Valerie was very nervous. She sat at her desk, bouncing her leg as she fidgeted with a stim toy comprised of concentric rings. A million thoughts boiled through her head. Some of them, she spoke aloud to her sister.

“Why do we have to do this at night, exactly?” she asked, not actually looking at Eris, but speaking in her general direction. Perhaps if Valerie knew more about what the sisters were getting into, she’d be less nervous.

Eris looked at her from the couch. “Well. Mostly so we don’t get the cops called on us, I guess. We might have to do some light trespassing to get to where the Ley Line is.”

That did not make Valerie less nervous.

“Cops? Trespassing?? What the hell are we doing? Can’t we just ask to… get let in wherever we need to go?” she asked frantically.

Eris sighed. “Well. That tends not to work. I mean most people don’t know what a Ley Line is. And even if they did, they’re probably not gonna want to let us in to play with it. It’s not exactly convenient for them.”

“Right…” Valerie was not convinced. Well, she could see the logic. But really?

“Also look, we probably won’t be breaking and entering. Normally Ley Lines are tall enough that we’ll be able to access them from a roof.”

“That’s… mildly comforting.” But not really. “Fuck. Do we really have to do this tonight?”

Eris stood up and walked over next to Valerie. She placed her hand on Valerie’s shoulder. That… helped a lot, actually. Valerie felt herself slowly start to calm down. “You’ve never done this before, huh?” Eris asked her.

“No. Sorry…” Was she fucking things up for her younger sister?

“Hey, it’s alright.” Eris squeezed Valerie’s shoulder. Valerie sighed, feeling herself calm down more. “It’s normal to be nervous the first time. It’s not gonna get any easier if we do it another night, though.”

Valerie nodded gently.

“Also… Here. Look at me.” Eris took Valerie’s chin between her thumb and finger and lifted Valerie’s face towards her. Valerie almost gasped as her gaze was pulled up into Eris’s catlike eyes. The irises were a pale grey, but with flecks and streaks of a blueish-mangenta. Those highlights reminded Valerie of the color of Mana when it was manifested into physical form. Most eyes were beautiful if you looked close enough. But Eris’s, with that piercing Mana color and those slitted pupils, were so unique. And so powerful. Valerie hoped she wasn’t blushing as she looked into them, but she felt her cheeks warm.

Eris looked down at Valerie, saying, “I’ve done jobs identical to this one dozens of times. I’ll be right there with you the whole way. I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you. I promise.” Eris removed her hand from her sister’s chin.

This made Valerie feel better. At least kind of. It also made her wonder why her heart was pumping faster. Did she actually..? No, no need to think about that. She was just emotional from all the apprehension over tonight.

And actually, Eris’s reassurances did help. Valerie wasn’t used to that. She was the older sister, so she was supposed to look after Eris, not the other way around. But. Maybe she could make an exception.

Valerie nodded and stood up. Then squeezed Eris into a tight hug. “Thanks, sis,” she said.

Eris softly petted the back of Valerie’s head, hugging her, and replied, “Of course.” As she felt Eris’s touch, Valerie calmed down more, finding peace in that warm embrace. She took a deep breath.

“I can do this,” Valerie affirmed, to herself more than to her sister.

“We can do this. You and me. As a team,” came Eris’s response.

Valerie smiled at that. “As a team,” she repeated back. She liked that. They were gonna be partners. But. Well, wait, but not partners, like in that way. Obviously. Like partners in crime. Well, not crime. Actually, they were going to be committing crimes, weren’t they? Trespassing and all that. Fuck. Well. Anyway. Yeah. Partners in crime. Sure.

She kept smiling though, because if there was anyone she wanted to be partners in crime with, it was Eris.

“Thank you,” Valerie said. Eris smiled back at her.

Eris glanced at the microwave clock. “Almost 11. We can get moving. Are you wearing… this?” she asked, poking Valerie’s blouse.

“Oh. I figured so?”

“Alright. Just might get ripped or dirty. And it’s very bright. Do you have like a black hoody to put on over it?”

“Uhhhh…”

Eris chuckled. “I’ll lend you one, then.”

Valerie sat next to Eris on the bus. She felt a little goofy in the hoody Eris had lent her. Especially considering Eris herself was wearing black jeans, a tight black shirt, and a light leather jacket, and looked pretty badass.

At least she was feeling less nervous now.

Mostly.

Ish.

Valerie asked about something that had been stirring around in her head: “Why did you ask Michael if this Ley Line was in contested territory? What does that even mean?”

