Feather of Fate [M] [DragonSong]

[Juno]

"That's what I thought," she agreed, a genuine smile there for his acceptance of it. Perhaps he didn't really have much choice in the matter, but he certainly could've been making things much more difficult if he'd had a mind for it.

Finishing up with her food she stood and bounced down the hall with a quick, "I'll just grab my notes," cast over her shoulder.

[DragonSong]

Mal watched her go with a small smirk and a shake of his head before returning to his breakfast, munching slowly.

[Juno]

Penny took her time getting her papers together, gathering the books they referenced and taking the whole armful along with her back down the hall from the study. "Should keep us busy at least," she mumbled in apology, already heading for the front door but pausing to look back at Mal as if to silently ask if he was ready.

[DragonSong]

"Hey, I'm up for it." He smiled and got to his feet with a long, languid stretch. "Ready when you are," he said with a smile as he moved to follow her.

[Juno]

Her eyes brightened slightly before settling into a warmth of gratefulness. Turning away she shouldered her way through the door and trudged out towards the more open valley beyond the hill. Open space would be good, the last thing she needed was to bury him in a tree or something, not that he'd have any difficulty burning his way out of one.

"This is probably good," she puffed, grunting as she set down the books in careful alignment so that they'd all weigh down a bit of her papers. She set her hands to her waist, straightening her back and just trying to catch her breath for a moment without looking like a wreck.

[DragonSong]

Mal, following a few paces behind, chuckled as he came up beside her. "You okay there?" He teased lightly, reaching up to ruffle her hair gently.

[Juno]

She whined for the way he managed to muss it up, ducking under his arm to shake her head enough to get her hair resettled.

"Yeah," she huffed, panting softly as she got settled to sit down and pull a tome open on her lap while she looked over her notes and turned to the right passage. "I'm curious if this will...let me move you beyond the boundary or if you'll go right to the end of it. If it does... maybe it could break it?"

[DragonSong]

Mal shrugged and settled down beside her, reading over her shoulder. "I mean, it's worth a shot. What's the worst that could happen, right?"

[Juno]

"Exactly," she agreed, happy he seemed willing to try though she supposed he didn't really have much choice in the matter and kind of needed to have at least a little faith in her. After a little more searching she paused, tracing her fingertips beneath the text she'd found and mumbling its explanation under her breath with a furrowed brow, "Think of the destination."

She glanced at Mal, studying him for a moment as she tried to think of the right picture to place in her mind. Where did she want him to go? Away, but not too far away. Penny wanted him to be able to fly free without forcing herself upon his back as a passenger to make it possible.

Turning slightly she looked down the hill towards the soft sloping of grass at the bottom that she was certain would be well out of their tether range. She brought her free hand up and splayed her fingers against the back of his head, nestling between his locks to gently press against his scalp.

Inhaling a shaky breath the young mage closed her eyes and tried to picture again what had just been before her and place Mal within it. She was struggling, though, her focus shifting rapidly between picturing him in his human form in the grass and his phoenix form in the sky above.

As she murmured the words of the incantation she could not see the flash of white light that pulsed out through her fingers but she knew it had worked to some degree when she no longer felt Mal beneath her hand or his weight beside her on the ground. For a moment a sense of serenity enveloped her, a faint, shimmering light still surrounding her body as she slowly opened her eyes again. Just as she did a sudden, overwhelming sense of dread overcame her as her heart began to pound in her chest and breathing became tight and high in her throat.

Inexplicable tears fell across her cheeks and Penny clenched her eyes shut again just as soon as they'd opened while shaking her head furiously. "Come back," she called softly, her book and papers forgotten and falling away from her as she clutched blindly at the tension coiling tightly in her chest.

[DragonSong]

Mal felt the magic tugging at him and closed his eyes, bracing for the teleportation. He really wasn't a fan of this, it always made him dizzy.

An instant before the spell took hold, he felt something...snap. Something in their connection that suddenly rose up and screamed at him that this was a bad idea. His eyes flew open and he tried to warn, "Penny-!"

But then it was too late.

He hadn't moved far, just down the hill, just outside of their range. He could still see Penny through the fuzzy haze of leftover magic.

At least, for a brief instant.

