The woods were dark and quiet, seeming more so in contrast to the noisy glowing hall in the distance. It didn’t last. “Please pardon me.” Drawing her sabers Emokha flew at a dead tree trunk. Hissing screeches escaped from her as she hacked and clawed, splinters flying in all directions. After several minutes the tree couldn’t take any more. It cracked and groaned before finally falling over, leaving Emokha hissing like a furious tea kettle, complete with steam roiling off her above the snow.

Finally she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I apologize Zekhow. Lookh what I have done to your…exhcellent gifts.” She looked down at the blades, then smiled weakly. “Or not. Durability runes she said?” She wiped them off and re-sheathed them.

“Emokha, s-something is wrong.” Oresus seemed worried. He was carrying Liuka in both arms. She was struggling weakly but he was so much stronger it didn’t inconvenience him much.

“Liukha, what is wrong?”

“I’m sooooo thirsty Emokha! I need something to drink.”

Emokha looked at Gloe questioningly. He shrugged and waggled a hand in the air. “Ori, there’s a stream not too far in that direction. If you give her a sip every couple minutes it might help. If it doesn’t…well I have some other ideas but I don’t think anyone will like them.”

“I’ll t-try. It’s h-hard to see her like this.”

“We will be there in a bit Ori. I need to diskhuss this briefly, out of earshot of her. I will bring you up to speed later.”

He nodded. “Come on L-liuka. Let’s g-go get you a nice cold drink.” He carried her off towards the stream, sure-footed even with the burden in the dark.

Emokha carefully waited until the crunching of footsteps in the snow faded off into the distance. “What, precisely, happened in there?”

Gloe shrugged again. “Obviously I can’t be entirely sure. Best guess though is that Elame bitch used her ability on both of you. Didn’t Liuka say something about Elame not being a fighter?”

There was a long stream of Viluota. The short harsh syllables seemed to indicate expletives, as did the sharp slashes of claws. After a bit she calmed again. “I was khoncerned that was the khase. What happened from your perspective?”

“Elame approached. Liuka was alarmed to see her, but only for a second. As soon as Elame spoke she was instead filled with single-minded desire. Then Elame started talking to you and your behavior and emotions shifted. Unlike Liuka your behavior was more sporadic and halting. I think your ability might give you some degree of resistance.”

“That threw me off a bit. I don’t normally…” he coughed “…positive emotions. You know? Unless there’s some sort of compelling reason. But when she started trying to sell you on her team I realized what might be going on, and that was enough reason. My guess is that, combined with your resistance, provided you with the space you needed to pull yourself together.”

“I see.” She slashed the air again. “I am furious, but not at you. The…” she broke back into an extended rant in Viluota. Settling once again she slumped slightly. “Thankh you, by the way. I am uncertain I khould have brokhen free without your assistance.”

“You’re welcome. There have to be limits though. If her ability was unbeatable she’d be the school’s unrivaled ace.”

“Khan you protect us now that you know about her?”

“You, probably. You broke free almost instantly, and hopefully being forewarned will help as well.” He looked at the stars for a bit. “I don’t know about Liuka. She felt fear when the bitch showed up, so I’m guessing they’ve interacted before. I wonder if it matters what she’s selling?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Liukha probably was thirsty. She’d eaten some salty foods. That khould be a fakhtor.”

“Ori might be okay too, especially once he’s been warned. I doubt she would give him enough attention to know what he wants. But I don’t know.” He paused again. “You want me to kill her? I’m not certain I can resist her normally, but I can think of a short-term way that should be fairly effective.”

The serious look on her face made it clear Emokha was seriously considering the idea. “Let us hold off. If Liukha returns to normal she khan give us additional khontexht that khan aid us in makhing the khorrekht decision. We should go checkh on them.”

Barely had they arrived at the stream when the situation became clear. “Emokha!” Half-crying Liuka rushed over to hug her. Her larger friend wrapped all four arms around her, careful with her claws. “I’m so sorry Emokha! I never dreamed she would dare mess with you like that, especially at the festival! I should have warned you! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“It is alright. I am undamaged. Are you well? She seemed to have qhuite an effekht on you.”

