Needless to say, Risa watched all three of the men like a hawk, as if she was afraid they might try something with her. I didn’t fully understand her reaction, since none of them had even given her hardly any attention, so I decided to ask about it.
We were in the living room now, with Risa and I sitting side-by-side on the couch. Mira had pulled up a chair to sit close in front of us, our three sets of knees almost touching. The men and most of the children were in the dining room still eating. I had told them both about my life, trying not to seem dramatic about the fact that I had been bullied and shunned the entire time. However, surprisingly, Risa was sympathetic despite her situation being so much worse.
When I noticed how she kept looking at the men, I finally tried to reassure her in a whisper. “Risa, I just wanted to say…” I hesitated. “I haven’t known Eli for very long, but I’m pretty sure he would never do anything to hurt you. He’s always been very respectable to me.”
Mira chimed in then, seeming glad I had brought it up. “And I promise you my brother wouldn’t hurt you either. If he even so much as looks at you wrong, then I’ll punch him square in the nose.”
I laughed at that, because the idea of this sweet blonde-hair girl even hurting a tiny insect was comical, never mind hitting someone. Risa seemed to appreciate the comment too, smirking at the girl who had saved her in more ways than one.
Risa then sighed, speaking in a silky-smooth voice. “It’s not that I don’t trust them…” She admitted slowly. “It’s just that it’s hard to be around men when most of my experience with them has been unpleasant.” She paused then, looking down at her bare toes. Both her fingernails and toenails were naturally black like mine, although her hands otherwise look like a normal human’s. Her hair was jet-black too, also just like mine, with the only major difference in coloring being her gold eyes compared to my purple ones.
However, unlike Mira, who was only a few inches taller than me, Risa was a good half foot taller when she stood up. Granted, that height difference was diminished when she was sitting. I could easily lean forward and comfortably rest my chin on her shoulder, which meant I only had to look up slightly at her. She was still thin as a rail though, possibly even thinner than Mira despite her being taller, and her overall bone-structure was just as petite as mine.
I reached out and intertwined my fingers in hers, trying to reassure her. She looked sideways at me with a weak smile and continued. “They drugged me a lot because I was unwilling, and they couldn’t afford to damage my skin.” She took a slow breath. “It would make me less valuable to not have flawless skin, so they were limited on how they could get me to comply. Of course, the customers who bought my time didn’t care I was drugged. Many of them even seemed to like it that I would sometimes try to struggle against them. But I never liked it though. Not once.”
I tightened my grip on her hand and leaned my shoulder into hers. Mira likewise reached out and rested her hand on Risa’s knee. It was hard for both of us to hear, neither of us being able to imagine what she had been forced to endure most of her life.
Sighing heavily, I decided to change the subject to something that had been weighing on my mind ever since I had physically gotten close to Risa. I didn’t want to just blurt it out, but I decided she deserved to know. I loosened my grip on her hand and turned towards her, still holding her fingers gently. “Risa, I need to tell you something.”
Her wolf-like ears perked up and she looked more concerned than I was intending. I rested my other hand on top of hers and smiled. “You’re capable of using magic, and if you are willing then I would like to teach you how.”
Risa’s gold eyes widened in surprised, and I noticed Mira having the same reaction. “I c-can?” She stuttered, completely baffled.
I nodded. “My godmother taught me how to sense magic in others, which is how I knew Mira was a mage.” I paused. “When I helped you out of the safehouse, I knew immediately you were touched by magic too.”
And in reality, all the pantherians who had been sick were touched slightly by magic, but not enough to actually use it. But Risa was different. She was overflowing with it, more so than both Eli and I combined. Granted, a person having magic inside of them was different than being able to control it. That was always the hard part – control. And it was the part that really distinguished mages. Certainly, no one could be a mage without having the natural ability to store a decent amount of magic, but one with precise control and less magic could be much more effective than one with no control and a lot of magic.
“But shouldn’t she have figured that out by now?” Mira asked, seeming confused. “I mean, no one had to teach me. I just discovered I could do it. Granted…” She grimaced. “I was also free to experiment with it.” She looked away then, being reminded that she had been fortunate whereas Risa most definitely had not.
Risa reached out and patted her on the knee. “Please don’t pity me. It actually makes me feel worse to see that expression on your face.”
Mira looked up at her in surprise. “Oh! I’m sorry. I’m not trying to pity you. It just…really sucks…”
She nodded in agreement. “It was, well, horrible. But it’s over now, and I want to try to leave it in the past. So please, try to see me for me, rather than what’s happened to me.”
Mira nodded somberly, doing her best to smile.
Feeling moved by their interaction, I abruptly leaned forward, hooking an arm around each of their necks and pulled them into a hug. They both hugged me back, and it made me brave enough to share my feelings. “I feel stupid for saying this,” I began in a whisper, “but I’m eighteen years old and have never once had a single friend in my entire life. Today’s actually my birthday, and I feel like I’ve received the best birthday present I’ve ever had. I know we only just met, but I feel like I finally have friends.”
