No matter how hard the Berison council members protested, Rinzen was not listening and simply heading out with Lia, who was happily humming.

"Will she be okay?" Sion asked, standing up, hurriedly following them.

"Should be." Aurora wrote, but looking at her elder brother, he looked especially serious. "Solren?"

"I just don't want her to use her special flames before everyone." He said, glancing at the Berisons, who were hurrying out with Ayashi shouting at the back of her daughter.

Rinzen wasn't speaking while they walked out from the castle into its spacious back garden, filled with frozen statues of orchids.

"Can you make it so that others don't see us?" Lia asked when they stopped, and Rinzen just nodded.

By the time the groups of Solren and Ayashi caught up, they could only see a solid ice dome appear around the two, obstructing them from any and all views. It rose up from the ground, forming straight from the ice fields below the city.

"Woah, you can control it fully? I read about it being the work of the Queen of Ice, Kelmina!"

"Yes." Rinzen nodded simply, "I always felt it. It has a... resonance with me. Since I was little. But I can only do this… since my tribulation."

"Nice!" Lia laughed, touching the white wall, feeling its exceptional coldness that would have hurt her if she was not at the 4th Tier herself.

"Thank you," Rinzen answered and looked a little bit shy. "Your hand was warm. Then cold."

"Um!" Lia clapped, bringing forth her crimson flames, showing them to her, slowly turning them blue before her eyes.

"..." Rinzen said nothing but walked close, her eyes fixated on the crackling flames, watching it unblinkingly until it stopped changing color. "Mixed." She whispered, touching it with her finger, pulling it back immediately, and examining the thin layer of ice around it. "Cold."

"Did it affect you?" Lia asked curiously, and Rinzen just nodded, moving her index finger, shaking off the ice pretty easily.

"First time I felt cold." She looked back at Lia, and although her lips remained a thin line, her eyes were genuinely smiling in excitement.

"Let's exercise a little! I want to see how my flames fare against your ice!"

"Um." Rinzen nodded, "Since Lady Reyra told us, I was also interested."

"Hehe… I was also curious about what a real ice mage is!"

"Isn't your Uncle one?" Rinzen asked, knowing about Parthorn, who, if fate had it differently, could have been her father.

"Uncle Parthorn? Well… yes, but he started out as a water mage. He just transformed his mana to ice later in life!"

"My mom helped him."

"Ah… I know. A little..." Lia giggled, excited to learn about it but also about fighting against Rinzen. "Let's duel, and we can talk after!"

"Okay."

When her simple answer left her lips, Rinzen's body was immediately surrounded by multiple pale-blue magic circles, and their battlefield was plunged into a blizzard of ice without warning. The wind was exceptionally sharp, brutal, and wild. Thick, white mist was swirling, turning the visibility near zero, and Lia already felt her body being riddled with hair-thin cuts in under a second.

Lia had no time to think; her answer came by reflex; She used the same trick she did when thrust into No-Space and surrounded her body with her blue flames. They formed a thin armor of ice, like a barely visible veil around her whole being. The moment it was in place, sharp clanking noises echoed out as the miniature ice flakes, swirling in the air, ricocheted off from her defenses, no longer able to cut through it.

"Only an Adepti?" Rinzen's voice questioned her, coming from all directions.

"Yeah!" Lia responded, trying to shout over the howling wind and keeping her talking to determine where she was.

Instead of a verbal answer, crystal-like hands rose from the ground, grabbing her ankles in a flash and picking her up like a ragdoll. She wasn't panicked, and watching the ice clone climbing out from the ground, Lia slashed at it with her hand, slicing those off that were holding her upside down. Landing with a flip, with a shout, she blasted forward, blowing the clone into smithereens, letting her blue flames expand outwards in a violent explosion. The air was filled with the sound of ice cracking, forming, breaking apart once more, and then freezing over, resulting in a weird, hair-raising cacophony of noises. It was the battle between temperatures, both being near absolute zero, trying to overwhelm the other yet landing at an impasse.

"Gotcha…" Lia formed a smile as she was following her blue flames and her mana in the air, establishing a resonance with Rinzen's.

She was watching her ice, studying it, trying to copy its form, substance, and chilliness. She was gleefully absorbing it from the blizzard around her, hoping to get inspired by it and elevate her fire to a new level. While doing so, she finally managed to locate Rinzen, who was standing at the other end of their battlefield with her fingers interlocked, focusing on maintaining her spell and trapping Lia in place.

"...?!" Rinzen couldn't help but flinch when she suddenly lost her. It happened before she could even think; Lia's body, her aura, her mana, everything was gone. The blizzard was made out of her mana; nothing should be able to slip out of it or come in without her knowing first. She could feel how Lia was breathing, the minute trembles and twitches of her face… but now, she was gone. She was no longer there. "...!"

Stolen story; please report.

It was the last moment when Rinzen managed to interrupt her spells and send her body to the side, dodging, sliding to her left, and raising an ice wall before herself haphazardly. Lia appeared, accompanied by a purplish puff of smoke, looking haggard and exhausted, punching at the space where Rinzen stood a moment before. Her flaming fist ruptured the ground in multiple concentric circles and sent knife-like icicles flying everywhere, lodging themselves into Rinzen's ice wall.

"How…?" The leader of the Berisons stopped, and because she lost focus, the blizzard was also quickly subsiding around them.

"Hehe…" Lia stood up, wobbling a little, showing a V-sign, "I am studying No-Space at school! But… it is still hard to open it up to come and go… I was almost lost; that is why it took so long to return!"

"It was only a few seconds," Rinzen answered, with a clearly amazed look in her eyes, watching Lia with great interest.

"Was it? Huh… It took me more than ten! Well… it worked! It would have been embarrassing if it did not… and deadly... ehehe!"

