Spirits of the Earth

Info
This is a segue off Wyrdwood Academy (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=24683.0), which is open. For more information, see Theoretical Thrones Plotting (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=26591.new#new).

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Jaxius woke up to rambunctious hollering.

He rolled over in bed with a grumble, stuffing a pillow over his face to block out the sunlight that was streaming into his dorm. Somewhere in the courtyard, students yelled out as they carried out whatever mischief they had planned for the day.

The first years were dumb, and loud, and Jaxius was not having it.

He threw the covers back and stretched, then sprang out of bed in a surprisingly fluid motion.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

Brahgo kicked his roommate's blanket--which had been tossed half onto the floor--out of his way as he moved toward the door to their dorm, lacing up the last few ties of his shirt as he walked. He jerked his head toward the window. "They get you too, huh?"

He couldn't say he was thrilled to be awake on one of the few days when he didn't actually have morning classes, but he was never quite as grouchy as Jaxius before noon. "C'mon, we should grab something to eat."

"One day they'll realize that classes are tiring and boring and they keep you up at night with a load of homework and that sleep is PRECIOUS," Jaxius mumbled as he wandered around his side of the dorm, looking for some clothes. He found a Wyrdwood robe with rips and dirt smeared all over it underneath his bed, gave it a cursory glance, then shrugged and tugged on a clean open-necked shirt instead.

"Ah yes, food. What a pain in the ass." That said, he stepped into some boots and joined Brahgo at the door. "Might as well get it over with. Three times a day, what a waste of time and energy," he continued to rant quietly as they walked towards the dining area.

By this point used to the other boy's griping, Brahgo just grinned and clapped him on the back as they stepped out into the circular common space that linked their dorm to the two neighboring. "Oh, lighten up. If we hurry we can actually get a hot breakfast."

He slipped easily around the chaise pressed up against a back wall--surprisingly easily, perhaps, for someone of his size--and nearly ran over a much smaller personage making her way carefully out from her own room.

"Oh!"

The girl jumped back, wide eyed, and stared up at him. "U-um...sorry..."

Brahgo backpedaled and accidentally bumped into Jaxius, cursing and muttering apologies at the same time. "No--kafvas!--my fault, I didn't--shit, sorry, Jax--"

Jaxius caught his friend's shoulder, steadying him. "Whoah Brahgo. This place is crowded for the morning." To the girl, he added, "Sorry about this doofus. What's your name?"

Brahgo muttered something in his native tongue that wasn't particularly complimentary, but he straightened up easily enough with Jaxius's help and tried to press back against the wall, making himself smaller.

The girl seemed to have had the same idea, head ducked and shoulders hunched as she looked between them, still wide eyed. "Ah...Laeni." She cleared her throat and tried again, a little louder. "My name's Laeni." She looked back and forth between them again. "Um...Brahgo and...Jax?"

"Yep, that's us." For someone so grumpy earlier, Jax made an effort to be charismatic, especially as, aided by his life magic, he sensed Laeni's essence playing tug-of-war. Something was bothering her,  weighing her down emotionally, and whatever it was, it seemed to have been bothering her for a long time. Although she obviously wasn't very keen on being outgoing, something about Laeni made Jaxius want to talk to her further.

"We were just heading to breakfast," he told her. It wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, but it would suffice, and it would give him the opportunity to scrutinize her further. "Care to join us?"

"O-oh, um..." Laeni glanced back over her shoulder toward her room, then winced. Yeah. Not going back in there...

"...Okay." She looked back to the two boys and tried to smile. "Thank you."

As though sensing her make the decision to leave the floor, Rey rumbled a soft, growling sort of purr and butted his head against the door to her room so he could slip out to stand beside her, twining around her legs.

She staggered a bit, then caught herself and gave the large cat a scratch between the shoulders, shaking her head. "Ah, this is Rey," she mumbled by way of explanation.

Brahgo was staring at the animal, slightly slack jawed. "Spirits above and below..." What even was that?

Laeni flushed again and the half-orc seemed to catch himself, wincing. He looked to his roommate for help. "Er, I mean. He's...lovely?"

Jaxius was taken aback momentarily as the grey figure slipped out of Laeni's room. It was a pretty looking cat, though, with gorgeous fur. "Hey Rey," he murmured, crouching down to offer the cat a sniff of his hand.

He glanced back at Brahgo's jumpiness, a little confused by his reaction, but he took the lead on Brahgo's statement. "He really is lovely. What a gorgeous cat you have."

The odd panther--at least he looked more like a panther than anything else in size and shape, if not coloring--blinked at them laconically. Laeni shuffled her feet and cleared her throat. "Ah...thanks. He's...been with me a while. The professor I spoke with said students are allowed to keep their familiars with them, so..."

She shrugged a little helplessly.

Brahgo cocked his head, though he was already stepping around girl and cat to make for the door that led to the winding stairway down to the base of the tower. "Oh, yeah--you're sorta new, aren't you? Must feel odd starting up in the middle of a term."

Laeni's flush deepened and she ducked her head, mumbling something unintelligible.

"Classes can be kinda hard to pick up," Jaxius added, "but don't worry, this place isn't that bad for an academy." He followed Brahgo to the door, then looked back at Laeni and Rey. "Coming? Better go fast if we want a hot breakfast."

Laeni started a bit, as though she hadn't expected him to actually remember she was there, but nodded as she trailed along behind them. Her hands twisted in her skirts, something like a nervous habit.

"What are you here for, then?" Brahgo asked her over his shoulder. He jerked his chin at Jaxius. "Sunshine here is a...what's the term? Life mage?"

"Something like that," he agreed, mainly because he wasn't quite sure about his magic yet. Jax was fast learning that everyone's magic is a different experience, and his was more intuition based than most, making it difficult to pinpoint his power.

He began running down the stairs as they talked, a force of habit more than a desire to be fast, but the others had to speed up if they wanted to catch up to him.

"Right, so--oi! So suddenly now you're in a rush?" Brahgo grumbled another few choice orcish curses under his breath as he picked up his pace. With his longer legs, he didn't have to really run to keep up with Jax.

Laeni was clearly not so lucky.

Her familiar beat her to the bottom of the stairs, and the girl came to a staggering halt quite a few steps behind, panting a bit and clearly trying to figure out how to avoid tangling her legs in her skirts and the trailing hem of a pair of robes.

"You're gonna give the new girl a heart attack," Brahgo muttered to his roommate as he glanced back over his shoulder at her, but there wasn't any real heat in his voice.

Jaxius laughed, a spark in his eyes. "You know me, Brahgo- a run always does me good." And it was true. Whenever he didn't know what to do with his emotions, Jax ran; whenever he was angry at the world, or about to cry, or wanted to hug someone very close to his chest and never let them go. He ran to calm himself, and though he wasn't very athletic, it cleared his mind.

He did feel bad for making Laeni play catch-up, though. The poor thing looked exhausted. "Sorry Laeni," he offered sheepishly.

The smells of all sorts of breakfast foods wafted through the air, and Jax could smell bacon and eggs amongst them. His spirits thoroughly restored by now, he walked towards the buffet-style kitchen with a bounce in his step. "Better make the run pay off, amirite? Let's grab breakfast and get me properly caffeinated. Then I wanna do something fun today. If we were woken up for nothing, I will be very disappointed."

"Oh, um, n-no. It's fine," Laeni muttered quickly, ducking her eyes and flushing again. Her default state seemed to be a slight blush. At her side, Rey rolled his eyes and grumbled low in his chest.

Brahgo snorted. "Alright, my cat is rusty, and he's got a weird accent, but I know enough to know that wasn't very polite," he chuckled. Moving up next to Jax, he swiped a roll the other boy was reaching for with a wink.

Laeni just gaped at him. "You--you can understand him?!"

Brahgo glanced back at her and shrugged. "Sure. Mostly."

Jaxius glared at the other boy and gave him a light, playful push. "I'm hurt! That roll was destined for me!" With a shake of his head, he loaded up on scrambled eggs, then swiped a cup to fill with coffee as Brahgo translated the cat's low noises. "Brahgo, what's the weirdest cat insult you've ever heard?" he asked, now very interested. 

As they talked, he glanced at the doorway and was unsurprised to find Laeni hanging back. She was quite timid, he thought, even for a newbie. "Well, come on then," he called, "we can't have underfed students here." Rey seemed far more excited about the prospect of food, so Jax tossed the large cat a piece of bacon. But he was already thinking about throwing Laeni for a loop, and maybe bringing her out of that shy shell she hid in all the time.

