“Sorry Shouri,” Vince muttered for the fourth time this evening.

  “Vince, I told you to cut it out,” the guildmaster replied curtly.

  “But-!”

  “You’re literally fifteen, you’re allowed to fuck up,” Shouri managed to hold himself back from snapping.

  “Not saying I’m much better but cut yourself some slack,” he reminded the younger Maestro while turning his attention back to his laptop screen.

  Vince’s head fell, his jaw locked tight as he resisted uttering another apology.

  Rebecca returned to the office where the two Maestros sat. “She’s locked herself in the room,” reported the vixen.

  “Leave her be,” Shouri told his partner, who flashed him a thumbs-up while taking a seat next to him. Turning back to the guilty party Shouri addressed Vince. “Now, what did we learn out there?” he asked.

  “Don’t blow up other people’s property…”

  “Wheeeennn?”

  “When we’re trying to prove we’re not going to blow up their property.”

  “There we go, all is forgiven.”

  There was a brief lull in the conversation as Shouri continued to work on his computer and Vince just sat there in a cold, guilty silence.

  Rebecca’s gaze drifted from Shouri to Vince. She rolled her eyes, took in a breath, and spoke. “From the play-by-play Pacifica gave me, Mila was doing fine until Parte la Terra came into play.”

  “That is?” Vince allowed himself a sheepish smile at the other fire Resonator.

  “One of the earth ad-Libs, lets them swim through dirt and rock like it’s water. Dirt is less taxing, harder materials take more rhythm,” she explained.

  Shouri didn’t know the tidbit about rocky terrain and committed that to memory.

  Vince also took the lesson to heart. “I didn’t know what to do,” he admitted.

  “Comes with the territory. There are a lot of different kinds of Resonators not to mention all the different elements they can be. It’s a lot to remember.” Rebecca kicked her feet up on the desk. “He’s just lucky he has me,” boasted the fox, tapping her Maestro’s shoulder with her fist.

  “Don’t forget my stave that compulses me to study,” Shouri mumbled as he was doing just that on his laptop.

  “So what are we doing for the evening, Sho?” asked Rebecca.

  “I do want to see how many Scherzando come onto this property. We need to do a proper census, especially if we end up taking in weaker Resonators. I want to make sure we’re not accidentally endangering anyone.” Shouri closed the laptop and stood up.

  “Fair ‘nuff.” Rebecca leaned back. “I suppose we don’t need to go to kangaroo dude’s house to steal his Scherzando anyways.”

  “Probably a bad idea Rebby,” Shouri lightly chided the fire element, his eyes remaining on the laptop screen.

  “What does she mean?” asked Vince.

  “Mila has L'orizzonte Scudo, right?” Rebecca inquired.

  “Uhhh yeah, I think so.” Vince drew his tuner from his side to confirm. “Yeah, right here.”

  “No, we’re not doing that,” Shouri shot down the idea.

  “Why not?” Rebecca asked. “We could taper it off using Rallentando, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Clearly you don’t remember what happened last time.” Shouri tore his eyes from the screen to shoot his fox a mild glare.

  Vince watched man and fox go back and forth for a little bit before speaking up. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  Shouri took his glasses off and set them down, folding his hands in front of him to address the other Maestro. “The last time we used L'orizzonte Scudo it almost went very bad. Like people almost died bad.”

  Rebecca chimed in immediately. “But it didn’t! It was fine! We were fine! We’ll just be more careful this time!”

  “There won’t be a ‘this time’ Rebby, it’s not happening,” Shouri countered.

  Rebecca slid her feet off the desk, sitting up straight. “Oh come on! It’ll be me, Paci, Taika, and Mila, we got this!” she continued to protest.

  The two glared each other down; Vince could practically see the sparks from the friction of their convictions.

  “Vince, turn around,” Shouri demanded suddenly.

  “Huh?”

  “Just do it.”

  Vince shrugged and did as he was told, turning his back towards the two arguing behind him.

