My vision is hazy. My ears are ringing. Patting my bruised arms about, I try to reach out for Rianta-chira. I cannot find her... She's been flung away from me at some point.

Hideous crying.

Crawling around with shaking limbs, I see the dark-shaded body of the one entrusted to me. She's screaming and crying without end, her arms clutching her side. I see no blood, even with my wayward eyes. All I see is the under-skin shadow.

The ground makes us bounce. I hit the ground with my front and force my palms back onto the road. Grey at the end of the street moves, another grey thing appears between blinks. The ground quakes with all it has. Ryphurgoks are coming to squash us and it's my fault...

I'm sorry, Mother... I'm sorry.

No pain comes, only the light vanishes. The sudden darkness is warm. Rianta-chira is whimpering right next to me? My eyes open and blink at the man blocking out the sky. A bandaged man in a beaked mask is keeping us safe!

"This isn't so bad, once you get used to it," Nin-kischu remarks, my body becoming all too aware of the dull thuds travelling through him. Even with him above, the road is cracking as two great, powerful weights hammer down onto him. He's going to-

"Wha... What... What are you doing...?" I barely manage to get out, the strength just not there yet. I stare at the masked face, only a finger's length away from my nose. I worry about his wellbeing. Once his body fails, it will be Rianta-chira and I that die afterwards. With all the abuse he is getting, he cannot possibly hold out, no...?

"Saving you two, obviou- Hey! Stop it!" he tries to answer before snapping up at the animals. They adhere to his order and come to a halt, confusing us both. What's going on? If the beasts can be commanded this easily, why is this even happening?

Nin-kischu's body jerks forward, a song of sharp pecking taps sounding off.

A breeze slips in under us, grasping us with caring firmness. Silvered-emerald light brings us up into the air and up onto a balcony. The animals go on further ahead, the Founding-Lord's control that fine. Shaking my head, I try to avoid the annoyed expression he is bearing down on me.

"I thought I told you to stay inside!?" Brewbrt questions, his annoyance being taken out on Nin-kischu. Our initial saviour is bounced onto his feet. A spring which carries on without end. His back shakes and shakes. Did the abuse he just went through hurt? Why... Why is he also laughing?

Moving my focus away to the one I got hurt, I reach out for her, "Rianta... Chira..."

As my mouth slurs, Brewbrt puts her upright and off of her wound. He turns his attention over to Nin-kischu and back down to the rose-haired beauty. She who loves our saviour so much. He saved us from my mistake.

"Young Man, do you know how to apply your magic to a wound?" Brewbrt asks him.

"Uh... No..." our saviour answers as he comes over to look at the still crying Rianta-chira. I briefly catch sight of blood on the hands of the Founding-Lord. Like the magic of my homeland and ancestors... Guilt and sadness strike across my heart and mind. This is my fault. If I was just firmer with Rianta-chira, if I was more patient...!

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I enabled this. I did it to help her. All so she wouldn't hate me or view me with vile suspicion. Now, now I've only made it worse! She's seriously injured now because of me.

The thoughts worsen, drawing small tears out of my eyes. Here I am, in her borrowed clothes. Her very generosity and kindness and... And there she is, injured so lethally by my own inadequacy. My filthy blue-coloured magic!

Windy light covers us both, healing us mostly of the pain I inflicted.

Brewbrt gently knocks my shoulder, "Alright, you both should be fine for now. I'll go and round up what is left in the town. You, Young Man. Get these two back to my estate. After that, come to the east side of town. It's where the farms and that are."

The elderly man flies off, leaving us in a short-lived vortex. The escaped creatures trail behind him from within his arcane grasp. Bringing my head back down, I rest my body. All his magic has done is put my mind's focus back onto the spasms toying with my limbs and sense of control.

"Any injuries on you?" Nin-kischu asks, a bandaged finger going along my face and neck. He seems to pick up on my twitches and what are probably very visible muscle spasms. Shaking my head, I inform him that my answer is a no. Brewbrt has solved anything that might be wrong with me in the way Nin-kischu is probably thinking.

He nods and picks us both up carefully. The rush of wind disturbs my clothes and the road barks with its cracking surface. Our carrier runs us through the damaged streets. As we travel, my senses grow in strength, making his harsh turns all the more apparent.

We skid to a halt at what must be the Founding-Lord's estate and my insides slop forward, rolling back. He puts me down first and only because I am not holding onto him. Rianta-chira is clinging to him like a child, her lips letting loose with freely spoken sniffles. She does not want to let go of her love.

Am I responsible for this clinginess? This need to feel safe...

"Rose-sweerui, enough. You're fine now. I have to get going." Nin-kischu orders sternly and she listens without much resistance. Watching her head, she tracks the bandaged man as he disappears into a cloud of dust. The sudden exertion he made, it damaged the ground more than any of the beasts had. What kind of untrained power is he hiding under those clothes?

I never went on to do much in my formal magic education, not the practical side of it, anyway. But, I do know that men have better internal reserves than a woman like I or Rianta-chira might have. Yet, even then, I can't help but be baffled by all this power. It seems like the kind of strength that would come without someone who can cast a spell. In spite of it all, though, I have yet to see him use one once. His control over his external flow is perhaps the worst I have ever seen.

Most certainly at his level!

Is he a kind of witch that only cares to train his internal-magic reserves? Or, perhaps... Perhaps he is from the lands closer to the tallest mountain in the world? The source of the magic for all Jhermonikra. He's not untrained, he's just so grand that this is a microscopic display?

I should pick his brain for details later, I suppose. Although my heritage is strong despite my failings, we are a family of the edges of Eusorochii. The closest I've ever been to the great storm at the centre of my flying homeland is purely in paintings and words. Even then, my imagination can only whisk up so many ideas about the people of the interior. Nin-kischu, potentially being someone like that, is making me very curious.

Footsteps rattle down the stairs behind us. A pair of disgruntled guards stare down at us, their arms crossed or tensed up. I guess these two were some of the ones watching us prior to my disaster of a spell? I suppose I owe them all an apology for allowing the very thing they were there to prevent.

"And where did you go off to? Thought we had you locked up," one of the pair complains with at least some attempt to make light of the situation. If the circumstances were different, I might even find it in me to laugh a little or offer an awkward smile. Mother made sure I got along with our castle's staff, guards included.

But, even with Rianta-chira's healed state, I cannot find it within me. I look to the ground and keep my eyes facing. Not one noise comes out to disturb my thoughts, not even my breathing. All so I can better contemplate my actions...