Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.

By the time Vesa, Fransisca and Zan Partizanne returned from the data archive with the files they salvaged from their trip, the wedding party was already drawing to a close and everyone was packing up to leave. They stopped in their tracks as Flamberge appeared in front of them without warning.

"Hey," Flamberge demanded, "where did you guys go?!"

Vesa's face reddened as she stammered incoherently.

"Well, we…" Vesa blurted.

"Uhhm," Zan bit her lip.

"We went around the capital," Fransisca answered casually, "avoided traps and broke into a highly classified data server room."

Flamberge immediately flailed her hands.

"What?!" she exclaimed, "without me?!"

Vesa chuckled nervously while she placed her hand behind her head, even as she knew Flamberge was upset she wasn't invited to tag along.

"Sorry, Flam," Vesa stammered.

"We were," Zan explained sheepishly, "well, I was in a hurry."

"I just wanted something to do and I was getting bored," Fransisca added.

"Well, how do you think I was feeling?!" Flamberge barked, "gah! Now I wanna go break something!"

Vesa sweated nervously as she made an awkward smile.

"Well," Vesa joked, nervously fluttering her hand, "we wouldn't want to run into any rubble on our way out now, would we? We could ask someone to clear the path for us."

Flamberge grumbled as she folded her arms.

"Do you want to blow up a statue?" Zan suggested, "would blowing up a technocrat statue make you feel any better?"

"Maybe," Flamberge muttered.

Zan and Vesa exchanged confused glances.

"I'll take that as a yes," Vesa shrugged.

Not long after that, everyone started the trip home, boarding the Lor Starcutter once again and before long, the ship took off. Vesa had ample time to put her winter gear back on before they were back on Dreamland. Everyone parted ways and made their way to their homes. It was quite a lengthy trek before Vesa, Hyness, Elfilin and the Mage Sisters arrived at the courtyard to the tower. Once they stepped into the foyer, Vesa peeled off her winter gear while Fransisca and Zan Partizanne exchanged glances with one another.

"Fran," Zan instructed, "you need to persuade Elfilis to step up. They have been…well, I don't want to say neglecting. They've been busy with their own…issues. Not to mention their sense of time isn't the same as ours. But please let them know they need to start working on Vesa's mana reserves before she can't grow them anymore to any meaningful degree."

Fransisca slowly nodded as Zan Partizanne turned towards the door.

"I'll remember," she said.

Once Zan left the tower, Fransisca returned her gaze to Vesa.

"You think Elfilis is in their room?" Vesa asked her.

Fransisca nodded. Vesa and the ice mage climbed the stairs and ventured through the foyer until they found the door to Elfilis's room. The human took a few cautious steps before she knocked on the door.

"Elfilis?" Vesa called, "are you ok?"

Vesa took a step back when Elfilis opened the door.

"Come in," Elfilis beckoned, their eyes filled with exhaustion.

Vesa and Fransisca stepped into the tall alien rodent's room, the human sitting down next to her lover while she placed her hand on their head.

"How are you doing?" Elfilis asked her.

Vesa then noticed their fur was standing on end from stress and nerves.

"I…well," Vesa answered, "I suppose the wedding was really uneventful. But, Zan, Fran and I did some exploring during the reception."

Elfilis perked up their feelers.

"Well," they pondered, "did you find anything interesting?"

While Elfilis stiffened in dread, Fransisca pulled out a storage disk.

"We have yet to analyze the files we collected on the servers in the archives," Fransisca explained, "thankfully, Vesa did some really good work reverting the rust on the servers that initially wouldn't work."

Elfilis raised their brow. Sighing, the ice mage stashed the storage disk into her pocket dimension.

"Now," Fransisca said, "I know it's been stressful for you, but have a favor to ask you."

Elfilis blinked twice.

"What is it?" Elfilis asked.

Elfilis rested their tail on their lap as they gently stroked it. Vesa withdrew her hand and brought it to her chest while she lowered her head.

"You need to get her to practice more," Fransisca advised, "she's running out of time to expand her reserves and is never going to manage to slow her aging by much if she can't expand her reserves more. Honestly it might already be a bit too late to do much. If she can't manage it, we're going to need to find…alternative methods of immortality."

Vesa noticed as Elfilis shuddered. The ultimate life-form never thought they would get another metaphorical punch in the gut after today's revelation of Halcandra.

"Have you not been practicing?" Elfilis asked sheepishly.

"Occasionally, but," Vesa confesssed, "I may have prioritized exploring what spells were in my affinity more."

Vesa hugged her arms to her chest.

