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Evelyn waved off his worries, to which Andreas responded to with a scowl. “Oh, don’t worry. It was just Andreas. These three,” she motioned to the Altons, “are employed by my family. Well, actually…they’re employed by me now.”

Evelyn motioned toward Gilroy, “This is Gilroy. He’s a friend of mine who’s joining us here.”

After introductions, she went back to what Xei had actually said. Specifically where he trailed off. Professor Panda. She motioned for her entourage to move off, and they obliged, moving back to the stairs. Evelyn moved toward Xei and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I miss him too. Professor Panda, I mean. It’s ridiculous that we don’t talk about it. I mean…you do miss him, right?”
Aloisius reclined on the stairs, taking a very casual look. Andreas sat on the stair two above him, and Armin the one below his feet. Gilroy stood off from them, leaning against the wall. It seemed like they would pass this way in silence until Aloisius said, “I wonder if she is around here…”

“Who?”

Before Aloisius could respond, Armin and Andreas groaned loudly and even accented it with a synchronized facepalm. “You had to ask.”

Aloisius only wasted a moment to glare at his brothers before jumping to his feet and with a grand show, he waved about and spoke. “I don’t know her name. She never told me and Evelyn refused to. She is a beautiful, beautiful blonde elf. I hope to see her here.”
There were a few moments of silence as Aloisius held his final pose—a far off look with his fingers interlaced, looking more like a teenage girl with a crush than the twenty-one year old he was. When he released it, all four of them laughed. Andreas didn’t look threatening, Armin didn’t look like he was on duty and ready to jump to the defense of someone at any moment. Aloisius didn’t look like he was a womanizer.

They looked so normal. So content. Gilroy felt like he was getting the glimpse at the true Altons. Not the bodyguards. Not the deadly force they could be. Not the servants. The people. The individuals. He could get used to this.

“Oh, Xei, of course he had good intentions,” Evelyn responded without a second thought on the subject. She hugged the blue-haired boy again, squeezing a tad bit tighter this time. Evelyn debated for a moment. Something told her to go on. “You remember that day that…well, with the door and the throwing of books?”

Evelyn didn’t wait for response—thanks to therapy and more memory charms and potions than she could even begin to think of, she was certain she remembered it enough for the pair of them. “You remember what he said? About how he was letting us learn as individuals? He did care.”

Evelyn hugged the boy again and mumbled, “Sometimes, I wish I had cared enough at least not to throw things at him.”


Aloisius returned to his reclined position between his brothers and said with a smile. “Oh, Gilroy! I have a secret about my brother Andreas.”

“Oh, What’s that?” Gilroy asked at the same time Andreas said, “Oh, this I can’t wait to hear.”

Aloisius laid his head on his brother’s knee, smiling. “Oh, Andreas here does the best Tom Bombadil impression you’ve ever heard.”

“What?” the other three in the staircase said, simultaneously. Gilroy sounding actually interested, Armin sounding disbelieving that Aloisius would discuss it, and Andreas sounding deadpan.

“Oh, yes. Best impression ever. It’s quite convincing.”

“Al, I sang his song ONCE,” Andreas said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

“You can always do it again,” Aloisius said, looking up at his brother from the odd angle on his leg, with a somewhat pouty face.

It felt like it had been forever since he started searching through out the temple for someone he knew well enough to ask where He could find Jessie, Cressa, or Lorika. After not coming back for an entire week though, He wasn't sure if anyone even knew who he was anymore. In an instance like this, covering his face hadn't really helped him at all, but hindered him more instead.

His stomach was getting the better of him, and he began to wonder if being a member would entitle him to buy some food here or if he had to go somewhere else to eat. He had remembered the layout of the temple from when Lorika gave him a tour. So he headed off to the canteen to try and persuade the cooks to give him some food, and maybe ask where everyone was.

