<Celestine, we should speed this up.> I say after she started breathing heavily trying to knock down the furthest markers. It was a new day of training, the first three of the stone markers that Warran set back up were easily knocked over again.


    <Are you finally going to help me now?> She complained. <I''m not sure if I want YOUR help now.>


    <Okay.> I said simply and went quiet.


    A long silence occurred between us before she spoke up again. <I''m sorry, help me.>


    <I''m not sure if I want to now.>


    "Mrrrmrmrmrmrmmm." She grumbled dejectedly.


    <Okay.> I responded with a little laugh. <Well maybe instead of trying to throw a spell at the markers, just cast the spell closer to the markers? Can you create a light spell and see how far you can cast it away from you without it leaving your control?> I had this little epiphany last night. The problem is that the wind dissipates when it gets too far away from the origin of her spell. So the best solution is to just see how far she can cast the spell origin away from her.


    She stood there thinking about what I said and decided to just go for it. She created a simple light point and modified it to travel away from her while still siphoning power from her conduit. She found the further it got from her, the more power she had to force through her conduit to maintain the spell. But the spell managed to get a really nice distance away before she couldn''t maintain it anymore and it fizzled out.


    Using this newfound knowledge, she immediately cast two spells. One to channel wind and the other to force air into the channel like she had been doing to knock down the first three markers. She placed the wind channel spell ten paces in front of her this time and forced the air to it from in front of her. By placing the spell that channels the air further away, it focuses the air a further distance from her and allows it to travel a further distance from her before it dissipates. The wind hit the furthest markers this time and fell over with a clunk on the grass.


    A wide smile was plastered on her face after finally succeeding. She released the spell, turned to Warran, and recast it in his direction. Simply moving the spell was still beyond her. It was just easier to change where she was facing and recasting it. The elf man still had his face buried in a book. But as soon as he felt an odd wind disturbance in his direction, he rocketed off the stone bench an stood in a defensive stance. The only thing affected by her wind attack was the book, which flew a good distance into the bushes.


    "Muuuuh, hold still!" Celestine shouted, recasting the spell in his direction again, which was easily redirected back at her with more force by the more experienced mage. The wind pushed her back and she fell a few feet behind on her butt.


    "You won''t be able to surprise attack me anymore, girl. I have to keep on my toes around you now." Warran said, slipping a red stone back into his pocket.


    Celestine stood back up and glared at the man.


    "So you finally got all the markers?" He lifted his hand up and all five of the markers righted themselves. "Show me."


    She turned and performed the same spell combination again. She cast it three times to knock down all five targets. When she was done, she looked back to Warran.


    "Explain it." He said.


    "I make a wind channel extended out in front of me with one spell and force air through it with another at the same time?"


    Warran sighed. "So you''re casting two spells at once? That''s a waste. You should be able to combine them into one. With your smaller conduit, you will need all the available energy you can pull out of your conduit for anything unexpected. But it sounds like you''re learning. We''ll do more work on combining different spells together into one later. A lot of that is actually taught at the universities in Hope, so no need to rush things."


    "Wait, I thought you said I was behind." Celestine said.


    "You aren''t anymore. Most children struggle with doing something as simple as knocking down markers with wind magic. Here I was hoping you would be struggling for the next year while I sit and read. You''re actually doing pretty well for a human." He waved his hand a bit. "Go inside and do whatever. Class is over. You will be practicing earth magic tomorrow and I need to prepare."


    Celestine went back inside the mansion and started work on the chess pieces again. Her mood has been sour since Warran didn''t get hit by her surprise attack and the need to finish the chess set was the only thing keeping her from going up to his room and ripping up some of his papers. She worked carefully to complete the rest of the pawns, each looking more uniform now that she has more experience with reproducing them.


    She got to work on making a rook when she finally looked up from her work and saw that she had a visitor. Mother had sat down beside her where Duc''kaal usually sat and was watching her work. Celestine then moved a bit closer and leaned against Mother, holding the partially completed piece in one hand and a graver in the other. She rested her head against her arm and closed her eyes. As she breathed, Mother''s perfume would enter her senses. Celestine didn''t know what it was called and she didn''t have the idea of asking, she just felt it suited her. Even with my past lives on Earth, I couldn''t identify the scent perfectly. It had a light fruit-like aroma to it, but for all I know it could also be a flower or something completely different.


