Chapter Text
Natalia took a deep breath and focused. The late February sun streamed in through the kitchen window as she knelt before the cold fireplace. A line of tinder and kindling ran to the pile of wood in the center, but Natalia had neither match nor flint in her hands. What she was about to do was something that had been widely thought to be impossible until one day, when a prince had returned to his kingdom with the ability to turn his arms into wings and shoot lightning from his hands and stir up the winds from his very footsteps.
He had been at the inn where Natalia worked, and she had overheard him telling one of the men he was travelling with at the time about how he'd managed to connect to the Sky Arcanum. Furthermore, he'd named all six Arcana: Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, and Ocean. And now, Natalia would be next to attempt the impossible.
She'd come close to making the connection before. On rare occasions, she'd sometimes felt the tiniest spark of something within her, but it always evaded her grasp. Today, she hoped she would finally grasp the meaning necessary to make the connection. It was maddening sometimes how close she would get before it slipped away. But she was still making progress, and that gave her hope.
Natalia delved deep into her mind, simultaneously focusing part of her consciousness on the warmth of the sun just outside the window. The way its light and heat penetrated the cloudy sky and the late winter chill felt as comforting as always. A few minutes later, she could sense it again. A spark. Tiny, but there. She could barely feel it, and it was so delicate that the slightest touch might snuff it out. The faintest glimmer of an Arcanum flickered inside her, a glimmer that she would have to feed like a fire before she could understand.
The sun gave off light and heat, warming the earth and granting sight to everything that could see. Under its glow, all life flourished and darkness retreated. Light and heat, coupled with the banishment of darkness and...
The spark flickered. Natalia grasped frantically, searching for further pieces to the puzzle as she chased the truth.
Truth.
To shine light on the truth.
The spark flickered again, but this time began to grow stronger. Natalia siezed this idea and simply allowed herself to feel the Arcanum. The sun gave its light and warmth that all life might bask in its glow, but even as the darkness always returned each night, so too would the light return in the morning.
Natalia laid a finger on the stones of the fireplace as the spark inside her turned into a light. Natalia opened her eyes, knowing that she had finally succeeded.
Natalia vaguely heard the door open and her father say, "Natalia? Have you got the fire going yet?"
Natalia brushed her finger across the stones of the fireplace, channeling her newly acquired magic through her finger. Tiny sparks sprayed from her touch, landing in the nest of tinder and setting it alight. Before long, the kindling had caught the flame as well. Natalia sat up and looked at her dumbfounded father as the flames started to lick against the fuel.
"What...did you just do?"
Natalia smiled up at him. "I got the fire going."
A month later, she had her bag over her shoulder and was hugging her family goodbye.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Natalia's mother asked her.
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a risk," Natalia told her, releasing her embrace so she could look her mother in the face. "But I've made the connection, and I want to learn how to use it, and at the moment, going to the capital is my best bet at doing that."
"Not fair that Nat gets to learn magic!" her six-year-old brother, Ethan grumbled. "I want to learn magic too!"
"Well, maybe when you get old enough, you'll be able to make your own connection," Natalia told her brother, patting him on the head. "Remember what I told you?"
"Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, Ocean!" he recited eagerly. "Someday, I'll learn magic too! And I'll be even better at it than Nat!"
Natalia laughed. "You do that," she encouraged.
Her father was the last to say goodbye. "I'd expected you would marry the boy next door and take over the inn one day," he admitted. "I didn't think you would learn magic of all things. *sigh* First the elves are our friends now, then humans can do magic, and now my daughter too? This world is changing too fast for an old man like me."
Natalia shook her head with mirth and kissed her dad on the cheek. "I'll be fine, dad," she reassured him. "If anything happens in the capital, I'll always have a home to return to. Right?"
Her father smiled lovingly at his daughter and caught her in a tight embrace. "Always."
Natalia finally escaped her father's embrace and left the inn with her family on her heels. The tavern was bare for once, but several villagers, including most of the children, were waiting by the cart of the merchant who would be escorting her to Katolis to see her off.
"Bye, Natalia! Have a good trip to the capital!"
"Take me with you!"
"Bring back an elf next time you visit!"
"No, a dragon!"
Natalia giggled at the children's wild requests. Several of them were Ethan's friends, and she suspected that he had secretly told them about her magic, which no doubt lit a fire in them about learning magic in secret themselves but also ignited their imaginations about the kinds of adventures she was going to have when she finally reached the capital.
Finally, after several more hugs with her old friends and waving everyone goodbye, she climbed into the back of the merchant's cart.
"We good?" the man asked her.
"Yeah," Natalia told him.