Evelyn placed her hand on his shoulder, a weak smile on her face. “We all wish we could have done things differently. But I think that’s what makes his death so hard to deal with. We weren’t in a war. There was no battle. There was absolutely NOTHING that should have happened to him. But it did anyway. And it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Especially not yours, Xei.”

Evelyn surveyed the blue-haired boy…and then took the white oak shard of door from his hand. Inspecting it, she could almost imagine Professor Panda there, yelling at the pair of them for looking at a piece of wood instead of studying. The thought might have made her laugh, if she didn’t think that it would just offend Xei.



Aloisius glared at the pouting Andreas for a good three seconds before rolling his eyes and staring up at the ceiling and beginning a fast paced, short tune.

“Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.”


Throughout the song, Armin was impressed, but trying extremely hard not to burst out laughing. Gilroy was leaning against the wall, and while he had been tapping his foot, he, like Armin was holding back a snigger. Aloisius looked like he was completely enamored.

“There. You’ve had your fun now,” Andreas said, placing his elbows on the step behind him and reclining slightly.

Closing the door of the Music Room, the girl instantly felt a wave of coolness wash over her. Her stomachache had begun to subside, but that didn't mean she felt normal. Something told her to lie down. But where?

Forte spied the loveseat in the Music Room's small sitting area off to her right. She walked over to it and sat down, finding herself overcome by feelings of sleepiness.

"It appears dreamland is calling my name again, no?" she asked her music book. Laughing, she laid down on the loveseat and, finding herself feeling incredibly comfortable, fell asleep.

~~~

"Haha no way!" Glee said, laughing at a story Laramie had just finished telling her. "That is so awesome!"

"I know right?" Laramie replied, laughing as well. But then his face changed from a happy expression to a shocked one. "Oh! I almost forgot; I have to take care of something."

Glee's face fell. "You're leaving me?" she said, whimpering teasingly.

"Oh come on now," Laramie said. "You're not gonna cry, are you?"

"Of course not, silly!" Glee teased. "Honestly, when have you ever made a girl cry?"

This time Laramie's face was the one whose fell. "...Once," he said softly, as though not wanting to admit it. "But that was a long time ago."

For once in a long time (or perhaps even her entire life), Glee was silent. Her beloved boyfriend, making a girl cry? Not possible!

"I have to go," Laramie said suddenly. "I'll be back soon okay?"

"Sounds good," the girl said happily. "See you soon!"

~~~

A dream began to appear in the mist.

In a neighborhood both not too small and not too big, a family lived. The family was a tiny unit but a close one nonetheless. On a sunny day sometime in Spring, a little girl of three walked out of one of the houses. She was curious about her surroundings, seemingly never having seen this world before. The little girl carried with her a shiny, red toy ball and wore a sea green dress. Her hair was sandy-brown, short but wispy, with one little strand above her left eye for bangs, and worn down. The locks altogether barely touched her shoulders. Her little feet were clad in saddle shoes and her expressive blue eyes shone with excitement. This was a new world to her! And what would any child do when they discovered something new? They would explore it, learn it, figure out all they could about it! And this is just what she did.

The little girl started walking, and walked so far that she ended up at the neighborhood's small park. Lots of children were playing on the playground, so, thinking as logically as a three year-old child could, she decided she would play there too. Running over to the park, her excitement rising with every step she took, the little girl got ever closer to the Promised Land that was the playground. However, her little adventure would take a drastic turn for the worse, and not a minute too soon.

Shortly before she arrived on the playground, a group of four boys approached the little girl. The three tallest ones looked about six years old apiece, and the shorter one was younger, about four in age.

"Hey," one of the older boys said. "I've never seen you around here. Whatcha doin' all by yourself?" The other two older boys snickered as their companion said this.

"Yeah," one of the other boys said. "Are you a new kid? You look smaller than the rest of us."

The three boys continued to tease the little girl relentlessly, but she remained silent. She just stood there, holding her shiny, red toy ball, not saying anything, not even meeting their gaze. Finally, the smallest boy of the group stepped forward.

