“What does that mean?” I asked Naan back.

“I’ve been probing the soil and stone around the cavern. The vines have roots that reach out in all directions, they are a more tenacious and voracious plant than I'd expected.”

“Show me?” I asked back as I closed my eyes to peer through Naan’s instead.

As I did I could see outlines, probably roots? They filtered out into the stone, and the soil alike, though it was difficult for me to make sense of what was… the ground. But Naan explained it as I paid attention. The simple truth was the plants in question were all along the passageway leading towards the old dungeon.

“What about the lower part of the passageway? We could extend the path that runs along the river.” I offered.

“It's considerably deeper, and the water itself is a problem.”

“So it's not so simple as a nice flowing river…” I asked.

“Quite, it narrows at several places, splitting off secondary streams as well as forcing the bulk of the water through the passage we see here. It would be safer to head downstream, but much further.” Naan explained.

“We might just need to go for the vertical shaft idea. Devin and I can figure something to cover it, plus it only needs to be as big as the goblins. We can get Gerl out this way.”

“Hmm… Yes, none of the options are perfect. But finding the perfect place to do so is the problem. The ground is littered with caves and various soils. Not to mention the dangerous plant life that has grown rampant inside of that old dungeon.”

“The only other option is to what? Burn the dungeon out from the inside? There are vines, but they don’t look all that flammable. Any idea how much mana that would take?” I asked.

“Mana… Too much, however, if we had wood, that would be a different story.”

I considered. “You mean like an oven? Or a furnace?” I asked.

“Exactly like that.” Naan replied.

We spent a while going over ideas, even running some of them by Devin for his own perspective. In the end Naan was going to try and scout for a possible location for a vertical shaft. We had priorities after all, and it was the only choice that had any real merit. The main problem with it was our safety, which of course was a real concern. If we dug up too close to water, or soil that was load-bearing for the river we could potentially flood the whole chamber, which didn't sound good in the slightest.

"This idea would be so much easier if your mind wasn't actively forcing my perception into this... plane." Naan grumbled after a moment of starting to scout for a location.

"Can I do something to try and help? It's not like I want to do that." I explained.

Naan was quiet for a moment, I almost wondered if it wasn't just ignoring me until it replied, "You could try expanding the sense. Perhaps if we focus on the same thing we can make the change."

"I think that sounds like a good idea. What should I do?" I asked.

"You know how to move my 'dungeon vision' as you've called it, yes?" Naan asked.

"I think?" I replied uncertainly.

"Go ahead and give it a try. I'll refrain from anything and not complain."

That made me feel a little bad that I was having to overstep our little line, but it was all part of the plan, so I did as Naan asked. With my focus on the dungeon sense, I was able to shift the view this way or that way. It honestly made me sort of think of a game. I wasn't sure what game though. The view shifted right through the wall. Suddenly revealing nothing but strata of stone, lines of materials, and bits of dirt and sediment trapped in strange and interesting patterns that evolved as I shifted the view forward slowly. It was almost hypnotizing, like watching something change over time, yet if I moved back, it would rewind. It wasn't really how it was, but my mind easily produced the comparisons.

"Are you done?" Naan asked.

"Uhh, sorry. I guess I got a bit distracted. I can move it, so now what?" I proceeded.

"We want to expand the view, right now we are only able to view this tiny sliver. We should be able to expand it to be deeper."

"You mean like a cube?" I asked, "Or a rectangle... wait... what's the three-d version of that called?"

"Yes. Let's do that, we will try and make the sense into a cube." Naan explained.

So I did, I really had no idea what I was doing, but Naan explained it as expanding. So I kind of thought of it like stretching, or pulling. Either I had the right idea, or Naan's grip was stronger as the sense did expand. But when it did my head immediately began to hurt and I reflexively pushed back against it. I couldn't help but let out a whine, or maybe even a whimper at the sudden headache.

"You alright?" Devin asked.

"You are resisting again." Naan stated after a moment.

I took a moment to just recover from the pain. Then I replied to Devin first, "Yeah... I'm alright."

I continued internally to Naan, "I don't think I can do it Naan..." I took a few breaths before gathering my thoughts and voicing them inside our head, "It felt like my head was being torn open for a moment there. Thank goodness it's alright now..."

There was a time when we didn't speak, but finally Naan rumbled its reply, "I will proceed with these limitations."

