Author's Note: I... honestly meant to update before this. But... stuff came up, and... well, at least I'm updating now, right? Well, my updates should probably speed up soon, seeing as Passover is coming up, and that means I'm off bread for a little over a week... Carb withdrawal and frustration makes me write. o.o At least, it has for the past two years. Anyway... I still can't believe how many reviews this fic has gotten. Is it really that good? It's just... wow. Yeah, I'm not making much sense right now, am I? Well, anyway... Read on! Enjoy! Review! And so on!

Disclaimer: Amethyst Bubble does not own Fire Emblem.

Something Wicked

Chapter 11

By Amethyst Bubble

Maybe climbing out that window hadn't been the best idea in the world. Heath grumbled to himself as he found himself in another impossibly long and confusing hallway. Hadn't he come this way before? He frowned, tapping his foot against the ground in annoyed manner. He'd never find Legault if he just kept wandering around like this, but what else was there to do?

What this house really needed was maps, Heath decided. Lots of maps, posted on the walls every so often, with little markings to show you where you were and where the infuriating man you were searching for was.

Luckily enough, he had managed to avoid running in to any witch hunters so far. Still, he hadn't seen anyone else either, which was just a tiny bit eerie, considering how many people lived in this house. He should have met someone by now, regardless of how large the building might be.

Well, it was better to have met no one then to have met some witch hunters, Heath decided as he moved forward, into another hallway. The more he thought about it, the creepier it was to have seen absolutely no one ever since he left the library. Could it be that everyone had just killed each other and that there was no one left alive in this place? No, there would be bodies lying around if that was the case. Besides, the attack hadn't been going on long, at least from his own calculations, so it that couldn't be possible. Not even in a house full of magic.

He'd reached about the middle of the hallway when something that sounded like an explosion shook the ground. It was quickly followed by a flash of something that looked like purple lightning- Heath could only see it through the crack of one of the doors- before a strangled yelp. Instinct shouted at Heath to turn tail and run back down the hall, but a strange fascination he didn't completely understand kept him in place.

Well, this wasn't good.

Out of the room stepped a purple haired man; Heath recognized him as the same man from earlier, the one who had examined his eyes so... intently. He shuddered slightly and wondered why he still wasn't trying to head in the other direction. At least he wasn't a witch hunter, Heath grumbled to himself, only half trying to stay on the so-called "sunny side of life". He really wasn't very good at being an optimist. He wasn't completely sure he wouldn't rather meet a witch hunter then this guy.

"Oh," the man seemed to have finally taken notice of Heath. It bothered Heath slightly that he couldn't remember the man's name; he was sure he had been informed of it. Well, details like that tended to slip peoples minds a lot. The guy probably didn't even remember him, anyway.

...Dammit! The guy probably didn't even remember him! Heath's eyes widened a fraction. If he didn't remember him, he'd probably think he was a witch hunter! Without Legault or Nino to offer their word that he was not, he was doomed. After all, who would believe his words if they thought him a hunter? Well, this was it; he was a dead man.

"Aren't you that fellow... the one Legault brought back with him upon his return?" Okay, maybe he wasn't dead quite just yet.

He relaxed slightly, "Yes, actually." He replied as calmly as he could, "I don't suppose you know where he is? Legault, I mean." He had to ask, after all.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea," The other replied with a polite smile. "I don't believe I've properly introduced myself. I'm Canas."

"Heath," He replied.

"Ah," Canas nodded to himself, straightening his sleeves slightly. "Well, why don't I help you find Legault?" He offered, "After all, it's not very safe for you to be wandering about alone, what with the attack... And am I correct in assuming that you aren't magically gifted?"

Heath's brow furrowed, "W-well, yes, but-" He was cut off by Canas, who raised a hand.

"There are certain signs, if one knows what to look for." He said, motioning for Heath to follow him.

So that was what he had been doing. Still not feeling entirely comfortable, Heath followed the purple haired man. Well, what other choice did he have in the matter? He needed to find Legault, and here was someone- someone with magic- willing to help find him.

He was going to kill Legault. Provided, of course, the witch hunters didn't.

It had been such a simple plan. All they had to do was defend themselves and not get killed. How come things never went as planned?

