With Violet underway to Abassara, carrying the letter for Leandro's friend, and a few days before their trip to the Fairlands, David and Niala resumed their training with Leandro, with one big change.

  “Train my weaving?” Niala blinked.

  Leandro nodded. “That is correct. I do not have the same experience with weaving as I do with body imbuements, but I did train several weavers at the Library. I should be able to teach you a few things.”

  Some clatter erupted from where David was putting away the equipment he'd carried over to the moon chapel, attracting their attention. Niala turned her head back toward the veteran. “If I can ask, you and David both mentioned the Library. Is that where weavers are imprisoned?”

  Leandro's eyebrows arched. “Imprisoned? Mwa ha ha! No, girl! The kingdom does not imprison its weavers! People who can make rock melt like ice with a single touch? How long do you think we could keep them contained?” He asked, leaning forward, hands on his hips.

  Niala's ears flopped down. “Oh. But then, what kind of place is it?”

  “It is many things. You could call it a school, a training camp, a resort, and maybe also a bit of a prison, but a voluntary one. The Library protects the weavers as much as it protects us from them.” Leandro explained.

  “Are... are we that dangerous? Or in danger?” She asked, her ears wiggling.

  It was David who answered, as he walked back from the pile of equipment. “Not everyone controls their ability as well as you do, kitten. Most weavers I have heard about were ousted because they couldn't control it at all.”

  Leandro sombrely nodded. “That is true. In the most tragic of cases, a weaver can orphan themselves. It is also a power not well understood by the common people, and fear is usually the first reaction, which often leads to violence.”

  Niala frowned, uncertain what to think of it. “But you're still picking up people and dragging them against their will, aren't you?” Her tone held a tint of accusation.

  Leandro shook his head. “Girl, believe me, I did not enjoy the few times I was required to escort a weaver. Even less so because I was only sent to some of the worst cases; weavers who had killed and destroyed, usually unwillingly, but sometimes, with clear intent.”

  The catkin's eyes went wide as her ears flopped and her tail deflated.

  David shook his head, his heart aching as he saw a new crack form in Niala's world. Of course she hadn't even thought that her ability could be used to hurt people. Why would anyone do that?

  He walked up to the little woman and put his arms around her. She instinctively rested her head against his arm as he planted a kiss on it.

  It took her a few moments, but she found her resolve once more. “Leandro, if I ever use my power to hurt someone, please knock me out and bring me to the Library.”

  David froze, while Leandro's eyes narrowed. “Girl, why do you think that might happen?”

  Niala shook her head. “I don't think it's going to happen, but with Anaakendi's gifts within me, I can't be certain. What if it affects me?”

  The courier's muscles relaxed, and his heart unclenched. He squeezed his girlfriend a little bit harder.

  Niala turned her head up at David's, giving him a reassuring smile as she patted his arm. He reluctantly released her from his grip.

  Leandro nodded. “Right, enough lessons. It is time to train. Boy, you are not even winded from our run here. Grab a yoke and as many buckets as you can support, then add one more, and start running.” His eyes clamped down on David's retort. The courier glared for a moment before complying.

  The veteran turned his entire attention to Niala, who meeped despite herself.

  “As for you, girl, we need to see just how much control you have over your weaving.” He said, an unfriendly grin on his face.

  Niala swallowed.

  Leandro had claimed he wasn't an expert on weaving, and he might not have been, but he did know a lot, and he was very enthusiastic about teaching Niala everything he knew.

  She had thought weaving was all about telling mana a story. In a sense, it was true, but that was like saying a tree was made of wood. True, but incomplete.

  There were many, many more elements to consider. Leandro passed on what he had learned from the expert teachers of the Library; just like any good storyteller, you weren't just saying words. The tone, cadence, volume, intention, and timing were all important.

  Transposing these concepts to the control of mana was abstract, and apparently very personal; most weavers described their own techniques as applying different colours, temperaments, textures, value, stiffness, and so on.

  For this reason, Niala would have to train, and Leandro was adamant that the best way to train was when you were exhausted.

