Chapter 459: Capabilities

“I really wish I could see this spaceship myself,” Regina admitted.

There were a lot of reasons for that. It would be good to gather whatever intelligence she could, for one. But at its core, the reason for that wish was much simpler. It was a spaceship! An actual, functional spaceship! Or at least a formerly functional one, and technically it might be a ‘planar vessel’ instead, but still.

“It’s not as impressive as it sounds,” Galatea said.

Regina shot her a skeptical look and her friend sighed.

“Alright, it is impressive,” she conceded. “And I get it, it’s a spaceship. But it’s not particularly pretty, or particularly big, and the mana involved doesn’t even seem that great, although it’s clearly in bad condition. I still don’t understand how they actually traveled in space, or between dimensions.”

“Didn’t Leian say anything?” Regina asked.

“Well, the basic mechanism seems clear, at least for the normal propulsion,” Galatea corrected. “I saw the thrusters. At least I think they were thrusters. It’s probably not too far off from what Earth could have built in our time, and I don’t think this ship is very fast once it’s underway, at least compared to what you’d expect from science fiction shows.”

“So it doesn’t have faster-than-light capability?”

Galatea wiggled a hand in a so-so gesture. “I’m not really sure,” she said. “I think part of the magic was intended to do that. And maybe it was related to the world-traveling thing. That definitely consumed a lot of mana, from what Leian did say. I just don’t know how it worked.”

She sounded grumpy about that, Regina noticed. Not that she couldn’t relate. At the moment, though, it probably wasn’t important how the Mesen could travel between worlds, compared to the fact that they could. At least considering that it’s clearly not something we can simply replicate, Regina mused. If we could … but I should keep my goals realistic. Even Leian has trouble with it and she’s a literal goddess.

She glanced around for a moment, reflexively checking that their conversation wouldn’t be overhread. Not that there was much chance of that. But they were outside in one of the gardens, so it wasn’t exactly impossible, either.

Regina still wasn’t entirely sure what she would tell her people about … all this. She had been putting it off a little, she supposed. She probably should take more tangible steps soon. But at the moment, figuring out what they were dealing with would be more helpful.

"Did we actually learn anything new about all this, about them?” she asked. She raised an eyebrow when Galatea gave her a meaningful look. “I mean, I listened to what you said, of course. And it’s good to know how the Mesen probably got here. But what about their capabilities? Their numbers? Their plans? Do we have any clarity on what we will actually be facing?”

Galatea stayed quiet for a moment, probably deep in thought. “A lot, and not much at the same time,” she finally said. “I’m almost positive this is really an expedition — surveyors, explorers, something like that. They probably don’t have the capacity to conquer the world, even if they were all alive and well. So at least we have more certainty on that point. As to who they are? I really don’t know. We haven’t learned much about their technology, but maybe Leian will figure out more and give us more information, and I intend to study this vessel, too. It’s just not an issue where I can give you a lot of clear answers right away. As for their plans … well, your guess is as good as mine.”

Regina nodded. She supposed that was the answer she should have expected, really.

They drifted into silence, and she couldn’t help but wonder about these Mesen. Who were they, as people? How did individuals feel about exploring new worlds, or taking mana, or fighting locals? Did they have any doubts or qualms or were they too indoctrinated? For that matter, was there such a thing as anti-establishment thought or ethically motivated opposition groups among the Mesen? The fact they had apparently had abolition would speak in favor of that, but any society that had practiced slavery also didn’t seem like the open type.

Well, regardless of if they did or didn’t, it wouldn’t matter to her. It wasn’t like Regina had any ability to get news from outside, much less communicate with anyone. She needed to focus on the immediate threats.

A shout interrupted her brooding, and Regina glanced to their surroundings, her eyes passing over a group of people nearby before she really registered what she was seeing. A few of her younger psychic students were gathered there, ostensibly practicing. At least if practicing involved drenching each other with water magic. And it looked like Steven was waving around a glove with a hole in it.

Regina sighed, resolved to interrupt her peace and quiet (as if) and go over there to sort out what was happening. She stopped when she felt a pressure on her shoulder holding her back. Regina glanced at Galatea, who hadn’t physically moved, but done the equivalent of that.

