Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.


A month passed since Fecto Elfilis, Vesa, Kirby and Elfilin returned from their trip to the Haltmann space station and snow started to fall over Dreamland. As she honed in on her magic skills under Elfilis's supervision, she wondered what winter holidays were celebrated on Popstar. She also kept track of the upcoming wedding ceremony for Marx and Magolor, which should be a week from now.

At the moment, Vesa sat out in the training arena while Elfilis was in a therapy session with Fransisca at the library. She watched as Kirby swung his sword at a training dummy, trying to perfect an upward slash technique. Elfilin waved his paws in encouragement while he nestled in Vesa's navy scarf. The pink puffball whacked the dummy with his practice sword, doing his best to use the stances and techniques Meta Knight showed him before. In between attack techniques, he adjusted his grip on the sword.

At least half an hour passed until she spotted Elfilis out of the corner of her eye as they emerged from the door. Elfilin perked up his ears and waved his paw at his larger fragment.

"Hey!" Elfilin called over, "how'd your therapy session go?"

"I don't know," Elfilis admitted.

Elfilis sat down next to Vesa, glancing over at her and trying to relax a little.

"Well," Vesa returned her gaze, "I hope you got a chance to tell Fran what you needed to tell her."

"I believe I did," Elfilis confirmed.

Vesa smiled at Elfilis before they both focused their eyes on Kirby.

"I never actually handled a sword before," Vesa confessed, "so I have no clue if Kirby here is making progress."

"He seems to be doing okay," Elfilis pointed out, "his stance is a bit sloppy, but he seems to have the general idea."

Kirby paused for a moment and focused his eyes on Elfilis upon hearing their comment.

"Poyo!" Kirby nodded as he waved his arm a little.

While Elfilis waved back, Kirby returned his focus to the training dummy and went back to practice stabilizing his grip on the sword.

"I've been thinking," Elfilis mused, "Kirby has great magical potential, but he has so much magical energy I don't think he would be able to use it in any way other than just to force it out of his body in a brief blast of mana, similar to what I have been teaching Elflin."

Elfilin perked his ears up.

"Really?" he blurted.

"Maybe when he grows in age," Elfilis continued, "he would be able to use it better. But with his Copy Abilities, I feel like it would change things. Perhaps he could learn it in his base form. I feel like if he did, then all his Copy Abilities would gain a variant of that skill…specifically the ones that use magic. Those I feel would change the most."

Vesa scratched her head.

"I guess so," Vesa agreed.

"It's something to consider," Elfilis placed their lower jaw in their palm, "it's never a bad idea to have more options in a fight."

Another several minutes passed until Kirby paused to rest. Elfilin emerged from Vesa's scarf and flew over to the pink star warrior.

"Hey, Kirby," Elfilin chirped, "you think you're making progress?"

"Poyo," Kirby answered.

"Good to hear," Elfilin winked as he happily flew around Kirby.

While Elfilin and Kirby continued to chatter, Vesa stood from her seat.

"Say," Vesa asked Elfilis, "would you be up for stopping by the castle and saying hello to Zan?"

"I would love to," Elfilis answered with a small smile.

Elfilis stood up before they followed Vesa through the tower corridor leading into the foyer. Leaving through the courtyard, they started traveling along the dirt path leading to Capupu Village. When they began passing through the town streets, Vesa noticed as some of the residing cappies were in the middle decorating the buildings.

"I wonder what they are doing that for," Elfilis said to themself.

Vesa offered her hand, allowing Elfilis to grasp it.

"I believe my world had a holiday we generally celebrated back then during the winter," Vesa mentioned, "across many countries there, we call it Christmas."

Elfilis perked up their feelers.

"Ah, I see," Elfilis asked with keen interest, "what's this celebration about, specifically?"

Vesa took a moment to think as they continued meandering through the streets.

"Well," Vesa tried to explain, "we would usually decorate our own trees, bake some fresh treats like cookies and pies, and we exchange gifts."

"Oh," Elfilis commented, "we had a holiday quite similar to that."

Vesa's eyes lit up with pique interest.

"Really?"

"Of course," Elfilis nodded, "it sounds similar to Yuletide; a twelve day long holiday celebrating the winter solstice…a time of magical power."

Vesa gave Elfilis a soft smile.

"That sounds amazing!" she chirped, "I guess I'll be looking forward to it."

