With each and every passing second, the young healing mage was getting closer and closer to the area she was to meet her captain for a week of training. So many things ran through her mind, she knew she was still a fifth rank junior of her squad meaning that she had a lot of growing to do but still she was sure that it would have been a senior mage that would have taught her not the captain himself. She hadn't gained a four-leaf grimoire when she went to the grimoire acceptance ceremony the year before, so it wasn't exactly like she was a special case. Still, in the short time, she had been within the Golden Dawn she noticed a severe lack of healing mages at least from what she herself had observed, perhaps that was the reason he had taken an interest in her? She shook her head as she tried to stop her mind from jumping to conclusions, after all the only person that knew what was going through her captain's mind was the captain himself. If she actually gained the confidence then perhaps she could ask him but the thought of that made her shake a little, it wasn't as if her captain was a bad person or intimidating as he seemed to treat each of the people within the squad he commanded fairly; it was more the fact she didn't want to come off as questioning him or his motives as that could end very, very badly in her mind.

Flying above she looked down at the area itself, it was as its name said, completely forsaken by those who were more privileged, she honestly couldn't help but smile as she flew over a village and seen a celebration of some sort happening. 'Even in these less than privileged regions, they find happiness and love with one another, I'm envious.' she thought to herself before noticing markings on the broom that she was flying that she hadn't taken notice of before. There was a note attached that she finally noticed, taking off the paper she began to read it. As fate had it, it would seem like the woman who had loaned her the broom she was currently using had used a high ranking spatial trap spell that would open a one time portal for a short time to grab the supplies she had packed before leaving but was unable to take with her.

"Elenor, why couldn't you have used that to send me here in the first place?" she groaned quietly to herself shaking her head, then again she had told Elenor about her fear of solo flying so she guessed this was her way of trying to help with that.

From the corner of her left eye, she had seen something moving that caught her eye immediately and headed towards it as she thought whoever it was down there could use her help. She would be able to explain to her captain why she had been late, after all, it was his fault for wanting to train in the middle of literally nowhere instead of near civilisation and it was her duty as a magic knight to help any in need. As she got closer she saw it was a strange bear owl hybrid and was starting to wonder if experimentation was happening somewhere. As she got closer she saw the person was male and was wearing a mantle of her squad 'Is that the captain?' she thought watching as it lunged towards her captain and that he had created two daggers made of shadow but it had seemed that instead of being incorporeal they were completely solid and with little effort, her captain had made quick work of his would-be attacker. Without hearing him asking her to come down she had already landed and ran over to him the boom in hand careful not to trigger the spell early.

"CAPTAIN!" she ended up calling out semi loudly, her tone showed that she was worried about the one she was training with. Of course, rationally she knew this was nothing more than a minor annoyance to someone of his standing, the problem was she wasn't thinking rationally she just seen someone injured.

Her grimoire opened to one of the few new spells that she needed to train upon her eyes quickly reading over the spell 'I'm unsure if this will work, but here it goes.' she thought to herself as she lowered the broom to the ground gently before standing taking a deep breath, her eyes grew slightly brighter. She brought her hands to herself clasping as if praying the glowing from her eyes now bright enough that it could be seen through her eyelids as she slowly let her breath out as she did the air around her started to smell like strawberry-mango as she released a miasma from her mouth. Though it wasn't something that could really be seen the scent would seemingly wrap itself around her intended target if it worked as it said in her grimoire then it would ease any pain the one it was being used on. It was more than that though, it was meant to stimulate the natural healing of another while attempting to clear any hexes, curses, venoms or poison that might be held within the wound itself. Before long the glowing of her eyes dulled and she opened her eyes her hand going to her head as she felt a bit light-headed, it was then she noticed that her captain was topless. Quickly she turned her back to him her cheeks a deep red.

"I... I... I hope that helps captain, b... but um... c... could you p... put a top on captain? I... I... um... my upbringing..." she stuttered the entire time unable to really make a complete sentence without putting a lot of effort into each word but even then she was tripping over her own words, she could only imagine how bad this made her look in his eyes.

