Jerany~

I groan slightly as I wake up, realizing how horribly I did. I knew she knew something was up. Hope today is going to be better.

I stayed away from Ellow and Kas a bit, wanting to stay hidden. No use. Kasira walked up to me and smiled.

"Um..." I looked at her, and then took a deep breath.

"Er... Sorry I'm acting up. I'm not the best at keeping..." I trail off, realizing what I'm about to say. I grow red.

"School stress? Not much of the talker? Sorry, know it's hard." She smiled again, and whisked off once more. I sighed in relief.

The day didn't get any better. Kasira kept trying to get me talkin', but I was to embarrassed and shy. Now I realized why they picked me. I'm to shy to make friends!

Heh, heh. Sorry. I forgot it's called the leapmaster, and not the Lightmaster. *blush*

Anyway.

~

Kasira

~

That day after school, I caught up with Ellowyn before she leaped home. "Hey!" I said. "Wanna hang out at your house or something?"

Ellowyn turned towards me. She shugged, although a little forcefully. "Okay." We both leaped to her house. When we got there, I saw her mother out in the little garden, patting down dirt. "Hi, Mom," said Ellowyn. Her mom waved.

We walked upstairs to Ellowyn's room. I plunked down at the edge of her bed, while Ellowyn busied herself organizing her pack. I walked over to her desk and a piece of paper caught my eye. I read the neat cursive that was telling someone to relax and blend in. I looked over to Ellowyn. She was still organizing.

Suddenly, she looked up. "Hey!" she said, snatching the paper away. "Can't someone have a little privacy?" Her face looked red and angry.

"Sorry," I stammered.

Ellowyn shook her head, "Leave," she said. I took out my leapmaster skowly, and leaped home.

Ellowyn ~

I shook slightly, crumpling the note in my hand. A tinge of guilt and regret touched me as I thought about Kasira's face when I told her to leave, but the fear overwhelmed it. I was such an idiot. How could I leave that note just lying around? How could I even possibly risk letting our secret be exposed? What was I supposed to do now? Would she tell someone about what she saw, what the note said? Would she be suspicious about me now? Would she even go so far as to tell Dame Alina, or someone else from nobility or even somehow get word to one of the councilors? 

I paced back and forth, rubbing my forehead, debating what to do. Finally, I slowly pulled out my pathfinder, and leaped to Kasira's home.

It wasn't too different from my own, being as both our families are part of nobility. I strode up to the main door, taking deep breaths, and cleared my head. I knew exactly what I had to say, what I needed to do. My emotions swept to the side, and every thought of hesitancy was erased from my mind. This was part of the reason the Black Swan chose me. Once I knew what had to be done, whether it was a simply asking a question, or something more drastic, I could force myself to not think or feel.

"Is Kasira available?" I asked her mother, who seemed surprised to see me. She hesitated, before nodding and directing me toward her room. Thankfully, she didn't bother to follow.

I went directly into Kasira's room without bothering to knock. Stepping inside, I shut the door behind me. Kasira sat turned away from me, leaning against the side of her bed.

"Kasira."

She jumped and turned to look at me, evidently not having expected me to come.

"I..." she started, though seemed unable to think of what to say.

"Relax, don't worry," I said, keeping my voice calm. I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

"I, overreacted today, and I'm sorry. It's just, well first off I'm not used to talking to people and letting them into my life. That note you saw today was just really important and sensitive, and just basically forget you saw it, okay? I'm really sorry I snapped at you though. Can we start over and try again? This time I'll really try to keep my random outbursts and awkwardness at a minimum. Deal?"

She looked at me for a minute, studying my face. I tried to put on my most sincere expression, though I still wasn't totally sure how to mix in my emotions without panicking or getting mad or letting something slip. 

"Alright," she finally said, nodding. I smiled. We hung out for awhile longer, and I felt myself slipping into my sarcastic, joshing self that I was only around people I felt comfortable with. 

Later that evening, when I jumped back home, Mom stopped me to ask me in a low tone, "Is everything alright."

I nodded. "Everything's fine."

We kinda need to get this rp going. Maybe Kasira finally figures out of something? 

Jerany~

I cleared my mind, looking at her and smiling slightly. Okay, just forget about all your fears. You can do this.

After school ends, Kasira and I leap toward her house. When we reach it, I hesitate, then step forward. She smiles awkwardly at me, opening the door. I sheepishly walk into her house, and say hi to her mom. Kasira leads me to her room. Kasira looks at me and sighs.

"How's school?" I manage to say cheerfully. She looks at me and reads my face, probably trying to find the lies hiding beneath them. I look down, growing red.

