A forest, blue eyes, a dark shadow, red, so much red, where's all the red coming from? She looks down, her hands and clothes are all bloodied, she looks up, when did she lie down? Blue eyes, somehow bluer now, something falls on her face, when did it start raining? But the sky is clear, blue eyes seemingly turning greener, everything is getting darker now, but it's okay, because she might not survive this, but she'll go looking at those green eyes.
…
Talia wakes up startled, tears sliding down her face, she looks around feeling disoriented and finds herself lying on her own bed back home already, bits and pieces of how her day went coming back to her now and so she lies back and calms herself down.
'Clover'
[How are you feeling Talia?]
'Better? Still not great'
[That tracks, you exhausted yourself way beyond your limits yesterday]
'Yesterday?'
[Don't worry, only technically yesterday, it's just barely passed midnight, you didn't sleep for days or something]
'Good to know, how did I do?'
[You did well, all of those negative consequences for this event got prevented, it wasn't all that smooth, but you got through it and that's what matter]
'Yeah, my head hurts and I feel a little different somewhat, but can't quite pinpoint why'
[You've raised your Stamina, fire, water and earth magic, maybe that's it?]
'I don't think so, it feels like something deeper got unlocked from inside of my soul yesterday, and I just had the weirdest foggiest dream of my life'
[Oh, that]
'That, as in you know what it is? You have to tell me or I'll use all those 15 points of will to ask you repeatedly until you do so no matter how long it takes'
[No need for any of that, you already tested those points yesterday, no need to overuse them now]
'Then just tell me and I won't have to'
[It was your memories]
'What? From my past life? Why was it so random and foggy though?'
[I don't know, you weren't supposed to start getting those back already, you're not ready for them yet, but something must have triggered them somehow]
Talia looks down at her clean hands and remember those green eyes.
'So, what happened after I fell asleep?'
[I don't know, what eyes do you think I see through smart-ass?]
'That was uncalled for, but fair enough. Anyways… When is the next event?'
[Seven years from now]
'Perfect, I'll be ten, it'll be way easier to move around, these tiny legs are sooooo slow'
[Yes, you'll have all this time to practice, you'll need to raise all your magic, actually put your bracelet to good use and try to learn some compound elements, and when you hit advanced in at least the four basic elements you have, you can start branching out your magic and skills]
'Branching out to what?'
[Other kinds of magic, beast, mind, body, that kind of stuff and start working on skills like alchemy, carving, any fighting style or weaponry would honestly help you in the future, those things]
'Why didn't you tell me about those earlier? I could've been doing more'
[No, you couldn't, having a vast inventory of skills might sound great, but you're three, you had to focus on building a solid magical base, and look at how close yesterday was, if you had more skills to practice you wouldn't have advanced as far as you did on the ones you needed yesterday]
'I did use every single ounce of them I had didn't I'
[So much so that all of them raised a level]
Talia sighs 'Fine, you know better than me, happy now? What happens to Maddie and her dad now?'
[Ecstatic, they go back to traveling around for John's research, why?]
'Just curious about the consequences that's all'
[Sure, you are. Dylan will be fine too, if it helps sate your curiosity as well]
'Of course, I was just going to ask you about him'
[…]
'…'
[Aaaanyways, you did a great job and I'm proud of you]
'Awe, you really do love me'
[Of course, we're in this together]
'It's no fun if you agree that easily'
[I'm aware]
Talia pouts.
[You should get some more sleep if you can, I'm sure your parents will want an explanation first thing in the morning]
…
"Good morning sweetie, how are you feeling?" Tim asks as soon as Talia enters the kitchen.
"Good as new, daddy" She sits by his side at the table and Georgia puts a plate with her breakfast in front of her.
"Good, because you have some explaining to do young lady." Georgia tells her "Do you want to have this conversation before or after you get something to eat?" Georgia gives her the option.
"Now is good" Talia replies while eating.
"Now it is. Where did you go when the fire started?" Tim asks.
"To the solar stones" Talia answers still eating.
"Why did you leave the restaurant in the first place?" Georgia asks.
"I got scared" Talia replies.
"Of the fire?" Tim asks making a skeptical face knowing his daughter trains her fire magic daily.
"Of the people" Talia whispers looking down.
"Why?" Georgia asks.
"Because there were so many people and they were running around and shouting" She tears up "It was scary mommy"
"Oh, sweetie" Georgia hugs her.
"Why did you go to the solar stones instead of the lake?" Tim asks, not fully falling for it yet.
