Part 7

The off-road took Kyrin, Calis, Taran, and Xolis back to Burma where they met Argog and Lua. On the way, Kyrin, Taran and Xolis tried to explain everything to Calis. By the end of the trip, she had a pretty good idea about what was going on.

When they reached Burma, they headed to Lua's apartment building and then up to their room. Everybody talked for a bit while Xolis told Lua everything that had happened. Soon, Lua called everybody together. "Attention, attention please." Everybody sat down and listened to her. "OK, now that we've found the three altars, we've got to interpret what they mean. I'll first place their locations on a map." She turned to a large map of Aceous and then pushed three pins into the board, marking the locations of the altar. "We also now posses the Triad Koras of each of the elements. I think we have the Kora of water, sky, and earth. Am I missing anything?"

Xolis stood up. "Yeah, all three of us hold a Kora within, but only Ta'Kor can use it's power and we also hold another Kora within each of us. Those are our own, unique Koras that everyone is born with."

"I see." commented Lua. "We don't really know much yet, I think it will take me till the morning to figure this out. Until then, please feel free to wander around the house or go out into the city."

Everybody got up and headed his or her own direction. Argog headed into one of the bedrooms, he still didn't want to cause a commotion. Kyrin also went into one of the bedrooms, probably to sort out her thoughts. Lua went into an office and began studying the information she had so far. Calis headed into town and Taran and Xolis went with her, they didn't really have anything better to do.

The three of them walked around town until they found a nice cafe where they sat down to have a bite to eat. Calis told them stories about some of her adventures. Xolis then told them about everything he had learned in the Academy. He talked about the master Koras of ice, storm, wave, fire, gem, rock, wind, lightning, and cloud. He had obviously been there a while before Taran came. Throughout this whole thing Taran didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Taran..." said Xolis.

"Hey Taran?" said Calis. "Are you listening?

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking."

"About what!?" she asked.

"Well..."

"He was probably thinking about Kyrin," said Xolis.

"Hey, how'd you know!?"

"I could tell by the way you kept looking at her whenever you're together."

"Yeah, well..."

"You should ask her out or something." he suggested.

"Really?"

"You better. Cause if you don't, I will." he responded.

"OK, I think I will. But, where should I take her?"

"I know this great place on the other side of town," said Xolis.

"I'll take her there then."

"Good."

"Hey, what about me?" demanded Calis. "Aren't I beautiful too?"

"I think..." started Xolis. "I think this is something that goes beyond outside appearance."

"OK, I can take a hint. I'm leaving." she headed off back towards Lua's house

"Let her go," said Xolis. "She doesn't really matter, but we should head back soon too." They walked around town for a while more before they went back to the house.

Later that night, Calis and Xolis went out to a movie, but Xolis made it very clear that this was not a date or something. After preparing for his date, Taran nervously approached the door to Kyrin's temporary room and stopped. After gathering up some courage, he knocked on the door. Kyrin opened it. "Yes?"

"I was just wondering, if you would, if you would care to join me for dinner or something."

"I'd love to! I was wondering when you were going to ask."

"You mean, you knew?"

"Of course. It wasn't hard to figure out, you kept staring at me ever since we met."

"Oh, sorry."

"That's OK. I think you're cute too."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Now, where are we going?"

"Oh, Xolis showed me a place on the other side of town."

"That was nice of him."

"Yeah, let's go." The two of them headed down the stairs and out of the building. It was getting dark outside. Taran called for a cab that took them to the other side of town, to the restaurant that Xolis had shown him. They got out and headed inside. It was a very fancy restaurant, with candlelight and musicians playing their soft instruments. Since Taran hadn't bothered to come in and get reservations, he had to pay the seater to get a place. Kyrin giggled, but at least she was here.

A waiter came and gave them menus. He took their order and then left. Taran stared at Kyrin across the table. "So..." she sighed, breaking the silence. "What do you think is going to happen with all this."

"Well, I was hoping we would at least go out..."

"No." she smiled and lightly laughed.

"I mean, with the Syth, and the Ta'Kor. And yes, I would like to do this again too."

"You would?" he asked, too excitedly. "Oh, right, the Ta'Kor. Well, I guess it's all up to Lua now, to decipher what the altars mean, and what the Syth want with them."

"I'm sort of hoping that this will all be over soon, so that I can get back to my studies with the Ta'Kor. Magic was a wonderful gift, like a birthright."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I was delighted the first time I levitated something."

Conversation continued for a while. It seemed to be going well, and it was. Some waiters came with the food. There was a salad, some bread, and other things that Taran had hoped that Kyrin would like. They quietly ate their meal and continued their conversation. Taran was on his best manners, he was trying hard to impress Kyrin. After the meal, they talked for a while more before they got up and headed out. Taran picked up the bill and silently hoped that he would be able to borrow money from someone because as soon as he paid it, he was broke.

Outside, they started to walk back to Lua's house, not as much that Taran couldn't afford a cab as that he wanted this night to last as long as possible. They slowly walked under the stars, his hand in hers. Kyrin gazed up at the night sky, scattered with stars. "What are you looking at?" Taran slowly asked.

"The stars, the cosmos, the heavens. I was just wondering, where my father was."

"I, I'm sorry, I know he meant a lot to you."

"That's all right, it's not your fault."

"I promise, as soon as this is over with, I'll find whoever did this to him."

"Oh, Taran, thank you, for everything. I had a great time tonight."

"Yeah, me too." He glanced around; they had reached Lua's house. They slowly came closer, and closer, their lips were going to meet, when Kyrin placed two fingers over his lips. "Next time..." she whispered. She slowly turned and headed into the building. Taran waited there, stunned. When she was gone, he backed up, leaned against a wall, and sighed. He wished, he wished he knew what she was thinking, but this had still been one of the best nights of his life.

"Taran!" Kyrin had come back.

Snapping back into reality, Taran straightened up. "What is it?"

"It's Lua's house... Come quick." She ran back into the building and Taran followed. They rushed up the stairs until they reached the correct floor. He could see that the door had been shattered. The room was a total wreck. The furniture was tossed and torn all over the room. Some of the walls had broken arrows stuck in them. All of the windows had several holes and one was shattered. The walls looked burned and scarred. Argog was lying on the floor, bleeding, and Calis hovered over him. Lua's father was also on the floor, but didn't appear to be injured too badly.

"What happened!?" asked Taran.

"It was Xolis." explained Calis. Kyrin went over to help take care of Argog and Calis continued. "In the middle of the movie, he said he got sick or something. He left for here, but I stayed to finish the movie. When I got back, he had Lua over his shoulder, and was fighting Argog. I didn't know what was happening. I joined in the battle, helping Argog. Xolis cast a spell of some kind, knocked Argog and me down, and then he jumped out that window. That was about twenty minutes ago. Argog seemed to have gotten the worst of it. Lua's dad was already down when I came in. He's unconscious, but he'll be fine."

"Xolis." muttered Taran. "I can't believe it was him. I trusted him!"

"Yeah, we all did." said Kyrin.

"Did he mention where he was going, or why he did it?" asked Taran.

"I'm not really sure, I just started attacking."

"He said..." Argog moaned. "He said he was working... for the Syth. Something about... about Ikora Island... in Aceous bay. Something about... about the Ta'Kor City."

"That's enough," said Kyrin. "You can tell us as soon as you get better."

Taran was standing by where the window used to be, staring out at the city and at the bay. "Xolis... I swear I'll get you for this." He turned to face the others. "As soon as Argog is well, we're going after him."