Every now and then Kits might tease Kaia about the fact she could only shapeshift into one thing, but Kits never really felt superior. When it came to a lot of things, Kaia was just better.

Wrestling, for example. Kits had never once gotten Kaia into a hold she couldn’t get out of either in fox form or otherwise, which made sense because Kits never needed to hone that skill. If someone threw themselves on Kits, she could burn them off without much effort. Most things hated superheat. The instinct to pull your hand away from a fire comes automatically when you have flammable nerve endings. And if her attacker was the type who actually liked it hot, Kits could use the other side of the spectrum to the same effect. Or both temperatures in rapid succession. She’d yet to meet anyone who could stand up to a good old fashioned thermal shock, anti-magic users excluded.

Kaia didn’t have that luxury. Temperature didn’t affect her but she couldn’t manipulate it either. She had to use other means to get people to respect her boundaries. That meant honing non-magic skills. Kits had a lot of respect for her kindred for not relying on magic alone. Still, Kaia could be kind of irritating when she got on her know-it-all shtick.

“It’s not even that hard,” said Kaia.

Kits fiddled more with the multicolored cube. She could feel Kaia’s frustration with her lack of progress through the soul link. And Kits was trying her hardest. She’d never been good at puzzles.

“Just solve the corners first,” said Kaia for the fourth time.

“I’m trying.”

Kaia’s gaze was unrelenting. It got to the point where Kits could see Kaia’s viewpoint through the soul link and had to shake her head to get it out of her own visual spectrum. That or this puzzle cube was making her dizzy with its complexity.

“Ugh.” Kaia held out her hand. “You’re taking forever. Give it.”

“No, I can figure it out. I’m just not as fast as you are.”

“But you’re going about it the wrong way and it’s driving me crazy.”

“No I’m not.” Kits got three corners to match up and then spun the thing in a way that made her lose all her progress. The cube became once again a mess of mismatched squares. She whined in disappointment and tried to get the pattern back the way it was. The floor grew slick with ice and the air around Kits’ head warbled with heat mirages. Her magic was overflowing. Might not be long before she had actual steam coming out her ears. Because… because she could feel Kaia’s impatience and judgement through the soul link and it wasn’t Kits’ fault her specialties were different than Kaia’s and anyway what was the point of solving one of these stupid things in the first place? “I’m doing what you said. I’m solving the corners.”

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“You can’t forget about a side once you’ve solved it,” said Kaia exasperatedly. “It only works if you keep the whole design in your head so you don’t screw it up with another move.”

“Where did you even get this stupid thing anyway.” Kits huffed. This was impossible. Except she knew it wasn’t impossible because she’d seen Kaia solve it in about twenty seconds. So why? Why couldn’t Kits figure it out? Kaia made it look so easy. Am I just inept at everything but being a walking toaster?

“Can’t remember.” Kaia plucked the cube out of Kits’ grip, spun it around, studied it, then made a blur of moves, sliding squares into their proper places with an ease that made Kits feel very small, and then the cube was solved. Just like that. Again.

The ineptitude shrank Kits’ posture all the way to a slouch. She felt like melting the stupid cube on sheer principle. That way Kaia couldn’t rub it in her face.

But Kaia didn’t rub it in her face. Kaia returned the cube to the position Kits had put it in and gave it back. Then crossed her arms and stared down at Kits like she expected her to continue.

“What’s the point,” said Kits. “You showed me. Go you.”

“But you said you wanted to solve it yourself. I just got tired of waiting for my turn. Go on. Solve it.”

“Maybe I don’t wanna anymore.”

“You can be such a baby, Kits. I swear.”

“Not my fault I’m not as smart as you are.”

“This isn’t smarts.” Kaia took a deep breath and explained patiently. Through the soul link Kits felt her sincerity so it was really hard to stay bitter toward her. “It just looks like that from the outside. If you know the patterns, all it is is memorization.”

“Better memory.” Kits waved a dismissive hand. “Smarts. Same thing. Even Crystal told me that and she’s a genius for real so don’t act like it doesn’t matter. We both know you’re the better half.”

“What?” Kaia blinked. “Hey what was the name of that guy you met on that one world you told me about? Y’know the time when you burned down that intergalactic restaurant?”

“Torbold,” said Kits instantly. “Tor for short.”

“That was forever ago. That’s proof you have a good memory.”

“Whatever.”

“I’m serious. And I could never do the stuff you do with ice.”

Kits thought of her miniature ice sculptures, the ones she sculpted with her thermal magic to pass the time and remember all the people she’s met. “Those melt.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact I could never sculpt them. We have different strengths. It doesn’t matter about the puzzle. Sculptures are prettier.”