Meeting. [Kallyse Tinebrook]

[Arrow]

"You know, my dear, I believe you should let someone else handle this duty sometimes."

Lady Aster looked tiredly up from her parchment; Alvar was in her doorway, again, donning a navy blue cloak and a concerned expression on his serene features. From where she sat, the Phoenix Guardian thought he looked oddly tall and lanky, even in the bulk of his robes- and, highlighted in the flickering candles set about her room, he looked old.

Setting down her quill, the woman tucked a few rogue strands of hair behind her gear. "New school years always begin like this," she reminded him. "But it has to be done. Don't worry, Alvar, we're just about halfway though."

"Yes, my friend, but one day you're going to wake up and realize this needn't be done all by yourself." Stepping from the doorway he perched himself on the edge of one of the tables against the wall, crossing his arms comfortably over his chest and stared at Aster with a look of such scrutiny that she shifted a bit under his gaze.

"What are you looking at me like that for?"

"You look tired, that's all."

"Ah," she rubbed at her eyes from beneath her spectacles. "Fortunately for my nerves, Alvar, I have only one more student tonight. It's a shame, really- I'd rather the eggs had a chance to hatch on their own. It'd be far more special, I think, having the students experience this on their own. And I'm always so damn tired...doesn't seem fair, my lack of enthusiasm for them...."

Rising suddenly, she paced to the window, looking out into the darkening horizon. It was just after sunset and the light was beginning to bleed out from the sky, slipping down past the mountains that framed the borders of the campus. Her companion, Aaden, was out for his nightly flight, and while they were easily connected by mind, she was still faintly uneasy.

"Times are changing, Alvar," she said quietly. "This is quickly becoming less of a haven for guardians."

She heard her friend sigh. "Time has a way of erasing all good things," he said. "It is, of course, inevitable. Revelin's School will at sometime fall."

Nodding, Aster turned. She was about to comment further when there were suddenly footsteps in the hall, shadows dancing up the walls as a figure approached. Glancing out the door, Alvar stood.

"You have a visitor," he said with a soft smile and, nodding politely to the entering student, disappeared down the hall.

[Kallyse Tinebrook]

While the uniform for a person with a non-hatched companion was a black tunic and pants, Kallyse, naturally, found this unbearable. That a fine lady like herself would be forced to wear boy's clothes was unthinkable- there might be some girls who likes it, but even Surka, who was ignorant of things like fashion and style, wore skirts and dresses like any well-bred girl would. So, the two of them improvised with the uniforms they'd been given. Surka, having little to work with, cut up the pants and her oldest skirt, a dark red one, and made four paneled black-and-red skirts in the mode of the country. Kallyse, unwilling to keep it like that (so dull! and red looked so good on the country girl..), embroidered her friend's tunics with her darkest red of embroidery thread- it therefore matched, at least a little.

Kallyse herself used a similar method, although she used a broader palette of colors and embroidered both top and bottom. In addition, she wore her corset and added fashionable high collars to each shirt. She had no boning to make them stiff, however, and made a note to send for more from her father.

Today she walked down the hall wearing a dark green-paneled skirt, carrying her egg in a cream-colored mesh sling, balancing it on her hip. She wore only a pearl-and-silver necklace, a conservative piece for her- she didn't know what to expect, but the girl sensed that it was the right thing to do. She slowed near the door, hearing voices within. Now, a good girl would have backtracked to avoid eavesdropping. But Kallyse never could resist a good tidbit of news, and certainly her peers rarely had anything interesting to say, really. There was that boy- Mitchel Grit, or Grieve- he looked interesting, and she would have to engage him in conversation at some point. But here, now- she listened carefully.

"Times are changing, Alvar." That was surely Lady Aster, although personally she had never before heard the woman speak. And speak she did, but quietly. Kallyse edged forward. "This is quickly becoming less of a haven for guardians."

Kallyse started. Did this mean that Revelin's, the age-old school, built like a fortress, was weakening? How? It suddenly occurred to her that Seekers were really real, and that they might be coming into her life.

She shuddered delicately. Through her thoughts, she had missed the respondent's very next comment, but then-

"-It is, of course, inevitable. Revelin's School will at sometime fall."

The girl blanched, clutched at her egg, which seemed to vibrate a reassurance, and would fainted but for its steadying force. Still, she had rocked back a step or two, and her shoes made loud clackety noises on the hard floor. She had only a moment to recover herself before the door swung open.

