Sora looked at the unconscious elf, literally steaming, and back at Dawn.

"Is she okay?" The squirrel-kin was very worried.

"Yes, I think so. Let me check." The boy-in-princess-skin was somewhat worried.

"Lifesight."

>     Abnormal Status: Mana Infusion. Mana Awakening. Affinity Awakening (Mist). Severe Fever.

"Yes, perfectly normal. Just a little bit of fever," She lied. "We should put her in water. Help me undress her."

They removed Cythrel's dress and shoes. Dawn carried her and Into the bath, they went. Aidan followed and watched the elf with mana sight. She was oozing mana and heat. Dawn focused and created ice in Lumina's porcelain bathtub. A few minutes later and her status was demoted to just 'Fever'. Aidan kept supporting her so she wouldn't slip underwater.

Dawn left the bath and went back to the bedroom. She returned with the mug. "Now, Sora, it is your turn. There is still a little bit of wing left." She washed the pestle and placed every single piece of glitter in the mug.

"No way you are making me drink that," Sora answered, scared.

"Are you sure? It is only a little, I don't think you'll suffer as much as Cythrel," Dawn realized her verbal slip and corrected herself, "Not that Cythrel is suffering or anything. She is just... sleeping. Yes, sleeping."

She shook her head. "You are not convincing me." She was afraid of any collateral effects from that stuff.

"You have the Sun element. Wind and Fire. If you had a little mana, you could do some nice things, like lighting up a campfire, getting illumination, or maybe even use the tailwind spell. Having mana won't hurt."

Despite what some otherworlders fear when they arrive, reaching zero mana means only not being able to cast or maintain spells. There is a little feeling of emptiness inside, but no detrimental effect like unconsciousness or headaches. In fact from what Dawn was seeing in Cythrel's status, Sora might even get Water affinity.

"Nope. Try again." Sora was reluctant. She wanted to have mana. Who wouldn't want to be able to use magic?

"Cythrel took almost the entire wing. What is left here are just a very small part. I doubt you will even feel hot inside."

"Fine. Give me that." Sora took the mug and drank the water. Different from what was in the concoction Cythrel drank, this one was just water with some glitter.

"Why don't I lie down on the bed, my love?" Dawn took Sora out of the bath. It was better to make her lie down. Who knows what would happen.

"It is warming up. You tricked me." Sora complained.

Yes, who knows what might happen. Something like that.

"I am sure it will be just a little heat." Dawn lied again. In fact, she had no idea what was going to happen. "Be a big girl and endure it. I'm right here with you."

Sora lied sideways on the bed, and Dawn arranged a pillow for her. She caressed her head, scratched her ears. "It is getting hotter."

"Nah. You are warming up too slowly compared to Cy. It is fine."

"Lifesight."

>     Abnormal Status: Mana Infusion. Minor Mana Awakening. Affinity Adjustment (Weather).

"Oh. How nice." Dawn exclaimed, perking up. A new element.

"What is nice? Don't make me more worried, I'm too hot."

"You don't even have a temperature. Want me to take off your clothes?" Dawn licked her lips with an obvious innuendo.

"Pervert princess. No mood for that. Worse yet, you are there, in the bath, alone with Cythrel."

"I'm done with naked elf for today. I've just spent ten hours staring at her. You too, if my memory serves me."

Sora's status changed to mild fever.

"Speaking of naked, Kamak had nothing going on down there." She mentioned, a little delirious.

"No, he doesn't. Anyway, monster-people hybrids can't have children."

Sora laughed. "Look at you. Did you really pay attention to the harpy-catkin hybrid's crotch?"

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Yes, what is the... Oh, you rascal! Dragging me into girl talk like that! Have at you!" Dawn grabbed Sora's tail and started to massage it. "I saw the guy regenerate his entire lower half during two long hours. Seriously, I've seen every single organ of that person. And no, there is nothing there."

Sora didn't hear anything. Between her fever and the massage, she just blanked out, remaining barely conscious for a while and then falling asleep.

----------------------------------------

It took some time, but Cythrel recovered and awakened. In more than one sense. And then all hell broke loose. The elf turned around, saw Aidan holding her, and screamed. Then she started to bite, bash him with her elbows and scream even more.

"You bloody murderer! I can't believe I gave up my hands to protect a scumbag such as you! Enemy of the fae! A thousand deaths and boiling skin is not good enough for the likes of you!"

Aidan retreated and defended himself, but the girl was out for blood. She jumped out of the bathtub and charged him.

"Murderer! Wretched defiler! I'll end your existence and fertilize the soil with your blood and entrails! Blighter of the land, destroyer of dreams, unraveler of illusions!"

She kicked, bit, headbutted him. Aidan tried to hold her but the naked elf was just too slippery.

"Sullied maggot, I'll feed your eyes to the crows! Crush your nuts and bury them in the treant's roots!"

The only thing that saved Aidan's family jewels was Dawn's intervention. She threw a bathrobe over the elf and restrained the girl. She didn't stop squirming and flailing all of her limbs. Along with an entire thesaurus of elven profanities.

