A/N: To answer some of the questions. I never stopped writing, I've been taking a break from posting and I also branched into some other genres and fandoms as well as have been working on a novel centered around the Pradesh family and the White Sea guild. This rewrite is taking so long because the person who drove me off for a while had injected themselves into it a lot through tons of suggestions and such because we had been friends. I am removing every piece of influence they had as well as doing a few changes to keep the story flowing the way I wanted it and I'm also updating it in places where I see weaknesses, that had been commented on before with the original version. THANK YOU, to all of you who follow me, who PM me every day, who take the time and thought and effort to leave reviews or send those PMs, it DOES help to keep bringing me back to this story to fix it and get it posted again!
"Open, Gate of the Goat! Capricorn! Lend me your power!" Lucy called as she darted left, Capricorn appeared on the run, his stardress forming around his key holder as the pair whirled to engage the Twin hounds who had manifested as two tall lean topless men that were really good at hand to hand combat.
As Lucy engaged the gray haired of the two Capricorn took the chestnut haired one and she was already running a finger over Virgos key, the maid popping out, and a monet later vanishing into the ground as Lucy pressed forward and got a good roundhouse in on the gray haired man, he staggered back and fell into the hole Virgo had left and a moment later the one Capricorn faced did the same.
Lucy grinned but turned facing Hargrave with narrowed sharp eyes, expecting a further assault. The man though was grinning at her and bowed, dismissing his spirits.
Day 10, and what a ten days it had been. Every day a little tougher on her than the last until she could do little more than train eat and sleep. Last night she had fallen asleep in her bathtub and awakened to find Kaleb laying her down in her bed, Virgo right there thanking him for his assistance.
She'd blushed every type of red, she was naked for Gods sake, but Virgo had just given her that mild confused look when she'd chastised the maid for bringing Kaleb in to get her out of her bath.
"But Princess, I needed to drain the tub and assure your safety, you said you trusted the Master." The maid objected and Lucy sighed.
"You could have just woken me up Virgo." She sighed and the maid had frowned.
"That would have defeated the purpose of you relaxing enough to sleep in the tub in the first place." She retorted and Lucy had given up, Virgo was up to her usual antics and Lucy knew it. The maid had plucked her out of the bathtub and put her to bed plenty of times, she didn't need Kalebs help, hell she could even have asked Loke and Lucy would have been less embarrassed. Loke had seen her naked plenty of times.
Kaleb had sat on the edge of her bed, courteous enough to not look at her while she hastily pulled on her pajamas. He'd made sure she was in bed and had stood, smiling down at her and her heart had flipped in her chest looking up at him, his shirt soaked from removing her from the bath clinging to his sculpted torso, blonde hair still wet at the ends probably from falling over his shoulder into her bathwater when he'd picked her up.
"Sleep well Lucy, tomorrow starts your evaluations and you're ready...I'm proud of how well you've handled the past few days." He'd said and she'd smiled at him.
She had worked harder here than she'd ever worked anywhere. The professors and the Dean expected it of her, pushed her to her outermost limits and past them. The people here did not look at her oddly for her magic, nobody including Kaleb saw the least shred of weakness in her.
She'd even made a friend in Kipya, who had met her for lunch almost every day and even met her after her classes to spar with her and show her around the town of Cellis. She saw little of Kaleb, though he seemed to always be there when she had needed him, like when the professors had wanted her to attempt using the water magic Aquarius had gifted her with. She'd done it, but it had made her revisit yet again the grief of her loss.
Kaleb had been there as she'd cried, his warm arms around her and she'd not hesitated this time to wrap her own around him and cry until she was spent. Smiling and chuckling a little when she opened her eyes to find he'd carried her to their shared suite and there was an assortment of chocolates and pastries as well as a thick delicious strawberry milkshake waiting for her.
Usually she only saw him briefly in the evenings, he was working over his com lacrima and tablet and she'd become very familiar with the sound of Thanes voice. Kalebs primary aid kept the busy Guildmaster on track and organized.
