Veronique and Rhea’s Temporary Room

  Rhea still couldn’t make the marble appear and it was frustrating her to no end, so since Lope didn’t know anything about Skills, and Miss Hawkings wasn’t allowed to cover the practical stuff, that left with only one other person that could help her out with it.

  One that was currently reading one of her books, as both Mos and Bos were curled around her chair

  “Veronique” Rhea called out feeling a little bad for interrupting her elder sister’s study time but this was urgent

  “Yes Rhea?” Veronique put down her book and turned her attention to the smaller child

  “How do you do it? I still can’t make the marble appear” Rhea had asked holding out her Artifact, at which Veronique gave her a sheepish look

  “Err I think it’s easier for me because I have a lot of mana to throw around” she had told her “think of it like water pressure”

  “Water pressure?” Rhea repeated not really understanding what her sister was trying to get at

  “Yea water pressure!” Veronique said again before explaining “it takes a long time with low water pressure for the water to come out and fill a pincher, doesn’t it?”

  “I guess so” she agreed ‘but what did this have to do with mana?’ Rhea wondered but stayed silent because she knew her sister would explain it.

  “But you might think it would be faster with really high water pressure” Veronique had told her

  “It’s not?” which confused her a bit more

  “No, it isn’t! As a matter of fact when there is too much pressure it’s easier for either the pincher to overflow or for something to break because the water is coming too strongly” Veronique had explained and putting it in those terms Rhea had started to understand the issue

  “It that why you keep breaking your Artifact when you try to move the marble?” Rhea had asked, still remembering their teacher’s when Veronique happened to do such thing.

  “…yes that’s why” it took a little bit for the redhead to respond

  ‘I wish I had red hair like hers, it’s so pretty’ Rhea had thought before saying feeling heartbroken “So you can’t help me?” a which Veronique started thinking

  “Well all I can tell you is try to make it flow instead of forcing it out” she had suggested before adding “isn’t your brother already good at this Skills stuff? Maybe he can give you some better tips” she was right!

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  “You are right! Thank you Veronique” Rhea felt like a dummy for not thinking about Alexander before, so she rushed out of their room without thinking too much about it.

  “Wait Lady Rhea” Lope followed after her

  Alexander’s room

  The boy had busied himself writing an an essay about the Last Queen of the Circles, Genevieve Lorens, and her attempt at limiting the deaths of future Adventures by setting a Skill standard as a requirement for leaving the Circles.

  ‘That’s just common sense, I don’t understand why her decision was so criticized’ Alexander had thought about ‘maybe people just liked the idea that they could leave the Circles if they wished, even if that was a death sentence’

  “Alexander!” his thoughts were interrupted when his younger sister had badged in his room, startling him and accidentally making him spill ink on his paper

  “Rhea! How many times I have to tell you to not rush in my room without knocking” he scolded her as her maid Penelope had caught up to her and was catching her breath

  “Sorry, hi Remy” she had the decency to look ashamed before greeting his butler

  “Greetings, Lady Rhea” Remy had answered with a bow, completely professional and composed, unlike the undignified maid that Rhea kept insisting to keep, even Veronique’s maid had more class then that and she was a shuttering mess.

  “What is it Rhea?” Alexander wanted to get done with whatever his sister wanted from him and was puzzled when she had shown to him some kind of toy

  “Can you show me how to make the marble visible?” she had asked, but all Alexander could see was a rectangular thin box with a thin sheet of glass over it

  “What is that thing?” he had asked

  “Oh it’s an Artifact from our Skill instructor” Rhea had responded inquiring him “We have to make the marble appear and move it with our mana”

  “We?” Alexander asked for clarification even if it was oblivious who she was talking about

  “Me and Veronique”

  “So Veronique can’t figure it out?” he inquired, knowing it would have been easier for Rhea to ask Veronique for help instead of him, suddenly he was more interested on the matter.

  The fact that the redhead had gotten so close to his sister didn’t quite sit well with him, so he liked the idea of impressing Rhea by solving this thing and showing how much better he was over Veronique.

  One day or another his sister will have to notice that Veronique wasn’t the kind of company she should keep, even if both the Duke and his Mother seemed to want the two girls to have a familiar bond.

  “No, she can make the marble appear just fine, but she keeps breaking hers when she tries to make it move” Rhea had clarified surprising Alexander a bit, who had thought the other girl would be totally inept at it, then she added after a pause “She says it’s because she got too much mana”

  “Whatever it can’t be that difficult, let me try” Alexander was sure of it, after all he successful casted and acquired a Skill so this exercise couldn’t be that hard, he held his hand out

  “Sure! You have make your mana flow in” Rhea had no problem in passing the Artifact to him, he clasped it with both hands and concentrated already smiling thinking that he would get it right away

  “…” nothing was happening even if he was sure he was pouring his mana in this thing

  “Are you doing it?” Rhea had asked as his face switched to one of frustration

  “…I am trying” he said a bit irritated

  “Okay” the child had said and waited, watching in silence as he kept failing

  “…” Alexander had no words

  “Oh you can’t do it either” Rhea eventually figured it out as he passed the Artifact back to her

  “Please don’t tell Veronique” it was all he asked of her.

  …and the Phantom of the Opera started playing in my head.

  Penelope is referred as Lope in the first part because that’s what Rhea calls her and that section is in her POV.Yea Alexander doesn’t like poor Penelope.