
"Hey, Yoruichi?"
"Hm?"
"Who is this 'matron'?"
Cats can't smile the way humans do, but Yoruichi radiates the sort of predatory smugness that only felines are capable of.
"Oh, no," Urahara begins.
"Oh, yes," comes the – ah-ha-ha – catty reply, before Yoruichi proceeds to tell you the tale of how the young Urahara and Tsukabishi happened to be raised as wards of 'a certain noble family' in the Soul Society. "And while Tessai was a quiet and well-behaved boy who only very rarely gave the household staff anything to seriously complain about," Yoruichi goes on, "Kisuke was as curious then as he is now, about a far, FAR wider range of subjects, only about a tenth as good at keeping his nose out of things, and far less capable at talking himself out of trouble."
Ah.
"Got on the wrong side of housekeeping, eh?" Ambrose says, shaking his head. "That makes for a rough time."
"You would know," Balthazar observes dryly.
"Well, of course! Almost always better to speak from a place of experience…"
"…another point for the 'long-lost relations' column," Yoruichi mutters with a fuzzy head-shake.
…
Urahara and Ambrose? Related?
MY, but what an alarming notion THAT is.
"Anyway," the cat comes back to the subject at hand, or paw, "for all that he was a little nuisance, Kisuke was also a friend of the young lady of the house, so there wasn't much that most of the household staff or family retainers could actually do about his behavior without upsetting their little mistress. But eventually, the children all got old enough for their comportment and etiquette to become important, at which point the matron in charge of their education had the authority to administer corrective measures if they failed to live up to the standards expected of the family and those affiliated with it."
"Switch and cane?" Ambrose ventures.
What?
"A previous tutor did try that," Yoruichi admits, "but considering that the children were all rather more spiritually powerful than he was, and had some training in hakuda and hoho besides, it didn't work out very well for him. No, the matron learned from that mistake and came up with a much more effective, Kisuke-specific punishment, which was bad books."
…
"I'm sorry?" you say aloud.
Urahara sighs. "The evil old woman found the longest, least interesting, and most badly-written texts she could get her hands on, and every time she felt I was 'misbehaving,' 'bringing shame upon the noble household,' or 'not living up to your potential,' she made me read one of them and write a report on it."
…
An… interesting approach, to be sure.
"How well did it work?" you inquire.
"It was a moderately effective deterrent at first," Tessai recollects. "It became VERY effective when the matron began making him re-read the books and write NEW reports, which she required to be different from the previous ones."
…
You suppose, for a mind like Urahara's – and one that would have been much younger, with less discipline and education to work with – having to re-tread the same ground over and over, especially when it was something he considered dull, uninteresting, and poorly-done from the get-go, would be a fairly effective punishment.
"Were any of them useful?" you wonder.
"What?" Urahara and Yoruichi ask in unison.
"The badly-written books," you clarify. "Did you learn anything useful from any of them, or was the whole thing just a punishment?"
Urahara considers that for a moment. "I mean, I certainly learned what the matron considered 'acceptable behavior,' but none of the books were actually on etiquette, so I'm not sure that counts."
"They weren't?"
He shakes his head, hat following suit. "I think she figured that since I seemed to be bored by the lessons on conduct to start with, making them even MORE unappealing would have been counter-productive. Instead, she grabbed texts on just about any other topic… although I'm pretty sure she threw out the one scientific treatise after the first time." He smirks faintly.
"Tore it up in the report, huh?"
"I was already reading books aimed at adults in a few fields at that age," the scientist agrees, without a hint of false modesty. "It almost made pointing out all the text's shortcomings in the report entertaining. And now that I think about it, being able to find some entertainment in pointing out flaws in other people's writing did come in handy when I ended up a seated officer – so, yes, I actually did learn something useful."
Will wonders never cease?
Anyway, with the pre- and post-Wish scans complete, there's one more round of analysis due for today, and that is for everyone to monitor you while you actively tap into Ganondorf's memories, so they can get an idea of what it looks like.
Once more, there is a certain amount of beeping, ooh-ing and aah-ing, and a general sense of mystical forces poking at you in various ways. You vaguely note that the accumulated "noise" does get a bit easier to ignore as you reach back into your inherited memories…
For a moment, you consider delving into Ganondorf's memories of Koume and Kotake. Aside from his horse, the twin witches were and remain the sole confirmed familial connection in any of the Gerudo King's lifetimes, so the memories should be fairly obvious and easy to locate.
But while you're pondering what specifically to look for in relation to that pair – with "magic" coming up a lot, of course – you find your thoughts drifting in a different direction.
In the decades and centuries following Ganondorf's original rise to power and sealing in the Sacred Realm, the Zora people began to suffer from a strange condition that gradually warped their appearances and then their very natures from humanoids to monsters. Although the root cause of that degenerative transformation has never been determined, when you consider what defines a "monster" in Hyrulean terms – namely, the demonic essence – it doesn't seem at all unlikely that the demon-god's death curse which afflicts the entire country might have something to do with it, even just as an unexpected side-effect.
And if the change was something that was deliberately done to the Zora people, Ganondorf is the prime suspect for it, as he not only had the raw power required to engender a species-wide curse and the demonic power that would be required to turn people into monsters, he was also active not all that long prior to the earliest known cases of the condition – in absolute terms, anyway – he had a serious track record when it came to curse-calling, and he had a solid motive for wanting to screw over the Zora.
…granted, the King of Evil also had reason to mess with all the OTHER civilized peoples of Hyrule, as all of them ultimately stood against his ambitions and produced a Sage that contributed directly to his downfall. You aren't aware of any particular reason for Ganondorf to have singled out the Zoras for special treatment, particularly not when the Hylians pulled triple-duty in that generation, with the Sage of Light, Hero of Time, and Princess all being of that race.
But then, if you ask yourself the question, maybe you'll get an answer?
So you focus, and think back.
Water.
Fish.
Fish-people.
Water Temple.
Fish-monster-people.
Curse…?
…
You catch a glimpse of a Zora, already completely warped, cowering before you… and from rather far below your perspective, at that. It is a momentarily puzzling image, until a sidelong glance at the massive, clawed hand clutching the ominous form of a giant trident clues you in as to why the aquatic monster seems so small.
You search back further.
…
You see patchy images, distorted in the way that copies of Shadow Alex's experiences sometimes are if you don't take care with them or try to pack too much information into a single transference, of a great waterfall. A truly massive River Zora floats in the pool beneath, looking down at you, and yet flinching back in wary concern. This time, rather than a massive demonic arm wielding a devastating weapon, you see an upraised arm clad in the sleeve of an arcane roe that is not quite Hylian, Shiekah, or Gerudo in style, the hand almost forming a fist as it clutches a mass of dark magic that spits tiny sparks of something that might be electricity.
…are you… is he standing on the water, while threatening to throw dark lightning around?
No wonder the Zora chieftain looks so wary…
You dig even deeper.
A deadly chill hangs in the air, growing more intense as cries of alarm are swiftly cut off by the crackling of suddenly-conjured and rapidly-spreading ice, as all of Zora's Domain falls under a curse of eternal cold, catalyzed and held fast by the shapeshifting fiend of water…
…
Aside from a few other face-to-face meetings with Zora – some humanoid, others monstrous, one or two in-between – you don't recall anything else before your observers rouse you from your meditation to answer questions.
While you won't swear to it one hundred percent, at the moment, it seems like the only time Ganondorf actually had a hand in casting a curse on the Zora people was the time he had Morpha turn Zora's Domain and everyone in it into a glacier. That… doesn't really seem likely to have caused them to start turning into monsters…?
The analysis of your memory-dive yields some concerning results.
Not all of your gathered experts have prior experience in observing people's brains or spirits – or spirit-brains, thank you, Urahara – during attempts to retrieve long-buried memories, and certainly none of them have attempted this sort of thing with a confirmed conscious reincarnation before. Still, of those who have had the opportunity to monitor an attempt vaguely like this – namely Urahara, Tessai, Ambrose, Balthazar, and Navi-
"When and why, exactly?" you inquire.
"There was a training accident with a memory-affecting zanpakuto," Urahara replies. "The wielder caught himself, his sparring partner, and half a dozen other members of their squad in the area of effect, blanked out a swathe of their memories, and swapped around more. Took months to sort everyone out."
Tessai just nods in agreement.
"Ongoing studies of Enchantment Magic," Ambrose says simply. "Also routine countermeasures for psychovores."
"The same," Balthazar adds, "although I also spent a few years helping a man recover from a head injury, coma, and amnesia."
Ouch.
Everybody turns to the Great Fairy in the room, curious to hear what she has to say.
"Kids growing into their heritage of Enchantment Magic and playing around with it," Navi replies.
…
"Yeah, she wins," you decide.
-as you were saying, of those who've had the opportunity to monitor things like this before, nothing about your case looked particularly out of the ordinary, at least when observed on the most familiar level. Ambrose and Balthazar's spells returned results comparable to past studies of other living people's assisted recollections, while Urahara and Tessai's sensors gave similar results for more spiritual recall – but they also noticed the "other side" of things happening, which wasn't the case in their previous experiences.
The two Shinigami's former patients didn't have mortal bodies, after all, while the people the arcanists have worked with weren't pulling memories straight from their souls.
Navi, meanwhile, has seen both layers of memory accessed at once before, due to her own quasi-divine nature and the echoes of that which her children inherit. She notes that most of what she observes is perfectly normal – or would be, for someone with many decades to centuries of actual life-experience. The mismatch between the age of the memories in your brain and the age of the memories coming out of your soul is a subtle thing, but the Great Fairy has enough experience with century-old children who've muddled the insides of their own heads to spot the difference.
Grey Voice also notes it, solely because of his greater familiarity with pure psychic effects compared to everyone else here.
That said, the contrast between your personal memories as Alex Harris and your inherited ones as Ganondorf doesn't include hints of the necromantic energies contained in curses – at least, not yet. When they compare these readings to the ones that they took of you earlier, your experts speculate that the traces of Curse-energy in your system grew in later on.
