40. New discoveries

As comfortable as Jimdar was as a town, Waldina didn’t want to linger there any longer than need be. Or perhaps she wanted but in her mind she knew it was time to move on. From Jimdar to Xunte Sintra wouldn’t be that long of a way yet there was no need to prolong the journey more. After all they had only a restricted time left for reaching their destination, especially if any extra possible troubles were counted.

“Claudia,” Waldina began at the hotel the night before leaving Jimdar. The girl was spending time in their room before going to sleep.

“Hmm?” Claudia turned to look at Waldina, raising her eyebrow in question.

“Do you think you could change into a fairy?” The ninja spoke the last word as silently as possible whilst looking around, afraid of any troubles.

“Uhm,” Claudia’s eyes were filled with confusion. For a moment she was just standing there trying to catch the meaning of the ninja’s words. Finally grasping the point she reached for the artefact on her neck. She moved her gaze to Kiandra, imagining herself as a similar adorable being.

*poof*

For an eye-blinding second the room was filled with green light. Afterwards Claudia’s usual figure disappeared and now there was a green small fairy - small even compared to Kiandra - floating next to Kiandra. The newly appeared fairy tried to desperately stay up in the air, but soon realized how difficult flying actually was. When Kiandra flew, it definitely didn’t seem that difficult.

“Wow, it seems you’re capable of using the magic of earth and plants,” Kiandra cheered enthusiastically after noticing Claudia’s fairy form. She wasn’t sure why she knew all this, she just did.

“Why’d you think so?” Claudia whispered in a super duper quiet voice. She clearly had some trouble settling on to her new form.

“You’re shining in the colors of earth magic,” Kiandra continued explaining it like it was the most natural thing.

“I see,” Waldina nodded in wonder. “Can you give me the artifact as well? I want to try that too.”

“Haha, of course,” Claudia laughed quietly like a mouse. She changed back into her usual self and gave the artifact to Waldina.

“Oh by the way, why were you so small? Surely you didn’t think I was that small?” Kiandra asked curiously as Waldina focused on her own transformation.

“O-o-of c-course not,” Claudia laughed nervously and scratched the back of neck in embarrassment. She had in fact aimed to become a tiny small fairy. Exactly like Kiandra. She might have underestimated the fairy’s actual size. But to her defense, Kiandra was small.

“Hmph,” Kiandra pouted in disapproval yet her eyes shone with a bright smile.

Then the room was blinded with the bright colors of grayish blue as Waldina turned into her fairy form. She took a look at her arms, hair and her body in whole. Her appearance was similar to her usual appearance, except she was blue-grayish in color. Yet what on earth did that mean?

“Oh, you didn’t tell me that you could use other magic than water magic?” Kiandra, amazed at the sight, flew around the room in excitement. Waldina as a fairy looked similar to her human form: just her colors and size were different. Waldina was also shorter than Kiandra as a fairy but the difference wasn’t as huge compared to that of Claudia’s and Kiandra’s. Actually it seemed more like Waldina had imagined the elegant Kiandra to be taller than her if they were both fairies or humans. No wonder, since Waldina was quite short compared to most people. Such was the nature of ninjas.

“Oh I didn’t know I could do other magics,” Waldina mumbled, as much in awe as Kiandra. “Do tell me what other magic I’m able to use?”

“Wind. That sort of color scheme tells about your ability to use both water and wind magics,” Kiandra explained after managing to contain her excitement.

“Is that so? Oh, on what do you base your analysis by the way? Other than color. It’s only a disguise after all,” Waldina wondered as she returned back to her usual form. She hadn’t tried out the artefact before so it had been an interesting experience to her. However she didn’t develop any strong wish to start using a disguise herself so the artefact would be useless for her.

“Hmm, that’s a great question. I just knew it. Intuition. Now try to use some wind magic,” Kiandra encouraged tilting her head. Waldina frowned, checking her bracelet. There wasn't a single mention of her having any sort of wind magic at her skill listing. She sighed.

“I doubt I can do that,” she shook her head, feeling unexplainable disappointment.

