Search Posts
"The things that come up during girl talk," she joked. "We commiserate sometimes on our terrible childhoods. And I am feeling marginally better. At least one thing is set up. But I would have to be crazy not to be extremely nervous about this whole plan."
"Hmm. Well, she was raised by demons after all. She doesn't have the same definition of creepy that someone else might," she said with a slight smile.
"Yes. Preliminaries to psychic surgery, then death, then the actual psychic surgery after I am revived. It is necessary for me to do this so that I can properly function, both personally and professionally," she said, shuffling her feet awkwardly, partly to try and hide the growing frost pattern around her toes.
She nodded. "It's a fair concern and one that I have considered. Phaezeriel is my first choice to perform the procedure. But if he has changed In personality as well as form due to his current transformation...Miss Jones could also do it. She has been on edge lately, and it is a delicate operation, so I would rather not ask it of her if I don't have to. But that remains my contingency plan if it becomes necessary."
Nala nodded. "It is....medically necessary. I have discussed the matter with Phaezeriel and this is the only real solution to my er....unique problem. Which may be time sensitive. The treatment however will have to wait until Phaezeriel is available to supervise." She sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to be mysterious. I'll probably end up telling Ephebe the whole story later. But I'm feeling awkward discussing it at all, let alone somewhere that I feel like could be easily overheard. The point is, yes, we've explored all the other options, and I have to do this." She shrugged. "I wish I knew. When my treating physician isn't in a cocoon, however long that takes. Although I don't think I can afford to wait too long. But I think I have a month or so. If he's still in a cocoon in a month, there are other problems to consider, most notably how we can keep the infirmary running without him for that long."
Nala nodded. "It is....medically necessary. I have discussed the matter with Phaezeriel and this is the only real solution to my er....unique problem. Which may be time sensitive. The treatment however will have to wait until Phaezeriel is available to supervise." She sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to be mysterious. I'll probably end up telling Ephebe the whole story later. But I'm feeling awkward discussing it at all, let alone somewhere that I feel like could be easily overheard. The point is, yes, we've explored all the other options, and I have to do this."
"No, nothing has happened. Well, not in the immediate sense, but I suppose something has happened. Needs to happen? I'm....not explaining this well," she said with a shake of her head as she nervously picked imaginary lint off of her skirt.
She nodded, a little uncertain. "I think want is a strong word, but yes, I think it's a good idea."
"Yes, I'm sure," she said firmly after changing back to her human form, sighing as she noticed the frost accumulating around her feet. "Which doesn't mean I'm not extremely nervous about it."
Nala shifted to polar bear form, which had the added benefit of making the sashimi left in her lunchbox much, much better. She looked over at the foxes playing on the lawn. ::Yes. The resilience of sentient beings is always something of a miracle,:: she said thoughtfully.
"I find I like that idea," she said, smiling back, and then pulling her hand away. "Are you going to be offended if I spend the rest of lunch as a polar bear? Talking about the past makes it harder not to focus on, and I find being a bear helps. Nobody messes with a polar bear if they can help it," she said with a small laugh.
"Yes, I want to do it all at once. In case there are any complications. I would feel safer that way. So yes, we have to wait for Phaezeriel. And no, I don't believe that there is anything that my mother can do to prevent my being resurrected. Especially not with Krays there. Patrons do so love to pull rank when it comes to a contest," she said, with a slightly better attempt at a smile. "You help me be brave, you know. It's just a little bit easier having someone else on my side."
