The Scarlet Forest - Walking on Air

Vivien was finalizing her assignments for the coming end of the current realignment and prepared herself to face Tessa again. While her spellbook had started to behave, she couldn't be certain if or how she would return to humany. She also hadn't finished her assignment regarding the gummys, but she was sure to have another chance in the next cycle. Unless the curse would vanish, but then the problem was solved either way. There was one last thing she wanted to finish, though. Sarah, the mischievous wind spirit was a rare kind and, for the most part, pure elementals were seldom to be seen. Her natural occurence born from a humanoid during a realignment made her even more interesting. With the danger of her 'blessing' being washed away in the next self-cleansing event, Vivien made her way to acquire a report by the sylph about her recent experiences. Luckily she acquired a figment of the sylph's soul in their earlier meeting, which might or might not return to her come the next days. Vivien still couldn't properly control the soul's containment during the realignment, something that could prove to be fatal in the future. So she started to look for a prevention on the side. But for now her research led her to the park. Surely as Vivien considered, this was as good a place as any to hunt for prey or to lay out a trap for an uncautios mage. And her soul pendant pointed her to it...
But as Vivien reached the fountain, she found her pendant lacking in a clear distinction. Her 'friend' was here somewhere, she just didn't know where exactly. The important questions for now were, would she stay in hiding and if yes, would she try to prank her? Vivien decided to engange in a prank herself and activated the pendant once again. She could not order Sarah's soul with the figment she had, but she could play a mind trick of her own. Alas, once she tried to establish a telephatic link, she failed... somehow it didn't work or something was interferring. Or maybe it had something to do with her being an elemental? Vivien marked down a little hypothesis and decided to keep an eye out for any signs of Sarah.  
Sarah was actually close and in her typical transparent state. She watched on as the familiar figure walked into view of her perch and grinned. The sylph suspected she was here for her, but Vivien's uncertain view also told her she didn't know where. Sarah moved swiftly with the wind and a gust began to swirl around the unsuspecting mage in the form of a small twister. During this distraction, Sarah materialized with her tail wrapped around Vivien's body from behind and her arms drapped over her shoulders in a light hug. She rested her head on the mage's right shoulder with a grin and gave a joking 'Boo'.
Yet, the wind had already given Sarah away and so Vivien didn't even try to retaliate at the sudden grab of her shoulders... or react to Sarah's cutesy imitation of a prank at all. „Nice try, Sarah“, Vivien confronted her and turned her face to her right shoulder. „I did not bring my painting equipment, but are you up for an interview? Unless you want to hunt for a dove or something of the like. I can wait.“
Ina rested on Vivien's shoulder and stretched herself out upon Sarah's arrival. Her larger form of a scarf was still a problem for the two. „I am still not used to this larger body.“ She grumbled. „Oh, hi Sarah!“
Sarah smiled as she continuoued to hang seemingly weightlessly on Vivien's back. „Oh, if I was trying to prank you, I'd have skipped the wind tunnel.“ She winked over to Vivien and tightened the wrap her tail had around Vivien's legs. „I suppose an interview would be okay. I just ate a little while ago, so I'm good on that.“ The made a short pause to look at the purple scarf and continued. „Hi Ina.“ She then poked the gooey scarf a little.
Meanwhile Vivien didn't react to Sarah's invitation, but instead hinted at her. „Though I would love to start our interview right away, I fear that you might trip me, deliberate or not. Would you release me please, so that I may sit down at the fountain first?“ Vivien didn't feel save to move, entangled as she was and she was mostly certain Sarah knew that.
Sarah simply gave a small pout. „But I'm so comfy~.“ She whined playfully, before Vivien's feet left the ground while being carried by the wind and sets her down on the fountain's edge. Only then did she release Vivien's legs so she could sit. „There, but I'm staying here.“ She playfully stuck her tongue out at Vivien.
Vivien didn't resist her levitation, nor did she resist her ongoing embrace. After all she wanted something from her. „Alright, dear. Just let me get my notes.“ She opened her bag and pulled out the notebook with the rough sketch of Sarah and the first notes she made last time. „Ready when you are.“
Sarah gave her a nod. „Go right ahead.“ She glanced down at the notes and read what Vivien had already written.
„Last time you gave me information regarding your recreation. This time I would like to inquire what has changed about your nature. Further, how does living as a sylph changes one's perspective and what abilities did you receive aside of the manipulation of the winds.“
Sarah paused, thinking for a bit. „Well... let's start with abilities. I am completely free of gravity, no pull, no push. I can sit in the same spot in the air as long as I want. This naturally allows me to fly and being air means there's no wind resistance either. I can move pretty fast. I've also found that I can become almost any form of air or cloud, from an invisible breeze to a thick fog.“ She paused for another moment as she looked away, a disturbed look on her face. „I rain when I am sad... And sometimes I can become a storm if my mood is low enough.“ She sighed. „I found that out when I lost a good friend.“ She simply stared into the fountain's water for a bit, reliving the still painful memory.
