"Wake up, you." Clef poked Miata’s shoulder, but his student just rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head.

"Go away," she moaned.

"What’s wrong with you now?" Clef demanded incredulously.

"You wouldn’t understand. I bet you’ve never even had a hangover."

"You have a hangover on a Wednesday morning," Clef stated flatly. Nothing was surprising any more.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, you’d better start packing," Clef told her.

"You can’t kick me out," Miata replied, sitting up. Her sleeping apparel consisted of a shift with narrow straps holding it on the shoulders, and one of these straps had fallen partway down her arm, exposing a great deal of skin. She didn’t seem to notice, but Clef turned a bright red and turned away. Miata fixed the strap as he spoke with his back to her.

"I’m not kicking you out," he said. "We’re leaving. You have an hour to pack."

"Whaddaya mean, we’re leaving?" Miata yawned, sliding out of bed and stretching.

"The Academy isn’t safe any more. The classes are all splitting up and going to different, safer places."

"So where are we going?" she asked. Just as Clef decided it might be safe to turn back around, she bent over to get her suitcase from under her bed, and he blushed again and looked away.

"The Forest of Silence."

"The Forest of Silence?" Miata exclaimed, slamming her suitcase down on her bed. "What, are you mad? Your magic doesn’t work there!"

"Where would you least expect a magic class? Only a minimum of study requires the actual use of magic, for which my powers are strong enough to suspend the matrix of magic prevention that exists in the forest."

"Yeah, whatever," Miata replied.

Clef left her to her packing, closing the door softly behind him.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

Clef turned around to see Alcione, dressed for travel, standing behind him. "What are you talking about?"

"Don’t pretend you don’t know." Alcione smiled coldly, walking towards him. "In and out of her room at all hours, always paying her special attention—it’s not even been a week, and already the rumors fly."

Clef blushed but remained composed. "She needs special attention if she is to learn anything. Her potential amazes me."

"Her ‘potential’? In what sense do you mean, ‘potential’?"

A small part of Clef’s mind wondered at how easy it was for young people to twist any word to mean something sexual. "I mean as a magician, of course!" Clef was beginning to wilt. He tried to be tolerant, but he had never liked Alcione.

"Oh, you can fool yourself all you want, but everyone can see that you like her. It’s obvious."

"Where are you going?"

"I’m through with this school. There’s nothing left you damned Gurus can teach me."

"Are you crazy? There’s so much more you need to—"

"Graduation from this place means nothing to me. I’m going to the palace, to learn magic from Sol Zagato. Now that’s a real sorcerer…" She clasped her hands and looked up at the sky dreamily. "And he’s so handsome, a real man."

"So get out," Clef replied darkly, crossing his arms. "I don’t need you telling me about every single rumor about me! Be on your way! Go!"

"If you insist, Guru Clef! Ta-ta!" She swept her cape around herself and swirled, laughing and striding away confidently. But Clef had a feeling that one day they would meet again—and another feeling that that meeting would not be at all pleasant.

They gathered outside the school. Miata carried a suitcase, and strapped to her back was an oddly-shaped case that stirred Clef’s curiosity. When he inquired as to what it was, though, she simply shrugged and said, "Oh, it’s nothing important."

"Some kind of musical instrument?" the Guru guessed.

"It doesn’t matter," Miata replied sternly. Clef shrugged and gave up.

"Well, Presea is waiting for us." He lifted his staff, and his three remaining students watched him expectantly. "Cleft!" he cried, and a huge, griffin-like bird took shape before them.

"Hey, that was pretty neat," commented Prism.

"I wish that I had a cool staff like him. Then I’d be cool," Lincoln sighed.

"You’ll never be cool," Prism replied. Miata shook her head. They were so immature—how could she have found either of them attractive?

"Climb up," Clef told them, cutting their bickering short. They all climbed up onto the huge bird, and it took flight as soon as Miata got a grip on its fur. She let out a yelp as she watched the ground fall away from her.

Clef squeezed her shoulder. "Don’t look down," he advised her. She shook him away, then concentrated on keeping her eyes shut and holding on for dear life for the rest of the flight. The landing was so gentle she barely noticed it, but she was visibly shaken as she jumped down to the ground.

"I am never, ever, ever, going to fly again," she said, shaking her head firmly.

"It can’t have been that bad, was it?" Clef asked, trying to be helpful.

"Oh, just shut up." Miata gathered her things, looking around and realizing that they were actually inside the Forest of Silence. So, Clef was a much more powerful magician than he let on to be. Interesting.