"Your mother. Ugh. At least I know you'd do a better job, even if it's not the best thing, like ever, to consider. Would you have an opening for non-rapey, were mole as a winter knight, or even better a winter consort?" he asks with a wink. "Look, if I said I was cool with the death route, I'd be lying. It scares me too, so you're not alone there. I wish we could rely on Phaez and not have to go that route at all...but, it is what it is. Let me know when you're ready, and I'll get Krays up to speed." "There's no one else I would ever consider as consort, love," she said, trying to smile, but it came out as a sickening grimace and he could feel her whole body tense as she spoke. "Technically in the absence of a winter princess, the queen's consort can and usually does serve temporarily as the winter knight. So that job would be yours until such time as we had a child and she was of age. Because there is no way I would ever do to a child what my mother did to me," she said with a shudder. "Sorry. There's not a lot of good ways to talk about this without dealing with all the trauma at the same time." "The death part can be done at any time, but I still need Phaezeriel to deal with the memories afterwards. There isn't anyone else capable of doing the psychic surgery necessary. Well, maybe Miss Jones, but she's been acting a bit off lately, and I feel more comfortable letting Phaezeriel do it. I'd rather get the whole thing out of the way sooner rather than later, but with Phaeze in a cocoon," she shrugged. "It has to wait a while longer I guess." "I'm scared," she said softly. "All the time. I try and hide it as much as I can, but it's always there. I'm so very tired of being afraid."
She nodded. "Yeah. It's possible that she'll move on to someone else while I'm temporarily dead. Or she may not. I won't know until afterwards when I wake up. With....there have been incidents. Not just the one with the kitsune girl. I had another patient. A boy. He's possessed or bonded with or something, some kind of Other. The borders are too thin. Anyhow, it took several hours to defrost the exam room. I kind of panicked. My winter powers are getting stronger and I worry about what that means. I worry I might have to take my mother's place. If the worst happens. It's possible that Luck may leave me to that fate. Or help me thwart it. You just never know what you're going to get with her."
Her expression softened and she reached out and took his hand. "I didn't know what love even was before I met you. I do love you, truly. I just have no idea what I'm doing and not much in the way of examples to follow. When you tell me how you feel about me...I'm overwhelmed. It's a good kind of overwhelmed, but I don't even know what to do with these feelings that are just too big. I just...I need you to know that what you want is important to me. You're important to me." "And on that note, I almost forgot to tell you, Fortunata gave her blessing on the 'medical procedure' to fix my memories. No promises that things between her and I would continue as is, but she's not the sort to make promises. That part of the conversation with her was what got me started on thinking about the future in the first place." She squeezed his hand. "Because I know that I want my future to include you, and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't forgetting to consult you about what it might look like."
She gave him an exasperated look. "Because I want to know. Because I love you, and I want to make sure I'm not accidentally ignoring what's important to you. I know I have a lot of issues, and sometimes I can get a little distracted by that. Maybe a tad self-absorbed. So I'm asking. Because I want to make sure I'm not just assuming I know what you want."
"Alright. Let's finish up breakfast, then see if we can find the others." Nala nodded and picked up her bento box again. "Ryuzo, are you happy here? I mean, I know you stay here for my sake, but aside from that, if you were choosing where you wanted to be and what you wanted to do, would you still choose to stay here?" she asked before shoving a large piece of sashimi in her mouth as she waited for an answer to a question she was pretty sure she should have asked months ago.
She walked back to Ryuzo. "Asch, Amada, Enre, Jim Rivets, and that weird Yrrin guy who was almost never here. They got taken out by one of the Champions of Time. Apparently there are two at the moment. Champions of Time. And Time. And spending too much time, heh, away from this planet makes us into giant targets and we shouldn't make a habit of venturing out there. We need to let the others know this as well. Having Champions venture forth willy-nilly to their deaths is wreaking havoc on her betting pool," she said dryly, well aware that Deception was still listening in. "So much for rest days." "Yeah, I guess we have settled here. It was just for a little while at first, but...I like the sense of purpose that comes from working as a Healer. It's so the opposite of anything I ever expected to do, but it works. Even if it doesn't leave a lot of room for sleep." "I don't know if Asch's sensei knows or not. But I would guess probably. They probably had regular check-ins. But no, I'm not sure. But we should tell any of the others who knew them, like Ephebe and Krays and Fei and Vai what we found out. Finding out the way we did was a nasty surprise. I wouldn't want that to happen to them.""Then I will potentially consider getting some sleep....and by potentially consider I mean totally crash the minute this potion wears off."
