A bright light was the first thing he registered. He slowly turned his head to the side to come face to face with a leprachaun. An angry leprachaun.
"Well look who is back in the land of the living!" The small man said.
Palladium groaned deeply. His head hurt like crazy and his chest felt heavy.
"What happened?" He asked with a raspy voice.
"You passed out, Nurse Ophelia says its due to exhaustion and stress." Wizgiz said. "You lied to me Palladium, you said you were fine."
There was a hint of betrayal in his voice. The elf frowned and tried to remember what had happened.
"I was…I am fine."
"Don't lie to me!"
Palladium was taken aback by the sudden outburst.
"Wizgiz I…"
"No I don't want to hear it." Wizgiz said. "I've tried to talk to you but if you are too stubborn to do so, you're on your own."
And with that Wizgiz hopped off his chair and left the infirmary.
Palladium sighed. On his own, that is exactly how he felt. He was alone and that was exactly how it should be.
"Ah professor, I heard you were awake."
Palladium looked up to see Faragonda walk towards him.
"How are you feeling?" She asked as she sat in the seat that Wizgiz had just left.
"I feel fine." He automatically said. "Just a bit out of it that's all." He added when he saw Faragonda's disbelieving look.
"You gave us all quite the startle that's for sure." Faragonda said. "Why didn't you say anything when you felt so much stress?"
"I guess…it sneaked up on me."
Palladium tried desperately to remember what exactly happened when he passed out but the whole thing was a blur.
"Luckily professor Avalon found you."
Professor Avalon?
The confused look on the elfs face did not go unnoticed.
"Professor, do you remember anything from last night?"
"Uhm…"
Palladium tried to remember but his head hurt more and more with each passing minute.
"It's okay, it might come back to you in a while, in the meantime I suggest you take some time off."
"No, no that's not necessary…"
"The suggestion has just been changed into a direct order professor." Faragonda said stern. "You can resume your lessons in two weeks if you are up to it." "I will be checking up on you occasionally."
She stood up from her chair. "Please do take care of yourself Palladium."
There was a clear worry in her voice. Palladium nodded.
After Nurse Ophelia did some checks on him, he was free to leave the infirmary under strickt condition that he will report back to her if he felt like something was off again. The elf promised he would and thanked the nurse for her help. He had made the decision to just ignore the tightness in his chest and everlasting headache to avoid worrying people.
He walked towards his chambers thinking about what to do with his time when a voice called out to him.
"Ah professor Palladium, good to see you on your feet again!"
Palladium turned around to see Avalon walk up to him.
"Headmistress Faragonda told me you were awake but I didn't know you already left the infirmary." He said. "How are you feeling?"
"I…feel fine." Palladium lied.
Avalon nodded with a weird look in his eyes. "Well you certainly look better then yesterday that's for sure, you were as white as a sheet when I found you in front of the entrance."
He waited a few moments but Palladium did not respond.
"By your confused look I reckon you cannot remember what happened?"
Palladium shook his head. "No…I can't seem to remeber anything from yesterday."
"Ah…well we had a talk in your laboratory, I left to my office and when I wanted to rejoin the party outside, I found you on the ground at the frontdoors."
Avalon hesitated for a second. "I suppose that our afternoon walk through the forrest is no longer an option."
"Afternoon walk?" Palladium repeated.
"Yes, during our talk I asked if I could join you on your walk through the forrest today and you confirmed." Avalon said with a glint in his eyes. "There is this rare flower I want to observe, but I completely understand if you are too weak."
"No, no I'm not." Palladium said a bit offended. "Some fresh air would do me good."
"Very well I'll go pack my bag, meet you outside at the gate?" Avalon asked quickly.
"Yes, that's…alright." Palladium said.
Before he fully registered what had happened, Palladium was walking through the forrest with a very excited Avalon next to him.
"I've heard that there are flowers that only bloom in the moonlight." Avalon said. "Do you know if there are any of those here?"
"Uhm…not that I know of..."
"I am sorry, I shouldn't be asking too many questions right now." Avalon apologized. "It's just so facinating, I can imagine the forrest to be a whole other world during the night."
"I don't believe I've ever walked through here during the night." Palladium said.
"That's a shame, we should try it sometime." Avalon said.
Palladium nodded. "What was the name of the flower you were looking for professor?"
"Ah yes, here is a picture of it."
Avalon took a piece of paper from his pocket and showed Palladium the blue flower.
"That looks a lot like a venomous flower that grows here, but I am sure that is not the one you are looking for."
"In fact it is, I want to use it to create an antidote." Avalon said. "In fact I was hoping you could help me with it?"
"Sure."
Palladium frowned as the headache increased again. He really tried to focus on his conversation with Avalon but he couldn't help but worry about Samara.
"Did you uhm…see the Winx leave for Cloud Tower?"
Avalon looked surprised by the sudden change of subject. "Yes I did, why?"
"No reason." Palladium lied.
"I know you were against our plan to send them to Cloud Tower, but I hope you understand it was our best option."
"They should not have to go through this sort of stuff." Palladium said. "I care for them that's all."
"For some more than others perhaps?" Avalon asked carefully.
Palladium swallowed. "What do you mean?"
"Samara came to me a while ago, about something she had read in one of my books."
There was a hesitant tone in Avalon's voice and Palladium felt his chest tighten up again.
"A book I lend to her about the history of Eraklion." Avalon continued. "One chapter worried her very much, it contained the story about the very first fairy of the Moon." "Ever heard of it?"
Palladium shook his head.
"Well as legend says, an elf named Salvador was so entrailed by the moons beauty and power that he used dark magic to give the moon a body of her own." "Thus creating the first fairy of the Moon." "The rest of the elves did not agree with such dark magic and wanted to stop them but Salvador and the fairy named Celena used their magic to defeat them."
"What has that got to do with Samara?" Palladium asked.
"I was getting to that part." Avalon said.
Perhaps Palladium was mistaken but he could have sworn there was a hint of excitement in the other man's voice.
"Shortly after the elves were gone, the Royal Family started a war with all magical creatures on their planet, including Salvador and Celena." "They perished in the war but not before they cast a curse on the Royal Family, a child will be born with magical powers linked to the Moon." "That child will be the Royal Family's undoing."
Palladium stopped walking abruptly.
"And Samara thinks that child is her?" He asked.
"Yes and I think she's right." Avalon said as he stopped as well and looked at the elf. "I believe that her powers originate from that curse."
Poor Samara…no wonder she's being so down lately…why didn't she tell me about all this? Simple, because she doesn't want to be near you.
"But that was not all she was worried about." Avalon said.
The elf looked the man in the eyes with his worry increasing.
"She asked me if there could be a connection between her and elves."
"What…elves…what do you mean?"
"Well since her powers originate from a curse cast by an elf, she was wondering if she might feel a connection towards other elves."
Avalon paused for a moment. Palladium stared at him with a desperate look in his eyes.
"I think it is very much possible that she is right, her powers might recognise an elf as their creator and therefor latch on."
And there it was, the signal Avalon was waiting for. Palladiums eyes darkened.
"But who am I, I might be wrong…I'm no expert on Eraklions history after all."
"Yes, who knows…" Palladium sighed.
"Ah would you look at that, there it is!"
Avalon pointed at a tree with a lot of blue flowers growing around it. The man watched as Palladium slowly walked towards the tree.
"Beautifull to see isn't it?" Avalon said with a devilish smile on his face.