Storm ahoy!

Alecis was sitting on a large boulder letting the high winds rip her hair around her face. The storm was coming, she could feel the wind surging around her and she was getting an energy rush from it.

Rheis lay under a bush, preferring not to have the wind blow him around. He watched his clio happy that she had found something fun to do. He didn't like her working so hard all the time but these past few days that's all she had been doing. She was trying to keep her thoughts off the recent happenings and the only way to do that was to think about other things. Today was her first day alone that was happy and soon Charlie would be here, then things would be even better.

Quickly Alecis pushed off the boulder and into the air, she wanted to see just how far off the storm was. She looked towards the dark clouds that lay past the Dialga Mountains. She sighed as she realized she had a good 15 minutes before the wind would get really fierce. Slowly she sank back down to the rock she had been sitting on, she would just wait it out. Soon she would be riding the currents, maybe there would even be a tornado! She wondered if Charlie would want to try flying. Alecis loved taking other people for a ride on the wind and with all the air billowing around it would be even easier taking her into the air.

Li and her daemon were climbing fast, hoping to get to the top peak before the storm hit. Li loved to dance in the rain. Today, unusually, she had come alone. She was a very friendly person and loved to be with people. Her friends were unfortunately all busy which caused her coming along.

It didn't matter, she thought, she had Ely with her and that was okay. Racing each other they sped up the mountain, feeling the moisture in the air. As they ran Li practiced pulling the water out of the air. It was hard seeing as the air was moving now, it being so windy, but she did manage to get a little out.

She was playing with the ball of water in front of her, tossing it from one hand to the other, when she heard something in the distance. It sounded like a light singing, but that very well could have been the wind. Curiously Li sped toward the noise, she was up for company.

This was wrong. This was so wrong. Really, Leander thought, he was practically stalking this girl...This beautiful girl, Charlie Preston...Oh, if this was really so wrong, why did it feel right? It's not like he was hurting anyone or anything...

He'd seen her the first time about a week ago, and couldn't get her out of his head since. It was love at first sight. It didn't make sense, but all it took was one second, to see her face and hear her laugh, and he was hers.

Of course, she didn't know he loved her. She didn't even know he existed. Mostly because he hadn't introduced himself yet. Well, what, was he supposed to do it then, when she was hanging out with some huge muscley guy who she seemed reeeeeally friendly with? No way! So instead he was doing the logical thing...Following her around until he could find out more about her.

As it just so happened, he'd managed to catch her in Dahlin talking to a friend. He only got bits and pieces of the conversation, but he heard that the two of them were planning to meet in the Mountains. So of course that's where Leander was now, sitting behind a tree, Enyo in his lap, sheilding himself from the harsh wind.

He peaked out from behind the tree, but the only clio there was the red-headed Cuir girl. Damn. He wanted to see Charlie. Why would she want to come here on such a horrible day? It was about to storm. He hated storms. Especially the rain.

Hurry up, Charlie...

Charlie's laughter filled the mountains, though she seemed to be nowhere in sight. Finally, if anyone happened to be looking towards the top of the mountain, Mae could be seen flying over the top of it. She took a sharp turn and flew back behind the other side of the mountain after seeing Alecis, and Charlie's laughter again flooded around the mountain.

Suddenly, out of nowhere it seemed, Charlie flew over the top of the mountain after launching herself off of a large boulder. She screamed from joy and went face-first down the mountain. She flipped in the air and launched a rock from the side of the mountain, landing on it abruptly. She looked to Alecis, who was in plain sight now, and waved, taking a breath. "I love the mountains! And it's beautiful outside, huh?"

Alecis watched as Charlie came speeding down a cliff of the mountain. She smiled a big smile and started laughing.

"Hey Charlie!" she called to her friend. Charlie finally came to a halt in front of her.

"I love the mountains! And it's beautiful outside, huh?"

Alecis nodded. The mountains were amazing and the wind was making everything wonderful. Suddenly Alecis heard something coming from behind her. She turned around and saw someone she hadn't seen in years. Her jaw dropped as Li, her former best friend, came into view.

Oh crap.

Li stopped dead in her tracks. The bubble of water in her hands fell to the ground and splashed all over. It didn't even take thought for her to instantly stop--in front of her was a backstabber. Ely, unfortunately, didn't see the Cuir clio in front of him and continued to race forward.

