As Lily Owens woke up, her eyes flew straight to bed the bed next to her's, but it was still empty. Stella did come home during the night. Where had she gone? The girl sat up and looked down at her phone. There wasn't even a message from Stella saying where she was. This hurt Lily. She knew Stella was prone to throwing tantrums, but they had never been targeted towards Lily. Lily let out a huff before jumping off of her bed.

When she walked out of her and Stella's shared bedroom, she found Musa at the little kitchenette, making coffee for herself. "How'd you sleep, Lily?" Musa questioned as she popped the K-cup into the Keurig. Lily shrugged as she sat down on the couch. "Stella didn't come in last night?" Lily looked up from her phone, shaking her head. The coffee began to pour into Musa's cup as the door to the suite opened, and Stella tiptoed in. Lily frowned, as Musa took her cup from the Keurig. "Oh, that outfit's so similar to yesterday's. Same designer?"

Stella rolled her eyes. "Do you know how I feel about that joke, or shall I tell you?" The blonde snapped as she looked around the suite. "Where's Bloom?"

Lily stood up from the couch and crossed her arms over her chest. "You should probably be asking how is Bloom, since she had a rough night. Thanks to you." Stella furrowed her eyebrows, not expecting the attitude from Lily.

Musa nodded her head after taking a sip of her coffee. "I didn't think those things were real, but we all saw. It was creepy as hell. It looked like it wanted to kill her." She looked to Lily, who agreed with a nod.

"What about my ring?"

Lily couldn't believe what came out of Stella's mouth. She cared more about her ring than if Bloom was safe? As she opened her mouth to say something, Bloom walked out of her room. "That burned.... burned thing took it."

Stella's eyes widened. "What?"

"Calm down, Princess." Musa retorted.

The blonde's head snapped towards Musa as she raised her finger. "Don't tell me to calm down, and don't use my title as an insult." Lily was shocked that Stella was behaving like this.

Bloom shook her head, confused. "Wait, are you actually a princess?" She questioned her.

Stella raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yes, I am, actually." She responded, mimicking Bloom. "My mum is the queen, and the ring you lost is one of the Crown Jewels of Solaria." Bloom froze. "That might not mean much to a First Worlder, so feel free to ask your suite-mate how big of a scew-up that is."

Aisha had just entered the room, overhearing the last bit of their conversation. "Almost as big as giving it to her in the first place." She moved towards her roommate, wrapping her arm around her. "Dowling has the creature locked up, which you would know if you were here last night when she gave us an earful." The girl explained.

"And if people knew there was a Burned One even in the First World temporarily," Musa continued, "disaster."

Bloom looked down at the ground. "Well, I didn't tell her that I lost the ring, and I'm sure if we do, then-"

"We will do no such thing." Stella cut her off.

Lily shook her head. "Stella, maybe it might be a good idea to tell her. She could help."

Stella narrowed her eyes, confused as to why Lily was not agreeing with her as always. "Lily, no. There is no way that Dowling can find out about this, so don't you dare fucking tell her." Lily's eyes widened at Stella's harsh tone. She quickly nodded, stepping closer to Musa. Stella immediately felt bad for snapping at Lily, but tried to quickly brush it off. "I will deal with it after class, but for now, no one says anything to anyone." Stella moved towards the bathroom door. "And can someone make sure that Terra knows that? She can never keep her mouth shut." She pushed the bathroom door open to reveal Terra, who was trying to put a vest over her dress.

A nervous smile appeared on Terra's face as she lifted her thumb. "Got it." Lily frowned as she sat back down on the couch.

*

"Magic lives in the very fabric of nature, and here in our circle of stone, it's magnified." Miss Dowling spoke to the First Year fairies as they all sat in a circle around her. Aisha, Bloom, and Musa shared a bench while Terra and Lily shared a bench of their own. "This Vessel tests your ability to channel that magic." The headmistress motioned to the large bowl in the center on the circle, on a large stone. "Further down the line, you may learn to connect with other elements, but your first year is all about the element you were born with. Earth."

Miss Dowling motioned for Terra to go first, so she stood up, making her way to the Vessel. She lifted her hands over the Vessel, and a deep sigh left her lips. As soon as she began to move her right hand up, a vine grew from within the Vessel. "Soil, sand, rock, and all manner of plant life." The headmistress explained as Terra sent the vine back into the Vessel.

Lily stood up, excited to go next. As soon as she lifted her hands over the Vessel, a second plant began to grow. It was a rose. The girl smiled before lifted the rose from within the Vessel and bringing it back to her seat. She offered the rose to Musa, and the mind fairy gratefully accepted.

