Phaezeriel leaves the dining hall, nodding to those students he knows. Once in the hallway, and having no further instructions from Lady Ananda, he heads back to the magical laboratory. Once there, he requisitions several large, flawless crystals.
The classroom was empty except for Sadie. The light/heavy blades classroom doubled as a clubroom for the fencing club and soon it would fill up a bit more as more students finished their dinner and showed up for practice. But she had too much going through her mind. She needed something to distract her. And obsessive practice had always worked before.
Sadie looked at the clock and swore under her breath. She was going to be late for practice if she didn't hurry. And as the president of the club she was supposed to be there first. She grabbed her bag and made a dash for the gym to try and get there before anyone else. She rushed through the doors hoping that the others weren't waiting for her...
... and promptly starts to slide across the floor, now covered in in soapy ice. All over the gym there are bubbles. Bubbles stacked into bubblemen, bubbles making walls, and even what might be a bubble castle. It's also a little cold in the gym. Perhaps that is why the bubbles are not popping as three small children slide around and bounce off of them?
"Oh, crap!" she yelled, putting up a quick forcefield to keep herself from crashing into a group of bubblemen as she drops her bag and slides her feet around in a crazy attempt to stay upright.
"Oooooo, she said a bad word." Gwenne and Tal giggle as they bounce off a bubble and slid past Sadie.
"Who are you kids? And who let you into the gym? We're supposed to be having practice right now, not snow-day fantasy-land!" she yelled.
She slid just wrong and fell onto the ice.
"Ow!"
"I'm Gwenne!"
"My name is Tal!"
"I'm Matthias." A boy, still young but taller than the others, says as he manages to stop next to Sadie. "Sorry about the bubbles. We didn't know people were going to need this room. Everyone was eating, so we thought it would be okay."
A series of expressions crossed Sadie's face from tears, which she blinked back quickly not wanting to cry in front of children no matter how much that fall hurt, to anger to confusion and frustration. She sighed.
"Look, the gym is almost always in use. Sports clubs book practice in here just about every evening. If you want a spare room to play with ice bubbles you'll just have to ask for a practice room of your own," she said, a little more sharply than she'd intended. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a few deep breaths.
"I'm sorry for yelling, but this is not okay. There's going to be a lot of people coming in here soon and someone could get hurt. Is there any way you can turn this off?"
Ehos takes a moment to think. A cardcaster in his mind... he didn't like that idea. If he gave a cardcaster permission to enter his mind... there's no telling what he might do. Then again... if he ever wanted to stop hurting people...
Ehos nods tentatively.
Fieri looked confused for a minute and then laughed. "I'm such a dope. I'm sorry, Vai. I was so busy convincing you to come along that I didn't give you the details. No, we're going shopping in the morning. The shops in the village are not open very late so there wouldn't be any point in going now. We'll meet up after breakfast and then head out."
Vai looks a bit embarrased at the news. "Oh I see..." she looks wistfully back at the cat, but doesn't want to make herself even more awkward by going back. Maybe she should just head to her room and do some studying. It had been a while since she'd seen Nasima in the room. "I might head up to do some studying then Fi. See you tomorrow after breakfast!"
As Vai begins to return to her room, she passes by the auditorium, and notices it covered in ice and bubbles, with Gwenne, Tal, and Matthias obviously being scolded by someone. Silly kids, maybe she should go rescue them.
Vai takes a slow step onto the ice, unsure of her footing, then another step. Her momentum makes her drift forward slowly, but she can't get any grip on the ice and when she tries to push off, her foot slips out from under her. She pratfalls, landing hard on her butt with a sharp squeak of pain.
"And this is what I'm talking about, kids, people can get hurt on this ice," she said, trying to stand up and help Vai, but instead sitting back down abruptly with a shriek.
"I...I think my ankle is broken," she said through gritted teeth.
On the way back to his bunk in the warehouse, Fei stops at the gymnasium doors, an unusual coldness to the air in that spot. He looks through the glass and sees the wintry landscape inside - and Vai and another student on the floor in apparent pain. He opens the door.
"Are you two hurt? What is going on....here?" he asks as he notices the three young children off to the side.
"Don't come in! the last thing we need is more people getting injured."
