Magical (A Quest of Vacations, or Starsigns, or Something Else)

...It's not that difficult of a decision. Even if your response seems to startle the robot somehow. "Really? You want to come along right away?"

"Is something wrong?" You ask. You honestly have no idea what goes on at Will-O-Wisp outside of term time, but surely it can't be that bad.

"...You'll see."

Biscotti sighs. "Mokka, please try your hardest to not scare the new students." So the robot's name is Mokka. You should try and keep that in mind for later. "In any case, you may need some time to pack. Once you are done, you should head north. You will find a bus parked right outside of Green Tea Village. You can meet us there."

Left unsaid is the fact that there will definitely be some sort of consequences for not showing up as soon as possible. You'll just... grab a few spare changes of clothes and ask your parents to mail you anything else you need.

---

The bus itself is easy to see. You don't come across vehicles all that often, not when the simplest way of crossing the Realm of Light is on foot, but you'd be able to recognize the round object made of shining steel even if Mokka and Principal Biscotti weren't already standing there.

Besides the two of them and the driver- sleeping in his seat, so you know it's him- a brown-furred vox man stands by the door, watching two children about your age building towers out of differently-colored pebbles- a green salamander and some sort of purple mole creature with red spikes.

Both of which come as a surprise. Salamanders can't use magic- or, at least, nobody has ever come across a salamander wizard- and you have no idea what kind of creature the other kid is.

Just as soon as you notice them, they notice you. The salamander stands up, his tail whipping around and knocking his pink and blue pebble tower to the ground. The other kid grins.

"So... this means I win, right?" Nobody answers. Not that the mole seems to mind, because then he appears to realize something. "Wait, if there's another kid here, that means-"

"Children," Biscotti speaks, glancing at the two boys. "Should you not be returning to your seats in the bus?"

The mole pales. The salamander looks even greener than he did before. This is probably not a good sign. "We do not have many more stops to make, and they already know we are coming, so at least this will be over soon," Mokka tries to reassure them.

You're definitely getting a really bad feeling about this...

"Why can't you drive?" The salamander desperately asks the robot.

"Because I do not have a licence. And over the past many thousands of years, I have never had a need to obtain one. I do not often go with Principal Biscotti's recruitment tour." With those words, Mokka boards the bus, followed closely by the floppy-eared vox, who he quickly falls into a conversation with.

You are quickly ushered on board as well, along with your fellow students. At the back of the bus, you notice two other kids. A pair of identical brown-haired human girls, the only difference between the two being that one wears green, and the other, blue, are fast asleep leaning against the wall.

The floor underneath the seats is covered in bags, while the girl in green has a book open in front of her. As much as that matters, when she's not even awake to read it.

Looking around at the space available to you, you decide to sit...


[ ] Next to the pair of sleeping girls.

[ ] Next to the salamander.

[ ] Next to the mole.

[ ] Behind Mokka and the vox.

[ ] On your own.

While the pair of identical girls are sprawled out over the very back of the bus, there's still some space left for you to sit down. There's a window nearby, so you can see Green Tea Village out of the side of the bus, the Envoys of Love already awake and going about their days.

For a moment, all is still. And then the driver wakes up, and your peace is shattered.

"Next stop, Oturan Village!" And with that, the vehicle starts, shooting off down the road at top speed, not even bothering to take the time to accelerate. You manage to catch yourself on the seat in front of you without slamming face-first into it on the first bump, but the girl in green isn't so lucky, spilling off the seat and onto the floor.

"Ow!" She bolts awake, attempting to scramble back onto her seat as the other girl begins to stir.

"We're going already?" The girl in blue complains, not looking very impressed with the quality of your transportation. You honestly can't say you blame her. That's when she notices you, blinking at you with pale gray eyes. "...Oh, are you the one the Principal was picking up?"

"Sorbet..." The green girl grumbles, still on the floor. Unlike the other, her eyes are a deep blue-violet. "Help me..." She's given a hand, and pulled up just in time for the bus to take a sharp turn, almost throwing her off of her seat again.

You get the feeling this is going to be a bit of a trend. Probably best to just ignore the bumpiness... even if it comes from driving right up a flight of stairs. "So, um..." You begin, wondering if they even remembered you were here, "I'm Rye Seabreeze. Who are you?"

"I'm Sorbet Ronsanu," The blue girl introduces herself. "And this is my sister, Sugar."

