Viola was laying on her bed. She was holding her crystal between her thumb and her index, staring at it intently. The crystal was shining a bright, pleasant violet color.
On the other side of the room, Kurama was laying on his bed. He was reading one of his books in the mean time. Viola couldn't help but remember what happened to Penny.
************
The group was walking down the hallway. Viola was staring at her crystal just as intently. Maybe more so than her was Penny. Viola spoke up, happily.
"This is great! I still can't believe I finally got my crystal!"
Penny responded back to her.
"Now you're officially one of us now!"
Viola smiled.
"Yeah. I guess I am."
"And what's cool is that your crystal looks so much like mine."
Penny turns and starts walking backwards. She reaches into a pocket of her clothing and pulls out her own crystal. That crystal was glowing a bright pink color.
"See?"
Kurama spoke out to Penny.
"What you mean, Penny, is the color of the crystal. All the crystals have the same diamond shape."
Penny looked back at Kurama.
"Well, duh! Of course I mean that! Viola knows exactly what I mean, right Vio-AAUGHH!!
Penny, unable to see where she was going, had crashed into one of the suits of armor that were set up as decoration. The armor fell apart and clattered over the floor in a pile. Penny was buried in the middle of it. Throughout the event, Viola had the same reflection thing happen that gave her a sense of the whole hallway.
Viola quickly rushed over.
"Oh no, Penny! Are you alright?"
Some pieces of armor moved and Penny emerged, looking dazed.
"Yeah, I think so."
She looks around at the armor scattered around.
"Oh no, not again!"
Viola didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned.
"Uhhh... Again?"
Kurama spoke up.
Penny has a bit of a reputation for knocking over the armor decoration. It drives Rabbit mad."
"Oh does it ever. If she sees this, she'll give me another lecture."
She picks herself up and begins gathering the pieces of armor together again.
"Do you want me to help you, Penny?"
Penny looked up at her.
"Thanks. But these suits of armor are different than the ones we wear. You'll mostly just slow me down by me explaining where everything goes. Go on ahead. I'll see you later."
Viola hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. She turned and followed Kurama to their room.
************
Viola was still marveling over the crystal. However, out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kurama glancing over at her. However, every time he looked, it wasn't a friendly glance.
After several times of this happening, Viola got fed up with it. She sat up on her bed and glared irritated at Kurama.
"What is it? What's wrong? Are you mad at me for some reason?"
Kurama didn't look up from his book, but his eyes weren't moving either.
"No. I'm not mad at you."
"Then why do you keep glancing over here?"
Kurama sighed.
"I'm angry with what's happened, that's all."
"What? At me getting my crystal?"
Kurama put his book down and looked at her.
"No! Of course not. That would be the very last thing I would ever get mad at. It's a truly wonderful thing to get."
"Then wha-"
"I'm angry at what you did to get it."
Viola stared into Kurama's eyes for a few seconds before she understood what he was talking about.
"Oh... You mean the assassin?"
"Yes."
He picks his book back up and pretends to read it again.
"I was absolutely scared out of my mind again when we lost track of you. Even more so when I saw him just about to kill you."
"Look I'm...I'm sorry. I don't know what to-"
"You don't have to say anything. Just remember that the next time you decide to run off like that..."
He looked back at her.
"...I don't want to lose another partner. I was really close to having to experience the loss all over again."
Viola shifted her gaze at her feet. She had forgotten that Kurama had lost his previous partner before she was partnered to him.
"You're right. I'm really sorry."
She looked back up at him.
"So your other partner. What was she like?"
"He. His name was Silv. He was a pretty fun guy to be around."
"What happened to him?"
Kurama looked around the room.
"We were assigned to escort some refugees through a mountain pass. It was raining heavily, but we were almost through. Then suddenly, there was a major mudslide."
Viola tried to imagine the scene in her head.
"Most of the group was clear of the danger, but a couple of the wagons in the rear were right in it's path. Silv managed to get the closer of the two out of the way and headed back for everyone else. A kid slipped on some wet rock and fell down and cut his knee. Silv acted instantly and grabbed the kid by the shoulder."
Viola was realizing she had stopped breathing and quickly took a breath.
"With his last heroic act, he managed to hoist the kid and throw him just out of the mudslide's path. However, the mudslide hit him and he fell nearly 2,000 feet off the edge. It took days to recover his body."
Kurama sighed heavily.
"I was leading the group while he was assisting stragglers in the rear. If we had switched places..."
He trailed off. Viola watched him deep in thought.
"I'm sorry. I could only imagine."
"I know. A paladin is not suppose to have attachments to people. But that's a lot harder then it sounds."
Viola nodded.
"Again, I'm sorry."
Some time passed as they sat in silence. Eventually she stood up.
"Well, I'm hungry. Maybe eating will take your mind off things."
Kurama shook his head.
"Nah. You go ahead."
Viola looked at Kurama for a second, then placed her crystal down onto the nightstand. She turned to the door when she caught sight of Kurama's face. She looked over her shoulder at him.
"What?"
Kurama was looking up at her with an anticipating smile playing at his lips.
"Nothing."
Viola glared at him suspiciously, but then turned and proceeded to walk out the door. But before she could get to the door, a strange feeling had washed over her. She tried to keep moving, but the feeling was preventing her was walking any further forward. She looked back at Kurama who was now chuckling at her.
"I can't... I can't move!"
Silently, Kurama's eyes slid casually over to her crystal, sparkling innocently on her nightstand. She looked at the crystal for a moment in horror.
"It's doing this to me?!"
Kurama was grinning now.
"Yup. A bit of a side effect about your crystal. After you have attuned and bonded with it, you can't willingly get further than about ten feet from it."
Viola had a flash of several things she wanted to do in the future and her crystal being close by for every one of them. She shook her head to clear the images.
"But...But that's not fair!"
"I know. But you'll have to carry your crystal everywhere with you from now on."
Viola angrily walked back to her nightstand and picked up the crystal. She cast an annoyed glance at it before slipping it into her pocket.
"On second thought, I think I will come to dinner."
Kurama set his book down and got up to join her. Throughout dinner, she was in a sour mood.