Stormy night

Carrying in her arms a basket full with fresh spices and vegetables, Tonati rushed into the fortress to avoid the rain. Once safe beyond the threshold, she watched as the summer day that had started sunny and hot, decided to change its mood to rainy and cold. Thick clouds had gathered in the sky without notice and just as she turned for the kitchen to prepare dinner, Tonati was almost ran over by a green blur

"Spark!" Salix exclaimed. "It's raining! It's the first summer rain! We must celebrate!" She added and started to jump up excitedly.

"We must?" Tonati asked whilst she recovered her balance. "Well, it's nice to have rain."

"Yes! Celebrate!" The small dryad interrupted happily. "Why, my sisters and I would go dance and sing around our trees and..." Salix's voice trailed off and her once happy expression faded. Tonati knew what the dryad was thinking; her sisters were now gone, as were their trees. Unable to stand against the pollution the Plundarian mutants had thrown in the forest, only Salix and her willow tree had still been alive when help arrived. The dryad's patch was a barren land, which not even Peachyra's powers had been able to heal.

Tonati looked at the dryad and made a decision. Putting down the basket, she took Salix's hand and plunged back into the yard, laughing and yelping as the drops of rain hit them.

"wha...?" Salix asked, surprised.

"Come, Salix!" Tonati said, still pulling the small nymph. "Tlaloc has granted rain! I bet your tree is real happy!" Salix smiled and joined the Aztec, creating their own form of celebration by learning songs from each other. By the time Salix decided it was enough, the weather had turned wilder. Tonati cringed when a powerful thunder rumbled and both girls hurried inside. The day was turning to evening; lunchtime was long over.

"Well, that was fun." Tonati said to the dryad, who had picked the basket up and was leading the way down into the corridors. "We�d better go and change clothes now; leave that in the kitchen, please and I'll make us a good meal. I'm starving!"

"Sparky?" Salix had stopped and turned.

"Yes?" Tonati was squeezing the excess of water off her hair and she looked now into huge green eyes.

"Thank you. The tree thanks you as well." Salix hugged her human friend tightly and then ran to do what she had been asked to. Tonati watched her go and smiled, before a small shiver ran through her body. She decided to have a quick hot shower.
* * *
Hours later, the storm had not abated. If anything, its strength had increased and Tonati went to do a quick check on the courtyard, worried about the possibility of floods. The thick and heavy clouds, moved by the winds, swirled in the sky. And strong winds they were! Even with the supportive protection of the hill�s outer walls, the trees within their patio were bending against their force. Huddling her body against the pelting water, Tonati approached one of the doorways to the yard.

*This is no storm! This is a small hurricane!* She thought, and hoped it would remain small.

She was making sure that the drainpipes were working without problems. Once finished, she turned to retreat inside the Fort and she jumped back as she hit a tall figure.

"Syms! You scared me!" Tonati swatted at his arm. �And you're soaked!� She whimpered while she tried to brush the water off of her.

"Sorry, Sparky." Said the smiling Sayajin, not sorry at all. He shook his head to let droplets of cold water fly everywhere.

"Hey! Stop it and go get dry before you �or I- catch a cold!" Tonati scolded him as she walked out of range. Walking down the hallways, she could hear his footsteps, splashing all the way after her. "I thought you'd teleport directly here from the Tower. What happened? Did you forget the way back and fell into a river?"

"Oh, I decided to enjoy the rain and fly through it for a while." Syms looked over his shoulder, to the storm. "It's a deluge Sparky, a deluge! I was almost hit by a lightning a couple of times before I decided to teleport. It was great!" He finished with a grin.

Tonati jumped, startled by a lightning bolt that flashed brilliant and very close to them. "Glad you had fun with it." She said dryly.

"What's the matter? Scared of some sparks, Sparks?" Syms grinned.

She glared at him and walked away, leaving a perplexed Syms behind.

***

Later at the kitchen, Tonati had been busy working on dinner. So far she had managed to ignore the lightnings, but the thunders almost made her drop a saucepan. The sniggers from the pixies had been very audible as she had juggled with the pan until she finally got a firm grip on it. Their constant �help� and laughter had done very little to improve her temper. Tonati knew she was over reacting, but the tempest was unusually powerful and unyielding; it was making her nervous and she was trying to distract herself by cooking.

Yelping, Tonati threw a tray she had rushed to rescue from the oven, into the sink. It was another batch of ruined cookies. The first one had been too salty; the second one had been too spicy and it had turned a weird hue of red. This third batch had proved viable, but a small distraction had given room for them to burn.

�Maldici�n!� She cursed as she tried to open the water-tap and cool down her singed fingers. The mittens she had used had not been thick enough to keep the heat away and spare her hands. �Maldita, maldita sea!� Tonati doubly cursed as the tap finally gave in, soaking her completely before she could close it again.

The pixies� chuckles grew louder. They would quiet when she scowled at the mischievous pranksters, but the instant she looked away, they would start anew. And as she changed aprons and gathered her long hair in a ponytail, she saw them move objects. They did nothing in plain sight but, subtly, they had changed salt containers for those of sugar or flour. Tonati then had an idea and grinning evilly, she gathered more ingredients for pies. From within her recipe box, she retrieved two cards, placing them where she could read the instructions easily. Getting a large knife, she started to chop and dice vegetables with force. Suddenly the pixies� voices and giggles stopped; one of the cards title was �PPP: Pixie and Peach schnapps Pie�. Satisfied that the tiny creatures were behaving, she tried to grab a flask of some spice when another thunder rumbled. The sound, strong enough to make the glassware tremble, made her lose the hold on the canister. The crystal container hit the pie, sending the crust to the floor before the sweet filling joined it. Tonati closed her eyes, wincing at the noise of the breaking glass when the flask finally fell. She stood there motionless, knowing that the pie was ruined and that this time, it had been all her fault. Tonati cursed the storm; she cursed her clumsiness and the flask producer. Feeling awkward with all the tension, she forced her fists to open, doing a conscious effort to relax. It was only a storm, and it was only a pie.

�One over spiced pie� to dump.� Tonati sighed and had started to clean up the �disaster�, when she heard the whisper of a movement just behind her. With swiftness born from many hours of hard practice, she sent a kitchen knife flying, expecting to scare a pixie away.

�I�ll take this as your way to tell me dinner is not ready yet.� Zhyan said, watching the trembling knife stuck 1/3 of its length into the doorjamb and quite close his left boot.