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MHO chapter 21! A slightly shorter one this time. Not a lot to say here. Some nice simple dialogue- with the obligatory blushy-boi moments. And of course another magic lesson.

-Llox

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"So not only did you find a spot and jerk off, you also started making a shelter for us," Lykou commented flatly when they approached the spot the sereva had found.

Kuna grinned. "Yep. I just need your knife for a minute to finish the job. To cut some vines and ferns."

"Orrr, I could finish the job, since you already started it."

The sereva frowned at the konuul. "No, I've got it. You need to just relax."

"Kuna, seriously, I'm fine. I'm feeling a lot better now, an-"

Kuna grumbled, then wrapped his arms around the konuul and tried to coerce him down to the ground. Of course, his lack of physical strength, especially compared to his friend, meant that they just stood there in a slightly awkward embrace. With a groan he buried his head in the canid's neck in frustration.

"Are... you trying to force me to sit down?" Lykou asked in amusement.

"Yes," came Kuna's muffled voice.

Lykou chuckled and pulled him back gently. "Why?"

The sereva pouted at him for a moment, then sighed, looking down. "Just let me do stuff. You do so much already and saved our butts several times. Let me repay you a little, for fucksakes."

"Kuna. You do plenty already," the canid said, smiling at him. "You don't have to-"

"I know, but I want to, dammit!" Kuna interrupted, then slowly grinned. "So just sit your fluffy butt down and relax, already."

Lykou stared at him for a minute, then rolled his eyes and smirked. "Fiiine. At least let me help set the firepit up though."

"Okay but leave the rest to me," the sereva insisted.

"Alright, alright, eesh."

Lykou took his time collecting some rocks to make a firepit, then setting them up in place. Meanwhile, the sereva busied himself with finishing their makeshift shelter. Once they were both done with their respective tasks, they both set about collecting fuel for the fire- though Kuna insisted the konuul stick to kindling. In a few hours, they were both sitting by the fire, contently eating dinner together, with the canid finally back in his clothes after drying off.

"So why were you so pushy about making me take it easy today?" Lykou asked after a bit, smirking over at his companion. "So I was a little tired from yesterday, it's not like I was sick or something."

"Can't a guy just worry about his friend?" Kuna replied, nudging him playfully.

"A little much though, don't you think?"

Kuna sighed and leaned over against the konuul, laying his head on his shoulder. "I guess. But that, plus that cut you got the other day, I just... didn't want to take any chances."

Lykou smiled and pulled the sereva into a warm hug. "I swear you're growing sweeter as time goes by."

"I guess someone's rubbing off on me, then," the sereva responded with a smirk, returning the hug. "Would you rather I go back to being a bitchy grump?"

The canid snickered. "No, although you're pretty much cute no matter what."

Kuna brought his hand to his face and blushed. Then he sighed and suddenly rolled over, laying down with his head in the konuul's lap, folding his arms behind his head. "Alright, as long as we're playing that game, how about you tell me this interesting story about the stream you supposedly had," he said with a grin. "I gather it wasn't just an ordinary fap session, somehow?"

Lykou's face immediately flushed and he glanced away in embarrassment as he recalled the strange encounter. "Oh. I. Uh. Y-yeah," he stammered, clearly more flustered than the sereva had ever seen him. "Um..."

The sereva quirked an eyebrow. "...now I'm even more curious than ever."

The konuul sighed and rolled his eyes up, then rubbed his neck thoughtfully. "I... honestly don't even know how to say it without it sounding insane."

"Well just spit it out, because I can't imagine any way for jerking off to be so interesting as to make you act this way," the sereva teased.

"That's... the thing," Lykou said, finally looking back down at the sereva with a bashful, hesitant expression. "I... it wasn't exactly a solo thing. I uh... had help, if you know what I mean."

Kuna's grin vanished as he looked incredulously at the konuul. "Huh?? Out here?? ...from who??"

"...a water spirit," the konuul eventually managed to spit out, his eyes darting away a few times as he tried to avoid eye contact with the sereva.

They both sat in silence for a moment, then suddenly the sereva sat up and eyed him, scrutinizing his expression for any sign of some kind of joke. "...you're fucking with me."

"N-nope," Lykou responded, still blushing intensely as he fiddled with his tail idly. "Couldn't make it up if I tried."

