A/N: Well, I'm not sure if I should introduce myself with an evil laugh. But really, somewhere around chapter four of a continued plot this did turn into a story, which by definition needs a conflict… it had to be coming sooner or later. So this is "Colors of the Wind" from Disney's Pocahontas. Dear Jailbait is the character we follow today, and this is set after the last chapter. After this chapter there are only three chapters left, so be prepared. (Any one else spontaneously begin singing The Lion King song?)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except the plot.


Jill slammed the door to her suite behind her, a loud bang that belied her anger and frustration. "What the h*** was Adrian thinking? He could have just healed her and then … Argh! I don't know! He's impossible! He's going to be his own demise!" Angeline and Eddie watched the princess rage, shocked silent. Jill's sweet nature was completely counterpoint to the irate girl who threw a vase at the wall. Crash! "He went and saved her life! Okay, I can deal with that. Spirit Bound can be fixed, you know have a doctor re-kill her and then defibrillate her back to life. But then - !" Her chest heaved and her pale complexion was violently patchy in reds and oranges.

They all watched, unfamiliar with this enraged girl. She threw up her hands, and a vase full of roses exploded. "He confessed! Confessed to using magic on Sydney! He practically gave all the Alchemists coronaries and sent them to an early grave! He told them he had brought her back to life! Everyone!" The rage left her piece by piece, and she collapsed in a puddle of silk on the couch next to Angeline. She buried her head in her hands, "He practically forced Lissa's hand to appease the Alchemists! Oh, sweet Heaven. They're going to call for him to be exiled, sent away, since they can't send Sydney away."

Trey spoke up, "Why aren't they blaming Sydney? I mean, they kinda were – "

Jill rounded on him, "DON'T finish that sentence. It could doom her too. "

Eddie responded, "Sydney was dead at the time that Adrian brought her back. She was unable to refuse his aid, and thus she is acquitted of all blame in their eyes. But they won't trust her as much as they would have – though even that trust was already strained since she was stationed here."

Trey shrugged, "Well, then why didn't Adrian try chest compressions or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? Why use magic at all, if he knows how bad it will get after?"

Angeline spoke up from where she was trying to comfort the princess, "Because magic is… magic. There is something .. special about magic."

Trey huffed, frustrated, "I don't understand why anyone has to use magic! It's just wrong! Everywhere on the earth, how is it just one species can use magic?"

Jill looked up, cold and distant, "Huh, so you are just like your upbringing. Blood will out. You can't judge us for using magic, you've never used magic, especially when there are humans who can use magic. It is something special, inexplicable. Don't look at Adrian and think that he could have done so many other things and still saved Sydney. But you wouldn't know, you just look at Moroi and think us barbarians for using something that you can't, and never will. Don't look at us and judge us, if you don't know what you are judging." Her tone was vicious, but tears streamed down her face.

You think I'm an ignorant savage
And you've been so many places
I guess it must be so
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
How can there be so much that you don't know?
You don't know ...

Angeline gripped Jill's shoulder, "Shh, calm down. You can show him, you know."

Everyone looked at the Keeper. She continued, "You can show him what you can do with magic. All the magics. You have some control over all of them right?" Jill nodded. "Good, then try to show him. Teach him like you were teaching young Moroi at your old school."

Jill nodded, "Okay, but keep me informed of what's happens to Adrian, please?" She left the room, hauling Trey with her, Eddie followed behind. They settled outside on her private courtyard.

"First lesson. Everything is inherently magical. Everything has a property that channels magic and is in of itself magical. That's what makes anyone able to use magic, it just comes easier to Moroi. Take this earth, you would think it's only full of dirt and worms. But to a Moroi, it has life, it has a voice that is as deep and ancient as all earth, it is old and new and the same and different all at the same time, which is necessary for magic. Magic is in our thinking synonymous with life. To have magic is to be alive. To be alive is to have magic. You just have to learn how to speak it's language and ask it to do what you want. Or force it." She scooped up some dirt from a flower bed, and then closed her hands. From between her hands a flower grew up and bloomed. Her eyes lit up in joy, and she planted that handful of dirt back into the bed.

You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

Trey watched her, not caring much about the lesson, "Why would Adrian confess? I still don't understand his rationale for that action. He could have pretended to be spirit drunk – you could have been an alibi he would have had to be cleared, right?"

