To the park

"I'm in." You tell Lee.

"Awesome." He says, leading the way to the door. The four of you exit House Phoenix and cross the courtyard. "By the way, this is Noah. He is Brice's roommate and they are in the same charms class." Lee introduces you to the boy joining your outing.

The two of you exchange greetings after having been introduced and you see he is carrying two large gourds made into bottles, each plugged with a cork. "What do you got there?" You ask.

"Oh, just some refreshments for the park." He smiles mischievously.

"That's a little surprise Noah brewed up in our room." Brice says.

"Brewed up?" You inquire further.

"Yeah, it's my own recipe for dragon's nectar. A little sweeter though." Noah tells you.

While you have never tried it yourself, dragon's nectar is a fizzy drink that will cause the drinker to belch up fire, hence the name. More a flash of cool flame with low heat; making it relatively safe, provided you don't burp directly into someone's face. "Sounds fun." You admit.

The four of you make your way through the school and exit into Delmorgan Park, near the Founders Courtyard. No one appears to be around. "Did they say where to meet them?" Noah asks.

"Yeah, west of the fountain, in the woods." Brice informs the group, leading the way. Stepping off the stone pathway, your group ventures into the tall trees to look for Parisa and her friends. Under the cover of the rounded treetops, the night becomes darker as you travel further away from the courtyard. Finally, you see a soft glow radiating a little further in.

You enter a small clearing in the woods, three balls of light hang in the air illuminating the area. The trees here have obviously been transmuted, roots jut up from the ground to form makeshift seating around the edges, while two stumps stand close to the center. Parisa, the brown-haired girl who was with her at tryouts, Liam, and two other girls are sitting around talking as you approach.

"Why not try for both?" The familiar brown-haired girl sitting cuddled up to Liam tells Parisa, causing the other girls to giggle.

"Keira!" Parisa laughs before tilting her head in consideration.

"It's not like..." Keira starts before seeing your group approach. "Oh, hey guys."

"Welcome to our little hideout." Liam adds his greeting, spreading his arms out to indicate the clearing. "Have a seat." The two other girls, both wearing House Pegasus pins like Parisa, smile.

"We brought refreshments." Lee tells everyone, taking a seat close to Parisa as the two share a smile.

"Dragon's nectar." Noah says setting one of the gourds on a stump. He promptly pops the cork out of the other and takes a swig. After pulling the bottle from his lips, his stomach jumps a little and he tilts his head back to burp up a small jet of flame into the air.

The group in the clearing all cheer or clap at the spectacle. "Nice." Comments Liam.

"I want to try." Keira says reaching out a hand. Noah passes her the open gourd and she too takes a swig. A moment later she too lets out a small fire fueled hiccup followed by a laugh before passing the bottle to Liam.

Brice takes a seat next to one of the girls, one with short black hair and a modest bust, and they begin talking like they know each other already. Noah remains standing as he collects the gourd from Liam to offer it to the other pegasus girl, an almost flat chested girl with long red hair.

Your attention is drawn to Parisa though and you take a seat next to her, opposite Lee. "I have to let her out a lot. Maybe you can come visit sometime." Parisa is telling Lee as you sit.

"What's that?" You ask, joining their conversation.

"Lee asked how Ginger was doing, my familiar." She explains. "I said she was doing good but loves to run a lot. I hate keeping her locked up in my room. So I board here in the creature pens. Mr. Lockman lets her out to play a couple times a day." She leans a little closer to you. "You could come visit her too. She loves company." Her smile is intoxicating.

"Yeah, I could probably do that sometime." You answer.

"My golem isn't much for playing. He mostly just sits around in a pile." Lee says with a slight grimace. "Still need a good name for him too."

"Oh! What about Rocky?" Parisa suggests.

"Too on the nose." Lee says.

Noah steps up with the open gourd in hand. "Your turn... Parisa, right?" He urges, pushing the drink forward.

"I'll try it." She eagerly grabs the bottle, giving it a slight sniff. "What does it taste like though?"

"Just try it." Keira laughs. "It's really good."

Parisa ends her hesitation and takes a big gulp of the drink. Her eyes widen slightly before she blows a small flame from her lips. "Oh my. That is good." She giggles, passing the bottle to Lee. "So where were you after tryouts?" Her question directed to you as her body sways in your direction.

"He was chatting with the ice queen herself." Lee jokes before taking a drink.

"Oohhh!" The crowd gasps in unison.

"Harmony?" Keira asks.

"Yeah, you know her?" You inquire.

"Everybody knows about her. Thinks she is so much better than everyone else. I think everyone at the school was happy you came along and put her aptitude score to shame." Keira continues.

"Stuck up or not, Misaki tells me that girl is a beast on the court. I hear she smashed a boy on your team without even giving him a chance. All under a minute too." Liam adds. "If she keeps that up, she will be one hell of an addition to the competition team."

Lee turns his head and lets out a large belch, shooting flames away from everyone. "So what did you two have to talk about anyway? And don't tell me psionics. Everyone in line could feel the tension between you two." He goads you into telling as he passes you the bottle.

You look around at the group. Everyone is intently waiting for your reply. Feeling like you have no option but to answer, you take a big swig of the dragon's nectar. It tastes sweet on your tongue and a little warm going down. After swallowing your head gets a little light and you can feel the fizz building in your gut. "We..." You can't hold back and let out the fiery pressure. "We discussed Professor Sloss' illusion class." Just about everyone is looking at you with skepticism. "No, really. She took the class last year and had given me some tips the night before. She was the one who tipped me off that he was going to cause all the illusions to fail." You address Lee directly, passing the bottle back to Noah.

Everyone looks to Lee for confirmation. "Yeah, I suppose that's true." He admits. "But that can't be all you two talked about." Lee presses for more info.

"Well... She did offer to tutor me on illusions." You come clean.

"What?!" Keira and Liam are both shocked.

"No way." Scoffs Noah.

"Wait, why would the ice queen herself offer to tutor you? She hasn't done a single nice thing for anyone. Ever." Keira's question feels like an interrogation.

"I don't know. We have a few classes together. Sometimes, she is almost friendly. Other times, not so much. She isn't so bad though." You suggest.

"If you say so." Keira shrugs.

The group's discussions go on to cover classes, favorite subjects, and the upcoming school league dueling speculations. All the while, passing around the bottle of dragon's nectar, causing everyone to laugh and grow light-headed from its effects.