Unlike Ash, I feel drained from the attempted harmony experience. I’ve gained the same partial connection with the water that she seemed to have gotten with the whole environment, except I got incapacitated while she walked off, unaffected. Once my mind clears from the exhaustion and static, I ponder the experience. ‘Well, I’d say that affirms the hypothesis that environments are tailored to the individual. It seems that, despite some affinity for certain elements of it, the harmony here does not resonate with me. This arguably explains why unique environments would be necessary. It does, however, raise the question of how such a thing is possible, and why on earth they’d go through the effort to do so.’ I muse, my confusion growing by the second

‘Like, I can get some of it right. Even before Ash harmonized, the environment had a certain harmony to it that expressed specific aspects. The three most distinct were cheer, childish joy, and peaceful serenity. I can see how those aspects tie into Ash as a person. I could feel as those aspects were enhanced when she harmonized. That makes sense; what doesn’t is how that process works, how they managed to construct an environment that matches that, how they even knew what to match, how they knew I didn’t match, why none of it felt like a part of a game, and… just… it doesn’t make sense,’ I rant internally.

Feeling a little better after the rant, I open my eyes to the world again. Immediately I’m struck by the sense of emptiness/loss. Focusing, I can feel that the harmony is still there, just weakened considerably. The waves lapping against the shore feel… wasted. The wind feels like it’s just going through the motions rather than being an added participant. The rolling hills feel like there simply there, they just happen to have soft grass, they just happen to have lovely smelling flowers, they just happen to have rich soil perfect to dig your toes into, to feel the warm embrace of the earth. This is how it feels, but it is an illusion, beneath the surface, the harmony is still there. The sun still dances in the waves of the water; The cool waters still pull the wind, helping it to complete its cycle; the wind still grabs a little bit more of the scents of flowers and grain than should be possible; The grass still shines a little brighter than it reasonably should. It’s just that there used to be so much more. As I continue to watch, seeing the harmony glacially improve, I begin to understand.

‘It’s as Alrick had said, ‘The harmony of systems is where the chaos is stored. It is where the development of something new, something you would not otherwise expect, forms. The more harmonious, the more chaos at isn’t disposal, the more powerful. It is where we get stories of entire forests that begin to act as a maze, causing all who enter to quickly find themselves either dead, or right back at the exit. It’s how isolated locations can become loci of power, creating internal harmonies so strong as to become sentient, drawing monsters to defend themselves. This all comes from the controlled and orderly use of chaos.’ Harmonies are systems that, instead of losing energy over time, they gain it!’ I realize.

‘The harmony here is strong enough to enhance the natural effects of an ecosystem, but not to do anything supernatural.’ Understanding the workings of Harmony a little better, I look around at the environment in a whole new light. All the grass looks healthy and robust, the dirt feels evenly textured, the river flows without any evident changes in course. It all seems too good to be true. I climb a hill to get a better look, finding that the pattern remains. There are no dead spots as far as I can see. The river meanders, but in a way that is almost more natural than nature, realer than real. I begin to let the weak harmony flow through me again, but this time, I don’t interact with it, I simply let it flow. I feel something indistinct, weak, and meandering flow through me. I focus on it, allowing me to see the faded golden light of The Flow moving through the area. It looks and feels depleted, but at the same time, I can feel it recovering. I can also feel it feeding on the harmony of the surrounding meadow, beyond the area that I had interacted with. I receive a faded impression of a strong stream of gold flowing through the meadow when trying to isolate the feel of the flow it is feeding on.

Relaxing, I simply take it in. I feel the depleted flow of the local area, and the echo of the powerful flow outside. Minutes pass in peaceful silence; however, a new feeling arises on the edge of my consciousness. I focus on it, discovering that The Flow had passed on an echo of a stronger flow approaching. Specifically, a local area was more substantial than the surrounding flow, and that area was approaching my location. ‘I suppose that would probably be Ash, given that when she was chasing me she was still partly harmonized with the flow. She may have even felt when I tried and failed to do the same,’ I muse to myself.

