A/N: Day 24 - ball. Enjoy...

Chapter Summary: They promised to help save the world. Of course, that didn't just mean returning Zym to his mother and restoring order within all the lands. That also meant helping those in need along the way. For instance, a group of kids. And their ball stuck in the tree.

Word Count: 3,176

The Ball

"And then our next stop is this lil' village near the edge of the Earthblood Elf regions. Lots of landscape there," Rayla explained, "Plenty of caves to camp out in."

Callum pouted as he hoisted Zym up to his shoulders. "Great, because another inn would be too much to ask for," he sarcastically quipped.

Rayla shot him a look. "Ya got anymore money?" she asked. He sighed. "Didn't think so, oh so wise Prince."

Callum sighed as they walked on. "You're still upset about the trade," he noted.

"Nearly all our money for five loafs of bread!" she spontaneously shouted. Rayla glanced at him and scoffed. "Cal, we coulda used that money for other things!"

Callum rolled his eyes. "'Kay but, thinking about it more logically, we did waste a lot of money on spending nights at inns. More than we needed to," he pointed out.

Rayla harshly laughed. "Excuse me? I didn't hear ya complainin' about sharing a bed!"

"Your ideas, your rules," Callum teased, leaning closer with a smug smile.

She pouted. "If ya had any objections ya should've said so."

He laughed. "Ray, I'll never have any objections of it makes you happy," she felt her face flush at his words, "and staying at inn, with a roof over our heads and a nice comfort blanket is something I'm okay with doing since it makes you happy." He then twisted his body to show off his backpack. "And I know eating Sunberrybread makes you feel happy too. You just don't like wasting money on food because you think we can rely on gathering them."

Rayla fought back her blush as she looked at Callum. "I can gather food."

"And pull lookout? And scout ahead?" Callum rhetorically fired back. "You tire yourself out a lot, the least I could do is handle the food just for a bit." He winked at her. "And besides," he dug into his pockets, "we still got five coins! Our pockets aren't completely empty."

Rayla sighed. "Ya're right," she relented. She found her smile and chuckled at him. "Who knew ya would be such a good travelling buddy?"

Callum shrugged. "I'm full of surprises."

She laughed. "Great!" she looked off into the distance. Her attention notably drawing over to the mountaintops within the near acres. "Can one of those surprises be stamina? Because if we can push it, I think we'll make it to that cliff face before sunset!"

Callum nodded as he adjusted his grip on Zym. "Get ready boy," he told him, "we're in for a walk!"

::::

And their walk was cut short.

Immediately.

As soon as the two made their way down the path, nearing a clearing, they heard an uproar of shouting nearby. Alert, Rayla raised her hand and motioned them to a halt. She grabbed onto her blades and unsheathed them, turning her head in every direction, utilizing her fine tuned ears to single out the direction. Callum extended his finger, mindset prepped and spell in mind, he was ready to back her up. Her ears twitched, and body shifted to the left, prompting Callum to do the same.

"They're over there," she whispered, crouching down as she slowly crept forward. Callum followed her lead, and the two began wandering into the bushes. Soon enough, the yelling became loud enough for Callum to hear. His expression shifted from seriousness and concern, to confusion. He hadn't spent much time in Xadia, but he was positive that those sounds, were children. With wide eyes, he glanced to Rayla, noticing the same amount of concern reaching her. She knew too.

As they brushed through the bushes and leaves, the scene before them became more clear. A group of young elves, Earthblood elves no doubt, all gathered around in the centre of the clearing. All that screaming and shouting? Just the thrill of a harmless game. About six kids, all spread out in a circle, happily cheering as they kicked a small little brown ball at each other. Just a simple game with a ball. Relief overwhelmed the two as Rayla sheathed her blades and Callum released a breathy sigh.

"Let's go," she whispered.

As Callum nodded, a sudden cry came from the group of children. "No!" The two immediately whipped their heads back at the source, and were shocked to see an airborne ball flying over their way. It was so high and flew so fast, they could barely process its arc. It landed right in the branches of the tree they were hiding right under. Simultaneously, their eyes went wide as the conclusion hit them at the same time.

"Hey who's over there?" one of the kids shouted.

The two ducked right away, camouflaging themselves within the bushes.

