Mistwoven Healer

I wake in the morning not to an alarm, nor to any sound I can consciously make out. It instead feels like… a ripple, a feeling that something has changed, something fundamental.

Opening my eyes and sitting up, I look around for the source of what could have caused the odd feeling, but don't see anything out of the ordinary in my room. Sunlight streams through the edges of my curtained off window, the morning sun illuminating my room with sheets of shimmering light. No one is here but me and Celeste — who is stirring from where she was sleeping curled up on one side of the bed.

"Did you feel that?" I ask Celeste.

Sitting upright, Celeste paws absently at her ear. [I felt… something. I'm really not sure what.]

I nod, eyes still scanning the room wearily. My time as a sentinel has taught me that, when something feels off, it's usually something bad.

Still not seeing anything, I slide out of bed and stand, stretching. "Let's go ask Akari if she felt it. Hopefully, it's nothing too-"

I'm cut off by a series of sharp knocks on my bedroom door. I frown, looking over at it, and then up at the alarm that should be ringing if anything truly bad is happening. Surely, the guards would have sounded an alarm if something bad was happening, right?

After a few moments of me just standing and staring at the door — wondering if switching to my assault state is worth the risk — another set of knocks sounds, this time more urgent. "Serena?" comes a muffled voice. "Are you alright in there?"

I blink, suddenly feeling silly. It's just Akari; I probably don't have anything to worry about. Maybe that was just… I don't know, a nightmare or something, and Celeste caught some of it through our bond.

Padding over to the door on bare feet, I pull it open to find my friend waiting anxiously outside. I look up at her with wide, confused eyes, "Akari?" I ask, my mind still trying to work out what's going on.

As soon as she sees me, Akari surges forward to wrap strong arms around me before turning me away from my room and looking inside with a nervous expression. She acts almost as if she's trying to shield me from something.

Briefly flustered at being hugged, I tilt my head back to look up at her. "Akari, what's wrong?"

"I don't know yet," she says, her voice sharp and worried. "Something just felt off, and I… needed to come to check on you."

Hesitantly, she releases me, seeming to see for herself that my room is empty. "Sorry," she murmurs, "I just… I swear I felt something."

I nod, "That weird sensation that something has changed? I felt that too, but I'm not sure what it was."

"If we both felt it, then something is definitely weird," Akari says, still looking around us as if a volcora will jump out and attack at any moment.

After alerting our guards and doing a full scan of the compound, Akari and I still don't find anything that could have caused the strange sensation. Our guards didn't feel it, nor did my father, who was already teaching at the school. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Friday is our incursion day so Akari and I don't have school.

Despite my wishes to gain another day recovering before combat, while Akari and I make ourselves breakfast, Audrey arrives by landing directly on the roof and is let in by Lina herself — who alerts us of her presence.

After descending through the compound, Audrey arrives in the kitchen — snatching a bagel off a plate as she strides in.

As has become her normal recently, Akari subtly steps forward, putting herself between Audrey and me for reasons I don't quite understand. This is just one of many tiny overprotective gestures she's been making since returning from Nagano. I still don't know if she's acting this way because of our kiss or because of what happened to Candice, and I don't really know how to talk to her about it. On one hand, she's absolutely a more powerful sentinel in combat than I am; on the other, though, I'm far from helpless myself. Besides, I don't need both Lucas and Akari hovering over me at all times. Those two combined are making me feel claustrophobic.

"Hey, kids," Audrey says, stepping around Akari in a motion so smooth that I can hardly follow it and ruffling my hair as she passes — freaking A-Rankers.

Insolently attempting to smooth my hair, I look up at Audrey. "Morning. What brings you by? Is this about today's incursion zone?"

Stuffing part of her bagel in her mouth, Audrey makes a so-so gesture with her hand. "More like the lack thereof," Audrey says from around a mouthful of bagel. Holding up a finger, she chews, then swallows before continuing. "Before I tell you too much more, can you both confirm that you felt that strange feeling this morning. Almost like a ripple through the world?"

"Yeah, we felt it," I confirm, shifting nervously. "What was that?"

"We're not sure yet, to be honest," Audrey says, her eyes going hard. "However, the best we can tell is that what we felt was the first contact between our reality and the reality from which the Centurions and Volcora hail. In fact, I'm primarily here to see if you can confirm that fact using your Centurion contact, Serena."

I run my hands through my hair. I never enjoy contacting Althia. She always either weirds me out, makes me angry, or talks me in circles. However… I have to admit that she's a good source of information.

"I'll try," I say sullenly before moving over to the other half of the kitchen. Both Audrey and Akari watch me curiously, but I doubt that this will be visually interesting.

Focusing on my connection with Celeste, I project both to her and… out wider in an attempt to reach Althia — like taking my existing connection and stretching it. "Althia? Can you hear me?"

A distant laugh seems to echo from around me before Althia's voice enters my mind. [Finally reaching out to talk to me about your new path?] she asks, amusement still in her voice.

