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"Don't forget to take a scarf," Pyra said, grabbing one from the coat rack by the door and tying it around Raelle's neck herself while Raelle rolled her eyes a little. "I won't bother nagging you about staying safe since I already know that Ardiente and James are going to be watching you like hawks. So I'll just remind you not to work until you drop." "Oh, and Ardiente, she's too nice to tell you herself, but she hates being called Rae."
Jiminy snorted. "I'm only 'Boss' when you're on duty. Today is a rest day, so for now you're not my subordinate, you're just my idiot cousin who keeps forgetting that he's part of the family," he said with a grin to show that he was joking around. "And what are the chances that I could actually borrow Elle today without you coming too ? There's no way you'd let her out of your sight that long. I hear you were actually sleeping in front of the door last night," he teased.Scorch gives a respectful nod of his head to Jiminy "Morning Boss, need me as well today?" Pyra couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, no! Really? If it's going to be like that, at least come inside and sleep on the sofa!" "And yes, you can borrow Raelle for a while, as long as she's okay with that. I'm fine. I was just going to suggest using that SIM program of the hot springs that I had made so that the girls can learn how to swim. How does that sound?""Yay!" Chara crowed, excited, while Ignace rolled her eyes, less than thrilled with the prospect, but what can you do?
Ardiente smiles a warm greeting at Pyra "Good morning Mrs del Sol. I hope our kitchen shenanigans didn't wake you?" She shook her head. "Not exactly. The smell of food woke me, but that's certainly nothing to complain about. This is exactly the sort of day that calls for cookies for breakfast. Thank you for helping," she said kindly.
Pyra smiled as she gently picked Chara up. "Yes, sweetie. Less sad now. But sad comes and goes, and I will probably be sad again sometimes because I miss my little brother. But it means a lot to me that you were working hard to help me feel better, baby."
Pyra unintentionally interrupted what looked to be a romantic moment as she came back into the room to check on Raelle. "No, no, you're fine!" she said, as the kids jumped, blushing like mad. "I just wanted to check on Raelle." "Mom?" Raelle asked, noticing her mom's funny expression. "Are you okay?" Pyra sighed. She'd never had much of a poker face. "I just spent some time explaining to Elektra that her father was one of the guards who had been put through the ritual. We're not sure yet if it can be reversed. It was...not a pleasant conversation. She has her friends with her, so at least she's not on her own. And...there are some other things that came to light when your father went through his parents' things. I don't want to talk about it now. I'm not trying to keep secrets, sweetie. I just can only handle so much at once. I'll tell you and your sisters about it in the morning. It's all going to be very public, so I'd rather you hear it from us. Just...not tonight." "Ardiente, you can stay with Raelle for a while longer if you like. Until Sorchan gets back anyways. He'll stop in to check on her when he gets here."
::Sorchan, you need to bring Raelle's things...the ones that were found....whoever took her is using some pretty strong magic to hide her location. Ryleh can tell that she's alive, but that's about it. She says that having objects that were on Raelle when she was taken will help her see more. Something about using them as a focus. I don't know. Just hurry. Please.::
Pyra paced back and forth as Ryleh worked, not understanding the array of crystals, mirrors, and bowls of water spread out on her work table. Although she couldn't help but notice its striking similarity to Aananda's security displays. Like mother, like daughter apparently. ::Fieri,:: she sent out, realizing that there was one member of the family who hadn't been contacted yet. ::There's an emergency. Raelle is missing. Some of her things were found outside the wards. Ryleh is trying to locate her now. Ephebe went to tell Ignace and Chara. Can you go and stay with the girls? This has to be frightening for them?:: ::Yeah, I'll be right there,:: Fieri responded after a short pause. Well, it was a lot to dump on someone. Pyra was still fighting the sensation that this was all just some horrible nightmare and she was going to wake up any moment.
Pyra flew outside, quickly scanning the grounds for Ryleh. Once she spotted her, sitting at the small table drinking tea with Ephebe, she swooped in for a landing.
The school seems to be helping her hurry. That corridor had seemed longer before. And the stairs didn't used to be there, did they? She reached an area of the school she had never been before quite quickly. Professor del Sol was already walking down a corridor towards her, followed by a woman she didn't recognize with dark red hair. "What is it?" he demanded. "What happened to Raelle?"Cindra curves in a graceful maneuver, flowing into her human form keeping pace with the Del Sols, "Professor, we do not yet know what has happened, except that she has disappeared. Lucas has found some of her belongings just outside the wards. That is when I reached out to you." Sorchan and Pyra share a look. "I'll go see if Ryleh can scry out Raelle's current location," she said, looking worried.