Because then pain whited out his vision and he collapsed with a sharp, agonized cry. He could hear Penny calling him, but he quite literally was paralyzed with the suffocating force of pain and magic that he didn't understand. His breath came in sharp, desperate pants, punctuated by gasping groans as he tried and failed to struggle to his feet and claw his way back in range of their bond.

[Juno]

Where hers was an emotional response Mal's was physical yet again. Everything happened so fast and the sound of his cry had her scrambling to her feet with a panicked sound and stumbling her way closer down the hill, discomfort entirely forgotten in the face of his pain.

"Mal!" she yelled down, sprinting the short distance to him. The stretch of their bond faded the closer she got and released her from the strain that had gripped her so fiercely, but Penny hardly noticed with the way he was struggling before her eyes.

Still in tears she fell to her knees, reaching out to pull him close with shaky hands. The brief wonder at successfully using her magic was completely abandoned. "Gods, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm here- Please... I'm so sorry, Mal," Penny cried, shaking her head in shame and disbelief.

[DragonSong]

Moving purely on instinct, Mal grabbed for her the moment she was within reach, dragging himself closer with a groan and burying his face in her lap. Several hot tears escaped his clenched eyes and he shook like a leaf in a gale.

If he'd been even remotely in a normal frame of mind, he'd have been mortified. As it was, he was so relieved by the respite from pain that her presence brought that he just clung to her, shivering.

"Don't- don't leave," he begged quietly, still gasping slightly as his breathing gradually began to return to normal.

[Juno]

Penny bit at her lip, nodding furiously as she bowed over him to hold him close against her. She reached to smooth a shaky hand along his back to try to comfort him, but she felt guilty for even trying with the way that his body trembled against her. She'd seen what their last test with Adrian's help had done to him and while it was not nearly as bad as before she felt awful for inflicting any pain on him at all.

"I won't," she murmured, voice thick as she stifled the cry that hung in her throat. Instead, silent tears kept spilling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she repeated quietly once she was better able to speak clearly. "I didn't know- I didn't think that would happen again."

[DragonSong]

"It's...okay," he lied breathlessly. "I'm...I'm okay." His eyes closed and he couldn't find the strength to open them again.

[Juno]

Penny nodded and lifted a hand to wipe at her cheeks, badly wanting to believe he was telling the truth. She kept a hand at his shoulder, lightly running her fingers along his back still in an effort to comfort him while soothing her own nerves.

"I should get you to Kura," she murmured, frowning as she tilted her head to watch him. "Let her take a look at you."

[DragonSong]

The shaking gradually seemed to be dying down, but Mal still wasn't all that inclined to move. "Ah...sure."

Slowly, he tried to sit up, then collapsed back to his hands and knees with another groan of pain. "Just...gimme a minute..."

[Juno]

Penny winced as she watched his struggle, shaking her head automatically and setting a hand to his shoulder to try to stop him. She cast a worried look back up the hill, the cottage she called home so close but feeling so far.

"Wait," she murmured, leaning up to hug him around his shoulders. The young mage whispered a few words of a minor healing spell as she ran her hands along his back again. She'd often used it for scrapes and bruises, though she had no idea if it might help him at all when the source of his pain had been magical.

[DragonSong]

Mal drew in yet another ragged breath, then let it out in a soft sigh, turning his face into her lap. He could feel her magic wash over him in a cool wave, but he wasn't quite sure if it was really helping or if the pain was simply fading naturally, as it had before.

"I'm alright," he mumbled again, though he made no move to so much as raise his head.

[Juno]

Penny just shook her head with a small noise of disagreement, uncertain if the spell was truly working for him at all but desperate to keep trying. She repeated it over and over, smoothing her hands along his back in slow circles.

Eventually she stopped, though, hands stilling but a bit shaky as they rested against him. She felt weak, as though such minor use of magic had sapped her energy for a moment and that thought startled her. She had to be stronger.

"I'm so sorry," she told him again, heart heavy as she bowed to rest her head against him.

[DragonSong]

"It's not your fault," Mal managed to mutter, eyes still clenched shut. "I...told you to try. Not your fault."

Incredibly slowly, he managed to push himself into a half seated position, though he still leaned heavily against Penny for support.