The next morning Jayde woke up and tried to stretch. She couldn't.

Oh great, I'm all stiff and I can't even move. Ugh, where's Clef? I hope he wakes up soon.

Soon, Clef came out of the tent and looked over at Jayde. Her eyes were open and it was obvious that she was awake, but she wasn't moving.

"Master Clef, could you please help? I can't move."

Clef chuckled.

"Remember that one night when you decided to sleep outside? What did I tell you to do that time?"
"Oh yeah! Sorry Master Clef."

"It's alright."

Clef stood and waited for Jayde to get up. She muttered something under her breath, a warming spell, and she got up pretty soon after that.

"Thank you for the reminder Master Clef."

"You're welcome."

Jayde got the fire going again and breakfast was almost finished cooking by the time the others woke up. Ferio arched an eyebrow.

"I see you can summon things again."

"Shut up Ferio."

Clef looked at Jayde.

"What was that about?"

"Ugh, nothing. It's just that last night after that fever spell I couldn't even summon a tent. That is not a spell I'll be using much."

"Yes, it's obviously very powerful, but draining to both sides."

"Really?"

"Yes, unless that fever was worse than I thought."

"Well, according to how they grade a fever on earth, I'm guessing that it was probably somewhere 103."

"What does that mean?"

"It's a temperature. The normal temperature is somewhere around 98, 100 is bad, and anything above 105 is considered life-threatening."

Clef nodded and then looked at breakfast. Jayde realized that it was almost burnt. She quickly took it off of the flame and began serving it. After breakfast they all packed up and began traveling again. Ferio was teaching Fuu how to ride a horse along the way, and Jayde stood on the side of the horse opposite Ferio in case she fell off that way. Clef walked next to her, and she could tell that he was still using his staff for support. Of course, she was completely oblivious to the fact that she was doing the exact same thing. Once, Fuu did fall towards Jayde, and she moved to catch her. Jayde almost hit the ground, but Clef caught her. Jayde helped Fuu back onto the horse and thanked Clef for stopping her from falling. Clef nodded and they kept walking. As they kept walking Clef realized that he was feeling just as weak as he had last night. Looking at Jayde, he was surprised that she had been able to summon much of anything, she was looking terrible. He moved to walk next to her, instead of slightly behind.

"Jayde, what was the spell that you used on me?"

"Its called healing spring."

"What were the parameters you put on it?"

"Fever reduction, bringing it down rapidly. It's up to the caster to cut the spell though."

"What did you do to create it exactly? I think you may have done something wrong with it. I still feel drained and it's obvious that you do too."

Ferio had decided to sit behind Fuu on the horse to make sure that she didn't fall off again. He had noticed that both Clef and Jayde looked really tired. Then, when they started discussing the spell, he became interested and started listening closely. When they got into the technical details, he got lost until he heard Clef make a startled noise and Jayde groan.

"Oh no, I can't believe I did that. How could I have missed that?"

"It healed the fever, but it's also a leaching spell. I can understand how you meant to attach the leech to the water element, but accidentally didn't. It is only your secondary after all."

"I'm sorry Master Clef."

"Don't worry. This sort of leech is easy to dispel. Besides, it's not hard to correct the leech within the spell either. And once that's finished, you'll have created what is probably one of the most powerful, and easy to use, healing spells in existence."
Jayde beamed at the last comment, and Ferio almost fell off the horse.

One of the most powerful healing spells? And she's still an apprentice? I don't know a lot about magic and creating spells, but I know enough to tell that she's really good.

Clef took care of the leech while they were walking, and he and Jayde were once again walking in silence. Ferio couldn't believe it. An apprentice had just created a great spell, and they acted like it didn't even happen? Most apprentices would at least be celebrating. Then he noticed Jayde looking at him with an arched eyebrow, her face seeming to say 'I already told you, I'm not most people'. Ferio returned his concentration to guiding the horse. Jayde faced ahead and whispered to Clef.

"Do oaks like to allow butterflies to rest in their branches?"

"Butterflies?"

Branches is in reference to using my staff, oak is me, so it's using my staff for something.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do trees allow their branches to be sat on by birds who ride the wind?"

This time it was cryptic, but he understood.

trees means us, branches is our staffs, birds are friends, and they ride the wind, magic. She wants to know if we can summon our creatures to make the trip a bit faster.

"Not on days when the insects are just gone."

Jayde was confused, insect didn't mean anything. Then she got it.

Duh! The leech effects haven't completely worn off yet.

"Perhaps when the trees have recovered from the infestation?"

Jayde could see Clef try not to chuckle at that, and nodded.

"Yes, perhaps."

Ferio saw that Fuu looked like she was trying to figure something out.
"Infestation, insects...Leech! That would mean that trees means them.... but what are birds, and what do branches and wind have to do with anything?"

"What are you talking about, Fuu?"

"Weren't you listening to Jayde and Clef?"

