*15*

"Are you sure you don't need help, Kyrene?" Crae asked as I set everything I needed for my staff before me. I scanned over the items, making sure everything was in place. It was starting to get annoying with how many times he's asked if I needed help.

I shook my head. "No, I've got it. Besides, this staff is supposed to understand my magic level. How is it supposed to help me channel it if it won't know how much I actually give off? I'll be fine, I promise."

"Alright..." He stood close to me as I held the branch up beside me. Since it was a foot taller than me, I want to break off about two feet of it to make it more manageable. I stretched on my toes and measured roughly two feet down and picked up the small axe Crae provided me with. I carefully chipped away at the wood until it broke off.

I narrowed my eyes a bit as I focused. The piece I cut off is a bit too long for what I want to do with it. Using my nature element abilities, I carefully allowed the branch to grow until it made a perfect circle. Once it was seamlessly attached to itself, I cut the circle in half.

"Fascinating..." Rodnik muttered on my other side.

I ignored him as I smoothed out the other part of the branch and made a small dip. I rested the circle half on the divot and took a deep breath. Soon, the circle grew into the branch once more, securing it in place. It looked like a half moon opening up to the sky.

"Such creativity," Rodnik awed as I picked up the emerald stone. This is going to be tricky. Since this stone is about the size of my palm, it's going to be attached rather firmly. I don't want it to fall off.

I rested it at the exact center of the half circle and willed more parts of the branch to grow over the stone. It swirled gracefully over the stone. I grinned, glad it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

I picked up the four smaller sapphire stones, setting one at the very end of the half circle on both sides of the wood. The wood grew around the edges of the stones to hold them.

Now for the ropes. I tied one to each side where the half circle was on the main branch and slid six orange beads on each rope piece. I tied and singed the ends so they wouldn't unravel. The third rope piece was a bit longer than the other two. I carefully looped it around the half circle and main branch. I willed a sharp piece of the main branch to puncture through the rope and wrap around the main branch, pinning the rope to it.

Lastly, I picked up the rainbow feather. This is going to be the tricky part. If I mess up, I could end up ruining the feather or the rope pieces. I took a deep breath and focused. I wrapped one strand around the branch and pinned it in place. I grabbed the second one and wrapped it around the base of the feather.

With careful precision, I burnt the rope to the feather, making sure it wasn't going anywhere.

With a relieved smile, I wiped at my forehead and held my new staff out before me. It truly was magnificent.

"Amazing," I looked over my shoulder to Crae and Rodnik as he took a step forward. "It's nearly complete. I need a lock of your hair and your staff." I nodded and handed him my staff. I separated a small bunch of my hair and held up about an inch in length for him. With a swift movement I didn't catch, he cut cleanly through my hair and held it up.

"Prefect." He began to mutter to himself as he wrapped strands of my hair over the staff. Somehow, they stayed in place, almost seeming to infuse into the wood. Soon, it gave a soft glow. Not even a minute later, I stared in wonder at my staff as Rodnik handed it back to me.

The once dark, rough wood had smoothed out and had taken on the color of my silver hair. It shimmered slightly in the light as I held it up once more.

"It's beautiful." I ran my fingers over the glossy finish. Any small mistakes I may have made attaching my items to the staff had corrected themselves and looked as if the staff had already been made this way.

"Go ahead and cast an elemental spell," I looked up to Rodnik. "Go ahead. We need to test it out. Go all out; the staff needs to get used to your magic energy."

I nodded slowly and faced the forest. I took my staff in my left hand and held my right one out. My gaze zeroed in on a tree and I thought about it blooming full of flowers and expanding to every tree around it.

Just as the thought entered my mind, small pink flowers covered the branches of the tree, but it didn't explode out of control. A huge grin spread across my cheeks as I turned.

"It worked!" I giggled as I stared at the emerald stone. It was glowing softly from taking in my excess magic energy.

"The emerald stone is acting as the main magic collector," Rodnik explained. "I like how you designed it that way. Now, when that gets full of energy, the sapphire stones will begin collecting your magic energy. The beads are used to help channel the energy from your hands through the staff and into the stones. The rope isn't special; it just keeps the beads in place."