"Thank you for rescuing me from an afternoon of trying to wrangle sixty or so students. I'm surprised that we made it through the morning," she said with a relieved chuckle. "And don't worry about your room. The school will probably have moved it for you by the time classes are done. It's very efficient. Sometimes I think it gets a bit miffed when people insist on moving stuff around themselves."
She breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I hope you can start right away....would this afternoon be too soon?" she asked hopefully. "I can't find new hire paperwork, so you'll have to take care of that with Ephebe when she gets back, but don't worry. The school will recognize your new position even without the proper paperwork. And don't mind the firebird children. They're all bluster, and mostly just feeling lost due to the recent turmoil and not having a home anymore. But do watch out for Cedric. He teleports. Keeping him in class can prove...problematic. "
"I'm pretty sure that it does. I'll be frank. This is not an easy job. These children would test the patience of an angel. And they have a lot of the same issues as the older kids, without the maturity to deal with them. And none of us actually have any formal training at this. Well...unless raising my own children counts," she added with a shrug and a slightly self-conscious smile. "But the important thing is a willingness to work with these children, to try to help them. Yes, we will definitely make mistakes, but it's still worlds better than what they would face outside this school. And the elementary division of Avalon is growing faster than we can hire staff. Ephebe has had making an appointment to interview you for this job since school started, but things keep coming up. Since I'm subbing as school administrator for the day, and since I've been trying to teach a class of sixty.....well, I decided that this was an emergency. Really. We need more teachers. And I think that you would be perfect for the job. You would be teaching a class of 8-12 year olds. For now. Eventually we are hoping to hire even more teachers so we can separate children into smaller age ranges and let our headmistress worry about running things instead of running things and teaching a class. But right now that looks like a far away pipe dream. Right now we are just trying to keep up. "
She sat down at the desk and tried to look professional. "I understand that you spend a lot of time mentoring students, especially younger ones....I was hoping you might consider something a bit more official. How would you feel about accepting a post as a teacher?"
"Honestly? Frazzled. I have no idea where Ephebe hid the paperwork, and we had a whole class worth of new students enroll over the last two days. Which is why I wanted to talk to you actually. Please sit down, have a cookie. They seem to replenish themselves as far as I can tell. Leave it to dragons to build a plate of endless cookies."
::Welp, now or never:: Kor thought to himself. He steels himself and gets up, heading to the elementary school offices. He gets to the headmaster's door, and knocks.Sits in the lunchroom, nervously waiting for his impromptu appointment with Mrs Del Sol...Pyra led her class to the lunchroom and handed them over to the supervision of the new gym teacher. She grabbed a charred cheese sandwich that she hastily ate on the way to Ephebe's office. She would need to find where Ephebe had hidden the new hire paperwork. "Come in," she called, hastily moving the stacks of paperwork she'd been trying to sort through back to some semblance of their original order. She still had no idea where to find the new hire paperwork. She'd looked in all the logical places. And a fair few of the illogical places....Flames above, there actually was new hire paperwork, wasn't there?
Sits in the lunchroom, nervously waiting for his impromptu appointment with Mrs Del Sol... Pyra led her class to the lunchroom and handed them over to the supervision of the new gym teacher. She grabbed a charred cheese sandwich that she hastily ate on the way to Ephebe's office. She would need to find where Ephebe had hidden the new hire paperwork.
Once all the children had finished their paperwork, Pyra filed them appropriately and also sent the letter to Kor. "Alright, kids, let's get you lot to class. I'll take you there. You have a substitute teacher today, but I'm sure you'll get on just fine with both her and your normal teacher." She led the way to another classroom and knocked on the door. A very pretty young woman with long red hair answered the door. "Fieri, I have a few new students to add to this class. We've just finished their paperwork."
After a few minutes, Jacob finishes his form. All of it is filled out with remarkable clarity for someone his age. "What should I do now, Missus del Sol? If I have no other other obligations, I would like to visit the library." "You'll have time for that after class today, Jacob. For now if you can please wait for the other two to finish their forms, then I will show you all to your classroom. You have excellent handwriting by the way. I'm impressed." While the students filled out their forms she wrote a quick note for Kor asking him to meet with her at lunchtime. She only hoped she could hold out that long without bringing in another much needed teacher.
"It's del Sol," she said with a smile, trying to reassure the shy girl. " Was there something you needed to know how to spell?"
"Start with your name and if there's anything you aren't sure how to spell, just ask me."
"That sounds similar to one of my daughters. A few days ago she started seeing the underlying patterns of things. It can be a bit confusing when latent abilities suddenly start becoming more active, but that's part of what the school is here to help you with. Nothing to worry about." "Do any of you know how to write? You can fill the form out for yourself, or at least start it if you can. But don't worry if you don't know how. I can help you fill in the paper work if you need."
