《The Orphan Fox》Chapter 42: Rise and Shine
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Sitting at the table within the kitchen, I wait as the hot food sitting in front of me cools down.
I have no qualms with hot food, yet having the food freshly served, piping hot, sometimes the taste vanishes due to the food being too hot. Uncle Black said that this comes due to my resistance to heat, while my taste-buds are unable to process. So, Listening to Alice who fills me in, it means that instead of having my tongue burned, I only can't taste the food right.
Anyway, too hot food feels awful to eat as it is very uncomfortable, so I slowly blow over the soup on my spoon, wanting to cool it down. So, once I was sure it will be okay, I pulled the spoon to my mouth and taste the soup.
I know the taste, it reminds me of potatoes, or Parumas as they are called here. Uncle Black said that they are actually of a pinkish color when harvested, yet once cooked they turn purple, which somehow sounds ominous.
Even so, the taste is good, as even some meat is mixed in, perfectly blending together. Sadly, the spoon was slightly too large for my mouth, so some of the soup dropped down and fell onto my jacket, making a small stain.
Yet, even before I could do something about it, Saria sitting next to me revealed a napkin and used it to remove the soup staining my jacket. I thank her with a nod, yet she appeared to misunderstand, and before I knew it, she used the napkin to clean away the soup remaining around my mouth.
Well, slightly confused, I just thanked her before I returned to eating more soup. Yet this time, in order to not drop soup from the over-sized spoon, I slurp it directly from the bowl. Uncle Black held in his laughter, which I only realized after I put down the bowl again, as he showed me a small spoon, in the perfect size for me.
Angry that he didn't say earlier that he had that, I begin pouting, slurping the rest of the soup, only waiting in between to chew the parumas and meat. At my behavior, Uncle Black begun laughing, while Saria, Anna and Sumi joined him shortly afterwards. Alice also had to cover her grin, yet she at least comforted me, saying stuff like I shouldn't mind too much.
And so, with laughter and some soup landing in a certain perpetrators face, lunch-time came to an end. With everyone having had their fill, we didn't continue the history-lesson in the afternoon, as we all had to digest the one from this morning first.
So, while Illois and Uncle Black made themselves useful on the ship, me, Alice, Anna and Sumi went to the front of the deck, enjoying the wind while we talked about various topics.
We started with the taste of the food this lunch, and somehow ended up with describing earth to Sumi and Saria sitting next to us. Both of them were highly interested in earth and its cultures, while Saria was more than surprised that we didn't have any nobility on earth. Well, Alice said something about earth still having class-segregation into the rich and poor, as well as the middle-class. Yet my understanding towards that was minimal, as I only know that there are differences between popular people and the everyday folks.
Well, maybe because I haven't ever really looked into it? Anyway, I actually had to suppress my laughter when we came to talking about flying without magic, meaning airplanes. Cyan's expression at that time was glorious, as with his eyes and mouth wide open, he kept staring at us, before he once more looked at the ship and the clouds around us, when he murmured something under his breath.
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Anyway, while we talked and sometimes played small games, the afternoon easily came to a close. And so, after dinner, I did train some of my stances in the martial-arts Uncle Black taught me, while also focusing on keeping the mana-stream within my body stable.
Uncle Black said that my Mana-Pool is surpassing my bodies natural capacity, so I need to be extra careful when using magic, which results in headaches when I concentrate too much. Sometimes it feels easy and flows freely within my body, yet sometimes it is like an opened flood-gate, that I am unable to close.
The pressure and concentration to keep it stable then increases, yet together with the martial-arts taught by Uncle Black, I learned that I can actually lead the overflowing mana into my movement, letting it be used up to keep it from building up pressure.
I didn't know at the time, yet what I did was a new kind of mana-combat technique, which would later even become its own magic-school. Yet at the moment, the very principle of my idea was something new, so even Uncle Black was unaware of my new creation, even less myself.
Anyway, while I kept practicing on deck, I didn't realize that Sumi kept watching me, sitting by the side, meditating while guiding her chaos energy. Looking from afar, she might appear like a phantom in the dark, surrounded by the colorfully black mist.
I was actually wondering before, how come that Chaos is completely black, yet contains all the colors of balance, even if rather hidden?
Distracted by the sudden question brought up in my mind, I lose control of one of my stances, and my fist throws out without me being fully aware of it... resulting in something unexpected.
Before my eyes, as my fist shot out, silver light gathered around it, before it was discharged, forming a silver phantom-image of a fox-paw as it shot from it and flew past the ships shields and rushed into the night sky, leaving a trail of light behind.
Actually, if it wasn't for my extremely fast eyes, I would probably not even have recognized what happened, and only seen a silver-flash, as it was that fast.
Confused and ever so slightly surprised, I was unable to follow up on the stance I was taking currently and fall onto the wooden floor. Thanks to my tails forming a cushion I didn't even feel the Impact, yet unable to understand what I just did, I could only stare out into the direction my... attack... flew into.
It didn't take long until Sumi arrived at my side, asking what happened, while even Uncle Black who kept watching over us ran towards me. Leaving my befuddled state because of Sumi's question, I look towards her and Uncle Black. However, unable to understand what I did myself, I could only shake my head, telling them that I don't know myself.
Uncle Black then asked me to repeat the stances I took when it happened, and I followed suit. Yet, even with my mana being further used like before, the event didn't repeat. So, in the end Uncle Black just said that I should be careful from now on when training my stances, and he also mentioned that he will look after me as I keep training for a while.
So as a result, I then continued my training for another half an hour, while uncle Black gave me advice and ideas how to make my stance more stable and stronger. Also, I realized that I can't keep all my tails out when training, as when there are too many, I can't yet control them perfectly together with the stances, resulting in them getting in my way.
