Hey, everyone! Thanks for being patient with me and giving me great comments. And to Firestreak14 who corrected me on the color of Nod's eyes, thank you! I've already corrected it :)

Accelerant

- Blue Stahli

It was a hot, summer day when Nod and I went flying again. The trees were swaying in a gentle breeze and the air smelled sweet like fruits and dew. We had taken to flying behind Moonhaven, where we wouldn't distract the other Leafmen recruits who were also sharing the flying grounds.

"Your gliding's getting better but we have to work on your landing," Nod called out.

I rolled my eyes and landed before him, Leira's wings knocking him down in the process. "See, I landed perfectly," I replied, smiling audaciously.

Nod got up and dusted his pants, glaring at me. "Very funny, Red; now back in the air and try that again."

Groaning, I steered Leira up, loving the way how the wind felt against my face.

"I bet I could beat you in a race," I called down and Nod gave me a smirk.

"I'd like to see you try," he hollered back.

I hadn't expected him to keep his promise when I felt him pass me by. I turned in surprised and found Nod on Sephora, giving me a gloating look.

"Oh, it's on Noddy," I replied, using his most hated nickname.

He laughed, tapped his heels against Seph's sides and took off. I closed the distance on my own hummingbird, giving chase. Nod was faster than me, that I admit, but Leira was smaller and swifter than Sephora and I was soon leading this pseudo race.

I chanced a turn to find Nod giving me a startled expression. I waved and spurred Leira on. Bursting through the trees, I squeezed my thighs to indicate pause and my hummingbird stopped, drifting lazily as I waited for Nod. He emerged a moment later, a begrudged look gracing his features.

"Beginners luck, that's it," he said sourly.

I grinned. "C'mon, admit it, you're just mad that-"

"Playing with Mud again, Nod?" a taunting voice came from the trees above.

Two Leafmen landed on a tree branch beside us, fully uniformed and wearing sneers. One was tall and lean, with blond hair and brown eyes. His friend was shorter and stockier, a leaf visor covering his eyes.

"Better than playing with those toy sticks you call swords," Nod replied coolly.

The blond Leafman flushed. "Think you're better than us?"

Nod gave him a cruel smirk. "I know I'm better than you."

The short one gave a snort and tugged on his friend's sleeve. "C'mon, let's leave him to his mud playing. Ronin would be mad if he ever found us dawdling here."

They left, but not before the giving me a look full of contempt. I dropped my gaze to the floor. An embarrassed flush crept over my face. I felt his hand on my shoulder and looked up to find his brown eyes bleeding into mine with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"I wonder the same thing too," I said, more to myself than him.

"Wonder about what?" now he truly looked baffled.

"Why you like to hang out with me and not them," I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling exposed.

"Gee, I'm not so sure maybe you're more interesting and nicer than them," he replied back, kindness in his tone.

I looked up, disbelief written on my face. "Seriously?"

He gave me one of his warm smiles. "Yes, you bird brain."

Huffing, I gave him a mock glare. "Give the girl a compliment and then call her bird brain."

Nod shrugged, grinning. "What can I say, I'm too charming for my own good," he replied smugly.

Instead of replying with another scathing comment, I straddled my hummingbird and gave him a smirk. "I'll be charming in my own way and race you back to Moonhaven!"

Leira responded to my enthusiasm and all but shot into the air. I heard Nod mutter a stream of not so pretty words as he raced towards me atop of Seph. We were just about to turn the sharp bend that opened up to Moonhaven's outer ridge when a terrified scream pierced the air.

I turned around to face Nod, alarmed. "What was that?"

He looked equally startled and shrugged. "Maybe we should-"

The words were barely out when a group of Leafmen came rushing towards us. Nod stopped one of them and it turned out to be one of the blond one who made had made fun of him a few minutes ago.

"Whent, what is it?" Nod demanded, his grip on the other Leafman's shirt

He shook his head, blond hair falling into his terrified eyes. "I-I don't kn-know, we were training and some random guy went and accidently threw an arrow to a nearby b-bee hive and-" he gripped Nod's wrist. "You have to get out of here, their already buzzing by."

