Fate Weaver's convergence

C31 A broken line

We were currently sitting in the clearing outside of Callum's shop-

"Wait-wait-wai- eugh!"

-and watching Callum kick the ever-living shit out of Vaughn.

"Will he be fine?"

I asked as Beryl and I witnessed Vaughn heave on the ground after a particularly heavy kick.

"Eh-"

Vaughn ended up vomiting almost immediately after Beryl was about to say her thought.

"- I think?"

Beryl winced before shrugging back to me.

After cornering Mother and Beryl's mother's while they were still drunk the prior week, and pestering Gregor as he was trying to sleep, we managed to get their approval for Beryl and Vaughn to join my training. Come Monday, since Mother was teaching me the basics of mana, she decided we could hold the training at Callum's shop. Beryl already had a basic understanding, and even knew some basic level magic like producing weak a flame or water, so she followed along for the time being. Vaughn, however, was coming from a position of no experience in fighting or other combat-related skills; he was a rather blank slate. The start of the day was strange though, Callum gave both Beryl and Vaughn really angry looks when I introduced them and wouldn't tell me why. He even took Vaughn into the shop to talk with him, but neither would say what it was about. What started after they came out was a carbon copy replay of the fights between Callum and myself, minus the severe exertions of strength. Vaughn failed to land a strike and was parried, which Callum followed up with the kick that currently floored Vaughn and forced him to vomit into the grass. Surprisingly for a twelve-year-old, Vaughn managed to grit his teeth and pick himself up repeatedly, to which Callum began easing back his strikes and actually started going over Vaughn's form.

"Hey, eyes back to me, you two!"

"Ah!"

"Hey!"

Mother flicked the backs of our heads, showing little tolerance for distractions at the moment. To which Beryl and I both proceeded to whine.

"So, as I was saying, mana manipulation. Once tapped, is something that should flow, as if it were a stream. You should feel a gradual flow of energy from within yourself, to wherever you're directing your output."

Mother brought our attention back to her lesson.

"The trick is to finding how to 'uncork' it yourself, as the feeling may vary. The goal here is to show you how to open up your mana veins. Mana veins are the ethereal network present in every living thing, even these blades of grass have mana veins present, only much weaker."

Mother ran her fingers through the turf that we were all seated upon.

"When feeling for these veins, the easiest way to describe their feeling is as if water was flowing through your own body."

She outstretched a hand.

"In its basest sense, you are allowing energy that flows through reality itself, to use you as a direct outlet rather than lie dormant."

What looked like a glowing golden gas began to emit from Mother's hand, flowing from the tips of her fingers and dissipating almost immediately after.

"When allowing it to flow, you want to let it break free slowly. To allow it to flow fully, you would merely exhaust, or in some cases, hurt yourself. So be mindful, as we go, to open up as slow as you can manage, even if it is brought to a trickle."

The flow began to dissipate until there was just barely a visible glow to Mother's hand.

"Beryl, I believe Kiyomi seeing someone else her age do so would help her. Would you?"