"Of course you'll be accepted, dear," Pyra said, ushering the new students inside the office. " Please go ahead and sit down. And help yourself to a cookie. Mrs. Blackscales always keeps cookies in her office. This shouldn't take too long. Who wants to go first?"
Pyra led the group of children back into the school, to the gym where they picked up a whole other class worth of students all much older than the young children who had been playing outside. She barely kept order in the oversized group as they made their way to the music room. The tall, green-haired boy waiting in the music room looked a bit panicked when he saw the size of the group. "Sorry I can't stay to help supervise, Pan, but I have new students to enroll...feel free to call for backup if you need. You have access to the PA system for the day. Good luck." " Alright, those of you who need to enroll, follow me now. The rest of you listen to Mr. Buttercup and behave." Pyra led the way to Ephebe's office.
"Of course, it's no trouble, just make sure not to lose it," she said just before a bell rang. "Alright, class, line up. We need to pick up the rest of the class from the gym and head to music class. New students stay with me. I will take you to the office to sign you up properly while the rest of the students are at music. And I expect you all to be respectful to Mr. Buttercup today. He's subbing for Mrs. Sunwake while she is subbing for Mrs. Blackscales."
She waved him over. "Another new student? You're the third this morning. We're almost done with PE. We'll have to go collect the rest of the class...it really does need to be broken into two classes. Hopefully after lunchtime. We have art next, so once the class is settled in for that then I can take you three over to the office and get you properly enrolled. Oh, pardon my manners. I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Mrs. del Sol."
Jacob looks a little green for a moment, then says shakily "Yes sir, I can. Thank you." Jacob looks at the wall with trepidation, then thinks of Mrs. del Sol. The arrows point to her office, and Jacob, looking a little unsure, follows them. The arrows lead Jacob to a door. This door appears to lead outside. Outside of the door Jacob can see a group of young children playing tag. They are supervised by a woman with red hair.
"Umm...okay. Would the two of you like to join this class until the game is done? I can take you to the office later to get the enrollment paperwork done. You'll like it. Headmistress Blackscales makes sure that there are always cookies in her office. All I need to know now is your names," she said, smiling at the girls.
"So...you're here to register as new students? Well, normally you would see the Headmistress for that, but she's taken a group out on a field trip today, so I'm filling in for her while she's gone."
"Hello. My name is Mrs. del Sol. I'm one of the teachers here. I haven't seen either of you here before...are you new students?" she asked in a gentle, pleasant tone.
Having finally gotten the younger children calm and playing a game, Pyra starts to enjoy a moment of calm when she notices two children she doesn't recognize standing at the sidelines. She beckons them to come over and talk to her.
Advaran rams the doors to the elementary gym at full throttle, slamming the handbrake and skidding to a halt at near breakneck speeds. "That is how you make an entrance," he says before examining the doors for damage.
There is a large crowd of children of varying ages waiting inside the gym. Some of the youngest children start to cry because they're scared of the motorcycle, while some of the older children crowd forward, eager to get a closer look at this new vehicle. The very frazzled looking teacher steps forward. "Alright, I'm leaving the older kids here for class and taking the little ones outside to play. We'll be back at the end of gym class."
Pyra stood looking out the window one arm around Ignace and the other keeping Chara from overbalancing on the chair she was perched on so she could see out the window. Part of her had always thought that someday she'd have a chance to go back....and now it was really gone forever. She tried to stay strong and not cry in front of the girls. They were feeling uncertain enough already.
"Ignace can attend if she wants to. Provided there is a teacher going along. I haven't had the chance to ask her yet what her opinion is. She fell asleep yesterday after we got back from the sun and didn't wake up until this morning."
"Yes, he showed me. I'm afraid I won't be able to attend. Chara can't go. It's too big of a risk. So I would stay home with her anyways. But I also have class to teach on Monday. But Sorchan will try to be there. depending on how things are going. It's a bit chaotic just now obviously." "Ignace will be out soon I think. She doesn't know you're here, but believe me there is no rushing her when it comes to getting ready in the mornings."
"Good morning, Lang. Please, sit down, make yourself at home. Wise idea bringing your own food. I'm not sure I could reliably manage food for humans. Sorchan has already gone to go help with the evacuations. And Ignace is still in the process of waking up," she said, piling burnt pancakes onto a plate for Chara.
"Take your eyes of children for a second and they'll vanish faster than the illusions class during a pop quiz." "That is most definitely the truth. And especially troubling when they pop off to visit other planets because you happened to turn around to look at something," she said dryly.
