Summer Break

Chapter 30

Tess rolled over in her sleeping bag after reliving her first date as a couple with Arthur in her dreams. Her eyes slowly opened, and were met by Sylvie's staring right back at her with a smile.

"Good morning Sylvie," Tess greeted groggily.

"Good morning mama," Sylvie replied.

"Ahhh," Tess yelled, momentarily forgetting Sylvie could talk.

"Mama are you ok?" Sylvie asked urgently, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah I'm all right," Tess replied as she calmed down and remembered. "I just forgot that you can talk now."

"I know, isn't this exciting mama?" Sylvie asked excitedly.

"Yes it is," Tess replied with a smile as she petted her head. A thought then occurred to her. "Sylvie, why do you call me mama?"

"Because you're my mama," Sylvie replied innocently.

"And what do you call Arthur?"

"Papa."

"Is...is Arthur ok with you calling me mama? I mean, does he ever tell you not to?" Tess asked, not sure if she even should have asked, almost afraid of what the answer would be.

"Hmm," Sylvie thought for a moment. "He's never told me that. He's only ever said that I shouldn't forget about Sylvia, my mother."

Tess then picked Sylvie up and held her in her arms. "That's right, even though I'm your mama, you should never forget about your mother."

Sylvie then snuggled in Tess' arms happily. Tess then exited her tent with Sylvie, and noticed Arthur's tent was already taken down.

"Where's Arthur?" Tess asked as she looked around.

"He left with Jasmine to train about an hour ago," Helen replied as she, Durden, and Angela prepared breakfast over the fire.

This training for Arthur was nothing less than necessary after last night. Normally a mage only progresses one stage at a time, so they don't need to work that hard to get used to their new core level. However Arthur progressed three stages in an instant, so he had to put a little more work in. Jasmine was of course the most logical person to help him with this, due to the fact that she was at one time his mentor, and because she was the closest to Arthur's level at the light yellow stage.

Tess wished she could have helped Arthur, but due to her core restrictions, her strength was only at the mid yellow stage. This of course wasn't anything to be ashamed of, as she was at the light orange stage at the beginning of the school year, and just being in the yellow range at her age was quite the achievement.

She looked beyond the campfire to see Adam and Theo doing some intense sparing. Despite Adam being at the solid orange stage with no elemental affinity, and Theo at the light orange as a deviant gravity mage, Adam's superior experience was allowing him to keep Theo on his toes.

"Wow, they are really going at it," Tess commented as she watched the intense match.

"Yeah we all are now," Claire said as she walked up with a towel over her shoulder after washing up at a stream. "Curtis and I were sparring earlier, and Feyrith and Lilia are over that way dueling with Elijah and Kathyln." Claire shook her head. "Three stages in one night. I've never heard of an elixir that strong before."

"I doubt anyone has," Helen commented. "I just wish I knew where he got it from."

"We all do, but I have a feeling Arthur won't ever tell anyone," Curtis said as he also walked up, his voice sounding annoyed.