A Tale of Fire and Water

The Wind

         “Well, that was an interesting experience, to say the least.”
         Leon was sitting on a log that had been knocked down during West's abrupt landing. The pilot himself was at the other end of the ship, doing something with his blowtorch, while Lourne screamed at him. Leon really couldn't distinguish what she was saying... it just sounded like a bunch of strung together screeches, all of which were quite impressively high. Andy was sitting next to him, her face restraining an entertainment that looked ready to explode with laughter at any moment. “To say the least?”
         Andy turned to look at him, though his eyes still glued to the sad scene unfolding maybe 20 feet away. Lourne had started kicking things, and West was still just trying to ignore her. “Do they always act this way? I'm surprised she hasn't killed him yet.” A particularly loud screech echoed over the distance between the two groups, and Leon could see West shrink from 50 feet away. Andy doubled over in silent laughter, and it was a minute before she actually answered him. “Only when something goes wrong. Lourne always over-reacts, it's quite funny. West is so timid, you wouldn't expect to see a man of his size become terrified of a  girl like Lourne.” West had stood up, and was backing away from Lourne with his hands up, motioning for her to calm down.
         “Should I go try to back him up?”
         “Oh, no. Don't get involved. I think you're popular enough with Lourne as is. Don't push it.”
         Leon lifted himself off the tree, and started pacing back and forth. He put his hands behind his head, and looked up at the clear sky. Andy watched him, her face displayed fascination, until another screech drew her attention away again.
         “I tried reading that book you gave me...”
         Andy looked at him, a grin still on her face. “How was it?”
         “...Confusing.” Leon admitted. “I don't really grasp this whole Re'alin thing. Mana, I mean, that's mythical. So many things that tickle my brain, they seem so close to ideas I've heard of before, but they're just different enough that I can't understand them.”
         Andy was grinning, and watching him silently.
         “What?”
         “The book didn't say anything about the word Re'alin.”
         Leon's forehead creased. “Yes it did, it was in a chapte-”
         “The book was written before we started to use the Old Word for it. It wasn't in there, Re'alin is the modern word for Mana Manipulation, which means some of your memory is coming back.”
         Leon frowned. “But it's not! I don't remember anything different about my life! I still live in a suburb of Washington, I still-”
         “Have you ever lost your memory before? It comes back like this, Leon. It slips into conversation, unnoticed, and you never even realize it was gone.”
         Lourne screamed, and Leon heard West bellow. Andy was looking at him, confused. “West never yells...”
         Leon turned, and saw only West standing at the other end of the ship. Lourne had disappeared, and West was on his knees. Andy's panicked voice reached him. “It must be an Elementist! No one else could take down Lourne like that, stay here Leon! You'll just get hurt if you get involved!”
         “What?”
         “Just stay here!” Andy started off toward where West was kneeling, tearing off her cloak in the process so she could run. Leon stood there, dumbfounded, and wondered what was going on. Andy had told him to stay here, and he wasn't up to a fight, for sure, but he needed to see what had her worried. He tried to remember what that book had said. It hadn't gone into depth of specific schools, it just talked about this Mana/Re'alin thing a lot. Leon saw Andy run around the corner, and heard a thud. Dammit.
         Leon started to walk toward the other end of the ship, before turning around, and heading back to the log. Then. he turned around again. Dammit. Something was going on, and the atmosphere had changed. It wasn't as cheerful anymore. He looked up, and saw rainclouds gathering. Why was it always raining?
         Andy grunted, loud enough that Leon heard it. Cursing, he started for the other end. He should have gone from the beginning, shouldn't have let her go off on her own. Maybe he didn't know anything about magic, maybe he would just have gotten hurt, but he wasn't a coward, and he knew he had to prove it. He gradually sped up his pace to a sprint, grabbing West by his armpits and dragging him back behind the ship. “What happened?”
         West was grabbing at his throat, on the verge of passing out. What was going-
         Leon felt his chest contract, as though something was pushing it in from all sides. He croaked, and felt himself lift off the ground. What the hell?
         He was dangling there, unable to breathe, and had no idea what the hell was going on. He felt his clothes digging into his skin, and his necklace was indenting itself permanently into the space between both sides of his collarbone. He tried to gasp, but couldn't make noise. He could see West, on the ground, passed out. Leon, after a moment, decided to follow his example.
