Discovery.

I woke up to find a smug Rudi looking down at me.

What's with that face?

Is there something on...oh. Right, the book, poking into my ribs, lay in full view beneath me.

"So you had the book, huh?" He commented, rubbing his chin.

"Why? Are you jealous? I can do magic and you can't!" He asked, with the most punchable face I had ever seen.

In fact, you know what, I'm going to punch him alright.

I pushed off the edge of the bed, nursing the bruise on my chest from where I had slept on the book, and turned around, twisting at the hip, as I rammed my fist into Rudi's cheeks.

He stumbled back, clutching his face, tears forming at the rims of his eyes.

"Eh?!" He cried.

"Don't make that face. It's annoying!" I announced, before extending a hand to him.

Rudi grabbed my hand, smiling mischievously and pulled me down with him, only to have my knee smash into his sternum.

"Yeaow!" He screamed in pain, as regret painted his face.

I, on the other hand, fell to the floor laughing.

"Hahahhayahahahah!"

"Stop laughing!" Rudeus protested, wincing in pain, slapping my back.

Just then the door swung open, as Zenith ran in.

"Rudi, Kai! What happened? Are you hurt?" She asked, worried.

"S'fine." Rudi replied, as I toned down my laughter, wiping the tears from my eyes.

Zenith's expression softened, and she knelt on the floor beside us, smiling.

Putting a hand on Rudi's stomach, her eyes focused.

"God's power as nourishment, bring soothing to this child. Healing!"

Pretty little stars of green and yellow fluttered off of her hands, as a light entered Rudi's stomach, and he let out a relieved sigh.

Zenith then spread her arms wide and pulled the both of us in a bear hug, rubbing her cheeks against our heads.

"I know you want to play together, but please don't get too hurt. Mama worries for you, you know!" She cooed.

"Now come on down. Let's eat breakfast."

"Breakfast!" I cheered, following her out, while Rudi looked on from the back with a conflicted expression.

Now that I knew the general feeling of using magic, it was time to abuse my mana capacity to the max and grow exponentially while I can.

Before Rudi blasts through the storeroom wall and summons the uber loli sensei to our little slice of heaven.

And so, I spent the next four months emptying out my mana reserves, firing off waterball after waterball, till it started to take nearly half a morning to empty it all out.

Taking a deep breath, I felt for the mana in me, as I figured out a better way to empty out my mana.

Already, Zenith was begin to suspect something, what with two people spamming waterballs into the back garden.

Just yesterday she had complained about underground water and soggy soil to Paul.

And I couldn't have her finding out this early what my capabilities were.

And so I made a decision.

I'm going to go out into the fields and rivers to practice.

After all, even if I shoot half a lakes worth of water into the river, no one will think anything of it, since rivers do tend to overflow a fair bit.

It's the perfect camouflage!

Getting up, I ran down the stairs, and into the kitchen, slamming right into Lilia on the way as she stumbled back.

"Kai-sama, please be careful where you run. You can get hurt!" She chided.

"Okie~" I answered in a childlike manner, and ran past her ignoring her warnings, till I found Zenith in the backyard, patting down the new patch of soil that Paul had brought in from the fields.

"Mama! I'm going out to play!" I informed her as I ran in a circle around her.

"Okay. But come back before it becomes dark. And do t go into the forest!" She warned.

"Uhun~" I intoned and ran out the door, skipping away.

Walking along the spotty dirt path that snaked across the village, I took in the atmosphere, rich with the smell of fresh threshed asuran barley.

"Good morning!" A farm girl greeted me.

"Good morning!" I greeted back, with a smile.

After a dozen more greetings and wading past four more fields lush with chest high grain, I arrived at a secluded spot by the river.

Just to be safe though, I looked around, checking behind trees and rocks, finding no one.

Good.

Now assured in my solitude and privacy, I dipped my toes into the cool stream water and sat down by the sandy embankment, mana pouring out of my hand.

In my mind, I imagined a gushing torrent of water, the size of a horse cart, and set the magic to activation, as my nerves began to tingle and tickle.

Before my eyes, a small breeze whirled raising dust and throwing around rocks, launching them into the stream with a pitter-patter, splashing water all around.

Slowly, water droplets condensed in the palm of my hand, and a whirlpool began to form, dripping onto my lap, running up my arms, as the torrent turned on me, becoming unstable.

