Chapter 3: teaching control
Bloom and Terra wake up while Aisha is already awake for a while.
"Uhm did anyone see Musa or Stella? Because I don't think she came home last night." Terra asks peeking into the room of the water and fire fairy.
"No. And Musa was gone when I woke up. No clue where she went." Aisha answers. As if on cue a relaxed Musa comes bouncing into the room, wearing her sleepwear with her hair still in a lose ponytail.
"You seem happy." Terra says, seeing her relaxed roommate.
"That's because I slept great." Musa replies with a smile.
"But not here." Terra says disappointed.
"Well with everything that went wrong yesterday I couldn't get to sleep here, too many emotions. So, I crashed across the hall." Musa tells her.
"With Garfield, as in with a boy?" Terra asks shocked.
"Yeah. He let me take the bed while he's still lying on the floor." Musa answers.
"Ah. OK, I thought you and he might have... never mind." Terra rambles embarrassedly.
"No we didn't do anything like that Terra. Just sleeping with less emotions invading my mind." Musa tells her chuckling.
Stella then enters the apartment.
"Stella. Wearing the same clothes as yesterday I see." Musa teases her.
"Don't make jokes. It doesn't suit you. Where's Bloom?" Stella asks bossily.
"She had a rough night thanks to you. None of us thought those things were real, but they are." Musa replies.
"What about my ring?" Stella questions.
"That burned thing. It took it." Bloom informs her, stepping into the room having heard their conversation from her own room.
"What?!" Stella asks upset.
"Calm down princess." Musa tells her.
"Don't tell me to calm down and don't use my title as an insult." Stella reprimands Musa.
"Wait so you're actually a princess?" Bloom asks surprised.
"Yes. My mom is the queen and the ring you lost is one of the crown jewels of Solaria. That may not mean much to you but feel free to ask how big of a screw up this is." Stella says accusingly.
"Almost as big as giving it to her in the first place." Aisha says, stepping out of the bathroom after her shower.
"What's all this noise? Is this going to be a regular problem with you girls as my neighbors?" Garfield asks, stepping into the room while rubbing his neck.
"He can tell you. Gar, have you seen a ring on those things?" Bloom asks their neighbor.
"First of all, please answer my question so I'll know if I need to get me a set of earmuffs and secondly no. I've never heard nor seen of one wearing a ring is this about some kind of made-up story?" He asks grumpily.
"Geeze, what got you in such a bad mood?" Aisha asks.
"... nothing. Now what is going on here?" He asks, after glancing at an amused Musa.
"I lost Stella's portal ring thingy and one of the burned ones took it." Bloom says.
"Well let's hope it was the one Dowling took with her." He says.
"Why?" Stella asks uneasily.
"Cause I stomped the other burned one to death. If there was a ring with it then its gone now." He says shrugging.
"Do you have any idea how important the crown jewel is?" Stella asks outraged.
"Wait... you're the princess?" He asks in realization.
"Yes. So?" She replies high and mighty.
"No wonder I can't stand you then." He says bitterly and leaves the apartment while Musa chuckles lightly, though she was surprised at the homicidal rage he directed at Stella.
"If Mrs. Dowling has the burned one I'm sure we can ask her to give it back." Bloom suggests.
"You will do no such thing." Stella warns her.
"I'll figure it out after class. But for now, no one say anything to anyone." Stella tells them.
|first class - stone circle|
"Magic is the very fabric of nature and here in our stone circle it's magnified.
The vessel tests your ability to channel that magic. Later on you may learn to control the other elements but for now it's all about the element you were born with." The headmistress announces and asks student after student to come up and test their element.
When it's Bloom's turn she's struggling to even call forth a small flame, only sparking one a couple of times. And even with the headmistress's guidance she doesn't succeed, this only being further worsened when students start to whisper all around her.
"It's not working. It's not happening can you please move on?" Bloom asks.
"How about he shows us his magic aptitude." A cocky guy says, pointing at Garfield, who was watching all of the performances bored, only intrigued by Musa's powerful mind magic and concerned about Bloom's scared freak out.
"Sure." Garfield says, walking over to the bowl, patting Bloom's shoulder supportively on his way to the middle.
When he reaches the bowl he stares the headmistress in the eyes, saying "You brought this on yourself." He then grabs the bowl, which shatters at contact and spirit images of various animals spring forth hovering in the air above him, the image of a tiger snarling at the guy who called him out earlier.
"Garfield. Please pull back your magic." The headmistress says while most students are scared, only a few being intrigued and amazed.
"Fine." He grumbles and the animal spirits withdraw.