"Yes, but once we got there the three children," she said, pulling Ignace out from where she'd been hiding behind her mother, "triggered some sort of magical door. They were gone by the time I turned around. So most of what you'll want to know, you'll have to ask them."
Pyra knocked on the Headmaster's door.
Pyra nods. "Thank you, Nala. All right, Lang, Grim, and Ignace, now that you've been cleared by the infirmary staff, and you're sure your friend is going to be okay, I need you three to come with me to the Headmaster's office so you can tell us about what you saw."
"That would be my husband's family. He took the family record book, but if those books are still in the possession of the del Sols, then Sorchan's parents will have them. Which is a bit of a problem since he's not really on good terms with them after their role in the execution of the Fuerte family. I'll tell him to look for them. He's capable of putting his personal feelings aside for something this important."
"Lang, wait! There are easier ways to summon help from here, and I'd rather not have you wandering off considering that you have a lot of important things to say and there will be people wanting their questions answered shortly." "I know, but you don't have to handle things all by yourself. Let us help you. To start I'm going to talk to the nurse about who might be available and we'll get someone here who can help Hew. But I need you to stay here."
"Lang, wait! There are easier ways to summon help from here, and I'd rather not have you wandering off considering that you have a lot of important things to say and there will be people wanting their questions answered shortly."
"Come on, kids, let's go quickly. It can't be easy for the Headmaster to keep the portal open given the protections on this place," Pyra said, pushing Lang and Ignace towards the portal and supporting Grim to help him walk through.
Grim is mostly himself, though still dizzy and tired "well when we touched the magic door, I figured it would teleport us or scan Lang, so i had all of us touch it at once,I was right but I completely forgot about you guys I'm soooo sorry, anyway we went to this room with a bunch of statues... Or was it the fire bowl anyway Lang did some avatar stuff and we ended up on a whole bother planet, and that was cool, but then when Lang went all meditatey some guys showed up, and ignanc went fwoosh" he makes arm motions, would have more energy but you can tell he's tired, "fire anyway two of the guys grabbed her, and I got so mad!..... I.. I don't remember much after that just I I wanted to hurt them...make sure they never touched Ignance again... "He zones out slightly"They were threatening me to try and make Lang do that thing where he gets all glowy and talks funny," Ignace said, lip quivering, "and I couldn't turn off the flames and it kept healing them cause they were firebirds and I was soooo scared," she said in a small voice. "Another world like this one....and there are firebirds there....this could change everything," she said quietly to Sorchan. "Shh, Ignace, it's okay. It's alright, you're okay now. You're all back safe and sound, and that's the most important part," she said, hugging all three children.
Grim allows himself to be carried "I'm flyyyying weeee" his eyes droop as he try's not to fall asleep, he sounds punch drunk, or maybe actually drunk. They fly for what seems a very long way until they finally reach a landing platform which is bustling with activity. Flame colored birds with long feathers that sort of resembled peacocks (phoenix) were being herded into a large crate. There was a sort of organized chaos as people were being sorted into several different queues to be loaded onto shuttles. There seemed to be constant activity as shuttles were taking off and landing. The lines were full of many different types of people, from those who looked to be wearing common clothes and clutching small bundles full of a few possessions, to those dressed ostentatiously and attended by servants. A young girl with pale blonde hair in a white dress stood out especially for the insane number of guards surrounding her, all the while she looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Sorchan and Pyra took the children to a quieter area in a building nearby. "I'm not sure whether to hug you all or yell at you to never scare me like that again," Pyra said, looking at the three of them. "What happened? Where did the three of you go?"
::Sorchan!:: Pyra's mental voice was frantic. ::I've lost the children! They went through some kind of magical door before I could get there and now the door has disappeared....oh gods...I have no idea where they are!::
Pyra pulled a small device out of her pocket and used it to record the images on the walls, walking very slowly to make sure no details were missed.
"And there's magics keeping it cool, this has got to be the place, was the last avatar some kind of wizard?" "Unlikely, but he would have had to work with wizards and the like to build this place...these carvings are incredible. I've never seen anything like this. We have no record like this of the sun being built," she said, examining the carvings.
Grim turns his head and sees ignance's mom also in Bird form "so can you guys talk like in bird form, or do you like speak bird,I don't know much abou you guys, and I don't speak bird, I think my sister can speak bird, she knows a lot of stuff" ::We use our minds to speak in this form. We don't speak bird,::
Once the children are all in the air, Pyra shifts into her bird form, her feathers in the darker orange range with bright red accents to them. She follows behind as Lang leads the way to the air vent entrance, making sure she's there to catch anyone who has difficulty with the flight. Once Pyra is clear the shuttle pulls away heading for the landing pad
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