A tall, imposing walked past. He gave a smile and a nod as she shuffled to one side to make room for him. She gave him a smile in return (she hoped it was not too weak) and bobbed a curtsy. Then she entered the room.

She gave a deeper curtsy to the Lady Aster, as the girl knew who she was, and rose smoothly. (She smiled secretly to herself- she'd practiced that, with her egg in the sling, until she got used to the extra bulk and weight)

"Lady Aster," she said, fully recovered from her fright but for the unusual paleness in her face, "you requested my presence?"

[Arrow]

"Yes, Miss Tinebrook, please have a seat, and set your egg up here for me, if you will."

Absently patting a clear square of desk in front of her, the Head Guardian sank into her chair, reaching automatically for the vial of amethyst liquid she would need. Her eyes were staring sightlessly at her parchment as she uncapped it, and she was faintly distant as she carefully let a droplet of the substance fall onto the egg's shell. Her thoughts were elsewhere, mulling uneasily over her recent conversation. She felt damned, in a way, as if the school were a sinking ship and all aboard were being dragged down in its wake; as Alvar said, it would not last forever.

But there is now, she thought, capping the vial as, immediately, the droplet of water began to sizzle as it struck the shell.

Its interesting, was Lady Aster's next thought as she watched the droplet fizz and boil, every egg's hatching was in some way different. Sure, there were similarities, but, like a fingerprint, the Guardians' births were all unique. Tinebrook's egg had now ceased to fizz, but was rapidly glowing a deep molten-red color. Looking sadly at her mahogany desk, a beautiful, prized thing at one time, the Guardian slid her chair back an inch or so.

The egg's color grew to an alarming shade of vibrant ruby and, had she put her hand anywhere near it, Aster was sure she would have felt the heat rolling off of it in waves. Then, abruptly, it did something quite unexpected- the egg burst straight into flames, causing the Head Guardian to badly flinch and nearly leap to her feet in surprise. An inferno flared for a second on her desk before shrinking, taking the form of the hatching concealed beneath it.

The tendrils of fire licked around the edges of emerald-and-chocolate feathers, finally dying. What sat in its midst was an elegant creatures of deep greens and browns. It chirped quietly, stumbled upon unsteady feet toward where its companion sat. Then the baby phoenix opened its large, grey eyes, staring up at her.

[Kallyse Tinebrook]

She did seat herself, placing her egg carefully on the desk and arranged her skirt around herself. She had come to realize that this was the Hatching Meeting, as she had dubbed it. Already seven students had gone into a one-on-one with the Lady Aster (she wondered briefly if the Lady had been born into her title, or married into it, or if being a Guardian made one a Lady) and come out with their hatched companions. Some, she had learned, had come in expecting punishment, or expulsion.

But even now, Aster was dripping some liquid from a vial onto her egg. All thoughts snapped to a halt as the girl dropped all pretense and stared at her egg.

When she egg exploded, she didn't even flinch- even though a hot, sharp bit of eggshell whizzed past her head, fluttered her hair, and buried itself in the wall behind her.

Blue eyes met gray. "Oh," Kallyse sighed. "Oh, you beautiful creature." Her voice was tenderer than, perhaps, anyone had ever heard it before. She reached with hands that trembled for the phoenix. The air danced and shivered around it, and Kallyse felt a great heat. But it caused no pain- instead, it seeped into her bones, filling her with a strength and tranquility. It felt like a forbidden sun-bath- she had once, as a child, half-buried herself in her mother's sand garden in the high heat of summer. She had burned, of course, but before that had happened she had felt greatly at peace and sleepy.

How fateful, then, that that sand garden was the same one in which she had found her friend's egg. How balanced that it had happened at night.

But now, her friend- she couldn't call him that (she knew he was a he, of course, but also all the students, as far as she had found, had been paired with the opposite gender) forever. "He needs a name," she whispered, half-tranced.

They caught glances again, and it was like falling into a deep, still pool- or mist. He remained as still as stone.

Her thoughts fluttered to tales of a man- a man who was reincarnated again and again, a man of absolute compassion and wisdom- and tranquility.

"Daibutsu," she breathed. "Your name is Daibutsu."

He breathed then, and hopped awkwardly into her arms. It was like holding a very large ember- again, though, it was without pain.

Daibutsu gave a sleepy, contented chirp, rubbed his head once against her breast, and flopped into sleep, worn out from hatching.