Kikurukina and I... Are finally finished! We really didn't expect this to take so long, so we're very sorry for that! Don't worry, the next chapter isn't going to take half as long. So, as you probably guessed, we have our winner! Dun dun dun... AMY, the artist who created TOPAZ!!!!! Congratz, girl!
"The Phoenix is an immortal magical bird made from the breath of the Great Dragon. Every millennia, the Phoenix bursts into fire and ash and from those ashes, a new egg is found. The egg is incubated in the hot ashes and a chick hatches. That's how it is reborn. Of all the creatures, the Phoenix is symbolically opposite to the Dragon. The Phoenix is a symbol of femininity as the Dragon is masculinity. I'll leave the rest of the details up to your fellow classmates for next week's class presentation. Now, questions on today's topics?"
A few hands in the classroom went up.
Professor Avalon snapped his fingers and then the class was bathed with light. He answered the questions promptly as the windows' curtains parted to let in sunlight and the professor's magical slideshow on the chalkboard disappeared. The professor continued: "I want to have your groups and your chosen subject in before you leave."
Bloom glanced in her periphery to Flora, silently asking if she could join her group. Flora smiled. Bloom had nothing against her best friend, the blond princess Stella, as a teammate, but she often ended up doing more talking about their boyfriends than actually getting any work done.
Their Bestiary class was ending and Professor Avalon had just finished a two hour lecture on about a dozen of the most socioculturally important magical creatures on their side of the galaxy. Alfea School for Fairies was in its third week of the first semester and about everyone was settled into the weekly routine.
Flora turned and faced Bloom, pulling out the list of creatures that had been discussed.
"What do you want to do?" Flora asked.
"Um�" Bloom was about to say, "Dragon," when she realized that it would be too easy of a topic for her. She was the fairy of the Dragon Fire, after all.
"I don't really want to do Griffins after the Mirror of Truth thing�" Flora said uneasily.
"Yeah..." Bloom agreed. "No dragons, no griffins."
"I want to do Phoenixes."
Bloom readily agreed, liking the idea of researching a beautiful and fantastic bird.
The two fairies stood up and gathered their things to join the queue in front of the professor's desk. They were the last group to write down their name and subject.
There was a knock on the door and Miss Griselda entered, toting her usual clipboard and frown.
"Professor, I'd like to introduce you to your new student." Miss Griselda disregarded Bloom and Flora's presence as they filled out the signup sheet. "This is Topaz, she's a latecomer to the college. This is her first year here, but she being placed in your third year classes."
Topaz was a girl of about medium height wearing an orange dress and her long wavy brown hair was tied in a ponytail. She had sapphire blue eyes with a smile subtly pulling at her cheeks. She held a small stack of books in her arms and she smiled awkwardly at everyone, including Bloom and Flora.
"Hi." Topaz's voice was fairly soft, almost inaudible because of the first-day nervousness that struck every student.
Miss Griselda nodded to Topaz. "I think that you can find your way now, Topaz. I'll leave you to your own devices. Classes start tomorrow at eight and breakfast starts at six-thirty. If you have questions, you can always ask them." Miss Griselda pointed to Flora and Bloom. Sure that her fledgling was in good hands, the disciplinarian left.
"Hello, Topaz," Professor Avalon greeted warmly. "You'll have quite a bit of catching up to do in my class. All of my class handouts and presentations can be found online and there's also some required reading to do. Right now, we have a bestiary presentation due next week. That counts for your final mark so I'm afraid that I'll have to place you in a group." The professor turned to Bloom and Flora: "Girls, would you mind having Topaz in your group?"
"Sure," Flora said. Bloom nodded.
"Good." Professor Avalon wrote down Topaz's name with Bloom and Flora's on the signup sheet. "You'll be doing a presentation on the Phoenix, Topaz."
"Thanks," Topaz said to Bloom and Flora, watching them from under her thick eyelashes. The three fairies walked out of the classroom.
"So where are you from?" Bloom questioned eagerly as soon as the door was behind them. She was always excited to find out where people came from and what their powers were; the diversity was so fascinating! After being raised on Earth, she thirsted for every drop of information about magic.
"I was born on Diamente, but I was raised on Melody. I heard that Princess Galatea is at this school, is it true?"
"Oh, yes," Flora said. "Our friend Musa is also from Melody. She's friends with her. If you don't mind me asking, how come you're starting so late in the year?"
"My mom and I are kind of in the middle of moving and I had to help her, since it's only just us two."
"And your dad?" Bloom pried.
"Why is this any of your business?" Topaz said parsimoniously.
"I'm sorry; pretend I never asked," Bloom said quickly. The fairy felt a pang of sympathy and did not wish to bring up anything painful on Topaz's first day of school. She also felt a little stung from Topaz's reaction as she had not expected the defiance.
"I� never mind," Topaz sighed as she straightened her shoulders and walked ahead of the other girls to their dormitories. Flora and Bloom left it at that.