Vivien decided to drop the topic and not pry on it further. Though it might need to come back up when they would talk about perspectives. For now she marked Sarah's replies down. „Alright, I guess I understand the abilities of a sylph and their natural bond well enough to assess how all of this works.“ Vivien wondered what a true elemental could do then. „So let's move on to any shifts in your nature Sarah. What did change for you from being a human?“
Sarah stared into the fountain for a little while longer. „Well, little things don't seem to bother me as much. My attention span is shorter. And well“, she paused, „so do the consequences of what I do in the town. I don't know how many of those lunatics hunting the weak I've turned into crows, and how many of the crows I have catched and eaten afterwards were once people...“ The sylph looked at Vivien with her troubled face. „That sounds horrible doesn't it. I mean, I don't think about this normally nowadays. I used to do this to thugs back at home, but I might have turned them into the other gender for a few days at worst. I never did stuff like this... And I find it hard to care when they are birds.“
Vivien cut in. „But isn't there something else you could 'eat' to refill your essence? If you know about the crows curse, you could just turn to the more natural inhabitants of this town. I mean not all birds can be people. Surely you should be able to determine if a being has a magical aura or not. Not that I know about the existence of real crow mages, but I would not ponder about getting rid of one or two of the real psychos in this town. I had my share of borderline self-defense, if we use normal people's ethics. But the danger of eating an innocent is quite high. That is the reason I became a vegetarian as soon as I entered the town. I grow our plants myself... just to be sure.“
„And I'm living off liquids, so there's no risk for me.“ Ina laid out her part of the discussion, although indirectly criticizing Sarah that way.
Vivien made another note and left the answer open, giving Sarah an option to 'redeem' the real her. „Or is your sylphian nature so strong that you can't forebear to eat avians? An instinct?“
Sarah just shrugged „Like I said, it sounds terrible, but I know that I feed off of creatures of the sky. They are kin to me in this form, but I need them to fuel me. Who they were before doesn't bother me in that moment. I simply thank them for their sacrifice and it's like I've been doing it my whole life. It's only after the fact, when I actively dwell on these things like now that it bothers me.“
„I guess that brings us to your new perspectives. As you already mentioned, you regard a lot of things as a natural occurence now. How do you stand towards humans or accursed people in the town in general compared to before. And that friend of yours... was that an avian too?“
Sarah sighed again, creating a strong wind. „The first thing I register people in this town as now are either a target or a play thing, honestly. But I still only really hunt those out of control, people who have no regard for the life of others. That hasn't changed. As for those cursed into other forms, I tend to gather them and take care of the ones that were discarded. Though I can't guarantee this for living familiars. I'm very good at sensing living thoughts and auras, I had that ability before I got like this. So if they want me, I keep and care for them. If they want to be free again, I try to aid them in that too...“ Her mood dropped as her hair visibly darkened from sky blue to a dreary grey. „My friend, she's already beyond my care... She wasn't a bird, but she tried to be a freedom fighter and it cost her her own freedom.“
„So what?“ Vivien didn't really treat the topic with care. „If I gathered correctly, the arcane realignment might lift their curse anyway if their mind is still alive. The important thing is that you are there for them afterwards, to mend the scars their mind might have endured. Really, for a moment you made me think they died.“ Vivien was a little releived the topic was just dark, not bad.
„You're asking for a thunder bolt to the face there, Viv.“ Ina whispered calmly.
Sarah looked at her a tad angered as a spark flashed in her eyes. „So what?! I had to sit back and watch one of my first friends in this town get bent to the will of another. I don't know if they'll be the same. I don't know if I'll ever see them in town again!“ A rumble resounded as her hair darkened further. „You want me to rationalize this and say 'Oh it'll be okay when everything returns to the past'? No! Screw that! I may have a hard time caring about some things, but at least I'm not cold hearted!“
„And apparently neither are you pragmatic aside for your meals, Sarah. I see a tidbit of hypocrisy here.“ Vivien clearly defaulted to her research demeanor and got ready for a potential bout. „You can't change this town over night and there will be losses on both sides. But that doesn't mean that we should let it hold us back. Your friend might not be dead, neither in body nor mind. So try to find them and make it work. And if you want to really honor them, keep on fighting the evil mages and stop them from acquiring the knowledge they desire. There is little else you can do. To pause because of insecurities helps no one.“
Sarah pushed herself back from Vivien, floating above the fountain's water as small arches of lighting between her tail and the surface were exchanged. „So that's it, I'm not allowed to grieve? I never stopped hunting, but she's...“ Her lip began to tremble as her hair dropped down again and her tail began to puff up. „I.. I can't save her... I tried, I really tried!“ The sparks trailed from her eyes and turned to tears. „That woman, sh-she just laughed and threw me across the field with a look. She, she just laughed and walked away. She broke my friends mind and I-I couldn't...“ The sylph's anger had completely dissolved as the cloud of her tail just began to drizzle into the fountain.
But despite Sarah's emotional display, Vivien stayed by her pragmatic approach. „Use your gifts. You are a wind spirit, right? Try to follow her and find out her weakness. And maybe use your anti gravitational abilities to spirit your cursed friend away. You still got time until the realignment. Afterwards you might lose your advantage after all. You never know until you try, Sarah. Your current form is not a curse.“
She sobbed on, quietly as she rubbed her eyes. „No.... I can't beat her. I'm a breath and she's a hurricane. She already quelled my winds with a wave of her hand. I can't beat Donna and my friend won't leave her!“
The situation had begun to take a turn for the worse. Although Vivien couldn't fathom why any 'freedom fighter' would pick her as a target. „So your friend angered the Greek sorceress? Can't say I ever dared to engange Circe in a fight and I guess I am a millenia to early to attempt it.“ Vivien shoke her head. „Well she is an odditiy in this town and there are things that we can't change after all. Just... try and see what you can salvage after their punishment is over. I will do the same if I meet them.“ Vivien began to open up a new page to end this now pointless discussion. 'Donna' Milton was not really an enemy either of them could take on to free her friend, and she wasn't a psychopath. But Donna never truly punished the innocent as far as Vivien gathered. Punish, yes, permanently trap or kill, no. Nonchalantly, she went back to the previous topic. „With Circe involved, we can't do anything but wait, so may we continue? I would like to classify your abilities by strenght, aside of your stormlike form. Can you show me some of your other maneuvers? Feel free to use them against me once I build up my shield and vent some anger if need be.“
Sarah kept her darkened colour, but her rain slowed down until it stopped. Soon she seemed as calm as before. „Okay...“, she gathered her thoughts, „I think I can do that. Just... things I can naturally do, right?“ She rubbed her eyes and looked at Vivien, eagerly waiting for her to put up her shield.
