44.

As dinner continued, the six sages chatted away as they enjoyed their food, though eventually Summer quieted down and tried her best to stiffle a yawn as she fed some meat scraps to Merlin who had decided to perch on the table next to her plate. She managed to stay awake long enough for Damien to notice that she needed to get to the tower, and into bed. The elf/shifter seemed slightly embarrassed that Damien had noticed her stubborness and reluctance to leave the laughing group, but she also welcomed it. She politely excused herself and promised Calixta that they could talk some more tomorrow before heading to the Tower with her Werewolf roomate.

Once they finally made it to their tower, Summer thanked Damien for walking with her before she made the short climb to her room. The bed was still unmade from when she had practically jumped out of bed when Damien had gotten her for dinner. She had just started a nightmare before he had woken her, and she had been relieved that he had saved her from that horror, but there was nothing to save her now. Summer slowly changed back into the nightgown she had worn earlier and placed Merlin on his perch before climbing into bed, falling asleep minutes later, only to meet Fredrick in her nightmares.

----

The next week past in a blur, as the sages were kept busy with classes, Summer was finally getting a handle on the fact that she did have power over the wind, and it thrilled her to no end. She was a fast learner and did the very best she could to catch up to the other five sages that had had years of practice with their power. Despite the fact that she had awoken in the middle of the night every night since she had gotten to the University, she managed to stay awake during the boring portions of her class. Her nightmares of the night Fredrick had had his way with her in the barn were getting more frequent and more violent. Though Damien never came to her room, she was aware of his presence by her door every night since the nightmares had started and she felt horrible for waking him up, but she was also curious as to why he never came in.

On top of the nightmares, Summer was beginning to feel sick, which was out of the norm for her as she had never been sick before. In fact, she could have sworn that her race was impervious to any form of sickness that befell man. She wasn't sure if it was because she was finally able to use her magic and that it was taking and unexpected toll on her body, or if it was because she wasn't getting enough sleep thanks to the frequent visits of Fredrick. Despite all this, she pushed on through her classes and never gave up, no matter how sick or tired she felt while she was practicing and because of her perseverance, she had finally caught up to the others. No one really saw Summer unless she was in class or the very rare occastion that she would eat what little food she could stomach, she also actively avoided skin contact with anyone as she knew that she was burning hot. She didn't want to be sent to the infirmary just to find out that she wouldn't be able to be a sage anymore and be sent back to a world of Slavery.

It was after lunch on the seventh day that Summer's exhaustion caught up with her and she had collapsed during lunch, causing Calixta's food to fall on the poor Nymph.

[b]"Oh!"[/b] the Sage of Water said aloud, leaning back to avoid most of the spill. Unfortunately though, her clothing caught the fruit blend, young soy beans and quinoa seeds that came tumbling off the table. [b]"Summer? ...She spilled all over me..."[/b] The last part was said more to herself, and a small frown appeared on her face as she brushed off the solid food and dabbed at the wet spots. Calixta gave the elf-girl a poke to the arm and upon feeling her skin, noticed her temperature was well above normal. 

[b]"Ostel, I think Summer may need some help... I would take care of her, but I have to clean up before the juice beings to stick..."[/b] She looked down at a trail of fruit juice that began to slide down in between her cleavage, and she rushed away back to her tower. 

Thankfully for the two of them, Ostel was in the mess hall at that time as he was reading an old history book. He was in more of a blue colored scholar's robe now rather than his armor. Seeing Summer fall though he quickly packed up his books and came over to the fallen Sapientis Ventus long before Calixta asked him to.

As he leaned down he muttered under his breath, [b]"I told you that you were going to run yourself ragged Summer."[/b] He then checked for any serious bruises from the fall, and thankfully other than a bruise to the knee she was fine. As an afterthought though he checked her forehead out of habit, and quickly he he swore, [b]"Divine's arsehole!"[/b]

Soon Ostel was tearing down the hallway towards Summer's tower, with the limp elf in his firm hands. He finally arrived in Summer's room and found no sign of Damien thankfully, he needed to focus if he was going to be able to help his fellow sage. After resting Summer on her mattress, he soon went to work on trying to heal the elf, but was frustrated to find that this was no mere fever resulting from exhaustion as he thought.

For hours Ostel poured his best efforts into tending his fellow Sage, with Snow beside him whining all the while and licking Summer's hands ever so often. While Ostel was able to prevent her fever from rising, she was clealry beyond his skill to heal, and the Sage of Light came to the conculsion that she more than likely needed rest more than anything else.