"Because you said we would go later, so I went where we went first" Talia explains with her teary face serious like she just presented them with foolproof logic.
Timothy takes a second to think about that and consider that for a three-year-old that actually is a solid train of thought.
"Who's Dylan?" Georgia asks "After you girls fell asleep, John told us Dylan brought you to him"
"When I didn't find you, I asked for help, and he asked what else we were going to see, I told him the lake and he brought me there" Talia says nodding.
Her parents look at one another in contemplation, realizing this must have all been a big misunderstanding since their little girl had no reason to be lying right now.
"Okay, sweetie, that's all the questions we had about this" Georgia says hugging her tight.
[I can't believe that work]
'Me neither
Tim kisses Talia's head "we're just glad you're okay my little princess"
"But we are going to come up with a meeting place whenever we go outside the house from now on, that way if we ever get separated, we'll know where to find each other, sounds fair?" Georgia asks to which everyone nods their agreement.
"We'll also try to keep a better eye on you so that doesn't happen in the first place" Tim adds.
"You were very brave and did your best in a very difficult situation with your little friend Maddie. Morgana also said you try to send her for help, but she didn't want to leave you, which is why she only came to find us when you passed out because she didn't know what else to do."
Talia nods finishing her breakfast, glad her little Morgana had the forethought of covering for her even in the middle of an emergency.
"Is she still asleep?" Tim asks.
"Yes, daddy, she was tired so I'll let her sleep late today." Talia tells them.
"That's good, she's a very good and smart little dragon, and after yesterday, she earned it" Georgia says, proud of both her daughter and her familiar. "Now that we cleared things up and you finished your breakfast you can go play in the backyard if you want while we do the dishes and get some work done" Georgia says helping Tim to gather the dishes.
"Okay, thank you mommy, I love you" she says giving Georgia a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you daddy, I love you too" She gives him a hug and kiss on the cheek as well and goes running to sit under her tree in the backyard.
'That was easier than I thought it would be'
[Agreed, I thought they would ask way more questions as well]
'In their defense, I'm three and it's not like I gave them any sign I was ready to bolt out of there at a second's notice'
[Yeah, you never did anything like that before, also blaming it on the crowd? Genius, not only does that counts as possible for how they basically raised you in exile, but it brings out that maybe you need to be around people more often, they wouldn't want you to freak out any time there's a large gathering or something]
'Exactly, going to a small town once a week and spending most of our time there at the lake to then eat one meal at a really small restaurant does not prepare a three-year-old for a loud crowd gathering to try and extinguish a fire'
[And those teary eyes, as soon as those appeared your mother was convinced]
'You saw that too? That honestly surprised me. I thought for sure that would be dad's weakness, but it got mom instead' Talia shrugs. 'As long as it works, right?'
[Yes, Talia, do you want to talk about yesterday now?]
'We already did, you said it went fine, and that I did a marvelously flawless, perfect job and all that'
[That's not what I mean] Clover says getting serious.
'What do you mean?' Talia asks in a more serious tone as well.
[Are you okay with how yesterday went and everything that happened?]
'How so?'
[It was a lot, Talia, and I know you're not actually three, but without your memories back fully… What I'm asking is, can you handle all that happened? Do you need or just want to talk about it? I'm here for you no matter what, we're in this together remember?]
'Oh, that… I didn't expect that. Yes, we are, thank you, for everything Clover'
[You're welcome, now go on, I'm listening]
'It was terrifying, both the explosion and Maddie drowning, but mostly the drowning, we spent a year training to contain that explosion and all that could happened, but when Maddie fell on that lake screaming for me to help her, it was like part of my soul was in there drowning with her, the water magic wasn't working well enough and all I could think was that me being there and all I did already changed so much no one would find us in time to revive her if I failed' Talia starts crying. 'And just the thought that she would need to be revived… I can't even… I barely had anything left in me when I started using earth magic to make up for what the water magic wasn't able to do alone, I was holding on by a thread' Talia starts crying louder letting all her pent-up emotions from yesterday out as her mom and dad suddenly appear by her side, hugging and kissing her and telling her, that it's okay, that they're here, that she's safe, they're all safe and they won't let anything like that ever happen to her again.
[It's okay, Talia, they don't know everything, but I do. I won't tell you that something like that won't happen again because we both know better. We can prepare for everything we can think of and things might still go wrong and surprise us. I won't lie to you, like I said, we both know better, what I can offer though, is that I'll be right there by your side no matter what, I'll do everything I can to help you, and if even with all of that we still fail, you can always talk to me about it. We're in this together.]