It was another day at school–or so I thought. As I rounded the corner into the main hall, the bright orange sunlight glaring into my eyes, I stopped. Standing there in the middle of the hall was a girl with long brunette hair, her bangs tied with ruby-red ribbons. And she was in tears, sobbing into the shoulder of a boy who was holding her closely. Pursing my lips, I approached the pair.

"What's wrong?" I asked, checking the time on the watch Seth had gotten for me. I had just five minutes before class.

The boy looked up at me, his eyes glimmering a forest green. "She's lost her partner, a Mystimon. . . It's a Pivar."

Class was starting soon, but I couldn't leave this girl like this. I had to help her somehow. Sighing in resignation, "When did you last see your Pivar?" I directed at the girl. My glance shot up to the boy before turning back to her.

"It was three days ago. . ." she replied between sobs, tears flooding her ocean blue eyes. My eyes traced along her attire. She was wearing a white blouse with a pink scarf tied around her neck loosely. A little warm for a scarf, I thought. Her blue skirt was ruffled, as though she'd been wearing it for days. Dark stains could be seen on her blouse, near the neck line just under the scarf. So she's been crying for days. I didn't need my empathic ability to tell she was distraught. That much was plain.

"Alright," I responded with a sympathetic tone, relaxing my posture, letting my books hang loosely in my arms. Giving her a slight smile, I continued. "Can you tell me where you last saw your Pivar?"

Just then my eyes caught a small ruby red feather glued to the lower rim of her skirt, as she continued. "It was in the plaza. We were playing, and then the bell rang, so I told it I would see it later and rushed to class. . . That was the last time I ever saw it," she said, taking a deep breath.

Nodding, I motioned to the red feather. "May I?" I asked her, thinking that perhaps I could get a read off of it. She glanced down, and gasped in surprise. "Why didn't you simply dismiss it to the Flow?"

As she slowly picked up the feather, her hands quivering, she glanced up at me for a moment, her eyes watering again. "I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't imprinted it. But it's my friend!" she muttered, tears streaming from her glistening eyes. "What's this going to do?" she asked me, handing the feather to me, her hand trembling as she did so, nearly dropping it.

Giving her a wide smile, I responded, "I am a psion. I might be able to get a read off the feather. Maybe it will tell me where your Pivar is. If you don't mind me asking, why hadn't you imprinted it?"

Her lips quivered at that as her eyes gushed. She collapsed into the boy's arms as he sighed, gently rubbing his hand down her back. "She's been having trouble with that part in class," he answered for her.

Being a psion and unable to imprint Mystimon at all, I sympathized with her. "Alright," I responded, pursing my lips. "And who are you to her? Are you her boyfriend? You seem really close."

His cheeks flushed bright red as he shook his head. "N. . . No. . . Just a friend," he stammered. I think you're more than that, I thought.

Glancing down at the feather in the palm of my hand, I closed my eyes. Images flashed before my eyes, too fast for me to get a read on them. Looking up, my gaze turned toward the central stairs, almost empty now and devoid of students. Everyone had gone to class now. "First of all," I started, glancing at the girl. "I sense a connection. A bond between you and Pivar. I think you're just about there on imprinting it. Second, something is drawing me to those stairs; I think the tip of the pyramid."

Quickly, my feet started for the stairs without waiting for a response from the two. Something told me that I didn't have time to waste. I shuffled up the stairs, taking in short breaths all the way. Please, let me not have an asthma attack just before getting there. Glancing back I could see the two kids had followed after me.

As I made it to the second floor, I went for the next flight of stairs without stopping or slowing my pace.

Finally, I made it to the ladder up into the tip of the pyramid. I checked my watch. The astrology class should be starting around this time, but I have a bad feeling. I can't wait. I started up the ladder, the black iron cold and matte under my fingers. As I made it to the door, I pursed my lips,  hearing a loud screaming coming from that direction. I didn't wait as I pushed the wooden door open.

"Get out of here, you damnable bird!" screamed a frazzled-haired woman with golden locks and spectacles hanging off her nose. She furiously swung a broom at a small bird with crimson red feathers and a short beak. The bird flapped its wings defensively and fluttered around the glass ceiling.

"Stop!" I screamed as I shot up from the hatch and standing before her. "This Pivar belongs to this girl here. . . And what do you have against Mystimon, anyway?"

