The day began in the familiar backyard with Celestine sweating from the heat and struggling to make wind.

Warran coughed loudly to get her attention. "Know this struggle, to so much as make a breeze, Celestine. This is the difference between someone who has an affinity and someone who doesn't. If you had the affinity for elementalism, you would have already been able to knock down those targets I set up by now."

Celestine glared at the old man. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" She said between her teeth while trying to blast wind at him and failing. A failed spell has an interesting reaction. The familiar feeling of the spell completing and something giving way is felt in her conduit, but nothing happens and she feels an instant exhaustion. It has caused a pounding headache from all the failed attempts and her temper is starting to rise even higher with the combination of the heat of the day.

"Yes?" He responded to her question.

She let out a loud sigh. "For a teacher you aren't doing a very good job of teaching."

"This is just what learning magic is early on. I give you the basics, put you in the right frame of mind, and let you figure out the rest. I'm supposed to guide you on the path to find the answers yourself and to test you. Though I will say a child two years younger than you would have figured it out by now."

All Celestine could do is hang her head down and stare at the ground. There was a rock there. If she couldn't get wind magic to work, she will at least throw this damned rock at him!

She willed the magic into her fingers and delicately studied the rock. She commanded her will into that specific rock. She looked up at the old man and willed the vector into the rock. And the speed, she decided, would just be throwing speed. The feeling of the magic leaving her, but without the feeling of exhaustion, was a welcomed thing. The rock flew in an arc and instead of landing at his head like she wanted, gravity caused it to smash into his stomach. He bent over and clutched his belly, but as soon as his hands touched his abdomen, he stood back up like nothing happened.

"That wasn't very nice. Throwing stones at an old man with earth magic. We haven't even gotten to that yet. But if you want to skip ahead, I'll show you the next school."

Before Celestine could run, the old man's hand was already in front of him. Celestine couldn't move. There was a tight hold on her body that she felt, but couldn't see. She was slowly lifted up where she was standing and could only look at the elf in fear.

"This is spacial magic. Normally people and animals have a certain unconscious control over the space around them that prevents this. But because you are so weak, I can easily overpower yours." Celestine floated toward him while struggling in this invisible grip. She stopped struggling when she was right in front of him. She stopped struggling and just looked at him wide-eyed. "Your growth has been stunted. If you do not work to rectify this, you will not survive in this world."

"Heee!" Celestine chirped and I had enough.

I know I said I would try to avoid taking control of her body, but when someone else is doing the same, all bets are off. I wrenched control from her arm and all of the conduit of her body. It wasn't hard because of her emotional state. Seems the more fearful she is, the easier it is for me to take control. I forced all of the power I could muster into the hand and pointed the palm forward. The arm was no longer under the control of Warran's spell, but that didn't matter now. Warran's eyes went wide when he looked into Celestine's eyes, but it was too late.

Dioxygen, size basketball, vector forward, mach 1. The feeling of the spell leaving the hand was drowned out by the violent shockwave that echoed through the backyard. Celestine was blown backwards a few yards, winded but she still landed on her feet. Warran was blasted back, though. He flew through the hedge, through the stone wall that rounded the backyard, and he seems to have landed on the roof of a nearby house covered in blood and wearing only rags, which were once clothes.

I broke the silence in her head.

I said, not knowing how to respond.

It was at this point that I realized I still had control of her arm. I relinquished control of everything and she fell to her knees in exhaustion. She was breathing hard very rapidly and was sweating profusely. No, wait, she was already sweating, never mind.

I said, confused about what I did myself. I didn't even really expect it to work. But it seems using knowledge from Earth really helps to augment the spell, but I didn't think Celestine's conduit was large enough for this kind of destruction.

Well, what is a conduit anyway? That's something else I need to know. From all that I've managed to gather, from what we've felt while performing magic, it's just the means by which magic is channeled and manipulated in the skeleton. But then why was it I could channel more power faster than what Celestine could the other day when she tried to make a bright ball of light?

The use of calling out the molecule to manipulate was something I did off the cuff. I had no idea if it would even work. I didn't even know if that's what we are breathing here. But it seemed to do the trick. Instead of focusing on trying to manipulate the air itself, I focused on what I knew about the atoms in the air from high school back on Earth. Two atoms of oxygen bonded together make the oxygen we breathe, dioxygen. The size was simple. Vector was something I taught Celestine. And finally the biggest surprise was that using mach 1 as a speed actually worked. I have little experience with jets or guns, but simply knowing what mach speed entails seems to have done enough in reproducing the speed in the spell. This is... so fucking dangerous. I could split an atom with magic and cause an atomic explosion.

I said to pacify her, after a pause to think. Celestine slowly got back to her feet and sat down on the stone bench Warran usually sits while waiting for Celestine's tutoring session to end.

It didn't take long for Mother to show up. There was a bloody sonic boom after all. Of course, the scene must have been comical because she had a wry smile on her face. Celestine sitting on a bench waving weakly to her while there was a big old hole in a solid stone wall with an elf in the background on a roof struggling to breathe and repair his body.

"I... take it class is over for the day?" Mother asked as Warran slipped and fell off the roof. Celestine couldn't see it, but we heard him yelling and then a thud.