"Then we're off." He snapped the reins of his horses and Natalia waved goodbye to the village that raised her one last time.
"...and the other two who are with us today are the Sunfire Elf mages who just arrived at the castle for my brother Ezran's birthday, Master Aurora and her apprentice, Corin," Prince Callum finished introducing everyone. Natalia's eyes widened in surprise, and then she started to laugh under her breath, despite the shock of being in the presence of so many influential people. What were the odds that she would run into a pair of elven mages perfectly suited to training her right when she arrived in the capital?
"It must have been fate that brought us here on the same day," Natalia remarked. She bowed to the Sunfire Elves. "Greetings, Masters Aurora and Corin. I have recently connected to the Sun Arcanum. If you would have me, I would love nothing more than for you to teach me magic."
Natalia was trembling. She had no idea how her request would be received. She wasn't even entirely sure that the elves didn't want to kill her. And she was absolutely certain that she was completely unworthy of being in the presence of all the people who had gathered in the little room that the Order member had shown her to. The Captain she would have been able to talk to without worry, she'd done so before after all, and he was more down-to-earth and easy to get along with.
Everyone else, on the other hand, was terrifyingly above her station. For starters, there was Prince Callum. Even if he wasn't related to old King Harrow by blood, he was the first human ever to learn to use primal magic, and he was incredibly close to his brother, King Ezran. The Moonshadow Elf, Lady Rayla she remembered, was probably closer to her station, but the fact that she was a Moonshadow Elf who had probably been trained all her life as a warrior and evidently was very close to Prince Callum frankly made her even more terrifying.
But aside from them, there were the two whose favor she wanted the most: two Sunfire Elf mages, a master and an apprentice. The apprentice, Sir Corin, was closer to her age, being only somewhat older than her, and his dark brown hair and skin complemented his golden eyes well, and he at least didn't appear to hold any hostility towards humans. Master Aurora, on the other hand, was drop-dead gorgeous with her white-and-gold robe, staff, and headdress, sleek ebony hair, and chocolate skin, making her feel even smaller and more inadequate than she already did. She also radiated heat and power, as if her connection to the sun was so powerful that her very skin had been infused with the sun's magic.
The Sunfire mage narrowed her eyes at her. "Why should I allow a human to be trained in magic?" Prince Callum and Lady Rayla whipped their heads around to stare at her, and Captain Corvus opened his mouth to say something, but Sir Corin motioned for them not to interfere. Natalia swallowed. It seemed she was being tested.
"Well...it's a show of good favor, right?" she asked awkwardly. "Helping the human nations now will mean they'll be more likely to help you again in the future. Plus, by teaching humans primal magic, you can make sure they never have to resort to dark magic again."
"A fair answer," Master Aurora admitted. "But how can we be sure you've actually managed to make the connection and aren't lying to us?"
"I've already managed to do some things with my Arcanum without using a spell," Natalia reported. "I can create sparks from my fingers or heat a cup of cold tea with my bare hands."
"If I may, there's an easier way to tell," Prince Callum interrupted. He held up a small cube, its faces a tiny bit bigger than someone's palm and each one carved with a different symbol. He pointed one of the faces, bearing a circular symbol, and pointed it at Lady Rayla. It glowed with a dim white light. Then he pointed another side, this one bearing a symbol similar to three flames moving in a circle, and directed it at Sir Corin and Master Aurora. It glowed with a somewhat stronger orange and yellow light. Next, he directed it at Natalia, again using the flame symbol that no doubt stood for the sun. Again, the glow appeared, a bit faint compared to the Sunfire Elves', more comparable to Lady Rayla's.
Natalia let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding in. Even once she knew she'd connected to the Sun Arcanum, she hadn't had the opportunity to let it actually sink in. In the back of her mind, she'd been afraid that she'd been imagining things, that once she claimed to know the Sun Arcanum, she'd be unable to learn magic after all and sent home disgraced. And yet, there was the proof, shining in Prince Callum's hand.
He looked at Master Aurora and told her, "There's no doubt, she is connected to the Sun."
"That does not necessarily mean that she has an aptitude for magic," Master Aurora stated.
"True," Lady Rayla remarked. "I wouldn't have flunked out of magical theory if that'd been the case."
"I'm used to working hard," Natalia assured them. "I've been helping my parents manage my family's inn since I was seven. It doesn't matter how hard you make me study. I promise I can handle it."
"Very well," Master Aurora relented, "But why do you want to learn magic at all? Wouldn't it be easier to simply stay at home and continue doing what you've been doing this whole time? If so, why come all the way here just to beg us to learn magic?"
