“Ow ow ow ow,” Joan said softly, wincing when the healer rubbed whatever he was using against the back of her head. It certainly burned. She hugged the back of the chair she was sitting backwards on a little tighter. “Can’t you be a little gentler?”

“Please stop fidgeting,” he said calmly. “This injury could be quite serious.”

“I got here, didn’t I?” Joan asked.

“You were practically carried in here,” Aaron said.

“I was-- OW!” Joan yelled when she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. “What was that?!”

“You should have arrived sooner,” the healer said. “Please. I am only going to say this once more. Stop. Moving.”

Joan resisted the urge to snap back at him, going as still as she could. As much as she wanted to yell, she knew how important proper healing could be. If he thought it was really that severe, it likely was. The last thing she needed to do was die because she was upset about how he tended to a head wound. Another sharp pain made her give a light hiss of pain, but then the aching was gone. “Oh… oh that’s much nicer.”

“It should be,” the healer said before pulling his hands back. “Try to eat lightly today and get plenty of rest, but you shouldn’t have any more issues aside from maybe a bit of light nausea. If you have any head pains send someone to the infirmary immediately, understand?”

“Yes sir,” Joan said, barely suppressing the urge to use a sarcastic tone. Myrin would have done a better job, but Myrin also had more important things to do than worry about her. She gave a soft nod before glancing back at him and watching him leave the room. She then glanced back to Aaron, who was just smiling at her. “So, guessing you want to know what happened?”

“I’m not the only one,” Aaron said. “I’m just the one able to pull rank.”

“Of course,” Joan said. Royal guard and all that, she supposed. Even if a royal wasn’t here. “Welp, as far as I can tell there are a pair of elementals who think I’m an elemental or something because my sword makes blue fire. I think they’re delusional, but hey. They didn’t want to kill me, so who am I to tell them they’re wrong? I mean, I did tell them they were wrong, but they didn’t believe me. In retrospect I really shouldn’t have told them that, but in my defense my head REALLY hurt at the time.”

“And?” Aaron asked.

“They’re trying to fight some other thing. Nergal, I think,” Joan said. “Ask Breeze. The girl in the mask. Apparently she’s one of their minions or something. Nice enough, happy she’s not trying to kill me this time. Hoping she won’t try to kill me later.” She couldn’t help but notice Aaron tense up at that. “Oh, relax. Lots of people try to kill me. I’m very good at getting people to want to kill me. Also, apparently good at getting them to stop that. Not quite AS good, though. Just… almost as good. Somewhat.”

“When did Breeze try to kill you?” Aaron asked, his tone suddenly very serious.

“Oh, relax,” Joan said. “That was lives ago. The whole… all of that. She’s probably a lot different now.”

Aaron got to his feet, his eyes narrowed and started to walk towards the door. Before he could pass her, she reached out and blocked his way with an arm.

“No,” Joan said.

“No?” Aaron asked.

“Whatever dumb idea you’re thinking, no,” Joan said. “She’s not a threat. I’m not sure, exactly, what she is. But those two elementals seem to find her useful and I’m not going to deny that they’re kind of right. More importantly, she’s the closest thing I have to an idea of what exactly is going on here, so no.”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Aaron said. “I just want to talk with her.”

“Alone, right?” Joan asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of her voice. “No. Just wait. Besides, they’ve got her locked up as it is. I assure you, whatever you want to do is nothing compared to what Francis wants to do to her. After all, she did try to kidnap Ifrit.”

“Wait for what?” Aaron asked.

“For Chase to get here, it’ll only be a few days,” Joan said. “Besides, it sounded like she knew him. I want to ask her about that, too. He never mentioned her. Though in retrospect, Chase and Breeze. That… definitely sounds like the start of some terrible joke he would make.”

“Chase the Breeze,” Aaron said.

“What?” Joan asked.

“It’s Chase the Breeze,” Aaron said again.

“What are you talking about?” Joan asked. “Oh, never mind. Chase will--” The words stopped in her throat and slowly she looked up at him. The grin on his face made her want to punch him. She finally settled for face palming. “Chase?”

“I’m a few days early,” he said before, slowly, his features shifted into a much younger, gentler face. With light, blue eyes.

“Have you been Aaron this WHOLE time?” Joan asked, glaring at him and lowering her arm. “I thought you were Oriik!”

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

Chase’s grin only grew wider and obnoxiously smugger. “Yes, he was the obvious choice, wasn’t he?” he asked. “I knew you’d figure out one of us was, but the hardest part was ensuring you didn’t realize which. I was certain once the prince sent me with you, that you’d know.”

“That, that’s not, you cheated! Oriik didn’t help Vivian, did he? That was YOU!” Joan yelled, pointing a finger at him.

“Nonsense,” Chase said, a look of horror on his face. “I would never ask a lady of Vivian’s character to lie about such a thing. I merely gave him the guidance and assistance and may have played up his involvement. Slightly.”

