It was a warm summer day with a gentle breeze, as Valerie stepped out of her condo with Eris in tow. Well. Really it was their condo now.

“I really need to take you clothes shopping, so you have something more practical to wear,” commented Eris, as they were crossing a street.

Valerie was wearing a blouse, as usual, and the same pants she’d been wearing during their assignment. She’d cleaned them thoroughly, but they were a bit roughed up from the activity. Valerie glanced over at Eris, who was wearing a casual dress, but had a gym bag full of clothes slung over her shoulder as well.

“Yeah, yeah,” Valerie replied. “Though, honestly, you’re probably right. You can take me sometime, if you want.”

“Hells yeah! Sister clothes-shopping date, let’s go.” Eris grinned at Valerie. She grinned back. She loved her younger sister’s enthusiasm. The use of the word “date” was interesting, though. Though, obviously Eris hadn’t meant it that way. Like. She didn’t mean a date-date.

Right?

Valerie shook those thoughts out of her head. She was just being silly.

After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at Schwartzfeld University. It was a complex of multiple buildings contained to a single city block. Most of the buildings were made of greyish-tan brick, with ivy creeping up them in a way that was probably very carefully designed to appear haphazard. They looked quite out of place, surrounded as they were by the tall modern office buildings that had steadily been creeping outward from downtown.

Despite the odd appearance, the buildings didn’t have signage on them that proudly displayed the school’s name. And unlike many more-regular universities, they weren’t open to casual visitors. Valerie scanned her keycard against the pad beside the door, and Eris opened it.

Then Eris extended her arm forward, bowing slightly. “Age before beauty, dearest sister.”

Valerie laughed, walking through the doorway. “I’m like barely two years older than you. Dork.” She poked Eris’s forehead as she walked by. Eris stuck her tongue out at her in return. “You are probably prettier, though.”

“Oh please, Valie, I was kidding. You’re beautiful,” Eris said. Valerie felt her heart flutter at that as a blush rose to her face.

Without really thinking, she said, “Well. You’re beautiful too. So there.” Eris smiled and chuckled.

Giggling, the two walked into the university together. As they crossed the threshold, Valerie felt the unmistakable feeling of the university’s Ley Line, emanating Mana. It was one of only a handful of Ley Lines in the world that were fixed in place, by some ritual ages ago, as Valerie understood. She attuned her Resonance towards the Ley Line’s, feeling the Mana flow into her, filling her. It was pleasant, but it also gave her a sense of drive. She breathed deep and rolled her shoulders.

Valerie nodded down one hallway. “Our lab is down that way. I’ll show you sometime. It’s got all sorts of cool equipment in it.”

Eris raised her eyebrows. “That could be cool. Training first, though.”

“Yes. Uhhh. This way.”

In addition to lecture halls and laboratories that enabled traditional learning, there were areas in the school designed for teaching more physical forms of magecraft. They weren’t so different from the P.E. areas of regular universities. Valerie headed in what was probably the direction of the combat training area.

After getting lost twice in the university’s labyrinthian halls, the two sisters found their way there.

Valerie waited in the hallway as Eris went into the nearby locker room to get changed.

When she came back out, Valerie’s breath caught. Her sister was wearing a navy sports bra that revealed arms much more toned than Valerie could recall her ever having. That top in combination with Eris’s sports shorts also showed off her flat midriff and her long legs all the way up to mid-thigh. Valerie had seen those recently, of course, but all of it in combination was slightly overwhelming.

When had Eris gotten so hot? Well, not that she wasn’t always very attractive. Objectively speaking, that is. Valerie could obviously acknowledge her sister’s objective attractiveness without being attracted to her, per se.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Eris asked, tilting her head as she walked up to Valerie.

“… Uhm. Oh. Nothing. Just zoned out.” Valerie blushed slightly.

Valerie’s sister looked at her skeptically. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it, and just gave her a “Hmh” instead.

Valerie felt a blip of shame. She was supposed to be able to tell Eris anything. But this… Well, not that it was actually a big deal. But explaining that she was appreciating her sister’s attractiveness, even if in a totally objective way, would sound kinda weird.

“Anyway,” Eris said. “Let’s start.”

The two walked into the gym together. It was a bit smaller than a basketball court, with two thirds of it covered in big blue foam pads. The remaining third was hard-floored. Punching bags dotted the room, and in the hard-floored section was something that looked somewhat like a boxing ring, but with no pads and with what seemed to be large Resonant crystals on rods in a circular pattern around the ring itself.

In the far corner of the room, Valerie spotted Raine and Danni sparring with each other. She hadn’t realized they were into this sort of thing. The pair moved unnaturally quickly. Both of them threw, blocked, and returned punches and kicks faster than Valerie could track. Some of those even landed on what should have been vulnerable points, but the recipient would barely flinch in response. Valerie watched, fascinated.

