[SpringsSong]

"Ra'car!  It's so beautiful here... you never TOLD me you knew of such a beautiful seaside resort!  And you... you have this room reserved for us for HOW long?!" A human-form Jewel Sygriff exclaimed as she walked into a lavishly decorated hotel room, followed by a human-form Plush Rexxel, a human-form Cobalt Draculi, and lastly, a human-form Organic Sygriff.  The latter walked up to the Jewel Sygriff and smiled.

"I wanted it to be a surprise for you, Armina dearest.  I couldn't have you knowing EVERYthing I had planned for the ENTIRE summer, now, could I?" he said, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek.  At this point, the Cobalt Draculi spoke up.

"Please don't get all affectionate and mushy now, guys... please.  After all, you guys invited L'irksel and I to come along on this little trip as well." She said, while the Plush Rexxel--L'irksel--said, "Oh, come on, Lor'isa.  I'm sure you've felt this way for someone at some point.  You can't tell me that you've never felt like that for someone."

Armina laughed as she turned to L'irksel as she said, "L'irksel, hon, I've known Lor'isa longer than any of you guys.  Trust me.  She's never had any romantic interests that I am aware of.  And I've known her for five years." Lor'isa nodded as she said, "Your Rose-Angel, as Ra'car calls you, is correct.  I find no point in these kinds of relationships..."

"No offense, Lor'isa," Ra'car said as he wrapped his arms around Armina's waist.  "No wonder people call you anti-social."

[1.1][1.1][1.1][1.1]

[SpringsSong]

"No offense taken, Ra'car.  After all, you are right in all aspects save for one: it's shy, not antisocial." Lor'isa said, shaking her head and chuckling slightly.  Armina laughed as well as she said, "Indeed--that's what I have to tell everyone."

Ra'car shook his head as he said, "My darling Rose-Angel, you've changed so much over your past three lives... you used to be as fiery as the one that guards us, the Blaze Fenling." L'irksel tilted her head as she said, "I don't understand this Rose-Angel talk one bit, Armina... what's he talking about?"

"A very long and complicated story that even I do not understand, L'irksel." Lor'isa said.  "It would be best if one of them told it."

"Indeed--but even I cannot explain all its technicalities, because I have lost most of my memories of that time since then--after all, this is my third rebirth." Armina said, chuckling slightly.

[1.2 x4]

[SpringsSong]

Ra'car laughed as he said, "For someone who memorizes all of their music, your memory isn't too stellar when it comes to your past life, my dearest." Armina laughed as she said, "Oh, cut me a little slack, Ra'car~ you do realize that in all technicalities, we should be over 300 years old?"

"Three... hundred?!  Seriously?!" L'irksel said in amazement, while Lor'isa just rolled her eyes as she set down her suitcase and settled onto one of the chairs in the room, yawning and closing her eyes slightly.  Armina walked over to one of the beds and sat down there and invited Ra'car and L'irksel to sit down; "I think it's time for a little story-telling, don't you, Ra'car?" she asked.

"A little?  Armina, dearest, we have one whole lifetime of yours to recount." Ra'car said.  L'irkself coughed slightly as she said, "Um... why don't you just start at the place where you two met for the first time?  Isn't that when you said your powers fully awakened, Armina?"

"That's actually what I was planning to do, in all honesty..."

[1.3 x4]

[SpringsSong]

"You might want to get comfortable, L'irksel." Lor'isa said from her chair, her eyes still closed.  L'irksel looked back at the Cobalt Draculi and said, "You talk as though you've heard this story before."

"Once or twice, yes; you forget, L'irksel, I've known Armina for five years, and Ra'car's father is my jazz director.  I see these two often enough to have heard the story." Lor'isa said, yawning slightly as Armina said, "Well, then, how about helping Ra'car and I out by being quiet and not ruining the story for L'irksel?"

"Oh, come on now, Armina; no need to be so harsh with her." Ra'car said.  "After all, I seem to find a certain memory or two being tickled back within my memory.  Those lovely little black flowers and those leaves?"

"I'm no Plant-Angel from another life, Ra'car; I just wear these as decoration." Lor'isa said in an annoyed tone.  "Just tell the story so we can get to dinner."

[1.4 x4]

[SpringsSong]

"Must you be such a stick in the mud, Lor'isa?" Armina said as she laughed; here, Ra'car cleared his throat and said, "It all started back one day in another world, apart from this one.  I remember not what it is called now, or if it even still exists.  I was... about eight years old when I met Armina, and she was ten.  When I met her, I asked her if she knew where the Rose-Angel was.  She surprised me by answering..."

