Chapter 9

"Let's try one more time for good measure. You'll have to do this in front of a large crowd during the welcoming ceremony, so I want to make sure everything will go well," Ferran said as they set up in his atelier once again and pulled out an orb. "Are you ready?"

If I did it once, I can do it again. Rika sat in her chair and nodded.

Ferran handed her an orb. It glowed, showed the rose symbol, and stayed lit with a consistent light.

"Good job." Ferran clapped.

"But how do we make sure she can do that in a crowd?" Wolfe asked. "We've seen it already how her emotions make her powers unstable."

"I'm okay with public speaking and crowds." I've had to be for my job. "But when you say a crowd, how big are we talking?"

"For something like this..." Ferran trailed off as he rearranged things on his desk. "I'd say anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand people."

Rika froze. Crap. "That's... more than I was expecting."

"It's a big event, and it will draw crowds. It's hard to say the exact number; much of the kingdom will show up, even if they're too far to see anything."

"I think you're making it worse," Dryden said.

"But we're telling her the truth. Would you prefer us not tell her, and she's caught off-guard?" Wolfe asked.

"Not what I meant." Dryden patted her shoulder. "She needs to know—"

"I'll be fine." Rika nodded. "I'm used to meetings in person and online, and I've had to talk to auditoriums of people in the past. This will be bigger, but the same rules apply."

"Online? What's that?" Ferran asked, looking up from his desk.

"Um... That would be a long, convoluted response about computers and the internet, and while I've noticed you have some technology here with lights and stoves, and whatnot, you don't have some things from my world." Super glad for indoor plumbing. Rika sighed, thinking about home. And this is the longest I've been away from my phone... since I got it. "And I'm not sure I can explain it properly." Or that there would be a point in explaining.

"Internet? Computers?" Ferran mumbled to himself, frowning.

"So, your world is quite different from here?" Dryden asked. "Aside from the former queen, we don't know anyone else from another world, and she never talked about her home much. At least, not with us."

"The former queen?" Rika's eyes widened. "You mean to say she was the previous saint? Alric's mother might've been from my world?"

"Ahem," Wolfe cleared his throat. "That's Prince Alric or His Highness."

Rika waved him off, not caring for formalities, as she stared at Dryden. "When he talked about the saint choosing to stay here, he meant his mother?"

Dryden's jaw tightened, and he nodded. "Not sure if he wanted me to tell you or not, so it might be best to keep this between us."

Rika glanced back at Wolfe. "You realize he probably tells Alric everything, right?"

Dryden sighed and waved his hands out to the sides. "Well, we'll just count this as part of your history lessons I'm in charge of. He didn't exactly give me a detailed request when he asked me to help you with court life, so it fits in."

"Does that mean you'll explain more?"

"No," Wolfe answered for him. "Not right now, at least. You are short on time for magic lessons; the rest can wait for another day."

"And how long after this ceremony am I expected to make use of these powers? I'm still not sure what everyone wants from me."

"One step at a time, Rika. You'll find out everything eventually," Dryden assured her.

But I like to know what I'm getting into. Rika frowned and turned back to Ferran. "So, what now? I assume we're going to work on more than the orb and making sure my magic doesn't randomly explode."

Ferran pulled out a pot with soil in it. "Saints are amazing healers, but it's risky to start with treatment on people, so we figured we'd start with using your powers on the seed planted here. If successful, it should sprout out of the soil, growing. For most mages with healing powers, it takes a while to succeed, so don't feel bad if it doesn't work right away."

But I'm a saint with too much power, so it should work, but let's hope nothing bad happens.

Ferran handed her the pot.

"How do I go about this? Is it similar to the orb? Because I don't want to make it explode."

"Hold it like this, with your hands on both sides." Dryden made sure it was firmly in her grasp.

