The Doctor's Visit

-Lion's Island, outside the villa, 12:47 P.M.-

Dressed in a black tube top under an open olive green jacket and wearing olive green cargo pants and brown boots with her aviator sunglasses perched on her head, Leona stood outside of the villa with Dr. Reid, who was dressed for a vacation in an outfit consisting of a pink tank top and white skirt with brown sandals. She also had a pink suitcase clutched in her right hand. The Albatross had been flown into the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar positioned 100 meters away to the west of the villa and the doors were shut, so it would be safe if a rainstorm came up. While the weather was bright and sunny now, the Wizard Saint knew from previous stays that the weather could change at any time.

"You're so generous for allowing me to stay here while I test the Atlas, Leona. With all the flat terrain to walk on and a safe place to store the Atlas this island will be perfect. Not to mention the beach... it's simply beautiful." Dr. Reid thanked the Wizard Saint for honoring the promise that had been made weeks, if not months, ago. In the cargo hold of the Albatross was the mechanized suit plus the equipment the doctor needed to make repairs and modifications in the field.

"I do my best to keep my word, Doctor." Leona replied. She then motioned towards the waiting villa with her right hand.

"Would you like to go to your room?" Leona asked her guest.

"Yes, please!" The other blonde answered enthusiastically. The Wizard Saint took the lead and unlocked the front door, then opened it for her guest to enter. Dr. Reid hurried through and Leona shut it behind her, then locked it.

-Inside the villa, the kitchen, 12:55 P.M.-

While Dr. Reid unpacked her suitcase in her room upstairs Leona stood at the counter drinking from a cup of coffee that she had made about three minutes ago. While she partook of her favorite beverage her mind wandered to the subject of the Obsidian Tower, her private tower that housed a robot manufacturing facility, a private hangar for aircraft, and more. The tall structure was impossible to hide and it was only a matter of time before Dr. Reid would notice it and begin asking questions. Leona would likely tell the truth about it and its facilities because they might need the Robot Manufacturing Facility to repair the Atlas should it suffer a malfunction during testing, but practical reasons were not the only ones motivating her to be truthful with her guest if questions came up.

Despite their differences in the past the Wizard Saint also considered the doctor something of a friend and wanted to keep her friendship.

Leona took another sip of coffee as she waited for Dr. Reid to finish unpacking and come downstairs to announce whether she wanted to test the repaired and improved Atlas or spend the day on the beach.

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-The western half of Lion's Island, the beach, 2:53 P.M.-

Dressed in a light blue tube top under an open white jacket and pleated white skirt with white sandals, Leona wore her aviator sunglasses as she walked to the beach. She had not been terribly surprised when her guest chose to visit the beach instead of test the Atlas Project, but the green-eyed blonde did not mind. Dr. Reid had enjoyed being there on her last visit to Lion's Island and it was only natural that she would want to go back to it. The doctor had chosen a good time to make the trip to the island because today the weather had turned out to be perfect... the sun was out, the sky was cloudless, and a gentle breeze blew across the island.

Leona arrived at the beach and sand crunched beneath her feet as she homed in on the large pink beach umbrella that belonged to her guest. In addition to the Atlas and some computer equipment Dr. Reid had also brought with her a beach umbrella, beach chair, and fold-out wooden table... she had set up shop approximately seventy-seven meters away on the west side of the beach. Finding her would be a cakewalk because of how much the pink stood out against the tan sand and the blue ocean, but Leona was not in any hurry to reach the doctor's side.

Leona moved at a leisurely stroll and eventually got to Dr. Reid, who was sitting in her chair and looking out at the water a lot like the Wizard Saint tended to do. The other blonde was wearing a modest pink bikini and brown sandals and on her head was perched a pair of sunglasses with black lenses and amber frame. Dr. Reid must have sensed that she was no longer alone because she turned her head to the right and looked up, then faced her hostess.

"Hey Leona! This is a really good day to be here!" The other blonde greeted her hostess and commented on the pleasant weather. Leona did not respond right away and let the wind finish kicking up a cloud of sand in front of them before she spoke. When it blew safely past them the Wizard Saint finally opened her mouth.

"The weather here tends to be pretty nice, but every now and then there's a rainstorm." Leona offered a small contribution to the conversation.

"I hope there isn't one for the next few days because we'll need sunny days to test the Atlas. My computer equipment's not able to handle moisture from the rain and it's expensive, so I don't want it to get caught out in the open if the weather changes." Dr. Reid revealed that there was more to the talk about the weather than just making conversation. Upon hearing that Leona already had a solution in mind.

"You can use my Nanotech Aircraft Hangar as a shelter for your equipment, Doctor. You can work out of it during the testing." Leona proposed. The doctor's expression brightened when she heard the offer.

"That's a good idea, Leona. Your hangar will be able to house everything I need with plenty of room to spare and it'll protect my equipment in case it rains all of a sudden." The doctor readily accepted Leona's proposal to use the hangar as a base when it came time to begin the work that had brought her to the island to begin with. The other blonde used her right hand to motion towards where Leona was currently standing.

