Lucky Rabbit

“What’s the best kind of Fire elemental?” Geraldine demanded, eyes intent.

“Best or most powerful?” Pandy asked absently, eyes caught by another patch of shadow. Had something moved in the darkness?

“What’s the difference?” Geraldine said, twisting so she could stare up into the tree Pandy was watching. “What’s up there? Another squirrel?”

Pandy focused on the little girl, trying to smile. After seeing the creepy face, Pandy’s reaction had been a little too obvious, and of course the children had noticed. She tried telling them it was just a squirrel, while also letting Isidor know that it wasn’t just a squirrel, and in the end, the moment was gone, along with whatever she’d seen. She still wasn’t certain if it was a human, an elemental, or something else entirely.

“An…opossum. Maybe?” Pandy tried, hoping to pull the child’s attention back before she got the others interested. Thaniel and Abbington were playing with Brook, who seemed to have infinite patience with Thaniel’s equally infinite energy. Isidor had finally – too late – seemed to take the hint that something strange had happened, and was also watching the trees, though he looked increasingly skeptical about the whole thing. That left Geraldine to pester Pandy with questions while Eleanor listened quietly, her back against a tree, seeming as content as Pandy had ever seen the little princess.

This, however, caught Eleanor’s attention, too, and she asked, “What’s a possum?”

Pandy grimaced. She’d seen dead opossums by the road, but she lived deep in the city, and while she knew about lions and tigers and bears from books and television, opossums were rarely mentioned. “They’re,” she dredged her memory, coming up with a word that was hopefully correct, “marsupials? They carry their babies in a pouch, and when something scares them, they play dead.” She stuck her tongue out of her mouth, letting her head flop limply to the side as she stared blankly upward.

Something moved among the leaves, even as Geraldine giggled, and Eleanor said, “I’ve never heard of an animal like that.”

Pandy must have made some kind of sound, because Isidor’s head came around, and she repeatedly turned her eyes up toward the leafy canopy, not quite willing to actually point. The boy gave a small nod, moving toward the tree, eyes narrowed, until a sparrow burst from its hiding place in a flurry of feathers.

Something tugged at Pandy’s sleeve, and she looked down, blinking as she caught Eleanor’s curious gaze. “Are you all right, Ms. Wellington?” the girl asked.

Oh, yes, Pandy was doing a fantastic job of teachering, when her students were worried about her, rather than the other way around. “I’m fine,” she said. “What did you ask?”

Eleanor shook her head, still frowning slightly, but Geraldine said, “What’re the best and most powerful Fire elementals?”

Oh, yes. “The most powerful is actually a tier-three elemental called a Pyraxon. They often take a humanoid shape, but they don’t have to. They’re very territorial, but fortunately they like to live in places that are too hot for people, like volcanoes, so most of the time they’re not a problem.”

“And the best one?” Geraldine pressed, leaning forward.

Pandy tilted her head. “That’s debatable. I guess some people would say it’s still the Pyraxon, but I like a tier-four Fire elemental called an Ignivar.”

In Geraldine’s lap, Miss Cupcake’s ear twitched, and one eye slitted open to watch Pandy. Pandy, oblivious, continued on. “Ignivar are one of the more curious elementals. While they do like fires, as all Fire elementals do, they move around at whim, rather than settling down near naturally hot areas. They usually just look like little flames, and they can travel from fire to fire, watching and listening.”

She smiled, remembering the description of the elemental in the Gacha Love wiki. “Some people say they like to pretend to be candle-flames, watching over human children and families. They’re the reason some candles seem to last far longer than others, because the Ignivar don’t actually burn down the wick. So if you wake to find your lamp is still lit, when it should have run out of oil while you slept, you may have been visited by a curious Ignivar.”

“I’ve had that happen!” Geraldine said, and Eleanor nodded as well. The two girls began to chatter excitedly, exchanging stories of time when they woke to find their rooms still brightly lit, though Pandy had a suspicion that for Eleanor, at least, this was probably the result of attentive servants, rather than a visit from an elemental.

Their conversation had caught the attention of the boys, however, and after taking a moment to figure out what the others were talking about, Abbington shyly asked, “Whassitf’rWater?”

Pandy felt a little thrill. Abbington was definitely having the hardest time with her current shape, struggling to meet her eyes, much less talk to her. She remembered the way Ms. Wellington had treated him, and wondered if the woman just hated people from the Valley, or if she’d had some previous interaction with Abbington himself. Either way, the boy was still keeping his distance, as if ready to run. Brook leaned against his hip, clicking softly, and he stroked her wiry fur, relaxing visibly.

Pandy made her voice as gentle as possible when she asked, “The strongest or the best?”

Abbington just nodded, and she sighed internally, having hoped to get him to speak a bit more. His speech was clearer every day, but he still rarely spoke, even when among friends.

