A'ine smiled and blushed a little. "I told myself I'd make a friend today and I thought it might have a better chance if I made someone leave their comfort zone with me." She said looking down a little snap-claping her hands again.

Alderic laughed and pushed up on his fingertips. "I'd thought it be obvious I'm a circus person!" He let go of one hand and put it behind his back. He launched himself into the air and landed on his feet. "Ta-da!" He said with a bow. "My older sisters are better at this then I am though. I'm the air stunts guy."

Ember smiled. "Well you certainly found a person out of their comfort zone," she said. Ember wished that she has been bold enough to make friends, but it seemed like she had made one despite her shyness.

Orion clapped playfully. "You're good! Being in the circus must have been fun," he said, glad Alderic had stayed for the time being anyway.

A'ine smiled. "Well it was pretty easy to get along with you." She looked over at the guys. "So you sit behind those two in class?"

Alderic bowed again. "Thank you. Honestly it really was. The only thing that was hard was when I had just started and I kept setting the tent on fire." He started laughing a bit. "The only reason I got to stay as long as I did was because I lived there."

"Just Orion and Jora, the two who you said liked each other," Ember said, sitting down on a rock. She looked up at A'ine from where she was sitting.

"So you have fire magic like Jora?" Orion asked.

A'ine smiled. "Yeah I know. Alderic's in my class. He's literally the class clown. He was part of a circus with his mom and dad, he's really good actually." A'ine looked around the trees. "Oh and just so you know, They don't even know they like each other. Especially Jora. I just got this vibe from them..." She said turning back to look at her friend.

Alderic smiled. "Nope, Jora's her own thing but being a flaming pegasus trying to fly in a smallish tent..." He trailed off thinking about it. "Honestly. Her power's scare me a bit. They just seem kinda... Freaky." He said hoping he wouldn't get punched in his face as the last words came out. He had broken enough pairs of glasses.

"They seem to be fine together from here...." Said Ember, glancing at the two boys. She didn't want to spy on them, so she looked toward A'ine instead. "Besides me and your brother, who else knows your telepathic?" She asked.


Orion stiffened at Alderic's last word. Jora has been scared that Orion would call her a freak, and that was what all the village kids called her. He didn't know what to think about Alderic anyone. He didn't trust him quite yet. He was far from it in fact. "She's not a freak, Alderic," Orion said, almost glaring at Alderic.

A'ine turned away and looked at the sky a little. "No one besides those three now. I never told my parents..." She sighed and sat down next to her friend. "They were always so proud of A'eda'n's wings that they were a little busy with him. I was determined to prove I was special too without my powers added to the mix." She smiled weakly chuckling a little. "And no one else knows that. Not even A'eda'n."

Alderic backed up from Orion a bit holding up his hands in surrender. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just noting that it was..." He paused trying to think of a word. "Bazaar how she could torch the whole castle if she got angry enough." He jumped again. "I didn't mean it like that either! I'm just not a dictionary!" He didn't want to think about it.

Jora was slowly waking up and heard what Alderic had said. It took her a minute to figure out what he had meant. She bolted up and looked from Orion to Alderic. She turned around and ran away as fast as she could, crying.

A'ine suddenly felt Jora's emotions heighten in fear. She looked at Ember as she tried to decode them. "Oh, no." She stood up quickly and ran out of the trees they were in. She didn't think it would help Jora calm down if either of the boys had chased her. "Don't!" She yelled trying to get a grip on Jora before she got too far. She hoped the word would be enough.

"Aine?" Ember said. She turned her gaze to the direction A'ine was running. Oh shoot. Not again. She decided to keep the boys from going after Jora. Aine had yelled at them to not follow Jora. She took off running toward the two boys.

Orion whirled toward Alderic. "You idiot! Why did you say that? None of it's true!" he said, yelling for the first time in a while. He turned to go after Jora, when Ember crashed into him. "Ember?" he said, looking down at her. "S-sorry, but don't go after Jora," Ember said, falling back into her old stuttering. Orion looked back up toward Jora. "But.." Ember grabbed his wrists. "Please trust A'ine," she pleaded, staring at the ground. Orion looked in surprise at Ember. He gently pulled his wrists free and nodded.

Alderic sighed. He really did mess everything up he turned around walking towards the castle. "I'm gonna go back in. I'm obviously anti-help." He rammed his hands in his pockets and trudged towards the castle.

A'ine felt Orion's anger and hoped nothing too bad was happening. She finally got hold of Jora and slowed her pace a little. She couldn't tell exactly what Jora was feeling but it was in it's roughest form, fear. 'Ember, Keep Orion away while I talk to Jora. I don't think either of them really want to have waht will happen happen.' She rounded a group of trees.

Jora wasn't down running but she was out of breath. She knew Orion was nice about it but who'd want to hang out with someone who could fry you in a matter of seconds? She shook her head and sat down in a clump of bushes and started crying. Nothing would ever be easy for her. She'd never have friends.

A'ine I felt bad for invading Jora's privacy but it couldn't be helped. 'Jora? Are you listening to me?' A'ine knew she was without her saying anything else. 'Orion doesn't care. To be honest his reaction was being angry at Alderic for even breathing a word of it.' She paused for a bit waiting to see if Jora would say anything then continued. 'You are special and you shouldn't have to be afraid of it. I was scared when I started hearing what my parents thought and I'm still scared of it. But no one here could care less about what you look like. Or what happens to you that you think makes you a freak.'

Orion wanted to go to Jora, but Ember seemed so against it. He was about to go anyway when a look of fear crossed Ember's face. "Ember?" he asked.

Ember felt someone else's fear. It was bad enough that she couldn't hide it, but it wasn't as bad as last time. A'ine, focus on Jora, it's not as bad as last time. she sent, not wanting to distract A'ine. Ember winced and stepped away from Orion.