Chapter 8: Anger Heart and Defiant Heart, Love Heart’s first students
Love Heart and Defiant Heart had slept in the living room, as Anger Heart had taken the sole bed which was in his room. Defiant Heart slept on the couch while Love Heart used the sleeping bag he always slept in on the road.
Come morning, Anger Heart woke up first and headed for the shower, taking his time to clean off completely before anything else. Love Heart and Defiant Heart each took their turns, and all three of them had to spend a fair amount of time drying off. While Defiant Heart was showering and drying off, Love Heart was about to pull his clothes on when Anger Heart stopped him.
“Whoa, tell me something, Love Heart, how long have you been on the road and how many sets of clothing do you have?” the fox asked.
“About three why?” Love Heart asked.
“Because, your clothes stink and I’m doing laundry. Just give me your clothes and I’ll wash them,” Anger Heart said.
Love Heart didn’t oppose him and took out the rest of his clothes, then stared at his shirts, “huh, take a look at this, Anger Heart.” The fox looked over and saw that on the front of Love Heart’s shirts his new symbol was now imprinted in roughly the spot where it would line up with his symbol when he wore it.
“Weird, wonder if my clothes are like that too,” he said, taking Love Heart’s clothes, and Defiant Heart’s as well, and heading to the basement to load up the laundry.
A couple minutes later, Defiant Heart exited the bathroom, having dried off enough to not feel wet all day and looked around, trying to find his clothes.
“Oh, Anger Heart decided to wash our clothes along with his,” Love Heart explained, he was sitting on the couch reading through the large book on magic that Sage Heart had left for him.
“That was nice of him, but what am I supposed to wear today?” the badger protested.
“Oh lighten up,” Anger Heart said, coming up from the basement where the washing machine and dryer were, “If you haven’t noticed, we don’t really need to wear clothes, our fur hides anything people would consider inappropriate. Oh and we’re not going to be leaving the house today anyway so just relax and enjoy it, besides it’s too hot to wear clothes and fur today anyway.”
“He has a point,” Love Heart said, without looking up from his book.
“Alright,” Defiant Heart wasn’t fully vested in the idea, but hey at least it was one less thing he had to do today. The badger then turned to Love Heart and asked, “So what are you reading?”
“It’s a book about magic,” Love Heart said, again without looking up, “my dad, Sage Heart, left it for me, to help me continue to learn and to teach others.”
“So how long is this gonna take,” Anger Heart said impatiently, folding his arms across his chest.
“Just be patient, it took me ten years to learn magic,” Love Heart said, still reading his book.
“Ten years!” Anger Heart and Defiant Heart shouted, surprised and in Anger Heart’s case angry.
“We don’t have that kind of time to learn magic!” Anger Heart raged.
“Just hold on!” Love Heart retaliated, looking up from his book for the first time since he started reading it, “I didn’t say it would take you that long you just need to be patient!” Love Heart returned to reading his book.
“I can’t believe it he got our hopes up for nothing!” Anger Heart continued his tirade to Defiant Heart while Love Heart did his best to ignore him.
“Just be patient, Anger Heart,” Defiant Heart said, leaning back in his seat and sighing irritably.
“There!” Love Heart’s shout thankfully interrupted another tirade from Anger Heart. Both Anger Heart and Defiant Heart listened silently as Love Heart read the next part aloud, starting with the title of the chapter he was reading, “Learning Magic in a Short Period of Time. Normally it takes years to training and practice to learn magic but for those who don’t have the time of patience to learn such things there is a faster alternative. For reference, the body does its fastest period of growth during adolescence, this is even more true in the case of mana as well and if the same training for magic is done between the ages of around 10 to 18 then the mana reserves needed to choose the element and train with it can be trained in anywhere from a week to a month.
“However it is important to note that if this method is used instead of the years long method of training then the mage’s mana reserve will be drastically lower, not enough to make magic useless but enough that the mage can run out of mana while in the middle of combat or other events where magic is being used in large amounts and will start to feel tired after casting magic consistently for a prolonged period of time. However, if the mage continues to practice elemental magic throughout adolescence then they can approach the level of magic that long term magic training can provide, but only if the training or usage is frequent and consistent.” Love Heart looked up at Anger Heart, “Happy, Anger Heart?” he asked, smiling smugly.