I shake my head, "No, but I promise I will soon. I'm reaching out to talk to you about the ripple through the world we felt. What was that?"

[That was mana, sweet daughter,] Althia says, voice smooth as honey and warm as a winter breeze. [So far, mana has only really entered your world along with incursion zones and new soul gem arrivals — which has been a negligible amount overall. However, our realities are now close enough to touch. More and more aspects of my reality will begin to manifest in yours until the final merger takes place, and one of those aspects is mana entering your reality as a permanent fixture..]

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, narrowing my eyes. "Are you saying that mana is now just going to… I don't know, flow into our reality from yours all the time?"

[Exactly,] Althia purrs. [Your world now has a minimal amount of ambient mana from the upcoming convergence. This mana will begin to accumulate and collect around certain natural points, but there will now be a small amount of mana everywhere.]

"Do you know what this might mean for us?" I ask, hoping to extract as much information out of Althia while I still have her.

[As we discussed in our first meeting, mana will begin to accumulate into points of power. It will take months yet before these natural points of accumulation become anything of worth, but be ready to claim them when they do,] Althia explains.

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I nod, remembering that conversation. Althia told me about these points of power and that she wasn't exactly sure how they would manifest. They could be places, objects, or even people.

"Is there anything we should do to prepare?" I ask.

At this, I get what I can only describe as a mental eye roll. [Follow the plan, daughter, and you'll be fine. I will inform you when it's time for action.]

I sigh; as per usual, Althia isn't amazingly helpful. Although I suppose the knowledge that this change is actually caused by mana isn't the worst thing in the world. What I felt didn't necessarily feel bad, after all — just different.

After repeating my conversation with Althia to the others, Audrey shrugs. "Well, I suppose it's good to know that we aren't in imminent danger, at least so far as we can tell," she says, finishing off the rest of her bagel.

"It would be nice to know what to prepare for, though," Akari says from beside me.

"Karma has already made the decision that nonessential missions are all being canceled today until we can determine the extent of the danger this change brings," Audrey says. "That means that I'm just going to go wipe out the incursion zone intended for you all, just in case the Volcora have something planned for this change. In the meantime, your team should try to see what else you can learn about this change. I don't know if anyone else is in contact with their Centurion patron like Serena is, but we want all the information we can get."

"So, is our incursion zone today canceled?" I confirm, relief washing over me. I wasn't sure if they'd let me fight without my week of no magic being up, and I absolutely don't want the rest of my team to have to fight without me.

"Yep," Audrey says before turning and striding back towards the door. "I've got to get back out there; thanks for the information, Serena."

And with that, she's gone.

A few hours later, Team Picnic — plus Hayley — are all gathered in Baylee's apartment as we try to figure out what Earth gaining an ambient mana level might mean. Oddly, I've found that I can kind of feel the mana in the air — my mana practice in my soul gem coming into play.

Actually, mana control is one of the main things that I've noticed with the ambient mana being in the air. That same effect that I have in my soul gem, where I'm more easily able to directly control my magic, is now somewhat present in reality. It's nothing major, just a slight lessening of the difficulty of managing my abilities, but even that can be a big factor in a fight. Things just feel more… natural now, as if I don't have to fight against nature as much to bring my magic into being.

Ultimately, we determine that the mana in the air doesn't seem to be doing… well, anything. Only sentinels and familiars seem to have even noticed the change, and everyone else appears to just be going on with their daily lives. While I am worried about what these points of power will end up being, at the moment, this shift doesn't appear to be a big issue.

Until it gets worse, that is. According to Claire, she has also been in occasional contact with her familiar's father and received direct confirmation that, as time passes, the ambient mana level on Earth will continue to rise. However, until we get closer to the final merge of the two realities, it's still more or less negligible.

With that information learned and relayed on to the people in the GDF who can actually do something about it, conversations drift to other topics. Until, when the others are engaged in a discussion, Baylee catches my eye and gestures for us to briefly break away from the group.

"What's up?" I ask as we step into a well-furnished office pinned up with Baylee's maps and strategies. She's been working with Hayley on trying to work her into some of our team's existing strategies, and they've been finding some unique synergies revolving around Hayley's dominion art, Sacred Water.

"What's up with me?" Baylee laughs, "I just thought I'd pull you aside and ask why you and Akari keep making eyes at each other. Did something happen?"

I blush, my eyes falling, "I… we kissed, but then… no. Nothing's happened but that. Other than Akari trying to protect me from every little thing, that is."

"I thought she always did that," Baylee says with a laugh. She slips behind her desk and gestures to one of the comfy chairs across from her.

Sitting, I sigh. "Yes and no. Akari's always been protective of me, but it's more than that now. She's been completely overdoing it recently. She even tried to protect me from Audrey this morning. Like, I somewhat understand, but I can protect myself."