"Pretty good, though kinda stressing. You?" Kasira tilts her head. I laugh slightly, trying to create a ice-breaker.

"Oh, if you don't count rude teachers, awkwardness when trying to find a friend, and school stress, then I'm having a great time!" I say, smiling and ruffling my hair.  

Agreed!

Kasira ~

The next day after school, I try to catch Ellowyn, but she's gone quicklly. I leap to her house and knock on the door. A beautiful woman opens the door. "Is Ellowyn here?" I ask.

"She's up in her room."

I walk upstairs. Ellowyn's door is slightly opened. I can see her inside at her desk, talking softly to someone. I enter the room. "Is that an Imparter?" I ask.

Ellowyn gives a shout of surprise and drops the Imparter. I pick it up. A man in black clothes is staring back at me. On his sleeve, I can see...the sign of the swan? I gasp. The Imparter quickly blinks off.

I turn to Ellowyn, who looks ready to strange me. "You're from the Black Swan?" I ask.

Sorry y'all I haven't been on here! I haven't forgotten, I'm just busy so I have to spread myself out between RPs. But I finally have some time for here, so I'll jump back in.

Ellowyn ~

The first thing I do is snatch the Imparter back from Kasira, shoving it in my desk drawer, march over and slam my bedroom doors shut.

"Sit," I order. She looks confused and worried by the look on my face and by the way I was acting, though at the moment, I didn't care. Before, I could try to brush it off and seem over sensitive and protective. This time, everything was hinged upon what I said to her and how I handled this. And to be frank, the only way to get her to keep quiet was to tell her the truth.

"Alright, this is a difficult situation," I began, sitting down at the foot of the bed facing her. "My situation is very precarious, doubly more so now. The first thing I have to establish is that you cannot, under any circumstances, repeat to ANYONE what you saw or heard here, okay? Not the Imparter, not anything you might have heard, not the man you saw, not the note you found the other day, nothing. Otherwise, I could, no would, be exiled if the Council ever found out."

Kasira looked at me with wide eyes.

"You absolutely will not repeat this, right?" I repeated, holding her eye contact.

She waited a moment, then nodded.

"Okay," I said, my voice softening. "What I'm doing isn't wrong, or bad. Quite the contrary. I can't go into anything, but we're trying to help the elvin world. My job is critical so I need your absolute cooperation."

I stopped talking then, allowing myself to think. 

"Can I trust you?" I asked, my voice low and soft.

"Yes, you can," Kasira replied.

I nodded. Already an idea was forming in my head though. First, I had to talk to Jerany.

**********************************************************************

So, I wa sthinking that Ellowyn would ask Jerany about letting Kasira become an accomplice?

Top

Ellowyn ~

A dozen hot-headed retorts sit on the tip of my tongue as Jerany and I glare at each other. My emotions swirled around inside like a hurricane, waiting for my mind to release them, though forced myself to hold them in. 

What can you do to me? It's not like you are an inflictor.

If only he knew.

I watched Jerany storm off, slowly letting out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. Why the Black Swan thought it was a good idea for us to work together, I had no idea. We were both sarcastic, rebelious, and hot headed. 

Kasira sits quietly, looking down, waiting for me to speak.

"What I told you before was true," I started, sitting down again. "We're not hurting anyone. What we were assigned to do though is watch the Council. Our world is changing, and Councilors don't want to admit or accept that fact. In fact, they're the ones hurting us. They are making and acting upon decisions that only fuel the rebels. They act like we're the evil ones, when we are forced to go undercover, beyond the limits of the law. Our main goal right now is to stop the real rebels, keep order in all worlds between all creatures and people, and protect the Council, whether they believe it or not. But in order to do that, we have to have intell on what the Council plans to do, who they speak to about what, where they go, who they send where, and why. Sending a couple kids into Foxfire posing as students is a prime position. It's the main hub for news to be passed, kids of Emissaries and other workers for the Council go there, and usually, more than a little classified information is passed onto the principal of the school."

Kasira nodded, taking all this in quite calmly.

"How you can help is by keeping your eyes and ears open for everything. Even if it just seems to be gossip. Any tidbit of information can be of upmost importance. Listen in to nobelmen's childen and their converstations, especially what they say about their parents. Listen to the teachers and faculty. Even random member of nobility when you're on the streets. Anyone that could know anything, pay attention."

Again, Kasira nodded solemnly. 

"Great," I said sighing in relief. "I know you'll be a tremendous asset and help. And don't worry about Jerany, he'll come round eventually. So, you game for this?"

Kasira slowly allowed a smile to spread across her face. "Absolutely."