Jill sighed, standing and shaking out her skirts, "Well, that clearly didn't show you the wonders of magic. You have to think differently, you have to think like us – the strangers who look like you. Consider this: all Alchemists reject magic, same as you yet they use a little in their tattoos, Sydney told me. So you learning to accept a little would be perfectly reasonable." Jill watched his face closely, then answered his question, "Adrian changed for her, and lying about his actions when they will affect her – and they will, she will have days where she will be dark or not at all there or days where she wants desperately to run and fight until she is dead. There is no way, not when Adrian knows the ramifications of being Spirit Bound, he's seen Rose and Lissa, and he's seen what he's done to me. Adrian loves her, loves her so strongly that if he can, he will protect her. No one has ever been able to guess what the Alchemists will do, and this was his way of winning an unwinnable situation. Like Captain Kirk on Star Trek. And though I would have protected him , I would have said he was spirit drunk and not fully in control of himself, Lissa would know I lied about the last part, Rose would, Dmitri would and Evelina and Sydney and Adrian. One lie only leads to a thousand more to cover it up. He doesn't want to live a lie, for her. Do you understand now? He was protecting her, because he would gladly protect her with his life."

Trey's eyes grew round, "My God. I didn't think – "

Jill nodded, "Yes, you didn't think to look past his slacker drunkard façade. You need to think and put yourself in someone else's shoes to truly know them, to learn what everyone else ignores. Come on, I'm trying again."

You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew

They entered the forest behind the palace, Trey's eyes completely closed. The forest was dark, and he stumbled and tripped. The Moroi princess walked silently behind him, "To make fire, you have to know darkness. You have to know the light and how to draw it from within you. You have to know how the darkness, because light and darkness are two sides to the same coin. You have to know both and keep the two balanced." A noise to his right, a pattering of feet and the flurry of movement. "You have to know that dark is not death or the absence of magic, it is simply a different magic than what we can perceive. Darkness is just the absence of light, but it is still life. Life goes on in the dark just as in light. And once you understand that," she snapped her fingers, he heard the flare of a flame, "You can create light and fire." Her smile glimmered in the faint firelight.

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

They went deeper into the forest, Trey trailing the princess. The wind whipped by them, whistling, and Jill laughed, "Can you hear the wind, Trey? Can you hear it whispering its secrets to you, the flavors and colors that it carries, the taste of faraway lands and faraway life? It too is as ancient as the earth, just like light and fire are, but it is forever young and never ending and carries the secrets of all time." She smiled broadly at him over her shoulder.

Trey looked at her, ignoring her question and joy, "Why would Lissa exile Adrian? Couldn't she just choose to force Sydney away? I still don't know how you know Adrian is going to be exiled."

Jill's face fell. "Well, it looks like I'm not cut out to be a teacher. But in answer to your question, is that Adrian is Adrian. He knows all about Re-Education Centers, where tainted Alchemists are sent to be re-educated into the perfect Alchemists. That would destroy Sydney – it would rip away our friend forever. She would fear magic and vampires, much less be herself. She would be a complete stranger to us again, she wouldn't be herself. She would be broken. Adrian, he would save her that. And Lissa wouldn't send away Sydney – she can't: she just named her official court liaison – and now she has to mentor her on dealing with being Spirit Bound. If Lissa lets her go, then who knows what the Alchemists will do to destroy the binding?" She started up the path again, "Enough of that, I'm not trying to explain politics to you, I'm trying to teach you the basics of magic."

They kept trudging along, Trey barely keeping pace. "Yes, it's still here! Come on Trey! Some fun you can experience without magic." She raced ahead, "Hurry up! You have to see this!" He entered a clearing, and the last rays of sunlight hit him from over the tree tops. The whole glade was bathed in pure golden light, and he felt something click into place within him. He felt joy and wonder at the world, at the whole world and its natural beauty. He was slaw-jawed in astonishment. Jill smiled benevolently, "See what you were missing? This – This is magic." She waved a hand at the meadow.

He returned her smile, "I see now. I see it all now." He grabbed a handful of blackberries from a bush in front of them and poured them into his mouth. He grinned at her, teeth stained purple, "They taste like magic." She smiled back, and together they raced down a second path, laughing.

