Minutes after half of the training facility's main hall was destroyed by Io, questions swarmed and overwhelmed the poor boy who had, so oddly, turned back into his sparrow-form after his moment of chaos—in which Jing explained was his body reacting to the cure he had administered. She deduced that it had tempered and confused the spirit and caused his Avian form to shift between Luna's and Lyra's, even though it was hours before nighttime. Not a soul had a clue what she was talking about. Including Io himself.

For the remaining half of the session, each of his classmates took turns carrying the sparrow around in their palms. Naturally, Luka was not too happy about that decision, but since Io was unable to shift back into his human form, Reyes said that they had no choice but to wait for his stamina to run out.

This implied that at least one of Io's unlucky classmates would suffer some minor damage to their wrists, since the sparrow they had been holding would—all of a sudden—turn into a hundred-and-ten-pound human. That unfortunate person being Vaughn. Naturally, really. Vaughn was the kind who could mess up a fifty-fifty chance by picking the unfavourable half. Even if that very unfavourable chance was reduced to a mere one-tenth, he would somehow end up on that very end.

Io as well, enjoyed his time assessing and grading the palms of his classmates. He found that he preferred larger hands with softer palms. A combination of Luka's and Abigail's would have been perfect. Meanwhile, Vaughn and Lucienne shared similar attributes; long and bony fingers. Very uncomfortable. If only he mastered the art of reading palms, then he could entertain himself by reading the fortunes of his friends.

"Hi!" Was what he greeted the vulture with as soon as his spirit was beginning to fade and his return to his human form made, causing Vaughn to nearly break his wrist. He saved himself by dropping Io. "That hurt."

Vaughn rolled his eyes, cradling his wrist. "You deserve that after destroying half the training hall."

The session came to an abrupt halt as soon as Io returned, since Reyes had to check on his condition and ensure that the boy was alright. While the rest of his classmates looked on, Io apologized profusely—promising that he would, somehow, pay for the repairs of the two platforms, four perches, and three posts that he had destroyed from his lack of control over Luna's form in a hall that could barely house her.

Reyes laughed with a sigh. "No, Tori. The importance of your safety is always first. Fortunately, no one was injured by the falling platforms, and the other class were quick enough to leave the hall before the the third post fell."

"But," he added with a warning. "As punishment for not voicing your discomfort before the flight, you will be cleaning the hall of debris for the rest of the afternoon. There's dust everywhere." Io had no choice but to oblige. The instructor was right that she should have informed him of his nausea.

"I will, sir. Again, I'm so sorry..." Reyes shook his head and called for the rest to change out of their flightwear and wash up for lunch.

"You too," he said to Io, handing him a bottle of water. "Drink up and change. Today's lunch will be held at villa one, where your classmates have been staying. We've prepared something special for the last day." It sounded to Io fairly exciting. Well, as long as Kirill's class wasn't ogling at him, anything was fine.

*

Turns out, it was something surprisingly normal for high school students. At least to Dmitri, it was. To a select few of his class however, not so much.

"A freaking pool party! Now that's what I call vacation," the falcon gawked at the spread of red and white meat ready to be barbecued by the pool on the terrace, turning to Jeremiah with a grin. "There's rib eye! Wow, your Uncle's generous."

"It's called hospitality, Dmitri," Jeremiah laughed, thoroughly amused by his excitement. "And we aren't really on vacation." Somewhere behind, Lucienne agreed. "You guys can go get changed. I'll set up the pit."

Several left the terrace and went up to their rooms to grab their swimwear, but Io sort of remained. A little lost. "What's a pool party?" He glanced up at Luka to ask.

"A party by the pool," the eagle answered helpfully, and Io was used to it by this point. Luka probably wasn't the best person to ask what a pool party was, so he turned to the other classmate loitering between the living room and the terrace. He paused upon realizing who it was.

Vaughn wouldn't know what a pool party was, would he? For some reason, Io was inclined to believe that the vulture didn't even know what a party was—

"It's a casual gathering normally accompanied by barbecued food and house music, held beside a pool so that guests won't go hungry after swimming, or, just splashing around. It's not that hard to understand," the vulture was quick to prove the sparrow wrong with an elaborate description of what he knew (but never experienced first-hand). "It's just a party."

Io commented lightly that he had never been to a party, and that they didn't have pools back in his village. Or loud music. They had wooden flutes. And occasionally, guitars. "I'm not the kind to get invited to birthday parties either."