"We see ya!" another chimed in.

Rayla released an annoyed sigh. She glanced to Callum, who merely shrugged, and turned his attention back to the kids. He popped out of the bush and waved at them, still holding Zym with his other arm. "Hiya kids!"

Rayla's eyes went wide as she rose up soon after. "What the heck are ya doing?" she harshly whispered, even though at this point their cover was blown.

Callum waved his hand dismissively as he stepped out of the bushes. "Do you guys need help with the ball?" he asked them.

The approaching onslaught of kids halted in their tracks as shocked eyes seemed to take their faces. A shared gasp escaped from them, and a simultaneously step back alert Callum's guard. His face dropped into shock as he completely forgot that there was a war between their nations for a split second. And that he was carrying a rare and almost thought extinct species in his arms. A nervous chuckle slipped from him as Rayla facepalmed.

"I, uh… I come in peace!" he shouted, holding his hands up in innocence. The gesture left him to drop Zym straight to the ground, eliciting a startled yelp from the Dragon Prince. As the children remained skeptical, Callum cleared his throat, taking a step forward. "I mean no harm! I swear!" he urged on, expressing as much innocence as he could muster.

Rayla sighed, understanding she would need to help vouch for him. "It's true!" she shouted, running toward his side. "He doesn't mean ya any harm! We're…"

"Adventurers!" Callum finished, perkily jerking a thumb at his chest. "And, as adventurers, we're on a mission to deliver this lil' fella," he gestured down at Zym, who excitedly yelped, "back to his mommy!"

Their faces seemed to ease up, especially at the realization that there was a baby dragon present. Half of the kids lit up at Zym's overall cuteness, whispering words of awe and wonder.

"Exactly!" Rayla chirped. "And so, we must really be on our way—" she grabbed Callum's hand, edging him backward. She tuned out a light whistle, dragging Zym's attention away from the new crowd and back to her. "But it was nice seeing ya!"

"Rayla, Rayla, wait!" Callum exclaimed, yanking his arm off. "They clearly need help," he gestured up at the tree." Turning back to them, he asked, "Do you need help getting the ball out?"

They all exchanged looks of worry and hesitation, obviously unsure of how to respond.

Rayla sighed. "See? They can handle it." She reached for Callum's arm, only to be dodged.

"Not everyone trained to be an Assassin at the age of six," he teased. "C'mon," he laughed, turning back to the kids. "You clearly can't reach it. Just let us help!"

"Callum," Rayla whispered, tugging at his sleeve. "We're already burning daylight, we can't afford to delay!"

He laughed. "If you're patient enough to stop and let me sketch a view, you can wait a bit to help some kids."

She rolled her eyes and glanced down at Zym, who seemed to encourage Callum's words with an excited nod. She scoffed. It wasn't that she was entirely opposed to the idea. But their whole mission in Xadia was laying low, not a single elf had learned of their presence and now six children seemed to ruin their illusion of secrecy. But kids did have an element of unpredictability, and Rayla wasn't looking forward to being caught off guard. She just didn't trust them. It might have seemed hypocritical, but she didn't want to leave anything to chance, especially when it seemed the kids were giving them an out.

"Ray," Callum grabbed her hand, "we set out to make a change in the world. That includes helping anyone along the way. And they," he nodded over to the kids, "clearly need help!"

Rayla sighed as she pulled her hand back and crossed her arms, wearing a thoughtful look. Of course, Callum smiled his classic pleading smile, and she dropped her facade of anger. He was right, of course he was. She nodded. "Fine," she relented.

Callum excitedly pumped his fist as he turned to the kids. "Just you wait!" he told them, "we'll get your ball!" He knelt down to Zym and urged him forward, "Meantime, you guys can hang out with Zym!"

"Callum—"

"Or not," he corrected himself. He pointed at the dragon."Zym just… chill," he ordered.

Zym tilted his head in confusion before turning back to the kids. Eagerness in his eyes, he rushed over to the kids and began barking in excitement, much to Rayla's protests. He ran around them with a burst of energy, too fast for any of them to really stop and grab him, leaving them to exclaim gasps of wonder and awe. Rayla shot Callum a deadly stare, to which he shrugged once more.

"Sooner we get this done, the sooner we're out?" he suggested.