It was really unfair; didn't he deserve a bit more of a heroic death then this? Guy tried to slide backwards a bit, but it was kind of hard, being flat on his back, staring up into the cold eyes of his attacker, who was currently having his short, rather greasy looking hair tugged at by water sprites. Apparently, the annoyance wasn't enough to make him drop the sword in his hands to shake them off. Guy gulped; well, he was doomed.

He certainly hoped Matthew was having a better time then he was. Judging by that terrified scream, he was. It definitely hadn't sounded like Matthew who screamed, and Guy really hoped that if he was done with that other hunter, he could come and help him out a little. His attacker's eyes glimmered slightly and Guy mentally corrected himself. He needed a lot of help, not just a little.

He summoned up a small sphere of water, but he would have no chance to use it. The sword was coming down on him now and there was nothing he could do about it. He shut his eyes tightly and then instincts he hadn't known he had kicked in. He rolled to the left and away from the blade that fell and imbedded itself in the wooden planks of the porch floor. He opened his eyes and winced; that had almost been him.

Guy got to his feet quickly, making sure to waste no time. He opened his mouth to call for help, but no sound came out. He quickly closed it. The sudden disappearance of his voice wasn't going to help any. The only defense he had was the sphere of water in his hand and that wouldn't do him much good unless this man turned out to be allergic to water, which was less then likely.

With the witch hunter advancing on him, Guy did the only thing that came to mind. He cast every water spell he knew by memory that would work without a source of water nearby, and aimed all their effects at the hunter. The result was a very wet and annoyed witch hunter who wasn't too worse for the wear. The only really significant difference the spells had made was that one of them, a particularly strong curse that he could never create the full effect of, had managed to knock the sword out of the hunter's hands, sending flying some distance. The hunter didn't seem particularly worried about this. He abandoned the weapon entirely and kept advancing.

"Dammit..." Well, at least Guy had found his voice again, though it really wouldn't do much. It was times like this (though in all honesty, this was the only "time like this" he'd ever experienced and hoped it stayed that way if he lived through this) he really hated water magic. It was always weaker when you weren't near a direct source of water.

He wished he had his sword. At least with the blade in hand, he might stand a chance. He had always preferred the weapon to magic. He backed up a bit as the witch hunter advanced on him. This was not good; any minute now, he'd hit the wall of the house and then he'd be cornered. Seeing the glimmer appear in the hunter's eyes again, he winced and took another step back, then another, until he was flat against the wall. He wished he'd been gifted with a darkness element instead of water so he could phase through this wall as if it weren't there at all and leave the witch hunter on the other side. It may have been the coward's way out, but what else was there to do? Better to berate yourself later for running like a scared kitten then to be killed by a witch hunter. That would be letting the witch hunters win, something that absolutely could not be allowed. Leila had been the first person this particular group had ever lost to hunters, and hopefully she would be the last.

Without taking his eyes off his attacker, Guy fumbled for the doorknob, prepared to try and make a quick dash inside. It was a risky move for many reasons. For one, he didn't know if he'd be able to move fast enough to safely get inside and slam the door closed before the hunter could follow him. For another, there was no way to tell what was waiting on the other side of the door. More witch hunters, for example. Still, he couldn't do nothing, could he? His hand found the doorknob a fraction of a second too late.

The moment his fingers closed around the brass knob, the witch hunter's fingers closed around his throat. Guy's eyes widened as he choked; how had he closed the distance so quickly? He closed his eyes tightly. Well, this was it, he was going to be strangled to death. How pathetic, he thought to himself rather sulkily.

It took him a few seconds to realize that he wasn't dead, nor was he in the process of dying. In fact, he wasn't even being strangled anymore. Sure, there were fingers around his throat, but they weren't tightening in the slightest. He could still breathe reasonably easily. He opened one eye and found that the hunter himself seemed to be frozen. He spotted the blackish purple aura that now surrounded the man and realized why immediately.

"Guy!" Matthew swept his hand, coated in the same aura, to the left and the witch hunter fell over that way, his hands leaving Guy's throat. Guy slumped forward slightly, gripping the doorknob tightly to keep himself standing. "Are you okay?" Amber eyes blazed with anger that the dark-haired teen was relieved to see was directed at the hunter, not him.

