A Birth day

Aria heard Anise and chuckled as she moved beside her then copied her bowing to Angus then stepping back beside Anise. Holding her wand at her side she heard Robert then heard Angus cast Avis towards her. She quickly cast Protego sending it back towards him. With her mind quickly thinking she smirked as she then casting "Crinus Muto" hoping to change his hair to purple for the day.

Ruby turned to watch she heard two bells and felt Minos and Ili flutter to sit on her shoulder also watching " he's teaching our girls defensive spells" she said softly to them as she watched.

Angus didn't care about the purple hair. It made him laugh.

"Expelliarmus!" Robert fired at Anise, knocking her wand from her hand. That rattled her. She hadn't been prepared for that. Angus saw it happen, and he was hoping she would remember what he had taught her. He had worked hard to teach the girls that the magic was inside them. The wand only amplified the magic that already lay within them. He didn't want them to be completely thrown if their wand was knocked away from them.

"Incarcerous!" Anise fired wandless magic at Robert. The spell fired from her fingertips and hit Robert because he had allowed it to happen, but the bonds did not tighten when they went around him and he easily shook them off.

"Bewitched Snowballs!" Angus fired the snowballs spell at Aria causing numerous snowballs to be pelted at her.

Aria had seen Anise be disarmed by Robert but wasn't expecting snowballs , they hit her squarely and some ran down into her top " wow that's cold , that's cold!" she said shaking her top to rid it of the melting snow. She didn't even have time to put up a barrier but instead she aimed and cast "Levicorpus" towards Angus full expecting him to deflect it but on the other hand hoping he would end up upsides down by his ankles for his hit with the snowballs.

Ruby laughed when Aria got hit with snowballs from Angus who now sported purple hair. " she doesn't like the cold, she came from new Orleans where its warm." she explained to Minos and Ili who were watching them duel.

A bit rattled, Anise wanted to throw a spell quickly, but she buggared her spell. Meaning to simply cast some blue sparks in Angus's direction, what she ended up casting in error was fierce blue flames instead. It set Angus's clothes and his hair on fire. And it hurt. It hurt like hell.

"Finite!" Robert roared, firing in Angus's directions to stop the spell. He raised his hands. "Done! We're done. Hold your fire." He hurried to Angus, and fired an aguamenti to help put out the rest of the flames. Anise was panic stricken.

"I've killed him. I killed him! I can't do this.." She dropped her wand and dashed into the woods.

"I'm fine," Angus said, out of breath, as Robert worked to put out the flames.

"Hold still. I've almost got it. Marcus, find her!" Robert shouted. He needn't have shouted though, because Marcus was already running through the woods to try to catch up with her.

Aria saw the blue flames headed towards Angus and was about to cast Aguamenti but also saw that Robert was on it when she heard Anise she turned and saw her take off into the woods , transphigering into her dove form she followed her in the air seeing Marcus not far behind her, she dropped acorns to tell him which way she was going.

Ruby stood up with the fae on her shoulder " would you mind" she asked as they both flew off her shoulder allowing her to quickly run over to Angus " you okay?" she asked knowing Anise didn't mean to fire blue flames at him. She accioed a wet cloth and held it to Robert but Jess came running out the door to stand with Robert. Her hands went to Angus head and held it drawing off some of the pain to allow Robert to full asses him.

"Hold still we have you." she said softly to him sending a calmness to him. -

Angus, strangely, wasn't panicked at all. His only thoughts were for Anise. He knew she was panicked and had jumped to conclusions--a very normal rookie mistake. He had fully intended to head into the woods himself to try to find her, but Robert had stepped in not only to put out the flames but then he went quickly to assess him.

"Thanks, Ru," Angus said. "I'm fine. Really. I need to find Anise..."

"Hold still," Robert told him, assessing, working. "Let me see."

Robert found some burns on Angus' neck and down across his shoulder and up his bottom jaw and back up towards the skin behind his ear. He was noticing some burned clothing on Angus's arm and on his midsection.

"First and second degree burns on his neck, shoulder, jawline..." he told Jess. He opened Angus's shirt and slid it off, dropping it on the ground. "First and second degree burns in a bit of a splatter pattern on the left elbow. Not a cleanly cast spell, so it has a bit of a splatter pattern to the burn marks. More burns in a splatter pattern on the midsection at the bottom of the ribcage down towards the waistline. Denim, being a heavier fabric, seems to have protected the skin from the waistline on down. I'm not seeing any third degree burns, nothing really serious, not yet anyway."