Ambrose speculates that, rather than using your past life's memories as a vector of direct contagion, the Curse is exploiting magical sympathy to create opportunities to corrupt you. Ganondorf was ultimately wholly consumed by his ancient predecessor's grudge, and the more like him you are, the more familiar openings there will be for the Curse to latch on to.
Gained Spiritual Knowledge B (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Well, you'd already made a point of not doing things Ganondorf did, or at least not for the reasons WHY he did them. This is just reinforcing that, right?
Do you have any particular questions regarding your Past-Life Experience?
You inquire after the possibility of establishing some kind of filter to make accessing Ganondorf's memories safer, but are told it wouldn't work.
"Assuming that I am correct," Ambrose says, "and I usually am-"
"Except for that time with the external magic seal," you note cheerfully.
"-aside from that-"
"And that unplanned trip to Hell," Briar adds.
"-no," the wizard interrupts, "I actually DID account for that possibility, or how else would I have gotten out so easily, even with help?"
…
"Okay, fair," you admit.
"Thank you. Now where was I?"
"Assuming you were correct," Balthazar supplies.
Ambrose gives his erstwhile student a suspicious look. "…riiiight. So, as I was saying, if my theory about the Curse exploiting similarities between your current and past selves as a vector for infection is correct, it won't matter if you strip out elements of your predecessor's knowledge – that you have it at ALL means the threat is still there. I can't even say that reducing the information you take directly from him would lessen the danger, because if you were stripping out the context and just getting a raw information feed, you wouldn't know what actions your previous incarnation undertook in getting or using that knowledge, meaning it would be all too easy for you to repeat them."
…
That is an unfortunate point. Granted, there's stuff like Evil Magic – and yes, it DOES need to be capitalized – which is blatantly hazardous and which you wouldn't use as a rule, but there's also plenty of more innocuous lore tucked away in your head.
Take Fire Magic. Sure, burning people to death and setting fire to their property are things Ganondorf did that you wouldn't care to repeat, but how about frying monsters or just starting campfires? Because he did that, too, and on more than one occasion. You don't think he ever lit a funeral pyre or set off fireworks, but you don't know for sure, and that's WITH some of the big guy's memories.
"Now, if you were talking about filtering the energies of Curse," Ambrose goes on, "that would normally be a reasonable safeguard. Unfortunately, unlike most other malignant works of magic, this one isn't coming at you from without, but from within, and deeply so. Setting up a ward against corruption inside your soul isn't something I'd care to attempt, myself, and while some of our more spiritually or divinely focused experts might manage it…"
He pauses to look at Urahara, Navi, and Razi.
"I actually offered to do something similar the first time we met," Navi says.
"You mean AFTER you made us run a few deathtraps," Briar notes.
"Tradition, dear."
"Yes, yes…"
The Great Fairy proceeds to describe the options she presented to you after your adventure in the Silent Realm, explaining some of the technical details for the others. The seal she offered to put on Ganondorf's memories wasn't any sort of filter at all, just a solid barrier, and the cleansing of your past life's excessive influence was precisely that, effectively the same sort of process you invoked with your own magic earlier – just more so.
As for the other two boons that Navi offered that time, one would have slowed the accumulation of Ganondorf-like traits for a time, while the other would give you a chance to resist them directly. Those are "filters" of a sort, but they were aimed at your past self's memories, NOT the influence of the Curse of Demise, which neither you nor Navi had any idea actually existed at that point.
Taking your CURRENT information into account, Navi thinks those two approaches would be bad ideas.
"Through Ganondorf, the Curse has warped or simply used too many sources of magic in Hyrule for me to risk giving them another tool to corrupt and exploit," she says. "Especially since this one would be inside of you."
Razi has similar concerns, while Urahara doesn't yet have enough information on the Curse to make any solid statements. You DID just tell him about it today, after all.
With the scans done, your current condition established, and the immediate effects of drawing on your past life's memories observed, there is little else that your experts can do now except return to their respective domiciles, compare their findings against whatever relevant sources they have to hand or can get in touch with, and wait until the next time they're all gathered together like this to see how your condition has progressed.
Lu-sensei sees the Grandmaster off, Batreaux returns the priestly trio to Hyrule, and you dismiss both Grey Voice and Priest Razi-
"Until next time, toka."
-leaving only Navi.
"Yes?" the Great Fairy asks.
"So, on an almost entirely unrelated note, I was wondering…"
You bring up the idea of hiring a fairy, preferably one of Briar's siblings, to help teach your mother and sister magic.
Navi promptly bursts out laughing.
"…not the response I was expecting," you admit slowly.
She raises a hand to gesture for patience, and eventually gets control of her amusement and breathing.
"Sorry, I… hah. I just immediately pictured some of my little ones trying to teach magic."
…
"Are you picturing what I am picturing, Apprentice?" Batreaux wonders.
"I think so, Master," you reply. "But where would they even GET a Buzz Blob?"
"INDEED."
*Crack-a-THOOM*
Anyway, the majority of Navi's kids are obviously no good for this sort of task. Even the ones that are mature enough not to blow anyone up or cause any accidental transformations don't really have the skill or knowledge to teach magic – at least not mortal magic. They're reasonably well-equipped when it comes to learning their own brand, and possibly teaching it, but neither your mother nor your sister possesses any real talent for the druidic arts, let alone the (original) variations practiced by the Fae.
Which particular type of magic were you hoping to teach them?
Hyrulean Sorcery has served you very well, it's a self-contained magical style – which is advantageous in general, but especially so on the Hellmouth – and it has minimal side-effects on practitioners, assuming they advance to the point where "turning into an otherworldly creature" would be a concern for most sorcerers.
Speaking frankly, you don't think your mother has the innate power or the time to dedicate to magic to really worry about that sort of thing, but again, with the Hellmouth as a concern, it's just as well to take precautionary measures.
As for Zelda's potential, she's still young enough that you can't really say yet what her limits might be. For that very reason, though, the relatively mild long-term effects of wielding Hyrulean Sorcery are a boon, because you would really rather not see your little sister turn into a demon or something.
And no, that is not bigotry. You have (sort of) been there, you have (sort of) done that, and you very much would not recommend the experience to anyone else.
It's a coin toss as to whether getting fatally stabbed in the brain and/or heart with a holy sword is more or less annoying than being sealed in another plane of existence for centuries on end. Sure, one hurts a whole lot more than the other, but it's also over relatively quickly…
Navi nods and says that a couple of her older kids have studied the Hyrulean method in addition to or as an extension of their innate magical talents.
"It has almost the same benefits for fairies as it does for mortals," the Great Fairy notes. "Arguably even more so, considering that we exist between Hyrule and Faerie to begin with."
You can see how anything that might throw that particular balance off would be a problem. Become too "Material" or "mortal," and you'd start having problems interacting with the denizens of Faerie – more so than little fairies and their not-yet-adult older siblings already face, anyway – not to mention the possibility of getting stuck on the Hyrulean side of the planar boundary, at least absent the sort of planes-walking magic that small fairies basically never have access to themselves. The other side of things is at least as bad; a fairy who became too Fae wouldn't just risk getting stuck in Faerie and thus having to deal with the Big Folk and other jerks all the time, they'd also quickly find their mortal friends having less and less fun hanging out and playing with them.
But Hyrulean Sorcery, with its tendency to make the practitioner "more" of what they already were, would be a pretty safe bet for fairies looking for some more magic muscle, provided they were old enough to have an attention span worth mentioning.
Anyhow, Navi agrees to check with her sorcerous offspring and see what they think about taking students. She makes no promises beyond that.
"…they're taking part in the Fairy Death Machine contest, aren't they?" you guess after a moment.
"Yes, yes they are."
Oooh, bad timing. Well, worse comes to worst, they should be available by winter, right? Spring at the latest, if something goes horribly right wrong and the cleanup of the competition needs a lot of extra hands.
With that done, you dismiss Navi and Batreaux, and renew your Spell of Mind Blank before Ambrose and Balthazar lower the extra wards they set up earlier.
You all wait a moment to see if any angry Quincy are about to pop out of nowhere and try to level Urahara Shop, or anything similar, but after a couple of minutes go buy and some quick Divinations fail to register "imminent death" or similar bad news, you relax a bit.
Since you were already going to be in the area region country, you discussed the possibility of visiting Lu-sensei's niece and her family again before leaving Sunnydale. He was alright with it, and this time, he even managed to call ahead at a reasonable hour and a couple of days in advance, borrowing your enchanted cell-phone so as to not rack up anyone's phone bills.
That said, there was one thing you didn't get around to settling-
"So what do you want I should do with them, Lu-sensei?" you inquire, gesturing at the wizard and the other sorcerer in the room.
"What's this?" Ambrose wonders.
"Does it include me?" Urahara inquires.
"And why are you talking like a caricature of a mob thug?" Balthazar adds, frowning slightly.
-which is how to handle your other two passengers in the interim.
"Family visit," your martial arts master replies simply. "And my niece would prefer that I not show up with unannounced extra guests, again."
Yeah, the lady in question was a little put off by your presence, the last time, though that did seem to be largely because of having a complete stranger younger than her own kids in the house in company with her somewhat-estranged uncle.
"Ah," Ambrose says. "Made the mistake of getting on the hostess's less-than-good side, have we?"
Lu Tze concedes with a grimace and a nod.
"Well, in that case-"
"We'll just get out of your way," Balthazar interjects.
"-we'll… wait, what?" The wizard glances at his once-student, takes in Blake's expression and stance, and huffs. "Killjoy."
"We both have students to check on and research findings to go over," the Merlinean Master says easily.
"The Drake girls have yet to make as much trouble as young Mr. Stutler did by opening the Grimhold," Ambrose replies, but his heart clearly isn't in it.
That said, while Balthazar can make his own way back to New York, Ambrose admits he would prefer a lift to Wales.
After dropping Lu-sensei off near his niece's place, you oblige.
