· Kali's POV

I'm being ridiculous, and I know I am, but… that knowledge didn't change anything. I was curled up on a windowsill in the library avoiding everyone. Spring break had officially begun and the others, in this case Eric, Will, and Mira, were coming to pick me up. We were planning to spend our break on Sparks, but I wasn't feeling excited. Instead, I just felt… out of place. I should be going home to see my family. I should be calling my mother and cheerfully talking about my plans. I should be doing… something. They were my family, but I hadn't even spoken to them since our fight on the Day of the Rose. Were they still angry? Were they sorry? I didn't have the slightest clue, and part of me felt cowardly continuing to avoid them, but at the same time I certainly didn't want to face them. I exhaled harshly running my hand through my hair, a habit I'd picked up from Sam.

This was the longest period of time I'd ever not spoken to them. Simply put, disagreements or not we had always been close. They had always been my family, my best friends in a world where I'd always been a bit of a loner, my mentors and teachers. How much of my life had been spent in the library with Donna reading her tomes or listening to her low, soft voice as she read to me as a child? How much of my time was spent venting to Sandra as she advised me on all the (violent) plans I could use to fix my problems, both of us laughing because we knew I wouldn't actually follow through with any of them? How often did I face a situation trying to decide what my mother would do? I have always been her daughter. I may control fire, but I was raised like ice. The way I spoke and acted when I was angry? Her. The way I smirked playfully when I was laughing at a friend? Her. I had been told all the time as a child how much I was like her. How we both scrunched up our noses when unhappy, our looks… We shared blue eyes, though mine were a little bluer than hers, blonde hair, although hers was a touch paler, the same tall build… I missed her and, in extension, the others every time I looked in the mirror, and I couldn't seem to shake how empty I felt at the moment. Not even speaking to them...

"Kali?" I heard Mari call from the door of the library. I turned towards her and raised an eyebrow. A silent response. She smiled at me, her expression a touch concerned, "You ok?"

I smiled tiredly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just waiting for the others." She nodded, but didn't look all that convinced. She wasn't going to argue with me over it now anyway.

"I just came up to say goodbye, I'm just headed home." She said slightly awkward, still doing her utmost to figure out what was up with me. I shoved my maudlin thoughts to the back of my mind and smiled. I walked over to hug her and we said our goodbyes, promising to stay in contact over the break.

She soon left, but by then I had been diverted from my thoughts entirely and I felt no inclination to return to them so I headed downstairs to my dorm room. I shouldered the door open, my hands largely occupied with the books I had just checked out. Fast enough to give them whiplash Rebecca and Ashley turned to stare straight at me. I just gave them a slightly suspicious look and walked over to my bed. They had been acting oddly all week really. The Trifecta hadn't picked a fight with me, given me a rude glare, or even muttered insults in passing at all lately. Not to say they were being kind. They stopped any conversations they were having when I came into earshot and they stared at me silently whenever I was in their presence. Silent and creepy as Rhy'halla.1 I grabbed a few last minute odds and ends to throw in my purse, shoved my books into my backpack and with a wave of my hand, shrunk all my things down small enough that I could shove them in my pocket. Finally, I slipped my light brown leather jacket over my blood red tank tops, jeans, and calf high boots and headed for the door.

By the time I reached the front door of Cloud Tower, Eric was landing the ship at the foot of the ramp. Seems it's time to go.

I woke up to Will shaking my shoulder and calling my name, "Kali? Kali, wake up. We're in Sparks." His voice was excited, ecstatic, to be home again. We exited the ship and I soon could see why he was so happy. Sparks was beautiful; it was hard to believe that just a generation ago it had been an abandoned ball of ice. We were standing in the middle of a huge garden. The place was just beautiful, a riot of colors and smells. Beds of multicolored flowers, well-shaped trees, little green hedges, and white walkways. A picturesque pond to our left and a winding path leading through the gardens to our right. Straight ahead of us was a broad, well-appointed walkway leading up to the palace. There were fountains and statues and flower covered arches scattered throughout. The place was beautiful, bright, and colorful, nothing at all like Whisperia. Where home was set in a perpetually foggy twilight here, the sun seemed almost unnaturally bright making the colors of the world stand out even more. Home's dark alleys and tightly crowded, darkly colored buildings were nothing like Eric's sprawling family estate.

