"Thank god you're alright!" the red-headed girl exclaimed, oblivious to anyone else around her.

He was glad to see them, he really was. He'd been smiling; he might've even hugged them given a chance. But any displays of gladness or affection were going to have to wait. "Val, get off me," Fenix wheezed.

But she refused to comply, at least until another girl pulled her off of him. She had blonde hair so light it was nearly white, and with the way she easily lifted the red-hair girl off she was clearly fairly strong. "Hey, I know you're excited to see him, but that's probably not comfortable."

"It's about damn time you made it," muttered the third girl. Shorter and a little stouter than the other two, she had black hair pulled back into a short tail. She was also the first to address Mayako and Emma. "Sorry. Val's an idiot."

"Hey!"

"I'm Shanna," the black-haired girl continued, ignoring her. She extended her hand to the girls.

Val, right? Emma devoted the name to memory. The girl didn't look like much. Then again, Emma didn't look like much, either. Probably even less. Val was probably better fed and not damn near limping on a potential infection in her foot. But she didn't have a wooden sword, and if she did, she probably didn't know how to use it. Were Emma to scuffle with her, she could have easily smashed her with her wooden sword and that'd just be the end of it. Emma took solace in this conclusion.

She also felt a tiny bit vindicated when the blond haired girl plucked Val off of Fenix. But no matter, the black haired girl that remarked on Val's intellectual capacity -- that had Emma wanting to agree with her -- introduced herself, and it was only right that Emma return that in kind.

"Emma," the red haired girl of Fenix's newfound duo said as she took Shanna's hand.

Mayako then bowed at her waist and replied as formally as she could, "I am T-Takamine Mayako. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Shanna gave a curt nod to Mayako in response.

"I'm Alicia. Nice to meet you, too," the blonde-haired one said, giving a mock salute as her way of greeting. "And this is Val." She patted the shorter girl on the head.

"I already introduced the idiot."

"Shut up, Shana!"

"Err...I'm Seth!" the brown-haired boy said from the back of the group, finally pushing his way forward past the girls. While larger and, judging by the build, stronger than the girls, he was a bit outnumbered. He awkwardly tried to bow back to Mayako, clearly not used to the gesture. "Nice to meet you, Takamine."

"Mayako," Fenix corrected as he stood up.

"Huh?" Seth looked confused.

"She introduced herself last name first, moron," Shanna answered, exasperated. "She's clearly Cizokian."

"Oh. Uh, Mayako, then."

"Try to be nice to them," Fenix said to Mayako and (more particularly) Emma. "They mean well."

Alicia, Shanna, Val, Seth -- names duly noted and devoted to Mayako's memory. Emma made it a point to remember their names, too, just in case it became important later, which it probably would. This was Fenix's home, right? Chances were these were people she needed to know. Well, except for Val. She was a bit too rambunctious and defensive. She'd have just gotten on Emma's nerves.

It was a bit awkward, though in a funny way, when Seth mixed up Mayako's name. She had to contain the urge to giggle, if only out of kindness.

"I-it's okay. You know, when we're not familiar with each other, we--" she meant to imply Cizokians, "actually refer to each other by the name of the House i-instead of first names," she said, trying to be reassuring -- to suggest that Seth shouldn't feel silly for the mistake, because he was fairly close to how someone from her father's country would actually refer to her upon first meeting.

Emma soon passed Fenix a skeptical look. What was he trying to imply? That she'd not be cordial to these other kids? That was rude. Of course she was going to be cordial . . .

"U-umm, s-so--" Mayako turned to Fenix, only to ask the obvious: "Th-this is where you live?"

"More or less," Fenix replied.

Seth, meanwhile, was getting more confused. "House? You name your houses?"

"How do you even breathe?" Shanna asked incredulously, prompted him to give her an indignant glare.

"I think she means their family name. Last name," Alicia supplied helpfully.

"What took you so long, anyway?" Val directed the question at Fenix.

"I was in a coma."

"I know that! We got your letter. Why did it take you so long to get here after that?"

"I was still recovering. And then I was injured again." That was all he intended to say on the matter, so decided to change the subject. "We're pretty tired. Let's go inside. Any guest rooms free?"

"Yeah, there's still one free," Alicia replied, and the group started walking towards the church.

Val fell back a bit to walk beside Mayako and Emma. "Sooooo....how do you know Fenix? His letter didn't mention bringing any girls with him."

Fenix's explanation caused a twinge of pain in Emma's chest. He didn't outright say it, but she knew what he meant. He was on the road to recovery, then she damn near beat his ribcage in. That she was the one responsible for his recovery taking so long. This was an indisputable fact and she knew it, but remembering it served to only worsen her mood. She fell quiet as Fenix moved on, leaving she and Mayako with Val. Temporarily.

