Title: Fire and Earth
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 1500ish words
Content notes: None
Author notes: This probably fits loosely with the other bits of Hikaru/Presea fic I've been writing, but before all of them.
Summary: Hikaru enjoys her lessons.

oOo

When the spell was done, the sparking heat fading from her fingertips, Hikaru kept her eyes closed a moment longer. Just to feel the embers of power settling back down in the room.

Also so she didn't have to look at what she'd made, yet.

This was the first time she'd tried something this delicate - Clef had taught her how to form sheer will into a chair or a table when you needed one, in his lessons with all three of them the evenings they could get across from Tokyo, but for working with real materials to make something that lasted he'd bowed out and handed them over to Presea as far more accomplished than he was in that particular arena.

"Guess you're right about that," Umi had said, grinning. "I mean, you're the one who put a bunch of pillars into the castle but didn't realise they needed to touch the floor to hold things up." But for all her poking at him, Umi had kept going to Clef for lessons; there were plenty of other things she wanted to learn, she would get around to working with Presea soon enough, apparently. Fuu had been with Hikaru for the first few, but she was in her final year of University, and it was exam time. So for the last couple of weeks, Hikaru had had Presea all to herself, learning to shape slabs of wood and metal and other things even as she joined them together.

She'd made a passable desk - better when she'd taken a saw to the one leg that had come out an inch longer than the others - and a better chair, then a set of cutlery, some candle-holders… Last week Presea had given her a handful of gemstones and precious metal, and she'd spent three hours learning to make jewellery that she could use to carry things about in.

This time, Presea had greeted her with a grin and a slab of clay. "Seeing how your magic is fire-based," she said, "I think this should come fairly easily to you. Normally you wouldn't try until you were a second-year apprentice, but why not have a go?" And so Hikaru had spent an hour learning how to form the clay and fire it all in the same spell.

Once they ran out of that, Presea had washed her hands, and presented Hikaru with a tray of sand.

Hikaru stared at it, then Presea. "…Glass?" she guessed, and was rewarded with a sharp grin.

"Ceramics came to you so easily, and this is very similar. Higher temperatures, generally, and a bit more control - and knowing if you want to add anything to your sand. That's all."

"But…" The three mugs and a bowl she'd made were decidedly lopsided, with decorative curves which didn't manage to stay level on any of them. Hikaru waved a hand at them. "None of them look like I meant them to."

"Design is just practise. Being able to hold the shape in your mind while feeling through the firing process. But all of these are solid, and you didn't have a single air-bubble explosion; you've got the hang of the spell, you just need to have time to play with it. If you can do that with glass too, I can officially give you access to the Guild's forges without needing me or anyone else present, then you'll be able to experiment whenever you want to."

Hikaru swallowed, trying not to let her face fall. She'd been enjoying the time with Presea - especially when she got to watch her work. There was something about her magic which was just… mesmerising. The way all that energy focused down until Presea seemed perfectly, utterly calm and in control. But if Presea wanted to get on with other things, rather than being stuck with Hikaru each week- that was understandable. She was a busy woman, with a Guild to run.

"It'll be much easier to keep your lessons progressing if you can go and experiment and come back to talk through what worked and what didn't, what you're trying to do, rather than having to get all your practical work into the same few hours," Presea continued, setting a few jars of powder out beside the tray of sand, then looking up at Hikaru suddenly. "I mean, if you want to continue, that is. You don't have to, but you've seemed to enjoy it, so-"

"I want to!" Hikaru burst out, over Presea's words, and her face went hot. "Yes. Please, I'd like to continue." She took a breath. "It's a lot of fun."

Presea tilted her head. "I've always thought so," she said, with a conspiratorial grin. "So. Are you ready to learn about glass?"

"Yes!"

And learn she had. All about the different things you could add to glass, and the way it should feel when it came together, the ways to shape it, pushing air inside to form it in different ways… she'd stood with her hands covering Presea's, eyes closed, trying to feel what her magic was doing as she made a set of simple glasses. Then she'd taken a breath and closed her eyes, reaching out on her own to grasp the materials and begin a slow transformation.

Now, she finally opened her eyes and held out her hands. The very last twist of the spell dropped one shining glass into her hand; long-stemmed, with a wide base to steady it, and a flickering pattern about the body that looked a little like the fires she'd been thinking of.

It even looked like it would stand upright.

Presea was leaning against the side of the room, and she looked so proud Hikaru flushed just looking at her.

"I did it!"

"Yes, you did." Presea's lips twitched, and she waved at the box of remaining sand. "Can you do it again?"

Hikaru set the glass down beside her pottery creations, and nodded firmly. "I can."

She closed her eyes, and reached again for her power, for the image of what she wanted to make - a matching glass. And then another, and another. A set of six; and if she managed them well enough, she would give them to Presea.

Maybe she would be invited over to dinner, one day, so they could use them.

For that, she only needed two to match; she could absolutely do that.

oOo