"Oh, I'm always better, darling," said a honeyed voice from directly behind him. The veiled woman bore a striking resemblance to Nala. She crooked a finger. "Come walk with me," she said to Nala. "I don't feel like dealing with interruptions just now and we have so much to talk about. I'll return you to your beau shortly, I promise," she said, blowing a kiss to the one of Ryuzo's clones that Deception was most recently speaking through."I do love games, but they lose some of the fun when no one explains the rules," she said, in a conspiratorial tone as she took Nala's arm and led her a short distance away. From Ryuzo's point of view, Nala is still in view, but there is a sort of shimmery curtain and the veiled woman disappears once they pass through it and Nala appears to be talking to herself. Nala recognizes when the privacy curtain goes up, so to speak, and waits for her Patron to begin talking.
She walked back to Ryuzo. "Asch, Amada, Enre, Jim Rivets, and that weird Yrrin guy who was almost never here. They got taken out by one of the Champions of Time. Apparently there are two at the moment. Champions of Time. And Time. And spending too much time, heh, away from this planet makes us into giant targets and we shouldn't make a habit of venturing out there. We need to let the others know this as well. Having Champions venture forth willy-nilly to their deaths is wreaking havoc on her betting pool," she said dryly, well aware that Deception was still listening in. "So much for rest days."
"No, well, I don't know if she was or not. I think most of the bad stuff came through the infirmary. I heard one of the DelSol girls was kidnapped by her parents and the Sunwakes rescued her. Fei came back from somewhere with a bunch of refugees that had been experimented on. One of my clones was mildly interested in some demon scavenger hunt event involving an invalid girl, but I'm not sure how that ended. Then there was the event with Jessa. And Phaez and Ginni. I'm not aware of anything else." Nala gives him a look. "Ryuzo, look at that girl over there. Really look. At her aura. The only way she can have that aura is if Asch is dead."
"Yeah, I'm on medical leave. I wouldn't put it past Dr. Zeppler to have locked me out of the system, so I don't just spend my time doing paperwork. So rest it is." She started to eat her breakfast, wondering when sushi for breakfast had stopped seeming odd, and pretty sure the answer was when her medical job had made normal hours something she only vaguely remembered. She looked up when Serrin waved and frowned a little bit. "Do you know that kid? I don't think I remember her as being one of my patients, but there's been so many..." her voice trailed off as recognition of the aura at least kicked in. "Ryuzo, did I miss some bad news while I was in work mode?" she asked, her voice a bit strained.
Nala headed out onto the lawns surrounding the school, Vasya frolicking around her, stopping to sniff every plant along the way, and demanding ear scritchies from a group of passing students who were happy to admire the blue-eyed white fox in all her cuteness. Vasya knew she was adorable and wasn't afraid to use it as a weapon. Nala found a clear area in view of the lake and sat down.
"I think outside would be safer. I don't trust her not to romp on the tables," Nala said dryly.
She stood in the doorway and smiled. "And here I was just thinking that Vasya wasn't getting enough exercise. Someone called in the cavalry to help deal with the staff shortage in the infirmary, and I've been put on leave for the weekend. I was accused of extreme overwork," she continued with a laugh. "But I had an energy drink this morning, so I've got a couple of hours at least before I pass out from exhaustion again. I had forgotten about breakfast...Right. Food is necessary. Er....did I eat dinner last night? I can't remember." "They're all doing fine now. Except Phaezeriel is still in a cocoon. His readings are all good, he's still healthy. But who knows what long-term effects this is going to have." She paused to catch Vasya as the fox launched herself at her, eager to go for food and exercise. "I vaguely remember having a bite of dinner, but then there was a fight between a kid who came in for an allergic reaction and a kid who came in with a broken nose. No idea what was behind all that and I still don't care. But I don't know what happened to my food after that. I think one of the nurses probably ate it. So I guess breakfast is the first order of business."
She stood in the doorway and smiled. "And here I was just thinking that Vasya wasn't getting enough exercise. Someone called in the cavalry to help deal with the staff shortage in the infirmary, and I've been put on leave for the weekend. I was accused of extreme overwork," she continued with a laugh. "But I had an energy drink this morning, so I've got a couple of hours at least before I pass out from exhaustion again. I had forgotten about breakfast...Right. Food is necessary. Er....did I eat dinner last night? I can't remember."