Joan just glared at him before sighing and collapsing against the chair. “Fine. You know, I was really proud though. How did you figure out I’d know? Am I ever going to figure out all of your tricks?”

“Not if I’m careful,” Chase said before reaching out and lightly patting her on the head. “I wouldn’t worry too much, though. I’m still trying to figure out your tricks.”

“What tricks?” Joan asked. “I just have experience.”

“That’s what most tricks are,” Chase said.

“That is not even remotely true,” Joan said, glaring at him now. “So, is she a friend of yours?”

“Yes,” Chase said.

“You never mentioned her,” Joan said. “Is she a… ummm…”

“Yes?” Chase asked.

“Never mind,” Joan said, though she could feel it. She was blushing.

“Go ahead, ask,” Chase said.

“Is she a changeling?” Joan asked. “I mean, the mask and all.”

Chase gave a light chuckle and shook his head. “No, she’s not a changeling. But she’s not human, either. But it’s not for me to tell you what she is, that’s up to her.”

“She’s not going to try to kill me again, is she?” Joan asked.

“You said she tried to kill you before,” Chase said. “When you were the Hero. What did you mean?”

“I think that’s pretty self explanatory,” Joan said. “She met me, she tried to stab me. I uhhh… won.”

“And you…”

“… A lot of people tried to kill me,” Joan said, slowly lowering her eyes. “If she and you were friends in those lives, I can’t say. But ummmm…”

Chase just gave a sigh before shaking his head. “She’s… Breeze isn’t…”

“Dangerous?” Joan asked.

“Oh, no, she’s incredibly dangerous,” Chase said with a light chuckle. “But she won’t try to kill you now that… I’ll keep her under control.”

“You know, in my other lives you tried to kill me when we first met,” Joan said.

“I did?” Chase asked.

“Yeah,” Joan said. “I mean, a lot of people try to kill me when they first meet me, so I wouldn’t be too shocked by this. Wait, didn’t you try to kill me THIS time?”

“Err…” Chase said, quickly looking away. “I uhhh…”

“I’m sure Penthe made it seem very important,” Joan said before rolling her eyes. “So, ummm… you and her. You’re not like…?”

“She’s like a little sister. An older little sister,” Chase said quickly. “Kind of like you. But less reckless. Less running into danger. Less difficult to understand. Less surprising. Actually, she’s not like you aside from the fact I want to keep her safe. So I really would like to go and talk with her.”

“Fine, fine,” Joan said before reaching up and touching the back of her head. There was a little bit of a scar, but she had to give the healer some praise. He did good work. “Hey, Chase?”

“Yes?” Chase asked.

“What happened while I was gone? I mean, what were you all doing?” Joan asked. “I was kind of… out for it. I just remembered there being an explosion and then I hit my head.”

“Everyone was scattered,” Chase said. “We assumed they were after Ifrit. It took us… it took me a few moments to realize you were gone. I thought-- oh! That reminds me. I have something for you. From Andreas.”

“Andreas?” Joan asked before holding out her hand. She figured it was probably good. Hopefully. Chase put a round rock in her hand, making her blink. “Really? A--” She held it up to look at and her breath stopped. The ‘rock’ was perfectly round and almost appeared to be made of an empty, hollow void. No light escaped it, perfectly black. But if she looked into the small slit down the side, she’d be able to see small dots in the endless void. “Whyyyyy are you giving me the Eye of the Night?”

“Andreas thought you could use it to help call for help if you need it,” Chase said. “That and, well, you need all the help you can get. On account of you running towards anything that tries to kill you or anyone else.”

“That! Is fair,” Joan said, starring at the eye. Oh, she could feel the power emanating from it. Power she could never HOPE to fully access. But even a fraction of it could be useful. “Andreas should have kept it, though. It’d be more useful for him. I’m nowhere near powerful enough to use this fully.”

“Of course you’re not,” Chase said. “But he’s more than capable of dealing with all kinds of things without it. You, on the other hand, are… uhhhh…”

“Normal?” Joan asked.

“I don’t think anyone would dare call you that,” Chase said with a snicker.

“Not Chosen,” Joan said with a shrug. “Okay, fair. Not going to see me arguing with the Chosen of the Gods if they wanna go ahead and give me a priceless, incredibly powerful artifact.”

“Joan, when do you EVER not argue?” Chase asked with a small smirk.

“Also fair,” Joan said with a light snicker before laying her head on the backrest again. “But yeah, go talk to Breeze. And ummm… Chase?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“I won’t kill her this time, okay? Promise,” Joan said.

Chase was silent for a long moment after that before responding. “I would appreciate that. Thank you.” He then left, walking out the door.

Joan just groaned and closed her eyes. She was so tired and so, so done with this day. Teleporting. Getting slammed into walls. Getting tricked by Chase AGAIN. Tomorrow would be better, she was sure. Hopefully with less near-death experiences.