Anger Heart sighed, “Alright, I guess a week to a month is fine,” he said, “So what do I have to do.”
“Well first,” Love Heart said, closing his book as he knew what to do now from memory, “You need to learn to conjure mana.”
“What’s mana?” Defiant Heart asked.
“Well,” Love Heart was concerned what he was going to say now might bore his “students” but what the hey, they were at least interested, “Mana is life force, it’s part of a trinity that allows life to exist, along with the spirit and the body; if any of these things is lost life cannot exist.”
“Like fire,” Defiant Heart correctly guessed. Love Heart nodded, smiling, and Anger Heart moved back, crossing his arms somewhat nervously. “Reminds me of something from a video game I once played,” Defiant Heart continued, “there were these things that could clamp onto creatures and suck something out of them that killed them, but it wasn’t a fluid, now what was it?”
“Please, not now Defiant Heart,” Love Heart said, steering the conversation back on topic. Love Heart held out his hands, “Yes, mana is needed for life but it is also used to cast magic.” Love Heart produces a small amount of mana, it shimmered in a rainbow of colors floating above the palms of his hands.
Both Anger Heart and Defiant Heart were amazed, “Wow, that sure is something,” Defiant Heart said.
“So how do we conjure this stuff anyway?” Anger Heart asked, his voice not laced with anger for once.
“Reach down inside and feel the energy within your body,” Love Heart said, echoing his father’s words.
Defiant Heart and Anger Heart looked at the bear, confused. “What are you talking about?” Anger Heart asked, his temper rising.
“Just close your eyes and listen to me,” Love Heart said, starting to get irritated with the fox.
“Just listen to him,” Defiant Heart said, elbowing the red fox, “if you want to learn magic just listen to him.”
“Listen to you, telling me to follow directions, you who told every teacher to stuff it when they told you off for whatever you were doing at the time,” Anger Heart retorted.
“Stop it you two,” Love Heart said, letting the mana cloud dissipate, “If you don’t pay attention now I’ll stop trying to teach you two.”
“All right fine,” Anger Heart said.
The fox was about to continue when Love Heart cut him off, “Now close your eyes and search for a warmth or heat inside yourself.” Both the badger and the fox, albeit with some reluctance, closed their eyes. Love Heart sighed, at least they were listening now, “It will be a warm sensation, not like heat but like something that makes you feel good and strong.”
“I think I feel something,” Defiant Heart said, squinching up his face as he searched for that feeling.
Despite his doubts, Anger Heart was doing the same thing, “I can feel a warmth, like some strange heat or something.”
“That’s it, now hold your hands out,” Love Heart said, “and try to release that feeling through your hands.”
Love Heart watched as Defiant Heart and Anger Heart struggle in their attempts. Finally a small simmering cloud appeared in Defiant Heart’s hands, then a moment later the same thing happened in Anger Heart’s hands. “There you two, go, look,” Love Heart said, smiling.
Both the fox and badger opened their eyes and were amazed at the shimmering clouds of mana they were able to produce. “Wow,” was all that Anger Heart Fox said.
“Cool,” Defiant Heart added. Despite how impressed they were, the two animals soon found themselves beginning to tired, letting their arms fall to their sides as their mana clouds dissipated.
“That was exhausting,” Defiant Heart said, panting for breath.
“Expelling mana is like exercising a muscle,” Love Heart explained, once again echoing what Sage Heart had told him ten years ago, “you have to break it down, push its limits and then rest and eat while it restores itself. You’ll have to do this every day until you feel tired until you can hold it for eight hours, then I’ll move you on to the next part of your training.”
Anger Heart tried to stand, but fell back into his seat. “Damn!” he said angrily, “this is tiring, I can barely move.”
“All exercise is tiring, Anger Heart,” Defiant Heart shot back, smirking at the fox, “so stop your complanin’.”
“Yeah well,” Anger Heart managed to lean forwards as he panted, “that means Love Heart here will have to do everything today. Especially since the washer is done,” he said, turning to Love Heart as he heard the sound of the washing machine finished its load downstairs.
“Umm, right so how do I do that?” Love Heart asked.
