Relaxing cont.

[Dylan Cooper]

"I do believe I am... Which makes you my Shadow Warrior," he said in a barely audible voice, checking once more than no-one else was in the corrdior. Hearing her confused startings of a sentence, he looked back to his little rippling wall. "This wall, isn't so special," he said with a small smile. "That one, however... is quite another story," he added, looking towards the opposite wall. He closed his eyes and paced in front of it three times, a door finally appearing. Smiling back at Susan, he opened the door and gestured for her to follow.

Moving through into the now familiar room, each of the five elements were represented in their own door. Dylan stood in front of the Earth door and placed his hand on the doorknob that would only open for him and Susan. "Welcome," he said with a small smile as the room was revealed. Covered in bare earth and grass with small shrubs, rocks and trees located at random points, he remembered feeling quite impressed the first time he'd seen its beauty.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan followed Dylan into the new room, that had amazingly appeared. Susan stepped tentatively into the room, closing the door behind her. They had stepped into a lobby of sorts. There were five doors, one for each of the platonic elements, Susan assumed. It was easy to see which one belonged to her and Dylan. Susan watched in awe as Dylan opened the door to reveal an oasis just for them. Susan slipped off her flats before stepping carefully on to the soft grass. She could tell it was real, a long with the rest of the nature included in the room. She moved to the middle of the room and spun around with her arms out stretched, barely keeping hold of her shoes. Quite dizzy, and exhilarated, Susan turned to Dylan again.

"What is this place?" Susan asked, loving every inch of the room without even understanding how they had come to be there. The air was remarkably fresher, she knew it must have been a spell of sorts, keeping the simulation alive. Even if she never understood it, she realized she didn't necessarily have to, because it was perfect.

[Dylan Cooper]

Smiling at her reaction, he simply watched as she embraced the area, leaning against the doorframe. "This... Is our element room," he explained quietly. "D'rorah showed it to me to begin my training," he elaborated, his voice still quiet. Remembering that time as well as the many others that he had been inside this room, he smiled. He'd come on a bit since he'd first started training, having practiced the forms he'd initially learnt numerous times. He was keen for some more training soon, but considering D'rorah's already rather full schedule he didn't see it happening any time soon.

"You like it, then?" he asked, having felt the rush of energy upon entering the room himself. "You... Well, we, can come here anytime. To train, to re-energise, or for sanctuary," he said, walking forwards and taking a seat on a nearby boulder that appeared relatively flat.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan watched Dylan take a seat on a boulder. She too, sat herself down, on the floor. With her legs out, she leaned back on her palms, gently hugging the earth with her fingers. "I love it," Susan smiled at Dylan, completely content. She listened to him speak.

"You... Well, we, can come here anytime. To train, to re-energise, or for sanctuary,"

"Train?" Susan repeated, curiously. She understood that some measures had to be taken if a war was possibly at hand. What sort of measures though, she had no idea. Whatever needed to be done, Susan vowed to herself that she would do it. She tried to think of the craziest most dangerous thing she had done in the past. The only thing she could think of was driving the family's rented golf-cart with out permission or a license at the beach on one summer holiday. That didn't seem nearly as dangerous as what might be at hand now.

She also recalled the first time she'd been on a broom. They'd forced to her at least attempt flying as a part of the first-year curriculum. She'd failed horribly, in the end resulting in several broken bones and a severely damaged ego. The bones had healed quickly, but it was still a very traumatic experience and she hadn't taken up flying since. She much rather preferred her feet flat on the ground.

Right now though, Susan was ready to try anything if it was for the greater good of the universe. "What sort of training?" she asked.

[Dylan Cooper]

Smiling at her enthusiasm, his eyebrow raised in a friendly manner at her question. "Train, yeah. Hand-to-hand combat, weapons training and elemental training," he explained quietly, only having trained hand-to-hand with D'rorah. The frequent amount of times that he'd visited this room, however, he had connected with the earth beneath him, the nature around him. In a way, it had become a well-known friend as he'd gradually come to understand his power. To understand what he could do, and begin to harness it. He found that he was extremely grateful for having become noticeably more aligned with his element; he had felt more powerful lately, even with everyday things.

