"You really are a talented chef, Nadine. Thank you so much for the food!" said Alicia, finally returning to the wide smile everyone liked and adored. Nadine just waved her hand, showing that it wasn't a problem. The three of them were already sitting at the dining table. Gilmore worked up the courage to speak to Alicia while figuring out of the right words to utter his thoughts.

"I'm glad yer belter, hen. But honestly, ma heid's still in a fankle," Gilmore pointed to the peculiar ball Alicia was holding. "How could ye…?"

"It's quite an odd story, but this orb seemed to take an interest in me when we were at the graveyard. It said it was 'misbehaving'… maybe? And forthwith picked me in a way that was completely unexpected," Alicia tried to explain with words. Easy-to-understand words. An incredulous Gilmore confronted Alicia, considering the orb as a threat.

Gilmore impugned the nature of the ball, he said "And ye believe yon baw is not dangerous? Yer almost a pan breed thanks to it, Alicia! And ye, baw, if ye mess with her once again, for Divine's sake Ah will...," He was pretending to punch something, Alicia in reflex hugged the ball to protect it.

"Gilmore, please stop!" the staggering girl pleaded to Gilmore. "The ball has confessed and expressed regret. No need to complicate things."

"How dae ye ken, hen? That this thing won't put ye in danger again?"

"When I was buried," Alicia replied. "Me and this orb… put our minds together, so we're connected to each other," Alicia seemed to express her thoughts dispersed. "I understood the orb's thoughts, as it understood mine. I believe this orb appeared and chose me for a purpose, just dinnae ken what it is, for noo. But what's certain, this orb won't ever hurt me, or you, pals."

Gilmore, who heard what she just said, was even more confused. Especially when she said that they understand each other better than siblings, even though they had not even met for a day. Gilmore then went to her, "Ah dinnae ken, Alicia. Ah dinnae think that's a braw script to keep it around ye. Shouldnae we just report to the civil guard, or the Magisterium, or..."

"Nae danger, Gily!" Alicia refused firmly while standing up. "Ye aw brought me to the graveyard with ye to get something about magic instead of reporting to the guards! And noo look!" Alicia, who previously hugged the orb then showed it back to the two. "We found something big! We could just learn the orb and gain something more for ourselves," she took a breath for a moment, then continued, "Why would we waste our time and life away to get this orb, just so the authorities could earn it without sweat?"

"I-I ken we were wrong. We shouldnae have been reckless like that. Should have just reported to civ' guard the time we saw that light."

"No, Gilmore. You're not wrong. Perhaps it is what it is. I...," Alicia freed the ball from her hands. The orb then shone brighter than before and miraculously hovered in front of Alicia. Her eyes tore up at the subtle flash of light with a bluish gradient, then returned to her speech. "I finally know my next path in life. I don't feel empty anymore. With this, I can fulfill my dream as a mage! That's why Gilmore and Nadine," Alicia looked at Gilmore and Nadine in turn. "I am… very, very much begging you, dinnae tell anyone about this. Not to the civil guard, nor to the wizarding authorities, nor to anyone! At least until the time's right."

"What about yer family, Alicia?" asked Nadine. "You know sooner or later they'll find out, do you not?"

"Let me handle my family! Just don't be a clipe, okay?"

Gilmore and Nadine stared at each other. When will that 'right time' she mentioned come? Looks like it won't come in the near future after all, according to them. With all their worries for Alicia and the presence of the new orb, all this happened because they had asked the girl to check out the strange phenomenon. And as for the orb, it might have scared the trio a lot, but they also couldn't ignore the fact that it was the very same ball that prevent Alicia from being crushed by tons of wreckage—also the result of the orb's own mess. At least Alicia deserved to retain and study the ball, and they might consider giving it a chance to be with their best friend. After contemplating this matter, Nadine began to state her decision.

"This orb saved her life. It also made it look as if what happened at the cemetery last night had never happened. And last, they understand each other. I think it wouldn't hurt to keep our little secret to just the three of us, for the time being," said Nadine.

Alicia showed her gratitude smile to Nadine, who was very understanding to her. She then turned to Gilmore with a stare full of hope. Gilmore, who tried to keep a straight face but couldn't stand Alicia's pitiful one, relented. A resigned sigh slipped from his mouth.

"Awright, awright. If Nadine agrees, it's two 'gainst yin. Cannae fight ye lassies. But Liz, I hope ye dinnae show aff in front of the crowd. At least until ye really ken this baw," Gilmore said. Hearing his approval, the glasses girl expressed her big gratitude by running and hugging the 'Big yin'.

"Haw, wait! Wait! Yer bringing the baw along with ye?" Gilmore was half surprised, worried that the ball would give him another taste of zap.

"Orb also wants to thank ye, Gilmore. Don't be a big jessie and embrace it," Alicia said. The orb touched Gilmore. Luckily, he didn't feel the shock sensation like before. In fact, the Orb felt like a human hug—all warm, comfortable, and positive sensation to his body. He then embraced it and hugged Alicia back.

