Ball To Banquet IX : Sanguine Red, Diffident Blue, & Enigmatic Star

With the affirmation of their blossoming friendship, Lulu teemed with smiles. Unable to hold herself back she spread out her arms and embraced Karma. Accepting her embrace, Karma hugged her back, their interaction bringing a slightly more lighthearted atmosphere within the room.

Releasing each other from the embrace they started to chat about more miscellaneous subjects, causing Lulu to open up to the girl slightly more.

– "-So I let loose a giant wreath of fire and burnt the hairs, they passed out from the lack of air then I gave a few extra stomps. You know, just for extra measure, they got them what they deserved, heh." Karma was boasting about how she stomped out the boys that previously antagonized her.

"And now that I think about it, they said some shit about you. I should have stomped on them for another ten times at least." She spoke in an almost resolute manner as if she would make sure it would happen.

– "Hehe, I'm sure that you should have. Oh, oh! That f-fire that was sparking around you earlier, you're not eleven c-cycles yet? Did y-you Transcend?" Lulu Inquired, placing a finger on her chin showing how she was thinking.

– "Oh that, heh. I'm just a genius." Not exactly answering the question Karma stuck out her chest and boasted.

"Like you said though I'm not yet eleven cycles. I, actually, we, are going to go to the mirror in about half a cycle to Transcend — but other than that I really am a genius, I'm the only one that can actually use my abilities before Transcending, even though it is really unstable."

"Oh yes, what do you know of Transcendentals Lulu?"

When Karma was asking her this question, a fuss kicked up with the older persons. Tilting her head to the side Lulu looked past Karma and saw her grandmother grabbing a simplistic rifle off a rack on a wall. She was speaking to Sol with a calm tone ignoring the complaints coming from Tavella, she stepped over door parts to the busted door followed by Helia when she caught Lulu's eyes on her. Nizael merely raised a hand with a reassuring smile on her face before stepping out of the control room.

Lulu was worried, she knew what her grandmother does, and she knew that she was a general, Yet she was worried as soon as she saw her taking up a weapon. Pain isn't something you can get used to, at least for Lulu, her body was already weak, but now she has to suffer from extreme bouts of pain now and then? It was never a pleasant experience, Lulu looked at the bag on her side she was clutching it tightly earlier, and now she held it into her chest again. She didn't want her grandmother to experience pain but she couldn't speak out about what she does. Pushing her worries to the back of her mind Lulu returned her attention to Karma, who was also just watching her mother leave.

– "Karma... t-they'll be fine right?" Not being able to expel her worry, Lulu hesitantly asked Karma.

– "Of course, they'll be fine Lulu. Mom told me that your grandma is like suuuper strong, and mom is super strong as well, they'll beat up and stomp out those winged trash cans!" Karma responded enthusiastically as she stretched that super used for her grandmother.

– "Hehe, o-of course... you're right." Giggling to herself, Lulu felt Karma's hand ruffling the hair on her head.

"Un, s-so what was it that you asked a moment ago?"

– "I was asking what you know about Transcendentals." Retelling her question, she continued to rub Lulu's head with a satisfied grin on her face.

Before she could open her mouth Tavella came over with a huff and plopped herself down on the chair on the wall opposite her bed; Looking at her for only a moment she thought of an answer.

– "They're druggi— I mean they're spruced up Detrids, right? They visit the giant mirror near the middle of the capital, unlock some sort o-of internal seal, g-gain power and become a high priority or something... right?" Lulu spoke and her words were certainly filled with certainty as she asked questions.

– "Druggi— no that's not important. You know of the Flow of Flauna right?" She wondered where Lulu learned to say such things but moved past it anyways.

– "Yeah, mom mentioned it to me a while ago. What is it? I never saw it mentioned in the books I got from the library," Lulu inquired.

– "I can't really explain it either. I've been leaking flames ever since I could remember and I was told you can't manipulate or use Flauna until you actually Transcend." She confessed while still rubbing Lulu's head.