Ina wasn't sure she wanted to be a part of this test and jumped away from her neck to sit on the edge of the fountain.
To finalize their little setup, Vivien readied her wand and began to cast a protective shield. To increase its strength, she focused it in the front and left her back open. She only meant to take a direct brunt. By that she would be prepared for quite the powerful onslaught. „Alright Sarah, let's start with something simple. I move over to the hedges, to see the result aside of my direct impression behind my windshield.“
Sarah nodded and inhaled the air around her, billowing out her body like a balloon with her deep breath, just to exhale it as a powerful gale at Vivien in the next moment. The hedges did bend and a few branches snapped, while others lost some leaves. The stems of the taller plants creaked and cracked for a short moment. If she had put more power behind it, they would have probably snapped or been uprooted.
Vivien made a note of her ability and left the hedges as they were, but planned to nurse them back up later. She wanted to focus her power on the shield for now and moved a bit further to a fresh part of the hedges. „Alright Sarah, now something stronger. Don't hold back.“
Sarah nodded once again. „Okay, here goes. Ina hold onto something!“ She floated away from the fountain and began to spin rapidly in the air. It took a moment to build up her storm, but soon there was a tower of swirling wind moving towards Vivien's shield and position. As they met each other, the weaker shrubs behind her gave little resistance before being sucked from the ground into the twister and most others were stripped of their leaves on the sides facing her.
Inside this storm, Ina held onto the fountain, but realised that she couldn't hang on az all. „This is going to be messy!“ Ina yelled as she was pulled into the vortex.
Vivien saw Ina being sucked into the vortex in front of her and used her strenghtened shield to disrupt the winds with a powerful discharge into the opposite direction. Once the discharge of the shield had destablizied the vortex, she assumed control of the wind and forces a cross current to annihalate Sarah's force completely. The vortex died down, and the gravity found Ina again, pulling her down to earth with a thud. „Well that blew.“ Vivien mumbled. „Sarah, did you lose control?!“ It was uncertain if Vivien meant it prior or after her interruption.
Still in her routine, Sarah whirled to a stop as her vortex was quelled and changed. „What, lose control? No, you wanted me not to hold back. A tornado is my biggest punch.“ She looked puzzled before jumping with a slight 'Eep', as a bush dropped right through her. „Was it too much!?“
The dazzled Ina tried to reform herself. „Godda..haha...“ She didn't finish her line before she splat hard against the floor below, as she fell down another floor, coating the area around her plum.
„Maybe...“ Vivien made a flippant gesture towards the sudden splat on the floor with her wand. „After all I asked you to attack me. But if you can't focus your attack, how can you willingly use it? There is a huge potential for collateral damage, and not everyone might be able to stop you in time.“ Vivien grabbed her notebook and marked several things down again. At least her danger assesment was in tune with her described airheaded nature. „Ina, are you okay?!“ Only slightly worried, she called into the heart of the destruction.
Ina was still in the process of reforming herself again and only mustered to form a thumbs up.
Sarah huffed. „You wanted me to go all out, so I did! You didn't ask what all out was, just wanted to see it! I'm a force of nature, collateral damage is my thing!“ She looked to the goo pile before her inner ethics came back into play and made her feel bad. „Sorry, Ina.“
Ina wobbled over to Sarah's position. „It's okay, Sarah. You're not the first elemental I've encountered.“
„And not the first that swallowed you.“ Vivien remarked. „Well I got my assessment, let's leave it at that. It at least tells me, that I can resist a sylph's inherent force if I try. Though I don't want to know how a skilled sky mage combines those with their own abilites. And then there are more subtle ways to hurt your enemies with wind.“ Vivien considered the use of 'noise' to torment or daze the enemy and put away her notes after she marked them down. Only then did she try to repair the damage that was done to the park by Sarah, but found her mental strength failing after her recent display. Nothing moved. „I might have to add to my numbers. Maybe I used up more force to tame the wins than I thought...“ She opened her bag and took out a mana leaf tea. „Do you still drink Sarah?“
Sarah came over. „Sometimes. But normal drinks literally go straight through me.“ After she had the option to vent her build up emotions, her hair had lightened up considerably since her breakdown earlier. This had helped to take her mind off of it.
Finally back in shape, Ina joined the little discussion. „I meant before, that back home I had the same thing happen with an undine.“ Ina seemed happy, despite the chaos. Apparently it brought back good memories.
„Ina, one could think you like being eaten by elements and elementals alike. Well Sarah, I got some mana tea. It might be able to feed you... or not.“ Vivien opened up the cold drink and poured down most of it in one gulp. „Here, take the rest as a test.“
„Hey, I want to clear up that an undine is better than a gummy. No extra mass and no smell!“ Ina joked calmly.
Sarah took the drink with her and flew back, positioing herself over the water of the fountain, before she took her own sip of the tea. She paused for a bit, but as expected, before long the droplets hit the fountain. „Yeah, doesn't look like this agrees with me. Maybe if I was earth or water.“ She handed the bottle back.
