Aetherion was sunbathing in the lawn outside the stables when Riven came bustling over with a small grin on his face. The bright morning light reflecting off the pale dragon's scales. When Riven approached, Aetherion raised his head to peer at him with sleepy yellow eyes.

"Let's go! I'm going to try and make some breakfast for everyone!" he quipped cheerfully as he began waddling towards the Willow with an armload of stuff. Aetherion rumbled as he pushed himself to his feet to follow his rider. "They've all headed there already besides one." The dragon's voice reverberated in his head.

"Well... I can cook while we talk!" Riven snapped back, hurrying his pace along as the dragon followed, his long tail dragging the ground behind him.

When they reached the willow, Riven could see Pheonix curled in the grass, Valentina was here! His eyes also spotted Thorn and Obsidian waiting, he was glad to see they were okay. Riven attempted a wave at his friend, but quickly had to catch something slipping from his arms. "Ermm... I swindled Greta for some food for everyone!" he let out a breathy laugh as he moved to head up the willow. "How are you and Obsidian feeling this morning?" he offered as he tried to push the door open. He'd found himself genuinely worried about these people in such a short amount of time. He kept yapping away as he climbed the stairs up into the main area of the willow, where he immediately moved to the kitchen area to unload his stockpile. He needed to clean up in here too. Did he really miss his home that much that he was actually excited to cook and clean in this little place? It was like a little extra home away from home. Sure they had their dorms, but he'd found himself avoiding most the other students here recently. But not these guys. Obviously he was happy Valentina was spending time with them, Thorn seemed like a decent guy, Seraph.... "Hey, where is Seraph? Usually her and Whiplash are up right?"

------------------------------------------

Seraph could barely pull herself from bed. The restless sleep that finally took her was full of vivid flashes and ominous voices. She felt an odd urge to just run into the academy and start searching, but she wasn't sure why. Normally she bounced out of bed in the mornings and ran to meet Whiplash for their early morning flights, but this morning she was even late for waking up. With a groggy start she pulled on some clothes and slowly made her way to the stables.

"SERAPH!"

A voice yelled in her head. "Good goddesses, Whiplash, why are you yelling?" Seraph scolded as the iridescent red dragon bounded up to her, clearly disturbed by her rider's tardiness this morning.

"Where have you been!" The dragon kept berating her rider as the blonde sleepily walked towards the willow.

She moved herself in and didn't speak a word as she went into the willow and plopped down. Weariness evident on her face and her eyes struggled to stay open.

(Sorry to cut it short, I'm supposed to be in class right now. XD)

Thorn was grateful for Riven's chatting. It filled up the empty space around them and meant Thorn didn't have to talk as much. "I'm fine and so is Obsidian. He actually wanted to come here so I guess that's good." He was surprised when Riven mentioned making breakfast. Honestly, he hadn't thought Golden Boy could cook. Could he even call him Golden Boy anymore? In a few days, Thorn had found out a lot about the three and it turned out Riven wasn't nearly as shallow as he'd once thought. Thorn tilted his head slightly, coming to a decision. Golden Boy was Riven's new nickname.

"You really don't have to cook for us," he said with a grin on his face. His eyes darted to the door, suddenly aware of the fact he'd have to face Valentina in a few moments. Entering the room, however, hadn't been nearly as bad as Thorn imagined. Valentina was sitting silently on the window seat, a book open in her lap, amber eyes focused on the words in front of her. She did look up though when she heard Riven. Val smiled softly and waved at them. Thorn hesitated but waved back.