“Yes.” Liuka’s voice dropped. “She always gets me.”

“She has done this before then? Will it khause you pain to exhplain it to us? Would you be more khomfortable if it was just me?”

“No, it’s fine.” She turned to smile at Oresus. “Ori helped me after all. And it’s not like it’s a secret anyway. You could find out from anyone.” She shivered slightly. “Emokha, how are you so warm?”

“I’ll g-go get your coat.”

“Thank you but that’s okay. The cold is refreshing after…that.”

“It’ll j-just take a minute. You d-don’t have to wear it until you’re cold.” He dashed off.

“He’s such a gentleman.” They waited in silence for a bit, but true to his word Oresus did not keep them waiting long.

“I b-brought your coat too Emokha.”

“Thankh you Ori.” She took it but made no move to don it. Fog was still softly roiling off of her wings.

“Actually now I am cold. Thank you Ori.” Liuka quickly slipped into her ankle-length jacket. “Now…where to start?” She sighed. “Elame is a fourth-year. I’m a third. When I arrived I was eager to make friends, and she was only a year older than me. Plus she’s a countess’ daughter, so although she’s higher rank than me it’s only one up. It’s not like aiming at a viscount or baron or something. So I put my best foot forward and tried to be friendly.”

Another sigh, this one longer. “She did not appreciate it. She pretended to be nice just long enough to use her ability on me, then used that to get me to tell her all my secrets. Her ability works better if she tailors it for her target.” She kicked the snow. “Once she knew everything about me…well let’s just say she got me to do a lot of really embarrassing stuff. I don’t really have any secrets anymore, and there’s a reason I don’t have any friends. I got pretty good at avoiding her but the gossip still got around to the first-years.”

Looking up at Emokha her face crinkled. “I’m so sorry! I never dreamed she’d use her ability at the festival! And she’s so busy, I didn’t think she’d be able to find a way to get alone with you. She’s not very good at influencing multiple people unless it’s something really simple.”

“It is fine Liukha. You are not responsible for the akhtions of others. Nor are you responsible for your own akhtions while under magikhal influence.”

“Emokha!” More crying and hugs ensued. They went on for some time.

Finally, after the storm had calmed somewhat Gloe caught Emokha’s eye. “So, how do you want to proceed? Should I implement the counter-measure we discussed earlier?”

“Not at this time. From what Liukha has said this ability has limitations. Once we exhamine them khlosely I believe we will be able to develop less exhtreme measures. In fakht, in one way I believe this khan be an enlightening exhperience for us. I had intended to go into the spring exhercise blind as regards our opponents. After all, in an akhtual khombat scenario intel on enemy individuals would be limited.”

“Perhaps that was naïve. Regardless I now believe we must prepare thoroughly, and try to fully understand all of our opponents- abilities, prokhlivities and psykhology. That is a taskh for later though. For now I believe we should return to the ball before we are missed. If anyone inqhuires we khan just say we tookh a walkh to cool off.”

“Yeah.” Liuka visibly tried to buck herself up as they headed back. “We are super hot after all. Well…two of us are. Maybe three.” It wasn’t incredibly convincing but everyone else pretended not to notice.

“You think I’m ugly now you should have seen me when I was missing half my face.”

“Which t-time?”

“Wait that’s happened multiple times?”

“You know how some peoples’ parents say their kids would misplace various parts of their anatomy if they weren’t attached?”

“Yeah. So?”

“I’m an orphan.” He stared at her, completely deadpan.

“That’s not funny!” She kicked him in the shins but he didn’t even blink. “I sure am glad I wore my boots today instead of those ballroom slippers that are so popular. I can’t stand those things. I need support damn it.”

“Besides, if you were wearing slippers Ori would have to carry you through the snow again.”

“Okay, maybe it wouldn’t be all bad.”

“Qhuit khausing trouble Zekhow."

“Yeah, s-shut up Zekhow.”