“You really don’t know that?” Eris asked. Valerie just shrugged and shook her head. Eris smiled and continued. “Your head really is stuck on theory. Alright, so. Our family’s business isn’t the only organization who would benefit from harvesting Mana from more Ley Lines. Different organizations have different areas where they lay claim to Ley Lines, but sometimes those areas overlap or are vaguely defined. So if there’s a blocked Ley Line which multiple organizations could lay claim to, they might all send agents to try to attune it to their own Resonance before anyone else can.”

“Right,” Valerie said. “And that’s… bad?”

“I mean yeah, kinda. It could mean that we get there and the Ley Line has already been taken by a different org. Or, worst case, we get there at the same time as another group. Sometimes that leads to a fight.”

Valerie paled at that. “A fight?”

“Hey, it’s alright. That won’t happen this time. It’s uncontested territory.”

“But in the future…?”

“Possibly,” admitted Eris. “Do you know combat magecraft?”

“I mean… I can throw fire.”

Eris hmmm-ed dubiously at that. “Anything defensive? Can you do air armor?”

“Mayb—ow!” Valerie yelped as Eris punched her in the shoulder.

Eris giggled. “I’m gonna take that as a no. But it’s okay. You won’t need to know those tonight.”

Valerie rubbed her smarting shoulder and pouted slightly at her sister. Eris wore a cheeky grin.

“Then in the future,” Eris said, “would you let me teach you combat magecraft?”

Valerie was slightly taken aback by that. She wasn’t quite sure why. But either way, it sounded like a cool thing to learn. And it meant she’d get to spend more time with Eris.

“Yeah. Yeah I’d love that,” Valerie said.

“Hell yeah. I’m gonna beat you up so good. Consensually, of course.”

Valerie laughed at that. “Of course.”

Eris grinned. The way her fangs glinted in the light made her look just a little too eager. Then she checked her phone. “We’re getting close. We’ll get off at the next stop.”

The area they exited the bus in was mostly residential, but as they walked towards the docks, they entered an industrial zone. There was some light, but it was provided by sodium streetlamps that shaded everything in an eerie monochrome yellow hue. Further from the street there were deep shadows. It put Valerie on edge.

“Couldn’t we have taken the car?” she whispered to Eris.

“Ehhh. We could’ve, but it’s risky. If we did get the cops called on us, we wouldn’t want a license plate tracing back to us.”

“R-… Right. Cops. Great. Wait, what do we do if they get called?” Valerie felt a bit sick.

“If we see them before they see us, we’ll try and run without them seeing. We have magic on our side, which gives us an advantage. Otherwise, put your hands up and don’t say anything. I’ll take care of it. Worst case, maybe we get a fine for trespassing.”

Valerie nodded. It was scary, but somehow talking out the details and knowing that Eris knew how to handle this calmed her down.

“Normally I’d run even if they got the jump on me. But that’s probably a bad idea when you can’t do air armor. Especially in America.”

Valerie looked at her sister incredulously. “You can block bullets with that?”

“Sure. If you’re good. And I am pretty fuckin’ good.” Eris gave Valerie a wink.

Valerie stared back at her for a second before chuckling, despite her nervousness. “Okay. Fair.”

Eris’s ears pricked up. “There. You feel that?” Eris asked, looking at her sister.

“What? Is it the Ley Line?”

“Yeah.”

Valerie paid more attention to her Aether senses. But… she felt nothing. At least, nothing she could distinguish from the constant background Mana source of her own Aether Core. She shook her head at Eris. “Don’t think so.”

Eris pointed diagonally, ahead and into the industrial zone. “It’s that way. Come on.”

“How do you..?” But Eris had already started power walking down the sidewalk. There was no way she could have done a triangulation already when Valerie hadn’t even felt the Ley Line yet. And their briefing had only given a very approximate location.

And yet, as they continued walking, Valerie started to feel it too. It felt very different from how a Ley Line should feel. Instead of a Resonance that got stronger as she attuned closer to it, Valerie felt the same light trickle of Mana no matter how she attuned her Core.

After another couple minutes of walking, Eris had them cut in perpendicularly towards a warehouse. “I think it’s in there,” She said. “Should be accessible from the roof.” Valerie trailed a couple paces behind, feeling very hesitant to be entering what was presumably private property. But she forged on, emboldened by her sister’s confidence.

Eris stuck to the shadows until they got to the building’s side. They were almost underneath a platform that seemed to enter into an upper floor, about six meters up. Eris looked around, ears pricked up and scanning to the sides. Then she jumped up to the platform in a single leap, landing into a crouch on the railing. Her tail adjusted as she balanced there. Valerie looked up at her wide-eyed.

