The school is busy. People are rushing through the halls, and people are screaming at each other to shut up. It's been four months, and Crescent hadn't been able to defeat Kenma once. The tournament starts in a month. She's tired, and she's tried pretty much everything. She bumps into someone's chest, and she looks up to spot Ice.
"Something on your mind?" Ice hands her a bottle of water. She hums, and she takes a drink,
"Mmm. Thinking about the tournament next month." Crescent sighs, and Ice places a hand on her head.
"Don't worry about it Cress" He smiles softly. "You won't lose your seat as an elite unless you get kicked by the champion."
"No that's the thing. I want to defeat the champion. We can't do reform unless I get both the principal's title and the champion's. This isn't fair!" She throws her hands up in annoyance.
"I believe in you. Besides. The only thing you have to lose is a title. We fight for our dignity up there you know" Ice laughs. He grabs an apple, and Crescent immediately sense the apple's poison contents.
"aH AH AH NO-" She snatches the apple from his hand, and tosses it out. "That one went bad"
Ice blinks at her, and he wonders how he couldn't sense it. "Say… have you been training in poison lately?"
Crescent stares at him in confusion. No? She had just been so used to locating traps and poisons in case Kenma got hurt that she… She had been training. Had she been training without even realizing it? THAT'S IT! She could use an apple to sneak up on Kenma!
"thank you Ice I owe you one" She bows, and she scurries to find the apple she tossed out.
Crescent is jumpy for the entire day. Her legs move unconsciously, and she tells Ignes and Elios that she wouldn't be joining them for the afternoon. They know where she's headed, and they sneak out of the forcefield on their own. Animal guides had their own way down there. They wanted to see what she was up to.
The way down was easy, you just needed to find the trapdoor, and when Elios spotted it, the two made their way down as animals. It was simple, they just needed to slip through a couple of cracks, and with the ability to shift, it was simple to get in and out. They move quickly, and they follow her scent down.
Crescent manages to sneak up on Kenma today. She makes him eat the bad apple, and he gets slightly dizzy. She wanders up to him with her airbending, and she successfully sneaks up on him. She helps get the poison out of his system, and she's well aware that it was foul play, but she doesn't care. She helps Kenma up, and he curses.
"You sneaking little vixen-" Kenma coughs.
"You didn't say no foul play. I took the chance when I saw it" Crescent sticks her tongue out at him. The ground under her rumbles, and she finds herself in Kenma's embrace underground again. People were here, Crescent could sense blood flowing nearby. But the blood is warm, and it's the exact feeling of Ignes and Elios' blood type.
"Phoenixes" She mumbles against Kenma's skin. "My animal guides somehow got in. Can I go get them?"
Kenma stares at the girl and raises an eyebrow. He checks the earth, and he notices that they were flying. He takes the risk, and he sends them back up to the surface. Ignes and Elios crash into Crescent, and she hisses out in pain. Ignes' wings didn't hurt, but Elios' sure as hell did.
"elIOS" She hisses out. "Anywhere but the arms!"
The bird squawks out an apology. Naga blinks from Kenma's neck, and she transforms to sprint over and hug Ignes. "cY CY!"
Crescent lets out a loud laugh when she hears the nickname. How childish. Naga hugs him close, and he has no choice but to transform into his human form. It was really a sight to see. It was like seeing darkness hug brightness. Cyrus smiles, and he hugs the girl back.
"Yo am I the only single one now?" Helios deadpans, and he squints at Crescent.
"I'm not dating anyone yet. I hope it stays that way" Crescent laughs.
Kenma promises to teach the girl oxygen bending, and when she learns to thin the air around her significantly, Kenma nods. He shows her how to extract the particle, and when she struggles, Kenma waits. It goes on for another couple hours, and she still fails, but she made progress. It was a start, and one month was plenty of time to master at least oxygen bending.
Naga talks with the two birds. They bring up a variety of subjects but what strikes the ear is simple. The dragon and phoenix marks. Curses or blessings in disguise?
"Both of you marked her!???" Naga screeches. "ARE YOU TWO INSANE?? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE CURSING HER WITH??"
"What do you mean? We'd be pretty flattered if we had to marry someone as gorgeous as us" Helios laughs. "But in all seriousness, That only slims her chances of marriage down to us or Kenma. Their curses cancel out."
"So they have to.."
"Yeah that's the only way out. If they don't end up married to eachother and with the rings, then they're pretty much screwed as well"
"Then how did Adrissa get out?"
"Her husband? They made a black market deal with me. I undid the curse."
"Wait you can do that?"
"It's hard. Takes a scale or a feather, and 60 thousand gold pieces and a drop of your blood. Oh and contacts with the spirit world. The man who did the mixing is dead though"
"A FEATHER?"
"yep"
Crescent finishes up her training, and Kenma tosses her a pear. She bites in, and she finishes quicker than Kenma does. He spends the time to take a look at her. She's grown, and the sweat on her forehead glistens. Her arms are more developed from the constant puzzle solving. Her hair is tied up in a low pony tail, and her platinum eyes focus on the water bottle she's picked up.
Crescent eyes Kenma as subtly as she can. A thin layer of sweat covers his body, and his muscles flex. His Adam's apple bobs while he chomps down on his apple. His golden eyes meet her's and she looks away. Her mind races to places it should not be, and Kenma smirks slightly.
He lowers his face to next to her ear, and he whispers lowly. "Where's your mind wandered to babygirl?"
Crescent flushes red, and Kenma laughs slightly. Cyrus and Helios look to see what had caused the commotion, and they're surprised to find Crescent smacking Kenma on the chest. They seemed to be getting along just fine.