Reta reached her hand over the tray of items in display before the pair. "Excellent, you have now learned what it is like to draw out your inner Genki. You asked if you can share thoughts or feelings, I believe you are bright enough to learn that yourself."
"This whole meditation thing." Janette interrupted, stepping in for a closer look. "I never read anything about that."
"I suspect that I am the first to teach you." Reta asked with a prideful look. "That is to be expected. In my village, we harness the flow of Genki in different ways. The age is changing as we know it. But in my village, we uphold our sacred teachings for Genki. We do none of that showmanship crap you saw in the circus!"
"Aw, but that stuff looked like fun." KuliKuli argued, her smile dropping quickly. "Well, until they tried to kill us."
"Focus on your meditation." Reta reminded her with a scowl. "You're beginning to lose your control."
"I am?" She recoiled, pressing her paw on her partner's hand. She raised her head with a baffled look. "It's not forever?"
"Baka! If it were forever, we would drop from exhaustion in short time." She explained, scolding her in the process. "You have lost your flow of Genki, that is fine. Raise your head and try again, no need to pout. Failure is a natural encounter while on the way to success. Do not see it as a wall but as an obstacle."
KuliKuli cleared her throat and nodded, sitting upright and closing her eyes as she began to meditate again. Felix sat back and observed her, enjoying the calm, natural look on her face as she breathed in and out. Over time, he felt the tiny hairs on his arm rise up.
"Good, took you a bit longer but you did it." Reta noticed Felix scanning his arm. "That is to be expected. When you meditate, you concentrate on what is within you and that which flows around you. People don't just snap their fingers and light their hands on fire."
"Only if they're professional mages." Janette argued, "Those fire boys can set an entire house ablaze!"
"Do not interrupt when I am teaching!" Reta snarled, turning her head to her. Janette raised her hands and backed away respectfully. "That is how one controls the elements, it is not what I am teaching."
"So..." Felix asked, grabbing their attention. "What can you do?"
"That is what you are about to find out." She replied, extending her hand out to him. "Here, place your hand over mine. Both of you."
KuliKuli reached out and held her paw over her hand, with Felix hesitant before following her action. Their eyes grew wide as the experience felt unreal. A new wave of emotions were suddenly introduced to them as soon as they made physical contact, sharing their Genki amongst each other.
Reta couldn't contain her enjoyment. "You two are like children. you remind me of when we were first taught these lessons."
"How old were you when you were taught this?" KuliKuli asked.
"I had come to be four years of age, but do not let that discourage you. What you are feeling is our Genki passing between us, like electrical currents with us as the conductor."
"I can feel what you feel." Felix gasped, staring into her eyes.
"Yes." Reta smiled back. "If we concentrate on the flow of Genki, we are capable of sharing it with another. Stay focused and let me guide you."
She lowered their hands to the tray in between them, grabbing the apple. "Now close your eyes. That tingling feeling around you, I want you to focus on that. Next, concentrate on what you feel with your hands. Remember, don't think too hard. Let your body feel the object in your hand, and then direct the Genki onto your hand."
"How do we do that?" KuliKuli asked. "Do we just think about it like some command?"
"Not quite, you are thinking too much Neko. When you focus on what is in your hand, your mind ignores the feeling around your body."
Janette dropped her book and covered her mouth, taken aback by what she was watching. "Oh my gods."
"What?" Felix raised his head.
"Shhhh, you are losing focus. Concentrate, maintain focus. Relax, when you find yourself swimming in the river, you don't fight the current. You swim with the current. That is what is happening here, let the Genki embrace you before you guide it where you want it to go."
He nodded and kept his lips sealed, exhaling slowly as he began to soften the tension in his body. KuliKuli giggled and started to squirm, finding the ticklish feeling around her to be a bit hard to avoid smiling.
"You two are doing well. When I tell you to open your eyes, you need to keep that concentration. Do you understand?" They nodded as she raised their hands a little higher. "Good. Open."
KuliKuli squealed as soon as she saw what was happening, her tails shot up as she giggled with glee. When Felix opened his eyes, he caught a glimpse of something bright and dusty rotating around the apple as if they were tiny little fairies. But the moment was lost as the light faded away, much to KuliKuli's disappointment.
"Aww, what happened?" She began to pout.
Reta shook her head and clicked her tongue. "You broke your concentration. Do it again."
"Oh, okay." Her ears dropped but she understood, letting go and adjusting her posture to meditate. She breathed in and tried to relax, but the feeling had grown weak. That lingering tickle was barely there, almost like a memory now, and the harder she tried to feel it, the more it went away. She repeated this until her shoulders fell and she crumbled, nearly fainting when Felix caught her in his arms.