„Well I didn't actually drink it for the water either. I only wanted to refill my mana.“ Vivien put away her bottle and stood up again. „So, shall we clean up?“ The actually young sorceress was still exhausted and only mustered the ability for mediocre repairs. As she had practiced in her gardens, the small holes in the hedges grew back and one or two bushes came back to life, but none of the debris was cleared. „Sarah can you remove the debris from the walkways?“
Meanwhile Ina hopped back around Vivien's neck with her core settling in the centre of her scarf shape.
„Yeah, not a problem.“ Sarah blew the dirt off the path with a wave of her hand, pushing it back against the bushes. „So I take it that's all for the interview?“
Vivien coughed slightly, but not because of the dust. „Sarah I am not sure that anyone would be disturbed by the dirt on the road“, this time she pointed towards the bushes and branches on the walkway, „but those might. And no I still got one or two questions left.“ Sarah couldn't weasel out off her part of the cleaning.
Annoyed she stuck her tongue out at the mage. „I was getting to those, Viv. You know, little stuff first, then the big pieces.“ She shifted into a smaller version of the tornado, a swirling dust devil, and picked up some of the larger pieces and flung them into the grass and off the path. „Okay...“ She looked at a job acceptable done. „So what are your few questions?“ She continued once she reformed.
„First, can you shed parts of you like Ina? If so I would like to research a sample of it. And second, is the transformative energy that dispensed through you still there? You don't need to answer the second part if you can give me a sample. I am just interested if it 'could' be still infective. Not that I or anyone would inhale you deliberately. The question is only of scientific nature.“
„Well...“ She held up her hand and let it wisp away a part of her solid mist before it reformed again. „I can do that, but I never really tried to bottle it before. As for part two... I'm pretty sure I'm not contagious. I've been in close contact with a few people and they're still solid as far as I have seen.“ She flexed her hand with the mist.
Vivien quickly collected the mist Sarah had offered her and stored it away. „So this missing piece won't hurt you, right?“ Vivien closed the lid of the bottle. „Besides, only because they did not get infected, doesn't mean you are not contagious. As I said, they didn't try to eat or breath you right? Some things get contracted by direct or prolonged exposure, not a one time touch.“
„Some were close enough to breath bits of me in. It was an odd feeling, but it wasn't intentional... You actually got a whiff when I was hanging around your neck.“ She said as a matter of fact.
„Did I?“ Vivien broke the storage back out and took out half the sample. The aforementioned small scale exposure was no measure to make a proper observation, Sarah could still be wrong. Gently, Vivien twirled her half of the sample around her wand. „Well, if you vouch for its safety, let's see how you taste. It wouldn't be the first elemental I taste test recently.“ With the realignment around the corner and her ability to counter curses, she was actually rather intrigued to see her test go awry. The risk to her and her work wouldn't be any less than now. She actually got just enough time left for a field test as a sylph herself.
„What is it with you and eating weird shit.“ Ina said unceremoniously. „First you wanted to taste me and now you're breathing in Sarah.“
Not really interested in Ina's protest, Vivien propelled the matter into her throat. She was rather uninspired by Sarah's taste and actually unable to swallow the lighter than air substance without a show of force. Thus, Vivien more or less spit part of it out again. „You were part Gummy at that time Ina. And it is one way to analyze a substance to see how it tastes. But one should only attempt it when one knows it is not poisonous. And well, I trust Sarah and you. Besides, you know the worst that could happen.“
„It's safer if you have no stomach.“ Ina changed her temper again and was back to her cheery and happy attitude. She more or less resembled Runa that way.
„Oh I can think of several ways to poison a being without a stomach.“ Yet Vivien had to turn it dark again with a remark.
„Go on then.“ Ina said giggling. Her focus was more on the taste test than Vivien's remark anyway.
Sarah joined her laugh a little. „But you know, I wasn't sure it was safe. Whenever I came close, I could have been partially smog, for all I know.“ She winked at Vivien. „Let's just hope you don't find yourself blown up like a balloon later and float off.“ She let out a light chime like a giggle.
Vivien reacted completely calm to Sarah's intended feint. Way to trick someone by making them do exactly what they wanted to anyway. „Well, your pranks aside Sarah, I feel absolute fine.“ In reality Vivien was a little bit disappointed. Her theory was based on Sarah not taking a physical form at those times. Yet she who actually ate her physical form didn't feel different at all, not even slighty. „So apparently you either really aren't infective or I am immune to your corruptive influence.“ Vivien joined in with Sarah's laugh.
Sarah nodded. „Well that's a relief. I didn't want to see a friend pop,“ She swirled around the fountain's statue and reclined in the air. „Has eating stuff like that come back to bite you ever before?“
„I seldom eat stuff I haven't checked in our study. Recently there was the time with the gummy, but it was a side effect of the addictive substance she put me under. And it also confirmed to me, that gummys are not inherently infective. She made herself like that. It still tasted great though, as did Ina, and I only licked her. My new urges might or might not stem from this encounter. It surely made me more sensible to taste tests. If these ideas persist through the realignment, I might check up on my head. I might still be corrupted.“ Vivien began to chuckle, interrupting her own story. „But I prefer real watermelons. For example the hot springs you live close to, some of them have strange side effects, but nothing major. This includes their taste. But one makes a great fertilizer! And another one of them is a mana spring. I like to bath in it, but drinking it might turn me into another elemental. Seeing what has happened to you, I would imagine it could end up turning one into a water sprite. That might not be a bad experience though, but there is always the danger of losing yourself to a curse. I'd rather not risk it. I only risked the taste test, because you seem to have kept your personality mostly intact, so I figured it was no danger.“ Vivien shot Sarah a suggestive look. „Maybe at the end of one cycle I might consider drinking it. Or test it on another, a pet, maybe a volunteer.“
„You dare that and I goo you, I swear I will.“ Ina said
„Ina you are an intelligent being... and my assistant. I would never do such a thing without your consent.“ Vivien protested.