    Mother hasn''t always used perfume, she only started when we moved into the mansion. I think Daemon makes it for her as some sort of peace offering. He certainly has the equipment to make such a thing. I wonder if there''s any significance to it.


    Mother lifted her arm up, over Celestine, and pulled her closer against her chest. Celestine fell asleep against the warmth of Mother.


    The next day began with more magic lessons. Things are starting to repeat. For earth magic, Warran had three boulders sitting on the grass and he told her to shave bits off of them and send them at the same stone markers from before. The goal was to practice earth magic on different materials. One boulder was more akin to compressed sand. The next one was a gray color, probably limestone, and the last one was something like granite. Warran didn''t bother to say what they were called. He just said to break off pieces of them and send them at the stone markers and to knock down all five markers for each boulder.


    After two hours of that, and only being accurate enough to knock down two markers, she went back inside to continue working on the chess set. She only had a couple days to finish it before Sullivan''s birthday. She finished the rook she was working on yesterday, carved another one, quickly carved two bishops/acolytes, and started work on another knight before it was time to sleep.


    Another day of practicing earth magic, another day of carving. Today she finished the knights and the queen. At the end of the day she packed up all her bones and her completed pieces and relocated her work area to her room. Days and days of working over the coffee table was started to put a strain on her back. Would be bad if she kept working like this and developed a hunch since she was still growing. There was a desk in her room, so she would just use that. In hindsight, she probably should have been using this since the beginning. Before bed, she looked over the board that would become the game board and tried to figure out how best to paint it.


    More magic, nothing new there, carving took place at her desk today. After finishing the black king and rubbing it with the abrasive powder, Mother helped her shape the game board, score it, and paint it. The board was actually much bigger than it needed to be because the size of the game pieces were smaller than she originally wanted when we went shopping, so Mother and her cut the board in half and pasted the unused half under the painted half to raise it up a bit more. Looks rather nice and should add more rigidity to the whole board. After the board was painted, it was left in the corner to dry for the night.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The next day started like normal, except now she had nothing to do in the afternoon. She couldn''t even play with the chess set because Mother also put a layer of gloss on it this morning, so that''s drying still.


    <Maybe we should practice control of your body?> I suggested.


    <Why? Is there something wrong?> She was sitting in the library reading with this extra free time. She decided not to bother Daemon and Sullivan because they looked particularly hyped for something today and almost raced into the lab. As long as they''re getting along, she could let them have their father-son time.


    <It takes too long for me to take control of a limb or switch control from you. I would like to see if we can practice that at all. Would be nice if we could more easily hold a conversation with someone or switch control if something attacks us, seeing as I have the larger access of power.>


    <M-makes sense I guess.> She seemed nervous.


    <Something wrong?>


    <It''s just, it always feels sort of wrong when you take control. Just like when you attacked Warran that one time, it felt like you could take control at any time and I would have no choice.>


    <Ah...> I took a moment to arrange my thoughts. This was something I wanted to avoid. I went and broke a level of trust with her I wanted to maintain all because I acted on a whim. I need to stop taking action without thinking of the consequences. Not only does Warran know about me and the kind of damage I''m capable of, Celestine is afraid of me too. <I''m not going to make any promises. If I think your life is in danger, I will act. Aside from that, I will always ask to borrow control. Sound good?>


    <Okay?> Now I confused her. This is harder than I thought. I am not good at this.


    I cleared my throat, well made the sound in her mind, <let''s get started with practice then?>


    <Okay.> She said, putting the book she was reading down.


    <First of all, I want to know what it is you feel when we switch places in control of your body. Could you describe it for me?>


    <It''s... hard to describe.>


    <Try your best.>


    <It''s like... having a bucket of hot water poured onto me. But it doesn''t hurt, it''s just very uncomfortable. Then I have to focus on the feeling in order to take back control. When you force control from me though, it feels like the water is boiling and that''s when it hurts.> She explained, pausing every so often to think about how to describe it. <What about you?>


    <When I need to glean your senses, it feels like cold water rushing through my body. I focus on the water and I can control it to some extent and that''s how I take control. There might be a certain relationship here with how we interpret control.> I explained.


