Hearing her guild master concerned for her safety, while endearing, made Fleo ground her teeth.  She wanted to use the gifts she had been given, not sit by the sidelines where it was safe.  So what if she got hurt?  Her greatest pain was not being able to do anything, and she felt that few mortal wounds could come close to that degree of soul-rending agony.  Fleo was sure, more than anything, that she would much rather her candle burn short and bright rather than last a lifetime unlit.

But the dusty girl bit her tongue and stepped to the side with Felix and Damian.  Her resentment quickly metamorphosed into worry as Jamie attacked.  The woman who had entered, Angelica, was not a stranger to Fleo—she knew that this shadow-wielder was a member of the council.  How could that be possible?  Had she defected from the grand magic-regulating international agency to take out a personal vendetta on Jamie?  Or had Pheonix Wing done something so irreparably horrible that the council had sent out its most ominous wizard to take it down?  Fleo couldn't help but bemoan the fact that such a dramatic event in the guild's lifetime had to happen on her first day as one of its members.

Her eyes followed the combat to the best of their ability.  The duel between Jamie and Angelica was fast, furious, and -as far as Fleo could discern- an even match.  The two flowed like a rushing river around one another, parrying and thrusting and dipping and slashing in a display of blade mastery.  Fleo couldn't help but notice that Jamie seemed unnaturally calm.  Either the master was such a prodigy in the art of swordsmanship to allow its instinct to take over, or its mind was wandering.  Fleo tried not to let the latter option increase her concern.

For a moment it looked like Jamie's box had entrapped its opponent and decided the battle.  A cheer was on Fleo's lips the second before Angelica melted away into a darkness—a darkness that stung the guild master between the ribs.  Fleo's adulation turned into a cry of anger and dust billowed around her.  She didn't even spare a thought to the rashness of her action.  Fleo had been a member of Pheonix Wing already an hour, but its connection with her, sealed by the mark on her belly, filled her with emotion.

But just as quickly it was over.  Angelica suffered a wound even more lightening-quick, and far more effective.  In less dire circumstances Fleo would have questioned the need to put handcuffs on someone that had been stabbed, but she contented herself with staring listlessly at Angelica until Jamie called out for aid.  Fleo was the first to the guild master's side, muttering “Dust Craft: bandages.”  Thousands of minuscule particles, highly absorbent, very soft, and locked into one another like puzzle pieces, formed in her hand in the shape of a strip of cloth.  Fleo offered it to the guild master for a moment, then quickly decided to apply it herself and save Jamie some trouble.  [color=C2B280]“Will this help?  Are you going to be okay?  That was insane.  Is this an everyday occurrence for this guild?   Don't answer that, nevermind.  Dumb questions.”[/color]