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May 13th, 2004~

Final exams are eating me alive. Not fun for me. Less fun for Amalthea, and Kree as well. She's taken to riding the Dream around, poking hir with her sword if he doesn't listen to her... heh. She poked ME a little bit before she figured out that was A Bad Idea. Kree either tolerates her or just flat-out goes away for a few hours to visit hir fellow dream-beings.

Amal's wing looks normal again, and she claims it doesn't hurt any more. There's just a little sort of wibble in the wing itself, like a slight dent that's only really noticable if you look for it and the light is right. We were lucky. Amal says it doesn't affect her flying at all, since aparrently she uses magic to boost her flight. It seems to be instinctive.

She has yet to discover any of her elemental powers, and I am at a loss as to how to help her with this. She does play with ice a lot, and experiments while I study or work on papers. Once she dipped her sword in water and managed to end up with a wicked-looking coating of ice on the blade itself. The ice shattered after a few hits to Mr. Play Dough (her practice dummy) but before it broke it made several pretty deep cuts into the thing. Hrm.

Today, she's discovered a new thing. She broke some chunks of ice off of an ice cube, and has been using the ones that she can hold in both hands to draw on the window. The result is very temporary, maybe ten minutes, but it looks really pretty. Just like frost crystals in wintertime in a cold place, with the delicate formations. They form when she puts the tip of the ice to the window and moves it around. I had a magnifying glass to look, but it focused heat on the ice and made it melt faster. Amal was Not Pleased and shook her sword at me again.

She's drawing on a mirror, now. I think she likes that better since I put it out fo the sunlight in deep shade. As long as it keeps her busy... and out of trouble. Until all this is over with.

May 21st, 2003~

Amalthea has now seen The Two Towers as well, and is awaiting the release of Return of the King next week with rabid anticipation. She's, um, quite the little fangirl. She had better not try and write Mary-Sue fanfiction, though, as that is where I firmly draw the line.

To pass the time until this much-anticipated event (we circled it in red on the calendar, and she rubbed glitter on the date square to make it 'extra-special'), I decided to go check the grimoire at the main shop. Amal still refuses to come with me, oddly enough... I'm still not sure why she does this. It seems like she's just not interested in other Feien right now, which strikes me as strange because she is so curious about everything else... hrm.

Anyway, I found that some of the Ice section of the grimoire had been filled in! I quickly made copies of the relevant pages and brought them home. Amal all but threw herself on the pages with a shriek of joy, talking excitedly about how she could get rid of the itchy feeling.

We found that the reason why making things icy or flying makes her feel better is because those things involve magic. Apparently the itching is a sort of 'magic overload', and when funneled into spells it decreases. It also makes Amal feel very happy and comfortable, so we resolved to learn as much as we could.

Yesterday, Amalthea learned a special ability, she's so clever - Panelemental! So I'm going back to the shop to copy the lists of other elements, as she wants to experiment with using this new power. She rejected some spheres of magic right out, of course - heat and fire - and also does not want Cold as it's closer and, to her mind, weaker than her natural element. I personally have... well, rather a thing for time magic, so I'm rather hoping she'll like one of those.

June 7th, 2004~

It has been a while... a busy time, indeed. I've now graduated from college, and Amalthea has grown up into a beautiful young lady Feien.

Some things haven't changed, of course. She's still utterly obsessed with the Lord of the Rings. Worse than I am, much worse! Two weekends ago I went to an anime convention and attempted to take her with me, hoping that she might get a little more diverse in her interests.

No dice. She sat in my backpack the whole time and whined about how it was too loud, the fanboys too smelly, the subtitles moved too fast and the speakers made her ears hurt. *sigh* Really, I think it was just sour grapes. I'm learning that despite Amalthea's curiosity, she seems hesitant to move outside her own comfort bubble. Her curious nature is not as all-encompassing as I once thought.

I've yet to get her to the Feien shop, for example. She seems to just not care, and is perfectly happy flitting around the house, practicing magic or playing with her sword or watching/reading LotR for the umpteenth time. When I ask her if she'd like to go, she just kind of shrugs, or tries to distract me away from the idea. She really doesn't seem interested at all in leaving the house.

It worries me, somewhat.