Kuna eyes narrowed as he continued staring at the konuul. "...did you break open one of those last two gourds or something?"

The konuul sighed and rolled his eyes. "No. Told you it would sound insane."

Again, the sereva stared at him in silence for a few minutes. Then his eyes widened again incredulously. He wouldn't put it past his friend to make up such a ridiculous story for laughs, but there was no way he was that good an actor. "You're really serious, aren't you?"

"Mhmm," Lykou responded, shifting a bit uncomfortably and rubbing his arm as he looked away with a small, embarrassed smile.

Kuna's eye twitched. "I... have many questions."

"Believe me, I think it's just about the weirdest thing I've ever experienced," the konuul assured him.

"How even... you mean like a rima, right? The weird little snake things made of water?"

"Yeah, except definitely not little..."

Kuna stared wide-eyed at him for a minute. "How... big?"

"Big. Like, wide as an average tree, and long enough to, uh," the konuul explained, then started getting flustered all over again as he thought back to the experience. "Um. Wrap... all around me."

"...fuck, Lykou, are you okay??" Kuna asked, suddenly very concerned for his friend as he gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, don't get me wrong, ehehe," the konuul said with a sheepish grin. "I uh... definitely enjoyed myself. Thing even checked to make sure I was okay with it." He looked away with slightly narrowed eyes for a moment. "Admittedly only after getting me a bit worked up, though..."

"So it... er, he, spoke?" the sereva asked incredulously.

Lykou sighed and rolled his eyes up, rubbing his arm a bit. "Yeah okay, let me just start from the top." He took a few minutes telling the full story, albeit glossing over the more specific intimate details of the experience.

Kuna's eye twitched again as he stared at the konuul. "Yeah, okay, that definitely sounds like the weirdest shit," he agreed. "Sounds like he was a higher-level rima, too, from the size. Never heard of a spirit doing something like that before though." He thought for a moment, then smirked at the konuul with an arched eyebrow. "So how'd it feel?"

The konuul glanced away with an embarrassed grin. "Weird. Extremely weird. But... in a good way. Obviously, seeing how hard I, well, you know," he replied, a bit awkwardly, blushing more. "Imagine getting sucked off by a spinning waterfall or something."

"Yeah no, I can't even start to," Kuna said, snickering.

Suddenly seeing a chance to take a little attention off his own embarrassment, the konuul grinned and poked the sereva's nose. "You know, I did end up mentioning to him that I wasn't traveling alone. And he said if you were interested, you could stop by the stream tomorrow and he could-"

"PASS," Kuna quickly interrupted, blushing. "Don't get me wrong, I'll admit I'm curious, but... those damn water snakes still creep me out. Even if this one sounds... friendly?"

"That's certainly one word for it," the konuul said, then chuckled slightly. "I'm fine on waiting around if you change your mind, though. As weird as it was, it definitely felt good. Nice change from just jerking off for once."

"No thanks, I'll pass on losing my virginity to some bizarrely perverted, over-sized water spirit," Kuna responded with a slight shiver.

Lykou smirked. "Yeah, I guess you want to save that for a fellow mortal's touch, hmm?"

"That'd be nice," the sereva replied with a small eyeroll and a smirk. "What, are you volunteering or something?"

"Maybe. What if I am?" the konuul asked with a grin.

Kuna blushed and facepalmed. "Oh look, you successfully managed to turn a conversation about getting pinned and sucked off by a giant rima back into a 'fluster Kuna' game, somehow. Congrats."

Lykou snickered, though in part of his mind, he wasn't joking. But he decided not to push the topic further. "You do make it easy."

The sereva just rolled his eyes and smirked, tossing a handful of dirt at the konuul playfully.

"Hey, I just cleaned up!" Lykou complained, tossing some back with a smirk.

"Yeah, real 'clean' alright," Kuna quipped.

The two traded a few more teasing barbs, laughing and enjoying each other's company. Eventually the subject shifted, and the sereva was reminded of something when the konuul took a sip from his waterskin. "Oh shit, we've still got to do something with those gourds."

He dug out the two empty ones, then frowned and chucked the one that'd been open longer off into some bushes. "Well, that's one down. Was starting to turn," he said, then took out the other empty one. "Better think of something before this one does, too."