"You should get a sturdier bowl." He remarks making his way back to his seat.
"Let's continue another day." Farah then says, looking at the shattered remains of the vessel's bowl.
The headmistress then asks to talk to Bloom while most of the other students leave, save for rhe girls roommates and their neighbor.
"That was impressive." Terra compliments Garfield nervously.
"Thanks." He says, lifting his hand, where a miniature see through snake curls around his fingers, before dissipating.
"How are you doing that?" Aisha asks.
"No clue. But once I master an animal, I can summon its spirit. It doesn't do anything beside fill the emptiness in a room, or at least I don't know what they can do." He says.
"Sorry I gotta ask. What was that with Stella about earlier? I mean I can't stand her either, but you were in a whole different league." Musa asks.
"It's nothing. Just have a complicated past with the queen." He sighs.
"So, what did you talk about?" Aisha asks Bloom who arrives at their group.
"I asked her if I'm a changeling. Looks like you were right Aisha. But she doesn't know who my parents are or at least won't tell me." Bloom says.
"Well, I'm off to lunch. See you around." Garfield tells the girls, jumping off his stone, and takes off to a cliff in a sprint, before jumping off, shocking them, only to fly past them with two large eagle wings coming out of his shoulders.
"Wow. That looks like fun." Terra says.
"If you ask nicely maybe he'll take you for a ride." Musa suggests, as the group heads back, same as the other students.
"Shut up, no he won't." Terra says embarrassed.
"Bloom don't worry about your powers too much. You'll get the hang of it." Aisha encourages her roommate.
Later that day it's lunch break and Aisha is talking with Musa while they are waiting in line.
"It's amazing how the bowl lit up for you like that." Aisha says enviously.
"My magic is always on on. It makes crowded spaces like this a nightmare." Musa explains while they accept their food trays.
"Doris is in pain. That kid is scared and stressed. Worried and tentative, could also be heartburn though." Musa says, pointing out a few of the people in the room, before her eyes land on a black-haired boy in a green jacket walking down some stairs. When she sees him, she freezes and the world gets calmer around her seemingly.
"What just happened?" Aisha asks.
"I'm not sure." Musa answers, following the swimmer to a table, where Bloom and Terra are already sitting.
"We have a plan to get my ring back." Stella tells the group of four, coming over with sky and a map.
"What's this?" Bloom asks.
"It's Alfea." Terra says chipperly. The earth fairy then tells them a story of her childhood while Sky sits down next to Bloom.
"Stella told me what happened last night. Are you OK?" He asks.
"What do you think?" Bloom scoffs.
"I think you're freaking out and try not to show it." He says.
"Is it that obvious?" She asks.
"Nah, I'm just that good." Sky tells her.
"So, Sky. Where do you think they are keeping it again?" Stella asks, interrupting Terra's story when she sees the blonde teen get along with Bloom and touches his arm to make a point to the redhead.
"Uhm, there is only so many building to secure a creature like that. There's the barn and the mill." Sky tells them, pointing at the two buildings close to each other.
"The barn would be my bet." Terra says.
"So we just sneak in and get back my ring." Stella says.
"Strange how carelessly you're tossing around the word we." Aisha remarks.
"Yeah, sounds like a you kind of deal." Musa agrees.
"Except I didn't lose it." Stella tells them, looking at Bloom.
"When do we go?" The redhead asks.
"I'm gonna be blunt. That's a bad idea Bloom. You have 0 control over your magic." Aisha remarks.
"I lost the ring I'm gonna help get it back." Bloom says.
"I think everyone is making a way bigger deal of this than they should. It's locked up right?" Stella asks Terra.
"Yeah and subdued. My dad is distilling this oil called Zanbaq to subdue it. I could probably make some more." Terra offers.
"Thank you Terra, for being helpful. And thank you Bloom for taking responsibility for losing my ring. And everyone else, thanks for nothing." Stella says.
"Let me know when you want to do it." Bloom says, leaving the table and brings away her tray. While she's putting away the tray she literally bumps into Garfield.
"You OK?" He asks, seeing her mind being somewhere else. Bloom doesn't even answer him however and simply leaves the building with Sky chasing after her. After thinking about it for a moment Garfield also follows her, as does Stella.
Garfield finds Bloom about half an hour later, with Stella teaching her control through anger.
"What you think you're done?" Stella asks when Bloom is excited at the crystals in the newly replaced bowl having lit up with flames coming forth from them.
"Get out of here princess before I make you my very own test subject." Garfield says, stepping out of the shadows of some trees, a wolf and a Leopard spirit next to him, while he's walking towards the two girls.
