The sun broke over the horizon before Briar came out of her base, stretching as she stirred her mana to dispel the drowsiness from staying up all night again.

Since she was in Red class, she could potentially go for weeks without sleep. However, after the dream she had the other day about her past life, she was somewhat loathing to part with sleeping. Last night had been an exception, though, since it was important to find her limits for her new abilities.

Come to think of it, I could just ask Master Thales if he knows something about it…Briar mused as she ran her fingers through her hair to make it look somewhat presentable. As I recall, I haven’t spoken to him at all since we found each other…that’s odd. He’s usually even more uptight about practice than Madam Rothema. I guess I’ll ask him about it the next time I get the chance, if he doesn’t bring it up first. Briar decided as she breathed the morning air in, deeply.

Looking around, she spotted Yukikage curled up by the entrance, sleeping peacefully with a few feathers clinging to her mouth. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be some sort of hawk’s feather. Briar grinned as she imagined what Yukikage had done to take down a bird of that size. Judging from how large the feather was, the bird could have been anywhere in between the size of a vulture or the size of a condor.

Picking Yukikage up and placing her on her favorite spot- Briar’s shoulders- Briar once more put on her hooded cloak and took off again, heading towards the city. She didn’t realize it yet, but events were already set in place. The roller coaster of troublesome events was soon to begin as both it, and the sun, slowly approached towards the highest point.

--------------------------

“Rien, get away from the window. You’ll fall down and break your head open if you lean too far out.” Karu pointed out.

“But, look, Karu! It’s a flower! A real flower!” Rien exclaimed, pointing to the tree which had suddenly begun flowering overnight. “It wasn’t there last night. Hey, do you think it opened up to say hello and play with us?”

“Who knows. But Grandpa’ll skin my hide if I let you fall out that window.” Karu replied, keeping an eye on her as he finished packing his knapsack.

“It’s so close, I can almost touch it…just a little more…HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! PUT ME DOWN!” Rien bellowed and struggled as Karu effortlessly lifted her up by the back of her clothes and took her away from the window, like a mother cat and her kitten.

“NO WAY. You’ll just try to grab the flower again, right?” Karu replied flatly.

“Muuuuu!” Rien pouted as Karu shut the windows and locked them before he set Rien down again. Rien, being younger, couldn’t yet reach the latch, so she was effectively barred from attempting to grab the flower again.

“Hmmph! And I was just trying to say hello back! Stupid Karu!” Rien muttered, still pouting.

“I’m sure if you ask Grandpa that he’ll be happy to get it for you. But for you it’s forbidden.” Karu replied. Rien sat down on the ground, refusing to move. “Humph! I’m not going then!!”

Karu scratched his head and sighed a bit. Ever since they’d arrived a few days ago, Grandpa Thur had been spoiling Rien rotten with treats and food and anything she wanted.

Well, there’s no helping her when she get’s like this. I seem to have no choice…Karu made up his mind. “Then, maybe you should have fallen and split your head open. I hear Grandpa was going to take us out to dinner to eat the most delicious meat in the world. Can you imagine that?”

Rien didn’t move, but the corner of her mouth twitched.

“And after that, there would be a whole pile of deserts and I bet that means tons of shaved ice!”

Rien’s nose twitched, and he saw her wipe the saliva coming out of her mouth.

“There’s even going to be a candy artist that makes flowers out of chocolate. It’s too bad that Rien wants to split her head open, though. But because she’s going to, then that means that there’s going to be a lot more for me and grandpa. I can just taste that shaved ice right now-”

“OH, NO YOU DON’T! THAT SHAVED ICE IS MINE!!!” Rien shouted, pummeling him with her fists.

“Hey! That hurts! You want shaved ice so much? Grandpa says he’ll give the most to the best-behaved kid today, so you’d better be extra good. Otherwise….” He grinned and rubbed his stomach. “All that shaved ice will be miine~eheheheh!”

“OH, NO YOU WON’T! I’LL BE THE BEST BEHAVED!” Rien waved her hands around, like a bird trying to fly. Since she was trying to be behaved, she couldn’t hit Karu anymore, so she had to make do with waving her arms around.

“Then, it’s on! Whoever is the best-behaved today gets all the shaved ice, deal!?” Karu extended his hand for a handshake smiling fiendishly playfully.

“Deal!” Rien shook his hand, also grinning devilishly angelically, of course.

Karu watched Rien skip happily out of the room as her thoughts were full of imagined heaps of shaved ice. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to pull one over on her anymore. But for now, she hadn’t realized yet that she had been manipulated. He grinned as he grabbed his knapsack and followed her out the room.

Of course, neither of them could have known that it had been ten years since this tree had stopped bearing flowers. For it to bloom now, what were the odds?

-----------------------------------

Master Thales tapped his shoe against the pavement as he stood near the arena gates, waiting for Laura. Although his student was cheeky, overconfident - and a bit strange in the head - she was a good sort of person who was never late, even to his punishing-to-the-point-of-almost-breaking training lessons. But, her perfect attendance record had been broken this very day.

