Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
Taranza arrived at the tower courtyard at the end of the week. Fecto Elfilis, Vesa and Kirby met up with the spider magician shortly after his arrival. They were all sitting outside where Elfilis set up a little table and some chairs. The ultimate life-form felt rather nervous, but their continuous simulations improved and they got some new information beforehand.
"So," Taranza sat down across from Elfilis, "are you ready?"
"As ready as I can be, I assume," Elfilis nodded.
Vesa and Kirby shook nervously in their seats as Taranza pulled out a glass.
"No need," Elfilis declined, "I can manually force my body to produce the substance in low quantities internally."
Taranza blinked in a moment of silence.
"Oh, all right," Taranza blurted, stashing away the glass.
"Let's begin," Elfilis proclaimed and sat down.
Elfilis started producing the Miracle Fruit's juice within their body. As far as they knew, this was a make or break point. At least they took a preemptive measure to teleport themself into space should anything go horribly wrong. Vesa shuddered while Taranza examined Elfilis carefully. Two minutes passed and their fur started to melt slightly in places. The human tried to keep her breathing stable, so Kirby offered his arm, allowing her to grasp it.
"Poyo," Kirby whispered to Vesa, "poyo."
Elfilis could feel the Miracle Fruit's juices filling in the cracks of their soul. Vesa could see white fur starting to creep up their side, their soul reacting to the Miracle Fruit's powers. Kirby blinked as he thought of how the Miracle Fruit affected him when he ate it. Well, he knew of the powers it granted him, that's for sure. He took note as Elfilis sweated intensely. He couldn't imagine how painful this process could be for them.
The white fur continued to spread, red markings appearing on Elfilis's hands. As stressful as it was, Elfilis didn't feel any rage at all. Vesa slowly closed her eyes for a brief moment as she brought her other hand to her chest. Soon enough, they changed to their white and red coloration completely, showing a content expression. As Taranza kept his gaze on the ultimate life-form, he began taking notes.
Elfilis could feel the repair process speeding up, yet they could sense the energy emitted from the fruit was also growing unstable.
"H-Hey," Taranza called, "perhaps we can stop for now."
Even if Elfilis couldn't hear Taranza as they were too deeply focused, they still immediately cut off the production of the Miracle Fruit fluid in their body, having come to the same conclusion. Vesa and Kirby let out a sigh of relief. Elfilis continued to work until what was still inside them was used up, their fur remaining white. They opened their now black and crimson eyes, glancing around and examining their hands. They felt intense power flowing through them, and their rage was much easier to handle. The burning pain in their soul also lessened by a significant degree. Still, they noticed this form was pulling on their mana reserves, so they focused for a moment and their fur started to turn back to its normal turquoise color.
"Elfilis?" Vesa whispered.
"I'm alright," Elfilis reassured her, "well, rather worse than good, but still better than I have been. We'll need to do this again later after I've recovered a little bit from this."
Elfilis still felt the extra power they gained from repairing their soul, sensing they could channel their mana better.
"I might as well agree with you on that," Taranza nodded.
Taranza stood up from his chair.
"Still," Elfilis added, "I doubt the Miracle Fruit could compensate for the personality traits I still have yet to recover."
For a moment, Elfilis thought back to Elfilin. Vesa and Kirby stood up from the table, the pink star warrior waving his arm at Taranza. The ultimate life-form gave the spider mage a polite nod in thanks and started to clean themself up, reabsorbing the leaking parts of their body and regaining their solidity.
"I'll check back in next week," Taranza said, "you three take care."
"See you later!" Vesa smiled.
Taranza turned to leave. Kirby scurried his way back into the tower as Vesa and Elfilis exchanged glances.
"I'll need to test my abilities soon," Elfilis said with a pleased tone, "if anything, I might be getting closer to my old peak in terms of power."
"Until then," Vesa clasped her hands behind her back, "are you fine with just going out for a stroll with me?"
"I wouldn't mind at all," Elfilis smiled, their tail wagging happily.
Smiling, Vesa took a moment to adjust her cardigan before she offered her hand, allowing Elfilis to grasp it. They immediately departed the tower courtyard, strolling along the dirt path. The crisp autumn breeze blew along some red, yellow, orange and brown leaves. Several Chips bounced around in the grassy fields in sync with a nearby Bouncy. A couple Nruffs raced against one another. At a nearby pond, a Driblee poked at a Coner on occasion. A Grizzo was foraging for food from a distance. A flock of Bronto Burts flew above them as they were migrating for the upcoming winter season.
Passing by a nearby tree, Vesa took notice of a couple rodentlike creatures, one blue and one green. The green rodent was standing on a branch as it tried to reach for a chestnut. A Gordo could be seen circling the tree. She peered carefully as the green rodent grabbed onto the nearest chestnut with its mouth, yanking it off the branch. Elfilis also examined the rodent with mere curiosity, as it had no visible limbs. This reminded them of the Waddle Dees as those creatures didn't have a mouth, yet they could speak and eat.
Unfortunately, the green rodent lost balance and fell off the branch. It collided with the Gordo on the way down before crashing into the ground. Its pained cry elicited a startled yelp out of Vesa. She scurried towards the tree while the blue rodent stayed by its friend's side. Vesa paused in her tracks and glanced over her shoulder as Elfilis approached her, their expression hinting at pity.
"Do you think you could heal it?" Elfilis asked her.
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Vesa answered.
Vesa stepped closer to the tree and knelt before the two rodents. They made a brief glance at her and winced in fear.
"It's ok," Vesa cooed, "I'm not going to hurt you."
