I suddenly stumble as we walk, falling over. "You ok?" Stealth Elf asks. "Yeah," I nod, getting back up. It's a slower process than I would've liked. "I'm just... clumsy, I guess."

"Now I know that's a lie," she says. "What's going on?" "Don't worry about it, you've got bigger things to deal with than my problems," I sigh. "Alright," she agrees, though I can sense her worry.

We get to the Academy without any other complications. The wombat guy is out there. 'Helga', I think his name was. Ok, I know that's not his name, but do I look like I care?

"Stealth Elf! Vexelle! You're finally here!" He said, hurrying over to us, though he was mostly looking at me. "Master Eon's waiting for you inside!"

"Seriously, what's going on?" I ask, growing a little annoyed now. "What does he want from me?"

"Go inside and find out," Stealth Elf suggests, popping over to the door and opening it. "Come on, Vexelle!" Hugo hurried inside and gestures for me to follow. With one last look at Stealth Elf, I reluctantly do so.

"Master Eon, Vexelle's here!" Hugo announces. The oh-so-precious master of the group turns to face us. "Thank you, Hugo, you may go now. Vexelle, come here."

While Hugo leaves, I carefully make my way over. His face is masked with calm, but I can see what's really going on behind this little facade. "You're nervous," I say. "Yet hopeful."

"Nothing gets past you, I see," he remarks, impressed, his tone hiding behind his blank mask as well. "Now, Vexelle, do you know why you're here?"

"A certain elf refused to tell me," I reply. He chuckles. "She's a very secretive person sometimes. I'm just glad that she takes her work seriously. I know I can trust her to come through for her team, secrets and all."

"I suppose," I agree. "But I still don't understand why I'm here. I mean nothing to you."

"Actually, quite the opposite," he says. "I'm very interested in you and your powers, Vexelle. There's not many people in Skylands who can scare even Stealth Elf the way you did. I'm wondering what else you can do."

"According to everyone around here, nothing," I shrug. "They think I'm still weak. Incapable of anything." "They can't think that you're incapable of anything," he attempts to reason.

"They took it upon themselves to explain to me what a target was," I deadpanned. "Twenty minutes of basically being told 'you shoot at this' makes you wonder how dumb they think you are."

"I'll speak to them about this another time," he sighs. "But for now, I wanted to properly thank you for healing Stealth Elf before. I wanted to make sure she was alright before I said this, but she seems good as new."

"I couldn't just leave her to die," I shrug. "Think nothing of it." "Saving the life of a Skylander isn't something I can't think about," he points out. "Especially one like Stealth Elf. While the team are all just as useful as each other, Stealth Elf is possibly one of the most indispensable of them all. She plays several important roles within the group. Without her, I doubt the team would be able to function nearly as well as they do now. Besides, saving the life of anyone isn't to be taken lightly, but I understand that you both had a few... disagreements of opinion before these events."

"That's one way of putting it," I agree. "She didn't like that I made her so scared before. She was worried that if I decided I wanted to be a threat to her or anyone else she was supposed to protect, she wouldn't be able to stop me because she'd be hiding from me."

"I see," he nods. "And I hope she has nothing to worry about." "Well, I don't have anything planned, though you never know when someone might get turned evil," I state. He's mildly amused by my answer, but it doesn't show; in fact, his face hardens slightly. I get the feeling I shouldn't really have said that, but I pretend not to notice.

"Vexelle, I need to make sure all of Skylands is safe," he said, folding his arms behind his back. "I can't do that if I don't have the necessary team of Skylanders who are at their best and ready to protect Skylands. If you do well on this exam, I may have a few positions in mind for you that will benefit the Skylanders - without you becoming one of them, of course. Spyro and Stealth Elf say you train a lot, is this true?"

"Definitely," I nod. "Several hours a day, every day, as long as I can remember."

"A rigorous training schedule indeed," he says, impressed. "I suppose, but I enjoy it," I agree. "Well I'd like to see how you fare at it," he states. "If you're as good as I hope, I may just have an offer as a training instructor for you here at the Academy."

I shake my head. "It's a very generous offer, but it won't do me much good. I won't be around much longer, so there's really no point."

"What do you mean by that?" He asks, confused and concerned again, but I shake my head. "It doesn't matter to you. Don't waste your time with my problems. I'll just go. Sorry to waste your time."

With that, I walk out. Stealth Elf and Hugo are waiting excitedly outside the door, completely open unaware of what just happened. "Did you say yes?" Hugo asked.

"Just leave me alone, all of you," I say. "Keep away from me. I can't get attached. It'll make things harder."

I fly off back to my cave and hide in there, curling up right at the back. It's actually as comfy as anywhere, but I like feeling as though the walls are hugging you and holding you together so you don't have to do it by yourself.

I sigh slightly.

And then it starts again.

~•~

I will finish you, my bountiful feast!