During a break in the fight, Raine noticed Valerie and Eris watching, and waved. Valerie waved back.

“They’re not bad,” mused Eris.

Valerie looked at her. “Not bad? That was nuts.”

“Alright. They’re definitely impressive. Now come on.”

Eris lead them over to a punching bag.

“I hope you weren’t planning to actually start punching anything. This is just so I don’t get bored. Instead, your first task…” With an extravagant flourish, she pulled a coin from her bag, presenting it to Valerie. “… Is to levitate this coin above your hand. Preferably about six inches or so, right at the edge of your Aether Vessels.”

“… What?” Valerie asked.

“Yeah, I know, it’s boring. Gotta teach you the fundamentals without hurting you, though. And this is the first fundamental skill of air armor.”

“… Okay. So how do I do that, then?”

“So, basically, you wanna solidify the air.” As Eris said that, the air above her outstretched hand became distorted, almost like glass. “Here, touch.”

Valerie reached out and touched the distortion. It felt very solid, and slightly cold. She pushed, and as she did, the armor and Eris’s hand both moved.

Almost faster than Valerie could blink, Eris spun on her feet and planted a right hook into the punching bag behind her. It let out a loud whump, causing Valerie to flinch slightly as she watched wide-eyed. But as she looked, she could see that her sister’s hand and the bag were still separated by about six inches, and the distortion of the armor as it pressed into the bag’s material was visible.

“Jeez,” Valerie said.

“Hehehe,” giggled Eris, turning back towards her sister.

“Showoff,” Valerie said, grinning.

“Lil bit. Anyway, try it. You sorta gotta… pull the air in on itself.”

Valerie nodded, and put her hand out in front of herself. She drew upon the Mana inside her—she had access to a lot, due to the nearby Ley Line—and made it flow towards the most extreme of the thin tendril-like Vessels around her hand.

Then she tried to… pull the air, Eris had said? She felt the Mana in that area deplete slightly, even as she began to flow more to replenish it. And as she did, the air started to distort. Though it looked different than when Eris had done it. It was shimmery, rather than glassy. Hesitantly, Valerie dropped the coin onto the area. It deflected slightly before dropping to the floor.

“Gods dammit,” she said.

Eris just chuckled, “Yeah, that’s not uncommon. Keep working at it. And let me know if you have questions.” With that, she turned around, dropped into a fighting stance, her turquoise cat-ears pushing flat down against her head, and started pounding on the punching bag.

Valerie sat down on the mat and, after picking the coin back up, began to concentrate on learning this new form of magecraft.

She again tried to do as Eris said, pulling the air in on itself, forming what was supposed to be armor, flowing more and more Mana into it. This time, as she dropped the coin onto it—or, rather, through it—it got blown to the side. Damn. That wasn’t right either.

She tried again and again, growing increasingly more frustrated. She used more and more Mana, making a large dent in her reserves despite the constant influx from the Ley Line.

She dropped the coin yet another time, and it was flung towards Eris.

“Fuck!” Valerie yelled, punctuating the statement with an explosion of flame from her hand. She winced against the sudden heat. Her reserve was almost totally depleted. Shit. She really should know better than channel her outbursts into magecraft like that. But fucking hell, she just couldn’t—.

“Woah there, Valie. Hey.” Eris hastened over, knelt down, and put her hand on Valerie’s shoulder. “Hey. It’s alright.” Valerie nodded, sighing. Her touch was calming.

“This part is hard,” Eris continued. “Maybe you should take a break. Or… Try a different approach, maybe.”

“What kind of different approach?” grumbled Valerie.

“Hmmm,” Eris frowned, thoughtful. “Show me what you’ve got so far.”

Valerie obliged. She still had enough Mana, due to the constant replenishment, to do a weaker version of what she’d been doing before.

Eris crawled a little closer to her, sticking her finger through Valerie’s pitiful attempt. “Ah, okay, I see what’s happening. Here, feel.”

Valerie pushed her finger through the distortion as well, mimicking her sister. What she felt was almost like a strong, localized wind, blowing back and forth chaotically.

“You’re making the air fight itself,” continued Eris. “But what you really want is for the air to come together into a single cohesive unit. Some people actually find it better to think about changing the properties of the air, rather than thinking about making it do something.”

Valerie nodded, and thought about that. Changing the properties of the air. She did something similar when she made fire. It was about changing the temperature of the air so that it became burning hot. Maybe if she…

She channeled a portion of her remaining Mana into her hand and willed the air to become hard. Dense. Compact. Her eyes widened as a glassy section of air appeared where she had willed. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch it. And it felt solid! She looked excitedly at Eris.

Eris placed the coin on the armor. It stayed there, as though it were sitting on a table. “Fuck yeah!” she said. She wrapped one arm around Valerie, hugging her from the side. Valerie laughed, ecstatic from her victory—small though it was—and Eris responded in kind.