"Yeah, she was wondering about what kinds of trees birds like to sit in."

"No, Ferio. That was obviously a code, and not a half bad one."

"Okay...So what were they talking about?"

"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, Clef doesn't want to do it until they've fully recovered from that leech thing."

"So, wouldn't it have to do with magic?"

"Oh, that's right! Let's see then... the birds that ride the wind rest on branches. The birds get support from something and they ride something....Birds is us! They ride on magic supported by.....branches. Oh darn."

"Hey, this is a long shot, but don't their staffs look like branches?"

"That's it! Jayde wants to use their staffs for something that we can ride on. They want to summon creatures for us to ride."

"Yeah, but not for awhile, they still have to recover."

Fuu nodded and returned to watching the path ahead of them

Jayde turned to face Clef, a bemused expression on her face.

"Fuu is smart, she was able to figure out most of our code from just that short conversation."

"Yes, she is extremely bright."

"Hm, it's too bad that they have to go back once they've completed their task. She'd probably make a wonderful spell crafter."

Clef nodded and they kept walking.

Hikaru and Umi were beginning to feel left out. Ferio was teaching Fuu to ride a horse and Jayde and Clef didn't talk much, but when they did it had to do with magic or they spoke very strangely, like those spies in a movie Hikaru had once seen, where they talked to each other in code. Then she could hear Jayde mutter something to Clef.

"I think the red and blue birds are feeling lonely."

Then Jayde walked up to them.

"Hey Hikaru, hey Umi. I figured you probably wanted someone to talk to."

Hikaru smiled.

"Thanks, but don't you usually not like to talk?"

"It's really the completely inane chatter that I don't like. I believe that you talk about at least slightly worthwhile things."

"I guess so. Hey Jayde, what was with all that talk about birds?"

"Well, Fuu already figured it out anyway, so telling you couldn't hurt too much. Clef and I came up with something of a code a while back, in case someone was following us and we wanted to discuss something that wasn't meant for the other person's ears. Birds means friends."

"Neat! Could you teach it to me?"

"No, I can't. People deserve privacy. Besides, there are some things that could possibly be dangerous for you to know."

"Really? Like what?"

"Hallucinogenic mushrooms, dangerous spells beyond your capabilities, that sort of stuff."

"Oh, well, that's alright. I can always come up with my own."

"Good, but I'd prefer you stay concentrated on the problems at hand, such as that monster approximately three yards ahead of us."

"What?! Where? Where?"

Jayde laughed.

"Relax Hikaru, I was just making sure that you were paying attention."

"Oh, okay then."

So far Umi had been all but ignoring Jayde. She did a quick check of Umi's thoughts and sighed.

"Umi, please, don't be jealous when there's nothing to be jealous of. Clef is my teacher, though I would go so far as to say he's almost my friend. I already know that you guys are his friends. If anything, you're closer to him then I am."

Umi looked at her, scared and angry.

"How do you know that?"

Jayde looked down.

"I'm sorry Umi, but I could easily feel that you were angry at me, and I wanted to know why. As soon as I found out, I stopped looking around. Please don't be mad."

"You're a psychic?"

"Only in the base capabilities. I can't send images or move things, I can only see people's thoughts and communicate with people."

"Hmm. And who said I was jealous?"

"You did."

"Oh yeah."

"I don't see why though, like I said, he considers you friends. I'm an apprentice."

"I don't know either. I mean, it's really kind of stupid."

Jayde smiled.

"Good. Friends?"

They shook hands.

"Friends."

Hikaru cheered, then stooped and gasped. Jayde looked up. It was an extremely large monster. Jayde held up her hands.

"Everybody, get out of the way! Jade Ball!"

Hikaru and Umi ran to where Fuu, Ferio, and Clef (and the horse) were. When Jayde cast her spell, they all saw a large green ball, that looked like it was made of stone, fly towards the monster and explode on impact. They all ducked as a wave of dust washed over them. As the dust cleared, they saw Jayde standing, holding her staff, and no monster, there were also a couple missing trees. Hikaru cheered.

"Yeah! Go Jayde!"

Jayde walked back over to them and Clef was the only one that caught the slight limp and the fact that she was relying heavily on her staff. As they started walking again, Clef whispered to her.

"What happened?"

"I guess I was still feeling the after effects of the leech. I had a hard time controlling the size of the jade ball and where it hit. It exploded too close to the ground and sent a spray of debris."

"Did anything hit you?"

Jayde didn't answer. She just kept walking for a few more steps before she collapsed. The others all tried to get to her, but Clef told them to keep going. He'd heal her and they'd catch up.

Once the others had started moving again, Clef rolled Jayde onto her back. It was then that he noticed the large cut in her robes. The edges were red with blood and the exposed flesh below was cut deep and bleeding freely. Clef removed all three layers of the cloak, but left the tunic. The cut was on her left side, the side that had faced away from him. He cast a healing/mending spell that would fix the cut quickly. It took almost three minutes, longer than it should have to heal what Clef could see. When it finished, Jayde tried to sit up, but yelped in pain and had to lay back down.