It amazed her that he considered this stay in Cellis a little vacation, he seemed to work very long hours even there and she'd learned her Guildmaster was up before dawn every day from Kipya.
"He works out in the gym, I'm getting up early tomorrow to go watch, Professor Lendlee works out with him and won't allow the students in while they're in there, but people still watch from the observation area upstairs." She had said so, Lucy had grudgingly given up some of her precious sleep and gotten up early one morning to join Kipya, and found quite a crowd of students and even a couple professors in the observation/lounge area overlooking the gym.
One girl was sucking on her lower lip eyes locked on the gym "I was going to request Emerald Eye...but Gods above if I could watch this every day...I knew he was handsome but Fuck Haily you totally undersold him….look at those legs!" She sighed.
Lucys own eyes had gone to the gym and found the tall powerfully built dark haired man who had to be Professor Lendlee spotting while Kaleb was working a set of weights that looked….massive. The Guildmaster was in black running shorts and a skin tight black sleeveless compression shirt that hugged every bulge and dip of the mans impressive physique. The little running shorts came just to the tops of his thickly muscled thighs too, and, made of a silky light fabric, didn't hide much of what Lucy already knew well was impressive.
" His brother though, did you see the latest sorcerers weekly? Bickslow Pradesh has come back to White Sea...feast your eyes on this…" The girl passed a magazine to the one staring at Kaleb and the girl whimpered.
Craning her neck Lucy was able to see the magazine, there was Bickslow, decked out in a uniform of some sort, skin tight black pants, tall black boots, a black ¼ jacket that barely stretched over his broad shoulders, held stretched over his well defined pecs by two gold clasps with White Seas guild symbol on them and the same seal in full color on the left breast of the jacket which left his torso from the pecs down bare.
His father had gotten onto him about his tri-hawk, which had honestly grown out and was looking shaggy anyway, so his hair had been neatened up into long layers, black and blue bangs hanging over his vivid crimson eyes. He looked...gorgeous. Altogether very un-Bixylike, she was going to need to tease him later, find herself a copy of the magazine too because on either side of Bickslow were his brothers.
To his left was Cristoff, looking incredible in the same uniform as Bickslow, which showcased his larger more bulging muscles really well, and to his right, Vander, who she'd only seen briefly onstage at the guild that one time but there was no mistaking him, his red streaked black hair and happily wicked wine colored eyes. He too wore that same sexy uniform and made it look just as good as his brothers did.
"The Pradesh Brothers of White Sea" was the article title and on the next page were small pictures of Kaleb in his impressive white guild regalia and Farron, in the same black uniform his brothers were wearing, and damn if the man didn't fill it out every bit as well too, he hid an incredible body in his tailored suits.
"Gods...still loving the Master himself though...what I wouldnt give to be able to swing my leg over that." The first girl said eyes back on the gym.
Lucy had to admit...Kaleb looked incredible, muscle working, all of it exaggerated in his efforts as he hefted that massive set of weights again and again.
"How much is he benching?" One of the boys in the room asked, eyes riveted on the blonde Guildmaster.
"960...and he's just passed 18 reps with it." Someone answered. There was a low whistle.
"I didn't even know we HAD 960lbs worth of weights to begin with!" Someone chuckled.
Kaleb finished 20 and the Professor helped guide the weight set to the rack before the Wizard Saint sat up, snatching up a towel and wiping his face, talking with the professor, though they couldn't hear what was being said through the glass.
"Wait…" The girl holding the magazine said, wide eyed "He'll be using the showers!" Lucy was almost trampled in the stampede of students as they all raced to get into the communal locker rooms excitedly chattering about getting to watch the man shower. Lucy didn't wonder anymore why Kaleb rarely made appearances on campus.
She'd learned that first night he had gone to a bath, the private teachers bath, he didn't use the big communal one, likely because of the attention he drew. Many of the students here were hoping to make White Sea their home one day, so it made sense the Guildmaster got a lot of attention while he was there. Still, she knew Kaleb didn't want it,he was trying to relax some and being surrounded by drooling teenagers probably wasn't very relaxing.
