MagiStream

Narla, Akio, and Valor lead their mother to Zanos's room. Narla sighed in relief, thankful that nobody had seen them, Zanos was in enough trouble. She sat down on the bed, getting ready to relax, when suddenly, the door flew open. Seth stood there, his eyes drifting over the three of them. When he saw Narla's and Akio's mother, he cursed aloud. Narla sighed, This wasn't going to be a good day. From the open door, she swore she could hear shouting, probably coming from the Council room. She pinched the bridge of her nose, "why couldn't I have just fallen asleep like I normally do?" She muttered to herself, as Valor got Seth to shut up and Close the door.

"zanos, what were you thinking?!" talia screamed, standing up. "another human?! without our consent?!"
"this is to far zanos!" raral yelled. "we have allowed you to fool around, but no more! this is out of the question!"
zanos leaned aginst the wall, his arms covering his chest. he wasnt scared. he had delt with the council for years. he could take a little yelling once in awhile. he set his feet, looking at them. "i am sorry that i have again placed you in this situation. i know the consequences of my actions. Arya is of no threat to us. you have my word."
"no we dont!" Hydien yelled. "because every time you say that to us, you go and do something like this! zanos, this is the last straw!"
"what are you going to do?!" zanos challenged. "there is no point in bringing arya back, she knows our secret. she will die if you send her out there. her daughter is a fire rider, her son is a missing soldier. you dont think that eventually they will come for her?!"
raral shook all over. "zanos, your actions will not go unpunished. leave us. we will summon you when we have decided."
"will you let arya stay at least?" zanos asked quietly.
"LEAVE ZANOS!"
zanos looked at them all, trying to decide what to do. he finally gave in, walking out of the room and slamming the door shut. he leaned against it. he needed a drink.

Narla sat on the bed, leaning against the wall. She knew she should be happy that her mother is here, but, strangely she's not. Akio is having fun, smiling, and talking with their mother. Seth's not happy either, he's sitting next to Valor, talking with the dragon.

zanos made his way back to his cave. he was suprised to see everyone there. narla, akio, arya seth and valor. he stopped, looking in and everyone turned to him.
"were you talking to the council?" narla asked quietly. zanos could see the unsureness in her eyes. he went next ot her, rubbing her head so her hair was in a mess. she smacked him away, scolding him. he gave her a tired smile. "everything is fine, dont worry," he told her.
"she can stay?" akio stood up, putting a hand on his mothers shoulder. zanos looked at arya. her head was tilted up and her eyes were life fire.
"she is not leaving," he said. "but she has not been assigned a place to stay yet. so you may have this room for the night arya. no one will bother you and valor will make sure you sleep peacefully."
"isnt this your room?" she asked quietly.
"dont worry," zanos smiled. "elves dont sleep. your stay will not be an inconvenience to me at all."
"thank you," he nodded.
zanos looked at narla and akio. "you both should go get your mother something to eat. see that she settles in tonight."
"where are you going?" narla frowned.
zanos looked over at seth, who was still scolding him. "im going to go out for a little. valor will watch you guys. why dont you introduce your mother to shalava?"
narla looked back at her mom and seth grabbed zanos' shoulder, walking out of the room.
"what the hell is going on around here?" seth muttered.
"hell if i know," zanos grumbled back, then he smiled. "what did you do to your hand?"

Narla walked down to her room, not bothering to see if her brother and mother would follow, because she knew they would. When she opened her door, Shalava lifted her head why a question in her eyes. Narla sighed, and shook her head as Akio and her mother walked in. Shalava huffed, and Narla's mother Nearly screamed. Nearly.

