Chapter 14: Elders

It's been a couple of weeks now and the village has been restored. But a violent air element storm had blown away several buildings and injured four people. Someone had even been knocked into a coma for a few days when a piece of lumber hit her in the head.

The storms have been getting more intense and the weather getting increasingly chaotic.

Didn't really want to do it now but it's dumb not to, plus I already am noticing a surge of a specific type of element before its storm, getting a breakthrough to detect a storm if that's even a thing that may just happen by accident.

There's just one more piece of the puzzle I am missing to predicting the storms, and that is to sense the mana before the surge of elemental mana. So I am keeping an eye out for any irregularities, it wouldn't be long until I had the chance.

I already kinda knew what would happen, my MM force hypothesis telling what to look for. The surge of ice mana actually drew ambient ice mana up, back flowing through the leyline currents, the quiet before the storm. Then came the surge that drew the storm, like a shepherd leading its flock.

Ting! Sense Mana has met requirements for a breakthrough. Sense Mana will now continue leveling past level 80!

Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 75!…Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 79!

Sense Mana: You have opened your mind to one of the energies that fuels this world. You can now sense mana in its raw form.…7th Breakthrough: You've learned of and seen the relationship of essences and mana. Now you can better study them.8th Breakthrough: You've predicted a mana storm. This breakthrough will help you predict the turbulent behavior mana.

Four levels. Maybe one or two for having knowledge and two or three for the action of predicting an intense storm. One thing to note is that action level can be further broken down into repetitive usage and an extraordinary feat usage. Meaning just observing storms will help me get levels in both my seventh and eighth breakthrough. Perhaps two or three more levels from that alone.

I am confident I have gotten four or five of the knowledge levels on my seventh, I kinda knew the whole thing before I unlocked it, so it's just proving myself at this point now. For my eighth, I'm sure I have plenty to learn. This will help me study mana currents at least, and studying them will level it up.

I am also on the verge of more breakthroughs. The surge of levels over the last few weeks improved my senses enough that I am beginning to be able to sense very slight differences between a person's mana.

If my first four or so breakthroughs were beginner level, then the ones I am reaching are intermediate level so getting a bunch kinda makes sense to me. Although now I know to keep a track of which levels I am getting from which breakthrough. Which looks like this.

Sense Mana: 10/101st Breakthrough: 10/102nd Breakthrough: 10/103rd Breakthrough: 9/104th Breakthrough: 8/105th Breakthrough: 10/106th Breakthrough: 10/107th Breakthrough: 8/108th Breakthrough: 4/10

Perhaps I should further break it down into knowledge and action levels?

Sense Mana: 10/101st Breakthrough: 10/102nd Breakthrough: 10/103rd Breakthrough: 9/10 (Action: 5/5 Knowledge 4/5)4th Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 5/5 Knowledge 3/5)5th Breakthrough: 10/106th Breakthrough: 10/107th Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 3/5 Knowledge 5/5)8th Breakthrough: 4/10 (Action: 2/5 Knowledge 2/5)

This may not be accurate. My essence sense could be four in each. I already know essence quite extensively and I have yet to sense a massive amount of essence. Seventh could also be four each too and eighth could favor one over the other, in the end, it's just a guess.

I walked around the village holding Mom's hand. the was temperature hotter than usual which made baths nice but now after we just left them for morning baths the heat is still within me. We walked past a few vendors selling their wares. All richly decorated when applicable. One of them stood out to me, however. A stall with ice mana. weird to find ice mana with the coming storm vacuuming it all up but the reason why there is even ice mana here quickly became apparent. An ice mage, or at least someone with an ice bond was generating cold to sell something very familiar to me, I can't quite put my finger on what though.

Clay bowls filled with something saturated in ice mana sat on the counter. A tall woman was happily eating the contents while purring. Something inside of me gravitated toward the stall, a... craving? Somehow I knew that food would be sweet and creamy, a dairy product... ICE CREAM!

A memory of a cold and sweet dish came to me.

"Momara! Momara! Can I have some, please?" I tugged at mom and pointed at the ice cream bowls. Mom looked at it before thinking for a few seconds.

"Oh, why not!" Mom finally agreed. "And I can say hi to Efula while we are at it, too"

I practically dragged Mom there.

