Chương 130: Chapter 123

Cale Ellara had been circling it since I walked in, and she landed while I was drying the pot.

"So," she said, hip against the counter, arms folded, wearing the look she kept for when she already had me and wanted me to know it.

"When I said you should go on a date, I did not mean today." Damn. Not even through the front door and she already had the whole thing. How does she know these things? Give her people a week and they would work out I was the Ghost of the Wastes. Better intelligence than the King's, I swear. I gave her my best smile.

"That works, because I did not get a date." She rolled her eyes at the deflection.

"So. Siobhan Morrigan. She is a pretty one. Boys go crazy for that accent of hers. She is supposed to be good luck."

"Yes, Siobhan Morrigan," I agreed, and put the pot away.

"Who I met about an hour ago. She seems very nice. Apparently, seeing as you already know, she is quite popular." The thought occurred to me that I should probably focus on less famous women. Maybe find some girl from a fishing village. I hear Virex Caelum is nice this time of year.

"Yes, Cale. Siobhan Morrigan is basically the campus belle. The female version of Kaereth Valmor, except her muscles are bigger." I snorted.

"Okay. That was funny."

"Big brother, the whole island is talking about you. Somebody started a Chat Thread on the World Tree Lattice. People are debating whether you have blackmail material on her."

"Oh, that is just silly. I just met her. She is nice, though. Confident." Ellara snorted.

"Confident doesn't even begin to cover it. She was famous across most of the schools. She had been going to compete in the Five Arts tournament before Valmor showed back up, and she let the spot go gracefully because she had Assessments coming up." I did not ask what the Assessments were.

"Well. Should be fun, I think." Ellara was not done, though.

"What is this about being busy next week? You are making it sound like she asked you to help move a couch."

"I have some things to do this weekend. Could not be helped."

"Cale. Brother. You cannot do things like that. Siobhan Morrigan is not just some girl. She is famous. She is connected, she is gorgeous, she could be a real resource and maybe more." I did not answer. The last thing I needed was another gorgeous, famous girl hanging around. I already had a couple, and one or two more in the wings who did not know who I was. Thanks but no thanks. I did not need any more. I set the towel down. I had been turning something over on the walk home, and her mood decided it for me.

"Sit down," I said.

"The floor is better. I am going to fix your meridian, then I want to show you something." Her eyes narrowed.

"Nice try, brother. You aren't getting out of this."

"You can interrogate me the whole time. That is the trade. You breathe, you follow my instructions on where to put your mana, and every time you get a piece of it, you get an answer." That reached her. Ellara would trade most things for leverage, and I had just offered her a supply of it. She sat down across from me and folded her legs on the rug. She placed her hands on her knees before I told her to, which was the first good sign.

"Breathe with me. In for four. Hold for four. Out for four. You're going to cycle your mana through your system, expelling it until there is nothing left, then a little past that." I watched her chest.

"Stay with the breath. From under the ribs. Mana follows breath before it follows anything else. Ragged breath, ragged everything." She breathed. It took her three tries to find the groove she was looking for. There was breathing, and then there was technique. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Better. Keep doing that while you ask. I am ready. First question." She kept breathing, but her smile turned mischievous.

"Do you like her?" Straight in, as expected of my little sister. Do not beat around the bush. Beating around the bush? I have always thought that was a strange saying.

"I do not know her. She was not even on my horizon before about an hour ago. I like her confidence, and her look. She is pretty in that warrior-woman sort of way, if that makes sense. I like that she decided something and did it without regard for who was watching or what they might think. That takes a spine." I held the count under the words.

"In. Hold. Out. Now push your mana with the breath. You should find it easier now." Ellara looked up, surprised to find my hand at her upper chest, Sanatio healing energy gathering at my fingertips.

"It is fine. This is going to hurt a bit, but it should not be too uncomfortable. Keep focusing on your mana, your breath, and that mantra. Do you remember the one I taught you at school?" She nodded absently. Then she breathed in, and I watched her move her mana. She smiled at me.

"You are an amazing big brother."

"Yes, yes. Your brother is the best."

"So you like her, is what I am hearing," she said, and breathed. I rolled my eyes.

