Chapter 23: A Natural Flow of Events

“How is he holding up?” Fuyiki asked Cyial, stepping back to observe Sairek’s progress about an hour later. Cyial sat against a tree a small distance away from the front of the town, reading his book. He looked up from it to glance at the much older man before glancing back as Sairek and Nayleen once more rounded the corner of the wall.

“He’s, uh… still going. Sort of.” Cyial answered with a slight frown, watching from the distance as Sairek slowed to a stop, pantting, hands on his knees before holding out one hand to Nayleen, who passed him the waterskin and he began to drink greedily from it for a bit before passing it back to Nayleen. The Prince looked absolutely exhausted. Nayleen looked a bit winded but otherwise, completely fine. “I do wish he’d show a bit more enthusiasm. He looks like he wants to quit.” Cyial admitted, his frown deepening.

“Of course he wants to. No young’n like you lot enjoys this. Well, except that girl. She’s an exception.” Fuyiki commented.

“Nayleen is an exception in… a lot of things.” Cyial nodded. “Sairek on the other hand, he can be exceptional… when he’s pushed to do it... but he also needs to be passionate about it, too.”

They both watched as Sairek took a few seconds more to pant for breath after his drink glancing back to look at them. He gave a venomous glare to Fuyiki before he began running again, at quite the sluggish pace as if his legs may give out at any moment.

“What do you mean?” Fuyiki asked, giving the demon a curious glance. “You mean this isn’t his best? I certainly hope it isn’t.”

“Er, well…” Cyial began, hesitating for a bit as he tried to think of a way to properly word it. “Well… a lot of people don’t… like the fact I am a demon. One person back in Lamen in particular was very… passionate about expressing their distaste for demons and took it out on me in particular.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“When it came to threatening me though, Sairek stepped in without seemingly a second thought, and even shoved the man out of the way. We had maybe known each other only twenty-four hours at that point.. Of course that was with him using the staff too, but…” Cyial mused. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that Sairek doesn’t perform his best unless there’s something at stake or he’s inspired to do so?”

“Hmm…” Fuyiki let out loud in thought. “Alright, I think I have an idea to make him more… passionate. Can you do me a favor?”

“...Eh?”

“Haah… haaah…”

Sairek felt his legs weakly give out from under him as he rounded the corner of the wall and he pressed one hand against it for balance before weakly crumpling on his knees against the ground, gasping for air. Nayleen had been easily keeping up since his pace by now had slowed down to barely more than a walk and she knelt down to support him.

“Okay, we’re taking a break.” She announced.

“H-He said… I wasn’t… allowed… breaks…”

“He also said to make sure you pace yourself.” She reasoned. “You know, if you hadn’t been stuck in the castle all the time, this would probably be a lot more simple for you. You’re not used to exerting yourself like this. Even a bit of physical play would have done you a lot of good.”

“Wasn’t the walking for hours on end not enough…?” Sairek groaned through wheezing breaths.

“Not the same kind of workout, Sairek.”

“Whatever… ow!” Sairek winced as Nayleen bopped the top of his head.

“Quit being pessimistic.” She scolded. “You’re making it out like everyone’s trying to torture you for some reason. We’re not. Cyial and I just want to look out for you and Fuyiki is kind enough to teach you for free and you just want to run away.”

“...Because I can’t handle it…!” Sairek growled.

“If I and the rest of the common folk can handle it then so can you. What you’re going through is nothing more than what most people labor for pretty much every day. If you can’t handle a few hours of running, then how do you think people who cut lumber or mine rocks all day feel, all so they provide food on the table for their families for just one more day?”

“You’re much better at this sort of thing than I am…”

“Because I did the hard work, trained and practiced, duh!” Nayleen chastised him and grabbed onto his arm and hauled him forcibly back onto his feet. “Nobody said it was easy. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication. Do you think ruling a country is going to be easier than running some laps? I bet it won’t be.”

Sairek winced at this.

“If you back down from some endurance training, what are you going to do when it comes to the real hard things coming later in life?” Nayleen pressed him.

“Look, I never asked for this kind of thing…!” Sairek snapped. “I don’t want to be Prince let alone King! I don’t know what I am going to do when that time comes! Just the thought of having to face that kind of responsibility alone scares me terribly!” He sniffed.

