"We have a small child, we're allowed to board early," Andy pointed out. Oh, she wouldn't have any trouble yelling at this chief, not if it meant getting her brother home safely and in one piece.

---

Jason nodded and moved in front of Tomiko. He would protect her at all costs. He remembered from their brief training how he'd identified the real thing, so he did the same here. He was surprised to find that a lot of the so-called 'weilders' were really just illusions. It was harder to tell in the flickering light of the fires, but there were still signs. Quickly, he searched for the real ones. Once he had, he raced over and knocked them out as fast as he could, taking them out of the fight. He realized he'd found the illusionist when roughly three-quarters of the troops wavered and dissolved. That made his job easier.

"I don't know what I'd do without you." Nathaniel smirked and touched her hair. "Onto the plane we go!" He said and then kissed her softly. "You know, he gets his love and stubborness from you." He said quietly.

**

The power against her own slowly became weaker but her own power was faltering. She had to start drawing the river back up, moving it back to the river. When it was in place she knew there was still a war to fight, but it would be easier next time. She heard the words 'retreat' and she finally stopped working so hard and just put the river back into place where she'd made it fit so comfortably. She collapsed however, falling to her side, exhausted but she couldn't even imagine what Jason felt like. he'd run all day and then ran some more!

Tomorrow would hurt like hell. "Somebody has to get... The others. It's safe to come back for the day." She said and crawled to the cot they'd made up for her. She laid down and covered her head with her hands, calming herself. She yawned, tired, unable to move anymore.

"I'll get them," Jason said. "You rest." He was exhausted, but he'd be able to push himself a little more before he collapsed. At least, he hoped so. Jogging at an easy pace, he went to where the people were huddled, away from the fighting.

"Come on, it's safe..." he started, then mentally smacked himself. Right. Language barrier. He was dumb. Sighing, he gestured for them to go back to the village, and followed them back once they'd gotten the hint.

---

"I don't know what you mean," Andy replied as they boarded the plane. She had Riley in her arms so that they didn't bother anyone as they went through the aisle to get to their seats.

"Your brother, I think you trained him to be stubborn. He's your brother in every way." He said and smiled, touching her hand. "I have a feeling something went wrong and the others are coming home but he'll refuse to." He said and then smiled as they found their seats. "Sit sweety." He said, letting her have the window seat and then took the aisle.

**

Tomi touched his hand before he disappeared. Twenty minutes later she heard people arriving but his body felt drugged, like she couldn't go to sleep, and every bit of her was on hyper-alert. She'd never used this bad before. Was this the power-high Nathaniel told her about? She was... she had no other word but 'horny' to explain it.

Jason got back and pretty much collapsed against the wall, exhausted. He was completely spent. He glanced over at Tomiko and frowned a bit when he realized she wasn't asleep. He was about to ask why when he saw a familiar look in her eyes. Ah. He understood.

"You overspent yourself," he said. "Just ride it out, you'll come down off the high soon." He remembered a few time he'd seen his sister the same way, and it had always taken her a little while to ride out the high.

"Don't touch me..." She whispered and looked away. She was embarrassed that she couldn't control herself. She wanted to be touched, she wanted to share that crazy power trying to dispel from her body but she knew she had to hold onto it. Save it. Ride it out like he said. How do you ride out power?! She bit her lip and shook her head. What she wanted to do was bad, not appropriate in any moral stance and it scared her. Her body was so tired, but her mind... Her energy... That was wide awake.

"I..." She stopped and then bit her wrist to stop from saying something stupid, her eyes clenching shut. She wanted to moan, that was weird. She then pulled her knees, up, farther than they wanted to allow, and held them to her chest, curled into a ball. "Help." She whispered.

"I won't touch you," Jason responded when she asked him not to. "I've seen this happen to my sister. You have to endure it until it fades, or you have to take care of it. Those are your two choices." He sat against the wall, watching her. He figured out what she had to have been feeling, but he didn't know what to do to help her. After all, there was no way she could possibly want... that.

"This isn't right, these aren't my wants." Okay, maybe innately they were, but it didn't make her feel good about herself. She wasn't a 'horny' type of person. She blinked a few times and pit her lip. "How long... How long does it last?" She whispered and almost reached out to touch him. She watched the others go into their own small homes they'd built from the door. The cot they had made her was inside an old abandoned home. One flickering candle, a sheet for a door and no window.

