"No." Baba Yaga replied. "But as soon as they step out into the real world, they will. Don't be too bitter about what you've lost. Many of us had no childhood worth mentioning. What matters is finding the strength to break the cycle." "You too?" Kelia was flabbergasted. "Yes. I was born into the Odi's lowest caste." Baba Yaga nodded. "And no, I'm not going to tell you about it. I'm not looking for a pity party and don't want to make you sadder than you already are." Kelia was curious, and being denied like that annoyed her. Yet the care behind the rejection moved her. "Thanks, Grandma." She said. "You're welcome." The Crone half-grumbled and half-spoke. "Later, you have to accompany me to Lutia. I can't carry heavy bags with my bad back." "No problem." Kelia chuckled. "Now, let's go back home." Yaga said. "It's time to take credit for your work." *** Meanwhile, inside the Dance Hall that had been converted into the Training Hall, Quylla was showcasing her latest success. "You guys disappoint me." She glared at her audience. "How can you not notice the difference?" "I can, but pointing out your belly seems about to burst would be rude." Solus said. "Not me, you jerk!" Quylla blushed. "I was talking about Ryla. Don't you remember that I promised to work on finding a way to fix her life force?" "There is something different about her." Lith studied the Fomor with an expert eye. "But I can't quite put my finger on it." He actually could. Ryla looked younger, her skin smoother, and her curves more voluptuous. All things that, if said out loud, would have angered Kamila greatly. "She looks… cuter?" Morok dodged the first minefield of his life, but mostly out of respect for his little brother rather than for his wife. Calling Garrik's mother "hot" sounded wrong even to Morok. "There's also more symmetry in her features." Tista's eyes narrowed in focus. "Even her feathers look fluffier." "You're all correct." Quylla puffed her chest out with pride and would have fallen backward for it, if not for the Fomor catching her in time. "I made a teeny-tiny step forward!" "That's it? What's to brag about?" Morok loved her deeply, but even that had its limits. "That nobody else ever did it?" Quylla snarled. "That it's a first step in the right direction, yet it already has visible effects?" "You're right, dear." Morok clapped his hands, quickly followed by the others. "How did you do it?" "I'd love to say it's all thanks to my genius and effort, but I actually had more help than a Guardian could give me." Quylla sighed and sat down. "Glemos' research gave my research a solid foundation. "The babies give me all elemental affinities and so much mana that I doubt I can run out of it. They allowed me to feel the flow of all elements, which was decisive in understanding how Ryla's wings and core interact. "Then, there's Lith's body refining technique that nudged Ryla's life force in the right direction and gave me a starting point for Body Sculpting. I'm not going to lie, without all of this, I would have fared no better than Roghar and Glemos did." "Yet I wouldn't have come this far so quickly if not for the help of my assistants." The door of the Training Hall opened right on cue, letting in Kelia, accompanied by Baba Yaga and Valeron the Second, carried by Friya. "I get Baba Yaga, but Valeron?" Lith furrowed his brows. "I didn't help, child." The Crone replied. "She was referring to Kelia." "I didn't do much." The young girl cleared her throat, embarrassed by the stares of so many powerful mages on her. "I just gave Quylla a couple of suggestions." "Don't be humble, or your classmates will eat you alive during your fourth year." Quylla said. "Kelia helped me a lot, and not by bringing me snacks like you jerks probably think. "Dusk is one of the greatest experts about life forces on Mogar, and I asked her if I could pick his crystal about Ryla's problem. "And as I said, I didn't do much." Kelia said. "I just accessed Dusk's memories for you." "Nonsense." Quylla shook her head. "Anyone can read a complex tome about Body Sculpting. Very few can understand it, and you did. Also, even though you accessed Dusk's memories, you had the idea to combine Life Maelstrom with Lith's body refining technique. "Without your insight, identifying the path a Fomor's life force is supposed to follow would have taken countless rounds of trial and error. You've saved Ryla lots of time and suffering." "Life Maelstrom?" Lith furrowed his brow. "It explains why you needed Valeron's help, but not by much. I mean, Ryla can produce the golden lightning from her yellow eye. It's weaker than Life Maelstrom, but it works the same, and we made no progress using it." "Kelia, do the honors, please." Quylla smiled, glad of the question. "The golden and silver lightning do work the same way, but there's a major difference between them." Kelia explained. "The golden lightning is not only weaker, but it also can't be focused. "It always boosts both the mana core and the life force of its target. It's the reason the golden lightning has no pure offensive value and didn't help you guys in your research. The boosted mana balanced the body, giving you a stronger signal but otherwise no different from usual. "Life Maelstrom, instead, is more versatile. By boosting solely Ryla's life force while she used Lith's body refining technique, we were able to see in what direction the changes moved from the starting point and plan ahead. "On top of that, Ryla can't emit the golden lightning in her fallen Balor form, whereas Valeron has no such problem. By combining the Life Maelstrom with the knowledge we acquired from the body refining technique, Quylla was able to alter Ryla's Balor life force." "*We* were able to do that." Quylla corrected her. "In what way did Life Maelstrom help you map the way?" Much to everyone's surprise, Friya asked that question. 'This sounds a lot like Faluel's research to attain Dragonhood.' She thought. 'She has not disclosed her theory about Hydras being failed Dragons to anyone, but so far her technique and Quylla's have much in common.' "It's actually easy if you think about it." Kelia replied. "The fallen state is nothing but a major imperfection in the life force. Something that evolution would have fixed if not for the Balors' foolish experiments. "A simple flu that Body Sculpting turned into a chronic disease, if you will. Yet like all living beings, the life force strives to heal. The problem is that it lacks the necessary strength. Generations of Balors using Glemos' Harmonizers weakened the 'disease'. "Lith's body refining technique triggers Ryla's life force's 'immune system', and Life Maelstrom strengthens it. It's not enough to undo the damage that millennia of fallen state have inflicted, but it gives us direction. "Ryla's body tells us how it wants to be. Quylla takes note of the changes in the life force when Ryla combines Lith's body refining technique with Valeron's Life Maelstrom, and then reproduces them with Body Sculpting after Ryla reverts to her Balor form."