He'd admitted he tended to draw attention everywhere he went when she'd brought it up one evening, but he'd shrugged "Not as bad as here though, the students here don't get to see many new faces, so here I have to contend with being White Seas Guildmaster and as such, the gateway to alot of their ambitions along with being a guest." He'd chuckled.
She saw it first hand in the gym that morning, hell, Kipya had run to the showers like the rest of them, but Professor Lendlee had chased them out when one of the girls had tried to join Kaleb in his shower stall brazenly asking if she could help him soap down his body.
Lucy had been grabbed though, the girl noting, because Lucy had made the mistake of wearing a cropped top that morning, her guild seal.
"Oh my Gods...you're his mage! The one he's here for! You have to tell me where you're staying! Are you sharing a room with him?! Have you had him?! ..does he join the guild parties?!" The rapid fire questions had her head spinning, and she'd deftly side stepped telling them where her suite was, admitted she'd only been in the guild for a short time, was fresh from Fiore so knew little about requests in general and hadn't been to a party at the guild yet so couldn't answer that.
Kipya hadn't been able to lure her out to go "Kaleb watching." again, though her friend got up before dawn every day to watch her Guildmaster work out, hoping to catch him and talk to him.
Now, Lucy stood breathing heavily, grinning at Professor Hargrave who was clapping his hands slowly at her.
"My dear, you have my pass, I'm giving the Dean a nice write up on you. Your team work with your spirits is beautiful, they love you, come to you without hesitation and you share yourself with them so well you don't even have to always call out commands to them as you fight, they just feel what you need and do it. You know some Celestial Spirits mages never get there, or, like in my case, it takes them decades of hard work. It has been a very true pleasure and I sincerely hope you are selected for the spot next year!" He said brightly.
Lucy accepted the hug she got, trying not to tear up, she really did, truly love it in Cellis. The last ten days had brought her closer to her spirits, to her magic, than she had ever been, and had given her the chance to cry on them, with them, over Aquarius, who sent regular messages through the others that she was going to slap Lucy silly one day if she didn't suck it up and stop mourning her and feeling guilty about what she'd done to save her friends.
Once she'd started really working again with her spirits, she did feel better, and being able to talk with so many people about her magic, to discuss her worries, her fears with people who fully understood her magic and what it all meant...well...the whole experience had been priceless for Lucy.
She felt so much more herself now and the bleak, barely holding it together edge she'd been walking had faded. She had prospects now, it was possible that this time a year from now, she would be returning to Cellis to try and win a spot at the school for a real session of classes. She'd even been given library access and had gotten to study books she'd never even dreamed existed, she'd sat one night with a book all about Virgo, while the maid spirit had cleaned the suite and Lucy had asked her questions to confirm or prove wrong the theories the author had about her. It was actually a pretty accurate book, and...Lucy had learned some about the "Punishment" Virgo sought being a form of bonding that Lucy realized she'd been missing out on by endlessly denying the womans requests out of embarrassment.
It was still a subject that made her face turn red, but she'd talked with Loke a little about it, decided he was too pervy to talk to seriously on the topic when he tried to convince her to let him show her how it was all done and filed it away as something she would talk with Kaleb about, since over the course of the last 10 days she had grown comfortable with her Guildmaster and knew she could speak candidly with him without judgement about the topic.
Her opportunity actually came that evening too, still feeling wonderful after her final session with Hargrave she'd been sitting in the suite contemplating braving the baths when Kaleb strode in, striking in snug black slacks and an almost black maroon button down silk shirt. Kaleb wore a lot of silk she realized, and, it made sense, Bosco was mostly sub tropical or full on tropical, and while Cellis sat in an elevated area tucked against the massive Stargazer mountains and so had a cooler climate, silk still made sense, especially with the fitted sleeveless tunics and jerkins Kaleb favored. The black vest over his current dark shirt hugged his torso nicely, and she'd not seen the over the knee dark brown boots he was in before but damn if they didn't look good as well. His hair was pulled back in a loose low tail, several strands hanging loose around his face the familiar hammered gold choker around his neck glinting under the lights.