  “Thoughts block learning. They are cavaliers defending your mind, galloping past and intercepting incoming knowledge. When you are exhausted, so are they, and the path is clear.” The veteran had told her, just before he had her run loaded up with five rock buckets, more than she'd even had before.

  And then, once she could barely stand up, he made her weave singular aspects into her mana. A longer effect, a shorter one, stronger, weaker, more explosive, more subdued.

  By the end of the day, she was out of both energy and mana, with a small headache pickaxing its way into her skull.

  And she has three more days of this.

  Back home, David had carried her limp form into a hot bath, and he'd even prepared dinner!

  He had proudly presented to her what was probably the most practical sandwich she had ever seen or tasted. It wasn't bland, or unappetizing, or anything of the sort.

  But this was a sandwich that would waddle its way into a sandwich competition by punching open a door, shoving past the other contestant, walking up to the judges, screaming at them, before swaggering away, certain of its victory.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  It was just so... David.

  It was the best sandwich she'd ever had.

  A few days later, David and Niala were at the Weldtree. It had lost all of its leaves, just like all the other leafy trees, but it somehow looked as alive as it had during summer. Soon, it rang like a gong, and the Fairlands portal opened, allowing Totori through.

  A Totori who now sported a crisp, deep purple designer-cut suit, wielding a leather briefcase that screamed “expensive”, and large silver-rimmed aviator sunglasses.

  She looked like a business doll, and Niala squealed as she rushed up to the diminutive woman. “Totori! Your clothes! You look amazing!” She said as she circled the fairy.

  Totori lifted her sunglasses and beamed a smile at the catkin woman. “Thanks! I had to spend some of the money I got from David's contract! I even had the mouldy walls in my loft replaced! My throat doesn't hitch in the morning anymore!”

  David lifted an eyebrow. “Money? I didn't earn anything yet, and I haven't gone back once. When did you get money?”

  Totori froze, eyes wide, staring at David. “Ah, huh, well, you see!” She pulled at her suit. “It's just that, there was a hiring bonus in the contract I had you sign, that's all.”

  David bent at the waist, as low as he could, his face hovering above the small woman. “How much?”

  “Oh! Nothing at all! Just a few million chocolate coins worth!”

  “And who paid for that?”

  “Well, you did, silly! Do you know just how much money was deposited in your bank account at the National Fairbank?”

  David blinked. “I don't have an account...?”

  “They made one for you! They had to do something with all the billions you were owed, even after paying for all the damages you caused! Which ran up to almost a trillion chocolate coins, by the way! The news talked about it for weeks!” Totori blurted out.

  He straightened back up, scratching his head. “I'm... rich?”

  “Super rich! And you're going to get even richer with all the fairy dust you're going to get paid! Now, let's go! I chartered a private volante for us!”

  Niala's ears wiggled. “What's a volante?! It sounds flying!”

  “Ah! That.... is exactly what it is. You don't have volantes in the mundaneworld? How do you travel long distances?”

  “Airships, boats, or avian golems for the very rich,” Niala replied.

  “Oh, well, think of it like a cariole, but bigger, and with wings? Anyway, you'll see! You're going to love it!”

  The fairy beckoned them over, and they stepped through the Weldgate.

  From the Weldhub, the three of them took what was, according to Totori, David's new personal cariole, driven by David's new personal chauffeur, and soon arrived at a small airport. Except, instead of moorings for airships to attach to upon landing, this place had long paved roads and many large warehouse-looking buildings arrayed in lines.

  And then Niala caught a glimpse of a volante taking off, and shook David like a congested condiment bottle while pointing at the gleaming pink slender-winged machine roaring along one of those roads, before it gently lifted upwards, the wheels it had been riding on retracting into its undercarriage as the volante ascended.

  Niala began filling the cariole with questions, which Totori tried to answer, before they arrived at David's new private volante, this one painted a mix of violet and purple-red, upon which Niala ejected herself out of the cariole and began racing around the machine, inspecting every facet and angle of it. David used the moment to ask Totori how many more private things he owned, which the fairy ignored in favour of pointing out interesting things to Niala.