He laughed, and had (in his own way) comforted the vulture by openly confessing his...well, party-virginity. Vaughn was the last person anyone would invite to their parties, really. No matter how much he'd actually like to go. Or be invited at least.

"Do you need help with the barbecue?" Io drew towards Jeremiah at the expensive-looking pit, staring the round, spherical-shaped thing that had a handle in the middle. "I used to help my pa—dad...all the time. Although the pit's made out of stone. And it's a lot more...uh...black and burnt."

The kite laughed. "Yeah, sure. But don't you get nauseous when you smell raw meat? I'll call you over when my uncle's got the second pit ready. It's for jacket potatoes and mushrooms," he shooed Io away, showing him to the pool. "Go for a swim. I'll call you later."

"Oh...okay then, but do tell us if you need help. We can take turns mending the pit!" The sparrow then turned to Luka. "I'm assuming this is the men's pool?" His companion stared at him blankly.

"Men's...?"

"Yeah," Io blinked. "I mean, we can't possibly be sharing a pool with the women...right?" Vaughn and Jeremiah could not help but stare blankly as well.

"Why not?" Jeremiah was the first to break the silence, and Io positively blushed.

"W-why not? I! You...you can't, I mean. It's not very appropriate to swim with girls without clothes on."

"Hang on," the kite paused, trying hard not to laugh. "Without clothes on? You swim bare? Like, naked?" Io glanced between the three predators that were looking at him as though he was a completely different species.

"You...um, you don't?"

"Of fucking course not," Jeremiah burst out laughing, and Dmitri who had already changed into his swimwear came running out from the living room towards the terrace, cannon-balling into the pool with a huge splash. "We wear swimsuits."

"Oh."

Vaughn was a hundred percent done with Io's village-boy experience and decided to walk away from the conversation before he could be influenced by what he considered pure idiocy.

"W-well, back in the village, we swam in small lakes. O-or like, water ponds. There's always a men's one or a women's one. We're used to taking off our clothes before going into the water, so," Io tried to explain himself to the remaining two who bothered to listen, suddenly embarassed. "I...um, I don't have a swimsuit. Or whatever you call it."

Jeremiah commented that his uncle didn't mind if he wore light clothing in a private pool like the villa's, as long as it's clean. "You can change into one of the shirts you brought. Don't worry about it."

"Phew," the sparrow sighed. "Luka, can I...? Since your room's just upstairs. Mine's a villa away." Luka was not happy. He told himself he wasn't. He also wasn't low-key excited.

"Sure."

"Okay, thanks!" Io placed Lyra on his shoulder and flit eagerly up the stairs. The two predators watched him go, somehow quiet all of a sudden.

Jeremiah stole a glance at the eagle and upon the sight of his face, attempted to stifle a rising laugh. "You're smiling."

Luka turned away, and almost raised a hand to hide the lower half of his face. "No."

"Holy shit. You are." The kite smirked wide. "Hey Dmitri! You've gotta see this—"

"I'm not."

"Fucking are. Don't argue."

______________________

It wasn't long before Instructor Reyes arrived with a personal barbecue pit for Io's use, to which he piled jacket potatoes and swiss brown mushrooms all over and shared with the rest of his classmates. Jing offered to wrap the sweetcorn that one of the flight facilitators had so kindly brought for them to enjoy, and Io suggested that the ube be cut into slices and grilled like potato chips. They turned out surprisingly delectable and as a result, spent most of his time out of the pool eating and coming up with new recipes.

Slayne spent an odd amount of time watching over the sparrow, correcting him every now and then on his knife work or criticizing his lack of aestheticism in presentation. Io pouted.

"I'm sorry I'm not as professional as Jiro is," he huffed, deciding against offering the snowy owl his ube chips. "I'm aware of the difference in our abilities, so." Slayne clicked his tongue and looked away.

"Hey, Tori!" Dmitri called from the poolside, carrying a pool float that resembled a pizza slice over his head. "You've barely spent a minute in the pool."

Io glanced over, slightly embarrassed. The only reason he wasn't entirely comfortable or keen on approaching the pool was that his female classmates were dressed very differently from, well, what he'd usually see on a daily basis (for obvious reasons). This included Jing, who donned a bandeau-style swimsuit with a skirted bottom. It was black, unlike the array of colors that the rest of his classmates seemed to be particularly fond of. He tried not to notice anything else.

"U-um...well." Io glanced around uneasily, and it wasn't until Aaqil—clad in beach pants just like Dmitri was (or whatever Io assumed was considered fashionable at pool parties)—dragged him over to the pool and handed him a pool noodle that he gave in.