"Isn't Seraph with you?" she asked, though her question seemed to be aimed more at Riven. Only moments later, the mentioned blonde walked into the room. Thorn raised an eyebrow at her very tired look. "Are you okay, Seraph?" he asked her, genuinely concerned.

~~~~~

Val was glad her interaction with Thorn hadn't been too awkward.

"Shut it, Pheonix!" Val muttered under her belreath, annoyed. She could imagine Pheonix huffing in annoyance. Even if her dragon had been right after all, Thorn clearly didn't want to be around her. She'd heard him talking with Riven as they walked up the stairs. And just now, he was fine speaking to Seraph. So it was just her after all. She didn't blame him. Usually she didn't care too much if someone was angry at her but this was different. Val wasn't sure whether it was because she actually cared about Thorn, she still felt really guilty or maybe a mix of the two.

Val gave Seraph a worried glance. She did look really tired. Then again, after last night Seraph probably hadn't slept very well.

Anxious to move away from Thorn to avoid any interaction with him, Val went up to Riven. She looked at all the ingredients he had. "So, what're you making? And could I help?"

"I don't mind, I used to always cook for some of the younger kids back home. Actually became kind of a getaway for me." Riven laughed slightly as he and Thorn bustled into the room. He sat his stuff down on the counter and returned Valentina's wave, but quickly averted his focus back to the food on the counter to avoid his cheeks flushing. He recalled those memories from his home. The academy felt more like a home than anything. His village had been ravaged by the war, almost to the point of falling apart but a few devoted individuals kept it alive. Most of their able-bodied people had went off to the war and never returned. His village's population struggled ever since. With Riven being considerably a "physically capable" person, he was often stuck with learning things he didn't find enjoyable, but it was the one way he could provide for his family. Even at a young age he was an apprentice for any craftsmen who needed an extra pair of hands. But helping the baker was probably always his favorite job.
With a few quick blinks, he removed the memory from his mind as Valentina approached him, offering her help. Riven realized now that he hadn't actually though through what he was cooking, he just grabbed stuff he thought he'd need. Maybe he could make some of the fruit pies the baker used to? Just loaves of bread with a gooey fruity filling that was baked. They were messy, but a good morale booster. Sweet and filling.
"Fruit pies?" he suggested with an awkward grin. He glanced over his shoulder to check on Thorn and Seraph, the blonde looked, well... awful. She was normally always on alert and seemed ready for anything, but this morning, her clothes seemed barely tugged on, her hair was just tucked back behind her ears in a wavy mess, and her eyes seemed devoid of it's normal wild spark. He wanted to ask about it, but decided not to bother her. Maybe yesterday's events took a larger toll than he thought. Yesterday was horrible, but he didn't like to dwell on the awful things. He'd be too sad all of the time. The past was out of his control, but the present and future weren't.

"You good, blondie?" Riven offered a lighthearted joke.
With another soft smile to himself, he went about explaining what he had in mind for the ingredients he gathered to Valentina. He never though he'd have this much fun making fruity bread.

---------------------------------------

Seraph could barely hear the voices going on around her. The sunlight streaming in from the windows was almost blinding. She rested a hand on her forehead and attempted to intake and exhale slow breaths. It felt like she should have a headache, but there was no pain. Just a throbbing like someone had squeezed her brain her too hard. She kept hearing a voice, and it wasn't her mentors. It kept calling, beckoning, longing.

With a jolt she jerked her attention up at Riven's quiery. Her green eyes hazed in and out of focus. She opened her mouth like she wanted to speak, but no sound came out. After a moment of a great gaping fish mouth impersonation, Seraph finally managed to get a few croaky words out. "I'm good, golden boy." she attempted a joke in response. Normally Seraph was always quick to comeback with a witty response but her head felt like she'd been up all night studying for a practical or something.

Then, as if it was a totally normal topic of conversation, and in a much clearer voice that almost sounded like it wasn't coming from her, "Have you guys ever wondered what's beneath the school?"

Val thought it was cute Riven would cook for the younger kids. Valentina grinned at Riven, happy to be useful. She gladly gathered some of the ingredients, being careful not to add too much or too little of something. Although nobody minded a little extra sweetness.

Baking with Riven reminded her of when she was younger. She loved cooking with her mother, and aunts when they visited, and honestly, she missed it. The delicious smells wafting from the kitchen, the loud family meals. True, the hall could be loud at meal times and the food did smell, and taste, amazing but to Val, it just didn't feel like home. Flying through the clouds, training with her dragons and meeting new people was great but there were always days when Val just wanted to do normal people things.

Pausing from her task, the redhead turned around to face the others at Seraph's query. She only knew what the other students said plus a couple of theories from her history professor. "I've heard a few things. Some say there's a monster down there, either to protect the school in extreme danger or trapped to protect us. Though if the second one is true there's a chance the thing's dead by now. I remember someone else saying it might be the 'heart of the school'. Where magic is stored." Val wiped her hands and tucked some hair behind her ear, nose scrunched up in thought. "It could just be a giant, empty basement. That is, if there's anything under the school at all."

~~~~~

Thorn moved over to sit next to Seraph. He raised an eyebrow at her question. "Why do you ask?" It was a strange thing to ask all of a sudden, especially once she looked half-dead. Come to think of it, her hair reminded Thorn of a harpy he saw in a book once....

Val's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and back into the real world. He missed the first few words she'd said but the rest was actually pretty interesting.

Thorn managed to look up at Val as she explained a few of the rumours. He was surprised she knew so much, he hadn't even known there was anything under the school until Seraph mentioned it just then. He was starting to see why Riven thought Val would be a good addition and why he fancied her so much.