The two laughed together, looking at each other, and eventually ended up looking into each other’s eyes, both smiling.

Eris was the first to look away, clearing her throat. “Well. Good job. I’m proud of you.”

Valerie’s heart jumped a little at the praise. “Thanks. I had a good teacher.”

“Eh. A good teacher should have figured out your issue sooner,” Eris replied. But from her smile, Valerie could tell she was pleased.

“So. Do I get to punch things now?” Valerie armored both fists and held them up in a boxing stance.

“Hah! Fine, you can punch things, as a treat. I still have lots of boring shit to teach you, though. Control, Mana conservation, impact absorption, static armor.”

“Oh. Wait. That sounds cool, though.”

Eris just chuckled, “You would think that, you nerd. We’ll get to that stuff too.”

Valerie nodded, then stood up, armored her fists, and began to wail on the punching bag.

That night, Valerie stood in her kitchen—well, their kitchen. It was as much Eris’s as it was hers, now. Having just placed enchiladas in the oven to bake, she took a moment to stretch her sore muscles, feeling very satisfied with her work that day. She’d had some basic non-magical self-defense training, which had allowed her to impress Eris once they’d finally begun sparring.

For good measure, she armored both of her fists and punched them together, finding joy in her new skills. She observed the drop in her Mana reserves as armor impacted armor. Now that she was out of range of any Ley Lines, the Mana usage was much more noticeable. Even just keeping the armor applied drained her reserves slowly.

The sound of Eris coming down the stairs made her turn around. She released her armor.

“Heya!” Valerie said, “I just put dinner in the oven. It should be ready in fifteen… minutes…” She trailed off as she saw Eris turn the corner from the stairwell. Her eyes were red, her makeup was streaked down her face, and her cat-ears were down. She’d been crying.

Valerie’s eyebrows scrunched up in concern as she rushed over to her sister. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

Eris looked up into her eyes for a second, before lowering her gaze, throwing her arms around Valerie, and pressing her head into her older sister’s chest. Valerie hugged her back, feeling Eris’s body shake as she began to sob.

“Aww, hey. It’s okay to cry. I’m here for you,” Valerie said, as soothingly as she could. She slowly stroked her fingers through Eris’s hair, rubbing her back.

Eris cried hard. For a while. As Valerie felt a damp spot begin to form on her blouse, the sobs became less frequent, eventually giving way to quivery breathing.

Eris shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she strained out.

“Don’t apologize. I’m here for you,” Valerie reiterated. Her heart broke to see her sister like this. But she did want to help. Desperately. “You can tell me what happened, if you want,” she offered.

“It isn’t—it shouldn’t be this big a deal. I just—” Eris’s voice gave way to another sob that racked her body.

“Well if it’s got you feeling like this, it must be a big deal. Even if it doesn’t seem like it should be.” Valerie softly scritched Eris’s cat-ears.

Eris took a deep, shaky breath. “I called Mom.”

“Ah,” Valerie nodded understandingly. That never went well. “What did she do?”

“She said…” Another sob. “They can’t even fucking see me until next fucking month. They’re too busy or whatever. Which like… That shouldn’t be a big deal, right? When I haven’t seen them in years, what’s another month? But… Like…” She trailed off.

Valerie hugged her tighter. “Keep going. I’m listening.”

Eris sighed a quivering sigh. “I guess it just really hurts that they can’t make time for me. But I dunno. Maybe I’m just being hysterical.”

“Hey, no you’re not,” Valerie said, a hint of reproach to her voice. “It makes sense that that hurts. You’re their daughter. They should be able to make time for you. They just… Choose not to.” She gritted her teeth as she said it.

Eris sobbed at that, squeezing Valerie tighter. “Yeah…”

“I’m sorry, Eris. I really am.”

Eris nodded. Then she sighed again. “Why do I care so much about them when they always just treat me like this?”

“I mean. They are our parents. It’s natural to care, even if… maybe it’s not always healthy.”

“Yeah…”

They stood there, hugging each other, for a few more minutes.

“Hey Valie. Thanks… For listening.”

Valerie smiled. “Of course. I told you. I’m here for you.”

“It helped.”

“I’m glad.” Valerie’s smile brightened. “Did you wanna talk about it more?”

Eris shook her head, wiping her eyes. Her cheeks were properly streaked with makeup. There was some on Valerie’s shirt too. “I think I’m good. For now. Thanks.”

Valerie glanced at the oven timer. “Food should be done in a minute or two. And then, uh… You know. I think I still owe you an ice cream date this week. You wanna go after dinner?”

Eris’s ears perked up. Though her eyes were still bloodshot red, she smiled bright and wide. She nodded vigorously.

“Great.” As the two sister hugged each other tight, Valerie swore to herself she would do anything for that wonderful smile.