“You aren’t going to be alone.” Nayleen reminded him calmly, squeezing her hand against Sairek’s arm in reassurance. “You got me, Cyial and I think that maid of yours probably as well. There are probably others at the castle too, I am sure. And you’re already making a nice impression on some of the people that you’ve met already. Like Lavian!”

“Will you even be around for that long…?” Sairek asked barely above a whisper.

Nayleen blinked in surprise at his question. “I don’t see why not? Going out to see you was one of the best gut feeling decisions I made in my life!” She laughed, letting go of his arm as she spun around, her own arms held up in the air. “This has been so much fun and exciting! Oh when I get back home I can’t wait to tell my parents about how exciting this country is in comparison to Kior. We definitely have to move here. Maybe we can make a cabin in the woods next to Marid! That way I’ll be a lot more close, right?”

“Y-Yeah.” Sairek chuckled gently in agreement.

Nayleen twirled back over, grabbing Sairek by the hand and pulled him along in a sprint despite his yelp of protest. “Now come on, we have laps to finish!”

“Hmm, on second thought, I’ve changed my mind.” Fuyiki said suddenly to Cyial.

“Huh?”

“I said I've changed my mind.” Fuyiki repeated.

Cyial tilted his head curiously in a silent questioning look at the man.

“I believed I would try and force him to see what quitting may result in... what kind of consequences it may cause if he goes out unprepared into the real world, but… I think it would be better taught to him to learn by himself instead of me forcing it. You and that girl should just try to support him instead. It seems like that’s how he’s kept going up to this point anyways, right?”

“I think so.” Cyial agreed.

“Then we should keep doing that. After all, you two are the ones who will be around him to support him anyway.” Fuyiki nodded, looking once more to see Nayleen rounding the corner, holding Sairek’s hand as he half stumbled about. Nayleen was cheering the entire time and before long they were back on the other corner of the wall and disappearing behind it again. “Well, I planned on making him cast spells, but this is good enough progress.” Fuyiki chuckled, walking away from a still confused Cyial back into the city. “I’ll be back again later. I’m gonna finish those clothes and reevaluate how I teach just for him. I’m sure the results will end up being better.”

“That won’t be a problem for you?” Cyial questioned curiously.

Fuyiki glanced back at him with an arched eyebrow. “Why would it be? Not everybody learns the same way. Some students just simply can’t grasp some methods but they may be naturals at others. A good teacher needs to have various ways to pass on knowledge to their students.” Fuyiki turned back around with a slight wave of his hand in a dismissive manner. “He isn’t the first kid I’ve had like this. No worries, I’ll have him interested in putting in hard work before dinner.”

* * *

“I… think… I’m… dying…” Sairek heaved, hands on his knees as he stood in front of Fuyiki, sweat quite literally dripping from him.

“Well no wonder. I said do twelve laps. You did fourteen.” Fuyiki said.

“Oh, was it fourteen? Sorry, I lost count!” Nayleen apologized, rubbing the back of her head. Sairek shot her a very annoyed look; which he was only able to hold onto her for an entire three seconds before he dropped his head to resume panting for breath as if his life depended on it.

“And yet you still made it within my time limit. Though you literally had your hand held for most of the way, but given the extra laps I’ll let it pass.” Fuyiki nodded before glancing at Nayleen. “Hey girl, step back a bit please.”

“Oh?” Nayleen let out quizzically and took a big step to the side. Sairek didn’t even look up, still staring at the ground, trying to gather breath again. At least until Fuyiki made a few hand motions, opened his palm and a jet of water began blasting and showering Sairek completely all over.

“G-Gah–?!” Sairek let out in confusion, stumbling several paces back and arms flailing to shield himself from the sudden aquatic assault. “T-That’s cold! Stop it!” He shouted in protest.

Fuyiki pulled his hand back, sealing off the blast of water, leaving Sairek completely soaked and dripping wet, shivering with his arms crossed over himself. “W-What in the Flaming Lands was that for–!?”

“You were sweaty and smelly.” Fuyiki answered, waving his other hand as a strong warm gust of wind blew, literally forcing Sairek back a few more paces and closing his eyes as the bangs of his hair were forced all over and the water droplets off of his body and even his pants dissipated or were blown away fairly quickly, leaving him dry as a bone in just seconds, including his clothes.

“...Thaaanks....” Sairek grumbled sarcastically, hands going up to his head to try and form his hair back into place.