Eris looked back down. “Oh come on,” she teased. “I know you can do body Augmentation. We used to play tag all the time.”

“It’s been a while,” Valerie admitted. But she was determined to get up there. They had a job to do, after all. She first looked back and forth just to make sure no one was watching. Then she focused on channeling her Mana into the bones and muscles of her legs, Augmenting them. She took a deep breath, looked up at her target, and leaped into the air.

She almost managed to grab the railing. Instead, she missed it, and barely managed to catch the platform with both hands. That hurt. She hung there, swinging for a second, realizing she probably should have Augmented more than just her legs. Fixing that mistake by channeling more Mana into her upper body and core, she was able to hoist herself up from the platform to the railing, where Eris was able to help her up onto the platform.

Eris giggled at her a little. Valerie gave her a baleful look in response. Eris only laughed harder at that. Valerie couldn’t help but chuckle too.

“Sorry, sorry,” Eris eventually said. “Maybe we can get you more practice at that too. Alright. Next jump.” With that, Eris leapt up onto the warehouse roof, then turned and beckoned Valerie to follow.

Learning from her previous mistake, Valerie Augmented her entire body this time, and poured extra power into her legs. She jumped, hearing the metal platform creak under her. This time, she was able to make it high enough to land on her target. Except she kept going a couple more meters than planned, and, flailing her arms in a panic, ended up tumbling to the rooftop in a heap.

“Fuck,” she groaned, rolling over onto her back.

Eris was already at her side. “Shit, Valie, you alright?” She offered Valerie her hand.

Valerie took it and sat up. “Yeah, I’m fine. Probably.” Instinctively, she tested her shoulders and arms. They didn’t feel too bad. But she suspected she may have a few bruises the next day. The Mana in her bones had prevented any serious damage. She could feel that she’d extended a noticeable portion of her Mana doing those maneuvers.

Eris helped her to her feet. She was looking at Valerie, her eyes showing some concern. “You sure?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Valerie said, smiling. At that moment, Valerie realized she was actually having fun. Her heart was pounding, her breathing was heavy, and, yeah, those bruises were probably creating a bit of endorphin too. And she was getting to stretch her metaphorical magical legs for the first time in ages.

That, and it reminded her of her childhood. The good parts of it. Her and Eris, getting up to mischief together. Going on adventures. She’d missed that more than she realized.

She felt Eris squeeze her hand. Which Valerie hadn’t realized she’d still been holding. She looked down at it, and then up at Eris, who startled slightly and released it.

“Sorry. Anyway. Glad you’re alright,” Eris said. Then she nodded towards the north side of the building. “Ley Line’s right there.” Before Valerie had time to ponder the weirdness of Eris’s reaction, they were walking towards it.

They hopped over large pipes and navigated around bits of machinery. Probably an industrial AC system, Valerie guessed, though she didn’t know much about that kind of thing.

As they approached, Valerie felt more Mana entering her Aether Vessels, replenishing what she’d expended earlier.

Eris slowed, and raised her hand in front of her. “Right here,” she said. Valerie put her hand up as well to confirm. And yes. The Ley Line didn’t stop her hand from passing through it like a physical object would, but her own Vessels seemed to tingle as they touched those of their target. Valerie was fascinated by it, waving her hand through them curiously, feeling how those tingles seemed to move in waves through her Vessels. Of course, Valerie knew that Ley Lines had Vessels just like humans did. But it wasn’t often that she got to touch them so directly.

Eventually, she took her hand away. Eris was smiling at her, arms crossed. “Done playing around, nerd?” Eris teased. Valerie chuckled and shook her head bemusedly.

“Alright, Valie. I think I’m gonna have you do the unblocking. You could use the experience. Do you know how to do it?” Eris asked.

“Uh… Well, in theory.”

“Alright, I’m gonna explain it because it gets kinda hairy if it goes wrong. Here, take the Resonance crystal. You’re going to put your hand in the Ley Line and try to draw Mana from it into the crystal. It’s going to resist at first, so you need to pull until it starts flowing properly. Once it starts flowing, it’ll have the correct Resonance, but you need to reattune your own core to any other Resonance as fast as possible. I’ll be standing right next to you to assist if anything goes wrong. Any questions?”

Valerie shook her head. She was slightly apprehensive, but she knew what she was doing. This was her field, after all. Resonances and Mana transfer and all that. How hard could it be?