Word Count: 1,010
Total Word Count: 2,038

Zaven Blake✧

She knew she was being impersonal when she had called out to him, but this wasn't exactly a social call now was it. He had dragged her out of the warmth and comfort of the squad headquarters to train in the middle of nowhere, she was pretty sure she was going to be too paranoid to sleep out here. She didn't have any sensory and every small noise would wake her due to this, she wouldn't know if it was benign, friend, foe or anything else. She didn't understand why they couldn't have been at one of the cabins but orders were orders and so she was in the middle of a place even the gods had forsaken. Now if he had met her in a park and told her to call him by his name as they were equals in that moment she would be a bit reluctant but she would concede to the request that had been given to her due to the informal setting. This, of course, hadn't happened and so like she had been taught she would remain formal towards Zaven as he was her superior. Even if he was to ask her to be less formal with him how could she do such a thing? There was still the chain of command to consider, she had been raised to respect her superiors and to call them their titles but now she had to wonder, would it always been that way? Did she have to remain formal at all times or would there be a time she could relax and just be herself? That was a future conversation with herself she would have to have no doubt.

Before long the miasma came to an end, her hands remained clasped close to her chest but the glowing of her eyes slowly started to fade as the scent of the miasma began to fade. It was only when it had completely dissipated that she had opened her eyes. A gentle smile once again on her face as she listened to how the spell smelt like two of Zaven's favourite scents, her eyes turned to her grimoire and she slightly quirked her left eyebrow just a little. It was like some higher power was playing some sort of sick joke on her, there was no way she, herself, could know that spell contained two scents that made him happy. She had three spells that needed training, of course only two of the three were healing from what she read but she did have one already known that she could have used but she decided to use the one she had. It was a bizarre turn of events indeed.

She could have turned and looked at him but he was topless and this wasn't something that she was use to, in fact, she was raised to the fact the only male form she should see out of any sort of clothing was that of her husband should she marry. Who was she kidding, she was pretty sure her parent's had already made an arrangement and she knew better than to argue the fact with them, it was tradition after all. She remained quiet putting her hands out to collect her grimoire as Zaven himself now realised that he was half-naked after she pointed out to him by stuttering and stumbling over her words.

"Th... There is n... no reason to be... to be sorry ca... captain" she continued to stutter unable to get the sight of his form out of her head.

This was really a bad thing as she was going to be around him for two weeks straight and was pretty sure she would see more of his form. It wasn't so much that his form was displeasing to her if it was wouldn't be stumbling over her words and feeling the warmth from the blush in her cheeks. She could already see the disapproving looks and lectures that would come when her parents found out but that was a problem for the future Hinota to worry about, current Hinota just had to worry about getting through this two weeks of training. Hearing him moving off she counted slowly to ten before turning around to see him with his shirt back on which made her happy and disappointed all at the same time, it truly was a strange sensation. In honesty, she didn't like these muddled feelings, she much-preferred order as it made things simple and clear but life was rarely that way, it was often chaotic and messy she would just have to deal with it.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the healing captain, it is one of the spells that turned up in my grimoire recently, I'm pretty sure with a bit more practice I could use it on more than one target at a time." she said looking down to the grimoire in her arms "There is nothing special about my magic captain, it's not like it's a four-leaf grimoire I carry." It was clear she didn't care if her magic wasn't the strongest, she was happy with the one she had received hers, her parents in fact were proud of the one she had gained.

When he talked about it being exciting she looked at the owl bear's dead carcass with sorrow filled eyes, she shook her head at the comment "No. No, it was not captain." It was as simple as that to her, of course, the owlbear was the aggressor but this was likely its territory.

"What if it had young?" she asked him, it was clear she wasn't happy at the death of another being, more so since there where other ways it could have been dealt with that didn't end in death.

She listened to what would be trained while she was there and tilted her head as if confused "Captain, I am not a combatant like that. I'm a support mage, I'm sure my healing spell showed that." she sounded as confused as she looked "I'm not fighter Captain, if I was I would have likely been more suitable to the crimson lions, I am here because I believe I can make a difference with my skill set." she said moving to pick up the broom she came here with making sure to avoid the runes on it.

