Was this chapter just an excuse for me to dump all of my eco headcannons into this fic? Probably.

Do I care? I think you know that I don't.

In all seriousness, I've been playing Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, so I was feeling very...war-time friendship-y. So I wrote a bunch of flashbacks of Damas kicking metal head ass during the war, but none of them show up in this chapter. Ah, well.

Hope you guys enjoy!


"Okay, it's pretty cool," Keira admitted. "But I've seen cooler."

The light eco burst off Jak's skin, revealing her friend underneath. "What? What have you ever seen that was cooler than that?"

She cocked her hip. Admittedly, it was cool to watch Jak use light eco, especially since he was doing things she'd never even imagined with it. Her researcher mind went wild with the possibilities: an impenetrable shield? Moving so fast, he was invisible? Healing powers?

It was strange, she thought. Keira had spent most of her life around eco. She'd grown up watching Samos use green eco to heal the villagers in Sandover. Her childhood had been spent next to Daxter, the two of them marvelling as Jak channeled blue eco like he was born to do it.

And yet, seeing Jak use light eco so easily just reminded her that he had always been special. He had always been different, gifted with powers no one else seemed to have.

"Don't you remember the last time you channeled light eco?" she asked dryly. "You blew up a Precursor robot!"

"Oh, right." Jak scratched the back of his head. "I guess I forgot about that."

Sig snorted. "This ain't one of Daxter's tall tales, is it?"

"So there I was!" Daxter began, but Jak swatted at him. "Whaat?! I'm just tellin' the story of my heroic victory."

"Yeah, yeah." Jak rolled his eyes.

"It's true," Keira confirmed. "Trust me, I saw it! Jak channeled light eco and just...bam!" She made a shooting motion. "He blew the whole robot away!"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Daxter straightened on Jak's shoulder. "That's not...it can't be!"

"What is it, Daxter?" Keira had almost forgotten what it was like to be on the receiving end of one of Daxter's sudden, ear-splitting shrieks. She didn't miss it.

"Shootin' fireballs outta your hands!" He narrowed his eyes at Ionna. "Is that one of these eco powers you keep sayin' you're gonna teach us?"

Ionna gave him a cryptic smile. "...You tell me. Does it sound like one of the powers of light eco?"

Jak pursed his lips thoughtfully. Finally, he snapped his fingers. "Yellow eco! It's...the power of yellow eco."

Ionna nodded approvingly. "Correct. Yellow eco lets you shoot projectiles, and so light eco allows you to do the same."

She went to the bookshelf that was against one of the walls. She carefully slid one of the thick tomes out and opened it up. "Since you have a friend here, perhaps today would be a good day to focus on theory, rather than practical skills."

"Ha!" Sig grinned and shoved himself off the counter he was leaning on. "And that's my cue to leave. Sorry, cherries, but I already passed this class."

"Straight A's, I'll bet," Daxter snarked. Sig just laughed as he strode out into Spargus, leaving Daxter to turn to Ionna. "You're not gonna lecture at us like the Moldy Oldy used to, are you?"

She gestured to the chairs nearby. "Why don't you join me and find out?"


The training grounds were a huge, open field nestled between two cliffs in the Mountain Temple. Ionna and Seem were the only ones permitted to use them: though the monks were trained in hand-to-hand combat, only the Sages had truly destructive abilities.

Ionna exhaled slowly as she moved through her forms. Each eco power had its own set of movements she had to learn, its own way of flowing through her body. As she felt the eco gather in her chest, she pulled for a thread of blue eco. It was there, a crackle of energy that she could use. She exhaled again and clapped her hands.

As her clap rang through the grounds, Ionna felt the eco shoot through her body, flickers of electricity invading her muscles as she moved. Everything was a blur; her movements were quick and effortless as she leapt into the spring of water. It splashed in slow motion, the water bursting off the surface, even as her feet left the spring itself.