Absentmindedly, he began planning the afternoon's adventure- did he want sunshine on his back, an exploration around the woods at the back of the school? Or perhaps a sneak into the library, slipping a note into the textbooks? And most importantly, what would get Laeni to come along with them and maybe grow more confident?

Her cat, he decided. Whatever he came up with, Rey would have to agree with it. Surely, gaining the cat's trust would allow Laeni to feel more comfortable around them.

"Weirdest sound, or weirdest translation?" Brahgo replied with a chuckle, bumping his shoulder into Jax's as he looked around for a place to sit.

Rey chuffed, sitting back on his haunches to catch the piece of bacon and swallowing it nearly whole with a deep, satisfied purr. Laeni shot the animal a look of betrayal as he bumped her hip, forcing her to stagger forward after the boys.

"What are you plotting?" Brahgo asked his roommate, glancing between Jax and the girl. He lowered his voice so Laeni and her familiar wouldn't overhear, dropping into a deep rumble. "You've got your scheming face on."

"Oh, just a little afternoon adventure. I wanna bring Laeni out of her shell a little bit," Jax confided. "But I'll need your help- and Rey's. You can kind of communicate with Rey, right? If you're down, then let him know we're plotting some mischief and see if he has any ideas of his own. Cats tend to know the best hiding places in a castle- and the best people to prank. I'll try and distract Laeni."

They sat down at a table, and Jax turned to Laeni. "We don't get transfers around here often, so I'd like to know more about you, about the world. Care to share some stories?"

The shapeshifter sighed as he took his seat. "Sure, I can do that." He glanced at the girl again, then lowered his voice a bit more and added, "Careful though, yeah? I think you and I both know not everyone comes here under...happy circumstances."

Laeni's skittishness seemed like more than a shy nature to him. Maybe it was part of his magic, his beastspeaking gift--or maybe he'd just gotten good at reading people's tells, growing up the way he had--but something about her struck him like...like a wild animal. Something hunted and afraid. Like a deer you were trying to coax out of the wood with an apple in your hand.

Oblivious to the conversation, Laeni seemed to hesitate a moment, then took a seat across from the two of them. Where else was she supposed to go? She didn't even know any other students' names, really, aside from her roommate.

And honestly, she probably could have done without that.

She snapped her head up like a startled horse and blinked when Jax turned his attention to her. Rey jumped up on the seat beside her and braced his paws on the table, looking around curiously. She hardly noticed. "I, ah--I don't really have any stories?"

She winced. It wasn't exactly a lie, was it?

"I'm...I'm from the Kishahn?" she offered quietly.

Brahgo, who had been introducing himself formally to her familiar, started. He shot Jax a look as if to say, Seriously?!

Jaxius cringed, floundering for something to say. It wasn't like he didn't get it, he didn't like talking about family either, but sometimes he forgot just how bad things can get when magic is involved. He hated making the girl uncomfortable though.

"Ah- well-" he stumbled, "you'll like it here! There's- um- there's this really pretty clock tower!" Getting into tourist mode, he began to regale her- or at least try to regale her- with some of his own stories. "The clock tower has this loft in it that's kinda hidden, and if you climb into it there are stained glass windows that throw rainbows onto the walls... and there's this, um, there's this wall where people have been writing one liners and stories since probably the beginning of time. People will complete each others' lines and pages. And it's crazy 'cause we, Brahgo and I, we never see anyone when we go up there. There's a poem that covers almost a fifth of the wall and half of it is about this crazy farting dragon, it's hilarious."

Jax paused, partly for breath, partly because the loft was a part of the school's history and newcomers didn't usually get to know about it for a while. Going into the loft was kind of like when you finally realized you belong at Wyrdwood, and it's been a safe haven for students to write emotional journal entries and ragged poems onto the wall for centuries. He deliberated for a moment on whether or not he should continue talking about the clock tower, then decided, what the hell? Why not? She was one of theirs now, anyway- no one would bother her as long as he and Brahgo were around. They were pretty respected, well-doing boys in the school.

And just like that, it seemed they had adopted a kitten.

At least, that was how Brahgo had started to think of the girl. It was what Rey called her--my kitten, or sometimes just kit. He really needed to work on his communication with felines, but he could understand enough for that. And that the large cat was...worried about something. Though what exactly he was worried about eluded him.

The "kitten" in question was just staring at Jaxius with wide eyes, food untouched. She didn't know how to react--should she react? He seemed to be on a roll, not like he really needed her input...

Oh. He'd stopped. Damn, was she supposed to say something now? "That...that sounds nice," she tried, voice soft as ever, but there was a glimmer of genuine interest in her eyes. "I, um...wh-where I grew up, there's really nothing like...I mean, it was mostly just jungle." The moment the words were out of her mouth she blushed, feeling like an ill-educated bumpkin. That was what her roommate had called her, before she'd fled out into the hall and nearly collided with Brahgo.

"But it--it sounds nice..."

Jax noticed the flush on her cheeks. "Jungles are nice too," he said, softly, hoping not to upset her with talking about the past. "So... is there anything you'd like to know about the school? Or anything you'd like to see?" He kept his tone gentle, since Laeni seemed kind of... unsure... about everything, and he really didn't want to say something that disturbed her again. He hated putting her on the spot, but at the same, he didn't want to just ramble on and seem like he didn't care about her opinions at all.

At the same time, he shot Brahgo a sideways glance. Brahgo and Rey seemed to have warmed up to each other quite a bit, and Jax hoped that maybe they would come up with something that Laeni would enjoy doing. He inconspicuously snuck another piece of bacon towards Rey, a little in awe of the massive cat, as he ate his breakfast.

Laeni actually smiled at that--a proper smile, slightly crooked and a little self-deprecating, but a smile. "Jungles are jungles," she retorted with a short chuckle. "Sometimes pretty, always dangerous."

"Brrp?" Rey made a chirping sound and tilted his head at her before snapping up the slice of bacon.

Laeni jerked and looked at him. "Oh, I don't want to bother--"

"Of course we wouldn't mind showing her around," Brahgo said at the same time, clearly answering whatever it was the panther had said. He glanced to Jaxius and explained, "She doesn't have classes until tomorrow. We could give her a quick tour, yeah?" Looking back to Laeni with a sheepish smile, he added, "Ah, you might be stuck with just Jax in the evening though; I've got a late afternoon lecture."

"Oh, of course we could tour. This school is huge." Jaxius stood from the table, a little relieved that he had been alleviated for the moment from his rather awkward conversation with Laeni. The role of tour guide was far easier, and he loved the old school's little crooks and crannies. It had character and charm, and he always thought he could feel the footsteps of previous students when he walked their paths. "Do you have a schedule yet? We could show you to your classes first. Then you won't have to find them tomorrow. Between the two of us, Brahgo and I should know where all your classes are, at least."

"Oh! Um..." She blinked, still a little wide-eyed, and looked between them, but eventually offered a cautious. "I...have a course list back up in my room. I'm not sure I remember everything off the top of my head, but if you don't mind waiting I could go grab it...?"

Rey huffed and rolled his eyes at her, grumbling something that made Brahgo snort and Laeni flush before he jumped down from the table and padded from the dining hall, tail swishing smugly.

"He says he can get it," the half-orc relayed to his friend. A little lower, he added, "And that if Laeni is going to bother training her magic, she might as well try to remember that she has a familiar who can do things like that."

Laeni's blush deepened.

Jaxius restrained his laughter, but he couldn't hide his smirk. "Alright then... can Rey catch up to us outside? The classroom buildings are across the courtyard and it's a little far for human legs." He added, turning to Brahgo, "Remember the first time we walked to classes? I could've sworn the courtyard doesn't end."

Brahgo snorted. "I think it didn't. Some upperclassman was fucking around with spatial-temporal spells remember? Got a suspension for unlicensed experimentation and everything."

Laeni's lips twitched as she listened to them, but she nodded an assent. "Rey always knows how to find me."

"You ever gonna get one of those?" Brahgo asked, clapping Jax on the shoulder. "A familiar. Does that work with your magic? You've never really said."

Jaxius laughed a hint sarcastically as they began walking towards the classes. "I mean, I guess I've never considered having a familiar. I don't really know if it would work, but I suppose it probably would. Life magic is naturally very nurturing, and animals intuitively seek to end pain and find gratification. But I've never had a connection..." Jax changed his words mid-sentence- "like that."

A connection like that.