“Anyway, now that your punishment is done, let us go back to my house. I’ll give you the uniform and we will begin studies for magic proper.” Fuyiki ordered, glancing back towards Cyial and Nayleen. “Of course, you two are invited to watch as well if you wish.”

“Yes, yes!” Nayleen agreed, raising her hand and grabbing Cyial’s and raising his for him, causing the demon to chuckle a little at her enthusiasm.

When they got back to the house, Fuyiki gestured Sairek to the bathroom where he would find the uniform and get changed. Nayleen and Cyial went back to the couch to wait while Sairek went in. On the toilet seat, he saw the uniform folded for him, though he was a bit confused at its design as he picked it up and unfolded it.

When he came back out, Nayleen let out an “Oooo~” at seeing the Prince in his new ‘get-up’.

“...Isn’t this a bit…” Sairek began, looking down at himself, though he never finished.

Though the outfit was still mostly blue, the shirt was shaped almost like a vest, though it showed his entire arms. On his hands though were fingerless gloves with a scarf like sleeve attached to them, of which Sairek somewhat wrapped around his lower arms almost up to his elbows but still draping down. His pants were much more simple in design, the shirt and pants held together by a leather belt dyed a viridian green, with two gem decorations on the front, the pants slightly baggy to allow a bit more freedom of movement and being held together by the belt, didn’t fall down at all.

“A bit what?” Fuyiki asked.

“Like… what are these?” Sairek asked, holding his arms up and gesturing to the cloth draping down his forearms.

“You’ll be practicing magic without a staff. One of the ways to help some people concentrate is a steady flow of movement with gestures.” Fuyiki explained. “The scarves will help you with showing you your movement and flow; if you're moving too quick, or too slow.”

Sairek blinked at him.

“...We’ll explain it soon enough. Probably not today though.” Fuyiki sighed. “Aside from that, as you’ve already experienced, there’s a lot of physical exertion too. So the clothes double as both casting clothes but workout clothes. Whenever you’re doing anything physical, you can just slide the gloves off.” He explained, before quirking an eyebrow at Sairek. “...Unless you like running around shirtle—”

“No.” Sairek cut-in quickly.

“That’s what I thought. Now, sit down with your friends if you’d please.” Fuyiki gestured him towards the couch.

Sairek gave a brief sidelong glance at the man, before walking over to the couch. Cyial and Nayleen both scooted over so he would be sitting in the middle, with Nayleen to his right and Cyial to his left.

“They do look really neat though.” Nayleen said, looking Sairek once over. “What do you think Cyial?”

The demon was also appraising Sairek as well and with having so many eyes appraising him, the Prince began to blush a little bit. Cyial curiously hefted one of the scarfs into his hands, examining it. “Is this enchanted, too?” He asked.

“It is.” Fuyiki admitted. “Well, the entire outfit. Not just the scarves. Your Prince will stink a bit less. Absorbs the sweat more too. Nothing fancy.”

“Ugh…” Sairek bemoaned, head hanging to look at the floor.

“C’mon, eyes up boy.” Fuyiki commanded him, snapping his fingers to get Sairek’s attention back. “I want you to hold out both of your hands out for me, with your index and thumbs touching together.”

“Like this?” Sairek asked, holding his hands straight out in front of him, palms open and his finger and thumb together, making a ‘teardrop’ shape opening in the middle. Cyial let go of the scarf as Sairek did so.

“Yes like that. Now I want you to cast ‘wuaie’ as you normally would.”

Sairek blinked once, grimaced just slightly in effort before speaking out “Wuaie…!”

There wasn’t even a sign of the spell going off. No candle to blow out or flame to just flicker briefly. Even Fuyiki’s own clothes didn’t even flutter the slightest.

“Good grief…” Sairek groaned in hopelessness.

“Why did you cast it like that?” Fuyiki asked.

“Wh...What do you mean?” Sairek asked back.

“You didn’t concentrate your spell into a point. You just released the energy as it came out. Do you do the same when you cast with your staff?”

“I—No. I channel it into the staff...” Sairek answered confused. "I have no staff, so I have nothing to channel it to..."

“And yet you wonder why you can’t cast magic well…” Fuyiki sighed. “Well, I mean, you can’t obviously, but letting it out like that is woefully inefficient. It’s like trying to bathe in a tub, with the water constantly being drained as you fill it up. It'll fill up eventually, but your wasting a lot of water doing that. You need to gather the power and hold it in and focus it out into a single point. Just like you do with your staff.”