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In the end, after the training ended and the sun began sinking beyond the horizon, I made my way towards the cabin given to me. Officially I am in the same room as Cyan, so after I arrive there, I let myself fall onto my bed and try to close my eyes.
However, even before I can make myself comfortable, Cyan pulled me up again, reminding me that I first should change clothing, as otherwise it might have repercussions due to hygiene. I didn't fully understand what he meant, so in the end I just nodded and hid behind the changing wall to take off my clothes and put on my pajama. Once that was done, I only quickly placed the clothes into my spatial-ring and let myself plop onto the bed, covering myself with my tails and blanket, before closing my eyes and enjoying the soft and comfortable feeling encompassing me.
…
…
-POV: Aaron Geyser-
Standing at the railings, I watch the stars passing over us, as the clouds speed past the ship. The moon is out today, with only about half a year remaining before the next full moon occurs.
Most of the people are already asleep, with only the bare minimum of personal and people staying awake, watching over the ship. Currently, around me I can only sense three other sailors as well as the captain steering the ship. I believe he slept this afternoon, so I am not surprised to see him on the night-shift.
Anyway, I am worried, and I believe my face shows it clearly. Even if I tell Arin that he has it stable, I am unsure how long his body can keep up with supporting his massive mana-pool. Even today, I am unsure if he truly realized it, yet after that accidental discharge he made, he had blood coming from his nose, meaning the pressure went above the threshold of his body for a short moment.
Somehow I am glad we are visiting 'him', as I am sure he knows something that might help, yet I still feel slightly unsure if it is truly a good idea. However, Arin needs help, and he needs it fast.
So, sighing to myself, I keep staring at the clouds. I believe I must have seen wrong back then, yet knowing that he could truly... well, saying it like that doesn't sound that bad, yet once you think about it... it becomes terrifying.
I mean, origin blood-lines are powerful as they are, yet owning both sides, and at maximum capacity?! Holding my head, I keep reminding myself of the result of the test I did, not long after the incident in Illois lab.
Well, thinking about the power behind them, and the fact that Lumi's grandfather also had a unique quirk, I could believe that Arin had them, yet seeing as even Lumi herself never had them in the open, while Arin had both of them at maximum... it doesn't make sense! Physically it is impossible, as well as theoretically, so how come the test resulted in that?!
If I am not wrong, then there must be an explanation to all this, and I believe that Arins current situation is one of the reasons for it, especially if we look at the events back in the Abryssal-Canyon.
While shaking my head, and with a heavy heart, I make my way back to my cabin, I need some rest. I may be able to go without sleep for months, yet with the current events, and the occurrences around Arin, I believe I begin to understand parents that need to look after their kids.
And honestly, I believe I have to apologize to all the people I know who are parents whom I insulted for being lazy, when they were in actuality just mentally tired from taking care of their kids, because now I know how it feels.
Setting my worrying aside, I lay down and close my eyes, trying to for once stop thinking too much into it.
…
…
In the next morning, I was up rather early. My night was filled with weird dreams, so I didn't have trouble leaving my bed behind.
So, while I was still sitting in the canteen for the crew, waiting for breakfast to be ready, the door suddenly opens and a small fox with half-closed eyes enters. His clothes are a bit messy, probably because he just threw them into the spatial-ring after taking them off yesterday, while his otherwise rather glossy hair was all over the place, seemingly disobeying their rightful owner.
Meanwhile, his tails were remaining just slightly above ground, following behind their owner in just as half-asleep manner. Yet, seeing him like that while he takes a seat in front of me, I can't help but smile at the cute expression.
Still half-asleep, I wait for a while, before I call out to him, resulting in him actually jumping up as he looked at me with his big green eyes.
Slightly amused by his surprised expression, I tell him that he should probably wash his face, so shortly after I said that, I could feel his mana moving, when suddenly the water in his cup shot into his face, waking up the sleepy fox.
However, as visible from his shocked expression, I believe it wasn't his intent to do so, so me and the few crew-members around can't stop snickering, with most of us fighting against wanting to laugh out loud.
Arin, now with slightly wet hair, only used one of his tails to cover his slightly red face, while he pouted for being laughed at. Thankfully, he easily swallowed his shame, and after he finally realized what occurred, he began laughing as well. Actually, with his voice being so clear and having such a nice tone, he could be mistaken for a girl, he probably could even learn how to sing, as I am sure he would do great.
Anyway, with the mood in the whole canteen becoming lighter, seemingly brightened by Arin's beaming smile, most of the crew-members that finished their food stood up and left, going back to work. Meanwhile, the newcomers, realizing the mood, also made their way to grab some food and take a seat somewhere.
Somehow though, the table where until now only I and Arin sat, was suddenly filled with people, all of them talking, and some even sharing food with Arin.
Honestly, I wanted to keep talking with the little rascal myself, having fun with him as we eat, yet enjoying the company of the crew that mostly remains to themselves is also fun. I actually didn't even know before that Menra, the guy to my left, was a former fisher at the northern bay of the dragon mountains, the one that borders the sea.
So, while we all talked and had fun while eating, in between laughs, I even noticed Saria entering the canteen, taking a seat dejectedly on another table as she kept looking at the filled table where both me and Arin were seated.
I believe she wanted to feed Arin, as just like with many others, seeing that small silver fox with his cute appearance eat food like a squirrel, can blow away most worries.
I may forgot to mention, yet on that morning of our journey, I somehow felt like the ship was a lot more alive than it was until now, with most of the sailors and crew-members being in a good mood.
I guess even without me interfering, Arin already actively changes the world, causing smiles to surface wherever he goes.
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