~ The Bond ~

Piper had made her choice and she was blooming under Agate's tutelage. Resonating easy to Piper now. She had moved past that to complicated techniques like raw crystal manipulation; using crystals without tools. Just her pure energy to channel a crystal's abilities. She was quickly grasping that. But despite her progress, Piper was still desperate for more. To satisfy her inner curiosity, of course, not for probable vengeance.

Agate was more than happy to oblige. She even started to let her teachings carry late into the night. Some nights they worked away on different lessons. Sometimes they just meditated. It was the only time that Piper found peace within herself, for a little while. It was the only time she didn't really regret the fallout with Finn. And the rest of the Storm Hawks as a result. They all thought that she was abandoning them, but she wasn't. She had to do this for herself, but of course they didn't see it that way. The moments of peace Agate was able to provide were much needed.

This night was different, however. It was the fore promised night of the winter solstice. It was a night for rituals. It was also a night for initiations. It was this night and the promise of power that came with that Piper had left her teammates for.

"So how does this Bonding work? It sounds similar to the Binding," Piper asked.

Agate nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Similar but not quite. With the Binding, the mage acts as a conduit for the crystal energy into another party. Perfect Attunement is required because the crystal energies don't naturally flow that way. They have to think that you and your partner are one and the same. The Bonding, however doesn't require that, because it's not a sharing of energies between a mage and a nonmage. Is this making sense?"

Piper nodded, understanding better. "Okay, I get it but why are we doing it?"

"It's a rite of passage. The Bonding is meant to be shared between student and teacher. It's a powerful technique, but difficult to manifest. It's most commonly done on the solstice because the energies of the world are in alignment."

Piper gave another nod. "So how do we start?"

~ First Steps ~

Like everything else, it started with meditation. Piper's nose twitched at the burning incense in the room; she wasn't sure what it was, but the scent irritated and it wasn't the kind that Agate usually used. Piper's held hands with Agate, and the tactician couldn't help but notice the difference between their hands. Agate's skin was smooth, but in the slippery, glass-smooth way. There were also no fingernails on the multiple fingers and that there as many knuckles as fingers it seemed.

Between them, encircled by their clasped hands was a crystal. It was about the size of a phoenix egg, and reminded her of quartz with its thick, rectangular edges breaking its surface. It was also a pale violet, almost white. It was supposed to a conduit.

They started with meditation, as they always did. Piper didn't know what to expect, or how the ritual was supposed to start. Agate just told her that she would know when it began. It was long moments of just breathing, her mind relaxing and becoming calm.

It was subtle shift. Piper became aware that she was tingly. Not numb tingly, but a whole body buzz sort of tingle. From there, Piper realized that she was developing an awareness of everything. She could hear the air inside Agate's lungs. She could feel the vibrations through the air when ashes from the incense fell. She was starting to get light-headed, but it was alright. Everything was alright. It was like someone had explained to her the secrets of the universe and everything made sense.

But the more lightheaded she became, the more aware she became, grew a niggling fear. A fear that something was wrong, something bad was happening.

You need to calm down, Agate's smooth voice said in her mind.

It sounded like a simple enough task, but then Piper realized how uncalm she really was. Her pulse was thundering through her veins, her breath was coming in shallow gasps. Her head was pounding and the sense of wrongness just grew.

Piper could hear Agate telling her everything was alright, to calm down. Those were the last words Piper heard before she blacked out.

~ Slipping ~

Blacking out wasn't the right word, though. It was more like slipping. It had that sudden weightlessness of a fall, where you wait for the ground to rush up and end the fall. Except there was no ground rushing up to meet you. It was just that constant feeling of falling.

The awareness was still there, but it seemed to have stretched out and spread. Miles and miles away, Piper felt a surge of power that lit up the sky. A weathered looking old man was endowing a crystal with power, a power that could crack open worlds. Closer to home, Piper could feel every heartbeat in the Resistance stronghold. She flowed along her awareness, like a paper boat caught in the current of a river. She let it take her across the Gate even, and she felt the heartbeats of a hundred terras that she desperately missed. She could even feel the thrum of the earth, and the raw strength of the magma pools in the Wastelands.

When Piper awoke, she was disoriented. She wasn't even sure if she was awake, or even alive. It seemed all surreal.

"Oh, good, you're awake at last."

Piper's head snapped to Agate's voice, but the world seemed to tilt at the sudden motion.

Piper felt seven-fingered hands brushing her temple, giving soothing relief to a headache she didn't realize had happen.

"Wha-"

"Happened? It was little too much for you, I'm afraid. You fainted."

"So it was dream then?"

"No, what you saw was real, a side effect of the Bonding ritual."

"Did it work? Is it finished?"

"I completed what I sought out to complete, my child. Now, hush, and sleep."

A/N: Okay, so I hinted a few chapters back that there was a chapter that ran parallel to events in another chapter; this is that chapter. What chapter is this one running parallel with? Chapter 44, of course! Go back and reread it if you can't remember what happened.

In other news... found my "missing" files. Turned out they were hidden for whatever reason. I will also be moving very soon, and I don't know how long I will be without internet. So don't be worried if I drop off the map, okay my dears?