Was there anything you wanted to ask of Ambrose, or check on while you're in Great Britain?
You thank Ambrose for his time and support-
"Don't thank me TOO much, lad," the wizard replies. "It hardly serves my interests to let a potential world-ending danger go unaddressed when I have the opportunity to do otherwise. After all, I live here, most of the time."
And you certainly have no argument with enlightened self-interest, but even so.
-and them leave him to his research, this time porting back to the Tokyo Tower and then using a reduced and much easier to hide Spell of Teleportation to rejoin Lu-sensei, who had taken Moblin off your hands for a bit.
"…you did think to warn your niece about my dog, right, Sensei?" you ask, as you take back the leash.
"I did, and on that note, she wants him to stay in the yard."
Unfortunate, but the weather is nice enough that Moblin probably won't mind, especially since you and Briar can just explain it to him – one of numerous advantages that come with being able to legitimately communicate with your pets, as opposed to just talking to them.
Despite it being the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, Lu-sensei's niece's house seems pretty quiet. There is a car in the driveway this time, however – a fairly compact model, to your eye, but big enough to handle the needs of a family of four, at least as long as they weren't planning on travelling too far – and when your master rings the doorbell, it's answered by a man you haven't met yet. He's forty-ish, moderately good-looking, and has the sort of build that was probably slender about twenty years ago, but has since rounded out in a way that suggests he's spent most of the intervening decades riding a desk somewhere. He's not going bald or grey that you can tell, but there are some lines creeping in about the corners of his face, and he's wearing a thin pair of glasses.
Even in casual stay-at-home wear consisting of a t-shirt, slacks, and house slippers, he rather looks the part of a Japanese salaryman. The lack of supernatural traces about him – arcane, divine, ki-based, or otherwise – just reinforces that.
"Good afternoon, Lu Tze," he greets your teacher levelly.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Hirata," your master replies politely. "This is my student, Alexander Harris, and his dog, Moblin."
Briar, of course, goes unmentioned.
"Alex, this is my grand-nephew by marriage, Hirata Tsuneo."
"Sir," you say with a polite bow.
"Young Harris," Mr. Hirata greets you. His gaze slides down to Moblin.
"I was told to leave him outside," you say, "but is there a particular spot that you'd prefer?"
"Somewhere away from the car, the gate, and the door," the man admits, looking out to his yard. "How much lead do you have on that leash…?"
You eventually end up tying Moblin's leash to one of the fenceposts-
-after which you follow your master and your host inside.
As you reach into your pocket, you say, "Stay here and be good, okay, Moblin?"
Your dog tugs at his leash a bit.
"And here, to keep you company…"
You don't need the Spell to Speak With Animals active to interpret the happy bark when you take out the Haunted Ball.
You also pointedly ignore the faint ghostly wail from within the Ball.
Leaving Moblin to amuse himself, you head inside, removing your shoes as you do so and taking out a pair of slippers that you brought along for just this occasion. They're not quite the indoor footwear that modern Japanese customs prefer, but they pass muster, and they're small enough that Mr. Hirata's surprised reaction is more of the "you brought shoes?" variety than the "where were you keeping those?" sort.
Despite how quiet the house seemed to be from the outside, it gets distinctly louder once you're in. The center of the disturbance proves to be in the living room, where Potential Magical Girl Yumiko, her older brother, and their mother Yumi are all currently doing their best to beat each other at a game of Mario Party – or rather, one of its mini-games. You aren't the most familiar with the title, so you're a bit lost as to what's going on-
"Go, go, go!" Sanosuke says urgently to his character, which appears to be Donkey Kong.
"No, no, no!" Yumiko replies, while frantically guiding Mario.
Yumi says nothing, focused on steering Princess Peach around.
-but the family have definitely gotten into it.
"Uncle," the lady of the house acknowledges Lu-sensei with a quick sidelong glance.
"Yumi," your teacher replies.
"Huh?"
"Who?"
The siblings look away from the screen rather more energetically and completely than their mother did, blinking in surprise at their great-uncle and you (and in Yumiko's case, at Briar as well)-
"Ah-ha!" Yumi cries.
-and then quickly turn back to their game with shouts of dismay and protest, as their mother seizes upon their distraction to leap ahead in the mini-game.
"Cheater!" Sanosuke protests.
"Mom!"
"Victory shall be mine!"
"Like heck!"
"Dad, come back and help stop her!"
Well, then. Whatever trouble Lu-sensei has with his relatives, it's nice to see that the family get along among themselves just fine.
Yumi claims victory shortly thereafter, to the groaning of her offspring, and since they now have guests, the N64 is turned off.
Since you weren't directly introduced to Yumiko on your last visit and only met her brother in passing, introductions are re-made. In the process, you notice Yumiko noticing Briar's presence, and looking at you and then around at everyone else in the room with an expression of mingled excitement and concern.
While planning this visit, you talked with Lu-sensei about how supernaturally aware his niece and her family were, and what would be appropriate to talk about. Your teacher told you that Yumi is aware of the supernatural aspects of the School of Five Elements – if perhaps not just how far the art can really go – and consequently has some knowledge of other mystical fighting styles, magic, and supernatural creatures. She doesn't like a lot of what she knows, and while Lu-sensei didn't come out and say it, you get the impression that some of his difficulties interacting with his sister's daughter are rooted in Yumi's distaste for supernatural stuff.
Tsuneo is evidently aware of the magical side of things as well, if not as directly as his wife, and the two of them made the call to raise their kids as normally as possible, with some common-sense safety precautions like not inviting people in after dark or exploring abandoned structures. While it's not a choice you would make, it has worked out pretty well for them – at least until now.
In his letters and occasional calls since your last visit, Lu-sensei has explained to his niece about her daughter's mystical potential. Yumi was evidently not thrilled to hear about it, but also not about to try sticking her head in the sand. She hasn't broached the subject with Yumiko yet, not having an easy way to prove anything, but with her ki adept uncle paying a visit along with his magical ki adept student AND a fairy… well, there are options.
Did you have a preference for how to begin this talk?
Since you're dealing with your teacher's family, you decide to leave the opening bit to him.
But you do cough to get his attention while the Nintendo is being put away, and when you have that, you give a subtle nod towards Briar, indicating what you'd like your master to start with.
Lu-sensei obliges, and when Yumi – being a conscientious hostess – inquires if anybody would like a drink, your teacher clears his throat. "Just water for myself, Yumi – but before that, there is one more introduction that needs to be made."
The family collectively blink, although Yumiko follows that up by glancing Briar's way with a nervously hopeful look.
"…the dog?" Mr. Hirata guesses, looking confused.
"Daddy!" Yumiko groans, suddenly looking mortally embarrassed. "Rude!"
"Just a little bit," Briar agrees, "but it's not really his fault he can't see me."
"They brought a dog?" Sanosuke asks.
"He's tied up in the yard – why is that rude, Yumiko?" the father wonders.
"Mmrr…"
"I wasn't referring to the dog, no," Lu-sensei says, coughing into his fist. "Rather… Briar, if you would show yourself?"
"Sure!"
*Poof*
And with a little more of a lightshow than is really required, your partner assumes her human guise.
"Good afternoon," she greets the Hiratas. "My name is Briar."
Three people stare.
Yumiko starts bouncing. "See!" she exclaims. "I told you Uncle Lu's student had a fairy following him around!"
"…you said she was tiny," her father manages.
"She was!"
"I usually am," Briar confirms. "This" – she gestures at her current appearance – "is just a disguise."
"You didn't say she was-!" Sanosuke starts to say, before suddenly closing his mouth and looking away.
"Was what?" Yumiko wonders, looking at her brother with a puzzled expression.
"Never mind," he mutters.
You join Yumiko in frowning at the older boy. Why is he blushing?
"…well, then," Yumi says. "Can I get you anything, Miss?"
"Just water is fine for me as well, ma'am. Thank you."
You keep things simple and go for the same, after which Yumi press-gangs her daughter into helping her fetch the drinks from the kitchen.
They leave a somewhat uncomfortable silence in their wake.
…
"Ahem," Tsuneo begins a moment later. "My apologies about the, ah, dog remark, Miss Briar."
"Thank you," your partner replies. "But like I said before, it's hardly your fault that you couldn't realize I was here."
"'Couldn't'?" the man wonders.
"Couldn't," Briar confirms. "I'll explain when your wife is here."
Mr. Hirata nods at that, and falls silent.
…
You're starting to think that Lu-sensei's awkwardness around his family may not be QUITE as much his own fault as that first visit made it seem…
Fortunately, it doesn't take long for half a dozen modestly-sized glasses of water to be filled, and once everyone is seated and has a drink waiting for them on the table, Briar briefly explains the basics of fairies – tiny, imperceptible, generally not overly bright, mostly harmless.
"As for why I follow this guy around," she says then, gesturing towards you. "That's a bit more complicated…"
You would rather Briar not go into too much detail about your mutual private life, partly because it IS private and you don't know Lu-sensei's relatives that well yet, but also because most of what Briar might say isn't really relevant just now.
You give your partner a mental nudge through the familiar bond, and are nudged back with an assurance that she was leaning towards the less-detailed explanation to begin with.
Briar doesn't miss a beat in continuing her explanation. "…but the short version is that some of the fairies of my homeland, when they meet a person that they really get along with, will form a partnership with that person. They live together, work together, play together, occasionally go on adventures together, and just generally watch out for and support each other. I don't know if you've heard about the practice some spellcasters have of taking animal familiars…?"
"Like magical girls?" Yumiko says without missing a beat.
"Come on, Yumi," her brother sighs. "It can't-"
"It is a bit like that," Briar admits.
"Grk!"
"Yes!"
"We're not limited to partnering with girls, though, and we don't hand out magical devices that let our partners transform into magical warriors."
"Aww… why not?"
"That would take more magic than a lot of small fairies have, and many objects of power are too big for us to move anyway."
The Hiratas blink at Briar.
