The Extra's Rise

"Daddy, can we get ice cream after this?" Stella asked, bouncing slightly in her chair as she watched me sort through a stack of intelligence reports. Her black hair was messier than usual, having spent the morning building some kind of contraption in the workshop.

"After what?" I asked with amusement, noting how she'd managed to get what looked like motor oil on her sleeve despite supposedly working on theoretical projects.

"After you finish reading all those boring papers," she said, making a face at the documents spread across my desk. "You've been at it for like, forever."

"It's been forty-five minutes," Reika said with gentle correction as she entered carrying a tray of snacks. "Though I suppose that does feel like forever when you're twelve."

"See? Forever," Stella said triumphantly, grabbing one of the cookies from Reika's tray. "Besides, it's Saturday. Saturdays are for fun stuff, not work stuff."

I had to admit she had a point. The intelligence reports could wait, and spending time with family was more important than reviewing routine continental updates.

"Alright," I said, closing the folder. "Ice cream it is. But first, show me this project you've been working on."

Stella's eyes lit up with excitement as she jumped from her chair. "Really? You want to see it? It's super cool, I promise!"

She led us to the workshop area we'd set up for her various experiments, chattering excitedly about circuits and power sources and theoretical applications. The space looked like a tornado had hit it, with components scattered across multiple work surfaces and what appeared to be the remains of several failed prototypes.

"Okay, so remember how you said mana and technology don't always work well together for people without mana?" she said, pulling a cloth off her latest creation. "Well, I think I figured out a way to make them cooperate!"

The device underneath looked like someone had crossed a music box with a small computer and added entirely too many blinking lights. It was clearly the work of someone brilliant who was also definitely twelve years old.

"It's supposed to help people without mana understand how magical energy flows work," she explained proudly. "Like, it visualizes the patterns so normal people can see what mages actually do!"

I studied the device with growing amazement. The theory behind it was sophisticated, but the execution had the kind of creative chaos that only came from young minds unencumbered by conventional thinking.

"Can you demonstrate it?" Rose asked as she and Cecilia joined us, both having finished their morning training session.

"Of course!" Stella said, practically vibrating with excitement as she activated the device.

The result was immediate and impressive. Colorful light patterns filled the air above the device, showing swirling energy flows that corresponded to the natural mana currents running through our estate. It was beautiful, educational, and completely unprecedented.

"Stella, this is incredible," I said with genuine amazement. "You've created something that could help millions of people understand magical theory."

"Really?" she asked, beaming with pride. "I was worried it was too simple or something."

"Simple is good," Cecilia said with obvious admiration. "The best innovations are the ones that make complex things accessible to everyone."

"Can we patent it?" Stella asked with sudden business-minded focus that reminded me she was definitely a Nightingale. "I looked it up, and you can make lots of money from inventions."

"We can explore that," I replied with amusement at her entrepreneurial instincts.

The rest of the morning was spent helping Stella refine her invention while Rose and Cecilia shared details about their recent advancement to Radiant-rank. Both had achieved the breakthrough within days of each other, their competitive natures driving them to push harder when they realized the other was approaching the same threshold.

"The integration process was smoother than expected," Rose said as we moved to the main sitting room for lunch. "Having Cecilia as a training partner definitely accelerated development."

"Mutual motivation," Cecilia agreed with satisfaction. "Though I still say my technique was more elegant."

"Your technique looked like you were dancing," Rose replied with dry humor. "Mine actually resembled proper martial forms."

"Dancing can be very effective," Stella chimed in while assembling what appeared to be a sandwich tower of questionable architectural integrity. "There's lots of physics involved in balance and momentum and stuff."

"See?" Cecilia said triumphantly. "Stella understands artistic combat expression."

"I understand that you looked silly," Stella said with the brutal honesty that only children could manage, causing Rose to snort with laughter.

As afternoon approached, we made good on the promised ice cream expedition, taking one of the family vehicles into Avalon City's commercial district. Stella insisted on the window seat so she could point out interesting architectural features and speculate about the engineering challenges involved in building structures that supported both magical and technological systems.

"That building there," she said, pressing her nose against the glass, "has to have some kind of mana-dampening field built into the foundation, otherwise all the electronics would fry every time someone cast a spell inside."

"Very observant," I said, noting how her analytical mind worked even during casual outings.

"I pay attention to stuff," she replied with a shrug. "Most grown-ups don't notice the cool engineering things because they're too busy worrying about boring adult stuff."

The ice cream parlor we chose was one of Avalon City's more famous establishments, known for exotic flavors that incorporated magical ingredients for enhanced taste and minor beneficial effects. Stella ordered something called "Starlight Swirl" that apparently contained actual crystallized mana and promised to improve mental clarity for several hours.

"Is it working?" Reika asked as Stella worked her way through the elaborate confection.

"I think so," Stella said thoughtfully. "Either that, or ice cream is just really good at making you happy."

"Both can be true," Rose observed with gentle amusement.

As we made our way home through the city's evening traffic, I found myself appreciating how these simple family outings had become increasingly precious. Stella's excitement about her inventions, her unfiltered observations about the world around her, her ability to find wonder in everyday things—it all served as a reminder of what really mattered.

"Daddy," she said as we pulled into our estate's driveway, "tomorrow can we work on making my device smaller? I think if we could fit it into something portable, kids at schools could use them to learn about magic even if they don't have any themselves."

"That's a wonderful idea," I replied, once again amazed by her combination of technical brilliance and genuine desire to help others.

"Cool!" she said, bouncing out of the vehicle with renewed energy. "This is going to be the best project ever!"

As evening settled over Avalon City and we prepared for a quiet dinner at home, I reflected on how much joy Stella brought to our household simply by being herself—curious, creative, and completely unimpressed by status or power in favor of genuine accomplishment and kindness.

Some things, I realized, were worth protecting not because they were powerful or politically significant, but because they represented the best of what life could offer when people were free to grow and create and dream without fear.

And Stella's laughter echoing through our home as she explained her latest theoretical breakthrough to anyone willing to listen—that was definitely one of those things.