Kira's birthday was over, and the girls, together with the wolves, went back to their mansion after having finished up the picnic in the castle's garden. Ari and Anna stayed behind, though. They hadn't returned home for a whole week after running away, and they thought it would be best to finally though it out. Not that either of them wanted to do that.

“What a day…” They were back in the living room of the mansion when Chloe let out a long sigh. As usual, she was sitting on one of the sofas together with her tail while the couple shared one of the others. Fen and Aura had gotten comfortable on the sheepskin rug. “I wasn’t expecting to go to the castle today and meet the king and the queen of this nation… I really made some influential friends with you all…”

“Ahaha…” Sophia just lightly scratched her cheek. “It’s kinda weird how that turned out, huh? Imagine how I felt when I first discovered what being a tiger means… Not to mention that I got hunted down by the royal family when we arrived in the capital… Compared to that, befriending some of them is almost normal.”

“I wouldn’t go that far…” Maya shook her head. “Nothing about any of this is normal.”

“I never said that.” The blonde shook her head. “Just, compared to accidentally becoming part of the royal family, meeting them is not that much of a shock.”

“Okay, that’s fair enough.” She could see her point. “Also, it doesn’t seem like your life could be described as normal in the first place either, my dear fox.”

“Good comeback.” Chloe had to agree here. “I did experience a lot while I was traveling with Feyfey. Not to mention Feyfey herself, and how it seems like her magic and what she taught me are much more out of the ordinary than I thought…”

“Did you really have no idea that your magic is completely bonkers…?” The cat-girl had a hard time believing it. “Sophia’s much more powerful than you are, but the way you two utilize magic is similar, if not even the same. It's unlike anything that is known. It goes completely against the common sense of everyone.”

“Hmm…” The fox-girl thought about it for a moment. "Common sense, huh...? I mean, Feyfey often told me that my ideas are pretty ridiculous every now and then, but… She's the one who taught me how to use magic in the first place, so… Without her, I never would’ve been able to think like that. It would've been impossible, after all. In the end, it's all Feyfey's fault! Also, before meeting all of you, the topic of magic rarely came up when I was with other people. That’s why I was convinced the magic I learned was perfectly normal.”

"It's similar to Fennyfenny and me.” Sophia nodded a few times. “He only taught me chantless magic because chants and activation words were useless to him and I got embarrassed just thinking about using chants because they're so cringy… Okay, I knew that not all are capable of using it, but especially the thing about people thinking they should only be able to use certain elements surprised me a lot, too.”

“Yes!” Chloe agreed with her. “That really makes no sense. “Magic doesn’t care how for what you’re using it. Magic is magic. It only cares about how much auth-, err, power you have because that determines the way you’re able to use it. The limitation to certain elements is just weird…”

“Exactly!”

“Chloe…” Fen suddenly lifted his head from the sheepskin rug and stared straight at her.

“Hmm?” She looked back at him.

“You know about magic authority, don’t you?”

"A-Ah!” The fox-girl immediately turned her head away.

"You almost let that word slip multiple times already in that very context. Still, whenever that happened, it was followed by another bombshell from either your or our striped idiot that I forgot about it again, but… You do know, don’t you?” The wolf finally wasn’t too surprised about the conversation that he could probe for details now.

“U, Uhh…” She looked rather awkward. “Feyfey actually told me to never mention that…”

"A bit late for that now, isn't it?" Aura also joined the conversation because she was just as interested in it. "You basically just finally confirmed that you know."

"A-Ah.”

“Well, we all know about it, too, so it should be fine.” The female wolf tried to make it easier for her. “We are aware that our power is actually the authority we have over magic, and it regulates how much we can command ambient magic.” She roughly recalled what Canir had told them before.

"I see… Honestly, I don't really know why Feyfey told me to tell no one about it… She taught me magic based on the authorization basis, but she always mentioned that it's generally known as power, and I shouldn’t mention the actual thing…”

“Hmm…” Fen tilted his head while trying to understand the reasoning. “So, Feyanis knows about the authorization…? The higher your authority on it, the better and easier magic listens to you.”

“That is the rough explanation she told me when I was a little older, yes. When I was younger, and she was teaching me the basics, she used a different way of explaining, though. One that I still like much more!”

“That is?” He got curious.

“It is how much magic likes you!” She gave him a cheery answer. “Before your magic awakens, it watches you and decides how much it likes you. It is a little biased, though, because that already starts happening before you are born. That determines what is known as your power. In the end, it’s just the magic particles inside yourself that decided to stick with you because they like you. When you use your magic, they leave your body, ask for help with the ambient magic, and then return to your body after a while. Magic doesn't get used. It just changes form before eventually turning back to its original shape.”

“I love that explanation!” Sophia’s eyes were sparkling.

“I know, right?!” So were Chloe’s. “The more magic likes you, the more you can play with it~. Feyfey also told me this is why so few bad guys use big magics to hurt or harm others. Most magic doesn’t like doing bad things. Then again, I'm not sure if that part is actually true… It sounds a little like a fairytale you'd tell a child, after all. I still love it, though!”

“Interesting…” Fen thought about it for a moment. “It’s kind of similar to the explanation we heard, but it’s also not…? Weird.” He seemed a little confused. “Was his interpretation of it just different so we can understand it better, or is he missing something, too?" He looked at Aura while making sure she'd understand that he was talking about Canir.

“If he doesn’t know, who would?” Aura tilted her head. “He is in a position where he definitely should, don’t you think?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Chloe,” The female wolf then glanced at the fox. “Has Feyanis ever told you how she knows all of this? When Fen and I were with her, neither she nor we knew about this side of magic yet."

“I don’t think so? Not that I remember, at least.” She shook her head in return. “Not that I ever asked in the first place. It was a little weird that she asked me to keep it a secret, but everyone has a weird secret or two. The explanation itself made sense to me, so I never questioned where or how she learned it.”

“I guess that’s fair enough.” Aura had nothing to add to that. “I can’t wait for her to return and question her!”

“Yes!” Fen nodded a few times. “Something grand has to have happened between us parting ways and her having Chloe.”

"I look forward to that!" Sophia gave them a thumbs up. "Every time I thought I understood magic, something new comes up! Feyfey seems to be very knowledgeable about it, so I want to hear her take on it!"

“Has she mentioned anything about when she’s returning?” Maya also was curious about her.

"She just mentioned that she'll do her best to hurry but also that it will take a little while." Chloe shook her head. "I heard that the human capital is really far away, but I don’t think it will take that much longer.”

“Aren’t you worried that something happened?” The cat-girl was surprised that there was not a hint of doubt in her voice.

“Not at all.” She just looked back at her. “Would you be worried if Fenfen would go on an extended walk?”

“Very worried!” Maya raised her voice. “Though, worried about anything and anyone but him…”

“Hey!” The wolf raised his voice.

“What happened the last time you went on a walk?!” She just glared at him.

“I’m sorry to have talked back…” He immediately hung his head.

“See? Feyfey is at least as powerful as him. There is no need to be worried~.”

“About her, that is?”

“Yes.” Chloe smiled back at her in a way too gentle manner for this situation.

Afterward, they chatted a little longer about Fey and magic itself. Still, as all the mysteries and questions seemed to be unresolvable without that very fox, it was getting nowhere, and the group decided to put a hold on the topic for the time being and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.