Seeing as it was nearly time for the tournament battles to begin again, Master Thales was getting more and more anxious. Was it possible that she slept in late? Like Briar, Laura hadn’t come back that night, but, Master Thales had assumed that Laura was with Briar.

What kind of reason could there be to explain why Laura isn’t back on time? Master Thales started pacing. Both Briar and Laura were punctual to a fault. But, Briar could already hold her own against most enemies, so there was not much left for her to learn except to accumulate techniques and fighting experience. Laura, on the other hand, was still naïve, impetuous, and more than slightly inclined to mischief.

Regardless, Master Thales had already confirmed that both Laura and Briar were not in the city with Madam Rothema’s search magic. That meant that they had somehow sneaked outside without the guards knowing it.

“Suspicious…” Master Thales muttered.

“Hmm? Suspicious? What is?” Grandpa Thur asked. He had just come in through the entrance. He waved Karu and Rien on towards the entrance. “Why don’t you go and play with Helen?” He told them. Karu and Grandpa exchanged a glance between them.

I’m counting on you. Grandpa Thur’s eyes said.

Leave it to me! Karu’s eyes replied before he guided Rien into the stadium.

“…No, it’s nothing.” Master Thales replied. The Old Man was not only a huge gambler, but a huge pain. If he found something to hold over Master Thales, then any time they met in the future, he’d be sure to mention it, regardless of the company. In comparison, it was best to say nothing.

“No, wait. Something IS suspicious. Both your student, and that Briar boy have been away all night long. If that isn’t suspicious, I don’t know what is…do you think they’ve decided to elope?” Grandpa Thur asked whimsically, as if he already figured everything out.

“I highly doubt it.” Master Thur replied, a wry smile on his face for a brief moment. Since Grandpa didn’t know which was Briar’s true form, Thales wasn’t going to be the one to spoil the surprise. Rather, it felt good to know something that Old Man Arthur did not know.

“Oh, come on. A boy and a girl both out all night long? What were they doing? Actually practicing for today’s battles? Psshaw! I bet that lad had too much fun, drank himself under the table, and is hardly able to stand right now.” Grandpa Thur surmised, a wizened smirk upon his face.

“I’ve known you to chatter a bit, but I didn’t think you were prone to gossip, Old Man.” A voice besides him quickly shook the old man out of his imagination. He turned to stare at a completely sober, and awake Briar.

“Good morning, Old Man, Master Thales.” Briar nodded in greetings. “Has anyone seen Madam Rothema or Helen this morning?”

“Madam Rothema is having tea in her own personal seating booth.” Master Thales replied as he scanned the surroundings for Laura’s familiar blonde hair. Briar nodded her head in acknowledgement and headed for the arena entrance.

“…ah, Briar? You didn’t happen to run into Laura yesterday after you left Madam Rothema’s by chance, did you?” Master Thales asked, appearing calm, but his voice gave away his growing sense of dread.

“Laura?” Briar asked. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Ah, well, I’m sure it’s nothing. Everyone has the experience of being late at least once in their lifetime, I suppose.” Master Thales replied, as if trying to convince himself that this was the case.

Laura’s late? That’s not like her. Briar thought to herself. Could she have gotten in trouble?

“If she doesn’t show up soon, let me know. I’ll help look for her.” Briar said, slightly worried.

“No, if it’s her, then I’ll probably be able to find her before her match starts. Nothing to get all worried about. You just concentrate on your match.” Thales replied. Then his figure vanished as he once more set out to scour the city in an attempt to find Laura.

Briar stared after the swiftly receding silhouette. “…Oh dear. When you say that, how can I not be worried?” But, still, she followed Master Thales’ orders and returned to the arena.

However, if Laura isn’t found by the end of both my matches, then orders or no orders, I’m going to go look for her! Briar promised to herself.

-----------------------------

Laura awoke with a splitting headache in an unfamiliar room. After staring dully for a moment in absentminded confusion, Laura’s face became alert as she realized her situation. She tried to stand up, but suddenly found that she couldn’t move.

The rattle of chains made it clear that whoever had caught her knew who they were dealing with. Just in case, she tried-but it was no use. For some reason, although she could sense her martial spirit, it wouldn’t move no matter how hard she tried. Heh. Now I know how annoyed Thera must feel when Master Thales uses those mana sealing cuffs on her. Laura thought to herself as she tried to reposition herself somehow using micromovements.

“It’s no use struggling. I made sure you were given the utmost consideration for accomodations.” A voice came from Laura’s left. Her head snapped in surprise as she noticed a cloaked man sitting in a chair on the other side of the room with a glass of wine in hand. He looked into his glass and swirled it a bit before he continued.

“You know I had to get a master smith to forge those chains. Hundreds of thousands of monster beast cores went into that. There’s enough chaotic energy in those cuffs to cut you off from your power for months, if I wanted it. But, don’t worry. You won’t be in them for that long.”

Laura glared at him, “And? What are your intentions? Why did you kidnap me? Don’t you know that Master Thales is going to more than half kill you when he finds you?”

The hand that was swirling the wine paused. He set the cup down.

“Quite frankly, my dear…I’m rather looking forward to it.”