When he turned twelve, Jax's parents gave him a wolf pup, a rare purebred black wolf with haunting, icy blue eyes. They told him to teach it to hunt. Every day, the boy and the wolf went into the forest. At first, the wolf was tense and nippy, and Jax came home with bite marks and scratches all over his body. But he fed the wolf by hand and told it stories in low voices, and there came a day when Jax was able to proudly show off his wolf.

You've taught her love, not obedience.

They had taken the wolf away and Jax felt the crushing weight of remorse and pain and guilt all over again; a stabbing pain tightened his chest as his brain replayed the way the wolf's blue eyes had stared into his soul as she was dragged from his side.

He didn't know what his parents had done with her. He didn't think he ever wanted to know.

"Hey." Hand still on Jax's shoulder, Brahgo shook him lightly. "You still with us, mate? You're drifting off."

Laeni, trailing just a few steps behind, cocked her head slightly as she watched them. It felt like...like a tug in her chest. Something warm and golden that flickered in a sympathetic response to--to whatever it was that was happening to Jaxius.

Then she realized both what was happening and that she was staring and quickly snapped her eyes away, a flush rising to her cheeks once again. She wrapped her arms around herself so she could hold her elbows and drew her bottom lip between her teeth in what was clearly a nervous habit.

Calm down, she told the strange feeling in her chest, just barely keeping panic at bay. Calm. Down.

It had never been like this before. It scared her.

There was a brief flash in Jax's left eye, the golden one, and he thought for a second that he felt something in him. Something kind of warm, and cozy, something like the essence of a hug. Then he snapped back, leaning slightly into Brahgo's touch to ground himself, before offering him a small smile. "Sorry about that, I got lost in thought."

Then Jax glanced back to make sure Laeni was still with them and noticed the position she was in. He hesitated, unsure of what to do.

Brahgo shot him a look. Jax wasn't always the touchiest person, and him leaning into the half-orc's hand had struck him as a bit off. But he didn't push, just nodded and nudged the other boy with his elbow before lengthening his stride and changing their angle slightly so they could cut across the shortest path through the courtyard.

He glanced back at Laeni as well. She seemed...lost in thought maybe. But then seemed to realize she was falling behind and jerked, then hurried forward—nearly knocking into Jax in the process.

"Oh!" She jerked back like the other mage was made of hot oil, eyes wide, sun-browned skin blanching. "Ah, sorry. Got distracted..." She said it like a lie that even she didn't believe.

Brahgo blinked. Okay, there was shy, and then there was...whatever that was. He shot his roommate another look, arching one brow. He didn't pretend to really understand Jax's magic, but it had to be more useful in this situation than turning into an owl or something. What's with her?

The moment Laeni came close, Jax felt it like nothing he'd ever felt before. The energy flowing through her wasn't the usual gentle ebb and flow that he could detect with his life magic. There were tugs and pulls, tides; it felt like a raging storm in the ocean. And her life energy wasn't contained within her body, the way he was used to; rather, it was tugging and pulling on and through and around her physical form, and it reached out around it, feeling into the world.

Reaching into him. And through him, and intertwining with his own essence, his own energy.

The movement was definitely unsettling, but not too disturbing; he had learned to control his own essence through his lessons, and was able to sift through and kind of re-guide her energy back towards her body. But he caught Brahgo's look and answered with a quick shake of his head.

Not now. We'll talk later.

The whole experience had been surreal, and he'd never encountered something like that before. It would take a whole lot of explaining.

He continued staring at Jax for a moment, lips pursed around his tusks, then shrugged and nodded. Fine. But we will talk.

Then his attention moved back to Laeni and he blinked. "Whoa. Hey there, you alright?"

She was swaying on her feet. He reached out to steady her, automatic, but she jerked away before he could touch her, stammering a harsh, "D-don't!"

It was the loudest he'd ever heard her speak. He blinked again, opened his mouth--but before he could say anything a streak of blue and green came bounding up to them, rubbing up against Laeni's legs and nuzzling her hand before rearing up onto his back paws and shoving a slightly crumpled paper toward her face.

"Rey." Laeni felt herself sag a little, even as she scratched her familiar's neck and took the list of classes from his mouth. "Thanks," she murmured, giving him a small smile.

Gods. She didn't want to look back at the boys. What must they be thinking of her? Eyes downcast, she muttered, "You don't, um...if you don't want to, you don't have to show me around. I'm sure I'll manage..."

Okay. Even she wasn't convinced by that. But she had to give it a shot.

Jax almost tackled Brahgo to the ground, but settled instead on jerking back his arm, almost shoving Brahgo behind himself.

The girl's reaction was strong, and the life-force Jax had been trying to redirect back towards her burst away from his magical coaxing, surging into the air in starbursts that almost blinded him. He narrowed his eyes, trying to discipline his sight, and attempted to mentally detangle the energies that Laeni's had drawn out and into the air. His own he drew into his blood, his heart, his lungs, letting it cycle and flow back into his body. He felt Brahgo's leaking and drew it away from Laeni's with a flick of his wrist. He had no idea what he was manipulating; it was all intuition. He usually manipulated physical cells and nerves and tissue in an effort to get life-force flowing properly in a person, not the life-force itself. Jax pushed at Brahgo's air, tangling his life force into it, letting him breathe the magical air back into his system. 

He felt Rey just before the panther arrived- a solid ball of warming energy, a life-force that bundled Laeni's messy essence back together and soothed her. He breathed a sigh of relief as the world seemed to right itself and life-force wound itself back into its owners.

That had been close, and dangerous. He wasn't sure he could've controlled that for long. But at Laeni's muttered words, Jax realized that he wasn't going to give up on Laeni. She obviously had a slippery grasp on control, but everyone had to start somewhere. Maybe he could even teach her a thing or two.

"It's perfectly alright," he told her smoothly, slipping easily into his nonchalant facade- the one he practiced for family affairs and large official parties. "I'm sure this must be a difficult transition and magic itself is unpredictable at best. That said, it appears we've reached the classroom buildings without any mishaps this year. Where's your first class? Perhaps we'll even get to meet some of your classmates or professors."

Brahgo actually yelped--albeit quietly--as he felt Jax tugging his arm. He glanced down at the other boy with an arched brow, then frowned. He felt...something, but whatever it was, it was clear that Jax could feel it more strongly.

Not for the first time, he felt a flash of frustration that his own magic didn't seem to extend beyond shapeshifting. He could feel tensions and shifts of power in the air, but only vaguely, and even then they typically had to be pretty strong for him to feel them at all.

Oh. Which meant...

He looked back to Laeni, who was blushing and ducking her eyes again. No. The kitten? Really? Huh.

For her part, Laeni started back a bit, then just stared at them. Well, at Jax. Jaxius. This boy who didn't know her, or know what she could do--what she had done, and had just...

That had been him, hadn't it? She'd felt something dragging at--at what felt like the edges of her, whatever that meant. She couldn't properly describe it, let alone explain it. And it seemed like Brahgo was just as confused as she was, looking back and forth between the two of them, so he hadn't done...whatever that was.

Rey pressed into her hip and she stammered an automatic, "I, um..." She looked down at the paper she held, taking a moment to actually focus enough to read it. "I--something called Introduction to the Healing Arts?" She shrugged; when she'd first arrived at Wyrdwood with a letter from her parents explaining who she was and what had happened--along with a note from some professor here called Idara Something, apparently as a favor to her father--the magister she'd spoken to had simply told her they would enroll her in a handful of life magic classes in an effort to determine just what exactly she could do.

"Ah, an old favorite of mine." Jaxius tried to brush off the expressions on both Brahgo's and Laeni's faces. He would need to talk to them soon, and separately, to try to figure things out, but until then, there was nothing he could do but continue the tour.

He couldn't stop himself from thinking about it, though. Whatever had just happened, it wasn't quite as clear as he would've wanted it to be.

What with the mix of energies and his sight kicking in, blurring golden threads of life into a mess... well, he couldn't afford to disregard the possibilities. And one of those possibilities was that he had set off Laeni somehow, or that she had set him off- why else would that strange starburst pattern have appeared?

That possibility scared Jax. The fact that it could've been him making those patterns. After years of practicing discipline and control, to know that someone as timid and wary as Laeni- someone who wouldn't normally have been a threat to anyone, what with her jumpiness and refusal to let anyone touch her- could cause him to slip up... well, there was no going around it. He was terrified of what he could do. But he could damn well hide it.

They stepped into one of the oldest buildings on school grounds, a seemingly simple classroom with high walls and books piled up in every nook and cranny. Anatomical drawings were pasted onto the walls and there were no desks; instead, beanbags and cushions were scattered on the floor. A few animals were resting in cages against the far wall, and on closer inspection, it could be seen that they were all healing from injuries.

