It was a fairly unusual place to have an impromptu and serious meeting, but the Generals of Team Crafted held the meeting in the common room anyway. It was placed a few rooms and a sweeping staircase away from the main hall of the castle that dominated the base, and was furnished with two couches, a few single chairs, some coffee table, a few cabinets pushed up against the walls and carpet covering the floor. Two of the walls opened up into the hallways that lead to the Generals' bedrooms but for now, everyone was seated and waiting patiently for Seto to explain himself.

          "So I got another message from a village asking for help," Seto started, then held up a hand to forestall any interruptions, "I know, they've become insanely frequent over the past few months-"

          "Oh good, so it wasn't just me," Mitch said, interrupting anyway. Quentin shushed him and gestured for Seto to continue, which he did.

          "This time, the message says that a little girl has suddenly exploded into magical chaos. One moment she's fine and the next she's throwing magic around with little or no control. According to the message, there was no warning of her magic appearing and no known connections to any magical ancestors."

          "So pretty much like every other message you've gotten over the past while," Ty said, twirling a pencil between his fingers.

          "Yeah, pretty much."

          "So why call us?" Ian asked, gesturing to their gathering.

          "Simple reason," Seto said, leaning back a little. "I can't figure out what's going on or how to help this little girl while fighting and trying to protect both her and whoever else might be nearby when her magic spits out. So I'll need some back-up to deal with that so I can focus on helping her get better."

          "And you think that's a good idea when none of us have magic?" Ty asked, raising both of his eyebrows.

          Seto shrugged. "It's as good of an idea as I've got. I could bring one or two of my apprentices, but I'd rather not make things more complicated than they already are."

          "Yeah, no logic in freaking people out anymore than current circumstances have lead them to be," Adam muttered. Then, slightly louder, "I'm happy to help out."

          "Count me in too," Mitch said with a nod.

          "I didn't get to go on the last big trip we had, I wanna come," Jerome said.

          He glanced at Jason, who also didn't get to go on the last big trip they had, but Jason hesitated and shook his head. "I'm good at hunting, tracking and settling debates. This kind of thing doesn't sound like my party. Besides, we can't all leave at the drop of a hat."

          "So then we'll go halves," Adam said, looking around. "Seto, Mitch, Jerome and myself go to the village; Jason, Ian, Ty and Quentin hold down the fort."

          "Probably for the best," Quentin said with a nod to Seto. "It sounds like you'll need strength and planning over talking things out. But are you sure you guys won't need a medic?"

          "Mitch has been trained in first aid, right Mitch?" Ian asked.

          Mitch made a 'so-so' gesture with his hand and Jerome rolled his eyes. "I have, I can make sure no one bleeds out and dies before we get back."

          "Seto, please don't tell me we're going to have to leave straight away," Adam said as he saw Seto going to speak. "I was really looking forward to what was for lunch today."

          "Then I won't tell you that that's exactly what we're going to do," Seto said as he stood up.

          And so instead of having the lunch that was being prepared for all the on-duty recruits (it was something they did every Wednesday to brighten up everyone's week), the four had to settle for lunch on the road as they gathered their equipment and supplies and rode off, Seto leading.

          The grassy plain turned to a wooded forest but the path they followed was wide enough for them to ride two abreast, although they moved in single file anyway so as to not frighten the people they occasionally passed in a clatter of hooves. After quite some time on this rode, Seto turned off and took them down a smaller path that branched off of the main road, and the trees became momentarily thicker and closer together before they thinned out again and they reached a village that had been built where the trees had been hacked away.

           If there was anything remarkable about the village, they couldn't see it. It had a single main road which they were slowly approaching, several shops lined up on either side and dozens of houses sprawling out from that. Around the village, fences had been built to keep the few cows, sheep and goats safely inside and there was a single well near the centre of it.

          "This is it," Seto said, dismounting and leading his horse over to the nearest fence. "We should probably tie our horses up here and go in on foot."