“I don’t know about the strongest, but some people think the biggest water elemental is the Brineclad; the ocean that touches West Altheric along its southern coast. Or border, depending on how you look at it,” Pandy said.

Abbington’s eyes came up, eyes a brilliant blue behind his glasses. “Thasnottalemental.”

Pandy grinned. “Are you sure? Yes, boats sail on it, and people catch fish from its depths, but don’t strange things happen there, too? Did you know that fishermen always pour a bottle of the purest, freshest water they can find into the waves before they set sail in the morning? Some passenger vessels do the same, while others offer salt, or even wine. They say that if the Brineclad doesn’t like your offering, your ship will go down by the end of the day. There are also stories of sailors who gave offerings when their captains dismissed it as superstition, and somehow survived a wreck or a storm that took the lives of everyone else on board.”

Even Isidor was watching her now, expression thoughtful. Patting the pocket where his tortoise lurked, he said, “What’s the most powerful lightning elemental, then?” For some reason he looked smug, but Pandy just shrugged. She liked to read the wiki whenever she had some spare time and her free gacha hadn’t refilled yet, so Isidor wasn’t going to stump her.

“The most powerful are probably the Nimbrazel, or rather, is probably the Nimbrazel, since people believe there’s only one. No one knows if that has always been true, or if there’s only one left, but the Nimbrazel lives on a high mesa far to the north. Anyone who tries to go there is instantly struck by lightning and killed, because the Nimbrazel is jealous of its privacy, or perhaps it hates anyone who isn’t as lonely as it is. No one knows, because anyone who tries to approach it dies.”

None of the main characters in Gacha Love had electrical powers, and they only fought one Lightning elemental, when Bastian and Clara delved into a Nature dungeon in search of a rare plant needed to cure the poison used on the only surviving victim of Killian’s murder spree. This was where Bastian gained Thorncage, which was a great support spell for a Clara who’d focused on offensive spells and skills.

“What’s the best Lightning elemental, then?” Isidor asked, but while his question sounded almost belligerent, he looked genuinely interested.

“Definitely the Auralis,” Pandy replied promptly. “They’re only tier three, but they’re so cute.” She closed her eyes, remembering the adorable picture of a fuzzy ball of electrical fluff on the wiki page, and completely missing the head of the tortoise that popped out of Isidor’s pocket, glaring at her.

“They appear during thunderstorms, floating along above the ground,” Pandy said, opening her eyes and wiggling her fingers. “Most of the time, people only see them from a distance, and their presence is the first sign that an incoming storm is going to be really bad. Sometimes one will drift right through someone’s house, though, and everything they touch will be filled with electricity – ah, I mean, Lightning – for days afterward.”

She plucked at her hair, pulling it straight out from her scalp. “It’s like you stuck your finger in a light socket and just left it there.” This time she ignored the confused looks and plowed ahead. “All of your clothes are full of static cling, and your hair stands straight up, all over your body.”

Geraldine pulled one of her own curls straight, staring at it thoughtfully. “They’re not dangerous, then?”

Pandy shook her head. “I didn’t say that. Just like all tier three and above elementals, they can hurt or even kill people. If one touches someone directly, it can stop their heart. It’s said that they can even produce Lightning themselves, shocking anyone they don’t like, though for the most part, they’re not aggressive, so if you just stay out of their way, you’ll be fine.”

Now Isidor smirked, looking down to gently poke the yellow-brown tortoise trying to climb out of his pocket. Tempest looked like she was coming for Pandy, with her beaked jaw open and her eyes tinged red. “So they’re cute, are they?” Isidor asked. “And gentle?”

Pandy nodded, and Isidor snorted softly before Tempest snapped at his finger. The boy yanked it back, clearing his throat before he said, “My Master taught me about those, and they’re not like that at all. They’re really strong, and tough. Maybe they do just float along, but if something makes them angry, they could definitely cause a lot of damage.”

Not for the first time, Pandy wondered exactly who this mysterious Master was, and since everyone now knew at least some of her secrets, she felt a bit braver about asking. Unfortunately, just as she opened her mouth to do so, the bell rang, letting them know it was time to get ready for dinner.

Their new ‘room’ lay almost precisely behind the central part of the school, and very close to the stable. Abbington waved to everyone, managed to glance at Pandy as he mumbled something that might have been, “Thankoo,” and hurried off almost before the leaves had stopped shivering from the last vibrations of the bell. Geraldine and Eleanor took a bit longer, but unlike the boys, they didn’t just have to change their jacket and comb their hair, so they made their way toward their room soon enough, Geraldine’s cheerful voice drifting back to the others, while Eleanor nodded along and smiled.

Isidor simply disappeared. One moment he was there, challenging Pandy’s encyclopedic knowledge of Gacha Love, and the next he’d vanished. None of the other children seemed to find this odd at all, but Pandy stared around, wondering if she was imagining the change in the shadows and the sounds of leaves rustling in the trees.

