Time seemed to freeze as I watched the blazing bolt of lightning heading straight for me in horror. Faster than a crossbow bolt, more terrifying than Freyde’s sword. There was no doubt in my mind that I would not escape this, nor would my barrier be strong enough to stop it.

Yet, it wasn’t what took my breath away, what stopped me in my tracks and made my heart stop beating. That was the flour dust ignited by Meneur's magic.

Only a fool would try to escape the blast, so I hit the ground, curling into a ball just moments before taurus’s magic hit me. I wasn’t quick enough to erect the shield, though the actual forming of it was unusually slow, as if affected by the sluggish passage of time.

But it was moving, and so an unsuppressed scream tore from my throat half a breath later when the magic scorched my back and burned deep into my body. It was only after that when a barrier formed around me. Too late, yet I wished I could create more layers and hoped this one would at least somewhat protect me from what was to come.

Hiding Sage, as well as my wings beneath me as best I could, I dropped my ears down to my head and put my hands on top of it. The last-ditch effort to hide and protect Esu’s gift underneath them. Then, since I didn’t know any prayers, I braced myself for a lot more pain, just as time began to move at a normal pace again, seemingly in sync with my heartbeat.

All hell broke loose.

The world around me fell still for a second before all the flour dust, or whatever it was, ignited all at once in one earth-shaking explosion. Even though I flattened my ears, the boom of the blast made them bleed and my world eerily silent.

Then came the pressure wave, though it didn’t hit me with the force I imagined. It was so weak the barrier covering me did not shatter as I feared. That was good, for worse was to come, the heat. The blazing flames were so hot they burned through the barrier, my only protection, in a flash.

I could feel it inside me, the damage, the heat that my skill tried to spread through my body. It was nothing compared to what was out there around me and now scorching my skin.

Except I didn’t feel the searing agony that was supposed to come that I suffered when Meneur’s magic hit me. I...I felt safe and protected. It was baffling. Did Deckard come to my rescue? What about watching city guards? Did they intervene? No, it wasn’t either of them. What I perceived around me, not to mention the flames of the explosion, blew my mind.

Surrounded by raging flames, I was covered in a layer of what seemed to be a fluff that resisted the heat. Was it the moss? A ridiculous notion, I realized as soon as I shook off the shock and looked closer.

It was my mane.

My usually chin-long hair now somehow covered my entire huddled form like some kind of heat-resistant blanket. With no idea what to think anymore, I had a hard time figuring out what was more surprising. That my mane just made me feel pleasant warmth instead of scorching heat or the fact that my hair could reach mid-thigh length in seconds?

Magic, it seemed like magic. And it really was. I could feel the draining of mana, and not a little of it. At that moment, I laughed. I laughed so hard I burst into tears.

I didn’t go crazy. It was all just too overwhelming. So much happened in the blink of an eye. Things that I hadn’t imagined in my wildest dreams and were hard to take in. They made me an even bigger freak than I thought, but right now...I was so damn glad for it.

In what I could have sworn were long minutes, the explosion passed, and the flour powder was replaced by the raised dust of the training ground and smoke. Standing in the aftermath of the blast, I sent mana into my burned back and ruptured eardrums.

I heard shit for a change. Thankfully, whatever was in that flour that made my perception a mess was gone. The outer one was still as useless as my eyes, but it was better than being completely blind.

There was no one around me, though.

“What the fuck, girl,” Deckard’s astonished voice echoed in my mind. “You kept secrets from me?”

From him? More like my body kept secrets from me. My hair mutated months ago and never did this. Thinking back, searching my memory for a hint that my mane was capable of this, I thoughtlessly took a long strand of it in my hand and almost flinched back. I expected it to be hot, not cold to the touch.

Magic. The mane was still drawing mana. I felt it flow through the strand of hair in my palm, doing its... magic. What kind of creature did it belong to?

Amused laughter rang through my mind, interrupting the train of my thoughts. “You really are a bundle of miracles, girl.”

What could I say to that? It was indeed one. This new quirk of mine came out just when I needed it most. Quite the timing. But perhaps that was it. Never before have I been exposed to such flames.

Not knowing how to explain it to Deckard right now, I asked about what happened instead, wondering about Squad Four. Were they out there in the smoke, waiting for me? For a chance to attack? They weren’t in my perception.

“I think you know best what happened,” he remarked back.

Not the answer I was looking for, still the pause made it clear he wanted to hear my side of things. “Meneur’s magic ignited the flour dust from Harper’s grenade.”

“And I have to say, it was quite a spectacle. A great lesson for you,” he said with some satisfaction.

What was so great about experiencing the explosion was beyond me, nor did I know what I was supposed to learn. Did he mean my mane? “Yeah, I need a haircut.”

He chuckled. “Wigram is having a field day now because of that.”

“The Imperial Chief Healer is here?” I didn’t see any imperial soldiers in the barracks. On second thought, we got to the barracks hours ago. Quite possibly before they came in.

“Of course, that old man wouldn’t miss this,” he said, and I couldn’t help feeling that he knew Lord Wigram more than I thought. “He watches from a distance. Anyway, not what I meant. This explosion is a lesson for all of you, for the whole squad.”