"Hey, am I going to get a hug too?" asked Nadine jokingly.

"Hmph! Ye spoiled bairn!" Alicia, who was joking and chuckling, ran toward Nadine to give her another hug. Since then, the existence of the magic ball has officially formed the quartet of Trinketshore!

"Speaking of which, now that yer officially a 'magus', how dae ye… ye ken, cast spells, cast powers, and other magical stuff?" Gilmore asked. The smiling Alicia got up from her chair.

"I don't know much, but come with me," Alicia invited her best friends to go outside the porch, where her family usually spent their evenings drinking tea. They stepped out of the glazed terrace, overlooking a wide expanse just for the four of them. Now it was time for Alicia to give a little demonstration.

"Well, as I've said before, the orb and I are connected to each other. If I want to access the power of the orb, I must be able to circulate the orb's power throughout my body, then back to the orb, then back into my body again, and so on, creating a new life energy flow system." Alicia lifted the magic orb with one hand and closed her eyes. "For that to happen, we have to become 'one'. My will has to be in sync with the orb's desire. To achieve synchrony, I have to put my focus on the orb. This way, I can fully control the power of the orb."

The raised sphere began to glow and emit a dancing plasma energy. Alicia's body also slowly gleamed a reddish-blue, and around it appeared points of light resembling stardust from the ground and rose upwards. Alicia opened her eyes and pointed her other hand at the apple Gilmore was eating. A waving stream of plasma ran and surrounded the apple so that it, too, was filled with light. She then withdrew the energy, and the apple fled from the boy's grip, following the movement of her hand. As she raised his hand up and twirled her hand slowly, the floating apple also lifted and twirled according to her instructions, before finally pointing the apple back at Gilmore's gaping mouth. Alicia could apply simple telekinesis, but it was sufficient to astound Nadine and Gilmore.

"More! More! Show us more!" Gilmore was excited even though he suspected the orb the most than others earlier.

"Besides moving simple objects, I can also control the orb without having to hold it." Alicia deliberately lowered her hand that was holding the ball, while pulling her left hand.

The ball didn't go down; it kept floating in the same position. Alicia then moved her hands to move the ball without touching it. She was not a lively dancer, but she did a simple whirl and twirl while moving the sphere. Alicia did a simple circular dance, and the ball harmonised its direction and rotation gracefully according to the motion of her arms. The orb left a trail of the blue-pinkish gradient of light as it moved to make Alicia's dance look like a graceful ribbon dance. A definitely spectacular show according to her best friends.

"And last, I guess. At least as far as I know," the magic ball fell into her palm. "I can shoot out plasma energy," she said with a chuckle. Alicia held the ball in her right hand. Her left hand was on the side of the ball while making movements with her fingers, as if to concentrate the power to come out and accumulate at a singular point. As the orb got brighter, she aimed the orb into the sky to launch her shot. POW!! The ball breathed a fairly long shot of energy into the blue horizon. It was quite dazzling in the eyes, but it didn't take long for it to disintegrate and spread out in all directions.

"Alicia! Don't shoot the sky! What if people see it?" cried Nadine frantically.

"Oops," Alicia gave an embarrassed grin, realising her carelessness. "I'm sorry, I got carried away. Hope no one notices."

"But let's be honest. yon were pure magic, Liz. I mean, you were an anti-social geek back in auld times and now, a baw wizard! What progress!" Gilmore said.

"Hey, I'm not anti-social, ye ken! I'm still pretty good at socialising!" Alicia scowled with a frowned face. The others just laughed.

"So, three techniques so far?" asked Nadine.

"Only three for now, aye. Maybe over time, the orb and I will learn more techniques. Who knows, eh?"

"And you do it without saying any incantations?"

"No. I don't think so. Just concentrating my focus on the orb. That's all."

"Alicia Crimsonmane, The Orb Mage. That's a proper sound, mate!" Gilmore stated.

Nadine refuted Gilmore's statement, saying, "But Alicia doesn't cast a spell to activate her magic. And from her movements, I think she looks more like a sorcerer than a simple mage... or a wizard, so we should say."

"I may not utter incantations, but I need a medium or a tool that can help me control magic like a wizard. Ah dinnae ken. It looks like this orb is some kind of new magic. Or maybe a part of a lost ancient mystical art. What's yer opinion, orb?"

The orb replied in a low voice.

"You're not bound to any mystic arts? That's... well interesting! Maybe the two of us should discuss this one-on-one!"

"Ahem, why don't you just tell us now?"

The orb responded, Alicia translated, "It said it has no interest in talking to ye pals."

"Bah! How cold. It's okay, though. If ye really want to be more intimate with her, suit yerself."

The nervous Alicia changed the topic. "Uh, by the way, since you're already a part of us, Let's gie ye a name! Ah ken! From now on I'll call you… Orb!" The orb, who was now called Orb, gave a cry of approval to Alicia. Nadine was distracted by the name Alicia had given it, while Gilmore was choking on his apple.

