Chapter 13

"Would it be possible to meet the magical beings that you carry?" Topaz asked Sakura politely.

"Sure, they would like that, They love to come out and meet people...or...Jewel... girls?" She finished hesitantly and then blushed which not only got a smile out of Tomoyo but also out of the four Jewels.

"The Jewels seem much more human than Sakura's cards." Tomoyo thought to herself. "I wonder if they were real people at one time..."

Without saying anything else, Sakura started introducing each of her Cards and telling a bit about them. When she got to Sleep, Amethyst talked a bit with the mischievous little sprite but they seemed to have totally different personalities, and nothing in common. Topaz tried to talk to Shield but she couldn't even understand what Shield was saying. Sapphire's luck with Fly wasn't much better. Fly was a very intelligent bird, but he was still a bird.

Then when Sakura got to Fiery she was surprised at his form. Instead of his usual small sprite form, he was human sized but still floating above the floor so he wouldn't burn the carpet. "Fiery?"

"Yeah? What?" Fiery answered as he stared at Ruby.

"Why are you so big?" Sakura asked as Tomoyo was figuring it out.

"To improve my chances. Clow said that girls don't like guys who are smaller than them." Then he grinned at Ruby. "Hi! I love your fireballs! Nice and hot!" As he spoke he drifted closer to her.

"Stay away from me you savage!" Ruby said sharply as she ducked behind the other Jewel Maidens.

"Oh come on, give me a chance at least! I can be really nice when I want to be, right Tomoyo?"

"That is true. Fiery has always been very good and helpful to me." Tomoyo backed him up as she tried to keep a straight face.

"I can touch your spirit from here and it feels cruel and violent. I want nothing to do with the likes of you!" Ruby said very firmly.

"Oh RATS! I finally find a cute girl I can play with without burning her to a cinder and she rejects me without even giving me a chance! Is life unfair or what!"

"When Sakura re-made Fiery, she seems to have made him a bit too human for his own good." Tomoyo thought with a chuckle.

As Fiery literally steamed, Sakura went on with the introductions which were simple and short, until she got to Flower. As Sakura finished talking about her and told her to go back to her Card form, she seemed to be ignoring the Cardmistress. Both Sakura and Tomoyo were surprised, as she was the last Card they would expect to be rebellious.

"Please, may I stay out a little longer?" Flower suddenly pleaded as Sakura's words finally penetrated. She was just standing there and staring at Amethyst. And then Tomoyo noticed that Amethyst was also staring at Flower.

"I do believe Flower and Amethyst like the look of each other." Tomoyo thought with a smile, but when she turned to Sakura to explain, she saw her smile and felt her amusement through their link. "It seems Sakura is much more observant now."

"You can stay out of Card form for now but stay close to us, okay?" Sakura gently ordered.

"I will! I promise." Flower said as she edged up to Amethyst.

"Flower is a good name for you. You are very beautiful." Amethyst said gently.

"You really think so?" Flower replied softly and the five girls watching the two edging shyly closer to each other, all smiled at the same time. Sakura continued on introducing her Cards to the three Jewels who were still paying attention, as Amethyst who was now holding a beautiful purple rose was looking only at Flower. And Flower seemed to be enjoying the attention very much.

After pouting a while and scowling at how friendly Amethyst and Flower were getting, he complained to Sonomi. "Can't you just order Ruby to be nice to me?"

"I'm sorry Fiery, but it wouldn't be proper to force a Card, or Jewel, to act a certain way. It is up to you to win her friendship." Sonomi explained and Ruby nodded firmly.

"Hey, I tried!" Fiery whined. "I just want to talk with her, and she tells me how terrible I am..." With this everyone chuckled except Ruby and Fiery who were staring at each other.

"We don't need to stay around him do we?" Ruby asked Sonomi hopefully.

"Well, we do live in the same house." Sonomi replied while trying to hide her smile.

"I think we should all stay together so our combined power can help to protect us from being taken by evil again." Amethyst put in as the other three Jewels smiled at her. When she noticed the knowing smiles she protested. "What? It would be a lot safer!" Flower, who was now holding Amethyst's hand, nodded firmly in agreement.

"Yeah, we need to stick together!" Fiery added as he continued to eye Ruby. "Come on! At least give me a chance!"

"Go to hell!" was Ruby's firm reply, but then she blushed at Fiery's sudden laughter.

"But that's where we went on our first date, remember? Down Earthy's shaft where it's nice and hot!"

"That was a battle, not a date!" Ruby said angrily.

"Same thing! It was fun wasn't it? Come on, admit it. You enjoyed Kutong's death just as much as I did."

"It's entirely different! You didn't know him. He forced me to burn so many... He was horrible!"

"Still, you did enjoy his death. So don't act so high and mighty."

