= Wands High =

Chapter 44 - 22 May 1998, Friday

Orianna walked outside the lodge and stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. The night was clear and as peaceful as it could be; the only noises besides the muffled voices were the chirping of the crickets and the melodic call of some night bird she couldn't recognize. High above in the sky, too many stars for one to even try and count drew brilliant pathways, still unknown to humans.

The girl walked all the way around the wooden cabin following the voices to the back door and the small porch there, where she found Zadie and Chris, the latter with his resonator guitar on his lap and the bottleneck slide still on his finger as if he had just stopped playing in order to discuss something with his bandmate. Orianna caught the end of the sentence:

- ...tempo was crazy though, I could never get it right.

- You're not working already, are you? – she asked, smiling a little as they both turned their heads in her direction.

- Nah, don't tell me you've lost faith in our collective laziness – Chris laughed. – We were talking about some music workshops we've both been part of, organized by Anton Weber's academy.

- The guitarist?

- That's the one.

- Sounds cool, I've thought about taking some of his summer classes too. Did he lead the guitar workshop himself?

- Yeah, and he's an absolute monster with the guitar, I've never seen anyone play so fast and so accurately.

- He's also good at picking teachers for the other workshops 'cause the drummer who led the one I took part in was equally insane though I'd never heard of him – Zadie added then looked at her with a skittish spark in his eyes. – Still pissed and back for revenge, Ice Queen?

- Nope, too lazy as well, but you'd better not look for trouble, kiddo - Orianna smirked. – Are the other knuckleheads somewhere around?

- Yup, they went to try that charm that creates real-time map of the sky, with constellations and stuff. Professor Royce had been roasting sixth-graders for not being able to pull it with hands tied and mouths gagged, in Ty's words – Chris laughed. – Why?

- Daynen's brought some liquid poison he calls uh, what was it... a "fine, gentleman's drink", and he seems inclined to ask whether you'd like to try a glass of that slow death.

- Great way to sell it, Firethorne – if I didn't know you, I'd think that you actually loved it and wanted to keep eveyone else away from it – Chris burst into laughter and took the slide off his finger. – Guess it's some sort of whiskey, considering what I've heard from you about Daynen's taste.

- I could use a shot of that – Zadie shrugged. – For educational purposes of course.

- Of course – Chris raised an eyebrow, looking at him. – But it wouldn't hurt I suppose, night's getting chilly. Wanna fetch the others?

- Yessir – the other boy jumped to his feet and gave a mockingly serious salute before going to get the other two boys.

- Lil' smartass – Orianna smirked.

- Definitely brings some fun in the whole picture. How are you doing lately by the way, after that wicked little exercise we did with Griff and Smith?

- Same old, same old, I guess – the girl shrugged. – Not bad in general. Any idea when the next one is?

- Griff hasn't mentioned anything in the last few days – Chris shook his head.

- How about you, you doing fine?

- Yeah, sure. Mainly been busy trying to come up with something good for the next battle.

- Is it working?