"I am very happy to meet you. Before we lost so much of our staff during the attacks, I was in charge of pediatrics, strictly ages 12 and under, with occasional consults in the main area for certain difficult cases. I was not expecting to end up as senior management. But we had to keep the place running, and I do have the background for it, in an awful sort of way. Phaezeriel is much better at it though. He has the temperament for dealing with people. So it's definitely been a blow having him out of commission even for a short time. You and your team are definitely a welcome addition, of however long you can stay. Thank you." "I think that should cover it. Please send me a message if Phaezeriel comes out of his cocoon. Just so I know that he's okay." She took a deep breath. "And I'll just....not be here....that probably shouldn't feel so weird. I leave it in your capable hands Dr. Zeppler," she said, with an uncertain smile.She headed back to her office to hang up her coat. The potion was still in her system, so she wasn't feeling like going back to sleep. She headed back to her quarters instead. Vasya hadn't been getting enough exercise lately, although Ryuzo had made sure her poor familiar wasn't utterly neglected. Still, she knew the little fox would be happy for any chance to get outside.
Nala turns around, curious to see who was talking. "Who are you? And please tell me that means that you're here to help with the infirmary. Because contrary to popular belief, I do actually need to sleep sometimes," she said with an eye roll. "I am very happy to meet you. Before we lost so much of our staff during the attacks, I was in charge of pediatrics, strictly ages 12 and under, with occasional consults in the main area for certain difficult cases. I was not expecting to end up as senior management. But we had to keep the place running, and I do have the background for it, in an awful sort of way. Phaezeriel is much better at it though. He has the temperament for dealing with people. So it's definitely been a blow having him out of commission even for a short time. You and your team are definitely a welcome addition, of however long you can stay. Thank you." "And the next things I'm going to say are pretty much going to confirm your opinion that I'm working myself to death," she said with a shrug, "but nevertheless, there are a couple of patients that if they come in for any reason, you need to call me no matter what. The more important in terms of potential disasters of the two is Jessa Mar'Neill. She's the victim of some nasty experimentation, and I've been working with her to get things under control. She has a secondary personality that can turn her into a sort of living biological weapon. Well, it could. I think that we're past that part of things, but since all of her treatments are experimental, I'd rather not play games with any of it. That's why you need to call me if she comes in. So I can make sure there are no gaps in the records and none of her treatments contradict what's already been done. The second patient you might be able to deal with without me if you had to, but Dara Jhiwoon has serious trust issues. He's seven and he tends to turtle inside whatever metal he can find, which makes it very hard to do an exam. I've earned his trust over time, so if he comes in and you can't coax him out, call me. Oh, and if Adon Derro comes in again, call Miss Jones, not me. He has something inside his head that is in direct opposition to my nature as a winter fey. It took them four hours to de-ice the exam room after his last appointment. Sorry I don't have all of that in the system yet. There hasn't really been time to update the paperwork.""Oh, and watch out for Cheryl. She's a good nurse, but she's a hugger."
"I'm not sure if this is a sign that he's finishing his transformation or it's just another stage. But I'll be sure to keep you informed when we have any new information. You can call me if there's any kind of problem. Until Phaeze is back I'm running this show all on my own," she added with a slight grimace. Nala turns around, curious to see who was talking. "Who are you? And please tell me that means that you're here to help with the infirmary. Because contrary to popular belief, I do actually need to sleep sometimes," she said with an eye roll.
She sighs as she leaves the room, gladly accepting the view screen "that's a relief...."This eventually gets Vai to wake up. She rubs her eyes as she stands and asks "is he gonna be ok?""I'm not getting any bad readings. I think so, yes. I think this is just a normal part of his transformation. I'll set you up with a view screen so you can still watch and make sure he's okay. But the readings suggest it's not healthy for anyone to be within a certain radius that would be a lot bigger than it is if we didn't have containment shields," she said, leading Vai to the waiting room. "I'm not sure if this is a sign that he's finishing his transformation or it's just another stage. But I'll be sure to keep you informed when we have any new information. You can call me if there's any kind of problem. Until Phaeze is back I'm running this show all on my own," she added with a slight grimace.