They arrived at their dorms and that is where they had parted. They agreed to meet together in the library after dinner to start the bestiary project.
~ ~ ~
"The Phoenix is a symbol of fortune and can be considered the harbinger of good and bad luck. It is unknown how many Phoenixes there are, one that travels across the universe or an entire race of firebirds as diverse as fairies. The Phoenix is universally recognized in most cultures, in one form or another. Sometimes, they can be mistaken for dragons." Topaz closed the encyclopedia and pushed it away from herself.
Across from her, Bloom was finding the same facts in another encyclopedia.
Bloom dropped her pencil. "Our presentation is going to suck, there's nothing on these guys!" The fairy sighed and looked at Topaz intensely. "I don't know if it's right to ask like this, but what are your powers?"
Topaz smiled as pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I have powers over gemstones. You know Princess Diaspro, that really crazy one? Kinda like her."
"Oh." Bloom glanced away, refusing to show how affected she was by the name Diaspro. Topaz did not need to know that story.
"Um, are you the Princess Bloom of�?"
"Yes, I am," Bloom answered hurriedly.
Flora summoned a stack of books pertaining to bestiaries and magical birds with a wave of her hand and was disappointed by the small pile before her. Most of them were small and held very little information, or had the same information in different words.
Flora pouted. "If there's nothing here, there's surely something at Red Fountain. They're the ones who specialized in these kinds of things. And then there's also the municipal library in Magix. Maybe we can go on Friday afternoon? All of our classes end early. I can also take a detour in the RF library when I go to visit Helia tomorrow." A slight blush burnt on her cheeks when she said Helia's name.
They all agreed and arranged to meet after class on Friday to grab the shuttle to Magix.
~ ~ ~
Flora's foray into the Red Fountain library proved much more successful than the one into the Alfea library; however the topic of the Phoenix was limited to ornithological reports, a compiled list of possible sightings and boundless crackpot theories. Bloom, Flora and Topaz were joined by Musa, Layla, Stella and Tecna. Musa and Layla were doing a presentation on Dragons and Stella and Tecna on the Cockatrice.
Normally, one would think that pairing Stella and Tecna together for a project would result in Tecna doing all the work. Tecna, however, was not the pushover who would let that happen. Stella respected that in the technology fairy, as well as Stella could respect anyone. It allowed her to actually concentrate and do the work.
The three groups sat apart in the Magix Municipal Library hunched over old volumes. Topaz wrote down the number of a book that had interested her and that she had found on the digital catalogue. She walked out of the Science section and to Literature section but she did not realize it.
Her fingers danced across the book spines to the end of the shelf. Unexpectedly her hand crossed another that pulled out a book.
"I'm sorry. I need this," the other person said rather rudely as he walked away.
Topaz brushed off the occurrence until she realized that the person had walked away with the book she was looking for. She quickened her pace, trying to catch up to him.
"Hey!" She called out, before realized how loud she was. He had his back to her, and seemed not to even notice, still walking. "Um, hey? Can I check that book for a minute?"
The stranger stopped abruptly, and Topaz almost ran into him. He turned to scrutinize her.
"Strange," he observed. "Do I know you?"
The dark-haired blue-eyed stranger was aboutthe same age as Topaz, or possibly a little older. He was quite a bit taller than her, and Topaz recognized his clothes as very, very expensive brand names: dark jeans, suit jacket and a silk shirt. He seemed out of place in the dusty library.
"Uh, I don't think so. I'm new around here. Look, I'm sorry to bother you, but can I borrow that book?" Topaz pleaded softly, both of her hands clasped together.
The man gave her a blank stare and then turned, replying coldly, "I have somewhere to be. You can have it when I return it."
Topaz glared at his distancing back, mumbling something nasty under her breath. Crestfallen, she sighed and turned back to join the others.
~ ~ ~
Slowly, Topaz adapted to her new life in Alfea. She knew she had to if she wanted to keep up her good grades.
After a particularly strenuous day, Topaz fell into bed. It was late. Jade, her magical pet mouse, was asleep in her basket that was hung from the ceiling like a bird's cage. She could hear the mouse's little breaths. Moonlight spilt into Topaz's room through the window, illuminating her room in that eerie way that only moonlight could.
The brunette fairy piled some pillows under her chest and crossed her arms. She looked out her window into the courtyard. She could see the opposite school wing from the gap in the curtains. Melancholy fell upon her as she looked at her unfamiliar surroundings. She knew her way around the school, but it didn't mean it was her home yet.
Across the courtyard on the balcony opposite to hers, Topaz saw someone, a woman, step outside onto the balcony and then hop over the railing to make her way down to the courtyard.
Feeling that she was witnessing something that was completely none of her business, Topaz felt compelled to watch the fairy make her escape. She followed with her eyes the escapee who made her way to the school gate. There, a man met her and both of them made their way into the night.
A date most likely, Topaz thought. The brunette pulled the curtains together and curled under her blanket to sleep away the night. She had other things to worry about, like her workshop in the forest to collect plant samples for Potions class.