  “What are you-?! Mrrrpgh!” Rebecca was suddenly cut off.

  The younger Maestro wondered what had happened, and turned around despite what he had been told. Shouri was wiping his lips and Rebecca was slouched in her chair, head back and face totally red.

  “What happened?” questioned Vince.

  “I won the argument,” said Shouri, donning his glasses once more to resume what he was doing on his computer.

  “Not fair…” Rebecca said though she giggled as she did so.

  Poor Vince didn’t get it but decided to leave it up to them.

  Vince yawned as he trudged through the tall grass. He was thankful his connection with Mila kept him warm. It was something he wanted to test the tempers of. In the more northern Dalliva, it got colder in the winter. Nothing like a place such as Canolapra mind you, but it was still pretty common to get one good snowfall a year here.

  And that was much more than he could say about the southern Corhiasela, his hometown.

  At any rate, young Vince didn’t have any concerns about freezing to death in the Dallivan autumn months. That being said, today had been long. Much longer than he had expected. He was going to sleep well tonight.

  Mila on the other hand flicked her tail in annoyance. The cold wouldn’t kill her. Fire elements could walk around in the snow stark naked and be fine. It took true drops in temperature, like what could be found at the north and south poles of Riterra, to kill a fire Resonator.

  No, all normal fall and winter temperatures did was make it ever so slightly uncomfortable. Her gaze was stuck on her fellow fire element, Rebecca, who was chatting up Shouri and laughing heartily with him. The way the fox’s tail swished behind her told Mila all she needed to know: that girl was madly in love with him.

  All three of them were. They weren’t broadcasting it on billboards on the street, but they also didn’t make any effort to hide their feelings.

  Plus, the way Shouri looked at them told the complete picture of the story.

  She snorted and smirked. Her dear friend was in love and was the greediest motherfucker she knew. Good on him. He got himself some fine tail(s), she quietly admitted.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Alright.”

  Shouri’s voice brought attention to the gathered group. “Doesn’t look like we got much out here. The plan is Mila will be the primary attacker; Rebecca and Pacifica will be on support duty; and finally, Taika will be keeping the map updated and counting our kills so we can get a good idea of what the normal Scherzando populations look like out here.” He took a second to catch his breath before continuing. “Any questions?”

  Rebecca’s hand shot up.

  “We’re not using L'orizzonte Scudo,” Shouri snipped at her.

  “Mrrrgph.” Rebecca dropped her hand and folded her arms across her chest in a huff.

  No other hands followed Rebecca’s, so with that Shouri began the festivities. “They’re pretty much all in the trees, but there’s a couple of blips in the fields, so let’s be vigilant,” Shouri advised the group.

  He earned nods of agreement and their trek began in earnest.

  The agreed-upon formation was Rebecca and Pacifica on the flanks, Taika pulled up the rear, and Mila was on vanguard duty. A cluster of flame foxes kept things illuminated for the non-Lunar blessed of the party.

  Things proceeded smoothly, albeit slow. There were only a couple of weaker Scherzando milling about that jumped at the opportunity to attack. They were quickly put down by the four Resonators on duty.

  It was a peaceful night all things considered.

  Unfortunately for the rest of the party, Rebecca just happened to be on the flank closest to Vince.

  “Psst, hey.” She poked the other Maestro.

  “Huh?”

  “Have her use L'orizzonte Scudo,” Rebecca whispered.

  “What? No?!” Vince hissed back.

  “It’ll be fine! These ones are small fries. We could take them out with Pianissimo spells,” Rebecca argued.

  “Shouri said not to!”

  “I’ll handle him – don’t you want to make a bunch of money tonight?”

  “Well I do but-”

  “Think about how happy Mila would be if you two could go on a fun shopping trip together,” continued Rebecca, her eyes glowing bright red as she spoke.

  Vince’s conviction faltered. Mila was always really impressed by his modest home. She even really liked the room they got even before they got a chance to repair anything. He imagined how pleased she would be if she could buy whatever she wanted.

