Azura could hear her mother opening windows. That and her constant complaints. She tried to ignore it as she continued to scrub.

“At least I managed to burn the clothes before she saw them,” Azura muttered. She wrinkled her nose as she peeled more of the black gunk from her skin. Thirty minutes of scrubbing and she finally didn’t smell like an elephant’s colon. Not having any clothes she wrapped herself in a towel and dashed to her bedroom getting dressed.

Azura could hear her mother cooking dinner and took time to look inside herself. Her ki was flowing smoothly only… why was there no mana? Before a torrent of mana had flooded into her converting to ki. Or was that ki left over from her initial conversion. She was unsure. It had all been very confusing and sudden. Now, however there was nothing but ki inside her. Weird.

Azura reached out to the mana in the room. She mentally stumbled as she failed to find any. The mana was gone! All of it. Had… had she used it all up? No way. She had to know.

Azura dashed out of the room. Before her mother could even turn around she was out the door running down the street. Then she was past Toren’s house. She blinked. What in the… That was at least a minute run. She had done it in seconds. Temporarily ignoring the impossibility of what just happened she felt for the mana around her. Azura stood still in awe as all the surrounding mana began swirling like a tornado with her at the epicenter. The mana then funneled toward her core where it seemed to vanish.

No… that wasn’t quite right. Mentally squinting Azura peered at her core at the point where the mana cease to be. What was… Ah hah! There! A drop of liquid ki so small that at first she missed it was forming in-between the pieces of her core. She watched intently as more mana condensed into the drop. Soon enough the local mana began to thin as the drop grew ever so slightly. A minute later the local mana was barren and she had a new ultra-tiny drop of ki which drifted off to join the ever flowing river. The conversion rate was horrible! Well, that is to be expected if she was honest with herself. After all she had condensed mana for years and all that became her tiny puddle of ki.

She turned to head back home when she noticed that everyone was looking at her. What… Okay maybe spacing out in on the road wasn’t the brightest idea she had, but it’s not like she hadn’t done weirder stuff than that before. Did she forget her trousers? She looked down. Nope. Good. Rather not have a repeat of that one time.

She was feeling distinctly awkward as she made her way home at a more normal speed. Paranoia built as all eyes turned to follow her. So creepy. Was something wrong with her? Oh no… was some of the black goo still on her? Damn that must be it. She did a quick check. She didn’t see anything… Azura decided to move a bit faster.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Coralline was just finishing up dinner when the door open and Azura’s voice came out.

“Fricken weirdos!”

She sighed and wondered what her daughter did now. At least she could beat up anyone that annoyed her.

“Mom! Is dinner ready?”

“Just waiting for you,” Coralline called. A rush of air told her that Azura had taken her seat. She turned and set the plate down. Then she stopped. Was that really Azura? That concern was immediately resolved as blue haired half cat-kin grabbed the biggest piece of meat possible and shoved it into her mouth. Okay, this was definitely her daughter. She looked the same, yet not. It was like every flaw she had was erased. Her skin was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Completely free of even the tiniest of flaws. Coralline leaned down ignoring Azura surprise and focused on her skin. She focused deeply trying to see any faint lines or normal marks. Small crevasses where skin laid atop of fat and muscle. It was natural. Azura now had none of that. It was like her skin was one continuous piece of flawless marble. She moved forward more as Azura leaned back her mouth stuffed. Her hair and fur was incredibly smooth looking, like it was silk. A quick touch confirmed this.

“What happened?” Coralline asked.

“HMmraahasa goohrm,” was the reply. Coralline sighed. Well no matter what happened her daughter was the same.

“Please chew,” Coralline said. “I couldn’t even make that one out.”

A minute passed as her daughter finally managed to swallow.

“What are you looking at? Do I still smell?” She raised her arm and took a whiff.

“No… well that’s not true you smell… clean.” Coralline said surprised.

“Oh thanks mom! I would have you know if bathe regularly! I even use soap and shampoo… when I feel like it.”

“Well you smell extra clean and your skin looks great. It looks like you had your entire body reworked by a mage beautician. Is that what you did?”

“Hells no! I wouldn’t let a mage alter me. Besides, only rich old women get that kind of treatment.”

“Well…” Coralline prompted.

“You know that breakthrough I was working on…” Azura started.

“Oh that,” Coralline interrupted then took on a high falsetto. “Mom I need extra dessert, my breakthrough depends on it! Mom, I can’t fold my laundry it might destroy my attempt at a breakthrough!” Then she took an even higher falsetto to the point where it could shatter glass. “Mom, rub my poor paws I’ve been on them all day. I need it for my breakthrough!”

“In all fairness that last one did help,” Azura said.

“So you achieved this breakthrough you’ve been whining about for the last month?”

“Way to take the wind from my sails mom. But yeah I did. It’s complicated but I think every part of me improved. What you are seeing on the outside is nothing compared to the inside.”

“Really? Like what?”

“I don’t know. I have to test it out tomorrow.”

“Well do it soon,” Coralline said her tone sad.

Azura paused regarding her mother. “What happened?”

“The kin at Fortunia died. All of them.”

Azura gasped. She knew kin there. Hell Toren’s bother was there.

“Toren does he…”

“He was there when I found out. You should give him some space. His family is probably grieving. Go see him in a day or two. But in the meantime,” Coralline said giving her daughter a serious look. “Get as strong as you can. I think we will all need it soon.”