          Mitch, Jerome and Adam followed his lead and then they walked into the village. The people who lived there gave them curious glances but their smiles were friendly and the Generals returned them. Though they had never visited this village in person, they were well known and their recruits protected these people from the once-warring lords.

          Seto turned down a lane and then into a smaller street of the village but one that still looked well used, and they had barely begun to walk down it before a harried looking man came up to them, no doubt drawn by Seto's sorcerer-like clothing.

          "Are you the General Seto, sir?" the man asked.

          "Yes, I'm Seto, and these are my friends. We're here to help," Seto said, but the man was nodding and walking away, gesturing for them to follow before he had even finished his sentence.

          "What's your name?" Mitch asked, moving up a little faster than the others to walk beside the man.

          "I am Julio. My niece is Rebecca, she is the one I called you about," the man said. "Her magic is... not natural." He shuddered and shook his head. "Not natural, no."

          "Well, that's why we're here, right Seto?" Mitch asked, looking over his shoulder.

          The man led them to a house only a little down the street and stopped near the open doorway. Just outside the doorway, a stool had been set up and a young girl of maybe seven or eight years was sitting on it. Her eyes were brown and her black hair was dirty but carefully brushed down her back. She wasn't much thinner than her peers but her legs were painfully thin and stumped and almost twisted in appearance.

          "Crippled," Adam said quietly to Jerome, turning his face a little away from the girl as Seto kneeled down beside her.

          Jerome nodded a little sadly. "Must be hard."

          Julio shuffled a little on his feet. "I tend to sheep," he said to the Generals and left them rather quickly. Adam watched him go before turning his attention back to the young girl.

          "I'm Seto," the sorcerer was saying. "Someone told me that you're having a bit of a hard time."

          "You mean the magic, don't you?" the young girl asked, slightly shy but a bit embarrassed too.

          Seto nodded gently. "What's your name?"

          "Rebecca Lee," the girl said, giving him a little smile.

          "Rebecca Lee, that's a nice name," Seto said. "Do you remember either of your parents having magic, Rebecca?"

          The child shook her head. "Papa looked after the goats and Mama was always complaining about how she had to do all the washing and cooking. I think she liked it though, she was always laughing when she said it. But they've both passed on, that's what Uncle Julio calls it."

          Seto nodded and asked another question. Mitch turned a little so that his back was angled towards Rebecca then said to the other two "I don't get how she can have dangerous magic, she looks so young."

          "Don't judge by appearances Mitch," Adam said, watching Rebecca out of the corner of his eye. "If she has magic for no good reason, there's a chance it might be hurting her."

          "Yeah, and I'm not liking the look of those," Jerome said, nodding to some of the buildings that lined the street near them.

          At first glance, the buildings just seemed to be worn and tired but now that they were looking closer, they could see the scorch marks on the walls and the chunks that had been ripped out of the corners, and the holes and burns that riddled the street around them. It looked like several magical battles had happened in this little part of the street, and the house behind the girl was likewise damaged and empty.

          The three forced themselves to stop paying attention to these details when Seto joined them, frowning thoughtfully. "I'm not sure what's going on," he said to the three quietly. "Rebecca says that no one else in the village has magic and that she hasn't felt sick for several months. She hasn't had any of the symptoms associated with the usual magical illnesses, I can't feel anything from her that would indicate she is a sorceress, nothing. I'm clueless."

          "But something is happening, right?" Mitch asked. "I mean, we were called here for a reason."

          Seto held out his hands helplessly. "Rebecca's not saying anything about it. Maybe she's just shy, or maybe she actually has no idea what's going on. Either way-"

          "Uh, guys?"

          Jerome, Mitch and Seto glanced at Adam and then followed his line of sight, which was fixed on the girl. She wasn't sitting calmly on her stool anymore; she was hunched over, clutching her stomach, green mist starting to form around her hands.

          "We're gonna want to duck."