“Let them have their fun,” Galatea said quietly. “I think they deserve it. And they could use it.”

“This is fun?” Regina answered skeptically, but she settled back down.

Reaching out psychically, but very discreetly so as to not make them feel watched, she supposed Galatea had a point. Her students had also been tense lately, and they could use an opportunity to cut loose. Not that tension didn’t still simmer below the surface.

“They’re not afraid of getting sent to the front, are they?” Galatea asked after a while.

Regina shook her head. “No. I already had to disappoint a few who approached me, wanting to go fight.” That hadn’t been fun. Especially because those who’d asked had mostly been among the youngest and, honestly, weakest of the psychic students.

She supposed she couldn’t fault their dedication, but she still didn’t exactly like the idea.

“The time might come that we have to resort to that, but not now,” Regina muttered. “At least I guess they feel safe enough about it.” They hadn’t lost one of her students yet. If you didn’t count Helen (who she could only wish had died). Regina just wasn’t sure if they could keep that up, even if she tried not to worry about it.

“It’s natural to worry, you’re their mentor,” Galatea said.

Regina hummed tonelessly. “… I don’t feel like much of one,” she finally admitted. “I just don’t have that much time for them, with everything else going on.”

“You still manage to make time for them.”

“Do I?” she sighed.

Galatea was quiet for a moment, then stepped forward and dragged Regina up and in their direction. “Hey!” she protested, but didn’t fight her.

“You’re being too grumpy, Regina,” Galatea said. “Come on, having a bit of fun in the fresh air with your students will do you good.” She lowered her voice. “And you can see that they don’t resent you.”

Admittedly, when they noticed Regina and Galatea approaching, the kids — well, not all of them were kids — did seem excited. Mostly confused, probably because of the manner of their arrival, but not in a negative way.

"Master!” Tina exclaimed, a little loud like she sometimes was, smiling widely. “Galatea! I thought you were busy.”

Galatea gave Regina a look, and she answered. “Not so busy that I can’t check on you lot.” She raised an eyebrow, pointedly glancing at the signs of mischief remaining. “Should I be concerned?”

“Of course not!” Steven said quickly. “We were just playing around. I mean, we were practicing our magic.”

“It’s fine if you play around to practice, as long as no one gets hurt,” she answered with a small shrug. “Magic is fun, it would be a shame not to take joy in it occasionally.”

They all voiced their agreement, and Regina could sense the atmosphere of the group relaxing further, as it became clear she really wasn’t going to scold them. Or give them new homework. Regina was almost tempted to spring some new test or task on them, just to see their faces. But she refrained.

“We could play around with practicing our psychic abilities, too,” Annie said with a sly grin.

Regina gave her a look, but didn’t rise to the bait. “Which I’m sure you haven’t done before at all,” she said drily, getting a laugh from a few of the others.

“We would never abuse our abilities like that,” she said piously.

“Of course not. See that you don’t.” Regina gave them a firmer look, then smiled. “As long as everyone is informed and okay with it, it’s fine, of course. And you could do some interesting training exercises …”

They smiled again, although Regina could detect a little bit of nervousness in a few of them. She was getting new ideas for training exercises that would push them, so they were probably just being observant.

Regina swept her gaze over them, then briefly checked on the rest of the students who were also in the city. The group was growing more slowly now that she didn’t have much time to go looking for new psychics, but it was still big enough that keeping up with everyone needed some organizing.

I have sixteen students at the moment, she mused. When did that happen? And that wasn’t even counting June, so actually more like seventeen. It would be a small enough class size, but schools also had several teachers.

Regina pushed the thought away and focused on just speaking to her students, and having fun with them. She probably should be doing other things, but she told herself that this was still important. And with her recently delegating more tasks to Janis and the others — although Janis was currently in the south and thus not able to do all of them — Regina at least had enough time to spend a bit more on her students’ training in addition to her own.

And even from a purely pragmatic standpoint, making sure that she maintained ties to them, that she knew her students well and prevented any other potential defectors like Helen, was useful, too. Not that she tried to think about them in those terms.

“I did have one question, Master,” Annie spoke up during a lull in the conversation, uncharacteristically hesitant. “If you have time to address it right now?”