"As for the feather," He held it gently in his hand. "This comes from a very rare Sylph only found once every three hundred years. Not much is known about what the feather can do, but I'm certain you'll be able to figure it out as you progress with your magic training."

I grinned at Rodnik. "Thank you so much. I promise to always have it near me. One question, though."

He nodded his head. "Go ahead."

"How do I use the magic that has been collected in the stones?"

He grinned and winked. "That depends entirely on you. Not all staves behave the same way. How you want to use it is all up to you."

"Okay," I held my staff in both hands and held it tightly to me.

Rodnik stepped back a bit and sighed softly. "As much as I would love to see the young Orelie practice, I must be getting back to the academy. Crae, Kyrene, good luck." He nodded to us and began walking off.

Crae placed a hand on my shoulder as he watched the professor leave. "I think you've used enough magic for the day. Why don't we relax for now and start practicing tomorrow?"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Crae guided me back inside the cottage and to my spot on the couch. I leaned my staff on the couch beside me and picked up the book I had been reading.

~~~~

"Are you sure I'm doing this right?" I asked as I let a small flame flicker around my hand.

"Yes," Crae said beside me, hand over my shoulder in case he needed to take over. "Just let the fire explore. Your staff is helping you keep control of your magic so it doesn't get out of control. The fire lives and breathes just like you and I do. Just let it glide across your hand. I promise it won't hurt you."

"It actually kind of tickles." I watched the flame dance around my palm before traveling up my fingers. I carefully moved my hand so it had a more stable area to explore. It moved from my finger tips to the back of my hand. Briefly, I had a distant memory cross my mind.

I was letting a small lizard climb on my hand. The fire was pretty much doing the same thing. I chuckled to myself at the thought and watched as the fire went back for my palm.

Carefully, Crae transferred the fire from my hand to his before putting it back into the fireplace. "The fire may seem docile now, but it can get restless being in the same spot for an extended period of time. An enhanced fireplace allows it to be itself, but when its out in the open, it thinks it can burn anything it wants to."

"It's a smart light source." I stared into the fire as it licked at the logs.

"Smart and dangerous," I looked back up to Crae. "It's probably one of the harder elements to master since it has a tendency to go off and do whatever it pleases. It feeds off the air, and wherever the air goes, it follows. Watch," He dipped his finger into the fire and pulled out a small flame.

He moved his fingers just slightly. The air around the fire swirled a bit, the fire following it into a perfect spiral. He moved the air just slightly and the fire flared out, catching the other air currents in the room. He quickly closed his hand over the flame, instantly extinguishing it.

"You tell it to do one thing, and it may not obey," Crae stood and went to sit in his chair. "But once you get the hang of it, fire will obey you and will do as you will. It will take you a while, but I'm certain you can get it down."

I nodded slowly and stared into the fire. I'm glad I have Crae to teach me about fire. After all, he does specialize in this kind of magic. He knows everything about fire manipulation and how to control it.

I carefully stuck my hand in the fire and pulled out a small flame. It danced on my hand and moved in small circles. I gripped my staff tighter as I watched the little light explore my hand.

"Try not to push yourself," Crae said softly. "Fire can sense stress."

"Okay," I relaxed and moved my hand a bit. The fire responded by moving to the top of my hand as I turned it. I moved my hand once more so the flame was resting right on top of my middle finger.

I watched it and thought of it spreading to the rest of my fingers. Ever so slowly, the flame expanded.

"Kyrene..."

"I've got it." I assured him as I pulled my fingers apart, now having four smaller flames on my fingers. I flexed my fingers and the flames flickered. It looks like I have small fire nails. This is something I have to remember if I'm ever in a fight.

Once I'd had my fun, I set the flames back into the fireplace. Crae let out a heavy sigh.

"Don't you trust me?" I asked him.

He gave a small smile. "I just wasn't expecting you to try that. You've only been working with the flame for not even an hour and you're easily making it bend to your will. You truly are amazing."

I grinned and hid the blush creeping up on my cheeks. "I'm not that good. I wasn't even sure if it would work. I was only experimenting."