“Go downstairs, you’ll see two large machines, the one on the left is the washing machine the one on the right is the dryer. Go to the washer, take the clothes out, put them in the dryer, and push the button with the small line in a circle on it, twist the knob next to it until it clicks once then push the other button and it will start drying the clothes,” Anger Heart looked up at Love Heart, his next words filled with contempt, “Think you can manage that?”
“Yes I can,” Love Heart said, narrowing his eyes as he turned to go downstairs and change the laundry load.
After Love Heart was gone, Defiant Heart asked, “Did ya have ta be so insulting, I mean the guy is teaching us magic after all.”
“Well he grew up in a cave, as far as I know he’s just washed his clothes in a river up until now,” Anger Heart explained, “and besides he left us like this so we won’t be able to do much else today so he’d better take responsibility.”
“I suppose what about supper?” Defiant Heart asked, “I mean it’s not like you can cook us something again like last night, Chef Ramsey.”
Anger Heart smiled as he considered the Chef Ramsey quip a compliment, “Eh, I’ll just get him to order something. It may not be the healthiest thing but I can afford pretty much anything.”
“So what were you thinking of?” Defiant Heat asked.
“Probably pizza for lunch and Indian food for supper,” Anger Heart replied, “So what do you take on your pizza?”
“Well,” it took Defiant Heart a moment to come up with some as Anger Heart had never really asked for his opinion on something seriously before, “I like peppers and veggie stuff on pizza, and Hawaiian.”
“Blech,” Anger Heart said in disgust, “I can’t believe you take vegetables on your pizza.”
“Hey, they’re good,” Defiant Heart defended his choice.
“Well I’ll just order form a 2 for 1 place and get a large of what we both like, Love Heart can just pick and choose for himself,” Anger Heart said. At that moment Love Heart came back upstairs, having successfully put the wet laundry in the dryer.
“Choose what for myself?” Love Heart asked, having heard the last few words of the conversation.
“Grab the phone and phonebook while you’re over there,” Anger Heart said. Love Heart stopped briefly and grabbed the phone and huge phonebook off the small table they had been set on. Love Heart set them next to the fox, “Thanks,” was all he said as he flipped through the pages, finally stopping on the yellow pages in the pizza section. Finding a place he liked he dialed the number and held the phone up to his ear. When the man on the other end stopped his introduction, Anger Heart began his order.
“Yes, I’d like two large pizzas for delivery, one meat lovers and one with ham, mushrooms, green peppers and pineapples. Also give me three large pops, one cola, one lemon-lime and one root beer.” Anger Heart rattled off his phone number to confirm the address and then hung up. “OK, the food will be here in about half an hour,” he said.
“OK, sorry about the whole exhaustion thing, it hit me pretty hard the first time I conjured mana too,” Love Heart said, sitting down between Anger Heart and Defiant Heart, “by the end of the week you’ll get used to it, I hope.”
“You hope?” Defiant Heart said, incredulously.
“Well I didn’t get used to the energy drain stuff for a couple years but if the book is right you’ll get used to it faster than I did and I can start teaching you your elements before the end of the month.”
“’If?’ ‘hope?’ there’s a lot of guesswork in this Love Heart,” Anger Heart said, irritably, “Are you sure this will work.”
“No but I’ve never taught magic before and especially not in such a short time,” Love Heart countered, “so just be patient and I’ll make sure you’re able to learn, it will be helpful.”
‘And you’ll need it too,’ Love Heart thought to himself, ‘when Dusk Heart shows up again, I want to make sure you can defend yourselves even if I’m not around.’
Love Heart sighed with his thoughts and leaned back, picking up the remote control, “Well let’s see what’s on TV then,” he said, flipping the machine on and checking the guide to see what was on.
Defiant Heart smiled. OK he was tired but he had made a couple new friends, heck a couple actual friends for what he remembered as his first time ever and with two animals like himself. Anger Heart, a fox he’s argued and gotten into several physical fights with in school for the last few years and Love Heart, a bear he’d only met yesterday but had already given them these strange symbol on their tummies, new names and was even teaching them magic he had mastered. This was turning out to be very nice, much nicer then he was ever treated at home…