Riven was quiet with a furrowed brow as he listened to Valentina try to answer Seraph's question. It was an odd question, but Seraph was an odd person so maybe he was thinking about it too much. His mind whirled in response to Valentina's voicing of the speculations. Now that it was brought up, what was beneath the school? The academy itself was built centuries ago, in the peak of the time of the dragon riders. The big war caused the deaths of a lot of dragons and riders so the academy is not quite as populated and splendid before the major thrashings. Surely they wouldn't have wasted precious materials on just a large empty basement? Unless it was meant as a safe place for refugees and those hiding from the wars? But that also seemed unlikely since it was built during a time of peace.

His hands worked, almost in autopilot, as he racked his brain, delving into the theories Valentina suggested a little more.

"We could always go see? I'm sure with our collective skills we'd make quite the excellent snooping team." he scrunched his nose at the joke, but was it actually a joke? Evaluating everyone in this room, they were all very handy to have around. Valentina with her fieriness and determined nature, Thorn with a connection to dark shadows and natural talent to avoid detection, and Seraph with her trained tracking and stealth, but as he continued his evaluation, he fell short on what he could offer them. Riven was the golden boy of the academy, that the professors all had high hopes for and he had a large, shiny, white lightning dragon that was probably the laziest one. Riven did earn a growl in his ear from that thought. Oops, Aetherion must only be pretending to be asleep right now. Maybe he'd figure out how he could be a benefit to the team. In the meantime, he'll continue to cook as a bribe to keep him around.

He had a small laugh at that thought, bribing people with his cooking. But for right now, given the sense of impending doom, it was nice to just exist.

-------------------------------------

Seraph quickly flushed, as if now suddenly aware of the question that spilled from her mouth. Why did she ask that? For what felt like an eternity, Seraph seemed to stumble with an appropriate response, before finally getting out, "Oh umm, I just thought, maybe there's some more information down there?"

'Yeah, good recovery.' she rolled her eyes at her own pathetic attempt to excuse her question. "What's the saying? 'Bury your secrets'? or whatever?" she shrugged. As she tried to clamp her mouth shut to avoid any other random questions from tumbling out of her mouth, she pondered on the response from Valentina.

Seraph winced oncemore when that same voice from her dreams whispered into her head. She felt a cold chill run across her body like she'd just consumed mergass. She didn't think that, what was that?

Stillness. Her mind was still. Apparently Whiplash didn't hear it either. Seraph suddenly felt very alone. What was wrong with her? Was Karlile right the whole time? Subconsiously withdrawing to herself, she attempted a change of subject, anything, to avoid... whatever this feeling was.

Valentina smiled at the small joke but it wasn't too far from the truth. They all had some skill or another that would be extremely useful if they did decide to look around. Val hummed thoughtfully as she considered Riven's suggestion. "I mean...I guess we could check it out but there isn't exactly a big red door with a sign that says 'Goes Under the School' on it. And if it does exist and there's something dangerous down there, I'm sure there's some kind of magic or even a guard to protect. If we can manage to find it." Val was sure that the others were about to throw her out the window if she said 'if' one more time. However, she couldn't believe there was anything under the school. The time it was made had been a peaceful one so there wasn't any need to build a basement under the school. Unless...

Val frowned at the floor, now completely lost in thought. Unless there was something that happened but had never been recorded in the history books. Something or even someone that was meant to be forgotten, hidden from future generations, from them. Of course anything was possible. After all, some thousands of years ago, people hadn't lived peacefully with dragons and now look at them.

Val sighed and closed her eyes to block out the thoughts. She was overthinking about this too much. Wanting to keep herself busy once again, she turned around and continued to help Riven cook.

'What's wrong, Vally?' came Pheonix's voice in her head. Crap, she'd forgotten Pheonix knew what she was thinking. Her dragon probably thought she was crazy. When Val didn't reply, Pheonix added, 'You know, the school is quite old so just find some old people if you really want to know more.'

Val paused, an idea forming in her head. Pheonix wasn't too far off from an actually decent idea.

'Hey!'

'Sorry, Phee.'