"You need to be confident when working with fire." He stood and guided me to the kitchen. "One false move and you could end up burning down the whole forest. Always think your actions through and don't let fear or hatred get the better of you when a flame is nearby. It feeds off negative emotions."

I nodded slowly. "I understand. Oh, we're getting low on some supplies. Do you want me to go grab some?"

He instantly froze and turned back to face me. "You... want to go alone?"

"Yes," I held my staff tighter. "I can defend myself. Mostly. Besides, I know where the healing house is. If something happens, I can run there for safety."

"But the Demon..."

"Only comes out at night." I leaned on my staff. "I know what I'm doing. If it'll make you feel better, I'll take a couple Fairies with me."

He stared at me a moment longer before letting out a gust of air. "Alright, just promise you'll be back before the sun starts to set."

I gave him a firm nod and a smile. "I promise. You won't even know I was gone." With that, I raced up the stairs to put on some shoes. At the door, Crae handed me some money. I thanked him and headed for the first tree I saw.

I touched the rough bark. "Fern,"

Not even thirty seconds later, she was right in front of me. "Hey! You've gotten really good at that. You need something?"

I grinned. "I was going to head to the market for a few things. Crae didn't want me to go alone, so I was wondering if you and a couple other Fairies wanted to tag along."

She zipped around in circles. "Of course! We'd be happy to join an Orelie! It'll be just like the good days!" She flew up into the leaves.  A few seconds later, she returned with Sage, one of the Fairies Crae had watch over me when I had one of my first visions here.

"Hello, again!" He waved. "Fern said you needed us to go with you to the market."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, thank you for coming. Crae is a bit worried with me going out on my own. I'll have to do it eventually."

"Exactly." Sage gave a firm nod and landed on my staff. "Hey, this is amazing! We should totally go see the sycamore after you go shopping! He'll be happy to see what you've done with it."

I stared at my staff for a minute as I walked. "Maybe another time. Crae will be sick with worry if I take too long. I don't want him to worry."

"Alright," Sage got off my staff and flew beside me. "Then we'll go tomorrow! As soon as you're up and moving, we Fairies will come for you and take you to the sycamore! We could even help you with your magic!"

"You could?" I couldn't stop the huge grin. "I didn't know Fairies could teach magic!"

Fern scoffed. "We're the ones who taught our magic way back when Fucrya was first developing magically. We're the reason there's even magic in the first place. If you train with us, we can teach you all sorts of nature and earth magic! You wouldn't have to go to the academy!"

"That's amazing!" I held my staff in front of me. "I get to practice with Fairies! Crae can help me with fire, Mystic can teach me the water magic, and you guys will be teaching me nature magic! Oh! What about wind?"

Sage nodded. "Of course. We have a lot of wind Fairies in the forest. They'd be happy to work with you!"

"Thank you," I smiled, happy to have such amazing friends. "This means a lot to me."

"Anytime,"

We arrived in Silver Valley shortly after that. I picked up a bag and began to fill it with a few things we needed back at the cottage. It took me a few times, but I was soon able to transport the bag of food back to the cottage for Crae.

Sage and Fern tried to help me. It was comical to watch them try to pick up something that was larger than them.

Once I had gathered what we needed, I let the Fairies rest on my staff and prepared for the journey back.

I didn't get a few steps out when a voice called out. I turned to see Vaeri jogging towards me. "I wasn't expecting to see you come here alone. Where's Crae?"

"He's back at the cottage." I explained. "Besides, I'm not alone. I have Fern and Sage with me. Crae didn't want me to go to the market alone, so I asked if they wanted to come with."

Vaeri nodded. "At least you have them with you. I've never known Crae to be overly cautious before. I think it has something to do with who you are."

"Maybe," I cast my gaze to the ground. "Or it could be because of the Demon."

"Brykas has hunted the beast." A stern look crossed her eyes. "He's confirmed that it's left the area and is headed back to the Summit."

I gave a sigh of relief. "That's good. I should be safe now, right?"

"We hope so." Vaeri placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "If anything happens, come see me. My doors are always open."

"Thank you." I nodded my head to her and headed back to the cottage.

As I walked, a thought crossed my mind. "Has Crae done anything weird lately?"