"You named your magic orb… Orb!?" Nadine's eyes widened, knowing Alicia wasn't very creative in thinking of a name for her rounded magic source full of cosmic-like energy.

"Huh? It's up to me, okay?" she nonchalantly replied. "And since Orb has officially joined our gang, How about we celebrate with dinner? Would ye like some takeaway? Or should we go hang out at Howlett's again, or at Café Dandelion-Eight? I'll hide the Orb in the bag, rest assured!"

Gilmore, who heard this, glanced at Nadine and asked her, "Hey. Ye didnae tell her about the incident?"

"Clipe, how could I forget!" Nadine responded while slapping her forehead.

Alicia forthwith noticed something from both of them. "W-what incident?"

"You might still sleep earlier, but this morning there wiz a stramash outside. The crowds flocked to the town," Gilmore replied. Alicia looked at him with full focus. "Our beloved restaurant, Howlett's is destroyed. The owners found the building completely razed to the ground."

Surprised, Alicia immediately replied, "What? How did that happen?"

"How it happened is unclear," Nadine helped explain. "When people were rushing past your house, we heard the news. Howlett's was charred like a fire. But strangely, they didn't see any sign of the fire that night. No smoke, no sparks, nothing at all. The building next door wasn't even affected. It was like the restaurant had caught fire by itself and turned to ashes in an instant."

Alicia then remembered that night. The town of Trinketshore was completely deserted, no people at all. There were only them and the strange glowing sphere floating in the sky, which was now on the girl's hands. They also didn't know how the restaurant was at night because they didn't pass the eatery. But she was pretty sure that the only light that stood out that night came from Orb. They did not see any flames either from the direction of the restaurant or in any direction whatsoever.

"This… has nothing to do with us, right?" asked Alicia, a little nervous.

"Naw, yon shouldnae be possible. We didnae take the route to the restaurant, so we were nae involved at all. Poor Mister Howlett. No more Trinketshore beef buffets!" Gilmore said in a sad tone, like he was about to cry.

Alicia then tried to ask Orb to make sure that the events experienced by the triumvirate affected the surrounding environment as well. "Orb, do you know about this?"

Orb responded in a weak tone, indicating that it didn't remember anything about burning down a meat buffet restaurant.

Not satisfied with Gilmore and Orb's answer, she immediately stood up from her seat. "I want to go check out the place," said Alicia firmly.

"Noo jist haud on! Ye just woke up, and yer body hasn't fully recovered! Ye cannae jist leave the house right away," Nadine scolded her.

"Of course I can!" Alicia denied it. "I have to see it myself. We might not pass the restaurant when picking up the Orb. But I'm afraid that the destruction of the restaurant might have something to do with everything that happened last night. That flash of light, rumbling sounds, the surge of energy. These things could be related!"

Nadine looked at Gilmore then answered Alicia. "But Alicia! What if it didn't have any connection to Orb? Or worse, it's the result of another strange power? Even if Orb is with us… I don't know. we're still not sure that what happened last night won't happen again, because—"

"Hey!" Alicia's rebuke interrupted Nadine to wake them up. "I know what you're thinking. Look, don't blame yerself. Yesterday was unexpected. But with everything that happened, I still survived, even made a new friend. But you pals are still the best pals I can rely on. I still need you."

Alicia then took the hands of each of her friends and said. "This time we will be together, no more separating from each other." Nadine and Gilmore were still speechless. "After all, we are no longer the three of us! Orb will join us in this little adventure! Isn't that right, Orb?" Orb gave a signal of agreement.

Gilmore gave a sign of approval, following the Orb. "If we really have to look into it, then we'd rather check it out than die wondering, not knowing what happened to the town. But we have to disguise ourselves."

"Huh? What for?" Nadine asked.

"Of course, so that no one will know our identity when we check the place. Mind we'll bring Alicia and our new pal who just showed up today, and none of the fowks knows about its whereabouts. If there's a threat and we cannae help but to use Orb, at least no yin kens who Orb's master is or who its pals are. Trinketshore is a small town, aye. But we can't ignore there are pure weird things related to magic here."

Gilmore said at length with a fairly heavy content enough to impress the Crimsonmane girl.

"Wow, Gilmore. To think you're so meticulous! What have you eaten?"

"Ah dinnae ken. Maybe being exposed to 'radiation' from Orb increases my intelligence. Scunnered Nadine can't be a canny lass as well when Orb's effect made her a bawheid instead!" ridiculed Gilmore confidently. Nadine with a sour face tossed an apple of hers. The green apple as big as a baseball hit the left temple of Gilmore's head point-blank until it made a loud thumping sound, talking about the army protégé's aim.

"Aww! Hey!" Gilmore groaned.

"Oh, shut it, Gilmore! It seems yer returning to be a bawheid again," Nadine mocked back.

Alicia resumed her conversation with them. "I don't have fancy masks or anything, but I do have a few sets of used clothes and a pair of googles. I think that's enough to mingle as a homeless."

"Yep, of course. Being a jakey it is," Gilmore said. []