"Damn. Wish I knew how to work with those things so they don't do that," Lykou commented. "They're a bit different, but I know somehow I've seen some folks back home turn carved-out charnops into bowls and such. I just wish I knew how they did it."

"Whatever it is, we're down to this one and the two unopened ones You've got one of them in your bag, right?"

Lykou frowned and shook his head. "Nope. I think it got busted in the golzog fight."

"Damn. So one open and one still whole," Kuna said with a sigh. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find some more. Or at least something similar."

Lykou smirked. "Yeah, and it'd be fun to see you all sloppy-silly now and then."

Kuna groaned and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no. I learned my lesson. Cutting it with water from now on."

"You could still have a little less water sometime, when we're camped for the night," the konuul said with a grin. "As long as it's a safe area, it'd be nice to get tipsy together. Trust me, it makes goofing around and chatting even more fun."

The sereva eyed him for a minute, then shrugged and smirked. "Alright, maybe. Just as long as we're careful. But obviously not right now. We should hold off on opening that last one until we know we have a way to turn it into something useful."

"Fair enough," the konuul agreed. The two sat up for a while longer as the sun started setting. Soon afterward, Lykou let out a big yawn. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for sleep."

"Go on to bed then," Kuna said. "I'll keep watch as long as you need."

"You eventually need sleep too, you know," the konuul said with a frown. "And Koki did say this forest is pretty safe."

"Still, no telling how far that applies. We're a way off from his turf now," the sereva pointed out. "Better to be safe than sorry."

"I guess. But as many active spirits as this area seems to have, I'd think it's pretty safe."

"The presence of spirits doesn't guarantee anything, necessarily," Kuna pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "Sure, some of them keep violent things away, but some can be a bit aggressive themselves." He smirked. "And I'm not just talking aggressively perverted."

Lykou blushed and snickered a bit. "Alright, well, just don't stay up all night. Make sure to wake me when you're ready for sleep yourself."

"I will."

"I'm serious, Kuna," the konuul said, putting a hand on the sereva's shoulder. "Just like you wouldn't want me to overdo it, the same goes for you."

Kuna smiled and embraced the canid. "I won't. Goodnight Lykou."

Lykou smiled back and returned the embrace. "'Night, Kuna."

*****

A short time after the konuul had fallen asleep, Kuna was looking over the empty gourd in his hands, trying to figure out how it might be turned into a suitable water container. Sealing it was one thing, but preventing it from turning mushy eventually was the biggest problem. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and he took a minute to try and manifest his magic. After turning the gourd upright, he touched his hand to it, trying to let the life energy flow into the husk's skin.

To his surprise, nothing happened. In fact, he felt a resistance. "What the?" he muttered to himself as he turned and tested it on a tiny patch of grass nearby to make sure he wasn't messing something up. When the grass quickly sprouted up within an instant of touching it, he quickly pulled away and scratched his head with his other hand, staring at the gourd in his lap in confusion. Again, he tried to push life energy into the fruit's shell, but it failed to have any effect.

"It doesn't work with dead things," a familiar voice chimed in, startling the sereva.

Kuna looked up to see the floating fireball hovering over the campfire. "Oh, h-hi Mentor," he said with a slightly sheepish grin.

"Good evening, Kuna," the fire spirit replied cheerfully.

"So... I can't put life energy in this thing?"

"Afraid not. If it had some seeds left, maybe they could be sprouted," the spirit explained. "But the rest is no longer alive in itself. And once something passes that threshold, it can no longer grow and change."

Kuna frowned. "Oh."

"It's a fact many magic users have found out the hard way. Be glad you're learning it now, with a fruit, and not with a person you thought you could bring back."

The sereva looked away, shivering at the thought. "F-fair point... I don't even want to think about that."

"On a brighter, somewhat related note, however," Mentor continued, "This actually does tie in nicely with the lesson I have for you tonight."

"Oh?" Kuna said, perking up with curiosity.

"Indeed. You might not be able to restore life to the lifeless, but it is possible to bring new life into the world," the spirit explained. "And no, that isn't just a flowery euphemism for getting a girl pregnant." Kuna thought he saw another hint of a smirk for a moment.