Though perhaps it was probably better to keep it to herself. Before she became the madman in the group.

~~~~~

Val had made a few more very good points. Besides did it really matter if they were going on a wild goose chase? It would be good for a number of things like their teamwork, getting to know one another etc. Besides, Seraph would probably enjoy snooping around. It might make her more enthusiastic. Or at least look it.

Thorn crossed his arms and glanced at Riven then Seraph. Val seemed pretty against the idea of a basement even existing but Riven seemed to think it was good enough to go look for and Seraph had brought up the subject after all. One more look at Val, Thorn could see she was thinking hard. How deep could you even go about this? There was either a basement or there wasn't.

Oops, Thorn had forgotten about that. It would be pretty selfish though if he stopped the whole thing because he wasn't okay with Val.

Honestly, it was too early to be thinking about this, especially on a day off. "How's breakfast coming?" he asked Riven. Food. The perfect thing to talk about instead.

Val giggled a little at Riven's jokes despite herself. Everything felt so gloomy and dark these past few days. It was nice to hear some light humour, however terrible it was. It definitely lifted the mood, at least for Val.

She promptly sat down on a very colourful beanbag (let's just say they have those lol) then had to stand up and sit back down slowly after falling backwards. (That's definitely happened to everyone xD) She smoothed out her skirt as she tried to hide her embarrassment. She looked up at Seraph. "Headmaster's office? That does seem like a good place to start." She hummed quietly to herself as she tried to think of an acceptable excuse.

'Really, Phee?'

'Of course. And the silly humans will give you some extra tasty goose as a snack to make you go back to sleep in your stall...'

'That seems oddly specific. Pheonix?'

'Not that I have ever done that! I'm much higher than to trick someone for a goose...no matter how delicious it is.'

Val smiled and turned back to the others. With a sigh, she said, "I'm out of brain power. I can't function properly on an empty stomach." The sweet smell of the pastry made her hungrier. Why couldn't the dang bread hurry up and bake? Val was a sucker for sweet food. If her new friend just so happened to be an expert in baking sweet foods, she had a feeling they would be very good friends.

'Quiet, Pheonix. I need the sugar for, um, y'know. Brain food.'

She heard a faint snicker in the back of her mind.

~~~~~

Thorn crossed his arms, brain whirring into action. A comfortable silence fell over them for a few moments. It was strange. He trusted this group more than most people he had ever met. Val was still undecided but she seemed okay in general. A thought popped into his head, a little crazy and very unlike him but one that could work. "I have an idea... It's kinda a risky one but worth a try. Someone does something stupid and have to be sent to the Headmaster's office. One of us will keep him busy in the hallway while the other goes in and looks for whatever we're looking for." Seraph was a bit wild, a good candidate to get into trouble? Riven was the golden child, he could probably keep the Headmaster busy for a while. Then Val could sneak in and he could... And that was it. There were no other roles. He was practically useless unless he went in with Val. Though he'd prefer not to. Riven would probably be more than happy to go with Val. So he could talk to the Headmaster? No that wouldn't work.

"Hey, Seraph. Could you keep him busy? I'd be willing to take one for the team if it means we manage to get to the bottom of this whole basement thing." He looked at the other two. "Riven, if you're good with it you and Val could sneak into his office. Even if you do get caught, you're Golden Boy. And she's Miss Prefect. Well, she would be if we had those here. You two will be fine."

Riven might not always be the sharpest talon on the dragon, but he could tell weird behavior when he saw it. Or he was just growing to be suspicous in his elder years. He humored himself on his own joke for a moment before snapping back to attention, his pale blue eyes narrowing in on Seraph. She kept acting like she was jsut as surprised as they were to hear what she would say. Especially with the way she had to clamp her mouth shut just now. Is Whiplash feeding her information she doesn't want us to know about? He chose to snuff his gnawing suspicions for now, cracking them out to just be paranoia after the recent events that untangled.

"Sounds good to me. The easiest way to get Stormblade distracted is to ask him about his glory days. Dude will take any chance to talk about himself." he offered with a slight roll of his eyes. Recalling a time he had to sit through an entire story one time because he'd offered to cover for Scrollkeeper to sneak in some "not allowed" books.

"If Thorn and Seraph want to cause a commotion, that could open a window for Val and I to sneak into his office. Assuming one of us knows how to pick locks, and if he comes back before we're done searching, we just explain we came to find him because we saw what was going on?" He suggested with a shrug. It could go horribly wrong, but what's the worst that can happen? The academy can't afford to ban any students, a dragon without their rider will go mad, and they couldn't just send an untrained dragon rider out into the world without being held responsible for anything they cause. So the worst that could happen would be extra chores.

The sticky, sweet smell that clung to the air pulled Riven from his brainstorming. Moving to the oven to check on the pastries. The bread itself had crispened to a lovely golden brown, and the fruit meddly inside has sugared the sides of the bread to make it gooey. Grabbing a thick cloth, he rolled it up in his hands to allow him to safely grab the pans. Setting the pastries ontop of the metal surface of the stove. Steam rising from the pastries as they sank slightly upon being sat down. "They just need to call and then they can be eaten." Riven tossed the words over his shoulder as he shuffled about in the kitchen to look for dishes.