I looked around again, my eyes stinging in the smoke in case my perception was failing me again. Still no one. Why didn’t they attack? This was a great opportunity. Did something happen to them?

“Don’t worry about them, girl,” Deckard said, sensing my concern. “They’ll live, and maybe next time be smarter. Taurus hesitated to use magic for too long and forced the baker to use her ridiculous grenade. After that, the bookkeeper became utterly useless. He couldn’t do a thing, and you were no better off. If you were facing a beast as a squad and she took out your tank and swordsman, you can surely imagine how that would turn out.”

Party wipe.

“And then there’s the explosion. None of them ever expected it,” he said with a mental chuckle.

Neither of them? “How do you know?”

“Do you think they wanted to kill you?” He asked, and I couldn’t say the thought didn’t cross my mind. If my mane hadn’t acted like that, I’d have been baked to a crisp. “No, if they did, it would have been pretty stupid of them to stay in the dust with you.”

My breath caught in my throat when I realized what he was saying. Squad Four was caught in the blast, too. Since they didn’t have my mane to protect them, they must have had quite a hard time.

“I told you not to worry about them,” he remarked. “Unlike you, after the baker detonated the grenade, she ran to the edge. They were all just on the fringe of that dust when it exploded. They’re bruised, burnt hair here and there, that’s all.”

“Thanks,” I breathed, actually glad it was so and also for the fact that it wasn’t intentional on their part, just a mistake, an unexpected result of a combination of tool and skill.

“It might be useful,” I pondered to myself, letting a thought slip carelessly through the connection.

“You’re thinking the right way now,” Deckard said, pleased with the direction my thoughts had taken. “But dangerous too, and it’s good that you’ve figured it out here.”

The realization dawned on me. “That’s why you keep saying this fight is for us to get to know each other.”

I could almost imagine him grinning. “There is no better way,” he replied.

Sitting down over a cup of coffee was still the way I preferred, but I could see the advantages he mentioned this way had. Relaxing in the safety of a café, I wouldn’t have discovered what my mane can do.

Seriously, I still had a hard time believing it.

Only the chill of the strand I was still clutching in my hand and the added weight on my head told me it was not just a figment of my imagination. It actually happened, and that fact kept me from taking a step out of this smoke. No one could have seen me here. At least not Squad Four.

“Shit!” I groaned out loud as the thought of moss popped into my mind. My concern was to keep it from burning under the heat. Now it looked like I had to worry about the cold. Luckily, the plant didn’t seem to mind. The only sign of its discomfort was a flower whose petals were closed instead of blooming.

Just as I made sure the gift on my head survived the ordeal, my ears started ringing. A sign that they were healing. Just a few breaths of smoke later, and the annoying whistle I heard turned into the noise of an arguing trio.

“Why the fuck are you pointing at me!” I recognized Freyde’s angry voice.

The response was much more measured. “If you’d stopped her in time...”

“None of this would have happened! Is that what you’re saying?” he finished for her. “I didn’t ask you guys to help me.”

“Come on, man,” Harper said. Surprisingly, there was joy in her voice. “That explosion was fucking cool.”

“Your eyebrows are gone, your hair still smoldering. How can you find this amusing?” he asked, not understanding.

She chuckled. “Are you pissed because the tips of your pointy ears got burned?”

“Fuck you, Harper, you know damn well I’d get rid of them if I could,” barked the for-sure-not-true-elf.

“Then why are you so cross?” She wondered.

It took him a moment to answer. “Would you survive that? The blast,” he asked the two. Was he concerned for me?

“Hell no,” Harper told him without hesitation.

“You would,” a woman, her voice unfamiliar to me, objected. “And stay still while I’m healing you.”

Ah, they were in the hands of healers. Meaning I could put my guard down. It also made me wonder where my healer was. The pain in my back was killing me.

Harper mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out. “...What do you mean?”

The healer smirked. “That human bodies are sturdier than you think. I’d just have more work if you were deeper into that explosion, and you’d have a shitty week. It wasn’t even that powerful of a blast. The one that blew up the top floors of the office building and woke up the city, that one packed a punch.”

Yeah, I remembered that. Not a fond memory.

The moment the bull-like voice reached my ears, I knew it belonged to Meneur. “What about Korra Grey. She was in there when I cast my spell.”

“And here I thought I was the only one who cared,” Freyde said in frustration.

“Hey, just because I didn’t run in right away doesn’t mean I don’t give a shit about her.” the baker argued.

“Well,” the healer cut into their argument once more. “If she was in any danger, the Captain would have acted. The fact that she didn’t move and instead laughed with Deckard tells me your mate is fine.”

I’d like to think that my mentor would have helped me before she did. Anyway, she was right, and I was somewhat okay. But I wouldn’t turn down a healer if one showed up. Or...I could, no I should find one myself.

One step was all I took before the bewildered voices of Squad Four stopped me in my tracks.

“Deckard?” Freyde asked.

“The solo seeker?” Meneur made sure she was talking about the one and only.

