[Plot] The Law of Five [open to all elementals]

Linnet unrolled the scroll once again, though by now she could practically recite the contents. Not that the words themselves were particularly revealing ~

Your presence is requested at the Inverness Council tomorrow at 10am

It was signed Harbinger Madin. The sixth year had read the short note three times before even noticing that she hadn't stumbled over any of the gaelic words. In other circumstances she would have felt a sense of accomplishment, but right now it was overshadowed by foreboding. Like a much younger child summoned unexpectedly to the headmistress's office, she automatically assumed the worst and began racking her brains for anything she might have dome wrong, or how she might have angered the elemental council.

There was no question of not attending, of course. Linnet didn't even consider sending a response at such short notice; she knew she would go the moment she had seen the signature on the scroll. What had truly unnerved her though was that when she approached the deputy headmaster for permission to be out of school it was immediately granted, without his even asking why. Almost as if he already knew what was going on.

Linnet had then gone looking for Kyle, desperate to confide in someone who would understand and maybe shed some light on what she was wanted for. She was in her third year of training now so maybe this meeting concerned her future initialization? By rights that was still a few months off, but she'd been discovered late, so maybe they'd decided to let her undergo the ceremony a few months early? But Kyle was nowhere to be found, so that thought warred with her other, less pleasant, suspicions.

Up early the next morning and allowed to use the Floo network, Linnet arrived in Inverness a full hour before the appointed time, too nervous to wait any longer. It was ominously quiet; she headed straight for the Madin shrine and sat down to meditate, unsuccessfully, hoping to relax before she was summoned for...whatever it was. All she managed to do was concentrate on her breathing so she appeared outwardly calm. Inside, though...

"You're early, my dear"

Leaping to her feet, Linnet spun around and came face to face with the Harbinger Madin. She knew the woman to be around eighty years of age, but her face belied her years. Hurriedly, Linnet performed the elemental greeting, trying to look calmer than she felt.

I expect you're wondering why I've called you here.

Linnet nodded, not trusting herself to speak, but hoping that anyone who spoke so calmly wasn't about to tell her she'd done something wrong. After a moment the woman said "Walk with me" and strode out of the shrine. Surprised, Linnet followed.

"We have a...situation on our hands, I'm afraid" the harbinger began, switching into English "I don't know if your studies have encompassed creatures known as Quintapeds. They live on an island called Drear...or rather, they have up until now. Unfortunately, a muggle ship carrying something called oil sank and the oil was washed up on the island, making it virtually uninhabitable for the poor creatures. What makes it worse, they turned out to be very sensitive to conventional magic and were attacking the ordinary wizards who were trying to capture and move them to a new home. So it has fallen upon the elementals to rehome the Quintapeds before it's too late for them."

Linnet realised her mouth had fallen open in surprise.

"But why are you telling me? I mean...I know I'm studying magical creatures, but I must be one of the least advanced discipuli here. Surely the others..."

She was taken aback when the harbinger laughed.

"Don't worry, of course we don't expect you to do anything by yourself! The council sent letters to all the elementals who meet here. Most of the zealots have been there since yesterday morning; the advocates and discipuli since the evening. You're one of the few who hasn't yet been through initialization, so you'll only be observing and assisting with the more minor rituals. That's assuming you want to participate, of course?"

Linnet barely needed ten seconds to think about it. The prospect of approaching what were rumoured to be some of the strangest and most vicious magical creatures in the country filled her with dread, but at the same time, to see advanced elemental magic in action, not just of her own element, was an opportunity not to pass up.

"I'll go" she said.

Kyle recognized Stephen’s owl the moment that it had entered the Great Hall with the rest of the mail owls. It was a small, albino owl that he had seen weekly during his last term. It had been hard for him coming back after the battle. Nobody understood what it was like, and more importantly how it affected his magic. He had gone through a challenging time, but now he was back on track and he saw less and less of that small albino owl. The young elemental was actually a little surprised to see the bird flying in this morning. Normally Stephen would check in once a month and he had just sent a letter last week. This was a little outside the ordinary. When the bird landed, Kyle shared a bit of his breakfast with the bird as he unrolled the tightly furled note. It was a neatly written note explaining that there had been an oil spill off the coast of an island that was home to the Quintapod population of the world. Kyle had read a little about them in Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them and knew they were quite dangerous little creatures. Nevertheless, the Council wanted them to help in the capturing and relocating of them, so be it.

Kyle had less than a day to pack up, so he began the process of letting his instructors know he would be gone from their classes and prep sessions. They all were somewhat questioning but accepting of the boy’s excuse. After spending the day running down the different professors, he made his way back to the common room and headed straight to bed, he would be leaving around noon the following day. He was excited to see some of the other elementals again, especially Noël. It had been a while since they had been together to train and he would be happy to see his French friend again. Kyle fell asleep with images of earth floating through his mind’s eye, he hadn’t even thought twice about the fact that he hadn’t seen Linnet all day.