“I know that, but…” Sairek began. “I can’t really hold it in for long because like I said, I have nowhere to focus anything to...”

Fuyiki blinked at him before sighing and rubbing the back of his head. “My, you’re worse than I thought. I guess we’ll need to train you in that, too. What the heck did your teachers do? Did they just teach you, or did they train you?”

“Just… taught me.” Sairek answered.

“Good grief indeed… Well then, hold out your hands again. I’ll teach you a useful trick for practicing until you can do the real thing.”

Sairek did as he was told.

“I want you to do as you did before, and hold it in as long as possible, except this time, instead of channeling it into your hands, I want you to channel it into the gloves.” Fuyiki explained to him.

“...The gloves?” Sairek repeated quizzically.

“Yes.” Fuyiki nodded, before pointing at Cyial. “He casts through a book,” Then he pointed at himself. “...and I cast through my hands. Any item can be used, so... why can't gloves be used a catalyst as well? It’s basically the same as holding it in through your hands. You still have to deal with that extra step of moving the energy from within you to another object and obviously it’s not meant to hold ethereal within it like a staff, but since the gloves are obviously right next to your hands and even around them, it’s fairly easy to do. Takes much less strain with basically the same outcome, just slower.”

Cyial cocked his head to the side a little and blinked. “That sounds similar to what I do, but I thought my method was a bit different, due to being a demon and all.”

Fuyiki glanced at him and nodded. “That’s mostly true. You have to gather it more from your surroundings than within, which is much harder for humans to do without a staff.” Then, looking back to Sairek, he said: “Well now, try it yourself.”

Sairek took a moment and his face grimaced and tightened again. He was silent for much longer, his arms shaking a bit. His face tightened even more before he shouted “Wuaie!”

This time, a noticeable gust clearly passed through Fuiyiki with his robes flapping for a couple of seconds before falling still again.

“Ooo, I felt that one.” Fuyiki complemented with a smirk.

“I—I did it…!?” Sairek looked bewildered, then grinned, looking at his own hands in astonishment. "I did it...! I—I cast something for real... without my staff!"

“Such a simple little change had that much of a difference?” Nayleen asked curiously, her eyes wide.

“It’s not much different then how one smiths metal, is it not? If you don’t do an important step, the blade may become brittle or not sharp at all.” He commented to her before looking back to Sairek. “Of course, this won’t help you at all if you have no gloves, but if for some reason you lose your staff, you’re not going to be entirely helpless.”

“I was always told to just never lose my staff…” Sairek muttered.

“Pah. Bad advice. Always prepare for the worst possibility. A soldier always has a backup weapon in case their main weapon cannot be used for any reason. They lose their sword? Spare combat knife. Then failing that, they are trained in unarmed combat as well. It should be the same way for us magic users if we lose our main weapon, as far as I am concerned.” Fuyiki explained before gesturing towards the backdoor of the house. “If you want to practice the other spells and try them out, you can do so in my backyard. Just don’t set anything on fire or anything like that, please. There’s a couple dummies out there you can try aiming at.”

“Yes!” Sairek said enthusiastically, getting up from the couch and sprinting off and out the backdoor of the house, leaving Cyial and Nayleen to blink in surprise.

“Wow, he seemed enthusiastic.” Nayleen mused out loud.

Fuyiki began to chortle inside his throat, before it transformed into him laughing out loud.

“Was what I said that funny?” Nayleen asked him in a quizzical tone.

“No. I just can’t believe how easy he fell for that suggestion.” Fuyiki chuckled. “Why bother making him train if I can make him practice and it feels like play to him?” He laughed before moving to sit back down in his chair. “Now I get to relax and he’ll do all the training by himself on his own accord.” He said before looking hard at Nayleen. “Very much like playing, am I right?”

“E-Eh?” Nayleen stammered and then coyly said. “Ohh, you heard that little conversation, didn’t you…”

“Aye. There was a reason I tossed you that waterskin when you already had one of your own.” Fuyiki said.

"Oh... wow. I hope you're not mad at him."

Cyial blinked. “...What conversation?”

“Nothing you need to concern yourself over.” Fuyiki waved a hand dismissively. “Thank you though, little miss.”

“Sure, no problem. ...I think?” She said unsurely, scratching behind her ear.

