(Safreya)

It had been three days since Iliastyr’s display at the arcane aptitude test. Debates continued in the guilds about who had the most impressive magical feat between Iliastyr and Vladimir, Solluna's two greatest prodigies. The raw magical energy Iliastyr used to shatter the crystal clearly exceeded the amount Vladimir needed to illuminate the city. However, it required far less control.

Regarding skill, Safreya believed that Vladimir Setric had won the day. However, technique and ability weren’t what Safreya had been searching for. The magic emanating from Iliastyr that night was hauntingly familiar to her; it could only have come from one person. She'd already been confident that Iliastyr was who she'd been searching for, but now she was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Safreya anxiously paced through the halls of the Luthier’s Guild. Iliastyr would shortly be finished with his class on instrument construction. Familiar faces were also waiting for the class to be over: Asher and Kylie. The ever-cautious Kylie raised her scarred eyebrow at Safreya, while Asher pulled the girl in for a brief hug.

“Good to see you, Asher! Are you two waiting for Mallea?” She asked Asher.

“We sure are! Oh, yeah, Safreya,” Asher said with a laidback laugh, “Hey, um, Kylie and I actually had a question for you about that word you whispered at the arcane aptitude test.”

“Nii’Bru,” Kylie echoed, “Asher asked me and my linguist bunkmate about it; she’d never heard the word before.”

He told Kylie?! Damn it, Asher. One thing consistent across all kingdoms and races is that boys become idiots around the girl they’re smitten with, Safreya thought. “It means amazing in my Arukan,” Safreya lied, “I took a class on Arukan back in Mazgrove, and it felt fitting for Iliastyr’s display.”

“From what Asher’s told me, you understand magic well. You should know that what Vladimir did was far more impressive than Iliastyr‘s result,” Kylie replied. "Why didn't you go crazy over Vlad illuminating the whole city?'

Nosy lady, aren’t you? Safeeya thought, hiding her seething thoughts with a smile. “Of course, Vlad won the day. But Iliastyr felt the most amazing in the moment,” Safreya said hopelessly, knowing Kylie was looking right through her.

Thankfully, Safreya was saved before Kylie could press her further. Mallea and Iliastyr exited their lesson room with a pair of freshly made violins. Safreya knew her roommate wasn't the most talkative creature, so watching her giggle and joke around Iliastyr was a sight to behold.

“I'm not messing with you; they're actually called f-holes!" Iliastyr exclaimed, pointing to his own violin. "Here. The holes in the middle of the violin. Without them, there would be no sound! Stop giggling, Mallea; this is serious!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Mallea said, wiping away tears of laughter from her rose-tinted cheeks, "but when you say go home and work on those f-holes, did you really expect me not to laugh?"

"I'm just trying to help my dear supporting actress," Iliastyr winked at Mallea, who continued her laughing fit.

“Thanks, Mr. Protagonist,” Mallea said, “for a leading man, you've been very supportive today. I appreciate it."

It's strange. I adore Mal, but her talking to Nii'Bru like that makes my stomach turn, Safreya thought. I guess it's natural instinct for me to be protective.

"Any protagonist that isn't there for his support cast is no protagonist at all,” Iliastyr said, running his hand through his hair.

How generous, Nii’Bru, Safreya thought, letting out a short giggle. If it’s that easy, all I have to say is…

“Iliastyr, can you come to the Archer’s Guild with me? I need help with target practice from the best,” asked Safreya with innocent eyes.

His ego sufficiently ignited, Iliastyr immediately grabbed Safreya’s wrist and led her toward the warrior’s college. “Of course, sweet Safreya,” Iliastyr said. “Let’s get going. Goodbye, Mallea! I look forward to our next class together, as always."

"Bye, Iliastyr," Mallea waved, clearly disappointed that she couldn't spend more time with him. "Have fun..."

Safreya's heart began to flutter as she and Iliastyr crossed the streets of Solluna. With each step, her anxiety grew. What if he doesn't remember me after I show him? What if I never get my Nii'Bru back? She wondered, nostalgic memories surging through her mind - memories that would haunt her if Iliastyr had forgotten them for good.