More minutes pass, and the presence continues to approach; meanwhile, I simply relax. At some point, I notice the sun has gone down significantly since I’d last checked it while running from Ash. I conclude later that I must have fallen asleep after closing my eyes. When the stronger area met with the weakened one, it began to nurture it back to health. It would dim marginally while the surroundings would brighten; then, after a pulse, the stronger would retain its brilliance, and the surroundings would retain their new light. Soon, I saw Ash come out from behind the river's bend hidden by one of the hills. I let my focus on the flow to wain, causing it to stop flowing through me, as I stand up atop the hill.

Ash, lacking the prominent signifier indicating her target, had yet to spot me, though she was certainly looking. Once standing, I yell, “Hey Ash, what brings you to this corner of the river?”

Her head whips over in my direction, quickly spotting me. “Well, I had no idea where you went for a while, so I started to walk back to the door, that is, until I felt this feeling of strength growing. I focused on it, sensing the surroundings, I felt that way off along the river, something was pulling a local area to a greater harmony. This caused me to stop. What caused me to turn around was when the greater harmony suddenly turned into disunity, trying to tear itself apart. At that point, I realized that you had probably tried to harmonize, failed, and done so in such a spectacular way that you managed to screw up the harmonic balance or something. In any case, even when the disunity disappeared, I still felt a grey spot in a field of gold, so I went there. Lo and behold, a few hours later, here I am. Also, how in the hell did you run that far in a little over 30 minutes? I must have walked 8 miles to get here. I know you do cross country, and I know we're in a game, but I know you weren’t sprinting when I stopped chasing you, and you would have had to have been to get that far that fast.”

“Best guess, it probably has to do with the fact that I spent a while building a partial harmony before trying to push for a greater harmony. Maybe because I tied the harmony to my running, it increased the pace, or reduced the strain so I naturally sped up.” I reply, shrugging.

“I guess that makes sense. Want to go back?” She offers a hand outstretched. In the time we’d conversed, she had made it over to me.

“Yeah,” I reply, grabbing her hand. “You know, I did learn something from my failure,” I mention.

“Oh yeah, was it how to not fail so hard,” she teases.

“While certainly part of it, no,” I reply, “I finally understood what Alrick meant when he spoke about flows regarding individual systems.”

“How so?”

“Well, remember when we talked about how eddies in the flows of order contain chaos, and how, to serve the greater flow, they will slowly disassemble the chaos by leaking heat.”

“Yeah”

“Well, a Harmony is a system that has chaos in it as well, but instead of slowly losing it by radiating heat, it gains chaos over time.”

“Wait, wouldn’t that, like, break the laws of thermodynamics”

“Yes and no, Yes because this realm’s rules break thermodynamics, but it’s a game, so that’s okay. No because, in this realm, we hypothesized that instead of flowing toward order, they flow toward chaos. This would mean that there is chaos up for grabs at all times, and by controlling and harnessing it, you can exceed the limits of your system.”

“Wait… but wouldn’t that mean that, if you had a glass of water, instead of warming to room temperature and the room cooling negligibly, the glass would become even colder and the room would warm negligibly, increasing the energy differential. Not to mention that it would literally mean that energy is actively coming from nowhere?”

“Hmm… that’s a good point; maybe I made a wrong turn somewhere,” I say, suddenly less sure of myself and my conclusions. “Well, the rest of what I found is still there; it just may not work in this nice big picture as I had hoped”

“Hey, it’s a game; it doesn’t need to work within the realms of logic; it can break a few rules,” Ash soothes.

“Yeah, good point. First, let’s highlight what we do and don’t know. Based on what Alrick said, we do know that Harmonies are stores of chaos, and that the more chaos they have, the more powerful they are. We also know that they gain intelligence with greater harmony and chaos. Finally, we know that they can grow in power and chaos. We just don’t know how. Basically, what I found are two main things. First was that Harmonizing with a place, at least for us, requires it to resonate with you. The resonance seems to come from the added level of intelligence from a system with harmony. Each element seems to begin to represent a single concept that it exemplifies. These aspects need to match with what represents you. From what I could tell, the three aspects of this Meadow are cheerful wind, childish joy from the grassy hills, and peaceful serenity from the gentle river. When you harmonised with the flow, these aspects were the ones that began to stand out. Because their balance in the environment matches your internal balance of these aspects, they maintain balance. This way, even when you stopped trying to harmonize, they all equally powered down.”