Tina frowned, probably not liking the intrusion of ‘work-talk’, but the others didn’t seem to mind. They quieted down a little further.

“Of course, we’re already here, aren’t we?” Regina said. “Did you have an issue with the control exercise I told you to do?”

“No, it’s about something else.” She shook her head, visibly hesitated for a moment, and then got down to it. “With psychic abilities, do we also get … something else, like, dreams or visions? I mean, I know Seer Alix gets his because of his Class, but psychic magic also touches minds. That’s also active when we’re not conscious, right? So is it possible to connect with people that way?”

There were occasionally moments when Regina cursed the fact that she didn’t have a complete education. Certainly not in magic, where she’d mostly relied on Galatea, or in psychic abilities. Madris had been teaching her, but even when Regina had started teaching her own students, there had been things she still hadn’t learned. And since Madris’ departure, she no longer had the ability to simply ask her questions. Regina knew she was powerful and skilled for a psychic, but also inexperienced, compared to people like Madris or Lianne.

“Yes and no,” she said slowly. “You shouldn’t expect visions like Alix Castaway gets. That’s a different thing. That said, the unconscious is important, and this does relate to our magic as well. It’s not impossible to get, let’s say, significant dream. But I haven’t heard much about people speaking to each other while they are asleep.”

The most she knew about that was Janis’ ‘dream vision quest’, as she’d taken to calling it, after Janis was cured from that curse. Those weren’t exactly normal circumstances, of course. She’d basically been in a coma, after undergoing improvised surgery to her soul. Volance had hinted that having some kind of psychic affinity, in her case from being an air elemental, had something to do with it.

Annie frowned. That answer clearly didn’t quite satisfy her. “So you can’t be contacted by someone else in a dream? Or see someone in one?”

Regina hesitated for a moment. She thought back to a weird dream she’d had a little while ago, which she’d mostly dismissed since then, although she was still a little uneasy about it. “Annie, did something happen?”

The girl shuffled a bit. She was only a bit older than Steven, her twentieth birthday only in a few weeks away. She looked young. “I’m not sure,” she finally replied, her voice a bit hesitant, still, but meeting Regina’s gaze firmly. “I did have a weird dream, and I remember it much more clearly than I normally do. A strange figure talked to me, told me to reach out to them again and that I should alert my superiors that they wanted to talk. It was a change from the rest of the dream, where I just walked through my old home.”

Regina felt herself tense up a bit. That sounded concerning, and familiar. “What did they look like?”

“I’m not sure.” Annie grimaced. “Probably a man? Dark hair, I think. Tanned skin, like someone who works outside, but maybe different. Something was off about him, but I couldn’t really tell you why.”

Regina tugged on her mandible, digesting that. She also needed to consider what to tell her student, and the rest of them, who were all looking at her expectantly. She didn’t have much of an answer, but she couldn’t just brush this off. Or at least, she shouldn’t.

“I’m not entirely sure what this means, but it is concerning,” she finally answered, deciding to just be honest. “There are still … details and possibilities relating to psychic power that I’m not well versed in. But I believe this wasn’t just a random dream. As I said, something like that isn’t completely unknown. I want to discuss this in more detail before making any decisions, though.”

Annie nodded, and the others seemed to agree as well. Regina could sense they were a little more nervous than before, though. And still a bit curious and excited.

“I can show you my memories of it, what I remember?” she offered. “It’s not much more than I just said, though.”

“That would be good,” Regina agreed with a smile. She paused, glancing at Galatea and the other students. “Later, though. Let’s not trouble a fun gathering with it.”

This probably wasn’t urgent … hopefully. For now, Regina tried to take her students’ minds off the issue, even if she couldn’t put it out of her mind herself.

This was a complication she didn’t really like. Although chances were that it was probably related to what was going on. She had a few suspicions regarding who this guy could be, if indeed someone was trying to contact them. She just wondered about the how. And the why, of course.

Regina wanted to ask Madris about the possibility of psychic visions or communications like that. Or for that matter, if she’s experienced anything like this herself? It was really a shame the older psychic wasn’t here right now. But this might be too important to just shelve it until they could talk again. She might have to consider other ways to send a message, or a messenger. Galatea or Iseis could help.