zanos laughed, having to sit in the chair in seths study. he shook all over as tears slipped from his eyes. he quivered from the effort and lack of breath. seth only muttered to himself, looking at his hand.
"i only just finished healing it," seth muttered. "the arrow had damaged bone as well as tendons."
"i leave... you with her... for a few hours... and she shoots your hand?!" zanos gasped.
"thats not how it happened!" he defended.
zanos shook his head, trying to catch his breath. he closed his eyes, rubbing the wetness from his cheeks. "well, i think out of the two of us, you got the better deal. i would rather have shot myself in the hand then deal with the council!"
seths face dropped. "why did you bring her back?"
zanos sighed, running his hand though his hair. "i dont know," he said quietly. "akio tricked me into it. she is living along and cant even hunt. she needs to be with others."
"im sure she will settle in here very quickly," seth smiled a little.
zanos just smirked.
"so... how much trouble are you in with the council?"
"dont want to talk about that," zanos muttered, grabbing a glass on seths desk. "just pour me something to drink."
"ah, its going to be one of those nights?" seth grinned.
"make it strong," zanos smiled back.
seth laughed, going into his closet and pulling out a dark bottle. the liquid sloshed from side to side as he pulled a chair nezt to zanos and grabbed a glass of his own. he poured a little over an inch in zanos; glass, then his own. the smell of the alcohol was very strong. zanos grabbed his glass, holding it up.
"this toast is on behalf of our apprentices," he announced. "who make it a little more difficult to keep my sanity as the days go on."
seth grinned, clicking his glass with zanos. then both of them swallowed the liquor, choking down the burn. zanos slammed the glass down, preparing for a long night.

Narla walked back towards her room, her hands full of food. She didn't know what to get, so she just got some simple sandwiches for the three of them. She hoped she had made a good choice when she left Akio and her mother with Shalava. As she walked into hre cave, it seems she did. all of them were still there, and in one piece. Narla set the food down on the table, opened up on bag, pulled out the sandwich, and began to eat.

as the house passed, zanos' mind began to get cloudy, he found his worries drowning away. seth was in the chair, laughing so hard that he almost fell out. zanos reached out, grabbing his shirt so he didnt fall out.
"and remember the time when we thought it would be funny to release a swarm of grasshoppers in the city?" seth exclaimed. "and we had to work for hours just to catch all the damn things?!"
"how did we end up moving that many of them?" zanos muttered with a smile.
"we got Tony to make a cage," he continued to laugh. "and you and i went into the feilds and scared them into the trap."
zanos laughed, remembering the earth rider they use to be friends with. "i forgot about tony," zanos grinned. "i think it was because of that incident he stopped hanging out with us."
seth was crying because he was laughing so hard. "we had caught a swarm of 10,000... it took us 3 days to gather all of them... and then we released them in the city... and oh god!"
"i remember you couldnt even buy food without the damn things being in a sandwich," zanos laughed to. "what did it take, 2 weeks beofre the damn thigns finally died? and then we had to clean it up?"
"but we blamed it on tony and he had to do most of the cleaning," seth managed to say.
zanos laughed to, grabbing the bottle and pouring himself and seth another shot. "we were quite the hell raisers, wernt we?"
"thank the gods that narla doesnt have the magic that you do zanos, or we would be living that all over again."
zanos lost his smile for a second, then swallowed his drink. he waited for it to reach his stomach before he breathed. "even without that magic, she gets herself into every situation possible," he smiled. he looked at the clock, then sighed. "speaking of narla, i have to be sober in 4 hours to train her. i think im going to call it a night."
"aww, so soon?"
zanos laughed and attempted to stand up, finding his legs numb. "we will have to do it again buddy. im always open to drinking your alcohol."
seth laughed and waved him away, pouring himself another drink.

After Akio and Narla's mother went to their rooms, Narla flopped down onto the bed. She shut her eyes, and sighed, "Shalava, can I kill him?"
Who?
"Zanos."
No. Why would you want to anyways? He brought your mother here.
"That's the reason. It's a good thing yes, But it was a stupid decision.
You would of made the same one.
Narla sighed in frustration, and rolled over onto her side, ignoring the dragon. But, Shalava did have a point, she would have made the same choice.
Told you so.
"Stop intruding on my thoughts!"

zanos stumbled down the hall, following his memories. he found his cave finally, looking in and seeing valor on the ground. zanos smiled, walking up to him and patting him. he looked over, seeing Arya sleeping on his bed. he was glad that she was so peaceful, because he wasnt sure how peaceful the next few days were going to be.
but he didnt want to think about that now. he just wanted to go into his study and relax the remaining hours that he could.
he passed valor, quietly closing the door to his study and going to his desk, leaning back and letting his mind wander like he hadnt for years.