Chapter 15

Jai was going to Vale. Vale. The place of all of her nightmares and the place where Coli died. Why?

The four main schools had set up a special program a few years back; the two teams with the highest grades would get to go to a different Kingdom for a week, while everyone else was on missions. The two teams would still do a mission, but they would go after the Vytal Festival. While Jai was happy to rub her victory in Quincy's face, she was also having second thoughts about the whole thing.

"You okay, Happy-go-lucky?" Ivex poked her in the ribs, making her jump. "Oh wow, you actually startled. Something must be up."

"I'm fine." Jai tightened her ponytail to give her hands something to do. "I'm just mentally going through the list of things I need for next week."

"You've packed and repacked sixty times already," Lior said, glancing up at her from his Scroll. "What do you think you might forget?"

Jai sighed. She had repacked so many times because she didn't want to be surprised by anything. If she prepared for everything, then she wouldn't go into panic if something went wrong. "I don't know, it's just been a minute since I've been out of Kingdom." If two years counts as a 'minute', she thought. Which, to these three, it probably doesn't.

"If we were going to Atlas or Shade, you wouldn't be nearly as nervous." Wenara poked her head above a pile of clothing that she was sorting through. "It's just that it's Vale that you're so anxious, isn't it?"

Jai raised an eyebrow at her. "Who says I'm nervous?" Wenara wordlessly pointed at Jai's hands, which were rapidly tapping against her knees. Jai crossed her arms and felt her cheeks heat up. "Okay, maybe I'm a little nervous."
"I didn't think you feared anything," Ivex said, grinning. "You're afraid of Vale? Why? I mean, we aren't that scary."

"The dream," Jai and Wenara said at the same time. They shared a smile. "It was set at Vale Academy, so I keep thinking Foirger will try to do something while we're there."

"Let him try!" Ivex raised a fist into the air. "He'll have to go through us to get to you, and we're as solid as Quincy is dumb!"

Jai laughed, the tension in her shoulders easing up. "Right!"

"Ivex is right, partially," Lior said softly. "This week, I don't think we'll have anything to worry about, but the week of our mission…"

The four teammates exchanged looks of varying degrees of worry. "Yeah," Wenara agreed, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. "We're going to Vaccuo, to face the DreamMaster head on in his territory. Are we actually insane? Are we even close to being ready to face him?"

Jai pressed her lips together. "No, not yet. This week, we'll train with different mediums than we have before. I'm going to ask my old trainer if we can meet up this week, so we'll be able to work with him for a bit." Jai moved over next to Wenara and started helping her choose clothes. "And, in a couple weeks, we have the Vytal Tournament, which will prepare us even further.

"I still can't believe that Laura and her team are the other first-years that made it in." Lior grinned. "I mean, I had full faith in Laura, of course, just not Flora being able to lead them well enough to get picked."

"I can't believe that team QRTZ fell four places on the grade list." Jai smirked. "It was so satisfying to see Quincy's face when he realized his team didn't even make it into the top three."

"Us, DRGN, MAPL, and CANY (Canyon) all placed ahead of them." Ivex ticked off his fingers. "It was incredible."

"I feel sorry for Ruth though," Wenara said, folding a shirt Jai had chosen into her bag. "I think she is actually pretty nice. It sucks that she's on a team with a busy witch and two biscuit eaters."

Jai nodded. "Thank you for censoring your language, my dear clutz."

"I'm not clumsy!" Wenara cried in exasperation, throwing her hands out to the side and knocking her water bottle onto Lior.

Jai smiled. She loved these three people. She didn't know what she would do without them. Ivex caught her eye and grinned. He spun a finger in the air next to his head, and pointed at Wenara, who was busy mopping water off of Lior. Jai laughed. All was good.

"Come on, slow pokes!" Guy banged on the door of JWIL's dorm, tapping his foot against the floor as he adjusted the bag slung over his shoulder. "We need to be at the ships in fifteen minutes!"