  The catkin's frenzy only intensified when they finally wrangled her inside the volante. The luxurious interior was decorated in the usual candy tones, with plush and comfortable couches arrayed in various configurations, some along the windows, some clustered around small wooden tables.

  A fairy hostess welcomed them onboard and had them sit down; a momentous task when it came to Niala, who was in the process of climbing into the carry-on luggage compartment.

  Soon-ish, they were taking off, with Niala glued to one of the oval windows.

  David found the experience novel, but didn't relish the lack of control. Niala was entirely too engrossed with everything to feel anything but enthusiasm.

  They arrived at another airport a few bells later, Totori announcing that they had arrived at Bowtietown, home of the Cherry Lollipop Applied Sciences Institute, where they would be meeting Bean Velour Snugglefit, and presented to the team of students that had won the bid to have access to David's unlimited mana.

  They supposedly had a full two days' worth of activities planned out, and, for his trouble, David would be getting paid 200 grams of fairy dust, 10 of which would go to Totori as payment.

  It was in the rented Cariole that took them to the institute that David was finally able to ask Totori something, with Niala dozing off on his shoulder, having depleted her energy for now.

  “Totori.”

  “Yes, boss?”

  He stared at her for a second, deciding to let it go. “Could you look into hiring a company to supply us with herbs, like what Jasmund had?”

  “Oh, sure! I'll have time to make some calls while you're doing the experiments! What are you looking for?”

  “Hmm, Niala will give you the list of herbs, but try to find a company that Niala would approve of.”

  Totori glanced at the sleeping catkin, then looked back at David. “What does that mean?”

  “Hmm... preferably people who have trouble staying in business because they're too generous, and involve themselves with their community, and care about nature, and would let a wild beast eat their arm if it meant saving them from starvation. That kind of company.”

  Totori blinked. “Oh...Oh! People like Niala!”

  He smiled and nodded.

  “Gotcha, boss! I'll find that for you. It's very clever, you know? Not only is your spouse going to be super happy with your choice, but the company will basically owe you their existence with a solid contract to drag them out of debt! You'll have them by the wings!” The business fairy commended.

  David rubbed his forehead. “No, Niala isn't my spouse, and I don't want to hold them by the anything. I just want to help good people get out of debt.”

  Totori looked between Niala and David before winking at him. “Right! Got it, boss! Just helping them out of debt! Wouldn't want to give your future spouse the wrong idea!”

  “No, Totori... forget it.” A thought hit him. “Hey, Totori, speaking of spouse, mind if I ask about fairykind? I've only ever seen women. How do you, huh, have kids?”

  Totori blinked. “Women? Oh! Oooooh! No, no, we don't have sexual dimorphism like mundaneworlders! We're all the same gender, and we can both, huh, make a baby and carry one.” She explained, with a slight blush.

  “Wait, you mean that... you have both male and female parts?”

  “I guess? I'm not sure what parts mundaneworlders have. No, I don't want the details. I'm not really into xenophilia.”

  “I wasn't going to offer, but one more question?”

  “Sure, anything for you, boss!”

  “Right. So when two fairies get together and want to have kids, if they can both have or make babies, who gets to do what?”

  “Oh! That's easy! They have a fight, and the winner gets to deposit the baby, while the loser carries the baby!” Totori explained with a smile.

  “They... fight,” David confirmed.

  “Oh, yeah! The more lovey-dovey they are, the more intense the fights! The mothers end up in the hospital sometimes! They have wards dedicated to them; they call them the love wards! They take pictures of your love wounds and give you a card with a collage of them when you get discharged and your fathering spouse comes to pick you up! It's all very romantic!” Totori explained with a flutter in her voice, before muttering. “I hope I find a nice fairy that can knock me out one day...”

  “We don't have the same definition of romantic.” David intoned.

  “Ah? Oh, look, we've arrived!” Totori said, pointing at the very large and very pink building they were approaching.

  And David was very glad for the change of topic.

  nouveau rich.