Not being bothered by Karma's hand on her head, Lulu, still being curious watched the figure of the slumped elder girl out of the corner of her eyes. She wondered what was going on, Tavella was literally sparkling – her shoulder-length golden brown hair was sparkling like it had some form of special effects; She fluttered her eyes open revealing two beautiful orbs of stars. Tavella sat up in the chair, perplexed at why the blue-headed child was peeking at her, she smiled at Lulu.

– "Did you need something Lu-Lulia?" She questioned. She faltered on her words as it seemed she almost called her by her nickname.

– "Why are you sparkling, er, wait, d-don't answer that. Do you know what the Flow of F-Flauna is?" Hoping that she would know since she was older by quite a few cycles older than them.

Clearing her throat Tavella was glad they didn't bother with her small mishap; She did as she was asked and ignored the first, and repositioned herself in her seat as she was about to speak but stopped herself.

– "Flow of Flauna, Flow of Flauna... ah yes, I got it now," Trying to cause the information to resurface to the front of her head Tavella repeated her words several times before slightly exclaiming her recollection.

"The Flow of Flauna is quite a simple subject actually. Everyone In the Concordia family is required to learn about it at a young age as the use of it is of utmost necessity for your improvement as a Transcendent and future leader; Power is needed to keep yourself grounded, especially for us of the Concordia family." As Tavella was saying this she has a strange expression placed on her face. She looked as if she was recalling a particularly bad memory, though she soon washed the look off of her face.

– "Oh... w-well can you describe what i-it is." Halting a bit at Tavella's facial expression, she blurted out her question. Karma was just observing Lulu's shyness as she continued caressing her head with a satisfied hum.

– "You can see it right?" Karma asked.

– "Definitely, it's all around us at the present moment, we must be in a Flauna-rich area. There are streams of marvelous blue energy spanning all around us — flowing like the overflowing currents. Its energy flows to wherever it's most attracted to, and presently, many of the streams are encircling you Karma, with great endeavors as well."

As she was speaking of the Flauna, Tavella had a faraway look enveloping her eyes as she strangely moved her hand in front of her in a slight flowy motion; As she did so there was a slight change in the atmosphere around them, it felt as if it got a bit thinner.

Feeling the obvious result of Tavella's hand movements, Karma was quite surprised at the revelation that she shared with the two of them. She was surrounded by Flauna? Her mother never told her of this, was she hiding it from her, or did she want her to be surprised by the view when she Transcended? Thinking for a slight moment, Karma concluded that it was most likely the former. Quite a narcissistic thought came to her mind – 'So I'm both a genius and I have high potential?!' It was an exuberant thought that brought a slight smile to her face, as she wondered if that was why her fire was unstable.

Lulu was also surprised by the revelation, and she was quite happy. If Flauna is as important as Tavella said then that means Karma's chances of becoming a great figure in the future were assured; It was a great result, truly... With that thought, Lulu thought to ask about if any Flauna flowed around her — even though she already had negative expectations about the answer, she still asked it.

– "S-so... is there any Flauna around me?" She implored anxiously, her voice void of any confidence.

– "No," Tavella outright told her what she expected and continued. "There are no streams around you, you are void of any specs of Flauna — but that might be because of- no. I can't tell you about it yet. It's not time yet," Tavella had no qualms telling Lulu the truth, yet there seemed to be much more to it as she spoke in an enigmatic fashion.

Even though the answer was what she expected it was still painful to hear not even a speck was attracted to her. It reaffirmed the depressing reality that she might just never be able to defend herself.

Karma who was by her side could feel just where Lulu's emotions were heading and took hold of her hands, rubbing them she started to comfort the girl in silence; While Tavella sat there in silence, observing them with her starry orbs, lost in thought.

Lulu wanted to melt into the warm feeling she was receiving from Karma but just as she had been anticipating and fearing all day she felt something building up in her legs, In her right arm, and down her back.

Quickly shuffling through the bag she was clutching a severe amount of pain suddenly struck her.