Book 2 Chapter 58

When Mu finally got back she was disappointed to have missed such an exciting opportunity to observe her apprentice’s spirits be baptized in the energies of Harmony and Change for the first time. Sure she’d pester the girly about sitting in on some of her core training sessions again, but the first time could’ve had some important information that she’d’ve hated to miss.

“Can’t believe you didn’t wait for me to get back before you did something like that!” She grumped while puffing away on her pipe. “I’m startin’ to think those spirits of yours deliberately have you try out new stuff when I’m not around just to spite me.”

She could tell Willow wanted to refute that, but even after all this time the twins still weren’t the biggest fans of her and the both of them knew it. Considering she represented an organization that wanted to separate them she could almost understand, but they really needed to not treat her like an enemy. She was doing what she could to make sure they’d get to stick with her precocious apprentice.

Luckily, said apprentice decided to throw her a bone.

“You can take a look at them and take measurements now if you want? I haven’t noticed any changes yet, but I could just not be looking hard enough.”

Mu perked right up at the opportunity with Huey’s curiosity flaring brightly by her core, she quickly pulled out one of her journals, a stub of a pencil and looked at her apprentice expectantly. Which just made Willow laugh as she brought her friends out into their shared room. All of the windows were currently shuttered, and thankfully she was a big enough deal that no one would barge into her room unannounced.

So it should be perfectly safe to bring everyone out for a proper inspection.

“Still surprises me how big your wee ones have gotten in such a short time.” She marvelled as they all hovered around her. Willow had probably explained to them what exactly she wanted to check so they stuck to her rather than the one they were bound to.

Mu had also made a point of checking Willow’s spirits periodically anyways due to the unconventional way they were gaining power so they were somewhat used to this routine.

Plus she just liked playing with the little cuties, but it was rude to play with another binder’s spirits so she tried to keep that impulse in check. Even though she doubted that her apprentice would mind terribly.

It was the principle of the thing.

She took her time examining all of the wee spirits, jotting down notes and observations, and occasionally having them utilize their qi so that she could try and spot any changes or differences.

So far, there were none. They seemed to be about the same as the last time she’d examined them. Though their growth rate seemed to have slightly increased? It was hard to say since it was so negligible and her measurements weren’t perfectly precise, but she’d keep an eye out to be sure.

As she checked them over she decided to question her student a bit on what she’d done.

“You said the purpose of this is to awaken their concepts faster?”

Willow nodded, her now shoulder length hair bobbing with the motion. She should probably give it another trim soon.

“The twins said that it should help them, but I’m not really sure why it would.”

Mu nibbled on her pencil as she currently didn’t have her old pipe in her hand, since both hands were occupied with taking notes.

She raised a brow. “You were unsure, but you still went along with what they wanted?”

Willow shrugged and tried to defend her actions. “They know more than me about spirits, and everyone agreed to it. If anyone started to be hurt by it I would’ve stopped immediately.”

Mu nodded with an amused smile on her lips. “Fair enough, I suppose. I felt it too early to really get into concepts and the like since it would take quite a bit of time for the wee ones to come into their own.”

She sighed. “Besides, concepts aren’t really a precise field of study. Much as that annoys me and my interests.”

Her ever inquisitive apprentice cocked her head to the side in that way she did whenever she was confused by something.

“What does that mean? Concepts are just something spirits get when they’re older and stronger right?”

Mu placed her notebook aside and waffled her hand. “Yes, but it’s more the mechanism of things that are imprecise. Take Huey for example. Do you know how many elements can gain the concept of Knowledge?”

She pulled out her oldest bond, the eye covered bird hovering around and taking in the wee spirits. Thankfully the little ones were mostly used to his oddities, and both Phoebe and Calypso even wandered closer to the script-covered spirit, bringing a small smile to her face.

Meanwhile her apprentice continued to look deep in thought as she tried to answer her question.

Eventually the child just shrugged. “From the way you asked I’m guessing a lot of them, but I don’t know why.”

Mu’s small smile turned into a full grin. “You’re correct, and extra points for admittin’ your ignorance.” She pointed her pencil at Willow for emphasis before starting to fiddle with it using both of her hands as she continued. “I have personally observed every element and combination of yin or yang form a concept that is at least adjacent to one of Knowledge. Fire was both a passion for learning and a smoldering spark of curiosity, the both of them so very like Huey that it was a point of amusement for the both of us.”

She put her pencil away and grabbed her pipe, the lecture giving her the urge to take a drag on the familiar object. Little Eos helpfully lit it back up as she sprinkled in more of the medicinal herb inside the bowl at the end of its long handle. Though she supposed she shouldn’t call them little anymore as the flame spirit had grown quite a bit at this point.

As she puffed away on her pipe she continued. “The earth ones were a little stranger with the yang attuned one being a spirit of tradition, and the yin one was a spirit of history for a specific location. The both of them were far too stodgy and uptight for my liking, but it was still enlightening for me to meet them.”

She pointed at Xandra with her pipe, the reflection perking up at the attention. “I suspect your friend here will wind up with a memory concept like the other yin attuned metal spirit I met, but I suppose time will tell. I doubt they’ll get innovation since they don’t seem like the type. Far too even tempered if the one I met is any indication.”

Mu felt she might have been dragging the point out for a bit too long, and decided to pivot. Not that Willow seemed to mind her rambling, but the goal was to educate her on concepts, not list out a bunch of them.

“Anyways, what I’m tryin’ to get across is that there are many paths that can lead to similar concepts, and it’s a fairly messy process. You can get lava through yang aspected earth or yin aspected fire, you can get blood through water or metal, and the list goes on. Technically each concept is relatively unique to the spirit, but practically speaking there are a lot of similar concepts that overlap.”

She watched the wee spirits start to play as she’d stopped inspecting them, a thoughtful look appearing on her face.

“Your little friends might be influenced by the concepts of the twins or they might go in a completely different direction. I’m frustrated because this is mostly uncharted ground you’re treadin’ and I don’t know what’ll come of it, like much of your path. Most people don’t bind conceptless spirits and those that do have not had much luck in imbuing them with one after the fact, at least not in one lifetime. I was initially worried that your friends wouldn't even get a concept no matter how strong they got just due to how young they are, but this experiment should solve that issue. I’m just worried what the cost of it will be.”

Willow watched her friends with her mentor, clearly mulling over what she’d been told.

“I’ll help bear the cost. Whatever it might be.”

Mu sighed, letting out a cloud of smoke and obstructing her face.

She’d keep watch as her apprentice blazed her own path, and had to trust that it wouldn’t be the end of her.