"Stop," Angus sighed. "It's nothing. I need to find my daughter. She's panicking over nothing..."

"Angus," Robert said. "Marcus and Aria are on it. They'll find her..."

"She needs me. She needs to see me to see I'm okay..."

"Let me work. I'm not finished. Now, listen. You know Marcus's job is to keep people safe. If I had to handpick anyone to find her quickly and keep her safe, it would be him. We're going to let him do his job while Jess and I do ours. I'm not seeing anything serious but that doesn't mean we don't need to treat it."

Marcus wasn't sure how long this child was going to keep running, but however long it lasted, Marcus was right behind her. And then it dawned on Marcus. Anise was heading right for that damned sinkhole. He purposely apparated a distance in front of her, and he ran towards her, trying not to be seen by her, hoping to intercept her. When he got close enough, he purposely tackled her to the ground. She was screeching, and, the moment, Marcus wasn't sure if she was more angry or anguished or startled. He sat up, forcing her to sit up with him, and he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Listen," Marcus said. "Listen a minute. He's fine. You didn't kill anybody. I know what it looked like but, believe me, he's fine. I wouldn't lie to you. Get yourself together and breathe. He's okay."

Ruby stayed close but not too close knowing Jess and Rovbert had him and were doing what they could. Jess nodded to Robert as he told her about the severity of the burns, " I'll start healing in the worst areas" she said closing her eyes and focusing.

Aria saw Marcus port in front of Anise and she saw how close they were to the sink hole. Dropping down she landed and ran over to them hearing Anise screaming and seeing her fight Marcus, She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Anise too as she spoke softly to her " Marcus's right, just breath with us" she said softly in a motherly tone soft and gentle as she could, looking at Marcus as she held Anise with him as if they together were the same as a weighted blanket.. " Robert and Jess are with him, I saw from the air" she said to him " I also heard him shouting so that's a good sign too, he was worried about Anise more than himself."

"He would never be sidelined that easily," Marcus said. "Come on. On your feed. Let's go back." He got up and got Anise to her feet. He realized he could have apparated her back, but he believed the walk would do her good.

It was quite a hike back, and by the time they got back, Robert was just finishing with Angus, and Angus was standing with Anise's wand and his own in his hand. Angus walked over to Anise, and he quietly wrapped her close.

"You're alright," he told her. "Now, listen. We don't run, and we don't quit. No harm done...."

"No, no...I can't..." she began.

"Stop. Look at me. We don't run, and we don't quit. Not now, not ever. We are the last line of defense between the innocent and the evil. We stand our ground."

"And it isn't enough? What then?" she challenged him angrily.

"We stand," he told her firmly. She looked at him blankly. "If I am the last person standing between an innocent person and someone that means them harm? I stand. That's what I'll do, this time, and every time." He put the wand back in her hand. "You're not finished here. If you can still turn and run? You're not finished. Go back and take your place. We're going to run it til we get it right."

Anise nodded and stood with Marcus walking with them back to the duplex. Once there she watched as Anise went to Angus who wrapped her in a hug of his own. Hearing his words to her she smiled and nodded " he's right, its how we have become who we are today." she said softly. as she watched the two of them .

Ruby stood with Angus and was glad he spoke to Anise " I'll make some home made lemonade for after I know you both will be thirsty. Jess looked to Robert knowing he would let Angus continue so she stayed close at hand. for after they had finished .

" he's going to feel it soon" Jess said to Robert, "want me to fetch the burn cream from the med bay?" she asked Robert as she watched Angus with Anise.

"Oh, he feels it already," Robert said. "I can tell. He knows that the very worst thing he could do is to not focus on helping her learn from this. If you'd be kind enough to go get a clean shirt for him and put a bottle of firewhiskey and a couple glasses down there, would you? I'll just bring him down to sickbay and treat him down there. That'll give him a minute away from the girls to decompress a bit."

Robert took his place beside Angus, and he watched Anise walk back hesitantly and take her place. Once Aria was back in place, Angus drilled Anise and Ginger hard until he was sure they had it. He wanted them to be able to hold their own in a duel, and by the time he was feeling confident that they were going to be able to compete against their 6th year classmates, he was truly hurting and tired. He had drilled them for a solid three hours. It was noon.

"That's it," Angus said, finally. "That's enough. Good job. Anise, Ginger, you two go help Ruby fix lunch for all the workers on the garden and the Fae. Make sure everyone gets fed."

"We'll catch up," Robert told them. He motioned to Angus and walked him inside and downstairs to the sickbay.