Kyle had gotten permission from his instructors to miss the day’s classes. It was one last little gift to himself to sleep in. Kyle planned on getting up around 9:30 or so, grabbing some snacks from the house elves in the kitchen and then heading off to Professor Cowell’s office to sneak into his fire and head off to Inverness. When he finally woke up, everyone he saw from his house had exactly the same thing to say to him, 'Hey Kyle, Linnet was looking for you earlier.' Kyle was sure that it was regarding the trip they were getting ready to take, so he wasn’t very worried, why should he be? She would be waiting for him at Inverness and they would go together to the island from there.

Just as he was heading to the kitchens to get some snacks and maybe even a little breakfast, Kyle heard another voice, this time one of the students a year behind him. The boy gave him the same message he had already heard so many times, but this time there was something more. 'Linnet dropped this as she was leaving the common room. She had been asking around for you for a while and she was in such a hurry, I couldn't stop her before she got away. Maybe you could give this to her when you find her.' The boy handed Kyle a small scroll before heading off. Kyle recognized the scroll and knew what he was going to find on it when he opened it, but when he did, he was quite surprised. Why had the harbinger signed her note? What did she need with her? Iulliana should have been the one who told Linnet about the Quintapod, and why didn’t her note just say that’s what this was about like his had? Maybe this was something different. Had they found out about the two of them? Was this meeting of a different nature? Kyle's stomach knotted up as he stared at the signature at the bottom of the paper. He looked down at his watch, 948. He still had time to get there before the time on the scroll. He was somewhat concerned as to what was going on.

Even though Kyle hadn’t coordinated with Professor Cowell about using the fire in his office for travel, Kyle was sure there wouldn’t be too much of an issue. No one would likely notice that a little floo powder had gone missing, even if they did, it would be hard for them to determine who had used it. Utilizing the floo network, Kyle made his way to the Council. He was early for leaving, so Kyle didn’t assume he would see too many of the others leaving with him, and from the contents of his note, many of the others were already in place on the island. Kyle headed towards the shrine of Madin when he saw her. The harbinger was walking with Linnet down away from the shrine of Madin. It looked like he was late to explain things. Now, he was going to have to either interrupt or wait.

Deciding that it would be better to keep Linnet from taking the fall for everything , Kyle knew he needed to admit to it first. He took a moment, prepared himself for what he was about to do, and called out, "Wait! It isn't her fault I swear." Kyle sounded like he was a little out of breath. The shock of it was rushing over him quickly. He was about to admit to a relationship with another elemental, and to take all the blame for it. It was a little overwhelming for the boy, and the thought of it was leaving him short of breath. Waiting to catch his breath, he finished closing the distance to where the harbinger and Linnet were standing. Now he just needed to think of way to phrase what he was about to say to keep himself from being thrown out of the council for falling in love with another elemental. The Quintapod mess had slipped from the boy’s thoughts.

Linnet jumped in surprise at the sound of a very familiar voice behind her. Spinning round, her face lit up at the sight of Kyle...though her heart jerked in a much less pleasant fashion at his words. Her mind began racing - if he'd received the same note as she had, what sort of conclusion had he reached? Almost immediately, the sixth year knew what Kyle must be thinking, and it would be ruinous for them both if it became public. All her fears of having done something wrong, and not once had she imagined that the council might have discovered the one thing that truly was off limits.

As much as she hated lying - particularly to someone so respected - Linnet barely hesitated. "It's alright Kyle, they didn't know about it...well, not until now" she said, glad that a flush and risen to her cheeks. She turned to the harbinger and managed what she hoped was a guilty expression "Kyle's my b...est friend. He's been helping me with my studies and...well, we've been sneaking into the Forbidden Forest since last summer to practise meditation and spells. I know we shouldn't really, but we figured we'd be in less danger there than regular students..." she trailed off and looked at Kyle, willing him to go along with what she'd said. She'd almost slipped up and said boyfriend right at the start, but with any luck that would be taken as the nervous jitters of a young girl discovered doing something that was... at least less forbidden than the truth. One of two things would likely happen now - either the elemental council wouldn't care where they'd been though they might caution the pair to be more careful about revealing their talents where others could see; or they could end  up in detention for a month when they got back to Hogwarts.

And as long as we're together, that really wouldn't be much of a punishment Linnet thought to herself.

For now though, they had more immediate things to worry about. "Did you know about the oil spill on the island?" she asked Kyle, knowing that he was more advanced in his studies than she was and thinking that might explain why she'd been unable to find him the previous evening. "I just said I'd go - only to watch, of course" she added, knowing that Kyle would worry about her being undefended against dangerous beasts, though Linnet knew she was a lot less clueless than she had been even a few months previously. Then she turned back to the harbinger.

"I'm sorry if we've caused any problems for you" she said "and I hope it won't mean we can't help you with rehoming the Quintapeds. I was thinking..." she stopped herself there; having been thinking of a way she might be able to help rather than just watch the rescue operation. Better not to mention that right now, not while they were potentially under scrutiny for being rule breakers (though in a much lesser way than they might have been) "I'm ready to go to the island whenever it's convenient."