Nod let Whent go and the other Leafman wasted no time in whizzing back to the safety of Moonhaven. I made to follow him when Nod gestured for my attention. I followed his train of sight and saw Ronin struggling to race towards the castle, with a swarm of angry, buzzing bees hot on his tail. His hummingbird was giving out shrill wails whenever a bee got too close to it.

"We have to help him," I blurted out and Nod gave me an apprehensive stare.

"You do realize that those are – for the love of the forest – Red!" I sped past him, acting recklessly once again.

He sped up to keep pace with me as we dodged overhead trees and flowers.

"Do you have a plan?" he called out, the wind violently whipping our hair back.

"No," I admitted. "I'm thinking of one right now!"

Nod gave an exasperated curse. "Red, I swear-"

"Just trust me on this!"

I hovered above the reeds, searching for a body of water – a lake, a river or even a puddle, perhaps. Thankfully, there was a slow stream up ahead and I pointed to it.

"There! If we can all submerge underwater, the bees will leave us alone."

Nod stared at me as I was crazy. Probably I was.

"Are you sure that's going to stop them?" he asked in concern.

I nodded vigorously. "Get Ronin's attention and point to the stream," I informed. "And follow my lead!"

Nod looked like he was about to refuse but something in my expression must have sent him running. He put his heels in Seph's soft side and spurred her towards Ronin, all the while waving his hands like a madman.

Ronin seemed to have noticed and steered his hummingbird towards Nod.

"Follow me!" he shouted and the old commander did as he said.

The bees were close; the foreign buzzing sound seemed to make the air around us vibrate.

"We heading straight towards that stream," Nod said, pointing to where I was hovering.

I quickly gestured at them to follow me and goaded Leira to fly faster. I could hear the little hummingbird's pants, sounding like thrills escaping her beak. Deftly, I tried to remember every one of my training sessions with Nod and threw my body in the direction where I wanted to go. Leira responded perfectly and we were soon zig-zagging past the overgrown shrub, avoiding unsuspecting leaves that loomed.

We were so close to the stream that I could hear the water sloshing.

"What are we doing?" Ronin yelled.

I shrugged. "I have no idea!"

That seemed to make him pull up short as his blue eyes froze in terror. Nod urged him on, telling him to trust us. Hesitantly, he nodded and we increased our pace. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something that might help with our current predicament. Giving a signal, I let Nod and Ronin zoom past by me and grabbed hold of a palm leave.

It was wide and heavy, making it the ideal swatting tool but also causing the joints in my shoulder to pop when I tugged at it. The swarming sound was growing louder every passing second until a cloud of bees appeared, casting a black shadow on the ground.

"C'mon," I muttered under my breath. "Get closer for the forest's sake-"

"Closer…"

They appeared before me, a black cloud of angry buzzing. Their wings beat against their bodies rhythmically, nearly lulling me before I realized that they were in my targeted area.

I let go of the palm leaf and wasted no time in maneuvering Leira towards the stream. I caught up with Ronin and Nod who were giving me identical looks of disbelief.

"Move! Now!" I called out and didn't wait to see if they followed me.

"Alright, girl," I murmured to Leira. "We're going for a little swim."

The hummingbird tittered nervously but I soothed her with a light touch of my hand. That seemed to strengthen her as I mentally felt her preparing herself for the icy submersion.

I held my breath-

-And cut through the water, with surprising grace.

Cold water stung my eyes when I opened them and I managed to catch a glimpse of two identical splashes in the water. Nod was frantic, wide eyed but calmed down when he saw me. He swam towards me, his hand outstretched. I was just about to grab a hold of it when an unexpected current pulled me away. I screamed, air bubbles streaming all around me.

I struggled against the current, trying to get to the surface. I had only managed a hasty gulp of air when the water pulled me back down again. Slicing through the rough waters, I tried to remember how to swim but the escalating panic was making it hard to think.

My lungs ached and fingers were soon going numb.

A rough bump knocked all the air from me, the precious oxygen escaping in a stream of bubbles. Something must have wanted me alive for the force of the bump made me float to the top. I breathed deeply when my head broke the surface, the sweet air invigorating my lungs. Gripping the rough surface of whatever had given me a few more precious moments to live, I uttered silent thanks. It was a rock, rough from the water spray and cold but I held on to it, like a lifeline.