The green rodent closed its eyes and whimpered in pain. Vesa carefully scooped it into her hands and examined its injuries. The blue rodent fidgeted anxiously while she concentrated her mana into her hands. Green sparkles started dancing around her fingertips and enveloped the green rodent. She watched as the particles closed up the rodent's injuries. The spell repaired the gash from the Gordo's spike. In a matter of moments, the green rodent opened its eyes as it felt rejuvenated. Vesa checked on the rodent one more time, relieved she managed to heal it completely.
Glancing up at the human, the green rodent let out an astounded squeak before jumping out of her hands, giving its friend an affectionate headbutt. Vesa smiled softly as both rodents returned their gaze towards her and let out happy squeaks.
"You're welcome," she said.
The rodents jumped up and down before they hopped away. Vesa stood to her feet and returned her gaze to Elfilis.
Elfilis examined the Gordo closely, astonished that aside from its eyes, it was invincible to just about everything. They couldn't figure out exactly what it was made of, even if they could tell it was alive. What could its shell be made of? Some kind of flawless metal? The ultimate life-form prodded at it, only to realize they couldn't take a sample from it. The Gordo gave Elfilis a puzzled look as they pulled out a microscope and examined one of their spikes. Its entire body was covered with a field of some kind that might be the cause of its invincibility rather than the metal it seemed to be made of. It didn't tell them much as they couldn't sense any magic coming from the creature.
"This is ridiculous and perplexing," Elfilis pouted to themself.
Elfilis blinked twice before they returned their gaze to their girlfriend.
"Did everything go well?" Elfilis asked, their tone giving off a mixture of excitement, awe and annoyance at once, "I apologize, I'm a bit distracted by this creature. At first, I assumed the eyes were a point of weakness, but even then they're immune to injury."
"Well, the rodent should be fine now," Vesa answered, "it became more energetic when I finished."
Vesa tilted her head to her left, watching as the two rodents disappeared into the grass.
"Ah, good," Elfilis mentioned, "you likely gave it too much mana, though. That would explain the energetic state. This happens when you overdo a healing spell. It's useful for combat situations when you need someone to return to battle right away. You're basically filling them with the equivalent of an adrenaline shot."
Elfilis moved away from the Gordo and stashed away the microscope. Vesa blushed while the ultimate life-form placed their hand on her shoulder.
"So what do you want to do now?"
"Maybe we can stop by the lake," Vesa suggested.
"It shouldn't be too far from here," Elfilis agreed.
Vesa and Elfilis made their way back to the dirt path and continued their stroll. When they reached the shore of the lake, they sat on a boulder at the edge of the sand. Across the lake, they could see Capupu Village from a distance.
"So what are you looking to learn next? Any particular spells or new disciplines you would like to focus on? Your affinity for magic is fairly broad and has a lot of potential, so there are many avenues you could try."
"I guess it would be worth a shot to see if I could learn a spell circle to amplify my fire," Vesa shrugged, "for practical reasons outside of combat, that is."
Elfilis perked up their feelers.
"Well, fire is fundamentally a dangerous force," Elfilis mentioned, "so I doubt you'll be able to do much with it. There are currently ways to improve its use, but it's still fire. Your ability to use it will still be minimal unless you're willing to risk burning half of your magical reserves in order to cast something larger."
Vesa didn't say much as she examined her palms. She leaned closer to Elfilis, allowing them to place their arm over her shoulder. The ultimate life-form purred and held her close. Smiling, she rested her head on their chest as they rubbed her back. She giggled softly as they wrapped their tail around her waist. She ran her fingers through their neck mane. Elfilis leaned in and gave her forehead some gentle licks, nuzzling their forehead into hers. Vesa sighed with content as she wrapped her arms around her partner.
After a moment, Elfilis went on to groom her hair with their tongue, their tail swaying softly. Vesa tilted her head up and gave them a soft kiss. Elfilis pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. She perched one hand on their shoulder and cupped their face with the other. They stared into her eyes, their large glowing ringed eyes giving a hint of shyness in their gaze.
"You know," Vesa mused, "you're pretty warm."
"I could say the same for you," Elfilis purred.
Elfilis rubbed their cheek into her shoulder. Vesa closed her eyes for a brief moment as she nestled in their embrace. As they gazed upon her, they could feel the warmth in their metaphorical heart becoming more vibrant. Perhaps the repairs made to their soul from earlier might've allowed them to connect with their affection better…allowing them to identify it easier.
The tranquil moment continued on until the sun began to set. When Vesa tilted her head towards the lake, she stared in awe as the sun's colors reflected on the water. She blinked twice when a thought popped into her head.
"Oh, that's right!" she blurted, "I promised Zan I'd show her how to make tavë kosi. We should be getting home soon."
"Then, I suppose we can head back."
Getting up from the boulder, Elfilis led Vesa back to the tower, where they met up with Zan Partizanne at the dining hall.
"Zan," Vesa called, waving her hand, "we're back!"
"Welcome back," Zan replied, shifting her gaze towards Elfilis with an expression of concern, "how are you feeling, Elfilis?"
"Better than I've felt in years," Elfilis admitted.
Vesa activated her pocket bangle and pulled out her recipe from her pocket dimension. Granted, she still hadn't finished recording all the recipes from her memory, but she flipped to the page holding the tavë kosi. She didn't hesitate to hold the book before the lightning mage.
"Let's see," Zan said, "we should have the ingredients we need."
"Awesome!" Vesa chirped.
Vesa glanced over her shoulder, smiling at Elfilis.
"Do you mind helping us out?" she asked them, "you can learn this recipe, too."
"I suppose I wouldn't mind," Elfilis nodded.
Vesa, Zan and Elfilis made their way into the kitchen and from there, they followed the recipe to create the tavë kosi, which they served to the others in the tower for dinner.
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