hey all im back again with an update! this one is shorter than i would like but i wanted to update as soon as possible since it was such a long wait for the last one. i didn't have time to edit this so if you see any mistakes nd are bothered by it please PM and i will fix it. thanks!

R&R

For what felt like the hundredth time today, Jason had to summon all his willpower to peel his back off the floor and get back into his combat stance. He bit down a groan as his aching spine protested the movement. Sure, the floor of the training area was covered in a thick, firm layer of moss to cushion it but having already fallen on it more times than he could count, Jason's body was beginning to feel like a big bruise.

"You're aren't even trying anymore," Thryn muttered crossly. They had been sparring for about an hour and she hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Would you keep trying if you had been knocked down so much?" he snapped back. The blonde was usually a patient guy but this was testing his limits.

She stared back at him like he just asked if water was wet. "Of course I would! Leafwomen never give in or give up."

Jason's brewing frustration was at boiling point, the anxiousness that he had felt creeping on him ever since he got shrunk finally surfacing. "Yeah well I'm not a Leafwoman nor a Leafman, I'm not a leaf anything! I'm just a guy who got dragged into a hidden world where everything is bigger than me and two forces are at war for whatever stupid reason, and I have no idea what I'm doing let alone how to fight!"

With that he stormed off to the side of the room and plunked down onto a bench, refusing to look at her or anybody else who heard his outburst. He knew he sounded like a child but he didn't care. After a minute, Thryn's boot-clad feet came into his line of vision but he did not look up, just waited for her to yell at him for being a wimp.

She said something different instead. "Your jabs are strong, not at all like me when I was still in training. You could be really fast if you learned to not give away your next move..."

Jason slowly glanced up at her, his blue eyes wide with astonishment. She didn't meet his gaze though. "And your footwork...you said you play...what did you call it...soccer? What is that exactly?"

Jason bit his lip, trying not to look scandalized. "It's a game where you can only move the ball with your feet and each team tries to score in the opponent's goal."

"Well, it helps to have great footwork in a fight and yours is better than any of the senior Leafmens' that I've seen. But your biggest problem is balance; you haven't got squat. Let me show some exercises that you can do to improve that."

The blonde cracked a smile and stood up from the bench. He felt better now that Thryn had given him a run-down of his strengths and weaknesses, something to work off of. It was strangely encouraging even though she hadn't said anything like "good job" or "don't worry, we'll try again."

Watching from afar, M.K. smiled at the pair. She of course had heard Jason's earlier outburst and had felt a stab of guilt for it; after all, it was kind of her fault that he was here now. She should have tried talking to him before about it but so much was happening at such a fast pace, that it was driven from her mind. Looking back to when they were fleeing the Boggans, she really only cared about getting everyone, especially Nod, to safety.

"They're getting along well, don't you think?" Lex asked her conversationally, but M.K. spotted the gleam in her eyes.

"I know that look," she replied. "That's the look my friends Lisa and Angela gave me every time they saw me chatting with Jason in the hallway."

This perked Lex's interest. "Oh, so you guys have some history? Do tell."

"Aren't we supposed to be training? You were teaching me how to block and duck."

Lex deflated a little. "Okay fine, I won't pry if you don't want to talk about your many relationships."

"I'm only in one relationship! Jason and I are just friends but he didn't know about Nod-"

"So you had to shut him down when he finally asked you out?" the grasshopper girl interjected.

M.K. crossed her arms, trying to hide her shock. "Okay, how do you know about that?"

"It was only a guess, I am a beautiful young woman like yourself so I kind of know what goes on between people," she replied. At the glare M.K. was giving her, she had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry, my mum says I'm too eager and nosy sometimes when it comes to other people's problems."

After letting her squirm a bit longer in embarrassment, M.K. relented. "It's alright, I forgive you. There's nothing to worry about though, I can handle my own relationships and Jason respects my decision so there really is no problem."

"Well, that's good to hear," she beamed. "Alright, so let me show the proper way of blocking a jab."

M.K. focused on Lex's instructions, determined to learn as fast as possible, and her thoughts about Jason and Nod were shoved to the back of her mind.