"Elenor placed Spatial magic trap on the broom that will open a portal for a short time allowing us to get the supplies I had prepared before I made the journey here." she explained to him knowing eventually that, that subject would be brought up eventually so offered up the information freely.

Word Count: 1,110
Total Word Count: 3,148


Zaven Blake✧

She had remained quiet unsure what to do, she had no idea what was going through her captain's head at current. She knew that the owlbear had been the aggressor, she had seen that much from the air but still, surely there was a way its life could have been spared. It was barbaric to her after all the chances were that it was the home of the now-departed animal. She tried to remind herself he had to kill it or he himself would be killed but she still just couldn't justify it in her mind when there where other options available to him. The pitiful beast was merely doing what was in its nature as far as she could tell. They didn't know the reasons it attacked as she had already voiced it may have had young that it believed would be harmed or were under threat, of course, there was the time of year and everything that came with that or it may have been foraging for food and Zaven himself had just selected a terrible place to set up camp. In honesty, she would have thought he would have checked around to make sure they wouldn't have been disturbing the local wildlife, seems that wasn't the case and it had caused a death that could have been otherwise avoided but what could she really do now? It was dead and there was no way she was able to heal something that had already given up its spirit to the gods above but now she truly did worry that it did have young and how they would survive without someone to give them for and protect them.

She tried to get it out of her head but she just couldn't, her hands clenched tightly to the point she drew blood from her own hands, she hadn't even noticed the pain she was going through due to the self-inflicted wounds she was causing. 'It didn't have to be that way! He could have restrained it! He could have knocked it out! HE COULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING THAT DIDN'T END IN ITS DEATH!' her inner voice filled with sorrow and anger.

As she closed her eyes they now weeping tears of inky black viscous liquid as a less than pleasant aroma started to form around her, her miasma showing its true nature for the very first time. It wasn't sweet-smelling as it had always been, it was rancid, foul and reeked of death, clearly out to do something terrible, something the normally gentle, kind and warm-hearted Hinota would never be capable of as she obviously cherished life dearly. Her eyes opened suddenly and looked directly at Zaven, her gentle eyes were gone, instead, her eyes were pure black with a deep royal blue iris the centre was a deep blood red pupil. Everything she was, was no longer there. It was like looking at a completely different person, to make it worse her grimoire wasn't even open so this wasn't an active spell she knew or should know. She said absolutely nothing allowing the miasma to start enveloping the entire campgrounds quickly, she honestly cared nothing for anything around her and it was clear as she listened to the area around them once filled with noise now became silent. The red blood bleeding from her hand now being affected by the miasma changing to become the same black inky colour that was falling from her eyes.

"I am fully aware of the war, my father and mother fought in it to protect everything they held dear because of the idiotic wants, desires and greed of others." her voice was cold, emotionless "I know how brutal it was, I see the wounds both emotional and physical they gained from the ordeal." her eyes didn't move, she hadn't even blinked once from the time she had opened them "Animals kill because it is in their nature. They do it to protect their families, territories and to eat. Humans... we harm and kill for sport, power, wealth and land... we are a plague that should be wiped out." again her voice was cold and uncaring it was like a switch had been flipped in the young woman, a very dangerous switch.

She listened as he continued to speak and tilted her head ever so slightly to the right "Is that how you see me?" She asked her voice blunt "A weak little girl that can not look after herself because she values lives and believes that there is always another way?" her voice was slightly harsher the miasma growing thicker as the royal purple irises of her eyes began to glow. "I can defend myself without the need to take the life of another living being and without the need to go hand to hand with my enemy captain." her voice was still cold and harsh like she wasn't going to budge from her point, she knew at times damage would need to be done to do it so she couldn't argue that fact and so wasn't going to.

Soon enough the glow began to fade and her hand went to her head she stumbled a little on her feet to the point she fell to her knees, the miasma's scent quickly fading as her normal deep forest green eyes returned. She had no idea what had just happened, she felt like she was trapped in a black box and kept distant from a conversation she couldn't even remember.

