The area around her was swarmed by balls of darkness as the notification rang out in her head, bringing a satisfied smile to her face.

Completing the job had taken her longer than she’d initially expected since she’d been staying in the city to practice, the risk of something going wrong if she attempted the debuffing or mind aspects of that particular magic was too great, but she’d more than made up for it as she drove herself to work on the aspect of the mana that gave that type of affinity its name, creating darkness.

She didn’t let it out in a simple fog to cover the area, instead creating complex shapes with it, spheres and pyramids and cubes floating around the space as she forced herself to multitask with what she’d been creating while also managing dense points of the mana that were chasing her two companions around as they played, with Insia trying to overpower the darkness any time she was caught using the fire that made her up.

When I get back to Stonewall I really should try and see what I can do with those other aspects of the magic now too, but that’s a later problem. For now, I’ll go for high dark mage, She told herself as she reached up to touch her necklace, all of the expected notifications going off in her head as she did it with the thrill of taking a new job coursing through her. She doubted she’d be able to finish that one while in the confines of the city. Even with the awakened form of the magic, it would be hard to speed through the job if she had to limit herself to such a small aspect of the power, but then, there was no reason not to go for the change of pace.

She looked to her two companions, both Insia and Rocky still playing amongst the darkness she created as she spoke up.

“Any chance you both feel up to an outing? We could pop through the gate and visit the untamed lands for some practice.”

She watched the small fairy briefly light up in excitement at the prospect, only to deflate in the end.

“Sorry, my parents wouldn’t be happy if I ran off through the gate.”

“Oh no, you’re absolutely right, forget I said anything.”

Don’t do something that’s going to look like kidnapping a child, you idiot.

Even if Insia did come across as youthful as she genuinely was, the fact that all fairies seemed that way made it easy to forget when they spent time together, but that was obviously a terrible choice. One only brought up as she was blinded by her feeling of progress and left her to deal with her embarrassment, only having it broken with the other girl's laughter.

“You don’t need to be so hard on yourself, they wouldn’t be that mad. Maybe if they meet you later then they’ll be fine with us going out with you. Dad can just be a little overprotective.”

“Ha, I dealt with the same when I was younger and sure, if they have time I can try to meet them while I’m still here.”

“Still here?” The fairy asked, her mood instantly collapsing. “You mean you’re not from the city?”

Ah.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it.

It was a topic that hadn’t come up in the few days they’d been spending together, with Thera having assumed it was obvious given how far her appearance was from the more typical look of the city’s residence, but it seemed that wasn’t so and watched as Insia drooped down with the news while Rocky tried to cheer her up.

It wasn’t a sight Thera enjoyed seeing either, and without much thought moved to raise her up.

“I have another week here,” She said gently. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll never come back. I'm practically just a gate away. I might not be able to visit often, but I can come by every couple of weeks to see you if you’d like.”

Her own solitude-filled childhood was clear in her thoughts, she didn’t want Insia to go through the same, not when she’d grown to like the girl. She wanted to maintain their friendship, and given that Ben’s personal gate made any sort of travel so much easier there was no reason she couldn’t, all of which the fairy picked up on, perking back up.

“Alright, you’ll have to then. We’ve been having a lot more fun with you around, right Rocky?”

“Correct.”

It was nice feeling that things had cleared up and the small fairy flew over to sit on Thera’s shoulder after, still wanting to be close in the days she’d still be there as Thera changed the subject, wanting to move past the slight downer of a topic.

“So Rocky, I’ve been wanting to ask, is it common for elementals to be named?”

She had been under the impression before meeting them that elementals were more akin to spirits than they were fairies, not seeing a need for names when they could instantly recognize one another. The fact that he had one was a good enough topic to switch to, with the elemental seeming to appreciate it as well.

“It was given by Insia.”

“I couldn’t just call you ‘you’ you know,” The fairy said. “And it fits so well. You’re an earth elemental. Earth, rocks, Rocky. It’s perfect!”

“It is. I like my name.”

“Good, ‘cause it’s too late to change it.”

Thera chuckled at the back and forth, enjoying the banter as she thought about her own life. She’d never had any problems with the spirits growing up, but it hadn’t been until her adult life that she’d become close to them. Perhaps too close given how highly they now evaluated her, but it was an avenue of friendship she’d never deeply pursued when she needed it. Seeing the two of them made her realize that perhaps that had been a mistake on her part.

Oh well. As of right now, life’s pretty damn good.

She had plenty of friends in her life now and had even been lucky enough to stumble into making two more by herself, with each positive relationship she made ending with the world feeling a little brighter, even with the constant threat of doom and gloom.

“Well, if you’re done now, what should we do for the rest of the day?” Insia asked.

“Whatever you want, I have nothing but time.”