"Oh!"

The moment she spotted the cages, Laeni moved toward the nearest one. Animals were easier—she may not have a beastspeaking gift, but she'd always felt more relaxed around animals than she did most other people; it probably helped that in recent months she'd learned that she didn't actually have to worry about accidentally touching them, either.

Apparently her abilities only drained humanoids.

She knelt next to a cage with a smallish fox inside it. The animal eyed her warily, but when Brahgo approached it seemed to relax a bit, and then even more when he tilted his head and sort of huffed after it.

Laeni glanced back over her shoulder. "What did you say?"

He shrugged. "Just that you were new, and she shouldn't be worried about you. You'll be learning how to heal here."

Laeni winced. "Right..." She glanced toward Jaxius again. Healing. Right. "You...you've taken this class?"

"Yeah, I have. The professor was super helpful."

When he'd first taken this class, Jax had barely been able to manage his own powers. His sight of what he loosely considered people's "auras" often blinded him with bright colors, and he had a hard time trying to sort out which parts of people to work on in order to get their life energy flowing normally again. It was especially difficult since everyone's energy had a different kind of "normal." He remembered struggling to understand, his hands positioned over a falcon as the professor crouched nearby. The moment when, with the professor gently explaining, it had suddenly clicked for him. He remembered the exact way the energy had flowed around the break in the wing, and what had appeared to be a jumbled mess suddenly and clearly showed a certain discrepancy. He had been able to set the wing, knitting bone and tissue, by manipulating the bird's life energy.

He had been lucky, though. His intuition and form of magic genuinely sought to heal; there was never any real danger when he interacted with his magic, and even when he lost control, the most that would happen was blinding flashes of auras and bright strands of energy. He remembered classmates who inadvertently hurt themselves or others- the professor often had to perform emergency medical procedures.

He didn't talk about that, though. "The class was grueling," he said instead, "and there was a lot of anatomy that was kind of compulsory to memorize, at least for me. My type of magic requires me to recognize the way energy and people's physical bodies interact, so I had to first learn about the body in order to learn about the magic. It's a really amazing class, though. The professor here was the one who made everything eventually click for me. I started to understand how I could not just throw my magic around but actively use it and manipulate it."

Laeni was looking up at him as though he was speaking a foreign language, eyes wide once again. Brahgo glanced between the two of them. Dear gods, the girl looked terrified. Why? Jax hadn't said anything particularly foreboding, as far as he could tell—Of course, his own magic didn't work at all the same way so he didn't exactly have a basis for comparison, but still.

"Hey!" He clapped Jax on the shoulder and gave Laeni a grin. "Wanna go see that clock tower Jax was talking about before?"

Abrupt shift in topic, but it felt warranted. He shrugged as he looked between them. "I know we should take her to a few more of her classes, but we've got time for that, right? And honestly you seem like you could use a bit of distraction."

The last was ostensibly directed at Laeni herself, but was meant for his roommate, too. He hadn't seen Jax get this introspective in...a while.

The two of them were making him nervous.

Jax didn't know why Laeni looked so scared, either. He kind of wished he could speak to Brahgo privately- after all, Brahgo was more empathetic than he was, and tended to, well, notice things a bit better. Of course, it could be said that Jax was just an insensitive prick.

He felt relieved- saved yet again- when Brahgo brought up the clock tower. Surely he couldn't mess this one up? The clock tower was Jax's favorite place in the whole school- his safe place, his hiding hole, his own private cathedral for his thoughts and emotions and meandering philosophies. Just thinking about the place gave him a steadying sense of contentment.

"I'm down. Laeni?"

"Oh!"

Realizing she had just been...staring at them, Laeni flushed and dropped her eyes. Then she took a breath and looked up again, trying for a smile. They're being nice. They're trying to help. Stop acting like a shut-in!

"That...sounds really nice." She got to her feet, one hand coming to rest between Rey's shoulders as the panther sidled up to brush against her hip. "I guess, ah...lead on?" She smiled again, and this time it felt a little more natural.

Brahgo grinned in return--Okay, at least she can smile like a normal person. Good to know--and clapped Jax on the shoulder again. "We're with you, mate. Shall we?"

Jax lead the way across the school grounds towards the giant tower. Archways surrounded the bottom of it, and during class hours students rushed through the arches from all directions. The clock itself rang with a beautifully clear sound.

He skirted the edge of the tower's base and pushed back a piece of peeling stucco to reveal a small, thin entryway. There was a ladder inside the tower's base, and it was dark, but sunlight filtered down from above, illuminating the dust motes inside.

It really was a beautiful place. Brahgo had never been as attached to it as his roommate, but he could admit there was a certain peacefulness in here. He could see better in the dark than the two humans, and he started to reach for Laeni's shoulder to guide her before he caught himself and retracted his hand before she noticed.

"C'mon, the good stuff is up top, right?" He shot a sidelong grin at Jax, one tusk catching on his upper lip.

Laeni was once again speechless, though now it was...less uncomfortable. She was simply quiet, padding along behind the boys nearly as silently as the large cat at her side. She cocked her head at the ladder and bit her lip. "Um...Rey, can you even get up there?"

"Rrow."

"Well, yeah, you could wait, but that's less fun. I can carry you," Brahgo offered the cat. Rey gave him a rather wry look--an odd expression for a panther--but didn't reject the proposal outright.

"It's not a very long climb, just a few minutes." Jax sidled up to the ladder, giving it a firm stomp to make sure nothing had deteriorated since his last visit. "There's a trapdoor so I reckon I ought to go first. Are we ready?"

All three of the others nodded, even the cat. With a quick check for permission, Brahgo dipped to scoop the animal up onto his shoulders before following after Jax.

Laeni openly gaped. Rey was not a small animal, and regardless of the half-orc's size that—that was just impressive.

She managed to close her mouth and ducked her head as she brought up the rear, trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other without slipping off a rung. "This is very different from climbing trees," she muttered to herself under her breath, unthinking.

Jax laughed softly at Laeni's comment as he reached the top and popped the latch on the trapdoor. "That's for sure."

He clambered out onto a soft rug. Sunlight filtered in from the faces of the clock, and there were carvings, smeared ink splotches, and smudges all over the available floor and wall space. A bench stood next to one wall and there was an old chest in another corner.

Jax looked down at Brahgo and Rey and moved to give them some space. "Want some help?"

Brahgo heaved himself up through the hole in the floor, wincing as Rey bounded out into the room, scratching his back and shoulders in the process. Very prim, the panther set about licking the fur on his chest, rumbling something indignant in Jax's direction.

Brahgo rolled his eyes and pulled his legs up, but remained sitting on the floor. "He's a cat. They don't admit they need help. Ever."

Laeni chuckled softly as she perched on the other edge of the trapdoor, so concerned with keeping herself from sliding back down the ladder that it actually took her a few moments to gather herself and take a look around. When she did, her eyes widened.

"Oh..."

It really was beautiful. She stood slowly and turned on the spot, watching dust motes glitter through a beam of sunlight. "This...this place is..."

She trailed off. For the first time since leaving home, she felt...safe.

Jax followed her gaze, feeling that easy peace settle in his stomach at the familiar sights. He went to the chest and tipped it open to reveal all sorts of writing implements. "You can use one of these if you want. It's customary to write something when you first come up here." As he took another look around, he spotted something in one corner and walked over. Taking out a small pocketknife, he finished up the word "serendipity" that someone else had begun carving.

"But I, um..." Laeni looked around again, twisting her fingers into the fabric of her robes.  "Is that...really okay?"

Brahgo shrugged, bracing his palms behind his back and letting his head tip back slightly into a shaft of sunlight. "Meh. Everyone does it, so I guess so? Everyone who comes up here, at least."

That...didn't seem like much of a reason to her, but she didn't have the wherewithal to argue with him. With either of them. She looked from Brahgo to Jax, drawing her legs up under her body and curving them to the side. "So...what am I supposed to write?"

"Anything you want," Jax replied, flicking back a strand of hair from his eyes. "It's a safe place. A place to write down your secrets, or dreams, or wishes, and they just might come true." She didn't look so sure, so he added, "Do you want to see what I wrote when we first got here? Maybe Brahgo?"

Brahgo snorted. "She wouldn't be able to read what I wrote, it's in orcish," he said at the same time Laeni protested, "Oh, I don't--that seems really personal, I wouldn't want to..."

