"Well, you've trained some on your own without me. So, how far have you gotten?" (Mizuki)
Alto and I are standing in the forest clearing of Nina's old nest. After a short discussion, we decided to start with getting her a functioning invisibility spell.
Alto directs a bitter expression towards me following my question.
"I figured out how to manipulate photons like we discussed, but I…still can't make your invisibility spell work. You said that this 'visible wavelength' radiation bouncing off me is what makes me visible, but watch what happens when I try to get rid of it…" (Alto)
Alto focuses intently for a moment, then…she turns pitch black. She looks like a texture-less void in the shape of a human.
I can't help but laugh…I think I know where she's going wrong. The good news is that if she's already able to manipulate radiation like that, teaching her an invisibility spell is just a matter of correcting her understanding.
Alto's spell drops to reveal a frustrated face glaring at me.
"Mizuki, this isn't funny! This spell is still useless, and I've been working really hard on it!" (Alto)
I know this is probably difficult for her. As far as I know, this is the most she's ever had to work to learn magic. Still, I can tease her a bit before helping!
I give her an amused grin.
"Fufufu…no, no, don't be so hasty. I think you'd be invisible with that spell if it were really late at night!" (Mizuki)
Alto is…not as amused as I am – she's glaring at me menacingly. I guess I should start being helpful.
I give Alto a placating gesture.
"Alright, alright, relax, I'm going to help you fix it. Do you know why it gets dark at night? Rather, do you know why darkness looks black?" (Mizuki)
Alto's expression becomes surprised by the sudden change in topic, and she looks off thoughtfully. After a few minutes, she seems to realize something and addresses me excitedly.
"Mizuki, is darkness just the absence of photons!? So, when I get rid of all the visible radiation around me, I turn black!" (Alto)
I'm sure I can't keep the surprise from my face…I wasn't expecting her to get it that quickly.
I smile at her and nod approvingly, and her face becomes relieved, then smug.
"That's correct. Now, here's another question – why can you see through glass, but not a stone wall?" (Mizuki)
Alto once again becomes thoughtful, then answers hesitantly. She seems much less sure this time.
"Well…I'm guessing you see through glass because it doesn't affect photons. Do they pass right through it?" (Alto)
"Yes, that's correct. At least, the kinds of photons you can see will mostly pass through the glass without interacting with it. Obviously, it's not perfect since you are able to see the glass a little bit. So, when you turn invisible, you kind of want to mimic glass – you want photons that would otherwise bounce off you to continue past you without being affected." (Mizuki)
Alto grows excited again, then nods vigorously. She focuses for a moment, then she turns invisible.
I'm shocked that she managed it so quickly, and I'm about to congratulate her when a cry rings out.
"Ahh! Mizuki! I can't see!" (Alto)
Alto quickly becomes visible again, and she looks terrified. Eventually, she recovers and looks at me in confusion.
"Mizuki, what happened to me just now?" (Alto)
"Fufufu…that's what you get for being impatient! For the record, you did turn invisible, you just also took away your ability to see. Did you just do something to make all the light pass through you unimpeded?" (Mizuki)
Alto nods cautiously.
"Uhm…yes, just like you said…but why did that make me blind?" (Alto)
I see it's finally time for a biology lesson.
"Well, that's because of how you see, Alto. Believe it or not, there are special molecules in your eyes that interact with visible radiation, and those reactions are how your body allows you to see. In fact, generally you'll find that for things to be perceived or affected, they must come into proximity and interact with one another. As you've learned, even magic works this way. So, the reason you couldn't see…" (Mizuki)
Alto is listening intently, then nods thoughtfully before I finish my sentence.
"I couldn't see because, by depriving my eyes of the ability to interact with those photons, I also lost the basic interactions that allow sight?" (Alto)
I smile and nod approvingly. Alto becomes thoughtful again for several minutes.
"So, to make a perfect invisibility spell I'd need to capture all the light reflecting off my body, like with the spell that made me black. However, I'd also need to duplicate the visible photons coming towards me to continue past me, instead of just allowing them to pass through me. Is that right? How do you do that, though? I thought you said that magic isn't able to create new photons?" (Alto)
Jeez…I'm a little scared about how quickly she's picking this up. I suspect that, if she'd been raised in my world as a sibling, she'd be way more knowledgeable than me about this stuff. I was kind of a mediocre physics student…Alto's way smarter. In a few years, she'll probably be teaching me.
After recovering from my surprise, I nod at Alto in agreement.
"Uhm…yeah…you're correct on all accounts, Alto. Essentially, you'll need to repurpose other nearby photons. All the time, there are invisible photons around you. For example, molecules produce more higher energy photons as they heat up, which is why the fireball spell I taught you glows. However, even now the air molecules are producing a small number of invisible photons." (Mizuki)
Alto's eyes go wide in surprise, then she smirks at me and shakes her head.
