Spark of Curiosity:

Hayan:

Once they had all changed and were no longer soggy from the water nymphs they were off on their travels again. Sehun whining about the rude awakening, and Junmyeon muttering he was far too used to it. Hayan, despite the warming weather, continued to wear long sleeves and kept her fingerless gloves on her hands to hide all the runes. More than once she saw Junmyeon side eye her and in response she just lowered her head and quickened her pace after her grandmother.

For the next four days they traveled across a giant field of tall grass and wild flowers. The sun was shining down on them during the day and at night all the stars were visible to them with a half moon hanging overhead. The guys seemed to enjoy this picturesque part of their journey the most. Talk had become more frequent during the travels and even Professor Haru joined in with a story or two from her early years as just a mage’s apprentice. It felt like they had forgotten they were on a series of tests to improve themselves as guardians, though that thought was never far from Hayan’s mind. She was always aware of what was to come.

By the end of the fourth day in the massive field they all thought they had stopped to make camp when a deep rumble of thunder sounded. Haru her heel to face the younglings with a serious expression on her aged face. There was another cracking rumble, but no lightning.

“Welcome to your next test,” was all she said before she vanished like she had been doing with the last few tests.

The group groaned.

“What even is it?” Jongdae grumbled.

“A thunderstorm?” Sehun shrugged.

“How do you even fight weather?” Baekhyun challenged.

There was a pause before the group turned to Hayan, who jumped back startled by the sudden attention.

“W-Why are you all looking at me?”she stammered.

“Well, you’ve been the one with all the answers,” Minseok stated.

She grunted at that response. “You can’t fight weather,” she muttered. “That’s just stupid.”

Chanyeol snorted as he elbowed Baekhyun who just grumbled with his arms crossed.

“Then what do we have to do?” Junmyeon asked stepping over to her side. He had a friendly smile on his face that Hayan wasn’t sure she trusted, especially with the way he had been acting like they were so close since he found out about the runes.

“Ah,” She stuttered glancing around at the eight guys as another deep rumble of thunder (still no lightning) sounded. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what the problem is.”

“It’s got to be weather related right?” Jongin questioned looking up at the cloudy and darkening sky.

A few others did the same along with Hayan who froze when a certain cloud caught her eye. There were only a few classes that her grandmother only taught Hayan, like charms, and another was divination. She couldn’t predict specific things of the future, but she could read the warning signs that were left behind, like in tea grounds and clouds. Now as Hayan stared up at the sky her stomach did an unsettling flip as her heart rate picked up.

“Hayan?” Kyungsoo asked when she didn’t look down. “You just went pale, what’s wrong?”

“Huh?” she said snapping out of her daze. Glancing about she saw the guys staring at her with raised brows and curiosity. “Oh, the test!” Turning to Jongdae she said, “Have you ever redirected naturally occurring electricity before?”

“Uh, once,” he answered slowly.

•••

Jongdae:

He was panicking. Hands sweaty, knees shaking and heart in his throat panicking. What Hayan had suggested was something Jongdae never wanted to try to do again. He had only done it once back home and it had ended in three casualties, though as a majority he was regarded as a hero. Now it was just him and Hayan in the center of the field, the others more than half a mile off just watching the two stand there as Hayan continued to explain what was going to happen.

There was going to be a streak of lightning that was going to strike in the field. It was going to be large and so powerful that it would turn the beautiful greenery into a burning pit in less than a second. What Jongdae had to do was take the strike and redirect the blast of electrical energy back into the sky where it would disperse into a normal thunderstorm. Jongdae wasn’t that powerful and he wasn’t sure he could properly contain that energy before he shot it off, or if he would be able to redirect it in the right direction in the first place. Hayan had laid a lot of pressure onto him with this task.

“I don’t know,” Jongdae muttered glancing up at the sky. “I’m not that strong. I’m probably going to fail this for everybody.”

“I don’t believe that,” Hayan stated.

Snapping his head down he glanced at her. Why would she say that? They barely knew each other, how would she know the extent of his abilities. As Jongdae eyed her Hayan turned to him with a weak smile and the saddest eyes he’d ever seen, yet that sadness wasn’t directed at him. She was trying to bury it, but was failing at it miserably.

“I think you’re plenty strong Jongdae. You just need to have more faith in yourself,” she explained kindly.

He scoffed and turned away to