Celestine just shrugged while still breathing heavily. Mother walked over, picked her up, and brought her inside to clean her up and for a quick lunch. She had burned through most of her breakfast during practice after all.

Mother had set her down in the main hall where Celestine quickly laid down on the couch and closed her eyes to rest. Duc'kaal still wasn't back and she had no energy to try carving another chess piece.

She was almost asleep when the front door slammed open. Celestine kept her eyes closed and pretended to sleep at this point.

"SYLVIANNA!" Warran shouted.

"Warran, get changed, you're half naked. No one wants to see that." Mother said in a nonchalant way, her voice was coming from the armchair opposite from the couch where Celestine was laying.

"Why didn't you tell me she was a Voyager?" He growled between his teeth. "I was damn near killed!"

"Because I didn't deem it necessary for you to know. And what would you have done different anyway? All I can imagine you doing is pestering her for the otherworldly knowledge. And I doubt even if she killed you, you would die. You're an annoying creature like that."

"But whyyy keep it from me!?" He was whining now.

"Because you never asked."

"Stop with the jokes!" A heavy sigh followed before he continued. "You know me too well, I suppose. That #@^@%# in Hope is still frozen in his own little time bubble and there are no more living Voyagers besides him. Well, I guess there's her now. Is that why the church released all of the restrictions on her conduit?"

"Yes. It happened last year. She started hearing a voice in her head. The acolytes identified the cause and unbound her so she could cope with it. You know why I had to keep it quiet. Daemon can't keep a secret and now with Duc'kaal visiting, it is only a matter of time before the naga find out. You will treat her no differently while you tutor her." Mother said sternly.

"Did the church acolytes identify the second affinity?" Warran asked, a bit quietly now and normal.

"Something he hadn't seen before. So I suspect it's a god-level school of magic."

"Holy hells." Warran took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you mind if I keep in touch with my contacts in Hope? They will want to know of her."

"As long as the letters stay out of the wrong hands, I don't mind." Mother said, sipping what I assume was tea. "I planned to take her to Hope myself when she gets older anyway. Now get changed. I don't want you to be the first man my daughter sees."

"Yes ma'am." Warran said, quickly stomping his way upstairs.

Mother took a deep breath and sighed. Seems I caused more trouble than I intended yet again. "Now I need to get that wall fixed." She mumbled. Celestine finally went to sleep for real this time.

Because of the early sleep, Celestine woke up in her bed while it was still night out. She sat up in bed and flexed her hands a bit. She created a ball of light in her left hand and let it stay fixed above her head while she got out of bed to turn on the wall sconces.

She turned on the crystals on the wall and looked around her room, then back to herself. She was wearing her nightgown, but that wasn't a surprise. Mother probably changed her after she carried her to bed.

Celestine sat back onto the bed and decided to use this extra time to try to tire herself out with magic practice. She created a few more balls of light, then tried to make another bright ball of light, the brightest she could. She could feel more power flowing through her conduit than normal and when the spell finally cast, a super bright ball of light flashed in her hand before going out in a second. She was blinded for a while, eyes watering and blinking constantly. A minute later she could see again, but there was still a shadow of a ball in her vision that followed where ever she looked like she had just stared at the sun.

I asked, skeptically.

I said innocently. She didn't accept it, though.

I said and went back to being the quiet observer in the back of her head.

She went downstairs and quickly grabbed a few pieces of jerky that were made a few days ago. The cook makes them by cutting strips of meat, marinating them in the morning, and letting them sit in the sun in the afternoon to dry. A quick and easy snack. She munched on them as she walked back upstairs and entered Daemon's library.

The light sconces in the library were lit when she entered, but she paid them no mind. She walked over to her corner, sat in a cushioned chair, and picked up a book she had been reading before she started being taught bone carving. It wasn't anything noteworthy. Just another random romance novel she picked up in the library.

And no, none of these novels have any smut in them. Mother cleaned the library of inappropriate books shortly after we moved in, so Celestine is just interested in the whole romantic side of romance. She's soaking up everything like a sponge to the point that I worry about her future romantic interests. She might end up setting the bar too high.

When she finished the last passage of a chapter, the sound of a chair creaking on the other side of the room, hidden by a standing bookshelf, echoed. Celestine looked up above the book to see Daemon with a few books in his hand. He was putting them back onto a shelf that Celestine never bothered to look at. He pulled another book off the shelf and started studying the cover. The light was dim in that corner, so she couldn't see what was written on it from here.

Daemon let out a sigh before putting the book he had just pulled out back in its place as he changed his mind. He looked over at Celestine and his eyes widened. A smile brimmed on his face.

"Good morning, Tina! Couldn't sleep?"

Celestine took note of the new chapter in her book and put the book onto the small table next to her.

"I fell asleep early." She said quietly.

"I heard." He left to get a small wood stool and returned to sit next to her. The stool brought him to her head level while she was sitting on the larger chair. "Made a mess of the yard and I have to pay for a neighbor's roof I hear."