"I've not had much training myself, D'rorah and I only just discovered I was the Master of Earth recently," he said quietly. "So even I wouldn't be able to teach you much, and believe that Dee's far too busy," he continued, subconsciously lapping into using her nickname as he thought of her and smiled.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan was comforted by the fact that she wasn't far behind Dylan in training. She would be able to catch up, she figured. She'd had plenty of hand-to-hand contact, she mused, if she could count fighting with her little sister. She was also familiar with Tae Kwon Do. Although, she was no black belt, she could easily recognize the various kicks and punches and had even attempted at breaking boards before. She'd failed miserably of course, but she still knew the technique.

She let her thoughts move on to the weapons portion, Dylan had mentioned. She was familiar with the Tonfa as a weapon, but had no clue as to what other weapons she might need to master. Swords were always an option, she figured. She stopped, trying to imagine where one would buy a sword. Coming up with nothing, she moved on to the last form on training.

The last form of training was a complete mystery to Susan. Elemental training could mean a variety of things. She would have asked, but she didn't feel much like pestering Dylan with so many questions. Instead she said simply, "I'm glad your my Elemental Master." Susan could not imagine having anyone else to "call on her emotions". It was funny how'd they'd connected from the first time they'd met by the lake, they'd been friends instantly.

[Dylan Cooper]

Expecting more questions, he was surprised to hear her comment, but glad all the same. A slight breeze blew around them and he smiled, smelling the scent of nature on it. It swirled around him, filling him with boundless energy and setting him at ease at the same time. He always absolutely loved his visits to this room, restoring his lost energy, giving him a place of peace in times of turmoil.

Leaning forwards to rest his arms on his knees, his head lowered to face her, he smiled softly. As a result of his position, his hair was once more to be found flopping in front of his face, covering most of it with dark strands. "I'm glad you're my Shadow Warrior," he said simply. "Dee said we were all brought together by something, pulled towards each other for a reason. Considering that I just happened to find you at the lake, and we just happened to be caught together out in the storm, forced to rely on each other for safety to get back up to the castle, I would say that Dee's a very smart woman indeed," he said with a small smile at the thought of her.

Thinking that this might be a bit confusing, he looked into her eyes and smiled once more. "What else do you want to know?"

[Susan Matthews]

Susan listened carefully to everything that Dylan said. It had been true, that on that cloudy day, they'd needed each other to find safety. It did seem more than just a coincidence that they'd found each other that day. It made Susan happy to see how happy Dylan was whenever he mentioned D'rorah. Susan agreed with him in the fact that she was very smart. In fact when it came down to it, D'rorah was the smartest, strongest person Susan knew.

Dylan had asked her if she had any other questions. Although the whole concept was still new to her, Susan had understood everything so far. She wiggled her toes in delight. "I think I've got it so far," Susan confirmed. If she thought about it, she could think up more questions. And then suddenly, one wormed into her mind.

"How did you find out you were an Elemental Master?" Susan asked. There was quite a story to her own discovery, and she wondered if it was the same for Dylan. Susan hoped it was, she was in the mood for a good story.

[Dylan Cooper]

Nodding as she reassured him of a lack of questions about training, he smiled lightly at her own, seperate query. "Well... I only just recently realised what I was, after I talked over the characteristics of an Elemental Master with D'rorah," he said with a small, thoughtful smile.

Thinking back, he tried to pinpoint the crux of beginnings for the use of his powers. "I think it was when my father died that I began to use my powers, though I didn't realise what they meant at the time," he said quietly, his eyes altering to become slightly sad. "Having no siblings and never associating with other children much, I simply assumed my manipulation of earthly materials was perhaps a normal wizarding childs activity," he explained, his voice still relatively hushed but found now with more confidence then previously. "I used to levitate stones and twigs, a tree once. My mother went insane," he added with a small smirk. "It wasn't anything particularly special, though. I lost my best friend but gained power. I don't know that I'd elect to have my powers, were I given the choice," he admitted sadly, missing his father greatly.