She looked to the other for a moment unsure of what had happened but remembering he said that she should get the supplies, the problem was her body wasn't moving for her "I... I will when... when my body will respond captain." her voice was small, weak, she was clearly confused and tired.

She had no idea of the attack she had unleashed on her captain and so had no idea that she may have hurt him, she just watched as he pulled the poor creature away tears falling from her eyes as she never wished to see such a thing again. She never wanted to feel that anger again. It had taken her a while before she could move properly but when she was able to she did as was instructed of her and got their supplies only stopping a few moments before Zaven himself returned. She looked down as he spoke, she knew the duty of a magic knight and understood it or she wouldn't have become one herself but then he asked her two questions she wasn't ready for. It wasn't something she had at all thought about since the day he had given her, her mantle and now he had put her on the spot. For a long moment, she closed her eyes and thought over everything she had experienced since the day she met him, for the most part, it was nothing too bad but today it had put a few things in perspective.

Her hands went to her mantle as she removed it "Yes." the way it had sounded was that she wasn't fit for this life and perhaps she wasn't, perhaps her parents were right at the end of the day, that she should just settle down. She neatly folded the mantle and placed it down on a nearby log with her key atop of it. She didn't touch the broom, it wasn't hers but someone's from inside the Golden Dawn and started to walk away without another word. She wasn't even too sure which direction home was but she would find her way back.

Word Count: 1,268
Total Word Count: 4,416

The young doll-like mage hadn't moved an inch from where she had been standing, her black eyes kept its focus solely on Zaven, she was fully aware of what was happening around her but she remained composed and unmoved by the plight that she was causing. It was like everything she had shown to be was just a facade, a mask and this was the true woman that she was; vindictive, hateful... wrathful. The only thing that may offset what the other might have made the other think differently would possibly be the inky black viscous tears that kept falling from her eyes and trickling down her face leaving eerie trails on her otherwise pale skin, the problem, of course, was that it was a side effect to the spell that was currently active. She heard the surprise in his voice as he likely felt the magic flaring from her before the scent of the spell reached his nose but said not a word to him, even in her current state she wasn't going to treat him like the moron she currently thought he was.

As far as Hinota herself was aware she had never been angry up until that point, annoyed sure but never once had the desire to make the world burn or hurt someone to get her point across. It was a feeling that disconcerted her true self and made her beg from deep within her currently fractured and tortured soul for the spell to stop and for her captain to put her out of her misery. She didn't want to be like this. She had no desire to harm, maim or kill anything, she cherished life and it showed within her gift of healing. Though the other wouldn't know it she was trembling from seeing what this beast that had taken over her body was making her do. She had no idea how she could come back from this darkness, how she could remain a knight after what she was currently doing. Her head was so light, it felt like it was fogging over the longer this was going on and she had no idea as to why.

"How does it feel knowing that you are dying at an increased rate without another person caring?" she asked her voice still dripping of vile hatred towards the one she wanted to hurt.

"Is it painful? Do you feel fear?" she continued almost as if she was mocking and taunting him on the matter of his impending fate at her hands.

It was clear when he pleaded for her to calm her emotions that she was nowhere near ready to do such a thing, she wanted him to suffer and die slowly by her hands. At current, she was a danger to everyone and everything around her, if one of the Clover Kingdom's enemies could get ahold of her and brainwash her they could easily weaponize against her homeland if she wasn't curved and trained to control her potential; she was only at the beginning of her journey as a mage and she was already able to potentially end life and this power would only get stronger as she continued down her path. This was something that would scare her when she actually had the full function to calm her mind and think on it, right now she was trying to regain control of her own body.

She cared little of the plight she was causing on him even as he yelled for her to stop "Why should I? Would you?" was the only thing she would ask the fallen captain.

She watched him stagger towards him, she expected no less as he was a captain after all and he wasn't just any captain but one of the strongest amongst the elite group. "I have..." her hand went to her head the black tears clearing for a short second as flowers started to flow from her and the miasma flickered between foul-smelling and it's normal sweet-smelling self as if she was fighting between what she wanted and who she was. It was after a few moments she fell to her knees crying as her miasma cleared completely, her head was foggy but light at the same time. Her eyes darting around the area seeing the decay and destruction around her shaking unable to take in everything around her. When her eyes met her unconscious captain she quickly scrambled over to him but found she couldn't stand so scurried over on the ground.