"That's understandable," Elfilis reminded, "but you'll need to practice more on your mana reserves."

Elfilis's body quivered as the tips of their fur turned white again.

"I know," Vesa agreed, her eyes still glued to the floor, "do you have any ideas on how I could exercise my mana reserves with the spells I learned? My healing spells, my barrier spells, my elemental augment spells, my rust removal, my enchantments, my telekinesis, anything. Maybe you can even teach me that exorcism spell you used on those Mumbies and we could find more Mumbies so I can put them to rest."

At that point, Vesa lifted her head until her eyes locked onto her alien lover's.

"Very well," Elfilis nodded, exhaustion still lingering in their eyes, "what do you want to learn first?"

Vesa crossed her legs.

"Well," Vesa offered, "you could teach me that exorcism spell."

Fransisca gazed out the window, only to notice it was currently nighttime.

"Well," Fransisca interrupted, "it's a bit late now for any of that. You should let them rest for a little bit."

Fransisca turned her gaze to Vesa.

"Here," the ice mage beckoned, "come with me and I'll show you how to empty your reserves. That won't increase your skill at all, but it'll grow your reserves with time."

"Ok," Vesa nodded, placing her hand on Elfilis's shoulder, "I'll see you in the morning, Elfilis."

Vesa stood up and followed Fransisca out of the room. She closed the door behind her as she followed the ice mage down the hall. Entering another hallway, Fransisca and Vesa stepped into the alchemy lab.

"Sit cross-legged for me," Fransisca instructed, "pick a spot somewhere and I'll walk you through it. I expect you to do this every night before bed if you have mana remaining, but keep enough inside that you don't hurt yourself."

Vesa nodded as she approached the center of the room, pushing a chair aside before she sat on the floor and crossed her legs.

"Good," Fransisca continued, "the next part is simple. Just push the energy out of your body."

Vesa gazed into Fransisca's eyes as she processed the details of the instructions in her head.

"Just focus on your mana and as if you were casting a spell," she added, "let it out of your body."

Vesa slowly nodded.

"Ok, I'll give it a try."

Vesa held out her arms and closed her eyes. She concentrated her mana remaining in her body, letting it flow into her hands. Instead of thinking of a spell to cast, she went to thinking of ways to release the mana into the air. Even behind her closed eyelids, she could barely see a couple lights emanating from her hands. For a few seconds, she clenched her hands into her fists and then she opened them up, turning them until her palms faced the ceiling. In a split second, her hands began releasing waves of mana particles which spread across the room. She unleashed a few more mana waves between five second intervals until exhaustion crept up in her head…almost as if she might end up cutting into her health if she unleashed another mana wave one more time. Vesa snapped out of her trance and closed her hands into fists as she opened her eyes.

"Good work," Fransisca praised, "it's good that you can tell when to stop. Do that before bed and you'll be fine."

Vesa smiled softly as she rose to her feet.

"Unfortunately," Fransisca continued, "it's hard to tell how close to the wire we're running here. If you practice diligently and drain your mana right before bed, you might be able to make the difference."

"Thank you, Fran," Vesa replied.

"It's no trouble," Fransisca advised, "just be careful, alright?"

"I will," Vesa nodded.

Vesa and Fransisca left the alchemy lab and parted ways, where the human made her way to her bedroom to change into her pajamas. By the time she finished, she heard a knock on the door. She quickly rushed to the door and opened it, revealing Elfilin floating in the hallway.

"Hello, Elfilin," Vesa smiled, "are you looking for another place to sleep tonight?"

Vesa noticed as the small chinchilla drooped his large ears.

"U-Uhm, that would be nice," Elfilin stammered, "I feel weird…and sad."

Vesa's expression softened in her eyes and reached out her hands, pulling Elfilin to her chest in a gentle embrace.

"Here," Vesa offered, "I can keep you company tonight."

"O-Ok," Elfilin bleated.

Vesa closed the door and climbed into bed, placing Elfilin on a pillow next to her. Still, she frowned as she noticed tears welling up in the small chinchilla's eyes. She sighed internally as she figured he was confused and frightened at the sudden onslaught of depression he was getting from his larger fragment. When she tucked herself underneath the covers, she placed a protective hand over Elfilin.

"Natën e mirë, Elfilin," Vesa whispered, "qofsh i buzëqeshur."

Vesa planted a kiss on Elfilin's head before she nestled her head into her pillow.

"Goodnight, I guess," Elfilin muttered, blushing at the affectionate gesture.

As they both dozed off, Elfilin snuggled closer to Vesa, relishing in the comfort their closeness brought…something more akin to a familial sense.

