The trek to my camp was short. Barely even a minute, but my fun fizzled out pretty quickly. I thought Ezder would be completely flustered by my teasing, but after just a few tens of seconds, he had calmed his nerves, and managed to ignore my advances.

Bored with the noble boy, I turned my attention towards the twins.

Auden as expected was nervous, fidgeting incessantly as he held tightly to a knight, whom looked as though he was ready do anything to be rid of Auden.

On the other hand, Elaze was glaring daggers at me for being so indecent with the noble Ezder.

Her displeasure with me was genuine, and the more time I spent around her, the more I came to understand what it was that she hated about me.

The long and short of it:

—Nearly everything.

If there’s anything specific, I think she hates the way I act in such a haughty and provocative way. Yes, I’m self-aware enough to know I sometimes push things too far, but it’s already become a habit.

—I’m not going to change just to please her.

 However, she seems to know I am not really a girl. She couldn't, could she?

As we came up to the camp I had set up with my sister Yenna, the horses were guided into the clearing, and I hopped off my ride.

"So this is your companion?" Ezder asked, as he looked towards Yenna, who was preparing food.

"That's right! She's my sister, though not by blood," I said pridefully. "A beautiful girl, isn't she?"

Ezder smiled warily at my comment, as he climbed off his horse, and his knight guided the steed away.

"That she is," He finally admitted. "But I already have another, as I told you," He reminded me.

I shrugged, "Probably for the best. She bites."

A moment later, I felt a searing pain at the top of my head as I found myself falling to the ground. My face landed in the dirt, with my hands spread wide and the world spinning erratically. I pushed my hands down against the earth, trying to get onto my feet.

"See what I mean?" I groaned, before rolling myself onto my back. There above me, I saw Ezder with a look of shock, and Yenna with a stern scowl right next to him. "Don't worry about me... Get your tents set up," I said, as I began rubbing my head. Ezder isn't quite sure what to do, whether to help me up, or pretend he saw nothing. After all, I was a Spirit, struck down by a little girl. However, he seemed to understand this wasn't an unusual happening, and decided to move back to slowly his men. I could swear I saw a smirk form on his lips as he turned away.

"They're staying?" Yenna asked in a hushed voice.

Come to think of it, I didn't explain that part to her, did I? "Yes. They'll set up camp, and then leave when the rain dies down."

She didn't say anything for a moment, only taking a glance from me, to the several knights, and of course the twins. She had something on her mind, and something seemed to bother her, especially when her eyes landed on the knights and the noble boy.

"Aren't they enemies?"

Pardon me? "Enemies?"

Yenna looked at down at me for a moment after I said that. I wasn't sure what she meant, so pulled myself up into a sitting position, and began to pat away some of the dirt from my body. Yenna seemed to give up on me, and walked towards the knights. I wondered what it was she meant by enemies. Did I miss something about them? Was I too busy playing around to notice something vital...

"Sir Knight, I see your companions have been tending to two children. Are they perhaps your prisoners?" I hear Yenna from a distance with my sharp ears.

"No My Lady. Our Young Lord spotted them on the side of the road, and kindly offered to escort them to the nearest town." The response of one of the Knights was both calm, yet proud.

"My. Surely tending to the common children of a foreign land isn't the obligation of a Lord. He must be quite charitable to extend his grace onto them," Yenna said. Wait... Foreign land?

However, the knight laughed. "I thought the same, but that boy doesn't worry about common sense. Besides, they may be unfamiliar, but these can't be called foreign lands, now can they?"

"That is true," Yenna said sweetly.

What did they mean by that? Surely I've missed something. A crucial detail. I take a glance around at the Knights and Ezder. They're from a foreign Kingdom then? But then... Don't tell me...

"However, you needn't worry about a stranger's children like so. You Knights have your Lord to look after, and caring for those children will only slow you down. My Lady Toyaru is willing to take over guardianship of that pair, if your Lord will allow it. I have already erected a second tent those two can share." Yenna pushed the conversation along, even taking those kids under my protection, despite her disapproval. I guess it's a good thing I had Jenn's wife give her classes on etiquette.

"Hmm, I see. You make a good case," the Knight nodded before the pair exchanged their partings. The twins would probably be coming over to my camp in a moment, but before that, I saw Yenna stomping her way towards me. Oh boy...