Celestine grimaced at the realization she inconvenienced him like this. She never really took the time to get close to Daemon. Though that's not to say Daemon hasn't tried to get close to her. Mother usually gets in the way of his attempts.

Daemon noticed her discomfort and said, "No no, don't worry about it. It won't cost much to fix. The roof will just take a mason to make up some more clay tiles and the wall is already fixed. No need to let it worry you."

Celestine nodded and then silence surrounded them. She took this time to look over the man who was her father. The black spots under his eyes were darker now. He had a thicker stubble from missing a few days of shaving. His brown hair was a mess from neglect and he was still wearing his green scaled leather suit and pants.

"I'm actually surprised you managed to knock the old man that far. I guess the magic lessons are going well after all." He said. Celestine looked to his eyes, but they were not focused on her. He was looking toward the door of the library, as if he was expecting someone to come in at any time.

"Mhm..." Celestine said quietly while nodding.

Then there was silence again. Celestine had rarely been this close to Daemon. She could smell his body's scent. It wasn't like armpit odor, it was more like, this is just how his body smells. It had a certain calming feel to it that Celestine couldn't quite figure out. She didn't hate it. The sound of their breathing was the only thing that was breaking the silence.

Celestine's thoughts went back to the black spots under his eyes. "Couldn't sleep?" She asked.

His gaze met hers before he looked down to the floor, and then back to her. "I was just looking through the books in here for some useful alchemical recipes." He chuckled. "This house is quite old and I haven't been here long, so I try to look through the journals here in the library for anything interesting in my free time. My free time being when I should probably be asleep."

"You really work hard to teach, Bubby." Celestine said in response. She started thinking back to when she was sitting in and watching Daemon teach Sullivan. The next thing she asked was probably not something Daemon ever wanted to hear. But it stuck in her mind since then. "Why was Bubby shaking when he made a mistake the day before?"

Daemon's face lost all color. Celestine witnessed a man just break in front of her. His eyes dropped, his lip quivered, his eyes started to tear up. He fell forward and knelt on his knees in front of Celestine. Before Celestine could do anything, two arms wrapped around her and Daemon's head was buried in her stomach. He was crying into her nightgown, which was luckily far more thicker and modest than the thin gown she was using in the house in the slums. But even with the slightly thicker and softer fabric, she was starting to feel the tears soak through to her belly. She was pulled closer to the man who was her father and couldn't escape. She felt in the man a kind of strength she didn't think was possible from a person. Of course she was only really in contact with Mother most of her life. She had never felt the strength difference between men and women like this before.

Daemon started mumbling something between sobs. His voice picked up volume and she could finally hear him repeating the words "I'm sorry" over and over again.

Only Celestine's left arm was free. The right arm was caught in his embrace. She knew Daemon wasn't trying to hurt her, but it was a little hard to breathe with his head in her belly like this. She calmly ran her fingers through his hair. It was greasy and rough. There was sand in his hair, even. Why was he working so hard to this point? He really couldn't take care of himself.

His quiet sobbing continued, but calmed down with her touch. His embrace lessened so she could breathe fully again. "Daemon, you need to take better care of yourself." Celestine said, combing his hair through her fingers to straighten it a bit.

"I know..." He said softly. His embrace lessened. "I'm sorry, Sylvianna..." His sobbing ended and his quiet breathing was all that remained. His grip went limp. His head was turned to the side and he was leaning against her still. Celestine turned a bit to look at his face. His eyes were closed.

"Did... did my own father fall asleep on me?" Celestine whispered to herself.

His head slid down to where he was using her thighs as a pillow through her nightgown. She looked down and saw the mess he made of her nightgown. Spots of water and snot lined the pale salmon-colored cloth. She sighed and casually wiped her hand on his leather jacket to clean off the grease from his hair that had clung to her skin. Then she just went back to reading her book. There was no way she could carry the man to his bed. So she would put up with being his pillow for just tonight.

She sat quietly with Daemon using her as a pillow for the rest of the night, reading the book she had, and then managing to pull another one off of the shelf behind her, without waking him, to read it as well. She wasn't quite sure what time it was because there were no windows in the library. Most of the walls were covered with bookshelves and books. But her salvation finally came when Mother entered the library.

Celestine quickly put the book on the table and looked up over to Mother. Reflected in her eyes was something hard to read. She looked like she was about to kick Daemon when Celestine spoke up.

"Good morning, momma." She started. Mother just looked at Celestine, looking her up and down. Daemon's arms were on either side of her, laying against her waist and the armrests. Celestine didn't want Daemon to be hurt after this. Not after that absolutely pitiful display last night. "You see... Daemon and I were talking a bit last night and he..."

"had a breakdown and fell asleep." She ended with my help.

Mother nodded slightly and pointed to the stains on her nightgown. "Tears?"

Celestine nodded.

Mother let out a loud sigh before walking over and slowly pulling Daemon up by his jacket so Celestine could slide out from under him. When Celestine was free, and standing beside Mother, she lowered Daemon back onto the chair and he continued sleeping like nothing happened.

"Let's go get you cleaned up. I hope I can clean your nightgown after that."

Celestine hummed once in acknowledgment and followed Mother back to her bedroom to get changed for the day.