Chapter 12: A Blazing Talk
After leaving everything with the camp leaders, Wind started to look for Celestia and Luna. "Ok, so how did the bear become so hostile towards Aria?" Wind thought as he looked for Celestia and Luna. After a few minutes of searching, he found the two of them in their cabin talking. "Um, excuse me; I need to talk to you two about something important," Wind said. After Celestia and Luna let him in, Wind explained the situation to them.
"So, that's why we were told that one of our students was attacked," Celestia commented after Wind finished explaining.
"Not only that, but by a bear. Aren't bears tame in these woods?" Wind asked the two.
"They are supposed to be, and while I would understand any other animal being frightened by someone; the ones in this forest in particular are really accepting of humans," Luna told Wind.
"So, would it be out of the question to assume that there is some sort of magic affecting the area?" Wind suggested to the two adults. Celestia and Luna seemed to think about that for a moment as they thought of the possibility.
"It could be possible, but what could be causing it?" Celestia wondered.
"Hate to be a bother, but I have to go check on Aria," Wind said.
"Ok, take care and tell her that we wish her good wishes," Luna said happily. With that, Wind left to his team's cabin leaving Celestia and Luna by themselves. "So, what do you think of the situation dear sister?" Luna asked after Wind left.
"Well, there is one object in the area that could be causing trouble, but it should be impossible," Celestia told Luna. Luna was about to question further, but realized what Celestia was referring to.
"If it is what I think you're talking about, I agree with that impossibility," Luna said.
"Well, all we can do for now is help him to figure out what is behind this," Celestia told Luna as she got up and grabbed Red Joker.
Meanwhile, Wind was rushing back to his team cabin to see if Aria was ok. When he arrived at the entrance, he saw Sunset standing outside. "Sunset, how's Aria feeling?" Wind asked when he got close enough.
"Wind, I didn't expect you to be back so soon. She's doing fine, when me and her got back, I bandaged her up. Did you tell Celestia and Luna about what happened?" Sunset responded in a worried tone.
"Well, I did and they said that it was not normal for a bear or any animal in these parts to attack a human. I suggested that it could be possible that magic might be involved," Wind told Sunset. After Wind said the word magic, Sunset seemed to tense up at that. "Are you ok?" Wind asked as he noticed.
"I'm fine. Anyway, I would recommend that you check on Aria?" Sunset responded.
"What happened to her?" Wind asked immediately.
"Well, she just took a book that was on a desk, went into her room, and never came out since," Sunset told Wind. Wind was about to ask further when he remembered what she offered to do.
"I'll go talk to her, see if I can't get her to come out," Wind told Sunset as he entered the house. Sunset said nothing as she entered the cabin after Wind. "Don't worry Sunset, I'll find out what is troubling you tomorrow and hopefully calm those worries," Wind thought as he walked up the stairs.
When Wind got to Aria's room, he heard some grumbling from the other side of the door. "Ah, she might be getting frustrated with the translation of that book," Wind thought as he knocked on the door.
"Leave me alone," Aria said in a slightly raspy voice.
"It's me," Wind said loudly. There was a silence from the room until the door opened slightly and he saw Aria's face appear.
"What do you want?" Aria asked sharply.
"I came to check up on you. May I come in?" Wind told her. Aria seemed to think about that for a moment before opening the door all the way. "Thank you," Wind said as she opened the door for him.
"Don't mention it," Aria said as he entered in the room. Wind noted as he entered the room that when Aria said that, her voice seemed slightly hallow.
"So, how has been the translation been going?" Wind asked curiously as Aria closed the door.
"Well, can I freely say something about Principle Celestia first?" Aria asked, leaning on a desk.
"Go ahead, but I think I know what you're going to say," Wind said.
"Well to be blunt, your mom is a weird person," Aria told him. Wind was about to retort, but he realized what Aria said.
"How do you know that Principle Celestia is my mom?" Wind asked curiously.
"Well, Sonata hinted at it during breakfast and you just confirmed it right now," Aria said with a smug grin on her face. Wind simply face palmed at that statement and sighed. "Anyway, about the translation, I wasn't able to translate anything in terms of words, but I did remember some of the letters and I wrote those down," Aria told Wind.
"Really, may I see what you wrote down for the letters?" Wind asked. Aria nodded, grabbed a paper that on the desk, and showed it to him.
