Chapter 12: Chapter TWELVE

The day of the tournament ended up arriving soon enough. Mia had quickly settled into a rut for the rest of her week, spending most of her time alone as her friends busily prepared for the tournament that would take place that afternoon. Arry was perfecting her fire spells and Lily was brewing potions on the line. The blonde only saw the two young women for an hour at mealtimes, and their conversations only revolved around the future event.

This had given her time to look for information in the books of the library to answer some of the questions she was wondering about the functioning of Istarea. She had devoted her mornings to her research, and the afternoons to observing the students or clearing her mind by walking in the gardens.

The young human had acquired an incredible amount of data in these few days, from the most relevant to the most useless. She didn't have enough time to satisfy her curiosity on all the subjects that appealed to her, but she had been able to learn some information that would be useful to her. The only answers she refused to seek concerned the Vilas. She didn't want to find out how scared she must be of them.

Mia had notably discovered that the main means of transport on Istarea was the use of animals, whether terrestrial like horses or flying like wyverns. She had trouble picturing these, which were described as a kind of feline whose front legs were wings like bats.

Another of her discoveries was their low-cost, mass-market postal system that was provided by wyverns for long-distance transport through specific delivery points. For users of greater means, the system was much more complex and required Mia to understand how magic worked in this world. Indeed, the method consisted of the use of two types of magic: a rune that triggered a signal, and a druid that could temporarily control certain types of animals suitable for such a run.

Learning the different magics and specialties of magicians had proven to be a puzzle of vocabulary. Each family had its special field, it was a bit as if each family had its designated profession. The possibilities of using magic were incredibly vast, and yet extremely limited to a handful of individuals mastering their specialty. In general, each individual chose to move towards more offensive or constructive magic. The latter included magicians who used their skills to improve everyone's daily life, so utility or comfort magic.

The easiest was elementalists, like Arry. The elements did not only include fire, water, air, and earth but also ice, lightning, shadow, and light. Each family specialized in one element, some intended more for offensive or constructive magic than others.

Shapeshifters weren't limited to changing shape to a specific animal per family as Mia had first assumed. Each line also had its specialization: birds, felines, reptiles, et cetera. The choice of animal was at the whim of the shapeshifter who, although having a range of possibilities, very often preferred to limit himself to one or two animals of his choice.

Sorcerers were divided into several categories, each of which had its specialty. There were, for example, runomancers, sorcerers, bards, or even builders, each with various and varied uses. Mia did not dwell on this passage there, judging it far too indigestible and complex.

Finally, the druids used different aspects of nature. Whether controlling animals, mastering plants, or weather, this type of magic was essentially constructive. Expensive postal service providers or healing magicians fell into this category.

When Mia left her room that morning to reach the infirmary lobby, there was unusual activity in the hallways because of the tournament. The fairies were running around with sheets, blankets, ointments, and spare gear. She quickly recognized Lily in the middle of this anthill. She was advancing rapidly towards her, her arms laden with a tray filled with small bottles of all colors.

"Ah, Mia! Can you give me a hand? We're so overwhelmed with preparations for the tournament, I don't know where to turn..." she sighed, visibly already tired when the day was just beginning.

"Of course, what do you want me to do?"

"Here, take this," she told her, handing her the tray and getting ready to leave. "One bottle of each color in the dresser drawer in each room."

Helping the fairies took up most of her morning. She spent the other half watching them make ointments or potions and enchant various items, fascinated. They truly had nimble fingers. They were... amazing.

At the end of the morning, Lily sat for a few minutes on an armchair at the end of the hall, huffing, exhausted. She took advantage of her well-deserved break to explain to the blonde how their magic worked since it was different from that of magicians.

"Druids have a lot of spells to try to copy what we do but for them to master it as we have... It would take them decades," she started to explain. "For ointments and potions, it is above all a question of knowledge of plants and their effects: herbology. We then put a bit of our energy into each concoction to make them more effective, but that's something that happens automatically when it's a fairy who prepares these remedies. That's why we're the best," she smiled proudly. "For enchantment, it's a question of energy and intention to infuse into the object. It's quite complex, and it requires intense concentration. Personally, it's not my favorite activity", she laughs.

"And you have specialties like magicians?"

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"Here, yes. Outside of school, fairies are nomadic and move from race to race, so they must be able to do anything. At the Arena, we are lucky to have a fixed workplace, which allows us to specialize."

"And what are you specialized in, then?"

"I'm one of the three fairies who don't have any specialization. We do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. Specializing has never particularly interested me," she explained with a shrug.

"It's a lot like hospitals in my world, except we don't have magic, of course."

"I don't even dare to imagine how you manage to heal people without magic…" she grimaced.

"You'd be surprised,” Mia retorted, smiling proudly since for once she knew something her friends didn't.

The two young women separated after their conversation. Lily went back to her fairy business and Mia headed for the canteen to join Arry there. She was already seated at one of the back tables with some of her magician friends who had to join her when they saw her eating alone. Mia, therefore, went to grab some food at the canteen buffet and sat down at another table, alone, not wishing to impose herself. Anyway, they were surely discussing their participation in the tournament, and the blonde was saturated to hear about it.

Looking at her plate of vegetables, cooked meat, and an apple for dessert, she sighed. She hadn't even been there a week, and she was already missing the burgers, fries, and other fast food meals. Here, all meals were balanced. Not that she was complaining, she could probably get rid of her two or three extra pounds with this type of diet, but she would have liked something a little more substantial.

She ate slowly, not particularly thrilled with the contents of her plate, yawning a few times between bites. Her active morning had given her a bit of a stroke of fatigue. Maybe she would lie down an hour or two before the tournament since she had nothing else to do until then.

Before she finished her plate, Arry approached her, energetic and smiling. She must have been on her way out.

"Mia, I didn't see you! Why didn't you come to sit with us?" asked the redhead.

"I'm sure you were talking about the tournament. I want to keep the total surprise!" Mia replied as if it were obvious.

"Oh, you're right! See you there, then? I have to go, I still have to train and warm up, et cetera. I'm so sorry that I haven't had much time for you these past few days. I'll catch up after the tournament, promise!"

"No worries, and good luck!" Mia wished her as her friend was already leaving.

The young human quickly finished her plate, gulping down her last bits of vegetable, and grabbed the apple to put it in the pocket of her small vest. In case she would get a bit peckish after her nap.

As usual, when she got up, she could notice a few looks reflecting a wide spectrum of emotions listening to her every move. Usually, they observed her with more discretion, but they allowed themselves to stare at her today since her magician friend had not shared her meal with her. Shaking her head in spite, she opted to ignore them completely and continued on her way, depositing her tray in the large tub of water provided for this purpose. She suspected that the basin was magical and that it was used to directly clean the dishes since she had never seen anyone take care of it.

When Mia left the canteen, she took a deep breath. Even if she chose to ignore them, their gaze still weighed heavily on her shoulders. She rubbed her neck for a moment and opted for a little nap before heading to the tournament. Sleep took over immediately.

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