"It will be a long time before a new champion is seen at this rate," Mira said with a chuckle as she passed Goldenscale on her way to Konoki. "So, now that it's spring, when are the newest batch of hatchlings going to enter training," she asked when she got to Konoki, "I was thinking of enroling my three little ones."

"I was thinking in a couple of weeks when it's warmer." he said.

As Goldenscale walked back, she put an undetectable spell on the heart necklace that kept anyone from seeing anything but a crystal molded in the shape of a heart.  She then entered Mayumi's house again.  "Sorry for that.  I had to fight another one of the gryphons." she said with an embarrassed laugh.

"OK, will they need any supplies," Mira asked, "Can't have them going unprepared."

"You should know better than to try hiding something like that with a spell. Escpecially since I was able to sense the crystal aerlier, and now it is hidden. What is it that you're trying to hide from me," Mayumi asked, "If I need to, I can have everyone leave for a minute so you can tell me."

"Everyone leave..." she said quietly.

Standing up, Tieral and Ahnah fallowed Ricken out, closing the door behind them.

"Now, what is it you're trying to hide," she asked, once the door fully closed, her voice calm, "What kind of secret would be so important as to hide the crystal containing it from your mother?"

She crossed her arms and looked down, staying silent, but she took off the spell on the necklace.  Her checks were tinged slightly with pink.  She couldn't say anything out loud for her mind was nothing but a jumbled mess.

After a few minutes of looking into the necklace, Mayumi lifted her head away from the piece. "I see, you're trying to protect Ahnah's feeling for you. You know Tieral might not take to kindly to finding out about her advance, and thus hid the emotional field of the crystal inside," she said, "Deep inside, you understand the concept of love, and you don't want to see it ruin the friendship of two very close friends. Would i be correct saying this?"

"I don't know..." she said quietly.  She couldn't think with the jumble of feelings and thoughts going through her head.  She closed her eyes.  "Yes..." she said, as quiet as a grasshopper.

"Even the most vile of beings deserve to be loved at some point. Love is a force that can both heal one's soul, or scar it beyond repair. With how things have been going for you lately, I would not blame you for being confused or overwhelmed," she said, looking over to two wooden figures she had up on a shelf, "Why don't you tell me what's going through your head? If anything, it will help you make more sense of everything."

By now Goldenscale had drawn several characters from a dead language on the ground.  She understood what each stood for, but the way she mput it made no sense.  "This is what my mind is like..." she said, pointing to all the symbols.  "I don't know where to start..."

"Can't say I know those symbols, but they must be linked. I'll have to ask you about them later," she said memorizing the characters, "Now, start wherever you feel it would do the most good.We can work this out like a puzzle. It doesn't matter where you start."

"I can't.  There is no point where it starts..." she said.  Now she was gently hitting her forehead on the ground to see if she could find a place to start.  Finally she came up with the best starting point.  "Life...I don't understand it's rules....There are so many things that seem right that life says you can't do..."

"Life is a hard thing to bind by rules. What rules there are, can be temporarily worked around with magic. The few rules that can't be changed or escaped are: every one dies, and a souls energy will never be lost, only redistributed. Necromancers, no matter how powerful, will eventually die. Either because someone took them down, or their soul  reached the limit it could stand being in one body," she said, "Beyond that, I am just as confused as you about life. Life makes itself up as a force mortal beings aren't supposed to understand completely."

"Explain the concept of love then..." she asked quietly.

"Any more questions?"