"I already answered that. Do you really want to waste another one on it?" She glowered, but there was no heat behind it.

"This is going to be strange, Ellara, so keep with it. While you are breathing and moving your mana, do not force it. I will clear any obstacles. When your mana has made its repetition and you can feel the force of the meridians stacking, I want you to picture a room. For ease's sake, we will call it your Mana Room. Ignore the name. Keep your eyes closed and build the floor. Pick a material you know in your hands. Nothing invented. Something you have actually stood on."

"... The workshop floor. Back home. The old boards."

"Lay them down. Feel them take your weight. Walls next. A ceiling. Give it a door, and set the door where you would want it. This place is yours. Nobody stands in it unless you carry them in." Her breathing found a rhythm. Behind her closed eyes, through her meridians, the mana began to move and take shape. Her mana spun faster and faster. I touched her head again. I cycled my own mana and opened my own Log.

"Command. Foundation. Expression: Aura, Arcanum, Sanatio, Technica. Override. Application. Backlash. Command Alt: additional compartment. Access granted. Recovery and record. Open subsidiary logs and command structure. Feedback loop and record." I read her Command Log and smiled. Ellara did not even notice.

"Do you even know what to do on a date?" she said, the room half-built, her voice gone soft with the work of it.

"The actual mechanics." I considered it, then gave up. I had no idea.

"No, I do not know the protocol. But I cannot imagine it is that difficult. She already told me what she wanted. Dinner, then dancing." My sister did not open her eyes, but I could feel the disapproval.

"You have to take this part seriously. Girls appreciate it when you plan properly."

"Wait, I have to plan it? She asked me out."

"Irrelevant. You are a man, right?"

"Well, yeah, but—""No buts. You plan the date. You pay for dinner. And you act like a gentleman."

"What the hell does that mean?" She popped an eye open.

"It means you treat her like she is someone's sister. How would you want a guy to treat me, if I were going to spend time with him in a romantic setting?" My mood soured on the spot.

"He had better treat you like a godsdamn princess or I will flay—""That. Right there, big brother." I paused.

"What?"

"I want you to think of me. Not in a weird way. When you are with her, how you should treat her, what you should be doing, where your hands should go during the dancing. Easy." Okay. I think I get it. I can do that.

"Let us get on Foogle on the World Tree Lattice. We are going to find you a restaurant and a place to go dance. You arrive first. You ask her things, and you listen to the answers instead of building your next sentence. You walk her home, and you give her a small kiss on the mouth. Soft and simple. Like a gentleman who is interested but knows she is a lady. That is the whole architecture." A beat.

"The haircut you manage on your own."

"Keep breathing, Ellara. We are not done yet. Now the part that matters," I said, and touched her forehead.

"Manifest your concept of each Expression. How do you picture Aura, Arcanum, Sanatio, and Technica? Conceptualize each one as a single point. What is Aura at its essence? Same for Arcanum, and so on. Once you have those ideas planted firmly in your mind, go back to that room. It should come up readily now. I want you to place each of those Expressions inside it. Not as a spell you throw. As an object. Something that lives there as a concept, not a physical manifestation.

You keep it here, running quiet, and you reach for it already made." Across the rug I felt it happen. A thread of her Sanatio finding a shape, clumsy and warm and entirely hers, settling into a corner I could not see and had no need to.

"There," I said.

"That flicker. That is a room with something in it. That is the whole beginning." She opened her eyes, lit with it.

"Brother... what did you just do?" And there it was, the question I had walked the long way around all evening. I winked at her.

"You said you wanted to get stronger. That was your first couple of steps. Really important ones. Next we will start with Aura manifestation and hand-to-hand combat." She nodded at that. I started to get up.

"Hold on. You're not done yet. Now, back to your date," she said.

"We still need to find you a restaurant, and figure out which club you're going to take her to. You are going to be nervous. It is going to be wonderful. I am going to hear about every second of it."

"You are going to hear about none of it."

"I run the largest Cale appreciation weave on the Underbranch now. Eleven thousand members. We have rules." I threw the towel at her. She caught it without dropping the room, which she did not yet know was the second good sign.