Worrying thoughts (1)

Dinner with the family passed by in a flash. Like the day before the girl had lost her sense of taste, so after eating she resigned herself to her room.

The girl lit up her fireplace and sat down in front of it with her arms outstretched, trying to feel the heat and absorb the fire mana. As she sat in silence with only the crackling of the firewood making a sound, she thought back to her parents' assumptions.

Hearing that she was going to the library, her father immediately thought that she was given homework by her teachers. She still recalls the disbelief in his eyes as she said it was her own idea. 

Her mother, hearing that she thought that she did something, had assumed that that was the case immediately.

Given her severely lacking aspects compared to her sister, it was understandable though disheartening. 

'It's alright, it's alright. It's been barely two days since I wanted to change so they don't see it yet.'

Away from everyone's eyes the girl was already trying in her own way. Now, she was gonna push herself harder.

'How do I do more?'

In her eyes, she was already doing plenty and if others saw they would agree with her. Before, she thought that everyone knew that she was working hard, but now knowing that everyone saw her as being lazy, she began to agree with them.

After all, despite the effort that she put in, there was still no sign of her awakening. She tried many things according to the books but there was still no progress. The girl bit her lip thinking of her lacking aspects.

'I can probably do more.'

Thinking about what more she could do, the sudden sound of something knocking against her window broke her train of thought.

'???'

She turned her head toward the window with the curtains over it. It was a terrifying sound given the circumstances. 

The girl's room was on the third floor of the palace. No one should be able to reach her window and knock on it. Even if they could, there was a rather strong snowstorm outside.

She thought it was merely her imagination but the sound kept going and it was beginning to knock more relentlessly. The girl picked up a piece of firewood and with shaky hands approached the windows.

"!!!"

Pulling back the curtain and raising the wood above her head ready to strike, she found… nothing there.

"???"

There was no one behind the curtain that was making the sound. But there was still a continuous knocking sound that could be heard.

Looking a little bit closer at her window, she finally saw what was causing the sound. She could only see a small amount, but a steady amount of beads made of ice were hitting her window.

"It was just hailing."

Knowing the reason behind the knocking sound, the girl's legs gave out and she dropped to the ground alongside her weapon. Her heart was beating in her ears as she laid there.

Calming her beating heart, a small laugh escaped the girl.

"It was just hail."

Indeed there was no way that it could have been made by a person in this weather. Looking outside through the snowstorm, the girl caught a glimpse of the moon. It almost seemed like it was staring at her as she laughed to herself.

"Sorry to show you such a sad sight, Lady Luna."

Just as there was a Goddess of the sun in Sol, there was also a Goddess of the moon in Luna.

The girl was rather fond of the stories of the gods. Tall tales of them coming down from Celestia and mingling with the common folk.

The blessing that is now given to every member of the Recoran imperial family was a result of such tales.

So while there was very low chance that Luna was watching the girl, an apology towards her just in case left the girl's lips.

"Haa… ok."

Knowing the source of the knocking on her window her heart returned to its regular pace. The girl stood up using the firewood as support. She approached the window and closed the curtain as she laughed at her original absurd thought.

She returned in front of the fireplace to try and feel the mana from it. She sat there late into the night in the hopes of feeling something.

****

The snowstorm passed within a couple of days. Those who had duties inside the palace were relatively unaffected by the inability to go out. And those whose duties were outside were able to enjoy a few days free of worry.

Now that it subsided however, the arduous task of clearing the path outside fell unto them.

It was hard but relatively simple work. Some even found the work to be relaxing and would help out after their own work was finished inside or if they were relatively free for the day.

And today was such a day.

"Ya noticed anythin weird with Princess Mira lately, Lady Em?"

"You mean how she's been easy to work with the past few days?"

"So ya did notice. Thought it was just me there."

"Of course I'd notice. My head's been relatively ache free during this snowstorm. Though I have a feeling they're going to come back soon."

Emma let out a disappointed sigh. Certainly with it being impossible to go outside the girl she was taking care of had no choice but to stick to the schedule lest they die of boredom.

"Ha…. A part of me wants the storm to last just a bit longer but it's been getting stuffy inside too so I guess this is for the best."

"I hear ya Lady Em. Prolly for the best that the storm ends now though. Only so much that Princess Mira can study on her own."

"I suppose so…"

A conflicted sigh left Emma's lips as she continued to shovel the snow. Before they thought that they could simply melt the snow around the palace. A lot of the servants here were fire mages so it was brought up. 

Sadly, there was a problem of power. Though there were talented mages, the amount of snow was just too much. Even if that problem was solved and they melted all the snow, they would be in no condition to deal with the water afterwards.

So to their dismay, this was the best solution.

"And to think we'll need to do this all over again in two weeks. Very disheartening."

"Hmm? We're doin' this again next week? Why?"

"I heard from sir Syrias that an even bigger snow storm is gonna come by then."