Sarah laughed again. „Well count me out. As much as I'm enjoying myself, I'd like to get my feet back on the ground for a bit.“ She floated down, letting the tip of her tail touch the water. „At times I feel like I should be rooted to a lamp with this tail.“
„Hey, I've never had legs. Don't see me complaining.“ Ina pointed down to her lower half.
„I agree with Ina. Legs are not that important if you can fly or morph yourself.“ This whole conversation about legs made Vivien feel the urge to stretch hers, as she was the only one able to, and so she did. Somehow she felt bad standing still. Unbeknowst to her, the hair on her back lengthened until it reached her small. Ina didn't notice it, since Vivien's hair was long enough to cover her neck even before and nothing physically changed to her. But Vivien's skin tone under the blazing sun seemed a bit more pale than normal, but far less in comparison to her time as a vampire. „So“, she began to question Sarah again, „how does it feel to soar through the skies?“ She didn't even took her notebook out. Apparently she just felt the urge to ask.
Sarah didn't notice anything, instead she smiled and closed her eyes to take stock of herself and her memories. „It's like swimming through the sky, but there is no resistance. No drag, no pull, nothing holding you back. It's a freedom like you'd never imagine~.“
„That sounds lovely.“ Vivien smiled at Sarah and looked up into the sky. It was a clear day in the late October, the only clouds far above the ground and scattered across the place. „Well I sure envy the freedom you got. But that makes it even harder to understand why you would give it up. Sure there is the thing with the food, but I guess one can make it work. Maybe find a way to refill your essence in some other way.“ Vivien seemed to ponder about that question a while longer.
„Well I guess I wouldn't miss the feeling of my toes.“ Sarah chimed. „Maybe if I was born like this it'd be different, but I really miss my old self.“ She smiled back, but realized Vivien's pale complexion. She tilted her head to the side and floated closer. „Viv, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale.“
„I feel great, Sarah, and I actually feel rather fit and excited!“ Vivien's eyes turned sky blue and widened a bit, as her blonde hair got a bit more of a dark shade. „If I am still pale, it might be from the exhaustion when I countered your impressive vortex before. Maybe I should drink a little bit more of my tea after all.“ Vivien leaned down to her bag and looked for a second potion. Her frame slightly shrank down below her clothing, but that was actually hard to notice without focus. With her hands still immersed in her belongings, she looked back up at Sarah. „Say, before you turn back, could you take me on a flight? I'd like to experience it myself.“
Hearing her friend mutter such ideas, Ina quickly jumped off of Vivien's neck. „I'll stay here! I've flew enough today.“
Sarah shrugged with her typical smile. „I haven't truly flown with a passenger, but if you want. We can do a loop around the park.“ Since Vivien felt fine, Sarah decided to drop the subject. It was probably nothing.
„Sure.“ Vivien stopped her thought about her second mana tea and closed her bag. She wouldn't risk losing anything. „So, how do you carry anyone? Or do you want to wrap around my legs again?“ Vivien wasn't sure how she would lift her, but she could imagine some ways how she herself would lift her in her stead.
Indeed Sarah coiled around her legs and wrapped her arms around Vivien's waist. „I think this will work. I won't be going too fast, since you're going to give me some drag. But, this should be fun! You ready?“ The smile on Sarah's face only grew. This would be exciting to her, too!
Ina stood back and waved the two goodbye, as they prepared to take off.
Vivien leaned back into the solid mist that was Sarah. While she rested against her, she looked upwards, past her friends head and already admired the deep blue that encompassed the sky of Sunnyglade and now actually started to resemble her hair too. Her skin drew rather pale and finally reached the level she had as a vampire. „Let's fly, Sarah!“
Sarah quickly took flight, but not in a straight line. Instead she propelled herself forward with a spin and got a good altitude before she turned and headed over to the swamp first. She could feel the wind drag against Vivien's body, but it wasn't as much as she thought. „Put your arms out.“ She advised. „It's more fun!" She giggled and twirled in the air again.
Sarah's weight below her lightened, as Vivien's body started to lose its biological connection to the ground and her solid matter transformed to a more gaseous and amorphus form. Slow but steady, it ended up only composed of an imitation of a real elemental's natural essence. While Vivien's breasts slimmed down to B-cups and her limited magical clothes adapted to snuggle even closer to her body, the reduction in the wind drag was not the cause of the speed up both of them experienced shortly afterwards. Vivien started to enjoy the feeling in the sky, but instead of spreading her arms, she leaned into the flight direction and snuggled her arms along her waist, to reduce the drag even more. „Come on Sarah, let me see everything! Let's speed up and fly higher!“ Vivien's voice vied with the wind for Sarah's attention.  
„Alright, let's go!“ Sarah didn't mind, she actually smiled and showed her consent before she first sped and then pulled up higher and higher. She flew both of them over the whole swamp in a jiffy and immediately afterwards the rose garden with the flowers zipping past underneath. With the fun she was having, she barely noticed the lightening weight under her. With the nursery and the tool shed running by them below, they quickly closed in on the tennis courts.