"Well, I-I'm better now," He replied as calmly as he could, straightening up. "What'd you do to him?" He asked, staring at the prone body of the hunter. "You didn't... kill him, did you?" He glanced at Matthew, worried. It was against their rules, their morals, to kill. Even hunters weren't exempt from this rule.

"Not yet, I didn't," Matthew growled, walking forward and delivering a sharp kick to the man's side. The hunter yelped sharply and Guy's worries were momentarily put to rest. Well, at least he was still alive. Though with Matthew's current mood, it might not stay that way. "Hey, you," Matthew kicked him again and Guy winced. "How'd you find this place?"

"D-don't know," The man seemed to be gasping for breath. "W-wouldn't tell i-if I did."

Matthew frowned. "Well, then you're of no use to us, are you?" He said, voice filled with mock sweetness. "I might as well dispose of you." He raised his hand, summoning more shadows into his grasp.

"Matthew, stop it!" Guy gripped the other's arm tightly, halting his gathering of magic. "We don't kill, remember?"

It was then that Matthew rounded on him, an expression of pure fury on his face, "You could have been killed!" He shouted, tearing his arm out of Guy's grip. "I could have lost both you and her in the same day! Do you think I can let that go unpunished?"

Guy felt like shrinking back under Matthew's glare, but instead, he reached out and took hold of the other's arm again, "Matthew," His voice was surprisingly calm and he almost didn't recognize it as his own, "We do not kill. We are not them, so we will not sink to their levels." Blue eyes sought amber as Guy locked his gaze with Matthew's. "Let him go," He instructed. "He can't fight back anymore."

Matthew didn't reply right away, and for a moment, the only sounds were his angry, ragged breathing and the witch hunter's strained gasps. Then, Matthew, muttering obscenely to himself all the while, drew back the majority of the black aura that had encased the hunter.

With a yip of glee, the hunter tried to get to his feet again, but found himself still unable to move.

Guy frowned at Matthew, "You're not allowed to kill him!" He ordered, sounding like a mother speaking to a disobedient child.

"And I'm not going to," Matthew's said, obviously trying not to sound frustrated, "But we can't just let him go when we have so very many questions to be answered, can we?" He reached over and tugged lightly on Guy's braid.

Well, Guy sighed, swiping at his bangs, he supposed he couldn't disagree with that.

Nils watched silently from his seat at the small table commonly used to card reading as Ninian scurried about, making sure all the doors and windows were locked securely. Hannah followed at a much slower pace, checking things after Ninian had to make sure that the younger fortune teller had done a good job locking up.

"What about everyone else?" Nils asked as Ninian bolted last of the windows shut.

"Ah," Hannah interrupted, taking a seat next to Nils. "They're all young, spry and reasonably good with their magic. They'll be fine." The old woman closed her eyes and leaned back, "Us fortune tellers, on the other hand, aren't blessed with good offensive skills, so it's best if we stay out of brawls."

Ninian nodded, "You're much too young to be involved in fights, Nils, and Hannah is much too ol..." She was cut off as the senior mystic opened one eye and glared harshly at the blue-haired girl. Ninian quickly rephrased her sentence, "Hannah is much too important to fight. As for me, I've never been good with offensive or defensive magic." She sighed. "It's a little disheartening that we can't do anything to help them, but we mustn't risk our own lives. I'm sure everyone'll be fine."

Nils swung his legs back and forth uneasily, "Well, if you say so..." He fixed his gaze on the table.

"The only negative news I've been able to pick up on for today is that it's going to rain soon." Hannah said suddenly, "And if something terrible were to happen, then that young one... the ghost-seer... what's her name now?" She scratched at her chin.

"Priscilla," Nils put in.

"Right, right..." Hannah refolded her hands in her lap, "Priscilla would have told us so. Now," The old woman looked at Ninian. "Make yourself useful, girl, and get me some tea." She pointed a bony finger at the small stove across the room, half-split off from everything else by the many curtains that separated the attic into different chambers.

"All right," Ninian obeyed without question. "I'll be back in a moment."

Hannah waited until Ninian was behind the curtains and out of earshot before turning to Nils, "All right, boy. I didn't want to say anything around your sister, because she'll insist it's traumatizing for you, being so young and all. Bah, but that's not the truth. You're not a baby anymore and I want you to tell me exactly how much of this fight you've foreseen." Her eyes flicked back over to the curtains, to make sure Ninian wasn't trying to listen in. No, it appeared that the young woman didn't have any idea that they were even talking.

