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

You haven't been inside the meditation room since the lockdown started.

Honestly, you never really felt you had much reason to go inside, when the most interesting thing there was a group of magic dolls. You aren't sure how any of them were programmed, but a number of them were made with a mishmash of parts, implying that they were probably salvaged from somewhere.

Most likely. You don't actually know a lot about magic dolls, other than that their creation is an incredibly complicated affair, and that they are more or less on the same level of intelligence as certain monster predators. That's all you'd ever needed to know, because nobody ever brought their dolls to the hot springs. At least, not while you were there.

But despite the lack of things which initially interested you in the meditation room, today you realized something.

The meditation room has a garden with a pond. And ponds mean Water Spirits.

You've sort of forgotten where the room is, but you make up for it by following other students. There's only three possible destinations for them, and you know where two of them are.

Of course, it also helps that those going to the meditation room are staying on the ground floor.

---

The place is more or less how you remember it. Wooden room, candles everywhere, students gathered in circles on beanbags and magic dolls lumped together in a pile. You're assuming those are going to make their way to a closet eventually. That's where those things are supposed to be kept, right?

Honestly, the only thing that really comes as a surprise to you is Raspberry leaning against one of the walls, as if she's trying to listen to something. But you don't want to get into any trouble at the moment, so you decide against approaching her. You already know what you want to do here.

It's only when you step out, under the sun, that you realize you haven't felt the sensation of actual grass beneath your paws since you first got here. It was always just tile, or wood, or carpet. Mostly carpet and tile. You haven't felt any sort of breeze, or stood under the blue sky, and while you were never particularly invested in going outside... it's sort of strange to think about.

You haven't spoken to any spirits since you got here, either. And that pricks at you harder than everything else has, just because you grew up surrounded by them.

At least, today, you can fix both these things.

A small cliff hangs over the pond, on top of which sits a single tree. It seems young, as though it's been replaced in the last century or so, with deep blue-green leaves that make you wonder if it's from this planet or not. You suppose it doesn't matter, not to people who can't talk to the Wood Spirits, and decide to leave it be for now.

You sit down on top of this cliff, above the clear pool of water below, and...



[ ] Look down into the water.

[ ] Introduce yourself to any spirits that might be there.

[ ] Drop the aqua coin into the water.

It's comfortable here. Peaceful. Things will be less quiet, you're sure, once someone gets out the magic dolls for some kind of mock fight, but that's to be expected when dolls have only ever been built for combat.

"Good morning," You greet the pond, because it has never once hurt you to be polite, even if it also has yet to give you anything besides satisfied customers. And names don't have the same power over corporeal beings as they do for spirits, so there really is nothing stopping you... Well, okay, giving your full name might be seen as rubbing it in. "I'm Rye, and I came to this school to learn water magic."

There. You didn't ask whatever spirit might be there to show itself- even among Water Spirits, different spirits react in different ways to that- but you gave an opening for a voluntary appearance. If a spirit shows up, it does, if it doesn't, it doesn't.

But a spirit does show up. "I'm surprised," A cool voice speaks, even in tone and quiet enough to be mistaken for the splash of a pebble falling into the water. "Not many students ever come here. Fewer still that wish to discuss anything." His fur is a light blue, with a dark blue-green mane ringing his face. You can't figure out if he just appeared now, or if he'd been standing on top of the pond this whole time waiting for you to address him.

You shrug, because if you'd waited until the start of classes, you'd probably have been too busy with your schoolwork to come out and look for spirits.

Not that you know how much work you'll be assigned or anything, but that seems to be about right. "It just... felt like I should come here. The school's on lockdown, and this is... the closest I can get to where I come from." You wouldn't say you're homesick, exactly, just that everything's so new and unfamiliar that you need the chance to relax.

"Yes, that's what it usually ends up being. Not the lockdown part, but... people come here to relax, when everything becomes too much for them." The spirit leaps out of the pond, settling down on the cliff beside you, water endlessly streaming down his fur and back into the pond. "They don't notice. To the other students, sometimes this pond has a waterfall, and sometimes it does not. And they do not think about it. For them, that's just what it is."

You don't know if he's complaining or making an observation. "You've... been here a while, then?"

"Since this school was first founded." He taps on a tree root with his paw. "I remember when the tree before this one burned down, as a ploy by the Lightning Spirits. They never liked how I can redirect the path of their power, even though I have little power of my own."