With Vivien's last magical garments finally merging with her new fake elemental essence and her skin losing the last shed of humanity, she completely took on the white clad form that Sarah already sported. Her other none magical garments more or less started to fall through her. The only thing she actively kept was her mundane bag, which troubled her. She had a hard time to keep it on her 'body' and to stay solid enough around her neckline. She had planned for this scenario on the ground, but now she was high above. At least now Sarah had to feel the difference, as her grip on Vivien's legs changed to an intertwined amalgam of two soft tails. Feeling a bit mischievous herself after her apparent transformation, Vivien decided to test her new abilities in that moment and broke their speed, to escape Sarah's embrace for just a moment and to grab her misty right hand with her left. „Don't worry Sarah, I got this!“ She chimed, just to drag both of them down several feet before she found her own ability to float properly. A strange exhilarating sensation came over her. „I understand why you loved it so much the last weeks!“ Vivien turned around to Sarah midflight and smiled at her.
Sarah was baffled and blinked as she was suddenly the one following and not leading. „Viv?! You're.... uhm.“ She tried to look for the right words. „You... You're flying!" She finally shouted over the wind, all the while being pulled along. She untangled her tail from Vivien's new one and flew up to match her speed. She laughed. „I think you might have lost weight“, she joked. „You probably shouldn't have eaten that air.“
Vivien wanted to roll her eyes, but didn't find the need to. Instead she felt rather intent to make a pun. She did expect to end up like her after all. „Well Sarah, wasn't your argument airtight?!“ Vivien's giggle chimmed with the wind, as she teased her about her previous self-assured comment. She turned back around to focus on the front and let the wind instead carry her messages around her and directly to Sarah's body. There was no need for such things as looking at your partner if you controlled the fabric of sound, or became the fabric for that matter. „I don't care. The realignment is just around the corner, and if for some reason I need to turn back, I would find a way. I always do!“ Vivien was torn. On one side she felt the described beauty of the flight, the happiness of the sky and she realized the natural urge to be anywhere at all times, and maybe lighten the mood of others through banal pranks. Although the later surely was mostly in her interest and not the one of the pranked. Yet on the other side, she didn't feel compelled to this life and neither did she feel an urge to grasp for the life of another. She wasn't a true Sylph, yet. Maybe in body, but not in mind. Reassured of her pragmatic approach to her joy, she suddenly broke away from Sarah, „Let's go!“, and soared higher. For now the important part was to conduct her research... as interesting as possible. Like a true researcher there was one thing she needed to know. How high could she climb and how far would she go? And most importantly how far would the town let her go? How high did the barrier of Sunnyglade reach? What lied beyond the arcane shroud? How many birds and elementals lived up there? Aside of the strange idea to eat a bird, which she quickly shoke away, these were the thoughts she had to follow up on first.
During all of this, Ina sat at the fountain and waited for Vivien to return. „Ah, geez, what's taking them so long...“ She started to be bored and for the little goo that seldomly came without the urge to sleep.
Sarah soared after Vivien, laughing the entire time. Having a real person to fly with was a great experience, since she had only flown alone up until now. She never cared much for her natural born stepsisters, the true sylphs. Sarah shot ahead of Vivien, even though she didn't even know where they were going, but she knew she could be there even faster. So the pair went onward, straight up with the heavens as the limit. „Come on, you can see the whole town if we go higher! The brothers want to meet you, too!“, she laughed. „North, South, East, and West, the winds want to talk to you!“ She spun around her own axis again, this time for herself, and did not look back. Both knew that as sylphs their words would reach each other regardless by now.
Vivien kept Sarah's pace for quite some time, but slowly lost a little pace until she started to shake her. Once they broke through the lower clouds at around 700 feet, she chimmed after Sarah to stop. If she still had a blood-filled heart, it might have been beating like crazy, now she only felt mirthful when she stared at the sun and felt the magical winds above Sunnyglade cross their streams. Yes, she could sleep here forever... or sing about that feeling. She noted the presence that tried to break out of her, to sing a welcome song for every of the aforementioned brothers. Yet, it didn't feel natural to her, so she repressed this unprofessional thought. No matter how much she enjoyed it, ultimately she was Vivien, the researcher, not a present, lasting or natural sylph. She opened the bag, which still clung to her body. After she managed to roughly control her form even without a huge strain on her. Of course she couldn't test Sarah's incorporal maneuvers with it, but up here she didn't need to. From the inside she took her notebook and her ballpen. She struggled, should she start with notes, write down a train of thought or focus on drawing this epic landscape.
During this time, Sarah whirled backwards and circled Vivien, still with that playful grin on her face. „Boring, always the scientist!“ She giggled and watched her take her first notes. „Ignoring your new kin is rude as well, they may not be truly related to you, but they still want to meet you!“ She floated over to some clouds with a mischievous smile and swirled them to take the shape of a chair to sit on.
While Vivien first thought about drawing Sarah next in her new pose, after she asked her to express the feelings she must also feel inside of her, she found Sarah's words rang true. Once she took note of 'her' brother's currents above the park, she placed the notebook back into the bag and closed it. Something about the streams above the town really didn't end up, they almost acted unnatural or at least not like the book said nature should. „Well Sarah“, Vivien chimed at her and closed in on her little cloud party, „I guess you are right. It would be fair to give your friends and 'our' brothers a greeting, despite as short as my time with them might be. They deserve to know me nonetheless.“ She smiled at her friend and currently possible sister. She didn't really consider what being an elemental for an approximate week could entail. The thought kind of made her embarassed, but thank goodness the only thing that gave it away was a slight uncontrolled wind current of hers and that one could have been of joy. To distract herself, she finally decided to get rid of the strange new urge she had and invited Sarah to join in. „Would you sing with me for them together?“
Sarah nodded and both of them got ready to sing a song, orchastrated by the fabric of sound itself, but overcome with a myriad of her mirthful feelings and setting them finally free, Vivien couldn't help but raise her voice first. Once the first syllable reverberated from her heart-flushed lips, she vanished entirely. The lay that replaced her existence was an amalgam of everything gay and breathtaking she ever knew. Everything around her ceased their natural existence and joined her ambition. Temporarily, she became the orgasm, the beauty of the untouchable, the essence of esperance, and the meaning of life.