"Calm down, Cythrel. What is the matter?" Dawn asked. Cythrel kicked her thigh and pushed up. Dawn barely dodged a headbutt.

"Besmirched marauders, may the Winter Queen curse you. You murdered an Elder Fairy!"

Aidan healed his bite marks, some of them bleeding and got back on his feet.

"We didn't murder any fairy. Those wings were a gift. A gift. The fairy whose wings you ate is hale and happy."

She kept thrashing, but weaned a bit, "Liar. Since when would you know a revered Elder Fairy?" Dawn had to push her up to get the girl back in a position she could hold onto.

"Ever since I was born, I guess. She was already a friend of my family, you know? You can ask Sora. I might even take you to see her someday."

"Are you lying?" She asked, meekly.

"Nope." He answered with a deadpan face.

"Would you tell me if you were lying?" She carefully asked, leaning back on Dawn's chest.

"No. I mean, yes. I lied there." He grinned.

"You didn't murder an Elder Fairy to steal her dust?" She asked with doe eyes.

"Nope. I never hurt any fairies. That I know. She didn't give me any dust. Just the wings."

"Silly Aidan. The wings ARE the dust." She giggled, still a little nervous. "It could extend your lifespan by over a century! Why didn't you consume that yourself? What a waste!"

"Two main reasons. One, I didn't know. She just told me it would 'slightly increase my mana'," He said, mimicking the Keeper's speech. "Two, I needed it to fix my little broken elf, if not entirely, just a little." He pinched her nose.

"Are you angry? I hurt you." She looked at the few drops of blood on his clothes.

"What? This? Five days ago I bled literally liters of blood on the training grounds. This is just a flesh wound. But I am glad. I'm glad to know that you would defend your values with tooth and nail. That is the Cythrel I like."

"Do you?" She asked, surprised.

"I do what?" Aidan blinked and tried to read her face. She went from psycho to shy in too little time.

"Like me." The elf blushed.

He ruffled her wet hair. "Of course. Why do you think I gave you my priceless set of Elder Fairy Wings? Now get on your feet, Dawn's arms are getting tired."

----------------------------------------

A little later and Sora was awake again.

"Aidan, why are your clothes stained with blood?" She asked, worried.

"Oh, this? It was nothing. Cythrel got a little too rough in the bath." He teased.

Sora looked at the elf, still damp and wrapped only in a bathrobe too big for her. Cythrel avoided eye contact and shrunk inside the robe.

"You two did you... You and Aidan got... in the bath, you two..." She was so flustered her reasoning failed.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, girl!" Dawn pushed Sora and she fell on the pillows. "Cythrel thought we murdered a fairy to get those wings and she went all primeval avenger on Aidan."

"The Keeper's wings? But that was a gift."

 "Exactly what we tried to tell her." Dawn glared at the elf. She shrunk even more in the robes.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"Anyway," Dawn clapped her hands, "shall we take a look at your affinities?"

They touched the solar plexus of the two girls at the same time and used the same spell.

"Soul Reveal."

The usual effigy of Sora came out. However, it was no longer the yellow from before. It was a light shade of green. "Sora: Fire E+, Wind E, Water G+. Mana F-. Lesser Weather element." Dawn read her orbs. With their expertise in using the spell, they could get a better reading now. Unfortunately, one was only considered a mage if the affinities were at least at the D-tier.

"Cythrel: Wind D-, Water E+, Mana, D-. Congratulations. You are a Mist mage. Low tier, but a mage nonetheless."

"What happens now?" Cythrel asked. She was happy, but something was bothering her.

Dawn answered, "We'll teach you the Sylph's Hand spell. With that spell, you'll be able to manipulate objects."

Cythrel wriggled inside the robe. Her eyes were watering. "Thank you. Those three gifts were marvelous."

"But I'll hold on that idea of enchanted gloves. Now that you have mana, you can power enchanted items by yourself."

Cythrel kept wriggling inside the robe. She seemed detached.

Sora looked at her and asked, "What are you doing in there?"

Cythrel leaned and whispered something in Sora's ear. Neither Dawn or Aidan could pick it up.

"Really? Let me see!" Sora reached with a hand inside the robe.

Cythrel giggled and gasped. "Be gentle, Sora!"

"Wow." Sora sighed.

Dawn and Aidan kept staring their dreamy exchange.

"Elder Fairy wings are amazing." Cythrel quipped. "They're really magical."

"And to think I rejected them," Sora recalled.

"What is going on between you two? You are forbidden from keeping secrets from me!" Dawn complained. Sora leaned and whispered in Dawn's ear. "Really? I can't believe."

"Try me." Cythrel challenged.

Dawn reached inside the robe. She blushed. Cythrel giggled.

"Wow." Dawn sighed.

"Once more, thank you for this marvelous gift." Cythrel extolled.

"And to think I gave them away," Dawn recalled.

"Shut up, S-ranker. You don't need them!" Cythrel roared. "Mine! My precious." She wriggled inside the robe, with a satisfied look in her face.

Aidan knew what they were talking about, but his brain refused to process it. He stood a bit away, pretending to be furniture. He knew that the wrong word would draw wrath worse than a fairy genocide.