A hand touched her shoulder. Are you alright?

Kaara's eyes opened. She was face down in the snow again and the hand was still on her shoulder. She jolted, commanding the snow around her in self-defense. Spikes of ice jutted out from the ground, encircling whoever was behind her.

"Woah! Woah! Hold on!"

The snow was bright and blinding. It was morning. Kaara blinked away the light squinting to see Amaro.

"What a savage girl. Attacking someone who tried to help her, '' Sancta said from inside one of the carriages. She wore a frilled dress which was not at all suited for the winter, thought strangely enough she did not seem bothered by the cold.

"It's alright, she didn't attack me. I'm fine,"Amaro said, "Apologies, it appears I frightened you. Are you alright? I saw you lying down in the snow and I thought you might have been hurt."

Kaara looked around, when had she wandered out here? Had she been sleep walking? It was a good thing she couldn’t freeze to death in the snow or else she might have.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she recognized this place. This is exactly where she found the body in her dream.

She pulled up all the snow in the area without warning, much to the bewilderment of the two nobles nearby. She searched for it, even looking for signs that the body had been dragged but nothing was there.

“What are you looking for?” Amaro asked.

"A dead body." She lowered her hands, letting the ice melt away.

The xio chuckled, "I see, quite the morbid sense of humor you have. What were you doing in the snow?”

“I was…” She put her thumb on her lip, “I guess I was sleeping.”

“Well I suppose for someone with the water element the snow might be comfortable. Do you mind melting your ice?"

"I did, what do you mean?"

The xio pointed upward, "That."

Kaara looked up, seeing a massive ice spear looming above his head, poised to strike, "Oh… right."

"It's quite impressive to see that a spell like that hardly requires any of your focus to maintain. My siblings hardly thought we would find anyone our age to match us in talent. But you seem to exceed even myself when it comes to how much magic you can output at once."

Kaara clenched her hand, the icicle spear condensing and bursting into a flurry of snowflakes. A larger gathering of snow ‘unintentionally’ falling on Amaro, "Oh, sorry!" she giggled, noticing how he looked like a snowman.

He brushed the snow off his body, clutching some in his hand and chucking it at her. Kaara caught it with her magic and lobbed it back into his face. Amaro tumbled into the snow.

“Starting a snowball fight with a water elemental is a recipe for embarrassment, brother.”

“I thought I could catch her off guard.”

“So what are you two doing out here?”

“Three, actually.” A voice echoed from the top of the trees. A black xio, who looked almost identical to Amaro, stood atop the branches looking down on them. He dropped down, landing without so much as a crunch of snow beneath his boots.

“We were helping our brother search for a certain Tibur he’s been wanting to challenge, but it seems they’re hiding from him.”

“Oh you mean Arik?”

Amaro nodded, “Do you know where they are?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Kaara swallowed, remembering her dream. Was it connected? Maybe something had happened last night?

No, she would’ve heard about it if Arik had died.

“I’m not sure.”

“Would you like to come with us? You’d likely be able to track him down better than us.”

Kaara thought about it for a moment. On one end it sounded like fun to track Arik down, but that idea of fun ended when she thought about her curse.

“Maybe later, I’ve got things I gotta do.”

“Like what? Maybe I can help.”

“Like- uh.” Kaara was drawing a blank.

“Yes brother, don’t you see? She’s very busy rolling around in the mud!” Sancta said.

“No need to be rude, Sancta. I’m sure she has her reasons. She’s probably just nervous.”

“Nope, that's what I'm doin’,” Kaara said plainly. It wasn’t exactly a lie.

Amaro turned, “I-Is that some sort of custom of the Tibur?”

“...No.”

Anitus started laughing, “What a joke. Tibur really are animals.”

“I’m sure she has her reasons,” Amaro argued back.

“Like what? It feels good to act like a pig?”

“Talk like that anymore, and I’ll-”

“You’ll what? Fight me seriously for once?”

Maybe Kaara could use this opportunity to slip away unnoticed.

“Hey, Tibur girl, roll around in the mud for us, will you? I’ll give you a gold coin for it!”

“I’ll give her a gold coin if she oinks like one.” Sancta offered snidely.

“Oink.” Kaara said with a deadpan expression. Gold was useless outside the cities, but it was fun to tease them. Plus, it was something to buy snacks with whenever they visited cities.

“Wh- Pfff. Unreal!” Sancta laughed, “As if I’d actually give money for that.”

“Aw cmon! You said you would!”

Sancta clicked her tongue, “Money is only for people who have self respect. Little piggies like you don’t need it.”

“Sancta!” Amaro growled.

“Arik’s your friend right? Maybe they’ll come out if we hold you hostage?” Anitus said, squatting down in the snow and piling up some mud in his palms, “Or maybe if we sling enough mud at you he’ll get jealous. The worst that can happen is a bit of fun, I think.” He smirked at Amaro, who was fuming.

Kaara wasn’t exactly sure why the three of them were going this far. The Xirxus seemed to have a way of expressing their true feelings beneath layers of games and bullying.

A glob of mud slapped into her face while she was lost in thought. Amaro tried to grab Anitus, but Anitus weaved past, “Don’t embarrass yourself anymore than you already have, brother. It wouldn’t be the first time you showed yourself to father caked in mud. But at least if you fight me, it’ll maintain some honor in our family name.”

Kaara wiped the mud from her eyes. How should she handle something like this? Were they mad that she had humiliated Amaro at the dinner? She thought they were relatively nice to her when they were at the table.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s payback.” Sancta said.

“I never asked either of you to do any of this, stop it!”

Anitus stuck his tongue out, “Make me,” he said, lobbing another mudpie at Kaara.

The glob of mud paused in the air in front of her. She felt the mud peel from her skin and ball up in front of her. It joined the other glob and compressed into hard stone, launching itself back into Anitus’s head.

“Anitus was it?” Rorik rose from the ground at Kaara’s side, “If you’re that eager for a fight, then why don’t you and me have a rematch?”

Blood trickled from a wound in Anitus’s head which quickly closed up, “I’ve already beaten you. Why would I accept the challenge of someone beneath me?”

“Considering Arik has already accepted your brother’s challenge, I think it’s only fair you accept mine. Besides, whether or not you formally accept, I still plan on kicking your ass for disrespecting my friend. You have no right to deny me, coward.”

Anitus raised his chin to look down on Rorik, his eyes cold and unforgiving, “You sure you want to be embarrassed in front of your girlfriend, loser?” He said with a fanged grin.

“She’s not my-”

“Ah, ah! That temper’s why you lost last time, right? Such a simple mind.”

“Do you accept or not?”

“Fine, fine, you’ll be a good warmup in the end. I’ve no doubt Amaro wants the next bout, doesn’t he?”

“You’re taking things too far for the sake of a fight.”

“See?” Anitus laughed, “Judging by the change in your physique it seems like you’ve been training rather hard these past months, but talent isn’t something you can train I’m afraid.”

Kaara looked over Rorik. He had built himself quite a bit since the last she’d seen him. She wondered if he would grow to be as big as Rux one day, or if he would look more like her dad when he was an adult.

It made her sad to see how much he had grown without her.

Rorik took a fighting stance, “Let’s see how much you talk after I break your jaw.”

Anitus got in position, a fanged smirk on his face, “Come and try it then.”