She trailed off, blushing a bit again, and looked away from them. One hand absently reached out to scratch between Rey's shoulders when the large cat leaned against her. One other hand still played with the hem of her robes, but she seemed more considering now than nervous.

Jax shrugged and shot Brahgo an easy grin. "Hey, I can't read what you wrote, either, but I liked seeing your handwriting like that. The lettering in Orcish looks so fascinating."

He pointed out a small, scribbly patch of handwriting peaking out from under the rug to Laeni. "That was my first. You don't have to if you don't want to," he added, unsure if he was talking about writing or reading. "And look, if you peak out from the clock face, you can just barely see the sky. The cloud formations come in like a shadow and they look like animals sometimes."

The shapeshifter huffed and rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of something like a pleased smile at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah, fascinating."

Laeni got to her feet and picked her way lightly over to the clock face, peering out into the sky, and then down at the grounds.

"It feels unreal up here," she murmured, almost to herself. "Separate."

"Even the time seems to slow down up here. Kind of ironic, isn't it, in a clock tower?" Jax walked back to the rug and lay on his back, letting his eyes drift a little closed. From this angle, he couldn't see the height of the tower when he looked straight up, only an elaborate scrawling pattern.

Hold up.

That wasn't just an elaborate pattern. Patterns underneath towers were symmetrical, with many triangular structures for strength.

This was something else. This was... a word? A character? A letter in some language? He squinted, trying to turn the metal beams into a recognizable letter, but while the character seemed familiar, Jax just couldn't make it out. "Uh... Brahgo? Can you come here for a sec?" he called out.

---

"Hm?" The half-orc glanced up at him, a little surprised, but when he read the intent frown on Jax's face he stood quickly and moved over to him. "What's wrong?"

Laeni glanced back over her shoulder at them. She was tempted to step closer, see what they were talking about, but was a little too shy to make herself do it.

Shy was better than afraid though, as Rey seemed to say with a slow blink as he curled up at her feet.

"From this angle, when you look straight up... do you see, like, a letter or something?" Jax pointed towards the top of the clock tower, forehead scrunched in concentration. "I'm trying to read it but... I can't. It seems familiar. Can you read that?"

Brahgo squinted up, trying to see what his friend saw. He was quiet for nearly a full minute, then huffed out a breath and shook his head, reaching up to scratch at his cheek.

"Sorry. I mean, maybe something's up there, but I can't read it."

He glanced at Laeni, who had gone back to looking out through the clock face. Lowering his voice, he muttered, "What are the chances Kitten there will have better luck than us?"

"Hmm..." Jax mentally took note that Brahgo was now calling Laeni "Kitten," then looked over at her. She seemed so peaceful... still, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to try. "Hey, Laeni?" he asked. "Can you come over here for a second?"

"Hm?" Laeni snapped her head toward them, eyes a little wide again. "Oh, yeah. Sure." She gave Rey another little pat on the head and moved to stand in front of the two boys, glancing back and forth between them. "Um...what's going on?"

Brahgo shrugged. "Jax sees something on the ceiling. Apparently."

"You have to get into the right angle, but when you look up, can you see how those gold ceiling beams cross each other? It looks... kind of like a letter or something, but I'm not sure. Can you see it?" Jax moved out of the way and pointed at the beams he was talking abut.

The trapdoor had pushed itself open once more, and a bespectacled young woman (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=26206.0) peeked her head above the frame. "Oh! Ƿes hāl!" she exclaimed excitedly. Her voice had a very noticable accent- a sort of rural twang that was difficult to place. "Not used to seeing faces up here! Hello!"

The upperclassman gingerly pulled herself up, pulling her thigh-length green hair out of the way before closing the trapdoor behind her. She smiled cheerfully at the younger students slinging her book bag off her shoulder. "This place is usually quiet. Good place to be studying." she said, placing the bag on the bench before taking a seat herself. "You lot here to carve your names on the wall?"

Jax was momentarily shocked, but he recovered quickly and smiled. "Yeah, nice place, isn't it? We were just showing the school around to Laeni here." He tilted his head in Laeni's direction. "Although... I thought I noticed something on the ceiling, like a word or character of some sort. Care to give it a look, see if you can read it?"

Dominique nodded her head wistfully. The carvings on the walls were a time capsule of not only memories, but language as well. The oldest visible markings were centuries old, and you could follow along as the letters and spelling gradually evolved from the Pre-Di'Veeran alphabet to modern, standerized characters. To Dominique, things like this were more valuable than even gold- though, she seemed to be the one of the few to truly appreciate it...

"Eh? Oh, that?"

The human boy's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and Dominique glanced up to where he was pointing. "It is just Old Serenian character. First Era alphabet." she said matter-of-factly, pulling an ancient looking tome out of her bag. "I noticed it too, a few years back. It represents, ah, how you say..." The student rolled her hand in midair, as if trying to flip through an invisible dictionary. "...Well, there's no easy translation. The concept it's meant to describe is too outdated for that. Simplest answer is "the space outside", but this does not quite do it justice..."

"I knew it," Jax whispered. "They built that word into this tower, then, literally built it in with the beams and tower structures in the original blueprint. That's... incredible."

Dominique smiled, and began to thumb through her book. "You know, that symbol is hidden in a lot of different places. I've seen it in the main stairwell too, and the courtyard fountain-which is weird, because it fell out of use long before the school was constructed..."

She stopped herself, looking up at Laeni sheepishly. "Ah, but there I go forgetting to introduce myself again. My name is Dominique, I'm here studying arcane linguistics." She tilted her head slightly. "You mentioned being shown around, are you visiting?"

Laeni, who appeared to have been doing her best to shrink back and blend into the wall behind her, started slightly at being addressed. "Oh, ah...n-no? I mean, they are showing me around but..."

"She's a transfer," Brahgo cut in when she trailed off, looking awkward and lost. "Her classes start tomorrow. Some kind of healer?"

He glanced at Laeni for confirmation, but she only shrugged noncommittally while Rey flopped down across her feet and started purring.

"I suppose we ought to check out the symbol," Jax mused, running his hand through his hair. "A tour of the campus will do us all good, anyhow. I could stretch my legs a bit. What do you guys think?" He turned to the others. "Brahgo? Laeni? Rey?"

Brahgo shrugged, giving a vague affirmative, and Laeni's eyes went a little wider before she nodded quickly.

"Um, sure." It wasn't like she had any other idea about what to do next--if she was being perfectly honest, she wasn't even sure she could get back to her dorm without their guidance. At least not quickly or easily.

"Aha. I see..."

Dominique felt her heart harden. The newcomer would have a difficult road ahead of her- Wyrdwood's competitive culture was unforgiving to normal students, never mind transfers who still had catching up to do. In all likelyhood, the girl would drop out by the end of the year...

"Here, I'll help you lot out." Dominique said, pulling a parchment and quill out of her bag. "I'll make a list of everywhere in the school I've seen that character..." After a few moments of scribbling, she handed the parchment to the transfer student.


Dominique beamed. "Those are the ones I know about. There might be more hidden somewhere, who knows..."

Jax flashed a thrilled grin at Dominique, his eyes lighting up at the prospect of a mystery. "My thanks. Let me know if you ever need anything." He turned to take a quick glance at the paper in Laeni's hands, then shot an excited look at Brahgo. "All ready? Let's go exploring, shall we?"

The shapeshfiter chuckled a bit, shaking his head at the other boy's blatant enthusiasm, but there was a spark of curiosity in his own eyes. "Sure, sure. Need help down?"

The last was directed at Rey, who yowled an affirmative before leaping up to cling to the half-orc's back like a vastly over sized kitten. Brahgo staggered under the sudden weight, cursing in his native tongue.

Laeni giggled, pressing her palm to her mouth in an effort to muffle the sound. She really couldn't help it. "Um, yeah. Alright. Right behind you," she managed after a moment, the hint of a smile still playing at the edges of her lips.

Jax followed them, making sure to shut the trapdoor properly before climbing down. He jumped the last few feet to the ground, his eyes aglow in the dimness. "Where to first, Laeni?"

"Wha--me?"

The girl looked back and forth between the other two, once again wide-eyed and lost. "I, um, I mean...I don't r-really know where any of that stuff is?" She gestured to the paper Dominique had given Jax as Brahgo clambered down the last few rungs of the ladder and Rey jumped to the ground, grumbling and shaking out his fur.

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault you don't have opposable thumbs," the taller boy grunted at the panther.

((Sorry! Eckhart wrote that Dominique handed the paper "to the transfer student" so I assumed Laeni had it, haha.))