Cyial tilted his head in confusion at their exchange but dismissed it with a shrug. “I’m going to see how Sairek’s doing.” He said, pushing himself up from the couch to go join the Prince outside.

When he stepped out, he smiled a little bit as he heard Sairek shouting “Waert!” and blasting a jet of water at a crude looking dummy, stuffed with straw to look vaguely in the shape of a person, all compact together in a giant linen sack with a red bullseye drawn on the center of the chest area. Examining Sairek, he had already built up a light film of sweat on his forehead, but seemed to be holding up much better than last night when he tried to just light up three candles and nearly failed trying to do even that.

“I can cast magic, Cyial!” Sairek said excitedly, turning around to face the demon. “Without my staff!” He added.

“I can see tha—uwah!”

Cyial yelped out as Sairek abruptly hugged him. Well, not quite. He grabbed Cyial by the shoulders and had pulled him in pretty close, face beaming with excitement. “I can cast magic and it’s not tiring me out just like when I use my staff! Who knew such a simple little trick would make such a big difference!” His beaming face however changed into one of a thoughtful frown as he pulled back away from Cyial, looking back down at his hands. “And… it makes me feel kind of stupid, honestly… I could have been doing this the whole time…!”

“Well, it’s not that stupid.” Fuyiki commented abruptly from the doorway, with Nayleen walking outdoors as well beside him. “It’s based on the teacher, really. Several teachers have their own methods and style of teaching. Just like physical combat, there’s many methods and styles of casting magic as well. This method I must admit is a bit… ‘taboo’.”

“Taboo?” Nayleen questioned.

Fuyiki held his arms up in a shrug. “People think it’s ‘cheating’. As if casting from a staff is seriously that much different in that regard.” Fuyiki snorted. Still, they’re not entirely wrong. It’s an incomplete way of casting magic—a crutch. However, I see it as an opportunity to provide a good stepping stone on how to cast it the real way.” He explained, looking back towards Sairek and pointing at his hands he held in front of him still. “Practice this style, but don’t rely on it. When you’re confident you can cast magic like that consistently without ever tiring out, you should move on to using just your hands. Just keep attempting spells as you just were doing constantly everyday and you will find that you will be nearly just as good without gloves as you were with them. Then when you are good at using your hands…”

“...When I go back to trying it with my staff…” Sairek continued for him.

“I see you are catching on. However—” Fuyiki cut in quickly with a raised finger as Sairek had opened his mouth to speak again. “As I said, magic is primarily about balance and that includes your body as well. Weak body? Weak spells. Weak endurance? You’re going to tire out fast, even with casting. We’ll do physical exercises in the morning until noon and then magic training from noon until evening. I’ll teach you special exercises you can do even on your own for each. That way, even when you leave town, you will still be able to practice, building up your endurance in both categories.”

“I can help with the physical stuff!” Nayleen volunteered with a raise of her hand up high.

“Um… then could I help with the magic stuff?” Cyial inquired curiously.

“Of course you both can. Do whatever you want to help support your friend. Get in the way though and I’ll have to pull you out.” Fuyiki warned them both.

“We understand.” Cyial nodded.

“Now then, since we have all of that explained, let’s get some lunch, shall we? Then it’ll be back to casting spells for you, Prince… erm…” He paused for a moment before looking towards Nayleen. “Word on the street kid is that you know how to cook well, apparently?”

“Oh, I can cook now, can I~?” Nayleen mused smugly as she slowly turned at Sairek.

“...What?” Sairek asked innocently and then shrank back slightly from her as she continued to stare at him smugly. “W-Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Well, I suppose we do owe you for helping teach Sairek.” She said, giving him one last glance. “Okay! I’m gonna raid the kitchen for what you have. We got some of our own ingredients too. I should probably use them too before they start going bad!”

* * *

“Wow, that does look really good…” Fuyiki murmured as he looked down at the kitchen table filled with sandwiches, omelettes and vegetable risotto on the side for all of them, even including Cyial despite his initial claims that she needn’t cook for him. She did it anyways.

“Thank you for the meal as always, Nayleen.” Sairek said.

“Yup yup!” Nayleen chirped, wearing an apron that was a couple sizes too large for her. She waved a spatula around in her hand as she continued. “And if you want more there’s always seconds!”