At the last moment his mind registered just why his clio had stopped and he stumbled to prevent himself from colliding with the girl. He regained his footing, turned to go stand by his clio and started growling.

Why now? Li thought.

It started to rain as the two clio stared at each other, both unsure of what to do next.

Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of Charlie's laughter. Leander's heart started to beat faster. Just thinking about how near she was was exhilerating. He couldn't wait until he finally had the courage to, you know, talk to her.

He risked another peak out from his hiding place. Sure enough, Charlie was there, practically flying down the mountain before landing on a huge boulder that she had made appear. So she was in Adhbhar, Leander thought, his heart sinking a little. But the sight of her face lifted his spirits right back up. She looked so happy...!

Suddenly he was distracted when another girl showed up. It looked like there was something going on between her and the Cuir girl. Ooh, this was interesting. Maybe something worth watching would happen. But nothing was more worth watching than Charlie right now.

'Go talk to her!' Enyo urged suddenly. 'Come on, right now, while her friends aren't paying attention to her. This is the perfect chance, Lee.'

What? I'm not ready to talk to her yet! Leander exclaimed, blushing at the very idea. It would be at least another week before he'd be ready to do that, seriously...

Charlie smiled as Alecis nodded, but her smiled faded a little as she noticed the two girls notice each other. The feeling changed completely, going from happy and fun to tense. She breathed in heavily, backing up a little.

"I'll uhm...leave you two...for now..." she said, backing away. She didn't want to get in the middle of anything, but she'd protect Alecis if need be. She continued to back up, not wanting to miss anything, but picked up the pace in which she backed up. Unfortunately, she tripped over something and fell right on her ass. It didn't hurt, though, since it was just dirt and rock under her. She looked to see what she tripped over and saw that it looked to be...a clio?

"I'm sorry," she said, not really thinking about why this clio was on the ground. She offered a hand to help him up. "Are you hurt?"

Alecis didn't know what to do. Alecis didn't know what to say. Why did this have to happen now? Why couldn't Li pick a different day to ruin? Why did it have to be her happy day? Why?

"Um... hi..." Leci muttered softly. She was unsure of how to hold herself. What did you say to someone who had hated you for the past four years? It was unfortunate, though, that the two were so awkward. It was even more unfortunate that Ely started growling. Rheis darted out from his hiding place and took a stance next to Alecis.

This was going to be rough.

"Alecis." Li nodded quickly to her. Why did the girl need to ruin the peace she had found without her?

Oh well. Civil was the best way to go. Also, there were other clio nearby and Li didn't want to start a fuss. Ely stopped growling and sat down by his clio's feet. He didn't mind the rain but he could see that Leci's dæmon, Rheis(a fox? Ely never would have suspected the old Leci as a fox...), didn't enjoy it.

"How have you been? I haven't seen you in forever." Li smiled at Alecis then turned to look at the two other clio on the mountain. They seemed to be talking to each other so she returned to face Alecis.

'Come onnnnn, just go say hi,' Enyo suggested. She was tired of being her stalker-clio's accomplice.

'What if she doesn't like me?' Leander replied, retreating back behind the tree.

'I'm sure she'll like you...' Enyo lied.

Leander was about to retort that he knew when she was lying, but was distracted when he heard voices. He took another look just in time for someone to trip over him.

He was a little dazed, it's not every day someone just runs into your face. He picked himself up off the ground and looked up.

"I'm sorry. Are you hurt?"

It was Charlie! She was talking to him! And holding her hand out! For him! His heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to explode. But in a good way, of course.

'Let her help you up,' Enyo coached patiently, since her clio had obviously been dumbfounded by the object of his affection. 'Tell her you're fine and ask about her...'

"I-I'm fine," he said shakily, taking Charlie's hand and getting to his feet. Oh god he was touching her hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. I'm glad I didn't hurt you or anything, " she said, forcing the dirt and rocks that were stuck to her clothes back to the ground. She did the same for his clothes before holding her hand back out again.

"I'm Charlie, and you are?" She loved meeting new people, and she was glad that she got the chance to, especially since it could distract her from what was going on between Alecis and the girl.

She was talking to her? Alecis was surprised, and then she was cautious.

'Very curious...' Rheis whispered in her mind.

"I'm alright." Alecis said suspiciously, "What about yourself?"

Alecis wanted to scream. All she wanted to do was hang out with Charlie. Maybe Li would go away? Maybe she wouldn't ruin Alecis' day after all. That would be great.