It was a beautiful day. Sunlight gleamed through the branches and leaves and rimmed the landscape in golden light. Eagles flew through the air, carrying their fresh catches of fish to their nests, strange gusts of wind swept through the pine tree, cleaning it of dust and dirt, young people trained in the art of sword fighting as a dragonfly frolicked around them and songbirds flitted, looking for seeds or berries to eat. And through all this, he was trapped inside, flipping through pages of an old, useless book.

Nod sat hunched over the open journal, reading an entry from the Tablet Master. This was the only source of knowledge that they had on the rose and it wasn't yielding much. Most of the writings were useless to him. The Tablet Master would just write about any given day that was worth penning about or he would ramble about a memory, dream, or a crazy idea he thought up.

Besides the last entries on the last pages, nothing really else mentioned the rose's background. The dream that the Tablet Master had about King Jori and the rose seed was interesting but Nod could only read into it so much and he didn't find any hint or secret message within the text. He even tried holding some of the pages above a candle to see if heat would make any invisible ink appear. It hadn't but it was worth a shot.

There were illustrations on some pages, beautifully drawn with charcoal or an ink pen. The Royal Rose Seal was on a few, depicting a fully bloomed rose encircled with thorns carried by doves. For some reason, dragons were the most frequent of drawings. They were throughout the entire journal, some taking up a whole page while others were tucked in the corners or even encompassed some of the text. Some were drawn sleeping, flying, or breathing fire. Others were holding scrolls and crystal balls or reading books. Despite his frustration at the lack of information, Nod couldn't help but smile when he stumbled across another one posing on a page.

And then there was the one page that held his attention the most. It was a family portrait, drawn elegantly by the Tablet Master's hand and inked in with color. A man and a woman sat erect, slight smiles on their faces as they stared back at the artist. They were dressed in forest finery, a pair of circlets resting on each forehead; flower petals for the woman and dark green leaves for the man. The woman's hair was a thick mane of red snarls that looked untamed even in her braided bun style, but she possessed great beauty, especially with her sky blue eyes. The man had a trimmed black beard and curly black hair, his skin a dusky brown and his eyes the color of spring grass.

Two children sat on their laps. A girl who looked no older than eight perched restlessly on the edge of her father's knee, like she was ready to bound away as soon as the drawing was done. She had her mother's wild red curls and her father's green eyes. In the woman's arms, a little boy sucked his thumb, staring with big curious blue eyes and black curls falling across his forehead. He looked no more than two years old but he seem more relaxed and patient than his older sister.

The Tablet Master had finished off the portrait with a caption at the bottom. "The Royal Family of the North Forest: King Jori, Queen Marise, Princess Ana, and Prince Aiden."

"What a lovely family," Wanikiy commented, his voice startling Nod out of his fascination of the picture. The tree dragon seemed to enjoy sneaking up on people despite his large, lumbering size. "And the artist...never seen a more skilled hand, though I admit that I don't see much art to judge."

"I think you would get along with this guy," Nod grinned, flipping the pages back to an illustration of a dragon curled around her clutch of eggs. "See, he's really into dragons himself."

"Interesting...yes, this is interesting..." Wanikiy began to pace around the table in thought, his great head bowed deeply. Nod had to suppress from rolling his eyes. M.K. of course had told him about the gnome's 'long life' and 'infinite memory' that wasn't accessible to even the dragon himself. Really, how many times was Fate gonna give him a glimmer of hope then squash it with circumstances? He found it frustrating that Wanikiy could have lived during the time of the rose and could possibly have some explanations that would clear up the mystery and speed things up, but 'time does not apply the same way to an immortal and memory of his living self is all like an elusive dream.'

It was all Nod could do to not shove the journal under the spirit's nose and threaten (or beg, whichever worked) him to think harder. Instead, he sat in silence on tenterhooks and waited for the dragon to quit his contemplating.

Finally, the gnome paused in his pacing. "Tell me what you know so far."

Nod filled him in on the discovery of the hidden room under the Rings of Knowledge and how only three documents had escaped decomposition due to the safe. He described the two tablets that marked the king as a fugitive murderer and the one that changed the seal and inheritance laws. Nod even flipped to the two entries that he stumbled on the day he found the journal, the only mentioned records of the rose.

"That's basically it," he finished lamely. "The closest thing I have is the Tablet Master's last entry, but everything that happens there is all in a dream he had."

"Dreams can be more of a guidance than you may think," Wanikiy replied sagely. "After all, young Queen Ariel's dream of Tara warned her that she had to flee Moonhaven and was it not the same sort of dream that led her to discover the existence of the King's rose?"