I wanted that to work, I really did. But there was no way I was trying that again, at least right away. It sort of reminded me of opening your eyes and staring straight at the sun, but like with a hundred eyeballs at once. Alright, maybe that didn't make sense after all.

I decided rather than moping about my shortcomings I could do some practical training of my own. So while Naan was doing that I let my own mind focus back on my mana. Trying to return to my earlier lessons about magic. I tried to think about all the times that Naan had used mana. How it felt when we made stone or created a body for Emmett. When the water had evaporated away, or when we claimed the area for the dungeon body. I had so many examples of Naan doing things with our mana, surely that could help, right?

I needed to stop imagining the mana in me, and start actually using the mana. It was too easy to imagine the flow of it, and think about it doing things. But that wasn’t getting me anywhere. Come to think of it, didn’t I also have abilities that used mana?

I considered that, and I decided to shift my eye color. It was far less pronounced than something like creating stone or even claiming space for the dungeon. But there was something there, subtle. I repeated it several times, each time focusing on that tiny flow that seemed natural, fully automatic. While Naan’s shifting senses weren’t helping my concentration I was getting better at compartmentalization. So I kept it up, green, yellow, blue, red and onward I just kept shifting my eye color as I focused on that tiny sensation.

Little by little I became keener on it and realized it felt more like a shifting within me. Which was to say that my eyes were using mana, and the mana in the rest of my body seemed to flow in and replenish what was consumed.

I paused my shape-shifting and just sat there breathing. Now that I was so focused on it, I could still feel it. Just breathing seemed to draw mana inwards around my lungs. I clenched my fist, unsurprisingly this too did the same. Mana was the driving energy within my body. This seemed wrong to me, yet the evidence was staring me in the face. I alternated moving different things, breathing, flexing a hand, or arm, and moving my legs.

I might have been weirding Devin out but he didn't say anything, maybe he thought this whole thing was cute? Like how he liked my ears or facial expressions?

I tried to keep my attention where I needed it, each motion I focused on I tried to get more acquainted with the sense of how the mana moved within me. I ended up mostly focusing on my breathing which seemed to be using more mana than the small limb motions I was doing. I focused on the steady rhythm.

I slowed my breathing so that I was practically always doing so, long deep calming breaths that created an almost constant inward flow of mana into my chest. The more I focused on that the more I started to detect the tiny other currents within me. They seemed to be tiny disturbances in the otherwise smooth flow. I began to pick them out one by one and found that most of them were things like my heart, brain, and what was no doubt a kidney or liver. I even began to notice the slow influx that was from my abdomen, so maybe my intestines? Digesting what I’d eaten was giving me more mana, while my body consumed it to operate. I couldn’t help but realize that maybe the problem I was having with this was that I had too much mana. If I had as much as say, Devin, rather than trying to find tiny currents in an ocean, it would probably be more like watching how the water flowed around in a small sandbox.

I felt like I was starting to make some progress. But it was with that tiny progress, that I felt snagged once more. I spent a long time, just sitting there repeating the same thing, trying to focus on those tiny currents and gain some clue over controlling them, but It didn’t quite get me any farther. I was missing something still.

I could feel the mana shifting through me. I could feel the gentle gradients it created within my body as my body’s abilities, and natural processes used or created it. I could even feel it flow through the dungeon’s body as Naan used it.

But what could I use this knowledge and tiny skill for? I couldn’t seem to move it, no matter how much I tried. I wasn’t sure if this was because of the quantity or not. I didn’t want to think that I’d somehow crippled my ability to manipulate it, but it was an idea.

I had no idea how long I’d been sitting here trying different things, but the truth was I’d run out of ideas a long time ago. Devin’s soft steady breathing had turned to sleep at some point as well. Maybe even before I'd been making weird hand motions. I might have felt a bit relieved if that was the case, I should have checked earlier so I didn't feel so damn silly about it.

It was about that time that I saw light come from the passageway, causing me to glance towards the source.

A man stood there with a candle and he noticed us sitting off to the side. In fact, it was a man I recognized, it was Phon.

He noticed me there and frowned slightly, “So you the one they said was staying here.”

I nodded, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Why surprised?” He asked.

“Well.. you are an elf, I guess I expected them to not trust you.”

