A gentle dissonance of voices awaited me as I drifted out of a dreamless sleep. My mind was foggy, halfway distinguishing the noises, halfway figuring out the prickly substance irritating my back.
"… She used up her Casting strength - not only that, she got help from Water Elementals, which is her opposite element. That's the first part…"
Alay… free. Everything rushed back to slam into my addled mind, forcing me to focus wholly on the conversation and forget the itching on my back. Alay was free, Caster Hannah knew where we were, the Ellimist was in on the whole thing, and I was… no, Alay and I both were…
"But you said she's a full Weapon now. Does that mean she can't Cast anymore?" I lifted my right arm from my side and gave the marking a long look - the Elemental Crest, the sign of a full rank. A dizzying twist of vines, waves of water, tendrils of fire, and blue streaks that represented the element of Air. My commitment to my Caster…
"No, she can Cast. A full Weapon rank means she's now got some of the things it would take us years to learn or gain - for one thing, she's unaffected by low to middle level Casts. She's also supposed to have a closer bond to her Caster but, unfortunately, her Caster wasn't part of Caster Hannah's ceremony." My hand fell across my chest as a thin ache tore into my heart. My Caster… Alay's Caster… both of them were still…
< Morning, sunshine. > Tobias' thought-speak was quiet, for me only. < Sleep well? >
Very well, I answered. But hay is a very irritating thing. Where am I?
< Cassie's barn again. Alay's explaining the situation to Cassie and Ax, and to me and Marco as well - there's a lot you haven't told us. > I winced as I sat up, both at the stiffness of my muscles and the undertone of questioning in Tobias' voice.
Ia… I apologize, Tobi'as.
< For what? > he returned with. < It's not like I asked and you lied. You're allowed secrets, like the rest of us. > I looked over at him in the rafters and gave him a weak smile. < No one but me knows you're awake, itala, so you can roll over and go back to sleep. >
Veraha, but I think to leave Alay to explain everything would not be a good idea. She does not know everything about the situation that I know.
< Like what? > he asked as I slowly and carefully stood. My legs were still weak, but stable enough (or so I thought) to support me if I dropped from the hayloft to the ground. But when my feet hit dirt, my knees collapsed and I fell over - sideways, remarkably enough- directly into Marco's lap - Marco, who had been sitting on a convenient bale of hay beneath the edge of the loft. He caught my waist to stop me from falling as I grabbed his shoulders for the same reason and for a split moment, I just sat there, in his lap, his hands on my waist and mine around his neck. It was… an interesting position.
That was the first time I seriously broke the number one rule of Weapons: When on a mission, allies are allies. They are nothing more then allies. I had partially broken this is developing a friendships with Ax, Cassie, Tobias, and Marco - but friends and allies are close things to began with. But anything more then friends...
"Are you okay?" asked Marco gently. I felt a blush rush to my cheeks and prayed that no one noticed it when I nodded silently. He gave me a half smile. "Then can you stand? You're cutting off circulation to my legs." I nodded again - there was a pause, in which I let myself enjoy the smile and nothing else - then I realized he actually wanted to me get off of his legs and that I really was cutting off the circulation.
"Ia Veranda!" I stood up quickly, feeling the blush deepen, this time from stark embarrassment. Alay only shook her head, either choosing to ignore me or simply holding in the mocking I knew I would get. I rarely acted like… a girl around the opposite sex. Usually, usually, I was able to simply remain myself - to a Teslahan, gender was nothing to discriminate by, jaia, nor was sexual orientation on top of that. But lately…
"Did you sleep well?" asked Cassie.
"J-jai," I replied, attempting to gather myself. I was not used to falling over, literally and figuratively. Until I figured out why Marco had such an effect on me, then… I was not sure what I was going to do until then, but in the entire time that I had been in the Animorphs world, that had never happened to me - and Marco and I had fallen into much more compromising positions in training.
"Good to see you haven't changed," chuckled Alay, patting me on the shoulder. "You're still incredibly out of your mind." I made a face at her, but could honestly think of no come back worth saying. "At least now you can help fill in these people whom you've left in the dark."
"Vercha, forgive me," I said to the others. "I have a tendency to assume that, because I know things, others know them as well." Alay snorted and shook her head.
"It's not a tendency, itala, it's a daily happenstance. You do it all the time!"
"I do not!" I countered. "I do not assume all of the time!"
"Like hell you don't!!"