She rolled to lay on her back so she wasn't touching so much of herself. She stared at the ceiling. "I c-can't do that... How do I let it pass? It's like it's pent up! And I haven't... I haven't learned how to release it and I can't do that Jason. i can't be a bad girl. I'm only 17." Okay, in Japan, and maybe even America, most girls didn't have their virginity past 16 but that wasn't Tomi! She was good, she was going to wait until marriage. Why had she never had the training to deal with power highs? Weren't their supposed to be lows too? She moaned and bit her lip. "Make it stop." She whispered.

"I don't know how long it'll last," Jason said after a moment. "It depends on how far you overspent your power." He didn't move from his spot against the wall. "It will fade, though, I'm pretty sure about that. It always did for my sister. You just have to put up with it, you don't have to do anything yourself. I'll stay right here and not move, so nothing will happen between us. I can be good." He wasn't about to take advantage of her, she had no idea what was going on. He'd rather it be on her terms, when she was in her right mind.

She felt gross. There was no other way to put it. Her body tingled and she sighed, finally feeling it fade after what seemed like hours between the two's silence. It was only the end of the second day of knowing him and he was being such a gentleman. "It's gone." She whispered, the last of the tingling fading to just mere supersensitive areas of her body. She was afraid of fully turning to him, but she didn't want to be alone. "Come lay down with me? Just don't... don't be a guy. I may moan and I don't want to wake up the neighbours." Just a brush of his hand across something more private would probably send her into oblivion. She'd never even thought of why people had sex, but this emotion, what she could sense was on the other side of that cliff... it seemed worth it. To wait that is.

"I would," Jason said wearily, "but I don't think I can move. Too much running, it took its toll." He raised an eyebrow a bit. "What do you mean, 'don't be a guy'?" He had a pretty good idea, so he was just teasing her to lighten the mood a bit. "Geeze, I may be an asshole, but I'm not really into taking advantage of girls."

She breathed quietly and reached out, touching his knee. "You... Do you get high's too?" She whispered, her eyes shutting and she finally made contact with his skin and she passed out before he could answer. She was in an awkward position that she'd regret in the morning. She moved over in her sleep, uncomfortable without water. The fire had drained her.

That next morning, at the break of down she woke gasping. "Wa...ter." She whispered and moaned, looking around. She tried calling for it but there wasn't anything within ten feet. She wasn't at home, that was for sure. She needed it, she needed her water, her body seemed dry, flaky and rough, and she was sure her hair and face has seen better days. However, it was her stomach and throat that hurt the most, they felt shriveled. She needed a good dose of river.

As exhausted as he was, Jason slept lightly. Maybe it was just being in an unfamiliar place, but he couldn't sleep for very long. It was probably for the best, since he was awake when she asked for water. Getting up, he ignored his screaming muscles.

"Come on, we may as well get you outside," he murmured. "You look dry." He figured it was a side-effect of her powers, so logically, the best course of action was to get her near some water. Gently, he picked her up and took her outside, closer to the river.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as she was lifted, her body weak. She needed more water. As soon as she was near the water she felt better. She looked around and frowned. The fires dried the trees, but the river made the ground soggy. Fertile. As soon as she was close enough she slid weakly out of his arms and into the water. She let herself be taken under, and within 2 minutes she was able to make her way to the top and crawled out. She yawned and took his hand. "Lay down with me, you look like crap." She said and smiled, pressing a kiss to his hand calmly, expelling the water from her hair, her body rejuvenated, her lungs not gasping for air any longer.

"You need water too." She said and flicked her fingers at his neck and a light sprinkle of water hit him and she smiled. "Are you awake yet? Here, let me give you a massage, loosen up all those muscles. I can't believe you ran here for me.... Lay on your stomach."

Jason did as she said, too tired to argue.

"I wasn't just going to leave you behind," he said. "It didn't feel right. The run wasn't that bad, anyways... Just long." He didn't mention how much energy it took to make that run so fast. No sense in making her worry about him when she had the village to look after.

"You're such a good person." She whispered and kissed his neck, then moved so his head was propped up using his hands as support. She started at his neck because that's not where the most of the pain was. She wanted to start small and go big. Her fingers eased the skin from pressure, and at the same time dripping water across his body. That could happen, when water was in the air it could draw into her fingers. It she was IN water, she could create water-balls. Very similar to fireballs just with less burning and more punch.

She shifter her body lower, straddling his lower waist and her hands moved to lift up his shirt from the previous night and threw it in the water to let it soak. She wondered if the villagers had any soap left. If not she could use certain types of rocks to clean the clothes. Then she was facing his strong, muscular back. She started at his shoulder blades, pushing, squeezing, and smiled. "If it's too hard or not hard enough, tell me."