"So your saying that what the Tablet Master dreamed could have actually happened and he had an...um...out-of-body experience?"

"Possibly, possibly not. But whichever it is, what's important is what happened in the dream That is where the message lies."

Nod referred back to the text. "The Tablet Master says he saw the fugitive King Jori approaching the stronghold, with a cloak and hood like he didn't want to be seen. He came in through the gardens, which just so happens to have roses growing in it."

"Hoping for a glimpse of his wife, no doubt. Keep going."

"Jori stood outside the Queen's tree...so the royal headquarters weren't always at Moonhaven?"

"This all happened centuries ago. I would not be surprised if the stronghold of the monarchy has moved around a few times since then, due to war, nature's forces, or human interference."

"Hoping to get a glimpse of his wife...what about his kids, where were they?" Nod questioned, his fingers steepled against his forehead. He could feel the answer right there. Then it hit him but the explanation was unbelievable. "The Tablet Master carved a notice that stated Jori was wanted for murder. Could the victims have been...his own children?"

Wanikiy silently contemplated whether this could be true. Though the dragon did not have facial expressions, he seemed very grave and troubled. "What could possibly turn a wife against her husband so drastically, what else could possibly make her feel such hatred toward him? If he was charged for murder and Marise was the one to push for his arrest, then he must have killed someone close to her."

"And we don't about any other family members," Nod finished. "But why would he...kill...his own kids?"

"We have yet to learn of what this man was like. Try to keep an open mind about all this, until we have the full story. I'm sure something will come to me when the time is right. Tell me the rest of the dream."

Nod looked over the last paragraphs. "Jori looks up at the tree like he's trying to see his wife. Then, he says, more to himself then anybody, 'Stripped of my Kingship, am I my dear? It was the King's solemn duty to protect his family, while the Queen protected her people' and now you've shut me out and you will not listen. Very well then; I'll just have to return the favor.' And after that, he picks up a rose seed and starts chanting some sort of spell, I think. Something like dark magic flows into the rose seed and turns it gray. But then the magic changed when the King started crying, like he was sorry. He kept saying 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you Marise.'"

"No doubt the seed he selected is the King's rose Tara was referring to. The one that is sitting on your arm."

"The thought has crossed my mind," the boy replied, brown eyes darting down to the rose where it sat ominously still. That was strange by itself; usually the rose shifted every now and then like a squirming worm, for it to sit still for so long since last night wasn't normal. Nod shook his head, trying to dislodge these thoughts so to focus on what was at hand. "That means I have a plant with the potential for dark magic attached to me. Not very comforting..."

"This is true, but it also contains pure magic, when the King was overcome with remorse and love. The rose has a little bit of both, though this has never been heard of or done before in history. Quite extraordinary that a plant could possess both kinds; this may explain why its been both a helpful and harmful to you."

"Of course!" Nod exclaimed as the pieces fell together in his head. "The dark magic must be when it's sucking out all my hydration and energy for itself. The pure magic has worked when it defended me against an attacker or communicated with a dangerous animal. And awhile back, Thryn was injured from a Boggan arrow but the rose healed and extracted the Rot from her completely...but it had to use the life force of another organism to do it. This also explains why other plants don't like it when it gets too close, and why those roses in the Stompers' garden attacked us!"

"How intriguing," the tree dragon praised. "It seems the rose switches the type of magic based off of its surroundings, not unlike animal instincts. However, this cannot be a permanent arrangement."

"What do you mean?"

Wanikiy's claws scratched at the floor, leaving deep gouges in the wood. "Dark and pure magic cannot coexist for very long in the same sentient being; if the vessel was an inanimate object, the case would be different. Eventually, the being would have to decide which path it will take or it will destroy itself because dark and pure magic cancel each other out. Since this is a plant, it will make its decision based off its environment."

Silence fell between them. The rose had still not shifted an inch but seemed to grow heavier on his arm. For some reason, it was getting more difficult for Nod to make the connections but he managed all the same. "So if the rose is surrounded by Rot, it'll choose dark magic as its essence, and vice versa," he concluded.

The tree dragon dipped his head. "That is what I believe."