I shivered as I felt the water hitting my back. Overhead, I noticed a few riders in the air and tried to get their attention. They noticed me and descended at once. When they were close enough, I was elated to discover that it was Nod and Ronin, soaked to the bone but smiling all the same.

Nod offered me his hand and hauled me up. I sat side stride on Sephora and the hummingbird gave a happy chirp.

Ronin turned and gave me a genuine grin. "That was pretty smart of you, M.K… and ridiculously dangerous."

Nod turned back with a smirk. "If you wanted to go for a swim you could've just told me," he stated, wet tendrils of hair plastered to his face.

I shivered but managed to glare at him. "What would you do without me?"

"Probably still be alive."

Ronin barked out laughter, giving Nod a smirk. Moonhaven came into view and I never thought I'd be so happy to see it. Nod landed Seph and the little hummingbird gave an indignant squeak before shaking his feathers dry. I lifted up my hands to protect myself from the spray and giggled.

In the distance, I could vaguely make out another flying shape and was surprise to see that it was my own Leira, bedraggled and sodden but chirping happily when she caught sight of me. She nuzzled her sharp beak against my cheek and I laughed before petting her feathers.

"What happened to you, girl? You just disappeared."

"She must've gone upriver looking for you," Ronin suggested and gave the bird an admiring gaze.

He turned his grateful smile towards me. "Thank you, if it wasn't for you, I would've died of a sting."

I flushed, staring at my fingers. "It's nothing," I mumbled sheepishly.

Nod cleared his throat and gave Ronin a sharp look. The commander looked abashed.

"And…I also ought to apologize for the way how I treated you before," the general's eyes fell to his feet, a look of embarrassment worming its way onto his features. "I'm truly sorry, M.K, I judged you wrongly."

I gave him a warm smile. "It's okay, Ronin though I'm kind of miffed that it took a near death experience to get you to trust me."

"He never trusts anyone easily," another voice interrupted and we turned around to find Queen Tara giving us bemused smiles. "I see I wasn't invited to a mid afternoon swim," she commented, a glint of mirth lighting her dark eyes.

Ronin hastily got down on one knee, his head bowed and unknowingly sending water droplets flying towards the Queen. She good naturedly ignored them splattering on her face and gave the general an amused smile. "I apologize, Your Grace, we had a bee accident and M.K suggested we submerge ourselves in the water so that the bees wouldn't harm us."

Tara gestured to his soaked cloak. "I can see where she was coming from; bees are naturally disinterested in water."

She turned to face me, muted admiration in her gaze. "Where did you learn that from?"

I wanted to tell her that I had overhead Mandrake once, in a war council, telling his generals what they should do if any of them ran into a swarm of bees but bit my tongue. The mention of Mandrake would darken their moods even before I could utter 'boggan'.

Instead, I shrugged and gestured to the library. "You know, I learn stuff."

Seeing the look of praise on Ronin's face threw me of a little. I had expected him to return to his unfriendly glares.

"Alright, I can safely say that all of you need to change before someone catches a cold," Tara said benignly.

I gave her a curtsy and Nod bowed before we turn and left. I heard her mummur something to Ronin under her breath but I was beyond uncomfortable to care. I just wanted a hot shower.

Vaguely, the notion of the Queen outside of her garden vexed me.

~~O~~O~~

"Ronin, may I have a word with you?"

The commander turned, the sight of water dripping from his amused her to no end. Queen Tara mashed her lips together to keep from laughing. She had never seen Ronin looked this distressed.

"Yes, Your Grace," he answered dutifully.

Tara couldn't resist. She rolled her eyes at him. "I told you."

He shook his head ruefully. "I know. I should have known to trust her."

She decided that this confession was all she could squeeze out of him and left it. The Queen gave him a kind smile that turned morose at the end.

"It's approaching," she said in hush tones. "The coronation is coming soon," for a moment, the infallible Queen who always had a benevolent smile on her face showed fear in her eyes.

"Is something the matter about your coronation, Your Highness?" Ronin asked, concern.

She looked like she was about to blurt out something important but held back, resuming her serene smile again. Ronin noted that it looked compelled but if it was one thing he knew, his childhood friend was good at hiding her emotions.

He was just about to ask her what she meant when she waved him off with a casual flick of her hand.

"It's nothing, just some worries."

That I have no idea how to avert, she thought to herself as she walked away from the confounded general.