Trying to move past his pain of the moment, he looked back up to her, his dark hair swinging before his face. "So what about you? How did you find out, when did your abilities develop?" he asked in a small voice.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan listened raptly to Dylan story. She felt honored that Dylan finally able to confide in her. Surely it had been his father's death that had been bothering him, the last time they'd failed to confide in each other. The whole story was rather interesting. Susan only wished hers could amount to his.

"Actually, it was less than a week ago," she began, herself still in a state of disbelief. "It's not much of a story, compared to yours," she paused, trying to decide how to best introduce her spiel.

"A few nights ago, I couldn't get to sleep. For some reason I felt like I was needed on the Fifth Floor Corridor," she paused, realizing how strange that sounded, "I can't explain it . . . I just knew I needed to be there." That night, she had thought she was hungry and that she'd just happened along the fifth floor by accident. It was now that she realized otherwise. "Upon setting foot on that stone floor, it was instantly cold and noticeably darker. I remember lighting my wand," At this point Susan lifted her hand, gesturing her hand movement as she done that night. "The dark was so . . . thick," she continued. "About midway through the corridor, I came across D'rorah, Wysteria, Keaira, Alessandro, and Professor Serlaen was there too." She shuddered to remember the next part.

"The first thing I recognized was that Alessandro was not moving. It was second that I noticed the chanting and then D'rorah spoke to me." Susan stopped, trying to remember the exact words she had told her.

Miss Matthews, follow my directions very carefully. Remain here... light your wand as brightly as you can. We need light, as much as you can manage.

"She told me to stay, and to keep my wand lit as brightly as possible. At first it seemed impossible, what with how dense the darkness seemed and how cold it was." Susan shuddered to remember how cold it had been that night. "The next thing I knew, Alessandro was awake again and D'rorah had asked to meet with me later. It was only a few days ago, that she informed me on all the details."

Susan took a deep breath. Reliving that night, was far from pleasant. Susan knew it couldn't compare to the other's experiences, though. Susan remembered D'rorah explaining the traumatic part of the job and how she could tell Susan had not experienced such a thing.

"Pardon me for saying so, but you simply do not seem the type," she had said.

Sometimes, like now, Susan felt guilty that she had become equal to the others without enduring the pain that they had. She didn't say any more. She waited for Dylan's response.

[Dylan Cooper]

Listening to her story, he thought it was rather exciting. All the drama, the pressure in the fifth floor corridor. Personally, he'd much rather have his story than her own. From what he could deduce, Wysteria, Alessandro, Keaira and Professor Serlean must be Warriors or Masters, too. That accumulated his list to about seven in total, out of ten. Her description of the darkness confounded him; what could have caused such a thing?

"That sounds fairly intense for someone who had no idea what was going on," he said with a small, understanding smile. The effect that kind of unnatural darness might have on someone's mind and emotions, coupled with the pressure of having to perform as well as possible when someone's life could be in danger could not have been easy.

His hands traced absently over a small shoot nearby that was risen from the earth beneath. Feeling the soft leaves come into contact with his rough hands created a nice contrast; a blacksmith's apprentice didn't feel things as soft often.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan was pleased that Dylan had liked her story, even if it wasn't such a pleasant one. Good stories were what kept people listening, Susan knew. She liked to have the attention focused on her. This was one of the many reasons she chose to wear such bright and random colors. She fingered one of her yellow shoes as she thought about this. Not that she needed the attention, she just liked to be noticed. She liked to stand out. It often became redundant to always blend in with the scenery.

Susan wiggled her brightly painted toe nails in delight, returning her palm to its original position, supporting her. Briefly she wondered what D'rorah would think when she found out that Dylan and Susan had figured everything out by themselves. Would she be happy that they had acted independently? Would she be angry that the two of them risked so much by simply trusting? Susan severely hoped it would be the first of the two.