"I'm the one that h--" Emma began to say lowly.

Knowing what she was going to say, considering the sour mood she was in, Mayako cut her off. "E-Emma!"

This prompted Emma to be silent. She folded her arms over her chest and spoke no more, likely to do so even if someone asked her to speak . . .

Mayako had to refrain from sighing. She reminded herself that Emma wasn't well and wasn't going to be herself again for awhile, probably, and she just needed to stick with it. But seriously, it was really frustrating when she got like this. Ugh.

Putting the thoughts out of her mind, Mayako politely returned her attention to Val. "I was Mr. Black's nurse in Hillcrest, a-and Emma is my friend. When Mr. Black left, w-well, um, Emma was leaving, too, a-and going in the same direction-- and they were both hurt, s-so I wasn't going to leave them go without someone t-to look after them on the road."

"Oh. Well, that was really nice of you!" Val said cheerily. Though it did make her think. "Fenix said something about being hurt too, though. How'd you get hurt?"

"Long story," he answered without so much as a glance back.

The short answer made Val pout. "You never tell me anything."

As they reached the entrance to the church, Alicia paused and turned to Seth. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Umm...no?"

Having reached her stupidity threshold, Shanna couldn't help but smack him upside the head. "Bring the firewood in, idiot!"

"Ow! Jeez, you're always so violent..." As he went off to complete his chores, the rest continued inside.

As he stepped inside the church, for possibly the first time since waking up in Hillcrest, Fenix visibly relaxed. He nearly even let out a sigh of relief. The church was the one place in the world he felt truly safe.

His ease of mind was soon to be short lived. As they filed inside, Mayako would end up being the last one through, and once she stepped into the church she'd begin to feel warm. Except unlike most kinds of warmth, this warmth would seem to come from inside her. It would start in her chest, spread throughout her body slowly, and then concentrate again at her back.

At the front of the group, Fenix abruptly turned around, prompting everyone else to as well.

"Whoa," Alicia said, eyes wide.

For her part, Shanna merely pursed her lips and made a "hmmm" noise.

Val looked back at Fenix, clearly startled. "H-Hey, what's with...?"

Fenix opened his mouth to reply, but no words came forth. All thought escaped him. He could only stare, transfixed by the sight. It wasn't just him--all eyes in the church were suddenly on Mayako, and the silence that fell was so unusual that it caused several heads to peek out from doors. They could be hardly be blamed, though.

For extending out of Mayako's back now were a pair of wings made of silver fire.

Emma noticed as soon as people started shifting their eyes to Mayako. She glanced back and saw it at once, only to stare incredulously.

This, of course, left Mayako feeling self conscious, among other things. She'd just come in to the church and now she was standing in the doorway and everyone else was filed out in front of her and staring, and even Emma was with them. Her cheeks would've turned red if she wasn't already a little flushed, for reasons she couldn't exactly understand, but probably had something to do with this heat she was feeling all around and within.

"Wh-what?" Mayako asked as if there was something on her face, "What is it?"

"M-- Mayako, you're . . ." Emma pointed, trying to indicate Mayako's back, but Mayako merely looked at her confusedly.

Man, it was hot in here . . . Hotter than it should have been, even. Was it just having all eyes on her? Or maybe it was that paired with some sort of natural warmth in the church? But she also felt dizzy and . . . that weird feeling she was having somewhere in her chest and . . .

"W-Well, you see..." Much like Emma, however, Alicia ended up trailing off without finishing. She was kind of out of her depth here; just how did one go about telling someone they'd sprouted a pair of magical wings if they weren't already aware?

"You've got wings now," Shanna said bluntly. She jerked her thumb at Fenix. "They're kinda like his, but a different color and shape. Err...they know about that, right?" She turned to hear his answer, but Fenix didn't reply; he didn't so much as blink. He was still as a statue.

"Uhh...Fenix?" That he wasn't responding was honestly a little more worrying to her than another person with strange magical powers. Which probably said something about the kind of people they were used to deal with there.

Val turned to everyone watching. "Alright, c'mon, nothing to see here! Everything's fine, so just go back to what you were doing...umm...it's rude to stare and all that!" She began shooing some of the obstinate children (on the off chance Mayako or Emma were paying attention, they'd notice that most of the observers were children the latter's age or younger) away to give them more space.

"Wh-- what?!" Mayako cried and leaped back, hand over her mouth and eyes open wide.