"It's similar to the orb, where you concentrate on it, and it's technically still the same magical power, but it shouldn't make it explode..." Ferran pulled on his collar, swallowing hard. "Focus on seeing the seed sprout and sending it healing energy to make it grow. Intention matters."

"Intention matters. Okay." Rika nodded and closed her eyes. Let's get you to grow, little seed. She took a deep breath and focused on the seed in the pot, her energy flowing into it. Sprout, little seed, grow big and strong.

Within seconds, a green sprout popped out the top of the soil.

I wonder what type of plant you are. Will you grow big like a tree or a small bush? Or maybe even flowers?

"Rika!" Ferran pulled the pot away from her after she didn't respond, lost in thoughts of the plant, and he nearly dropped it as he set the growing tree down.

Her eyes opened, and she stared at the three-foot-tall plant, its glow fading as the effects wore off. "That's... more than a sprout." And more draining than creating an energy ball.

"How... I..." Ferran stumbled over his words. "That was magnificent, but..."

"Shows you have a long way to go to controlling your power," Wolfe said what Ferran didn't want to.

"It's been one day. What do you expect?" Rika sighed, holding onto her head.

"It's okay, Rika." Dryden rubbed her back. "It's as you said, and been such a short time, so don't worry too much."

Rika nodded. But I should be able to do more, right? "What's next on our agenda? Am I going to keep trying on new seeds until I get it to only a sprout?" That might be too draining. "Or maybe I can try to heal someone, if we have someone with an injury. What would happen if I use too much power to heal?"

"Well..." Ferran trailed off, thinking. "I'm not too sure myself. We've never had anyone as powerful as you, so we don't know if something might happen. Rapid skin growth to cover a wound, and then it grows too much, maybe. We normally start with small wounds to heal, and we've never had anything go wrong. The worst that has happened was they weren't able to heal the wound."

"Do we have a hospital nearby or something? Being a saint, I can't help but think healing powers should be my number one priority."

"It's one priority, but using divine power to vanquish demons will also be a top priority," Wolfe said.

"Demons, right... Wait, I'll have to fight demons? I thought I might just heal those fighting, and attempt to heal those with some disease going around." Oh, crap. What happens if I die in this world? Do I go brain-dead in real life? Will it throw me back into my body? Now I wish I took more than just a couple of self-defence classes.

"Let's focus on healing still." Ferran rolled up his sleeve to show a bruise the size of a quarter.

"We don't have time to coddle our saint." Wolfe pulled a dagger out of his belt and sliced the palm of his hand.

"What are you doing?!" Ferran reached out to him, but Wolfe sidestepped and approached Rika, his bleeding hand held out to her.

What the hell? He's insane. Rika stared at the blood for a moment before covering his bleeding hand with both of hers and closing her eyes. Stop the bleeding and seal up the wound. Her hands glowed as she focused on healing his wound. Please work.

She could sense the wound close, and her magic stopped flowing, so she opened her eyes and pulled her hands away.

Dryden pulled a handkerchief out of his coat pocket and wiped the blood off of Wolfe's hand. "Well, I'll be; she did it in one shot."

Wolfe examined his hand and tested creating a fist. "Good job."

"How could you do something so reckless?" Rika asked, standing from her chair. "How could you hurt yourself like that? Oh..." The room spun and her legs went weak as she fell towards Wolfe, who caught her.

"I guess we're done for the day." Wolfe picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

"I'm sorry; we seem to have pushed you too much," Ferran said. "It's best if you get some rest now."

"I can carry her to her room." Dryden held his arms out.

"I'll do it." Wolfe's grip tightened. He turned and walked away with her.

A screen popped up. 'Quest Completed: Learned to Control Your Magic.'

'Reward: Magic Control Ability. Reputation Up. All Suitors' Affection Up.'

'After-effect: Magic Depleted.'

All suitors? I thought it was just Ferran's.

The rose above Wolfe's head glowed.

Guess I'm winning him over. Everything went dark as she lost consciousness.