"You don't?" Spirits are supposed to get more powerful the longer they exist, right? It might not be by any great amount, but eight hundred years is a long time to be gathering power.

He shakes his head. "I'm just a simple pond spirit. We don't have much power. And while I could supplement it with Crescent silver, nobody has ever seen fit to offer any. Four aqua coins, that is all I'd need."

You think you know what he's doing. This is an Offer. Sadly, you don't have the coins to accept it right now, but... "I'll keep that in mind."

Offers are important. Take a spirit up on one, and they will, without fail, tell you their name, enabling you to call upon them at any time. They generally don't make Offers lightly- you've never gotten one before- but maybe this spirit is just lonely.

Still... if you ever manage to get three more aqua coins, you should come back here.



[ ] Keep talking to the spirit.

[ ] Now might be the time to challenge the magic dolls.

[ ] Talk to other students.
-[ ] Raspberry's still listening to the wall. You wonder if you should be concerned.
-[ ] The spiky purple creature from the bus... you still don't know what his race is.
-[ ] Sorbet was the last one to challenge the magic dolls... you should talk to her about that.
-[ ] There's a couple of humans talking about... something, but you can't tell what it is.

"You... probably know a lot about this school," You continue. Of course he does. He's been here since it was founded. Even if nobody talked to him a lot, you're sure he's overheard lots of interesting things by now.

"What's there to know about?" The spirit replies. "Students come. They go. Some of them come back. They teach. I am led to believe that's how schools work in general."

You... can't actually think of a good argument against that. "And times like this?"

"They don't happen. Even when Gran was worried about... Never mind that." He shakes his head, leaving you to wonder who- and what- he was talking about. "I don't remember this ever happening before. Of course, most can't speak to me, and the ones that can do not bother, so I could be mistaken."

This just leads you to wonder why the lockdown has happened. But everyone's been wondering that, and you don't think you're anywhere closer to the answer than you were a week ago. "Maybe there's something dangerous out there."

The spirit shakes his head. "I would not be sure of that. There is very little that Will-O-Wisp students haven't been expected to face in the past, and they usually survived quite handily. If there is something that is too dangerous to expose the students to... we may be seeing another war."

"...War?" But the spirit has vanished, meaning that you probably shouldn't disturb him further.

You've never heard about any sort of war taking place on Kovomaka, not within the last few generations of wizards. Certainly nothing recent enough to have had any sort of impact on the school, or the spirits dwelling there.

Then again, you should have figured a spirit you just met wouldn't be as easy for you to understand as the ones back home.

---

As the school year approaches, that means certain things about your education have to be decided.

"Those that arrive for term early get first pick of homerooms," Miss Ketchup explains, holding a number of clipboards with papers on them. "These assignments will be permanent, so if you aren't entirely sure of your decision, you should ask for advice from a returning student."

Homerooms, you have been told, are important. They are where all of your morning classes will take place- afternoon classes are purely voluntary, and you sign up for them separately- and your homeroom teacher is the first one you should turn to for major issues. Miss Ketchup, her brother, and Miss Madeleine all have homerooms with open spaces, and they're all qualified to teach about spirits, so maybe you should stick to the ones you can recognize.

You listen around the room for a bit, overhearing various students discussing the teaching styles of the teachers you're considering, and eventually you come to a decision.



[ ] Miss Madeleine is probably the most relaxed teacher in the school. She's known for going off on tangents in class, and is relatively easy for students to approach. She also doesn't seem to mind missed homework all that much. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that while she does always talk about spirits, most of her lessons, in recent years, have been centered around Starsigns, so very little of what you learn will be actually relevant to your life. (Known classmates: Sorbet, Mokka, Chai.)

[ ] Sir Mustard- apparently he was knighted at some point, but nobody knows why- is very good at teaching the practical applications of magic, and one of the theories for his particular brand of power involves the Water Spirits. He's very good at ensuring that his students all have friends among their classmates, assigning mostly group projects, but he also spends a good portion of class time keeping certain... belligerent personalities... from killing each other. (Known classmates: Caramel, Nutmeg, Raspberry.)

[ ] Miss Ketchup is known for teaching a rigorous curriculum. She has high expectations of her students, assigning them whatever work she believes they can handle. While she's willing to give assistance to those that actually need it, most choose not to take her up on it because they've seen how busy she keeps herself and don't want to disturb her. She enforces strict discipline on her class, to ensure a proper learning environment, but her students don't get a lot of chances to talk to each other. (Known classmates: Sugar, Merlot.)