Fallah is feeling like a boy.

It had been a while since he had come here. It have been a whole cycle, really. Since hatching, Fallah had never come back to this place. Why would he? After he left this place, he had so many cool adventures. He had met Fisher and the big black and had lots of fun. Fallah could only be with others for so long before he needed a small break. A good reason to get away was to practice magic. The lynx didn't feel like that was something you played with around people. It was supposed to get good, then it could be used for or against other gembounds, depending on the circumstances. That said, Fallah had never been mad, so he never really used it to attack things. He knew that his magic mostly dealt with water, but didn’t feel restricted by that. While it wasn’t really a limitation, the cat had a feeling it should try to stick to water until it got better at using magic in general. To be safe, the lynx had found a place where he was both secluded and near water. Wasting no time, Fallah motioned to the water with a paw, sliding it fast and thinking about the cold. Maybe if he did it just right, he could call the water over as icy spikes. "speak"

It worked! Kinda anyway. The water did indeed move, did indeed form spikes, but very quickly fell apart. Fallah went up and touched the ice. It was mushy, not completely frozen. The cat’s face scrunched slightly as he pawed at the melting pile of almost spikes. Well, it worked, but only kind of. Fallah felt a little disheartened, but then thought that if he could do this much, then he could definitely form hard spikes if he tried hard enough. Bobbed tail wagged, and the lynx bent down to lap up some of the cool water. It wasn’t bad, just cold. It was important to always keep water in when doing water magic, Fallah thought. If there was water inside, it could be used outside! Probably. He hadn’t tested that theory yet, but he was pretty sure that’s how it worked, besides, everyone had to drink water anyway, so why not? A cat’s gotta stay hydrated, after all. Looking up from the forming puddle, Fallah looked back to the water. How much of that would he be able to control one day? Hopefully a lot… Feeling somewhat inspired, the cat moved back away from its drinking pool and motioned again with its paw. This time, it would work for sure! "speak"

The motioning towards and away from the water guided it from the river. Magic the glowed through the lynx’s fur, eyes, and maw, coating the room in a brilliant blue. Everything tingled for a brief moment with the light, but once it died down, Fallah’s jaw dropped in amazement. Blue eyes were wide as they surveyed the line of spikes, all perfect and sharp, jutting directly in the direction Fallah had motioned. It was perfect! It was absolutely perfect! A smile crossed the cat’s face and it danced slightly in place. Fallah couldn’t believe this was happening! How lucky was he to have made such nice spikes? He came around to look at the points, not daring to touch them. They were pointed and sharp and surely anything that ran into them would have been seriously hurt. Had this been a battle, Fallah would have gained the upper hand. The cat still couldn’t believe he had done all that. The glimmering icicles stood as the lynx circled them in amazement. They were cool, but man they looked dangerous. Maybe Fallah could fix that. Maybe, using magic, Fallah could fill the spaces between the spikes and make a wall! Focusing, the lynx motioned towards the water again, trying to feel the magic with less thoughts for more fluid casting. "speak"

The motion was fluid and the magic was strong. In a moment, the water had filled the spikes and frozen into place. Where the spikes once were, there was now a mostly solid wall. That could definitely come in use during fights or other events or whatever. Fallah went up and pushed against the wall with fluffy paws. Then, drawing back with a small wiggle, he jumped on top of it. None of the spikes jutted out, though the surface wasn’t flat. It didn’t matter if it was flat or not, Fallah simply noticed that it wasn’t. It was angled and organic in form, but made a nice perch. Could the lynx make more perches and walls? Of course he probably could! He thought, for a brief moment, that maybe he was getting cocky, but how is someone supposed to feel when their spells work out so great? Proud was a good feeling. Jumping down from the icy wall, Fallah distanced himself from it. He was going to try to make a wall in one fell swoop… or maybe just a perch. Hey, if he could do this, then he could probably look really cool if he jumped and then formed a perch beneath him! Before he attempted that, though, he wanted to make sure he could summon more than just spikes. "speak"

The water moved with Fallah’s paws as commanded. It formed an even wall and froze. To test it, Fallah jumped straight on it right after it formed, half expecting it to be mushy. It held, though, and the cat could not have been more thrilled. He danced in place slightly, a light purr filling his ribs. This magic was getting kind of really freaking fun. He had always done it out of need until now, but slowly he was learning that he could make things happen on his own whim. It was fascinating and thrilling. Blue eyes were opened wide each time the magic would glow and the water would freeze, but it was still a little hard to believe he was doing all this with just his magic. He’s have to show someone! Maybe long brown friend Fisher would like to see! Fallah would have to make a point to search him out and show him the new watery magic that he could do. Maybe, before this was all over, he could learn new magic and be even better! He bet Fisher would be impressed. He imagined his friend there and in his head he called, “watch this!” and took a lunge off his current standing, aiming to magically form another beneath him. "speak"