"Why would anyone want to live in a place like this?" wondered Prism, picking up his luggage. "It gives me the creeps."

"Everything gives you the creeps," Lincoln muttered.

"The forest is constantly changing. If we want to find Presea, we must pay attention."

"What the—" Lincoln turned around to see the clearing disappear behind him.

"Come on. Don’t look back," Clef told his students.

"Um…where’s Miata?" wondered Prism.

All of a sudden things were shifting around her. It didn’t come as much of a surprise—the forest was something of a presence in itself, and she could feel its existence humming in the back of her mind. That was one of the things Cressida had taught her to feel, and she wasn’t sure she liked it—this whole thing about the presences and consciousnesses of the planet. That should be left in the hands of the pillars, not passed on to some poor girl they took in because her mother went insane and killed herself.

Miata wondered when the madness would taker her over as well. What she did know about her mother was frightening enough—a love for music, power over places where magic did not normally work—it all sounded too much like herself. And there was the one thing she fought above all else, what she was sure had driven her mother insane—

"Take me to Presea’s!" she demanded of the forest, her voice frantic against the solitude.

She burst in the door to see a worried-looking Clef sitting with his head in his hands. He looked up and saw her, and relief washed over his face. He stood up, reaching out as if he wanted to hug her—but his expression changed, and he took her bags, instead.

"Miata, how did you get here? We thought you were lost!"

"I was, but I managed to find my way here," Miata replied. It wasn’t quite a lie, she rationalized to herself.

"Dammit, Clef, I’ve had enough of this." A blond woman whom Miata assumed was Presea burst into the room. "If you’re such an all-powerful sorcerer, do you think you could make me a decent lock for my door?"

"I’ll take a look at it. Presea, this is my obnoxious student Miata. Miata, my old friend Presea."

"You’re Miata? It’s a miracle that you got here!" Presea gasped. "Clef was so worried."

"What for? I can’t get lost. You can trust me on that," Miata replied. She looked to Presea. "Uh, where am I supposed to stay?"

"I’ll show you. Follow me." Presea said, and started to walk. Clef and Miata followed.

"What do you mean, you can’t get lost?" Clef demanded. "The Forest of Silence is—"

"I was trained by Cressida before I came to the Academy. She taught me—"

"Cressida?" Clef raised an eyebrow in incomprehension.

"The Pillar! Just yesterday you said you knew her! She just died…"

"Oh…yes, that’s right…" Both Clef and Presea looked confused, which confused Miata. It wasn’t natural for them to forget so quickly! They should have at least recognized the name—especially Clef, from the way he’d grieved her passing yesterday.

But then again, who was the Pillar who preceded Cressida? No one knew. How odd. She would have to ask Emeraude about this when she next saw her.

"Miata, are you listening to a word I say?" Clef shouted, jerking her train of thought off its rails. Miata looked up, her expression bland.

"No, was it important?"

Clef broiled silently for a moment, counting to ten. "I said," he told her through clenched teeth, "you’re free to go anywhere in the house, but you may not go wandering about the forest, perfect sense of direction or not."

"What? Who are you to tell me what to do?" Miata frowned stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"I am, if you have had a memory lapse and forgotten, your teacher."

Miata stuck her tongue out at him. "You still can’t make me."

"Oh, cute. Your maturity amazes me," Clef said, rolling his eyes. Presea, watching these actions, stifled a giggle.

"Doesn’t take much," Miata muttered at the ceiling.

"What do you mean by that?" Clef shouted at her.

"Why, that it doesn’t take much to amuse you, darling! Were you born on the last farm in the remotest section of Cephiro?" She giggled. "Was your mother unfaithful with the livestock?"

Presea couldn’t control herself any longer. She let out a roar of laughter, and was practically rolling on the floor.

Clef, on the other hand, was red with fury. "Well, at least I know who my father is," he shot back. Miata’s mood changed as soon as the words left his mouth, and Clef immediately regretted his words. Miata glared at him, too enraged to speak, and there was a moment of uncertain silence between them when neither knew what to say and do. Before Clef could apologize, Miata slapped his face, then swirled around to retreat into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Presea recovered from her fit of laugher. "Quite a girl," she said.

Clef still wasn’t quite out of the daze. "I really do think she is determined to drive me insane," he said softly.

"Quite a show you two put on. I always did enjoy fireworks," Presea giggled.

"I went too far," the Guru replied.

"Don’t worry too much about it. She’s got spirit, she’ll get over it." Presea patted Clef’s back good-naturedly, but they heard muffled sobs coming from Miata’s room.