"You're happy." He smiled, catching her light hearted vibe instantly and glad to see it. He'd been watching that grow in her day by day, like he'd prayed it would. Immersed in a place where her magic was loved and appreciated, he'd hoped she'd do some healing, and she had. Her spirits, especially Loke, had started coming to him often, thanking him, explaining how they and Lucy had struggled so much with losing Aquarius.
Loke though had told him, the spirits key would regenerate in a year and Lucy would be able to seek it out, reclaim it. He'd vowed to the Lion he would help her find that key if he had to mobilize all of White Sea to locate it too, such an integral thing to any of his mages magic and well being was something he was willing to move Heaven and Earthland over.
"I am, and I wanted to ask you about something...it's uh...kind of hard to explain…" She said and so, for the first time, she pushed her thoughts out, or hoped she did, and saw Kalebs eyes widen a little, his smile deepen, an impressed look coming to his face and a minute later he was grinning, sitting across from her and drawing a breath.
"So to bond with Virgo, to deepen your relationship with her and build trust with her, she requires bondage, her soul calls for you to be a bit of a Domina. It's not a bad thing, I could see you handling it well honestly." He said and Lucy blushed but was grateful she'd gotten across what she was thinking because there was no way she could have said it all out loud, she'd have died of embarrassment.
"You know your Sudehpah will teach you about bondage, all of its applications from sexual to relaxation to stress and tension relief through its use. You'll learn all the ways to bring pleasure, relaxation and tension relief to a partner, be they a lover or a friend...or a spirit." He said, waving his hand to emphasize the broad scope of it all.
"I'd never thought of it all that way, I always just thought it was...you know, secret dark room stuff people never talked about….naughty…" She admitted and Kaleb smiled.
"A Fioran concept, the whole "naughty dirty" pleasure thing, well, not just Fioran, several cultures hold those ideas. I feel they're pretty backwards, archaic and a bit barbaric really, ways of old to keep people from being free, from feeling free. Designed to oppress them and instill in them the idea that others are above them and can dictate to them what they should and should not see as acceptable pleasures. In our society, mutually consented pleasure in any form is beautiful with few limitations, We revere marriage and monogamy, those who want it should have it and it's to be respected, and children should never be plied by adults for physical pleasure, that's evil, an experienced adult has no right imposing on the development of a youth, only Sudehpah handle youth and even they are limited, full intercourse doesn't happen until after the youth is inducted and even then they often use stand-ins the youths own age. Here we put child molestors to death, we do the same to rapists and to those who commit willful adultery." He told her calmly. He didn't add that he'd turned Jilly in for what she'd done with Kell.
Once he'd had a chance to sit down with the boy he'd learned Jilly had seduced him and that was it for Kaleb, the end of his willingness to tolerate her, the woman had a broken mind, was dangerously fixated on holding on to her youth by fucking young boys, so, he'd informed his fellow knights, and Jilly was no more, she'd been apprehended arriving in Pelerno, taken before a couple of mind readers, had her memories probed and was convicted of child abuse and put to death. She wouldn't be spreading her sickness, nor would she be a threat to Lucy or himself, which was something else the mind readers had found, a plot to kill Lucy and get Kaleb kidnapped, the woman had already contacted Joyan mercenaries and was planning on kidnapping the Guildmaster, having him taken to Joya where she could keep him as a pleasure slave. That alone would have been enough to imprison her for, the rest had just seen her meet the sword instead of a cell.
Kaleb had shuddered at the whole idea, Joya had been after him all his life, his father had rescued him from a Joya bound slave ship as a child and the country always seemed to hover over him in some way. The War Queen he'd been meant for had even contacted him shortly after he'd taken over White Sea, told him if he came and gave her some of the pleasure she'd been denied by his father stealing him from her, she would work a treaty out with Bosco and allow a trade route. Joyan did mine some of the finest Iron in Earthland, and such a thing had tremendous value, to the point Kaleb had been almost willing to agree under heavy restrictions, but Farron had stepped in, and somehow, his older brother had appeased the woman, and she'd agreed to a more limited treaty than she had offered with Kaleb as part of the deal, but it was more than enough.