Since Lily and Terra were the only Earth fairies of first year, the headmistress started with the next element. "Water." She stated, motioning for Aisha to stand. When Aisha reached the Vessel and lifted her hands, streams of water slowly began to rise. "The lakes an oceans of the world, or the molecules that exist in all organisms around us." The next couple water fairies stood up and showed their powers.

"The mind." Miss Dowling stated, ready to move to the next element. Musa, the only mind fairy of first year stood up and walked to the center stone. She lifted her hands, and her eyes turned crimson. A circle of distorted air appeared in between her hands. "Thoughts, memories, dreams."

As Musa stepped away, Miss Dowling introduced the next element. "Air." She spoke, causing a girl that Lily had never seen before to stand up. Her hands lifted over the Vessel, and electricity began to spark between her fingers. "Speed, temperature, sound. It's power and electrical properties." Miss Dowling explained as the girl sat down. "Whatever your element, the emotions underlying it are the same for all fairies."

She nodded to Bloom to stand up, and the redhead nervously walked towards the center of the circle. She placed her hands on the side of the Vessel and took in a deep breath. Miss Dowling could tell Bloom was having trouble. "Open yourself up to the magic of the world around you." Bloom nodded, returning her face to the Vessel. A few small sparks began to fly as Bloom's eyes began to flicker an orange color. "Push past your doubts." Miss Dowling continued to encourage her.

Bloom inhaled sharply, closing her eyes. As Bloom continued to try to create a flame, a few of the students around her began to whisper to each other. "Focus on clear, positive feelings." The headmistress spoke again, seeing how anxious Bloom was.

One girl, who was sitting on the bench next to Terra and Lily rolled her eyes. "Why is it taking so long?" She muttered, crossing her legs.

"Shut it." Lily groaned, causing the girl to glare at her.

Aisha sat up straight, leaning forwards to Bloom. "How about your parents?" Bloom glanced back at her friends. "Focus on how much you love them?"

The redhead was obviously frustrated, and she looked up to Miss Dowling. "It's not working." Bloom frowned.

"Stop thinking. Magic comes from-"

"Emotions. I've been listening." Bloom cut off the headmistress. "I know what I'm supposed to do." She quickly looked back down into the Vessel in front of her.

Musa leaned towards Aisha. "This is a disaster." She whispered.

Bloom quickly took her hands off the Vessel and stepped backwards. "It's not happening. Can you please move on?"

*

Lily made her way to the training fields where all of the specialists were. She noticed Riven talking to Sky, and the blonde haired boy noticed her. Lily waved to him, and Sky nudged Riven before pointing towards the girl. Riven let out a sigh before Sky pushed him towards his ex-girlfriend. As Riven approached Lily, she sent him a kind smile. "Hey, Riv." Sky looked around awkwardly before moving to where his and Riven's water sat.

"Hi." Riven returned, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "What do you want?" Lily furrowed her eyebrows, not expecting this attitude from him. "What?" The boy crossed his arms over his chest.

Lily took in a deep breath before continuing. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have acted like I did, and I'm sorry if I led you on or anything."

Riven chuckled as he looked back towards the specialists training. "Yeah, whatever." The boy let out a scoff as his glance returned to Lily. "I should have expected it."

"What?"

"You just only ever think of yourself, and not how your actions are going to affect anyone else." Her eyes widened as his words hit her. She was speechless. How could he say something like this to her. Riven had only ever been kind and compassionate towards Lily. He was never filled with such anger. "We done here?" Riven questioned, beginning to put his backpack over his shoulders.

The girl from earlier with the powers of electricity approached the two. "Lurky stoner guy, right?" She asked, ignoring Lily.

Lily frowned. "We were kind of in the middle of something." She spoke, trying to pull Riven towards her.

Riven shook his head, pulling out of Lily's grasp. "No, we weren't. I'll see you later, Lily?" Lily felt her heart sink out of her chest as the two walked away from her.

*

"He's just butthurt." Terra leaned back in her seat at the lunch table as Lily explained the events from earlier to her and Bloom. "He'll get over it." Bloom nodded as she shoved a green bean into her mouth.

Lily ran her hands through her hair before she stabbed her piece of chicken with her fork. "You weren't there. I think I really hurt him last night."

Terra took Lily's hands. "The boy is in love with you, okay? And you broke up with him and then made out with him the first time you see him after summer. He's going to be hurt about it for a bit." Lily nodded as she listened to her cousin. "You couldn't have expected him to act normal around you just yet, and especially not after last night." Lily let out a sigh as she began to cut up her chicken.

Aisha and Musa sat down at the table. "So, here's what we should do." Aisha began to explain her plan to help Bloom with her magic. "Maybe we can make a list of emotional triggers-"

"Aisha, um-" Bloom frowned, cutting her roommate off. "I appreciate what you're doing, but I think I can figure this put on my own." Terra furrowed her eyebrows, not believing anything Bloom said.