"Captain! Captain!" she called to him frantically her hands delicately going onto his body as she shook him.

After touching his chest she felt something warm on her hands and so brought it up her eyes going wide as she fell back in fear trying to make some distance between herself and him. She was frightened at this entire scene, it was like some sort of horror story she heard her father speak of in the past and now found herself wondering if she was one of those monsters. She started to creep forward the black tears being washed away by her normal clear ones, she moved to hug him close to her body her grimoire opening and flicking to a certain page. Underneath and around the pair an oversized lotus blossom seemed to form, the scent that came from the flower was that of crisp clean water as if trying to get rid of anything of harmful in the air. She cared little for her own appearance or life she just wanted him to get better, the issue was where she was sure like her other healing spells it could remove hexes, curses, toxins and venoms she was unsure if it would remove the deathly miasma from the captain fully as she wasn't as strong as whatever it was that had caused all the harm around them. She did watch as the skin started to stitch back together but to what extent she wasn't so sure, only time would tell.

"Please captain, please forgive me..." it was clear she was scared and confused as to what had happened but guessed she was its cause.

Word Count: 1,029
Total Word Count: 5,445

By the time he had answered the young woman's questions she was fighting within herself to try and get control of her body once more so didn't hear a single word he had said to her. It would have been quite the thing if she had heard him as each side of the fractured doll-like mage would have reacted differently, the darker side would have delighted in the fact he felt fear but rolled her eyes at the reasoning behind it while the calmer more gentle side would admire him even more for his words but it was something that seemed to fall on deaf ears at current. It was just as Zaven finally collapsed and his consciousness left him that Hinota's true self, managed to crawl from where it had been stuck her eyes had instantly gone wide as she had no idea what happened but looking to the area around them she didn't think she wanted to know, she instantly felt fear and the want to run to get help but she had no idea where the hell she was, she didn't feel comfortable on a broom by herself and with an unconscious body, she didn't trust herself not to drop him. There was, of course, the spatial trap on the broom but she didn't know if moving Zaven would be the most logical option and if she went through the portal might close by the time she got help. Then there was the fact that spatial magic was rare and Elenor was on a mission with some others and with her not knowing the forsaken region there would be no way to direct help to their current location but then there was also the fact Zaven might have passed by the time help arrived.

She ran over to Zaven and quickly knelt looking over his form, his clothing was tattered and rotted, she could only bite her bottom lip as she had used her lotus casket spell. She didn't know how much damage he had sustained but she could tell whatever had harmed him was powerful her eyes looked around tears falling from her eyes and down her cheeks, she was scared as she had no idea if what had caused this was still around and with it becoming darker by the minute it wasn't helping her any. She watched Zaven from inside the lotus her hand going to her head as she could tell it was draining far too much mana from her.

"I can't hold this for too long, there needs to be a better way to cast it." she said to herself, her hands remaining on her captain's chest to try and stop the bleeding that was happening from his chest.

"Please... please work... please fight captain..." she sobbed begging him to remain with her, her eyes looking around as she continued hearing noises from all around them knowing she was at the mercy of the world around her as she wasn't a fighter.

Her magic had almost drained several times but she made sure to keep enough to use her restraining if needed while she waited for her mana to recover, she didn't leave his side the entire time and done her best to help the healing by putting pressure on the wound. The entire time she was praying to the gods and to the fates to allow him to wake and be fine, she looked at her blood-soaked hands and realised that if someone saw her right now then they may get the wrong idea about the whole situation. She had used the fabric of her own clothing to clear the blood from his face not caring that she had ruined it, she knew if her parents saw her current state there would be serious words but she didn't have to worry about that at current, that was her future self's problem, her current self's problem was her dying captain and having no idea if her healing spell had been doing anything to help him at all.