It was done though, Lucy didn't need to ever know a thing about it. Her growing happiness, seeing a sparkle in those golden brown eyes that hadn't been there when he'd met her, was all Kaleb needed to see to be convinced he was acting correctly.
He'd spent a good part of the last ten days alternating between watching Lucys progress from the sidelines, and assisting the school in upgrading a lot of it's magical conversion systems. Stellanium drew magic power from starlight and moonlight but tended to cache it, if not bled out, Stellanium could become explosive. To prevent instability, systems were in place to pull the power off the Stellanium through more stable lacrima conduits underground.
The conduits and receptacles in place though were pretty old, so Kaleb went through them all, he'd long since while designing his guild management systems and lacrima tablets so he could move information around magically without paper involved and could keep track of his more than 4000 mages without ever forgetting one or losing track of one, figured out how his magic worked to mold devices, he just needed to have pure clear white Lacrima as a base, he had learned to work with Stellanium too, if something could conduct magic, he could mold it to fit his needs and impress into it all it needed to do what he wanted it to do. He had learned to convert thought, theory, into a practical working device.
His father and older brother marvelled at the skill, there was nothing currently listed that really shared it, maker magic came close, but maker magic didn't create things that could work for others outside of the mundane, like a piece of ice or a piece of wood or metal, crafted goods still required artistry and most didn't do anything, what Kaleb created...did things. Made magic accessible to non-magical people. His Lacrima tablets were a great example, they communicated information over vast distances, he'd created networking for them that was a far more simple and basic version of his own mental linking to people over great distances.
Basic data was far easier to transmit over distance than the intricate complexities of thought, emotion, feelings and sensations that his mental links made possible between people. Basic images, that didn't transmit emotion, feeling, scents and thoughts, were simple, easy to get from one device to another. The solar, lunar, star, even magnetic waves of the world carried simple things like that easily.
A normal person could work the device once instructed on how, and he'd been able to establish working ports for all of Boscos embassies so they could share information, exchange paperwork and such quickly.
He'd been upgrading the schools conduits and storage lacrimas while he was visiting, the work with his hands and magic a pleasant distraction from his normal work as a Guildmaster. He'd found a pocket of Stallanium that had become oversaturated and was getting volatile and had fed it into the heating aqueducts for the schools communal baths. He thought he may have even found a way to infuse some magic into the water, nothing special, just basic ethernano but floating, so it could be absorbed from the water.
So far, the students were very much enjoying that the baths had started becoming a little invigorating.
But right now, right before him, Lucy was nibbling a nail, nervous about the prospects of doing what her maid spirit needed her to do to build on the trust and bond they already enjoyed. So, Kaleb shifted his mind more to focus on that topic, and on sifting through Lucys thoughts and emotions. She really was happier. There was still sadness, grief, but it wasn't as oppressive as it had been.
He was thrilled with the progress.
"So I can learn all about it with the Sudehpah?" She asked and he nodded.
"I've already set it up, when we get to the Guild you'll meet your Sudehpah the following day, if you feel like you can work with him, then you'll start your lessons that same day. He can teach you all you ever wondered about, including things you can do with Virgo, you could even bring your spirits into the sessions once you've talked with him about it." Kaleb replied and Lucy drew a breath, trying not to let that information trigger alarm in her.
"Good girl." Kaleb said smirking at her when he caught that last conscious effort and thought and Lucy gave him a dirty look.
"Hey, I can control myself...I just...well...lifes been a cluster fuck until recently." She said. Kaleb smiled at her.
"I like to think I've had a little hand in improving things." He said and she let her frown lift into a genuine smile.
"You have...so much more than you know." She said earnestly and he winked at her, standing and stretching and in doing made her belly flutter far lower in her body than it had a few minutes ago when a section of tanned skin was uncovered above his well tailored slacks.
The sudden desire to know what that skin felt like under her lips hit her and she tried to stomp it down but Kalebs chuckle made it clear she wasn't fast enough.