Sarah was swept away by Vivien's sudden outburst and faded away as well. She chimed as well as she could and tried to follow Vivien's beautiful sound. It was not as great or lovely a song as Vivien's, but it was not her first. The first was always the best sounding, as a sylph offered herself and her heart to the winds. At least her quick state of mind allowed her tendrils of air to catch Vivien's bag, as it fell through her now non physical form. Like a well planned concert hall, their adoptive brothers echoed in return, reliving the myrthful experience of Vivien's heart over and over, and welcomed the two to the sky with their own warm sounding return. With all the other chimes coming together, Sarah finally got herself in tune with the five others. Slowly she became one with the sky too, but made sure to at least stay sentient enough to keep Vivien's bag intact. Contrary to her isolation from the natural sylphs, Sarah loved the feeling to be one with her brothers and now also one with Vivien, her temporary sister. Their essences intertwined and this was the bliss and feeling that would maybe bring her back to the skies embrace after she returned to humanity. This feeling was hard to forget.
Soon after Vivien and Sarah stopped their lay and the world seemed to have a hard time to recover from the beauty it had endured. Although it could have just been the pair trying to cope with going back to being 'people'. There was a pause, a moment like an eternity, after which the world began to spin anew. The four winds intensified and completely enfolded the two tenors in their caring embrace. Vivien just hang there, enjoying it, but keeping her mind calm and collected all the time. She didn't want to give in to her new feelings any further, but she would enjoy them to the last of this cycle at least. Now she only had to find a way to break it to Miles and stop her still ongoing guffawning and ringing laughter. Well she already knew how she would break it to Runa, or how to break her sanity. But this was another part of the problem. It was all part of the plan. It was really hard to judge the existence of an elemental with the mindset of a human, but it would have been premature to abandon any of it. She loved her humanity.
Sarah pulled her form together with a look of pure contentment on her face. She sighed, exhaling her breath visibly in the form of a current that swirled around her. „I know you heard it! North, you can't be my big brother forever... I may be back on the ground soon.“ She cooed, still holding onto Vivien's bag. After her display the other three currents joined her swirling hug, too. „I'll miss you all too, but I can always come back.“
To Vivien she seemed to have a lone conversation, as she danced in the winds. Vivien had at most a physical connection to the winds for the time, as her transformation was recent. She might or might not call them brothers later, but seeing Sarah endulge in what seemed to be a familiar relationship with them somehow made her feel a little jealous. Maybe it was all in Sarah's mind or she hadn't given herself far enough to her new existence as a sylph, but she wans't sure if that would be a wise step either. Sure she felt great, but she couldn't risk to lose herself in those sensations, to give up on her earthly duties and life. But Sarah seemed fine. At least she said she was and that she wanted to return to the ground. Maybe there was still a scope to explore without crossing the point of no return. She gave way and flew off a little. She knew about the inherent abilities of a sylph and how the brothers could come to their aid. If she concentrated, she could still feel Sarah scream at her at the caves. Not that her current form could cringe like her human body did. Now it was up to her, she wanted to see what it would be like to combine her knowledge with the winds itself. She focussed, offside of the happy family display, and tried to collect her magic essence together with her natural essence. Sure she corrupted her ne elemental body by tapping into the magicka streams bordering the town and it made her feel bad, but the researcher inside her wanted to see what an unskilled sky mage could do. And maybe then image what a skilled one might be able to.
It took Sarah a while to realize the departure of Vivien. But when she stopped giggling and opened her eyes, she saw Vivien off by herself and gave a playful frown. „Oh now, you four are being rude. I may be the older one, but she needs her brothers attention as well!“ She pointed at Vivien and the four currents turned around towards the absorbed researcher. Sarah threw Vivien's bag into the group and they began to carry it by a seemingly unseen hand. Sarah smiled, following the four on their way to Vivien and started the assault. „Dogpile!“ The four brothers offered her the bag, taking her by surprise, as they began to whisper to Vivien in a nearly unhearable frequence. It wasn't less heard than felt.
Vivien was surprised by the winds' assault and couldn't keep her focus. The mana she had collected from the tainted streams that surrounded Sunnyglade dispensed with the winds and left her drained. Now she neither collected on a new experience and was further too exhausted to start anew. If it weren't for the gentle nature of the sudden embrace, and her bag, she would have been angry, but instead she figured she might be able to continue another time. Slowly she gave into her 'brothers' demands and caressed them back with the little control she had over the free winds and her form and used her natural abilities to dance with them. It was an interesting experience. And once she accepted their intimate feelings, she began to feel something else. She felt the vibe that resonated with her being and realised it was the winds' way to talk with her, just like she had given them her feelings as a lay before. Vivien smiled at her revelation and looked over to Sarah with a mirthful smile again. This could be invaluable! Apparently Sarah wasn't completely insane, if not for the fact that she wanted to give up on her brothers, even for a time. While only a sylph might be able to understand them, these entities were a powerful and yet gentle force to reckon with. Gently Vivien began to chime again, but not a lay, it were her own gentle and hearfelt memories, stories, tragedies, and her desires to return to her past, to a world far from here. And despite all of this longing, the warm memories also included stories about Miles and about her research after they came here. She grabbed the bag they returned and opened it to reveal her notes. Though bad as they were as chimes, she at least tried to encompass even her dry text of research into her song, and told the winds about the hidden world beneath the grey sea, they seldom treaded unless called upon.