"Most fairies my age or younger can't take on human size," she says. "Again, it's mostly a power issue. I'm cheating by borrowing some of Alex's magic."
And now they look at you.
"Magic, not ki?" Mrs. Hirata says, glancing at Lu Tze. "Uncle, have you been branching out?"
"Ah, no, Yumi. Alex was already learning magic when he started training with me. I believe you said Briar helped?" he adds, glancing at the two of you.
"But, but, but!" Yumiko protests. "You said no transformation devices!"
"I did," Briar agrees, "and I didn't give him one."
"I don't need to transform to use magic," you add. "What Briar gave me were magic lessons, and somebody who understood magic well enough for me to bounce ideas off of."
"Among other things," Briar agrees mildly.
You squint at her, suspicious, but then turn back to your audience. "Anyway, I was already able to use a fair bit of magic when I first met Briar. She helped me shore up my basics and fill out my skillset enough to get in touch with a proper teacher, who I've been studying and training with since."
"And it is because of that training," Lu-sensei takes over, "as well as his particular awareness of magic, that Alex was able to spot something important on our prior visit, which I did not and would not have noticed until he called my attention to it. Though Briar's presence was also… illuminating."
The parents are both aware of what your master is leading up to, which tells you that Yumi has kept her husband in the loop about what she's been talking about with her uncle. Their kids, on the other hand, both look rather lost.
"Like I said before," Briar reminds them, "most humans can't perceive fairies. The main exceptions are young children, who are still innocent and open-minded enough to believe in 'impossible things' like fairies, people who've hung around a fairy often enough to know she's there – which is the group some of Alex's friends fall into – and people with certain kinds of supernatural abilities."
Yumiko blinks and, slowly, starts to look like she's having a realization.
"So, Yumi could see you because she's an airhead?" Sanosuke guesses.
Suddenly, his face is introduced to one of the couch pillows.
"Jerk!"
"Sano / Yumi," the parents scold in unison, with an air of long, weary practice.
"But he-!"
"I mean, she IS-"
"I am NOT!"
They may need a minute.
The Hiratas have their kids sorted out inside of a minute, the actions of all parties involved saying as clear as words that the family has prior experience with this sort of thing – which is hardly surprising. You have yet to meet a kid who hasn't gotten into trouble with their parents at least once, with those who have siblings being somewhat more prone to it on average.
You and Zelda are a happy exception there.
Anyway, once things have calmed down, Mrs. Hirata tells her children that she was informed that Yumi had magical potential-
"YES!"
"Sit down- Yumiko!"
"Give her a minute, dear."
Mrs. Hirata sighs but allows her daughter's air-punching victory dance to continue for a moment.
-which is part of the reason why she could she "the little fairy" back then, and probably why she's seen or heard a few other things over the years that the rest of the family either didn't notice, or just convinced themselves wasn't real.
She then asks you and Briar for a more complete explanation, which you provide, getting into a bit about your various expanded senses and what they allow you to perceive, as well as what the different aspects of Yumiko's aura look like.
Naturally, this almost immediately leads to Sanosuke wondering if he has any sort of hidden superpowers-
"It's magic, not superpowers," Yumiko chides her brother.
"Same difference."
"No it isn't!"
-and in turn, sees you, Briar, and Lu-sensei giving a quick overview of the various forms of supernatural energy-use, and which ones require innate talent to be used at all, versus the ones that can be learned.
As for the ones that can be acquired by "artificial" methods, such as magic weapon users, warlocks, and Prism Ranger-esque friendship-powered transformations…
Ah, the old conundrum – do you keep a potentially dangerous piece of knowledge hidden from an eager young novice, in the hope that ignorance of the subject will keep him from seeking it out, or do you reveal the truth in a way that makes the danger apparent, and hope that your audience has a working sense of self-preservation?
In this particular case, you prefer the informed approach, as the existence of warlocks and the method of their empowerment is sufficiently well-known to make trying to hide the knowledge counterproductive. Honestly, anybody who's seen a magical girl or transforming hero show would have a reasonably accurate idea of what was involved already: a non-human entity offers a deal for its own purposes, or even just gives someone the power outright; said deal grants fabulous secret powers and major obligations, with a distinct weight towards the latter side of the scale; the recipient's ordinary life generally goes to the wayside as weird and dangerous things start happening; and it escalates from there.
Even the part where a lot of those protagonists end up giving up or losing their powers at the end of their story arc is kind of in-keeping with the warlock paradigm, as you're… hmmm… call it half-sure that a patron could remove the powers they handed out, if they took the time to set things up correctly at the start of the deal. And certainly, somebody whose powers were sourced from a magical or technological artifact would be effectively disempowered if the item in question were destroyed or their link to it severed.
Or, you know, the patron could just kill their client.
Anyway, you admit to the existence of warlocks and users of magic items, not going into too much detail but making sure to emphasize the risks involved in either approach. As far as more technological forms of empowerment go, you really don't have a lot to say – you've only seen the Prism Rangers in person the one time, back at the World Tournament, and they were probably just a bunch of performers. Capable martial artists and acrobats, yes, and with a decent special effects crew, but just that.
Probably.
Sanosuke is visibly disappointed by this information, and it doesn't help when you add that he doesn't share his sister's innate potential for more magical abilities. He could learn how to harness his ki in a reasonable amount of time, but even if he started training right now, he'd most likely graduate from high school before he fired his first ki blast. Barring any natural aptitude for the art, which, given his relationship to Lu-sensei, isn't entirely impossible – but seeing that the boy hasn't taken up martial arts on his own already, it is pretty unlikely.
Yumiko not only refrains from teasing her brother or being smug in his general direction, she looks dismayed on his behalf.
With that aside handled for the moment, you come to the question of what options there are for dealing with Yumiko's potential.
First of all, she could do nothing. Even on the supernatural side, there's no law requiring a person with mystical talent to actually cultivate it, and besides that, the time and effort involved in awakening her potential might turn out to be more than she's interested in putting in. On top of that, once her abilities were unlocked, Yumiko would have one foot firmly in the Moonlit World, and would eventually and unavoidably become involved in something supernatural.
Power calls to power, after all.
If Yumiko chose not to learn, her existing mystical potential would stagnate and eventually decay, causing her aura to become less noticeable in general and less interesting to anyone or anything that did see her – but less noticeable is not unnoticeable, and plenty of ordinary people have encounters with the night-life regardless.
The second major option, and the one you would recommend, is for Yumiko to get a teacher or three and start working on developing her abilities.
"Three teachers?" Yumiko repeats with dismay.
"Martial arts, sorcery, and spiritualism," you remind her.
"But that would be so much work!"
"…yes?"
The Hiratas are all staring at you for some reason.
"You'll have to excuse my partner," Briar sighs. "He's a workaholic."
"I am not."
"You have a schedule for your activities over the next three months, Alex. How many nine-year-olds do that? How many FILL their schedules?"
"I like learning, okay?"
"Suddenly, I am a lot less disappointed in my boring normalcy," Sanosuke muses.
Yumiko is not so consternated that she misses her brother's remark. "Are you calling me a weirdo?"
"I mean, if the magic school uniform fits…?"
The girl goes for the pillow again, but then thinks better of it. "Mom, Sano's being a jerk again!"
Of Yumiko's three outstanding potentials, which would you most recommend that she pursue?
Were you in Yumiko's situation, you would prefer to explore as many options as practical – partly out of simple curiosity at what was available, and partly to try and cover your bases with a more versatile skillset instead of overspecializing in one area – but the girl has made her opinion of that approach fairly clear.
That said, you would still recommend that she look into training options for two of her potential mystical avenues, specifically martial arts and sorcery.
"Why those two?" Tsuneo asks.
"I've found that they have a very strong synergy," you reply, before explaining more thoroughly.
The martial arts, particularly the unarmed variety, offer a lot of convenience for somebody trying to live a normal life. Much of the training can be readily passed off as a more aggressive sort of mundane physical exercise and conditioning, because that's precisely what it is, and there are enough people who take up the practice purely for the health benefits that nobody would look twice at Yumiko for doing the same. Likewise, if you have to call on your "unusual" skills to defend yourself around ordinary witnesses, saying that you know kung fu can explain away some surprising feats of physical prowess. On top of that, once you get into active use of ki, it can be applied to just about every otherwise ordinary thing you do.
Yumiko and Sanosuke are not the only ones to look both startled and interested by your admission of using ki to do things like read books faster or be a better gardener.
Unarmed martial arts also have the particular benefit of being a tool that's always in your hand, so to speak, something that's usable basically anywhere and anytime once you've got the techniques involved down, and on top of that, the Hiratas have a bit of a family history working in their favor. Granted, Lu-sensei isn't in a position where he can personally teach his great-niece and/or -nephew, but he can certainly advise them and direct them to better trainers than they might otherwise be able to find – and some of those people will be more likely to give them the time of day because of who they're related to.
…though, admittedly, there are also some people that would have the opposite reaction.
"Do tell," Yumi the elder says dryly, sparing her uncle a Look.
Lu-sensei coughs and glances away.
As for sorcery, it's almost as self-contained as martial arts, and while not as versatile as some forms of magic-
"Usually," Briar notes.
-practitioners do have the advantage of deeper reserves and greater flexibility in the use of what powers they do command, at least when compared to most other arcane spellcasters at a similar level of skill and experience. Even at the lowest level, sorcery provides options – such as the means to affect opponents normally resistant to mere physical force, or to deflect harm – which a novice in the martial arts would not yet be able to muster; conversely, the martial artist's fighting skills and overall improved physical condition let a sorcerer fight, dodge threats, or just run for his life effectively, without needing to burn magic to do it.
Of course, there are downsides to different forms of sorcery, not the least of which is that some of them can't be learned at all if you're lacking a particular bloodline or access to a certain external resource, like an item or location of power, or the favor of a patron. And then there are the long-term effects of being a living channel for the forces of magic, which, while generally not so pronounced or disquieting as what warlocks ultimately face-
"Ewww!"