Before I could back away from her, she pinched a hold of my long left ear, and began to drag me along. "Ah! Ow ow, let go, I'll walk!" I protested as she dragged me along behind her. Despite the proper lady-like tone she used with the Knight just a moment ago, she had no qualms with abusing me in front of everyone. "Com'on, what'd I do~?" I moaned as she pulled me into our tent, out of view of the Knights, and thrust me onto the floor. Free of her mean fingers, I curl my legs up, and try to bury my head between my knees, while holding onto my ears.

"That hurt," I protest.

However, Yenna merely scoffed at my childish behavior. "They're from Lein," She stated.

So it really was like that.

"The sigils?" I asked.

Yenna nodded. "I learned most of the family sigils of Lein from Sentra," she explained.

I sighed out, as I threw myself onto my back. So, I spoke with and hit on the enemy, without realizing it. No, that's perfectly fine. They shouldn't know about my involvement with Aniel and Princess Aire. However... did they come by Ohen?! Maybe, but it doesn't seem like they were here to start trouble.

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I wonder.

"Just continue as we are," I finally said. "No need to antagonize them."

Yenna seemed neither satisfied nor annoyed by my answer. Just apathetic. As if dealing with my whims was too much effort for her to think about. Without another word, she turned about, and made her way to greet the twins. Meanwhile, I thought about my plans.

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

Just as expected, the heavy rain struck sooner than Ezder's group originally anticipated. Luckily they had erected temporary shelter, and everyone was comfortable. Yenna lay asleep before, with my tail within her gentle embrace. She was still a child, and her old habits never truly died, but I have grown to not mind it much. It was still the middle of the day, but with nothing else to do in such a cramped environment, Yenna grabbed onto my tail and went to sleep. I couldn't sleep though, and instead lay awake, victim to her cuddling.

It's possible I would have to fight Ezder in the future, and even kill him. Why not get it over with now? Well, I don't want to kill a guy I just offerred peace with. Besides, he was just a child. Yes, we were a similar age in this world, but he seems childishly innocent. Killing him would be shameful after all this. And if a noble boy happened to die and go missing within Senilea, then it might prompt Lein to focus more on subjugating the region's rebellion. At the moment, Lein can't focus on one Kingdom or the other because of the war with Arnne. The current situation is preferable.

Unable to sit still, I decide to slow down time to a halt. I gently pull my tails free from Yenna's grip, careful not to hurt myself in the process (although with time stopped, I wouldn't notice any pain until I resumed it) and then I made my way out of the tent.

For quite a while after discovering my powers, a certain question bothered me to no end; Why can I move, if surely the air is frozen?

How could the air particles have enough time to move out of my way, and why is it that a vacuum isn't formed in my path? Even when I move objects, the air just seems to fill the gaps as though everything in the world is only pretending to be in slow-motion. So one day when it rained out, I took the opportunity to explore the village with time slowed down until every raindrop was suspended in the air. I had believed that maybe my powers would "reanimate" any fluid I got near or touched, but that wasn't what happened. Instead, as I touched the raindrops, the fluid seemed to glide around my skin. If I passed my hand through drops of water, they would deform around my hand, and once my hand was gone, they merely reformed on the other side.

It was a strange phenomena to see at the time, and even now as I walk through drops of suspended water, I wonder about the strange nature of my primary ability.

I walked through the camp, first checking on the twins. However, Elaze was nowhere to be found, despite Auden sitting there anxiously. With a frown, I move to the other tents, counting every knight, and even taking note of Ezder talking with his guards. The knights were all accounted for, but Elaze was missing. Where could she be... I thought of returning my speed to normal, and using my hearing and sense of smell to track her down, but instead I decided to look for foot prints. Rain might normally wash away tracks, but they also make it easy for certain tracks to form. The dirt had turned to mud, and thickly defined tracks littered the camp. However, the one set which left the twin's tent led outside the camp.

And so, I followed behind. What could this girl be doing, going into the woods during the rain? I was curious. I don't know why, but I was. I hadn't spoken to her nor Auden since Ezder appeared, and something told me to talk to her.

And there, surrounded by trees in the rain, was Elaze. I wasn't sure what she was up to, but it appeared as if she were focusing, with her eyes closed, and hands spread in front of her. With a grin on my face, I walk over to her side, just behind her shoulder, and immediately shift time into normal speed. Rain began to pour down on me, so I reached out, and tapped Elaze's shoulder.