He sighed and Risha laughed. "How did we get stuck as the babysitters, while Norse and Dale got to go the ship early?"

"Because they wanted to meet the pilot, you owed me a favor, and I told Olos that we'd wait on them."

Risha rolled her eyes. "And why did I 'owe you a favor' again?"

Guy waved his hand. "How many times have I told you not to ask questions? It's not very ladylike."

Before Risha could retort, the door to the dorm was yanked open and Jai raised an eyebrow. "Wen somehow lost her whole luggage, so we've been trying to find things to substitute for her stuff. We could use some help since we have so little time to liftoff."

"Oh great," Risha muttered as they entered the first-year dorm. "Not only am I a babysitter, I'm a maid too."

Eventually, the six of them made it to the platform where their transport was waiting. Norse poked his head out the side of the ship and smirked at them. "Well well, how did picking up the Olos girl go?"

"He escorted all of us, not just me," Jai said, brushing past Norse. "And the Olos girl has ears."

Norse's rabbit ears twitched and he grinned. "So do I. Morning Ivex, Wen, Lior."

"Morning," Wenara grumbled, pulling her borrowed pack higher.

Lior stopped outside the door and frowned. "Where are the walls of the ship?"

The Mistral natives gave Lior a strange look. "What do you mean?" Guy asked.

Lior waved at the ship. "The walls, the things that keep you from falling out. Where are they?"

Jai laughed. "Oh right, I forgot. You're from Atlas." She spread her arms out and spun once. "These are Mystralian ships, better for the environment and they produce less waste. We did away with the things that we didn't need."
"Like walls?" Lior's voice lifted an octave.
"Yeah, like walls." Jai paused. "Oh yeahhhh, you're afraid of heights. That isn't the best thing."

"These ships are perfectly safe," Norse reassured Lior, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Atlas helped us design technology that links with your Aura, making it where you can't fall without completely disconnecting from the ship. If you still feel unsafe, I'm sure the pilot wouldn't mind you sitting in the cockpit with him."

Lior frowned at the ship. "I… yeah, I'm going to go sit with the pilot."

"So this is Beacon," Wenara crossed her arms and stared up at the large doors before them. The flight had been long, but the students in the back of the ship didn't notice, because they were having a good time playing the games Jai had brought along.

"Yup," Jai said with a nod. "This is it." She shifted the bag on her shoulder. "You guys ready to meet our escorts?" She grinned back at her friends and pushed open the doors.

"Welcome!" A boy in a sleeveless coat that hung to his knees waved at them as he got out of his chair. "I was beginning to think you would never show up." He bowed. "Jordan Fern, at your service. My team and I will be here to help you with anything while you stay here."

Ivex held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ivex, and that is Happy-go-lucky, Quiet Kid, Clumsy, Shocker, Chip and Dale-"

Jordan held up his hand. "Stop. You have got to be kidding." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jeez, you sound like-"

Suddenly, a blond head blurred past them and launched itself at Ivex. "Iveeex!" The girl squealed and Ivex spun her around.

"Professor!" Ivex laughed. "Why didn't you tell me you would be the escort?"

The girl punched him as she stepped back. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to be in Vale this week?"

"Because I thought you were on mission!"

Jai shared a look with Wenara and Lior. "So this is Jodi." Wenara lifted an eyebrow. "Some how, I expected her to be, I don't know, calmer?"

Jodi spun around Wenara. "Me? Calm? Puh-lease. In our friendship, that's Ivex."

"Ivex is the least calm on our team," Jai said. "So being around you will probably be like being around a constantly caffeinated extrovert, am I right?"

Jodi shot her a thumbs up. "You got it! Come on! I'll show you guys around!"

A/n: Hello again! Sorry for the wait, I know I have the wonkiest scheduled in all of the land, but I'm finally getting you the next chapter. Bonzai!

Thanks for reading! I apologize for any grammatical errors I may have missed. Have a day. /Kronos\\