"Seriously?!"

"Y-yeah…"

Hearing that there was going to be another storm with a stronger magnitude than this one made Kara lose a lot of motivation.

She once again wished that they could use magic to blow away all of the snow.

"!!!"

Suddenly Kara stood up straight and had a thought. Certainly using fire magic would just turn the snow into water and then they would have to deal with that, but what if they used wind magic to move all of the snow away?

There were only two wind mages in the palace but to Kara it at least sounded like a plausible solution.

"Lady Em, do you think Lady Arsu and Sir Agaram could blow this all away?"

"Huh?"

"Think bout it. If they pushed the snow elsewhere, we wouldn't have to deal with it."

"That's…"

As Emma thought how realistic Kara's proposal was the more it seemed like it was an actual possibility. 

"It sounds possible but, I don't think they would have enough power to do that."

"Even if they don't, it'll lessen the work for everyone. Let's at least ask."

It was an enticing possibility. Even if they failed to get rid of all of it completely it would ease everyone's workload.

"Alright, let's go ask Lady Arsu."

****

Arsu Iruha was unique among the servants of the imperial palace. While others were tasked with taking care of the palace, all she did was stay cooped up in her room.

There were no longer any opportunities for her to do her actual job so she merely lazed around and sometimes borrowed a book or two from the library.

Reading a bunch of books that she borrowed from the library all the while not even having changed out of her nightgown, today was just like any other until she heard a knock on her door. 

"Hmm? Come in."

It was such a rare occurrence for the small magician that asking who it was slipped her mind.

"Heeeeey."

"Pardon us."

She sat up on her bed and combed through her green hair as the two entered her room

"Oh Lady Kara and Lady Mythea, what brings you two here?"

"Just a small thing."

Arsu was suspicious but as she had some interaction with Kara before she let it be. Kara quickly explained the situation and her proposed solution. 

"It's certainly a possibility."

"That's great!"

On paper it seemed like a fine idea but reality had a slight problem in it.

"But I don't think we can do that."

"Eh?! But why?"

"Well, what you're asking for isn't something that can be done with just any field spell. With the scale we're on, it'd have to be a union field spell. Me and Agaram would have to be in sync to cast it and we can't do that."

Field spells were a tricky bit of magic. True to its name it was a type of spell that covered a large area requiring a lot of concentration and a heftier mana cost. The results reflected the hard manifestation requirements so it was often worth it.

However the result that they were looking for was something that could only come from a union field spell which was much more difficult. Apart from the conditions required for a regular field spell, the people casting it would need to have the same vision for the outcome of the spell otherwise they would end up getting in each other's way.

For some it was a difficult but achievable set of conditions. Agaram and Arsu were more than capable of doing union field spells.

Just not with each other.

"I don't think Agaram likes me very much anymore."

Arsu folded her arms and began swinging her legs which were not long enough to reach the ground from atop her bed. 

"I-is that so? What happened to you two that makes you say that?"

"Well… I kind of, sort of, rejected him…"

""What?""

Their mouth was agape hearing Arsu's statement. As far as everyone knew Arsu and Agaram had little to no interaction with each other, so there was some initial doubt that what they were hearing was true. But seeing Arsu blush and avoid eye contact with them, made it seem like she was actually telling the truth.

"Seriously? That emotionless tower of a person can actually feel love?!"

"A-apparently so… But when did this happen?"

"It was a while back, around three years ago."

"Three years is a long time. Is there any chance that he's moved on?"

"I have no idea. When he asked me out before he was just as emotionless as he is now."

"Well let's just ask 'em then. If it's been a couple a years, then he shoulda already forgot all about it right?"

"Ngh…"

There was an awkward look on Arsu's face at the thought of facing Agaram.

"How about you two tell him about the plan first and we go from there?"

"I suppose that's a good idea."

"Yeah. This'll all be meaningless if we don' get him to yes."

"Y-yeah…"

"Right. Go ask him first and if he agrees we'll try to do the union field spell."

With Arsu's participation secured, the two maids go out to ask the other half of the one who would hopefully do the spell they needed.

"Ya know, where would Sir Agaram be right now?"

"I don't know. M-maybe the kitchen? It's his station after all."

"Better than just walkin' around hopin' ta find em I guess."

****

Reaching the kitchen, the two find Agaram deep in the herbs storage with a serious look on his face.

"Sir Agaram?"

Calling out to him, he has a surprised look on his face upon seeing them.

"Lady Kashina and Lady Mythea, what brings you to seek me?"

"We wanna ask for ya help with somethin'."

"Oh is it my turn to shovel out the snow already? I will be there in a moment, just allow me to finish my final checks on the inventory."

"A-actually we wanted to ask you if you're fine with casting a union field spell with Lady Arsu."

Agaram stops moving and turns to face the two with his eyebrows raised. A green glow comes from him and blows away the dust that was on him. It was not a good sign for them.