Encore blended in with the fragrant white suds floating atop the steaming water. His legs and tails were spread out, his snout just above the water, his eyes closed. I relaxed in the water a couple feet away. The tub was more akin to a small swimming pool than a tub, large enough to fit a half dozen people easily. Multiple copper pipes that rimed the tub had filled it with surprising speed.

  "This is heaven.” Encore said, lifting his head just high enough to bring his mouth out of the water. He lowered it, blowing contented bubbles.

  “Agreed. Nothing quite like a deep soak. How are you doing?”

  “I am well. The gnome had intended to keep me as source material for his fictions. He had barely begun outlining his plans when you blew your way into ‘his fortress’. He had been very proud of that building, sealed by his own hand after acquiring it many years hence. Used that golem to tunnel under the hard desert stone, a common application of the creature for the town.” He paddled lazily in a circle as he spoke. “He did nothing untoward against me, other than speak. At length. Great length. My concern is for Abernathy. He seems drained. Like one who had has an exceptionally productive and violent mating season.”

  “I’m worried about him as well. You seem to talk about mating a lot. Do you have a lot of experience with it?”

  “I speak of it because of the smells produced by our group. But no, I do not have experience. Not first hand. There are… few kitsiho. I have not seen another since leaving my den.”

  “That sounds lonely.”

  “We are solitary by nature, so it is no great loss for me. When the time comes, I will return to my homelands and seek out a mate.”

  “How will you know when the time is right?” I thought of the scent of flowers and oil. A dauntless spirit and mischievous smile.

  “Instinct.”

  “Instinct?”

  “Yes, instinct. My heart will tell me, and I will listen. It is the same type of feeling that guided me back to you time and time again.”

  “Wait, what? We are talking about mating. That’s weird, Encore.”

  He snorted, sending a small spray of bubbles that floated atop the water up and into the air. “We speak of many things, but the topic of which I speak is instinct now, not mating.”

  I laughed. “Okay good. So where will you go, when instinct calls? Where is home?”

  “The Fractalunds far to the north, beyond the tempestuous Strait of the Behemoth. A beautiful land. Much of the year it is timeless, a place of ice and quiet. It awakens for a few weeks every year. The ice thaws, the snow melts, filling the banks of great rivers that feed the sea. Life awakens, blooms. The world shifts into a myriad of colors. A blazing firework that lasts nearly a month before the cold creeps back in and once again freezes time.”

  “That sounds amazing. I would love to see that some time.”

  “It is quite amazing, though it is difficult to reach for those that cannot fly. The waters that surround the land are home to a number of dangerous, territorial beings.”

  “Oh. That is… terrifying. Well maybe I can find a race that flies, absorb their essence.”

  “Hmmm. That… is a possibility. There are a few races with that capability. A reclusive avian beastkin tribe that lives in the mountains, called ‘harpies’ by many. The celestialesque and faefolk both have subjects capable of flight, as do the elamentalkins of air. These are all exceedingly rare, some nothing more than rumor, though, so chances of coming across any of them are low.”

  “Lower than… say… running into an enwebbed Kitsiho in the forest?” I chuckled.

  “That is a valid point. Luck, or fate, shines upon you, so it may very well come to pass some day. It is a day’s hard flight over the strait. Perhaps we can venture there together some day in earnest.”

  My thoughts turned to Abernathy as our conversation petered out, and I decided to send him a private message.

  Chanter: Hey bud, are you really okay? I cant imagine what you went through today.

  Abernathy: Thanks mate, I appreciate it. Really. I’ll be alright. Good night’s rest’s all I need. Your song did wonders for my mind, like always. I might not say it enough, but I really do appreciate you. You’re my best friend. Thank you.

  Chanter: I’m here if you want to talk. You’re my best friend too.

  Abernathy: Cheers, I’ll keep that in mind. Gonna crash out here soon, thanks for checking on me.

  Chanter: Of course. Sleep well.

  I spent another half hour soaking, long after the water’ warmth lowered to lukewarm. I didn’t mind. It felt like the first time I had truly relaxed since logging into the game.

  Encore pulled himself from the water at some point, shaking himself mostly dry then shifting his form, growing slightly larger. The transformation absorbed the water into his body. Watching it sparked my curiosity about something I had been meaning to ask him.

  “Why don’t you ever eat or drink? I used to think you did, I used to leave you water when we were crossing the desert, and you mentioned hunting with Lesh when you first joined us, but since then I haven’t seen you eat or drink once.”

  “I don’t need to. The ambient magic of the world sustains me. Though I can consume food, and drink, they are not necessary.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “So… you don’t use the restroom either? I just assumed you were private about it.”

  “I do, and I am. It is part of my nature to be private about such things.”

  “So… what do you do if there isn’t enough ambient magic?”

  “I have yet to encounter this, but I would require additional food, or alternative sources of mana. You could provide that directly, through our bond, or I could consume mana from mana stones.”