------------------------------------------

Seraph noticed Riven's narrowed gaze out of the corner of her eye, but staring back would only further draw attention. She was better than this. She knew how to be discreet. Why was she word vomiting so much? Cracking her neck as she adjusted to a more comfortable seating position, she nodded her head in response to Riven. "Doesn't seem like a bad idea..." Probably not what she would've suggested, but she was willing to try it out for the plot, it was boring around here.

The dragon snorted in her head, Seraph rolling her eyes at the creature. It needed to be something that got attention, but nothing harmful. The last thing they needed was being accused of setting the hatchery on fire too. Although she had a poison dragon, and Thorn had a dark magic dragon, it would've been hard for either of them to produce a flame that large, that quickly.

Seraph sat up as she observed Riven taking the pastries out. "Well... shall we?"

"I can actually pick locks so we should be good on our side, Riven. And if you think Stormblade is bad, you should hear Emberglow. I've managed somehow have a whole lesson with her talking about all the amazing things she did when she was younger," Valentina said letting out a laugh.

Val couldn't wait to start eating. The air smelled sweet and the bread looked amazing. Her last meal had been yesterday and she'd skipped breakfast in her excitement. Once it cooled down, she grabbed a knife from one of the drawers, -this place really did have everything- cut slices of the golden loaf and placed it on the plates Riven had got, handing them out to the other three. (Please correct me if I got it wrong because it said loaf but then pastries T-T like more than one?? My brain is sadly lagging rn because holidays lol) Taking a bite of the bread, Val was surprised at how it turned out. It smelt and looked good but Riven did say his memory was a bit fuzzy plus he didn't really seem like a cook. She had first thought it was more for show. An annoyed voice in her head grumbled at the fact they didn't get any treats.

'That is dragon abuse! You're eating treats in my face and dare not to share with me!'

'Bean food is terrible, apart from the meat, now that is actually nice....' Pheonix rambled on about how humans should eat more goose and Val chuckled to herself quietly.

'Anyways, what's the master plan? Ooh, do I get to eat someone?' Val frowned at that. That wasn't exactly what anyone wanted to hear from a dragon.

'Phee, you are NOT eating someone! Who would you even eat? Can you think with your head instead of your stomach for once? And that does not mean headbutting everything!' Val remembered Pheonix's short phase of headbutting everything and everyone after being told to "use her head more often." Luckily she was only young back then and a lot smaller so she hadn't caused any real damage.

'Yes, I know that Vally. I got a bad headache after that. But your corn-haired friendling, I bet he tastes like sunshine. I've even heard other beans call him the Golden Boy. So I must eat him if he's the Chosen One! He must taste delicious!' Pheonix argued back. Val snorted and bit back a laugh, trying to cover it up as a cough. It would be hard to explain that her dragon wanted to eat Riven to see if he tastes like sunshine. Or that she had just called him 'corn-haired'.

Val stuffed her mouth with more bread and it wasn't long before her plate was almost empty.

"So you are a good cook after all," she spoke, turning slightly to face Riven. "I should hire you as my personal chef. I mean, if we survive the deadly basement where we'll meet almost certain doom if there is a dangerous being down there. Or when we get expelled for lying, causing damage and disruption, trespassing basically. I could give you a job if you'd like," she added casually, finishing off the last bite of her bread. "This could actually be pretty fun!"

~~~~~

Thorn hummed in agreement with Val, his mouth full with pastry. He didn't have to completely like her but she was right. The pastries were delicious. Who knew Riven could cook? He took his time eating, his leg shaking as he wondered about what stunt he should try. "Seraph, you like doing stupid things, right? What do you think we should do?" He asked, looking at her. He'd noticed the way she'd acted. If was pretty suspicious if you asked him. She looked like she wanted to speak but something or someone was stopping her. Maybe Whiplash just said something stupid or maybe she knew more about this than she let on.... No. Thorn chased that thought from his mind. That didn't make sense. Why hide anything? If she knew what was down in the basement and if it was dangerous why ask about it and let them go on this mission? She wouldn't do that to them. Thorn, Riven and Val hadn't done anything to her. It was just his stupid paranoia getting to him. Though he was excited to see the basement and explore a whole side of the academy he never knew even existed, Thorn was also worried. It was probably dangerous. Someone was going to get hurt, he had a gut feeling about it. Not that they were usually right but in this kind of situation, something was bound to happen, good or bad. And yet he couldn't find himself saying anything about it.