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The stone behemoth known as Alfea stood proud and strong within it's grounds – greenery surrounding it like a protective blanket, while the hustle-bustle of returning friends and new faces flooded the gates to the college. Stained-glass and transparent windows glittered in the sunshine, while the population of fairies and specialists congregated and flooded the grounds. Just outside the gateway to the main courtyard, a soft pop was heard every few moments as students from across the different realms appeared for the next term of their education at Alfea International College.

She stood, back straight, eyes glued on the students below her, a soft, yellow, oversized jumper hanging on her frame, off one shoulder, as she hugged herself. Honestly, she hated the first day back, as she had spent the summer enjoying the quietness of the campus, but she was always run-down this time of year. Just like fingerprints, all the magics of the fairies were different – sure there were more than one water fairy, fire fairy, earth fairy, and mind fairy, but like fingerprints, and snowflakes, the manifestation of the magic was different.

Hers was mind magic, like her mentor, Headmistress Farah Dowling, but not. Headmistress Dowling was able to channel her magic, and like a conduit, almost channel the magic of her students, to allow them to grasp theirs faster and safer. Hers was empathy and energy – she was able to feel everything – having mastered it enough that everything was a low hum in the background of her consciousness now, but also to project emotions – nothing ended an argument faster than learning what someone was feeling first-hand after all – and to channel energy into something else, for which she turned to medicine and healing for the longest time to be offered her job at the end of last semester as the on-site healer.

Which was why she hated the first day of term so much - almost as much as when she was a student here all those years ago. She managed emotions well enough, but the low thrum was a raging storm with so many teenagers back on site – after a lovely quiet summer aiding Ben Harvey and his children in the peace of the greenhouses, the raging flow of unfettered emotions was not helping to calm her nerves for starting at the college for proper this time.

A solid presence appeared beside her; cool, calm and collected as always. Headmaster Saul Silva, head of the specialist side of the college surveyed the youngsters below with a quiet caution as always.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, aware of how the crowds affected her. When she didn't answer, he clucked his tongue at her, drawing her attention to him before scoffing. "Emma, how are you going to hold up when we have assemblies? All those crowds? You trained so hard when you were a student, you should put those old lessons into practice." He smirked then at her as she narrowed her gaze at him, her heterochromic eyes hypnotic as they roved over his form, almost a need to check everyone was ok before she opened her mouth to respond.

"Do I need to floor you again, with a single look, might I remind you, Saul – for you to learn not to tease me when I am putting those lessons into practise as we speak?" she turned to him and raised an eyebrow, fully facing him now, her sweater too large on her slight frame, falling below her knees where her woollen grey tights disappeared into black ugg boots. Her short blonde hair was pulled half up into a floral clip on the crown of her head while her platinum fringe swept over her forehead, covering a scar he knew she was self-conscious of.

Emma gestured with one hand to the empty corridor and started walking, throwing a lazy smile over her shoulder as she meandered towards the fields the specialists would be arriving at, the heavy clunking of Saul's black boots echoing behind her as he caught up to her strides.

"So, Healer-Nightingale," Saul started, eyeing Emma once again, his blue eyes keeping watch over every sudden movement in the courtyard as they finally stepped into the open air, "will you be taking any classes this year too?"

Emma nodded once, "I will be offering 'channel-healing' once a week but will also be mentoring the mind students outside of their classes with the Headmistress," she explained. Saul nodded at her to continue. Emma gestured to his specialist upperclassmen who were already hopping up to the training mats, eyes roving every joint and every thud as a body connected with their mats. "It's a concept I have that mind fairies, who can take pain away from patients into themselves to ease suffering can also change the energy and reflect it back by channelling it as healing energy."

Saul shrugged at this before pointing out proper stance to a few students as they walked by. He knew why Emma walked with him through this part of campus – the residual energy spent by his specialists was something she could absorb and revitalise her energy levels without drawing on the reserves below the school – it had been something she had been practising during the summer when he trained with Sky. She could also sense when someone was over exerting themselves, along with helping minor injuries with a cheery pat on the back to the fallen specialists.

It was something Saul revered of her – it was subtle but had made an impact – she showed she was open and ready to listen and genuinely cared for the wellbeing of the students. He mentally shook himself ready to start barking orders to the newly arrived and recently returned specialists and bid Emma a goodbye with a lazy wave of his hand, to which she offered a sloppy salute before whirling around and sauntering off to the fairy half of campus.

Emma would be living nearer the Specialist side of campus, with close and easy access to the greenhouses for peace and access to Bens' plants, but would be teaching among the faculty of the fairy contingent.

Emma had sauntered off to the dorm section of the fairy campus and smiled as she approached her old dorm. She could hear the pitter patter of all the different feet occupying the dorm. She smiled as knocked once and a short girl with earthy coloured clothes approached with a smile. "Emma!" the girl called, cradling one plant pot of the many dozens she could see in the room.

"Hi Terra, are you all settled in?" Emma smiled as she closed her eyes and breathed in a deep breath. The dorm was a comfort. She could clearly remember her time here and fondly regarded the room Terra was carrying the plant pots into. "Oh Terra, you are in my old room!" she laughed softly as Terra turned to her. Emma pointed to the bed up the steps smiling softly. "Thick walls, slightly higher than dream planes – that's the spot for a mind fairy!" she explained. She turned hearing a discussion about changing outfits for the orientation evening, approaching as a young woman with blonde hair in an elaborate braid sneered "I'm a mentor, not a tutor."

Emma leaned beside the red-headed young woman and raised an eyebrow at the mentor. Stella was confident, to be sure, as Emma had already seen at the end of the last term, but Emma did not like that she was turning away from responsibility. Especially given her coming career obligations. "Stella." Emma warned before turning back to Terra and her plant obsession. She smiled when she heard Stella explain further to Bloom – the newest fire fairy.

"Shared space, Terra." Barked Stella as she crossed the living area. Emma frowned at that, holding one of the creeping vines Stella had worked on that summer. "Everyone loved The Secret Garden because it was a secret." Stella sneered.

Emma opened her mouth to reprimand Stella, but Terra beat her to it. "Actually," she replied sweetly, "that's not quite the message of The Secret Garden. If anything, it's a story about how when things are kept private, their benefits aren't fully appreciated." Emma smiled brightly at the look of happiness on Terras' face as she cradled a succulent whose leaves almost swayed in joy from the care and attention it was receiving from the earth fairy. Stella merely stared at Terra before she replied with a soft "okay," and carried her plant pot into her room.

Emma turned to Stella and softly reminded "when students are brought to the dorm by parents, their things are usually deposited into the shared space for them to organise, as you well know, Stella. If I remember correctly, you had eight suitcases delivered two days before your arrival." Emma cocked her head before nodding once.

"Terra, come find me if you need me, okay?" she called, hearing a cheery acknowledgement before she turned and left. Emma suppressed a laugh at hearing Bloom ask "who was that?" as she was leaving.

Emma returned to her rooms and opened the curtains to allow light into the room. It was much like the size of the dorms, but she alone occupied the space so she turned the main living room into a calm space, with floor cushions, a squashy sofa and two comfortable armchairs. Short, but wide bookshelves ran along the wall with the window while several hanging baskets and plant pots adorned the window space itself. The room to the right was an office for her, with her laptop and a chair either side of her desk, along with a single bed along the back wall for patients. Filing cabinets lined a wall while on the opposite wall posters of the human body, pressure points and medicinal plants peppered the wall. Her room was across from that, which had many home-made throws and hanging gossamer to make it light and airy and homey.

She was distracted by the ringing of her mobile phone. "Go for Emma," she answered softly lifting it to her ear. "We need you outside the barrier immediately. Meet Saul in the courtyard and come as soon as you can." The sharp voice of the Headmistress barked into her ear. Emma nodded once, hanging up the phone. There was no need to answer when the headmistress knew she would be on her way. She toed off her ugg boots and swapped into sturdier shoes, before locking her rooms behind her and heading to the courtyard.

Saul Silva stood, arms crossed and feet shoulder-width apart looking around, his blue eyes shocking against his pale skin and dark hair, which was dotted with salt-and pepper strands. Unconventionally handsome for a man in his early forties, Emma admired the work he had put into keeping himself fit and healthy, but the stern features did nothing to hide the softness to his eyes. She approached him quickly before following the direction he gestured to exit the campus grounds and the safety of the barrier.

They didn't have to travel far, before finding the headmistress glancing down at something. As Emma approached, she clocked what the headmistress had been glancing at and her step faltered. A gentle hand at the small of her back had her continue in her stride, shooting a thankful glance at Saul behind her she nodded before stopping in front of the headmistress.

"It's fresh," stated Saul, almost immediately.

"Maybe a wolf?" offered the headmistress softly.

"Or a bear?" offered Emma helpfully, her hands wringing. The corpse itself seemed to have been shredded; with long tearing gouges to the body of the former shepherd. Saul crossed his arms continuing with his theory; "could have gone out to protect his herd. Got surprised…"

Ben Harvey made himself known then, having been stood back from the scene, but kneeled beside it now. "I'm happy to continue this guessing game," he began, reaching to the corpse with a pocket knife and scraping out some black content, "but this is char residue." He turned his bespectacled gaze to look at his colleagues who wore different expressions. Emma had gone white as a sheet, Headmistress Dowling had closed her eyes in resignation and Saul had a grim, tight-jawed look on his face, somewhere between anger and defiance.

Saul turned his icy gaze to the Headmistress. "How long since the last sighting?" he enquired. Emma shook her head, now avoiding looking at the corpse. Just don't ask me to touch it… she begged, knowing her magic might be strong enough to pick up residual memories, depending on how long the thing had been there. Luckily the Headmistress was focussed on Saul. "About two decades," answered Ben, cleaning his pocket knife with a handkerchief.

"Sixteen years," corrected the Headmistress. "Rosalind was relentless."

"It could have been hiding in the mountains…" Saul began, but was interrupted by headmistress Dowling with "She killed all the Burned Ones."

"We thought she did" chorused Ben and Emma. The first thing Emma had said since the beginning of the conversation. Saul glanced at her quickly, her colour was beginning to come back but she still did not look well.

The Headmistress shook her head. "Ben, Emma, what we think is irrelevant. The Barrier is doing it's job."

Emma nodded once as the headmistress ordered the cleaning up of the scene. Saul nodded and hauled out his phone to place a cleanup request to Solaris Soldiers. Ben cleaned off his glasses on a separate handkerchief and waved once before ambling back towards the barrier and the school.

Saul turned and noticed Emma stood stock still, staring intently at the body of the man before her. "Emma," Saul called softly, gently touching her shoulder. She turned her eyes on him, one blue, one green, both full of sadness for the life lost. "I…uh, need to try something…" she offered. Saul cocked his head waiting for her to explain but she bit her lower lip and knelt before the body. She reached a trembling hand towards the corpse slowly.

"Emma, what are you doing?" Saul asked, but she ignored him, gently touching the part of the face that was most intact and closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath and opening her eyes again, her magic reacted causing her blue eye to change from indigo to sky blue, and her green eye to shine a clear starry white.

The man was running, a clicking, scratching rasp behind him, ahead of him, all around him. Jumping and dodging over the gnarled and twisted roots of the forest became too much and the man fell, only to look up into the canopy of the trees above him and see a figure straight from anybody's nightmare, a tarry coloured, oozing skin, a gaping maw screeching at him, before it dropped and

Emma jumped back, caught by Saul who had anticipated what she was doing. She was trembling fiercely and had lost what little colour she had regained. "I…err….think we need to make sure nobody leaves the barrier, Saul." She said softly before forcing herself to stand and wiping her hands on her grey tights before turning towards the barrier. Saul nodded, turning with her. "Let me walk you back. Make sure you get a coffee or something stronger in you, before you face this evening." He smiled reassuringly at her and she nodded her thanks before making the trek back to the barrier and the campus.

Cradling a steaming mug of hot chocolate, she gave Saul her thanks as he sat next to her, dropping his sword and scabbard on one of her armchairs he sighed as he sank into the cushions. She gently leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed softly. He turned to look at her quizzically.

"Can I borrow some of your calm for a while Saul, I can't manage to squash the terror on my own just yet," she pleaded. Saul nodded and leaned further back to get comfortable as Emma placed a hand on his gently. He threaded their fingers together and counted to sixty, out loud, and slowly for her to ground herself. This had happened before around Ben who had mentioned it in passing that Emma had suffered a panic attack before and she had held his hand as he had counted to sixty for him to ground her and allow her to focus on his calming presence and he was happy he could do it for her now. Saul had only known Emma properly since the beginning of the summer. He vaguely remembered her as a student when he had come to train the specialists but it was very vague and he wasn't even sure if it was her or not. The Emma he had come to know was so strong, but shattered like glass when it came to panic attacks and terror like this and she had already figured out how to ground herself and focus – it took enormous strength to focus like that, he thought, and he respected her inner strength to go right ahead and trust him to help her get back on her feet.

The thing he had noticed about Emma before anything else was that she was kind and willing to help anybody. She spent a long time in the greenhouses with Ben, making lists of medicinal plants and herbs she would need for the coming year, and teaching Terra and Sam all about them too. She had also taught Terra how to focus on the Earth and listen to what nature would tell her, something which mind magic and earth magic had in common. Mind Magic was the link between the elements, they could focus on the flames, or the wind or the water or the earth and take energy from it – not in the magnitudes that the individual fairies could, but it helped Emma in her own way and she was strong and able to use it confidently.

Moments later, she had let go of his hand and cradled her hot chocolate taking a comforting sip and humming happily, she looked at him to thank him and he started, the magic was losing focus now as she had completed what she needed to do and her eyes were losing the brightness of magic, returning to indigo and green and Saul let out a breath. "When your eyes change colour, the white is….startling…." he said quietly. Emma nodded and blinked, looking back at her hot chocolate.

It was something that made her self-conscious, the heterochromia, but she made sure to not make eye contact that often following using magic in order to not startle people, but she had been so comfortable and relaxed she had forgotten. "Sorry," she breathed sitting up and putting her mug on the coffee table in front of her.

"I'm supposed to be chaperoning tonight, I'd best smarten up a bit. I'll see you later?" she asked turning to Saul and seeing him sat up straight too. He nodded and stood, collected his sword and moved to the door.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Em. I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting it when I looked at you." Saul turned a sad smile to Emma, apologetic for making her uncomfortable before quietly excusing himself and stepping out of the room.

Exhaling, Emma stood and went to her room to find somethings suitable to wear for the evening.