19

Kaz hears a familiar voice calling his name, his vision is completely dark. Did the spell he screwed up knock him out? As his thoughts raced, he felt something shaking him back and forth and shouting. Slowly, Kaz opens his eyes and sees a figure above him. He sees a pair of familiar deep blue eyes on an unfamiliar human face. Kaz snaps awake and scoots backwards, the voice becoming clearer with every passing second as he fully regains his senses. "Kaz! Kaz! Are you alright? It's me, it's Saphana! What in the heavens did you do to me?" She demands answers. But something else was grabbing Kaz's attention, Saphana wasn't her usual self. What he was seeing was a more humanoid shape. Kaz eyes her without uttering a word. He sees wings, a long slender tail, long clawed feet and hands, silky light blue hair down to her waist. Upon seeing this, Kaz falls over backwards like a stiff board and passes out once again, Saphana struggles greatly to carry him inside walking on two legs, she was used to having four. Lucia sees the unfamiliar figure dragging Kaz inside, she raises a hand to question her however she realizes by her scent that she is indeed Saphana. Lucia drops her ladle into the pot of food cooking and helps Saphana carry Kaz to his bedroom, "You'll explain this later!" Lucia grunts as she assists Saphana in hefting Kaz onto his bed.

Lucia pulls two chairs out of the kitchen and drags them up to Kaz's room. Tasi had already come to see what the excitement was about, she was questioning Saphana as Lucia returned. "That's all that happened I swear! Kaz got splashed and messed up the incantation, and it must have ended up being a transformation spell he cast by accident. It must've drained him of his energy, spells like that are extremely hard on the caster! There's no way he's ready for that kind of magic." Saphana explains to Tasi, who is by the bedside holding Kaz's hand. "So this wouldn't have happened if you didn't whip water at him? Get out of here, we have to help Kaz recover and you'll just make it harder!" Tasi shouts.

Saphana hung her head and walked out, "Put some clothes on too, you hypocrite!" She adds angrily as the door is closed. Roarke returns from his errands, he waltzes upstairs and hears both Tasi and Lucia bickering behind the door to Kaz's bedroom, "What is it this time?" He sighs to himself as he knocks on his door. The door creaks open and Roarke's feet are wrapped in Tasi's tail and he is dragged over to Kaz's side in a matter of seconds. "Kaz passed out because he cast a spell too advanced for his skill. What should we do, any ideas Roarke?" Lucia asks him in a worried voice. Roarke gets up and looks at Kaz, "That's it? He'll be fine. He just needs to sleep it off, he'll be up and running in a day or two." He reassures the two ladies as he walks back to the kitchen. "Lucia, you realize your food is still cooking right?" He asks with a grin. Lucia bolts upright and rushes down to the main hall, "Oh no, please don't be burnt!" She shrieks maniacally on her way downstairs waving her arms in the air.

Life in the manor continued as usual, the three ladies all took turns watching over Kaz in his room. Tasi had gotten a stiff talking-to from Lucia about how she told off Saphana and ended up apologizing to her. While Lucia may appear shy most of the time, she will scold you like a serious mother if you do something out of line. Roarke decided the situation was well enough under control, so he was going to go back to Vance and give his report to Commander Hargeon in person and pick up some food and a few furnishings the manor was lacking. He took a horse and hooked up the small cart they had received from Salamat and was off. He told the girls he'd be back in two days or so.

The ladies were still taking their turns watching Kaz, Saphana had just traded spots with Tasi for the night. Saphana sat down at the foot of his bed and held his hand, "Maybe Tasi was right, maybe it was my fault this happened." She wept to herself. Saphana felt the lifeless hand she was holding suddenly grip hers and tighten its hold. She notices Kaz's head was shaking side to side as if he was disagreeing with her. She gasps, "You heard what I said?" She whispers as she leans closer to him. He nods his head ever so slightly and squeezes her scaly hand once more, "Please don't open your eyes Kaz. I don't want you to see me like this." She pleads with tears in her eyes. Saphana felt a gentle touch on her face, Kaz's other arm had risen to wipe her tears. Saphana smiles and slowly leans down his face and gives Kaz a gentle kiss on the lips, "This time the kiss isn't an accident." She laughs happily as she remembers the day they met.