Natalia was silent for a moment. She didn't want to say it was just a whim that turned into an obsession. That would get her kicked out for sure. Finally, she ventured, "I guess it would be easier. Just living in my peaceful little village, I mean. But if I just did that, I would be saying that I never wanted anything to get better. We still struggle to get through the winters and protect our crops and homes from wolves and bears and natural disasters. There used to be a dark mage in the village, when I was a little girl, and she could sometimes cast some sort of spell to protect us from bandits or give us a better harvest. But after a while, she started to just...wither away, like her use of magic just ate her away from the inside out. Finally, she disappeared and none of us ever heard of her again. And since then, no one's been able to protect us from the bad cards that the world dealt us. I don't think I can explain it any better than that."
Master Aurora considered this for a second. "What would you do if we were to refuse you?"
It was the outcome she'd been dreading most. "I don't know, really. Honestly, there's not much I can do. I used up almost all of my money just to travel here to the capital. If I can't learn magic and I can't get a job, I'll be forced to beg on the streets until I have enough money to pay for a ride back to my village."
Prince Callum sucked in his breath. Evidently, he was unaware she'd taken such a risk.
"That won't be necessary," Captain Corvus told her. "You're still one of only three humans known to have connected to a primal source. If you have nowhere to go, then you may stay at the Order headquarters until we are able to find someone who is willing to teach you."
Natalia exhaled. "I thank you for your generous offer."
After a few moments, Master Aurora finally said, "I appreciate that you were willing to come right out and ask for the opportunity to train, as well as your lack of hostility towards elves. However, I will require a little time to think over my decision."
Natalia bowed to her. "Of course. Take as much time as you need."
"...we have reached a compromise," Lady Aurora was saying. "I will be going back to Lux Aurea to finish my business there, and in the meantime, my apprentice, Corin, will begin your training." Sir Corin gave her a reassuring smile. "In around a month's time, my work in Lux Aurea will be done and I will return to Katolis to continue training both of you. Understood?"
"Perfectly understood, Master Aurora," Natalia told her with a relieved sigh. "It's far more than I ever dared to hope for."
"Let us start now then, shall we?" Master Aurora suggested. Natalia looked over at her, and the Sunfire mage drew a strange, pale gold rune in the air. "Lux." A single point of light appeared in the air above the Sunfire mage, shining down on the table where they'd just eaten dinner. Prince Callum had also been watching with rapt interest.
"Magic," Master Aurora explained, "exists as a spark of power within the mage. The mage uses this connection to draw on the power of their Arcanum around them. You may have noticed that you feel the strongest when the sun is high and weakest at night."
"I have," Natalia confirmed.
"Something similar is true for all primal sources. Sky magic is strongest in a storm, moon magic is strongest at the full moon, and ocean magic is strongest at high tide. When a mage casts a spell, they draw on this primal energy and channel it through their finger to etch an Ancient Draconic rune. The spell can then be triggered by chanting the Ancient Draconic phrase that corresponds with the rune, or sometimes by discharging the spell's energy through an object or medium."
"So like that time you zapped Derrick in the back?" Natalia asked, looking at Prince Callum.
"That's right," he confirmed. "I didn't need to say the trigger word because I could discharge the spell just by touching him."
Master Aurora lowered her hand and the light went out. "Good to see you're catching on. Now, I want you to copy me as I trace the spell." She moved her finger slowly, tracing the simple rune as Natalia concentrated and copied her movements, generating her own streaks of pale golden light. It was only a passable imitation, but it would serve. Next, Master Aurora instructed her, "The trigger word is Lux." Again, a single point of white light appeared in the air above her and faded away after a brief second.
Natalia cleared her throat. "Lux."
A small light, dimmer than Master Aurora's, flickered into existence above her, wavered for a couple of seconds, and went out.
"Your ability is indeed passable," Master Aurora told her, "especially for a beginner who's hardly had an Arcanum for a couple months at best."
"Speaking of which, how did you do it?" Prince Callum asked her. "I know you saw me use magic, but that can't have been all it took."
"It wasn't," she admitted. "I happened to be outside your room that night while you were talking with one of the men who came to the inn with you, and you told him about the primal sources and how you made your connection to the sky."
Prince Callum blinked in surprise. "You eavesdropped on us?"
She quickly bowed her head. "I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself! I heard him talking about how you can do magic and I just had to stop and listen!"
"No need to apologize," he assured her. "If it helped you that much, I'm glad you heard it."
Natalia could only smile helplessly. She was eating with royalty and elves and elven royalty, had just done her first spell, and was about to start training in the use of magic with a Sunfire Elf mage. If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. If it wasn't, she knew that her adventures in Castle Katolis were only beginning.