Three Weeks Later…
Magic always had costs. A wise man once said that, his bloody awful poetry be damned.
But it wasn't just magic… everything had a cost. Power had a cost. Skill too. The idea of the prodigy that one day discovered they were amazing at something was a lie. Yes, at times there were people that had a hidden talent but the smart ones, the ones that did all they could to go and evolve? They worked so very hard to take that hidden talent and master it. They weren't happy with finding a diamond in the rough; they had it cut and polished until it sparkled and gleamed. The same was true of everything. A singer strengthened their voice. A writer wrote and wrote until they had so honed their skill that the words flowed from their mind to their fingertips to the page. A sports legend practiced so that everything became second nature.
Goku didn't roll out of bed and march instantly into a fight. He trained. A lot. It was something that a lot of people missed when they heard him talk about training. He did it not merely because training was fun for him but because he wanted to push himself to get better.
Use it or lose it.
Fortune Teller Baba had told me I had a natural talent for magic. The Scroll had stated I could become something… powerful.
So, whenever I could, I practiced my magic.
'Sun is shining in the sky… there ain't a cloud in sight!'
I murmured as my alarm began to sound and reached out my hand, focusing on my glasses, feeling the energy well in my hand as I attempted the summoning spell I had been working on for the last week. It was apparently one of the most basic spells that a mage could learn and Baba had told me that before I could learn anything else I HAD to learn that.
Baba, in her own coarse and insulting way, had helped me understand exactly what my magic felt like. Everyone was different when it came to their magic but there was a basic sensation that tended to be the same for all that practiced magic. While it would be a while yet before I was able to determine just what my specialty was I knew that I had magic in me and that drawing it forth was like holding a rumbling hose in my hand. The shake. The tremble. Even as my hand remained steady it was there. I just needed to-
I heard a crack and I just had enough time to yelp before the large beautiful bay window that overlooked the jungle shattered into a million pieces as it hurtled towards me, forcing me to throw the blankets over my head to protect myself as the jagged little shards slammed into me. They rained down upon the covers, cutting into them but thankfully leaving me unharmed.
'It's stopped rainin' everybody's in the play and don't you know? It's a beautiful new day, hey hey!'
There was a pounding of feet and I poked my head out just in time to see Tien burst in, looking about wildly before he narrowed his eyes.
"Again?" he asked, breath coming out in a cloud thanks to how cold I kept my room.
"I am going to figure this fucking out," I muttered as I carefully folded the blankets so that I didn't spill more glass on the floor, reaching over to turn off the alarm. Already several little cleaning robots were emerging from their hiding spots in the walls, sucking up glass and making a path for me while others zoomed out to measure the window frame so I could get ANOTHER one made.
"Why is it so cold in here?" Tien complained, rubbing his arms.
"I sleep better with heavy blankets," I commented, rolling out of bed and removing the heavy pajama shirt I was wearing. I had learned that most of the Z Fighters had no problem with nudity (you go to the bathroom late one night only to find Goku naked eating some ham in the hallway and you get over any feelings of modesty real quick… especially when his reaction is to ask you if you want some) so I didn't think twice as I slipped out of the thick pajama bottoms and set about getting dressed even with Tien just standing there. He too didn't say a word as I set about getting dressed while the robots continued to clean up my mess. "You're up late. Usually you are already mid-way through your run at this point." Of course for all of us 'up late' meant waking up when the sun was just beginning to rise. Bulma was the only one that slept in past 7 and I was usually up by 6. Goku though was always out and about by 4 am, wanting to do several laps around the island before the day really began. Even Gohan was an early riser, eager to get as much training in as he could before Chichi got him back to his studies.
"Chiaotzu and I are doing some night time training," Tien stated simply and I didn't push; while Krillin was the one that really didn't trust me Tien was still a bit standoffish to me. Not rude but not going out of his way to be overly friendly. I pulled on a pair of thin gray slacks that were more like silk lounge pants than my normal jeans but I'd found that the island could get rather hot during the day so it was nice to have something that breathed. A white T-Shirt was next before I held out my hand and focused on my socks… which wiggled and squirmed liked snakes but didn't fly to my palm like I wanted. "At least you didn't destroy anything."