Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

After getting Pacifica and Taika dinner and making sure they were settled Shouri and Rebecca took their leave.

The pair made their way out of the MA Office and towards the main street. “I hope they’ll be okay.” Shouri glanced over his shoulder at the building they left behind.

“You should trust them, they’ll be fine.” Rebecca patted her Maestro’s shoulder as they walked. “Just focus on us tonight,” she added with a slight pout.

“You’re right, I’m sorry Rebecca.”

“You can make it up to me with some chocolate on the way back to the office.”

“Didn’t know you had a sweet tooth.”

“I saw a chili chocolate bar, sounds good.”

“Ah.”

They hit the street, leaving the MA Campus proper, and began their trek to the hunter base camp, though they only got as far as the property adjacent to the MA Office when Rebecca took note of what it was. “There’s a whole ass hospital here?” she questioned, noticing the building for the first time.

Shouri didn’t pay it any mind, but addressed his Resonator’s curiosity regardless: “Yeah, most of the MA Offices we’ve been to have been pretty close to other emergency services.”

“Weird,” Rebecca hummed, running to catch up. “I guess I never noticed.” She shrugged.

“MA Offices are considered an emergency service,” he told her.

“Really?”

“Yeah, if there’s a sudden Scherzando attack we’re the first conscripted to help. It’s the trade-off for getting to stay there for free.”

Rebecca lowered her head in thought. “I never considered it that way.”

“Your previous Maestros probably never told you,” Shouri countered.

“Yeah, you’re right,” the vixen paused. “We’re an emergency service huh?”

“Well if no one culled the Scherzando they’d wander into town and start hunting people.”

That comment elicited a shudder from the fire fox, recalling when she was almost dinner for a swarm of hungry Scherzando. “Definitely worth our time,” she decided.

The remainder of the walk down to the hunter campsite was quiet. At some point, Rebecca grabbed Shouri’s hand and held it – a gesture he didn’t reject.

“She’s late,” Shouri grumbled.

“Maybe we’re early?” Rebecca offered.

The green-jacketed Maestro stood with his fire fox near the registration stall at the hunter camp where they had met Colette a couple of days ago. They had arrived about twenty minutes ago and Shouri had already lost his patience. Groups of hunters came and went, some eying Rebecca and wondering the same thing they usually did. The pair did their best to ignore the unwanted eyes on them.

This went on for another five minutes or so, with no Colette in sight.

“Where the hell are you?” Shouri fired off from his text messaging app.

Radio silence.

“I wonder if something happened,” Rebecca pondered aloud, peering over her Maestro’s shoulder and noting the lack of reply from the other Maestro.

“She better be fucking dead or in the process of dying,” the Maestro said with a huff, folding his arms across his chest.

“Maybe lunch didn’t agree with her?” Rebecca offered in a more optimistic light, seeing how Pacifica wasn’t there to rein in their Maestro’s more pessimistic tendencies.

“Let’s head back. I want to make sure Taika’s alright,” Shouri decided, returning the tuner to his side.

“Can’t you just text her and ask?” Rebecca pointed out.

“I just want an excuse to leave. If Colette’s not gonna show, I’m not sticking around.”

Rebecca frowned. “Alright.” She couldn’t think of a way to keep him there. The words didn’t flow as easily to her as Pacifica seemed to be able to accomplish. They were the same stave: strong emotion, weak knowledge - but the otter’s rhythmic sense was just insane compared to her own.

The pair made their way back towards town, but just as they were hitting the concrete proper, Colette was walking onto the site. “Oh! Shouri!”

Stopped in place, Shouri’s shoulders dropped, and his head hung. “Hello, Colette,” he sighed dramatically.

“Where are you going? The hunt site is that way,” she pointed out.

“Oh you know, lost as the wind.” Another dramatic sigh from the green-jacketed Maestro.

“Well, don’t you worry! I’ll show you to the registration desk!”

“I’m already registered, Colette.”

“How did you get lost then?”

Shouri glared at Colette’s oblivious smile. “Forget it,” he decided. His gaze turned to the Resonators behind the unobservant Maestro. As usual, Kaira stood firm, in her usual stoic, silent bodyguard role. Next to her was a new face.

The most striking thing about the newcomer was their bright yellow hair, spiked up messily. Poking out of their nest of a hair-do were two long yellow ears with short, soft fur coating them.