"I can't," She said with a tired look. "Something is wrong, I feel like I just ran up the hill and back ten times."
"Yes, that will happen if you exert yourself. Did you forget my advice? You were trying to force it when the idea is to embrace it. Let it come to you, not the other way around." Reta explained, taking the apple in her hand and sitting next to them. "Here, let her rest on my lap. This is why Genki is difficult to control, it is a matter of training your focus and understanding of how it works. Watch."
With the apple raised, Reta closed her eyes and in a moment, a flurry of little gold dust sprouted from her hand and rotated around both her hand and fruit.
"Oooo, that's what I saw. Her hand is on fire." KuliKuli giggled, staring in awe along with Felix.
"Not quite, what you see is the Genki around us. Only when gathered together with a strong enough force to maintain it can we see it in its natural beauty. This is what you call Magic. We live by it, some adapt it by different means. I was taught to embrace it, let it guide you and flow through you. There is no use for making silly tricks out of it, because Genki is so much more."
Reta put the apple down, her hand still glowing when she reached for the potted plant instead. Felix narrowed his eyes and pressed his brows together when the Genki flowed through her fingers and around the clay pot, only to hover upwards and follow the stem before sprouting through the plant leaves. "That's different."
"Yes, do you know why?" Reta asked, raising it closer for them to see.
"Well, it didn't fly around the pot." KuliKuli stated.
Felix nodded and continued her thought. "No, but it went to the plant as if it were driven toward it. Like it was attracted to it."
"Just like you said about its attraction to life." KuliKuli looked up at Reta in awe. "Wow."
"You know, maybe just learning how to do that wouldn't hurt." Janette commented, her curiosity peaked by the display. "I mean there's not much harm to that right, just a little fatigue? I could save up on candles with a night light like that."
"Cute, but using this as a night light is insulting. Genki isn't for amusement or entertainment." She offered for Felix to grab, only for the color of Genki to change. The flow surrounding it was much fainter, the speed was more sluggish and there was a slight hint of black mixed in with the gold aura.
"Oh I see what this is, that's Light Magic." Janette grinned, feeling a sense of accomplishment now that they returned to familiar knowledge.
"Not a lot of light to it." Felix raised the plant around, his eyes tracking the black dust that rotated around it.
"What does it feel like?" KuliKuli asked.
"Like a caterpillar crawling it's tiny little legs over my hand. Why is some of it black?"
"I can answer that!" Janette chimed in, her heart sinking when Reta shot daggers at her with just a look. "Ehhh, another time! You just do what you were doing!"
"It's fine, pay no mind to the difference in color. You are doing it now, you should be proud." Reta reached out, guiding his hand until KuliKuli took the hint and reached out. Her paw was met with a similar reaction, only a faint black mist emerged before disappearing. "Hmm, you may need to rest more."
"Aw, but I'll miss all the fun stuff." She whined, puffing out her cheeks with a frown.
Reta rolled her eyes. "There will be more days, perhaps I was too hasty in my approach. The rest can wait for another time. Today, take what you learned and practice it after."
Felix blinked and saw the Genki dissipate from his hand. He nodded and placed it down, helping KuliKuli stand up on her wobbly legs. She giggled and fell back on his arms, giving him an innocent look only for him to frown.
"You're doing that on purpose."
"Am not! Ah!" She dropped down, hitting her butt on the dirt as he released her. "Hey! I could have broken my tails!"
"I thought cats were meant to land on their feet." He smirked back only to be pounced on.
Janette walked up to Reta slowly, watching Felix push KuliKuli away only for her to chase him. "Not bad for a first lesson, are they suppose to be that short?"
Reta was busy collecting the items off the ground. "If anything, I taught them two weeks of lessons in one night."
"Yeesh, I didn't realize learning Magic was that slow."
"Slow learning makes for steady progress." She answered back.
Janette shrugged. "Just saying. Maybe I can step in and learn a little for myself."
"Not likely." Reta smiled knowingly, "It is hard to fill a cup that is full."
Janette huffed, folding her arms when Felix jumped up with an angry Nekomata clinging to his back.
"Hey wait, how was that supposed to help us defend ourselves? Shouldn't we learn that first?"
Reta paused and turned to look at the tree near their front door. She calmly approached it and breathed in, her fingers clamping into a tight fist, her arm raised to her hip.
Her fist struck the bark with a fierce blow, cutting through the air in a blur. The tree shook and several apples fell off their stems, raining down around her as she turned to smile back. "Trust me, you're in the process of learning. Practice today, the next lesson will come in time. We have work to do first, those animals are growing hungry and restless."
She entered the cabin and closed the door behind them, leaving Felix, KuliKuli, and Janette staring with their jaws on the floor.