“Yeah, that all makes sense… wait, are you saying that I’m chil-” Ash comments before I interrupt her.

“When I tried, I resonated with each aspect differently. I had the strongest connection with the water, and the weakest with the grassy hills. Once I managed to pacify the flow, I still maintained my connection with the water, making me more peaceful and serene. When you were done with your Harmony attempt, you had enhanced all the aspects. This can be seen in you chasing me while still having fun, and how after I was gone, you simply gave up and calmly began to go back to the door,” I say, finishing in a rush as I can feel her irritation starting to break through said harmony with the water.

“Are you saying I’m childish!” She says… childishly.

“I’m certainly saying that that is an aspect of your personality,” I say… perhaps a bit childishly.

“And your not?” she questions.

“Hey, ask the grass, not me,” I redirect.

“Hmm… well if you say so,” she says, her aura suddenly feeling much more playful, as well as a tad… mischievous?

While trying to decipher what she meant, I didn’t notice when she closed the distance between us, so I didn’t have time to react when she bear-hugged me, tackling me to the ground, and with the momentum, rolled us down the hill.

Before I fully catch my bearings, the feeling of childish joy begins to bubble up again, but this time it feels more natural, more like a part of me than something foreign invading. Next thing I knew, I was happily rolling down the hill. The happiness felt a bit forced. But no more than when you're doing something you like, but you can’t get fully into the activity for whatever reason. It’s still fun, you want to continue, it’s just not as much of an instant decision as when you're full-on head in the zone. Once we reached the bottom of the hill, Ash released me, allowing me to roll a few more feet beyond her. She looked toward me as we both rose to our feet, radiating the same childish joy that radiated from the hill.

“Okay, perhaps we’re both childish,” I respond, grinning madly as I race up the hill.

“No fair, you got a head start,” she responds once I’m already three strides past her, and she’s realized what’s happened.

We spend hours racing up and down that hill. The rules change as fast as we come up with them, their purpose being simple fun. Sometimes the goal is to roll into the other on the hill; others, it is tag. Sometimes it is escaping tickles; others, it is trying to get up before the other so you can tackle them down the hill. Once we ran out of ideas for the slope, we moved to the river, with splashing contests, large waves, and tickles obviously. If you can think of a fun childish game, we probably did it.

Tired from the hours of play, we return to the top of the hill. We sat down, and I take Ash’s hand for a change. We proceed to watch as the sun sets over the meadow. As the sun falls further and further, the temperature cools. We get closer and closer as the sky gains more colors. It goes from just yellow, to having orange, then red, then purple, before the sun disappears behind the horizon. At this point, we are hugging, sharing our warmth. As the colors of yellow and orange recede, replaced with the midnight blue of the star-speckled sky, we lay back to watch the stars. Once the sky fully transitions to night, we are fully cuddling together. It is not intimate, it is not weird; it is simply the innocent actions of childhood friends.

I came to consciousness slowly. I was on my side, lying on something soft and comfortable. It had molded slightly to my shape over the night, making it feel like memory foam. My head was on a cushiony surface that wrapped around my back, warming it against the cold. My front was nice and warm as my right arm was wrapped around a warm pillow, holding it to me. My left arm went above my head to go under the top of the pillow before coming out the other side and wrapping around slightly. My legs also grasped the pillow that seemed to split toward the end, one cushion between my legs, the other on top, holding in the heat. I took in all this information subconsciously, as all my waking mind needed to know was that it was comfortable and warm, and the outside was less so.

Images of the past day’s events passed through my mind. The pod's arrival, the endless field, the blinding lights, Alrick, the lobby, Ash, the Market, the Old lady, Ash, the guild, the rings, Ash, tickling Ash, Seeing Ash’s possible appearance, running, the flow, Ash. As the images flow, my mind begins to boot. As they fade, I notice the light seeping through my eyelids. Unready for the day, I snuggle tighter into my warm pillow, trying to escape the sun. In doing so, I notice how soft and warm the pillow is. Snuggled in so deeply, the floral scent of the pillow fills my nose. The subtle beat it produces reminding random neurons in my mind of the soft rhythm of my mother's heart in the womb, the sound of the gentle waves in the background reinforcing this, lulling me back to sleep before I can question anything.