"How much of it...?" Nils tilted his head to the side, "Well, I don't really know. It kind of went by fast so I couldn't catch most of it."

"Just tell me what you were able to see," Hannah insisted gruffly.

"Well, if you insist..." Nils began drawing patterns on the wooden table with his index finger. "It's not too clear. I just knew that we were going to be attacked. And who else would attack us besides witch hunters?" He looked up, pausing to take a breath, "I don't think anyone will be injured, besides maybe a few scratches. The fight won't last too long. It'll be over by midnight tonight. That's... really all I can tell you." He paused again, before saying, "Oh, and Hannah...? You're right. It'll start raining soon."

"Of course I'm right," Hannah scoffed. "I'm always right, boy."

They fell silent as Ninian approached, balancing a cup of tea on a saucer. "You don't want anything, do you, Nils?" She asked, setting the tea down before Hannah.

Nils shook his head, "No, I'm fine."

"Very well then," Ninian said, taking a seat.

Silence fell as Hannah drank her tea. It was definitely an uncomfortable silence, and they all kept glancing at the doors and windows from time to time, as if expecting hunters to break in.

It was then that the knocking started. It startled Ninian so much that she jumped up, overturning her chair. Nils got up too, clutching at his sister's arm. Hannah tried to keep her wits about her as she slowly put her teacup down before rising from her seat, grabbing the crystal ball in the middle of the table. That way, if anyone tried to mess with her, she could just smash their head in.

"Now, now," Ninian's voice was hushed as she edged forward carefully, Nils stumbling after her. "It's not necessarily a hunter... It could be one of the other witches coming to check on us." She reached out and laid a hand on the bolt that locked the door, prepared to slam it shut again if it was someone who wished to do them harm. No, she tried to convince herself, how would anyone else have found the passage to the attic? It was so well hidden, no one who didn't live here could find it...

It turned out that she was right.

"Are all of you okay?" Eliwood panted, apparently having run up the steep stairs. "Hector and I, we've been going around making sure that everyone is still... well, alive, and I came to check on you."

Nils immediately let go of Ninian's arm, "We're doing fine so far!" He chimed in, glad that it was a friend instead of a foe. Though both siblings had calmed when they saw the red-headed witch, Hannah flatly refused to put her crystal ball down. A woman needed a way to defend herself, after all!

"May I ask how things are going downstairs?" Ninian ventured, ushering Eliwood inside.

He smiled, "Oh, it's not so bad. There aren't so many hunters, and we've managed to get some of the younger witches into secure places where they can wait out the fighting." He paused, "Though no one's seen Louise in a little while, and Pent and Erk are rather worried about that."

"Oh, I hope she's all right," Ninian said, tone laced with worry.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Eliwood gave her a comforting smile. "Louise can take care of herself, as she's demonstrated on several occasions."

"Well, all the same..." Ninian turned slightly until she faced Hannah, "Would you mind doing a reading for Louise?" She asked. "I'd do it myself, but... I'm rather nervous right now, and I don't quite know how that will affect the clarity of my readings."

"All right, all right," Hannah grumbled, finally placing the crystal ball back on the table. "Come, boy," She gestured to Nils. "Help me find my cards and Louise's information..." He quickly ran across the room to a file cabinet that lay against the wall. Pulling out a drawer, he began searching through the files marked 'L'. "Umm, here's Legault..." He muttered to himself as he flipped through them.

"So organized," Eliwood smiled.

Ninian nodded, "Well, for a while, Hannah had a filing system based on everyone's lunar signs (1), but even she couldn't remember them all, so it was quite troublesome to find the information. Eventually, Nils took matters into his own hands and rearranged the filing system in alphabetical order. Hannah swears she liked it better her way, but I think that she just doesn't want to admit that someone else's way is better then hers."

"You know, for a girl with such a soft voice, it really does carry," Hannah said with mixed amusement and annoyance as she hobbled back towards the table, a deck of cards clutched in her hand.

"What deck are you going to use?" Ninian asked, "Tarot or medicine?"