"Damn it…" She muttered.
"You are an Angel Lucy most of the time, but every now and then, the devil in you shows." Kaleb told her with a smile.
Lucy smirked, oh he had NO idea how devilish she could be, seriously, Cana may have said it more but Lucy had a side to her….uh huh, it would make Cana blush…
"Cana was a good friend I take it?" Kaleb asked and Lucy, for the first time since Tartaros smiled when asked about her friends from Fairy Tail.
"She is, I think she went to Quatro Cerberus, or near it, she was kind of on again off again dating one of their S-class mages, a palm mage named Bacchus Groh. Cana would have loooooved Bosco." Lucy giggled at the thought, every now and then she still got a little high on her own magic, Cellis just had that effect on her, and now, with her classes done, she wouldn't even have an evening outlet for it like she usually did, no sparring with one of the teachers.
The idea of Cana in Bosco...Gods she'd have been all over Kaleb, Cristoff, all of them, and never would have gotten work done because with a guild the size of White Sea, she'd have an endless variety of men to lure into the privacy areas around the hall.
Kaleb chuckled "Sounds like she would have fit in well." her Guildmaster observed and Lucy nodded. It no longer got to her he heard her thoughts, she was comfortable with it now, even enjoyed how it kept things so...easy between them, she couldn't hide a damn thing, suppress it, nothing, he always caught it and called her out if whatever it was needed to be addressed. She'd found it terrifying at first but now...it relaxed her.
She could trust him, she knew it, he hid nothing and expected no less from her, and...like Cristoff, he didn't run from her when she was hurting.
"I never will, if I'm near enough, you can count on that, if I'm not…" He smiled, sitting down again and handing her a glass of wine before taking a drink of his own. "If I'm not near you can bet I'll send someone I trust to help and they will barge through your door fairly quickly."
She smiled, she was enjoying the spiced wines of Bosco, this one tasted almost like tangy cherries. Their dinner was delivered, the Dean knowing Lucy might be a little "tipsy" on magic that evening so he sent their meals up to them, trusting Kaleb to keep his mage looked after.
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It was far too early when Cygnus came for her, and Lucy, yawning, clad in her blue and gold favorite outfit, smiled and accepted a soft kiss from Kaleb, she didn't blush anymore when he would catch her and press soft kisses to her lips, it was a Boscan thing, she saw a lot of people do it all the time for all sorts of reasons and...she liked it, the little wash of his distinct spiced apple scent, the taste of him, the feel of those warm full lips on hers, even though she knew it was a in this case a good luck thing, and usually was a "good job" or a "congratulations" she still got a secret little thrill. He didn't do it with anyone but her, of course...she was his mage and so far she'd only seen him around the professor her worked out with in the mornings or the Dean so she doubted he had touched those lips to anyone elses since he'd been in Cellis...and she liked that idea.
Kaleb watched her go, turning and grabbing up his com and tablet and heading another direction to meet with the Dean and join him in an observation area. Lucy was in for a rough few days and he'd not been able to warn her since it was part of the evaluation process the Dean had developed for Celestial Spirit mages.
When he reached the observation room that monitored the evaluation area he sat slowly, frowning at the screens.
"You've made it bigger than when Hestor took this." He observed and Dean Kalperden nodded.
"I have, it now incorporates a section of cave that is rich in Illusonite, when she reaches it, she'll have a test I've wanted for decades but hadn't been able to create until this ore was discovered. Don't worry master Kaleb, I've had students as young as 10 go through this, she'll be ok." The Dean assured him at his frown.
Kaleb drew a breath, he didn't doubt the Dean, but Lucys mental state, her emotional stability was just starting to recover, the testing was necessary, and he knew the Dean sincerely felt she would be fine, but Kaleb was a protective Guildmaster, he wanted the best of everything for his mages. Lucy was special too, she'd been through so much, and was such a unique woman, every part of him was driven to make sure she was kept safe and given the chance to heal.