Soon enough, Vesa and Elfilis reached the other side of Capupu Village and continued along the path leading to Castle Dedede. Passing through the courtyard and stopping at the large door, she nodded at the Waddle Dees guarding the door.

"Excuse me," she called over, "we're here to see Zan Partizanne. Is she available?"

The Waddle Dees gave Vesa a blank stare for a brief moment before they nodded back at her.

"Of course," one of the Waddle Dees answered, "come on in, wanya!"

The Waddle Dees didn't hesitate to open the large doors, allowing Vesa and Elfilis to set foot inside. As they meandered through the corridor, they took notice as Waddle Dees decorated the castle's nooks and crannies with tinsel, lights and the occasional wreath. Soon enough, they stopped just at the entrance to Zan Partizanne's tower, only to notice Fumu was also there waiting with a book in her arms. If anything, Elfilis couldn't help but notice as the tower seemed to have more mechanical upgrades.

"Oh," Vesa blurted, casually waving her hand, "morning, Fumu!'

Fumu paused and gazed back at Vesa.

"Good morning to you as well, Mrs. Vesa," she nodded.

Vesa scratched her head.

"I don't think we're married, yet," Vesa pointed out.

Just then, the door opened and Zan Partizanne stood in front to greet them.

"I assume you're here for your magic lesson, right?" Vesa asked Fumu.

"Of course!" Fumu answered.

Elfilis and Zan Partizanne exchanged glances before the lightning mage gave them a bow.

"Bonjam, Elfilis," she greeted.

"Good morning, sister," Elfilis placed their hand on their chest.

"Well, come on in," Zan beckoned, "I'll prepare the tower for the next lesson soon."

Zan led Elfilis, Vesa and Fumu into the tower. The cabinet minister's daughter took a moment to adjust a brown robe she had been given over the course of her apprenticeship.

"So how have you all been?" Fumu asked, "it's been pretty quiet for me aside from my training. Kirby hasn't been around in a while either so I guess you all must have been pretty busy. Normally, he comes out to play with my brother and I, as well as all the Cappy kids."

Vesa clasped her hands behind her back.

"I believe Kirby started training in combat with Sir Meta Knight last month," Vesa mentioned.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two floating spherical figures, one blue and the other pink with a yellow bow, as they flew around the room sorting books on the shelves.

"Wait," Vesa paused, "who are those two?"

The spherical figures paused and floated over to Vesa.

"We're Lololo," the blue figure waved his hand.

"And Lalala!" the pink figure added.

Elfilis perked up their feelers and folded their arms.

"We work for Sir Parlam's family now!" Lololo explained.

"Yeah," Lalala replied, "he took us in after we lost our castle a few years ago."

Vesa tilted her head.

"Well," she smiled, "pleased to meet you two."

"Nice to meet you, too!" Lololo said.

"Now if you will excuse us," Lalala let out an exasperated sigh, "Fumu's brother came in earlier, got curious and started digging through the books."

Lololo and Lalala nodded back at Vesa before they went back to their chores. Vesa pulled a book from her pocket bangle and flipped it to a page detailing one of the enchantment spells.

"What are you up to?" Elfilis focused their eyes on their girlfriend.

"Are you familiar with this enchantment spell?" Vesa held out the book in front of her alien partner.

"The one about tool sharpening," Elfilis replied after examining the text, "or the other spell for charging an enchanted tool?"

Vesa closed her eyes slowly.

"The tool sharpening enchantment," she answered.

Just then, Zan grabbed a book from the nearest shelf and approached Fumu.

"Very well," Elfilis nodded along, "sounds good to me."

Vesa and Elfilis sat down across from one another.

"Today," Zan announced, "we'll be practicing your signature magic. I'll be teaching you how to alter your own spells. All mages of a certain level learn how to do this eventually, but for you it will be much easier."

"Sounds good!" Fumu nodded eagerly.

Elfilis rummaged through their pocket dimension until they pulled out a wooden stirring spoon. Vesa plucked the spoon from their hand. She took a moment to review the description of the enchantment spell while Zan continued to give instructions to Fumu.