This eventually gets Vai to wake up. She rubs her eyes as she stands and asks "is he gonna be ok?" "I'm not getting any bad readings. I think so, yes. I think this is just a normal part of his transformation. I'll set you up with a view screen so you can still watch and make sure he's okay. But the readings suggest it's not healthy for anyone to be within a certain radius that would be a lot bigger than it is if we didn't have containment shields," she said, leading Vai to the waiting room.
Vai groans as she gets shook "I don wanna"Feeling better than she had in days, almost cheerful even, Nala went in to the room and shook Vai slightly where she was still asleep on a cot, having finally passed out from exhaustion after hours of standing watch over the cocooned Phaezeriel. "Vai? It's time to wake up. We're going to need you to leave the room for a while. I'm not sure exactly how long. There's a large energy buildup and we need to put up safety shields. Probably part of his transformation. I can section off a part of the waiting room for you with a view screen so you can see what's happening. But you can't stay here.""Oh, thank goodness. Something went right for once," she said, relieved as she takes a sip of the highly suspect drink. "I'll go tell Vai what's going on. Hopefully I can convince her to vacate the room, at least temporarily." "Well, I think that you don't want to get hit by a magical blast even more. Can't you hear the humming? It's getting stronger. And I think that Phaezeriel would be very sad if he accidentally hurt you because you were being stubborn. Now, come on," Nala said firmly.
"Oh, thank goodness. Something went right for once," she said, relieved as she takes a sip of the highly suspect drink. "I'll go tell Vai what's going on. Hopefully I can convince her to vacate the room, at least temporarily." Feeling better than she had in days, almost cheerful even, Nala went in to the room and shook Vai slightly where she was still asleep on a cot, having finally passed out from exhaustion after hours of standing watch over the cocooned Phaezeriel. "Vai? It's time to wake up. We're going to need you to leave the room for a while. I'm not sure exactly how long. There's a large energy buildup and we need to put up safety shields. Probably part of his transformation. I can section off a part of the waiting room for you with a view screen so you can see what's happening. But you can't stay here."
Nala groaned and rolled out of the cot she'd been laying on. She stumbled out and grabbed the nearest staff member she saw. "I need an energy containment field prepped to go around the room Phaezeriel is in. We have some time, but not all day. Also, get me an energy drink. I don't care what. No rest for the wicked," she added, rubbing her hands over her eyes, trying to manage awake. "Oh, thank goodness. Something went right for once," she said, relieved as she takes a sip of the highly suspect drink. "I'll go tell Vai what's going on. Hopefully I can convince her to vacate the room, at least temporarily."
Nala was napping in one of the exam rooms. Every time she tried to go off duty, something else went wrong, and without Phaezeriel keeping things calm her presence was needed near constantly. Plus one of the nurses had disappeared without notice. There had been some new medical staff that arrived though, which helped immensely. Until she had to teach them how to work with the new systems. Again. Ugh. Why had she decided to go into Healing as a career again?Just as the thought crossed her mind, an alert discreetly blipped onto her datapad. Not an emergency, not yet, but the sensors in the iso-room where Phaezeriel was were detecting a marked rise in the energy concentration inside the cocoon. If the delta remains constant the transmutation energy will begin to radiate out from the cocoon and affect nearby objects and creatures at precisely 12:14:37. Nala groaned and rolled out of the cot she'd been laying on. She stumbled out and grabbed the nearest staff member she saw. "I need an energy containment field prepped to go around the room Phaezeriel is in. We have some time, but not all day. Also, get me an energy drink. I don't care what. No rest for the wicked," she added, rubbing her hands over her eyes, trying to manage awake.
