Magical Training

Tyr sat by the bedside and watched over Macha as she slept. His elbows rested on the mattress and he held his head in his hands. His long fingers massaged his scalp. It seemed that no matter how much he protected her, trained her, and sheltered her, she always found a way to find trouble.

The medics finished healing Macha an hour ago and recommended that she relax for the rest of the night. There had been a lot of glass stuck deep in her skin and she suffered multiple fractures. The process of bringing her back to peak health took a few hours and used up many of the medics on the ship.

As he sat beside the bed and his cold gaze turned to Aži, who relaxed by the fire.

"What were you doing the whole time? You're a parthenogenetic creature. You don't even need to have sex. How could you let yourself be enchanted by that szépasszony?"

The wyvern's eyes became slits as he gave a snort. He did not understand how Tyr could be upset when his friend had not been in the room to defend Macha. Her condition was completely Tyr's fault because Tyr refused to teach her any magic.

While the medics had been healing Macha, Aži overheard them explain that the szépasszony creatures are weak against fire magic. It was true that he would have easily defeated the creature, but the beautiful song bewitched him.

He had no recollection of what happened. The last thing he remembered was that Macha came in to warm herself by the fire. Then the faint sound of singing began. When he awoke, he was rolled up in the blankets and the room was a mess.

Everyone, including himself, could only assume that Macha tied him up to protect him. It made Aži feel guilty because she was so weak compared to him, yet she probably saved his life.

The onyx wyvern turned around so he would not have to see Tyr. The last thing he wanted was to hear his friend blame him.

Tyr pushed away from the bed when he realized that his words seemed to hurt Aži's feelings. The whole situation exasperated him because the Captain promised Macha would be taken care of. If this was the most competent crew money could buy, then he did not know what to do. He did not trust them with her life anymore.

"Aži, I misspoke. I'm just frustrated at myself, don't... take what I said to heart," he apologized, holding a hand out towards the wyvern.

Tyr's mouth twitched. It still seemed odd apologizing to others. Apologies had been something Macha insisted he did whenever he realized he was in the wrong. It went against everything he had been taught while growing up, so it seemed unnatural.

"It's my fault because I should be teaching her better."

He looked at the fireplace and watched the flames dance. "She was on the other side of the door when I was down below. I didn't know she was there. The szépasszony practically tossed her out of the window. If that happened, it would have been all my fault, not yours."

Guilty weighed on his heart. Especially because they had argued about her learning spells before they left Marseille. Now, Macha had almost died because of his negligence. He continually made an active decision to not teach her any magic, which in turn endangered her life.

The disappointment he had in himself made him criticize himself. A stream of insecurities entered his mind, questioning his right to be with her.

His hands shook, as he thought, "How can I even call myself a man when I can't protect the woman I love? I don't deserve to contemplate marriage when I can't even look after her. If I let her down, she could die."

Macha's steady breathing changed, and she stirred. Her fingers reached out unconsciously, searching for Tyr.

He grabbed her hand. In a soft, gentle voice that he only reserved for her, he asked, "Are you all right? I'm here."

Although she had been healed, he still wanted to ask if, on a whole, she felt fine. He also feared she would be angry at him for putting her through this ordeal. Right now he realized his Boreas's Day present was probably the worst he ever heard of.

Her eyes fluttered open and grinned when Tyr's handsome face came into view. Looking around the room, everything seemed to be cleaned up and Aži was safely situated beside the fire.

"Mmmhmm. I'm fine. Is everyone on the ship safe?" she asked as she began to sit up.

A breath of relief escaped from Tyr's lips upon hearing her say she was fine. All his negativity evaporated, and he felt his confidence returning again.

He nodded his head and brought his hand behind her back to help her sit up, "Mmm. Everyone's fine."

Tyr moved onto the bed and placed his arm around her. They sat there for a few moments not saying a word while he contemplated what to do. He remained insecure about if he should teach her how to use offensive magic or not. The last thing he wanted was for her to rely on it too heavily, especially since she was inept at it.

Tyr's thumb caressed her arm, "I think I want to teach you how to use magic to attack things. I don't want you to rely on it, but those creatures could only be harmed by magical means."

Macha had been reviewing her performance against the szépasszony. She knew she lost, but she had kept her cool and applied the techniques that Tyr taught her recently. When he told her that they could only be hurt through magic, the situation became clear.

Now she re-reviewed her fight with a new light. Overall, she gave herself a four out of five stars. The only area she felt she could have done better in was closing the gap sooner and discovering the creature's weakness on her own.

She shook her head. "Wait, did you just say you'd teach me magic?"

It had taken a moment for her to process what he had said.

Tyr gave a grunt and looked out the window. He did not like this decision but felt it was necessary.

She turned on her side and wrapped her arms around him. Giving him a tight squeeze, she cried out "Ohhh... About time!"

It had been something Minh had teased her about constantly whenever they went on missions together. All of her friends learned how to do some spells, but Macha still did not know one. Although she knew it was wrong to compare herself to others, she hated admitting that Tyr said she was not skilled enough yet.

****

After dinner, Tyr sat in front of the fireplace with an orb of glowing fire hovering above his fingertips. He flicked his fingers and it began to spin.

The warm glow of the fire cast shadows on the wall. "First you need to concentrate on creating a flame. After you are able to do that, then you can focus that energy into whatever shape you choose."

As he said this, the ball became a small bird, followed by a knife, then an arrow.

"To create objects, you must condense the element into the shape you wish to produce. This," he motioned to the flickering forms in his hand, "is not something that the average magic user is able to do. Most people are only capable of using the natural element. True proficiency is the ability to form objects out of the natural elements, like so." As he said this he continued to shift the flame into different figures.

"Mastery is also when one can create an element when there is none. You do this by tapping into the power that is latent within the world."

Macha hung on every word, but needed to ask, "Latent energy within the world?"

Tyr gave a sigh. "This is part of the reason I didn't want you to start learning magic. Luna and I went to school for almost a hundred years. I haven't given you the basic books yet."

He flicked his wrist and the flame dispersed.

"The world is full of energy. There is a life force in everything and true masters may harness that power if need be. You can also transmute it into other elements. Most people can only take what is previously there and magnify it. Of course, magnifying what is already there is easier and suggested during fighting if you have that option. There is no reason to strain yourself and use up your energy unless you have to."

He resummoned a flame, but this time sparks of electricity began to form around the ball.

"Another option is layering other elements onto your spell. This can help to create unique spells and whatnot."

He closed his hand around the orb and it fizzled into nothingness.

"Everyone has an elemental affinity, so usually, you would start training with what you are strongest with."

Macha nodded her head. "Well, shouldn't we find out what I'm best with? We already know magic is really difficult for me to cast, so we should just do what's easiest."

Tyr shook his head, "No. I'm not training you right now so you can use it all the time. Your basic skills are still lacking. I'm only teaching you this so you can deal with creatures who are immune to physical attacks."

His reaction made her purse her lips, but she did not want to argue. It was already a miracle that she would get some sort of magical training and something would be better than nothing. There was also the possibility that fire was her affinity.

One day she planned to learn all the elements, so starting with fire really did not make much of a difference.