Upon retelling her story, her thoughts were brought back to Alessandro. That night he had said he was alright. Susan was still worried though. He had seemed extremely tired that night, exhausted from something.

"Have you seen Alessandro lately?" Susan asked, wondering if Dylan had gotten any heads-up on how Alessandro had been doing lately. Susan recalled the last time she had spoken to him, by the lake. Once again, he had said he was alright, but Susan suspected otherwise.

[Dylan Cooper]

"Alessandro?" he repeated, thinking. "I haven't even met him properly yet, which is odd considering he sleeps in the same dorm as me," he said ruefully. He really should make an effort to become friendlier towards his roommate. "Why do you ask?" he inquired curiously, wondering why she would. Having barely seen the fellow Ravenclaw rarely and never paying much attention, he hadn't noticed anything particularly out of the ordinary. "I've had trouble sleeping recently, and usually when I wake up in the middle of the night he appears the same," he said, thinking aloud slightly.

Not generally liking to talk about subjects of a faintly foreign nature to him, he searched for something else. His father still on his mind, however, that was all he found. Usually when he talked about his father, all other things would be shadowed for the next few hours by his memory. Not feeling it was completely appropriate to bring up such a sad topic and lower her obviously content mood, he kept looking. "Have you made any arrangements with D'rorah to begin training?" he said, wondering why it had been so hard to think of this subject when he was surrounded by their element.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan was disappointed to hear that Dylan had not yet met Alessandro. "Oh, he's really a nice guy," Susan said remembering the first time they had met. Susan had been taking a walk in Potter Park, when she'd gotten a rather stubborn smudge on her famous yellow shoes. It was Alessandro who had supplied the spell, Tergio to remove the dirt. Since then, they hadn't talked much, but they remained good friends. "I've just been worried about him is all," Susan admitted.

It made Susan even more worried to hear that neither of them had been sleeping well lately. She severely hoped this had nothing to do with the shadows. Maybe it had to do with a test or homework assignment that was due soon. She liked to believe this.

"Have you made any arrangements with D'rorah to begin training?"

Her thoughts were interrupted. "Actually, no." Susan replied sadly. "I haven't been able to speak with her more on the subject since she first told me about it." She paused, "I think she was trying to figure out how to tell me that you would be my Elemental Master.

"I've thought about asking her about it in class," thinking twice, she added, "discreetly, of course. But she's seemed really busy lately and I didn't want to be a bother." Next time, Susan decided for herself, she would ask D'rorah about training. It would probably be best if she got to learning as soon as possible.

[Dylan Cooper]

A thoughtful expression took up residence on Dylan's features and he spoke in his usual, quiet voice. "I really should get to know him," he said reminiscently, considering that they were dormmates and would remain so for the rest of this year and the next two.

"Well that's one less thing she'll have to worry about then," he said, smiling. He'd been slightly worried about her of late; there were constantly shadows under her eyes and he hadn't once seen her at meal times in the Great Hall. He knew she might be getting her own dinner from the kitchens, but thought that possibility unlikely as well. "I just hope she's not incredibly angry when she finds out how much we trusted each other, considering the little basis we had," he said, a small laugh escaping his lips. It had been quite dangerous of them to trust each other, afterall. Dylan had, however, had a feeling that everything would be alright; that he could trust Susan for some reason. The connection he'd felt between them since their first (shall we say... eventful?) meeting had been strong, and was now found to have a very good reason.

Elemental Master and Shadow Warrior... He was glad that Susan was now so involved in his life. He'd not known her long, but he could already tell that she was a great girl.

"Yeah, class wouldn't be a great idea. If you want I could start you off. D'rorah's only shown me a few things, but the earlier you start the more you can practice them, and get the basics out of the way," he said reasonably, fully prepared to spend the day inside (though it felt just as good, if not better, than outside in this room) with her to train.