Fire and Ice - Riven | Fate: The Winx Saga

Chapter Six: The Stone Circle

I woke up early the next morning to find Stella's bed empty. I didn't know where she had gone to and frankly, I didn't care. I was just curious. I shook it off and walked into the bathroom where I showered and brushed my teeth before drying my dark blonde hair and walking back to my room. I then applied some makeup and got dressed into some light blue jeans and a pastel pink blouse. When I was ready, I left my bedroom to find that the other girls were now awake.

"Morning." I smiled at Musa who was pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Sleep well?"
"Not bad. First night in a new place is usually the worst though." The girl replied as the suite door opened and Stella tried to sneak in. "Oh, that outfit is so similar to yesterday's. Same designer?" Musa asked the blonde.
"Do you know how I feel about that joke or should I tell you?" Stella questioned. "Where's Bloom?"
"She had a rough night."
"Thanks to you." I added as I began pouring myself a glass of water.
"I didn't even though those things were real, but we all saw. It was creepy as hell. It looked like it wanted to kill her." Musa said.
"What about my ring?" Stella asked as Bloom entered the room.
"That burned... burned thing took it." Bloom frowned.
"What?"
"Calm down, princess." I sighed. "It was you who gave it to her in the first place."
"Don't tell me to calm down and don't use my title as an insult." Stella told me.
"Wait. Are you actually a princess?" Bloom asked her.
"Yes, I am, actually. My mum is the queen, and the ring you lost is one of the Crown Jewels of Solaria. That might not mean much to a First Worlder, so feel free to ask your suite mates how big of a screw up that is."
"Almost as big as giving it to her in the first place." Aisha said, joining us.
"Exactly." I whispered.
"Dowling has the creature locked up. Which you would know if you were here last night when she gave us an earful."
"And if people knew there was a burned one even in the First World temporarily... disaster." Musa stated.
"I didn't tell her that I lost the ring, and I'm sure if we do, then-" Bloom began but she was cut off by Stella.
"We will do no such thing. I will figure it out after class, but for now, no one says anything to anyone."

Stella then approached the door to our bedroom but stopped before walking in. "And can someone make sure Terra knows that?" She asked us. "She can never keep her mouth shut." I then watched as Stella opened the door to find Terra halfway through changing in our room.
"Got it." Terra said with a huge smile before frowning and walking past us. I then followed Stella into our bedroom, closing the door behind us.

"Where were you last night?" I asked the girl.
"Like you care." She said. "I thought you'd be happy to spend the night in here alone."
"Just curious about where you went, that's all." I told her.
"Well, if you must know, I was with Sky."
"And I'm a fire fairy." I said, sarcastically. "Stella, you don't have to lie."
"I wasn't lying." She told me. "Believe it or not, Eira, but Sky is one of the few people at this school who cares for me as I care for them. Maybe if my suite mates didn't hate me so much then-"
"When did any of us ever say that we hated you?" I questioned.
"Oh, please. You don't have to." The girl said, angrily.
"Well, maybe if you weren't such a stone cold bitch all of the time, people would actually dislike you a lot less." I suggested.
"And there it is." Stella gritted through her teeth. "Could you leave now please, I need to change and I don't want to be late for the first day." I scoffed as I nodded my head and left the room.

***

I walked down to the Stone Circle with Bloom, Aisha, Musa and Terra. Stella had fallen behind and was walking at the back of the first years. When we arrived, we each took a seat on the rocks and waited for Miss Dowling to begin our lesson. "Magic lives in the very fabric of nature." She began. "And here in our circle of stone, it's magnified. The vessel tests your ability to channel that magic. Later, you may learn to connect with other elements, but your first year is all about the element you were born with. Terra, you can start by approaching the vessel."

Terra nodded and did as she was told before raising her hand above the bowl like shape in the stone. Plants then started to grow from it. "Earth." Farah said. "Soil, sand, rock, and all manner of plant life." Aisha was next. Instead of plants, water appeared in the bowl and began to float into the air in tentacles. "Water. The lakes and oceans of the world, or the molecules that exist in organisms all around us." Then it was Musa. When she was at the vessel I couldn't exactly see anything coming out of the stone. Instead the area between the girl's hands grew sort of foggy. "The mind. Thoughts, memories, dreams." A girl I hadn't seen before was next. Like Musa, I couldn't see anything coming from the vessel but the girl had a sort of grin on her face which meant it must have been working. "Air. Speed, temperature, sound. It's power and electrical properties." Farah told us.

I was next. I took a deep breath and stood up before approaching the vessel. I could feel my face turn white as everyone stared at me. I then raised my hands and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes for a second and when I reopened them, I could feel them turn their usually misty white colour. The colour they turned when I used my magic. It then began to snow into the stone bowl. "Ice." Farah smiled. "The ability to manipulate ice and the cold." The woman then nodded at me and I took my seat before Bloom nervously stood up and approached the vessel, placing her hands on the outside of the bowl. "Open yourself up to the magic of the world around you." Miss Dowling told her. "Push past your doubts."

Bloom took a deep breath. Her eyes flickered an orange colour before turning back to their normal green and as I stared at the bowl, only a few sparks shot out of it before dying out. "Focus on clear, positive feelings." Farah then said.
"Why's it taking so long?" I heard a girl beside me whisper.
"We're here to learn, aren't we?" I questioned. "Some of us just need more time."
"How about your parents?" Aisha then suggested. "Focus on his much you love them."
"It's not working." Bloom told the teacher.
"Stop thinking. Magic comes from-" Farah began.
"Emotions. I've been listening. I know what I'm supposed to do." Bloom then tried again before frustratingly stepping back. "It's not happening. Can you please move on?" Miss Dowling looked at Bloom for a moment before letting her sit down and she continued to talk.
"Whatever your element, the emotions underlying it are the same for all fairies."

***

At the end of the first lesson, I was gathering my things as Miss Dowling spoke to Bloom. Once Bloom had walked away from her, she waved as she passed me and I was called over to my godmother. "I get that we're starting with the basics, I do, but do we have to start from the beginning?" I asked the woman. "Most of us already know this stuff."
"Key word, Eira, most." She smiled. "I want all of my first years on the same page."
"Can't you give them extra classes or something to help them catch up?"
"Even if I did, you would still be attending them."
"But why?" I questioned.
"You seem to have forgotten what happened at the beginning of the summer." The woman frowned. "You're going over the basics so you can learn to control your magic."
"What happened- it was an accident." I said. "I thought you knew that."
"You can't afford anymore slip ups."
"Oh, my god." I whispered after a realisation. "That's why you let me go with Riven this summer. You wanted me gone so you could fix my mistake and when I came back it was like it had never happened."
"Believe me, Eira. You should be thanking me." Miss Dowling said before she began to walk back towards the fairy hall.