(Asher)

Asher and Kylie had initially decided to meet Mallea for an update on her magic serpent fang daggers. However, he could tell from Kylie’s eyes that she had another plan.

“Mallea, you’re joining Asher and me at the Grand Sollunan Library,” Kylie said, eyeing Safreya and Iliastyr as they exited the building. “I want to find out what the word Nii’Bru really means.”

It was a short journey; the library was between the crafter and scholar’s colleges. Mallea and Asher let Kylie lead them down the cobblestone streets, pushing through every traveling vendor that came her way.

“Is this really necessary, Kylie?” Mallea asked. “Safreya passes out once a week; I doubt the poor girl is part of some grand conspiracy. I mean, I don’t speak Arukan, but I doubt she was lying to you.”

“We’ll know pretty quickly, won’t we?” Kylie replied as she stormed into the library. “There’s a section here with dictionaries of every language translated into Sollunan.”

Kylie led the warrior and the blacksmith through an ocean of books on marble shelves until they reached the linguistics section. She gripped the spine of a book titled Arukan to Sollunan Translations and slammed it on the nearest table. Once she’d gotten to the letter N, Kylie began flipping through page after page. Yet, by the time they got to O, there was no Nii’Bru to be found.

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“See, Ash?” Kylie asked, staring daggers into Asher for doubting her. “Your cute little friend is a little liar.”

(Safreya)

Safreya nervously pressed her hand against the brown leather bag she’d brought. “Iliastyr, um, before we start… I need to get changed.”

“Well, hurry up then,” Iliastyr said, "I'm not made of time."

For all his faults, Safreya could tell that he liked her. She was thankful for that. She wouldn’t know what to do if he hated her. Thankfully, even with the amnesia, Iliastyr was similar to the boy he was when Safreya had known him. The Archer’s Guild had a room for women to change into their archery gear, and Safreya shuffled her feet into it.

The wardrobe provided by the capital only had one item without material on the back: a pink silk dress. It’s embarrassing to wear something like this for Nii’Bru, but it’s the only way to show him, she thought. After letting the backless dress fall over her undergarments, Safreya felt a slight chill in two minor cuts beneath her shoulder blades.

The silk dress reminded Safreya of her childhood before all the horrible events that had unfolded. She danced around in it for a moment, the way she’d danced with her Nii'Bru before running away to Mazgrove. I thought I was alone in this world, but I still have you, Nii’Bru. I'm not going to let you go, Safreya thought, taking a deep breath to prepare herself.

Safreya reappeared in the practice room, locking the bolt behind her. Nobody was going to interrupt the moment between her and Iliastyr. “What’s this dress for?” Iliastyr laughed uncomfortably. "Trying to seduce me?”

Safreya made a gagging sound that broke down into a giggle. “Absolutely not. For a number of reasons, Nii'Bru.”

“What on earth is a Nii’Bru?” Iliastyr asked. “And you still haven’t told me why you’re wearing a dress for archery practice.”

“I would have thought you'd at least remember your native tongue,” said the disappointed Safreya. “But maybe I can jog your memory! I wore this dress because they'd break through the back of normal clothes.”

(Asher)

The group had scoured through every language spoken in the four great kingdoms, but none contained the word Nii’Bru. Asher was growing frustrated.

“Kylie, maybe it’s just a nonsense word,” said Asher. “The girl was on the verge of passing out; she was probably just too embarrassed to say she was slurring her words.”

“Really, Kylie, this is a wild galapagoose chase,” Mallea groaned. “We’ve gone through the entirety of human language.”

Asher could see the wheels start to turn in Kylie’s head. Mallea’s statement had rung a bell for him, as well.

“Human language!” Kylie and Asher shouted at the same time.

“The selection, our first archery practice, the arcane aptitude test, what do all the times Safreya’s fainted have in common?” Asher asked Mallea.

“There were… a lot of people?” Mallea asked. “No… there were a lot of powerful sources of magic.”

“That’s right!” Kylie chimed in. “She’s hyper magic sensitive. More than any human.”