"Can I have a bowl please!" I ask the Vendor, Efula. She was shorter than average and had a gargantuan bust, I honestly don't know how she was standing up straight.

"Hello, Little Aly. Haven't seen you in a while!" Efula said, handing me a bowl. Then a realized who she was. It's was hard to tell with everyone looking like silhouettes. She is one of mom's friends she used to take me to. The ones that Nyam use to pull my ears and tail at. I haven't been to one of them in a while now that I am old enough to play at the playground.

I happily dug into the ice cream, feeling the coolness soothe me from the heat. It was less sweet and more creamy than I thought but in a good way. Before I knew it I was purring like a motor.

"Daww, your child has always been so adorable, Feyan!" Efula said, watching me happily put another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.

I don't even care that they are talking about me.

"She really has been a blessing to me and Kanato. Many people say raising a child can be hard, and I don't doubt them, but Little Aly has always been easy to raise"

"Guyovisha was a terror for me! She cried all the time, nothing would satisfy her, no amount of purring, no amount of milk, absolutely nothing would quiet her for us to get a night's rest" Efula said with a reminiscent smile.

Mom and Efula talked for several minutes after I was done and we soon walked back home.

When the ice storm hit three days later I was able to put my new breakthrough to use again. The violent currents sweeping through the area. A blizzard buried the village in snow and froze the top of the shallow sea. I was able to predict the sudden cold surges around the house and the temporary respite of less ice mana dense areas that passed through. With each successive one granting me more insight into the working of the currents.

Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 80!Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 81!

Sadly there weren't enough essences that are boosted by ice mana around for me to observe in great detail so I only gained two levels.

I sat in mom's lap as I was watching the swirls of mana flow through the living room. We are all huddled next to the fire place with a few thick blankets wrapped around us in layers to keep warm. I had my head under the covers as I really didn't need to see with my eyes. We all kept our tails and ears tucked and covered under the blankets to prevent them from getting too cold. Dad occasionally blasting the fireplace with his fire bond when he added more wood.

A lot of places didn't bother installing a fireplace in homes as it really wasn't needed or at least not used a lot. The normally hot climate doesn't allow the need for hearths and it's only used for the occasional ice storm. We almost didn't install one, it just happened to be a whim of Mom's that we got lucky.

Dad finished the flute she was working on and smiled approvingly.

"Aly, I have a gift for you" holding the flute out in my direction.

I peaked my head out of the cover and took the decorated flute, giving it a test blow. I smiled and experimented with different sounds, trying to remember which hole produced what sound.

"Thanks, Momara!"

"Maybe I should make Nyam an instrument too, she'd probably like the drum," Aunty said. Gently stroking Nyam's head and purring.

Nyam is currently snoozing in her mom's lap. So I am not playing my flute loudly. I spent the rest of the day practicing the flute and we all curled up next to each other in front of the fireplace.

When morning arrived the blizzard was over and the snow was already melting. The pathways are being cleared off and snow being dumped in the waters.

Miraculously no one in our village had died but several had needed the attention of healers. Several near frostbitten fingers, ears, and tail. But it won't be long before boats show up heading for temple island, carrying the dead. This is going to be a bad year, I can only hope it doesn't get worse.

The flute was a great distractor and I felt productive learning a new skill. Always focusing on my mana sense or bond for years had me burnt out on them and now I can satisfy that gnawing feeling I felt during the weeks of playing with the other kids.

Ting! You have gained the Musician general skill!

Ting! Musician has met requirements for a breakthrough. Musician will now continue leveling past level 10

Musician: You have a base knowledge of music and several types of instruments1st Breakthrough: You've played a wind-based instrument to a beginner level. This will help you master this instrument.

I was hoping for a [Flutist] skill so this is a pleasant surprise. Seems to be a better skill so there should be a lot more beginner-tier breakthroughs. Percussion instruments, Stringed instruments, Key instruments. Just to name a few.

It seems the knowledge of my past life has helped me gain a better skill, probably knowledge on how those instruments work. Vibrations in the air and all that.

The next storm came a week after the blizzard, but due to my forewarning, my parents told the elders of the coming storm. Three days later an earth storm hit. An earthquake shook the lands in low rumbles. It honestly wasn't that bad if it hadn't lasted for over a dozen hours.