At this, Baylee sits up straighter, meeting my eyes. "I know you can protect yourself, and I'll bet she knows that too. However, you say you understand, but do you really? I don't know Akari nearly as well as you do, but even I know that everyone she's ever loved has either been taken from her or betrayed that love. Everyone but you. Can you blame her for being worried about you?"

My eyes fall, "I suppose not," I say lightly. "Maybe I'm just riled up because of all this stuff with the guards. But… do you really think she loves me?"

"Yes, Serena," Baylee says with a light laugh, "I would absolutely say that she at least likes you a lot. The only question now is, what are you going to do about it?"

I hug myself, my stomach churning with nerves. "I… I don't know. I've never done this before. This is the first time anyone has ever kissed me, and I… I really don't know what to do."

"Let's start by asking a simple question," Baylee says, folding her hands on the desk. "Serena, do you want to be in a relationship with Akari?"

Surprising even myself, I find my answer instantly. "Yes… I think I do. I just… I would need to go slow. I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm scared of doing something wrong."

Baylee slaps her desk and grins, "And there's your answer! Go and tell her that — communication is everything in any relationship. I'll tell you one thing, though, you can't leave things hanging for much longer. If you want to have that conversation, you should have it today. Ideally, the next chance you have."

I swallow, wringing my hands in my lap. Stars, I'm supposed to be the one who's good with emotions and stuff, right? Why do I suck at this so much!?

"Thanks for talking to me about it," I tell Baylee with a nervous smile. "By the way, how are things going with Troy?"

Baylee's eyes widen just a fraction, and she lets out a light cough, "Oh, would you look at the time! We better get back out there before the others miss us."

Ultimately, I spend nearly the entire day with my team. Both going around the hub and restocking as well as doing what training we can without shifting into our assault states. Well, the others can all shift safely at the moment, but they all keep to their rest states until the GDF mandate on me not shifting lifts.

As it turns out, we aren't the only ones just milling about the hub, as I see more sentinels here than I think I've ever seen before. All of us felt the change, and throughout the day, Karma has been releasing information about what's going on to the organization at large. This has left everyone feeling a bit tense, but with all missions outside of Shinara having been canceled today, no one is sure where to put their pent-up energy.

Throughout it all, Akari sticks close by my side. Mostly, she does what she's always done, looking around at our surroundings carefully and sticking close, but she does have a tendency to gently move me behind her when other sentinels get too close. So, in short, she's absolutely still acting protective, but for now, I just allow it.

My conversation with Baylee put things into perspective with Akari, and I'm just waiting for my chance to have the conversation that's been weighing on my mind. I know talking things through is absolutely the best way forward, but does it have to be so stressful?

Well, ready or not, my opportunity to talk with Akari arrives as we both depart headquarters together, deciding to take the long walk through the skyway instead of getting a transport. Mostly, it's just to help with my nerves, as I find it easier to deal with stress while walking.

Besides, it's not like we're going to be able to have this conversation alone anyway. Lucas has been following us all day at a respectful distance, and our familiars are always with us. So, as far as things go, walking through the skyway with our familiars riding along invisibly is likely as close to a bit of alone time as we're going to get. Unless, of course, I ask Akari to come to my room to talk, and I'm sure I'm not ready for what that could imply.

For a few minutes, we just walk in silence, navigating around the crowded skyway near headquarters. However, aware that my gap to have this conversation before getting home to my father is closing, I decide to just go for it.

"A-Akari?" I ask, keeping my voice soft as we skirt around the side of the walkway to avoid some preacher yelling about faith.

Akari turns to me, seeming to sense from the tone of my voice that I want to talk about something serious. "Hey, what's wrong?"

I shake my head, "No, nothing's wrong, I just…" I swallow, clasping and unclasping my hands as I try to figure out the best words to say. "I just wanted to talk to you… about the kiss."

At this, Akari's eyes lower, and she increases the distance between us by just a little. "I'm sorry if I went too far. I just… I was about to go into Reaver territory alone, and I just couldn't leave without letting you know how I felt."

I wince; I'm already blowing this!

"You don't need to be sorry; I… we just need to talk about what it is we have," I say falteringly. "I do want to try it… I just… stars, Akari, I'm scared. I've never done anything like this in my life, and I'm scared of messing something up. I want to try it… I just need to go slow."

A small smile blossoms on Akari's face, and she shifts slightly closer to me, gently guiding me around a crowd of shouting workers I didn't even notice.

"I like slow," she says, still smiling. "And… what we have. What would you say that is?"

I blush brightly, my eyes firmly fixed on my feet. "I don't know, I wouldn't say we're dating yet because we haven't been on a date, but… something like that?"

"Well," Akari says slyly, "we can fix that, can't we?"

I laugh, letting out just a fraction of my nervous tension. Somehow, despite having no clue what the right words to say are, things are actually going well.

"I suppose we can," I say, allowing a smile to tug on my own lips as well.

With firm fingers, Akari captures my hand in hers and grins down at me. "Serena, would you like to go on a date with me?"

I nod, "Yes… I think I would."