Reta reached her hand over the tray of items in display before the pair. "Excellent, you have now learned what it is like to draw out your inner Genki. You asked if you can share thoughts or feelings, I believe you are bright enough to learn that yourself."
"This whole meditation thing." Janette interrupted, stepping in for a closer look. "I never read anything about that."
"I suspect that I am the first to teach you." Reta asked with a prideful look. "That is to be expected. In my village, we harness the flow of Genki in different ways. The age is changing as we know it. But in my village, we uphold our sacred teachings for Genki. We do none of that showmanship crap you saw in the circus!"
"Aw, but that stuff looked like fun." KuliKuli argued, her smile dropping quickly. "Well, until they tried to kill us."
"Focus on your meditation." Reta reminded her with a scowl. "You're beginning to lose your control."
"I am?" She recoiled, pressing her paw on her partner's hand. She raised her head with a baffled look. "It's not forever?"
"Baka! If it were forever, we would drop from exhaustion in short time." She explained, scolding her in the process. "You have lost your flow of Genki, that is fine. Raise your head and try again, no need to pout. Failure is a natural encounter while on the way to success. Do not see it as a wall but as an obstacle."
KuliKuli cleared her throat and nodded, sitting upright and closing her eyes as she began to meditate again. Felix sat back and observed her, enjoying the calm, natural look on her face as she breathed in and out. Over time, he felt the tiny hairs on his arm rise up.
"Good, took you a bit longer but you did it." Reta noticed Felix scanning his arm. "That is to be expected. When you meditate, you concentrate on what is within you and that which flows around you. People don't just snap their fingers and light their hands on fire."
"Only if they're professional mages." Janette argued, "Those fire boys can set an entire house ablaze!"
"Do not interrupt when I am teaching!" Reta snarled, turning her head to her. Janette raised her hands and backed away respectfully. "That is how one controls the elements, it is not what I am teaching."
"So..." Felix asked, grabbing their attention. "What can you do?"
"That is what you are about to find out." She replied, extending her hand out to him. "Here, place your hand over mine. Both of you."
KuliKuli reached out and held her paw over her hand, with Felix hesitant before following her action. Their eyes grew wide as the experience felt unreal. A new wave of emotions were suddenly introduced to them as soon as they made physical contact, sharing their Genki amongst each other.
Reta couldn't contain her enjoyment. "You two are like children. you remind me of when we were first taught these lessons."
"How old were you when you were taught this?" KuliKuli asked.
"I had come to be four years of age, but do not let that discourage you. What you are feeling is our Genki passing between us, like electrical currents with us as the conductor."
"I can feel what you feel." Felix gasped, staring into her eyes.
"Yes." Reta smiled back. "If we concentrate on the flow of Genki, we are capable of sharing it with another. Stay focused and let me guide you."
She lowered their hands to the tray in between them, grabbing the apple. "Now close your eyes. That tingling feeling around you, I want you to focus on that. Next, concentrate on what you feel with your hands. Remember, don't think too hard. Let your body feel the object in your hand, and then direct the Genki onto your hand."
"How do we do that?" KuliKuli asked. "Do we just think about it like some command?"
"Not quite, you are thinking too much Neko. When you focus on what is in your hand, your mind ignores the feeling around your body."
Janette dropped her book and covered her mouth, taken aback by what she was watching. "Oh my gods."
"What?" Felix raised his head.
"Shhhh, you are losing focus. Concentrate, maintain focus. Relax, when you find yourself swimming in the river, you don't fight the current. You swim with the current. That is what is happening here, let the Genki embrace you before you guide it where you want it to go."
He nodded and kept his lips sealed, exhaling slowly as he began to soften the tension in his body. KuliKuli giggled and started to squirm, finding the ticklish feeling around her to be a bit hard to avoid smiling.
"You two are doing well. When I tell you to open your eyes, you need to keep that concentration. Do you understand?" They nodded as she raised their hands a little higher. "Good. Open."
KuliKuli squealed as soon as she saw what was happening, her tails shot up as she giggled with glee. When Felix opened his eyes, he caught a glimpse of something bright and dusty rotating around the apple as if they were tiny little fairies. But the moment was lost as the light faded away, much to KuliKuli's disappointment.
"Aww, what happened?" She began to pout.
Reta shook her head and clicked her tongue. "You broke your concentration. Do it again."
"Oh, okay." Her ears dropped but she understood, letting go and adjusting her posture to meditate. She breathed in and tried to relax, but the feeling had grown weak. That lingering tickle was barely there, almost like a memory now, and the harder she tried to feel it, the more it went away. She repeated this until her shoulders fell and she crumbled, nearly fainting when Felix caught her in his arms.
