I awoke with the glass still in my hand, hanging limp from the side of the couch. I hadn't even made it to my bedroom, I had fallen asleep on the couch in contemplation of the Shadow Mages. There was a puddle on the floor where the water had spilled from my glass. I sat up and placed a palm in the water on the floor which instantly dried.
Walking through to the small bathroom that led off from the living room I checked my appearance in the mirror, my hair was knotted at wild, I sighed and turned on the water to the bath. I soaked in the warm water for a while trying to ease the ache in my muscles from sleeping on the couch, when I got out of the bath I dressed and smudged some charcoal under my eyes to create some definition, I also prodded at the purple bruise like circles under my eyes wishing I had some of the ointment Keera had. After glaring at the mirror for a couple of minutes I yanked my knee length boots over my trousers and pulled on my cloak, as I left my chambers I considered heading straight to Keera's to see if I could borrow some of her infamous ointment when my stomach gave a loud growl, attracting the attention of other people in the hall. I decided to head straight for the dining hall.
Reaching the hall I picked up an omelette and headed for a table in the corner, avoiding everyone else, lack of sleep would not help my mood today. I was just finishing up my food when I looked up to see Keera entering the hall, she looked like she had also had a sleepless night. Her usually sleek hair was pulled back into a messy knot, her eyes were heavy lidded and her limbs seemed to drag from the exhaustion of her previous training session. I smiled to her as she approached carrying a plate of pancakes.
"Bad night too?"I asked, she nodded in response with a mouthful of pancake.
"Your news had me tossing and turning" she replied pushing the pancakes around her plate.
"Why would they come back after their defeat last time I mean …" I said breaking the silence, Keera put her fork down and looked at me.
"No idea but to be honest I think we should push this news from out mind we don't know how much of it is true and have has been amped up by gossips. We should just continue as normal it does not concern us ... yet". It was almost as if Keera had said the wrong thing, just as the words left her lips a page came strolling through the hall. I looked at Keera with shock, and mentally cursing her for adding 'yet' onto the end of her sentence.
"Miss Keera Earthen and Gyn Inferno?" the page asked as he approached our table, I was tempted to say no and hide just to avoid responsibility. But when I opened my mouth to deny it I confirmed instead.
The page opened up the piece of paper and began to read from it, "you are to report to conference room 11 in half an hour and are to bring Mr Jet Airwalker with you". He handed the paper to Keera, bowed and then left. I never understood the need to bow, like we were some kind if royalty... I knew it was politeness but in my book it was just a waste of time and effort.
"We had better go and wake up sleeping beauty then" Keera said interrupting me from my thoughts. I laughed at the thought of trying to wake Jet as he had once slept through an earthshake.
We made our way over to Jets quarters, the rain was pouring now, but at least it was taming my hair. Making our way past the training buildings and libraries on the way to Jets room, once we arrived Keera pounded on the door.
"He is not going to answer" I said shaking my head and sighing, running a small flame across my fingertips with impatience.
"What a surprise" Keera rolled her eyes and lent against the door.
"Allow me", I pulled a white hot flame into my hand and held it to the lock taking care not to scorch the oak door. The metal began to soften and then pool onto the floor, I stepped back to avoid the drips. Keera raised an eyebrow at me, as if what I had done was completely unethical. "Think of it as me extracting revenge on him for you, after all it's because of him that you now have a gaping hall in your living quarters" I grinned and pushed the door open.
The mess that was all over the floor would be enough to deter any intruder as most people, most in experienced people would normally have stepped on or tripped over something, luckily we were not inexperience, in stealth intrusion or in the way Jet lived. We edged into the bedroom, he was lying emitting low snores. Keera grabbed hold of his shoulders and shook him. All of a sudden his eyes flew open and a gust of air forced us back against the wall, we slammed into it with quite a bit of force ending up in a heap on the floor. We untangled ourselves and Keera helped me stand up. I gave Jet a murderous look.
"Damit Jet who needs enemies when we have a friend like you!" Keera snarled.
"To be honest you did break into my room and wake me up I could have been under attack, it's natural for me to react" As we had no real reason to retaliate we informed his of the summons and forced him to get dressed.
Keera and I cleared a space on the couch and sat down, relaying as many details as we could to Jet through the bathroom door.
"Hurry up at this rate we won't get there, what are you doing? I can get ready faster than this"Keera yelled get impatient, obviously she was still a little bitter about being thrown into the wall. Jet emerged from the bathroom with no visible change in appearance, I rolled my eyes and got to my feet.
Kyra walked out ahead of us, clearly very anxious to find out what this summons was for. Jet and I followed slightly behind.
"There was no need to melt the lock. You could have just knocked!" Jet moaned at me.
"We did knock." I growled as he kept complaining, I tried to just tune him out.