“I’m still surprised, considering you like hunting and all that you know how to cook homemade meals like this.” Cyial admitted as he took a nibble of a toasted sandwich. She had made both toasted and just normal ones, giving just a little bit of extra choice.

“What good is hunting if you can’t cook what you can hunt? That’d be just a waste. It’s respectful to make use of the whole animal if you’re going to kill it.” She stated before musing in thought out loud. “I should probably get a bow, now that I think about it.”

“Did you not have one back at home?” Sairek asked.

“I did, but I overslept one night and an animal stole it.” She answered.

“That’s… believable.” Sairek mumbled.

“It was just a homemade one I crafted anyways. It wasn’t expensive or anything. I’d rather have a proper one that's professionally made.”

“You’re more than welcome to look into town if you wish. There’s a craftsman shop in Thalnar, practically on the other side of town though so it’s a bit of a walk.” Fuyiki suggested, before muttering; “I should go shopping soon anyways, instead of eating leftover food…”

“You still have the money, right Nayleen?” Sairek asked.

“Yup. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna go all out. Anything small and simple and a quiver of arrows will work.” Nayleen said as she pulled off the apron from her form.

“Yeah, I understand.” Sairek nodded. "Don't forget, we still need a tent, too."

“Well, let’s go then.” Fuyiki suggested, standing up from his chair. Sairek eyed his plate. It was already empty.

“Liked her cooking that much, huh?” Sairek allowed himself to smirk slightly as he took a cup of water and began to sip from it.

“Oi, boy. Give me twenty push-ups. Now.”

“W-Wha–?” Sairek stammered, nearly dropping his cup and spluttering into it. “W-Why?”

“I don’t see you doing push-ups.”

Sairek grumbled and muttered under his breath as he slid out from his chair onto the floor and began doing them.

“Hmph. We’ll be back in an hour or so, I guess. Don’t slack off on your training while I’m gone. Once you’re done eating, go back to casting spells. Also don’t make a mess of the place!” Fuyiki warned them.

“Yeah, yeah…” Sairek grumbled, still doing his push-ups while Cyial just watched him from his seat with a slight tilt of his head, then bit into his sandwich.

“Be back soon!” Nayleen called from the door with Fuyiki, before they heard it open and then it shut once again.

“Eighteen… nineteen… twenty….. twenty-one... twenty-two…” Sairek continued to count.

“Um… Sairek?” Cyial asked curiously.

“T-Twenty… three…”

“You can stop now. He said you only had to do twenty…” Cyial pressed.

“I… I’m g-gonna do… thirty…!” Sairek grunted. “Twenty-four…!”

“...Oh. Okay, then.” Cyial said, though with a gentle smile on his face.

* * *

“Balinzer…!” Sairek shouted, holding his hands out in front of him once again, dispersing a jet of flame in front of him which coated the straw dummy, though, through Sairek’s control, it did not light it on fire. After the flame dissipated, Sairek lowered his hands back down onto his knees, breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” Cyial asked.

“Yeah, but I’m definitely feeling the strain now…” Sairek sighed through labored breathing.. “Feels like it’s harder to recover without my staff too. I was really hoping I’d be able to go for a lot longer. The spells are still considerably weaker without my staff as well. I always figured it was a crutch but… just wow… I relied on it even more than I thought.”

“That is to be expected if that’s how you learned to do it for all this time, though.” Cyial reminded him.

“I know…” Sairek began, before looking Cyial once over. “Um… since you don’t really store Ethereal within your body like us humans do, how do you cast our spells anyway? Do you just draw it from the air?”

“...Somewhat like that, I guess?”

“You don’t know?”

“Because of how I came into this world, I guess like Fuyiki said, my body is able to handle Ethereal. So I do have some of it stored inside of me. I breathe it in just like you do after all. So some of it is in my body as well. It just doesn’t… stick as part of me for very long.” Cyial tried to explain. “Just like air itself. I breathe it in and then I breathe it back out. I guess for you, it’s kind of more like drinking and eating? You absorb the nutrients of the food, but some waste still comes back out.”

“O-Oh. I see. So if I want to recover faster, without drinking it directly, then how should I do it?”

“You mean recover what you just spent?” Cyial asked for clarification.

“Yeah.” Sairek nodded.

