After getting blessed her mom started making her help out with chores around the house. For the next three months, Nora helped her mom throughout the day and trained with her dad in the afternoon. She was getting used to using her mana for enhancement and creating smoke. On weekends she would spend the day with Belle and Leo. But today she was training with her dad,

“Now, come at me full force.” Her dad said. She enhanced her legs, left arm, and eyes. Dashing forward he easily dodged her. She stopped herself just past him and jumped sending a kick at his head, he ducked it with ease. She created smoke as her leg passed over him and made it envelop him. Now! She charged through the smoke but somehow completely missed. She looked in every direction but he was nowhere to be found. Where’d he go? Two daggers rocketed through her smoke flying at her back. She threw herself to the side, falling to the ground. A weight pushed down on her back; it was her dad's foot. He smiled,

“Now that’s what I call fighting with magic.” How did he disappear? And where did he come from? He took his foot off allowing her to sit up, that was the first time he used magic while fighting her,

“How did you do that?” She asked breathlessly, He crouched down,

“How do you think I did it?”

“Some kind of Conjuration magic, right?” He nodded,

“Right, that’s how I disappeared, but how did I know where you were without seeing you?” She hadn’t even thought of that. It didn’t seem like something Conjuration could do. It must be his other affinity. She smirked,

“Divination magic.” He patted her head, Her tail started wagging and she smiled,

“That’s right,” He said, “Now, why did I ask you to figure that out, instead of just telling you?” To mess with her? She wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know.” She said,

“Because these are the things you have to learn while fighting.” Of course, if she didn’t know their affinities she could be caught off guard. It seemed so obvious now that he said it, “By figuring out someone's affinities you’ll have a much better chance against them.”

“And now one last question.” He said, “How did you dodge my knives without seeing them?” She hadn’t seen them? But she knew they were coming at her. She looked at him confused. “When did you first notice them?”

“When they passed through my smoke.” He looked at her expectantly,

“And.. how did you know they passed through your smoke?” How had she known? She could feel them pass through, she gasped,

“I can feel through my smoke!” He hugged her,

“Yes! Exactly!” He picked her up and put her on his shoulders, She giggled, “Now let’s go tell your mom what you’ve learned.” As they got into town her dad said,

“Starting tomorrow I’m gonna start teaching you to use daggers and throwing knives.”

“Really?!” She was so excited she nearly fell from her dad's shoulders,

“You need to be able to fight with more than just your fists. It won’t be easy but I know you’ll get it.” Nora had always wanted to learn how to throw knives; she could hardly wait. He carried her all the way home and even carried her into the house.

When they walked in her mom was waiting for them along with her friend with the antlers, her name was Ayala. They looked at them smiling,

“Hey, I have a surprise!” Her mom said, Her dad cocked his head,

“This sounds exciting, doesn’t it?” He said looking to Nora, she nodded. Her mom stood up and pulled out a little ribbon, he gasped,

“Are you pregnant?” Her mom smiled, Nora felt excitement shoot through her, she’d never had any siblings before.

“Yup, isn’t that great?!” Her dad walked over and put Nora down,

“That’s amazing!” He hugged her, “We’re gonna have another kid!” They both looked down to Nora, “Isn’t that great? You’re gonna have a little brother or sister.” Nora joined in the hug.

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“I can’t wait.” She said. Ayala looked at them smiling,

“I’m gonna be staying here until the baby is born to help her out around the house and to eventually deliver.” Her dad looked to her,

“Thank you for doing that.”

“After all you’ve done for me, It’s the least I could do.” Nora had seen her around here and there but she wasn’t sure what her parents had done for her.

The next day her dad started training her in the use of daggers and knives. He held up one of his throwing knives,

“This is a throwing knife,” He handed her the knife. They were at the edge of the forest on the outskirts of the grass field they’d usually train in. “Now, I want you to try to hit that tree.” It was about fifteen feet away and was pretty big. She drew her right hand back, took a deep breath, and slung the knife as hard as she could. It spun in the air turning from the target and hitting the ground about five feet away from the tree. Damn it! She thought she had that.