He sniffed at that, “Such will not stop me. Men not want die for such reasons.”

I guess that made sense.

“Down here, all this time.” He mused as he glanced out of the water, “You’ve made progress?” He asked not bothering to face me.

“Some… but I’ve not quite figured it out yet.” I admitted.

He shook his head, “No progress.”

Well, I guess from his position it seemed like that. “Actually, can you maybe show me it again?”

“Why? Seeing will not help.” He stated firmly.

I thought I could watch with Naan’s sight to maybe get some insight, but maybe he was right. Then again he didn’t know I could sort of see that either, so who really knew if it mattered.

“I can feel the mana flowing. But I can’t move it.” I decided to say, instead deciding that watching probably wasn't going to help anyway.

“Oh, there is progress.” He perked up glancing over at me, “What you mean, move it?”

“I mean I can’t move the mana.” I said as though that was obvious.

“You move the flows, not the mana.” he stated.

What? Was this just a language thing? It couldn't be that could it? His accent and word choice were a bit foreign but not so bad that it should mean we couldn’t understand something as simple as that. “Isn’t that the same thing?” I decided to ask.

“No.” he stated firmly. He noticed my expression and sighed, glancing back at the river and looking like he had an idea. I watched as he set his candle to the side, scooped his two hands into the water, and pulled some free. He gestured me over, and I disentangled myself from Devin, who I gently kept from waking with a touch of dream magic. That was kind of handy for sneaking off... Not that I planned on sneaking off.

He knelt there, so I knelt across from him. I could clearly see the water in his hands and he began to speak, “Water, is mana. Hands, is body.” I nodded and he shifted his hands to the side, right, then left, then back. Causing the water within to gently lean one way or the other with his gentle motions. “Mana, flow in body. You not move mana. You only move body. This create flows of mana.” He said continuing to shift his hands in a demonstration a few more times before finally asking, “Understand?”

I was an idiot. When he explained it like that things started to click. Of course, I couldn’t control the mana. Mana was like blood, or something like that.

“He is actually somewhat wrong.” The voice in my head suddenly interjected.

“Oh?”

“Do you remember Emmett?” Naan reminded me.

“Oh yeah… You could control him because it was our mana right?”

“Yes. Mana is half of the body, and half of the soul. Because of this, it carries your will. This is why eating plants and other creatures is a wasteful way to gather mana. You lose much breaking down what is there and reclaiming it as your own. Having the will of a creature you attacked inside of you would no doubt be terrible.”

“Yeah… I guess so, still, does that help me?” I asked back in our shared mind space.

“I don’t know, I just felt it was important to correct him.” Naan replied.

There was that. Maybe his lesson wasn't wholly accurate, but it might help me anyway. I refocused back on Phon, “Okay, so I need to focus on my body, and create a flow of mana into my breath?” I asked.

He nodded, “If enough mana around lungs. When you exhale, this is magic breath.” He said gesturing with a hand as if to represent the air-breathing in, gathering something, then breathing out.

Once again something that would confuse me. Maybe this was a matter of pressure? If I pressured my mana around my lungs it would… leak? That maybe made sense to me, at least abstractly.

I closed my eyes as he poured what little remained of the water into the river. Using muscles caused my body to use mana, But in terms of pressure, that was low pressure. I needed to create high pressure. Could I cause my body to… request mana? There had to be a means to do that right? Was I ignoring the water analogy? I wasn't sure, I decided since I had the idea I would run with it. After all, there was a chance that taking the metaphor too literally would backfire. My body moved mana around my body using some sort of dedicated system. That system seemed to naturally work without any intervention.

I took a breath, and rather than focusing on the flow tried to feel for something else. I repeated it, again and again. Maybe there was something? Almost nothing at all, I grasped at that tiny almost indiscernible feeling. I tried to almost press on it. Nothing, again, I repeated the whole thing several times. It was just so hard to grasp, it was like it was slipping through my fingers. Rather than slow and steady I tried the opposite. I breathed rapidly, in and out with harsh breaths, then as fast as I could I pushed the air out of me.

The flows increased and I could pick up on the overall sense that the mana inside of me was being jarred around. I stopped after a moment and let my body do what it did only there to observe that one thing. If I had to describe it was like a tiny coolness. It faded over a few heartbeats as it was replaced by a tiny bit of warmth. Then it all evened out.