“I don’t know anything about that. Like I said, it’s different for me than you. After all, if the Ethereal runs out in an area from too much casting, then you either have to reach further which takes longer, or move to a different area yourself. And even then, that’s a very slow and taxing way to cast magic” Cyial said, glancing around briefly. “Speaking of which, I think you’ve run the backyard pretty dry...”

“YOU HAVE TO MEDITATE!!” Fuyiki’s voice yelled from within the house, causing Sairek and Cyial both to jerk in startelement and then peer back inside the house.

“How the heck can you even hear us?” Sairek demanded without even yelling back. Fuyiki didn’t give a response back though and he just sighed. “Let’s go back inside I guess.” He suggested to Cyial, who nodded in agreement.

When they stepped back in, he saw Fuyiki putting some food away in his ‘fridge’ which was basically a metallic box with magic cooling everything inside.

“Where’s Nayleen?” Cyial asked.

“She wanted to look around the town more and ‘test out the bow’. Whatever that implies.” Fuyiki answered before closing the fridge back up. “Anyway, you need to meditate.”

“How?” Sairek asked, paused. "...Also what is meditating?"

“By blocking out all distractions and clearing yourself of your own thoughts.” Fuyiki sighed. “Did they not teach you anything at the castle? Lands…”

Sairek just blinked at him.

“Oh boy.” Fuyiki rubbed the back of his head. “Well, at least this is an easy thing to learn. Okay, have you ever been lost in thought before, blocking out the rest of the world?”

“Yes.” Sairek nodded.

“Okay, it’s much like that, but deeper within yourself and expanding it to the world around you.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Sairek questioned with a frown. “More so, how does that help one draw in Ethereal into their bodies faster?”

“That depends. Are you ready for a brief lecture?” Fuyiki asked.

“Sure.”

“Alright then. So…
"Every action someone performs comes from a conscious decision and that alone comes from within a person’s spirit. Both body and mind are closely connected and related. Ethereal powers our spirits and in turn, our spirit powers our bodies. That’s why we can’t survive in the Underworld. Our spirits run out of fuel and with no fuel to power the spirit, the spirit cannot power the body, and so we die.” Fuyiki explained. “Nature is full of ethereal and our bodies don’t use a lot of it for physical activities so it’s always restored by nature gradually despite those small amounts we do expend with physical labor. However, using that energy from within ourselves and crafting it into spells? That consumes a great deal.”

“Yes, I understand all of that so far.” Sairek nodded.

“Just like from physical activities, you need to rest. Not rest your body, but rest for your spirit. Regular rest however, like just sitting down, does not do this. What you need to do is to calm your spirit. In other words, you need to sit and contemplate; the ability to calm one’s spirit, to decrease the activity from your brain, to become one with nature and therefore, recover ethereal faster than normal.” Fuyiki paused again, looking at Sairek expectantly.

“I… I think I understand.” Sairek mused thoughtfully with a hand under his chin. “So in other words, slow down the brain activity and conserve energy...? It's kind of like sleeping I guess, but... not actually being asleep.”

“Yes, but well, this is the most bare basic form of meditating.” Fuyiki interjected. “Though indeed, it is the first step apprentices learn in the meditation process. Doing that alone will minimize the energy you expend but it won’t help you recover faster.”

“So I know what it is, but not how to do it still.” Sairek pressed him.

“Right. So, at first you may need to close your eyes and be in a quiet place to do this to minimize the amount of distractions possible, but once you become more and more used to doing it, you will be able to do this pretty much anywhere at any time. Even in the middle of combat if you become good enough.” Fuyiki said. “The first step is to calm yourself and like I said earlier, that is like looking deep within yourself. Do not pay attention to the world around you; focus your thoughts within yourself. When you begin to watch what is going on inside you, you will be able to feel the flow of ethereal within yourself, just like you can feel it outside. It will be with the slightest vagueness, but it will be there. Once you’ve managed to do this and not break your concentration, you have successfully completed the first step of proper meditation.”

“Right…” Sairek said, trying to drink this information in carefully.

“Then to proceed with the second step, you must focus your attention back towards the world—”

“Didn’t you say I should try to minimize distractions, though?” Sairek cut in with a frown.

