Chapter 9: Mosaic
As Love Heart watched his two students train he noticed that what the book had said about the high speed training was true. When Love Heart had started his training at age 5 he had only been able to increase his mana generation time by a few minutes each day, but while Defiant Heart and Anger Heart had only bee able to hold their mana conjuring for about a minute on the first day, much like how Love Heart had started out, they were already up to half a hour on the second day, and over an hour on the third day. Love Heart was admittedly a little jealous of their progress. It had taken him five years to build up his mana reserves enough to even start his elemental training and here were these two, a 12 year old badge and a 12 year old fox, and they were expanding their abilities b y leaps and bounds. However Love Heart had to admit that the supposed trade off was worth it, and these two would tire much more quickly and more often then he would; Sage Heart had told Love Heart that he, and presumably other Care Bears like these two, had a natural affinity for magic and Love Heart’s slightly earlier than normal training, starting mana buildup at age 5 instead of 6 and starting elemental training at age 10 instead of 12, meant he might actually have extremely high mana reserves more than enough to let him use magic whenever he wanted and in any amount he chose for any amount of time he wished.
Because the mana buildup training was very exhausting for Anger Heart and Defiant Heart, Love Heart learned how to do quite a few domestic chores while his students recovered. Doing laundry, sweeping and vacuuming were occupying much of his time as the badger and the fox had to concentrate on their magic training. Love Heart also learned to cook a few basic meals but most of the time they just ordered food from some place that was at least decently healthy. Love Heart had to admit he was learning a lot about the way life went in the technology driven world and skills that would definitely be of help to him later in life, but it was still not anything he really liked to do.
At the end of the week, Love Heart saw that Anger Heart and Defiant Heart had managed to reach their required eight hour mana conjuring period by the late evening without serious exhaustion.
“You two are doing really well,” Love Heart commented that day, watching his first two students after their daily training was done, “tomorrow we can start with your elemental training.”
“Ugg,” Anger Heart groaned, “training training every day, I need a break!”
“Hey, if you want to learn magic you have to keep training,” Love Heart said, a bit ticked.
“Hey, even you must have taken some breaks when you were training,” Defiant Heart said leaning back where he sat, “Besides Mosaic is on right now.”
“What’s Mosaic?” Love Heart asked, relenting and deciding that it would be a good idea for them to relax for a day.
“It’s a cultural festival,” Defiant Heart explained as he stood up shakily, “Pavilions are set up all over the city, each from a different culture and showing off various themes, items, foods and arts of each culture.”
“Yeah, I used to go every year,” Anger Heart said. The fox was about to speak up again but stopped, deciding that he didn’t want to say anything else.
“All right then, we’ll go tomorrow,” Love Heart said, yawning, “but for now I’m going to bed.”
“What about supper?!” Anger Heart demanded, trying to shoot to his feet, but stopping as he was still tired.
“He ate already, and I’d rather you made something instead of us ordering more junk food,” Defiant Heart said, getting up then sitting down again, “or I why don’t we just sleep here, I’m tired, it’s late, and we can get something to eat in the morning eh?”
The badger turned to Anger Heart, but the fox had fallen back in his seat and had fallen asleep, “Well that takes care of that,” Love Heart said, pulling out and unrolling his sleeping bag for the night, “See you in the morning.”
“Yeah, good night,” Defiant Heart reached over and pushed Anger Heart onto his side, so he wouldn’t be sore in the morning, then lay down on the couch and fell asleep. Love Heart lay awake for a few minutes, reviewing the last week in his mind. Things hadn’t really gone according to plan but he was satisfied, he was doing what Sage Heart wanted him too and despite all the arguments he was enjoying it. He mused on that as he slipped into sleep.
The next day after they had washed up and eaten Love Heart, Anger Heart and Defiant Heart headed for the bus stop near Anger Heart’s house and got on the first bus that stopped there, got on, and sat down near the back, in the two seats that were facing each other.
“So, where exactly are we going?” Love Heart asked, staring out the window.
“Mosaic, specifically the Scottish pavilion,” Defiant Heart explained, “We’ll pick up a brochure over there and we’ll head to each of the nearby pavilions and just see how the day goes.”
“That’s your plan for he whole day?” Anger Heart asked incredulously.
“Yes, is there a problem with that?” Defiant asked back. Anger Heart was about to reply, when he realized he had no good comeback available and so just sat in his seat brooding as they rode the bus.
Love Heart had to admit that Mosaic was more fun than he had initially thought it would be, learning about all the different cultures and seeing objects of art and heritage from them was very enlightening especially as he had not even been aware that so many different countries existed.
After they had gone through one of the Asian pavilions that Anger Heart reveled something he had purchased, a pair of small steel weapons that looked like small tridents with the middle prong longer than the other two but lacking any blades.
“What are those?” Defiant Heart asked, “and why did you buy them?”
“They’re sai,” Anger Heart said, twirling one in his hands, “And they’re law enforcement weapons from the far-east, used to block and counter swords. I figured since we’re going to be traveling sometime soon I should have some sort of weapon and I thought these looked awesome so I bought them.”
“Well whatever floats your boat,” Defiant Heart said, while thinking that he might want to get a weapon himself.
