July 20, 2003
Despite going to bed in the middle of the night following the celebrations of winning The Northerners' fourth Silver Cup in recent years, Coralis woke up early. She hoped she wouldn't get called by the EBEE to go on a case. She knew Frank would be working all day, so she agreed to meet with Panjik and Sonylla for training.
Frank woke up while she was still busy making breakfast.
"Morning luv!" he said while standing behind her kissing her neck with his hands on her waist.
"Morning!" she said, turning her head to kiss him back on the lips. "Breakfast is almost ready."
"Still wanna go train today? With the workload you've had for the past few months, I'd think you deserve a break," said Frank as he filled his mug with coffee.
Frank sat on a stool by the kitchen island.
"Yes, I need to. Panjik wants to help me train my spirit energy and provide additional fire training to Sonylla, and I won't pass on that. I was supposed to go to London for weapon training with the EBEE… but I'll skip that one. I don't think I need more weapon training."
Frank chuckled over his coffee.
"I don't think you do, but what do I know? Wouldn't that put you in trouble if you don't show up for training?"
"It would, but the trainer there is also expecting me to have partied all night following The Northerners' victory at the flyball final game, so I might be able to get away with it. If we're on the verge of a war, I need to train my inner elemental energy."
"I don't understand why your employer isn't training you with that. I've seen you fight using spells, could it be because they think you're strong enough?"
Coralis grabbed two plates from the cupboard and plated breakfast before refilling her coffee mug. She sat on the stool next to Frank.
"Possibly, but I doubt it. When I was in elemental school and was hunted by Lord Meozo, the principal thought that I was strong enough when two of my teachers offered to give me additional lessons... but the only reason I was strong enough was that they had been giving me advanced lessons in secret for years, just in case he'd come for me when out of school grounds. They wanted me to resist Lord Meozo and have a standing chance against him."
"Clearly, it paid off. So your boss wants you to stagnate? If they want you dead, it would make sense as it would indeed make you an easier target if you're undertrained."
"That's what Sebastian has been saying for a long time, and I believe he's right. Panjik and some others also think that. We all think that a war is coming, but no one knows who to trust anymore, so Panjik now wants to give private training to the select few he trusts at his house, regardless of whom we work for."
"Same reason you've been having a lot of meetings lately at the CMMA elders' residences."
"Yes. I told Eva and Panjik that even if I ever find a way to walk away from the EBEE, I wouldn't want to transfer to the CMMA, not while they probably also have elders siding with radical groups. It would be like swapping a group of foes for another, and the EBEE cockroaches who want me dead would still be going after me because I keep standing against them."
"The books Louis and I gave you for Christmas, do they help?"
"They do, yes, very much so. The one from Louis helps me understand what I can find in gas, or in the air, in general. It helps me transform molecules and elements into something else, or modify them to make them more precise, making my elemental spells stronger. I even realised different ways to use some elements, different applications for them. Yours helps me understand those I find in metal and alloys so I can manipulate or transform them better, even if I'm not an earth mage."
"Good to hear, because I don't want to lose you. I like to think that no one can beat you."
Coralis brought their empty plates to the sink.
"I'm a hard one to beat, but I'm definitively not the strongest out there. I'm only 22, so if I were to face a 300-year-old mage… I probably wouldn't last long."
"The first time I saw you fight at Healing Moon, how old was the fay you fought?"
"I don't know," said Coralis, standing on the other side of the kitchen island, leaning on her elbows. "It was me and Eva against High Fay Zaaro, and we didn't win. High Mage Finnas stopped the fight and rendered him unconscious."
"Yes, but you still put up a good fight. I remember hearing him saying that it looked like you had it under control when he came back to the lobby."
"I was also low in energy when he stopped it."
"I also remember you and Sebastian mentioning something about a god's mark at Christmas. You think that's also why many people want you out? To do it while you aren't at your strongest yet?"
"That's what makes sense to me. The EBEE wants to keep me undertrained, and I do not have a god's mark. In a lot of bloodlines, under normal circumstances, mages and other elemental flavours would get their god's marks around my age. You saw that Sebastian got his. But not all of us get marked by our god, especially in the ancient and very old bloodlines."
"Meaning that in theory, you could get yours any time soon, or never."
"Or in 10 years. I know my birth father had his, but I don't know how old he was when he got it."
"I also remember you saying that Audrey could find out about hers if she ever marks a mate," said Frank as they heard Coralis's hologram vibrating from the coffee table in the living room. "Does that mean that you could also find out about yours that way?"
"Uh, yes," said Coralis as she grabbed her hologram and pressed to answer it.
Erik's and Henry's holographic image floated above it. They looked panicked, which made her worried.
"SISTER!" said Erik and Henry at the same time.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"We had a meeting at the EBEE this morning with Gus," said Erik.
"While we were there, we felt a disturbance in our wards, but we couldn't leave the meeting," said Henry.
"Someone broke through our wards?"
"Yes, took down a few and passed through the rest," said Erik.
"They didn't take anything… but your room looks like a tornado went through it," said Henry.