"To think you'd know about all this...the people of your world are truly absurd, Mizuki." (Alto)
I mean…I don't disagree. I can only imagine how much a real physics researcher from Earth would be able to do with magic.
I shrug and smile, then Alto snorts and returns to her task. She takes on a focused expression for several moments, then…she vanishes!
I use magic sense to track her, then inspect her location. I notice a distortion of the light around where I believe she is – it's kind of like looking through a high-quality glass window.
"Your spell is basically working, but I can still kind of see you, Alto. Still, I'm very impressed that you've managed this already! If you practice it a bit more, you'll have a perfect invisibility spell in no time." (Mizuki)
Alto suddenly reappears with a huge grin on her face, then leaps over to wrap me in a hug.
"Mizuki…thank you!" (Alto)
She doesn't let go after a second like I expect, and instead I feel her grip tighten. Ahh…maybe it's time then.
I smile down at Alto and squeeze her back, and she looks up at me in surprise.
"So, Alto…how are you, really? How is my friend doing?" (Mizuki)
Alto's face goes stiff, and she's quiet for several moments. If she won't tell me, I might as well voice my suspicions.
"Are you…having nightmares?" (Mizuki)
Alto is quiet for a while, then…
"...yes." (Alto)
I nod sympathetically towards her.
"Do you…want to talk about it?" (Mizuki)
"I just…keep reliving what I did to that slaver. Except, when I look down at his body afterward…it's you. I was in so much of a rage…I felt justified at the time. Now, though, I can't help but wonder if he really deserved to die like that. What if I only saw the worst of him? What if he was as important to others as you are to me?" (Alto)
Alto is looking up from her hug with a miserable expression directed towards me. She's obviously agonizing over what she did.
Hmm…how should I approach this? I can tell her why I think he deserved it, but that might not be the only issue. It sounds like she's empathizing with the people who were hurt by his death. There's no way to fix that…you can't blame a kid for missing their parent, for example.
Since she's already hugging me, I lift us up with my flight spells and take off towards the clearing I use for training. Feeling the sudden movement, Alto lets out a squeal.
"Ahh! Mizuki, what are you doing!?" (Alto)
I'm hoping flying will cheer her up a little and give us time to chat, but I can't tell her that.
"Well, I needed to go to the other clearing with you anyway to research a particular spell, so I figured we'd take the scenic way instead of teleporting." (Mizuki)
I feel Alto squeeze me appreciatively, but she remains silent – I guess she figured me out. She looks out over the forest below with a melancholy expression, and a silence settles over us for a while.
"For what it's worth, Alto, I don't think it matters if that slaver was a good person. Good deeds don't excuse other intentionally malicious actions, so you knew all you needed to about him. I'm sure you are focusing on the suffering his death brought to the potentially innocent people who loved him, and that's understandable. However, just imagine how you'd have felt later if you let him live." (Mizuki)
"I appreciate the sentiment, Mizuki. You're right…I would have agonized over not punishing the monster who ordered my enslavement and the killing of my friends. Still, there's no changing the past, so all I did was bring pain to those that loved him to ease my own sense of injustice." (Alto)
Alto looks up at me sadly, but I just shake my head at her.
"When I said you'd have regretted sparing him, I wasn't referring to your lingering feelings of injustice. Do you really think he would have stopped working in the slave trade? Imagine all the other people he would have enslaved, exploited, and killed in the process. If you'd let him live…what about the suffering of their loved ones later? I say you reduced the world's suffering in the grand scheme...focus on that." (Mizuki)
Alto gives me a surprised look, and her mood seems to improve gradually over the next several minutes. I don't think all her guilt is gone, but there's nothing else I can do but be there for my friend. The rest will be up to her and the passage of time – she'll have to come to peace with her decisions.
"Thanks, Mizuki...I'm thankful I met you." (Alto)
Her sudden sincerity catches me off guard. I smile back at her widely.
"No problem…the feeling is mutual, Alto. Let me know if you need anything from me. All you ever have to do is ask, you know?" (Mizuki)
Alto gives me a small smile in response. It's subtle, but it's the first genuine one I've seen from her since the Belmod massacre. That's enough to ease my mind for now.
Eventually, we make our way to my informal training grounds, and I set us down in the forest clearing. Alto, seemingly back to her normal self, is quick to get to business.
"So, why did you drag me all the way out here?" (Alto)
"Fufufu…don't pretend like you wouldn't have said yes to the joy flight on its own. Regardless, I need to test out if I can combine my ability to track people over large distances with other spells. I need you to stay here while I go back to Nina's old nest, then I'm going to try communicating with you telepathically. When I get back here, let me know if you heard my thought message. Okay?" (Mizuki)
Alto waves her hand dismissively, then smirks.
"Sure, sure…let's make this quick. I want to practice my invisibility spell some more!" (Alto)
I shake my head at her in amusement, then teleport back to Nina's old nest.