  “As in, eat the stones?”

  “No, I can siphon the mana from them the same way I do from the air.”

  “And how do you gather mana from the air?”

  “Well.” He sat on a padded bench along the far wall of the room as he spoke. “It is similar to what Katarina has described her meditation to be. It begins with breathing.”

  “Does that mean you are attuned to the wind attribute?”

  “Yes and no. I’m not attuned to any specific attribute. I suppose you could say I am attuned to magic, itself. I can sense it, draw it into myself. The first step is always breathing. As I draw in breath, I also draw in mana.”

  I closed my eyes and breathed, trying to sense the mana around me as Encore has described it. I could feel something, through the bond we shared. It was just beyond my reach. I could sense it, but I lacked the ability to reach for it. I focused, willed the mana, the energy, the chi, whatever it was, to be drawn into me.

  It resisted, ignored my pleas. I was missing something. Some tool, or method of conveyance. Some vital tool. I sighed.

  “I can feel it there, something, some invisible force, but I can’t gather it.”

  “It is as your mate says, I believe. You must find a resonance. For her, it is the wind. For me, magic itself, as I was born into this world as a creature of magic.”

  “Katarina is not my mate.”

  One of Encore’s cheeks quirked up in a toothy half-grin. “As you say.”

  “Resonance.” I shifted in the water, frustrated with my failure to gather the energy. The frustration shoved away my sense of relaxation, and I rose. “Well, if I can’t to that, at least I can practice some songs before going to sleep.”

  I dried myself off with one of the plush towels that lined the shelves on the wall opposite the bath soaps. It was unbelievably soft. “Fancy a bit of practice?”

  “Indeed, I feel refreshed and ready to spend a bit more time in wisp form. I sense its power, but it is very taxing.”

  His mention of wisp form brought up a thought, sparked from our talks of mana. “That form. It seems almost incorporeal. Like you become mana. Is that why it is so taxing?”

  “Possibly, yes. I do still have a physical form as a wisp, but it is different. More akin to condensed smoke.”

  “And you said that you were able to feed off of my magic points through our bond, right?”

  Encore stopped walking, turning to face me with a comically surprised expression on his fox face. “Oh!”

  “Yeah! Can I help support that drain while you are in that form? I wonder how much mana it would take.” I had been slowly regenerating my mana points and was back up to just over half full with 17 points.

  “Yes, yes. That should work.” He tilted his head to the side and a notification appeared in front of me.

  Bonded Mana Transference request initiated by Encore. Accept?

  “Neat.” I said, accepting the request. One of my points vanished as an invisible, barely tangible link formed between the two of us. The sensation was unique. It existed as potential. I sent another mana point through the bond.

  Encore shifted into his wisp form and spoke. It was eerie, hearing his voice from the mote of shimmering blueish light. “I should have thought of this. Your mana is potent. I could survive from that you have already given for days in my normal form. Even as I am, I no longer feel exhausted upon transforming.”

  “Wow, your body must be incredibly efficient with mana,” I laughed. “That is… man I’m bad with math. A tiny portion of my magic points. A fifteenth of what I can hold?”

  “Yes, I can sense your mana reserves with the transference active. We can do much with this.”

  I pulled my lute out and began playing Kinetic Overload. Encore assisted with tinkling bells and a sound that sounded like a xylophone. We completed the song at 98%, and I sent the energy into myself.

  “Faster. We need to be able to perform this song faster.” I poured a few magic points into Quicken Song, performing the song again. Our tempo quickened, and I finished the song in half the time, this time at 97%.

  “Wait. Encore, I want to try something. Can you perform Kinetic Overload with Quicken Song, without me?”

  I felt another mana point siphon from me, then two more, as Encore began performing the song on his own with his newly unlocked Mimicry of Melodies.

  The sound was different this time. The tinkling bells and chimes were replaced with strums and plucked strings, as if from a lute. It sounded nearly the same as when I performed, though slightly softer. The tempo picked up as I listened, nodding my head with the rhythm.

  It worked. He completed the song in a couple seconds, roughly the same amount of time it took me to perform it when quickened. It took an extra magic points, but something unexpected happened when he sent the enchantment to me.

  I looked at my stat screen in shock. I had two instances of Kinetic Overload active. Two separate timers. I looked closer. The older one read Kinetic Overload (Chanter). The second was the same, but read (Encore).

  “Wait, wait. They stack?! Hang on. Holy crap.” I pulled out two copper coins, tossing them on the plush carpet. “Let’s try that again. You buff that one.” I pointed to one of the coins and began performing Kinetic Overload. Encore began his performance at the same time, easily maintaining the rhythm. We completed the performance simultaneously, enchanting both coins with a gentle red glow. I picked them up and put them in my inventory.

  Chanter: Holy shit guys. Encore and me just figured something out.

  I pulled one of the coins out of my inventory, looking at it.

  “Oh the possibilities.” I whispered, closing my fist around the coin.