“What’s he doing here?” Harper wanted to know.

“You didn’t know?” the healer wondered. “Grey is his apprentice.”

The silence that fell made me want to disappear. Simply slip away from the barracks concealed by the smoke. As if someone had read my mind, a strong gust of wind blew away my cover. It wasn’t some fate-driven wind but magic wielded by the city guard. I saw him standing on the edge of the training ground with his hands raised to the sky.

Damn the man for his timing!

It took a lot of courage to look at the faces of my squadmates when I knew what to expect, and it was even worse than I thought.

Freyde stared at me open-mouthed, unable to make a sound. Harper was pointing the finger at me, and I didn’t dare to guess what was going through Meneur’s head because his eyes were sparkling with admiration. It didn’t help that my long mane was now billowing in the magic-induced wind behind me like a veil, drawing even more attention to itself.

So I stood there in the spotlight, trying not to let on how uncomfortable I was and hoping someone would say something soon.

“You look good, lass.” It was Marcus who spoke first. “Damn good.”

I gave the City Guard Chief Healer a glance, unsure of when he joined in the fun, but glad that at least someone understood how I felt and tried to lighten the mood. It worked. It was as if invisible silencing magic lifted, and the world became noisy again.

“See, she’s fine,” spoke the healer I had only heard so far. The plump woman was kneeling by Harper, treating her burns, and she wasn’t the only one there in a white uniform. Each of them was assisted by a healer. This one was just talkative.

“Fine? She doesn’t have a damn scratch.” Harper shot back so loud my newly healed ears pricked up. My first reaction was to show her my burned back, prove her wrong. On second thought, it might come across as me wanting to be pitied.

“What’s wrong with her hair?” Freyde wondered, his previous concern for my well-being forgotten.

I couldn’t blame him, though. It was pretty eye-catching. With the wind and in the sun, the ginger color made it look like it was on fire at times. The strand I still held in my hand spoke otherwise. The cold I felt finally got me thinking about how to stop the mana draw. It wasn’t much now that I was out of the heat, and I wasn’t in any danger of running out any time soon. Still, It would suck if it were to be a permanent thing.

So like in the presence of Ria, when I was torturing Sage with a lack of mana, I stopped the mana flow into my mane. The suspense was nerve-wracking. Anything could have happened. I might experience an aching pain, as in the case of my tail, or end up bald. 

When the strand of hair in my palm turned to dust, I held my breath and watched with tension as it was blown away in the dying wind. It wasn’t just that one strand. All that extra hair reaching mid-thigh length a second ago was gone, lost in the breeze. Not what I expected, but it lifted a weight off my shoulders. Didn’t even need a haircut.

“Way to impress, girl,” Deckard rumbled aloud. If his intent was to draw attention to him, it only worked for a moment before even the slow-witted and ignorant figured out who he was, who I was.

Letting out a deep sigh and trying to do the impossible, I ignored the others talking about me, the Deckard apprentice, the one who destroyed the barracks, I made my way to the members of Squad Four. They fell silent while I was still a few steps away. Honestly, I’d rather they kept arguing about whose fault the explosion was. Making my partial beastification recede, I bit my bottom lip and clenched my fists to hide my uneasiness.

“Are we good, Harper?” I asked when none of them spoke, even as I stood in front of them.

She laughed when she realized I was talking about her hand. “Are you serious? That was fair and square. I’m the one who shot you out of the blue.”

True, but people had done me worse. “I shouldn’t have mistaken it for a duel.”

“Why are you two talking about that? What about the explosion?” Freyde threw his hands up in disbelief. “Look at her.”

Harper’s hand went to her singed hair and missing eyebrows. “I’m kind of jealous of yours, now. What was that trick with the hair, anyway.”

Yeah, that. “First time I’ve used it, actually,” I admitted, scratching the back of my neck. Sah’s gaze was unusually piercing now. “It shielded me from the heat.” Anyone with good perception could see that.

“Not quite,” the healer objected as he finished treating Freyde’s burn. “May I?” He asked if he could look at my wound. Hell yes! I could see what was going on inside me, my regeneration was off the charts, but I wasn’t a doctor.

“So it didn’t protect you entirely?” Freyde asked as the healer approached me. Shaking my head, I gestured to Maneur. “It was his bolt of lightning.”

“Not lightning,” Taurus corrected me but didn’t explain further. He had a look I’ve seen before. Timmy, the little guide. “I’m not a kirin, Meneur.”

“I know,” he grumbled immediately. “It’s just that you might as well be one.”

“What the hell is a kirin?” asked Harper, not surprising that, as a human, she was ignorant of Terran legends and tales.

“I’ll tell you later if you still want.” Meneur offered, and if she didn’t take it, I certainly would. I wondered what the terrans themselves had to say about these mythical creatures.

The healer cleared his throat. “The burn went deep, into one of your kidneys. Don’t be surprised if you piss blood for a day or two. Otherwise, for level ninety-nine gal, impressive regeneration. It requires no work on my part.”

Eyes of my squadmates went above my head and widened in silent wonder at once. This time I fell quiet too, checking the notifications in a hurry.