Well, I was thinking about updating Unusual Attractions, but in the middle of writing a future fic about Gabriel (which is completely unrelated to Emma or Tancred), I got an idea for this…and since I had so many requests for another E/T, I decided…why not!

This story is for Mels, who is currently off on philosophical summit, but wanted a fluffy, funny E/T!

A/N: This story takes place during Tancred's last year at Bloor's

Disclaimer: Charlie Bone, all characters, places and related terms belong to Jenny Nimmo

Lost and Found

The temperature in the village was a scorching 39 degrees and Tancred Torsson, stormbringer extraordinaire, couldn't do anything about it.

Not that he hadn't tried. He'd stood in his yard for the better part of the afternoon, trying uselessly to summon rain, snow, thunder, or even a small breeze. It hadn't worked. There had been a tiny rustling wind at around 3 pm, but Tancred knew that it had merely been a lucky coincidence, and had nothing to do with his endowment.

In fact, if Tancred wanted to be completely and utterly honest with himself, nothing had worked for the past nine days, six hours, and fourteen minutes. He'd seemed to have not only lost the ability to create storms, but also had somehow managed to keep the entire town in an arid, desert-like state that not even his father had been able to undo. School had been cancelled three days before, since students kept fainting during class, and everyone was completely miserable. Fidelio Gunn was in a tizzy since none of his instruments would stay in tune, and Gabriel refused to be consoled after one of his gerbils succumbed to the relentless heat. Dagbert Endless had to be kept in an ice bath, and Billy Raven was rushed to the emergency room with a nasty sunburn.

Tancred was positive that somehow or another, this was all Emma Tolly's fault… especially since it had been exactly nine days, six hours and fourteen minutes since he'd discovered that he was in love with her.

He'd never intentionally planned on even noticing Emma Tolly, much less falling in love with her. She'd always been a sort of vague blonde shape hovering around Charlie, barely worth noticing. His tastes had tended more towards girls who giggled, flipped their hair around, and were more physically than mentally appealing. Emma Tolly didn't exactly fit the description. He'd been perfectly willing to help rescue her from the Bloors, after all, she was a fellow endowed, but he'd promptly written her off as too serious, too smart, and much too artistic for his liking.

Then, quite unexpectedly, everything changed.

It hadn't been a hugely dramatic moment. There was no music, poetry or other hopelessly romantic occurrence. Emma had simply asked to sit by him during homework hour in the King's Room. He'd looked up, surprised that she'd spoken to him. Although they were in several art classes together, they rarely spoke, and he couldn't recall her ever seeking him out for anything before. He remembered the way her mouth had curled up a little at the corners when she had asked if the seat was taken, but her light blue eyes had remained a little uncertain. When he'd nodded, her entire face had suddenly lit up, utterly transforming her. It was the change that captivated Tancred; he'd never seen anyone go from unremarkable to absolutely remarkable so quickly. He'd stared at her while she put down her books, and kept staring until Manfred had barked at him to keep his eyes on his work.

He hadn't been able to stop staring since.

It hadn't been love at first sight, or even attraction, but it was a sort of fascination, he decided later, when he'd properly thought it through. In that moment, Emma Tolly had registered, and become someone interesting.

He knew right off that he didn't want to date her ( too serious, too smart, too artistic) but he wanted…something, which was a completely new feeling and may have been the reason he took the empty seat next to her in their art class a few days later.

She was busy unpacking her supplies, but upon seeing him, turned and flashed him a wide grin, her face lighting again before turning back to her easel. Belatedly, Tancred realized he didn't have the slightest clue what to say next. Planning had never been one of his strong suits, but he'd always relied on his natural charm when it came to girls. They were normally the ones to approach him, and he rarely had to go out of his way to make them pay attention. However, unlike most girls, Emma seemed content to work in silence. In desperation, he finally asked if he could borrow her orange coloured pencil. She'd looked up abruptly, clear blue eyes fixing seriously on his face, before she laughed and told him he could, but she wasn't sure why he needed it.

"Orange happens to be one of my favourite colours," he'd replied, a little stung (he was lying; he preferred blue).

"I just meant that we're going to be using paint today, not coloured pencils," she said, her eyes beginning to shimmer with barely suppressed laughter.

"I…meant…the…orange paint, not pencil!" he hastily corrected, feeling his face flush and causing a wind to ripple through the room.

"Of course," Emma had replied serenely, before handing him the orange paint. "I'm sure that your still life interpretation will look wonderful in orange." She turned back to her own painting and frowned a little, dipping her brush in a jar of green paint. Tancred noticed with a sinking feeling that for their still life exercise, his teacher had placed a bowl of pears on the table in a blue bowl, next to a blue vase of white lilies.

He'd sighed, and handed back the orange paint. "Maybe I'd better borrow blue."