June 12th, 2004~

I snuck carefully into the house, carrying a small box that looked like it held Chinese takeout. Inside was something much different...

"Amalthea? Amal? Hey, where are you?" I called as I closed the door behind me.

"Coming!" came a muffled yell from the bedroom. I walked over and put the box on the kitchen table as Amalthea flitted in, doing lazy circles and loops in the air. "Ooh, you brought noodles?" She tugged eagerly at the top of the box.

The box moved.

"AAHHH!" Amalthea darted behind my head, and peered over my shoulder suspiciously at the wrigging box. "Noodles don't MOVE. That's NOT NOODLES."

"Very perceptive," I said wryly. "Why don't you go see what it is?"

Amal nodded, then flitted into the other room and came back with her sword. I rolled my eyes. "Foul orcish beasts, no doubt! What ho, villain!" She poked the box with the tip of her rapier, then carefully pried the lid open. "You dark servant of Saur-"

"Mew?"

The rapier fell to the table with a clatter. "It's..." Amalthea disappeared into the box, then reappeared with a surprised look in her face. "It's a KITTY!"

"Yes, it's a kitty," I said patiently. "Why don't you let him out?"

Amal grabbed her sword and zinged back into the box. A few seconds later, the plastic blade sliced through the side of the box, cutting a little door-shape. Amalthea crawled out through the door, looking pleased with herself. "Now it has a door for the house. Very good, very good."

The kitten mewed again and tottered out of the box. "His name is... MISTER CAT," Amal proclaimed, grandly.

June 19th, 2004~

Amalthea wandered around the room aimlessly, flitting from door to window and back again, bored silly. Sosiqui was out somewhere, and although the hyooman had offered to take her along, Amal had refused.

And now, here she was. Bored. She wasn't big enough to get the DVDs out of their cases and watch any movies, and none of the books she wanted to read were within easy access, either. She was tired of making orcs from chewing gum or frosting the windows, and Mister Cat was sleeping in the sun on the windowsill, resisting all her efforts to rouse him.

A rustling noise came from the hall, and she flitted out there to see what it was. "Oh, s'just you," she mumbled when she saw Kree. The dream had hir head buried in one of Sosiqui's flower vases, making the flowers jerk and sway. "You're going to get in trouble. I'll tell Sosi-hyooman and you'll be in trouuuble," she taunted, although without much spirit.

The dream pulled hirself out of the flowers and gave Amal a glare. "Because I am so very afraid of that," shi scoffed.

Amal felt herself growing angry, for no real reason. "You should be! I'll stick you with my sword, Balrog," she proclaimed, shaking one little fist at the dream.

Kree rolled hir eyes. "Have you any idea how stupid you look?"

This was unexpected. Amal flushed red, then landed on the side table next to the vase and Kree. "You're... you're STUPID," she retorted.

"Yes, of course," Kree responded with a long-suffering sigh. "My dear, for something so smart it's amazing how very foolish you are."

"W... what are you talking about? You terrible thing, I'll hit you with my sword and you'll be sorry," Amal spluttered.

The dream cocked one eye at the Feien. "You need to wake up, dear."

"Shows what you know, I AM awake."

"To the world, you silly thing," Kree replied, fluttering hir wings for emphasis. Hir legs creaked slightly as claws dug a bit into the surface of the table. "You sit in your happy bubble and squeal all day, playing with yourself, and miss everything around you. I'm amazed Sosiqui hasn't said anything to you, because I can tell she's been thinking it. Too nice for it I suppose..."

Amal felt like something inside her was burning. It was not pleasant. "Sh... SHUT UP!" she squealed, and kicked one little foot at Kree, which the dream easily dodged. Shi spread her wings and hovered just out of reach.

"Tsk. You need a good solid dose of reality. If you fell out the window you'd never make it. You are a pampered, pansy-arse, chicken, scaredy..."

"YOU SHUT UP!" Amal shrieked, and lunged into the air, feeling the tingle of magic surround her hands as she tried to invoke one of the spells she'd been working on. "Freezer burn, come on!" She curled her little fingers into claws and scratched at the dream's wings.

The magic tingled and flared...

And nothing. Kree tilted away easily, with a snort, a few icicles falling easily off of hir wings. I'm just sayin' what everyone's thinking, hon. You'll be the better for knowing later, trust me on this."

