After placing Nychibi in the carriage, we were off once more. Ethora made a fuss over it, and Enora had to convince her it would be okay. Of course, the girl we were guarding would fuss when one of those guards was out of commission, but somehow, Enora managed to convince her.

“I am so itchy! I hate this!”

“Should we get a cone?”

“I’m not a dog!”

“Papa…” Nychibi mumbled in her sleep.

“If you are too loud you will wake the chibi,” Enora said.

“You are right. Still, I hate this.” I leaned my head against Enora’s shoulder as I deflated.

“It’s okay, it won't last long. I just don’t know any magic that would counteract the effect.”

“Right…Will I be able to use magic now?”

She parted my hair and kissed my forehead. “You should be able to. The next thing is figuring out what you have an affinity for.”

“Oh? I wonder what mine will be…” I started to doze off as she pulled my head into her lap this time. My eyes struggled to stay open, and the divine pillow that was her legs was defeating me.

“Rest easy, my cute dork.”

I awoke as soon as the carriage stopped again. I blinked several times, and Enora’s cute face loomed above me. My hand reached up, rubbing her cheek. They were so soft and squishy. I ran my hand across her face towards her cherry lips, grabbing the bottom one between two of my fingers. We didn’t say anything to each other as I slowly brought my head up. I had gotten lost in her red jewels, and when our lips finally met, I closed my eyes.

“Time for camp! Although, it appears I am interrupting something.” Ethora opened the door to the carriage and interrupted. The outside world had already become dark, and we were surrounded by trees. I reluctantly sat up, my cheeks a bit warm from embarrassment. Ethora looked at the green harpy who was still sound asleep across from us. “Is she going to wake up?”

“I don’t know. Let’s see. Hey, chibi!” Enora called from across, and it seemed to do the trick as the bird opened her eyes.

“Papa?”

“No, it’s Enora.”

Nychibi blinked a few times. “Huh? Where are we? How long was I out? What happened!? Also, I’m itchy! So Itchy!”

“Welcome to the club, friend.”

“Like I said! Who would want to—”

Enora’s glare had cut her off.

“Wh-whatever—Where are we?”

“We reached the forest a few hours ago. We were just about to make camp here. Come and help me get the stuff out of the back.” Ethora walked towards the back wagon.

Nychibi looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but we all helped Ethora get out sleeping bags as well as a crate of firewood. I was surprised the piris could pull so much, while I looked at the haul.

Soon, we sat around a fire. I leaned my head against Snowberry with Enora. Crowberry had stayed near the wagon, so the other two didn’t have a fluffy pillow.

Ethora yawned. “Who is going to take the first watch?”

“It is fine. I can stay up,” Enora said.

“Oh right… You are a vampire. I’m going to sleep. Wake me at first light.” Ethora tucked herself away into her own sleeping bag.

“So you said something about affinities earlier?” I asked Enora right away, and Nychibi sat up, coming closer to listen. The flames of the campfire cackled as if they also wanted to listen.

“Piri! Piri!” Even Snowberry who’s feathers made for the second best pillow wanted to listen.

“Right, Like I said before everyone has at least one affinity.”

“Oh! What are your affinities?”

“I have three main affinities. Shadow, Enchanting, and Summoning.”

I knew about shadow. That had to be where the black mist came from, but enchanting? We didn’t buy regular outfits for her because they didn’t have enchantments to block out the sun. Couldn’t she just enchant them herself? Wait! More importantly… “You said summoning! You can summon something?”

“Yes, I actually have a contract with something already.”

“Really!? Can I see it?” I asked as I grabbed onto her hands.

“I can’t right now. I can feel the link to her in the demon world now, but our connection was severed for a long time. I don’t think it would be a good idea to summon her right now.”

“Really? Why not?”

She frowned at my question. “I think she is mad at me. Summoners can sort of feel the emotions of their summon through the contract. If I summoned her now there is no telling what she would do…”

“Can we get to the part where we learn our affinities already? Do you know how to do that?” Nychibi asked.

I finally let go of Enora’s hands, so I could listen like a good Melle.

Black mist appeared on her hands, and out of it came a book. The book was leather and brown. On the cover in big lettering it said “Affinity Grimoire”. She opened it, and the first page was blue. All of the pages seemed color coded, but there were no letters.

“What is that for?” Nychibi asked the question in my mind.

“Each of these pages has a color associated with an element. Blue for water, red for fire, and so on. When you grip the paper, and push mana into it, it will react if you have an affinity. The more intense the reaction, the stronger the affinity.” She flipped to a black page and pulled it out. The black mist from her hand was pushed into the paper, and before our eyes, it disappeared.