"They're all menaces! Pests!" the woman screamed, her face red and her jaw clenched. "Get it the Undergrave out of here!"

I stopped, pursing my lips as I narrowed my eyes. Glancing around I could see dozens of students, all sitting down or standing up, staring at her with wide eyes and jaws dropped. I looked back at her. A feeling washed over me. Is that grief? "There's more to it than that, isn't there?" I asked her, my voice calm and measured. "You once had a Mystimon, but you lost it, didn't you?"

My question was answered, not just by the stunned look on her face, but also by the faint figure of a small lizard sitting on her desk just behind her. That's so sad. "H. . . How could you possibly know that?" she muttered, as the broom fell from her hands, clattering to the floor.

A slight smile spread across my face as I stared at her with glowing eyes. "Because. . . It's here. And I think it wants you to stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault it died, and I don't know that it blames you, either."

She glared at me for a long time as her eyes began to water. "My poor Psicon," she muttered as her gaze fell to the floor. "I thought I did everything I could for her, my sweet Nymph. When she died, it broke me."

Pursing my lips I took a step closer to her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "Hating Mystimon and attacking this poor Pivar is not going to bring Nymph back. It's just going to make you feel worse," I told her softly. "Besides, I don't think you truly hate them at all. You're just sad and hurt. And that's okay. You're grieving. I lost my father recently. And I can promise you, while the pain never really goes away, it will get better."

Behind me, the girl stepped up from the hatch and took a step toward us, the sunlight glistening upon her red ribbons. "I'm so sorry my Pivar bothered you. But I think it came up here because it sensed you needed help. It sensed your grief," she said softly. "If you want, you can have it. Maybe it will bring you some comfort."

I smiled softly as I glanced back at her. "I don't think that'll be necessary, miss," looking up at the bird, I turned to face her. "Besides, I think you have already imprinted it."

Her eyes went wide as she stared back at me. "Wh. . .What do you mean?"

"I think you know. You know what it's feeling. You knew why it came up here to start with. The only way you could know that is if you had imprinted it," I said, gazing up at the bird, its bright blue eyes staring right back at me. "Mystimon know how we feel and they instinctively come to us when we're sad. They can sense that. It takes a good partner to know what they are feeling."

My gaze turned back to the frazzled teacher. "Nymph came back because it felt your grief, and I don't think she can move on until you forgive yourself."

The woman shook her head, tears streaming from her eyes. "I don't know how!" she sobbed. "I miss her so much."

"You did everything you could for her. What happened isn't your fault. I know it hurts, and she misses you, too."

My gaze scanned around the room. By this point everyone's stunned looks had shifted to sympathetic ones with tearing eyes and sniffling. Glancing back at her, I said, "I think we've made enough of a scene for today," as I placed both hands on her shoulders softly.

She glanced up at me with glazed eyes, her spectacles hanging loosely on the edge of her long pointed nose. "You're right," she said, mournfully, as a single tear fell from the corner of her eye. "I'm really sorry. I hope you won't inform the headmaster about this incident."

I pursed my lips as I stared at her. "No. But if you don't mind me saying, I think you could really use a break. Take some time to yourself to properly mourn your Nymph."

She looked down. "The headmaster said the same thing, believe it or not," she responded, dejected as she took a deep breath. Sounds like Seth. "And maybe he's right."

Turning around, I could see the Pivar had fluttered down from the rafters and landed on the girl's shoulder. Seeing them together made me smile.

Heading back down the stairs, the girl stopped me. "Thank you, so much," she said, giving me a bow. "But, if you don't mind me asking, how did you know that I'd already imprinted Pivar?"

The left side of my mouth curved upward as I bowed in return. "That much is easy. I could see the way she looked at you. I think you'd imprinted her a long time ago, you just didn't know it. You just need to know how to listen to your Mystimon's heart."

She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by that? How do I listen to her heart?"

Smiling, I responded. "That is for you to discover, miss."

"Oh, call me Angie, please."

"Angie," I nodded. "I'm Kairine. I wish you and your Pivar all the luck in the world."

Turning to go, I waved to them both as I gave the boy a wink. Ask Angie out already. Checking my watch, I frowned. I missed class. I'll have a lot of explaining to do with Seth later.

I knew I was in for a long discussion when I got home later.