Shifting her gaze back to the wooden spoon, Vesa closed her eyes and concentrated her mana into her hand. A few minutes passed until magical particles started appearing around the spoon. As Fumu set off to concentrate her mana, the magical particles orbited the spoon while sharpening it, giving off a subtle aura covering its edge. Another minute passed and the spell finished its course. Vesa opened her eyes and examined the spoon in her hand. After a moment of silence, she gazed into Elfilis's eyes.

"That looks stable," they told her, "here."

Elfilis created some object out of a kind of biological metal. Vesa examined the piece of metal for a few seconds before she raised her arm and struck the metal. The spoon left behind a small scratch on the metal.

"You did pretty well," Elfilis complimented, "on your first try."

Vesa couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you!"

"No problem," Elfilis nodded along.

Sitting down on floor cushions, Vesa and Elfilis shifted their gaze to Zan and Fumu. They watched as the lightning mage's apprentice meditated with her eyes shut. In less than a minute, a spell circle appeared above her head. Vesa vaguely recognized the calculations for a heat based spell, but noticed its writings have been altered. Even when Zan Partizanne would assist Fumu once or twice, it seemed the girl was managing on her own, altering the calculations into a new spell circle. A gust of cold air slowly spread throughout the room, catching Lololo and Lalala off-guard.

"Hey!" Lalala snapped at Lololo, "did you open the window?!"

"Not me!" Lololo shook his head, hugging his arms to his body.

Fumu shivered a bit as the spell circle leaked magic, pushing cold air everywhere now. Elfilis thought fast and summoned a bubble of magic around the spell circle, sealing the cold air inside.

"Thanks, Elfilis," Vesa smiled, adjusting her coat a little.

"No worries," Elfilis remarked, "it's cold enough outside without any magical accidents."

Fumu tilted her head upwards and examined the spell circle she altered, noticing it had excessive unnecessary calculations.

"Hmm," Fumu pondered to herself, "I wonder which new calculations are necessary and which ones are not."

Vesa went back to her book on enchantments. All the while, she searched her pocket bangle for an item she could use for her enchantment practice next. She eventually settled for the incense holder she salvaged from the gate to Berovnik Park. Examining its rust, she checked each page for a possible spell to mitigate the rust. As soon as she found the spell she was looking for, Vesa set the incense holder onto the floor and examined the schematics of the enchantment spell carefully. Holding out her hand, she concentrated her mana. Magical particles surrounded the incense holder. Over the course of minutes, the sparkles reversed such a chemical reaction on particular metals. By the time the magical particles dissipated, the incense holder was restored to its original state. Vesa couldn't help but grin at her accomplishment.

"Well," Vesa commented, "this one's a good start."

Vesa stashed the incense holder back into her pocket bangle and returned her gaze to Fumu. Elfilis pulled a dagger out of their pocket dimension and started correcting its enchantments. Fumu dissipated the current spell circle and concentrated on making a new one. With her imagination, the next spell circle that appeared above her was a barrier spell, which had entirely different calculations.

"How does this look?" Fumu asked, "I'm trying to make it more shatter proof, more prone to denting than outright becoming dangerous shards of solidified magic. I think I'm getting closer, but this might be a little too much for me."

Elfilis perked up their feelers with keen interest.

"I suppose that is an interesting idea," Elfilis agreed, "and original, I believe."

"You think so?" Fumu chirped.

Elfilis stood up and approached Fumu while Zan stepped aside.

"Let me help a little," they offered, "I won't give you the answer outright as this is still a learning experience, but I can guide you a bit and help you make your own conclusions. When we're done for the night, I'll give you my optimized version of the spell to take home and practice."

Fumu nodded in agreement as Elfilis examined the spell circle.

"See here," Elfilis explained, "you made a minor error with your rune; it's too short on this side."

Elfilis traced their finger along the spell circle.

"And here, you're going to want to mirror this one onto the other side of the circle and make them parallel to one another," Elfilis continued, "if you think you can manage it, it will be worth it to add a second spell circle identical to this one on top of it. It will almost double the barriers durability. It won't last as long, but it'll be handy for blocking a more powerful attack if you need to, but you won't be able to hold it long at your level of power."

"Ok," Fumu replied, "I'll keep that in mind."

"Is there anything specific you want my help with?" Elfilis asked, "it might be a little while before Vesa and I are back so if you have questions you think I can answer I will be happy to do so."

Placing a finger on her chin, Fumu took a moment to think over the question.

"So," Fumu pointed out, "about that altered temperature spell from earlier…"


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