“Whoa!” I clapped after the paper vanished.

A faint blush colored Enora’s cheeks. “This is nothing. It simply means I have a strong shadow affinity.”

“You are amazing!”

“Shut up dork!”

“Will you two stop flirting? Please continue with the explanation already! How did you do that?”

“Killjoy.”

“Right, it’s simple really. You have to push mana into the paper, but first you need to learn how to push mana out of your body. T part should be easier for you two since you were bathed in it.”

I moved to scratch my arm as she said that.

“Don’t or you get the cone.”

“I’m not a dog!”

“Please just tell me how to use mana already! I hate you both.”

“Hey, that’s not a nice thing to say to a friend.”

“Like I said who would…” She paused as she looked at Enora. “Like I said, get on with the explanation!”

“Sure, you should already be feeling the flow of mana in your body. That is the itchy sensation. Everyone will have a mana flow…” She grabbed a stick and drew a human into the ground. At the center of the human she drew a spiral. “This spiral is the flow of mana.”

“Wait, so if we are that cute drawing. Then shouldn’t we have already felt the flow of mana?”

She smiled at my question. Then she drew wavy lines going towards the person. “To answer your question, my cute Melle, the person here doesn’t have the capacity to feel their flow of mana. They have it in their body, but they can’t see it. Kind of like your cells. You know they are there, but you can’t feel them or see them. These lines represent the pressure I exerted on both of you earlier…”

She continued to draw the lines into the body of the person, messing up the swirl inside. “The pressure exerted messed up the natural flow of mana, causing the prickly sensation.”

“Hey, that looks really bad. Was that really safe?” I asked.

“Well, if an inexperienced person had done it someone could die… or worse.”

I questioned in my head what was worse than dying. “Have you done that before?”

“No. Never.”

““Huh?””

“Well, I am an experienced mage. Plus, I have seen it done before. I knew it would work. More importantly, Melle, place your hand here.”

I did as she said, placing my palm against her own. “You too chibi.”

“It’s Nai…” Nychibi didn’t even finish, but she did place her claws against Enora’s other one. I glanced at her claws, who were now touching my girlfriends. To say I wasn’t feeling jealous would be a lie. I clenched my teeth together, getting frustrated at the extended wing.

“Hehe, what’s wrong Melle, Melle?” I turned away from my girlfriend who was smirking at me. I trusted her, but still, it was hard to be okay with someone else touching her. “Don’t worry, this is practical.”

I turned back to Enora. Her smile was gentle and reassuring. “Both of you close your eyes.”

I did as she said, and closed my eyes.

“That tickles!”

“That is me pushing my own mana out. Remember this feeling. It will be easier when you try to do it yourself. This part will be hard to explain. That prickly sensation you feel throughout your body, try to bring it to your hand.”

I focused on the itchy sensation I was feeling all over, but it was wild and untamed. How would I move something I have never moved before? There wasn’t mana on earth.. At least, I never had mana. Now I was being told to use it as a tool.

If mana was a tool to use in my own body, how would I move it? Was it like moving my arms? Did my brain need to send a signal? I tried to breathe through my diaphragm in the hopes that something different would happen. I focused on the breathing in my lungs as they pumped oxygen throughout my body.

With my eyes closed and my focus intensified, I could feel my blood coursing through. My heartbeat had slowed down, but I couldn’t feel anything else besides the itchy sensation. I tried to focus on it again, but it was too random. It was as if new nerves had entered my body.

That’s it! Nerves! Nerve endings. The prickly sensation was spreading as if all of my nerves were being agitated. I focused on a specific prickly in my shoulder, and the itch only intensified. With a thought, I tried to move it down my arm. The sensation rushed down my arm before bursting out of my hand.

“Good job, Melle!”

I wanted to jump and hug Enora, but Nychibi was still focused. It sort of looked like she was constipated. Was I making that kind of face? The thought made my cheeks flush.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing. I was just thinking about yesterday.” Her own face became red as well, but I felt a burst in the air coming from Nychibi’s claw. It was faint, but I had felt her mana push into the palm of my girlfriend. Was that what she meant about sensing mana?

“Good job, Chib…”

She was cut off as Nychibi jumped and hugged her. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!...”

“I get it.”

“Thank you…Uuugh…th…” Nychibi started to sob and clenched Enora close.

“I get it, so can you let go of me?”

She didn’t let go; instead, it looked like she tightened her hug. I would probably feel jealous, but I was shocked. This was unexpected. Enora didn’t know what to do with her hands as she held them up.

“It’s okay” I whispered, and Enora hugged her while patting her back. The green harpy cried her eyes out.