So the Sage of Light went ahead and tried to make her as comfortable as he could. He opened up a window to let the cool air in, disrobed her and dressed her in the emerald colored nightgown that he gave her, and even had Snow stay with her to comfort her. He told Snow to stay with her until he came back, which since Snow already had taken a liking to the elf, it did not take much convincing.

Before he left though, Ostel ran his right hand through her silver hair and offered a quick prayer to whatever gods that were listening to help her through her ordeal. He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead, rubbed Snow's ears as his canine companion nestled beside the stricken elf, and then he departed the room. 

About a hour after Ostel had left, Summer had awoken to find Snow laying at her feet, watching her with what appeared to be worried eyes. As she redirected her attention to the ceiling, she began to try to ignore the fact that Damien was calling for her from her door, asking her to come out to eat dinner with him and the other 4 Sages as it seemed he was not aware of what had happened to her at lunch. She was afraid that if he came in and found out that she was burning up then he would try to talk her into being seen by a Nurse. When he stopped knocking on the door, she let out a relieved sigh, which was cut short by her door being forced open.
 
[b]"Summer, are you ok? I haven't really seen nor heard from you for a while now." Damien said. "If anything's wrong, just let me know. I promise, whatever it is, I won't tell anyone unless you want me to."[/b] 
 
Summer slowly withdrew her covers from around her and looked up at Damien as Snow quietly left her room, no doubt to 'report' to Ostel. Her silk nightgown was stuck to her body due to her profuse sweating and her hair was stringy for the same reason. She was breathing heavily and it was obvious that she hadn't been drinking enough water. [b]"I don't know what's wrong,"[/b] she managed to say, her tone strangled as if she were trying not to cry, [b]"I don't know what's going on... Ostel already tried to help... I know he did... but nothing worked..."[/b] She reached out to Damien and grabbed his hand, her skin burning against his.
 
Damien's gaze fell down to her hand and then to her face. [b]"Summer,"[/b] he mumbled. Damien quickly went to Summer's bathroom and began letting some cold water fill the tub. He then went back to Summer, put his arms under her body, and picked her up off the bed. [b]"I understand you don't want anyone to see you like this, and I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, but I don't know what the problem is either. All I know to do right now is to get you cooled off. You're burning up like my fire."[/b] Damien brought Summer to the bath that now had a modest amount of water inside, and sat her down in the tub with her head resting against the edge. He shut the water off, grabbed a cloth, rung some cold water through it, and placed it on her head. [b]"That's the best I can do for now, Summer. The only way I can help you more, is if I get someone else in here."[/b]
 
When Damien picked her up, Summer let out a whimper of pain and nearly screamed when he set her in the water. She wasn't aware of how cold the bath was, as the moment he set her in steam seemed to rise from her skin. She only knew pain, a pain that felt as if her very body was trying to rearrange itself into a different form, a foreign form. [b]"It hurts,"[/b] she groaned, [b]"Damien... it hurts... the pain won't-"[/]b] Before she could finish her sentence a scream ripped its way from her throat as the sounds of snapping bones could be heard.
 
Damien looked on in shock, awe, and horror, as Summer began to morph into. . . something. As her bones began to rearrange themselves, and her skin changed into fur, he knew then what was going on. She wasn't changing into a were-animal, but he knew the pain of the first change. Her bones began to increase in size, arms turned into legs and hands and feet turned into paws. White hairs began protruding from all over her body, soon developing into a thick fur. Three tails formed out of her lower back, and her nose and mouth turned into a snout. When the transformation was complete, A three-tailed white fox 1.5x the size of a normal man sat where Summer was before.
 
The Summer-Fox looked around and let out a yelp before jumping out of the cold water. When she landed on the floor, she shook out her fur and looked at Damien, her violet eyes full of confusion as the pain slowly disappeared. [i]"Damien... w-what happened to me? Why... why do I look like this?! I'm an elf! Elves don't turn into animals!"[/i] Summer said telepathically, her mental voice full of panic as she turned to face the floor length mirror in the bathroom. When she saw that she now held the form of an abnormally large fox with three tails, she started to panic even more. Her first thought was that she must have gotten bitten by a werefox, but that was ruled out quickly. No part of her looked like a humanoid, she was all animal. [i]"Damien... what am I?"[/i]