Jax glanced down at the map, biting on his lower lip as he tried to decide where to go first. "The fountain sounds nice. Pretty view, too. And it has a bunch of carvings on the base. Maybe we can figure out what 'the space outside' actually means." 

[Oh no, my bad! I misread, sorry. Thanks for going with it!!]

---

"Fountain it is then," Brahgo agreed with an easy shrug. Laeni just nodded, clearly either without her own opinion or unwilling to offer it if she had one. He peered over Jax's shoulder, then snorted softly. "Good thing we've got Kitten," he muttered, pointing out "girl's washroom" on the list.

Rey made a chuffing sound deep in his throat that almost sounded like a laugh, but Laeni herself didn't seem to have noticed, hovering at the door to the base of the clock tower and peering out into the courtyard.

Jax chuckled quietly. "I figured we'd check that one out later."

They began walking towards the fountain that loomed over one side of the courtyard. It rained ribbons of water in spiraling patterns, and at night, the entire thing lit up in a bunch of different colors. "Laeni, you should check out this place during one of our spirit nights. Sometimes the students with water magic will put on a show with the fountain water. It's absolutely gorgeous."

The girl blinked at the fountain, clearly enchanted. Then she started at the sound of Jax's voice and snapped her attention to him. "Spirit...nights?" she questioned after a moment, looking between Jax and Brahgo in confusion.

"You explain," Brahgo passed the question off immediately to his friend with an arched eyebrow and a slight smirk.

It was kind of entertaining, watching his roommate play tour guide.

"Ah..." Jax stuttered, catching the smirk on Brahgo's face, before he remembered his train of thought. "Spirit nights. They're a way to show school spirit, and something different happens each time, but usually there's competitions, food, and shows. They act as a showcase of what each student has learned in their time at school. Winning competitions isn't easy, either; people flex their wins for years. We have them like twice a semester."

Chuckling quietly under his breath, Brahgo rocked back on one heel as he watched the exchange.

Laeni blinked, looking like she was starting to edge toward "overwhelmed" again. "Wow, that's, um...wow." Another blink, then she shook her head and turned her attention back to the fountain. "So people...magic can really...be like that? People want to do that? Use it?"

She almost seemed to be talking to herself. Brahgo blinked, then glanced at Jax, unsure what exactly she was getting at or how to respond.

"That's what I'm here for," Jax told her gently. "I never wanted to be. When I was younger, I liked action and adventure, and climbing trees and skinned knees. Not magic. Not sitting still and pouring over the most delicate parts of everything."

The words were like the release of something heavy, the healing some old wound he had almost gotten used to. He continued, "My parents thought this place would turn me into their golden child, their magic weapon. But I learned something else here instead, and it's super corny, but... I learned to accept every part of myself, if not exactly understand it. Even the magic part. I came here in a thousand different pieces, pieces my parents wanted and pieces I wanted and pieces neither of us wanted. And then I learned to be whole again."

He paused as they watched the fountain, the quiet hanging heavy in the air. "It's never easy," he finished, quietly, "but it does get easier."

Brahgo's eyes widened slightly, then he shot a quick, awkward look at Laeni and her familiar.

The girl was just...looking at him. She seemed to have forgotten, at least momentarily, that the shapeshifter was there. He glanced at Rey and shrugged, earning a similarly baffled huff from the strange panther.

"...You're right." Laeni was still staring at Jax as though she was trying to puzzle through a particularly difficult problem. Then she smiled, and suddenly everything about her was momentarily brighter. "That is corny."

Brahgo choked quietly, surprised; she continued without seeming to notice, "But it's...nice. It's a nice thought."

It was Brahgo's turn to stare now. Nothing about her had--changed, exactly. At least, nothing he could see. But she was abruptly, startlingly just...stunning. Magnetic. She didn't look any different, but there was something--maybe something about her eyes? Not the color, almost a sort of...glow. But no, that wasn't right either...

Before he could even begin to figure it out, the moment had passed, and she was just Laeni again. Her eyes flicked back to the fountain, head tilting as she considered the spirals of water with that same small smile on her face.

Jax snuck a quick glance at Laeni as she studied the water, shifting his feet. Well, wasn't that uncomfortable and awkward- and yes, very incredibly corny. Still... he thought maybe the peace would find her. At the end of one of those long, competitive days, perhaps. When everything went right for once, and lying in bed, studying the ceiling, she could realize that she wasn't who she used to be, too. That she'd somehow inexplicably grown, for the better.

Brahgo looked startled, and no wonder. Jax was rarely this, well, deep around him. Not that what he'd said was deep, but he wasn't joking around and being a meathead for once in his life. Ah, well. He could be full of surprises, but right now, it was time to change that. He crept up on the other student, a barely restrained smile creeping over his face. "Hey Brahgo, guess what?" he asked, before cupping his hands in the fountain and splashing a handful of water on him.

The abrupt splash of water across his face pretty efficiently snapped Brahgo out of his momentary, confused consideration of the new girl. He sputtered and jerked back, cursing in orcish as he wiped at his face.

"Jackass," he growled at his roommate, and though he'd gotten pretty good at the whole "intimidating growl" thing over the years, there was a playful glint in his eyes that belied his mischief. With an almost lazy gesture, he scooped his palm over the surface of the fountain pool, sending a sheet of water at the other boy.

Laeni and her familiar both yelped, jumping back from the small wave of water that sluiced over the edge of the stone basin.

"Don't start shit you can't finish, Jax!"

Jaxius yelped as the water drenched him, leaving him soaking. He flashed his roommate a bright smile, despite the water dripping off of him. "Me, start shit I can't finish? Never!" He jumped up onto the lip of the fountain, giving the surface a quick kick that sprayed water everywhere.

Brahgo threw up an arm to try to protect his face while Laeni yelped and jumped backward, shaking her head like a dog in an effort to rid her hair of water. Rey yowled and jumped forward, bracing his front paws on the lip of the basin and wiggling his haunches, clearly eager to play as well.

Brahgo smirked and took a step forward, then planted his hand in the middle of Jax's chest and pushed lightly, threatening to knock him back into the water. "You were saying?"

Jax grabbed Brahgo's wrist and jumped into the fountain. He only managed to drag Brahgo halfway in, but he did manage to splash water all over his face. "Gotcha!" he shouted, laughing. Seeing Rey nearby, he called out to the large cat. "Rey, help me get this big guy!"

Spluttering and cursing, Brahgo tried to stumble back and found a soft, blue-furred head shoving against his hip, tipping him fully into the fountain. He gasped at the shock of cold water and shook his head like a dog, glaring.

Laeni had to clap a hand to her mouth to stifle giggles, eyes dancing. "Oh, gods. Aren't you two going to get in trouble--" She cut off abruptly as she noticed the way Rey was eyeing her, the playful twitching of his tail, the way he sank into a mock hunter's crouch. Her eyes widened and she started backing away around the curve of the fountain. 

"Oh, no. No. No no no, don't you dare you overgrown lap-cat--!"

Keeping her eyes on her familiar, she didn't see Brahgo glance at Jax and quick an eyebrow, nodding his head toward the way the back of Laeni's knees were nearly hitting the rim of the basin. It wouldn't take much to knock her off balance.

Jax tipped his head in agreement, his grin taking on a mischievous edge. He crept up beside Brahgo, then knocked Laeni's legs out from under her with a well-placed swipe. The girl fell into the water, and Jax laughed at the sudden splash that sprayed over him and Brahgo. "High five!" he called out to both Brahgo and Rey, offering his hands.

Laeni squealed as she toppled into the water, gasping against the shock of temperature change and flailing her arms as she floundered for balance.

She managed to find purchase with one hand on each of the boys' shoulders, hauling herself upright and glowering as Brahgo laughed, reaching across her to slap his palm against Jax's before twisting to help her right herself. "Sorry, Kitten. Too good to resist," he chortled.

Laeni continued to glare at them, but despite herself she felt the tiniest twitch at the corner of her lips. "You're both horrid," she informed them primly. "And you," she added to Rey, who'd braced his paws against the lip of the fountain and leaned over to bump his muzzle against Jax's hand before turning his attention to licking a cowlick onto his mistress's temple. She huffed. "Little traitor."

It was only then that she seemed to notice she still had a grip on both Jax's and Brahgo's arms. The half-orc actually had a hand against the small of her back, helping her sit up. She snatched her hands back and quickly scrambled away, twisting to press her back against the rim of the stone basin and stare at them, wide-eyed.

They looked...fine.