"I can't," She said with a tired look. "Something is wrong, I feel like I just ran up the hill and back ten times."
"Yes, that will happen if you exert yourself. Did you forget my advice? You were trying to force it when the idea is to embrace it. Let it come to you, not the other way around." Reta explained, taking the apple in her hand and sitting next to them. "Here, let her rest on my lap. This is why Genki is difficult to control, it is a matter of training your focus and understanding of how it works. Watch."
With the apple raised, Reta closed her eyes and in a moment, a flurry of little gold dust sprouted from her hand and rotated around both her hand and fruit.
"Oooo, that's what I saw. Her hand is on fire." KuliKuli giggled, staring in awe along with Felix.
"Not quite, what you see is the Genki around us. Only when gathered together with a strong enough force to maintain it can we see it in its natural beauty. This is what you call Magic. We live by it, some adapt it by different means. I was taught to embrace it, let it guide you and flow through you. There is no use for making silly tricks out of it, because Genki is so much more."
Reta put the apple down, her hand still glowing when she reached for the potted plant instead. Felix narrowed his eyes and pressed his brows together when the Genki flowed through her fingers and around the clay pot, only to hover upwards and follow the stem before sprouting through the plant leaves. "That's different."
"Yes, do you know why?" Reta asked, raising it closer for them to see.
"Well, it didn't fly around the pot." KuliKuli stated.
Felix nodded and continued her thought. "No, but it went to the plant as if it were driven toward it. Like it was attracted to it."
"Just like you said about its attraction to life." KuliKuli looked up at Reta in awe. "Wow."
"You know, maybe just learning how to do that wouldn't hurt." Janette commented, her curiosity peaked by the display. "I mean there's not much harm to that right, just a little fatigue? I could save up on candles with a night light like that."
"Cute, but using this as a night light is insulting. Genki isn't for amusement or entertainment." She offered for Felix to grab, only for the color of Genki to change. The flow surrounding it was much fainter, the speed was more sluggish and there was a slight hint of black mixed in with the gold aura.
"Oh I see what this is, that's Light Magic." Janette grinned, feeling a sense of accomplishment now that they returned to familiar knowledge.
"Not a lot of light to it." Felix raised the plant around, his eyes tracking the black dust that rotated around it.
"What does it feel like?" KuliKuli asked.
"Like a caterpillar crawling it's tiny little legs over my hand. Why is some of it black?"
"I can answer that!" Janette chimed in, her heart sinking when Reta shot daggers at her with just a look. "Ehhh, another time! You just do what you were doing!"
"It's fine, pay no mind to the difference in color. You are doing it now, you should be proud." Reta reached out, guiding his hand until KuliKuli took the hint and reached out. Her paw was met with a similar reaction, only a faint black mist emerged before disappearing. "Hmm, you may need to rest more."
"Aw, but I'll miss all the fun stuff." She whined, puffing out her cheeks with a frown.
Reta rolled her eyes. "There will be more days, perhaps I was too hasty in my approach. The rest can wait for another time. Today, take what you learned and practice it after."
Felix blinked and saw the Genki dissipate from his hand. He nodded and placed it down, helping KuliKuli stand up on her wobbly legs. She giggled and fell back on his arms, giving him an innocent look only for him to frown.
"You're doing that on purpose."
"Am not! Ah!" She dropped down, hitting her butt on the dirt as he released her. "Hey! I could have broken my tails!"
"I thought cats were meant to land on their feet." He smirked back only to be pounced on.
Janette walked up to Reta slowly, watching Felix push KuliKuli away only for her to chase him. "Not bad for a first lesson, are they suppose to be that short?"
Reta was busy collecting the items off the ground. "If anything, I taught them two weeks of lessons in one night."
"Yeesh, I didn't realize learning Magic was that slow."
"Slow learning makes for steady progress." She answered back.
Janette shrugged. "Just saying. Maybe I can step in and learn a little for myself."
"Not likely." Reta smiled knowingly, "It is hard to fill a cup that is full."
Janette huffed, folding her arms when Felix jumped up with an angry Nekomata clinging to his back.
"Hey wait, how was that supposed to help us defend ourselves? Shouldn't we learn that first?"
Reta paused and turned to look at the tree near their front door. She calmly approached it and breathed in, her fingers clamping into a tight fist, her arm raised to her hip.
Her fist struck the bark with a fierce blow, cutting through the air in a blur. The tree shook and several apples fell off their stems, raining down around her as she turned to smile back. "Trust me, you're in the process of learning. Practice today, the next lesson will come in time. We have work to do first, those animals are growing hungry and restless."
She entered the cabin and closed the door behind them, leaving Felix, KuliKuli, and Janette staring with their jaws on the floor.