"Ugh," she said, unable to stop a few involuntary tears as her ankle throbbed.
She thought for a minute and then created a circular forcefield just above the ice. She dragged herself onto it with a few whimpers and then tried to slide it across the ice. Which worked a little too well. She screamed as her makeshift sled careened towards the bubble castle instead of the door.
Remembering the dangerously slick floors in the shower rooms when EJ first came looking for Nala, Fei kicks his boots off and launches himself onto the ice, using his momentum to 'skate' across the slicker-than-normal surface.
Realizing that the other student has the most serious injury (by the wholly unnatural bend to Sadie's ankle) he races by Vai, saying:
"Please do not try to move - I will be right back..."
:
Fei managed to grab onto the sled, but not Sadie whose momentum carried her off the sled and she slammed into the castle, shattering the bubbles. She got a forcefield up in time to protect herself from the worst of the damage, but she has small cuts across her face and hands where she got hit with ice shards.
Fei miscalculates by a few inches, and fails to grab a hold of Sadie as she gets closer to the bubble castle. The young monk has to parkour off of the wall to avoid crashing headlong into it.
Pain shot up Vai's back, and her tailbone was sore, but she didn't feel like anything was badly hurt. That girl on the other hand... she said her ankle was broken. As Fei skates by Vai shouts: "I'm okay!" She carefully stands as she watches the crash. Her magic had to of some use here...
Not getting any further reply from Enre or his family, Yu stands. "Well, it has been nice speaking with you, and informative. I will see what else I can learn about 'Powers' from others. Thank you, friend!" He looks slowly around the cafeteria, then utters a short "a-HA!" under his breath and departs, headed upstairs to the labs.
He leaves without having ever taken a drink of his water.
Sadie tipped her forcefield to get the ice off of it before dismissing it. She sat there trying not to cry and wiped blood out of her eyes. It wasn't bad enough that she had a broken ankle and had made a complete idiot of herself, but that she had to do it in front of Vai.
"I'm okay," she said weakly. "Er, mostly okay."
Fei pushes off of the wall with less force, and manages to gently glide in and stop next to Sadie.
"I am sorry I could not stop you...but I can heal your ankle and your head injuries, if you will permit me. Then we can more safely get to the door," he says to her, even in this situation not forgetting to bow politely. (^-^)
"Yeah, okay," she said, subdued. "Thanks."
Nodding, the young monk gently places one hand on her forehead, and the other on her ankle (though lightly enough to not cause any more pain). He then closes his eyes, but she can see some kind of glow from behind his eyelids as healing energy flows into her like a warm wave.
The cuts on Sadie's head and hands close over without a mark and her ankle starts to knit together but is still red and swollen.
Sadie breathed a sigh of relief as the pain receded a little.
"I...I'm not sure it'll hold my weight, but at least it's not as bad as it was."
::I see. How does one end a seed, master?::
"Umm. I need to figure some things out. Learn my limitations. Learn how to control my abilities. I need the space because I can alter my size...I'm not entirely sure of all of my abilities yet, but I need the room to try them out. The privacy is for my own peace of mind. Innocents need not be hurt in the process."
"Umm. I need to figure some things out. Learn my limitations. Learn how to control my abilities. I need the space because I can alter my size...I'm not entirely sure of all of my abilities yet, but I need the room to try them out. The privacy is for my own peace of mind. Innocents need not be hurt in the process."
"We can certainly arrange that. We have a teacher who specializes in private tutoring for special cases if you would like."
::I see. How does one end a seed, master?::"YOU DO NOT END A SEED. YOU CAN ONLY NEUTRALIZE AND CONTAIN THEM. IF THIS ONE IS NEAR TO GETTING OUT YOU MUST REMOVE HIS ACCESS TO THAT EXIT. YOU WILL NEED THE HELP OF CREATION TO TRULY NEUTRALIZE HIM. THEY TEND TO CANCEL EACH OTHER OUT."
::Ok. I'll pass that along, thank you.::
Light come back into Krays' eyes, and he looks at Ephebe."Death says Khoda is just a...ok actually that wasn't the important part. He said we'd need Creation's help. He said they 'tend to cancel each other out'."
