Kaara stripped her apron and dashed off to find Sancta. It was easy enough to track her footprints in the snow. What Kaara had not expected, though, were the trees to come alive and attack her.

“Hey! It’s me!” she shouted ducking under a lashing branch.

“I know! Leave me alone!”

Kaara tracked the sound of her voice, seeing her crouched in the snow, her cloak wrapped tight around her.

“Look I’m sorry that-”

“I don’t need your pity! Shut up!” A branch cracked across Kaara’s head, sending her tumbling through the snow. She felt the warm trickle of blood roll down from her temple to her jaw. That was it. She grit her teeth, and summoned her magic to cut through the branches.

More appeared and Kaara had to run. She vaulted over grasping roots and slid under swinging branches toward Sancta. A kidney punch was definitely fair now.

Just as she got close, a thorny bramble exploded from Sancta’s body in every direction, ensnaring her. The thorns dug into her like barbed wire, grinding and cutting as they tightened their hold.

“You think you’re so good, don’t you?” Sancta spat, “Always pretending like you’re just the perfect little wild child. You’re just a fucking harlot!”

Kaara tried to swipe her hands, but the thorns kept her bound. The more she struggled, the tighter that bramble got. She yelped out.

“You think I haven’t noticed? You cast your magic with motion. You don’t have a single high level spell you can cast without waving your arms around like a lunatic, do you?”

“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

Sancta laughed, “As if you could make me cry. I should kill you for being so insolent. I really really want to, but I know my brother wouldn’t like that.”

“Is that why you’re mad at me? I don’t even like your brother!”

“And that’s exactly why you piss me off! Always flaunting yourself and toying with his heart like the little harlot you are! As if his affection means nothing to you.”

“What? I never asked him to act like that to me! How is this my fault?”

“And yet you’re always competing with me somehow. Always trying to one-up me and get closer to my brothers as if you want them all to yourself.”

“Are you trying to say you’re attracted to your brothers?”

The thorns ripped into her, “Of course not! But they can do a lot better than an animal like you! Maybe if I scar your face those kobolds will finally stop thinking with their other heads!”

“Chompy!”

The snow around them came alive, melting into a glowing slush of ice and water before snapping its jaws over them both. It swept them both into its body, healing Kaara and battering Sancta with a maelstrom of ice.

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“Spit her out, Chompy!”

The water elemental shot Sancta into the dirt and mud, looming over her with a thunderous growl.

“Yggdagon!” Sancta shouted as a towering wood elemental in the shape of a drake stepped out of a nearby Ingen tree and slammed into Chompy.

“What right do you have to lord anything over me? Acting like you know better, and like I’m stupid for even trying.” Sancta growled.

“I’m the one who act’s like you’re stupid? I never did anything to you, and you’re always belittling me and acting like I’m some sort of idiot!”

“That’s because you are!”

“Get over yourself, bitch!”

Yggdagon slammed Chompy into the ground as the water serpent coiled around its frame, sending hail and debris in every direction.

Kaara ran up and tackled Sancta to the ground, punching at her ribs, “All you ever do is act like you know everything when you clearly don’t, and all I’ve been trying to do is help!”

Yggdagon pried Kaara off and tossed her away. Chompy caught her in his body and bit down on the wood elemental’s neck.

“Do you know how embarrassing it is to be ‘helped’ by you?” Sancta screamed, “To have the only person who cares about me taken away in an instant by you? And you have the gall to act like his affection doesn’t mean anything to you?”

“What planet do you even live on? How is it my fault that no one cares about you? How is it my fault that your brother is neglecting you?”

“Shut up! Shut up! You don’t get it! No one ever does!”

Yggdagon punched through Chompy’s body.

“That’s because you never let anyone help you! You always think we’re insulting you, but if you just listen for once maybe your stupid brother would look at you again!”

Chompy bit an arm off of Yggdagon.

“As if you even listened to me in the first place. You never ask. Do you know how embarrassing it is to see your eyes glaze over when I try to tell you something? Conceited whore!”

“That’s only because-” A wave of fatigue hit her. Had she injured her soul? No, this felt different. She staggered, watching as their two elementals were broken up and dispelled by the wind itself.

“The two of you are too deep in the woods at night to be causing this much of a ruckus.” A familiar voice said.

L’Maya landed in between them grabbing Kaara by her collar and picking her up like a kitten, only to do the same for Sancta, “Dinner time is when everyone stops fighting, and it’s not just because it’ll spoil the food.”

Kaara huffed, panting faster and faster. Her body felt so weak. Why did she feel so weak? Even though she was breathing fine it felt like she couldn’t get enough air in.

“The two of you are gonna finish this later. Got it?” she said, carrying the two of them back to camp.

Kaara teared up. Her vision tunneled. Why couldn’t Sancta understand?

If she felt alone, Kaara would have been her friend. She would have worked with Sancta to get Amaro to leave her alone. She would have helped Sancta learn how to cook to make her brothers happy and appreciate her.

Kaara would have done all of that, but why did Sancta not want any of it? Why did she act as if she had all the answers when she didn’t?

It didn’t matter. If there was one person in the world Kaara would hold a grudge against, it was her. There was no befriending someone like her.