Rey purred in her ear, very pleased with himself.

"Um... Laeni? You okay? All appendages still in the right place?" Jax asked, looking at the girl in concern. She'd seemed to be enjoying herself before she'd dashed away; still, he couldn't help but wonder if it was something they'd done, especially since she'd had the same reaction earlier.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to find the golden light that was his own way of seeing magic and the essence of life. Nothing seemed out of place. He shared a confused look with Brahgo, and caught a glance of Rey out the corner of his eye. The panther seemed almost... smug. "What's Rey saying?" Jax whispered to Brahgo.

Brahgo, frowning in confusion, muttered back out of the corner of his mouth, "Something about...an overreaction? Something to do with her magic..." He shook his head and shrugged helplessly. "Told ya, my cat is rusty. Can't get anything else."

Luckily, Laeni seemed too distracted with trying to push her familiar's head away as he continued licking her hair to pay the quiet conversation much mind. Flushing, she finally seemed to recognize that Jax had said something to her and shook her head quickly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just...got...startled?"

It was a poor excuse and she knew it, her blush deepening a few degrees. Brahgo cocked an eyebrow, making it clear that he didn't buy that for a second, but he didn't try to press the issue. with a huff, he stood and shook his hair out again, then started wringing out his clothes with a long-suffering sigh.

"Well, thanks to Jax here, I have to head back to change before my noon class. Looks like you two are on your own for the afternoon." Rey yowled a protest and he chuckled, amending, "Three, sorry."

"We'll see you for lunch after your class, yeah?" Jax asked Brahgo, taking on a smile and letting the subject drop as well.

Turning to Laeni, he added, "I suppose I really ought to show you your classes now, Laeni. We did get a bit distracted." He picked his way out of the fountain, then brushed a hand against one edge of it. "Huh. Here's the symbol again. I do wonder what it means... well," and with this, he turned an eye to the sky. "Looks like the sun'll be enough to dry us out. What's the next class on your list?"

“Sure.” Brahgo ruffled his friend’s hair and gave Laeni another smile before heading back in the direction of the dorms, hands in his pockets and clothes still dripping.

Laeni clambered out of the fountain behind Jax, wringing out her clothes and hair. “Where did the list say there were more?” she asked quietly as she saw the other mage dragged his finger tips over the stone. It was clear she was trying to keep conversation moving, and that the effort was awkward and stilted, but her small smile was genuine.

“Oh, um...” She wracked her memory, then replied as Rey twined around her legs. “I think the next one was a first level enchantment course?”

"Awesome, let's get going." Jax led the way across the quad, arms loose and swinging. "There's several classes for enchantment with three different professors, but the one I got was... bleh." He made a face, then laughed a little, shaking his head. "I've had way worse professors since then, but that one was pretty strict. And some of my classmates were very competitive. So it made for a really tense atmosphere. Do you know what professor you have?"

"I, ah...it's some sort of lecture series, I think?" Laeni replied, frowning as she tried to remember and lengthening her stride in an effort to keep up with Jax. "So I think there's a rotating set of professors, actually."

Her robes clung to her legs and she wrinkled her nose at the feel of the damp fabric, smoothing her hands down over the material in a futile effort to--to do something. Honestly she had no idea what she was hoping that would help.

"Huh." Jax tilted his head, wondering how a class could possibly survive three different professors in one school year, when he noticed Laeni's movement. "Here, hold still. I can get the water out." Narrowing his eyes, he focused on the idea of water, the way it interacted with Laeni's skin, with her clothes, with the air. He visualized his golden magic drawing it away, back into the atmosphere, away from the girl's cells and tissues. He had to be careful about it- he could very easily dehydrate a couple million cells if he wasn't careful- but he'd practiced this particular move enough times to get it right, because manipulating moisture in cells was helpful in so many different healing situations.

He finished up and grinned, satisfied with the result. Laeni's clothes were only just a little bit damp now. His own clothes still dripping, Jax winked. "I like to make a mess in the halls. Gets the hard-ass professors real mad. The janitor loves me enough not to mind."

"Oh!"

Laeni forced herself to hold very, very as she felt his magic—that had to be why she was feeling, right?—brushing against hers, then starting to tug the moisture from her hair and clothes, even her skin. She shivered: not cold, just...shivery.

Then it passed and she blinked, feeling a little off balance. "Oh," she said again. "That, um...that's...useful."

"Useful indeed." He stopped at a door and opened it, stepping aside so Laeni could go in first. "Here we have the Hall of Enchantment. Or so I like to call it. The lecture room is just down the hall to the left."

He walked in after her, taking a moment to admire the plaques and decor all along the wall. As was appropriate for a hall dedicated to enchantment, all sorts of spells and charms glittered along the ceiling, remnants from graduated students. The decor ranged from glittery galaxy-colored icicles to hissing snakes melded into the ceiling.

Once again Laeni found herself following along behind him in silence, wide-eyed as she took in her surroundings.

"This is nothing like home," she muttered, seemingly to herself. Rey made a chirping sound and wound around her legs, herding her forward so she fell into step beside Jax rather than trailing behind. She stumbled a bit and shot the cat a glare, which he returned with an innocent blink.

They stepped into the lecture hall. It was huge, with a podium in the center of the room rather than the conventional placement at the front. Rows upon rows of chairs surrounded the podium, and large screens floated near each wall, meant to reflect and enlarge the image of the lecturing professor.

Jaxius noticed someone near the podium almost immediately. "Professor," he said, a little cautiously.

The man turned, robes swishing. "Ravenor," he said, staring down his nose at the boy's dripping clothes. "Still getting into trouble, I expect."

"Of course, sir," Jax replied, flashing his infamous grin.

The professor's face softened for just a second, showing a brief sign of humor. "And who's this?"

"Ah- of course, my apologies. Laeni, this is Professor Smirnov. He taught my class in my year and is world-renowned at glamour; I expect he'll be teaching in your lectures."

// the professor's an NPC so feel free to interact with him however you'd like

Laeni squeaked and started to duck back behind Jax again before she caught herself--and Rey cut her off, shoving his head into her hip and making her stumble forward again. Her hand flew out automatically to steady herself, catching at her companion's forearm for just a moment before she snatched it back.

"Ah...hello," she mumbled to the professor, eyes downcast. She shuffled her feet awkwardly. "It's, um, it's nice to meet you?"

He peered down at her, but if he noticed something was amiss, he didn't show it. "I hope you won't be quite as much trouble as Ravenor was back in his day. You're in the new lecture class this year, aren't you? We have quite the lesson planned."

"I was just showing Laeni around her classes," Jax explained to him. "While we're at it, are there any books she should pick up for the lecture class? The library's just the next building over."

The professor rattled off a couple basic textbooks while Laeni looked around, and Jax nodded. "Thank you, sir. Laeni, Rey, you ready to go?"

"Um, y-yes sir." Laeni found herself replying automatically, though she still couldn't quite make herself meet the professor's eyes. "Thank you. I--I'm sure it'll be fascinating."

Her voice had gone soft again, nearly whispering. Behind her legs, Rey rolled his eyes in a surprisingly human gesture.

When Jax spoke up again she started slightly, then gave him a quick nod. "Right. Sure. We, ah, we have to meet up with Brahgo again in a bit, don't we?" She thought they still had quite a bit of time, but she honestly couldn't entirely remember. Everything seemed to be moving simultaneously very fast and at a snail's crawl around her.

"Yeah, we'll see Brahgo after we pick up your textbooks. I'll see if I can find a few of my extra reading books too. Should be perfect timing." Jax gave the professor a quick salute and they walked out into fresh air.

They headed across a walkway and entered the library. Rows upon rows of bookshelves stretched to the third story ceiling, with platforms at every level. Jax immediately headed towards a shelf, defly running a hand across the neat rows of books and whispering author names under his breath.

[ooc: took a few artistic liberties with the library's layout. imagine a three-story building, but the second and third stories aren't fully separate - there's a railing around the middle area that looks on the floors below. if anyone would like me to change this, lmk! also, a hundred apologies for taking forever D: this first post is a bit on the longer side, but the next few will most likely be a bit shorter. Also: eira's bio (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=26613.msg385751#msg385751) ]


The air within the library almost seemed rarified, like the still moment between inhaling and exhaling. There was the sort of comfortable quietness to the place, a drowsy quality to the golden sunlight spinning motes of dust within the gilded sunbeams. It gleamed against richly-upholstered but worn chairs, shimmered along the vast expanse of polished wood tables scattered across the library, and spilled in lazy waves over the figure tucked into the battered armchair near a second-story window, glinting on golden strands of hair and ivory-fine fingers as they snapped the book they'd been holding shut.