-aren't without their less-appealing potential consequences.
Naturally, this is why you would recommend that Yumiko study…
Since you are aware of two sorcerous traditions that carry minimal to nonexistent long-term transmutative side-effects, and which have their own ups and downs that make them fairly competitive, you go ahead and lay both out for the family to consider.
On the one hand, there is your personal favorite, Hyrulean Sorcery. Naturally, you and Briar can personally testify to what's involved in learning and using this style of magic, be it the inward focus and cultivation of personal potential or the lack of unsettling physical alterations.
"Your ears are pointed," Yumiko notes neutrally.
"That is a side-effect of a specific ritual that I did," you reply, "not of my magical abilities in general."
"…so, if I started practicing this style and didn't do that ritual, I wouldn't get pointed ears?"
"Exactly."
You aren't sure if she's relieved by that fact, or disappointed…
Another upside to the Hyrulean Style is that there are a lot of tutors available, and you can easily serve as a middle-man to help Yumiko find someone that she's comfortable with learning from. Teaching her yourself is simply not practical for either of you, mostly due to scheduling issues on your part, your respective residences on opposite sides of the Pacific, and a certain lack of trust on the other end.
For all its strong points, Hyrulean Sorcery is not without its downsides, of which the biggest in the short term is the very foreign nature of the magic and most of its practitioners. There's nobody in Japan, much less anywhere near the Hirata house, that Yumiko could call up or visit for pointers in her practice, or even just to get a different opinion from whatever you and Briar say, and it might be tricky for her to really relate to Hyrulean tutors, given the differences between the two worlds.
In the long run, the ultimate limit of the Hyrulean Style is that a mortal soul, even a reasonably gifted one like Yumiko's, can only power so much magic on its own. You think that she might hit seventh-circle spellcasting if she worked at it, but that could easily be the work of decades all by itself.
After making all that clear, you bring up the Merlinean Style-
"Merlin was real?" Sanosuke wonders.
"He was," you reply, forbearing to say anything about Ambrose.
-noting that while you aren't a practitioner yourself and hence aren't fully aware of its requirements and restrictions, you are friends with a student of the current Master of the art, and have picked up a fair bit from Dave – whether in conversation or via the occasional letter – and just by paying attention at the Arcana Cabana.
Of course, Balthazar's residence in New York and pre-existing commitments to teaching Dave and running his store make him a less-than-appealing prospect for Yumiko's new teacher, too, but you know from past discussions that the Sorcerer of the Seven Hundred and Seventy-Seventh Degree is hardly the be-all, end-all of the Merlinean lineage. You don't know if any of his juniors are currently living in Japan, much less if they'd be willing to take on a student, but you can certainly ask about it.
Aside from the uncertainty of available tutors, the main drawback with Merlinean Sorcery is how much book-work is involved. The Hyrulean Style is already more research-intensive than most typical forms of sorcery, but Dave's lessons cover an even wider range of topics than your own studies, coming rather closer to true wizardry than not.
"Yeah, Yumi might not be up for that much studying," her brother notes.
"I get good grades!" the girl protests.
"After HOW much work?" comes the reply.
Yumiko mumbles something, but looks away rather than raise her voice.
There is also the Morganian matter to take into account. Balthazar's old enemy Horvath isn't the sole representative of that offshoot tradition, either, just its most powerful active practitioner, and a centuries-old bitter rivalry between two branches of magic is the sort of thing one has to take into account when considering joining one or the other.
The Hiratas aren't about to make a decision on their daughter's magical future today, of course, and certainly not without getting more accurate information about the Merlinean tradition or the danger posed by the Morganians. You agree to get in touch with Balthazar for them, after which the topic turns to possible martial arts.
Since that's Lu-sensei's area of expertise, you bow out of the conversation for a while.
Is there anything else that needs to be brought up at the Hirata household?
While your master starts discussing martial art styles that he thinks would suit his grand-niece and -nephew, and people that he would recommend as prospective teachers in the area – some through first-hand knowledge, more by reputation and inquiries on the martial artist grapevine – you think for a moment and then get out a pencil and some paper.
"What are you doing?" Briar murmurs, half over the familiar bond.
"Contact info and a threat primer," you reply absently.
After all, the Hiratas just stated their desire for more information. They didn't come right out and say they wanted to ask other people about you – that would be rude – but it was implicit, and they'd be fools not to get an assessment of your capabilities and character from a more impartial source.
Not that Lu-sensei is lying, but he is kind of unavoidably biased in this entire situation, given the involvement of his family and one of his students. Plus, for all they know, you could have him under mind control or something.
Fortunately, you know some local and even publicly-acknowledged specialists in mystical matters that you can direct the Hiratas to, who are demonstrably capable of looking after themselves.
The address and contact information for the Hakuba Shrine go at the top of the list, followed by the Higure Shrine – with a note that the Higurashis are less actively involved in supernatural affairs than the other shrine family – and then some of the priests and monks who joined that one excursion to Faerie. You didn't get addresses for all of them, so you round out the list with a few names from the list of people that Madam Lanora talked to over the past year.
You consider writing down Urahara Shop's contact info as well, but after some thought, decide against it. Yumiko has enough spiritual potential that she should probably stay out of Karakura.
On that note, you switch over to the primer, noting down common supernatural threats and how regular people can best deal with them. Hollows and corpse-demons get specific mention, while youkai, demons, and monsters are given a broader oversight, as are magic-users and punks with one foot in the shadows.
It's hardly Vampyr or Tobin's Spirit Guide, but as a quick heads-up for relative newcomers to the hidden world, it should suffice – and you go ahead and include the names of a few of those books anyway.
It would be practical to include a location where the Hiratas could pick up examples of minor magic items and further information about arcane topics on their own initiative, and for a moment you're quite tempted to add Gen's address to the list, but the fact that you have a business arrangement with the old man and are regularly showing up – whether in person or by proxy – eventually has you thinking better of it.
Kind of sends the wrong message to direct these folks to a place where they'd be paying you, however fractional, for the resources they picked up, on top of whatever you end up charging them for your assistance in sorting out Yumiko's magical education.
Instead, you make a note for them to ask the various experts you've already jotted down about local reputable magic stores, if they're interested in seeking out additional sources of information. That way, if they do get directed to Gen's, it'll be an honest coincidence – and who knows? The Hiratas might learn about somewhere closer to home they can check out for those sorts of wares, which might give you something to ask about later on.
Regardless, you can tell that Lu-sensei is just about done talking about potential fighting styles and tutors, so you finish up with your notes and then hand the list over to Mrs. Hirata.
"What's this?" she wonders.
"Some information for general supernatural safety, and a few contacts you can check to confirm what I've said about magic and such," you reply.
Yumiko looks over her mother's shoulder, reads a few words, and then looks up. "Vampires are real?"
"I prefer to call them 'corpse-demons,' myself," you reply. "It's more accurate, and less insulting to other kinds of vampires."
"Because of course one sort of blood-sucking abomination wasn't enough," the older woman sighs.
On the one hand, that's being a little harsh to Kahlua and the rest of her family.
On the other hand, it IS accurate, and the Shuzens themselves would agree.
Gyokuro's powered-up form is pretty creepy, some of the tricks Miss Akasha showed off back in the Ring of Trials were even more disturbing, and then there's shy little Jasmine's current and planned future existence…
With the "business" portion of the visit attended to…
…you decide to have a little fun with this outing.
"So," you say, looking from Yumiko to Sanosuke, and then back again, "which of you is the better Mario Partier?"
"I am / Me," the siblings reply in unison, before turning and narrowing their gazes at each other.
"Prove it," you say simply. "We challenge you!"
"We do?" Briar wonders.
You glance at her, then at the adults, and then back again.
"I mean, we do!"
"You're on! / Prepare to cry!"
"Don't you mean 'prepare to die'?" you wonder.
"No, tears are a lot more likely with this game," Yumiko says.
…what is this, Monopoly?
"Okay, maybe not THAT bad…"
What follows is… not really embarrassing, since neither you nor your partner have ever had the opportunity to play Mario Party before, whereas the Hirata siblings are clearly experienced with it. The variety of different mini-games involved doesn't help, either; in a game with a single playstyle, you'd at least have a chance to get accustomed to how everything works after a few rounds, but with the way the rules and the objectives keep changing, you keep having to start over from scratch.
On the other hand, the short games do keep things fresh and interesting.
Gained Video Games E (Plus) (Plus)
Anyway, although his niece and nephew-in-law were a bit puzzled by your suddenly switch from "magical business" to "electronic fun," Lu-sensei took the unspoken hint and drew the two of them into a quieter conversation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, after a couple of turns on the board, Sanosuke ventures, "So… what exactly can you do with magic?"
"A lot," you reply. "For example, Lu-sensei, Briar, and I didn't come to Japan by air, sea, or land."
The older boy snorts. "Well, no, if you'd walked… wait, hang on a minute." He frowns in concentration, considering your statement. "Did you… teleport, or something?"
"Got it in one."
"Is that normal?"
"Yes / No," you and Briar reply.
You both stop and look at each other.
"It's… normal for me," you explain.
"But he's a long way from being normal," Briar adds.
"How far?" Yumiko wonders.
"Well, to give an idea… you recall the spell levels I mentioned earlier?"
"Zero to nine," the girl says with a nod.
"Zero being stuff like 'make a light,' 'move a small object from a distance,' or 'various flavors of magical taser,'" her brother comments. "Nine being 'stop time,' 'travel anywhere you want across multiple parallel realities,' or 'make a wish come true.'"
"Yeah, so, the earliest form of personal teleportation that most people learn is a fourth-circle spell called Dimension Door…"
You spend a couple of minutes explaining the limits of that spell – range, passengers, disorientation, and the chance of getting violently shunted out of the way of any solid objects in the intended landing zone – then move up to the proper Spell of Teleportation, and from there to Greater Teleportation.
…
"And you can cast that," Sansosuke says. "Casually."
"Pretty much."