Jason gradually relaxed as she worked on him. The massage felt wonderful, and it almost made him forget that he needed to get something to eat before he passed out.

"It feels great," he managed to say as she worked on his back. "I didn't know you were so good at this." He knew his sister was working on a technique for such a thing, because she practiced on him once in a while, but this was something else entirely.

"I try to be helpful." She said and then smiled as she saw a gamble of crabs, loving how her powers could bring seawater animals into a river just for her. They were about dead, too far away from the ocean. She let the water still and boil while she worked on him, her hands moving lower. "I'd massage your legs but I don't know how awkward that would be for you." She said and when she realized she was overcooking the animal she stopped. "So sorry." She said and cooled it with running cold water. She reached in and pulled it out. "Fuck hot!" She muttered and dropped it. "Ow." She whispered and sighed. "I've brought you cooked food, all without having to clean a pot or pan! And if you can..." She expelled the water from the shell. "You should be able to crack it now."

"I'll be alright," Jason said when she offered to massage his legs. "I've overworked myself before." He blinked as he watched her boil the crabs. "That's really cool," he said. "I've never seen that done before." Taking the crab, he tapped it rapidly against a rock, cracking the shell. "Did you want some?" he asked, not sure if she was able to eat crab or not.

"Yes, not much though. I've drained it of water so it's not very good for me." She muttered and then too a small piece and nibbled on it, hoping to not disgust him by dipping it in the river. Water was water. But she couldn't consume it without it.She flushed, nibbling on it and then sighed. "I'm sorry about last night... I didn't..." She stopped and shrugged. "I've never been like that and it may happen again and you were wonderful for not taking advantage of the moment. Thank you." She said and bit her lip. "I like you... I didn't want that to mess things up with us."

"Yeah, well... My parents raised me right and all that, taught me not to take advantage of a lady..." Jason replied, flushing a little. "It wouldn't have been right to do that after you watched my back and all." He nibbled on the crab as well, though what he really wanted to do was just cram it into his mouth. He was starving, and he had a lot of energy to replace. "I only knew what was going on because it's happened to my sister a lot. She can do crazy things, sometimes, but it puts her on a high afterwards."

"Now I know why she's pregnant." She muttered and laughed. "I've seen you eat before Jason, just eat it." She said and then pressed a kiss to his forehead and stood, walking onto the water and looking into the burned forest. "It's not over yet. Nowhere near over. But they didn't expect such power, they thought I was 100 wielders at minimum. It scares me to do it again." She said and then sighed. "Tonight is going to be hell."

**

Nathaniel told the cab driver to stop at a fancy looking office building. "Welcome to headquarters sweety." He said and opened the door for her. He smiled at the woman and she pointed to the office door behind her. "He's mad, but no one is in there right now. Just don't make him fire me for telling you that." She said and Nathaniel nodded. "I'll take Riley." He said quietly. "Have they sent out a rescue team?"

"They are getting people lined up for it, but they haven't been sent yet. Is that why you're here, to join?"

Nathaniel shook his head. "No, to stop it. They'll get killed. And so will my future brother in law. Go in sweety, raise a storm."

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about my sister doing that, she's my sister," Jason grumbled. "It's just wrong on so many levels..." He shook his head to clear the thoughts away. "I wouldn't worry too much about it," he said. "You know mostly how to handle it now, and I have no doubts that you would probably drown me if I tried anything."

---

Handing Riley to his father, Andy went into the room. As she was told, there was only one person in there. The man was looking over papers on a table, muttering to himself.

"I'm guessing you're the one in charge around here?" she asked to get his attention.

"That's the thing though, I wouldn't have. Last night.... I would have done anything after a touch to have you with me and it's scary. I've never been that kind of girl, you know?" She said and then sighed. "Sorry for making you think about your sister like that. It was unintentional." She smiled and touched his hand. "When you're finished, come walk with me."

**

The man looked up, confused. "Who let a girl in here!?" He yelled to the doors. "Yes, I'm in charge, and I'm telling you to get out." He said and closed the folder he was in.

"I let myself in, thank you," Andy replied, indignantly. "I have two hands, I'm perfectly capable of opening a door and letting myself in. And unfortunately, I have a bit of a bone to pick with you, so I can't leave just yet."

---

"Last night I was too exhausted to even find a proper cot to sleep on," Jason pointed out as he finished the boiled crab. Standing up, he held out a hand to help her up as well.