“I see,” Iolathar said for the umpteenth time as he knelt beside Squawk’s bed.

I couldn’t tell if he was referring to the fact that she had the head of an ostrich or if he was making some more profound discovery about the corruption of her mana.

Kalli and I sat on the floor meditating. The more control we got over our emotions, the easier it was to sense the world around us while we did it.

We also learned that balancing our emotions worked sort of like water. Mana laden with emotions that seeped out of our cores sent ripples through the connection. That was how we were always in tune with one another’s feelings.

The group connection was similar but to a much lesser extent. Rather than getting the full wave of emotion, it felt more like observing waves roiling across a distant sea from the safety of the shore.

I smiled when I thought about all the emotions I ever felt from Kalli. We really were bonded.

Do you think relief is an emotion or just a feeling?

Kalli opened one eye to peek at me. I know what you’re thinking, and eww! Now send an emotion through our bond. I want to try something. And before you ask, not that one.

There was only one choice and I was pretty sure she knew it. My heart swelled with affection for Kalli and I let it surge out. The wave rippled through our bond and was met in the middle by an identical wave of Kalli’s making.

They collided in the space between our cores that were connected by a tether. We both watched in awe as the mana melded together in an exotic explosion. Then the surge ended. As one, we smoothed and calmed the emotion flowing through our bond so that it was contained within the connection just as we had done with our cores on the airship.

When we opened our eyes, we saw Iolathar smiling and nodding at the two of us. I gave a frantic look at Squawk and Orpheus who both appeared to be unconscious. “Shouldn’t you be focused on healing them?”

Iolathar gave me a reassuring smile. “Worry not. It is done. For now. I’ve done all I can to stabilize them. True salvation will come with time and for that, they both must return to Luna with me. However, there is a problem.”

“What’s wrong?” Kalli said in a worried tone, staggering to her feet before realizing they had fallen asleep.

I tried my best to stabilize her but was also a little stiff from how we’d been sitting. Kalli fell over on top of me and I struggled to catch her. We both looked up at Iolathar in a tangle of limbs. He just shook his head. “These two are fine. It’s your sister that’s the problem. I cannot cure her the same way I did your friends and I refuse to teach her the way.”

“That's okay.” I began. “We can show her…”

“No! I forbid it!” Iolathar barked. “Did you forget your oath to me? Only you two!”

Then I understood. “I’ll do it. Once I learn how to purge this corruption, I’ll heal her myself.”

“That…” Iolathar paused, tasting his reply. “…works for me. Cleanse her with the knowledge I impart to you.”

Maya didn’t look pleased with the decision but held her tongue. Iolathar rose from his seat and walked over to Alariel. “I do believe it’s time you introduced me to your grandmother.”

Alariel and Kiki didn’t answer right away and gave Kalli and I concerned looks. I shrugged and asked, “Do you think it’s safe to go there alone with her?”

Alariel replied. “She’s never been a threat to me. I’m family. I don’t think she would do anything bad while I’m around.”

“I still don’t feel comfortable with this,” Kalli said, climbing to her feet once again and offering me her hand to help me up. “You haven’t seen what it’s like down there in her basement. She’s got Raverly’s corpse in a cage for some reason.”

“Aw, is baby brother worried about us.” Kiki teased, walking over to me. She nuzzled my head with her knuckle and continued. “Don’t worry. We’ll be careful and not do anything to make her suspicious. Besides, I have experience with evil family members.”

There wasn’t much left to do after that except see them off. Maya was in a bad mood after not being cured or taught how to cure herself. Iolathar took us aside and left us with homework. “Now that you’ve learned to calm your emotions, you need to control them. There are two ways of dealing with the corruption. The first is to identify and isolate the specific wrath you were infected with. This is complicated because every person feels emotion in a unique way. That is why I am going to suggest you focus on the other method. You currently feel emotions as a reaction to your environment. This leaves your mana vulnerable to emotional attacks at all other times. I can see from your mana that you are light-based and Kalliphae is fire-based. You must train your mana to have a natural affinity with a personal emotion as well. Doing so will leave no room for any foreign emotion to be present. Before you swoon over one another and decide on love, let me warn you. Your natural affinity to an emotion should have nothing to do with outside factors and everything to do with who you are at your core. What emotion defines you? Once you figure that out the rest should be natural. I know this knowledge won’t help you with your sister. I’ll teach you how to treat her once you’ve mastered this. With that said, I wish you both well until we meet again.”

Once the airship departed, Kalli and I had to decide what to do next. Maya retreated to her house, obviously displeased with the decision not to cure her right away. I was fairly certain that it had something to do with her man servants.

It took some work to find Crypian and Shiv who had wandered off. When we found them, Kalli rushed over to Shiv and said, “I think I’m starting to know why Mother doesn’t let you go out.”

Shiv rolled her eyes and replied. “Not you too!”

“We’re about to head back,” Kalli explained, reaching for her sister’s hand.

“Do we have to?” Shiv whined, pulling away. “We just got here.”

Kalli gave me a worried look.

We can always practice what Iolathar just showed us. We don’t have to be home for that.

Kalli gritted her teeth and gave Shiv her best scowl. “Fine! We can stay another hour. You stay out of trouble and don’t bother the nobles.”

“Yipee.” Shiv and Crypian cheered at the same time, getting a dirty look from a passing maid. Shiv cleared her throat and croaked. “We’ll meet you back here in five hours.”

“One hour,” Kalli repeated.

“Three,” Shiv argued.

