I did not like being bound to the cards. They restricted my powers too much. The only reason I did not try to break free of them was Clow Read. He was...my only friend, a father almost...he was my creator. I could not turn back on him…even when he forced himself upon me…
Which he had done again tonight. I curled up on the floor of the room, pulling my clothes around me, trembling in fear…and what else I knew not. A few beads of sweat, the sweat of fear, ran down my neck and shoulders. I hurt. There was no other way to put it…but he was my master… I wrapped myself in my wings, feeling myself tremble…I did not bother to even think about getting dressed for a long time.
When I finally calmed myself to a reasonable state of mind, I quietly dressed and walked outside, into the garden that Clow enjoyed so much. I did not hate the wizard…but I feared him. I shuddered; my heart still raced painfully. I just stood there in the garden for a long time.
Eventually I started walking. Just through the garden, not anywhere else. My loyalty to my master kept me from leaving. As I passed under a latticed arch hung with flowers, I only had a moment to register a strangely powerful magic overhead before…
He dropped down from the arch, hanging upside down in midair. "Hi!" he proclaimed.
I jumped back slightly, my sight veiled in brilliant blue, one hand held out, ready to call upon the moon-crystals.
But he just hung there, smiling, almost laughing.
Then I realized how much we were alike.
He was radiating a very powerful magic…one I had felt before…what was it?… Dash-magic. And he wasn't hanging, he was hovering. Flying. Upside down. My decision to attack faltered.
Then he got a look of concern on his young face. The pattern of his wingbeats changed, and he tilted at an angle. He frowned and tried again, this time slowly spinning around so that his back was to me. Once more he shifted his wings to another angle, and he tilted…tilted more…and fell to the ground.
I stood there, confused, as he picked himself off the ground. He mumbled to himself angrily as he wiped the grass and dirt off. His long, tapered wings folded and refolded against his back, their bluish feathers a striking contrast to his short brown hair. Finally he finished cleaning himself off and looked at me. I looked back.
We were alike.
He was shorter then myself by a few inches, with a lithe, light-boned body that suggested someone who spent much time flying. He wore only soft, loose-fitting pants that were cinched at his waist with a simple cord. The color of his skin and the shape of his face indicated someone who was not native to China. He considered me for a few more minutes before passing his judgment.
"Hmmm. I didn't realize two moon-spirits could be so different." He spoke a language I had never heard before, but I understood it…not with my mind…but with something more primitive, more basic than I could name.
Then, his words struck me. I didn't know what to think. Moon-spirits? He had said it in reference to me; did that mean I was a moon-spirit? And there was another like me?
He sighed. "Not much of a talker, are you?"
"It was not something that needed answering."
He smiled. "Oh, you can talk! That's better."
"Of course I can talk…"
"I'm Paynal."
I looked at him.
"Speed-spirit." At that, his wings set into motion. They moved so quickly that they produced a low buzzing sound; Paynal hovered a few inches off of the ground. I thought about that. I never needed to worry about using my wings when /I/ was hovering…
Paynal was also thinking; he got a disgusted look on his face as he remembered something, and he said something quite nasty-sounding in a language I couldn't understand. He snorted, shook his head, and looked back up at me. He still hovered. "You're Yue."
"How are you so certain of that?"
He smiled. "I know what moon magic feels like. Any spirit who doesn't…well…" He shrugged.
I heard someone walk up behind me. It was Clow, and as he came up beside me, I could feel him tense. Paynal also tensed; neither was glad to see the other.
"Why are you here?" Clow asked. I had never heard him sound so angry.
"Told to," was Paynal's simple reply, in a slightly accented Chinese.
"I thought they said they wouldn't come here until…"
"I wouldn't question their choice to speed things up."
Clow sneered at Paynal. "And I should believe you, of all spirits?"
Paynal's pupils slid into a thin cat-like shape. Like my own… I noticed the outer edge of his irises begin to glow. "They want him up there."
"Why didn't they come themselves?"
"Too much of a culture shock, I suppose," Paynal snarled.
He and Clow glared at each other for a while. "You tell them that if they dare come to take him, I'll blast a hole through this world to theirs."
Paynal looked ready to say something, but he clamped his mouth shut. He shot one last glare at Clow before turning and flying away so quickly that I blinked and missed his exit.
I looked to my master. "What was he talking about?"
Clow could not bring himself to look directly at me. "It is a private matter…between me and him." He turned and walked away.