"My goddess deck.(2)" Hannah answered, shuffling the cards together with surprising skill. When she felt the deck was ready, she laid it on the table so the cards faced downward, and then spread them out in a fan shape. "Nils, don't you have those papers yet?" She snapped.

Nils nodded, scurrying up to Hannah and placing a few sheets of paper in her hand. "Sorry," He apologized. "It turns out hers were right next to Pent's, under 'R' for 'Reglay'. I thought they were under 'L', for Louise..." He trailed off, "We really need to get those straightened out. I think they should go in alphabetical order by first name." He mumbled the last part under his breath.

"Nonsense," Hannah replied, having caught the young boy's mumbles. "You got your way on the alphabetizing, so let me do the rest as I please." She leafed through the pages, nodding to herself.

"I don't understand," Eliwood said suddenly. "Why do you need those papers to read Louise's fortune?"

Ninian shook her head, taking it up as her duty to explain, "It's really best to read for people in person, or perhaps over the phone, depending on the circumstances. Unfortunately, we do not currently know where Louise is. Nor do we have anyone extremely close to her, like Pent for example, or Erk, here with us. So instead we will have to try our best to channel some of Louise's consciousness, or... well, basically, we're trying to think how she thinks. Those papers would be her astrological data, including a full chart, with the positions of her planets and such. (3) We haven't read for people much using this method, but judging from the few instances in which we have, the results are favorable enough." She smiled, "I suppose that doesn't make much sense, does it?"

Eliwood smiled slightly, "Well, to be honest, no. But that's probably me... I'm not any good at understanding this kind of thing. I'm sure someone who had more of a feel for it then I do would have understood just fine..."

From her spot by the table, Hannah spoke up gruffly, "That's right, you never did have a talent for anything in the ways of fortune telling... Just basic magic for you." She pulled a card from the deck abruptly as she stopped speaking. "Hmm... Sophia... Wisdom. Well, she's a sharp one, that Louise..." She muttered to herself as she pulled another card. "Vila... Shape-shifting. Good at adapting to new situations. Good, good, so she will be quick on her feet."

"How many cards are you going to pull?" Nils asked.

"Just three," Hannah replied, plucking up a third card and holding it up to the light. "Hmm, Morgan Le Faye... Rhythms..." She scratched her chin for a moment, then put the cards down, sweeping them up into one pile. "Well, that's that."

"So, what does it mean?" Eliwood asked.

"They sounded like positive cards," Ninian said in a contemplative tone.

"Yeah, I mean, wisdom's good, isn't it? And shape-shifting too!" Nils put in.

"Shape-shifting? Like turning into animals?" Eliwood said. "I've heard of witches who can do that..."

Hannah shook her head, "Shape-shifting is a rare witch talent that takes many, many years for those who aren't blessed with a natural talent for it to learn. However, this card isn't speaking of actual shape-shifting, not really. It's speaking... oh, what's the word?"

"Metaphorically?" Nils suggested, trying to be helpful.

"That's the one. In other words, it means she can shift her personality to fit the situation she's in."

"Oh," Eliwood said. "I guess that makes some sense. I don't know how much it fits Louise, though... She always seems so kind..."

Ninian shook her head in amusement, "Please don't worry about it. Vila's a rather complicated card."

"And it's an odd combination," Nils said. "Vila and Morgan Le Faye. I mean, shape-shifting and rhythms?"

Hannah cleared her throat, shuffling the cards again, "It's a positive combination all together. While we can't say anything for certain about Louise, my instincts tell me she's fine."

"That's good to know," Eliwood smiled in relief. "I'll be sure to inform Pent if I run into him. Well," He turned and made a move for the still open door. "I guess I'd better rejoin the fray."

"Hey, look at this! It's a staircase! Was that here when we searched the hallway before?"

"Probably using it as a hiding space, the little rats."

"Come on, before they try to close it!"

All four witches froze as heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs.

"Eliwood?" Ninian was the first to speak up, "You forgot to reseal the passage, didn't you?"

"Excuse me for asking, but you haven't ever been put under some sort of spell, have you?" Canas asked.

The two had been walking in silence for a while now. So far, they had seen no sign of Legault, but they had run into a few other witches, some of whom claimed to have caught glimpses of the suddenly elusive man. They had run into a few witch hunters, too, who Canas had been quick to get rid of with magic. Heath soon found out that the man had the same element as Legault.

