Sanctuary

Sanctuary
''// It is a busy day at the Arena's Atlas Bakery. Planeswalkers from all types flock to bakery for interplanar food and relative safety on the wild plane. Tucked in a corner are two planeswalkers taking advantage of the latter, the waterweaving elf Mabil Fardancer, and her newest student, the young Karina Oblay...''

"This is… not working…" I frown at the puddle of water on the table.

"Okay, one more," Mabil says as she swirls her hand over the puddle. "Remember, the water wants to move." I could feel the blue spell make the puddle spin itself up and take a shape like a doll. The figure spun on one of its legs and waved at me before falling back into the puddle. "So you just have to keep moving."

I exhale and shakily move my hands and the mana like I had seen her do. The water spun up in a spiral… and splashed right back down into a puddle. I felt myself slump. Why couldn't I get this?

"Just keep working on it," Mabil says as she stood. "I expect some improvement next time though," she adds with a smile before she tussles my hair. I wince as she ran over the scars, but Mabil didn't seem to notice. She was already dancing out the door of the bakery before I could get a word out. Oh well. I look back down to the puddle. Come on. I try to move the puddle with the spell a few more times. What's wrong with you?

I turn my attention to the transceiver wrapped around my arm, tapping at the screen to look for Hannah's schedule among all our messages. ''Still a few more hours. Could keep doing this… oooor take some time to explore around the Sanctuary.'' I tried to shake that thought out of my head. The outpost, I correct myself. Either way. I finally give in and pull a rag from my bag to clean the puddle up. Hydromancy could be learned another day. Hopefully.

''// Karina's left hand reaches out and appears to grab at thin air. At her spell, the Sunspear pulls itself to her hand across the planes. The gleaming spear towers over her head, but she holds it lightly as she begins to walk.''

The mana flares with every step as the walk turns into a planeswalk. The bakery melts away, and is replaced by fruit trees and vines sprawling in every direction. I breathe deep to take in that wonderful, ashy smell of home. Of Agahia, I correct myself again. This was her home, not mine.

''// Little insects buzz around the flowers and grapevines. Karina walks along the well worn path she had planeswalked to, straying from it every hundred meters to use the Sunspear to push aside the brush and check on her traps.''

Empty trap after empty trap passed by.  Just like every other day. It seemed the bugs and the plants were the only things that managed to survive her. Here. Maybe next time would be different. Maybe.  I keep going down the path to the edge of the grove, where my little wooden shack nestled up between the trees. I hesitate at the door, staring down the glowing Karina Oblay written across it for a moment before I enter.

Near the door are the few aetheric devices, powering a pair of clocks and a charging station for the transceiver, all of which were covered in painted doodles. Should really clean that mess up… The bed in the back was drowning in pillows and dolls of all colors and designs, mementos from across the Multiverse. At least someone's getting some use out of that bed. I walked to the back of the room, stopping for a minute to look over the sketches pinned to the wall. Hannah and me, the cats, and, of course, the big dragon ‘Meowster Meowzett.' ''These are really fading, aren't they? I need to take better care of these.''

But first, I had something to do. I sit at the desk by the bed, clearing away half-sketched maps and Volarian books to find the notes for Agahia. I open the weathered journal, turning to the bookmarked page near its end to make today's record: Day 5,778 – Still no sign of life beyond plants and insects. – Karina Oblay, Age 13 I close the book and turn back to the clocks. ''Still another hour or so before Hannah's free. Time to do some exploring.''

''// Karina moved to the foot of the bed and opened the short chest there to take stock. At the bottom were a medkit, a knife, rope, a hand-drawn map of the plane, some healing vials and aether canisters, and a six-fingered gauntlet.''

Everything seemed to be in place. I pull the rag back from my bag and set it in an open space, then channel the enchantment on the chest for a few moments, linking the rag to the spell as I'd done with everything else in the chest at some point. Lastly, I gently set the Sunspear into its slots near the top of the chest and close it.