"I think that's a much better idea," Emma had smiled again, and handed over the blue paint.

They'd painted in relative silence until the end of the period, and chatted companionably about art as they packed up their things. When Tancred found himself walking to Ingledew's with her after school, he was struck with the notion that despite his inner misgivings, he was becoming friends with a girl that was completely unlike any other girl he had ever known before, and he had absolutely no romantic interest in her whatsoever.

As the weeks went by, Tancred realised that he was enjoying spending time with Emma more and more. Despite her somewhat quixotic outward appearance, she was extremely candid and focused, and possessed a quirky sense of humour. She was also someone he could usually talk to about dating advice. Or she was, until The Incident, which occurred eleven days, nine hours and thirty-four minutes ago.

Tancred had met up with Emma on the steps of the library. She'd been examining the new arrivals to see if the bookstore should order anything, and he'd been lounging on the steps, drinking a cup of coffee he'd bought from a tiny woman who owned an espresso cart that was constantly parked outside the library. She'd sat down next to him, dropping her bag on the step and stealing a sip of his drink.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" she'd asked, idly glancing up at the cloud-filled sky. "Aunt Julia is making pumpkin bread."

Tancred had grinned at her, taking a lazy sip of his coffee. "I," he stated grandly, "have a date tonight."

"Oh really?" Emma said, giving him a sharp look. "Who with?"

"Janet Evans."

Emma had groaned and hit his arm. "Janet Evans? Janet Evans who always chews that disgusting grape bubblegum? Janet Evans whose great ambition is to own her own Chihuahua beauty parlour? Janet Evans who thought that Loch Ness was a sexually transmitted disease? That Janet Evans?"

"You know, it sounds a lot worse when you string it all together like that."

They were quiet for a moment. Finally, Emma said in a soft voice, "Don't you get tired of always dating people who are so…I don't know…silly? Maybe you should try dating someone that you're actually interested in having a serious relationship with."

"I'm interested in relationships!" Tancred said indignantly. "It's just that I have high standards."

"Unrealistic standards," Emma muttered. Then she reached out and placed a hand lightly on the inside of his wrist, "Tancred, I'm not saying you should throw away all your standards. I'm just saying that maybe you should try to actually get to know a girl as a friend or something before randomly dating her."

"What?" Tancred snorted, "That's like suggesting you and I go out or something! It's just, it's…people like us, we don't…I mean…square peg, round hole and all that…" He broke off and then caught sight of Emma's face. She'd gone very pale and looked like someone had slapped her. Then, just as quickly, the expression disappeared, and she smiled, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Oh, I think I'd know better than to get involved with you!" she'd laughed, although it suddenly had a brittle and hollow sound that Tancred wasn't used to. She stood up, snatched back her hand, and brushed off her skirt. "I think I'm going to go home now." Before he could say anything else, she'd slung her bag over her shoulder and began walking rapidly down the street. Then she appeared to change her mind and turned around, storming back towards him, stopping only when they were face to face again. "Do you want to know what your problem is, Tancred Torsson? You never give anyone a chance unless they benefit you in some way. You constantly have a list in your head about people, reasons why they aren't worth your time. You'd never actually admit to caring about something. You just parade around with Janet Evans and whoever else you want because everyone else couldn't possibly measure up. I don't think you'd even recognize love if it hit you right in the head!"

She was practically screaming at him by the time she finished, and he could feel the curious eyes of the espresso cart lady on them. Emma rarely lost her temper, but when she did, it wasn't a good sign. He'd wanted to say something (several somethings, actually) but the words froze on his tongue when he realised how close they were standing; he could feel her breath mixing with his. For a moment, they stayed that way, eyes locked. Their faces were so close, only inches apart, really. It would be easy, Tancred reflected, to move forward and close the distance between them. But before he could move, she'd stepped forward and shoved him, hard, and he nearly fell down the steps.

By the time he'd regained his balance, she was gone, and he didn't try to follow her, choosing instead to sit like a coward on the steps and drink another coffee, her words buzzing in his ears. That was when he noticed the weather. He was upset, and normally when he was upset, it would snow, or rain, or at least thunder. Instead, it seemed warmer, and the clouds were disappearing. By the time he finished his coffee, it was definitely warmer outside. By the time he walked home, he was sweating.

At dinner that night, he was subdued and depressed, his conversation with Emma playing endlessly in his head. His parents tried to make him talk, make him laugh, but their efforts just irritated him, so he ended up going to his room, where he lay on his bed and listened to the conversation play over and over and over. He told himself to stop obsessing, to call Lysander, Charlie, Janet, anyone. It didn't work. All he could think about was Emma, and the almost- could-have-maybe-been a kiss. It wasn't until two days, three hours, and twenty minutes later that he had the epiphany.