Ah… I knew this feeling. I knew it too well in fact. It was just the other side of what it felt like when I converted a man's seed into mana. That was high pressure, the cold was low pressure. Was that something I could… flex? I focused on my lungs in my mind, and I focused on that heat sensation. The urgency I recalled. The sensation of having mana literally forced itself out of my body. Slowly but surely, I could feel the mana begin to shift inside of me. Away from my chest. Right, it's backward. The body is producing the warm sensation to usher mana away, it uses the cold sensation to... Yes, it was working I could feel the mana being drawn to my attention. I wasn't moving the mana, it was more like I was calling it. I wasn't sure where the discrepancy was between how I was interpreting this, and the explanations. But I was starting to feel my body actively resist my conscious insistence on continuing. My lungs grew warm, almost hot, not just in sensation but like pain, or real heat. I released it and felt as if my whole body relaxed outwards like ripples of water. The mana flowed back through my body, pushing gently in all directions from my lungs. I could feel my body almost sigh in relief that I'd let it relieve the pressure.

Some tiny part of me was upset that this was in no way connected, or related to the pleasure I received from similar sensations during sex. This sensation was one of the things I felt during those moments, but I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed that I couldn't cause myself to orgasm continuously by shifting mana around inside my body.

Stupid ideas and delays aside, I opened my eyes and spoke, “I think I can do it now.”

He lifted the candle and gently blew it out. This left us mostly shadowed except for the light that was cast on us from the tiny vial of blue mushroom ink that was next to Devin.

Phon didn’t seem to mind, likely he knew he could light the candle easily.

I reached out recalling what he had taught me. I closed one hand, positioned my two fingers around the wick, and pinched the others closed. I focused on my lungs and focused on inducing that coolness, which caused my body to try and pull in mana to warm it back up. When it seemed sufficient, I spoke, “Ful, loc, ri, rua, fir, ah, nel.”

A bright flash, and then nothing.

“Anna!” Naan screamed in my head.

“What!?” I asked back.

“Too much!” Naan asserted.

I instinctively breathed back in, not that it likely did anything.

“Oh.” Phon said softly. “Ful, loc, ri, ril, lum, ah, nel” He spoke before a soft ball of light formed before him in his palm.

I was a bit surprised by this, but both of our eyes were still drawn to the candle, of which the wick had turned into ash, the wax at the top had melted and was gently flowing down either side, very much still liquid.

“That's… dangerous.” I noted.

“Magic always dangerous.” Phon agreed. “Too much mana.”

“Can I try this one.” I asked gesturing to the soft ball of light that was a little brighter than the ink in the corner.

He nodded. He walked me through it several times. It was almost the same incantation which, I’d mostly gotten down already. So it wasn’t too long before I was able to say it properly. So this time I tried with less. This didn’t do anything. If I didn't feel some warmth there it didn't appear to produce any results.

Phon seemed perplexed as a finished the chant with my palm held out and nothing happened, “No?”

“I’m trying to use less mana.” I tried to explain.

“Weaker flow?” He asked.

It was like what he did just didn’t make that much sense to me.

Maybe it was my understanding that was different, maybe it was how much mana was in me, or something else. But it took me several more attempts before I produced anything. But when I did my ball of light seemed like a bonfire compared to his.

Naan rumbled in our mind demonstrating it's annoyance.

“It's my mana!” I shot back at my frustrated internal tag along.

“If you use it up then what will we be doing to get the goblins out of here?” Naan pointed out.

“You… have a point.” I admitted.

Phon seemed thoughtful, and holding his hand over to my ball of light he spoke, “Ful, loc, ri, ril, lum, um, nel” At that the ball visibly dimmed, but it was still quite bright. “You not liar.” He noted considering the still bright light that seemed to fill the entire chamber with a soft white light. Then he thought about it for a moment, “Perhaps speak softer?”

“Does that work?” I asked.

“Less breath. Less mana.” Phon explained.

That made sense. I tried it using the light ball incantation once more barely speaking at all, a bare whisper. This time as hoped the light was far dimmer if still just a touch brighter than Phon’s example. I could practically feel Naan's relief.

He nodded, “This good.”

“I teach you other incantations.” He said looking a bit excited for once. Maybe he had warmed up to me now that he had proof that I hadn't been making shit up?