Not far away, Luka was silently grateful that Io had decided to grab one of his darker-colored shirts instead of his white ones. As for the reason, he wasn't quite sure either.

The instructors, including Professor Viktor, didn't arrive until late afternoon to stop the fun. Io was given a broom and a mop to clean the dust and gravel in the training hall while the rest remained at the poolside, packing up what was left of the barbecue.

"I'll come and help you after I'm done," the phoenix offered kindly, having taken in the miserable state of the broom. "It won't take long."

Io thought it a little embarrassing that he was offered help to fix something that he'd caused himself, so he instinctively declined. At present however, he wished he hadn't. The sparrow seemed to have forgotten how far and wide the training hall spanned (and yet could not house Luna!), leaving him slightly lost as to where he should start with.

The large pieces of debris had been removed by perhaps another hardworking facilitator, and it was in his nature to feel sorry for that poor person. Io went with sweeping the dust and gravel to the middle of the hall as a start, wondering just how long he would take to cover an area the size of two football fields.

He was nowhere near half-done when a couple of loud voices sounded from the stairwell to his left, and the sparrow glanced up from his miserable broom to see a pleasant sight.

"We found some extra brooms," Shri explained nonchalantly, but Io understood perfectly well the difference between an excuse and the truth. He thanked the rest of his class that tagged along, personally going up to them with a heartfelt smile. In which was somehow easy to see the moon hidden underneath those glassy eyes.

"Thanks for helping," he had said to Vaughn, who seemed the unhappiest out of the lot but was doing the most sweeping and covering a wide area all by himself.

The vulture clicked his tongue, turning away with a roll of his eyes. "Indeed. You should feel guilty for causing us so much trouble. It would do me great pleasure if you started crying now." Io laughed so hard, Meryl from across the hall turned to stare.

As always, conversations with Vaughn were never boring and thoroughly amusing. And he was actually being perfectly serious.

*

The additional help that Io received made things much faster, not to mention enjoyable. Reyes was impressed upon checking the condition of the hall after an hour, and dismissed the class at once. They were given ample time to pack their belongings and take a quick shower before the airship arrived just in time for in-flight dinner.

"I wonder where the other class went," Io voiced his observation of the absent youth members, usually seen loitering around the common area passing untimely snickers and (generally unpleasant) laughter. The swan twins who were the first to finish packing exchanged looks.

"I heard they set off right after lunch. Kirill said that there was an 'emergency' to attend to," Odette shrugged, subtle with her sarcasm. "I bet he caught wind of your performance this morning."

"He's probably spending the rest of his days shaking his head in denial. After all that he's said about you being prey," Odile mimicked his sister's shrug. "Actually—"

"We weren't all that nice about it either," the white swan finished with an apologetic smile. "We're sorry."

Io saw this as a rather unexpected turn of events. He wasn't a schemer, and neither was he as much of a strategist as he was a thinker. Those were different things completely. The sparrow never saw the imminent apology or guilt of those who once wronged or hurt him—never planned for such a thing.

"Well," he began on an awkward note, unsure of how to respond. Despite his absence of ulterior motives, Io had always been aware of those who had caused him pain and grief; and although he seemed to forgive easily at times like these, he wasn't one to forget. In fact, he would remember for the rest of his life. "It was tough. For me, yes, but you've had your difficulties as well. I can't really blame you."

"After all, I can't consider it as an individual grudge. So on an individual level, I didn't particularly hate you or anything. I simply disliked the larger entity that you happened to be a part of. The general, you know?"

He was referring very carefully to the social order that the headmistress had so mindfully crafted, but had not the words to phrase his thoughts properly. Io understood that he had so much more to learn.

The swan twins laughed. "You speak so strangely!"

"Haha, I'm sorry," Io scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile, turning to see that several others had arrived and were slowly filtering into the grounds where they were supposed to gather.

"No," Odette shook her head. "It's endearing. And a little amusing." They laughed together.

Victoria went ahead of her Winged to circle around the three, as though watching over Io and attempting to catch wind of their conversation at the same time. Instructor Reyes and Professor arrived with the rest of the facility's team for a final farewell by the sunset.

Io caught a glimpse of the rolling sea of clouds tumbling past, feeling a little more at ease knowing that they were flying at night. His heat would simmer to a calm swelling of his heart, and although it would, somehow, rise again the very next day and the cure he would administer might bring an uncertainty to his spirit, he was willing to accept it all.