Sugar nods along. "It's nice to meet you... I guess. What are you going to be studying?"

"Water magic. I can talk to the Water Spirits, so..." You'll also be learning anything else you can get your hands on, but maybe it's best not to mention that part yet. "What about you?"

"I have the Starsign of Cassia," Sorbet explains.

"And I talk to Wind Spirits... They don't like this drive, either." And that's about when the bus goes over a large flight of stairs. "Prodigy driver Balsamico, he called himself..." You can sort of get why she's complaining.

"Are vehicles normally like this?" You ask. Sorbet shrugs.

"We've never been on one before, either. I... don't think I'll be making a habit of it." You and Sugar both agree with her. You should have just figured out your own transportation.

Thankfully, the ride is over quickly. "We are now arriving in Oturan Village!" It stops just as suddenly as it started, almost throwing Sugar from her seat again but for the spell she manages to cast. Sorbet isn't so lucky, and now it's her turn to fall from her seat.

You can commiserate. You hit the seat directly in front of you face first this time. It's not much of a stop, either. A puppet kid just climbs on, takes a seat next to the mole creature- you really need to figure out what his race is called later- and then you're off again. Things are a bit different this time- you've always been at least a bit aware of the world outside the window, but there's a blink, and then you're somewhere else entirely.

...So that's what Warp Magic is like. You know there's a few people who can cast spells like this, but there's not many of them. Most just leave it to specially-made machines.

"It's a bit strange, huh?" Sugar comments. "It was like that when we left the Realm of Darkness, too." Ahead of your group, the puppet seems to be reacting about the same way you are, while the mole is sort of freaking out.

Given how you were just pulled onto another plane of existence through sheer force of reckless driving, you can't really blame him.

"We are now most of the way through Principal Biscotti's yearly recruitment tour," Mokka announces, loudly enough for the whole bus to hear it. You're sure that there'd be cheering if you all weren't too concerned about falling out of your seats... or terrified for your lives as the driver makes the bus jump a river.

At least you can comfort yourself with the fact that it's almost over.

---

By the time it's announced that the next stop is actually Will-O-Wisp Academy, you've stopped paying attention to your fellow students boarding the bus, and the sky has lit up with all sorts of colors, orange and red and even a bit of violet.

"For those who have never been on this plane of existence before," Mokka begins, "What you can see outside is the phenomenon known as 'sunset'. It only occurs on this planet, because this planet is the only one that rotates, but it can occasionally separate the times between night and day."

Night... You've never noticed any difference between the time your awake and when you're supposed to be asleep other than the fact that you'll crash if you go too long without rest, and people with Starsigns of Night or Day will trade off which ones have a slight glow to them.

Still... "Occasionally?"

"I've heard about this," Sorbet tells you. "Apparently, the sun goes out sometimes, and that makes it night for the whole planet. It's just that there's always somewhere on Kovomaka where it's night no matter if the sun's in the sky or not."

So you should probably get used to it being dark... assuming you can. You'll try to reserve judgement until it actually happens.

Which probably won't be all that long from now. And somehow, that scares you a lot more than the fact you'll be going to school in another Realm than the one you grew up in.

Still, no matter how fast Balsamico drives, you won't reach the school for another hour. You should probably find some way to keep yourself occupied until then... besides keeping yourself from falling out of your seat, anyway.


[ ] Keep talking with the Ronsanu twins.
-[ ] About spirits.
-[ ] About the Starsign of Cassia.
-[ ] They both seem to know a lot...
-[ ] Is there a story behind the outfits?
-[ ] Complain about Balsamico's driving.

[ ] Look out the window... or, well, try to.

[ ] Try and listen in on some other students' conversations.

"So, are there a lot of Wind Spirits around here?" You ask. You've heard there are people who can freely interact with spirits not of their own affinity, but as far as you know, you've never met one. The only time you've ever seen other kinds of spirits is when Uncle Cilantro took you to explore the Remittsu Royal Palace as a kid.

Your parents weren't very pleased with him. Apparently, they were worried you'd do something to offend the spirits. You never saw any problem with it. It was fun getting to talk to walls and rosebushes.

Sugar nods, her eyes lit up in a way you never thought was possible for someone without a Starsign. "Of course there are! You can find them just about everywhere open to the sky, even if they only really appear while there's a breeze blowing. They find it's not as fun otherwise, you see." You definitely believe it. If they're anything like the spirits that like to play in the rivers near Uncle Cilantro's place... "What about the Water Spirits?"