"That's why the new Boggan leader wants it so badly, not to kill it, but to use it as a weapon for the Boggans. At the same time, it can be used for pure magic and may be the only thing that is powerful enough to help us take back our home." Nod snorted disdainfully. "Sometimes I really hate irony."

All of a sudden, a prickling tingle traveled its way up his arm. Nod winced at the unexpected pain but it subsided quickly.

"What is wrong?" Wanikiy asked, alarmed.

"Nothing," Nod growled. "It was just-argh!" An unexpected flash of pain stabbed into his brain, like someone was trying to drive a knife through his skull. Nod barely heard Wanikiy shouting his name as a wave of dizziness and pain overcame his senses. His arm burned like hellfire and blood filled his mouth as he bit his tongue to keep from screaming. He felt himself falling as another wave of dizziness caused him to slip out of his chair, darkness edging around his frayed vision. He vaguely heard Wanikiy yelling for assistance and pounding footsteps coming their way before he let his mind slip away into oblivion to escape the pain and noise.

Nod woke up on his feather bed in the room that he was currently sleeping in at the pine tree. The pain in his head was gone but his arm throbbed and he felt very weak. The room was softly lit by a lantern and he felt someone dabbing cool liquid on his forehead. In the dim light, he saw that it was M.K., her head turned away as she soaked a cloth in the bowl of water on her lap.

"Hey Mary-Kat," he whispered.

Though he had not mean for it to happen, M.K. jumped, the water sloshing over its brim and onto her lap. Her green eyes turned to meet his, wide, scared, and full of concern. He felt guilty for making her worry so much, though he had not planned to pass out today.

"Nod?" she exclaimed. "Are you feeling okay? What the hell happened to you?"

"I'm a bit better, not feeling any pain or anything," he quickly assured her. The redhead calmed down a little at his report of no pain but she kept her gaze riveted on his face, and he knew instantly that she was looking for signs of fibbing. "Wanikiy and I were in the common room and I just felt very dizzy all of a sudden and my arm was burning. I passed out from the headache."

M.K. let out a breath she had been holding in. "You were burning up earlier and you were shaking uncontrollably...it was almost like a seizure and..." Her voice cracked and tears began to well up in her eyes. "I-I was scared you would g-go into cardiac arrest...I thought you were going to die!"

She lost control and a sob escaped her, tears running down her cheeks. Immediately, Nod rose and wrapped her in a hug, wanting to let her know that he was still with her. He felt her shaking against his chest as she hugged him back, crying softly into his shoulder.

So intent Nod was on comforting M.K., he didn't notice how heavy his arm felt until he tried to rub her back to soothe her. Glancing down, he couldn't help but gasp. The rose's stem was longer, the roots thicker, and the dark green leaves were wider. Instead of a fat, green bud resting against his hand, a soft bunch of crimson petals were bundled tightly together. M.K. pulled back and followed his astonished gaze to the rose.

"After we got you up here, the rosebud began to open up and grow," she explained, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "That's when your heartbeat got so fast and shallow, we thought it would stop. As soon as it stopped growing, your body began to calm down again."

"I passed out because the rose was having a growth spurt?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, it seems that way."

Nod held the newly-grown rose up to the light. New questions came to the forefront of his mind. What would happen to him as the rose grew and its demand for nutrients grew with it? And another thing: what if the time for it to choose what kind of magic it would harbor coincided with it growing to its full adult size? What would happen to Nod if the rose was still attached to him when it chose to be a dark or pure being?

He couldn't voice theses thoughts aloud, not unless he wanted to scare M.K. all over again. He had to talk to Wanikiy in private. The boy turned back to the girl and smiled, hiding his fears from her. "Did I miss dinner? Cause I'm really hungry."

M.K. smiled, not hiding her relief. "I'll go get you something. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be walking around just yet." She rose from her chair and went to the door but hesitated at the threshold.

"Don't worry M.K." Nod said seriously. "I'll be alive when you come back."

She slumped her shoulders and nodded her head. Then she said sternly, "Don't you dare get out of bed." M.K. left to go fetch him dinner and Nod slumped back on his pillows, his eyes returning to examine the new rose that had grown at the cost of nearly all his strength.

sorry, this is a bit of a filler. stuff happens in the next chapter, i promise! please share your thought, constructive criticisms is always welcome and i like to hear from you guys, i do value your opinions.

Until next time, FIAF