"Jeremiah. Mag iingat ka sa biyahe," Reyes clapped his nephew on the back, smiling warmly. "Sana magkita...tayo ulit."

The kite seemed unwilling to part, and it was not until he gave his uncle a hug and a series of well-wishes that he could afford to say his goodbyes. Dmitri called him a family man, and Lucienne commented lightly that it was more attractive than whatever Dmitri was, either way. The falcon was not pleased.

______________________

There was a heavy buzz of the unknown as soon as the airship docked on the floating island. Not a single word was said about what could have happened over the span of four days, a seemingly insignificant block of time to many.

Io's immediate response to this was to consult Pipa, but Viktor made it clear (to him, specifically) that there were rising issues with his current evaluation. Although no particular name was mentioned, the sparrow was not wrong to assume that Kirill and the headmistress had something to do with all this. He wasn't completely blind to such hostility, no.

"All of you will spend the rest of the day in your dorms. Is that clear?" The condor received a couple of languid nods in response, having had a rough flight the previous night. Some of them barely slept a wink. This behavior however, did not last very long. In fact, it vanished upon the arrival of the deputy headmaster Professor Faustes—for various reasons.

"It's not very nice to see you little shits back so soon, but we've got something brewing here," Faustes didn't sound very different, but it would have taken a fool to miss the edge in his tone. "It's nothing much," he added at the sight of Meryl's frown and Aaqil's wide eyes. "You'll live. There will be an important announcement tonight over dinner, and you're all required to attend," the hawk narrowed this upon a certain vulture who only seemed to live on instant kimchi ramen everyday.

"Meanwhile," he sighed greatly. "I've been told that if any one of you should come into contact with those outside of your damned elite class, heads will roll." Shri very casually pointed out that technically, Faustes was not from their 'elite class'. He almost flipped her off.

"This...also means that one of you," Faustes addressed the males specifically, "will have to house Tori for a day. In your dorm, yes."

Before Io could protest that the he did not in any way wish to cause trouble for his classmates, Luka voiced his (obvious) inclination.

"I can do it."

"Sullivan. Great. Haven't heard your voice in a year, but great," Faustes rolled his eyes and cursed each and every one of those scheming elites he had to handle year after year—those little shits. "You're dismissed. Get some shitty sleep in your dorms and for the lat time, come down to dinner."

Again, aimed at a very bitter-looking Vaughn. Naturally, he missed his kimchi ramen.

*

"I swear, if I lose my position as deputy head I'm blaming it on my students," was all Faustes managed to come up with as soon as Viktor pulled him aside and reported what he deemed an attempted assassination of Iolani Tori. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't trust the Order," Viktor snorted as though he had stated something clear as day. "What'd you expect? Some unfair results of useless evaluation?"

"Honestly speaking, yes."

The condor was beginning (how did he not see this coming?) to respect Callaghan for getting along spiffingly with the deputy headmaster. "I've written a report based on Tori's story. And that eagle's. The one that's around him all the time."

"Yes. Sullivan. I know that." Faustes was handed a folder containing a written report and a throwing knife kept in air-tight plastic. "Probably some game that Kirill's bunch came up with."

"You don't say. They put something in his food to trigger his heat and didn't even bother to hide it." Viktor had a hand over his eyes by the time this came to light and was starting to see why Faustes would go mad from tolerating stuff like this for the past couple of years. The latter was not happy.

"What?" He was hit with the sudden desire to pick Io up and fling him into sky. Well, they were already in the sky—technically speaking. "He ate that shit knowing there was something in it?"

Viktor held up his hands in defeat.

"You should have heard what he said. Something about them being a terrible assassin if this was how they were going to kill him." The condor laughed upon the recollection.

"I don't get how he's still alive," Faustes swore under his breath and looked upwards as though seeking divine help. "Those people are out to kill him. Does he understand that?"

"He does, surprisingly," Viktor said after a considerable pause. "He knows. And he's strangely aware of those kind of things."

"Some weird shit he is," he concluded, turning to Faustes with a shrug and the latter cracked a sudden laugh.

"He knows that too."

________________________

A/N: Cuppie knows that shit's going down soon O.O [silently drops more LukIo baits along the way so that you shall not die :>] ITS OKAY WE BRAVE THROUGH DARK TIMES WOOHOO and well, who's not looking forward to Io and Luka actually sharing a room? Because Cuppie has been obviously (and purposefully) depriving the lovebirds of such :D

Thank you for reading!

-Cuppiecake.