“That was pretty good for your first try but you threw it too hard.”

“I’m not supposed to throw it hard?”

“You should try to use medium strength.” He raised his hand and another blade appeared. “Here, try again but use less strength and just let it slide out of your hand.” Nora drew the blade over her shoulder, took a deep breath, and loosed the blade. This time with less force. It landed just short of the tree but was on target. She smiled,

“That was way better!” She said, “Give me another one.” Her dad complied. She trained for another hour before finally managing to hit the tree. Her dad stopped her there and pulled a dagger from his back.

“Here, now I’ll teach you to use this.” This training went much better since it was similar to the sparring they’d done before but now she was using a dagger. She used it in her left since she wanted to get used to not using her right all the time.

A few months later she was at home with her mom and Ayala,

“Ayala?” Nora said, Ayala looked over from the book she was reading,

“What is it?”

“Can you do magic?” She wanted to learn what all kinds of magic there were. Ayala smiled,

“I can, do you wanna see?” Nora smiled nodding. She came over and sat down next to her. She put her hand over Nora’s head and said,

“Ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” Nora’s tail wagged in excitement, a moment later freezing water poured over her. Nora gasped and started breathing heavily, smiling. Ayala was laughing.

“You did not just do that.” Nora chuckled out,

“You wanted to see.” Nora clothes were soaked, and a chill ran through her,

“It’s freezing. Did you choose that?” Ayala nodded still giggling to herself, she raised her hand,

“Here.” Ayala pulled her hand away and all of the water on and around Nora followed. She was completely dry now. Ayala took the water sphere and put it in the kitchen basin. That’s so cool!

“Wow, can you shoot it out like an arrow?” She wanted to say beam but she wasn’t sure she’d understand that,

“Of course,” She raised her hand and aimed her palm toward the basin, a stream of water shot out and went straight into it. Man, she wished she could do that.

“What's your other affinity?” Nora asked,

“Alteration.” She answered,

“What can you do with that?” Nora asked. Ayala averted her gaze,

“Nothing,” She sighed. Nora didn’t believe it, her dad could use both of his affinities, and from what he’d told her so could her mom. She decided not to press the matter. “Anyway, show me your magic!” Ayala said perking up,

“Ok, close your eyes.” Nora said, Ayala looked at her suspiciously but complied. Nora formed a thick cloud of black smoke around her, “Alright you can look now.” she heard a muffled gasp and quick movements from inside the smoke, Ayala flung herself out of the cloud looking terrified. Nora laughed,

“You wanted to see.” Ayala looked at her with a smile breathing heavy and laid down,

“Funny.”

The next five months were spent training with her dad, hanging out with Ayala and her mom, and visiting Belle and Leo on the weekends.

Nora shot up from her bed, a yell from what sounded like Ayala. She ran out of her room and into her parent’s room. Her mom was on the bed naked, her dad was holding her hand, and Ayala was sitting ready to deliver a baby. Nora went to the opposite side of her mom as her dad and held her hand.

“Hey baby,” Her mom said softly, Nora smiled. “Are you ready for your little sibling to be born?”

“I’m ready and excited!” Nora said excitedly. Her mom's smile broadened. She could tell they’d been at this for a while. Her mom strained pushing, Ayala held her hand up,

“Stop, that’s enough.” A few moments later crying filled the room and Ayala held up the baby giving it to her mom. “It’s a girl.” Nora leaned in to look at her, she was so cute. She had black fox ears and a tail same as her mom. Her mom had a wide smile and was crying, she looked so happy and almost relieved,

“Hi, Ari,” Her mom said, Nora thought Ari was a cute name, “welcome to the world.” Her mom turned to Nora, “You’re a big sister now. It’s your job to support and protect her no matter what.” Nora looked into Ari’s eyes and smiled,

“I will always be there for you,” She said putting her forehead on Ari’s, “Ari.” This was a family, her family, she would protect them.