Learning

A great misfortune befell Theo the next day. Marie and Giselle both had a day off and had decided to entertain themselves at Theo's expense.

To be fair, they had made some logical points about Theo needing a disguise since he was "dead" now, but they seemed to be doing this primarily for their own entertainment.

They argued that even if most of the public didn't know Theo's appearance, most of Dullahan's men did.

"I think he should go blond." Marie insisted. "It's practically the opposite of his current hair color, so it would make him look completely different."

"Which is why it would look too unnatural." Giselle countered. "I think a more subtle shift like brown would make the new color look natural."

"Please, blond would look fine with his complexion. He could totally pull it off."

"No, black is perfect!" Scourge screeched. He fluttered his tiny wings.

"I know, but we have to give me a disguise." Theo gently patted Scourge's head. The tiny dragon was a bit unhappy that he and Theo would no longer "look alike".

"Come on, Theo, assist me." Giselle flipped some blue hair over her shoulder. "Which color would you prefer?"

"Umm…" Theo bit his lip. "The only hair color I've tried out is pink. That was alright, but it'd look unnatural."

Giselle and Marie exchanged a look.

"It would really suit his eyes, wouldn't it?" Marie said.

Giselle nodded. "It would be a shame not to see it."

Giselle pressed the ribbon she was holding to her forehead and spoke a spell before tying Theo's hair with it. Once it was tied, Theo's jet black hair faded into pink.

"We should leave it like this." Marie said while giving Theo a thumbs up.

"It's perfect." Giselle agreed. "But if he's gone pink before, someone may have already seen him in this disguise. We need a different color."

"You're robbing the world of perfection."

Theo blinked. He had never heard "perfection" used to describe him before.

"I liked it better before." Scourge draped himself over Theo's shoulder and pouted.

Marie shook her head. "But we still need to choose an actual hair color for him."

"We could compromise and do light brown." Giselle suggested.

"What do you think, Theo?" Marie asked.

"Um, brown is pretty." Theo's eyes cut to Marie's brown curls.

"Uh, huh." Giselle said. "Brown is pretty? I guess brown it is." She said with a chortle.

Marie coughed. "Light brown."

"Black hair is better." Scourge mumbled.

Giselle pulled the ribbon out of Theo's hair and began to paint a paste that smelled of vinegar and something else Theo could quite place over the sour scent of vinegar.

"Even though this artifact can change your hair color, I'm still going to lighten your hair in case it breaks." Giselle said. "It won't look as natural as the artifact will, but it will keep people from thinking you have black hair if they see you without the artifact for a moment."

Scourge leapt down from Theo's shoulder. "You reek now." The tiny dragon complained.

"We still need to choose his eye color." Marie said.

"Blue?" Giselle suggested.

Theo glanced down at Scourge. "How about black eyes."

Scourge's wings fluttered happily. "We will be the same."

Marie and Giselle laughed.

"I still can't get over seeing someone I thought was one of the most evil people acting like an indulgent dad." Marie sighed and pulled a sapphire earring from her pocket. She spoke a spell into it and handed it to Theo.

"Are your ears pierced?" Marie asked.

Theo shook his head.

"Are you okay with me piercing them for this?" Marie asked.

Theo froze and blinked again. It felt strange, being asked his opinion so much.

He nodded. "Just be careful of the blood."

"I'll take care of that." Giselle surrounded his ear with frigid water.

It made his ear so numb that he barely felt Marie pinch and stab his earlobe. She deftly looped the new earring in.

Theo tilted his head, unused to the ache of the piercing and the dangling weight of the earring.

Scourge climbed back up on Theo's shoulder and batted at the earring. Apparently the earring was enough of a temptation to brave the stench of the paste on Theo's hair.

Theo winched. "Stop that." He said. "It's still healing."

"And glasses." Giselle plopped a pair of gold, framed glasses on Theo's face. "They aren't enchanted with anything, but glasses always help make your face shape look a little different."

"Which brings us to Marie's part of your training regimen." Giselle continued. "You will need to be able to recharge these two artifacts with mana or your disguise will fall apart. Marie is our resident expert at imbuing artifacts with mana."

"Unlike a magic swordsman who can enchant their sword every so often, every single bullet I use has to have a fresh enchantment imbued into it." Marie nodded. "Which is why magic marksmen are so rare, but it's what my mana works best with."

"It's a bit fussy of magic." Giselle agreed. "Kinda like its user." She continued before jokingly elbowing Marie.

"Since you're an innate mana user, the process will be slightly different for you." Marie said. "I pull mana from my surroundings and guide them into my bullets. The enchantments I speak are a way of directing the mana and telling it how to take shape once it arrives in the bullet."

Theo nodded, but he didn't totally get it.

"You will do the same process, except instead of taking mana from your surroundings, you will pull it from within."

Marie held up a bullet. "Try to close your eyes and sense the mana in the room while I enchant this bullet."

Theo winced. "Um, so I'm not the best at the whole mana meditation thing that Giselle's been making me do."

"This should make it easier, because I'll be making the mana shift more. It would be like the difference between trying to sense the movement in a glass of water sitting on a still table versus when someone starts to shake the table."

"Then why didn't you?" Theo turned to Giselle.

"Because I want you to focus on your inner mana." Giselle said. "Now close your eyes."

Marie's voice filled the room as she enchanted a bullet. Theo felt something a slightly different in the air around him, but he couldn't place the sensation.

"Did you notice anything?" Marie asked when she finished.

"A little." Theo said. "But not much."

"It's because Mortal Theo has so much mana." Scourge yawned. "It's like you're trying to make him listen for a whisper when someone is shouting right in his ear."

"I'll try a larger enchantment, then." Marie said.

Theo closed his eyes again. This time he felt a more distinct twitch in the air as mana flowed toward the bullet.

"How about this time?" Marie asked.

"It felt like something was pulling toward the bullet. It was small, but more distinct."

"Small?" Marie laughed. "That was enough mana to destroy a brick wall."

She sighed and handed the bullet to Theo. "It's already enchanted. Since you're an innate mana user the actual enchantment part would be extremely difficult, but you should be able to recharge artifacts without too much trouble. Practice on this bullet."

Theo closed his eyes and held the bullet in his palm. He already knew how to move mana. He did that pretty frequently. What Marie did shouldn't be that different. He tugged on his mana and shoved some of it toward the bullet.

The bullet crumbled.

Theo opened his hand to show Marie and Giselle the results of his attempt.

"I'm glad I can charge these as a work expense." Marie sighed before enchanting another bullet and handing it to Theo. "Try to use less mana this time."