"Clef, you did remember to check for shrapnel, didn't you?"

Realizing his mistake, Clef blanched.

"Don't worry Clef, I can take care of this. Just sit back and make sure I don't faint, okay?"

Clef nodded, hoping she wasn't about to do what he thought she was. When she pulled a small dagger out of her belt, he knew that she was going to do it. The sliced open the newly healed wound and started digging around for shards.

"Clef, don't you go getting sick. I'd use a spell but I don't exactly feel up to it at the moment."

Jayde pulled out the last of the debris shards that she could find, and then looked at Clef.

"Sorry, but I don't think I could handle any spells at the moment. Digging around in your own flesh isn't exactly a fun experience."

Clef nodded and cast the spell again. Once it was stitched up Jayde ran into the forest. She came back a couple minutes later, with the blood washed off of her fingers.

"I found a stream. Well, let's get going."

As she summoned her hawk, Clef looked at her questioningly.

"I don't want to walk at the moment, I'm feeling rather ill."

Clef simply nodded and began to walk. Jayde saw how far ahead the others were and sighed, before grabbing Clef by the arm and hauling him up.
"You'd never catch up to them on foot."

The hawk took off , catching up to the others in under five minutes. Jayde let Clef off.

"Hey guys, sorry we took so long, but Master Clef forgot to check for debris shards, so I had to reopen the wound and remove them myself. Well, I'm going to fly ahead and look for a good place to camp."

Umi's mouth dropped.

"You just did that, and you're hungry?"

"Eww, don't be gross Umi. I'm just really tired."

Jayde flew off, leaving the others to walk in grossed-out silence. After another ten minutes of walking they found Jayde, sound asleep in the middle of a clearing. While Ferio, Hikaru and Umi went to get firewood, Fuu set up the area for the fire and Clef set up the extra tent for Jayde. He placed her inside it and then closed it up and walked over to where Fuu was sitting, after finishing setting up the firepit. For awhile he sat, staring into space.

"Um, mister Clef?"

"Yes, Fuu?"

"Jayde, is she alright?"

"Yes, if she missed anything it's too small to be able to do any damage."

"Yes, but she hasn't seemed very well all day."

"It's because of the fever reducing spell she created. She had accidentally linked the leech that draws the energy for the spell to the both of us, instead of the element water, like she had meant to."

"Ah. Mister Clef, if you were to equate her life span to mine, how old would she be?"

"Jayde? Somewhere around 17, the same age as you."

"She seems so young though."

"Well, for the last hundred years, she kept thinking that she was ten, then she'd remain in that consciousness for four years, before her memory blanked and she was back to ten years old."

"That's very strange."

Clef simply nodded and returned to staring at nothing. Pretty soon the others returned with a large amount of firewood. They got the fire started and were soon cooking what little meat that Ferio had been able to catch. They had asked Clef to summon some food for them, like Jayde had, but he told them that summoning ordinary objects was actually a very rare ability, and Jayde was probably the only living Cephian that had such extreme control of it. So they settled for what they could find and catch, most of them wondering what else Jayde was gifted at. After a while, they could hear muffled yelling. After listening for a couple seconds, they could make out most of the words.

"Master Clef you.....Once I get this.....lock spell undone you are in so much......trouble. Do you hear me Master Clef!? I know you.....can, I've gotten most of that spell already! Oh, when I get........out of here, I will be shooting......jade balls all over the........place!"

Clef sighed, He'd been afraid that she'd been in a bad mood when she woke up. It wasn't until she had flown ahead that he had realized that they had forgotten her cloak. Meanwhile, all three of the magic knights, who could tell what words were still being blanked, were all blushing to some degree.
"My, I hadn't realized that Jayde had such an....extensive vocabulary."

Umi raised an eyebrow.

"If someone in my school said something like that, they'd get detention."

"At my house, she'd get her mouth washed out with soap."

Umi looked at Hikaru, eyebrow still raised.,/P

After awhile, Jayde had calmed down and stopped swearing, so Clef undid the rest of the spell. Unfortunately, Jayde had done such a thorough job of trashing it that it took a while. Once she was out, she walked over to the fire and sat down next to Clef.
B"I can't believe that you forgot my cloak."
Clef nodded and Jayde's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The least you could do is....No, never mind."

"What, Jayde?"
"Well, you'd never agree to it, but I would like you to apologize. I'd only had it back for what, two, three days?"

Clef nodded again, then looked Jayde straight in the face.
B"I apologize for forgetting your cloak."

Fuu could swear that even the bugs were silent for a moment. None of them had thought he'd do it. True, he could be kind at times, but him actually apologizing was quite unexpected. Jayde had to fight off a blush (Why am I blushing?) and grinned.

"Apology accepted, Master Clef."