Soul of a Human

After Mor was finally let go of the ice-kin woman's embrace, he noticed she seemed confused about his resistance. Mor first took a few deep breaths to calm himself before speaking again.

°Yep, this is a real woman. Nothing like the flat boards, who go to this school with you.° The human teased, but Mor was too flustered to give a witty reply.

"What was that?" He asked the woman instead, and the ice-kin looked at him confused.

"What do you mean? This is the traditional way my people show that they trust each other," she answered, and Mor coughed.

"Sorry, I was just surprised. This is highly uncommon for soul-kin," Mor said.

"I understand. Forgive me if I did something inappropriate." She answered him.

°Idiot. You just had to stay silent and enjoy.° The human teased again.

"I think we should first introduce ourselves. I'm Mor Agaton, and if I got it right, you are Miss Snow?" Mor said, and the ice-kin nodded.

"Just call me Snow. It will suffice." She answered.

"Could you please explain why your name is Mor Agaton, but the others call you peasant and commoner? I don't understand," she asked, and Mor got uncomfortable with this question.

"Almost everyone in this School is a noble, and well, I'm not, so most use the terms "peasant" and "commoner" to reinforce their status over me," Mor answered.

"I get that it is some kind of insult against you, but what is a noble? Is that some kind of village elder?" Snow asked further.

"How to explain that... The distinction is how you were born. The nobles have always been stronger than the common folk, with the royal family standing at the top of those nobles. Therefore, the nobles are the ones in the leadership roles." Mor explained.

"If I understand this right, it only depends on how you were born and not your merit. Isn't this stupid?" She went on.

°That´s what I said!° The human commented.

"Well, it was always like this. You can only become a noble if your magic power is strong enough, and you can marry into a noble family." Mor shrugged

"I don't like this either because I'm weak, but that's what it means to be a soul-kin. Your magic energy is everything." Mor said dejectedly.

°Yeah, like I said stupid.° The human added.

"But how do you know that those "nobles" are fit to be leaders?" Snow asked.

"They just are? That's why they are nobles." Mor answered, slightly confused.

°I would like to add again, plain stupid!° The human said.

°Be quiet if you don't have anything better to add.° Mor chided.

"Huh, that explains a lot, so this chief here is not in this position because he is the best and therefore voted into his leadership. But somehow, because he is a noble, he is fit to lead?" Snow tried to understand.

°Chief?° Mor asked

°She means the headmaster, as he is responsible for this school.° The human explained.

"Yes, the nobles are still given positions according to their abilities by the king, but in summary, only nobles are allowed to lead," Mor said.

"This is stupid!" Snow protested but accepted it for now, deciding to concentrate on something else.

"Say, if magic is all for your kin, then why are you training your body?" She asked.

"Well, that's not so easy to explain. I don't have that much magic energy, and I am something like a free thinker. Meaning I like to experiment," Mor explained.

"Meaning?" Snow asked.

"I once thought, like everyone else, that you can never be something you are not born to be, but a few things happened, and now I know that it is not so. Getting over the first barrier of muscle pain was hard, but it really paid out, and now I'm a lot stronger, and now I just need to find a way to raise my magic energy." Mor explained and got a smile in return.

"I like you. If I were younger, I would have asked you to accompany me on my coming-of-age ritual, but I already have done that," she said.

"What is that?" Mor asked.

"Don't you have that too?" She asked back, and Mor shook his head.

"When an ice-kin gets of age, he will need to find some comrades among the other adolescents and hunt a monstrosity. However, to fulfill the ancient tradition, the hunting party may only consist of four hunters. So it is both a test of strength and insight." She explained.

"A monstrosity?! But you don't have any magic, and the legends say those things are almost invulnerable to physical attacks!" Mor said, surprised.

°Now it gets interesting.° The human said.

"Yes, but we have other means to wound those things," Snow said, pulling out an arrow and handing it to Mor.

"See the tip. This is made of a special crystal we work into all our weapons. This crystal can store magic power and generate a magic field around it, enabling our weapons to penetrate the monstrosity's defenses and hurt it. It's still a hard fight, and you must be careful not to die, but we are not helpless." She explained.

°Do you think, what I think?!° The human asked.

°Yes, we can store energy in those crystals and use it later!° Mor answered.

"So, how do you get the magic into those crystals?" Mor asked.

"You just pull it from your surroundings? How else?" Snow asked back.

°Wait! That's possible?!° The human exclaimed.

°Not that I knew! Magic just sort of replenishes itself after a while.° Mor said.

"We don't do that. We have an internal magic reservoir, and if it is empty, we need to wait until it fills again on its own," Mor answered Snow.

"Interesting, we don't have this reservoir and can therefore not use those "spell-things" you soul-kin use, but we can use magic, and filling those crystals is one of them," Snow said.

"Can you teach me?" Mor asked, and Snow nodded.

"Yes, you are interesting, and we kin need to help each other out, but I will teach no one else. Teaching other soul-kin will be your decision and responsibility," she said.

"Why?" Mor asked.

"Because it's tradition," Snow told him. "Let's meet in your training room, after your lessons. Then I have enough time to fulfill my duty." She added.

"Yes!" Mor said excitedly.

°Now we are getting somewhere!° The human celebrated.

As they finished their arrangement, the door to the headmaster's office opened up again.

"You can come in again." The headmaster told them both. "Excuse this interruption," he said.

Mor entered the room and saw a cowed Miss Amethyne. He decided at that moment that he would never get on the wrong side of the headmaster.

"Now, Mister Agaton, your punishment will be simple, and before you protest, let me finish. You will be responsible for accompanying Miss Snow if she wants to go somewhere and answer all her questions. You wanted to help her, so do it until the end. Is this acceptable, Miss Snow?" He said, and the ice-kin nodded gracefully.

"Good, for the punishment of the others, I will think about something. I know you deem it a closed matter, Miss Snow, but my granddaughter made a mess of it by dragging Mister Agaton through the school. Therefore, punishment must be given to all students breaking the school rules." The headmaster explained.

"I understand," Snow just answered.

°Best punishment ever!° The human said, and Mor suppressed a smile.

"I understand, headmaster, I'm sorry," Mor said, and the headmaster gave him a friendly nod.

"Good, at least you seem genuinely sorry for the happenstance." The headmaster said.

"You can leave now, Mister Agaton, Miss Snow, if you would like to stay for a bit, I have some more things I would like to discuss with you." The headmaster added, and Mor excused himself.

But before he could leave, he was caught in another embrace by Snow, the headmaster raising an eyebrow at this display. Luckily for Mor, Snow quickly recognized her error and let the bright red Mor go.

°Get used to it. I think this is some kind of ice-kin greeting.° The human teased.