I head out on my way, leaving the path to follow the creek near the Sanctuary the outpost instead. I've been downstream from here a lot, but haven't charted enough upstream. I do my best not to hurt the branches and plants as I head up, watching my boots with every step to crush as little as possible. The sounds of the forest get louder and louder, first just the sounds of the creek, then the buzzing of bugs, then…a much bigger rushing of water. I pick up the pace. The creek starts to widen, and little white flowers start appearing in the water. As I walk along the shore, I look closely, trying to find fish, or frogs, or anything at all. Instead of finding any of that as I continue along the growing pond, I run into the waterfall. "Woah." I stare at the waterfall falling from somewhere even higher than the trees for who knows how long. How'd I miss something this close to the outpost for so long? I look around the cliff around the waterfall, trying to find any easy way to get up there. It looks like it'll take some time to find a path there, and a quick look to my transceiver shows I don't have a lot left. So instead I sit down, set it aside and peel off my boots, and sit in the cool water for a bit.

I lie back and watch the clouds drift by through the openings in the trees. This plane is a weird one. W e w e r e b o t h s t i l l h o l d i n g o n t o l i f e a f t e r e v e r y t h i n g t h a t h a p p e n e d t o u s. A f t e r w h a t I d i d t o i t. I o p e n m y m o u t h a n d f e e l t h e l i g h t n i n g s p i l l f o r t h, i g n i t i n g a l l t h e w o r l d i n i t s w a k e. T h e y w o u l d p a y f o r t h i s. M y c h a i n s b u r n e d, m y c a p t o r s b u r n e d , t h e s k y b u r n e d , t h e c r o w d s c r e a m e d a s m y l i g h t n i n g s t r u c k t h e m o n e b y o n e b y o n e b y ….

I open my eyes. I breathe uneasily as I rub the tears out of them. ''Tears are good. Tears mean I'm still me.'' I focus on deep breaths and watching the clouds drift by. I lightly bring my hands to my chest.  You might be in there. You might be in my head. But I'm still me. I'm not going to hurt her. I'm not going to hurt her. I'm not going to hurt her. N o t l i k e e v e r y o n e e l s e. Y o u ' v e h u r t m o m a n d d a d e v e r y o n e e l s e w h o ' s e v e r t r i e d t o h e l p. K i l l e d t h e m e v e n. H o w l o n g w i l l i t b e b e f o r e y o u h u r t h e r t o o. H o w l o n g b e f o r e s h e s e e s j u s t h o w m u c h b e t t e r s h e i s w i t h o u t y o u a n d  "Stop," I whisper. "You can't… she's not…" I can't argue with her. With me. Whichever of us. I can just try to dry the tears. ''Tears are good. Tears mean I still love her.'' There's an alarm chirping from a few feet away. I roll over to see my transceiver sitting on the grass. Hannah would be getting out of class soon. Get it together. I pull myself out of the pond and try to practice the water spell again. Think back to her casting the spell, draw on the blue mana like she does, weave your hands like she did, set the world on fire like she did, and … nothing. Feel the water, be the lightning waves, and … still nothing. I sigh and reach into Zerospace, pulling the towel from the chest to my hands. I'd have to deal with another lecture about not figuring the water spell out for real yet. I try to come up with an excuse as I dry off and put my boots and transceiver back on, but nothing comes to me. I fold up the wet towel, gather up my bag and take one last look around. One more thing…

I wait outside Hannah's school with a handful of the lake flowers, ignoring the other students brushing past. I try not to think about what happened at the water, making it harder to stop thinking about it. I get so caught on it that I don't notice Hannah until she's right in front of me, flashing her cutest smile. All my worries shut up at that smile. "Heya, what're you thinking about there?"

I feel a wide smile as I see her. "Oh...uh…" Should I tell her about...? "...wondering what we'll be doing today." I look down to the pair of books in her hands. "You won't be too busy, will you?" "Nope, I'm done for today. Need to go put these away though," she adds, looking to the books.

"Well, how about I hold onto that, so you can hold onto these," I smile and offer her the flowers. "And we can figure out what we're doing on the way."

"Oh, that's why you had those," Hannah giggles as she accepts the flowers and passes over the books. "Where should we go?"

"I don't know, is there anything new around town?" "Ooh, we should go to the lake! I found a pretty crystal under the water that's really glowy.  I think I maybe knocked some sand around when I got my tuner back."

"Oooh, I can't wait." I look up to her for awhile before I can't take it anymore and tiptoe up to kiss her. I swear her smile gets wider as she comes down to meet me.

I take her free hand in mind, and when we're good and ready, we head for our newest adventure.

Characters

 * Karina Oblay
 * Mabil Fardancer
 * Kirino Oblay
 * Hannah Delcarlo-Nisita