Both of them immediately tightened their embrace on me, and Risa’s voice came out choked. “Me too,” she whispered. “You’re my first real friends ever.”
I thought I was the first one to start silently crying, but then I wasn’t so sure. My black mini-jacket was quickly getting soaked on both shoulders from their tears, but I didn’t care. I finally had friends. They could cry on my shoulders as much as they wanted – forever even.
Boisterous laughter coming from the guys in the dining room prompted us to break our embrace and wipe our eyes. I took a deep breath, before turning towards Risa to find out if she had noticed any strange occurrences that could be attributed to magic.
“Anything at all,” I repeated myself. “Maybe plants grow faster when you’re around, or the room heats up when you get upset, or possibly you seem to accidentally shock people on a regular basis. We can always try the hard way to figure it out, but it’s easier if you already have an idea.”
Risa’s brow was furrowed as she thought about it. Finally, after a minute she spoke. “Well, one of the complaints my previous master used to get occasionally is that the room was too cold, especially towards the end. But that’s all I can think of. It didn’t always happen, but they always had a heater in the room I was assigned to in case the clients wanted to use it. No one else had that problem.”
I was both excited and dejected to discover that piece of information. I tried to not let the depression show on my face, trying to sound cheerful instead. My drooping ears probably didn’t fool Risa though. “Well, that sounds like a classic case of ice magic to me.”
“Really?” She asked in surprise. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Ice mages inherently use their magic to slow movement and thus reduce temperature. It can manifest in different ways, but cooling the air is the most common. Want to give it a try?”
She grinned at me, a truly genuine and unreserved smile. Her gold eyes were bright with excitement. “Yes! Please show me!”
Her enthusiasm was contagious, but I had to give her a short explanation first. “Okay, but if you want to try this now, I have to forewarn you that I’ll nee
d to touch your stomach.” She cocked her head to the side as I continued. “The fastest way for me to teach you how to feel your magic is to inject some of my own into your core. It has no lasting effect other than helping you sense it.”
She leaned back and pulled up her tattered shirt to reveal her milky stomach. Her skin really was flawless. “Yeah, that’s fine,” she said. Her innocent smile was adorable.
With a smirk, I reached out and placed my hand on her belly, surprised by how smooth and warm it was. It made me a little jealous, although I knew my skin was fairly soft too. “Ready?” I asked. She nodded. “Okay, then I want you to close your eyes and just focus on my hand. You should start to feel it in a moment – honestly, it’s kind of hard to miss, but don’t feel bad if you struggle at first.”
She nodded again with her eyes closed, her brow furrowed now as her expression became more determined. Seeing that she was ready, I began to push my magic into her. She surprised me by gasping immediately. “That’s what it feels like?” She wondered in shock, her gold eyes flying open.
“Yes…” I said hesitantly, both glad that she was a natural, but also uncertain about her reaction. “Why?”
Her eyes locked onto mine. “Because I remember feeling it a lot when I was drugged. The sensation helped comfort me despite the circumstances. It’s probably the only reason why I’m not…” She hesitated. “Broken, after all this time.”
“Oh…” I honestly didn’t know what to say. I tried to continue, knowing she didn’t want us to linger on her past. “Well, it looks like you’re a natural then,” I replied with a smile. “The next step is to just call upon that sensation and will it to make your surroundings obey you. Essentially, it is a power that faithfully serves you, allowing you to have an influence on the environment beyond your normal faculties. Granted, that part can take some time to develop, so don’t feel bad if it takes you a while – like it can take years even.”
Mira nodded. “It took me almost a year of experimentation to get good at healing, and even longer to really fine-tune it to do more specific things like enhancing an antidote’s effects.”
“For now,” I began, “just try to focus on that feeling, and imagine slowing down the air around you.”
Risa looked at me confused again. “You don’t want me to cool the air?”
I shook my head. “No, I do. But the best way to visualize it at first is to think about slowing it down instead.” I winked at her. “It’s sort of a trade secret. Once you get used to it, you won’t even have to think about it like that. It will just come as naturally as breathing.”
Risa nodded again, closing her eyes to concentrate.
I expected the air to slowly get a little cooler, not instantly become frigid. Within a matter of seconds, ice was forming in the air and being sucked up towards her body, rapidly encasing her torso. Her eyes flew open in shock, her teeth already starting to chatter – ice mages often could use their magic to resist the cold, but that too took practice. She didn’t need to ask for help, her eyes said it for her.
“Eli!” I cried out urgently, but he was already in the room – they all were, having come when they felt the temperature in the house abruptly drop.
“What happened?!” He exclaimed. “Who used ice magic?!”
“She did,” I said in a panic. “Can you thaw her out without hurting her?”
He nodded and quickly walked up, only for her to start panicking even more. “N-No,” she said, her jaw spasming from the cold, “D-Don’t t-touch m-m-me.”
He immediately hesitated, unsure of what the problem was. I couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t done anything to deserve that reaction. He looked at me for an explanation, but Mira was the one who provided it. “She doesn’t trust human men.”