"...I don't think so," Heath replied after a moment. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Canas brushed it off with a sweep of his hand. "It's just that there are traces of magic in your aura. It's another one of those things you can see if you've studied them enough." He smiled.

"Well, I don't think anyone's ever placed a spell on me or anything like that," Heath frowned. "Maybe Legault's magic rubbed off on me?"

Canas looked thoughtful, "It's not completely unlikely, and the magic does seem to mostly be of a darkness element." He paused for a moment, as if considering other options.

Heath waited silently, slightly annoyed at having his... aura... analyzed so. What was an aura again? He frowned. For someone so close to a witch, he honestly had no clue about most of these things.

"Your heritage... is it completely human?" Canas asked suddenly. At Heath's confused look, he tried to elaborate, "No vampire blood, or wood nymph? Anything like that?"

Rather uncomfortable with having to reveal this fact to a stranger, Heath reluctantly said, "Well, I'm supposedly part Fae."

"Fae, hm?" Canas murmured, "My, but that's rare. I suppose that might explain the magical traces in your aura."

"Erm, if you say so."

"Have you run into any trouble?" Rath asked.

"Not really," Wil shook his head, quite glad to have finally met up with his teacher again. "I mean, we've run into a couple hunters, but Sain and Kent took care of the fighting. They're pretty strong!" He smiled at his teacher, "How about you? You've been fighting alone, haven't you? It must be hard, because most these hunters are in groups, right?"

Rath shook his head, "I've only fought a few. None of them were too difficult to overcome."

"Rath, are you going to be staying with us?" Sain asked.

Kent nodded, "Either way, we should start moving. It's not good to stay in one place for too long."

Wil was uncertain as to how three minutes counted as 'too long', but he supposed Kent knew more about these matters then he did.

"...No," Rath said after a minute. "It's probably best if I go separate from you."

"Well, we can cover more ground that way," Kent agreed with a nod of his head. "Good luck to you."

"Come on, Wil," Sain said, nodding towards the rather dark hallway in front of them. "See you later, Rath!"

Rath nodded brusquely, starting down another hallway.

"Hey, wait!" Wil called, taking a few quick steps to catch up with his teacher, "Rath, I know you said that you'd prefer if I went with Kent and Sain so I wouldn't be involved in any fighting, because you were sure that they could take care of any witch hunters that came our way-"

"Wow," Sain said in a hushed whisper to Kent. Both of them had stopped when Wil had said 'wait'. "He really thinks that highly us?"

Kent cast a withering look at Sain, "I'm sure I have no idea why." He said flatly.

"-but we really haven't faced any tough witch hunters, at least according to Kent and Sain, we haven't..." Wil paused to take a breath. "And you said it yourself, you haven't run into that many witch hunters. So, can I please go with you?" He looked up at his teacher.

"We're so disliked," Sain sighed quietly. Kent elbowed him, a silent way to tell him to shut up.

"It's just because," Wil added hurriedly, "That you're my teacher, and well, maybe it'd be a good thing if I could use some of my magic if we run into any witch hunters. It's kind of a practical training exercise, right?"

When Rath looked doubtful, Kent quickly said, "It couldn't hurt, Rath. In fact, he's right, it actually could be quite helpful with his training."

"Best way to learn is to do, in my opinion." Sain added with a grin.

"...I guess it can't hurt." Rath said, sighing in defeat. He brushed back a few of the strands of hair that escaped his bandanna and gestured to Wil, "Come. We've wasted enough time."

Mouthing 'thank you' to Kent and Sain, Wil set off after his teacher, seeming considerably happier.

Leaning slightly on the red-head, Sain sighed wistfully, "Isn't that sweet? Ah, to be young again."

"You are young." Kent sighed, shoving Sain off of him, "Come on, Rath's right. We've wasted enough time."

It was eleven o'clock and pouring rain when Fiora slammed the door leading to the balcony shut, her soaking wet hair and clothes dripping water on the floor. The witch hunter who was still out there pounded on the door, obviously enraged. Drawing the still air in the room behind her fingers, she soon created a net of air. It would have to serve as a barrier for now. She placed it in front of the door, just in case the hunter managed to break down the door. It was unlikely, but she couldn't take chances. After all, it had been hard enough to get him on the balcony in the first place.

