Mongo and Tiffany was escorted out of the manor and to the school early the next morning, to be sent by magic to Andor; and it was several hours later before a sour faced older woman showed up and was escorted to the stateroom where Le’Nara waited. Crystal and Ghost were both present, laid serenely on a pair of small dainty beds, with half a dozen armored men gathered around either side to carry them.

“Are you ready?” The woman half sneered, pushing her glasses up all the way up her nose. “I don’t like this,” she mumbled moodily to no one in particular. “Don’t like it one bit. One doesn’t just open up portals and travel to the Isle of Dancing Flames without an invitation from the Grand Lady.”

“It’ll be fine,” Le’Nara laughed, waving her hands back and forth dismissively. Smiling lightly, she pulled the loose robe from her shoulders and let it drop uncaringly to the ground. Standing naked, she stood proud with only her gleaming staff in her hands and nodded to the woman. “The portal, if you would.”

“Naked, shameless, and uninvited,” the woman tisked, shaking her head lightly. “I won’t be going with you,” she informed Le’Nara, in a voice that wouldn’t brook any argument. “I’ll open the path, maintain it if the Grand Lady allows, and then I’ll close it when this business is all done. If the Grand Lady closes the way, this business is done regardless and you can find another way to the Isle.”

“Fine,” Le’Nara agreed, shifting from foot to foot impatiently. “Just do your thing and then you guards follow me.”

One of the armored men stepped forward and coughed a few times nervously. “Should perhaps one of us lead the way, my lady?” Young, handsome in his own way, he fidgeted for a few moments as Le’Nara completely ignored him. Uncomfortable, he glanced back at the other men for support and when none of them moved or said anything, he stepped back into position quietly and half hung his head. The older guard to his left patted him on the back comfortingly, but said nothing.

Sighing, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere else than where she was now and doing anything else, the older woman closed her eyes and began to whisper words of power under her breath. For several long moments nothing happened, and then a slight tingle of electricity began to vibrate and pulse in the room, standing everyone’s hair on end, then settling back down, only to stand back on end again, rhythmically.

The smell of ozone burning wafted throughout the stateroom and a faint warm wind began to pick up and circulate in the center of the chamber. Slowly, the wind spun at first, gradually picking up speed faster and faster, until it seemed to drill a hole open in reality. A small rip at first, the hole gradually widened and expanded, showing an empty grassy, lush field in its core.

After several long moments, the hole was nearly half as large as a person is tall, and still growing ever larger every few seconds. Laughing lightly, Le’Nara dashed forward, tossed her staff through the opening, and then leaped head first through the hole. Hitting the ground on the other side, she grabbed her staff with one hand, tumbled across the ground, and spun and unleashed a torrent of ice across the field.

Ripping waves of frost and ice coated the ground thick across the grassy yard, before it suddenly stopped as it crashed into an invisible wall of power. A woman’s laughter echoed from the sky, causing Le’Nara to spin and look up as a torrent of fire and stone rained down all about.

“Dammit!” Barely managing to wrap a dome of ice around her in time, Le’Nara struggled to keep the flaming hail from crushing her like a bug. “You old hag!” Screaming her defiance, Le’Nara pulled on the energy stored in Azure Skyrose, strengthened her icy shield while opening a small hole in it, and then unleashed a blast of molten fire high into the empty sky.

“Where’d you go, you old bitty!” Shattering the dome of ice around her, Le’Nara spun around, scanning the sky for her opponent. Laughing lightly, a beautiful woman with flames dancing down her hair and flicking over her body appeared from nowhere directly in front of her. Reaching forward, she gently flicked Le’Nara across the bridge of her nose with a finger, sending her flipping end of end and rolling across the ground.

Snorting, Le’Nara stopped her tumbled, ending in a half couch, holding her staff out protectively in front of herself.

“You’re dead,” the woman laughed, the flames slowly flickering out of her hair and calming around her.

“I’ll get you next time, you ancient ass hussy.” Standing slowly, Le’Nara trickled a tiny flow to heal her fatigue and calm the adrenaline rushing throughout her own body.

“I’m certain you’ll try,” the other woman laughed, smiling broadly. “Welcome home, Le’Nara dear. To what do we owe the honor of the visit?”

“It’s your jackass son,” Le’Nara snorted, pointing over to the now fully opened portal. The guards had already carried the bed with Ghost on it through and sat it down, and they were going back to get the other bed where Crystal lay unconscious.

After a few moments, they returned, sat the second bed down. Turning in unison, they saluted Le’Nara and then marched back through the portal. None said a word, but all were smirking from the sight of their lady Le’Nara – a long black streak of soot covered the bottom and tip of her nose, ran up the bridge, and ended in a single dark stained word streaked across the top of her forehead.

“Amateur”.