His time as a Guildmaster had taught him he couldn't protect his mages from everything, but,as a Boscan man, he saw Lucy as a rare beauty, and found her captivating. Too much so to want her to struggle, but as her Guildmaster, he had to sit back and let her fight through this all on her own...mostly…
Lucy was led to a gateway, and she stilled before it, feeling the magic in it. Cygnus bowed to her. "You have 4 days to reach the school." Cygnus said with a smile and Lucys eyes widened.
"What?! Wait i thought I was…" Cygnus gave her a soft push, just enough to force her to step on the shimmering edge of the gate and that was all it took, she was ripped away from the smiling spirit and tumbled over the ground a moment later, coming to a stop flat on her face.
"Owwww" Lucy whined, pushing herself up to sit back on her heels and look around her while she brushed the dirt from her hands and chest. Contrary to Natsu and Happys rude assertions, her chest didn't serve to cusion her falls, if anything it added more surface area to feel pain with.
She stood, touching her whip at her side to make sure it was still there and secure. She was in a wooded area, the mountains to her right and...a lot of broken shoreline ahead of her with no sign of the school.
"Open, gate of Pyxis." She called and a small brightly plumed bird appeared with a compass in his head.
Lucy scooped him up, sitting on a log and cuddling the bird for a moment before starting to talk with him. "I need to find the Academe Cellestine from here Pyxis." She told him and the bird chirped brightly at her.
In the observations room the Dean was smiling, writing away "She has such a wonderful rapport with her spirits, each one she sees as an individual and she genuinely cares for them all, their loyalty toward her is tremendous because of it." He observed.
Kaleb smiled faintly, he already knew that well about Lucy, having seen her interact plenty with her spirits over the last 10 days. It still gave him a feeling of pride though to hear it from the Dean.
Lucy chatted with Pyxis, and after a few minutes stood and started walking resolutely, the little bird perched on her shoulder as she did. Pyxis wasn't as cuddly as Plue, but he was still good company, talkative, and while she understood what all his melodic tweets and chirps meant because he was her spirit, the song wasn't lost on her, she enjoyed it, smiling faintly as she took up a good pace.
10 miles. She had 4 days to cover 10 miles, she wasn't foolish enough to think she'd cross the distance quickly, she knew there had to be traps, trials along her path she wouldn't be able to avoid and she looked forward to them, each a chance to prove her merit.
There was little doubt the Dean was watching her somehow, and probably her Guildmaster too, she wondered briefly if he'd known about this. He knew she'd been expecting something along the lines of trials in the practice rings or near that, so if he knew...he'd withheld something from her…
Not willingly, I wasn't certain the Dean would use this, he did on the last mage I brought here, but that was 2 years ago. I wasn't sure if it had changed...it has...but I honestly didn't know exactly what to expect. His voice was like a deep rich silk in her head and she smiled, deeply relieved to hear it.
You're forgiven then..she returned.
I didn't DO anything, though the Dean did ask me not to tell you about what my other mages have faced here, he told me your trial would be designed around you, so...each mage is handled a little differently.. Kaleb responded.
I get a kiss when I get back… she teased.
Kaleb had to remind himself to keep his face passive, eyes trained on the screen, Lucy was smiling as she walked, giving no indication she was doing anything but covering ground and listening to her spirit. This was NOT cheating, he told himself, he was just making sure his new mage, with all her trust issues, didn't start mistrusting him for an imagined slight.
Of course you do, I'll be congratulating you on a job well done… He said lightly and Lucy closed her eyes, reaching up and rubbing her spirits little chest. Then opened them and slowed, eyes focusing, mind turning away from her lovely imaginings of crawling into Kalebs lap on the couch in their suite and kissing him senseless.
Before her was a deep ravine, it cut inland disappearing into the dark cover of the thick trees and stretched out disappearing into the Sea. She weighed her options. Not caring for trying to trek around it via the dark woods, she opted to head out into the water, she could almost walk the plants that drifted on top of the gently moving sea.
She would bet there were challenges to be had no matter what route she chose, but, she always leaned toward...water. Drawing a shaking breath as she was reminded of her lost friend, and realized how much Aquarius likely would have loved to have been called in the Grass Sea among all of it's gorgeous plants and flowers and it's aromatic invigorating waters. She missed her so much.