“I don’t mean to suggest you follow each distraction that comes your way, boy. What I mean is that you change the focus from within yourself to the outside; not just what’s around you, but the world as a whole.” Fuyiki clarified. “Extend your consciousness towards the flow and weave of ethereal around you. Just like within yourself, you will feel the strands of Ethereal within nature itself. It takes lots of practice, but if you have talent, you will be able to catch these strands easily.
"Then once you’ve connected yourself with one, that is where the third step to meditation comes in; catching those strands and connecting your own strands from within yourself with them, and pulling them gently in. Not pulling it in like how water flows from a stream into a river and then into a lake, but like a sponge which floats above the ocean.
"Remember that ethereal itself within you, while born from nature, it itself is not independent of nature. It doesn’t flow like water or fall like rain where both only move in one direction. Its existence is already part of the natural flow of the world—of life. All you need to do is reach out to it with your own. That moment when you feel the oneness of the ethereal flow within you with nature, Ethereal stops becoming something that you ‘need to obtain’ but something that you have plentiful access to already. When you’ve done that, you have successfully learned how to meditate and all you need to do is practice it, over and over.”

“...Wow.” Was all Sairek had to say in response to the information he was being given.

“Once you learn how to meditate through this method, you will be able to perform even more advanced levels of meditation, where you will still be able to walk around and perform most tasks without even breaking your connection and even eventually be able to do it with full control regardless of what you are doing.” Fuyiki finished.

“I… don’t know if I’m going to be able to remember all of what you just said, though.” Sairek frowned.

“That’s fine. That tome should have the information you need.” Fuyiki said, pointing at Cyial’s book he was hugging close to himself. “I must preface this now though, a method of meditation like I just described does not work for a demon the same way... but you can still do it, just don't expect it to be of much benefit, unless you...”

"...Unless what?" Sairek asked.

"Eh, nothing, nevermind. Point is, Cyial, you won't be able to pull ethereal into yourself like us humans. In a way, that kind of already happens just... more naturally." Fuyiki said.

“I figured as much.” Cyial said with a slight nod. “I don’t exactly feel Ethereal like you guys can anyways, but more feel it like a physical force. I’m less connected to it like everyone else is. It’s not a part of my spirit, unlike how human spirits are connected to Yggdrasil... right?”

“Yes, that’s true. We feel it like we feel the wind. You would feel it more like a thick or thin vapor in the air, depending how plentiful the area was.” Fuyiki nodded, before looking back to Sairek. “To that end, remember to practice good physical resting habits as well.”

Sairek tilted his head a little bit at this. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean to remember to do things like controlling your breathing, making sure your posture for resting is proper, massaging any aches or joints to revitalize proper blood flow, especially your right hand since you are gripping that staff of yours almost all day, every day. Then of course, there’s watching what you eat, though that girl seems to have that part down for you pretty well.” Fuyiki mused.

“It is as you say.” Sairek chortled. “She’s probably more of an expert on that sort of thing than even you.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that, either.” Fuyiki agreed.

“So where would be the best place to practice this? Just in a room alone?” Sairek asked.

“That would work, but I’d recommend outside. Hard to connect with nature properly if you seclude yourself from it, no? Besides, You will have to learn to deal with distractions sooner or later.”

“So to the backyard?” Sairek guessed.

“The ambience of the town itself may be too distracting for you, so I doubt my backyard would work. Yet. Besides, you did kind of just consume the Ethereal around there.” Fuyiki reminded him.

“Oh… right.”

Fuyiki pointed towards at a wall, although not exactly his intention. “A bit more to the northwest there’s a fairly small forest which would be a good place. Although when it comes to meditating at first, you will have your guard lowered, so I wouldn’t go alone even if it’s within walking distance. You should always have someone accompany you who can snap you out of attention and be a lookout for you just in case to avoid the worst scenario from happening.” The older man warned him.

“I can do that.” Cyial volunteered. “I’m usually the one who ends up staying up most nights while Sairek and Nayleen sleep anyways.” Then looking down at his book and holding it out a bit, continued after a brief pause. “Besides, I should be able to instruct him thanks to this, right?”

“That you would.”

“Let’s go now then, I wanna try it!” Sairek said excitedly, before looking back up to Fuyiki. “Er… if it’s okay to, that is.”

“I’m not stopping you.” Fuyiki answered.

“Let’s go then!” Sairek resumed with his excitement, grabbing Cyial’s hand and dragging him towards the door. Cyial just accepted his fate and allowed Sairek to lead him along. “We’ll be back soon!”

“Have fun.” Fuyiki waved at him, watching the door close behind him. A pleased smirk on his face after the door closed.