"...'You... you're the Gardener?', I asked him.  He gave me the most awkward look I've ever seen one person give another..." Armina said; however, a firm glare from Ra'car caused her to silence herself.

"Allow me to summarize, since I'm getting hungry.  Ra'car took Armina's Life-Rose with him back to the city he lived in, while Armina remained where she was.  Six long years passed before they would meet again, and they went to this Rose Ball together.  It was being held in Armina's honor.  However, when they started dancing, Armina got sucked into a different realm, but Ra'car went with her.  They ended up in Roraldi, and then... well, a Battleheart and two Felloxes destroyed her first Life-Rose." Lor'isa said, standing up.  "Now, can we please go get some food...?"

L'irksel, however, laughed as she said, "So much for hearing the full story now.  Maybe another time?" she asked, and Armina--although she was glaring at Lor'isa fervently with a look that "could kill even a Ssendrek with one look, believe me," as Ra'car said--nodded.

[2.0 x4]

[SpringsSong]

The four spent but a mere five or six minutes more in their hotel room before they left to go to a restaurant not all that far from the hotel.  Ra'car and Armina walked a few steps ahead of Lor'isa and L'irksel; Ra'car kept looking around as though he suspected someone to leap out from nowhere and attack them.  Armina gave a slight chuckle as she said, "Oh, come on, Ra'car.  They're not gonna leap out of nowhere and attack us right here, especially not with Lor'is and L'irksel here as well."

"Are you sure of that?" Ra'car asked, and Armina's head lowered as she said, "We can never be sure; you can never be too protective of me, can you?"

"Who are they talking about, Lor'isa?" L'irksel asked, and Lor'isa said, "They're talking about the people that they call 'the Destroyers'--others that can use the Fire and Ice elements, as Armina is an Earth elemental."

"We'll explain it later." Ra'car said to L'irksel, but to Armina, he said, "I have the strangest feeling that they will attack... soon."

[2.1 x4]

[SpringsSong]

"Okay, NOW you're worrying too much, Ra'car.  N'car'en spends his summers in the Fe'gan Mountains, and Naraka always goes to Craiss.  And A'enya'ri, I believe, goes to... I think I heard her mention Lamenolai, so I don't think they'd attack." Armina said.  "Why would they have reason to bother us over the summer?"

"That may be, Armina dearest, but I don't want to lose you a fourth time." Ra'car said.  "Three times before, I've lost you.  I won't lose your again."

"Those two are in love, if I ever knew the meaning of the word." L'irksel said, chuckling slightly, while Lor'isa shook her head.  "Armina... you realize you two are acting just about as bad as those two from the Lamenolai trip?"

[2.2 x4]

[SpringsSong]

"Lor'isa... no.  Just... no.  Not nearly as bad.  Gosh, they were a lot worse than Ra'car and I are.  Ra'car and I have more of a reason to act like this because we've been apart for two lifetimes." Armina said, laughing as Ra'car gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.  "Who is she referring to, anyhow?  Those two flute players?"

Armina laughed as she  said, "Yes, she's talking about those two flute players." Here, Ra'car opened the door of the restaurant and Lor'isa and L'irksel walked in.  Armina waited until they were in and walked in with Ra'car.

"Which two flute players?" L'irksel asked; "One that can play every isntrument under the sun, and one that could be your senior in a couple of years, L'irksel.  And, actually, Armina is right.  I cannot compare them, in all technicalities."

[2.3 x4]

[SpringsSong]

Ra'car laughed as he said, "You really can make no comparisons.  Unless they both have other lives that we are unaware of." Here, he pulled back a chair for Armina, allowing her to sit down, while Lor'isa and L'irksel insisted on handling their own chairs.  Armina chuckled as she said, "I think we're making the other half of the duet a little jealous or something."

"Heck.  No." Lor'isa said, shaking her head and shuddering, while L'irksel said, "I'm not so sure 'jealous' is the right word so much as... curious from my standpoint and annoyed from hers."

"That sounds a little more accurate." Ra'car said, still looking around warily.  "Before you ask, no; I still do not trust that they won't take this as an opportunity to strike.  After all, it would be rather perfect.  We're completely unsuspecting of an attack; at least, you are."

[2.4 x4]

[SpringsSong]

Armina rolled her eyes as she said, "Ra'car, love, I've known Naraka and N'car'en for four years, and A'enya'ri wouldn't shut up about going to Lamenolai." Ra'car shook his head as he said, "I still don't trust A'enya'ri, and I don't see how you could still trust Naraka and N'car'en with what they are."