"Like I said," Briar advises, "not normal. Also, die Mario!"
"Hey, wait-!?"
"Could… I learn to do that?" Yumiko asks quietly.
"You'd have to work at it, and it could take a while," you answer. "But eventually, yes. And if you want something a little easier to learn, that you might use to help sell your parents on the idea of you learning magic, you might ask some of the people on that list I gave your mother about item-crafting. It's pretty easy to get into once you have your magical basics down, and there's a market for the products."
"…there are magic JOBS," Yumiko says, her tone somewhere between disbelief and dismay.
"…yes? I mean, it's a valuable skill, not everybody can do it well, and so there's demand…"
"You're starting to sound like my Shop teacher," Sanosuke groans.
Hm. Might be a cue to drop that for now.
"Well," you continue, "if selling for profit doesn't appeal, there's always the other main reason for making magic items."
"Which is…?" Yumiko asks.
"To use them yourself, or to just give them to people you care about so they can use them."
"…that's two reasons," the girl replies after a moment.
Sanosuke, meanwhile, is looking at you intently again. "What sort of uses are we talking about, here?"
"Well, on the premise that if a picture is worth a thousand words, an actual physical example is probably worth at least a chapter, I happen to have a few things on me…"
The N64 goes on pause, and you stand up so you can more comfortably reach into one of your pockets to the expanded space beyond. The first thing to come out of your Arcane Pocket are your Boots of Air Walking-
"How did you fit those in your pocket?"
"Oh, don't let Mom think you're going to walk around in those indoors!"
-which prompts a relocation to the genkan, so you can give a short but proper demonstration of their power, to prove that they actually work.
"Now, I could do this in a bunch of other ways," you explain, while standing a foot above the floor. "I know spells for levitation, flight, slow falling, turning into a cloud, and actually walking on air, to name a few – but, I'd have to use up some of my own energy to cast any of those spells, or else take the time to draw on energy in the environment through a ritual. I might not have the energy or the time to perform a ritual, I might need to save my energy for something else, or the local magical power might not be sufficient or suitable for this particular spell. With the Boots, which are capable of maintaining this effect on a permanent basis, I have the option to just put them on and start walking."
"How often do you need to walk on air?" Yumiko inquires.
"Oh, you would be surprised how often it's been useful…"
Without going into too much detail about your adventures, some of which might upset your audience, you mention using the Boots to walk over slippery or unstable surfaces without falling, "climb" walls and other obstacles in a hurry, and descend from high places safely. You also admit that running in the Boots has turned out to not be the greatest idea, due to how you start losing stability and spinning about.
Then you return to the ground-
"Can I try that?" Yumiko wonders.
"May I?" Sanosuke says at the same time.
Once again, the sibling glare-off ensues.
Rather than choose by yourself, you get out a coin.
"I have here a perfectly ordinary gold coin," you begin.
"Holy shi-!"
"Wow! Also, language!"
"On one side," you continue, "there is a face, and on the other-"
"Who is it?" Yumiko interrupts.
You pause and peer closer at the coin yourself.
The profile of Queen Zelda does not actually look back at you, but it FEELS like it does.
"…the current reigning queen of a magical kingdom in another world," you reply evenly.
"Why do you have gold from another world?"
"Because I have some business deals with people from the world in question," you answer. "And because gold and silver are among the more common currencies in use for supernatural business. It has to do with how a lot of people, especially very powerful ones, have agreed for a very long time that precious metals are, well, precious, whereas paper money is a lot more recent." You shake your head, not wanting to get into mystical finance right now. "Anyway, that is 'heads,' and on the reverse side, there is an emblem of three triangles and a bird-like crest, which will be 'tails.'"
"I call heads!" Yumiko says quickly.
"Tails, then," her brother says easily.
You nod and flip the coin.
*Ting*
It lands with the Royal Crest face-down, and the Queen once again not actually looking at you.
Yumiko cheers in triumph.
"Best of three?" her brother suggests.
"Don't be a sore loser, Sano."
"I'm not, I just-"
While they're doing that, you retrieve your coin, cast a quick cantrip to clean out the Boots-
"There's a spell for doing CHORES?" the siblings cry together, argument immediately forgotten.
"There are quite a few spells for doing different chores," you reply. "Or just for improving quality of life in general…"
-and then hand the footwear over.
Yumiko quickly pulls the Boots on and gives them a couple of considering stamps. "…huh," she muses, looking down and around. "These are a lot comfier than I was expecting."
"They adjust to fit the wearer."
Her head comes up sharply. "…you mean they changed size," the girl says slowly.
"…yes?"
A somewhat unsettling light gleams in Yumiko's eyes. "Do all magical clothes do that?"
"Most things that are designed to be worn have a certain amount of allowance for different body sizes and types," you answer carefully, because that is a worrisome, 'Cordelia Chase spying a very nice new outfit with Daddy's credit card in hand' sort of smile that she's making all of a sudden.
"Before you start plotting to fill your closet, Yumi," her brother interrupts. "The magic boots?"
"…right, right. So, there isn't a magic word or anything, I just wa-aaaahhhh!?"
"You just walk on air," you affirm, nodding.
"Look at me, Sano! I'm flying!"
"Well, no-" you try to correct, but neither of them is listening to you just now.
Yumiko spends a minute enjoying the novelty of walking on something other than solid ground, and then starts experimenting with what the Boots can do.
"…wow, we need to dust up here more often," she muses, peering at the top of one of the doorways.
"Another practical use for Air Walking footwear."
"Yeah, this definitely gives you a much better view of things," Yumiko agrees, while looking around at the tops of the other nearby doorways, some of the taller pieces of furniture lining the front hall, and of course, the light fixtures. "Less trouble than hauling around a footstool, and it feels more stable, too… you said you start wobbling and sinking if you run around?"
"If I start trying to run as fast as I can," you clarify. "Which, considering I can use ki to speed myself up, is… well, it's a lot faster than the spell's tolerances were designed to deal with."
And now the look in Yumiko's eye reminds you of Zelda.
Her brother must know that expression and what it portends even better than you do, because while you're still startled by its appearance, he sighs, "No running in the house, Yumi."
"But I'm not on the floor," she protests innocently. "Mom wouldn't hear a thing..."
"But you could still run into something."
"But- but magic?"
Sanosuke pauses and glances at you for help.
"Yeah, the enchantment doesn't do anything that'll keep you from running into a wall or a lamp or something," you say quickly. "Plus, I did design the Boots to let me run faster than usual, and while that came out so that it only works when I'm trying to run away from something, playing Tag or Keep-Away or the like would probably be enough to trigger it."
"Awww…"
That resemblance to Zelda is intensifying. Is that just a little sister or general younger sibling thing? And if so, how is it working so well when Yumiko is older than you?
Anyway, disappointment about not being able to run around or not, Yumiko still spends a couple of minutes having fun just walking around on thin air and getting to see her house from a different perspective. At one point she looks like she's considering trying to walk on one of the walls or the ceiling, but when she tries to "lean back" and bring up one of the Boots, she quickly discovers that something else the magical footwear doesn't do is change the direction in which the wearer experiences the pull of gravity. The sensation seems to convince Yumiko to abandon the attempt, which has you guessing that she must not like the sensation of being upside-down.
Eventually – and after Sanosuke has asked about it a couple of times – Yumiko comes back down to Earth, takes off the Boots, and hands them over to her brother.
Sanosuke regards the Boots for a moment, and then holds them out to you. "Could I get that cleaning spell again?"
"My feet do not stink!" Yumiko protests.
Smelly feet or no smelly feet, there is something to be said for cleaning shoes that somebody else wore before you. They do that with the shoes they rent out in bowling alleys, right? Or at least, you think so – you've never actually gone bowling, due to a lack of such places in Sunnydale and the idea never really coming up when you were anywhere else, you just recall seeing a movie where some guy working in a lane was spraying disinfectant or whatever into a shoe.
Anyway, you clean out the Boots again and hand them off to Sanosuke, with Briar distracting Yumiko from continuing her protests by asking her how she felt about walking on air.
"It was almost like flying!"
Your partner, who spends a large portion of her waking hours airborne, visibly doesn't agree with that statement – and having had plenty of opportunities to utilize Air Walking, levitation, and magical flight and then compare and contrast them, you can definitely see where she's coming from – but she doesn't voice her thoughts.
Thus, Sanosuke is able to get the Boots on and start walking around off the ground himself. Whether because of his greater age or simply because he's trying to look cooler than his excitable sister, he doesn't make any exclamations of wonder or delight as the magic takes effect, but if he's decent at keeping his feelings off his face, the older boy has a long way to go yet in keeping them out of his body language. He doesn't quite broadcast how fun and fascinating he's finding the experience, but you can tell he's enjoying it at least as much as Yumiko did.
He also goes ahead and tries to turn himself upside-down, but like his sister before him, Sanosuke pauses in the middle of putting one Booted foot to the "wall" of the air before him.
"It doesn't feel the same," he says aloud.
"How so?" you ask.
"Well, like this," he says, resuming his upright stance, "there's a feeling of resistance from the air under my feet. And when I stand like this," he continues, tilting back a bit, as if climbing a hill, "the resistance is still there, but when I try to put a foot like this," he goes on, leaning back even more, foot raised to the "wall" again, "I get nothing."
…
"Come back down for a second," you suggest, gesturing to the floor.
He does so.
"How are you at handstands?" you inquire.
Sanosuke blinks, and then grins. "Lousy, but let's try it anyway."
Some quick experiments show that, Air Walking or not, the Boots don't actually provide any "traction" on air that isn't between you and the ground.
"You really hadn't noticed?" Sanosuke wonders, as he rights himself again.
"I never thought to try Air Walking upside-down," you answer with a shrug. "Briar can fly under her own power, and nobody else ever asked to borrow the Boots before."
"…fair enough."
It is good to know, though; if nothing else, it spares you the possibility of falling on your head at some future date.
