Breathe in the Embers

Part 25

“I’m just saying, I’m feeling rather sidelined by this whole ordeal.”

It was a complaint Martin had been making the whole night, ever since he fell asleep. Lithuega sighed, drifting in the grey mist without a care, relishing the chance to replenish her energy. Remaining manifested took a lot out of her, even if Martin had been content to be sent to rest while she was present lately. Them both being there was exhausting, but that didn’t mean her being present on Earth alone was a cakewalk.

“You’re supposed to be. That’s how this works. Clark Kent doesn’t get the limelight or the credit for Superman, especially since this version of Clark Kent is a wildly vulnerable human. If you go asking at Azimuth Academy, what do you think they’re going to ask?”

“If I want to study magic?”

Lithuega sat up. “Wait, that place isn’t just for people with powers?” It was certainly the impression she’d gotten from Quake and Mr. Ludo. Both had expounded at length about the number of successful super heroes produced by the school that had such humble beginnings.

“Well mostly, but there are ordinary people who go there too, and many of them do things like study magic to become super heroes, or learn how to work in one of the many industries that support vigilantism.”

“Yeah but that sounds so much nerdier.” Lithuega whined, though at this point she was very nearly as nerdy as Martin. She had to admit, modern pop culture had embraced that which had once been on the fringes of society only. Nerds had always run the world, but now the world reflected it.

“Right, so I’ll go and they won’t suspect a thing. I can ask much more off the radar questions, and maybe you can show up later and talk to Mr. Ludo directly. I just have to pretend to be interested in going there after Middle School. Which frankly, I very much am now.”

“But if you are going to be learning magic, and never needed powers, why didn’t you want to go there before? I mean, you love heroes.”

Martin sighed in that way humans did when they were reliving painful memories. Lamentation perhaps? It was so difficult to be certain, and sometimes indelicate to ask.

Humans were fragile things in more ways than one.

The silence eventually broke. “You get tested when you’re younger for magical aptitude. It requires a certain open mindedness, an ability to expand your consciousness, that I not only lacked entirely, but seemed to subconsciously oppose on all levels. When they pressed on my mind magically, it didn’t just resist their attempts to shift, it seemed to rebound against it.”

“So you’re stubborn, but I refuse to accept that you lack imagination.”

“Hardly.” Martin muttered, clearly resentful. Tone went a long way toward helping Lithuega figure out the young man. “I didn’t really understand it either. Magic is an external force, and they said that something about my psyche didn’t just find the idea of allowing itself to be manipulated abhorrent, it found it impossible. They’d never seen a score as low as mine. I’ll never be a magic user.”

“Well… won’t that be in your records? How do you expect them to believe your inquiries then?”

“Shit.” Martin breathed. He floated casually into her line of vision, mimicking her own pose, hands behind his head as they stared in the direction they’d mutually agreed was ‘up’. “We need Margaret for this then.”

“She would make more sense than you, I would imagine. And as you said, I’m a rather recognizable figure. If we want our hidden foes to know exactly what we are up to, I will be running the errands. Otherwise, it’s up to you or her.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.” Martin replied, and she both heard and saw his ego reinflate. Well, she saw his chest puff out, which was no insignificant difference any longer. The slender young man had built up a truly impressive physique over these last weeks of training. She smiled.

“Hey Martin, do you wake up rested after this?” she eventually asked, the two of them just basking in the company of the other.

“Hmm?”

“When we’re here together talking. Do you get enough sleep?”

“Yeah, I think so. Why do you ask? Or, why haven’t you asked before?”

Lithuega pondered the question, thinking back not just over the previous nights they’d drifted together in thought, but to her other contracts. Some of them had spent time here with her as they slept, but most had her out and working if they were unconscious. It was the best way to pattern it. The host slept in this gray fog, and the Carcolith roamed the world. Not once had she thought to inquire after the comfort of the host during this kind of sleep. “I suppose I never cared to ask.”

“Hmm.” Martin intoned again, this time in a way that implied he understood much more than she had said. He did that a lot these days.

“Well if you must know, I think I sleep even better this way.” Martin commented.

Lithuega didn’t know why, but the smile inspired by that comment lasted the rest of the night.