"Who?" Numair asked, looking up from the note.
"Marbenais. Daine is her guardian." Alanna replied, putting down her stack of scrolls and books on the heavy oak table that served as the temporary replacement coucil table (Duo had covered the original with superglue as a prank).
"Hmmm . . . "
"They should prove themselves worthy to come here!" Van de Fanel said with a frown.
"Worthy to come? Since when could mortals enter the Guardian Palace anyways!?!?"
The unasked-for reply came from Darien, one of the elite Guardians, who still believed mortals were essentially amusement for lazy Guardians. A scowl from Numair was the response.
"If you had been paying attention, Numair's charge asked to meet with him face to face. He didn't say he wanted to take
a tour of the Guardian Palace." Alanna said.
"What's wrong with meeting in dreams?" Darien asked.
"We can ask him when he comes." Numair, picking up his special staff, just as good as it was when it was given to him
by Weiryn, the Hunt God and Daine's father.
"COMES!?! WHEN have I given YOU my permission to bring anyone anywhere?!?" Van de Fanel yelled.
Numair stood and towered over the guardian, his voice cold, "When have I needed your permission to do anything?"
With that, he turned and left the room.
"If Numair was in a good mood. And if Darien wasn't around. But most likely, yes, it did get through." answered Marbenais, with some difficulty as a particularly large and loud bus braked in front of her. "Don't you think Alanna would be the rational one for once and let Numair make his proposal?"
"I don't know Alanna as well as you do, so I really don't know . . . " Viktaren trailed off. Then he frowned, "I wish there was a easier way to communicate with the Guardians. Then we wouldn't have to wait till night to recieve an answer. Hopefully, someday we'll find a way to mix magic and technology without it blowing up."
Tigress flounced up to the two, nearly crashing into a senior. "Hello, lovies! I heard that the two of you are going to the
Guardian Palace! Can I come??" She pleaded hopefully, with a not so successful sad-puppydog look on her face.
"I didn't ask because you would frighten all the Guardians . . . " Viktaren jumped to the side, barely dodging her kick.
Marbenais frowned disapprovingly, "Stop it, you two." She turned to face Viktaren, "Viktaren, I believe your bus is leaving?"
"Oh. Good point. Bye!" waved Viktaren as he jumped onto the bus and sped away.
"If he almost misses that bus one more time . . . " Marbenais shook her head. Tigress was still fuming over the comment, her peevish mood stemming from the slight fact that SHE was not invited on the trip to Guardian Palace. And the
aforementioned senior was glaring at her, to further add to her bad mood.
"Why didn't you ask if I could come?!" whined Tigress as Marbenais scanned the parking lot for her ever-late bus.
"Four very good reasons." Marbenais held up her fingers as she turned to look at Tigress's pout. "One, I didn't write the note. Two, we thought that Guardian Palace would be more receptive to the idea of two 'charges' instead of three. Three, we thought that having Numair and Daine as Guardians might help our case. And four, Duo is still in the comtempt of the
Council for the superglue incident, and since he's your favorite Guardian, you're not exactly high on the 'desirable charges'
list."
"But -- buuuuuuut -- "
"Tigress, please, I can't do anything right now, so pouting and glaring at me won't do you anything besides make me laugh- on second thought DO continue-"
Marbenais was abruptly cut off as she twisted so that her backpack, stuffed full after a trip to the library, would absorb the impact of Tigress's kick.
"You know, you should work on not being so predictable. My backpack is now red-and-grey, with the grey being
footmarks. YOUR footmarks. And that's only because I didn't back up since that senior that you annoyed would have
smacked me. So, Tigress, if you want to surprise me, don't step back and lean that way before you damage my backpack." delivered Marbenais in a monotone, as this speech was given, with variations, several times a week. She grinned at an irritated Tigress. "Although, I believe that I am the only IB student with a red-and-grey backpack, so at least you can pride yourself on contibuting to my individuality. But, on the other hand, I feel that Dante is now insulted, as you have managed to strike The Divine Comedy with every kick to my colorful backpack. And Dostoyevsky is feeling left out, you never hit his novels."
"But you're not denying that you left me out on purpose!" Tigress's face was scrunched up and her arms were crossed.
"Tigress. For the last time. I. Had. Nothing. To. Do. With. The. Note. Now quit harping and go catch that bus, it's coming down the street."
Marbenais was left with an icy glare that mysteriously turned into a Tigress-patented-devilish grin. With a sigh, Marbenais muttered, "That glint always means trouble . . . I only hope she's too tired to do any damage tonight . . . "