The Clearing does not have many trees in the general area however it still holds many wonders. Sometimes the light silence of nature is what a student needs when he needs to keep to himself. Few birds and many woodland creatures make their home here, so it is not rare to see a creature scurrying about.
Quiet footsteps could be made out coming near the clearing, if there were anyone there to hear them. The girl creating the footsteps hummed quietly, a lovely tune which came from the back of her mind. She walked with the tempo of the tune, rolling her feet from heel to toe and bouncing up, occasionally twirling around. Smiling, she came upon the clearing itself, absorbing it's quiet charm and beauty. The tune still rang in her head, trying to get out.
Lyra thought for a moment, listening to the tune without making a sound. Her face lit up and her hands moved as if she was moving them around an invisible sphere in front of her. Light erupted from her hands, flowing and forming into the shape of a lyre. She was very fond of the instrument, and played it very well. When she had finished conjuring it from her nonexistent 'storage space,' she plucked a few strings, closing her eyes as the sound rang out. Once more Lyra listened to the tune in her head, picking out the notes and chords to play. Her fingers picked the strings as if all on their own and created a melody which was so familiar to her ears, though she had never heard it before. As the melody continued she began dancing around, running and leaping and twirling. She might have looked like a Fae, though because of her clothing she looked like a gypsy more than anything. A content smile spread across her face and a giggle bubbled out as she twirled in the air.
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Sena tiptoed his way through the clearing. You never know when somebody might be nearby, he thought to himself. Fortunately for him, he made the right decision. As luck would have it, he heard the sound of humming - far off in the distance. Grinning from ear to ear, he began making his way towards the sound. What sort of trick would he play, he wondered.
Several meters later, Sena noticed that the sound shifted. It was no longer humming but an instrument. He slipped behind one of the few trees as noiselessly as possible. He peered around it and finally spotted the origin of the music. It was a young woman; she was dancing up a storm. Sena was momentarily enthralled by the girl's private concert. He watched on as she effortlessly cut the air with her movements. It almost made him hold his breath. Almost. As thanks for the performance, he decided to play nice. He stepped out from behind the tree as to not be seen and called out, "If a young maiden sings in a forest and no one is around to hear her, does she make a sound?"
Lyra heard not a sound of anyone approaching, and though she was not very loud, it seemed that she was just that in the quiet of nature. The melody of the unknown song often changed, leaving a half finished note hanging in the air as she came up with the next part, weaving it together without an effort. She crafted the song note by note with each time a chord was struck. The thuds of her shoeless feet also played as a part of the song, keeping up an impossible and uneven tempo of which she played by.
Still, she heard nothing but her own music and the wind which carried it off to unknown places. Lyra truly did love the arts, ever since she was a child there was always something being crafted, be it music or water colour pictures to hang on the wall. She remembered her family and her movements swayed ever so slightly, though she continued on with her song. She remembered the letter which had been slipped under the front door. The light and colour which had emerged from the envelope, sweeping her off to the gates of this unfamiliar place that she had grown to love. And the note inside. Lyra still kept it with her, even though she could not explain even to herself why. Her thoughts were interrupted the second the voice rang out. Startled, she let out a quiet squeak and immediately ceased playing to duck behind the nearest tree, the lyre fading back to light.
Sena couldn't have possibly asked for a better reaction. "Apparently she does," he called out again. "It's a squeal." For a moment, he considered what would've happened had he tried to actually scare her. He felt guilty just thinking about it. With his little prank over, Sena began phase two - the apology. It was obvious to him that he needed an illusion, but of what, he had no idea. A structure of grandeur? An instrument? Then, almost as sudden as the girl's retreat, an idea came to him. All girls love animals.
Getting down on one knee, Sena stretched out an open palm. His hand hovered about two feet above the ground. A pale blue smoke began to pour out of his fingertips and collect at his feet. The smoke formed a shape that somewhat resembled a ball. As the smoke collided, it began spinning around the sphere and rising into the sky. Sena was instantly reminded of the girl's dance and gave a wide grin. He lifted his hand and the show was over. The smoke stopped flowing, the orb dissolved, and a young, orange fox took its place. The creature had a mane like autumn leaves. He bent down even further and whispered to the fox, "Let's give her some time to collect herself first."
Lyra leaned against the tree and sighed. Though she was now out of breath, she could have kept going for hours. In fact, it might have been hours since she had arrived, but she did not care. She brushed off her loose pants, corrected the feathers on her head and straightened her sleeve which has fallen about halfway down her arm. Lyra's hair had started coming out of the cloth-like accessory atop her head, and with the amount of hair she had, she knew that would be an issue.
Lyra placed her hands on either side of her head, about two inches away. A green-blue coloured light poured from her fingers, correcting the fallen pieces of hair and readjusting the dark-tipped feathers. Finally, she clasped her hands together and nodded, turning to peek out. She saw the boy, kneeling down, but she couldn't see what he was looking at, as a small shrub blocked the way. She didn't crane her neck or go to the other side of the tree to look, though she was curious as to what he was whispering to. Lyra thought of what it could be, but there were a million things possible.