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sunsweet berries of the Earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they're worth

Somewhere along the way, Angeline and Eddie appeared out of the forest, running with them, laughing and alive too. Trey thought he could see the life within them, the sheer beauty of it, the magic of life. They ran the trail, sometimes stepping off to run wildly through the brush, always coming back. And when they all tripped and fumbled and tumbled into a stream cutting across the path, no one quit smiling. Jill scooped up some water, using her affinity with water, and then splashed it all over Trey, and he found he was not revolted or disgusted nor was he recoiling from the touch of magic like he was barely concealing before. He could practically see the web of magic that surrounded them all, the flavor of magic still heavy in his throat.

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends

They stumbled out of the stream well after dark. They lay spread out in a giant wheel, laying wet and spent on the grass. Angeline spoke up first as they watched the stars, "So do you understand now, Trey?"

Trey tilted his head to look in her direction, the maroon shadow to his left. "Yeah, I think I do now." The moon coated them in silver, and Trey knew that it too was magic – it too was life. It was as if blinkers had been taken off his eyes, like he was blind and now he could see. Everything was silver and starlight and unmoving.

How high will the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you'll never know
And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

Jill spoke then, "Well, what are we going to do now?"

Trey turned to his right, addressing her, "What do you mean?"

Eddie looked to his left addressing Jill, "Lissa handed down her verdict. Her hand was forced. The nobles wanted a long term peace with the Alchemists, the Alchemists want Adrian dead – which our laws will not allow, apparently some ancient law about saving someone's life using magic saved him from execution – so they all settled for exiling him and he won't ever be able to see Sydney ever again, or he will forfeit his life."

Jill nodded, "Okay, what then? Where is he now? What of Sydney?"

Angeline spoke, "He's in jail. At least for now. A Guardian is allowed to escort him outside, and he can get visitors, but he's kept in manacles, and leg irons. Sydney is being allowed to stay, but she's being closely monitored."

Trey caught on immediately, "So then, what should we plan on doing? Do we have a time frame that we have to act in?"

Eddie grinned and addressed the group, "Well, look who's learned to think like a Moroi." They all laughed at that.

Angeline asked, "Would something like what Rose did with Dmitri work?"

Eddie immediately shook his head, clenching his hands into fists in the grass, "No, they would be on the run forever."

Jill reached out and touched Eddie, calmly unfurling his fingers. "They don't need forever. They need a few minutes to say goodbye. He can travel into her dreams at night, they won't be kept apart. At least, not while we're here, while we're alive."

For whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind

Trey replied, "Well, I may be the tannest person to ever think like a Moroi, but I think we can easily create a distraction. We just need someone who can manipulate the wind. And we have two Guardians, or one and a trainee," he amended, "And we have one Moroi princess, who could demand to see the guy who saved her life once, who she was spirit bound to at one point. If we can get that air user, I think we have a plan."

Jill grinned, "I don't think we even need an air user."

Angeline grinned wolfishly, "If Sydney can find the right spell –"

Eddie picked up, "And bind it to some object that will power it for a long period of time – "

Trey finished, "Then this never has to go any farther than any of us." He paused a moment. "Since when can Sydney use magic, by the way?"

The rest of them went silent, sitting up and exchanging guilty looks. He sighed. "I'm not the first person to be so inspired by that sunset, am I?" No response.

"Come on, we need to get back and start reconnoitering and plotting." Angeline supplied, dusting off the dusky maroon dress she wore. "it won't help that we're past curfew and will have to sneak in."

Trey sighed again, much more heavily, then spoke to Eddie, "I'm not going to get an answer am I?"

"Nope. When you're done, you know, sneaking in and getting dry, meet us in Jill's room." He too disappeared into the night.

Trey laughed a loud. "Well, me sneaking in is going to be the same way you're sneaking in. After all, I think like you now." Then he too rushed headlong into the darkness after them.

You can own the Earth and still
All you'll own is Earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind


A/N: So, one more complete. It's kinda fluffy and dark at the same time. I hope you enjoyed, I had a bit of a writer's funk on how to frame it – I wasn't sure if I wanted Jill- Trey or Angeline- Trey or Eddie-Trey, or Angeline-Trey, or Jill-Angeline… as you can see, there were plenty of options in writing this piece. I think it turned out okay, in spite of that. Next is "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan… "Strangers Like Me" just got covered, don't you think? As always, review if you want to, don't if you don't want to. Until the next chapter!