"Really?" Kuna asked, a bit wide-eyed. "I thought only spirits could do things like that..."

"Spirits can do it more effectively, but mortals can do it, too. Albeit with some additional strain and limitations," the spirit continued. "It all comes down to essence."

"Essence?"

"Yes. It's something that builds up as a creature or object accumulates sufficient energies over time. The most common form is life essence, since living things accumulate lots of life energy over time. It essentially becomes a hidden part of yourself. Most of it remains unused- most of the time, anyway."

"So how do I, er, use it?" Kuna asked, intrigued.

"Just as you learned to wield magic in the first place, you must begin by learning to sense it. Try closing your eyes and searching within yourself for where the energies flowing through you seem most concentrated," the spirit instructed. "It'll be buried there. You'll know when you find it."

Kuna took a deep breath and closed his eyes as instructed, focusing his mind. He first reached out for the life energy flowing into and through him, as he'd become accustomed to. Then he tried to follow it, though he felt himself mentally going in circles at times. After a silent half hour or so, he paused to take a break, sipping some water from Lykou's waterskin. "This is hard. There's so much energy flowing all the time."

"If it were easy, the world would be a different place," the spirit remarked. "But I suspect you'll get there much faster than many. You have an innate knack for these things."

The sereva smile and blushed slightly at the praise. "Thanks," he said.

"It's not flattery, merely an observation of fact," Mentor replied. "You have a certain predisposition for it that is beyond the scope of this lesson. But one day you'll come to understand it."

Kuna raised a brow at the comment, but decided not to pry. Instead, he just took another sip of water, then began concentrating again. With some coaching from the spirit, he started meditating for a couple hours. The effort was starting to tax him, and he was beginning to get tired, slouching over a bit. But then, suddenly, he jolted up as he mentally felt something that made his eyes shoot wide open. It was as if all the fatigue had been instantly purged from his body, at least temporarily. He looked down and saw that not only were his hands glowing, but the glow was more bright than usual. "Woah," he said quietly, as he mentally felt the strange presence within him. Other than a general sense of power radiating from it, it was beyond description.

"Congratulations," the spirit said with some amusement.

"It feels... strange," Kuna nearly whispered. "Almost scary, even."

"That's an understandable sensation, for a mortal. You may not use it much, but what it does get used for is very important," Mentor explained. "It helps your body heal when it is wounded or sick. And, yes, it allows people to... well, make more people. So you can imagine why it's important to try and not run out. It replenishes over time, but running out means that in the meantime, there can be consequences for having none."

Kuna blushed and smirked a bit. "Well, yeah, the healing thing is important," he said with a shrug. "But I won't be making any babies anyway."

Again, there was a faint hint of a smirk in the floating fireball. "No, I suspect you might have some difficulties with that, living among konuul."

"Wait, how did y-"

"I've been keeping an eye on you, remember? And it's also written plain on the surface of your soul. You think about it a fair bit."

"Y-you... you can see that?" Kuna asked, somewhat nervously.

"Well yes. Most spirits have that ability, to some degree or another," Mentor explained, arching a hidden brow. "The extent varies, but if something's on the top of your mind, it's usually fairly easy to pick up on even for simple ones like the galdra you met." The spirit looked away for a moment with slightly narrowed eyes. "Though they're not typically interested enough to look in the first place."

"Oh, so... er," the sereva started, blushing slightly as he glanced around anxiously. "H-how much can you see?"

The spirit chuckled. "Plenty, technically. But I try not to pry too much," it assured him. "And in any case your secrets are safe with me."

Again, the sereva grinned sheepishly, and folded his ears down. "G-good to know."

"I will say it's amusing you're not sure whether you're more jealous of Lykou or Sulyr, though."

The sereva sputtered and blushed intensely, covering his face. He wanted to deny it, but knew it was pointless with someone that could literally see through any such denial. "You don't have to say it out loud!" he whisper-shouted. He then pulled his hands down a bit to shoot a slight glare at the spirit. Teacher or not, he felt that was a little over the line. "What was that about 'not prying to much'?"

The spirit chuckled. "Really no prying necessary with that one, considering how fresh it is on your mind."

Kuna groaned a bit and looked away in embarrassment for a moment. "Actually, about that," he eventually said, looking back at the fireball. "That's... not a common thing for spirits, is it?"