He didn’t know if he could do it. He really didn’t know if what he wanted to happen would happen or not, but it did. As he jumped, he felt the magic rise within him, pulling the water under him. As if in slow motion, it formed a blob, then froze as he fell onto it. His paws hit the hard, slick ice and it took everything he had not to fall off. A wide smile spread to his parted maw as he panted. He looked around, but sadly, no one was there to see. Fallah’s smile fell slightly, oh yeah, he was practicing alone. He shrugged it off, he did come here to be alone, after all. He would just have to show the other gembounds later how good his magic was. It wasn’t like it was too crazy or anything, but Fallah thought it was cool nonetheless. He began wondering if there were other things with water that he could do besides freezing it. Maybe he could make it hot instead. He would have to try later, because for right now he was way too amused with the ice. He wanted to make more spikes! He could make more spikes! Motioning, Fallah casted his magic, attempting to make spikes. "speak"

Spikes happened as the magic was cast. The magic this time was weak. Maybe it was rushed, or maybe it was Fallah’s excitement. While these spikes didn’t turn to slush, they simply weren’t pointy at all. They were like little rounded nubs that protruded from the ground. They could basically be mushrooms! Frowning, Fallah ran to them and swatted at them with a paw. They were still hard enough to where they didn’t break. The cat knew he would need more force, more power, more leverage. Running up to one of his perches, the lynx jumped up, looking down at the failure mushrooms that pretended to be spikes. He frowned. These would not do at all. The cat reared, thinking about pouncing on them. If he hit them right, they would pop off the ground and go rolling right? They were only stuck to the ground by a thin sheet of ice anyway, so it wouldn’t be hard to just knock them into the river and pretend they never happened, right? Right! Crouching down, the cat smirked slightly. He wiggled until he felt like his weight was even and his paws had a good grip. Without much thought, the lynx jumped down to swat the little ice nubs into the river where they belonged! "speak"

With a nice shattering sound, the knobs broke free of their tiny ice base and went clattering towards the water. All of them fell in with satisfying plunks, except one. There was always one, wasn’t there? It rolled astray, tapping lightly into one of the walls Fallah had formed earlier. His ears swiveled to catch the noise, icy blue eyes following soon after. There it was, just lying there all clear and rounded. The cat let out a chirpy meow and crouched again, balancing himself for a second before jumping to pounce on the thing. As soon as his paws closed over it, the icy knob slipped out and rolled away. Fallah chased after it, staying low to the ground. One paw would bat at it, then it would slip away and the lynx would change direction, batting at it with the other paw. He chased the ice around the room until it slipped close to the shore and fell into the water with a soft plonk. The cat huffed. He had wanted them all to go into the water at first, but then that one was fun, so when it fell into the water it was actually kind of sad. Maybe he could make another! Focusing his magic once more, Fallah tried to think round and blobby. "speak"

It didn’t work. It didn’t work at all. The water came up, then promptly splashed down. Fallah winced. Was he too tired to keep doing magic? He was feeling pretty tired. He had never cast magic extensively until today. He thought to himself, “If I had a water round, I wouldn’t have to keep summoning magic, I could just play with the ball.” He grumbled a little bit. He was doing so well with the magic a second ago! Maybe it really was him being tired, or maybe he just needed to try again. Yeah, he could try again, couldn’t he? There was no one here to judge him if he failed, that was one reason he had come here alone. Even if he kept messing up, no one would know. It was a secret until he was really good and could cast magic forever and do really cool things. Taking a deep breath, the cat tried to clear his mind. He had to focus on magic, he was here to practice, not play. He told himself that, but even as sky blue eyes slid shut to focus, a smile appeared on the cat’s face. Snapping his eyes open, Fallah summoned his magic once more. "speak"

The magic did the magic thing and things glowed and Fallah’s fur and skin tingled. The water rose and wobbled and froze and a lumpy chunk of ice fell to the ground. Without ceremony, Fallah jumped on it, sliding it around. It bounced unpredictably around the cave and the lynx stayed in hot pursuit, batting the thing with one paw or the other, and occasionally both. It was a pretty great ice round, even though it was a lot not round and a lot more lump. It was still made out of ice, so at least that part was right. After hitting it particularly hard, the ice round shot towards one of the walls Fallah had made and shattered into two with a crack. Even after trying each piece individually, the cat found that neither was very good without its other half. With the now shattered edge always catching on everything, they didn’t slide around as fun and the lynx eventually settled for batting them into the water to hear their nice splashes across the river. He had to make a better ice round. One that didn’t break as easily and rolled perfect. Getting much too comfortable with his magic, Fallah set off to make another round. "speak"