"They show up just about everywhere there's water. But they act different depending on what kind of water it is. Running water spirits are playful, the hot spring talks sort of like an old lady, and spirits that come out during the rain are..." You pause for a moment to search for the word. "...Loud. And bossy. I think they might get it from spending so much time with the Lightning Spirits."

"Wind Spirits are sort of like that, too," Sugar confirms. "Especially when a big gale brews up."

Sorbet looks thoughtful. "What about ice? Have you ever met an ice spirit?"

You nod. "They're not very sociable, though. Not that I've come across many of them... you don't find a lot of ice around hot springs." Or in the Realm of Light in general. The constant sunlight probably has something to do with that.

"I guess not... We get a lot of ice in the Realm of Darkness, though, outside of summer. It's actually a lot warmer around her than I'm used to."

"Ice-based magic is Sorbet's specialty," Sugar tells you. "She's not quite good enough to make sculptures yet, but if you ever need someone to be hit by a large ball of ice, you know who to go to. I'm not sure if that's a normal thing for people with her Starsign, but it's not like there's ever been anyone I can ask."

If it wouldn't risk you losing your tenuous grip on your seat, you'd point out the renowned educator who is currently in the same vehicle as you. Then again, Balsamico is still employed, so maybe he's not quite as smart as everyone says he is.

Still, you think he'd be a good person to answer Sugar's question. "So, you want to learn a lot about magic?"

"That is sort of why we're here," Sorbet points out. "And there are a lot of wizards in the village where we come from, even if there weren't that many Starsigns... apparently those are a lot more common closer in in the solar system. Probably because those people are actually being born on those planets."

Sugar sighs. "Of course, in exchange, they don't really have spirits..." This raises questions as to how they know this, but you aren't going to be the one to ask them.

And then you hear the driver's voice over the sounds of broken speed limits and crying children. "Hey! Twerps! Will-O-Wisp Academy is just up ahead!"

And that's about all the warning you get before he literally crashes through the school gates.

Unsurprisingly, everyone is out of the bus as quickly as they can, staring up at the high clock tower and blue roofs of Will-O-Wisp Academy.

"It's... a lot more pink than I remember," The vox man comments. "And you removed the fountain?"

"The fountain, unsurprisingly, gave out under the force of Balsamico's driving about a hundred and fifty years ago," Mokka informs him. "In all honesty, I was expecting it to happen centuries before. As for the color... Around eighty years ago, a particularly mischievous class of students decided to try and repaint the whole thing overnight as a prank. As you can see, they succeeded, and the principal liked their audacity so much he decided to keep the results."

Honestly, this is a lot more interesting than the things you learned by reading at home. Why couldn't this kind of stuff make it into the history books?

Principal Biscotti turns back to the rest of you. "Now, as we managed to make it back before the point where we would collapse from exhaustion..." No, no exhaustion, just fear. "I believe that there is still time in this evening for dinner." Oh, good, you didn't get lunch today. Probably wouldn't have been able to keep it down even if you had. "I will show you to the cafeteria. Professor Maplewood, make sure none of the students wander off, will you?"

You aren't sure he has to worry about that. You think you might all be too overwhelmed and hungry to explore. But the vox nods and brings up the rear of your group regardless.

---

You're sure the cafeteria is more impressive during the school year. After all, all the kids who live close enough to get to school on their own, or whose parents let them use Pizza's services, will have to eat here, too. Or maybe it's just the fact that apparently they didn't know for sure that you were getting here early enough to eat.

Still, right now it's just a bunch of round tables with juice boxes and packaged sandwiches sitting on top of them. You don't think you've ever actually eaten pre-packaged food before, Uncle Al is insistent that you stick with homecooked meals, but there were always going to be new experiences involved with leaving home, and this is one of the more predictable ones.

Everyone spreads out to eat, groups that end up sitting together talking quietly amongst themselves. You yourself end up sitting with...


[ ] Sorbet and Sugar, as well as the salamander from earlier and the puppet who got on the bus in the Realm of Light.

[ ] The purple mole creature from earlier, a yellow-furred rabbitfolk girl, and a felin and vox who seem to be pointedly not talking to each other.

[ ] A group of humans who are animatedly discussing the different types of Light and Dark Magic. One of them is softly glowing with the Starsign of Night.

[ ] Nobody. You're just going to try and eat on your own.