"Do you have a beach chair of your own? If you do, why don't you go get it and sit with me?" Dr. Reid extended an invitation to her hostess to join her. Since she had nothing better to do Leona would accept.

"I'll have to go get my beach chair first. I'll be back in a few minutes, Doctor." Leona replied. With that she turned around and began the walk back to her villa to go get her own chair so that she did not have to stand up the whole time they were together.

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-The beach, 3:27 P.M.-

Leona had applied sunscreen to her exposed skin before returning to Dr. Reid carrying her blue beach chair and blue beach umbrella. Both of them had been set up and she was now sitting a short distance to the right of her guest, who was now wearing her sunglasses thanks to the sun getting brighter during the time it took Leona to walk to the villa, gather her belongings, and return to the beach. Leona had donned her own sunglasses and was sitting while looking at the endless blue water in front of her and waiting for the other blonde to say something.

"How did you come to get this island?" Dr. Reid asked Leona out of the blue.

"A friend of mine gave it to me. A guy by the name of Ruvel." Leona replied without hesitation. She could not remember his last name, but she clearly remembered meeting him during the same festival in which she had met Samira Nassar. The Wizard Saint felt a flash of regret for not recalling his last name... maybe it would come to her later.

"Do you bring many people here?" Dr. Reid asked another question.

"No. You're one of the very few outsiders who's ever been here." Leona answered in a to-the-point manner. The other blonde turned her head to face Leona and the mage turned to face her guest.

"I keep this island secret from the world because I have powerful enemies. I don't want them to find this place." The green-eyed blonde informed the doctor why the former did not entertain guests on her private island. Technically the first outside visitor was Mister Burke, whose robotic construction crew had built the Obsidian Tower. That would make Dr. Reid the second person who ever visited Lion's Island, a privilege neither Samira nor Masha had enjoyed.

"Oh." The doctor replied before going silent. An awkward silence took over as both blondes tried to find a way to continue the conversation. Roughly a minute later the doctor got up from her chair and turned it away from the ocean to face Leona and the Wizard Saint turned her chair to face the doctor's. Once that was done the silence returned, but only briefly.

"If that's the case, why did you agree to bring me here? Aren't you concerned that your enemies will find me and learn about this place?" Dr. Reid posed two questions to her hostess.

"To be honest, I thought about the question of security a lot over the past several months, but I decided to bring you anyway. I promised you that I'd help you with the Atlas Project and I wasn't about to go back on my word. I also think you're safe because not too many people have seen me with you, so they'd be less likely to figure out that we're friends." Leona answered the questions truthfully. She had considered the possibility of Odhran, Medeia, or the demon-worshiping cultists finding Dr. Reid and "convincing" the doctor to divulge the location of her island, but Leona had decided to bring the doctor anyway because of the promise she had made. Besides, Dr. Reid did not know the exact coordinates of where she was, so even if they managed to find her and interrogate her all the Wizard Saint's enemies would learn was that Lion's Island existed, not where it was on a map.

"I know that we hit a rough patch in our relationship some time ago, but I'm glad that we're still friends. I'm thankful you trust me enough to bring me to your private island." Dr. Reid remarked, alluding to the time their friendship had entered a decline because Leona believed that the doctor had refused to teach her robotics in order to keep the Wizard Saint from becoming a competitor. Leona briefly remembered that incident and put the memory aside just as quickly. Sometimes it was best to let bygones be bygones.

"Speaking of your island... what's that black tower in the distance?" Dr. Reid asked and pointed towards the Obsidian Tower with her right index finger.

"It's my personal tower, Doctor. It was built for me not too long ago." Leona answered without hesitation.

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"It looks kinda forbidding, like something a Dark mage would live in." The doctor commented on the appearance of Leona's tower. There was a kernel of truth to that remark. The Obsidian Tower loomed over the eastern half of the island and its jet black exterior was not the most inviting color it could have come in: those two details made the structure look like it was an obsidian sentinel daring visitors to approach it.

"That's true, but I don't mind too much because it's useful to me." Leona agreed that her guest had a point but stated that the structure's color was of little concern to her because of its utility.

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you use it?" Dr. Reid asked.

"It's a second living space for me. It's got rooms for me and my guests plus it's got its very own hangar so that I don't have to rely on the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar if I don't want to." Leona listed just two of the Obsidian Tower's numerous amenities. Dr. Reid's facial expression changed from curiosity to surprise.

"You have two places to call your own?" She asked. Leona nodded.

"I can choose between my room in the villa or my room in the tower. The villa's fully furnished, but the tower isn't." Leona informed the other blonde of the state of the Obsidian Tower's guest rooms. Dr. Reid looked at the tower for a few moments before looking back at her hostess.

"I can see why it isn't yet. I bet you have a lot of rooms to put furniture in." The doctor mused.

"I do, Doctor. The guest floor doesn't have any furniture in any of the rooms." Leona confirmed. The other blonde smiled.

"I don't need a room in your tower, Leona. The guest room in the villa is more than enough for me. I've got plenty of space, a large and comfortable bed to sleep on, and a large bathroom all to myself." Dr. Reid declared that her current guest room was more than sufficient for her needs.