Nala was napping in one of the exam rooms. Every time she tried to go off duty, something else went wrong, and without Phaezeriel keeping things calm her presence was needed near constantly. Plus one of the nurses had disappeared without notice. There had been some new medical staff that arrived though, which helped immensely. Until she had to teach them how to work with the new systems. Again. Ugh. Why had she decided to go into Healing as a career again?
"Good. Then you lot can all clear out. We need the space for other patients. No sense having healthy people hanging around." She walked away muttering to herself. "I swear they can't do anything without someone there to hold their hand. It's not like out processing is complicated. And a cocoon! Now of all times! And things were going so well..."
Pokes her head into the room. "Miss Saeaera," she said, shrugging her white coat back on. So much for being done with work for today. "In your opinion is the patient stable enough to be released?" She pulled her data pad from the pocket of her coat waiting for the answer.
He nods, making a playful sqeak-grunt, and changes his fur back, nuzzling into her hair. She laughed and for the first time since she had arrived, the room temperature wasn't colder than normal, the frost surrounding her finally fading away.
Nala relaxes into some much needed cuddles before she notices that Ryuzo's fur had changed. "What's this? First step towards becoming a polar mole?" she asks, bemused.
"Alright. I'll ask Krays, then. He is proficient in raising ex-champions." he says teasing a bit. "Yes, well, hopefully that ex part will be temporary. If not, you might want to look into gaining cold immunity," she replied, teasing him right back, although he can tell that she's still very stressed.
"I love you too, and you deserve to be happy. Who do we need to talk to about this? Besides Krays, that is." "Phaezeriel. He'd need to supervise of course. To make sure that the whole thing actually works. I can talk to him in the morning. I'm on duty again of course. No such things as days off for Healers," she said with a shrug. "So I should see him at the infirmary. But I can send him a message just to be sure. He gets called away for emergencies fairly often. If there's one thing that this school needs more of, it's psychic healers."
Ryuzo gets a determined look on his face. "I will help you with whatever you decide. If you want to wait it out and try Phaeze's method, or if you wish to die to be free of this, I will support your decision any way that I can. I will be by your side at every step." He moves as close to her as he can with out upsetting her, and looks her in the eye. "We will beat this." he says simply. Nala's expression softened. "When you say it I can almost believe that it really is possible." She reached out a hand and gently touched his face, only for a moment before she pulled it back, keeping both hands wrapped firmly around her teacup. She was shaking again. "I love you. I didn't used to think I was capable of love, but turns out I was wrong." She took a deep breath as the enormity of her decision weighed on her. "I'm going to do it," she blurted out. "I'm going to die. And not in the creepy suicide pact kind of way that came out sounding like," she added, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. "In a supervised medical setting with plans in place to bring me back right away."
Nala takes her cup of tea and cradles it in her hands, letting the warmth of it soothe her. She sighed. "As far as the Winter Court is concerned, I don't have any real information. All I have right now is guesses. Guesses made through a lens of fear and pain. Which brings me back to the other problem. These memories are holding me back. In every aspect of my life. They make me a less effective healer because I have a difficult time interacting with older patients. They certainly make things challenging between us. Not that you have ever been anything other than patient and understanding. But I'd like to be able to show affection without having a panic attack," she added wryly. "And they are coloring my judgment in regards to how I should deal with the threat posed by the Others. I'm more afraid and therefore more cautious, which makes me a less than ideal Champion, at least by Luck's standards. Luck isn't a big fan of playing it safe. I mean, I know that the things that happened to me will always be a part of who I am, including the horrific things. I just...I need to not have them be front and center all the time. Living through them once was enough. I don't want that to be the only thing in my life that defines me. I'm more than just a victim."