         He hung in the air for about 15 seconds, before he felt whatever had been holding him release it's grip, and let him drop to the ground. He was conscious only due to his experience with oxygen deprivation, though once he could breathe, he found it difficult not to catch his breath. That would be too obvious. He started thinking about what had happened, and exactly what could have tried to smother him, and almost succeed, without him seeing it. The book was his only experience with this kind of thing, and suddenly, it clicked. Wind. Andy had said it was an Elementist, and now Leon knew what kind. Coward. Was probably hiding up in the trees somewhere, trying to make sure he got em all. Well, Leon wasn't going to move until he could see the coward right in front of him, and then he'd... do what? If he grabbed him, the attacker would just force him away. If Leon did anything, it couldn't require more than a seconds preparation, or else the man could just repeat what he'd just done, until Leon was dead this time. Leon, still thinking about it, heard footsteps crunch their way by. The cocky bastard didn't even check to see if Leon was faking. He didn't expect a National level athlete, apparently. It was the conversation that caught his attention though.
         “Hello, Lourne...” The deep voice Leon had heard on the ship.
         “Keith, what the hell?”
         “Lourne, you've made some bad mistakes, but this one tops em all.”
         “Keith, shut up and get out of here before you really piss me off.” Leon chanced a glimpse, and saw a man with shiny black hair facing Lourne, with his back to Leon. West was maybe 2 feet away, down for the count. Leon tried to get up quietly, motioning for Lourne to keep him talking. Lourne was a gem, Leon didn't even think she had seen him motion, the way she acted. “Why do you take their side, why don't you openly join-”
         “I side with people I trust, Keith, or a cause I believe in. You, sadly, don't fit either requirement.”
         “What are you-”
         It was only a couple of feet to cross before Leon punched that ass right in the back of the head. Unfortunately, he got the sharp point of the guys skull, and hurt his own hand. Breathing through his teeth, Leon shook it quickly, Keith staggered forward, and Lourne grappled with him. Leon was about to knee the guy in the back, but felt a force throw him back, and he hit a tree. He heard most of the fight, though it was over in about 20 seconds, but it took him a lot longer before he got to his feet, and found Lourne standing alone. She was on the ground, breathing heavily. Her hood had been torn off, and blown away. Sometime, it had started raining, not hard, but the wind was blowing ferociously. “Where is he?” Leon staggered up to her, and took a knee. “What happened?”
         “It's fine, I burned him pretty bad. He's gonna have a Block, from how much he had to Heal.”
         “A what?”
         Lourne barked out one laugh between breaths. “Still useless huh?”
         Leon stood up. “It depends how you define useless. I mean, I did punch that guy in the-”
         “I was joking, Leon.” Lourne sat up slowly, still breathing heavily. “He ran off, he can't use Mana for at least 2 days.”
         Leon nodded, and looked around, suddenly worried. “Lourne, where's Andy?”
         Leon heard a loud clang from inside the ship. Lourne rolled her eyes. “He threw her in the ship, and locked the door. We'll have to get that lazy mechanic awake so he can do something about it.” Lourne sat up. “Why don't you do it? I need to walk this off...”
         Leon couldn't say anything before Lourne started off, suddenly full of energy. “How?”
         “Put him in cold water! You have some experience with being knocked out, you should know better than me!”
         Leon held his hands out at his sides as Lourne walked off into the woods. This was insane, she was still weak from the attack, that guy might not have been alone, and she was leaving him alone with a huge man that Leon couldn't hope to lift, and a Healer that was stuck inside her own ship! Shrugging, he nudged West. “Wake up.” Unenthusiastically. “Come on.” Leon thought for a moment, and punched him in the gut. West flew up to sitting position, gasping. “Wh-at?” He gasped.
         “Get the ship running, and get Andy out of... wherever she is.”
         Leon heard her muffled shout. “I think she's right around...” Leon started knocking on the ship, until he heard a knock respond, right where he was. “Here. Get... blow torching. Or whatever. I'm gonna go try to realign my back...” Leon hobbled off, with West still gasping for air, and laid down on the ground, listening to the bones crack. It was a good thing he hadn't broken it... He groaned, as a muscle cramped. A very interesting experience, indeed.