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit!

I rushed to alter the spell, and cut of the mana to it, but it was too late.

As a last resort, I raised my hand straight up and a geyser burst forth from my hand, rising high into the sky sending waves crashing all around me with such force that the embankment began to erode.

The water pushed me down, slamming me into the sand and silt, drowning me beneath the waves.

"Kwa!" I cried, gasing for breath, incidentally breathing in water.

As I devolved into a coughing, retching fit.

The spell though continued, on and on until my mana was drained, in what seemed like hours and finally, as the geyser settled.

Half drowned, I struggled to get up, starved for air, when suddenly, the sandy embankment beneath me gave way, the erosion of the waves of water turning it to sand, and I slipped, falling into the stream.

The fatigue from mana exhaustion returned, and darkness took me.

When I next awoke, it was already nighttime. Lilia sat by my bedside, half asleep, muttering something in her sleep.

Taking a breath, I coughed refleciveky, as the day's events came rushing back to me.

Alerted by the cough, Lilia awoke, startled, and spotted me.

Her eyes widened, as she scampered up to me, putting a hand on my forehead, pulling out my tongue, and caressing my cheeks.

Having done a once over on me, she gave me a quiet smile, before walking out of the room.

Seconds later, Zenith came in, followed by a cranky Paul.

She dragged the chair over to me and sat down, cupping my head in her hands.

"Kai...." She asked, "Are you okay? What happened out there? Who did that to you?"

I looked at her, and shuddered for a bit, looking her eye to eye.

The pure love and concern in her eyes, shook me to the core.

Truly, a mother's love is something else entirely. Or maybe it's just me being a 3 year old and not having adequate control of my emotional state.

Deep inside, I felt an urge to tell the truth. I didn't want to lie to my mother.

But with great effort, I suppressed the urge and started brainstorming excuses with an expression that probably looked halfway between constipation and fear, because suddenly Paul interjected with murderous intent so thick I could feel it on my skin, goosebumps rising all across my hands.

"Was it a monster?"

The quiet tone uncharacteristic to Paul just assured me even more.

Lying here will only result in more problems for me further down the line.

Not to mention, today's debacle clearly showed me that I needed guidance, fast, before I end up killing myself.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself, before answering, in a soft voice.

"Me."

"What?" Zenith asked, inching closer to me.

"It was....me." I repeated, louder this time.

"Wha- how?" Paul asked confounded, even as a smug smile ran across Zenith's lips.

"Did you try to use magic?" She asked, swaying in her chair expectantly.

I nodded.

"I wanted to swim in the river, but it was so shallow.

So I tried to fill it with more water. But...it went wrong. I put too much power into it and...." I sniffled, acting afraid.

"Aww!" Zenith cooed, rubbing my back, "Shh...it's not your fault Kai. You just need a teacher. A magic tutor!"

"Oh no. No no no." Paul immediately rebuked.

"We discussed this. If it was a girl we'd make her a magician and if it was a boy, he'd be a swordsman like me!"

"But look at him Paul~" Zenith whined, putting me in an armlock, "He's a genius! A genius!"

"You promised!" Paul retaliated, swiping his hand in the air.

"Yeah, and so what?! You break your promises all the time. I can do it once in a while too. In fact I'm entitled to it!" Zenith fired back, "Besides, you still have Rudi. He can become a swordsman!"

Just then Rudi peeked into the room, and behind him so did Lilia, chiming in with her two cents.

"How about magic in the morning and swordsmanship in the afternoon?"

"Ah!" The both of them uttered simultaneously.

"Right." Paul said, first to stand down, "We'll do that. I'll call for a magic tutor first thing tomorrow!"

"Yes. We shouldn't fight in front of our kids after all~" Zenith added, reaching up to kiss Paul, as they devolved into a full on make out session.

Paul ran his hand down the slit on her skirt as she moaned, much to the delight of the peeping tom Rudi.

"Iya~ Not here. The kids are watching."

"Huh, sure. Let's go to the bedroom." He replied in a daze, as they just ignored us both and made their way down the hall, filling the house with their lovemaking sounds.

Sheesh.

At least pretend in front of your kids, dangit!

Didn't even kiss me goodnight!

Hmph!