But she had no time to watch the water. She let the blue eco fizzle out and spun around towards the cliffside. As the blue eco faded from her body, red eco swirled to fill the hole. It pulsed through her muscles, powerful as she punched the air. Three strikes at an imaginary opponent, followed by a spin-kick to knock them down.

Quickly, before her imaginary enemy could recover, she reached into herself and pulled on the yellow eco. It swelled to her fingertips and exploded into a fireball, hitting the cliff and forming a small crater. The light eco faded and Ionna exhaled, letting her arm fall.

"Wow, and here I thought all monks were pacifists."

She jerked her head. Behind her, watching from on the edge of the cliff above her, stood Damas. She hadn't seen him since the coronation a few days ago. He seemed a bit happier since then, though she wasn't surprised. From what she knew of the royal family, Damas had been close to his father; no doubt he had still been mourning his death.

(Many years later, she would see Damas in worse grief. It was expected for a son to outlive his father. But no father was prepared to outlive his son.)

Ionna bowed her head from below him. "Your Highness. What brings you to our humble temple?"

Damas climbed down from the cliff and landed next to her, bouncing on his feet. "I've never seen eco used like that before. It's...kind of fascinating."

Standing face to face with him, Ionna couldn't help but notice how young the new king was. He was short, only around her height. He kept his green hair in thick, short dreadlocks, pulled up into a ponytail on top of his head. The crown she'd placed on his head a few days ago was askew, tilted in a haphazard way. She gestured to it.

"Your crown is crooked."

"Huh? Oh!" Damas straightened it. "Ha, I suppose I'm just not used to it yet."

He was barely sixteen. So young to be king.

And yet, here she was, only seventeen. So young to be a sage.

"You have not answered my question, Lord Damas." Ionna clasped her hands together. "Rarely do visitors come to the temple. What brings you?"

"Onin sent for me," he explained. "I haven't gotten a chance to leave the palace in a few days, so I figured I'd stop by now."

"Onin sent for you?" Ionna raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you go to her?"

Damas rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well...I got lost," he admitted. Ionna fought back a smile. "This place is huge! I just...wondered around for a while and found you."

"Ah. Well, I suppose if you're not used to it, the temple is very labyrinthian." She pointed back towards the path behind him. "Onin is usually at the bottom level of the main chamber. But you'll have to wait until sundown," she added. "That's when her meditations end."

"Oh." Damas squinted at the sun, an hour or so away from setting on the horizon. He hesitated, then asked, "Since I'm waiting...would you mind if I train with you?"

Ionna blinked at him. "Train with me?" she repeated. "As in, combat?"

"Well, yeah." He shrugged. "I always spar with Praxis, but he tends to focus on gun battles. I could use some hand-to-hand practice." He gave her a flash of a smile. "Besides, I'll get to see your powers in action."

Ionna hummed thoughtfully. "Well...if you wish, I suppose it would do no harm."

Damas readied himself in a battle stance, fists up. Ionna inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. She felt the glimmer of light eco in her chest, like a second heartbeat. "Ready yourself, Your Highness. I will not go easy on you."

Damas's grin became a fierce smirk, all teeth. "I wouldn't expect you to."

She smiled back, just as fierce. She pulled on a thread of blue eco and, with a resounding echo, clapped her hands together.


Jak felt a bit like a child again, sitting and listening to someone read out of a book. Of course, he'd never been much for Samos' lessons; maybe it was his age, but he hadn't been able to sit still long enough to listen to the old man lecture about eco.

But, as Ionna showed them the images in the old book, he found himself just as fascinated as Keira.

"There are two ways to channel eco," Ionna explained. "Think of them as...offensive and defensive. Each eco can be used either to attack or to defend." She gestured to the diagram, leaning forward so they could see.

"For example, yellow eco gives you the power of projectile motion, to propel the eco to your enemies. That's its offensive channeling."

