Grove of the Druidic Conclave

It had been a while since Jun had seen the great dragon in her true form. She hadn't felt this dwarfed since training with Fundor deep within the volcanic chamber. But this time she was staring into those gigantic works of art that were a dragon's eyes,surrounded by trees, cool air, and fresh soil, with friends and family within walking distance. It was a much more pleasant experience.

"I guess you're referring to this?"

Jun gave a little curtsy, accentuating the leaves of her skirt. Despite the two weeks elapsed time her living druidic outfit held up much better. There was only a little yellowing at the edges of the leaves, where as last time the outfit was half dead after a single week.

"Yah, my druidic magic has gotten stronger. Look." Jun raised her hands up and wiggled her fingers playfully. Then she focused. Va'nei would notice a much more controlled, coordinated flow of druidic energy from both her finger tips and the ambient environment. It started small, very small, and a correspondingly small seed formed out of nowhere within the earth. Afterwards the magical flow increased exponentially, resulting in the seed growing.

"You see what I was doing wrong before? I was trying to do it all at once. It's easier to manipulate a small living organism into a large one, as opposed to creating a large one out of thin air, so I realized I was better off creating a small organism to work with. That way I can still make whatever I want." Indeed, as she spoke the little seedling rapidly expanded into a large, healthy, tree-trunk like vine.

"This next part is even cooler. Watch." As the vine continued to grow, Va'nei would notice odd, marble-like fruiting bodies growing out of offshoots along the vine. They came in various colors ranging from a deep mahogany, swirling red, to a translucent grey with white glowing spots within its flesh. "You see, it's still hard for me to keep the other magical energies from infecting my creations, but with some concentration and practice, I can instruct the magic to coalesce in a way that doesn't hurt the plant. The vine is just fine, and the extra magic is kept safe in those fruiting bodies. Also, look!"

Jun waved her hands apart. The large vine stopping growing. She then raised one hand forward and thrust her palm up. The fruiting bodies popped off the vine and began to dance around Jun. Jun then turned to her side and face her palm towards the air. One of the dancing orbs, a red one, flew to her palm and then popped. A powerful, but concentrated burst of flame careened out of her palm and towards the ground. There was a flash, and a small crater was left behind. Jun then took her other palm and summoned a blue orb to it. Then that orb popped, releasing writhing ribbons of water which floated about until they struck the ground.

"One more thing." Jun closed her eyes and focused. She focused very, very hard. The greyish orb and a dark violet orb floated towards each of her palms. Va'nei would sense Jun straining quite a bit, almost alarmingly so.

"Twilight... dancers..." The orbs pulsed and then burst. Jun now held a white flame and a black flame, one in each hand. The two flames seemed to struggle to grow larger, as if trying to form into something big and powerful. There was a swirling of mana around her and a wooshing, jet-engine like sound-

And then it stopped. The flames unceremoniously went out, and Jun collapsed on her knees. Gasping she said, "Ugh, nevermind." She looked disappointed. "Still can't do it."

Jun flopped over and looked up at the motherly dragon. "You know, your breath is a lot more pleasant than Fundor's." Then she stared up at the Conclave's canopy.

"You're right. I just got excited is all. That spell I was trying to cast is impossible anyways. I've only known of 3 people who could do it. One was my grandmother, the other is the high priestess of that temple down Mau River, and the third is possibly Grandma of the Black Tower. None of them are normal humans by the way. I don't even think Commander Viddik of Gauldin can do it. And I've seen him freeze an ocean before."

The vine from before began growing again. It extended its tendrils and picked Jun up while morphing into a leafy approximation of a lounge chair. "I'll be fine in a few minutes. So what's the next lesson?"

Jun saluted and laid back in the lounge chair. She took a deep breath and relaxed.

Or at least, she tried to. She was still somewhat upset. She knew casting that spell would be all but impossible. So why did she think she could do it? She tried to reassure herself that her idea was clever, to use a flaw in her druidic spellcasting to her advantage. But in the end wielding light and dark energies simultaneously is something reserved for beings of a legendary sort. And Jun had outgrown her desire to be a legend.

Right?

After several minutes Jun found her body was renewed in strength. She walked over to the wheelbarrow and took a small fragment of what was left of that sweet bread. She took a large bite.

With a slightly muffled voice she said, "Ok, I'm ready to go."