Amal shook with anger. "You.. you just GO AWAY!" she squealed, then flew as fast as she could into the other room. She snatched a protesting Mister Cat off the warm windowsill and dropped him in his Chinese food box, then followed him in and closed the top.

It smelled of vegetable chow mein. Amalthea took Mister Cat up in her lap, held him tight (to his slight dismay) and cried very, very cold tears.

July 7th, 2004~

"I will LEARN," Amal said, hands on her hips, glaring at Kree.

The Dream flipped hir wings onto hir back with an unconcerned expression. "So you will. And?"

"I''ll prove to you I have the power to survive," she declared, reaching for the magic that flowed around her. The normal tingling feeling increased to a rapid buzz as she touched it, stretching her hands up above her head and then out in front of her, fingers spread. The level one spell is Chilly Spray... A post-it note with a Feien-sized version of the shop grimoire, Ice section, flapped in front of her. After reassuring herself, she closed her eyes.

First spells first. Chilly Touch was easy, it was innate... in fact, they were ALL easy, like second nature.

What wasn''t second nature was this new thing. It was like trying to flex a muscle she didn''t know existed. She wriggled her fingers, then tried to funnel the buzz of magic into them. The chill around her hands increased slightly as her Chilly Touch came into stronger effect, but...

A slight sound came from the Dream, and Amal''s eyes flew open. "Don''t start," she snapped, looking from Kree to Mister Cat, who was curled up in the sun nearby, quite unconcerned with the world beyond his cozy spot. Dratted warm, how could he stand it...

"You need teaching," Kree said, forthrightly. "And you can only get that from another Feien. Can you leave to find one?"

Amal opened her mouth as the icy hand took hold of her heart and squeezed, making the odd trembly feeling come back to the pit of her stomach. "I... I... " she said, very quietly, almost squeaking.

Kree snorted. "And that is your problem, my dear." The Dream leapt into the air and took flight in one smooth motion, leaving Amal on the windowsill, clinging to the shade on the edge of the sunlight.

"I will learn. I will," Amal said, wiping her face and nose quickly. Then she took flight herself.

For the rest of the afternoon, she worked with the ice cube trays, trying to freeze the water with Chilly Touch. After all, once she got used to water, maybe then... she would understand...

August 2nd, 2004~

Sosiqui was greeted enthusiastically when she entered the house, as usual - Amalthea zoomed around and flew through her hair, twirling around in a happy chorus of "home, home, home, home! What'd you bring me? I smell other fairies," she said, suspiciously, pulling out her sword.

Sosi rolled her eyes. "Yes, I went to the shop, and they're NICE there, if you'd just... fine, fine," she said, resigned, as Amalthea clapped her hands over her ears and glared. "I did bring you something, though."

"Oooh?" Amal landed on the table and stared at the small bundle Sosiqui had placed next to her. It was a smooth leather poucn, just large enough for Amalthea to lift. Her little fingers worked at the drawstring knot. "Got it! Oooh..." She pulled out a large gem, marvelling at the sparkle of it.



"What is it?"

"A Feien gem."

The gem clattered to the tabletop and Amalthea whipped out her sword, trembling a little as she pressed the plastic point to the gem's cold surface. "WHAT?!"

"Amal... listen to me."

The fairy's ears twitched, but she looked up at her bondmate obediently.

"This used to be a Feien, Air elemental, actually, but it isn't any more... he used to be called Rakuen. He belonged to a kind friend of mine, called Kamiki. When he died, she passed his gem on to me, and I am giving it to you..."

"Why?" Amalthea whispered, withdrawing her sword a little bit, her eyes now fixed on the gem.

"There is a way... that you can merge with the stone, if you'd like. Not now," she added hastily as Amalthea leapt backwards, eyeing the gem as if it'd bite her. "But if you want to. There is an elder Feien named Julius who will help, you may wish to go meet him..."

Amalthea shook her head.

"Well then.. get used to Rakuen, maybe." She laid one finger on the gem and stroked it. "He was a good Feien, Amalthea."

With that, she turned and walked away.

Amalthea looked at the gem, then dropped to her knees and crawled over to it, shaking a little. "Hello..."