“Nah, you’re a ninja who runs like the wind, on top of trees and such. There’s no way you can’t cast wind magic,” Kiandra disagreed, looking for encouraging words to tell her ninja friend. Next to her Claudia listened to the conversation, intrigued. Could I use magic as well, she thought to herself, smiling.

“Yes, sure. With a grimoire,” Waldina began but was soon interrupted by an angry Kiandra who flew to her face. The fairy looked at her with a stern expression before saying: “Repeat after me: Viendtra sirlana.”

“Viendtra sirlana,” Waldina spoke though mainly because Kiandra was so determined and serious.

All of a sudden air formed a tightly packed crescent from her fingertips before shooting at the wall of the hotel. Kiandra managed to stop the crescent before it crashed at the wall.

“Told you so,” Kiandra grinned, full of satisfaction. “Now Claudia, you repeat after me: Terya flures.”

Claudia flinched from her thoughts and glanced at Kiandra. The fairy looked at her expectantly. For a moment the lady hesitated before repeating the fairy’s words.

The spell made a flower, full of life, appear on top of her hand. Claudia’s eyes widened in amazement. She brought her other hand to the flower, gently touching it. The sensation drove the point home: she was naturally able to use magic, without grimoires.

“Mhmm what did I tell you? Aren’t I the best?” Kiandra continued rolling in satisfaction. She flew from Claudia to Waldina to back to Claudia and so on. She didn’t receive any reactions as a reply as the two were too focused on this new discovery.

“How’s this even possible?” Waldina inquired finally after she managed to recover from the surprise.

“Well, people have different natural skills and the power to learn different elements. Thus it’s only natural that you guys would have some as well,” Kiandra shrugged as she didn’t know what else to say. She wasn’t sure how humans usually found out of their aptitudes for magic or different elements. Yet the artefact and the change in appearance caused her to get a perfect read of those two’s aptitudes and she didn’t hesitate for a minute whether she was right or not.

“It's a pity that neither one of you are skilled in fire magic,” Kiandra lamented outloud. “Perhaps we just have to wait till we get that fire grimoire.”

“Haha, I guess so,” Waldina laughed without a worry in her voice. “It shouldn’t take that long any more.”

“What do you mean?” Claudia turned to look at her, raising her eyebrows. She even dropped the flower from her hands as she moved so suddenly.

“Just that we’re about to reach our destination,” Waldina’s voice was filled with yearning. Claudia nodded understanding the meaning behind those words, glancing at both Kiandra and Waldina, feeling melancholic herself.

“It’s been so, so unbelievably fun to travel with you,” she reminisced on their journey so far. “There’s been lots of difficult things for me and I’m starting to get enough out of camping outside. Not to mention the horseriding. But overall it’s been rewarding.”

“Yeah, for a moment there I was quite scared of traveling with you. You’ve gotten accustomed to a traveler’s lifestyle a lot better than I expected. Not to mention your demeanor. You’re so much more relaxed; soon even your parents won’t be able to tell the difference between you and a commoner, that’s how good your acting’s gotten,” Waldina replied with a gentle tone thinking back on their journey so far.

“It was worth it to agree to my plan, right?” Claudia grinned and Waldina had to smile in agreement.

“Hihii,” Kiandra flew between the two, bubbling with happiness. She really enjoyed their company. “Luckily we can meet later on again? Maybe we could visit you at your academy?”

“It would be lovely,” Claudia smiled daydreaming about it. The trio continued reminiscing back on their journey, feeling slightly melancholic yet happy. At times they daydreamt of the future and upcoming events. Besides all the reminiscing Waldina made plans for the next part of their journey. She devoted a few minutes to thinking about Kris and cherished the fond memories before closing them inside her heart.

As the trio's cheerful conversation continued, behind the door of their hotel room Kris let his back slide down the door until he was crouching, his head pressed against his chest. He wanted to join in the trio's joy, but he knew he had no right to do so. Because no matter how much he wanted Waldina to be part of Jasp, or how friendly he was with Claudia - or Diaz, whatever he wanted to be called - it didn't matter in the end. Still, he allowed himself to linger in that moment for a bit before leaving.