Now... how to get her to leave...

Okay. Li wanted to be civil-not friendly. She didn't want the backstabber to get any ideas of her wanting to be friends again. Never. She wouldn't fall for that trap again.

"I'm good." Without any closure to their conversation Li walked away, over to the other clio on the mountain. She didn't want to talk to Alecis any more and didn't see a reason to say anything else.

Leander barely refrained himself from saying, "I know!" because even he knew that that would be the essence of creepy. So he took Charlie's hand for the second time (This must be what eternal happiness feels like) and said dazedly, "I'm Leander."

Her hand was so soft and warm, just like he'd imagined it'd be. He wondered if she, too, could feel the electricity that was flowing between them. Oh, this was almost too good to be true...

"Well it's really nice to meet you, Leander. Not that this is the best way to meet someone," she said with a light laugh, wondering what he must think of her after that first impression, "but it's always nice meeting new people." She slipped her hands into her pockets once they were done shaking hands, glancing over at Alecis and the girl. It seemed a bit tense, and then the girl started walking away from Alecis and towards them. What was going on? She just wanted to come have fun with Alecis. A beautiful storm was on its way, and she wanted to spend time with familiar clio (not that she didn't like meeting new ones). Was Alecis gonna be okay?

Okay. So she didn't have to do anything to make Li leave, she had done it of her own accord.

It should have made her happy, but it didn't. Even though Alecis wanted a happy day she would have rathered Li talk with her. She wanted Li to understand what had happened, but she knew Li would never listen. She was too hard headed, something that Alecis remembered from years past.

So as her former best friend walked away Alecis just stared after her-not sure what to do. She was now alone, the other three clio on the mountain were up against a cliff.

Awr.

What should she say to these clio she had never met before? They looked nice, though the female clio was now looking back at Alecis. Were they friends?

"Hi, guys!" Li said brightly. "I'm Li!"

"Hi, guys! I'm Li!"

"Oh, haha, me too!" Leander laughed, having looked up at the sound of his name. "Well, actually I'm Leander, but sometimes people call me 'Lee' when they don't feel like saying my whole name."

He realized suddenly that the presence of this Li clio was interfering with him being alone with Charlie. Maybe he could get her to leave...

"Hey, your friend's all alone over there," he said pointedly, indicating towards the Cuir clio.

Charlie smiled and nodded, "I'm Charlie, it's nice to meet you," she said, though she was still distracted at how distressed her friend seemed to be. As Leander pointed out that Alecis was all alone, she figured she could do something about it.

"You're right, Leander," she said, looking to Li and Leander and nodding as a temporary 'goodbye,' and she walked over to Alecis.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, placing her hand on Alecis's shoulder. "Who was that?" She was talking as quietly as she could, though loud enough for Alecis to hear.

Alecis fake smiled, which actually looked like a real smile. She was getting better at faking happiness.

"I'm fine. She's just a girl I knew when I was younger. We grew apart, you know, it happens." Shrugging Alecis looked over to Li and the boy clio.

"Who's that over there?"

"Friend? Ha, she's not a friend. Watch out, she's more of a backstabber," Li called to the Charlie who was now walking towards Alecis.

Ely walked over to the Siberian weasel that sat on the ground.

"Heys."

What? No! He didn't want Charlie to leave, he wanted the mean-sounding Li girl to leave. What did the universe have against him?

"Uh, wait!" he called, beginning to run after Charlie. But then he stopped and looked back to see Enyo chatting with Li's daemon. Come on, Enyo... he pleaded.

Nope, Enyo replied smugly. I'm having a nice conversation here and you can just stay and talk to Li until Charlie gets back.

Leander sighed melodramatically and walked slowly back. "Sorry bout that," he said to Li. "So what, you don't like that girl over there?"

"Hi, what's your name?" Enyo asked the dog daemon. "I'm Enyo."

Charlie looked back whens he heard Leander say soemthing, but he was talking back to the girl by the time she did. She turned to look at Alecis again and smiled. "I just want you to be happy. You seem kind of down." She blinked at the second question, looking back to them...again.

"That's Leander," she said. "I accidentally tripped over him when you were talking to that girl. He seems really nice."

Alecis nodded. She was happy Charlie was such a good friend. She wished she could say the same about herself...

"That's cool. I've never seen him before. Do you know which Eilemaiden he's from?"