"We can certainly arrange that. We have a teacher who specializes in private tutoring for special cases if you would like.""Umm. I need to figure some things out. Learn my limitations. Learn how to control my abilities. I need the space because I can alter my size...I'm not entirely sure of all of my abilities yet, but I need the room to try them out. The privacy is for my own peace of mind. Innocents need not be hurt in the process."
He thinks for a second.
"No tutor will be necessary. I do not believe I can harm myself with my abilities, just my environment and those in it."
"Then I can arrange the room tonight if you cannot wait."
::I see. How does one end a seed, master?::"YOU DO NOT END A SEED. YOU CAN ONLY NEUTRALIZE AND CONTAIN THEM. IF THIS ONE IS NEAR TO GETTING OUT YOU MUST REMOVE HIS ACCESS TO THAT EXIT. YOU WILL NEED THE HELP OF CREATION TO TRULY NEUTRALIZE HIM. THEY TEND TO CANCEL EACH OTHER OUT."::Ok. I'll pass that along, thank you.::
Light come back into Krays' eyes, and he looks at Ephebe.
"Death says Khoda is just a...ok actually that wasn't the important part. He said we'd need Creation's help. He said they 'tend to cancel each other out'."
"Well, that makes sense. So you're going to need to talk to Jim Rivets next, Grandma. He's the current Champion of Creation. Since, you know, the last one went off the deep end. And we can make a list of the other Champions for you too. I'll talk to 'Sima about whether she'd be okay with keeping an aschen with her. It'd be worth it if they can mess up that stone even a little."
Sadie breathed a sigh of relief as the pain receded a little.
"I...I'm not sure it'll hold my weight, but at least it's not as bad as it was."
"Do it."
"Why me?" Gwenne asks."Because it's not fire!"
"Or ice!"
"...okay."
Some thing with really soft fur presses up against Sadie, ready to act like a brace if she needs it to.
Vai watches with awe as Fei acrobatically managed to avoid the crash, stop his momentum and then heals Sadie, all while keeping a cool and calm demeanor. It was pretty impressive. But now she knew how she could help. Keeping perfectly still so as not to fall again, Vai concentrated and cast her teleportation spell to move right in front of the pair, keeping her balance well.
Despite her offer, Vai still speaks shyly, especially in the presence of someone she hasn't met before. "I... I can teleport her to the infirmary. It would be much easier than walking with that ankle." Vai also looks around for the children.
"That would be excellent. Thank you."
"Huh?" Sadie looks startled and looks down to see what's helping her.
Despite her offer, Vai still speaks shyly, especially in the presence of someone she hasn't met before. "I... I can teleport her to the infirmary. It would be much easier than walking with that ankle." Vai also looks around for the children.
"Oh," Sadie's powers of speech seem to desert her as Vai is right there in front of her. She blushed and stammered. "Y-y-yes, er...ummm...thankyouthatwouldbeverynice." She wanted to hit her head against the wall. Why? Why did she turn into a babbling idiot now of all times? She finally got to talk to Vai and she was making a total mess of it. And to make things worse Vai was looking at that boy with admiration. She didn't even have a chance.
Vai looks quizzically at the girl in front of her. She talks fast. Seeing the children, she glares at them, adopting a motherly tone. "You three, what would your father say if he saw the gym like this? I hope you know how to clean it up, and quickly. Before someone else gets hurt." Vai shakes slightly at being so forward in front of a stranger, but the kids needed scolding. "Come on," she says more quietly to Sadie while putting an arm around her. "Let's get you to the infirmary." With a quick spell, the pair (Fei too if he want) arrive in the infirmary, and Vai helps Sadie to a bed to sit down. "Are you alright?"
Sadie's emotions were so confused she didn't know what to do. On the one hand she was depressed and humiliated, but on the other hand Vai spoke to her and put her arm around her. Okay, it didn't really mean anything. She was just helping. But still.
"I..ummm....yeah....I'm f-f-fine." *facepalm*
"You must think I'm such an idiot. I've been trying to get up the nerve to talk to you for days and I finally get a chance and all I do is babble like an idiot."
Confusion and a little suspicion blanket Vai's mind, and she gives voice to those feelings, saying incredulously, "Why would you want to talk to me?"