"Impressed?" I heard Eric ask, happy and content, but a touch laughing.

I rolled my eyes at him before admitting, "A little. This place is beautiful." I turned around, my back to the palace, crouching down in order to look at one of the flowerbeds. The flowers within were yellow with red-tipped petals, six pointed and sharply tipped. "I like these ones."

I heard a voice I didn't recognize answer me, causing me to jolt out of my crouch and spin around to see, "Tiger lilies. They're my wife's favorites, too." The man who had spoken was… familiar for some reason, but I shook that thought out of my mind. Probably just because he looks like his son. He was tall, with broad shoulders, blonde hair, and Eric's brilliantly blue eyes. Eric, Mira, and Will walked over to greet him, obviously comfortable.

I stood back until Eric introduced us "Kali, this is my father, Skye, and you're welcome to just call him that."

Skye laughed at that and agreed, "In fact I insist you call me that, King Skye is a little too formal for friends." I smiled a little more at ease and we shook hands, exchanging the usual pleasantries. He then led the four of us past the escort of guards that had entered the garden with him and escorted us into the castle.

We hadn't gotten very far before a figure, red-haired and surrounded by an aura of powerful light magic, appeared at the top of one of the staircases calling out, "Boys? Mira?"

Eric smiled widely and called up to her, "Hey Mom!" Will laughed and imitated him, although why he called Eric's mother, mom, as well I wasn't totally sure. The queen hurried down the stairs to greet us, throwing her arms around each of the others in turn while I again waited to be introduced, "Mom, this is Kali. Kali, my mom, Bloom."

We greeted each other and our little group of six walked onward through the castle to the dining room, servants having already taken our bags up to our rooms. We were soon all comfortably sitting and eating dinner as Eric's parents made conversation. I was sipping on my drink when Bloom asked me, "So Kali, where are you from again?"

I answered calmly although I kept a weather eye out for her reaction. People tended to react to my home world badly. As I have said before, it's not exactly a nice place. "Whisperia." To her credit though, she didn't even flinch.

"You have family there?" she asked obviously looking for details on my home life. Who my family members were, what they were like, etc. The others stiffened a little knowing family was a bit of a sore spot for me. I hadn't spoken of the matter often and they were kind enough not to bring it up so Bloom's blunt question made them a bit worried.

I however, answered simply. It was a common question, and I didn't need to go into the sort of detail that was hard to talk about. Just the superficial stuff. "Mmhm. I live with my mother Ilena, and my two aunts, Donna and Sandra. They're all witches as well. They taught me a lot of what I know about magic, although we do disagree on the usage of it once in a while."

She nodded obviously not catching the less positive potential meaning of my statement. She seemed to have one more question though, an unfortunately well aimed one at that, "So what about your father?"

I froze and so did the others, only Eric's parents seemingly unaffected by the sudden tension. After a moment I answered with fake nonchalance, "I don't really know who my father is. My mother doesn't like to talk about him. All she told me was that he was a warlock from here on Sparks, and that they were together only briefly before he disappeared when I was three or four." Yet, even though I barely remembered him, my only memory consisting of the scent of wildflowers and just a glimpse of blonde hair, I had always missed him. Or at least, I think that's how I've felt. Truthfully, I just know that I've always missed… something. The vague sense of emptiness in my gut, my heart. I couldn't honestly say for sure if that was me missing my father or not, but who else could it be? I'd felt the same way as far back as I can remember, each of my memories tinged with the sense that something, some part of me, was absent, and far away. Not that it mattered considering how he just left. I shook my head returning myself to the matter at hand.

Bloom seemed to have no answer to what I had said so she quickly just changed the subject, returning to lighter subject matter, and so dinner passed without further incident, although I still couldn't shake the sense that Eric's parents were familiar somehow. I felt as if I'd met them before. I recognized their mannerisms, their tone of voice, their little expressions, far more than I should have considering I'd only just met them. It was odd really, but soon enough dinner was over and we all headed to our rooms to unpack for the next two weeks.