There was a sudden feeling of abject terror accompanying the feeling of heat all around and within. It was unexplainable. She glanced over her shoulder once, caught the faint image of it, and screamed. That warmth she felt somewhere in her ribcage built into a wildfire all at once and Mayako raced out of the church, stopped once she was out in the clearing, and in no way refraining from expressing the terror one might expect from a girl like her finding her back covered in wings of silver fire.

"G-- get it off! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" Mayako cried again, stricken with a horrid state of panic that gripped her heart in much the same way as Emma's near suicides.

Emma raised a hand to try to grab at Mayako, hold her by the shoulder and say something to comfort her, but she hadn't the slightest clue what to say or do after that. From her perspective, Mayako had what looked like a small pair of silver insect wings behind her back -- butterfly-like in that they didn't fold -- that danced slightly like a living fire, like some sort of inverse of Fenix's wings. Seeing those always struck Emma a little every time. There was an appeal to them, but she could never get used to them.

Now her best friend?

Suddenly, Emma felt more useless than ever in her life, despite wearing the exact solution to Mayako's panic inducing dilemma.

Fortunately, before long Emma would hear a voice call out from the edge of the clearing. "Give her your medallion for now," Fenix instructed, having recovered from his state of shock. A large red handprint on his cheek suggested how that was accomplished.

He was hesitant to step into the clearing Mayako had run to, the small section where no flora grew anymore, but after a moment to steel his nerves he stepped into it.

The medallion wasn't exactly a permanent solution, but any longer lasting one required Mayako to listen to instructions, something which wasn't likely to happen while she was this panicked.

"Oh. Oh! R-- right," Emma stammered and rushed out into the clearing, herself.

She expected Fenix to come with her, but when he didn't, she didn't hesitate like she expected herself to. Instead, she saw Mayako, saw how she was on the brink of tears, and lost every apprehension that would've made her hesitate to get closer. Emma undid the tie on her necklace and edged closer to Mayako, slowly. Which, much to her chagrin, caused Mayako to take a step back.

"M-- Mayako, you--"

"I-- it-- it's f-fire, right? I-- I-- I don't want it t-to hurt y--" Mayako whimpered, but was cut off when Emma took another step forward.

This time, though, she wasn't trying to touch Mayako. Instead, she was trying to hand off her necklace, specifically the medallion on it.

"Take it. It'll help you," Emma whispered urgently.

"It-- it-- i-it will . . .?"

Emma nodded her head. Mayako looked her friend in the eye, the only eye she could see with her bangs in her face, then looked at the medallion. She took a deep breath, held it in, and slowly stepped closer to Emma, close enough to grab the medallion from her hand . . .

As soon as Mayako reached out for the medallion, she'd feel a change, like a cool breeze was spreading from her hand throughout the rest of her body. The heat from behind her would fade, as the wings seemed to evaporate into air like a torch blown out by the wind. It was the same as when Fenix had approached

"That medallion disrupts the flow of mana around it," Fenix intoned as he walked up behind Emma. "Magic won't work around it."

"Good thinking, running into the clearing, by the way." As panicked as she'd been he was surprised she'd kept the presence of mind to avoid starting fires. He wondered if she was more collected under pressure than he assumed, or if her concerned for others was just that great.

Mayako felt a wave of overwhelming relief, like something of a wind or a rush of water engulfing her on a hot day. It was only then that she realized the fire was gone. She no longer felt the heat behind her, or the heat within her body. It was a noticeable feeling, truly. Before, it was like having a bonfire within her ribcage. It was painful.

Emma dropped her arms to her sides once it was all over and sighed openly. Mayako was fine, now. That was good. For a second there, Emma was about as scared as she was. It was good to know what the medallion did, though. That was something she was going to keep memorized in the future, though it wasn't exactly a priority in her mind just yet.

"O-oh, I was . . . I was j-just . . ." Mayako gulped, "I was j-just--"

Fenix was a bit off with his compliment. Had she the state of mind to think it over, she'd have probably done that consciously. But as it was, she panicked and essentially ran for the first thing that came to mind, screamed her head off, and came to her senses when she realized she was not, in fact, on fire -- but it took that last part for her to start worrying about the well being of everyone else. Specifically Emma.

A second passed before Mayako finally whispered, panic still evident in her tired voice, "Wh-- what . . . what happened . . .?"

"Good question." He honestly didn't know for sure, though he had a guess. But before he explained it he figured it would be a good idea for them to relax a bit and get something to eat. It'd be easier to discuss after the initial shock wore off--and that went for him as well. "Let's rest up before we worry about it too much."

Of course, he understood that was going to be hard for them, not being terribly used to the supernatural and all, but hopefully it wouldn't take too long.

He was about to lead the way back to the church when he realized there was something he should probably ask. "...You alright?"