Eli looked at her and then knelt down in front of Risa so that she was above him. He paused briefly before speaking. “Then would it help if you knew I’m not human?” Mira gasped, but he ignored her. “I’m a pantherian just like you.”
Risa’s gold eyes widened, but I could tell that she was hesitant to believe him since he looked normal.
“Eli,” I said urgently, “show her already and thaw her out.”
Without looking at me, he abruptly let the illusion drop. Both Tobias and Landon jumped back in surprise, and even Mira almost leapt out of her chair. A couple of the pantherian kids shrieked at the sight of his wings, but the three of us ignored it all. I watched as Risa’s eyes frantically looked at his wings and then at him, still trying to debate whether freezing to death might be better. I understood her feelings to an extent – I understood that true trauma could produce scars on the heart and mind that led to illogical decisions.
No one can easily unlearn fear. And there was nothing wrong with that fact. It was just reality. But that meant I might need to make the decision for her.
Unsure of what she was going to decide, I got on my knees on the couch and quickly wrapped my arms around her head. “Risa, I’m not going to let you freeze to death, okay? I trust him and I’m right here to protect you.” I didn’t wait for her to respond. “Do it Eli.”
She whimpered when she saw him draw near, but I brought my mouth to her ear and started whispering to her. “I’m right here. You’re my friend now, and I will protect you no matter what. As long as I’m alive, I will do everything in my power to make sure no one ever harms you again. You have my word.”
I could already feel Eli’s magic breaking through the ice, knowing what to expect from it. While fire magic was so named for its iconic production of flames, it inherently sped things up to cause heat. An amateur could use it to turn ice into water without harming someone else, but it was clear Eli was no amateur. A thin mist quickly filled the air around us as the ice instantly transitioned into a vapor. Within a matter of seconds, it was over.
Eli’s hand had only had to touch her briefly on the stomach, before he was done and quickly backed away to the other side of the room. His wings were invisible again. Risa was still shaking, although I couldn’t determine if it was from being traumatized by Eli’s presence or just because she was still cold. When she glanced up at him with that same panicked expression, he immediately turned around to leave the room. He quickly waved for the other two guys to follow him, and they surprisingly took his lead.
I could hear him apologizing to them for deceiving them, but Tobias was unexpectedly understanding. I supposed they really did see pantherians as equals instead of lesser beings.
I focused on Risa, who I was thankful was letting me keep my thin arms wrapped around her. Part of me was afraid she was going to reject me, feeling like I had betrayed her. I didn’t want to betray her, but I also couldn’t let her freeze to death either. Especially not right after she had finally been freed from slavery.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t realize that would happen. I’ve never helped someone learn magic before, and you seem to have a much stronger ability than I expected.”
Risa almost made me cry when she responded by wrapping her arms around me and pushing her head into my chest more. Mira quickly joined in too, sitting on her other side and getting in on the hug. The three of us were quiet, listening to the noises of the worgron-children slowly beginning to interact with each other again.
After a few minutes, Risa finally sighed and apologized. “I’m sorry Riella, thank you for telling him to get me out of the ice. I was just…” She took a deep breath. “Afraid. It brings back really bad memories.”
I nodded, rubbing my cheek against her thick hair on the top of her head. “You don’t need to apologize. I get it. If there was another way, I would have done it, but our options were limited to basically just the one.” I then pulled away slightly to look down at her. “And see? He’s not such a bad guy. You didn’t even have to tell him to leave the room, he did it on his own when he saw it was making you uncomfortable. I don’t think he would ever do something against your wishes, even though you’re a stranger to him. He’s not like the men you’ve
been exposed to.”
Mira nodded. “Neither are my father and brother. They’re both good men. Well…” She snickered. “I’m not sure Landon is quite a man yet. He still acts childish sometimes.”
Risa smiled at that, before responding with another sigh. “I do understand what you’re both saying, and I do believe you…it’s just…”
“It’s hard to forget the memories, and the fear they cause,” I finished.
I could relate after all, having a few of my own traumas – thankfully, nothing as horrible as what she had experienced. But I didn’t want to bring them up right now.
The reasons why I was terrified of being submerged in water, or horrified of anything that resembled a wild dog or wolf, were things I didn’t want to remember right now. I was glad that the pantherian children were humanoid enough to not provoke my fears. If anything, I thought they were adorable with their furry bodies and wolf-like features.
Risa met my gaze and nodded in agreement. “Yes. I didn’t really think he was going to do anything, especially with everyone here, but it’s like the fear has a mind of its own sometimes. My heart starts racing and my thinking becomes confused. I’m not even trying to panic on purpose. It just happens.” She then hugged me tightly again. “But thank you. Even though I haven’t known you for very long, I feel like I can really trust you both…and it’s really nice to feel that way.”
“I agree completely,” I replied. “I really haven’t had any friends all my life. It’s been my deepest desire for as long as I can remember.”
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