"Wow, that is very impressive," Wind said as he looked over the letters that Aria had written down. While Wind was looking over the letters, Aria sat down on the bed and clutched her arm in pain. Wind looked up to compliment Aria when he saw this and immediately rushed to her side. "Are you ok?" Wind asked in a worried tone.
"I'm fine, it's not like the bear fully scratched me. He got me a few times, but he only grazed me and I was able to get away relatively safely. Still hurts like hell though," Aria said.
"May I see the wounds on your arm?" Wind asked in a comforting tone. Aria hesitated at first, but slowly started to remove the bandages that covered the wounds on her left arm. After taking them off, Wind saw that there were some light cuts on her arm. Not enough to go very deep, but deep enough to have a good amount of blood coming from them. "Wow, that isn't as bad as I thought," Wind commented as he took the bandages from her.
"I have a few of these around my body and they're all about the same as this one, so I think I got pretty lucky," Aria told him as he started to bandage up her arm again.
"Which makes me wonder why you even did that in the first place? Seriously, if you're trying to outrun a bear, you could try to hide from it," Wind said in a slightly annoyed tone. Aria had no response to that as Wind finished putting the bandage back on. "What happened?" Wind asked as he sighed. Aria stayed silent in response and just sat there in silence.
"I wanted to help Sunset get back to the camp safely," Aria said eventually. There was kind of an awkward silence between the two until Wind eventually sat on the bed next to her.
"Look, I want you to know that I will always be here if you want to talk to me and let out some stress," Wind told Aria in a companionate tone.
"Ok, well you see the thing with me and the bear was kind of a split-second decision. I don't know if Sunset told you about what happened yet, but I guess I can explain. You see after I took a photo, the bear became hostile and started to chase me and Sunset. In my brilliance, I decided to tell Sunset to run back to camp while I lead the bear away from the camp," Aria explained.
"Ok, that was probably the smartest thing for you to do," Wind told Aria.
"Well, after Sunset left I decided to see I could get the bear to calm down in some form. I first tried to get the thing calm by trying to lull it to sleep with a lullaby. That didn't work and I then tried to knock the thing out cold. That obviously was going to fail, so I then decided to try to outrun it. I was able to succeed in that regard by getting into the trees and climbing away from it before heading back to the camp," Aria explained to Wind.
"So, that's how you got away," Wind said. After Wind said that, he noticed that Aria seemed to be trembling. "Hey, are you ok?" Wind asked in a worried tone.
"It's just that this experience showed me that without my pendant, I'm just a normal girl," Aria told Wind in a shaky voice. Wind was about to ask what she meant when he remembered what Celestia had told him happened a few weeks ago.
"And without that pendant you and your sisters wore, you're just as vulnerable as anyone else?" Wind asked out loud.
"That would be a correct assumption," Aria said.
"You feel helpless without your magic, don't you?" Wind asked curiously.
"Of course I do," Aria told Wind. Wind noticed at this point that Aria seemed to be trembling.
"Let me guess, you're afraid of not being able to protect your sisters," Wind guessed calmly. Aria's eyes widened as he said that, but then looked down at the floor in sadness.
"I want to be able to protect them with all my strength," Aria said in a soft voice. Wind stayed silent as she let out all of her worries. "I want to protect my friends and sisters with everything I have, but today showed me that even if I do, I just as easily die protecting them," Aria said as she gripped the bed sheets.
"Well, what's wrong with that?" Wind asked. Aria looked up at Wind with a look of confusion. "Well, even if you don't have magic, remember the fact that as long as you protect them, they will be grateful," Wind told Aria. Aria thought about those words as Wind got up.
"Wait, can I say something before you leave?" Aria asked as she walked over to her desk.
"What is it?" Wind responded as he turned around.
"Thank you, I really needed to let out my frustrations," Aria said, walking up to Wind with the book in hand.
"You're welcome; I'm always here to help. Oh, and one more thing before I forget," Wind said as he took the book.
"What is it?" Aria asked curiously.
"I would like you to have this," Wind said as he pulled out a small case and gave it to Aria. Aria took the case and immediately looked over it.
"What is this?" Aria asked curiously.
"Well, I want it to be a surprise to you," Wind said.
"Oh, well in that case thank you for the gift," Aria told him happily. Wind smiled in response and left the room, closing the door behind him. "I can see why Sonata took a liking to him," Aria thought as she went back to the bed and laid down on it.