As my mind drifts back to sleep, I hear a familiar voice sound. “Hmm... Yawn... *shuffle* Oh look at her, my little blue jay is so cute when she’s sleeping,” the voice says softly, soothingly. Unwilling to be woken, I snuggle deeper into the pillow, not registering the words beyond their interference with my sleep.

(AshenLeaf Pov)

Ashlynn was peacefully sleeping when something disturbed her. The sensation of something snuggling into her bosom was odd enough to bring her the wakefulness necessary to recognize the feeling of someone snuggling into an embrace. Confused, she opens her eyes, finding that she is embracing the hazy silhouette of a person. Her confusion grows until her brain finally decides to supply her with the requisite knowledge.

She hums as understanding dawns upon her. ‘Ahh, me and Blue must have snuggled up tight during the night to avoid the cold,’ she muses. Yawning, she shifts a bit to get a better read of the situation. She notes that they are in an embrace where they both are sideways. She would be on the right and blue on the left if viewed from above. Blue was lower than her, Blue’s head lying on her right shoulder. Blue’s left arm came from under them to support Ashlynn's head before holding her back. In return, Ashlynn's right arm held Blue’s back, pulling them in. Blue had wrapped her right leg with their own, leaving her left leg to lay on top. Both top arms respectively held the other person's back, pulling them together.

Looking up to the sky, she noted that the sun was now most of the way up to noon, meaning they’d probably slept around 12-14 hours. Looking back down at Blue she couldn’t help but comment, “Oh look at her, my little blue jay is so cute when she’s sleeping” from both the cuteness of the scene, and to see how they’d respond. Apparently, the response was to snuggle into her embrace more, trying to muffle the sound.

Ashlynn was still trying to figure out if Blue was a girl or not. They seem’d to waffle between the two during conversation and in action. Sometimes they acted like some clueless boy, other’s like a blushing maiden, and on the hill when she arrived, they acted like some suave handsome player, without a care in the world. It rankled her.

‘It’s not like I’m gonna change how I act if they are a girl or a guy. I’d just like to know,’ she complained internally, ‘I tried to test them by calling them cute, holding their hand, even calling them madam when I was getting desperate. Yet they keep jumping all over. Sometimes when I hold their hand, they blush like a boy in middle school; others, they act like we're two girls touring the town. When I call them cute, sometimes they blush while dying of embarrassment; others, they seem to almost take it like a compliment. Maybe they're non-binary and, like, switch genders every conversation… I don’t even know if that’s how that works! They could at least give me hints; they haven’t used a singly gendered phrase, pronoun, or anything during their speech.’

After a couple minutes of trying to think if there had been any point where Blue gave any information that indicated their gender, and coming up with practically nothing, she couldn’t help but give up. ‘I can’t believe that even the sports were a bust. They mentioned how they like volleyball and run cross country; so they're a girl because of volleyball. Except that volleyball is a sport for both genders, and they said that the team didn’t have a team, not that they chose to do cross country instead (cross country and girls' volleyball are both played in the Fall season in the USA, so a high school athlete would have to choose between the two if they like both)... Well, it doesn’t really matter anyway. I’ll probably find out in a few days when character creation is enabled, and even without that, they will still be my new cute, lovable friend who can just be too cute once they drop their serious mask.’ Ashlynn concludes, nodding to herself.

‘Now, what to do with the koala that I seem to have gained overnight… Well, I guess letting them sleep isn’t gonna hurt anyone. I’ll just try to harmonize again while I wait for my little blue jay to awaken.’ she decides. Ashlynn sits up, gently maneuvering Blue to lay on her lap while she begins to meditate, trying to sense the flow, and become the conduit through which it flows.

Medeina

This chapter did not go precisely as planned. Not that there really is one, but the bit with Ash at the end was planned for much later. But it felt like it could fit here, so here it is.

I'm also doing some work on a comment I received about changing tense. At least with this chapter, it seems I'm partial to writing action and dialogue in present tense, and I like to do descriptions and narration in past tense. I worked on it some, but I want to go to volleyball, so the last bit of the chapter is still past. Let me know how bad it is. Cause it feels natural to me, but my brain might be weird.