Talks of leaving

The closing ceremony was much like the opening only the speech was diffrent and a bit longer winded. Unlike the Opening ceremony, Vali stood with Steven and Lance on that big stage so close to Moltres and it's flame that it wasn't even funny. President Goodshow came through though and she was allowed some of her pokemon. Smaug and Balto stood with her allowing Vali to focus much better. She took precautions to ensure that Fawkes' feather stayed hidden since it was glowing faintly in the presence of Moltres. As soon as she had a chance, she'd be asking Xen about why that was.

When the closing ceremony was finished and they were all released, Moltres disappeared in another flash of intense flames only this time Vali was up close. She actually ended up falling to her knees as its power fell across her body and seemed to tease the energies within. Steven noticed first and quickly helped her up as he murmured, "You okay?"

"Need a moment," Vali muttered as she struggled to regain her focus, "We were so much closer this time,"

Thankfully only Lance needed to stay behind to talk and they could slip away, Steven had Claydol teleport them to the cottage as soon as he could once they were clear of the officials and helped her over to the couch once they were inside. She settled onto the couch rather heavily and he asked, "Is there anything I can get you?"

Vali shook her head lightly, "Not at the moment, I just need to refocus and get my energies to calm down which takes meditation. Just give me time, I wasn't expecting to get so close to a Legendary then for it to flare its powers like that."

"I don't think anyone was," Steven said as he sat down next to her, "Have you packed yet?"

"Some, but not fully," Vali admitted with a low chuckle, "I was planning on doing it after the closing ceremonies," She reached up to grip Fawkes' feather which felt hot to the touch though it was slowly cooling to its regular warm temperature, "How long until you're supposed to be leaving?"

"Two days from tomorrow. Father wants to get back to Hoenn as soon as possible," Steven answered making Vali's chest feel tight, "But we'll be leaving from Vermilion's Port and have business there that he wants me to take part in,"

"So this is our last day, huh?" Vali asked feeling her eyes burn.

"Unfortunately though I should be able to teleport over at some point before we're due to leave," Steven said earning a small nod.

"Yeah," Vali forced back the emotions that wanted to overwhelm her, "I'll make sure to see you off,"

Vali eventually headed up to her room to finish packing and ended up finding Xen perched on her bed. He was going through some of the photos she'd printed off during her time here. She flinched back and barely kept from screaming in alarm upon seeing him. Managing to prevent that, she quickly entered the room and shut the door before hissing, "Xen, what are you doing here?!"

"I came to see you," Xen answered with a smirk, "Flare wished to offer her goodbyes while she went to spy on her partner. It's adorable actually,"

Vali tried to figure out how a gigantic bird with fire streaming from its body could spy on someone before shaking her head. She gave him a look, "And you decided to wait in my bedroom?"

"I prefer not to interact with most regular humans though I will admit the ones you tend to be around are rather interesting," Xen shrugged lightly, "I wanted to be alone with you while we spoke. Now, do you have any questions for me?"

Vali decided that it would be best to begin packing and did so as she asked, "My feather, the one a phoenix back in my old world gave for my wand, its been reacting to my inner fire and to Moltres. Why is that?"

"Because they're beings of fire and at their core they hold a spark of the undying flame. You hold that spark too which is why you've likely felt something as well," Xen replied as he observed her, "I have something similar that reacts whenever I'm around Giratina and he uses his powers,"

Vali pressed a hand to her chest where Fawkes' feather rested, "But how is Fawkes' feather still reacting? It isn't attached."

"Much like the feathers of the Legendary birds, it still holds some attachment to the one it came from which is how it has power," Xen replied as his eyes lingered on the spot she touched for a moment before he looked back at the pictures in his hands, "Any other questions?"

"Not at the moment," Vali shook her head, "You answered most of them the last time we met,"

Xen nodded and placed the pictures down, "Well, I get down to the only other reason I was here then take my leave. You already know to not breath a word of this to anyone, Vali. Especially not the League, you'll have to keep it quiet from them especially during your Apprenticeship."

"How did you know about that?" Vali asked as she'd been folding onto the ground.

"I have my ways, but I'm serious, Vali," Xen looked at her with a frown, "The Legends don't mind us having people inside the League, but there's certain shit that they can't know. Not when the Chosen one has yet to make is appearance and the world isn't about to go to shit, they want this 'peace' to stay, okay?" He looked serious, "You don't want to know what happens if you're the one jeopardizing it, alright?"

"Alright," Vali nodded to him, "I'll keep quiet, Xen,"

"Good," Xen sighed deeply, "Any idea how long this thing with Blaine will last?"

"Not really, he didn't mention a deadline, but I'm assuming a year at least if not two," Vali told him as she resumed her packing.

Xen nodded to himself, "Alright. You should be good," He stood up, "I'm going to get going and make sure Flare doesn't embarrass herself."

"Xen, how will I be able to contact you if I have questions?" Vali asked as the question occurred to her.

Xen hummed softly to himself before saying, "I'll drop in occasionally especially since they'll be wanting an update on you to see how you're coming along. It's most to ensure you don't end up killing yourself my accident, but whatever. See you later, Vali. I hope you don't die in the mean time!"

With that cheerful note, Xen left in a plume of darkness and Vali was alone in her room once more. She decided to put her meeting with Xen out of mind and get on with packing after a few moments of standing there.