A high pitched noise filled Anastasia's ears. She was not quite sure how to describe it, besides beautiful. She blinked a few extra times as she walked over to the window. *Alexei!*

The vampire hunter was playing an unusual instrument, Ana assumed it was the violin he had spoke of earlier, outside of her open window. Alexei stopped as soon as he heard his name, and gave his bondmate a little bow. "Did you enjoy the performance Ana?"

She giggled. *Yes! It was great!*

He smiled, "Well, that's what happens when you practice."

The dragon blinked. *Really? You think I can be as good at magic as you are with your music?*

Alexei nodded, "Of course, and there is always room for improvement."

She understood why her bondmate was doing for her, and she appreciated it. She just had no way to express how much it meant to her. The man smiled and tipped his imaginary hat, "My lady, you should be off to your lessons."

*Ack! I'm going to be late!* With that the dragon leapt out of the window and sprinted down the snowy street.

***

"Close your eyes, and take deep breathes, once you've diverted the flow you have to urge the magic into the object. You can never force magic." Ryuuri sat on her usual window ledge, with Seiei sitting below her.

Once she had mastered this basic skill she would be able to train with Pictor, Ziven or Hosanna. That was inspiration enough to try her hardest. She inhaled, and felt the flow of magic rush by her like a raging river. Even if she was exhausted, she still held the hope of creating the object. That hope was the only thing preventing her from falling over and giving up.

She had managed several times before to divert this raging tempest, but when she put the magic into the cross it either seeped out or bounced off. 

Carefully she willed the magic into the cross. Ana felt it ooze into the corners bit by bit. If she pushed it just a little further....

She leapt back suddenly as the magic left the cross with an irate hissing an gurgling. Crap! What had she done wrong?

"If I've told you a thousand times, I've told you once, Don't force the magic!" The little griffin hissed from her perch.

*Well how exactly am I supposed to put it into the cross!*

"With a gentle hand."

Well what was THAT supposed to mean exactly? She could not touch the magic physically, only mentally, and being gentle with it did not work each and every time she had attempted to use that method. 

She could not ask the magic to stay for her, she had to force it to stay in place! Being gentle was hardly useful in a situation like this. How could she treat magic as if it were a person?

Frustrated, Anastasia tried again, and she once again failed. This time the magic slowly gurgled out as if the cross had received a scratch.

Seiei sighed, "Miss Ana, do calm down and follow Ryuuri's advice!"

She wanted to burst into tears again, but she held back. She felt stupid and degraded when she failed repeatedly. It had been three weeks since she had manage to find and touch the magic for the first time. Now she was struggling with keeping it in an object. Why was this magic so difficult?

Before she had realized that magic works with a balance, and has two sides. One of darkness and the other of light. Maybe this was the same, taking the magic from a different plain and locking it into a magical object.

Still she was only trying to make a catalyst. That way if she "lost control" of the magic there would be almost no damage to the surrounding area... or her for that matter. It was a scary thought, loosing control of something so dangerous, every time she failed to tame the magic she was reminded.

This time, when she closed her eyes, she diverted the flow with the greatest of care. Like a leaky faucet she slowly cut connection between the large flow and the little flow. For a few moments there was complete silence as the little black cross glowed. She had done it!

No wait, something was wrong. 

Her eyes widened as there was a loud crack that shook the floor boards. It took a few moments for her to realize what had happened. The magic had backfired, and it shattered her cross.

Tears slowly slid down Anastasia's face. She had lost Alexei's gift!

***

He smiled. That was an odd thing to do when the person closet to you lost a precious gift. 

"It's all right Ana, the cross can be fixed."

*No it can't! It's in tiny pieces because of my inability to control magic!* She sniffed.

He laughed. That was also a terribly silly thing to do. "Look on the bright side of things Ana," Alexei said as he fitted the broken pieces of the cross together.

*How is there a bright side?*

"Well, the magic could have hurt you and then I would have been very upset. Anastasia, I doubt I could live without you and seeing you hurt would kill me." He gave her a pat on the head. "I really do mean that."

She blinked. Her bondmate had surprised her more than once already, this was just another thing to add to the list. *Alexei, may I ask you a question?*

He nodded.

*How is it... you know so much? I know you're very young by human standards, and even by dragon standards,* She blushed a bit as she spoke.

Alexei had to wonder that himself. It may have had something to do with his experiences with vampires, his short lived youth, and all of the horrible things he had faced and never spoken to anyone. He sighed, "I suppose I just know from experience, which is what you need to get." With a smile he called in Ziven.

The sphinx took one look at the shattered cross and snorted. "What a simple thing to fix!" With a wave of her paw the cross had reassembled itself.  

*But it's missing a piece!* The purple shrape whined as she picked up the necklace using one of her claws.

"I'm afraid that can't be fixed. You must have lost it when it shattered," the sphinx shrugged.

Ana sighed. Why was life so unfair?

***

Perfect balance. Total chaos. Did any of it matter in the world of magic? Ana thought not. Balance was really a well placed illusion, and chaos was just a way of comprehending the forces of nothing. The world of magic did not care if it were contained in a vessel filled with chaos or a vessel filled with order. It did not matter to magic if a novice wielded it or an experienced mage. Being careful did not concern magic either.

This is what Ana realized as she watched the magic seep out of her cross once again.

"Ana, it's time to stop for today." The little griffin said as she slipped the window next to her open.

*One more time. I can do it.*

"No. One more time is not going to change what you've done wrong the last five hundred times. You won't get this magic, and I suggest you just give up and try learning something else." Ryuuri said rather bluntly. She was always this way when she did not have Seiei to scold her. The magical genius had no real taste.

*I don't care what you think of me. I haven't asked for much, so I just need you to stay here for a few minutes longer.* Anastasia was pleading, she sounded somewhere between panicked and hopeless. 

"Fine. I'll stay." She flopped down on the window ledge and glared.

Ana cleared her head and diverted the flow of magic. Magic was both something to be feared and cherished. It had a good side and a bad side. It did not matter who was wielding the magic, they could not control it, they could only bend it.

She gave the magic the image of the cross in her head, and laid that on top of the the actual cross. If she could think it, it could happen. All of the forces coming together to make the image of the small object that she cherished so greatly. Gently she meshed the two images together, and slowly her eyes flickered open.

The cross appeared normal. Had she failed once again? Had she let herself down?

It was almost too much to handle when she touched the cross.

She felt magic powers, of many kinds jammed into the cross. If this worked as a catalyst, well that was another story. At least she was past the first step. The second step, however, would be the most difficult.

Testing magical things was always dangerous.

***

"So. You mean to tell me we need to find Fire and Ice to prevent the world from imploding?" A man of interesting caliber was speaking to someone in the shadows. The speaker had light blue hair, bright green eyes and a gray priest like outfit. A moonstone terran bishen stood besides him.

The person in the shadows nodded. 

Another man, this one had brow hair, blue-purple eyes a set of cat ears and a fluffy tail, stood not to far away. Besides him was a mountain haze marine-terran hybrid bishen. "How do you expect us to find the elements when we have no resources?"

"Because you are elements as well." With that said the figure disappeared into the shadows it had come from leaving the dragons and priests to contemplate.

Of course the boys had awful luck.