"You never did it before?" She asked, walking close, looking at her disheveled figure, being more ravaged by the violent nature of No-Space than her previous snowstorm.

"No!" Lia answered, sticking her tongue out and then blinking her mismatched eyes with surprise as Rinzen started fixing her clothes and producing a comb from nowhere, straightening her hair. Before she could think about it, she found herself in Rinzen's lap, being cared for by her cold fingers.

"No-Space is dangerous," Rinzen said in a simple voice.

"Yeah, but I knew I could do it! My flames are strong enough to cut a pathway and let me slip in if I concentrate hard enough! But… yeah… it takes out more mana than I thought!" She added, scratching her chin as she only had the strength for one last attack when she returned.

"Here," Rinzen said immediately, a clear glass forming above her palm, filled with a blue ice shake, twinkling beautifully.

"Um… should I?" She asked, unsure, tilting her head back between her large breasts, looking up at Rinzen's face.

"Um. I am best at support."

"Really?!" Lia yelped out, surprised, grabbing at it and slurping from her twirly straw. "Cooooooold!" She moaned, shaking violently but with a delighted look, quickly taking another sip. As it traveled down her throat, she felt it melt away, fusing with her body, completely revigorating her and replenishing her mana even better than any potion she had ever drunk. "It tastes like blueberry!"

"It is yummy." Rinzen nodded, her expressionless face remaining the same, but her voice was surprisingly proud. "I like helping. Mom says fighting is more important…."

"No fighters go on without help!" Lia said, continuing to enjoy her seat in Rinzen's lap and her cold smoothie. "Everyone wants to be the fighter, and nobody wants to be the supporter!"

"You?" Rinzen asked, and Lia didn't take it to heart at all.

"Yeah! I mean… doing flashy moves and all is so cool, isn't it?" She grinned from ear to ear, not denying it.

"It is. But I don't like fighting. Fighting is bad. You don't make friends while fighting…."

"Eh? Then why did you ask to fight?" Lia looked at her, confused.

"You asked. It was rude to say no."

"Ah… true…!" She blushed and continued hurriedly, "But your mana reacted as soon as we touched hands!"

"I never shook hands with others… I was nervous. Mom, doesn't let me; they freeze when I do so." She answered honestly, her eyes looking a bit sad.

"Oh…" Lia murmured, now looking very embarrassed. "But… I do make friends through fighting… I did so in school too! And now!"

"Now?" Rinzen asked, trembling slightly.

"Yeah, we are friends now, are we not?" Lia asked, looking befuddled.

"Friends…"

"Or if you don't want to…" She whispered, unsure what to say, but Rinzen's arms suddenly wrapped around her body more closely, hugging her. "Ah… cold!"

"Sorry." She whispered as her feelings made her mana burst out a little, unable to hold it back, but she was unwilling to let Lia go.

"Ehehe… no worries?" Lia giggled, slurping on her icy shake, refilling her mana once more as she had to circulate her fire under her skin to be not frozen solid by Rinzen's embrace.

…

….

……

When they reappeared, nobody could tell anything had happened between them, especially how happily Lia was walking next to her, talking about how the Academy was and what she was learning there.

"Rinzen!" Ayashi rushed forward, looking briefly at Lia to check if she was okay and then turning to her daughter, wanting to question her, but Rinzen cut in before she could do so.

"I am going with Lia." She said flatly while Lia was grinning widely next to her.

In the previous half an hour, they talked a lot, although, Rinzen remained mostly short-spoken. Still, she showed great interest in Lia's tales and also in touring the Amarins' home country. She was mainly cooped up here, and when she previously could go to the Honus' territory, saying she was helping to search for Razael when he disappeared, it was an eye-opening moment. Since then, she has wanted to tour the continent, learn about the many cultures and exciting places, and try and make friends. Her first friends.

"You-!" Ayashi gawked but could not form correct thoughts. Her daughter was becoming increasingly rebellious, and she couldn't believe her eyes and ears. The worst part was that she couldn't scold her now. Not before the Amarins! If the word gets out that the leader of the House of Berison was being lectured by others, even if it is her own mother, that could paint a horrible picture of their House.

"Want to have a bet?" Aurora wrote, into the palm of Sion, still holding hands as they were communicating silently.

"I bet 50 gold on her becoming a Misfit." Sion wrote back, surprising Aurora that he had already guessed what she was about the say.

"Well… I agree, so let's bet on how quickly, I say, before Lia graduates!"

"Hm." Sion glanced at her, thinking a little, before writing back, "Okay. I say only after graduation."

"You are on!" Aurora grinned, drawing attention to herself.

"You are overplaying it," Solren interjected, telling the two as many people present were paying attention to them, seeing them as two lovebirds who could not stay put, flirting left and right.

Now, the two Kings, who were relegated to nothing but background characters, couldn't help but wallow in their misfortune. The fact that Sion managed to find a lover from the Amarins' mainline? And woo her? Turning one of the strongest witches into his supporter? How lucky can one be? And how unlucky can they be? With this, refusing to cooperate, they now lost the chance of being compensated… they claimed Sion with force… and it was too late to track back.

"If…" King Fedra XIV said, and it seemed King Kayrinev was thinking the same.

"If Lady Rinzen can befriend them, we still may have a chance… but you are still in a better position than I am!"

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking at the ashen-faced Kayrinev.

"I was under my daughter's impression… that the boy is simply someone who gained a minor favor of the Amarins… not being betrothed to one! From the main bloodline! This is horrible! Anyway, we have to lie low and let the Houses deal with this…."

"Haah… I just hope this day won't get any worse…." King Fedra sighed, watching the two Houses, facing off each other, stuck at an impasse while Rinzen was nudging Lia, so they would leave as soon as possible, eager to go to the Amarins.