"I'm glad to hear that, Doctor. You're the first visitor to ever stay in one of the guest rooms, so I don't know what needs to be fixed and what needs to be left as is." Leona replied. The doctor continued to smile at her hostess as she spoke again.

"I'm more than satisfied with everything about my room. The bed, the bathroom, everything about it's simply wonderful!" The blue-eyed blonde expressed her approval of the suite she was staying in. She then swept her left arm towards the water's edge, calling Leona's attention to it.

"I know this doesn't have anything to do with lodging, but this beach view can't be beat. The sand's so white and the water's so clear... I've never seen anything like it in my life." She gave Lion's Island a compliment on the quality of its beach. Leona silently agreed with her guest's claim, so she did not say anything in response. Sensing that she might have been rambling for too long, the doctor decided to change the subject before her hostess got bored.

"I know that you didn't bring me here to lounge on the beach all day every day, Leona. We'll get to work tomorrow afternoon... if that's all right with you." The blue-eyed blonde stated her intent to quit hanging out on the beach and do what she had come here to do. The Wizard Saint maintained eye contact as she replied.

"We're going to be working on your project, so you call the shots." Leona deferred to her guest.

"All right then, Leona. We'll start tomorrow. Today I'm gonna be lazy and stay on the beach until the sun goes down." Dr. Reid declared her plans for her first day on Lion's Island.

"I don't have any problem with that." Leona casually replied. Once she said that an amiable silence settled over the two blondes as a gentle breeze kicked up a small sand cloud that brushed against the legs of their beach chairs before drifting down the sandy expanse to the east. It appeared that they had run out of things to talk about for the time being, so the Wizard Saint would not break the silence unless she had something important to say.

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-The next day, 10:17 A.M., inside the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar-

Dressed in an olive green tube top and the same pleated white skirt from yesterday with black bike shorts on underneath it plus white tennis shoes, Leona stood inside the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar and in front of the Albatross' open cargo bay. Dr. Reid was inside the aircraft and bringing out a bright red toolbox containing everything she needed to do repairs to the Atlas in case it decided to malfunction during the latest round of testing. Today was the day that the doctor's revamped project would be tested.

"Hey Leona!" Dr. Reid called out as she strode down the ramp with the handle of the toolbox clutched in her right hand. She was dressed in a modest pink bikini top, khaki short shorts over the bikini bottom, and oil-stained brown work boots. It seemed that the doctor had relaxed her usual dress code just like Leona tended to do when on Lion's Island.

"What is it?" Leona asked her guest.

"I've got the tools I need, but I need some help getting the rest of my equipment out of the cargo bay. Can you help me?" The other blonde asked for help gathering what she needed for the testing to begin.

"Sure." Leona replied calmly and strode up the ramp as the doctor came down to set down the toolbox before going back to help her hostess.

-Inside the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar, 11:35 A.M.-

"Well, that's the last of what I need. We've gotten the computer equipment, a portable Lacrima generator to power the computer equipment, the table for the monitor, keyboard, and mousepad, the headsets for communication, and the tools to repair the Atlas if we have to." Dr. Reid informed Leona that she had everything necessary. Leona helped her guest set up the table a short distance away from the open double doors, then went back and helped her move the portable generator into position. Next came the computer equipment... the two blondes took it out of the protective black cases it came in and carefully set it up on the table. Last came the headsets, which were set just to the right of the monitor.

"Now we need the star of the show. Leona, since this is your island you do the honors and bring the Atlas down." Dr. Reid commanded.

"Certainly." Leona replied and walked up the ramp into the cargo bay.

-Inside the Albatross, the cargo bay, 11:36 A.M.-

Leona stood at the top of the ramp and quickly located the Atlas, which was sitting in the approximate center of the cargo bay and secured by thick canvas straps firmly holding the suit to the floor. She walked over to it, carefully undid all of the straps, and moved them off to the left before climbing onto the top of the suit, turning to face the bay entrance, and carefully sitting down at the controls. Leona carefully placed her feet on the pedals and put her left hand on the grip controlling the left arm before initiating the start-up sequence with her right hand. Recalling the sequence from the last time she had done it, Leona quickly located and pressed the power button, making the doctor's work come to life.

The Atlas smoothly stood upright and Leona placed her right hand on the grip that controlled the right arm before gently pressing down on the foot pedals, making the suit walk forward at a slow and controlled pace. The Silver Wolf mage calmly watched the cargo bay roof approach and ducked down into the suit, passing under it with only inches to spare. Once she was clear of the roof she continued down into the hangar.

-Inside the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar, 11:39 A.M.-

After striding down the ramp and into the open space of the hangar Leona came to a stop and looked down at the Atlas' designer. Dr. Reid walked over with a headset in her left hand, then began climbing up the front of the suit to pass it to Leona. Moments later the green-eyed blonde was looking the doctor in the face.

"Here Leona, take this. You're gonna need it to communicate with me once we get going." She said before holding out the device with her left hand.

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