This yellow-haired individual bore a petite frame – short and lithe, smaller than any of the others present. Unlike the four bound to walk atop Riterra’s surface, the newcomer sported a large pair of wings that they wore around themselves like a cloak. This person’s wings seemed much more flexible than the wings mounted upon a bird Resonator like Rynda.

“Lightning,” Rebecca whispered to herself. She watched the other Resonator’s ears and noted they didn’t twitch like her own but earned the stranger’s gaze all the same. “You’re a bat,” the fire fox whispered, confirmed by the bat in question giving a short, curt nod.

“Here’s her tuner. Her name is Lucia, she’s a Lightning-Null Fruit Bat.” Colette held out the yellow tuner for Shouri.

Accepting the device, he confirmed Colette’s introduction and looked at the bat girl. “Hey, I’m Shouri.” He motioned to Rebecca which caused the bat to slightly tilt her head.

“I’m Rebecca, nice to meet you.”

A brow raised, the smaller girl spoke. “Lucia,” she spoke quietly. “I want to get better,” she added. Before they could say anything further her face contorted into a glare. “I want to make those fuckers pay for what they did to me,” she snarled.

Shouri and Rebecca were taken aback, especially how rapidly her rhythm had changed in response to her sudden shift in demeanor.

“What do you mean?” Rebecca asked on behalf of her Maestro, sensing he was intensely curious.

“The people that snatched me off the street, and tortured me for years until I became like this. Treated me worse than dirt all for some stupid spells,” Lucia growled, baring her fangs at the Maestro that stood before her.

Rebecca moved herself in front of her Maestro, rising onto her toes, heels readily sparking.

“Shhh shhh…” Kaira placed a hand on Lucia’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Shouri is a very good Maestro. I can attest to that fact,” the jackal told the bat girl.

“Trust me,” Shouri spoke up. “I share your opinion.” His knuckles were white from how hard he grasped Lucia’s tuner. “You’ll be rid of Feroce, I’ll make sure of it.”

Lucia’s mouth hung open. The sincerity of this stranger’s words hit her like a typhoon.

Shouri and Colette walked through the nearby woods. A couple of rhythm fire foxes led the way and provided light for the group.

“What’s his deal?” Lucia queried of Rebecca, her curiosity piqued.

“He was going to take in a stray Resonator when he was a kid, but she got taken off the streets without a trace. We also watched another Resonator turn into a Scherzando and taken out by Feroce.”

Lucia nodded slowly, understanding the connection. “A lot of us came from the streets. Those who did have Maestros had their chips burned, but there weren’t many of them. Must not have been worth the trouble,” the bat spoke quietly, visibly shaking as she recalled her time as a captive.

“Do you know who they were?” Rebecca asked.

“No, they all wore full-body suits. None of us knew a thing. They’d gas us whenever they had to move us which was pretty often. Don’t even know any of the places where I was kept.” Lucia kept her voice low, struggling with her own emotions. “Finally, was sold to some chick who kept making me use those fucking spells until I was abandoned.” She held herself tightly, head lowered as they walked.

Rebecca placed a hand on the younger girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay, I was just wondering. Sorry to dredge up bad memories.” The fox focused her rhythm to her fingertips, attempting a quick etude to calm the lightning element.

In doing so, the fire fox felt something strange about Lucia. She quietly committed this sensation to memory and went to change the subject.

“I heard once you’re cured, they’re gonna get you with a Maestro,” the vixen decided on.

A smile rose upon the winged girl’s lips. “Only plus side about all this shit,” she paused. “Maestro rhythm is nice. Addicting even.”

“You got that right sister,” Rebecca giggled, her eyes meeting her own Maestro’s back.

“What’s the plan boss?” Rebecca asked as they came upon the Scherzando.

“Hmmm.” Shouri stroked his chin in thought, studying Lucia’s tuner. “Lucia, how do you feel about taking point?”

“Eh?” The bat flinched, not being used to being asked for her thoughts. “Uhh, well I guess I don’t care.”

Rebecca nodded. “I’ll stay with you then?” she asked her Maestro.

“Actually, I’ll have you back up Lucia. Kaira can stay with Colette and me. She’s a shielder, so it’s a better use of her skill set.” Shouri glanced over at the earth-element, who simply nodded in agreement to their plan.

The fox-girl snorted, casting a resentful glance at her jackal counterpart. “Fine,” she muttered under her breath. She begrudgingly moved towards the position requested of her by her Maestro.

Lucia followed Rebecca into the clearing with the Scherzando, a flame fox following the two of them for visibility. “What’s with you?” the bat asked her irritated teammate.

“I just want to stay close to him,” the fire Resonator admitted with an exasperated sigh.

The lightning element raised a brow. “That’s it?” she asked, not seeing what the big deal was.

“Forget it, you wouldn’t get it,” Rebecca mumbled.

The bat’s eye twitched – this fox was too dramatic for her taste. “You right.” Lucia unfurled her wings. “I don’t get it,” she returned the fire element’s irritation in kind. “Getting yourself all bothered over rhythm.” She folded her wings back, ready to fly at a moment’s notice. “Not that good.”

The Scherzando milling about noticed the two girls out in the open and began to slowly approach.

“Rebecca, I’ll have you trap them, Lucia you can snipe them from above, sound good?” Shouri spoke into both of their heads through their tuners.

“Sounds good.” Rebecca nodded, her heels sparking at the ready.

“Yeah.” Lucia extended her wings, a cloud of blue sparkles of rhythm shedding from them.

“Anello di Fuoco, Tenuto!” came the fire spell to Rebecca.

“Corrente Elettrica, Piano Staccato!” followed by the lightning spell for Lucia.

Rebecca took off like a rocket, fire at her heels. She quickly circled the gathered Scherzando leaving a wall of fire in her wake.

In the interim, Lucia beat her wings leaving a trail of blue sparkles in her wake. Her eyes widened as she finally pulled in Shouri’s rhythm, completing their link for the first time. She hesitated as complicated emotions flooded her. This was a man she knew nothing about, but even so, the rhythm he provided her was open; he gave himself to her despite them being total strangers. He was genuine, that much was certain to her – he wanted to see her healthy.

“Staccato huh?” Electricity crackled between her fingertips. Thrusting her palm downward, she pushed the rhythm out of her body, lightning striking the Scherzando from above. She didn’t have a bucket of rhythm to work with though, this was a whole damn lake! More and more she found herself pushing the amount of rhythm she could pull, drenching the trapped beasts in her electrical assault.

When the last beast dissipated, the young woman’s eyes were wide as she took in deep breaths of air. “Ok, fuck. I get it now,” the bat whispered to herself as she fluttered back to the ground. She stumbled as she touched back on the earth and fell to her hands and knees.

“Hey, are you alright?” Shouri’s voice snapped Lucia from her thoughts, his hand was offered to her with concern.

“Er, uh yeah. I’m fine.” Her gaze reflexively darted away from him as she got to her feet under her own power.

“Here, let me top you off.”

Before she knew it, he had taken hold of her hands anyway. “Eh?!” she squeaked. Once more his rhythm invaded her, but not in the form of a pointed Maestro’s command, but offered up in etude for her to claim. It was a sensation she was wholly unfamiliar with. Without realizing it her lips had curled up, the lids of her eyes drooping as the tension melted away. “Haaa…” she let out a breath.

“Better?” Shouri asked, releasing the lightning element’s hands.

“Y-yeah… uh thanks.” Her gaze whipped away from him, hiding her embarrassment.

The small group remained where they were stationed for a bit, waiting for the map updates to come in. “This sucks without Taika,” Shouri grumbled, tapping the un-updated map on Rebecca’s tuner.

“Hm?” Lucia was once again curious. In fact, this wasn’t like her. The more the night wore on the itchier she felt. Every little thing piqued her interest and she wasn’t entirely sure if she hated it or not.

“Taika is our group’s Lunar element,” Rebecca filled in the newcomer. “We normally run around and take out groups of Scherzando and update our map thanks to her.”

“Why isn’t she here tonight?” Lucia questioned.

“Called out sick.” The fire Resonator replied.

“Ehhh?” Lucia didn’t get the joke but also didn’t feel like getting clarification. As such she turned her attention back to the two Maestros.

Colette had spoken up at that moment. “I have an idea Shouri.”

“What’s that?”

“We can attract the Scherzando to us, though it’s a little tough.” The redhead looked to her Resonator, who gave a small nod of approval.

“What’s the plan then?” Shouri decided to humor her.

Which earned a smile from the scholar. “Well L'orizzonte Scudo attracts spells towards the user for a small period, it specifically works by drawing in rhythm imbued into the spell,” she began. “Using it while hunting is dangerous because it pulls in Scherzando too since they’re made of rhythm too. But I believe we’ve cleared the bulk of them from this area, so we can start pulling in stragglers this way.” She paused to allow Shouri to voice his thoughts.

It seemed sound to him, but he wasn’t doing the fighting. “Lucia, Rebecca – what do you two think?” he questioned the actual fighters.

“Should be okay as long as we’re sure we won’t be overwhelmed.” Rebecca shrugged.

Lucia remained quiet, not sure what to say. Being asked her opinion was so strange, that she hadn’t even formulated a thought of her own on the subject. “I uhh, that sounds fine,” she muttered quickly to get the eyes off of her. Though she had to admit, being considered was nice.

Shouri nodded. “Okay. Rebecca, stick close to me in case we need to vacate.” The fire Resonator grinned toothily, unable to hide her excitement for the role. “Lucia, keep perched in the trees and fight from there, focus on keeping yourself safe first and foremost – Rebecca and I will be fine.” The bat girl raised a brow, baffled by the orders she was being given, but hesitantly agreed.

The Resonators under his command addressed, Shouri looked to Colette and Kaira. “Kaira, you’ll be casting the spell obviously, when you do so be ready to use your ad-Lib to protect yourself and Colette. I can’t guarantee the three of us will be able to take on all the Scherzando if they come at us too fast.”

Kaira regarded the other Maestro for a moment before actually speaking. “That was my intention from the beginning,” the jackal replied simply.

“Great! Let’s get started then!” Colette beamed, satisfied there was an agreed-upon plan in place.

“Rebecca, Lanciafiamma, Rubato,” the first link was given to Rebecca.

“Lucia, Corrente Elettrica, Rubato,” and the second link was established with Lucia.

In an evening of confusion for the poor lightning-element bat, she was puzzled by the new connection with her temporary Maestro. If Staccato gave her a lake to work with, Rubato was the whole damn ocean. He just willingly opened himself up like that? It was unbelievably stupid in the Resonator’s eyes. She didn’t even know a Maestro could have this much rhythm!

“You okay Lucia?” Shouri’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Ah, uh. I think so,” she muttered, again averting her gaze from his.

“It’s a little challenging to get used to at first from what Rebecca and the others told me, but once you get the hang of it, you should be able to cast spells pretty well in Rubato,” he told her.

“Won’t that hurt you?” Lucia decided to ask the obvious question.

“Not unless we really fuck this up. I normally work with three Resonators, and Rebecca wears her ad-lib like it’s a fashion statement, so I usually don’t use too much rhythm with her.” His eyes narrowed and locked onto the fox in question. “Even though I tell her not to,” he grumbled at her.

“Hey! I worked hard on my ad-Lib! I’m gonna use it!” Rebecca retorted.

“How many pairs of socks and shoes have you gone through?” Shouri countered.

“That’s beside the point!”

“How am I supposed to afford a car if you’re draining our budget on replacement footwear? Your shoes aren’t cheap.”

“Wait you’re buying a car?”

“Forget it, just don’t destroy your shoes tonight.”

“No go back, what about a car?”

Lucia just plain gawked at the Maestro and Resonator. These people were so strange. Maestros don’t interact with Resonators like this. What was wrong with Shouri?

The group of five got into their respective positions.

“We ready to go?” Colette asked Shouri.

“Looks like it,” he replied, still sensing his rhythm connections with both Lucia and Rebecca were ready to go.

Colette took in a deep breath. Her tuner shook from how hard she was gripping it. “Alright. Let’s do this,” her voice quavered a bit as she licked her lips. “Right, casting the spell now. Rallentando to attract them and then let it taper off while we get out of the way for Shouri to work,” she reasoned out to herself.

Another deep breath. “L'orizzonte Scudo, Rallentando!” Colette cried out. Kaira stepped forward, one hand on the sand satchel at her waist. With her other hand, she raised it into the sky.

Nothing appeared to happen, but Rebecca perked up suddenly.

“What’s up?” Shouri asked his fox.

“Never been around this spell before. Feels like I’m being pulled in,” she noted.

“Now that you mention it, yeah, I can feel that,” Shouri agreed.

The effect quickly tapered off and Kaira rushed back to her Maestro’s side, opening her satchel and dumping the sand out. Rather than just hitting the ground, the prepared minerals moved through the grass, following its owner back to Colette. Kaira spun around, standing tall in front of her Maestro, while her sand circled the pair, undulating like waves on the sea.

Silence

A soft breeze blew through the trees. And then it began. Several wolf-shaped Scherzando burst through the underbrush.

“Lucia!” Shouri called out.

From the tree the bat was perched in, a bolt of lightning struck the group of beasts, completely dissolving them.

Shouri didn't have time to think as Rebecca's cry hit his ears, “Behind us!” The fire fox spun around and extended a palm out, spraying fire upon a second group of wolf Scherzando that had attempted to sneak up on them.

“Shouri!” Colette yelled. Kaira had pushed back yet a third group of Scherzando using her sand manipulation.

“Rebecca!” Shouri turned his attention towards the new group.

“I’m on it!” Rebecca pivoted to her left and easily dispatched this new group.

A tug of his rhythm and a bolt of lightning informed Shouri that Lucia was also still spotting Scherzando from above and sniping them before they got too close.

Yet a fourth, fifth, and sixth groups of Scherzando appeared and descended on their positions. Way too many for even their trio to handle. Not that they weren't doing a good job. Desperate blasts of fire, sand, and lightning flew around, taking out Scherzando as they revealed themselves.

But for every shadow that fell, another two took their place.

“Okay, we’re not doing this again!” He decided, tearing his eyes from the battlefield to shoot Colette a dirty look (who was cowering behind the sand shield that Kaira had erected.) “At least not without Taika to tell us what we’re getting ourselves into,” he added as an aside.

“Agreed!” Rebecca grunted, taking out another group of Scherzando that got too close for comfort.

The clearing continued to fill with Scherzando all gunning for the delicious morsels that struggled valiantly against the descending hordes. Kaira was keeping their rear clear with her sand.

Even if Pacifica and Taika were here, it would have been too much, that much Shouri knew. He took a deep breath, “Alright! Executive decision! Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Shouri yelled out to make sure everyone could hear him. “Back to camp!” he barked, waving the group away and falling back himself.

He didn’t have to tell Colette twice - she urged her Resonator away from the scene faster than he had ever seen her move before.

Regardless, Shouri and Rebecca also vacated the scene and made some headway back toward the base camp, blasting away even more Scherzando as they made their desperate retreat.

They were finally allowed a respite as they got away from the horde of Scherzando. Shouri was hunched over, struggling to catch his breath, sweat pouring off of him. Rebecca remained vigilant, though was trying to calm her own racing heart. Colette and Kaira were in the distance, having been more expeditious in their flight than Shouri’s group. Either way, they were safe to stop here and re-group to catch their breath.

“You can come on down Lucia!” Shouri called out to the second Resonator currently under his care.

Silence.

The Maestro’s heart stopped when there was no reply. She wasn’t in immediate sight either. Where was she? She hadn’t followed them? “Lucia!?” His voice cracked as he scanned the tree line for the missing bat. He swore she was following them. What happened? He glanced down at the yellow tuner in hand and found her rhythm slowly ticking down.

78%

75%

71%

And then…

Grave Torcitore (New!)

Feroce (New!)

Grave Fulmine (New!)

Feroce (New!)

Grave Esplosione (New!)

Feroce (New!)

“Sho?!” Before Rebecca could figure out what was going on, she found her Maestro running back in the direction of the Scherzando as fast as he could. “God damn it!” the vixen cursed, instantly turning her ad-Lib to its maximum output and clearing the distance between herself and her Maestro. She made it just in time to blast a Scherzando away that attempted to pounce on the defenseless boy.

“Where was she?” Rebecca asked of her Maestro.

“Back this way! I thought she was following us ‘cause I kept feeling her using my rhythm but-”

“She must have got caught - follow me!”

The fire Resonator bolted in the direction they had left the lightning bat under their care. Shouri ran full-sprint after his Resonator, not wanting her to be left alone to the (literal) wolves.

A wise decision as the pair was suddenly ambushed by seven Scherzando jumping from the trees.

There was no waver in his step as Shouri reflexively called out a command to his Resonator: “Famiglio Incendio, Allegro Staccato! Five NOW!!”