Vesa spent the next week practicing her barrier spells and element augmenting spells out on the arena while she supervised Elfilin in learning some basic magic spells, giving Elfilis some time to rest from the emotional turmoil they'd been having. She even took matters to trying out magic to aid her in cooking meals in the kitchen. And each night, Vesa would draw her day to a close by sitting cross-legged in the foyer and releasing most of the remaining mana she had into the air…just before she went to bed.

Now, there was one more day left before the Yuletide celebration can officially take place. While waiting for Elfilin and Elfilis, Vesa stood at the door to the foyer, holding a copy of The Elfin Seraph in the Dew Garden in her hands. While she waited, she took a moment to adjust her trapper hat and her scarf, having also put on a pair of snow pants, boots, mittens and heavy winter coat. Well, she didn't need to wait for too long as she spotted Taranza crossing the courtyard.

"Good morning, Miss Vesa!" Taranza happily waved his hand.

Vesa smiled and waved back.

"Morning, Taranza!"

The spider mage stopped at the base of the steps. Vesa made her descent and held out the book in her hands.

"Here is the copy like I promised you," Vesa smiled.

Taranza's eyes widened in joy as he took the book from her hands.

"Thank you so much!" he told her, "I'll be sure to read through it once I get back to Floralia. Perhaps there could be something rather interesting worthy of research."

Just then, the front door opened, and Elfilis emerged with their smaller fragment following them outside. Elfilin perked up his ears upon laying eyes on the spider mage.

"Oh!" Elfilin blurted, waving his arm, "morning, Taranza!"

"Good morning, Elfilin," Taranza placed his hand behind his head, "I was just about to leave, actually."

The small chinchilla sighed as he floated over to Elfilis, perching on top of their head.

"Well then," Vesa replied, "have a good day."

Taranza nodded before he made his departure. Vesa glanced over her shoulder and offered her hand, smiling at Elfilis.

"So how are you feeling?" Vesa asked.

"Honestly? Not much better," Elfilis sighed, lowering their feelers, "I feel less…emotionally raw, I suppose. But I'll need more than a week to feel all that much better about it."

Elfilin perked up his ears.

"I mean," Elfilin mentioned, "I heard the Yuletide celebration is tomorrow, isn't it?"

Vesa nodded as she ran her finger along the small chinchilla's head.

"So where are you heading, today?" she asked him.

Elfilin proudly patted his chest.

"I'm going to run some errands with Kirby soon," he proclaimed, "we'll be back before evening!"

"Very well," Elfilis advised, "stay close to him."

"Don't worry, I will!" Elfilin nodded, "is there anything you'd like me to get you?"

"I don't really mind," Elfilis replied, "I don't need anything."

Elfilin blinked slowly before he waved his arm at Vesa.

"See you, Miss Vesa!" Elfilin chirruped.

"Have a good day," Vesa waved back.

While Elfilin flew off, Vesa and Elfilis began their slow stroll through the courtyard.

"Soon, we'll be able to begin teaching you more complex magic," Elfilis told her, "I think you'll be ready to start on sympathetic ritual next. It's a little more complex than what you're doing now since there are more moving parts and things you really need to consider."

Vesa tilted her head slightly.

"Sympathetic…ritual?" she paused.

"It's more of a kind of magic," Elfilis explained, "ritual magic is just the easiest way to perform it. And the only way that people who have certain kinds of magic can use it. It involves the mental connection between certain things. A subset of this kind of magic is voodoo, which you might be familiar with. It's a commonly known magic since it is easy to discover on accident…particularly by the mentally unwell."

Vesa scratched her head underneath her trapper hat.

"I see," she said.

Vesa pulled her map out of her pocket bangle and took a moment to read it. After a moment, her eyes locked onto a marked location labeled White Wafers.

"I wonder what that place is like," she pondered, "perhaps we can go check it out?"

Elfilis perked up their feelers.

"I don't mind. However, you should bring a warmer jacket and potentially thicker snow pants," Elfilis suggested, "and also thick gloves and socks. It's already winter here, so it's going to be even colder than normal there."

Vesa paused for a moment to check the thickness of her winter coat.

"Right," she blurted, "one moment."

Elfilis waited while Vesa sprinted back inside to find more insulated winter gear in her closet. Swapping her pants for thicker snow pants, she reached for a thicker coat and slipped on some thick wooly socks. Grabbing some thicker gloves next, she put her scarf, earmuffs and trapper hat back on before she returned to the front door.

"Ok," Vesa announced, "now I'm ready!"

Elfilis smiled softly, preparing to open a portal.

"Very well, we'll be departing shortly."

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