A little hand tugged at her sleeve, and Pandy looked down, seeing an unusually subdued Thaniel standing in front of her. He was staring at the ground, and even his golden curls looked limp as he asked, “What about-” He mumbled something, and Pandy started to lean forward, then crouched instead, putting her face at his eye level.

“What did you say?” she asked, gently taking his hands in hers.

“What about,” Thaniel glanced around, but while there had been other groups within sight during class period, everyone had already started moving toward one set of doors or the other. Some of the students would be heading for the front of the school, where carriages waited to pick them up, while live-in students would be going to their rooms, so they could clean up and change.

“Dark elementals?” the boy finally whispered, just loud enough for Pandy to hear him.

“Oh,” Pandy said, mind racing. Of course he would ask, and she did actually have an answer, though the game had made it clear that most people didn’t know anything about Dark elementals. This was not only because of the prejudice against them, but because it was illegal to form a contract with any Dark elemental stronger than tier two, unless the elementalist had permission from the king or queen. Of course, Killian had used Dark elementals to fight and carry out his murders, and the wiki mentioned a few more. But which ones should she tell Thaniel about?

Tugging Thaniel after her, Pandy sat down on a bench, then drew the boy in close. Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, she said, “Have you ever rubbed your eyes, and when you opened them, you saw fuzzy black spots?”

Thaniel blinked, then nodded, a little of the wariness fading from his face.

“Sometimes that’s just because you rubbed your eyes,” Pandy told him, smiling, “but sometimes they might be tier one Dark elementals called Umblinks. And that’s all they do. They appear for an instant when you open your eyes, and then vanish again.”

Thaniel, of course, immediately rubbed his eyes, staring as tiny black spots blinked into sight before disappearing. When he started to do it again, Pandy caught his hands.

“You’ll hurt your eyes,” she told him, laughing, then went on. “Duskins are tier two elementals that lurk in the shadows and corners, and take lost things. Things that have lain there for days without anyone remembering they exist, like dirty socks, and old apple cores. If you offer it milk or leave something nice in a dark corner for them, sometimes they’ll return some of the things they’ve taken, so if they stole something you want back, you just have to make an offering they value more.”

Thaniel was leaning into her by now, his head resting against her chest as he listened.

“Tenebron are tier three, and they like to hide in deep shadows, watching and waiting until they get a chance to startle someone. Just when you think you’re alone, they’ll open their eyes and look at you, then laugh and run away.”

Now that she said it, that description actually sounded familiar. The wiki certainly hadn’t mentioned elementals winking at anyone, but otherwise, couldn’t the watcher earlier have been a Tenebron? It hadn’t laughed, either, though, so maybe not?

“So they’re really not…evil?” Thaniel asked, finally looking up at her.

Pandy shook her head. “No more than any other elemental. Did you think the Brineclad or the Nimbrazel sound evil?”

“No?” Thaniel said. “But they hurt people.”

She sighed. “People get hurt all the time. We wouldn’t say the root Geraldine tripped over and twisted her ankle was evil. The Drowseberries weren’t evil, either, even though they put Eleanor to sleep. Tier one and two elementals aren’t that much different. They follow their instincts, just doing whatever it is they do. Tier three elementals, no matter what type they are, are just like…well, like Brook or Lord Winston.”

She didn’t include Miss Cupcakes or Tempest this time, because she wanted Thaniel to think about nice elementals, not testy, judgmental ones. For a moment, it seemed to work, because he nodded, relaxing against her. But then he spoke again. “What about tier four elementals? Or…whatever tier you are?”

Thaniel didn’t look up, so he didn’t see Pandy bite her lip. This was her chance. She could correct his misunderstanding, and she should. The chancellor, Professor Beeswick, and Isidor hadn’t even blinked. Which, she now realized, was a bit odd. While they’d seemed surprised to learn she’d come from another world, they didn’t really question it, and the conversation had moved smoothly into what they could do to prevent the demon horde she claimed was on the horizon. But if a stranger just showed up out of the blue, acting in a very suspicious manner immediately following an equally suspicious death, even Pandy would have been, well, suspicious. So why hadn’t they?

All of which meant that there was still something going on that she didn’t understand. Probably several somethings, since she felt completely lost. Which, in turn, meant that Pandy shouldn’t trust just anyone with the truth. But Thaniel wasn’t just anyone, and they were alone – except for any number of possible spies, including both Dark and Air elementals.

And so, she bit her lip and said, “I don’t know exactly what I am, but I’m not evil. Mildly infuriating, at least according to…to people I used to know. But definitely not evil. And neither are you, no matter what your elemental alignment turns out to be.” Thinking of Killian, and his fall from Light to the depths of Dark, she added, “People are whatever they decide to be.”

Thaniel nodded, and they sat there, together, listening to the sounds of the wind through the trees and the chatter of peevish squirrels, until Pandy’s spell ran out of time, and Thaniel carried his rabbit back to his room, skipping dinner entirely.