"Fine," she sighed once more. "How are ya getting it out then?" Rayla asked, glancing up the large tree.

"I thought you'd… y'know…" Callum wordlessly gestured his hand about, "Assassin-y yourself up there!"

She laughed. "No, no, no, your idea, your solution. I'm just here to make sure ya don't fall on your ars—tsy behind," she dragged out with a nervous smile, eyes flashing over to the collection of kids eyeing them up with suspicion.

Callum scoffed. "Nice save," he mused. Her turned up to the tree and frowned. He supposed it was fair he solved this himself.

This tree, as it turned out, was enormously large. Callum quickly learned that the average tree life in Xadia measured to ridiculous heights. Not even the tallest trees in the human lands could compare. While it did tower high above, it also had a vast array of branches stemming throughout, each branch extending meters out and clustered together. The brown ball in question remained what looked to be the halfway point of the tree, which was still high up.

"Yeesh, which kid kicked that?" Callum mused, turning back to the group.

One of the girls, with long roughed up white hair, raised her hand. "I… I didn't mean to! It just came so fast!"

"Oh relax," Callum waved off, "from where you guys were, that's a pretty impressive distance!" He winked at her with a big smile. "You're pretty tough!" Leaning over, he nudged Rayla's elbow. "Right Ray?"

"Ri-Right!" she agreed. Her gaze nervously flew down to the kids as she plastered on an encouraging smile. "I'd say ya'd make a cool Assassin."

Her little blue eyes lit up with wonder. "Really!" Rayla nodded. "Whoa!"

The other kids hopped on that praise and began whispering toward her, offering words of encouragement and compliments. "Wow! That's so cool!" a little boy whispered.

"I wanna kick high like that!" shouted another.

"I wish I could be that cool," another girl added.

Simultaneously, they turned to Rayla. "Could ya teach us?" one of the boys with a dirted up brown hair asked, excitement pouring from his eyes. They all stepped forward eagerly, hands shaking with joy.

Rayla's face drained. "Uhhh… ha… I don't think—"

"C'mon, Ray," Callum pushed her forward, "Might as well do something while I'm working on that!"

She shot him a conflicted look of worry. "But what if ya fall?"

"I won't climb, relax," Callum waved off. "I'll just use the wind spell to get it out!"

Her face scrunched up as she looked at the kids' expectant looks of excitement. She offered a half energetic wave as they all stepped closer once more, causing her to back away in retaliation. Instinct, that was what it was.

"Ya're a Moonshadow Elf right?" one of the boys shouted.

"Can ya show us your blades? I hear ya make your own!"

"Do a flip! Do a flip!"

"I wanna kick high! How can I do that!"

The bombardment of ridiculous questions overwhelmed Rayla so quickly she motioned them to halt, realizing that they were also ganging up on her with their presence. They were a lot closer than before. "Eh heh…" she nervously laughed, "I-uh, I better make sure he doesn't hurt himself." She pointed over to him as she walked back to Callum, this time with a hurried pace.

He had taken a few steps back, eyeing up the ball and placing himself at a decent angle from below. When he noticed her return he shot her a brow. "What's wrong?"

"I don't do kids," she whispered fiercely, "Now hurry up and get it out!"

Callum had no time to even ask her to elaborate about the former half of her sentence, so he turned up at the tree and cocked his head ever so slightly. The ball was just hooked between two branches, lodged right in the dead centre. It was stuck like a wedge, so a good amount of force should be able to push it out. Callum's deduction came to a close as he took a deep breath. He brought his finger up and pushing out his air, he drew the spell above his head.

"Aspiro," he whispered, the blue light illuminated, and he blew into it. A sudden gust of wind emerged and blew straight up the tree, shaking the branches and leaves to the very bark. The ball began shaking, but remained in its place. Callum kept his eyes narrowed as he maintaining his form, focusing on blowing as much air as he could. Control and aim, he learned this. He tightened his lips and watched as the tunnel of wind lessened to a smaller funnel. As the pressure died down, the ball began to loosen up, evidently falling straight out of its trap and down to the ground.

Callum smirked as he released his breath, proud of his accomplishment. But his pride quickly faded as he realized the ball was flying off the branch in the other direction. He rushed after it, trying to guess its arc but stopped as he noticed it fall with less grace and more withered like. He caught it, and frowned as he realized why.