The young woman stood, long limbs unfolding like the petals of a blooming flower, arms stretching above her head briefly while she surveyed the books strewn across the walnut table she'd claimed for herself. It was the sort of place she liked: set on the opposite wall of the library from the stair that ascended from the lower floor and continued on upwards, but near enough to the balustrade that overlooked the floor below that she could watch as people came and went. It was relatively quiet today, but the young woman had expected nothing less when she'd seen the butter-yellow blaze of sunshine that glowed outside of the window at her back.

Stepping neatly around the edge of the table and depositing the book she'd been holding on the corner, the girl headed back toward the row of shelving she'd been poking through earlier. There was a book there that she thought might be interesting, and she made her way back to it now, one hand trailing along the protective railing that afforded her a view of the inhabitants below. She was quite fond of this school - she'd been warned about the eccentricities to be found here, but so far she'd only discovered a few rather rare manuscripts, several interesting students, and the sense of peace and engagement she'd been seeking all along. She really couldn't see what all the rumors were about concerning Wyrdwood; it had been a pleasurable visit so far, after all, and the library still held many tomes of learning that she had yet to read - including the one that she stretched for now, the tips of her fingers just brushing against the leather binding-

As the girl's hand met the aging leather, a white-hot flare of magic tingled against her fingertips. Acting on instinct more than anything else, she snatched her hand back, flinging herself sideway to press her back against the stacks as the volume she'd touched flew off of the shelf, a gaudy blue cloud of smoke and a bang following behind it as it sailed over the railing to the floor below. Eyes springing wide in shock, she leapt forward, trying to grab the book back before it was out of reach, but just missed, the balustrade catching her neatly in the stomach as she snatched at thin air. Spying the shock of brown hair almost directly underneath the falling book, she ditched all sense of decorum in favor of saving the hapless human. "Hey! Watch out!"

Rey's warning yowl came almost in tandem with the stranger's voice, and Laeni moved on instinct more than anything else, jumping sideways and grabbing for Jax's arm to pull him with her as she did.

"What in all hells--?!" She looked around wildly, caught sight of the book trailing smoke, and her eyes widened. "Um--what?"

Rey growled, hackles raised and the feathery pattern along his spine sticking almost straight up as he prowled a protective circle around his mistress. Golden eyes flickered up to the encircling balcony and he yowled again, sounding almost reproachful.

Jax stumbled as Laeni dragged him back, craning his head up to see what had caused the book to fall. "What do you think you're doing?!" he called up, annoyed but not particularly panicked as the book hissed and burned.

He turned to address the book. "Leniret temporis ad iram," he crooned gently, and the flames sputtered. "Et cessabit." It smoked as the fires dimmed. "Dormi," he murmured. With a definitive snap, the book's cover closed on the remaining flames, and all that remained of the fire was a puff of smoke. Jax moved away from Laeni and Rey, quietly crooning and humming as he picked up the normal-seeming book. Very, very carefully, he eased a leather strap around the cover. "Dormi," he said one more time, as sternly as he could.

Then he went back to yelling at the girl on the higher platform. "Are you even supposed to be up there!? What were you thinking?! You could've burned down the whole library!"

From her vantage point of the second floor of the library, the golden-haired girl watched the two humans and their four-legged companion react to the sudden appearance of the book from on high. As both of the youths craned their heads back to see the tome's erstwhile home, she lifted her hand and gave a brief wave, the gesture an inexplicable cross between impudent and apologetic. "Sorry!" she chirped, already moving away from her former position at the bannister and following the railing along to the curved staircase that would lead her to the floor below.

Descending with the tips of her fingers brushing the top of the bannister, the woman flung herself down the stairs, feet tapping a rapid tattoo against the stone steps. She ducked out of the stairwell a few moments later, bright apples blooming in her cheeks and a chuckle blossoming from her throat. "My apologies! I was thinking that maybe I should have been more careful after the warning that certain items in the school had been enchanted." Her laughter was an arpeggio of self-deprecation, her shoulders hunching up and down with a irreverent flutter. "And not that I think I owe you much of an explanation," Her words were accompanied by a frank up-and-down glance, but swiftly tempered by a smile as her eyes fell on the brilliantly-plumed panther at their side. "I like your friend," Eira told the young woman. "What's her name? Or his!"

Rey growled, hackles starting to rise again, and Laini put her hand between his shoulders to smooth down the ridge of feathers down his spine.  She felt herself bristling at the stranger's casual dismissal of the danger she'd just put them in, but forced herself to take a breath before answering.

"Rey," she murmured. "He's called Rey."

The large cat grumbled and prowled a circle around her legs again, twining around both her and Jax before sitting back on his haunches between them.

Jax narrowed his eyes as the girl dismissed him with her quick scan. As always whenever he was miffed, a momentary surge of anger boiled through his veins, and he had to resist the temptation to throw a punch. It had gotten him into trouble more than once, especially when the person he'd hit was stronger and more skilled than him.

Rey's warm fur soothed him and he forced himself to relax. "Your thinking was correct. The upper floors of this library are reserved for more... enchanted... books. They're necessary for the higher level classes." He didn't bother to say more, brushing past to put the book back into its proper shelf.

If Eira noticed the charged atmosphere around her, she affected not to notice it. Her eyes were bright chips of hazel in her face, warm in a way that freshly-tilled earth is warm under the sun, and brilliantly alive with something like an inner fire. Of course, to most others, she merely seemed like an excitable human, one of those people who live so vibrantly in their skin that it's impossible to hide. Only the sharp angles of her face and the near-predatory gleam of curiosity in her eyes hinted at anything else, as she crouched to be level with the feline and extended her hand slightly from her body, her fingers loosely clenched in an invitation for the animal to catch her scent.

"Well, he's quite a beauty! Where did you get him? I've heard of stories of panthers like him from the Kishahn Jungle, but I haven't been lucky enough to see one - yet." Her adoration of the cat was obvious and almost charming, the way that a young child's is - the delight was so obvious on her face, it was impossible to miss. As one of the supreme predators of the land, of course Eira favored other such animals, but she had a particular fondness for felines that she'd never lost. Perhaps it was because they followed their own hearts and listened to no one as well.

As the young man spoke, Eira let her attention be dragged from Rey, though clearly reluctantly. Straightening up from her position, she watched the dark-haired youth stride off to return the book to its previous home. Forbearing to mention that she had wanted that particular book, she lifted one shoulder in a rueful gesture at his departing back and cast her eyes to the girl beside her. "That may have been my mistake, really," she confided, speaking conversationally to her but with a tone that was just loud enough for the young man to hear if he particularly cared. "I was expecting books with enchantments placed by original owners themselves, but they did warn me that the students at this school were fond of... ah, pranks, to put it politely. I won't make the same mistake again." There was a cheery sort of ruefulness in her voice, enhanced by the insouciant expression on her face. "Speaking of students, you two must be the only two I've seen in here all day. I'm surprised you both aren't outside enjoying the weather." The words weren't particularly inflected either way - it could be either a statement or a question, depending on how one chose to take it, and therefore let them both decide how they would answer, if at all.

[ooc: I'm not really sure where else to go from here with Eira, so I left it open in case you guys want to move on past her and I can bop back out if you want]

Utterly baffled, Laeni glanced after Jax again and started to sort of shuffle along behind him, one hand laying between Rey's shoulder blades while the large cat twined back and forth in front of her.

"I--I didn't get him, he...found me. In the jungle," she answered an impulse, stuttering a little. She looked to Jax again, entirely unsure how she should be handling the situation, before saying, "We, um...we're just...Jax was showing me around?"

"Getting some books for new classes," Jax offered as he slid the book safely back into its shelf. "If you're looking for more enchanted books, I'd recommend the ones by Alessandria de Vrie. They'll contain any information or lore you may be interested in, and... safer... enchantments are placed on them than on textbooks by Filson."

He returned the book that had burst into flames and bustled about a bit more, picking up some more books for Laeni. "Well, we're on our way to meet up with someone." He did not extend an invitation to Eira, but did not particularly try to stop her if she chose to tag along.

As they exited the library, the sun was high and glinting off of glass windows. Students were strewn around the rolling hills and meadows, trays or bagged lunches in hand as they discussed their classes and interests. Jaxius led the way to the wooden bench where he and Brahgo usually met up between classes. It sat in front of a wide, open meadow on the edge of the school's property.