The night passes. The following day Alix awoke at around midday. She analyzes her surroundings and realized that she somehow made it to a hospital. She winced from last night's injuries.
"That was quite the scene you left last night." Alix turned to the entrance of her room where her mother was leaning against the doorframe.
"I'd say I was impressed if you weren't knocked out by the time I made it." Alix sighed. "So you were the one that brought me here." Sala nodded and entered the room. Alix could tell that something was on her mother's mind but didn't ask. 'She'll talk to me about it if she wants to.'
"Now, my captain wants me to ask you why you were at the outskirts of town last night." The woman stated robotically as she sat in a chair close to the bed. "But I want to know who you fought last night." Alix squinted inquisitively.
"Did they not leave any evidence?" Sala almost laughed in the girl's face. "Oh there was a ton of evidence! Broken crates. A tied up girl in the tavern. Hell, they even left one of their own behind." Alix tilted her head. "Then how is it that you don't know? They were talking like they were pretty well-known the whole time."
"So they were talking out of the side of their heads and you took that to mean that they were infamous. Haaah, I really need to get you out of this town." Sala looked at Alix with pity. Alix frowned.
"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't really have time to get their names. We started fighting almost right away. Besides, you found the merchant daughter so you should know why I was out there. Obviously, I went to try to help my fellow student, like anyone would-"
"You went there looking for a fight didn't you?" Sala flat tone completely stopped Alix. The girl slowly shifted her gaze away from her mother. "I would never go out looking for a fight." Alix spoke under her breath. The woman slowly nodded expecting this response.
"Never, huh? Then why did I find these hidden on several boxes." Sala tossed something in front of Alix. Her eyes widened when she noticed that they were the other spells that she had hidden around the field before the fight.
"Anyone could have put those there." Sala groaned in frustration. "Listen, kid. You're really starting to piss me off! Do you know what state you were in when I found you? Have you noticed how injured you are?"
Alix had neglected to actually check her own wounds but did notice that the bandaging on her was quite extreme. She also noticed a slight sting constantly radiating from her back. "Oh."
"Oh!? You're always so single-minded! You never think things through. You're so busy focusing on these theories and concepts that don't seem to understand the concept of common sense. Don't go out to fight kidnappers alone in the middle of the night!" Alix's eyes were downcast as her mother laid into her.
"Do you understand?" Alix nodded solemnly. "I understand. I did not mean to worry you I just-" Alix turned to her mother with a desperate expression. "I'm so close, mom! If you could understand all of the things that I've been working on recently and the strides that I've made in my research then you would understand-"
"How could I ever come to understand when you're dead?" Sala's sudden grim tone caused Alix to waver. "W-well I-"
"Exactly." Sala sighed. She looked around her daughter's room nostalgically. "I keep telling you that your father would have just wanted you to continue to enjoy magic like you used too. Why can't you do that?" Alix clenched her fist tightly.
"But that woman took the credit for his work. She was the reason that he was executed. Why wouldn't I want to pay her back for that? She started it so I'm just trying to finish it by trampling all of the work that she ever has done and will ever do!" Sala turned to Alix. She searched for something to say to the girl but couldn't quite form the words.
So Alix spoke instead...
"I'm going back to home." Sala's eye's widened at the girl's words. "You don't mean what I think you mean do you?" Alix nodded affirming her mother's thoughts. "How in the hell do you think that you're just gonna go back to Pesinwok? I'm banned from returning to the city and I doubt that you-"
"A teacher at my school sent in a recommendation for me to attend the royal academy. If I get accepted then I'll be able to get there and they have boarding so I will likely have a place to stay too." Sala's froze. She had never considered the idea that Alix could go back.
The royal family had only barred entry for Sala herself but the queen talked her husband out of banning Alix as well. Alix was also extremely passionate about magic and in the spellcasting world that was all that mattered. The woman sat with a vacant expression.
"Oh, I see." Sala knew that there was no stopping Alix from leaving. The girl was as stubborn as she used to be after all and she remembered several times when she made a decision that didn't necessarily put the people that cared about her in the best position. "Have fun then." Sala stood up. She started to exit the room stopping just before leaving.
"The captain still wants to question you over at the guardhouse." Sala did not turn while speaking. Alix tried to get some sort of emotional reading from her mother but could not even begin to comprehend the inner workings of the woman's mind.
"You should go. When you feel up to it that is." With that Sala left the room. Alix sat in silence. The conversation she just had with her mother replaying in her mind over and over again. She didn't know when it would stop.
'Now that was tense!" Mo's voice rang through the girl's head exasperated. 'Ya good Lexi? I've never seen you so...docile." Alix shifted her gaze to Mo. He was placed on a small table at the side of the bed. He noticed that she was clearly a bit upset about the situation. 'D-do you think I made some sort of mistake?"
'No! That woman was just trying to force ya to see the world her way is all. I don't think what ya have planned is an issue at all." Mo attempted to comfort the girl. Alix reached into the fishbowl, lifted Mo out and held him tightly to her chest. 'Lexi?"
'My main goal for all of this at the end of the day is revenge. I need to pay that sly vixen back, but what if I just don't make it? What if I just overestimated my abilities?" Alix placed Mo next to her on the pillow and stared at him despondently.
'What if I really am just Insolent Alix?" Mo stared worryingly at the girl. He flopped closer to her face and nuzzled her gently. 'You are not Insolent Alix. You're the most confident and proud girl that I know. And you shouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise. Like a pirate!" Mo emphasized causing Alix to giggle.
'A pirate, huh? Then I guess that would make you my first mate." Mo nodded. 'I would gladly accept the position captain!" Mo attempted to slap his fin to his forehead but couldn't reach and ended up slapping his side instead. Alix nodded. She considered Mo's words for a moment.
'I'll become the worlds best spellcaster so that I can experience all of the magic that this world has to offer. And get a bit of revenge on the way.' Alix smiled confidently.
'Oh, by the way, have you ever heard of the Djinns?" Alix turned to Mo with questioning eyes. "The Djinns? You mean that old story about the wish granters of the world?" Mo shrugged his fins.
"I don't know nothin' about that. I just know that its what those guys from last night called themselves before running into the darkness." Alix sat up and Mo leapt into her lap.
"I've never heard of any group called the Djinns? I just know a bit about the old myth about a group of wish granters that used to exist, but I doubt any of them have any sort of relation to that thousand year old fairytale." Mo nodded. 'I get it but you never know. Maybe they had more up their sleeves than they let on?"
"Are we talking about the same fools from last night? The ones that didn't even have names so I had to describe them by their cloaks or figure which made it very difficult to tell what was going on?" Mo considered for a second before nodding. "You're right, I doubt that they were anything like those spell casters. Then why were they so confident?" Alix sneered.
"Simply because they were fools that believed themselves great." Mo and Alix continued to mock the group as the day went on. Alix decided that she would go the guardhouse tomorrow seeing as she still needed to recover a bit more.
Meanwhile, at the guardhouse in question the workers were in disarray. They were frantically running around the workplace with papers flying everywhere. "How the hell did we lose him?!"
"Did anyone get a sketch of his face before he went missing?!"
"He? I thought it was a woman?!" The guards were completely disorganized. And the reason was something simple and yet something big at the same time. The person that the captain had brought in for questioning last night. One of the supposed culprits behind the kidnapping of Stella Epedia had gone missing.
No.
The person had escaped in broad daylight and no one knew how they did it or where they could have gone. It was like they simply turned to mist and scattered away.
Like a...ghost.