"Whoa!" the kids shouted, rushing over to him. Quickly, he hid the ball behind his back, startled at the sudden rush of joy and happiness. "Ya're a Mage!"

"I didn't know there were Human Mages!"

"How did ya do that!"

"I wanna learn!"

"Silly, we're Earthblood Elves, we can't do that!"

"Can ya show us again!"

Callum's face swelled up in pride. He knew they were kids. He knew that meant their expectations were always dialed to the highest degree and quite frankly, he didn't care. It felt so nice, just for him to hear a collective praise for his efforts for once. Rayla had done so time and time again, but this felt different. The acclaim of a collection of young strangers made him feel proud.

"Th-Thank you!" he smiled, "I uh, yeah, I learned how to do it a just a month ago."

"Wow…" was the collective response.

Rayla giggled as she rushed over. She too enjoyed seeing Callum flustered in pride, as it was always a rarity. Even though she always jokingly shot him down, she always strived to build her confidence up. "Yup!" she spoke up. "He learned all on his own!"

"Whoa…"

Callum chuckled. "Nah, nah, I had help!" he brushed off.

"Well, thanks Mister!" one of the boys shouted.

"Yeah, thanks for getting our ball back!"

His face dropped to a frown. "Oh…" he sighed. "About that," slowly, he revealed the ball showing off the sudden tear that creased at the centre, deflating it of its bounce and turning it into a mush of leather, "I'm so sorry." He hung his head low. "It must've snagged on the branch when I blew it out. I…"

"But that was still so cool!" the little girl from before shouted. "Ya looked like a real Mage!"

His face lit up. He never thought he'd ever hear such words from the mouth of a little kid. But there she was, watching them in awe. "But your ball…"

"Oh it's fine Mister," the boy chirped up, "We have to head home soon anyways. It's getting dark out."

"But thanks for trying!"

"And for letting us play with your pet dragon!"

"And for showing us that cool spell!"

One by one, they started to disperse. The little girl with roughed up white hair lingered for a moment, staring at him. "It was still really cool," she smiled, "but it was an old ball anyways." She shrugged. "Thanks for making me feel better," she glanced between him and Rayla, eyes full of youthful wonder. "Good luck on your mission!" she waved and turned around, ready to run.

"Wait!" Callum shouted, startling her to a halt. He walked over and knelt down before her, digging into his pocket. "I'm not sure if this is enough," he pulled out the five coins, the very last of their money and held it out to her, "but maybe you could buy yourself a new one?"

Her eyes opened wide with shock. "Really?"

Callum turned back to Rayla, who smiled and offered a light nod. In turn, he turned back and nodded. "Yeah. Really."

"Whoa!" she gasped. "Thanks Mister Mage!" she shouted, as she held her hand out, watching him drop the coins into her hands. "I'll make sure to tell everyone how cool you are!" And with that, she ran off, hurrying after her friends as they made it over a hill just up the way.

Callum sighed. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Rayla laughed. She walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder. "That was really sweet of ya. And… I think that was the smartest spending we've done yet."

He smiled. "I think so too." He turned back and whistled, calling Zym away from his recent target of a Moonfly. The small Dragon rushed over and hopped into his arms, licking at his chin with joy. "Yup, thanks buddy," he chuckled, "Appreciate your help too."

"Now," Rayla spoke up, "shall we get a move on?"

"Absolutely!" Callum agreed. "And on the way, you can tell me what's the deal with you and kids…"

She laughed, shaking her head as she turned around. "Maybe another time."

A/N: Of course, I take it as literal as possible! Because... why not? I'm sorry for the delays, I have been terribly procrastinating, but I hope to catch up asap! Anyways, I decided to no do any AU because I really wanted to loop back to their adventure life and well, create a scenario where they have to be more than just the mission. After all, they can't just turn away from everyone they pass, eventually there'll be those who need their help.

For now? It's just a bunch of kids.

Review Response:

Guest: Close to the idea of it being a sport! I guess... and high nine was just referring to Callum's high five meeting Rayla's high four. Just thought it'd be funny to write.

Next prompt is honeymoon! heh... sure it is...

Until next time,

- Bleh