'You're late,' a voice spoke from the far end of the training room.

Guardian Emerald was standing there, his arms crossed over his chest and frowning at his watch. 'You are freaking fifteen minutes late to class.'

'Sir, I...' I stuttered wondering what to say. Surely I couldn't tell him about Garnet or that we were having a cocktail party. 'I slept!'

'Slept! You slept! That's ridiculous,' he threw his hands in the air, 'How can you sleep when so much is happening and you have such a long way to go to perfect your magical abilities. '

I could feel his frustration with me but there was nothing, absolutely nothing that I could do.

He started pacing around the room, hands clasped behind his back, deep in thought, mumbling some gibberish. It was as if I had stopped existing for a moment.

'Sir, is there a problem?' I ask instead.

'Problem? Ah—yes, a problem,' he muttered, like a madman.

Sometimes I get worried that he's going to lose his mind and go completely senile. He behaves weird at times. Suddenly holding my hand as if wants to say something and then turning away without uttering a word.

Sometimes he stops mid sentence and shakes his head. It is almost like his head is a junkyard of thoughts he isn't able to express.

But as an instructor, he is the best. His magic, his control, his precision and his deadly aim would put all warriors to shame.

Surprisingly, he believes in physical training more than simple relying on magic.

Once I had asked him why we needed this training. His reply was, 'If you have real world control on your body and your movements, it becomes easier to have control on magic. Magic is a physical strength, but the mental strength needs to be at par to effectively utilize your magic. Magic is in our brains and in our veins, but to channelise it is our responsibility.'

When I felt silent he would say, 'Besides magic won't save you once you're drained of your powers, but the physical training will. All battles aren't magical. '

He always told me to conserve my magic and use it only when required. I don't know why, but this made me fall in love with his confidence and his teaching abilities, over and over again.

My reverie is broken by his voice, 'Do you understand? '

I realized that he has been telling something I completely didn't focus on.

I had zoned out.

'I'm sorry, I...'

'Where is your darn concentration, Ruby?' he reprimanded.

'Sir, I'm sorry —' I say silently.

'The world of Grey Meadows is at stake and you're still daydreaming. They're planning an attack. They are convinced that we're hiding a human and we have some ulterior motive of using him as an weapon. The human is supposedly a felon from their jail. ' he told in one breath, giving me a critical look.

The words of Garnet rushed back to my mind. So that was it. That was what she had been talking about. All of it was making sense now. That means the danger is right in the palace and I needed to find him.

'So I want you to practice harder. We may soon go into war. I will swear on my head that we're not hiding a human here. I don't understand what is the damn problem of the Guardians in Violet Hollow!'

'I'll practice!' I declared, to escape his escalating anger.

'Okay,' he relented, heaving a sigh.

These were the times which were extremely private between the two of us and I couldn't just afford to waste time when my new home and my new family needed my protection.

'So, shall we start with the fire again?'

I nodded, getting ready to conjure the flames.

'Pyrkagiá' I muttered, focusing on my skin, feeling the heat rise up from within me. The hot feeling creeped up my hands resting on my palms and suddenly there was a spark in between my hands... just a tiny glow.

'Hold it,' he instructed, 'Focus. Let it grow.'

I held it in place as ordered and I felt it splutter and stutter and burn brighter slowly, but I felt the heat growing on my skin.

'It's burning my skin,' I say, a I felt it scorching me.

'Focus, focus, make it float in the air like a ball.' his voice flooded into my ears.

I closed my eyes, feeling the magic surge in me.

Ball

Ball

Ball

My mind got focused on getting the fireball off my skin.

I distanced my arms from my body and uttered,'Sikóno!'

The fireball jumped up.

I was so elated with my success that I didn't notice when the ball came down and hence was too late to shield myself.

A sharp pain shot through me as the ball of glowing energy hit my hand. I dropped it with a scream trying to do anything and everything to stop the hellish pain.

'Be careful. Págoma págou' he shouted, throwing a freezing spell before the fire hit the floor and could destroy the woodwork.

The ball rolled on the ground, like a innocent little globe, no trace of the destructive fire.

'Are you okay?' he had already taken my hands and was trying to assess the damage done.

I drew back my hand, suddenly uncomfortable. No man had ever held my hand.

'It's okay,' I say hiding my hands.

'I'm almost of the age of your father. Lemme see. You can't hide from your teacher.' he said, a soothing tone in his voice.

He was so calm, composed and yet determined.

Reluctantly I opened my fist to reveal a palm which was raw red and I could see angry spots of black too.

Second degree burns!

'Oh, does it hurt?'
He was running a finger gently around the edges of the angry patches.

'No,' I lied, biting my lips even as the pain was threatening to bring tears into my eyes.

'You can't lie to me and escape,' he commented, holding my hands and running three fingers over the wound.

'It's not much,' I protest, trying to draw back my hand, but the look he gave me stopped all screams of protest until it became a whimper.

His fingers were icy cold on my blisters and after a second, he let my hand go.

I looked in awe at the burnt area. It was completely healed.

'How did you heal it? I didn't see any healing spell in the book of magic' I turned to him for an explanation.

'The Vivlío tis mageías, or The Book of Magic as you call it isn't all knowing. There are things in this world that can't be explained.' he was looking at his own hands in awe, almost like a child who had found a new toy.

'If you really are a natural healer and it must be rare — that means....' I manage to whisper.

'Means that everything is going to change around here.' he completed my sentence, eyeing his hands nervously.