"Absolutely not, especially elementals," Mentor said, rolling their eyes. "Sulyr is... an oddball, to say the least. He's harmless though, in case you were having second thoughts about indulging some curiosity."

Again, the sereva brought a hand to his face with a slight groan. "Really? Even you're teasing me now?"

"I wasn't teasing," the spirit said nonchalantly. "I'm serious, by all means expand your horizons if you're so inclined. Or don't if you aren't. Just don't let your nerves keep your from new experiences. And that goes for experiences with Lykou, too." Again, there was a little hint of a grin in the fire.

Kuna glanced back and forth between the spirit and the ground in thought for a moment, then shrugged, still a little flustered. "I'll... think about it," he quietly said after a few minutes, shyly. "What does any of this have to do with magic though?"

"Who says magic is the only thing I'm interested in teaching you?" the spirit replied. "That may be the focus, but other experience is just as important. Besides, a distracted mind is poorly suited to the mystic arts," it added, pointedly looking down at the sereva's hands.

Kuna glanced down, following the spirit's gaze, then finally realized something he'd been overlooking. At some point during the conversation, likely early on, he'd lost his grip of both his essence and the flow of life energy. "Shit!" he blurt out, smacking his hand to his forehead. "And it wasn't easy finding it, either."

The spirit chuckled. "Indeed. Fortunately you didn't have critical need of it now, but it would be good to learn to resist distraction in the future."

The sereva sighed. "Alright let me just..." He closed his eyes and began focusing again.

"This late, you should probably be considering bed soon, my pupil. You don't need to spend another couple of hours-"

Suddenly, the sereva twitched and opened his eyes again, his hand again glowing brightly. "Phew. Easier the second time."

For a moment, the spirit stared at him in silence. "...well done," it eventually said. There was another faint smirk buried in the flames. "You really do have a gift for this."

Kuna smiled a bit, then took a breath and concentrated on not losing his focus. "Right, so. What do I do with it?"

"Well, it's similar to what you'd normally do. Except instead of changing something that already exists, you must visualize a starting point that isn't yet physically there. A seed, if you will. Then grow from there."

The sereva took a steadying breath, then brought his hand down to the dirt in front of him and concentrated. Some of the green energy flowed from his hand into a single, tiny, shining object that slowly began manifesting at his fingertip. He pointed it down into the ground, and after a few moments, a sprout, still glowing, poked out of the ground and began quickly growing into a small, pink flower, whose petals looked oddly crystalline. Once he was satisfied, he pulled away and took another deep breath, dismissing the energy and essence both from his grasp. After a short pause, he eyed his creation with a growing grin.

"Well done indeed," the spirit said, floating closer to get a good look at the flower, admiring his handiwork. "I must say, I like your creativity, as well. I don't know that it'd survive long in nature, but it's certainly a pretty little thing."

Kuna smiled, blushing slightly. "Thanks, hehe." He then yawned and wavered slightly, realizing he felt slightly woozy. "Woah, guess that took a lot out of me."

"It did. Using essence is the most draining form of magic. All the more reason to use it sparingly," the spirit warned. "But also like everything else, you will get better at it with time and practice. In fact, those that extensively use life magic will eventually find themselves gathering more over time."

"That's good to know," the sereva replied, rubbing his eyes. He yawned again. "Oof. I think I better get to bed before I pass out though. Damn."

"Agreed," the spirit replied. "Sleep well, Kuna."

"G'night Mentor," the sereva said sleepily, then crawled into the shelter and flopped next to Lykou. The ball of fire vanished just as he started to nudge the konuul. But eventually, he gave up and just slumped over and quickly fell asleep next to him without successfully rousing the canid.

Soon after the sereva dozed off and the flame vanished, a shadowy figure appeared outside the shelter in its place, watching the two in silence for a few minutes. Eventually it walked over, bent down, and plucked the crystalline flower off the ground, examining it thoughtfully. It then waved a hand over the campfire, causing it to suddenly snuff out, leaving only dim, glowing coals. "Guess I can babysit you two this time. Better not get used to it, though. Things will be getting more... exciting, soon enough."

The smoke coalesced around the dark entity and slowly dissipated as they faded into the nighttime shadows with a quiet, mildly ominous chuckle.