“Goals, dreams, and desires are necessary parts of life. A life without any direction, without something to strive towards, would just be a hollow life.” - Ishak Somed-Steneh, Philosopher from the Kingdom of Posuin, circa 401 VA.

Just as swiftly as the wind blows, more years passed as a tentative peace settled around the region. Elmaiya had shown their goodwill, Ptolodecca continued to slowly assimilate the Antemeians with the latter’s approval, while the Vitalicans were busy recovering from the losses they took, both from the battle years ago as well as from their people trickling away in search of better living elsewhere.

It turned out that centuries of propaganda and dogma doesn’t hold as much sway as a full belly, to those who lack everything.

In the couple of decades that had passed, Kino had finished her “schooling”, and mostly lived on her own in a house not far from Aideen’s and Celia’s in the Unliving district of Tohrmutgent. The girl had tried various kinds of work after finishing her learning, not exactly content with just using her natural gift for lethal violence to make a living.

Which was a point of view that Aideen definitely could get behind.

Kino turned out to be a quick study on certain things, like singing, and playing a lute. As such, she often worked as an entertainer in some of the city’s taverns and other such establishments. While her singing was amateurish at first, she improved fast, and soon enough became rather popular with the crowd that frequented the places she performed at.

Even so, when Aideen visited Kino one day, she found the girl strumming her lute while lying down on a couch, looking rather lost in thoughts.

“Got something on your mind, Kino?” Aideen asked as she seated herself in a chair next to the couch Kino was in.

“Some, yeah,” said Kino in reply, sounding rather… tired and unfocused. “I’m very grateful for everything you have done for me, Miss Aideen, and I definitely owe a great debt of gratitude to the others as well for helping me out so much over those early years. It’s just that… I’m feeling a little bit lost at the moment. I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing with my life, or unlife, or whatever it is now.”

“I would say that there is no one right thing to do with your life, Kino,” replied Aideen. “Your life is yours to do whatever you feel like using it for, and only you yourself should decide whether it was right for you or not,” she added. “Besides, one benefit to being unliving is that you do actually have all the time in the world to look for what feels right to you.”

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“I see… I guess I just feel… kind of like I’m wasting my potential, not really making the most of my life, if that makes sense?” admitted Kino as she tried to explain what she felt to Aideen. “It’s not like I don’t enjoy singing and playing music, but there’s something… lacking about it. Some sort of fulfillment that I’m missing…”

“I think I sort of understand what you’re trying to say,” said Aideen with a nod. “I had that feeling too sometimes in the past, some nagging feeling in the back of my head that made me feel like I could be doing more, or rather, should be doing more. Is that close to what you’re experiencing as well?”

“Close enough, I would say,” answered Kino after some thought. “It’s not that I’m feeling ungrateful or anything to everyone who has helped me so far. This life… is far better than I imagined possible when I was still locked up within a cell most of the time back then. By rights I should be happy and satisfied, but…”

“Don’t worry. That nagging feeling is something you feel because you want to be of more use to others. Something you feel because you know you have the power to make changes in this world, and you want to use that power rather than just idling away and enjoying life,” said Aideen in reply. “That said, I thought you didn’t exactly enjoy fighting?”

“I would fight to defend myself or others, or to help others, yes, but I don’t exactly enjoy fighting… or killing other people,” confessed Kino rather shyly. “I know that’s probably what my powers, this Void affinity I’m born with, is good for, but yeah, it’s not something I’d want to be doing most of the time. Of course, if Miss Aideen or the others have need of me, I would be there to help, no matter what.”

“That’s fine too. Just goes to show that you’re not one of those who let their bloodlust take over their reasoning. Some people risk that happening in combat,” noted Aideen with a thoughtful nod. “That said, if you feel like making use of your power, even if rarely, I would say you would be in need of more training to do so.”

“Why is that?” asked Kino with some confusion in her voice. “I thought I did well enough back in Antemeia.”

“You fought well, yes. The training with the kids showed their results, but you’re also still using your power more like a sledgehammer,” stated Aideen bluntly. “It wasn’t a big issue since you had a lot of others nearby to support you back then, but you were using your magic in a rather wasteful manner, throwing ten at a problem that could be solved with one or two, if you get what I mean.”

“I… guess I did do that,” said Kino rather shyly. “I know the theory, but when in the heat of battle, it was hard to do things the way I was told to. Instinct just kinda took over and all that… Would more training help with that?”

“It’s a lot like training in martial arts, I guess. You practice and train until the movements and process becomes a second nature to you, something that your body remembers and incorporates as part of itself,” replied Aideen. “With magic it’s a little different, of course, and you’d need some pretty skilled tutors to get good at this. Most people usually learn from experience, or die trying, but we’re in Tohrmutgent. There are quite a few people who can teach you this sort of skill.”

“In that case, could you introduce me to some?”