Mira had her own room here due to all the time all of the kids spent here so Mira, apparently eager for late-night gossip sessions, suggested that they put a second bed in her room temporarily so that we could share a room for the break. I had agreed and here I was. Listening to Mira chat about all the young sons of noblemen I would get to meet over the break and how she was convinced that her newest crush would be her prince charming. Honestly, I loved the girl to death, but some days I just had to shake my head in wonder at her. She is so… Mira. However, before I headed to bed I decided to go take a walk around the gardens to clear my head a little. After today's nostalgia, I think I could use one.

· Eric's POV

Will and I hung back after dinner waiting for the girls to leave before speaking to my parents. I love my parents really I do, but I had told my mother that Kali was touchy about her family. I was sure my mother had a good reason to bring it up, all considered, but I did want to know what that "reason" was because I had been worried for a second that things would get difficult.

I turned to say something, but my mother beat me to it, "She's not at all what I expected."

Her response made Will laugh and shake his head, his dirty blonde hair going everywhere, "Let me guess, you heard that Sam was involved with her so you assumed that she was like a skater girl or something."

My mother glared at him for a moment, but ignored his outburst instead finally turned towards me and answered my still unspoken question, "She seems familiar, but I'm sure I haven't met her. I thought I might have run into her parents at some point. Considering what she said, I would imagine her father. Although, without a name I can't say for sure." Her answer wasn't great, but I could understand her curiosity especially considering the circumstances. A familiar girl with fire powers? It's no wonder my mom had to ask, but Kali's backstory explained everything, and I didn't want to think about that.

As Will and I headed up to our conjoined bedrooms, I caught a glimpse of Kali through a nearby window. She had left the castle and was walking down one fo the garden paths. I stopped and Will took a few more steps before pausing, realizing I was no longer at his side. "Eric?" he asked, but I just shook my head.

Then I answered, "I'll be up in a second." He looked at me for a second as if trying to read my mind before shrugging, apparently giving up on the endeavor to head for bed. I, however, turned down a different hallway and padded down a back staircase to the backdoor to the garden. She was out of sight by then, but I had seen the direction she was heading in, and I knew the place better than her so soon I found her sitting on a bench in a secluded little corner of the garden. She seemed distracted, gazing out across the garden, but not seeing anything. "Kali?" I asked, alerting her to my presence. She didn't look over, which was unusual for her. Instead, she just tilted her head towards me slightly to show that she was listening. I took a seat next to her on the elaborate white bench, and asked, "Is something wrong?" All considered, I was sure that she wasn't. She was acting a bit out of character, and my mother had given her plenty to be upset over.

"Nothing's wrong. So no." She responded, her voice quiet and distant, but her phrasing off. Further signs that something was different about her tonight.

"So yes?" I responded, reminding her that I knew her to well for her to lie to me.

She finally looked over at me, her expression a little sheepish, "So maybe a little." I smiled a little laughing a little encouraging, "I miss my family. I haven't spoken to my mother or aunts since our fight, and…" I encouraged her to continue and she seemed to take a moment to decide if she was ok with telling me, "It's ridiculous, but some days I just… I miss my father."

"How is that ridiculous?" I questioned.

"I've don't even remember him. I don't even know if I really miss him, you know? I just know that I miss… somebody. That something always seems to be… gone somehow." She whispered. She seemed to be feeling a thousand things. The longing she spoke about, the annoyance at herself for feeling it, the comfort she got from speaking about it rather than holding it all in.

"I know what you mean." I said quietly, the feeling was familiar although it wasn't my father I missed. She looked over at me surprised to hear me say that, but she didn't question it and I didn't answer. So we sat quietly in the garden I had so often played in as a child, both gazing out looking for someone who wasn't there.

Not anymore.

1. Rhy'halla was a word Icy used in the 4kids version of Episode 107, Grounded. She pretty much used it the same way we use Hell so that's how I'm going to use it as well.