33 33 Bonding
After dinner, everyone went to shower away the scent of the pool. The school didn’t use an overdose of chlorine as the ones in the city did, but it still had a mild chemical smell that the sensitive noses in the Academy could detect.
Wolfe had just gotten out of the shower and grabbed his clothes when he got another message from his Inheritance.
[Bonded Partner Requests Your Presence]
[Activate Fast Travel] Y/N
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm
Wolfe had been waiting for this chance. He pulled just his uniform pants on and grabbed his shirt.
[Travel To Partner]
The world seemed to blur, and Wolfe found himself standing in a large dorm room. Two beds sat on opposite walls, and a couch sat in the middle of the room, facing a magical fireplace with a television above it.
“Nice place you’ve got here.” Wolfe greeted them while he admired the immaculately clean dorm room and the sight of two Witches kneeling in front of him in their pyjamas.
They must have just finished drawing the magical circle on the floor, the one Wolfe was standing on.
“Sorry about that. I’m not sure if it’s possible to aim my arrival.” Wolfe apologized.
“No, you arrived just where we wanted. We thought the problem might be that we didn’t have practice, so we used a physical circle this time, and it worked much better.” Cassie explained.
“Yes, this time, I got a notice that you requested my presence. It’s a good thing I had a few seconds to respond. I had just gotten out of the shower.”
Wolfe stepped out of the circle carefully, and Ella placed the rug back over it before moving to sit on the large couch facing the television. Cassie picked the spot at the end, so Wolfe moved the ottoman in front of them and sat down in between.
“Close contact helps build your aura, right? This is the best way to do that.” He explained and then pulled the Witches close to his side.
“We have half an hour before Reiko arrives for the movie night, and she’s bringing the popcorn. Why don’t we build our bond a little first.” Ella suggested, drawing a hint of mana through Wolfe and incorporating it into her aura.
The Witches Aura didn’t actually hold mana, it was more like a solar panel for mana, and this exercise increased both the size and efficiency. But it took mana to do, and if they tried to draw mana through their aura, they couldn’t enhance it at the same time. So, they needed either a Familiar or a magical item to help them with the process.
They had company coming, so Wolfe placed his arms around their shoulders and let them practice while he relaxed.
He had almost dozed off due to the comfortable warmth when there was a knock at the door, and Ella hopped up to get it, her short, light blue hair now fully dry.
“Reiko and Mary? That’s unexpected. Please, come in.” Ella greeted them.
“We’re roommates. I hope you don’t mind the extra presence. The rest of my study group wanted to stay in alone with their Familiars.” Mary explained.
The pup was right behind them, with Flame sitting on his head, eagerly waiting to get into the room. As soon as the girls cleared the door, the fluffy white dog rushed past everyone and lay on the floor in front of the fireplace, giving it an expectant look.
“Subtle, isn’t he?” Cassie laughed, grabbing the remote to turn the electric fireplace on.
“Cool, his tattoo matches your amulet.” Mary noticed, poking Wolfe on the arm where the Noxus Family crest was clearly visible but otherwise ignoring his shirtless attire.
Wolfe looked down at the Family mark, made as a child after he was adopted, to ensure his status as a member of the Noxus Family while he fought to earn a better place in life.
It had changed from what he recalled now that he looked more closely. The errors in the runes had adjusted, and the damage from years of growth was repaired. If it weren’t time faded, he would think it was brand new again.
“We’re very distantly related but have the same Family name after all.” Wolfe agreed.
“How distantly?” The tiny Witch asked suggestively.
“I think the last time our families interconnected was eleven generations ago,” Cassie told her with a smile, still resting a hand on Wolfe’s chest to work on her aura.
That only made Mary’s smile even larger. She was about to speak again when Reiko hugged her from behind, the larger woman’s prodigious chest nearly swallowing the smaller Witch’s head.
“Go and sit. The snacks are ready. We will talk magic after the first movie.” Reiko instructed, much to Mary’s annoyance. She wasn’t a patient person, and she had good questions circling around her brain right now.
The film she picked was a tragic romance, and by the end, there were four sobbing Witches on the couch. Reiko did her best to hide her emotional state, while Wolfe tried his best to console Cassie and Ella without mentioning the ending of the movie and upsetting them even more.
It was Pup who had the best luck at that, as he simply flopped himself across Reiko and began to lick Mary’s face clean until she laughed.
“That might not have been the best choice of movie. How about we start on the essential spells? Reiko here practiced a lot before coming to the academy since she missed last year’s entry by only a few weeks.” Mary suggested.
This was the true purpose of the study groups, not to watch movies and bond but to improve their knowledge. They usually broke up due to conflicting egos, but if they lasted and actually studied, the Witches in them usually ended up much better off than their less dedicated peers.
“Let’s start with the basics, then. My mother said every Witch needs a storage talisman. She wouldn’t send me here with anything, she says it builds character, but I have the circle.” Reiko began.
“I made one myself to give to my grandmother as a gift before I left. They’re pretty easy once you know the trick to them. Carve the circle, so your paint doesn’t run, and place your choice of reagent on top. You can choose the correct one to use by which one reacts the best when you draw in mana while holding it.” Cassie explained.
“Or if you don’t have high-quality reagents like we don’t tonight, you draw a bit of blood and use as much mana as you can from your Familiar to substitute for the reagent while creating the amulet. For mana collection spells, they are usually the best reagent anyhow.” Reiko agreed.
That sounded like exactly what Wolfe had done with Cassie, though the Familiar spell hadn’t connected them at the time.