“The way the magic crystal shattered when it hit her skin…” Mallea trailed off. It made too much sense to ignore.

Kylie rushed to the shelves and grabbed three copies of a massive tome titled An Index To Magical Languages. She passed the additional copies to Asher and Mallea, and the three got to work.

Asher covered Alucardian through Draconian, Kylie covered Elementalism through Merfolkish, and Mallea covered Onisian through Unicornian.

There weren’t an incredible amount of magical creatures advanced enough to have their own language, but there were around a dozen covered in the encyclopedia. The language of vampires was undoubtedly interesting, but Asher couldn’t find the word Nii’Bru.

Before he could flip to the following language, Kylie slammed her hand on the table. A few others from the library hushed her, embarrassing the young warrior as she ushered Mallea and Asher over to her. “Why the crystal only shattered for Iliastyr and Safreya… Iliastyr’s superhuman intelligence, the discord in the forests… it all makes sense,” said Kylie, “Nii’Bru means older brother… in Faellarin.”

(Safreya)

The skin on Safreya’s back began to separate. A pair of butterfly-like pastel wings emerged from their slumber.

Safreta’s glasses fell to the floor. After a few blinks, the whites of her eyes began to turn pitch black. Her brown irises became a multicolored wheel of pinks, bright blues, and yellows. The same was true of her hair. Even her skin shifted from the Solunnan peach color to her proper color palette. She looked like a walking pastel kaleidoscope.

“Imo’Schwe,” Iliastyr whispered, clutching his hand to his mouth. “I’m not sure why, but that’s the word that keeps coming to my mind. That… and an overwhelming sense of love. It feels as if nothing matters to me more than you.”

Saltwater dripped from Safreya’s bug-like eyes as she flew into Iliastyr. “Imo’Schwe means younger sister in Faellarin,” Safreya whispered, “you do remember me, Nii’Bru!”

"So, this entire time, I haven't been alone..." Iliastyr said, letting his leather tunic fall to the floor. Rather than Safreya’s light pastels, the wings that emerged from Iliastyr’s back were deep purples, dark blues, and forest greens. The same was true of the ensuing changes to his irises, hair, and skin. Every faellarin had a unique color pattern, but Safreya had always thought her brother's wings were the most beautiful in the colony.

"Try to remember more, Nii'Bru!" Safreya asked, her wings fluttering with joy. "Look into my eyes."

Iliastyr pinched his brow, wincing in pain. “Flashes. Mother... Father..." Iliastyr said. “The whole colony. Is it just us and Rylarleo? Are we the last of our colony?"

"Just the three of us," said Safreya, hanging her head. "The closest living faellarin aren't out of reach if we fly, but in Solluna... we're alone."

She still remembered her colony's screams, how she'd helplessly watched her brother try to fight the human warriors alone. It was supposed to have been a day of peace.

"I remember two names. Brynhyl and Berin Setric. Setric... Asher's aunt and uncle," Iliastyr said, horrified. "Rylarleo wants to kill them all, doesn't he? That's what the attacks have been about... but Asher and Vladimir are innocent.

“You're right. The young Setrics are innocent,” Safreya said, pleased by her brother’s gentle mercy, “but that doesn't change how Rylarleo feels.”

“I wouldn't mind seeing Berin and Brynhyl's heads roll, but he's hurting innocents,” Iliastyr said, shaking at the memory.

Their small colony had been Safreya’s entire world for so long. She had thought their parents were invincible. Hundreds of humans couldn’t match their magical talent. However, the two heads of the Setric family were far from normal humans.

“Humans are curious creatures,” Safreya mused. “The best of them are kinder than the gentlest faellarin. However, the worst of them…”

“…are more evil than the fiercest dragon,” Iliastyr said. "We have to stop them both. Berin and our brother."

Safreya and Iliastyr wrapped their arms around the other’s wings. Safreya never thought she’d have to protect humanity from her own kind, especially her family, but she and Iliastyr's older brother had to be stopped. However, some humans couldn’t be saved - those that had to pay for what they'd done. No matter what, Safreya swore that she and Iliastyr would kill Berin and Brynhyl Setric.