"Who do you think you are?" Stella asks high and mightily.
"I said leave before I have to make you leave." He growls, his eyes turning into green-yellow eyes with slits fur pupils.
Stella snips her fingers a couple of times, trying to summon he magic, before fleeing when she doesn't succeed.
"Sorry about that. I just didn't want her to warp your mind on the wrong teachings." Garfield says, his spirits vanishing and his eyes returning to normal.
"What do you mean wrong teachings?" Bloom asks.
"Anger and Rage, while stronger emotions for magic also make it impossible to control." He says, stepping into the circle with her.
"Just now, did you see Stella snip her fingers?" He asks, taking a seat on the same rock he sat in before.
"Yeah, so?" Bloom asks.
"It's how she activates her magic, but as you could see. When it comes down to it, she can't use it when it counts. And that's what's wrong with relying on fear and anger." He explains.
"So what? You want me to focus on love and positive emotions." Bloom asks annoyed.
"No, not necessarily. For example, I focus on pride and honor." He says, turning his hand first into a lion's paw, then that of a bear before finally into a Hawk's talons.
"You just have to feel what makes you you." He says, getting up and standing behind her.
"Do you trust me?" He asks, standing in front of her.
"More than the others in this place at least." She says.
"You know what? I'll take it." He chuckles and turns her so she's facing the bowl.
"Put your hands on the bowl with the vessel." He instructs. Bloom does just that.
"Now, tell me about yourself." He says, his eyes peeled on the crystal in the bowl.
"What?" She asks confused.
"Just do it OK?" He says.
"Fine. I'm from California. I'm a loner. My dad and mom are human. And I'm a changeling. What else so you want to know?" She asks upset.
"Everything." He whispers in her ear.
"Fine. School was fine. I never fit in anywhere though. Even here I'm a freak." She continues.
"More, dig deeper." He tells her, rubbing her back soothingly.
"Fine, I like reading. I'm angry at everyone for lying to me all the time and I hate being afraid of myself." She says, a fire lighting brightly when she gives in to her anger.
"There. You can open your eyes again." He says.
"See anger works." Bloom says.
"This flame didn't get lit by your anger though." He tells her, pointing at a torch burning behind him.
"What do you mean?" she asks.
"You said you love reading. That's your trigger." He tells her.
"So what? When I read I light stuff on fire?" She asks.
"No. Here, let me see something." He says, going through her bag, finding a book in it that's not on magic.
"You just focus on the vessel." He says, opening the book and starts to read to her.
Bloom slowly but surely ignites the bowl and all of the torches around them one after another.
"See, only you make yourself you?" He says confused at his own sentence.
"But what does this mean? Do I need someone to read to me every time I want to use my magic." She asks.
"No. Just remember what you were just feeling. Burn that feeling in your mind, no pun intended and when you need your magic, use that feeling for you." he tells her, wrapping his hand around her wrist from behind and aims her hand at one of the now extinguished torches.
"Shoot." He says, his breath tickling her neck and she fires a fireball at the torch, knocking it over.
"Nicely done. Guess I should wear something fireproof from now on if I make you mad." He jokes, going over to the torch and picks it up.
"What about my fears. What if they get in my way?" She asks, looking at her palms, lighting them on fire and extinguishing it over and over, before she can't anymore, her mind drifting to what happened to her parents.
"Just let it go. If it's not something you will learn from. Let it go." He says, closing her hands with his own, getting miniscule burns before she instinctively extinguishes the fire.
"See, you got this." He says, caressing her cheek with one of his hands, the stinging pain barely registered by him.
"Your hands." She says, feeling the slightly burned skin on them.
"I don't feel it and in 2 days it's gone." He says calmly.
"I don't know how to thank you. This is really amazing. You should be teaching, not that lying coot." Bloom tells him.
"I'm not really what you'd call a people person." He says shaking his head.
"Could've fooled me." Bloom chuckles.
"Well, you're special. I like you. I don't like most people." He explains as they head back to the academy.
"Thank you." Bloom says, stopping him and leans towards him, her lips meeting his, while she holds herself close to him by his arm.
"This time you kissed me." He states, grabbing her hips carefully and lifts her up so she's on his eye level, before kissing her again, before setting her down and brushes through her orange hair.
"So, what does this make us?" She asks curious.
"I don't know? I'm not the one doing social suicide by showing myself with the most hated person in the academy." He says.
"Let's take this slow, no labels. We don't even really know each other yet." She says, patting his cheek.
"Fine I guess you've got a point there." He shrugs, following her to their doors. He opens his door and looks back at her before closing it behind him.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone