Elemental Aeon
Kesshou Uryou

Act I
Chapter III
Arch

The well-woven path of nearly pure dirt wound around a forest of some sorts at first. Then it broke away to lead to a series of gardens. They held the evidence of dying summer flowers, and the promise of the new blooming for the autumn ones. The few evergreen trees in the far distance stood their ground without worry of seasons or weather.

Then the path diverted to an area that lost all colorful and showy splendor. Gone were the gardens. Here were the flat and vivacious meadows, full of life, but just in another sense of the word. This sea of land dominated the landscape all the way up to the first sign of any real human existence in the direction they were headed. A wall stopped the field of grass in its tracks in its smooth structure of cement as it wholly disappeared out of sight in a curved track.

Sakura was precariously perched on the wooden door, leaning her head around the side of the cart to see as much ahead of them as she could. She had already moved on from her endless staring of what the open area of the cart offered. That visage only let her eager eyes to feed on what lay behind them, and she had a curiosity that couldn't be satisfied. She had to see what was coming up ahead of them. She couldn't wait.

Syaoran seemed to share her sentiments. Only instead of jumping to the other side of the cart to mirror Sakura's position, he opted for a more daring position, carefully balancing on his feet as his hands had a tight hold on the somewhat thin wall of the cart. Sakura stayed squatted down, distributing her weight between her two feet, closer to the actual wall than him.

Meilin knew not to move from her spot despite the inkling of interest that shone in her eyes. To play it safe, she had to do what wouldn't get her noticed. One slip-up was all it took to ruin plans. She didn't want that happening. So she had to settle for making the two of them describe what they saw between them. At the mention of the long wall, her eyes narrowed a bit in recognition before she focused back on what she had sent out to do at the moment. The kids, so wrapped up in seeing their destination, something they had only heard fleetingly of before, failed to see what she was up to with a quill in hand. Her mind skirted away from the amusing thought that they were both equally interested in was something they had come to hear about from completely different instances. The cause for their excitement, although similar on some points, sprouted from completely different reasons; she knew this well.

Instead she carefully dipped her quill back in the ink bottle she always carried around with her. She frowned a bit at the lack still in the jar, knowing she'd somehow have to get some more. Still, more importantly though, she smoothed the detailed piece of paper in her lap and made another brisk mark across its surface. She watched the ink bleed through the paper at the first instant of contact before the process stopped. She studied the paper again before loosing all sense of concentration. She was far too anxious. So many things could go astray...

"Stop squirming so much, Kinomoto!" Meilin winced. She proceeded to bang her head silently against the wall she was leaning on as she provided them a glance.

"Just go to the other side, Li!" Meilin found it funny how the girl attached an honorific to her name and not his. Perhaps the habit had emerged from the recent squabbles they shared. Meilin tried to stay out of them when they were too stubborn to simmer down and listen to her. It was better, however, to at least try to break it up before one of them mysteriously managed to fall out of the cart itself.

"Shut up. You see anything else yet?" Fortunately this time the two put aside their differences, most likely at the still fresh thrill of their surroundings.

"Well, the wall's sorta pretty big so nothing exactly," Sakura mumbled, squinting her eyes.

"Since I'm standing, I'm starting to see more grass on the other side. Looks just like this grass here." Meilin nodded, her hand swirling the quill in her grasp in anticipation. The paper had told all correctly so far, but she still needed that one last important landmark to prove its credibility. If that detailed image on the paper was correct there'd be no doubt in her mind. Meilin found it almost impossible to imagine from the drawing here and the stories she had been told, but this sketch, if accurate, would make it a sight of definite interest.

"Now we're at the wall and it turns so it's on both sides of the road," informed Syaoran again. Meilin nodded to herself. This map of hers was still correct. She gave another quick brand of ink across the paper. It should only be a short matter of time before the infamous structure came into view…

"Look! Do you see that arch?"

"Where?" Syaoran's head flailed as it searched across the ground at Sakura's outcry. Sakura's voice sounded excited and hoarse from all her talking that day. Meilin raised her head herself despite her inability to see what they could.

"Up Li! Up!" His eyes took to skimming across the skyline, and there it stood out much clearer.

"Wow!" Meilin smirked. This map should be correct enough. She still had yet to seen it, but by the way they were fumbling with processing their thoughts into words, she was willing to put aside the remaining stubborn doubt.

On the map itself, it demonstrated every detail that Meilin had come to learn of the arch by word of mouth. "Meilin, this is amazing. It's huge!" Meilin bit her lip in trying to contain her amusement. They were become of themselves, stumbling over their words. Truth be told, she was ever the more curious, and the map certainly helped the prospect of taking a quick peek. After all they didn't even know all about it like she did. The two of them probably couldn't even comprehend that the arch wasn't merely a decoration. It served its own purpose.

Meilin gave one last look over the map, trying to make sure her study sessions had paid off. Hopefully she would remember it under any sort of pressure or distraction. She put it away, well aware that as soon as they passed under that arch, everything she had worked up to would be tested. She still had a long way to go until she tried what others deemed impossible.

"We're going under it now!" Their faces turned skyward, placing their necks in a highly uncomfortable position as they studied the arch from underneath it. Meilin trained her eyes on the two of them to see the sudden and faint swirl of color emitted from their bodies. Meilin gave a shudder as the two of them did subconsciously. Only hers came out of the thought of it rather than the experience. Everything about it was unnatural to her. Meilin did her best to forget about it as she glimpsed the arch itself as the cart moved forward, and at the sight of it she frowned. It was a sight, but it represented what she didn't support.

Then it disappeared out of her line of sight as soon as it had come, being replaced by blue sky. Meilin knew what came now. Many of them lived here. Those same people received their training here. This is where they mingled. This was their territory.

"We're here! We're finally here," Sakura shouted in glee, taking wild glances at the sight around them. The complex looked like its own town, down to the street vendors along the lengths of the dirt paved road. No doubt they had turned up for the return, hoping to make some extra money.

Syaoran joined her in the eye candy, and Meilin tensed, quickly grabbing her belongings that she had already packed. As soon as she had heard they were arriving shortly, she had made quick work of the task and had suggested the same course of action to the two of them who had eventually complied.

Their trip had been so delayed and drawn out that even to Meilin this arrival seemed dreamlike. Only she had no time to doubt the circumstances. A pinch when no one was looking confirmed the situation. They were really there.

And frankly, she was nervous. But this was no time to doubt. That time had passed. Here came the hard part.

Meilin could count off the seconds in her head until the cart came to an inevitable stop. That's how short the span of time had been. She sighed, squaring her shoulders a bit, settling her face into a half grimace.

She distracted herself by watching Syaoran and Sakura amble over enthusiastically, in their own way granted, to their packaged few belongings they had collected across their trip. Meilin sighed as she banged her head lightly against the wooden wall a second time. Syaoran's hair had become even more unruly over their journey, and it was desperately in need of a cut. Sakura's hair had shown its own slower growth, but what was more prominent was her coming into her own character. She talked more freely now, cheerfully offering her own opinions when she thought the need arose, thus changing her light hearted comments to full blown arguments with a certain other person. Sometimes she wanted to shut the girl up.

Meilin, as far as she was concerned, was the exact opposite. This ruby eyed girl hadn't changed. Yes, her hair was more knotted. Yes, she was more weathered to traveling, but she was essentially the same. She still had the take charge attitude. And despite all the trouble she went through for the facts that had been collected and carefully memorized, not even bringing up that she was ever closer to those instances paying off, her belief had remained the same unwavering stronghold from town to town. She had seen a sea of faces, some dead and some heavily wounded. Yet here she was the same person with the same goal with the same future.

Meilin had come to the conclusion that she'd be the rock in the river. Everything could rush past her, and she'd never budge, never change. But if it wasn't for her firmness and resoluteness then everything she'd hoped for would have been lost the next day.

For her, that was no way to live or dream. She had had to accept that that was the way she worked, and it was the only way she would ever do so. Meilin would be the rock. They could be the river.

Coming back to reality, Sakura's slightly longer hair disappearing, registered in Meilin's mind. The same mind that was just becoming perceptive to its surroundings again. Then she realized that the seemingly reborn girl had bounded out of the cart and turned off to the left. The flittering hair had been the last sign of the girl as far as sight was concerned.

"Elementalists sign up over here!"

No doubt that calling had been the reason for the girl abruptly leaving. Syaoran was quick to follow suit only he took a pause, a look of thought across his face. He swung back around. Sakura had been smart enough to bring her few belongings, and Syaoran had too with a canvas bag propped against his left shoulder. Meilin could see no reason for his hesitation.

"What are you doing, again?" Meilin wasn't sure if that question was one of curiosity, concern, or of an attempt at complete avoidance of screwing up her plans.

"Don't bother about me, go do your self-flattering elementalist job," she sighed out, waving a hand disinterestedly at him. A slight frown wove her lips as he listened although not before sneaking one last look back towards her.

Meilin slumped her shoulders when he was gone for certain, curving her back to be rid of all good posture as she leaned against the all too familiar wooden wall. Somehow she'd make herself miss this small pre-adventure. She could make herself forget it if she had to in the end. She had to stay focused.

It was hard, however, when faced with the idea of waiting for an indefinite interval of time. Staring idly around the uncomfortable and abandoned setting, she felt like a disgruntled and ignored child; she could determine the feeling well enough. The voices outside raised in volume as friends met and greeted and newcomers entered a new fate. Meilin bristled at the emptiness in her current surroundings and knew she was sure to start unconsciously ticking off the seconds very shortly.

"Daidouji-san… Daidouji-san…" she muttered, tracing an abstract pattern with her foot. Meilin would soon lose all of her short impatience if Tomoyo didn't hurry. They had a deal, and she wasn't about to let her break it without any warning. Things could not fall apart like that. Not so easily, and definitely not so soon.

Still, with each fleeting moment, worry began to take a heavier toll. If Tomoyo backed down, Meilin would have no place to sleep that night, and then that would be just the beginning of the resulting problems.

"Daidouji-san… Daidouji-san, hurry up." The words slid off her tongue now without any restraint. She was considering taking up taping her fingers against the redundant wood.

"Daidouji-san?"

Meilin's head shut up as fast as a bolting rabbit could spring, and her hair followed, having a slightly delayed reaction. Meilin's normally particularly tied up hair was down completely today in an attempt to appear at least marginally different than she normally did for the venture into that crowd. The decision annoyed her now as the black locks partially covered her face, thus limiting her vision. Still, she didn't need eyes to know that wasn't Daidouji-san. In fact, if she thought about it…

No. That couldn't be right either. Yet, something still nagged the thought at her, and she dreaded the next action she took. She delicately parted her hair enough to see through a decent perimeter.

Now she knew who it was. She could see. She could see who held up the parchment. From the fine quill to the small dripping of ink from its tip, she saw. It must have been dipped very recently… Just how exactly…?

"Have you found your trip enjoyable?" Her visitor smoothed the paper onto the floor of the cart as he stood outside. A small smile, one that Meilin couldn't place, taunted her.

"How…" He looked up as she stared on.

"I'm sorry. You've been around so long, and I haven't caught your name yet." She hated his extent of calm. She hated everything about him. In that moment, those thoughts came back and surged to her tongue.

"You don't deserve it. Besides, if you were any good like they say, you would be able to have figured it out by now." Of course she didn't bother to mention that she was surprised that he even knew that she had been traveling with them in the first place.

"Someone who doesn't think highly of me and has rude manners. Let's skip the introductions then. We don't need to start on such bad terms. I can avoid as much conversation as I can right now if you'd be so kind as to sign this." Meilin stared down, and slowly, she inched her way closer although delaying in actually shortening the gap between them.

She came as close as she had to before reaching out her fingers and pressing her fingertips into the floor to slide the paper in her general direction. She didn't bother with the quill.

Her eyes scanned the paper warily, uncomfortable with his stare. Her frown was eminent as she read, and it only became worse as she looked up. She had to build her confidence up first. Her attempt echoed and hung there. Not quite as effective as she could have hoped.

"I cannot agree to this, Clow…-kun."

--e--a—

Syaoran had reclined against a tree that rested on top of a very grassy and small hill. With half-opened eyes inspired from his lack of sleep of late (his burst of energy received from arriving had since worn down), he listened. He was doing everything in his power to delay the inevitable fate he would have to succumb to later that day. Sakura sat Indian style next to him as she leaned forward, eyes never slowing down in her examination of the people still in full motion.

She had expected that it would wind down, but the carts were already being reloaded after just being unpacked and other horses replaced the ones being cooled off and lead away. Never a moment of relaxation, she supposed. Syaoran, on the other hand, expected Sakura would have wound down herself. She had yet to stop talking absentmindedly, touching upon different topics, talking more so to herself that to him.

Sometimes he wished she hadn't been able to bloom so easily. Yes, he could still tell she hesitated at times, and she always took a tentative breather to study who she was talking too, but she ranted until she had no breath when she was comfortable enough. If things continued this way, she could become a center of attention. If she'd learn to be a little more assertive, that is.

Her irresoluteness was her weakness, but at the same time he had to admit that he was thankful for it. Only so that it provided a respite from her onslaught of talking. He would have thought she'd find the two she had been hanging out with, Tomoyo or Rika. But no, she had lost them somewhere along the line. After that she had hung to his side, for reasons he wouldn't know.

"I like that mare over there… I forgot the name of that type. I never really learned them so…" She tilted her head to the practically motionless Syaoran before continuing. With him, if he wasn't sporting a glare she took it as a sign to continue. "It looks like they're not too far from finishing. Still, they put away some carts. It'll be smaller than ours, I guess."

"I guess." Sakura sighed after his mumbled replied. She was used to a more mutual conversationalist along with a Syaoran willing to put up a harmless fight. But she had lost those other two, Syaoran was tired, and Meilin had downright disappeared from her surroundings, not that Sakura expected her to be more talkative. She'd have to make more friends. She couldn't depend on two people for everything. She twisted her hands nervously.

"What's wrong with you?" At her longer than normal pause, Syaoran actually became mildly concerned. She was just staring off now. His one opened eye shifted towards her. He almost recoiled in surprise when she whirled towards him.

"Fire… You want to be the best at everything. You want to be the best at… fire?" That answer took no thought on his part.

"Of course." Sakura stared down at her hands in the grass and nodded and gave a bitter sweet smile all at the same time.

"I wonder if I'll get left behind really easy, then. Everyone really wants to do so great or already do know something. I keep thinking I'm going to be the worst." Syaoran closed his eyes and sighed.

"You will." Sakura's eyes shot up to meet his closed ones. "If you think like that." Sakura visibly relaxed and smiled although he couldn't see.

"Right… that's right. You fire, me water. I know you'll work hard, but…" She didn't finish her sentence. Instead she leaned closer and poked his forehead with her pinkie. He opened his eyes, completely annoyed and then stared at her extended pinkie. When he continued to do so, Sakura frowned slightly.

"Don't tell me you've never done one." Syaoran shook his head slowly.

"No, I have once." Sakura tilted her head in curiosity, but she bit her tongue and reached the pinkie out again. Satisfyingly enough, he met hers with his own. She couldn't hold back the smile.

"We may not always get along that great, but now at least we both have to try our best. No slacking off." Sakura adopted a playful scolding tone. Sakura dwelled in the resulting half smile simply because it wasn't hers.

--e--a—

Tomoyo had prepared herself for a ticked off Meilin. She had purposefully taken her time only so that she could. The older girl was far too easy to annoy if you knew the right way to do it. Tomoyo did. Besides, in Tomoyo's mind, she found Meilin needed someone to draw her back to reality. She wasn't superior or all important over everyone else. Meilin was one of those people you really couldn't be all that subtle with at times. She was the type you had to slap in the face to get the point across.

So Tomoyo, usually overly prepared for her predicted circumstances to take place did a double take at an almost sulking Meilin. That persona, however, was quickly dropped in exchange for what Tomoyo had expected. That was good. Tomoyo could deal with that.

"Why the hell are you so late?" Tomoyo held up her hands to emphasize her defense.

"The crowd was large. I was also signing up for the extra course like we talked about. Some things just take time to be done."

"Your excuses don't go past me so easily, Daidouji-san. Your delaying made me put up with total crap!" Tomoyo raised an eyebrow at the further enraged Meilin. When she got mad, her tongue slipped despite her twelve years of age.

"Try being more specific." Meilin only glared harder.

"We have to change our plans. I tried my best, but in the end I couldn't stop it. Damn…" Meilin slumped in apparent defeat.

"Change our… what happened to our old plan? That one worked fine." Tomoyo's mind wouldn't slow down from all the possibilities.

"Back then I didn't have to work under Clow-kun."

--e--a—

With some possible divine interception, Sakura signed up to train under water and received the assigned room number of her future abode. Sakura had steeled herself to share the dorm room with just about anybody, but she ended up with a pleasant surprise. The individual had turned out to be the one she had least expected of all. When Sakura entered the room, Sasaki Rika was seen to be unpacking her few belongings. Not that she minded, of course.

"Hello Sasaki-chan!" Rika turned around, pausing in her current motion. She threw a smile over her shoulder.

"Hey. What good luck, right?" She went back into the process of unpacking after Sakura simply nodded. "And call me Rika already! We're roommates now."

"Hai." Sakura beamed as she knelt next to the uncluttered bed in the room. Rika had obviously claimed the other one. Sakura was happy that she was sharing a room with someone that she was now on a mutual first name basis. The very same person had been using her first name for a little over a week, but now Sakura would return the favor. She never dared overstep her boundaries. She didn't want to push her luck.

"Are you prepared?"

"Eh?" The short silence was not one that Sakura had expected to end so soon. Rika rounded about staring past Sakura's face.

"It'll be a lot of work, you know. I hope the two of us both do great." Sakura understood that feeling. At least Rika knew a little. Sakura would have to catch up to those people that already had an advantage.

"I have to try my hardest, Rika. I promised." Rika diverted her eyes to stare at the determined girl who was one year her junior.

"Good to hear. Because now we're enemies, and I don't want to lose to someone who doesn't try their best." Sakura blinked off Rika's wink.

"Enemies...?"

"You weren't there. We lost you in the crowd. Tomoyo and I were listening to a group of older elementalists. I don't really understand it all, but that's ok. We have the orientation to go to soon." Rika waved the matter off with a careless hand gesture.

"Orientation? Oh... I forgot. Tomoyo told me about that a couple of days ago. When is it?" Rika laughed as she sat down on the edge of her bed. Her belongings had already been distributed throughout the room.

"Today. Before the sun sets." Sakura glanced out the window, registering that it was already late in the afternoon. "We should go soon," Rika added as an afterthought. Sakura drifted her eyes away from the window.

"But first finish unpacking of course!" Sakura vaguely looked down sheepishly at her abandoned makeshift suitcase.

"Hai."

--e--a--

Syaoran's eyes were on the verge of drooping one last final time. Still, he pushed his feet forward with his mouth set in a fine line. He had more dignity than to just collapse from exhaustion in a random hallway.

"Just a little farther now." He glimpsed ahead again to view the woman shuffling along in the hall that boasted a smell of some kind of bad aftertaste. The woman's candle bobbed up and down as she moved herself forward. There was the occasional lit lantern and the rarer window along their path, but it still couldn't alter the fact that it was night. Night brought darkness. It was a fact.

He himself hadn't expected to be coming back as late as it was. Other occupants of the dorm building were fast asleep, and he and his guide had to be as silent as possible, which was noted by her sharp whispers.

Syaoran was more than irked at the situation. He felt like a lost dog being lead back home. But more importantly, that talk he was coming out of was not one he had wanted to partake in from the beginning. If it hadn't been expected of him for more than obvious reasons, he would have downright opted to not show up at all today.

Being held back and doing what he didn't want to do when he was this tired, didn't settle well with him. He didn't even get a chance to decide whether he wanted to go that orientation or not. Not that it mattered of course. After all, he didn't need to be informed of what was to be expected of him and all the regulations. He just about had enough of that, and all too recently too.

Syaoran's nose bristled. Again.

"What is that smell?" The woman ahead paused entirely for a second, probably caught off guard from his suddenly harsh questioning. After a quick warning for silence, she answered.

"Very sorry about that. Someone couldn't quite… control the fire in their practice. You're smelling the charred walls and the damp remains of the buckets of water." Syaoran then understood, but he didn't appreciate the answer that was provided.

"Idiots like that should get out." There was no answer. Only another pause from the woman, but perhaps for an entirely different reason this time. She raised her right arm and swung a door inside a darkened room.

"Here you are, Li-sama." He stepped inside, followed by her. She quickly carried out the task of lighting the candles rooted on the wall on either side of the door. She turned around, standing in the door frame with an awkward smile.

"One large room and no roommates. Close to edge of training grounds and classes. Just the way it was arranged."

He took his second look around and nodded with a semblance of approval.

"Thank you."

She took her leave without further prompting. Syaoran decided he could unpack later, and he hastily decided it was past due for some rest. He fell asleep thinking of what the future would bring and an irritating two word annoyance.

The two word annoyance… if I could actually post the next chapter today you would see. It's the first two words in the next chapter. Anyway, if you haven't noticed by now, I'm not really explaining much am I? Just the bare basics so you can keep reading. Yes, guilty as charged. I love doing that to the reader. However, the next chapter I plan to explain a lot in case you're even a little curious.

Speaking of that, the next chapter will be clearing up several questions. If you have any, that is. It will take place a little in the future, and also composed of several scenes with time jumps in between them. I don't think it's too complicated, but this was just a head's up. See you next update.