“Two hours is fine,” I said, patting her on the head.

That earned me a sour look from Kalli but Shiv didn’t press her luck and ran off toward one of the tubes.

When did she figure out how to use those?

Kalli smirked, watching them shoot off to areas unknown. You should see her around the castle.

I grinned and we found a grassy area to settle down in. It was a bit odd that there was grass so close to an active volcano but, then again, nothing made sense about the high house.

What did they say the name of this island was, Solitair?

Kalli nodded, adjusting her posture to make herself more comfortable. Yes. That’s what it’s called. Have you decided on an emotion to try first?

If I was honest with myself, I haven’t even thought of it yet.

No, you?

She shook her head and closed her eyes. Not yet.

I closed my eyes as well and tried to find an emotion. My identity. If I chose rage, would I become an indestructible green rage beast? Iolathar said not to choose love but there were other emotions like love. Passion, lust, and affection were all choices. Maybe not good ones but they were still options.

But were they me? What was I? What emotion did I feel most of the time? What did I feel before Kalli? I liked to think I felt anger at the people who bullied me but that wasn’t entirely true. The truth was, I felt a strange sense of indifference toward them, choosing to avoid rather than confront.

What was I then? There was only one word for it. I was bored. All my life it felt like a hole existed in my soul that was only filled when I met Kalli. No. It wasn’t just that. Magic made me whole. It was a part of me, a birthright, that I was denied up to that point.

What am I now? I sat there for what felt like an eternity trying to figure that out. I needed to put my feelings for Kalli to the side and try to find out what was left. There was a short time when I had magic before I summoned Kalli. What was I? That’s right. I was curious. I let the emotion flood through my body, opening up a burning desire in me to learn. To read more books. To understand. A swarm of emotion erupted from within me like molten lava from the heart of Solitair. I could barely contain myself and Kalli noticed. She opened her eyes and gasped. Wow, Mel. What is that? What am I feeling right now?

Curiosity. I want to learn everything. I can’t believe I ever stopped. The universe is huge with so many things I still don’t know. I want to see it all. Experience it all.

Is that all? She pouted and squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to come up with an emotion of her own.

Realizing she was struggling, I tried to help.

What have you tried so far?

She sighed. I wanted to do brave but I don’t know if I’m confident enough for that. Confidence is right out the window too for the same reason. Is it possible to not feel confident enough to be confident?

You are brave! You’re the bravest person I know. You saved my life several times. You never back down when someone threatens those you care about.

Kalli opened her eyes and a tear streamed down her cheek. But I was scared every single time.

I think bravery is doing things even though you are afraid. The fear makes the emotion more powerful.

She sat still while she digested what I said. Is bravery the word for it? Is that an emotion?

Confidence maybe?

Kalli closed her eyes again and I felt her trying on different emotions for size. She swelled with confidence and came to a conclusion. I think I like this one.

It suits you.

Together, we practiced honing our emotions. I felt like an actor in a play trying to feel sadness or anger on demand. It was a little easier when I channeled it by bringing up memories that envoked them.

Infusing mana with emotions had strange effects on the body. Some would deaden pain while others sharpened it and made everything more acute. Certain emotions gave me energy. The lovey-dovey emotions gave me a certain kind of energy that I had no way of dealing with at the moment. I tried to avoid those. Curiosity filled me with a strong desire to learn. The more I felt it, the more I realized it was the feeling for me.

The problem was that I didn’t know how to lock it in. It felt like every emotion wanted to burst out of me the instant I felt them. I knew the only way to purge myself of corruption was to embrace my chosen emotion but Iolathar left that part out of his explanation. I had no clue when he was going to be back.

“Hey.” A voice whispered in my ear while somebody poked me.

I jerked my eyes open and found Shiv leaning so close that I could smell her breath. She had eaten recently. “You know, you could have just agreed to let us explore for five hours if you wanted to play boyfriend and girlfriend with Kalli.”

“No.” I yawned, realizing I was getting tired. “We really do need to get back."

That was when I noticed Kalli leaning against me breathing softly. She was fast asleep. I wondered what she dreamed about when I wasn’t with her.

Kalli. Wake up. It’s time to go.

She jerked awake, slowly rubbing the sleep from her eyes. I wasn’t asleep. I just needed to rest my eyes for a minute. What time is it?

Shiv gave her sister a conspiratorial grin before announcing, “It’s been five hours. Five. You two slept out here for five hours. You could’ve just let us stay all day. As it was, we had to come back and check on you every hour.”

“Sorry.” Kalli sighed, yawning again. “I hope you had fun.”

“Boy did I!” She squealed, flapping her arms as she told us about her adventures exploring the strange new place. “I met some really neat people. They gave me snacks and everything.”

Kalli stretched and stood up, looking out at the sun setting behind Luna. “I’m glad you had a good time, but you shouldn’t accept food from strangers.”

“They aren’t strangers.” Shiv pointed out. “They sell food to the workers out of something called a restaurant. Since Melvin is related to Maya, they said I get to eat for free. Crypian too. He was there. He watched me.”

“Did he now?” Kalli smiled, offering me her hand to help me up again. “That was nice of him.”

Crypian rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Anything for the royal house, Your Majesty. I’m just glad I can make up for my prophecies in some small way.”

Kalli glowered at him, not happy to be reminded of Crypian’s specific brand of prophecy. She turned to me and said, “Are you ready to go?”

“No time like the present.” I grinned, already gathering mana for the teleport. “Everyone gather together.”

And just like that, we went back to Celestea.