  “L'orizzonte Scudo, Accelerando!” he called without thinking any further about it.

  “Vince! NO!” Shouri shouted, grabbing the other Maestro.

  Mila also didn’t think and reflexively cast the spell ordered of her.

  “That’s a different feeling than when Kaira used it,” Rebecca noted, watching her flame foxes stare at the other fire Resonator. “It’s not as strong?” she questioned.

  “What did I do?” asked Mila, noting all eyes were on her now.

  “Fuck fuck fuck,” Shouri looked between Taika and Pacifica’s tuners. “Taika – keep refreshing the map. Pacifica, Ghiacclio, Rubato - get ready.” He swapped Pacifica’s tuner with Rebecca’s. “You – my little shit disturber – Famiglio Incendio, Rubato.”

  Poor Vince and Mila had no idea what was happening, but the Maestro of the pair decided they should help too. “Mila, let’s try L'Ordine di Gabriele, Moderato Tutti Staccato – give it to Shouri’s Resonators,” he instructed.

  Mila considered that request for a moment before nodding. “Okay, fair enough.” The cat rushed around, casting a soft glow from her hands over Taika, Pacifica, and Rebecca in turn, granting them a glow.

  “What’s this?” Taika asked, noting the foreign aura around herself.

  “Healers and Shielders have spells that can buff themselves and others. Healers can buff spell attack power, Shielders can buff rhythmic defensive power,” Shouri explained.

  “Oh…” Taika studied the glow further. There were so many spells she hadn’t even heard of yet. The world was vast, she decided.

  “Idea,” Shouri spoke again. “Taika, Onda Mentale, Rubato. If they get too close to us, just push them away.”

  The lunar vixen nodded and huddled close to Shouri and Vince, her tail wagging at getting to be the last line of defense for once.

  There was a tense silence hanging in the air as the blobs of red on the map slowly approached.

  “Nnngh…” Pacifica turned to Mila

  “It’s getting stronger?” Taika noted, also allowing herself to steal a view of the cat.

  “Surprised it’s still going, I can’t really feel it,” Mila hummed thoughtfully.

  The Scherzando certainly weren’t surprised, as the blips on the Taika radar began to accelerate.

  “It’s gone!” Taika exclaimed.

  “Yeah, but the Scherzando are still on the way! Get ready everyone!” Shouri barked.

  Rebecca spread her foxes out, summoning more and more to prepare an army of her own to combat the advance forces of the Scherzando.

  And then chaos.

  From all directions, in all shapes and forms, they appeared, jumping out of the tall grass as beckoned by Mila’s spell. They found food and hungered for the delicious rhythm trapped within the fleshy fruits known as Melopomorphs.

  The troops were ready at their defense, Rebecca’s flame foxes intercepting the attacking Scherzando. Mila ignited her wrist flames and went to town, taking down any Scherzando that dared enter her range. Spells started flying from the beasts, various elemental attacks attempting to pin down the cat.

  “Riffletore Musicale, Rubato!” Vince called out.

  And suddenly the Scherzando’s spells were turned against them. Mila didn’t have the training Rebecca had. In that sense, she was like Taika – relying on her gut instinct to know what to do in a fight. It didn’t fail her here as she continued her brawl against the beasts.

  Eventually, it reached the point where the Scherzando cut their losses and turned tail.

  “See, I told you it’d be fine,” said Rebecca, waving off the fuming Shouri behind her. He grabbed her, wrapping his arms tightly around the girl.

  “Yeah! And it could have been worse!” he barked, shaking her.

  “It didn’t!”

  “You shouldn’t sneak around like that!”

  “I’m sorry!”

  And then she burst out in laughter. “Stop stop!” she cried out, laughing.

  “Oh?! Is someone ticklish?!”

  Mila coughed, turning away. “They’ll be fine, let’s head back,” she told her Maestro. He stared a moment longer as Pacifica and Taika joined in on dogpiling Rebecca.

  “They’re such good friends,” he smiled before joining his Resonator.