⊱————　Sahria’s PoV　————⊰

My gaze kept wandering through the room, falling on the sleeping girl over and over again. She still hadn’t woken up after hours in my care, and I couldn’t figure out what to do aside from waiting.

I had carried her all the way into the bedroom, undressed her and put her into the bed so she could get her needed rest, but that rest had lasted for hours by now.

When she finally showed signs of life I was already close to giving it up for today. I realized her breaths had gotten faster. She was awake, or soon would be. And I? I still didn’t know how to face her. Instead I became increasingly restless, going as far as fixing the blanket I had draped over her unconscious body or looking for things to do and finding none.

A part of me wanted her to open her eyes and finally face me, but I knew I wasn’t ready for that just yet. How could I, after all that I had done to her thinking she was a beastkin?

“To think that she really was a fox…”

It should be impossible. The War of the Morian Forests happened eighty years ago and decades had gone by without anyone hearing about any foxkin survivors. And now suddenly she pops up as if nothing had happened? Who could believe that?

I sighed. I had lost too much in that war, family and friends, some of which being children. And to think that all of that happened over some territorial dispute? Over some hunting grounds? Of course the gods would be angry, of course they would leave us.

“She is blessed…”

Back in the old days gods would go out of their way to test their believers. They would challenge them with quests and award them titles, weapons and tools to make them even stronger. But all of that had stopped with the demise of the Ciliari tribe.

Scholars had the wildest theories about why this happened. From gods that were in love with one of the female only tribe members to precious artifacts lost in the fights, there were many ideas. But the most commonly accepted one was the theory that thought of gods as friends and rivals, as a great family that supported and challenged each other. When the beastkin went and killed off all believers of a goddess, ultimately killing her as well, of course they would be angry.

“But she is still alive… both of them are alive…”

There was only one goddess that would bless this girl without her performing a world-changing deed, Cilia herself. Which meant the goddess was still around, even with Rika herself being the sole true believer.

I was about to stand up and go back to work when something in Rika’s face changed. She grimaced, as if she had seen something awful, before going back to normal. It hadn’t lasted for longer than mere seconds, but I couldn’t have possibly missed it given how often I checked on her.

“A nightmare?” I asked myself. “I guess that is to be expected, knowing what she went through.”

Within the fraction of a second, Rika had opened her eyes only to be blinded by the chandelier lights. She blinked her eyes dozens of times, until she could finally make me out, then she froze upon realizing it was me. I could have sworn I saw a shiver going over her body.

“E- elfen bitch?!” She asked.

The smile I didn’t knew I had on my lips immediately crumbled. I should have known she hated me. Of course she did. After all that I had done she didn’t have a choice but to despise me.

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“I guess this is what I get for being so horrible to you before...”

“What are you doing here?!” She asked, half panicking.

“I am not here to hurt you, don’t worry.”

“You hate me!”

“I hated you when I thought you were beastkin, not a fox.” She reminded me. “Foxes are-”

“What are they?”

“They are different,” I heard myself answer.

“What do you mean, ‘different’?”

An image appeared before my inner eye, showing a foxkin girl’s bright smile as she jumped around, always chased by a number of two-colored balls of fire. She shot them in the air, brought them back down, let them hover around us or take various shapes high up in the air. All of this just for a few children’s smiles.

That girl was long gone, her whole tribe was. And I? I had just made an enemy with the sole survivor of what was essentially her family.

“You can cast chantless magic, for starters.” I avoided the topic entirely. “You are blessed by the gods and you use unknown holy magic.”

“So what if I can use a little bit of magic?!”

“Most of us will never be able to use it like you. We all have to chant our magic - complex ones even take minutes.” I sighed. “A single mistake and you could end up killing yourself. And then there is you, who doesn't even say a word to do it.”

“How did you even find out about that?! I never told you!”

“I just guessed.” I couldn’t help but smile.

“Guessed…”

“The slime cores presented to the guild had traces of fire and holy magic on them,” I explained. “And I have seen foxkin use chantless magic before.”

“You met other foxes?”

She stared at me in disbelief, likely only realizing now how old I was.

“They often visited my home town to exchange wares and services.”

“I see…”

“I remember one of them playing with us children. She chased us with illusions or made balls of fire dance for us.”

“Sounds like she was nice.”

“She was...”

“Sorry for your loss...” Was all she could say.

Moments went by in silence as we both tried to find something to talk about. It was only when I remembered how and where I had found her that I knew what to offer to her.

“I filled the bath for you.” I explained to her, making sure to show her the best smile I could. “It is ready to dip in.”

“Don't tell me …”

“Don’t worry, I will be with you in case you faint again.”

“I would rather have Ofris watch me.” 

My mood immediately hit rock bottom. Of course she would hate being around me. I had done nothing to change her idea of me. If anything, I had made it worse by suddenly appearing in front of her without a warning.

“Ofris?” I heard myself ask. “Is he the one you fancy?”

“I don't fancy him!” She vehemently denied. “I trust him! Not you!”

I went silent. There wasn’t anything I could do to turn this around, regardless of how much I wished for things to change. With a deep sigh I prepared myself to be told to leave, only to have a sudden idea pop up in my head.

“But don't you want to learn magic?” I asked her without hesitation. “Ofris told me you are interested in learning some magic. I would teach you anything you want.”

“...”

Rika took in a few deep breaths, likely thinking over my offer. But there was barely anything she could say about it. Getting taught magic was already a rare offer, and even more so by an experienced elven magician, but getting that much without paying half a fortune? She could count herself lucky. Especially since she so desperately wanted to grow stronger.

“You would teach me?” She finally asked after what felt like half an eternity.

My answer came immediately: “Of course I would!”

“What is the downside?”

“There is no downside.” I answered with a smile before adding a small term of mine: “I just want to examine you a little more.”

“Examine? You really examined my body?”

“You are a magic being.” I explained with a smile. “I can almost feel you breathing magic!”

“I- I see…”

“So you want to learn them?” I asked her, before making my offer even more precious: “I can make you stronger than anybody else in this town!”

Rika immediately bit the hook. “You really can do that?”

“Of course I can! Nobody knows more about magic than elves.”

“I can certainly tell you are crazy about magic …”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Crazy is such a bad word. I am enthusiastic about it. That's all!”

“Enthusiastic?!”

“So what is it? Do you want my help?”

Once again she fell silent. Naturally, getting access to more magic was a reason to celebrate and immediately say ‘yes’ to anything I asked, but I was still the woman who had made her cry. She wasn’t my ally and I had openly admitted that examining her magic would give me valuable insight. The only thing speaking for me in that regard was how open I had been with my intentions. I had told her that she was special and thus interesting to me.

Knowing all of this, there was still no choice but to accept my offer.

“I accept,” she finally said.