"Don't do that, please? It's me," a feminine voice replied, her form peeking out from behind the tent. It was Alicia Crimsonmane, in pink pyjamas knitted by the hands of Kagatsean seamstresses.

If anything, the sight of the bookworm girl fell short of tempering Izel's dagger stare. "What are you doing, woman?"

"I... just wrapping up my business at the lavvy?"

Izel quirked an eyebrow.

"I really just came from the lavvy, ye ken!"

"While carrying a book?"

"Isn't it normal to have a wee read in the lavvy?"

"Ugh! I'm not going to start a debate on such a useless topic." Izel turned back to the campfire. "Tell me you were not surreptitiously listening to my discourse earlier!"

"Even if I were, yer words were cloaked in the tongue of Tamoanchan."

And again they mulled over the contours of their own minds. Alicia had not moved an inch.

"Is there something wrong?" Alicia's voice was tender.

"What's wrong is there in sitting by the fire?"

"Burning the midnight oil with nought but sitting and thinking," Alicia countered, "I've been there."

"As have we all, bookworm," Izel replied sardonically.

"Hmm...," was the bookworm's sole response. Alicia walked over and sat on the wooden log next to Izel.

"What in the...?"

"I'd also like to stay by the fire for a wee bit, if that's awright."

Although annoyed that her nightly solitude had been compromised, Izel maintained composure. She returned her gaze to the fire, then to the tents in the shadows, occasionally looking at Alicia's melancholic countenance and the flames reflected in her oversized spectacle. But then she noticed something strange on the Camelot girl's legs.

"Are those skin tights?" Izel gestured at the ankles encased in skin-tight fabric and loose sandals. "Why don stockings with your sleepwear?”

Alicia raised her eyebrows. "Tonight’s as cold as a giant's lair. Kaito and Tome took all my blankets."

"You should segregate them into separate tents. The Tamoanchanese infants can even nurse unaided.”

"They still need Orb."

"And I presume Orb is also in their custody."

"Securely trapped in their midst.”

Izel stretched her torso back a little. "Besides, you seem the sole whiner of cold on summer’s eve."

"We're nae in an open space, are we?" Alicia looked skyward. "The temperature adjustment in the Lower City seems exaggerated to mimic the night air."

"Pedestrian. Tlemauayolotli practitioners can regulate their internal heat better than ordinary people."

"Yeah. A wee shame not to be a practitioner."

"Not a practitioner?" A derisive scoff. "Explains your strange way of controlling Arcane, and also barging into other people's privacy to seek mediation like an aimless child." But then, Izel's attention was captivated by a slender, antiquated tome in Alicia's cradle. "And what draws you to that pathetic ancient book? Those forbidden spells that you can't practice?"

"It's a prophecy book."

Izel frowned. "The creation of that charlatan seer you mentioned this afternoon."

"About all that...," Alicia massaged the side of her neck, looking at Izel with a pleading glance. "I am sorry for imposing upon you."

"Yes, you should be sorry," Izel grumbled. Yet, the flickering dance of flames soon thawed her stony heart. "But I, too, am culpable for almost causing you harm by my fire magic. For that, I apologise. Citlalicoatl did not condone such actions, and I must do better."

Alicia was stunned. "Ah, aye. Apology accepted, Izel. That was just a wee bluff after all, was it not? You were taking advantage of my unfamiliarity with playing with fire. I mean, yer fire magic won't hurt people as ye claimed, unless ye desire it to."

"My magic from earlier could indeed harm you."

"Oh... So..., ye're absolutely..." Alicia’s tongue faltered; another casualty of her ingrained impulsiveness and imagination it sparked.

"The situation is not as simple," the pyromancer clarified. She placed her hand in the heart of the bonfire, and with a deliberate curl of her fingers, she managed to get a grip on its flames. "See what I did here? This is called the Path of Deeds. Basically, a school of Tlemauayolotli that governs or produces fire as a primal energy."

"So there are two schools of Tlemauayolotli art? " Alicia's voice soared in pitch until Izel had to gag it with hand. "S-sorry," the lass showed the grace of giggling timidly once the pyromancer’s hand withdrew. "Mama's magic encyclopaedia only mentions that Tlemauayolotli’s fire magic can be activated by words or gestures."

"It's not that it's wrong. It's just that Tlemauayolotli has two different schools for this. Learning the Path of Deeds is relatively straightforward, as long as you can regulate your heat—your tonalli." Izel gestured to her fontanel as she said the last word.