Seeing such a large earth storm has made me realize that the islands are growing, slightly. The earth mana seems to be creating new earth or causing an uplift in geology. Days later a new island was reported to have just barely risen above the waters, not enough to do anything with yet, but given a few decades a new village may be built there.

My early warning, although not heeded by many this time will be in the future, the problem being on how to inform the rest of the islands.

"You have an incredible ability, Alysara" Elder Tusile said. Me, my parents and the Elders are having a meeting.

"Indeed, being able to warn us three days in advance could mean the difference between life and death in these troubling times." The new elder said, Elder Guklaro said.

"We'll need almost two hundred people to send messages, it is fortunate this island is one of the center islands, It'll be quicker to send messages to the outer islands. But that's over half our village dedicated toward sending messages, it's not feasible unless each messenger delivers to about ten islands."Elder Yukika commented.

"That's going to cost money, money we are sparse on at the moment." Elder Guklaro said.

"Indeed" Elder Tusile agreed. "The rebuilding and replanting have drained our reserves, I would suggest passing off the cost to the recipients, they pay for the news. Spreading out the costs means that it's affordable for everyone. Also, we'll only need twenty messengers who visit eight to nine islands or roughly twelve villages if we count the multiple villages per island."

Politics, glad I'm not in their position. I mean, it's warranted, nothing comes free and people aren't going to do things for free because they have their own lives to live.

"It's still going to cost a lot just to bring the news to everyone in the village" The pessimistic Guklaro pointed out.

"We can set up a notice board, it'll be the people's responsibility to inform themselves of the coming storms." Elder Tusile said, showing his experience. If cost is the issue, then make it free. Why go door to door when you can make the people come to you.

"It'll be chaos if everyone crowds the notice board," Yukika said.

"Then we'll have a crier inform the crows at the time of the notice. Anyone who shows up later can just check the board." A simple solution if everyone wants information then give it to them all at the same time. "Once enough people know the news it'll spread by word of mouth."

Honestly, I don't know why I am still here, I've said what I needed and it sounds like the Elders know what they are doing, at least Elder Tusile does.

"It's decided then '' Tusile said "We'll call a meeting of Elders at Temple island" She then turned to us. "We'll need you to be there too, It'll be in three days as long as something doesn't interrupt it"

The meeting took place on time. I practiced my music during those days, slowly learning the flute.

The Meeting of Elders was essentially them going over what they had previously agreed to do. Each village and town is governed by their own elders so they don't have to do what they say but the logic is sound and only minor details would be changed for some places. Like having multiple notice boards through their village.

"And now you should meet the young talent who is able to predict the storms" Elder Yukika said.

She motioned for me to step forward. We are at the amphitheater, where the inter-settlement tournaments are held every year.

I felt the pressure immediately crush me as hundreds of eyes shift towards me. I unconsciously take a step back from the attention. We are only in a small section of the amphitheater so my sensing range is covering the entire meeting. The amphitheater is designed to hold thousands.

"This young girl already has a skill at over level eighty," Tusile said. "Her skill is [Sense Mana], It's what lets her see despite being blind, it also lets her know when a storm is coming.

"Does it let her know what is causing them to be so bad? The last ice storm killed three, perhaps there's a way to prevent them"

All the elders looked at me again and I felt my legs start to shake.

"Umm, Err, I-I-it s-seem th-that the ca-cause is coming f-from s-somewhere e-el-else" I stammered, I'd rather be anywhere else than here.

"Do you know where? Maybe we can send someone to investigate"

I shake my head.

"We should count ourselves lucky that we can be informed days in advance" Elder Yukika came to my rescue. Yukika motioned for me to take a step back and I rushed to hide behind mom and dad. Feeling the pressure lesson.

The meeting went fairly smoothly. There was some more debate and I had to summon a bond fairy to prove my skill at my bond. After that, I again hid behind the comfort of my parents.

"Then, After the next storm we can resume the annual Loshayomo"

That roughly translates to "The gathering competition of settlements". It was canceled due to the bad storms, but now that they can know when a storm will happen in advance they can plan around it.

"If, however, there is a storm on the appointed date we will hold it two days after the storm" another Elder added.

And so the meeting of Elders is concluded and everyone returned to their islands.