"Maybe because they were once really close to me, and they will always hold a part of me until the day that they are destroyed?" Armina replied, chuckling slightly while Lor'isa suddenly turned her head in interest.  "Ah, so you liked guys you weren't supposed to like, is that right, Armina?" she asked.

"Back when I liked Naraka and N'car'en, Lor'isa, I wasn't the Rose-Angel--at least, I had no recollection of it." Armina said simply, while L'irksel said, "Naraka?  As in, the one dude oboe player now?"

"Regrettably."

[3.0 x4]

[SpringsSong]

Armina lowered her head as she said, "You know how I told you about how I dated Naraka for a time, L'irksel?  Well, there was a reason that he and I did not work out after all." Ra'car placed a hand on Armina's shoulder as he said, "It would not have worked out with you two anyways, Armina.  He would have destroyed you."

"That's actually kind of funny.  I never felt that Armina was safe around Naraka... turns out I was right eh?" Lor'isa asked, to which Ra'car said, "Oh?  How so?"

"I always felt a fire--but it was a fire of ice--burning within him that threatened to freeze Armina if she let it.  So, when he left her, I was relieved... but then she had to turn to N'car'en." Lor'isa said.  L'irksel tilted her head as she said, "I think you're making it harder and near impossible for Ra'car and Armina to not believe that you are a Plant-Angel of some sort, Lor'isa."

[3.1 x4]

[SpringsSong]

"L'irksel is right, Lor'isa.  Anyone could tell that N'car'en was an Ice elemental, simply because he was a Glacial pet, but only the people closest to Naraka--or those who were Earth elementals--could tell that he was an Ice elemental." Armina said, turning a careful eye to Lor'isa, who grumbled as she said, "I'll admit I have some Earth powers..."

"But you still deny that you are a Plant-Angel, don't you?" Ra'car asked, and L'irksel laughed as she pulled a delicate purple flower from Lor'isa's hands as she said, "I know you didn't pick this, Lor'isa; you've had it ever since we left for the train station back in Aldrect."

[3.2 x4]

[SpringsSong]

Lor'isa gave a low growl as she said, "I said I have some Earth powers.  I never said that I was a Plant-Angel." However, Armina and Ra'car looked at each other and gave slight chuckles as Armina said, "And avoiding Naraka and N'car'en and any other Fire or Ice elemental is just because you're an Earth elemental?  I know a couple of Earth elementals whose closest friends are Fire and Ice elementals."

"And I've seen you revive those little purple flowers on the spot--but your crowning glory is the Autumn Leaves, isn't it?" Ra'car asked.  Lor'isa almost instantly froze up as Ra'car said this.  "I've seen how you always watch the trees in the autumn... Leaf-Angel."

"So she IS a Plant-Angel--I KNOW I'm not, but... wow, that is just cool!" L'irksel said, smiling broadly.  Armina gave a slight chuckle as she said, "That would explain why I've never seen a Gardener for you--trees need no Gardeners."

[3.3 x4]

[SpringsSong]

"Okay, fine; you caught me this time and this time only, got it?  And you are right, Armina; trees need no Gardener, unlike flowers.  They gave me a choice: Dusk-Flowers or Autumn Leaves; since I was not interested in having a Gardener watch my every step, I chose Autumn Leaves.  Obviously." Lor'isa said, and Ra'car whispered to Armina, barely audible, "I don't think any Gardener would have volunteered for her, with the way she acts sometimes."

"You'd be right, there--seeing as the Gardener is always the opposite gender of the Angel they are protecting." Armina said.  Soon, however, their food came, and L'irksel said to them, "Okay, can we just eat now?  I want to get back to the resort while there's still a sunset to be seen."

[3.4 x4]

[SpringsSong]

Armina and Ra'car both nodded in response to this, whereas Lor'isa grumbled again; something to the affect of, "Yeah, yeah; let's hurry so that I can gag over how positively romantic those two across from me are gonna turn." The Jewel and Organic Sygriffs paid no attention to this; however, L'irksel said, "Like they said, they're over 300 years old.  They're allowed."

"Not while I'm in the same room, they're not." Lor'isa said, to which Ra'car said, "Oh, you needn't worry about that, Lor'isa--Armina and I will be out on the balcony, watching the sunset.  You don't have to be on the balcony."

"Something tells me she'd end up pulling out a notepad and transcribing yet another jazz tune, so we wouldn't have to worry about her being on the balcony anyways." Armina said as she finished her food.  "Well, I think I'm good for now.  Let's get back to the resort, shall we?" she asked.

[4.0 x4]