"But therein, lies also its disadvantage," Izel continued, "it can only generate and control fire in its raw form. If you seek a more creative option, there is the Path of Words. However, your teyolia," her hand descended from head to rubbing her own chest, "or the soul aspect that fuels your body, must be touched by Citlalicoatl for you to grasp its tongue and enable magic. Moreover, this style poses risks in close combat."

"Can one master both schools?" Alicia asked with a beaming expression.

"One can." The side of Izel's stomach where her liver nestled took the turn for rubbing. "To master both schools, you must first train your body's resistance to heat—this is where ihiyotl comes in, your breath that prevents your body from being decomposed by anything including fire. Unfortunately, I spoke of them as options, but they are barely options. Almost all Tlemauayolotli practitioners specialize only at one of the schools."

Both of Alicia's eyebrows knitted together. "Tonalli, Teyolia, and Ihiyotl. There are a lot of foreign words I dinnae understand."

"They're points on the body constituting the soul. If you forge these three, the soul will expand and emit the heat—magic, in your understanding."

"Ah...!" Each nod from Alicia exuded excitement. "Ye ken, I also remember the lesson from Lord Domen about the Mountain Knots serving as gateways to unleash magic. Interesting! Absolutely interesting! Perhaps every mystic art in the world has some sort of mana control through specific points of the body! I speculate that wizardry must have mana points in the brain, while shamanism... Hmm. That's a pondering for a chat with Wisesa. Are ye the sole mage able to tread both paths simultaneously?"

Izel could not bring herself not to clarify. With a rosy face and a few seconds of contemplation, her eyes drifted up to the star-studded dome and said, "Well, you know how it is—"

"That's mental, Izel! Making you a genius pyromancer! I suddenly have a hunch for ye!"

"Alicia, lower your voice! What hunch—" Izel could not help but laugh sheepishly at the awkward turn of phrase. "I mean, yes, I am undoubtedly extraordinary and a genius! But it's a lie to claim that I'm the only one who can do both. Some have talents similar to mine."

Alicia's hands tapped on her thighs eagerly. "Show me the Path of Words, then!"

Izel grimaced. "You've seen it many times during our first encounter—"

"Come on, please! Please, please, just one wee spell. One that doesnae involve killing!"

Izel became a new victim of the bookworm's pitiable expression—or an old of her own recognition-seeking nature. But she was not foolish enough to let it show through her relenting face. Swiftly, she retrieved her staff and exclaimed to the rolling flames, "Xu-te-yāxipan! Xu-te-kōma! Xu-te-tlācua!"

The bonfire suddenly turned cerulean, and its tongues appeared to amalgamate into one giant tongue. No, a tendril. A purple flame tendril that executed a spring-like twist, slipping under Alicia and lifting her off the ground. Panic momentarily ran through the lass as she bounced relatively high, but after a few breaths, her heart settled into a normal rhythm. Alicia laughed like a child on a fire trampoline.

Unfortunately, Izel was more curious about what would happen if she curtailed the fun halfway through. The purple flames abruptly retracted while Alicia was mid-air, sending her tumbling backwards onto the ground rearfirst. It was Izel's turn to erupt into childlike laughter.

"Not funny, ye ken! What if I break a bone?" Alicia grumbled.

"Nonsense, spoilt brat! That was not even a height!"

"It still might happen!"

"If it does happen, who told you to coerce me?" Izel continued to laugh unabated.

While massaging her sore backside, Alicia gingerly settled onto the wooden log. It was not too painful, which was a relief, but her cheeks still burned with a mixture of irritation and embarrassment.

A moment of silence lingered before Izel, having composed from laughter, queried once more, "Why this interest in the Eternal Sun?"

A sudden question that caused Alicia's expression to lapse a complete one-eighty. But her lips spoke only a short while later. "I, uh..., I don't know. On second thought, perhaps that’s not a braw script."

"You disapprove of me dodging the Eternal Sun’s query, but find it acceptable when you do it?"

"It's not that..., I just havenae come across a good reason to share this information with someone else. I was stupid for not thinking so beforehand."

"So I'm untrustworthy, is that what you're implying?" pressed Izel.

Alicia kept her head above water this time. "I dinnae want to repeat the same mistake. Harm always comes whenever this knowledge is brought up. Either for me... or for others."

"Hmm... Very well. Suit yourself."