Anyway, once both siblings have had a chance to take the Boots for a test-walk – and after you've cleaned them out again – you put the footwear away and start taking out other magic items. Some of these, like the Ring of Fire Resistance, you can't really demonstrate in a safe manner while in somebody's house, and as for the Amulet of Natural Armor…
Look, you could prove the efficacy of that one by having the siblings hit each other twice – once while wearing the Amulet, once while not – but you know exactly where that would lead, and feel it's better not to tempt fate or parental attention.
Still, with the live demonstration of the Boots fresh in memory, Sanosuke and Yumiko are a lot more willing to take you at your word about the devices with subtle effects.
And of course, you still have things like the Vambrace of Force Shielding-
*Blink*
"Cool!"
-which can put on a bit of a show anyway.
You aren't about to go through the entire contents of your expanded pocket, of course-
"How much are you carrying, anyway?" Sanosuke wonders.
"And how do you get something as big as a boot into a pocket like that?" Yumiko adds.
"The answers are, 'a lot,' and 'magic,' respectively."
-and the martial nature of a lot of your gear strikes you as more likely to deter Yumiko from pursuing magical training than to encourage it. The thing about walking around with magic weapons and armor on your person is that it implies a readiness to use them – and more than that, the expectation that you'll have to – which is a bit more violence-adjacent than an otherwise normal young lady might be prepared to deal with.
Granted, a lot of the magic you've admitted or implied to be able to use could give a similar impression, but there's a difference between being told about something and seeing it for real, and you aren't exactly throwing Fireballs around right now!
Even discounting the weapons, there are a number of things that you aren't about to hand out, even if you do still bring them out and discuss or show off their functions. Your Ring of Invisibility is one such, as it simply has far too much mischief potential, which both of the siblings clearly recognize the moment you slide the thing onto your finger and vanish from sight.
Similarly, there's the various potions you keep on your person, which are too costly to just use up for a demonstration – and on that note, you are careful only to take the one healing potion out of your pocket for Yumiko and Sanosuke to see. Knowing what a Potion to Cure Light Wounds looks like could be useful information for them, and having such a thing on hand is something you can readily explain away as a precaution against random accidents that might occur when you're too low on magic to heal yourself, or if you've been knocked out.
And if Briar is both magically exhausted AND has used up her healing powder, or just isn't around for some reason.
…
You might still be coming across as a bit paranoid, or at least over-prepared… well, whatever.
You've gone through the better part of those items you feel comfortable with letting the siblings know about when you hear the conversation among the adults in the other room fade out.
Seems like this visit is just about done.
Is there anything else that urgently needs discussion?
You think you've showed off about as much as you can without overloading your hosts, or using actual spells and/or ki techniques indoors. The former would not be productive, and the latter is… probably not something you're going to get permission for, based on Mrs. Hirata's somewhat grudging tolerance of Lu-sensei's earlier demonstration of plain old martial arts techniques and the bit with the Boots of Air Walking and your other active items.
Maybe next time.
In any case, aside from getting in touch with Balthazar for information about the Merlinean tradition and possible Japanese practitioners thereof who'd be in the market for a student, you've done what you can here; the rest is for the family to decide on their own time. Fortunately, Lu-sensei can keep you apprised of how that develops.
You take a few minutes to thank them for hearing you out, for Briar to return to her normal size-
"Hey, I can still see her!" Sanosuke exclaims. Then he squints. "…er, kind of, anyway…"
"Little reddish ball of light?" you guess.
"Yeah. Is that normal?"
"For fairies of this sort, yes. Well, apart from the color. Briar's aura was pink, originally, but after we made the familiar bond official, my magic's influence caused that to change. Other fairies can be pink, blue, green, yellow…"
The older boy frowns. "…I'm trying to picture what that must look like when they meet up, and it sounds… dizzying."
He's not wrong, if not for the reasons he might think, but you will save the description of your encounters with Briar's siblings and other bands of happy-go-lucky little idiots for another time.
-and to put your shoes back on.
"Not going to wear the boots?" Yumiko inquires.
"I don't really expect to need to walk on air right now," you reply. "Plus, it's a bit too nice of a day out for boots."
They see you out-
"Woof?" Moblin inquires.
"Hi, doggy!" Yumiko greets him, waving.
Sanosuke starts to say something, then stops and looks closely at Moblin's Ball. "…is… is there something alive in there?"
"Not remotely," you reply, with complete honesty.
He thinks about that. "…is there something dead in there?"
"Undead, but yes."
…
"Not going to ask?" you inquire lightly.
"…no, I think I'm good."
-and you retrieve dog, leash, and Ball, obliging Moblin for his patience and good behavior with a little play-fighting over his toy before you pocket it.
Then you start making some distance from the Hirata home, heading back to the same spot you arrived at earlier, so as to minimize your trail.
"How do you think it went, Lu-sensei?" you inquire after a couple of minutes.
"I think it went fairly well," the old man replies. "Your mention of the financial possibilities of item-crafting and local tutelage helped somewhat."
"Oh?"
"Mm. To the former, it helped Yumi and Tsuneo to frame magic as something their daughter could do for a living in the future, rather than just a weird and potentially dangerous hobby. To the latter… well, like many other nations, Japan isn't always the friendliest towards foreigners or those with foreign heritage, and I'm afraid my niece caught the brunt of that sort of negative attention growing up. She's perhaps a bit over-cautious of her children having to face the same thing, so a potential opportunity for Yumiko to study magic without having to take lessons from stranger-than-usual Americans – let alone people from whole other worlds! – simply appealed to her."
"I am not strange."
"Excuse you?" Briar wonders.
"Say what?" your master says in the same moment.
"I," you declare, striking a pose and puffing out your chest, "am Bizarre!"
…
For a moment, all the two of them can do is stare at you blankly. Even Moblin sort of gets in on it, although he is also looking at the others, no doubt wondering why the humans and the fairy have all stopped moving.
Then, Briar snorts. "Jojo called; he wants his Adventure back."
"I'm not quite following," Lu-sensei admits.
"Manga reference, Sensei. Sorry. Just know that the 'Z' makes it cooler."
"I see."
His tone says that he doesn't, exactly, but also that he's not terribly interested in following up. So you oblige and let the matter go.
One short hop to the Tokyo Tower Disguised as a formal martial arts student.
Lu-sensei shakes his head at your choice of Illusion-based costume, not so much because of your decision to match his attire, but because you included Moblin in it.
Thus, a traditionally dressed wrinkly little smiling old man, smiling young boy, and eagerly panting dog – with a hat that threatens to cover his eyes – appear in the arrival area marked off within the Tokyo Tower.
As it happens, for once, you are not the only people in the area, and the half-dozen arcanely-robed and cowled fellows standing to one side of the landing zone regard your materialization with only mild interest.
"Why is the dog wearing a robe, too?" one of them wonders, in a masculine voice that sounds like it's on the near side of twenty.
At least, most of them do.
You're about to reply to that inquiry when someone else in the small crowd sighs and beats you to it. "Because it's a martial arts dog, obviously." This individual, who sounds like a rather older man, turns to you – well, more to Lu-sensei – with a slightly apologetic air, and gestures at his companion. "Sorry about him, he's new."
"No harm done," your master replies. Then, sparing a brief glance at the new guy before turning back to the self-appointed spokesman, he inquires, "Accidental recruitment, gradual revelation, or just sheltered?"
"Accidental," the arcanist admits with a wry twist of his lips. "Very accidental."
"It was a new car, too," the younger man groans.
You aren't sure what's going on there, and from your instructor's body language, he isn't sure himself, but you're in a bit too much of a rush to stop and ask questions.
Gathering your magic, you ask aloud, "Are any of the staff here, yet?"
"We're just waiting for one to get back from checking our papers," the man answers.
"Ah. Well, give them my best."
"Wait, wha-"
And then you're gone.
"You realize," Lu-sensei says, as the cool of the California night settles upon you, "that the more you dodge the authorities like that, the more annoyed they're going to be when they do finally catch you."
"I know, Sensei."
-and then a longer jump back to California, and you start making your way home.
It's somewhere past nine at night in Sunnydale, and Moblin is visibly on edge at being outdoors so late, enough so that you drop a modified Spell to Remove Fear on him – trading the number of potential targets for greater duration – to settle his nerves. Your dog is still decidedly on alert after the magic has settled in, but he's not trembling any more.
You make a mental note that it's probably for the best not to linger in Japan after future check-ups at Urahara's. Temporarily suppressing panic is one thing, but you don't want to try permanently removing your dog's well-founded fear of the perils and general weirdness of the Hellmouth, nor do you particularly wish for him to suffer nightmares from the memories of any bad stuff that might happen on your way home.
On that note, you see no point or profit in keeping Moblin out any later than you absolutely have to, and so you opt to make your way back to Casa del Harris.
"Any plans if we encounter corpse-demons?" Lu Tze inquires. "Or even other demons?"
"While I could go for melee with one of the parasites," you reply, thinking of the Late Arrival tucked into your pocket, "Moblin isn't really combat-trained, Trials aside. So I should probably keep him out of trouble and stick to my preferred ranged option."
"And that would be?"
"Scorching Rays."
He nods in approval. "Killing them with fire, I see. Excellent choice."
"It's a classic for a reason," you agree.
"Indeed it is. And other demons?"
"That would probably depend on the demon," you admit. "A bit too much variety there to lay down a solid plan beyond, 'Smite evil.'"
"True enough. Well, we shall see…"
As it happens, you have two encounters on your way home. The first of these is with a trio of vampires-
"I have the left," Lu-sensei declares calmly.
"I have the right," you reply.
"I have the middle," Briar finishes.
*Zoom-POW*
*Zap-fwoosh!
The vampire-in-the-middle blinks in astonishment as one of his buddies goes up like a torch, while the other goes cartwheeling head over heels in reverse, with Lu-sensei just sort of following along and guiding his target straight to the concrete with a casual, violent focus.
*Pop-POW*
And then he is too busy to continue gawping, as there is suddenly a kung fu fairy in his face.