    <Uh-huh?>


    <Celestine, I want you to try to fight me for control. I want to see if I feel something like freezing water like you feel boiling water. Let''s switch.>


    <Do I have a choice?> She asked.


    <Of course?>


    <Then no.>


    <Fair enough.> I said, and that was the end of it. She picked the book back up and went back to reading. I listened to her surface thoughts and while her eyes moved, her thoughts weren''t on the book, they were on what I just asked her. She was trying to weigh the positives and negatives in her head trying to think what could happen if we practice switching or if we should just keep things as they are now.


    An hour later of being on the same page of her book and only absorbing a single paragraph, she put it away. <Fine.>


    <Fine what?> I asked, like I didn''t know.


    <Let''s try to fight for control. I don''t see what else could go wrong.>


    <We just don''t know what could go wrong. I wish we had another Voyager here we could talk to about this.> I said, having second thoughts now.


    <Novos, I''ve been reading a book with a Voyager in it...> She said.


    <Wait, really? I wasn''t paying attention. I thought you just grabbed another romance.>


    <Well, it is a romance. But that''s beside the point. The writer seemed to know more about Voyagers than we were told.>


    <Like?>


    <Voyagers only have memories of their past life.> She said simply.


    I thought on this for a moment. <So...>


    <They don''t have a second mind in their heads.>


    <So...>


    <They have two conduits they can freely control. One is usually very normal while the other is absurdly large and usually has a special affinity. But there is no second mind like you.> She continued her explanation.


    <I think I need to read that book.> I said.


    <That was about all there was. The author used a Voyager as a lover for the main character. Would have been much more exciting if there was a second mind, that''s why it I was reading it. But I started to lose interest.>


    <So, am I... are we really a Voyager?> I asked.


    She didn''t say anything.


    <So we''re something new? Or another kind of Voyager? Interesting.> I thought aloud.


    <So maybe we should see the extent of what we can do? I mean... like you said, it would be easier to defend ourselves if we can switch faster.>


    <I''m more wondering why the church didn''t raise any questions when I started talking to them as a second mind that day during your awakening. They acted like this is perfectly normal. There might be more to this.>


    <I kinda want to practice more now...> She said, worried what kind of mess we might be tied up in now.


    <Right. I''ll try to take control of your right hand. Try to fight me.> I said. I gave her a moment to mentally prepare herself and then I went for it.


    It was a new sensation trying to wrench control from her actively. It felt like icy needles were jabbing into my arm while I was trying to take control. I could see the arm shaking through her vision while I was doing this. I tried to move the little finger and it twitched. She mentally fought back against my attempts at stealing control and she was succeeding for the most part. She maintained full control while I could only make things shake.


    <I''m going to try for the right leg as well now.> I said to prepare her.


    I don''t know why, but for some reason I felt like the right half of the body would just be a better choice to take control of. She was right handed, so it gave her some extra level of strength to fight me. I split focus to both the right leg and the right arm and the icy needles spread with them. Boring into the skin. I had to embrace them in order to advance, which I found out the first day I needed to struggle to see after her awakening.


    Then the needles spread without my trying to spread them. They started attacking the right abdomen and chest. I felt them pierce into the eyes and skull.


    <Novos, I don''t feel anything on my right side anymore!> She screamed in her head. I tried to pull back, but was unsuccessful. The stabbing stopped, but I had full control of the right side of her body. I tried to relinquish control, but it felt like I belonged to this half.


    All struggling ended. I tried to pull myself back from all control. I lost vision in the left eye. I lost all feeling from the left side of the body. I just sat there as a half-girl.


    <O-kay, this isn''t good.>


    <What did you do, WHAT DID YOU DO?> A familiar voice screamed at me in the head. At least our connection isn''t severed. But I am no longer needing to work to maintain any control. This is... novel.


    I purse my lips. Ah, I have control over the mouth, throat, and breathing. This... It can''t be. Don''t tell me the cure for Celestine''s seizures before I became aware was what I am thinking...


    "I think we need to have a talk with the church." I said aloud. The left hand was griping the face trying to figure out why she can''t talk. I sighed. Fuck.