And as much as Linnet wanted a hug right now, the girl kept that particular thought to herself.

[OOC: So I figure we could move them to the island now and hopefully meet up with other eles there and have some fun catching beasties!]

Kyle's heart was still racing as Linnet spoke up. The boy didn't want her to tell them what was happening but it didn't seem there was any way to avoid it at this point. She had already been summoned and pulled aside by the Harbinger. At this point it was just a matter of finding out how they were going to be punished for their "crime". As Linnet continued speaking though, Kyle's heart began to slow down. She was willfully lying to the most senior member of their order in the elemental council. The words brought both comfort and a slight edge of fear to Kyle as he listened to Linnet come up with what seemed like a flawless lie on the spot. 'Best friends'? That was all? Well it wasn't entirely untrue, but not quite the full truth either. As she finished the woven tale, Kyle noticed her glance in his direction and he played the same facial expressions that she was showing, one of shame and a little fear at their secret having been found out. If this worked, he would have to remember to thank Linnet once they were back safe at Hogwarts.

The look the Harbinger gave the two of them as Linnet finished her tale said that she believed them and that there would be nothing further but to discuss the consequences afterwards. Hoping that this meant they were in the clear, Kyle began to think once again of the real reason for his trip to the council. The Quintapeds. Linnet's question was one that didn't really surprise Kyle. Of course he knew about the spill, Stephen had told him that he was needed and what for. "Yea, Stephen told me there had been a spill and that they wanted our help. I wasn't entirely sure what information you had been given yet or I would have talked to you straight away."

As soon as Linnet said she had agreed to go, his blood began to boil. The council knew that Linnet wasn't at a stage in her training where she could handle something this dangerous. They knew that the beasts on that island were some of the most dangerous in the entire world and they were suggesting that she travel with them to be there? Why the hell was this even suggested? Kyle tried to control his rage and it was a good thing he did, seeing as she was only going as an observer. All the same, Kyle didn't like the idea of her being there in the first place. It just wasn't safe. Kyle's temper was still in full drive when Linnet turned back to the Harbinger and said she was ready to go. As soon as she had finished speaking, Kyle shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not quite ready yet. Give me a few minutes at Madin and I can meet you back here?" Not waiting for a response, Kyle checked his pocket subtly for his runic knife and a stone and made his way to the shrine. He knew what he had to do.

When he arrived at the shrine, there was no one present, as he had expected. The majority of the elementals had already moved to the island and were probably well on their way to completing the task at hand. Kyle ached to join them, but he knew there was something that had to be done first, something much more important. Taking the carving knife from his pocket and laying one of the runes on the ground in front of him, Kyle tore off the sleeve of his robe at the shoulder. What he was about to do was sure to be painful, but necessary. Kyle had gone through pain before, after all, his initialization had been one of the most painful moments of his life. What he had learned though, was that pain was worth the sacrifice. The scar that he had over his right pectoral was a reminder of who he was, of what he was. The rune he was about to carve was also something that would be a constant reminder to him, this time of who he loved.

Seating himself in the shrine, Kyle picked up the knife and began to carve. He had grown quite proficient in the arts of rune crafting and now could make any rune flawlessly. This one was no exception. He had only learned about personal protective runes a few months before, but it had only taken him one try to correctly carve the stone. Now he just had to complete the ritual, the part that was going to really really hurt. After finishing the stone and ensuring that it was perfect, Kyle set the knife in front of him. Putting the sleeve of his robe into his mouth and biting down, Kyle picked the knife back up and made one cut along his forearm and up to his wrist. The wound opened fully and blood began to stream out. As it did, Kyle grabbed the stone in front of him and placed it in the pool of blood that was rushing from his body. That's when it all began. More pain than he had ever felt in his life spread from his wrist too his chest and into his head. It felt like he was quite literally dieing. The rune was covered in his wet, warm blood but he hadn't noticed, he was too busy writhing in pain to notice. Shortly after, the pain subsided as the boy slipped from consciousness.

After what felt like an eternity but was likely only a few moments, Kyle came back to his senses. The bleeding had slowed and the rune was completely covered and laying on the floor in front of him. Taking the sleeve out of his mouth, he ripped it in half once more. With the larger of the two pieces he wrapped his wrist very tightly to help the remaining blood to clot a little more quickly. With the other half he picked up the stone and carefully wrapped it up. The painful part was over. Now it was up to Linnet to take it from him when they were alone. She would feel a little pain, but nothing like what Kyle had just gone through. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Kyle made his way back to where he had left Linnet and the Harbinger to find that Linnet was alone. Undoubtedly the Harbinger had gone to make preparations for their trip to meet the others. Trying to look as normal as possible, Kyle smiled and said, "That was quite the story you came up with there. I thought we were done for sure." Kyle would give her the rune in a moment, but he wanted to be sure that Linnet was doing alright first, after all, she had just lied to the second most powerful elemental in the magical world.