So she did as she was told. She closed her eyes to concentrate and put her hand in the Ley Line. Then she tried to pull Mana from the tingling Vessels in her left hand into the crystal in her right. As Eris had indicated, the Mana didn’t flow. It resisted. So she tried harder, trying to pull larger amounts. Eventually, she felt a small trickle of Mana travelling through her and into the crystal. Was that enough? She pulled harder, feeling just a bit more, and then—

Mana exploded into her. It was like being hit by magical flashbang. Her vision was swamped with an indescribably bright blue-magenta light. Her ears rang. Her Aether Vessels felt like they were burning as Mana surged through her, assaulting her Core. And her awareness of her Vessels somehow extended to the entirety of the Ley Line, which ran from far above the roof to deep within the ground below. She tried to run, but she was frozen. She tried desperately to reattune her Core’s Resonance away from that of the Ley Line, but she couldn’t. The deluge of Mana held her Resonance fixed. And it only got stronger.

She had fucked up.

Then she felt a presence on her hand. Not a physical one, but a tingle in her Vessels there. So gentle, in contrast to the torrent within her.

“Hey, Valie. I love you.” It was Eris’s voice, soft and tender, though tinged with a hint of worry. As Valerie heard that, she felt her Resonance disconnect from the Ley Line and reattune. The Mana ceased rushing into her. Suddenly, Valerie was Resonating with her sister, and the gargantuan amount of Mana within her spread almost instantly, through their connected hands, to equalize between the two of them. She felt, rather than saw, as Eris lifted her hand towards the sky, pulling on that vast quantity of Mana and channeling it into fire.

The bright magenta flashbang effect dimmed, to be replaced almost immediately by the burning orange glow of a gigantic jet of fire turning the surrounding area to day. The burning sensation in Valerie’s Vessels were swapped for an intense heat from above, stronger than any bonfire she had experienced. Valerie ducked her head instinctively. A blast of hot displaced air hit her with a mighty fwoosh.

After a few seconds, the light and the heat faded. The night returned. Valerie stood there, panting, and then sank to her knees. Then onto her hands. And then she collapsed, laying there on the roof.

“Fuck,” was all she could say.

She felt Eris lie down behind her, spooning her. Eris softly rubbed her arm, saying, “Hey. It’s okay. We can rest here a minute.”

Valerie could only nod in response as she curled up as close to her sister as possible. They laid there, her breathing eventually slowing and becoming less shaky, her heart calming down in response to Eris gently petting her.

“I’m sorry about that,” Eris said. “Like. Really, really sorry. I should have explained better. I promised not to let anything bad happen to you.”

“It’s alright,” Valerie managed to mumble. “Kept pulling… Even after I felt a tingle.”

“Yeah. Once it starts flowing at all, you really can stop.” Eris sighed. “If it’s any consolation, basically all rookies do this their first time. And hey. Mission accomplished. You did unblock it.”

Valerie nodded. But there was one oddity that still stood out in her mind.

“Why… did you say you loved me?”

Eris giggled. “The most reliable way to pull someone else’s Resonance away from the Ley Line in that situation is with Aether contact and a strong emotion.”

“… Right. So. I’d have been shit out of luck if I weren’t your sister, huh?”

Eris laughed. “Well, any strong emotion can pull a Resonance like that. And I’m trained in how to do that. But if there’s an emotional bond, like you and I have, that does make it a lot easier.”

An emotional bond. Valerie liked the sound of that. As she pondered that, she realized that she and Eris were still Resonating with each other. Their Aether Vessels almost felt like a single structure, rather than two separate ones. Impulsively, Valerie took a miniscule amount of Mana—Eris had burned almost their entire reserve—and pushed it into her sister’s Vessels, near her heart. She slowly, gently, moved that bit of Mana in a circle. Kind of like she was petting her sister, but magically. On her heart.

Eris wrapped her arm around Valerie and hugged her tighter. Valerie felt Eris’s face against the back of her head, and the tingle of her sister’s breath on her neck. And her breath hitched as she felt Eris return her gesture, caressing the area around Valerie’s heart with Mana. And despite the fucked up situation, despite the mental exhaustion, she felt warm. And safe. It was very intimate.

In a sister way.

Obviously.

They laid there together in silence for some minutes. Eventually, the hard roof became uncomfortable enough to force them to get up. And they needed to get moving anyway. It was growing very late, although, thankfully, the city buses ran all night.

Valerie hesitantly relinquished her and her sister’s shared Resonance to fill up her Mana from the Ley Line. With a hefty Augmentation, she was able to jump off the warehouse and land with her body—if not her dignity—intact. Eris assured her she’d learn. Together, the sisters made their way back home.