"What'cha doin out here?" I asked casually.

Elaze, the horned girl, spun around in a fright, a look of shock and surprise plastered on her face. However, the muddy earth wasn't so kind to her, as she spun too quickly to stop. Her foot slipped, prompting a scream for her as she lost her balance. But before she could fall, I stepped in, wrapping my arm around her back, and catching her. She responded and grabbing hold of my yukata, and bringing her hand up to my shoulder as she tried to regain her balance.

I smiled down at her face, as her expression turned from surprise to anger.

"A little jumpy, aren't you?" I quipped in amusement.

"What do you want?" She asked, turning her eyes away, but didn't let go of me.

"I just wanted to know why you left your sweet brother behind? He looked pretty anxious."

"He's safe, isn't he? That's good enough."

I shrugged with a smirk, and helped Elaze up onto her feet. She quickly let go of me, and turned away from me. As if nothing had happened, she returned to doing what she was doing before I interrupted her. Whatever that was.

"Not gonna tell me what you're up to?"

"Is that any of your business?" She asked, closing her eyes as she once against stretched her hands forward.

She was right. It wasn't any of my business, and yet I still waited for an answer. I watched as her hands seemed to move, and her attention intensified. She had all but forgotten me, opting to pretend I wasn't there. I had not much else to do, so I watched her carefully. I concluded she was doing some kind of meditation, out here in the rain, but surely she must be worried about getting sick. I could heal any fever I got with the charm Aniel gave me, and Kitsune were already resistant to disease as a long-lived race. But Elaze shouldn't know I could heal her, so either she was betting on her Fay blood, or she just didn't care.

However, after watching her for many long minutes, I noticed something.

Her horn was pulsating. It was a dim glow, but there was certainly light coming from it. Was she trying to master her power, perhaps? For me, using my abilities is instinctive. Like my tails have a mind of their own, and I just use their powers. But perhaps for other races, their abilities require practice. Like learning to walk for a human.

"Your trying to control your power?" I asked.

Elaze frowned as her horn lost its glow, and her attention turned towards me.

"Mother said that it's not a power to control, but unleash. I was to learn how to release it when I have to."

"A power you can't control, huh..." So she does have a combat ability of some kind. "What's it do?"

She looked down for a moment, before sighing. "When I used it on my pursuers..." She paused for a moment, as she wrapped her arms around herself. This was the first time she mentioned that incident herself. "When it happened, I didn't mean to do anything. I was just desperate. I told Auden to run away, and thought I'd use myself as bait. I was hurt, so I'd only slow him down. But when they caught up to me..." She shivered, as she remembered something unpleasant. "The looks on their faces. They weren't just going to capture me or even kill me. When I realized that I was outraged. Those bastards! Using people like toys, because they have a little power over them. And then... a throbbing pain in my forehead later, I found myself waking up to see you," She said.

"Well, you killed them somehow," I said with a shrug. "You even got rid of their bodies somehow."

"And I don't know how I did that!" Elaze snapped. "It irritates me! Mother said that when I need it most, my power will burst forth to protect me! But I can't just pass out and destroy everything at the last moment! How can I protect my brother like that?" She cried out in frustration.

"So, you think there must be more to your power than just a one-off attack?"

"There has to be!" She shouted at me.

I stay silent for a moment, before smiling. I stepped towards her, she inched back, but before she could get far, I placed my open palm atop her head, scratch her wet hai and speak calmly. "If what you want is the power to protect your brother, I'll help in whatever way I can. It sucks being useless, but there's no doubt in my mind that this horn here has some interesting secrets," I said, and grasped her horn.

She looked at me, eyes probing me for something. As if she expected me to turn around with a "Sike!" just to toy with her. But when she finally acknowledged I was serious, she closed her eyes, let out a sigh, and nodded. "Ok. I'll stick with you until I can protect my useless brother," She said.

I smirk, letting go of her horn, and spinning around. "Well, let's go back. Don't want to worry him too much, right?"

From behind, I hear a faint, "Right," as I begin walking back to camp. I turn a glance to the young girl, and see her bashfully following behind me.

It's nice when she goes all meek like that.

Having her be all feisty and neglectful is also nice.