Jak skimmed the book. He didn't understand the writing, and by the look on his friends' faces, neither did they. But they could understand the sketches drawn on the page. One was a fireball-like picture, obviously the yellow eco shooting power. However, next to it was a picture that looked almost like an eye.

"But yellow eco also has a defensive power. Can you tell what it is?" Ionna was watching them patiently, waiting.

Jak ran his finger over the eye absent-mindedly. An eye? He tried to imagine what he'd done when he channeled yellow eco. He'd felt it rush to his fingers, ready to shoot out at a moment's notice. He would pull his goggles down over his eyes, focusing and zooming in to find his target...

Damas' voice echoed in his ears. Calm and patient as he explained how to shoot like a sniper.

A sight is a useful tool for any warrior. But your eyes are more useful.

"It makes your eyesight better," Jak said firmly. "So that you can aim."

"Oh! That makes a lot of sense," Keira commented.

Ionna gave them a smile and took the book back, flipping through it. "Exactly. Now, consider your shield for a moment. The power to make a shield is a passive form of channeling eco. Which eco?"

Jak frowned thoughtfully. A shield, he thought. Protection, a hard shell that surrounded him. The word strength came to mind, just as Daxter shouted, "Oh! Oh, oh! I know!"

He was furiously waving his paw in the air. Ionna laughed fondly. "You don't need to raise your hand, it's not grade school."

"Red eco," Daxter said smugly. "Jak used to get some o' the red stuff and open up a can of whoop ass on the baddies!"

"So my shield is red eco," Jak interrupted. "Then, does that mean that the other way to use red eco increases strength?"

In answer, Ionna held up her fist. Jak sensed the swell of eco, powerful and warm, before she reached over and slammed her fist into the wall. The stone crumbled around it with a crunch, leaving a fist-sized hole.

Daxter whooped in excitement. "You gotta learn to do that, Jak!"

Ionna glanced at her hand. The knuckles were swollen and bruised, but Jak felt the soothing feeling of green eco as she healed herself.

"So you can use all these powers?" Keira asked, fascinated. "Any time you want?"

"With light eco, yes. And so, I believe, can Jak." Ionna gestured to him. "All these powers can be used if you can channel light eco."

"But I thought only the sages could use eco like this," Keira interrupted. "You can't really control eco like that without an awakening."

"That's correct." Ionna raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Quite knowledgeable."

"Oh, my father's the sage of green eco." Keira folded her arms. "He said he had to go through…a test, I guess?"

Ionna shook her head. "Not a test, per say. Supposedly, sages can only unlock their true powers by communing with the eco itself."

Jak's eyes lit up in recognition. "Samos had to commune with the plants when we protected him, remember, Dax?"

"Yeah. I remember." Daxter looked as if he'd be happier to forget. "So, who did you have to talk to, the sun?" He snickered and nudged Jak. "Gettit? 'Cause it's a big lightbulb!"

Ionna smiled tightly. "Remember, I am not a full sage. I never completed my training."

Before either of them could say anything else, Ionna held the book out again. Keira, Jak, and Daxter looked through the page.

"Hmm...this looks like blue eco!" Keira said brightly. Indeed, Jak could see the symbol for electricity, the shape of a bolt of lightning. Next to it was a swirl around a figure in a battle stance.

"You've seen both ways of channeling blue eco," Ionna explained. "Jak, you used it to increase your motion and speed. But blue eco is used to power mechanical devices, as well. All of Haven City uses blue eco in the eco grid."

Jak nodded in understanding, so Ionna continued to the next page. "You should recognize this," she told Keira. "Green eco holds the power of growth and healing."

Jak glanced at the images there. One was a cross, like he'd seen on the thousands of health packs in Haven City. The other showed a tree, its branches spreading out like spider webs.

"Daddy always said green eco helped him grow his plants," Keira said cheerfully. "He says it helps them build strong roots!"