Sage thought for a moment. "No, he hasn't. Not since that very late night walk he took last week. We've watched the cottage closely and he hasn't left or done anything strange. Maybe he just needed to clear his head?"

I nodded slowly. "Alright. Thank you. Let's keep an eye on him a little while longer. I want to make sure everything is okay."

"Right," We fell silent after that, listening to the creatures play in the wind. I let out a small, content sigh and shut my eyes, listening to the breeze and the chitter from the forest creatures.

A gasp pulled me from the forest noise. "Kyrene, look out!" I spun and ducked in time to avoid a large net.

"Oh my god!" I cried out as I quickly got back on my feet.

"Ya missed!" An angry voice shouted. "Can't you do anything right?!"

"You try!" Another voice snapped. I didn't want to stick around. My feet scrambled under me as I tried to run. I hadn't even gone a few meters before I was worn out. Sage and Fern flew beside me.

"This way!" Fern tugged at my hand. We moved just in time to avoid another net. Someone swore behind us.

"Fern, Sage..." I panted as I fought for breath. "I can't continue. I can barely breathe and my legs hurt so much."

"We gotta get you out of here," Fern said as she flew around my head. She guided us to a place to hide. "I'll call some Elementals to help. Wait here. Sage, watch over her. I'll be right back." With that, she flew off into the trees.

I leaned against a rock and listened for the ones following us. "Who are they?" I whispered to Sage.

"Rogue Druids," He explained. "They're Druids who strayed from the light and decided to take a darker path in life. I don't know why they're after you. Very few people know you're an Orelie, and they're people we can trust. I don't know how they could have gotten that information."

We quickly fell silent at the sound of voices. "Damn it! How can someone so weak get away so fast?!"

"She did have a couple Fairies with her." The second voice said. "They could have helped her escape."

"There's no way they got away that quickly." The first voice snapped. "She's weak and you saw how she couldn't run very far. They must be hiding somewhere." I felt the blood drain from my face at those words.

"Spread out." The first voice demanded. "She couldn't have gone far. She may be weak, but an Orelie can be very powerful."

Just then, a high pitched whistle sounded above us. "What was that?" The second Druid asked.

"A Fairy." The first one growled. "She must have called for more Fairies. We'll see where the Orelie is when they come to help her."

The wind suddenly picked up and the trees whipped around violently. I slowly looked up to see silver orbs flying around above the tree line. They soon blurred into a single ring. As they moved, the wind became more intense.

"They got Elementals, too!" The first Druid shouted. "Drog, counteract their wind with your own!"

"Right!" No... one of the rogue Druids also knows wind magic?! This is bad, this is very bad. I looked up to see the Elementals struggling a bit to fight off Drog. I hope Fern has another plan. If this fails, the rogue Druids will surely find me and take me away.

The wind suddenly stopped at a loud explosion. I covered my ears and ducked down as far as I could. What could have caused that?

"I hear you've gone after my apprentice." My eyes snapped open at the voice. "Now, what would a Dwarf and a Drake want with her?"

I carefully peaked around the rock. My eyes landed on a man with a bushy beard who stood probably no taller than my hip. His dark hair was tucked under a metal helmet to reveal his dark eyes.

Beside him stood a tall man with green tinted skin. Small scales protruded slightly from under his skin on his arms, legs, and face. His orange hair was pulled back into a ponytail. I held back a gasp as a forked tongue slipped out of his mouth. His golden eyes bore into Crae.

"We heard an Orelie is in Fucrya." The Dwarf said. "We were hired to capture her." The scaled man slapped the Dwarf on the back of his head.

Crae narrowed his eyes. "Hired by who?"

The scaled man scoffed. "Like we'd tell you! It's not like you can do anything to stop us. We're going to get that Orelie. So if you're going to stand in our way, then so be it!" My eyes nearly popped out when the scaled man began to morph.

I watched, horrified, as his clothes tore and gave shape to a dragon. He let out a low growl and opened his wings a bit. There's no way Crae can escape a freaking dragon!

I don't know what suddenly came over me, but I stood. Sage tried to hold me back as I rushed towards Crae. "Stop!"

They all looked up at me. I slid to a stop a few feet from Crae. The dragon looks much bigger from here than he did in my hiding spot.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea...