Talia finds her words before I do.

  “She is my sister! I know she is! Even mum agrees!”

  Yet Garen just shakes his head.

  “Talia, don’t be fooled! You know full well your sister would never act like this.”

  What does he mean, act like this?Did I do something wrong?

  “Garen, what is the problem? I am Akari. Ask me anything, I’ll prove it.”

  “I’ve already heard more than enough!”

  “Uh, Sis, you kinda are… Oh! Your wings! She becomes strange when her wings turn colors! Just give her a moment. Sis, you need more of a different color!”

  Now that she mentions it, there has been a nagging feeling concerning my behavior.Though I am uncertain what exactly is different about myself, I can feel that something is strange.Quickly gncing at my wings, I find the blue has thoroughly overwhelmed my other essences.Since I’m having trouble convincing Garen as I am, I ought to remedy this.

  “If you two will excuse me a moment, I need to correct a problem.”

  As I’m flying to the nearest window, Garen objects.

  “Wait! You can’t leave till you tell me where Akari is! Talia, move! We need to catch her!”

  “Just wait a bit, Garen! She’ll be back as soon as she’s done with her business. You needn’t worry!”

  I pay no further attention to their conversation as I shimmy around the window and nd on the ground immediately outside of my home.As long as I’m careful, I doubt any random passersby will see me.Currently, I don’t see anyone nearby, but that’s not surprising.Where we live, near the outskirts of town, there’s almost no one walking past at this time of day, and the size of our property means there is a some distance to the street and to our closest neighbor.Inside of the house, there is a ruckus going on, but I’m here for a reason.So I try to concentrate on fixing my issue.

  If my minimal experience with magic is any indicator, trying to expel this much energy as water may very well cause a noticeable stream around my home.I’ll have to use my other method, although I must ensure I do it safely.First, I use a portion of my remaining earth essence to form a small orb, which I then shape and release into the ground.Immediately, a hole opens beneath my feet, and I hover shortly above it.Next, I begin pulling in the wind essence around me until I’m once again full, then continue doing so till it’s in bance with the water energy.This, of course, results in dust falling below me and into the small pit, but as soon as I finish absorbing energy, I use my earth magic to do the reverse of before, pulling the hole shut with the dust inside, and then I set down on top of it.I’m in the middle of absorbing a small amount of earth essence when, suddenly, the sky goes dark!

  “Garen, you can’t keep her under a pot like a bug!”

  “Only until she tells me what happened to your sister!”

  “How many times must I tell you!? That is Akari!”

  I was rather busy controlling my magic to care about someone sneaking up on me from my home.Apparently, a certain numbskull was determined to capture me when I wasn’t looking.

  “Hey, idiot! Get this stupid thing off of me before I find a way to introduce your head to your anvil a second time!”

  Hopefully, he was listening closely enough to hear through whatever he put over top of me.

  …

  …

  Oh, look, the light is partly back.

  “Akari?”

  “Of course it’s me! I’ve been telling you this the entire time! Why do people only believe me when I’m angry!?”

  Garen’s face becomes visible as he peers under the pot, but only for a moment as the walls around me sm to the ground once more.

  “Talia, are you certain that’s not a ghost!? There’s only a glowing, brown light under there now.”

  “Gar-”

  “Of course I’m sure!”

  With Talia talking over me, there’s no chance of him hearing my bell-like voice.Hence, I’m forced to wait till she finishes speaking.

  “She glows occasionally. Yesterday, I saw her become many different colors, but she always goes back to normal after a short while.”

  Now is my chance to get some words in.

  “Garen, seriously!? I know you’ve heard Mum tell her stories! There are plenty of other creatures that create lights! Besides, if I was a ghost, do you think this pot would hold me?”

  Not that it would hold me as I am either.With my magic, there are many ways I could free myself, if I so desired.Digging through the earth, breaking the pot, possibly even blowing it away, to name a few.Yet, I’m hoping he’ll trust me, and escaping from here won’t help with that.Besides, he hasn’t shown any intention of actually harming me yet.

  “Listen, I don’t intend to run away from you! I mean, we’re directly outside my home! Could we please go back inside the house and speak like two reasonable adults!? I know I’m a bit, well, shorter now, but my birthday was, uh, six days ago! Or would you rather keep acting like children yelling at each other through a wall!?”

  Come to speak of it, has it truly only been six days?Feels like far longer to me.

  “Garen, would you just listen to her! I know she was acting a bit odd at first, but she should be okay now.”

  I’m not sure if my little sister is helping or hindering.Yet, the pot lifts slightly once more.

  “When I turn the pot, step inside of it, and I’ll carry you to the house. Try to get away and we’ll stay here till I get answers.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  So as he tilts the pot, I cmber into it.*Clink*

  “You have to be kidding me!”

  He actually put the lid on the pot!

  “Garen, let her out! You can’t keep her trapped in there!”

  “Don’t worry, I will once we get inside, but there’s no reason to take any chances. If it’s true that this is a fairy, we should be cautious. They’re always told to be tricksters.”

  “Don’t you dare lump me in with those scoundrels!”

  I’m nothing like those crazy fairies!Also, he does know I flew directly past the closed windows, right?Being indoors won’t slow me down much if I tried to escape.Best not remind him.

  I feel the pot lift up and then begin shaking as, presumably, Garen begins walking.Then after I hear the sound of a door opening and closing, the pot lowers and comes to a rest.Finally, the lid is lifted off, and I see Garen looking down at me.And behind him, past his head near the ceiling, are four gleaming icicles surrounding an extremely angry, blue fairy!

  Immediately, I jump as hard as I can, fpping my wings to move as quickly as possible.A hand, rger than I am, lunges towards me, but a gust of wind rushes out of my wings and I shoot upward, yelling.

  “Nibi, no! Stop!”

  However, one of the icicles is already speeding forward.As I fly over Garen’s head and towards Nibi, I can tell the icy spear is aimed to pass directly beneath me.It’s hurtling straight at him!I still do not know how powerful those are, but I’m afraid of what may happen if it hits Garen.There’s no time to think about forming magic, so instead of continuing upwards, I instantly push myself into a dive and plummet.If only I can manage to put myself between the icicle and him, hopefully, Nibi will stop or at least turn it.

  Oh no.I succeeded.But it doesn’t seem to be slowing down!Please let it stop!

  Having managed to pce myself in the icicle’s path, it rushes towards me, point first.Thankfully, it never connects.At least, not as it is.Directly before the ice comes into contact with me, the frontmost portion of it instantly melts.As the ice flies onwards, the effect continues along it until, after the briefest moment, the entire spike has become water.Nibi finally halted it!Well, sort of.I’m now drenched again.

  “Ak’ri! Miep!”

  Before I can gather my wits, Nibi grabs my hand and begins pulling me towards my room, away from Garen.Gncing around, I’m unable to find the other icicles, but I didn’t hear anyone scream in pain.Hopefully, she never threw them.

  “Nibi, wait! Hold on! Would you, let, go!”

  Why is this fairy’s grip always so strong!?My arms are even wet and I still can’t-Oh.It seems she already absorbed all of the water.

  Behind me, my flight didn’t go unnoticed.

  “Come back here, you liar! You said you wanted to talk! Move aside, Talia! I knew we shouldn’t trust that creature!”

  “No, wait! She was helping you! Nibi didn’t like what you did to Sis! I saw her using magic!”

  “Magic!? Nibi? Is that what the bright blue light is?”

  Talia must’ve been in a position to see what happened.If she can keep Garen busy, I’ll hopefully have time to talk to Nibi.

  “I’ll be back shortly, Garen! Give me a moment to take care of my other guest!”

  Even though I shouted, he may not even be able to understand me at this distance, but Nibi isn’t giving me the chance to turn around.We’re nearly at my window, and Talia is doing her best to block my doorway.As Nibi attempts to exit past the window, I hurriedly fp my wings, pulling us both towards the ceiling and forcing her to stop.

  “Miep! Ak’ri!”

  “Stop, Nibi! We don’t need to run, er, fly away. He wasn’t hurting me!”

  Thankfully, she hovers in pce near the ceiling before finally letting go of my hand.

  “Miep! Miep. Miep!”

  While speaking, she gestures towards Garen, then cups her hands together, and stly, covers her cupped hand with the other.She must have seen him close me in the pot!

  “Still, that doesn’t mean you should attack him with your magic!”

  Her expression suggests that she just heard the most ridiculous thing in her entire life.

  “Ak’ri, yes!”

  “Garen is my friend, and you could have killed him, Nibi! For no other reason than that he carried me into the house! Just because I was trapped in a pot, doesn’t…mean…”

  Um, now that I’ve said it out loud, perhaps Nibi may have had good reason to attack.If I saw a giant stranger trap Talia in a pot, I would probably try to use my magic as well.Clearly, Nibi doesn’t know who Garen is, only that he had captured me, and that at his size he would be able to easily hurt me.I can’t tell her that she should never try protecting me or scold her for doing so.Considering if it were a stranger who had truly closed me in, I would be grateful for her rescue.

  When I was younger, pa taught me how to use a bow, as well as when to use it.And while I’ll likely never wield a bow again, it doesn’t mean his lessons are worthless.One of the first things he taught was that I needed to be cautious even when merely holding it, as simple misunderstandings can grow out of hand far quicker when weapons are involved.Now with magic, Nibi and I are, effectively, always carrying weapons.She’s a child with magical projectiles on hand at all times.As such, I can’t expect that she’ll simply do nothing while I’m in danger, and even though Garen trapping me was, mostly, harmless, it almost resulted in someone getting injured, or worse.Looking back, I should’ve expined the situation to her sooner, but my thoughts were focused elsewhere at the time.Which is another downside to this water magic.

  “I’m sorry, Nibi. This time it was at least partly my fault. After this, if I attempt to speak with someone you’re not familiar with while you’re nearby, I’ll try to remember to let you know first. ”

  “Miep.”

  “Also, and this is important, Nibi. Do not be using your magic to harm anyone without a good reason. Okay?”

  *Sigh*She’s not going to understand that.Just how did I end up in a position that I must teach a fairy child when it’s proper to use her magic, while she can hardly speak and human common sense doesn’t apply to her?Ah, right.She used her magic on me while all the other crazy fairies encouraged and helped her, and then decided to follow me wherever I go.Will she even listen to me?

  Yet, before she can respond, the sound of Talia’s giggling fills the room.