Ionna closed the book. "Those are the powers of all four ecos," she explained. "There are others, of course. Some that are unique to light eco alone."

"Really? Like what?" Jak leaned forward, eager, but Ionna shook her head in fond exasperation. "What is it?"

"Those types of powers are very advanced. Trust me, you will learn them," she added, seeing Jak's annoyed face. "But they're also very dangerous. The last thing I want is for you to start running before you learn to walk."

Jak pulled a sour, almost pouting face, but shrugged. "Fine."

"You should try some of these powers I've shown you today out," Ionna suggested. "If you master them, we can move onto the more difficult powers."

Jak folded his arms as he watched her stand up and return the book to the shelf. "I've already used the yellow eco power once, but I've never been able to do it since. Any ideas why?"

And, boy, had he tried. On desperate missions, with low ammo and a hundred metal heads, he'd tried to shoot a blast of eco, but it hadn't come to him. He'd been forced to rely on dark eco to get him out of those jams.

"Honestly? Not really." Ionna bustled back to the counter, reaching into her cabinets. "It's very likely that, since you were in battle, you channeled the eco and your body acted on instinct. You reached for a power to help you and landed on yellow eco."

"Yeah, Jak," Daxter drawled. "Coulda just as easily been you trying to punch Gol's robot to death."

Keira snickered at the image as Ionna began to pull out some vials of medicine. Jak bit back his own chuckle at the thought of a younger version of himself, trying to land a punch on the huge robot Gol and Maia had piloted. Knowing himself, it wasn't as hard to imagine as he thought.

"You have a very unique talent for channeling eco, Jak," Ionna told him. She was writing labels for the vials on a pad of paper. "It's very...intuitive. Just as Keira said, most sages need to have an awakening to truly tap into these kinds of powers. But you...don't appear to require that."

The bells chimed overhead and Rios, the young boy who delivered the medicines, stepped in. "I'm here, miss!" he called out.

Ionna tore the paper off the pad and picked up the vials. "You two should take your friend to see Spargus while you have the time," she suggested. "I have no doubt that by this time tomorrow, Damas will have found some kind of job for her. Take advantage of the downtime while you can."

Jak wanted to protest—he had more questions, he wanted answers—but Ionna was already busy, explaining to Rios the directions for the medicines. Keira reached over and set her hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, Jak," she teased. "You gonna show me around, or should I just go find a map?"

"Ugh, don't ask Jak for a tour," Daxter complained loudly. "Our boy here gets turned around trying to find his own elbow, geez. I'll show you around, Keira." He tugged on Jak's ear, as if he were steering his friend. Jak winced and tried to wave Daxter away.

"Yah, Jak! Onward!" Daxter pointed towards the door. Jak rolled his eyes and Keira laughed as they started out the door. "Good boy! I'll give you a treat when we get home."

Jak reached up and flicked Daxter's ear. Keira laughed even harder as they stepped out into Spargus. Daxter started gesturing around grandly, while Jak began to walk through the city, his mind still on the eco lesson.

He burned to know more; it felt like pieces of a puzzle were fitting into place, but there were still gaps. He flexed his hands gently, trying to imagine how it would feel to punch something with red eco behind it, or to touch a dead plant and make it grow green again.

"Hey! Are you paying attention to my tour?!" Daxter snapped his fingers in front of Jak's face. "I was just tellin' Keira about the sand over here!"

"Sorry, Dax."

"You better be," Daxter mumbled. He cleared his throat dramatically. "Now, Keira, this here is sand. It's like dirt, but worse. It's gritty and gets into unpleasant places. Most Havenites aren't familiar with sand, but if you come visit my new souvenir shop, the Taste of Wasteland, you can buy some sand to take back to your pals back home! Only five payments of 29.99."

Jak and Keira both burst into laughter, while Daxter protested that he was serious, dammit, don't laugh. Jak continued walking, still laughing, his friend's voices ringing pleasantly in his ears.