It was near the end of the day that the badger found himself staring into a glass display cabinet at something he thought would be perfect for him. A spear that could collapse and fold into a small non-threatening form resembling a few small metla poles lashed together, but the price point was far too much for him to afford.
Anger Heart, who had been wandering around the pavilion in boredom, noticed Defiant Heart staring at the weapon’s display cabinet. Curious, the fox wandered over and stood next to Defiant Heart, looking at the same folding spear that he was.
“Found a weapon you want?” Anger Heart asked.
“Yeah, but why do you care?” Defiant Heart asked.
Anger Heart said nothing but walked over to the vendor in charge of the weapon’s display, spoke to him for a moment, then handed him some money. The attendant then turned, went to the display cabinet, and took one of the folding spears which he handed to Anger Heart.
“Here,” Anger Heart said, handing the folded spear to the badger, “don’t mention it.”
Defiant Heart was dumbstruck. Had Anger Heart really just bought him something that expensive without even asking for anything in return, “Thanks Anger Heart,” the badger said.
“Ugg, I just said not to mention it!” the fox said, before turning and marching away. Defiant Heart couldn’t help but smile, but held onto the folded spear as he went to look for something to eat.
Later that day, Love Heart, Anger Heart and Defiant Heart were sitting on a bench waiting for the bus. Defiant Heart looked at the other two and asked, “So are you two having fun?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Anger Heart replied.
“I guess, but I’m not sure what to make of al of this stuff,” Love Heart said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Anger Heart said as the bus pulled up and he stood up, “We got weapons we can use now and we’re going for supper so just enjoy this for them moment.”
“This from the guy who gets mad when he accidentally chews on a piece of cartilage he found in his chicken,” Defiant Heart said as he and Love Heart got on the bus.
The following day Love Heart woke up first and decided to use his time to read on to the next part of the training involving elemental selection. At the bottom of one of the pages he found a small patch stuck to the page of the book. Curious, he removed it and held it in his hand.
“Hmm, this feels like my sword and the wallet my dad gave me,” Love Heart said, “I wonder?” he began to channel mana into the small patch in his hand and a moment later is sprung into a small orb, one that Love Heart recognized as the orb he had used during his training to figure out what his element was.
A couple hours later after all three of them had washed and cleaned up. Love Heart resumed their magic training.
“OK, now you need to find out what element you’re suited for,” Love Heart said, “if you focus on learning that element your training will go much faster and more smoothly.
“And how are we supposed to figure that out?” Anger Heart asked sarcastically.
“With this,” Love Heart tossed the elemental testing ball to Defiant Heart, who caught it.
“And what do I do with this?” the badger asked curiously, turning the sphere around in his hands.
“Just channel mana into it the same way you’ve been conjuring it up until now,” Love Heart explained, “what happens inside the sphere will tell you what element you’re most suited for.”
“If you say so,” Defiant Heart said, channeling his mana as Love Heart had taught him. A minute later, nothing had happened, apparently. The badger looked disappointed and Anger Heart couldn’t help but make a snarky remark.
“I guess that ball’s broken, that or the badger doesn’t really have any skill for magic.”
Love Heart and Defiant Heart glared at the fox but Love Heart decided not ro reply and instead asked, “How does the orb feel, Defiant Heart?”
“Feel, oh uh heavier,” The badger lifted the orb up, yeah it did feel heavier.
“That means your element is strength,” Love Heart said, sighing at Anger Heart.
“Strength, how the hell does he use strength?” Anger Heart asked, confused.
“Strength isn’t conjured and manipulated like most other elements,” Love Heart said, exasperated but resigned to having to explain this to his two students, “Mostly strength magic is used to enhance your own physical abilities, strength, speed, durability and with more training you can even strengthen objects and weapons you’re holding,” Love Heart stared up at the ceiling, “My dad once made a small wooden stick as strong as a steel bar to scare off some thugs.”
“Huh, well let me see what I can do then.” Anger Heart grabbed the orb from Defiant Heart’s hand.
“Hey, watch it!” The badger said, glaring at the fox again.
“Make me!” Anger Heart retorted.
“Knock it off you two!” Love Heart said raising his voice a bit more than he probably should have.
Anger Heart just rolled his eyes, “Whatever, let’s see what kind of magic I use.”
“Fire, it’s going to be fire,” Defiant Heart said under his breath. Anger Heart channeled his mana into the orb and a moment later a small flame appeared inside the orb.
“Called it, totally called it!” Defiant Heart declared.
Anger Heart was still staring at the small fire burning inside the small orb, his eyes had widened and his was breathing heavily. “F-fire?” he said in disbelief.
“What, something wrong with fire?” Defiant Heart asked smugly.
The orb fell from Anger Heart’s now trembling hands and he seemed to have trouble keeping his composure, “I need to get something to eat,” Anger Heart said, standing up and heading to the kitchen.
“What was that all about?” Love Heart asked, retrieving the orb from where the fox had dropped it
“You’ve got me there,” Defiant Heart replied, shrugging, “I’ve never seen Anger Heart act like that.”
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Anger Heart was running water over and washing some carrots which he then began to eat, “Fire, why does it have to be fire?” he asked as he tried desperately to keep himself from shaking.