He'd been out in the yard, trying to make it rain for the begonias. His mother had gone to the nursery the day before and had come home with a ficus, two Boston ferns, and five brightly coloured begonias. She'd told him (in no uncertain terms) to make it rain so the begonias didn't dry out and shrivel. He tried as hard as he could, but nothing worked. He couldn't make it rain. Panicked, he tried thunder, lightning, and wind, but nothing worked. He'd completely lost his powers.

Just then, he heard his father singing again. Although the Torsson family possessed many admirable qualities, singing was not one of them. However, while standing in the front yard, listening to his father warble an off-key version of the Beatles "All You Need is Love," Tancred had an epiphany.

He was in love (or something like it) with Emma Tolly.

He really had no idea when it had happened. He'd constantly reminded himself of the reasons it was a bad idea (too serious, too smart, and too artistic had practically become his mantra), but it had happened completely and entirely without his consent. He found himself wanting to be with her all the time, to talk to her and kiss her and hold her hand, and he'd completely messed everything up with her. He'd pretty much told her she was the last person on earth he would ever want to date. Also, he'd lost his powers. After considering the situation from several angles, Tancred came to a conclusion: his life was over.

The weather heated up fairly quickly after that.

He spent the next nine days, six hours, and fourteen minutes skulking around the house, attempting unsuccessfully to summon storms, and eating chocolate seashells. He took a sort of grim satisfaction in avoiding everyone who knew Emma, and especially Emma herself. He'd decided on a new career as a hermit, and planned on moving to Peru where he could raise alpacas and tell stories about his glory days as a stormbringer, and the tragic tale of his lost love.

His musings were interrupted by a tap on his back. Tancred jumped and whirled around, preparing to yell at the intruder.

"Hi Tancred," Emma said, pushing her blonde hair off her flushed face. Tancred was surprised that she had dared to come outside in the ferocious heat. She was wearing a light blue sundress and the tip of her nose looked slightly sunburnt. He thought she had never looked so adorable. He opened his mouth to tell her this, but the past nine days, six hours, and fourteen minutes of hurt bubbled over into a peevish sounding question.

"What are you doing here?"

Emma's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "I just…heard you had some problems with your powers…and, I wanted to… Listen, Tancred, I'm sorry for what I told you. I was angry and upset about what you said and I reacted badly. No matter how much I disagree with what you do sometimes, you're still my friend, and I shouldn't have yelled like that." She sighed and then dropped her arms to her sides. "That's all I had to say. I can go now, if you want me to."

She turned to leave.

Tancred stood there for a moment before his brain realised that she was walking away and he needed to stop her. He tore across the yard and caught her wrist, neatly spinning her so they were facing each other. Her eyes were wide and shocked as she stared up at him. He was struck with a sense of deja-vu. He had the perfect opportunity and absolutely no clue what to say to her. So, he said the first thing that came into his head.

"Too serious, too smart, and too artistic."

"What are you talking about?" Emma said, giving him a confused look, but making no move to pull away.

"That's what I thought at first. About you," he clarified. She shook her head, disappointed, and started to pull back, but he tightened his grip and continued. "Then I realised that I like serious and smart and artistic. I might even love serious, smart, and artistic." Emma inhaled sharply, going suddenly slack in his grip.

"What?" she whispered. Tancred started to grin.

"Emma, I'm a total wreck. I'm an ex-serial dater who can't summon a breeze, I've been living on chocolate seashells, and I don't care. I only care about you. So I'm going to kiss you now, if that's ok." Emma's face lit up and Tancred was reminded of the first day he noticed her; the day things had changed.

"It's ok," she said, scooting forward and sliding her fingers through his hair. Then he was kissing her, and the outside world disappeared, and everything narrowed to the feel of his lips on hers, the way she murmured his name and the utterly novel sensation of kissing someone who actually mattered.

A sudden crash caused them to spring apart and look up at the sky. What had been a cloudless blue sky was rapidly filling with rain clouds, thunder, and lightning. A wind whistled around their ankles, and a light snow began falling. Emma laughed, twirling around in the swiftly cooling yard.

"I've always thought it was unhealthy to bury your feelings," she said, smiling a little smugly. Tancred looked around the yard, and then back at Emma, narrowing his eyes.

"You knew!" he said accusingly. "You knew before I did that I loved you!"

"I didn't know," she said, lacing her fingers through his and stretching up on her toes to kiss him, "I just suspected."

End

Aaaand….I'm ending there…because I'm tired…and this is long. So there you go! A lovely Emma/Tancred fic of love! So please please please review! I may actually write more E/T if I get a lot of reviews

Also, a new chapter of Unusual Attractions should be coming in the not-too-distant future…so be on the lookout!