"Fiery? Sakura interrupted, "Please go back to card form." He gave her an unhappy look but obeyed her order.

"Now is there any problem with you being under Sonomi's power?" Sakura wanted to know.

"Well...yes, there is a problem." She then turned to Sonomi. "I mean no disrespect but we require quite a lot of Magic power to perform to our full potential. And it feels to me like your Earth Magic may not be able to supply that much. This will limit what we can do." Turning back to Sakura, Topaz continued. "If you were our Master, it would be very different."

Tomoyo and Sonomi both thought of the same thing, but Tomoyo was the first to speak. "Sonomi spends much of her time with a master of Sun Magic who can draw large amounts of power, could she supply the four of you?"

Topaz looked relieved as she replied. "Sun Magic would be excellent, particularly for Ruby, but she would have to replenish our power each time we are used."

"I think that shouldn't be a problem." Sonomi assured the Jewel. "Now am I suppose to wear this as a bracelet? Or just carry it?"

"It is up to you." Topaz replied.

"Well, it is really too large for my wrist-" Sonomi started.

"We can make the band smaller and larger at will. So you could wear it anywhere that is convenient."

"I was thinking that I would rather it were not seen, but I also do not want to risk losing it."

"You could wear it around your upper arm concealed by a sleeve as Kutong did, or around your upper leg if you don't want to wear something with sleeves. That way no one could see it and you could not lose us."

"But wouldn't that be uncomfortable?"

"It should not be. The gold band is enchanted with a powerful spell that links us to our master. One effect of this spell is that the band will conform to your flesh, thus you should hardly feel it, yet it will not come off without your command."

"Or if I am dead?" Sonomi had to say though it was obvious.

"Very true. And I should warn you that all of our previous masters were murdered. And most of them were killed, not by their enemies, but by their trusted friends. Most to get our power for themselves but a few killed to prevent anyone from using our power."

But if they wanted to prevent anyone from using your power, why didn't they destroy you?"

"They tried, but we are not easily destroyed. Once our master is dead we retreat to the bracelet and then shrink it to a very small size. And as my Shield reduces in size it becomes stronger. So when those who tried failed to destroy us they tried to hide us so no one would find us. We have been tossed into the sea more than once, but Magic found us even when we were dropped into the deepest. And once we were found anyone with strong enough Magic could simply pull us to them. One man tried to throw us into a volcano that was erupting, but the volcano killed him before he got close enough and we were found in just a few years.

Then there was a lady of great power who took us away from our previous owner by sheer force and then said she was sorry but the world would be a better place if we were never found again.

The next thing we knew it was nearly two thousand years later. The man who had retrieved us from wherever she had put us, and remade us, was very old and very excited. He had been searching for us and making plans to take over the world for many many years, but he had us less than a month before he was murdered by his own son and so the story went, on and on."

When Topaz finally stopped her story telling, Tomoyo realized that the Jewels were just as much a curse as Sakura's cards, perhaps more as they seemed to be much easier to locate with Magic. "I expect that I am a target as well since I too have Magic Cards even if they are not of great power. But mom and I have good Earth Magic shields. As long as we keep them up at all times they should keep those who are looking for power from finding our Magical beings. I hope.

xxxx

After they had breakfast Tomoyo, Sakura and Sonomi met in private with Ieran. Sonomi reluctantly turned down Ieran's offer of Magic training saying that she had to get back to Japan to run her company. However the real reason was that she didn't want to drop her shield and reveal the Jewels to Ieran. Tomoyo and Sakura also put off anymore Magic training until their next meeting at some unspecified time in the future.

"As I said before, if any of you need any assistance that I or my family can provide do not hesitate to ask, I will be pleased and honored to provide it." Ieran again pledged.

"She speaks the truth. And if she supports us then we should support her." Tomoyo's eyes then met Sakura's and she could see and feel the question Sakura was asking, so she nodded approval. Sakura nodded back and then turned to Ieran.

"Tomoyo and I will also help you out if ever you should need us. Right, Tomoyo-chan?"

"Yes, we certainly will. With all the power of our Cards." Tomoyo added to be more formal. And since Ieran was inside Tomoyo's shield she could tell that Sakura and Tomoyo were telling the truth, and this assurance dulled the ache of not having the Clow Cards herself.

xxxx

All the way back to Japan, Sonomi kept grinning and struggling to not giggle. As she looked out from her window seat, she kept imagining herself flying through the clouds with her own wings. But not alone. The idea of flying with her Nadeshiko was so thrilling she couldn't wait until they were alone to ask, so she passed a note to Sakura who unfolded it and read: "May I please borrow your fly, Illusion and Silent Cards so I can fly with your mom some time?"

Sakura didn't bother with a note but just spoke out loud. "Any time you like Sonomi-sama. I'm sure my mom would love that!"