When Pippy discovered that this town had a public library, furthermore one with a dedicated wing for magic texts, she had insisted on dragging Livia along to peruse its shelves, ever on the hunt for new reading and study materials. “Come on!” she’d pleaded. “I need a taste of home! Besides, I might even find a way for us to get home!” she had taken the wind out of her own sails with that one. “Not that… there’s anything left of Aubade… huh, it hadn’t clicked until now. The magic capital of Aubade, all those resources, all that wealth of knowledge and practice… gone.”

“Not gone,” Livia was quick to rebut. “Living on in you. Especially if we keep you fresh and sharp with whatever Berodyl has to offer.”

A new light sparked in Pippy’s eyes as she audibly gasped. “Really?! Oh, thank you, Livia!”

It was true; Livia would’ve much preferred to be roaming the new fields beyond the town, charting the land and honing her own edge on new monsters in preparation for the battle that stood on the ever-closer horizon. However, any part of her that itched for said excursions was soothed by seeing the joy on Pippy’s face, and in the way she hopped from bookcase to bookcase, aisle to aisle, humming an arrhythmic, bouncy tune. Besides, she was still getting a workout; every few steps, Pippy would add yet another hardback to the stack she was cradling in her arms, getting heavier and harder to balance each time. Eventually, Livia could no longer see in front of her, and relied on Pippy guiding her along. She couldn’t see it happening, but she could hear Pippy’s grunts and groans as she was forced to leap ever higher to slap more tomes atop the tower, and Livia had to wonder how the hells she was managing it. Maybe she’s boosting herself up with airomancy, she thought, or maybe some other weird magic I know nothing about.

“Ooh!” Pippy squealed like the schoolgirl that, up until a few months ago, she had been. “A book about distortion magic! That’s a first!” she giggled. “Well, a first for here, anyway. That reminds me… that was how I met Fainche. She wanted to pay a visit to the planescape of the distortion sphere, explore the way magic was changed by it. Not only was she far too young, but her being an esper made it even riskier. I made sure to partner up with her before heading in, so I could bring her out if things got dicey.”

“Wouldn’t that have made you far too young as well?” Livia asked, half-groaning from the ever-more-tiring weight of all the books with which she was plodding around.

“Sure,” Pippy smiled, “but… I’m amazing. She was pretty angry at me at first - I didn’t exactly tell her my plan to partner up with her until I’d already tagged along by surprise - but I knew she’d understand. I think she was secretly touched.”

“Sounds like you were a bit touched yourself,” Livia said. “I don’t know what a planescape is, or anything about distortion magic, but it all sounds dangerous as hells.”

“Eh,” Pippy hummed and hawed with intentional nasality, “not really comparable.”

“Nerd,” Livia tittered.

Eventually, after tracking up and down every isle, Pippy finally lead Livia to the main desk, where she could breathe a sigh of relief as she plonked the vast stack of books down, hitting the wooden surface of the desk with a weighty thud.

“Phew!” Livia dragged the back of one hand across her forehead. “Never thought a library would make me break a sweat.”

“Shh!” the librarian glared at her with a finger held over her lips.

“Sorry,” Livia whispered with remorse.

While Pippy went through the stack with the librarian, tallying up the cost of permanently buying the books rather than just borrowing them, Livia stepped out for some fresh air. And fresh it was, and sweet to boot. Sweeter than it had been anywhere else so far. Likely Ponima’s doing, Livia thought at first, but she also considered the sheer fastidiousness she had observed here in Karka-Tō. It was her only point of reference so far, but even so, the very landscape seemed to have a somewhat conscious touch, more than just the illusory work of Ponima. She could sense a real care, that the people here lived not just in tandem with their surroundings, but in true harmony. She felt a shiver rock her whole body; she hadn’t felt this ambiance since before the fall of Aubade began. It’s almost like being home again… almost. The grass and the sky were the wrong colour, but apart from that, it was damn close. She found herself contemplating the fact that, after her current mission, she was going to have to figure out what to do with herself. She wanted to make a home with Pippy, that much was obvious to her, but where in Berodyl was another matter. Not here, she decided right away. It’s too much like—

“I’m ready to go!”

Livia whipped around at the sudden voice breaking her introspection.

In the process, she nearly startled Pippy off her feet. “Whoa there! Catch you off guard, did I?”

“Oh, sorry,” Livia breathed, “yeah. Got a little bit… day-dreamy.”

“I can’t blame you,” Pippy crooned. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Not beautiful enough,” Livia said with renewed spunk, “to distract me from the dent you just put in our purse. How big is said dent, exactly?”

“Oh,” Pippy dragged out, waving her hand dismissively and darting her eyes around, “nothing we couldn’t spare! It’ll be a worthwhile investment— trust me!”

“Uh huh,” Livia smirked, nodding slowly. “I hope the librarian wasn’t too shocked by your soul space when you put the books away in there.”

“Nah,” Pippy toned, “she probably just thought it was a basic translocation spell. Well, ready to go grab some lunch?”

“Absolutely,” Livia said. “I’ve been wanting to try more food from that place Daniel took us to when we first got here; that stuff was good!”

“Perfect!” Pippy cheered, nearly leaving the ground. They held hands, interlocking their fingers, and started strolling toward the centre of town.

“So,” Livia mused, “which of those giant tomes are you going to open first?”

“Hey, I picked up a couple of smaller ones too! I’ll probably start with one of them, get the ol’ gears turning again. Back in the capital, I wasn’t technically a scholar; academia is its own style of magic. But I picked up what looked like a good little compendium on the ways of magic, so I’m going to look into following a style that’ll be a bit more… helpful for self-tutoring. Maybe thaumaturgy! I definitely have the aptitude for it. Hmm… maybe I should start simpler…”

“I’m sure you’ll have it all figured out soon enough,” Livia said. “Not that any of this ever made much sense to me.”

“You’re a mage too, Livia,” Pippy pointed out. “Didn’t you study at all?”

“Not really,” Livia shrugged. “Out where I lived, magic was just… something you did. You practised what was relevant - what was practical - and you didn’t go by books or were taught by anyone. That’s why petramancy and white magic are my bread and butter; work the earth, fix yourself up. That’s all we needed.”

“What about when you joined the Onyx Taurus? When you fought the myrewyrm?”

“I didn’t slay a myrewyrm singlehandedly with any kind of special trick, Pippy. I just… fought it and killed it, just like I’d dreamt of doing ever since being told bedtime stories about the heroes of the Onyx Taurus. And the powerbrands” - she touched a fingertip to one of the black marks on her face - “just… work. Their power comes naturally. I got used to them by sparring and fighting. I’m purely a mage of necessity and instinct.”

Pippy hummed thoughtfully. “There were people like that in the magic capital too. And plenty in the places I travelled to in the three months before I ended up stuck here in Berodyl. I know not every mage purely follows academia - like I said, even I’m not technically a scholar - but it always surprises me when people manage to figure anything out just on instinct. I’m amazing, but I could never do that!”

Livia shrugged. “Well… that’s why there’s so many ways and styles, right? Every spellcaster has their own preferences, their own needs. I guess that shapes our relationship with magic.”

“Yeah,” Pippy smiled. “I guess so.” She couldn’t help but think of Fainche again, about all those called naturalborn, those who, in one form or another, didn’t have the luxury of choice or flexibility, bearing what was surely both a blessing and a curse.

Soon, these thoughts would become submerged in the thick aromas of hot food and cold drink. A good meal had its way of giving the mind rest, and putting the soul at ease. In Pippy’s case, it eased both her own soul, and the clinging echoes of her old friend’s.