Honestly, it takes longer to retrieve the spoils.
Gained $12 (as did Briar)
Used Glass Bottles x3
Gained Corpse-Demon Dust x3
As for the other encounter, it's a demon of an uncertain type, who is… walking a hellhound? And the proper fire-breathing canine sort, not one of those vaguely-humanoid creatures that you found an entry for in your research.
Lu-sensei glances at you, his expression curious.
"But first, they must catch me."
Lu-sensei chuckles at that. "Very well, O Prince With a Thousand Enemies."
Eh?
"But I thought your spirit animal was a boar, not a rabbit," he continues.
"…I don't follow you, Sensei," you admit.
He frowns at that. "You haven't read Watership Down? Or at least seen the movie?"
You shake your head.
"Check the library, the next time you have an opening," he advises.
That should be… some time around December, going by your current schedule…
Corpse-demons aside, you aren't about to attack somebody JUST for being a demon. You have firsthand evidence, as well as a fair bit of the secondhand variety, that at least some demons are entirely capable of living alongside humans without particular issues, even here on the Hellmouth, so an unfamiliar demon who hasn't done anything that you know of deserves the benefit of the doubt.
That said, this IS still a demon, and that's definitely a hellhound with them, so a certain amount of caution is merited, just in case.
On that note, you cast the Spell of Aura Sight to get a closer look at the nature of the oncoming pair. Your eyes light up-
?
-and yeah, the moderate aura of corruption and evil was only to be expected. That said, neither of those qualities are particularly strong – about on par with the average undead bloodsucker on the street, and considering that those are human corpses reanimated by demonic essence rather than full-fledged demons, it tells you that this demon isn't terribly strong as far as beings from other planes of reality go. Neither is the hellhound, but you recalled enough about the canine creatures that you were expecting that much.
You don't pick up any indications of outstanding goodness from the duo, but both of them also give off an impression of orderliness. It's strongest with the hellhound, mixing in with the canine's aura of evil – and also of flame, which you're close enough now for your Elemental Sense to start picking up on – in a way that tells you it's the (very literal) nature of the beast. The demon's lawful presence is much harder to pick out, in no small part because of the chaotic essence running through its aura, which suggests that any rule-abiding tendencies on its part are the result of conscious choice rather than instinctive behavior.
A personal preference for order over chaos is no indication that this individual is safe for humans to be around, but it does suggest that they're not about to jump you just because you're there and human, the way most corpse-demons would.
You let the spell lapse as you enter casual speaking distance.
"Good evening," you greet the stranger.
"Same to you," comes the casual reply.
The hellhound glances at Moblin with a dismissive air, but then does a sudden double-take and stops in his tracks, causing his companion to do the same and look where he's looking.
Moblin woofs and proudly straightens up, the gesture presenting the Bokoblin's Collar and the silver skull dangling from it more obviously.
"…interesting collar," the demon notes. "May I ask where you found it?"
"He won it off a goblinoid in a fight," you answer honestly.
Demon and dog both look approving, if a bit reluctantly so in the latter's case.
"Local, or elsewhere?" the demon asks then, frowning slightly.
"Elsewhere," you say, to the stranger's visible relief. "There was accidental magical travel involved."
"Ah. Well, have a good night."
"You as well."
And then you part ways.
…
"I must say," Lu Tze notes a minute later, "I had not expected to meet the demonic equivalent of a man and his dog out for a walk."
"It takes all kinds, Sensei."
"True enough. Did you notice that his dog wasn't actually leashed?"
Yeah, while the hellhound was wearing a collar – metal and spiky, unsurprisingly, though lacking the skeletal ornamentation of Moblin's – and the demon had what appeared to be a leash in hand, the two weren't actually connected. The latter was just a leather-wrapped stick of some sort, held in such a way so that one end hovered near the hellhound's neck and gave the illusion of a leash.
"That would be because hellhounds are intelligent," you explain. "They aren't geniuses by any stretch, and their mouths and voice boxes aren't shaped right for speech, which makes it easier for a lot of people to underestimate them, but they're more than smart enough to get angry with being treated like pets."
"As opposed to disguising themselves as pets to give a misleading impression and put others off their guard?" your teacher guesses.
"That could be the case," you agree.
You return home without further encounters, and let your master go on his way.
"Getting back late, there, Alex," your father comments mildly, once the door is firmly closed. "Problems with your appointment?"
"No, nothing like that," you reply. "I just… actually, give me a few minutes to get Moblin squared away and grab a snack before I explain?"
You ate before leaving for Japan, of course, but between the time differences, how long you were overseas, and the fact that you'll be up for two or three hours more, you could do with a bite.
"Sure."
You remove Moblin's leash, give him back his Ball for a bit, and then refill his food and water bowls and give him a couple of doggy treats and some ear-scratches for being a good boy all afternoon/evening.
Moblin accepts these offerings happily, but once he's filled his belly somewhat, he wanders off in search of his bed.
You let him go and get on with making yourself and Briar a small, late supper – just a couple of sandwiches, some chips, drinks, and an apple or strawberry for dessert.
"Just the one strawberry?" you ask of Briar, currently in her human-sized form to make this whole thing easier.
"I'm watching my figure," she replies wryly.
Her call.
Once that's attended to, you join your dad in the living room and recount your day over the light meal.
You don't mention the Curse, of course, but saying that you had a few additional experts show up to give you a look-over in addition to Urahara, and that it took everybody a while to finish poking you – mystically speaking – is perfectly reasonable and non-alarming.
"The real delay was stopping by Lu-sensei's niece's place," you say next, before giving a lighter account of that. You don't go into too much detail here, as it's a whole other family's business, which your dad seems to get.
"And then we played some Mario Party, and I showed off a few of my magic items, and then we left and pretty much came straight home," you finish.
"Well, I'm glad you're helping people realize their talents and be a bit safer in this crazy world," your father says. "But do me a favor?"
"Hm?" you ask, mid-bite.
"Define 'pretty much straight home' for me?"
After the short talk, you Prestidigitate the dishes clean and leave them in the drying rack, then head upstairs to brush your teeth before going to your room and spending some time writing down your thoughts about the meeting with the Hiratas, as well as reminders that you need to discuss Japanese Merlineans – and points that could stand to be made in the process of that – with Balthazar.
You also pass a bit of time arguing with Briar about who or what from Hyrule might make a good introductory tutor for Yumiko, if she decides to go with your tradition. Since you'd be the one handling the initial summons, you'd normally rule out Hylians, Shiekah, and Gerudo as a matter of course, but given your plans to experiment with the Curse and Ganondorf's memories over the coming year, as well as the recent spiritual cleansing via Limited Wish, you could arguably afford the added encroachment…
Then again, maybe stirring up your own Curse as part of introducing a student to magic for the first time isn't the best idea?
Your father blinks at the admission that you, your teacher, and your partner took out a trio of vampires in about ten seconds flat, with no injuries on your side.
"I mean, I suppose Lu-sensei might have overexerted himself when he dropped that one corpse-demon onto the concrete hard enough to break some of its bones," you concede, "but he wasn't moving like it. And Briar could have bruised her hands knocking her opponent around, but she probably healed that with a spell before we even got home."
"Could, and did," your partner agrees, polishing off her own sandwich.
"And the one you fought?" Tony asks.
"I have found that the application of concentrated magical fire works remarkably well at putting the parasites down in a hurry," you answer.
Your father frowns. "…do you…?"
"Go out hunting often?" you guess. When he nods, you shake your head. "I don't, no, or at least not in person. I've let my Shadow go out a few times, like on Independence Day?"
Your father's expression says he has NOT forgotten the invisible giant flying hands you sent out with your Dark Self that evening, and is not about to forget any time soon.
"I've let him go out a couple of times since then, and was planning to make it a regular thing – partly because neither of us like the idea of those things running around unchecked, partly because he enjoys the opportunity to visit some mayhem on entirely deserving targets, and partly for the loot."
"'Loot,'" your father says promptly. "What sort of loot?"
"Mostly pocket money, corpse-demon dust, and the odd bit of jewelry," you reply.
"…cheapskates, huh?"
"I have gotten that impression a few times," you agree. "Especially with the way they incinerate most of what they're wearing or carrying when they go poof. Then again, most of the ones I've seen in person or that Shadow Me has run into looked like minions, so they wouldn't be carrying much at the best of times – their masters will have all the good stuff tucked away in some crypt or cave." Getting back on track, you add, "But like I was saying, I only let Shadow Alex out every so often. As for myself, I don't go looking for corpse-demons, I just make a point of blasting them if I see them when I have to be out at night for whatever reason."
"Aside from the bloodsuckers," you say then, "we also ran into a demon and a hellhound who were taking an evening walk. They were polite, and they liked Moblin's collar, so we just traded a few words and went on our respective ways."
"…demons have dogs?"
"The law of averages and the general weirdness of Chaos says that at least some would have to," you reply, "but a hellhound isn't actually a dog."
And then you explain that whole thing.
While it is tempting to give your very best effort in this instance, you decide it makes more sense to stick to your usual "safe summoning" practices.
It's not that you couldn't filter the pool of candidates to eliminate the risks of awakening the Curse by using the Spell to Call a Planar Ally making a carefully worded entreaty to the Golden Goddesses, because you've done that before with Batreaux. The issue is that asking the Goddesses to do that would count as a divine intervention, however mild, and they can only do that sort of thing so often before the local Powers get tetchy. Not only that, but how often should you ask a deity to do you a favor, no matter how much she likes you?
I do approve of those who can get things done themselves.
Say that you don't want to help the kid, and I'll call you a liar, Sister Mine.
Do you want to be even shorter, Pipsqueak?
Seeing as how you're entirely capable of calling up acceptable tutors for Yumiko without needing to invoke godly aid, simply by excluding all of the potentially hazardous candidates from the outset, it would simply be better to summon smart, do the work yourself, and save the Goddesses' favor for another day.
With that settled, you put your notes aside and read for the next couple of hours, before calling it a night.