"I do not!"
"You do, and don't argue with me, because you know I'll win." The way she said it, with an arrogant tone only Alay could perform, and a simple aura of superiority around her, was enough to make me give up then and there and just roll my eyes at her - sometimes, you have to quit while you are ahead. And sometimes, when it's Alay, you just have to quit.
"That is regardless," I stated firmly. "There is much that needs to be talked about. To begin with, the Ellimist, I am told, is the cause of this."
< We had guessed that, itala, > said Tobias. < Though we were a little confused onto the 'why' behind it. > I could only shrug. I had no idea myself, despite Head Caster Hannah's theories.
"I do not know either - but he has told Caster Hannah that we are safe. I have told Caster Hannah that her two favorite students are Controllers. She was not amused." Alay snorted.
"I wish I could have seen that," she answered. "Given, if wouldn't be the first time I've see Caster Hannah pissed." I grinned, remembering all of the times we, as partners in crime, had been on the receiving end of Caster Hannah's anger - Alay and I had been the best Weapon Trainees, but also, the most troublesome.
"Alay, compared to the lecture Head Caster Healer Eryn received, you and I have been lucky." She arched an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Caster Hannah also said something that might interest everyone - apparently, us four, myself, Alay, Emily, and Sadie, have been given the morphing power."
"All?" asked Alay and Marco simultaneously. I nodded, even as Ax continued with,
< That cannot be. If they had the morphing power, surely the Yeerks would have morphed! >
"Not necessarily," spoke up Cassie. "If the Yeerk hadn't known and Alay herself hadn't known then… if you don't know you can do something, why even try? The Yeerk certainly would have looked stupid trying to morph." I nodded, agreeing completely with Cassie, and heard Alay chuckle.
"Epsil would have loved to have the morphing power," she said darkly. "Greedy bastard that he was. Nothing was ever enough for him…" She shook her head. "Never mind. He's dead and I'm not and I have a Mission, damn it."
"That's the psycho spirit!" said Marco with mock enthusiasm. Alay glared at him and opened her mouth to retort, when suddenly Cassie gasped.
< What is it, Cassie? > asked Tobias. She tilted her head back to look at him.
"We start school on Monday," she answered. "Summer break's over. Why that came as a sudden revelation is beyond me, but I somehow feel like… it's important." Marco stifled a groan of disappointment.
"Oh, that sucks," he stated. "I'd much rather have another Summer Break, especially after the way this one's been going." I looked up at Tobias with a look of confusion.
"I do not know what "school" is," I answered. "Or "sucks". Is that like hokey?"
< "Hokey"? > repeated Tobias. < Where did you learn that? > Marco looked slightly sheepish, but said nothing, so I said nothing to Tobias. < Oh, I get it. Marco's been teaching you bad English. Way to go, Marco. >
"It's not like it was intentional!" returned Marco. "She's already got most of English under her belt - it's hard to remember she has the total combined English skills of a fifth grader." Alay came up and poked me in the forehead before smacking Marco upside the head.
"Her translator chip got fired, you moron," she told him. "She knows English, she just can't speak it."
"Hey! I remembered why it was important!" said Cassie, interrupting the war (again) before it began. "Sarah has to go to school too. And since she has no idea what that is, we have a problem."
"Slightly," grimaced Marco. I was confused again. How was it a problem? Just what in the five hells was this "school" thing, anyway?
"For crying out loud," mused Alay. "It's not a hard concept. Sarah, school's like the Academy, only, since they don't have Weapons and Casters here, I'm assuming your school focuses more on academic pursuits." She looked to Cassie, who nodded. "How do your days of the week work here, if this "Monday" is coming up?" I knew that one, though I still did not understand it.
"They have seven day weeks, itala," I answered. "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - then it starts all over again."
< Wow, I'm surprised you remembered that, > commented Tobias. I made a face up at him.
"You have a confusing week and year," I told him, for the fourth time. "It's not simple, like the Teslahani." Alay snorted.
"If that's simple, then I'm a Taxxon," she said coolly. "Regardless, what day of the week is it now?"
"Thursday," answered Cassie. "Which leaves us less then four days until school."
"Four days is plenty of time," said Alay, shrugging. "Just because Sarah acts like an idiot doesn't mean she really is one… all of the time, anyway." I rolled my eyes.
"Itala, I think I liked it better when you weren't the one talking."
End Book I, The Difference