Sarah listened to her chime to her brothers and smiled as the four brought themselves tight in around Vivien. They chimed back about old tales, old travels, and mortals long past. There was much knowledge collected by the four and they shared much, but Vivien didn't really catch more than half of the things her brothers wanted to tell her and aside of their momental feelings towards the events understood not even a third as the time grew short. Nonetheless, she enjoyed the process itself. The feeling of their vibrations was just right and felt so nice. It was strange to actually be part of the sound. Her senses were all right in a wrong way.
Sarah interrupted their first meeting by tackling Vivien with a laugh and hugged her around the neck. „That was too much talk.“
As Sarah lashed on Vivien and disrupted her bothers melody, Vivien chimed back to them and shared her mischievous anxiety in a short farewell chime. That actually signaled the winds to seal the way around them, as the little mischief-maker was to be punished. Vivien wound her tail around Sarah and grabbed her hands, before she set out to a freefall inside the winds' newly created tube. There was only one way for Sarah and her and it was down, 25 feet per second.
Sarah felt the circle of her brothers and Vivien's hold on her as they began to fall. She wiggled under her grip, but was caught tightly in her grasp. There was a moment where she stared at the wall of clouds and then the town far below. Then she looked at Vivien and she gave her a daring smile. The heft was still in her hand and the experience was on her side. She quickly took charge and forced herself and Vivien faster towards the ground. She would play chicken and Vivien was gonna lose.
Despite that, Vivien didn't care what Sarah made from the action, the action itself was the fun for her. Sarah wanted to end a joyful event, Vivien restarted one. With Sarah pushing them even quicker forward, their speed quickly rose by ten feet, so that after the initial seven seconds only fifteen remained. Once they enclosed on the last ten seconds, Vivien began to stop and gave way for Sarah's free movement. Her fall would already end at the last fourty feet, gliding down to Ina's position. While it wasn't impossible to dispense oneself as a sylph and reassemble, as a researcher she wasn't willing to give in to the risk without preceding tests, and then there was her bag. Shattering the contents was not an option.
Sarah however used the loosened grip and turned around to look back up and give Vivien a wink, before she hit the ground with full speed on her back, puffing out like breath hitting a window. She bellowed out like a thin mist for a few seconds, before the tendrils of smoke reversed and reformed her, slowly. Her reformed body reclined against the grass of the park. „You know what my thought was just as I hit the ground?“ She asked but didn't wait for a guess. „This would be a terrible time for the town's magic to turn me back.“ She smiled and laughed heartily.
Vivien descended upon her joking short-term sister Sarah and her own hiding goo friend Ina. Her little friend had fallen asleep waiting for her and she felt a little guilty for the affectionate girl. Considering their latest adventures, they seldom were apart more than an hour... or a good night's sleep. Subconsciously she created a small wind pouch below the slime to carry her through the air on the way back to the study. It didn't even occur to her that it might be weird not to use magic for such an action. Vivien had already made great steps to align herself with the mystical existence that was a sylph, but kept her own attitude most of the times. Sure there was this urge to share her feelings in weird ways and a slight hunger, most probably owed to her recent magical overdose, but those would only be there for a short time. And if it might be more permanent, she could always ask Miles to put a ban on her. Though since she shed most of her humanity compared to her time as a transient vampire, she wasn't sure it would work again... nor that the counter lotion she extracted from Reith transformative concentrate recently would work. It did not concern sylphs. After all, now she was like an elemental. Aside of a mana sprite, that was the furthest away from a physical presence as Sarah had just shown her. Vivien smirked back at Sarah's remark, Ina already well seated on a comfy pocket of air. „I am sure you would have been able to counter your fall with magic. And if for some reason you wouldn't have seen the magic storm come, I would have been prepared to capture you myself. I won't ever let you fall Sarah. Besides, I would fall, too. But let's meet again, alright.“ Vivien came closer once more, but prepared herself mentally already to leave the park and go home. The only visible things on her were the bag, the levitating ball of goo and the weird silhouette on her chest in form of her soul pendant.
Sarah sit back up and rose into the air again. „Yeah, let's meet again! Today was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind helping you with your art. Maybe I'll see you around.... sis.“ She glanced back and gave Vivien another wink on the last word. Apparently the idea to treat someone like a new sister embarassed her herself, well she wasn't alone.
Vivien felt weird as Sarah openly called her sis and the winds took up around her. It wasn't a joyful but an embarassed reaction again, but who would tell the difference?  The whole elemental kinship idea was a weird concept for a conservative human.
Still exhilarated, Sarah buzzed past Vivien and took off down the street without another word.
Vivien smiled warmly and sent a chime after her, transferred by the branches of her new 'brothers'. The concept still failed a bit foreign. „Don't be a stranger, you hear?! My sister shouldn't always make me find myself! Just come to the estate!“ With that Vivien soared back into the sky herself, just high enough to evade the madness of the town and low enough to not endanger her girlfriend Ina to have a nasty accident on the ground should she lose control. Her speed followed a gentle draft.