Aisha cocked an eyebrow. "I'm sure. I just think you might be in your head about all of the changeling stuff and overthink."

Lily raised her hands into the air before she spoke. "Wait, Bloom's a changeling?" She questioned the group.

Musa nodded. "So Aisha thinks."

"Is that why you were freaking out at the Vessel? That makes way more sense." Lily reached her hand forward and touched Bloom's as Terra spoke. "Because that's going to be the easiest assignment we'll have." All of the girls heads snapped at Terra, signaling for her to shut up. "And I'm making this worse..." Terra sighed, plunging her fork into the salad in front of her.

The five first years looked up as Stella and Sky approached the table. "So, we have a plan to get my ring back." Stella spoke as she set a map of Alfea down on the table.

"What's this?" Musa leaned forwards, trying to see.

A smile appeared on Terra's face. "It's Alfea." She answered her roommate. "The little dotted line here is the Barrier, and that's Crag Creek." She pointed to a clearing on the map. "Wind Meadow!" She giggled. "When Lil and I were kids, we'd spend every-"

"Great story, Ter." Stella rolled her eyes, cutting Terra off.

Lily looked up at the blonde and furrowed her eyebrows. "It's actually a really nice story, Stella." The earth fairy snapped.

As Terra began to tell the group her story, Sky sat down in the empty seat next to Bloom. "Stella told me what happened last night. Are... Are you okay?" He spoke softly, and Stella placed her hands on her waist, annoyed.

Bloom shrugged. "What do you think?"

Sky chuckled. "I think you're freaking out and pretending you're not." Stella looked down at the pair and frowned.

"That obvious?" Bloom let out a sigh.

The blonde haired boy shook his head, jokingly. "I'm just really good."

"...And then I looked under the rock, and the ladybird wasn't there." Terra had gotten to the end of her story. "How funny is that?"

"Hilarious." Stella groaned, looking down towards her ex-boyfriend and Bloom. "Um, Sky? Where do you think they're keeping it again?" The boy nodded and stood up.

As he looked down at the map, Stella placed her hand on his bicep, catching both him and Bloom off guard. "Um... There's only so many buildings outside the Barrier they can secure a creature like that. There's the barn and the mill." He explained, pointing out each location on the map.

Lily nodded, pointing towards the barn. "The barn would be my bet."

"Yeah." Terra smiled, agreeing with her cousin. "My dad fortified the beams because he was chaining this wounded horse there when I was little and-"

"So we just have to sneak in there and get my ring." Stella stated, once again cutting off Terra. How Stella was acting around Terra was beginning to anger Lily.

Aisha furrowed her eyebrows. "Strange how casually you're tossing around the word 'we'."

Musa nodded, looking up at the two blondes. "Yeah, it sounds more like a 'you' kind of deal."

Stella stared Bloom down before she spoke. "Except I didn't lose it."

"Did we lose?" Lily cocked her head to the side, and Musa placed her hand on her knee, trying to calm her down.

Bloom finally looked up from her meal. "When do we go?" She asked the light fairy, wanting to ease the tension.

The four other fairies at the table looked between each other before Aisha spoke up. "I'm going to be blunt, sorry. Bloom, you have zero control over your magic. That is if you manage to channel it. Bad idea."

The redhead shook her head. "I lost the ring. I'm going to get it back."

Sky let out a sigh before he spoke up. "Guys, maybe we should take a second-"

Stella raised an eyebrow before cutting him off. "I think everyone is making a way bigger deal of this than it needs to be." Lily hated the way Stella was acting, so she just shrunk in her seat. Stella looked towards Terra. "You said the Burned One's locked up, right?" She asked her.

Terra nodded. "And subdued. I'm pretty sure my dad is distilling this oil that'll subdue it. It's called Zanbaq. I can probably make some more." She answered.

"No, Terra, you don't have to-"

"Thank you, Terra, for being helpful." Stella placed her hand on Lily's shoulder, cutting her off. Lily took in a deep breath, trying not to scream at the blonde. She, instead, just pushed Stella's hand away. Stella let out a scoff before her gaze moved to Bloom. "And thank you, Bloom, for taking responsibility. And thank you, everyone else, for..." The girl chuckled. "Well, nothing, I guess." Lily rolled her eyes as Stella grabbed the map from the table.

Bloom took in a deep breath. "Let me know when you want to do it." She began to stand up from her seat, taking her back off the back of her chair.

Word Count - 2881
Edited
Author's Note-
I'm sorry that this chapter is kind of bad. It's been a really long day and I have to wake up early tomorrow, but I still wanted to get a chapter out. I hope you guys like it though! I'm so excited for this storyline of Riven and Lily to evolve!
Please comment what you want to see in future chapters, and do not forget to vote!
Have a nice day, lovelies 💕