Steeling herself she stripped down to her underwear and stuffed her clothes into her bag and sealed it, before wading out into the warm water and starting to try and climb onto the plants and navigate her way across the deep part.
"It's going to be a tough one for her since she sacrificed Aquarius, I thought about leaving this out, not wanting to stir her grief...but we all need to be able to cope with loss and fight on." The Dean said and Kaleb pressed his lips together, he did agree...and maybe with any mage but Lucy he'd be calmly watching interesting in seeing how they handled themselves, but with Lucy...he grit his teeth and wished the Dean had gone with his first inclination, he could feel Lucy revisiting her sadness, how she missed her spirit, so much so he couldn't even enjoy seeing her stripped down to almost naked.
She reached about midway when she noticed things moving through the lush golden and pink flowers that adorned most of the plants she was walking on. Her skin absolutely crawled when the first one came into view...a spider...colored like the flowers it lived on, even had petal-like adornments on its legs and body and she shrieked when she saw one emerge from the flower on the glump she was standing on.
"OPEN Gate of the LION!" She screeched. Gods she hated spiders, HATED them! Her whip snaked out in her hand as Leo appeared and the Lion stepped closer to her so the swing of the whip wasn't hitting him, it cracked loudly, snapping the spider and flicking it off the clump out a few dozen feet away.
If Aquarius were there, she'd be able to sweep the things away with one water attack, but with nothing like that in her arsenal, it was up to her and Loke to battle the things while Lucy picked her way across the ravine.
It was slow going, the arachnids had webbing randomly here and there that was incredibly sticky and burned a little when it touched her skin, Lucy also found out, to her horror, the things could swim.
It pissed her off as much as horrified her when, as she was preparing to dive into the water and just swim across the way and avoid the things entirely that some dove into the water and started swimming toward her.
"For fucking real right now?! Shit...as if I didn't hate spiders enough!" She snarled and sent her whip out to snake over the water and crack across the...face?...did spiders HAVE faces?! Hell if she knew! All she knew for certain was they were nightmares come to life...how dare they sport petals like flowers anyway! She fucking LIKED flowers, now she'd be checking every one forever worrying some freakish spider was living in it!
"Princess, over there, that drift has no flowers." Loke pointed out and Lucy made a jump for it, cursing when she came up short and ended up under water. She twisted to check where the spiders were and found a couple trying to follow her but they couldn't dive very well so she went deeper and swam fast for the next cluster of non-flowered grass.
When she reached it she emerged to a pink spider lashing out at her and she snarled, her whip coming to her call and cracking across it's front, sending it screeching and injured from the grass so she could haul herself up. She was close now, a few more and she could head back inland to the beach.
With a few moments as Loke bounded his way blasting spiders as he moved to catch up with her, she narrowed her eyes and smirked, her whip snaked out again and this time caught the spider that was slowly swimming away, rubbing a leg over its injured eyes. The whip wrapped around the creature and lifted it into the air then slammed it down hard on a clump of grass, ramming its pointed legs through the grass and sticking it there, writhing while Lucy used the larger clump to pull hers closer to the opposite side of the deep section. She repeated the action two more times, forced to grab new spiders for each because she couldn't stop herself from slamming them down so hard they got too stuck to remove.
When she got closer to shore Loke took up a position to cover her rear and she swam for it, forced to twist around in the water three times to beat back spiders trying to pursue her, but once she reached the sand, they didn't follow, instead turning back to go after Loke, who she smirked and summoned to her side.
He high fived her. "Nice work Princess, I was surprised you actually used the little beasties to your advantage, now...how about I help you dry of?" He wagged his eyebrows at her, eyes travelling over her mostly nude form but Lucy had long since become immune to Loke and she shoved his face away from her, hooking his ankle and tossing him to the sand while she opened her bag and fished her clothes back out, using her skirt to dry herself where she could then dressed and giving Loke a good smack up the side of his head for his most recent comment about her looking good in wet clothes she resumed her march.