Despite her words, the expression "Eternal Sun" from a Westerner's lips undermined the contents of Izel's head like buzzing insects. It felt anything but coincidental. It bothered her. And she saw Alicia seemed just as disturbed at not hearing an answer the way a child whose curiosity had been suppressed by strict parents, deeming them to be a troublemaker. The bespectacled lass still clutched the book tightly to her chest. Is she waiting for the time to chatter about what she read? Izel wondered. But her guess sounded reasonable. Alicia's legs were swaying. Her lips were pursed.

"Dangerous information, isn't it? That sounds suspenseful," Izel broke the silence. "Give me the gist of it, and I might shed some light, if there is any."

"Ye willnae disclose it to others, will ye?"

"This one I swear by the Eye of Citalicoatl as my witness. This oath is sacred, and it will be my burden for the rest of my life to be seen worthy in his eyes."

That sounded a bit far-fetched, did it not? Alicia thought so. But at least when it came to the name of her deity, Alicia always sensed the heartfelt quality of Izel's intention. "I ask because... because maybe you've heard of it...?" Alicia began flipping through the pages until she reached the prophecy in question. "Isn't this horned dragon none other than the xiu dragon of the Mu Continent? Ye're from Mu Continent, so at least ye can help me—I think. I must find the child foretold as the Eternal Sun."

"If you find him, then what?"

"The child must come with me."

"Why?"

"Uh..., dinnae ken—"

"Arcane and Earth Monster. Those are no trifling forces you possess. What kind of magical society are you looking to establish, Woman? Do you aim to tear down the Magisterium and control the world of thaumaturgy?"

"Wh-what? No! Do ye see a tyrant in me? Ye must be joking!"

”Men with glass on their eyes are bound to great minds. But great minds can also be bound to either of two: to bless others or to curse them. This is the wisdom of ages past.”

"Orb did not approve of me as the second Roma."

"Then it must be about saving the world."

Alicia grimaced. There was no point in hiding anymore. "The world is predicted to end and the child of prophecy must be found to determine that."

Hearing that, Izel covered her mouth, failing to muffle the giggle behind it. "You're one of the six children? Wisesa too?"

Alicia simply nodded.

"What are the Six Children of Prophecy again?"

"Six mages with anomalous abilities that could change the fate of the world of thaumaturgy."

Alicia had reckoned that one reaction to such a statement would be a laugh of scorn. "Such a tale can be churned out by even the most obtuse of poets!” Izel jeered.

It sounded like a folly, as far as the pyromancer was concerned, yet at the same time, the innermost recesses of her heart seemed to sting her with a tantalising impression. Alicia, the Arcane source-wielding little lass unaversed in any mystical arts, and Wisesa, possessed by an Earth Monster. That fact alone jarred her at first.

Now she envisioned herself as one of the six most powerful practitioners, a pinnacle of glory beyond the kings of the thaumaturgical world. And she did claim to surpass all the pyromancers of her age, even all pyromancers of Tamoanchan, and thus felt entitled to perform a secret ritual forgotten and resisted by all her people. And it was not just because of the treaty with the Kagatse Nation.

However, did she truly deserve a place among Nostradame's chosen children? Why should I care about that? Izel thought to herself. Being chosen or not is none of my concern. After all, Nostradame's prophecy has never been proven!

"There are other horned dragons besides xiuhcoatl," Izel stated.

Alicia was already inclined towards her, including her full attention.

"Citlalicoatl is the ancestor of all horned serpents."

"Oh, so it’s true! Ye ken aboot the Eternal Sun!"

"Hey, hey! Yell one more time and I'll tie your tongue!" Izel chastised. "Look, I don't know what you mean by the Eternal Sun. But yes, it might have something to do with Citlalicoatl. We often refer to the sun as the Eye of Citlalicoatl because Citlalicoatl is a god, and... gods are more or less immortal. That's all I have. Nothing else."

"Are ye sure?" Alicia was not so sure.

"I'm very sure."

"There must be something more."

"There must be. But not within my knowledge."

"Will you help me look for it?"

Izel emitted a lip-trill. "You jest. I've got a lot on my plate with mujinos and my community."

"If Mujino's business is done, will you help me?"

Now Izel fell into silence. "Uhm..., perhaps. It's possible. I shall think about it.”

"I see." murmured the bookworm girl, tilting her head towards the campfire "I'll wait for the good news. Thank you, Izel. And once again, keep this a secret for the both of us, okay?"

"Yes, yes," Izel replied as she rose from the log, yawning. "Enjoy your solitary musing. I'm finished."

Izel entered the tent, leaving the dance of the flames to captivate Alicia alone. []