"Okay, now, your power is a manifestation of the spirits will. You have to understand that it is not your will anymore. When you attack, she has control of your body." Clef held his head in his hands after saying this to Emerria for the umteenth time. "You are the summoner. You don't have any control."
"Then why are you trying to get me to control it if you keep saying I have no control!" Emerria leaned forward in her seat. "It's NOT my fault!!" She and Clef looked at each other with flaming eyes.
"You do have control!" he screamed. "You don't have to use all the power! Every time she comes into you, she gives you her power to replace yours!"
"But that doesn't mean that I have control over that power!" Emerria screamed back. "Its not like she says, 'Here. Take it. Do what ever you want with it!'"
Clef and Emerria had been at this all during dinner. As the moon had risen, the Magic Knights had prepared for bed when they heard Clef trying to explain a concept to Emerria. It had quickly degenerated into a shouting match.
"She certainly has the same temper as him." said Fuu softly. They had already been in their pallates and were listening intently to the lesson when it erupted into the sparring match. At Fuu's comment, Umi turned away from the conversation to look at the others.
"What are we going to do with them?" she asked the two girls in a questioning tone. "He is going to have to realize that she is *not* what he is looking for."
"What if she is what he has been looking for?" said Fuu. "She *is* the spirit's vessel. She could be the one who leads us to the spirit."
"He is going to have to realize that he loves her before that happens." said Hikaru. "I know it."
"I DON"T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!!!!" came Emerria's voice from the outer grove as they heard Clef's now heavy footsteps coming towards them. "I DON'T CARE!!!!!!!!" A choked sob came from the grove and in the moonlight they could see Clef laying down. After a few minutes, Emerria came towards them and gathered her pallate. "I am going to sleep over there, if anyone cares." Clef only turned away farther and the three Magic Knights only stared for a moment.
"I care." said Hikaru softly and stood from her pallate. She walked with soft footsteps toward the edge of the grove. "Eme-chan!" she called softly.
"Hikaru." a smal voice said. A choked sob broke the word.
"Eme-chan!" said Hikaru as she ran towards the girl and gave her a big hug. "I was worried about you. Its not safe to sleep by yourself."
"I don't care." Emerria said, her voice muffled in Hikaru's shoulder. "He's so mean!"
"Not really." Hikaru said, patting the sobbing girl on the head. "He cares for his students deeply."
Emerria looked up with a tear-stained face. " I hope so..." she sniffed. The fight with Clef had shown a tottaly different side of her. Since they had met her, Emerria had been strong, no matter what happened to her. Hikaru knew that the Magic Knights had not met her by chance. But now, everyone had to see that the vessel of the earth had a weak point. And Hikaru knew what it was.
"Master Clef only needs some time. He may feel close to you in a spiritual or emotional sense, but in terms of real life, you haven't known each other for very long. He takes everything so seriously and he needs the ones he is friends with to understand that." Hikaru looked over to the beds that the other two knights were sleeping in. "If you want to get close to him, you have to take him seriously...and never yell."
"Why?" Emerria questioned.
"He hates noise with a passion. That certainly didn't change with his height."
"Oh." Emerria yawned. "I guess I should have realized that." She laid down on her pallate. "He kept getting so angry every time I got frustrated."
"Yeah." Hikaru smiled in the moonlight. She gave the girl a huge hug and laid out her pallate next to Emerria's. "Eme-chan?" she suddenly asked.
"Hmm.." Emerria said sleepily.
"Do you like him?"
"Yes...."
Back to the Library
On to Chapter 16