When she saw his eyes finally flutter open and hearing the large gulp of air that he drew in she let out a sigh of relief before backing away to a good distance not wanting to be to close for some reason, every fibre of her being was telling her that she shouldn't get to close to him but that wasn't before he had put his hand on her shoulder telling her that she couldn't leave the place that looked like things within her nightmares at least not until they worked out what had caused the destruction of the area. It made her wonder if he also didn't know what happened, had he been blind sighted by the enemy and almost given his life to protect her? That made her feel even worse, she could have been the reason that he almost died, she now really did believe that she should have listened to hare parents and just settled down to have a family of her own with the person they had likely already picked out for her but she was too headstrong and stubborn at that point to realise that they had been doing it because they knew she wouldn't be able to do the job that they and her elder brother had been doing efficiently. She now wondered why Zaven had even offered her a position within the Golden Dawn in the first place, surely he would have seen her flaws on the first day they had spoken within the hanging gardens but he had still given her a mantle regardless. It confused her to no end and she was pretty sure this wasn't exactly the right time to ask him about it.

She watched him fade out for a moment before coming back seemingly in pain, she watched as he tore his top as if it was nothing more than tissue paper, she seen his blood-covered chest with the black scar within the middle of it and it scared her to the point she pulled back a bit more trembling in fear of it. Her eyes went back to look at his face as he asked a few questions and was met with a puzzled and very confused look as if she had genuinely no idea what he was talking about.

"Why did I act like what? Is what a normal thing for me?" her voice was shaking and beyond soft-spoken, it was if she was afraid to be heard by anyone.

She watched him shake his head before he said something even more puzzling to her "Control what is inside of me?" she visibly trembled as she spoke those words

"I've never lost control Captain Zaven." she said in a timid voice, as far as she knew she never had lost control and even if she ever had she was a healer and the chances of her harming anyone was none existent.

"You asked me if I regretted my decision, I gave my answer. I will return home, there is a trap spatial spell on the broom next to my mantle. It will get you home so you can get proper care." she said gripping the skirt of her blood-soaked hanfu, she would wait for him to go and then she would make her way home and concede to her families wishes.

Word Count: 1,231
Total Word Count: 6,676

Hinota continued gripping her hanfu's skirt tightly her eyes looking at the dead earth below her, she had no idea what had gone on in this place. It was fine one moment and in the next, it was like a horrible plague had swept over the encampment destroying everything in its way, she wanted to know how that was even possible. She was unharmed were her captain seemed to have been grievously injured from the unseen force, if it harmed him surely she should have been dead, it didn't make any sense to her at all. It was like she was in a waking nightmare and she wasn't sure if she could escape from it. She had been so deep in her thoughts about the entire situation that she hadn't noticed Zaven move closer to her until she felt his grip on her shoulder where she instinctively flinched and gasped a bit due to being startled. Soon she was being moved to look him in the eyes and turned her eyes away shaking a little really not wanting to look in those normally stern azure eyes. She could feel as if he was trying to read her for something, she was too afraid to ask him why he was burrowing deep into her soul but was sure he would let her know soon enough.

From the corner of her left eye, she noticed that his own gaze has softened, she had no idea if it was because she was scared or if it was because he had found the answers he was looking for. Regardless he had let her go at least, for now, to which she scurried away from him trying to keep her distance, she still had no idea why she was doing such a such thing but something deep down was telling her she should be nowhere near him. She just looked down once more gripping her hanfu skirt once more it was clear that she was scared but didn't know how to voice what was on her mind. Hearing his words her head rose as she looked at him in shock being told that she wouldn't be permitted to return to her family anytime soon.

"Captain Zaven, you can not keep me against my will." she commented in return to the first part of his statement, as far as she was concerned she wasn't wearing the mantle of the Golden Dawn so she wasn't a member of it. She knew that her family didn't allow such ways out but Zaven himself had been the one to ask her the question that had let to her removing it.

She stood and moved quickly to the broom and picked it up her eyes going to the spatial seal on it "Please use this to get back to your squad headquarters, I can't heal that wound on your chest it is far higher than what I'm capable of dealing with at my current strength." she said holding it out to him by the very end maintaining distance.