"Miata—" Clef began. No answer.

"Leave her alone for a bit," Presea advised. "If she’s so annoying, why are you so concerned for her?"

"I—" Clef turned a brilliant scarlet. "She’s just my student, that’s all! I’m only concerned for her because she is my student! I don’t have any feeling for her in that way!"

Presea raised an eyebrow. "But…I never said that you did."

"Oh," Clef said. He looked away, feeling even more confused and embarrassed.

"I understand—she is a very pretty girl, if stubborn."

"But—but I don’t…" Clef stammered, and Presea’s eyes danced with barely concealed laughter.

"Sure you don’t." She had never seen the Guru so flustered, and she was going to milk as much amusement out of this situation as she could.

A small, rational voice in her head told her that she was overreacting, that Guru Clef could not have known the meaning of what he said, but she couldn’t force herself to believe it. After all, not knowing her father had never hurt before—the fact that her mother was a madwoman, and that madness was bound to come out in her sometime, was enough to make her miserable. Miata cried, no longer caring if anyone heard her.

She couldn’t stay here any longer.

Miata climbed out her window, clutching her suitcase and guitar, and stepped out onto thin air.

"I know I said I’d never fly again, but I think I can make an exception," she said to herself. "I trust my own instincts a lot more than that damned Guru’s bird, anyway." Why did thinking of him bring more tears to her eyes? Damn him! How could he confuse her like this? It wasn’t fair!

"Take me to the Palace," she told the wind. "And quickly, please."

The winds seemed to hesitate before doing as she asked of them, but when they did move it was with dizzying speed. The ground below her moved too quickly to see.

She was at the gate of the castle in moments, and it was no surprise to see that Emeraude was waiting for her. The Pillar knew everything that went on in Cephiro—it was no surprise that she had expected Miata’s arrival. But what did shock Miata was what the Pillar held in her arms—a newborn baby.

"Miata, I really didn’t mean what I said. I’m really sorry, I—Miata?" The door to her room was unlocked, but Clef stepped in and found it empty. All of her belongings were gone, but there was no note—no sign that she had ever even been there in the first place. Then he saw that the window was open.

"Second student I’ve lost this week," Clef murmured, his mind somewhat numb. "Maybe I’m cursed." He frowned. "You know, this doesn’t mean I like her," Clef told the world in general, leaning out the window. "She’s far too annoying and I don’t miss her! I hardly even know her!"

It was only then that he realized he was only fooling himself.

"Well, Emeraude, long time no see," Miata said thoughtfully. Things were beginning to fit into place. Cressida had taught her that a Pillar could not survive childbirth. Her last words, that had been a mystery before—was this what they had referred to? Could this child be—

"What are you doing her, Miata? Cressida sent you to learn magic. You’re supposed to be with Guru Clef," Emeraude admonished. "Oh no—nothing’s happened to him, has it?"

"I’m sure Clef is fine. And he’s better off without me," Miata replied bitterly. "Are you saying I’m no longer welcome here?"

"The Byrde is always welcome in this palace," Emeraude replied stiffly, and the baby in her arms began to fuss. Miata looked more closely at him.

"Hmm, looks familiar…the green hair certainly reminds me of someone…" Miata tapped her chin, looking up in mock forgetfulness. "Oh yes! Could it be…Cressida?"

Emeraude’s eyes went wide, her voice lowered to a whisper. "Not one word on that, if you know what’s good for you."

"I think you owe me an explanation. You know you can’t fool me, like you have all the others. What are you Pillars up to?"

"How like a Byrde to be so prying. So like your mother," Emeraude said loftily.

"I am not my mother, Emeraude," Miata replied darkly.

"But you are a Byrde, and you should be learning magic so that you can protect the Forest of Song!"

"I will not go back to him!" Miata shouted, taking the baby by surprise and making him cry. "No one there has any idea what the hell they’re doing! I’m more advanced than all of them!"

"You’re right—you’re not like you mother. At least Lumina had some patience."

"I have patience! Not that I’m admitting to being my mother," she amended quickly. "Please, listen to me. You’re going to need some help raising Cressida’s little boy there—"

"His name is Ferio," Emeraude replied. "And he is to be referred to as my brother," she added with emphasis.

"Sure, whatever. Anyway, I’ll help raise him. I’ll play music at those classy functions you’re always holding around here. I’ll study magic on my own. Just let me stay here. I can’t go back."

"You Byrdes are a stubborn lot," Emeraude replied grudgingly.

"Same goes for you Pillars." Miata grinned.

"All right, it’s a deal."