Rebecca whipped both arms out and within the time of taking a single step, five flame foxes burst into existence, springing into action to match one of the wolf Scherzando. Rebecca herself tapped back into her basic fire spell, Lanciafiamme, which she still carried the link to, to engulf the forward pair of wolves in a stream of fire.

All of this happened at such a rapid clip that neither man nor fox had to slow down in the slightest, almost running through Rebecca’s flames and the vaporized Scherzando to get back to the tree where they last saw the missing Resonator. Sure enough, there was a huge cluster of different Scherzando surrounding the tree.

Bolts of lightning spread from the tree tops as Scherzando climbed after their caster at the top. The Scherzando were responding in kind with their own spells, sending them up the tree.

“Summon ten! Scatter them!” Shouri commanded.

Rebecca responded on reflex, easily creating ten flame foxes that all darted at the tree along with their caster herself. The rhythm beasts began their battle against their shadowy counterparts, while Rebecca ran up the tree, taking out Scherzando with a combination of her Lanciafiamme and her footwork.

As quickly as all the chaos started, it was over. Rebecca stood on a branch, locking eyes with Lucia who had managed to scurry to the very top of the tree.

“You… came back,” the bat breathed out.

“Of course… we did,” Rebecca replied similarly gasping for air.

The pair returned to the ground where Shouri awaited with only three of the fifteen flame foxes summoned remaining. When they touched down, Shouri rushed over and hugged Lucia tightly. The girl’s eyes widened, not expecting such a gesture.

“S-sorry!” He pulled away and looked her over, holding her by her shoulders. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry we didn’t check before leaving,” the Maestro fretted; his eyes brimmed with regret as he barely managed to hold back the tears.

“Ah… uh, it’s fine…” Lucia muttered, her gaze remaining locked onto one of the hands grasping her shoulders. Through his digits, she felt his rhythm: his concern, his fear for her. It was strange and baffling – what kind of Maestro would feel so strongly for a Resonator they would only know for one night?

There was a complicated emotion welling up in the bat girl, and she didn’t know how to express it. “It’s ok, everything turned out alright, right?” she just let her voice do what it wanted.

“It did. It’s okay. You’re okay,” Shouri agreed, trying to not let his voice crack any further. “Everything’s ok.” He took in a deep breath and released it.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Shouri and the two Resonators under his care made it back to base with no further complications. Immediately they were laid into by their handler.

“There you are!” Colette shouted. “One minute you’re right behind me, the next you’re gone!” She held her hips, arms akimbo, an angry pout painted plainly on her face. Kaira offered no input, as stoic as ever behind her Maestro.

The redhead’s attitude was not appreciated at all, immediately putting Shouri on the defensive. “You!” The brunet pointed back accusatorily. He lost his will to argue the point and dropped the hostilities instantly, not coming up with a good comeback. “We had to go back for Lucia,” he offered back.

Colette raised a brow. “She wasn’t following us?”

“No, she got trapped by the Scherzando and I failed to notice,” he replied.

“Wait!” the lightning-bat chimed in, almost out of her own control. “It was my fault! I didn’t-” she stopped when all eyes were on her.

Wrapping her wings around herself and holding them like a security blanket, she lowered herself, trying to appear smaller than she was. “Don’t blame him. I didn’t listen,” she mumbled. “Don’t be mean to him,” she added, even quieter.

At that moment, Rebecca perked up. Instinctively, she reached out and placed a hand on the other girl’s shoulder.

“Hm?” Lucia regarded the sudden touch with mild curiosity – what was that look in Rebecca’s eyes?

“You’re cured,” the vixen spoke, not even aware of the weight of what those words meant.

Silence.

Shouri hurriedly drew the yellow tuner from his side.

Shouri

Resonator: Lucia

Species: Demi-Human (Fruit Bat)

Element: Lightning

Attribute: Null

Rhythm: 59%

He tore his gaze away from the screen, where the Feroce status had finally vanished. He looked into her eyes and saw a storm of emotions swirling in them. “Thank you!” she exclaimed, sprinting towards him and wrapping her arms around his chest. She buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed, freed from the curse that had been inflicted on her against her will. Her gratitude was palpable, an almost physical force that warmed the hearts of the other three present to witness it.

The sudden embrace startled him, but only for a moment. His heart eased as he laid a hand on her shoulder. All the trials and tribulations of the night, everything they had gone through was worth it to see this girl’s genuine heartfelt relief.