He was badly hurt and she knew as much so it stood to reason that he should use it to get healed, sure it was true that she didn't know the forsaken region to well but she could get directions and find her way back home eventually. She would explain o her parents what happened from her recollection and agree to marry who they decided because it was clear she wasn't fit for the life she had decided to take when she wanted to rebel against her parents. It was clear everything her elder brother 'said' was indeed true, she was just a fool for not realising until someone had got injured due to her incompetence, or at least in her mind and to her knowledge this was the case. She was going to meet punishment for being a burden to her former captain to the point he got injured to protect her. She was ready for that and would accept it without argument because to her they would be within their rights to do so.

She closed her eyes and shook her head as she was told that her magic was raw, that just couldn't be she had complete control over the magic she had, healing came to her like a duck to water and her restraining... well... she was still strong in it but it took a little more practice than healing did. She had no idea what he was talking about her latent power, as far as she knew everyone had dormant aspects of their magic, of course, somewhere stronger than others in it and there were some that never reached their full potential. She knew she was one of those who would meet hers given the right circumstances but she didn't believe it was something that could do harm to anyone. Her magic had manifested in healing and restraint so why would she think or believe that it would ever do anything else? She did take note that Zaven seemed firm in his belief that whatever he had been through said otherwise but then she believed him delirious due to the pain he was currently going through.

She looked up from her hanfu skirt in sheer terror as she was told that she had been the one to harm him in such a terrible way, tears started falling from her eyes instantly as she shook her head covering her ears. 'No, no... he must be mistaken... I... I'm a healer, I don't have offensive spells. I... I favour life... I... I can't... I can't... ' she thought to herself her mana flaring due to the conflicting emotions her breathing becoming laboured as she began to have a panic attack over what she was being told.

Even if what he was telling her was true she was sure given the difference in their ranks he would have been able to sense it coming, even if she did possess attack magic there would have been no way she could have struck down a captain of his calibre. Surely, she would also remember taking such actions but she didn't, he had to be confused about the events... right? Her mind felt like it was filled with cotton wool as she tried to make sense of things but it wasn't an easy task at all. All she knew is if he was telling the truth and she attacked him then she was a criminal and should be going to jail as an enemy of Clover. Had she really just dishonoured her parents again, she didn't want to think about the disgrace or shame such actions would bring to her family name. She prayed and pleaded internally that this was just some sort of mistake, that he wasn't speaking the truth because the alternative was not a kind one in her mind.

She eventually looked up at him as he began to speak once more and shook her head "I wouldn't run, I would get married and settle down." she whispered her hands lowering from her ears her eyes puffy and her makeup slightly running with even now flowing tears.

"If that power is dangerous I don't want it, I want it locked away so I never touch it... I don't want to do harm and you can't force me to... it would be beyond cruel." her voice was meek as she spoke her words to the other.

"I am not part of the Golden Dawn..." her eyes going to her former mantle sitting neatly still on the rock he was leaning against "I have no mantle and if what you say is true I don't deserve one regardless." that was that in her mind.

"I told you Captain Zaven, I have no offensive magic, I am a healer and favour life too much to harm it let alone take it. You must have sensed that in the hanging gardens and even with the... the..." she clenched her eyes shut unable to speak about what happened to the owlbear, her magic once again flaring but it wasn't from anger but sorrow.

When he brought up her parents her eyes opened wide and in fear, her head shaking to indicate she didn't want that as she shook in seeming terror, it was clear she was petrified of that outcome. Her family had many virtues they valued, obedience, honour and duty being chief amongst them, she had been severely punished for her previous disobedience and didn't want to face their ire again.

She put her hands on the ground and bowed low her forehead going to the back of her hands "Please... please Captain Zaven... have mercy... I... I... I... I don't... I don't want to be punished by my parents again." her voice trembled as much as her body did, every family had their secrets, things that never left their households and it seemed he had struck a fear of hers. It was a secret he previously wouldn't know as she always wore a smile.

Word Count: 1,510
Total Word Count: 8,186