Now finished with his masterpiece, Sena ran through a mental checklist. Feet? Check. Tail? Check. Eyes? Check. He shrugged. It has the essentials, what more could the girl want? He chuckled at his little joke. He scanned over the fox one last time. It really was his favorite illusion. A beautiful color on a beautiful animal. He would even consider it a pet - if it had a heart.
Looking up now, Sena noticed a strange glow coming from the tree where the girl was hiding. How weird, he thought. It was then that he saw two strange feathers poke out from behind the tree. From the ground, that was all could see. Was she trying to sneak a peak? Well she was going to get a hands-on experience in just a moment. He turned back to the fox. "You know the drill, little buddy. Nuzzle her legs and, if possible, tickle her!" The fox darted off towards the girl. "Au revoir," he sighed. "They grow up so fast." Sena was trying hard not to crack up.
Lyra was just about to step out as a tiny ball of fur skittered under and around her feet. She jumped, and then laughed as it pawed and rubbed it's tail against her leg. She stooped down and lifted it up, examining the creature. A fine piece of work, in her short time here she had studied illusions, but she could not yet do something with such detail. However, it was missing something. False hearts could made using alchemy, but they were just that, false.
Lyra set the little fox back on the ground, and patted it's head. Quietly she stepped out from her hiding place and walked towards the boy, fox scampering around her feet. She was watching it, laughing quietly as it tried to nibble her toes.
"He seems to be very fond of running around. But if he's not careful he may stray off and flicker out of existence. Sadly that's what happens when their beings are not sealed with hearts."
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Laughter. Sweet, sweet laughter. It filled his heart with a warm sensation that could only be described as bliss. This is what life is all about, he told himself. To live, is to laugh. This was the motto Sena lived by. He believed that, no matter what may happen, this will always remain true. Now grinning uncontrollably, he stood up to greet the young woman. The fox was still nipping at her feet, allowing more laughter to escape the girl's lips. As she walked towards Sena, the silent maiden finally spoke up.
Flicker out of existence? That was a sad way of putting it. The thought didn't bother him however as he was quite confident in his abilities as an illusionist. He could probably conjure an illusion that could traverse the entire school grounds. The last part intrigued him. "A heart?" He inquired. "It's possible to give him a heart?" Sena shook his head with disbelief. "The world sure is an amazing place," he paused for a moment, then continued. "I don't suppose you know anything about that, do you?" In his mind, Sena was patting his back. First you bait the hook, then you real 'em in. Assuming it all goes according to plan, not only will this allow him more time to talk with her, but she might even allow him to escort her around for a bit.
"Giving a false being would require a false heart created in the way of alchemy. And that sort of heart is no different than the being itself. To give it a heart would mean to take the heart of something true."
Lyra sounded a bit like a textbook in her explanation, as she was in fact reciting some of her studies. She could tell he was thinking, but not deeply, and not necessarily daydreaming. She tended to be good with faces, remembering them, reading them, even drawing them, though that had taken quite a while for her to learn the detail in proportions.
So far, so good. She was still talking to him after all. As she continued talking, Sena began getting a bit lost. "Fake heart? Take... the heart?" She seemed to know a lot more than Sena originally thought. He did a double take. "Wait, in order to give my illusions a heart, I must take one from another creature? His next grin would put the Cheshire Cat to shame. "Sounds fun!" He took this time to further inspect the feathers that he noticed earlier. "Speaking of which, what on Earth did you kill in order to gather feathers like those?" he teased. "By any chance... would you happen to still have the heart somewhere?" Sena wondered how long she was going to listen to his lame jokes.
"Yes, a false heart would do no more than stabilize a being for a short period of time before it would wither and have to be replaced. It truly is sad to think of it in that way."
"You think it would be fun to steal a creature's heart to give to something false?"
Though she didn't mean to be, Lyra sounded a bit offended at the comment. She didn't mind explaining the concept of hearts though, she had found it rather interesting herself. She laughed at the part about the feathers, forgetting about what he had said only seconds before.
"No, they are plastic with a simple reality charm on them. So they have no heart, unless they were to have come from a plastic bird with a plastic heart."
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Sena noticed a slight shift in the girl's tone after he mentioned stealing a heart. Oops. He tended to get carried away with his jokes and turn to dark humor. Alas for him, she had already moved on and it was too late. He would have to find time to apologize later. The more this girl spoke, the more convoluted her words became. "I may not know much about plastics, but I do know this: my name is Sena and I want to know yours." It wasn't his best work by far, but at least now he wouldn't look like an idiot. That was one thing he couldn't stand - looking stupid.
Lyra giggled at the way of his introduction. It was indeed an interesting way to put it.
"My name is Lyra."
She said this simply, locking her fingers together behind her. How very interesting this boy seemed to be, with a very interesting way of words. There was one thing which puzzled her though, Sena's comment about the plastic. Did he mean he did not know what it was? Or was it that he simply did not know the different types and was confused by her words.
The girl giggled yet again. Twice? In the span of a few minutes? Sena was on a roll. "Lyra? A beautiful name for a beautiful young maiden! It dances off the tongue like... like... well, like yourself!" You're really hamming it up, he scolded himself. He then wondered where one would learn about such things. Maybe as a plastic surg-... Sena slapped himself in his mind before he could finish the thought. He had a better question anyway. He looked her up and down a couple of times, inspecting her clothes. "By the way, where did you say you were from?"