She sighed, summoning up a gust of hot air. It left her wet clothes and hair merely damp.

"That's better," She said, summoning more hot air to dry the carpet.

The door pounded again, reminding her that there was still a very angry witch hunter out there.

She frowned at the noise he was making before quickly walking out of the room. She didn't have time for this.

She wrapped more warm winds around herself as she walked, quickly removing any remaining dampness from her clothes. She really didn't like being wet much. She wasn't like her sisters, who loved the rain. She supposed it might have something to do with their element. They all had the same element, apparently a common family trait, but unlike her sisters, she'd never liked the rain, humidity, or air that felt wet in general.

She believed it had been Hannah who'd offered a suggestion. She vaguely remembered the old woman telling her something about it when she was young. Hannah had said that while all wind elements shared the ability of wind magic, they were divided into two categories. Fiora fell under the dry air category, while Farina and Florina fell under the other, the wet air category. Hannah had insinuated that it had something to do with how they handled their magic, which spells they would be better at, and what secondary element would be easiest for them to learn.

Fiora had picked up bits of fire magic very quickly, and she supposed that this must be the reason why. Likewise, both of her sisters had quickly picked up water magic when they had decided to try using magic from other elements. Fiora had been absolutely hopeless at water magic, and the first (and only) time Florina had tried a fire spell, she had been so shocked by the flame that she had put it out immediately with a miniature rain cloud she'd created.

Speaking of her sisters, Fiora hoped they were all right. She hadn't seen either of them in quite a while, not since that afternoon. She sighed. It was quite like Farina to run off by herself, but Florina? No, it wasn't like Florina at all. It was most likely she was fighting with Lyn, or perhaps Serra.

Still, with all the witch hunter attacks, she couldn't help but worry just a little bit...

"Fiora!"

The teal haired woman spun around to find Florina running towards her, surprisingly unaccompanied. There was a look of pure panic on her younger sister's face and Fiora had to take a few steps back so Florina could slow down enough not to crash into her.

"Florina?" She asked, placing her hands on her sister's shoulders, "Is something wrong? What happened?"

"I..." Florina began, trying to breathe.

"Did something happen to you? Or Lyn, perhaps?"

Florina shook her head frantically, "No, no, I'm fine! So is Lyn, too... It's just that..."

"Just what, Florina?" Fiora asked, wondering what could have Florina so worked up.

"I can't find Farina anywhere!"

Chapter 11- End
Yaaay, chapter eleven! This is the farthest I've ever gone with a fanfic... And it's all because of my wonderful readers. You guys make me so happy with your reviews. I'm honestly going to try to update more often, really I am. And I've even got my very own slave driver to help me. She knows who she is.

And, uh, not much to say. It's raining and our windows have blown in. Not all of them, just the ones on the porch... and daylight savings time has rolled around, so I've had to adjust a lot of the digital clocks in the house because... Well, no one else seems to know how. I'm glad my computer clock adjusts itself. And my brother is terrorizing me with kites, plastic scythes and screaming... Oh, and the cat. Cannot forget that cat. The poor cat. I'll shut up now.

1. I'm going to go ahead and assume that everyone knows at least a little astrology. You know, star signs, Aries, Capricorn, Pisces... Anyway, for those that don't know, those are your sun signs. You also have moon signs, or lunar signs. So, uh, yeah. I have no clue if most people know this. This is what I get for having a mother who does this stuff for a living, isn't it? I'm now a magical smart-aleck. o.o

2. Everyone knows what tarot cards are, right? The deck of cards most commonly used for card readings? Well, you can also use medicine cards... I've got a deck of them somewhere... and the goddess deck is a special deck of cards featuring different goddesses. It's... a little difficult to explain. It's pretty much just a different deck of cards to read from. I actually had to borrow my mother's deck when I was having Hannah pull the cards. Needed to make sure that I had everything... reasonably correct. There's always some room for personal interpretation with card reading.

3. This is kind of like lunar signs. On a full astrological chart, it also displays what signs all the planets were in at the moment of birth. There are all sorts of personality traits involved with this, as well as other things. For example, I've got Mars in Gemini, while my sun sign (the main sign) is Scorpio.

This has been the (hopefully correct) astrology rant of the day. Eheh.

Review please!