"I shall, for those whom hath entered late, spare you a repeat of my teacher's introduction into "the fascinating" world of life cycle of an underwater crustation. Instead I shall spew forth for you a tale, partially of mine own weavings and partially of those adventures preceding my era. Wha? Oh, yes, I do suppose it would be of some help to those who may read this in the future to know just who "I" is. I am Morgien Luafay, narrator, story-teller, and bard extraordinaire. Okay, so maybe not extraordinaire, but I do put forth the effort so that must entitle me to some recognition, right? Right?! Alas, the bell hath rung and I am entitled to leave this cage they call a classroom and proceed into a lesser dwelling of letters and numbers, algebra - also known as the teacher's best choice for torturing unsuspecting teenage souls."

Morgien Luafay stuffed her pen into her jacket pocket and grabbed her saddlebag-style book bag, artfully dodging her animal science teacher with the skill of long-practiced ease. It wasn't that Morgien didn't like Animal Science, quite contrary. it was just that Mr. Baxter spoke in a monotone that would drag the class hour out for ages, often droning on in such a manner that may students fell asleep or some, those like Morgien, drifted of into a fantasy world existing outside the window in the lush gardens of the schools courtyards. Things were the worst at this time of year, when the weather was hot inside, but perfect outside because you had a nice breeze blowing through the shaded gardens. This week had been doubly hard because the air conditioner had broken down and Morgien's private school - St. Luward's Academy - didn't have the money to fix it at the moment. Morgien groaned at the stanching heat she felt coming from her math class - there was a small breeze; all the windows were open as far as they could go, but that wasn't much - Miss Erlin gave her a weak smile and touched her bare arm lightly, "We'll be going outside to work today, Miss Luafay." That was a relief and the other students echoed the sediment with a relieved sigh as they piled out of the classroom and headed toward one of the far gardens.

"Right so if x squared is twice the size of y which is the cubed root of z." Morgien muttered, automatically jotting down Miss Erlin's words as the teacher spoke although, admittedly, she was no longer really paying attention. Now was one of those times she was grateful that she could multi- task so well, "Granted, it helps that I've got a photographic memory." she thought to herself, as she eyed one of the deep burgundy roses crawling against the arch of the swing she sat on. Pausing mid-thought, Morgien reached out toward the rose slowly and let out a soft gasp - barely audible to her classmates over the heavy buzzing of lazy insects. She was almost certain that the bud had begun to unfurl at her touch but denied it, snatching her hand away and then emitting another soft gasp as the bud seemed to return to its original state.