Soul of a Human

"Let's get started." Mor begun. "Your brother asked me to watch over you, and I intend to do exactly that, but! I can't slack in my own training and studies, so watching over you while the lessons are going on is impossible."

Tiara nodded at that explanation. "It's no problem, I can watch myself. Also, what could happen to me at this school."

°Yeah, it's impossible that something bad could happen because we have our floating isles and magic…° The human commented sarcastically. °Why do we have to start over with each of your kin?°

"Something could always happen like it did last year." Mor corrected her.

"That was an exemption." Tiara waved it off.

"You weren't there." Orth objected while the two girls shuddered at the memory.

"Orth is right," Mor said. "You can use the new telepathic magic, right?" and Tiara nodded again.

"Good, but I want you to stick to your friends while I'm not with you." He continued his demands.

"Aren't you overbearing? That's not necessary." She complained.

"I'm taking this seriously," Mor stated, and Tiara squirmed slightly under his stern gaze.

°Five bucks, that she hasn't any friends because she's the princess and everyone is scared of her, has beef with her brother, or just wants to kiss up to her.° The human offered.

°I didn't understand half of the words you used, but I got the gist.° Mor sighed.

"Don't tell me you don't have any friends?" Mor questioned out loud.

"Of course I have friends!" Tiara objected, but her body language betrayed the lie.

Mor sighed while the human celebrated the won bet.

"Then, want to be friends with us?" Clare added.

"I'm against that." Saphine protested.

"But wouldn't it be lonely for her? I feel sorry for Tiara." Clare continued. "Everyone needs friends."

"But the prince didn't tell her about all the secrets Mor had "developed", meaning he wanted to keep her out of this. Wouldn't we go against his wishes if we invited her into our circle?" Orth cautioned, and Saphine agreed wholeheartedly.

"What secrets?" Tiara asked, interested.

"Well, Mor is a crazy outlier and the strangest soul-kin you will ever meet," Orth said, chuckling, laughing at Mor's protesting face.

°Sorry, my fault.° The human joked.

"I'm not that strange." Mor pouted, and his friends laughed, confusing Tiara more.

"Okay, now I really want to know! Dino is overprotective. I'm my own person!" she demanded.

Mor looked to his friends for their opinion. Orth simply shrugged. Clare was all for it, Saphine against it, leaving the human as the tie-breaker.

°I think telling her is a good idea. She needs to know she can trust you. That works only if you want to trust her.° The human stated.

"What do you know about me?" Mor asked.

"Like I said, you defeated that…" Tiara began and was interrupted by Mor.

"Not what I did, but who I am."

"I only know what Dino told me. You are a commoner but talented, and Dino trusts you because he's friends with your father. He told me I could rely on you." Tiara said.

Mor nodded. "About right, but that's not all. He kept some secrets from you."

Tiara almost wanted to protest, but Mor's earnest look and the sigh of the Saphine girl silenced her.

"I'm a commoner at this school of nobles because I'm smart, but my magic reservoir is small. I wanted to change that by soul-binding to an elemental but failed. Instead, I got stuck with a being called a human." He explained.

"A human? What's that?" Tiara interrupted.

"We don't know, but it speaks our language and helps out Mor for some reason," Orth said.

°Some reason…° The human pouted. °Just want to be a good buddy and have fun…°

"As far as I can gather, a human is a kin without magic from another world," Mor explained.

"You're joking, right? That can't be true." Tiara said.

"No," Mor said, and Tiara looked incredulous to the others.

"I don't believe you." She stated.

Suddenly, Mors's mimic changed drastically, looking more confident.

"Well, I fucking don't care. My buddy is telling the truth, so shut it and listen!" The human said in Mor's voice, shocking the girl with his wording.

"Stop messing with me!" She complained.

"I'm not. Ask Dino if you still can't believe us." Mor stated.

Tiara still was not entirely convinced but decided to let it go.

"Next, the human is the reason I invented the long-range telepathic spell." Mor continued.

"You didn't! Dino said an archmage did that." Tiara protested again, and Mor sighed.

"For this to work, you need to believe me." He said. "Dino has his reasons to keep everything as secret as he can, but if you want to participate in that action, as you said. You need to accept the truth because it gets even more strange."

"Just as I said, you are strange," Orth added, drawing another sigh from Mor.

"He really invented that spell and saved me from a forced bonding," Clare added.

"And finally," Mor began as he took off the top part of his robe and nodded to Orth, who did the same. We're eating that much because food fuels your body and lets it grow stronger. Orth and I are doing additional training under the human's guidance while the girls shape theirs." He explained, and Tiara looked interested in his lean but muscular body.

"I thought it was impossible to change your body." She exclaimed.

"So did we all," Saphine said, trying to not look at Mor while Clare openly gazed at Orth.

"Mor taught us after we talked with an Ice-kin," Clare added.

"And what will that do?" Tiara asked.

"For me and Orth, it's simple. We can do many things without magic, like carrying heavy stuff. It's mostly looks for the girls, but they will also be stronger than a regular Soul-kin." Mor explained.

"That's so cool!" Tiara said, finally starting to believe the strange stories.

°We should have started with that.° The human said, and Mor agreed.

"I want to do that too," Tiara stated.

"I will help you, but promise to keep it secret until Dino reveals it to the public," Mor said, and the girl instantly agreed.

After that, they just chatted for a while, and Mor showed off some of his spells, including his "rock trow," and to the girls' delight, the two boys did a little competition, first with magic, which, of course, Orth won again. Then, only physically and to no one's surprise, Mor took the victory.

All in all, they had fun, and even Saphine had to grudgingly accept that the princess wasn't that bad. Tiara felt something inside her that she only knew in the presence of Dino. Happiness and camaraderie, finally, people she might be able to call friends someday, but for now, they were connected with the secrets they had shared.

As "lights-out" approached, Clare invited Tiara and Saphine to a sleepover, still wanting to chat with girls only. Tiara was initially hesitant but soon gave in, while Mor tried to reason that they might want to do this sometime else because of the lessons on the next day. But he was overruled by the girls, who said he should worry about his own sleep.