"I sent the boy to the Headmaster. If anyone will know how to help him, or at least who to send him to...and yes, I hope that this one can be reasoned with. The idea of this kid getting destroyed because his parents were stupid doesn't sit well with me. And from what I saw in his memories, they didn't know what they were doing. They just decided that hey, let's put this mysterious thing we found into our kid....I swear, if I ever meet these people I am going to slap the both of them. For starters." "And no, I don't think my mother has made a replacement. I think that she's still using the mindless clone of me that the headmaster gave her. I think the clone might be sick too. I think that the power of Winter is trying to find me. But I don't have proof of course. It's just a feeling. And dreams. So many dreams. All ice and snow. But not how I remember it from my childhood. Beautiful. Peaceful." "There's more. As if all of that wasn't enough. I had an appointment with Phaezeriel today. About my memory problem." She was twisting her hands nervously now. "He was able to examine the structure of the magic the memories are encased in. It seems that the magic is tied directly into my life energy. He presented me with some different options to try and undo it. He can try to unravel the magic itself, which is no simple task. This is ancient fey magic after all. Or he can try cutting its connection to its source bit by bit. But the quickest, most likely to succeed option would be to kill me. Temporarily. Obviously. I would probably have to be dead for a matter of minutes to cut off the magic from my life force completely. But my deal with Luck ends when I die, and there's no guarantee that Luck would be willing to reinstate it. And with the power of Winter trying to find me....it's pretty high risk. I told him that I wanted time to consider and to talk things over with you before I decided on what to do."
"Yes, of course." He steps back and lets her in. "Would you like some tea to warm you up?" "Yes," she agreed gratefully. She sighs as she sits down, her breath forming ice crystals in the air. "My last patient of the day....his idiot parents had actually bound an Other into him when he was a child. Needless to say, I very nearly froze the poor boy to death. It was....a very strange Other. Intelligent. Not that they aren't often cunning and calculating. But this one was capable of thoughts and ideas like self-preservation. Possibly things it has picked up from its host. I don't know. But it's a lot of blows in one week. First to find out that the barrier has failed, and now to find that there is an Other in the school...the barrier must have failed a long time ago. And my ice powers are...well, they're growing. I...I suspect my mother may be sick. Part of me is happy about that. The rest of me is concerned about what will happen without her taking an active role in leading the Winter Court now that they need to attend to their duties again."
"It's been an...interesting day," she said with a slight quaver to her voice. "I'm not entirely sure where to start. Perhaps we can step into your classroom? I'm pretty sure that this isn't a good conversation to have in the hallway."
Nala is almost to Ryuzo's dojo when she spots him just leaving. He can see that she is tense, if for no other reason than she is leaving snowy footprint behind her as she walks. Also she appears to be shaking slightly.
Nala sagged against the wall in relief after they had gone. She had to spend several minutes in meditation before she could get rid of all of the ice. And then she made sure to clock out. Not that she wasn't technically always on call, but at least now she would only be called in for an emergency. And then she went back to her office, hung her lab coat on its wall hook, and put away her files. And then she went looking for Ryuzo.
"Well, I guess that explains the social awkwardness then," she said. The static eyes were freaking her out a little, but she knew too well how it felt to have people flinch away just because you were different. So she didn't. She was sure she'd get used to it soon enough anyways. As weirdness went, this wasn't really so bad. "I'm sure you've got this, Adon. Just remember you're not all on your own anymore. It's okay to ask for help," she added with an encouraging smile. "Your body is likely transforming to reflect the form of the being you are bonded to. I'm afraid I'm exactly the wrong person to ask for assistance in this matter. The only transformations I undergo are a matter of instinct, and while it did require some learning on my part that was mostly learning how to control my body in a different form. I think that you should consult the Headmaster honestly. He might be able to direct you to who can best assist you in the next step," she said, as she carefully decreased the number of icicles in the room.
"Yes. It was quite protective of you, actually. It would only allow me access to your memories once I had assured it that I had your best interests in mind. I know that this sounds hollow coming from me. You've seen my reaction to the creature. I'm sorry. I can't help it. Any Winter Fey would feel the same. We are ...ancestral enemies. But this one is not quite the same. It is dangerous. I am certain of that. But...I think perhaps that you affect it as much as it affects you. What your parents did in their...we will graciously call it ignorance. What they did created a sort of symbiosis between you and the being. Your mind has been trying to tell you this, which is why you kept having the dreams. You were trying to tell yourself what you knew was happening."
|
