They cut a swath through the palace guards and soldiers who blocked their way to freedom. Lian and Taoru acted as the muscle, blasting troops with fireballs and otherwise dealing with anyone who got in too close. They were a furious torrent of flame and agility, working in flawless, effortless synergy.

Guankaran was likewise beneficial, using plants and roots to slow their enemies and prevent them from being overrun. More than once, he summoned grasping vines down the length of an adjacent hallway or covered the ground behind them with a bramble of thorny brush.

Lian, who had never seen another Zosara besides her father, was quite impressed by the ease in which he cast spells. His style differed greatly from the heavy-hitting, powerful strikes of the fire tradition the Dragon Warriors had once been famous for. Guankaran moved with a serene confidence, his gestures minimalistic but graceful. He could have been wandering through a peaceful forest on a warm summer day and not battling his way out of a warlord’s heavily fortified palace.

Are all carpenters this… strange? Lian thought, pausing to watch as the man bent over and plucked something from the ground beside a fallen guard. He held the object up to the light of a nearby torch, mumbled to himself, and tucked it into his pocket.

He must have felt Lian’s gaze for he turned that lop-sided grin to her and remarked as casually as if they were standing in a field of wildflowers, “I found a bit of broken bronze. Never know when that might come in handy.”

Her tongue was tied. She wanted to say something smart or witty, but all she managed was to raise her eyebrow at him, her mouth open as if she were about to speak, but no sound was emitted.

Before she could figure out what to say, a fresh wave of soldiers surged toward them and dragged Lian’s focus back to the fight.

With a bit more effort, they finally made it to the courtyard where, just that morning, Lian had gotten them all into this mess. She tried not to think about it and instead turned her attention to the guards who were waiting for them.

Taoru was on her right, moving like a serpent as he dodged a spear being thrust at his chest. She wanted to watch his counterattack, but forced herself to focus on the pair of guards rushing forwards. One of them seemed to hesitate while Lian just stood there, staring them both down. Had he expected her to flinch away? She didn’t fear them. Her father had given her the tools and training so that she wasn’t a helpless damsel.

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A fierce grin lit up her eyes as she rushed them, her strikes faster than the eye could track. She punched the one who had hesitated in the throat, while the other swung for her. It was easy to dodge the slash, ducking around his comrade so he couldn’t take another swipe at her.

She shoved at the guard closest to her, flames sparking from her fingertips as she did so and catching his tunic ablaze. His squeal of alarm caused enough mayhem that Lian was able to knock them both unconscious with a single blow each. As they fell to the ground, one after the other, she summoned the still burning fire into her palm and immediately hurled it at a soldier who had been rushing Guankaran.

The carpenter was busy filling an adjacent corridor with writhing vines and had been momentarily exposed. Lian’s quick action may not have been necessary, surely he had seen and heard the man coming, but she wasn’t about to take that chance. For better or worse, they were in this mess together and she was not about to leave him behind.

As they thinned out the latest group of guards, the trio kept pushing onward. Never yielding ground, always covering their backside before advancing. It was painstaking, but necessary. The tight spaces helped, giving them the advantage against the larger force until they were finally able to make it to the courtyard.

Once outside, they paused to take in the sheer number of troops; there had to be something like three dozen or more gathered along the walls and barring the gate. Behind them, a cluster of writhing, creeping vines covered their backs, but it was only a matter of time before the men on the other side cut or burned their way through.

Taoru raised his hands, his fingers crackling with angry flames. He shot Lian a glance she knew was his way of telling her not to stop moving, no matter what happened. She was about to protest, to insist they could escape this together, when Guankaran spoke up first.

“I think…” he mused, tilting his head thoughtfully. “…autumn might be my favorite season of the year. You know, because of the leaves…” He put his hands on his hips suddenly as though that decided something quite important. “Yes, definitely the leaves!”

With that, he cast again, this time staring straight ahead as the spell, uttered in ancient draconic as most incantations were, rolled off his tongue. The sensation of magic filled the air, tantalizing Lian’s senses and making her feel giddy. Slowly, one by one, Guankaran summoned the vividly colored autumn leaves he’d been speaking of. Red, yellow, and fiery orange fell from the sky like droplets of rain. A trickle that turned steadily into a torrential downpour.

Lian didn’t think she had ever seen anything so beautiful in her life. She stood in place, spellbound, even as the courtyard was flooded by an unnatural mass of leaves. The soldiers were panicking, frightened not only by the incredible display of magic but the fear of being buried alive by it. Her gaze shifted to the strange man standing beside her who could make the sky rain autumn leaves even in winter. The butterflies in her stomach were caused by an entirely new feeling as the first stroke of affection was traced upon her heart.