"That's enough guys," he said. "C'mon; you guys are older than me, so you have to be more grown up. She's littler than us because she IS littler. She looks like she might have accidentally gotten lost from her mommy and daddy."

The three older boys and the girl turned and looked at the remaining boy. The boy who spoke first walked over to him.

"Who asked you? You're a new kid too! Who cares what you have to say?" he said, pushing the other boy into the dirt.

"Stop it!" the little girl said, stepping forward. "That's mean! You shouldn't push him!"

The second boy turned his attention to her. "You shut up!" he yelled, grabbing the girl's arm and pulling it up. She dropped her ball and the first boy picked it up, taunting her with it. She struggled to get free from his grasp but to no avail.

"Stop it!" the boy who stood up for her yelled, but his pleading didn't work either.

All of a sudden, a car could be heard driving toward the park. It stopped in the small circle drive and the driver's side door opened. A man in a business suit--home early from work, the boys assumed--got out. As he looked over at the group, the second boy loosened his grip on the girl's arm.

"Forte!" he called out, running over.

The little girl turned around. "Daddy!" she replied as the man approached the group of kids.

He looked at them without saying anything, his mere presence frightening the boys.

"I'm sorry boys, but it's time for my daughter to come home," the man said after a few seconds of silence. "I'll be taking that too; I believe it's hers, no?"

The first boy quivered, but handed the ball to the man nonetheless.

"Thank you," the man said, taking it. The three boys ran away after that, fearing getting in trouble.

"Are you okay honey?" the man asked his daughter, hugging her.

"Yeah," she said, trying her best to fight off tears. Even at her young age, she was always so stubborn, never wanting to cry or show weakness. The man picked up his daughter and carried her to the car.

The four year-old boy who had stood up for her watched her all the way. She was looking at him too, over her father's shoulder. The boy could see small tears streaming down the little girl's face as she looked at him. As he watched the little girl and her father drive away, somewhere deep inside him, he felt a pang of guilt, a pang which would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Oh god. What Adeline wouldn't have given for a bodyguard of her own at that instant, balancing there on the stairs with a man on his knees presenting her with an instantaneously magicked rose. Though it was a fairly impressive bit of magic. Hmph, but probably he was only good at it because he pulled it on so many women.

"Erm - thank you," she said, cheeks slightly pinker than they were before. "Please excuse me, I really must be getting on..." she said, moving to skirt around him and make her escape up the stairs.

If all else failed, she could always use her basket as a makeshit club.


(( I HADNT NOTICED THAT O3O But now that you have pointed it out... I shall never stop noticing. ))

"Hmph! Your manners are utterly shameful, you know," she said, "I'm not fooled by your flowery overtures. Gentlemen simply don't waylay ladies on a staircase deserted except for their cronies."

She slipped her hand out of his and carefully stepped around him, the heels she was wearing under her trailing gown clacking on the steps. "But I am not intimidated by you, and for no reason other than that, I shall tell you my name. I am Adeline, and I am the Order's mistress of enchanting. Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, suddenly glaring up at the other men as if daring them to stand in her way.

(( OH GOOOOOOOD I CAN'T TELL, I JUST CAN'T TELL gonk gonk gonk

Also, for anyone wondering on pronunciation - I began by pronouncing Adeline's name adel-yne, but then I started pronouncing it adel-een and now I can't seem to hear it any other way. Hrm. I think I prefer adel-een, which is why I can't seem to escape from it now.

*thumbs up!* 4laugh ))

"...Are you not listening to a single word I'm saying?!" she squeaked, affronted, as he blocked her path again. "Such rudeness! Please take your attention and lavish it elsewhere!"

Abandoning her attempts to climb any higher, she turned with a huff and began back down the stairs, picking up her glittering skirts with her free hand to keep them out of the way. She'd just have to collect the samples later - if she ever managed to dislodge her admirer. She could feel him breathing down her neck even then! Or perhaps, just admiring its graceful, swanlike curve.