Three flights of stairs just felt excessive to Nerluce. So what if he'd been climbing twice that when going to visit Aristide and Kierli? Three flights of stairs to get to his own room? That was insane.

Setting the last of his things down in his new room - it had taken him two painful trips up and down the stairs to move all of his belongings, which was double the amount of trips it had taken last time. Nerluce still didn't have much to his name but he hadn't wanted to dirty his formal robes before tonight so he'd decided to make the separate trip. Lyana had laughed at him as she heeped all of her clothes into her arms and carried it up.

Their new room was smaller than the prior one but Nerluce figured that was because it belonged to them. As in Nerluce and Lyana. All of the disciples had been divided into eight rooms - one of which that wasn't in use - with two palats on either side. They used to be private - Seraphs got private rooms - but this was better than having to share a room with one person was much better than sharing it with four.

Though Nerluce figured he'd still be throwing Lyana's bras across the room at her - she was awful about leaving her clothes everywhere - at least he wouldn't have to find Corbett's clothing mixed in with his own as well.

If only he'd gotten Eko or Hamelin as a roommate instead.

"You moved in?" Lyana asked as Nerluce set his folded formal robes onto the desk. The rest of his clothes, or the rest of his clothes he wasn't currently wearing, were tucked into the chest at the foot of his pallet.

"Yep," Nerluce said, plopping down on the pallet.

"Good, you can help me brainstorm," Lyana said, moving across the room to sit on Nerluce's pallet, next to him. "I know we don't technically get back to work until tomorrow but..." She offered him the piece of parchment paper she'd been working on. "I've been looking forward to making my Magikal weapon since... since I first met the High Priestess."

Sure enough, the parchment was filled with scribbled doodles of different types of weapons. Calling them scribbled doodles was actually a bit of an insult to their quality, though it was likely that's exactly what they were. Lyana was... an excellent artist. Nerluce had no idea how she'd picked it up but the weapons looked so realistic they almost seemed as if they'd leap like dragons off of the paper.

Nerluce let out a small gasp of amazement as he ran his finger over the dried ink. Then, Nerluce pointed at the sword. "I like that one."

"Of course you do," Lyana said with a huff.

"What? Swords are one of the most effective weapons - Magickal or otherwise."

Lyana grumbled something as she scooted closer to Nerluce, practically leaning into him so she could point at the parchment. Nerluce pressed back into her warmth. Lyana was always warm. It was probably one of the lesser physical attributes she'd gotten from practicing fire Magick. Nerluce was glad. It made cuddling with her all the better.

"What do you think about this one?" Lyana asked.

Nerluce inspected the weapon that Lyana had pointed at. It was a large, double headed axe. "With these dimensions... this thing will be bigger than you."

"I'm not that short," Lyana said, rolling her eyes.

"Are too," Nerluce said, nudging her.

She nudged him back. "It's the prothetics. I think my mechanic is messing with me because there's no way my legs should be this small. It's just not preportional."

"No, I'm pretty sure you're just tiny."

That earned Nerluce a much harder nudge - Nerluce would even go so far as to call it a jab - as Lyana rolled her eyes. "You're just tall," Lyana insisted. "We used to be about the same height and now look at you. Probably six foot."

"And still growing," Nerluce said with a wink. "Someone has to be tall around here."

"I'm pretty sure Hamelin had that covered without your assistance," Lyana said, resting her head on Nerluce's shoulder. "I guess if it's any consultation, the stretch marks on your back are cool. If you weren't learning Magick, they be boring, regular stretch marks."

"Gods don't remind me," Nerluce said.

Nerluce wasn't certain when those appeared. Sometime after his Ash Fingers - which had only gotten darker and more noticeable in the past few months, almost reaching his second knuckle. The stretch marks were overkill, though. Nerluce had been growing steadily but then - for gods know what reason - his body decided he needed to be taller than anyone in his family and it had decided it so quickly, his skin hadn't been able to keep pace.

But just like Lyana had said, the marks weren't regular lines. Nerluce's skin had stretched in the pattern of flames. And he hadn't been able to take his shirt off without hearing about it since.

"But they're so cool," Lyana whined. "I just have regular stretch marks around my thighs."

"I wouldn't mind them so much if you guys didn't make me feel self-conscious," Nerluce said with a scowl.

Lyana giggled. "Okay, okay, no more stretch marks." Returning to their original topic of conversation, Lyana leaned back into Nerluce and Nerluce leaned back into her as she tapped another of her drawings. "What do you think about this one?"

"Okay, so it's still larger than you."

"Nerluce, I'm overdramatic."

"Alright, alright," Nerluce said and looked at the weapon more seriously. "I'm not sure how well it would work as a fire weapon but I do think it suits you." He nodded his approval. "I think that would add an extra bit of force that would make up for its impractiblity. And if you learn other Magicks... there would be no weapon that could rival it."

"Alright then," Lyana said. "That settles it. I'll use this one."

Nerluce hummed his approval, pleased he'd helped his friend pick out the Magickal weapon she might use for the rest of her life. Or might not. There was no shame in changing weapons. "Do you think I should start looking into designing a weapon?"

"Maybe," Lyana said. "I can help you if you want."

"Oh, that would be amazing," Nerluce said with a dramatic exhale. "I'm awful at drawing but I need a visual so I was really, really hoping you'd offer or else I'd be screwed."

Lyana grinned. "Yeah, yeah, I'm the best." She puffed up her chest. "I'm assuming you want a sword?"

"Still the most practical weapon."

"It's boring too. How are you going to make a name for yourself if your weapon is just like everyone else's," Lyana said, rolling her eyes.

"Aristide's weapon is a sword. And so is Coam's."

"Those are exceptions," Lyana said. "Besides, I would consider Lingua the most famous fire weapon of the prior generation."

"Taayir's whip?" Nerluce asked. "No way."

"It totally is!" Lyana said, throwing her hands up. "If you showed someone a drawing of Lingua, anyone would know what it was instantly. If you showed someone a drawing of Suru-Suru they could mistake it for any fire sword in the past three hundred years!"

"Suru-Suru isn't just any fire sword," Nerluce protested in a huff. "I'd know it better than I'd know Coam's face. Suru-Suru is the only fire weapon I can think of that burns blue."

Lyana huffed but relented on that point.

The more Nerluce learned about Magick, the more impressed he was by his sister. She'd seemed like a god, wielding divine forces on a whim. Now, Nerluce still thought she was protegy - she was - but he understood what made her so powerful. Coam's Magickal weapon was the culmination of that raw talent and years of training and battle experience.

Nerluce had seen drawings of Suru-Suru before. He'd watched some disciples of his clan try and summon it. But Suru-Suru only had one master. There was only one person in this entire world who's flames burned hot enough for Suru-Suru's existence.

That was unless Aristide decided he wanted to summon Suru-Suru.

Comparing Coam and Aristide... well it was near impossible. Nerluce knew that Coam was no higher being but Aristide was his angel.

If Aristide wanted to made a sword of blue fire, he would be able to. There wasn't a doubt in Nerluce's mind about that. Aristide was an unfairly fast learner. Nerluce had realized this while practicing with Aristide over the past couple of months. Aristide had none of Coam's natural talent or Lyana's immense power, but the ability to pick up new skills as easily as breathing.

It was unfair. All three of them were unfair.

"Oh, it's getting late," Lyana said, finally hoisting herself off of Nerluce and onto her softly ticking legs. "I guess we should get ready for tonight."

"Yeah," Nerluce said.

Nerluce just hoped this wasn't the last banquet he had at Ethera.