A/N: Okay, this doesn't seem like a Slayers story from the prologue, but just wait. 'Kay?

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers, but Nick, Ricki, Faith, Josh, and Mapontalia are all mine, baby.

A/N 2nd: Woo-hoo! I finally managed to come up with an (I hope) original plot!

Rating: PG-13 for some swearing

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What fools these mortals be."

Nick sighed and lay back. Tonight was Midsummer's Night, Summer Solstice to witches, hence the quote, and he had managed to dig up a really good (not to mention really old) surprise for his Circle for the festivities tonight.

Faith, the Earth element in their Circle, lay on the grass beside Nick.

"So, excited?" she asked, a smug grin on her face.

Nick lazily nodded, though he was really doing his best not to fall asleep. The mixture of the warm sun and the cool breeze blowing from the bay always had that effect on him.

"From what Ricki tells me, you have a big surprise for us tonight," Faith commented.

"I do." the Air element replied, then fell back into silence.

Faith could usually bait him into spilling the beans, but she didn't try. She had a certain love of secrets herself.

Not so with Ricki, the Fire element of their Circle.

"C'mon, what is it, Nick? Tell me," she pleaded, sitting on his chest.

"Get off me, Ricki."

"Pleeeeeeease?" she asked, making disgustingly cute puppy-dog eyes at him.

Faith got up and walked back to the bleachers in the small park, which were nice and shaded. She didn't usually mind the games Nick and Ricki played, but it was one week until the third anniversary of the worst (and last) breakup of her life, and she was less tolerant of emotions (love, in particular) than usual.

"You okay?"

Faith looked up from where she had laid down on the top row of the bleachers. Standing next to and above her was Josh, the Water element and cryptic member of the group. He was much more withdrawn than the rest and rarely, if ever, opened up to anyone.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Josh sat down on the bench beneath Faith's, resting his head on her leg.

"Why don't I believe you?" he asked sarcastically.

Faith and Josh naturally tended to band together, almost the way Ricki and Nick did. Both were much more quiet than the others and only spoke when they needed to say something. Unlike Ricki and Nick, the silences between the two were never uncomfortable. And, in Ricki's opinion, both were a bit mysterious.

"Believe what you choose to," Faith replied, shifting the leg Josh wasn't resting against.

"Are our two babbling cohorts annoying you?" Josh asked.

Faith considered her answer, then said, "No. I guess I'm just dreading the upcoming anniversary. It seems to scream at me just how undesirable I am."

"Ahhh." Josh said, understanding completely. "So I guess when you say you don't want a boyfriend, that's just talk."

Faith shook her head, then realized Josh couldn't see the action and said, "No, that's not it. I never said that. What I said was that I didn't want to be tied up to some idiot who never knows when to shut up."

Both reflexively looked at Nick and Ricki, who were now laying side-by-side and watching the clouds.

"I'm sorry. So, are we meeting here tonight or at Mapontalia?" Josh asked.

Faith, glad to have the subject changed for her, said, "Mapontalia. Nick's fixed it up since the last storm."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The horizon had just started to turn a bright pink, and Nick finished up, then stood back to admire his handiwork.

"Quite the job done, if I do say so myself." he muttered, beaming.

Mapontalia, once a section of small, interlinking clearings in the woods near his house, had been named because of what lay scattered all over the forest floor like a carpet when Nick first discovered the place- maple leaves. They had been everywhere, and he had immediately brought his Circle (then only him and Faith), and had it approved as a meeting place.

Since the founding celebration, Nick had been the caretaker. He had fixed up fallen logs as benches, set up a small shrine, and kept the place beautiful in the process of 'fixing it up'. The shrine held something of value to each element. In his case, it was the feather of one of his pet birds, to signify air. For Josh, the Water, there was a dried seastar he had found at the shore with his grandfather years before. For Ricki, the Fire, there was a bag of ashes from bonfires she had been at over the years. And, for Faith, there was a set of small, red stones set into rotting cloth.

Nick had asked Faith once about the red stones, and she had answered cryptically, "They feel right for this."

Faith never failed to wear those red stones for ceremonies and celebrations, always glued to new cloth for the occasion but removed afterwards.

And now the place was perfectly set up for what he had planned. The ritual circle was in place, unlit white candles at each of the four directional corners. He had memorized the incantation, and had all the necessary 'ingredients'.

He smiled to himself again and went back to his house to wait for the others.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, what do you think the surprise is?"

Josh raised a skeptical eyebrow and sighed. "Ricki, whatever it is, Nick planned it, so it can't be good. It's probably just another of his contests."

He involuntarily shuddered, remembering the Winter Solstice they had let Nick plan. Cooking with 'whatever you can find'. He doubted Nick's mom had forgotten Ricki's 'masterpiece'.

Ricki was silent a few minutes, then began talking again. "Thanks for the ride, Josh. Hey, what do you think Faith made these cool robes out of?"

Josh, sitting in the driver's seat, mentally turned the radio on and ignored the female in the passenger seat, who, for the fourth time that night, was admiring the 'really cool new robes' that the Earth had made for everyone.

'Although,' he thought, 'I do have to admit that they are kinda cool. I mean, who else would spend all that time making these for everybody?'

The 'really cool new robes' were a set for the Circle, custom fitted, and made in the same pattern, with the base color being white and the secondary colors differing in each person. Josh's was blue for water, Ricki's was red for fire, Nick's was silver (he assumed that was the color Faith associated with air), and Faith had made her own a dark green.

Ten minutes later, they were at Nick's house. Josh and Ricki lived in the city, whereas Nick and Faith lived in the same small wooded town they were now in. It was a short ride, and both admired the forests that were everywhere.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, what's the surprise?"

"You've asked me that every five minutes since you came over. Can you freaking wait another three minutes, please?" Nick asked, straightening his robes and handing out sections of cord that he tied together.

Faith and Josh both looked down at theirs, which were tied around their waists, and back up at Josh.

Faith voiced the question. "What the hell is this for, Nick?"

He grinned. "Alright, the moon's about to reach its zenith, so it's almost time. I found a spell for inter-dimensional travel, although the spell says it's for 'time-travel'. I kinda tweaked with it, though."

Josh went pale. "What do you mean, you 'tweaked with it'?"

"Well, I kinda rewrote parts of it, and updated other parts." Nick replied, still smiling.

"Nick," Faith said, a hand to her forehead and her voice devoid of emotion, "How old was this spell?"

"Pretty old. Why?"

"It was probably the way it was for a reason!" Faith shouted.

"Whatever. You're behind me, right Ricki?" Nick asked.

Ricki bit her lip. This was pretty cool in her opinion, but Nick had a history for screwing up spells. And considering the nature of this spell, it most likely wouldn't end very well at all.

"Of course I am. Let's do it."

Josh looked to Faith, and she scrunched up her eyebrows in indecision. They were both practical people, but still, they were teens, and when you find an opportunity like this, you don't bloody well pass it up, do you?

"Let's go." Josh said, looking back to Nick.

"Alright, link up your hands, everybody." Nick said, grin back in full force. "And I'll say the incantation."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Will the spell work? How old is pretty old? And just why are Faith's red stones so special?

Keep reading 'What Fools These Mortals Be', and for the love of Miko-sama, R/R!