A dangerous woman

Zola stared at the tent, blinking in confusion.

How had he gotten there? The child could not even remember waking up in the morning. Why had he not yet heard the usual noise of Wara bustling around the hut, arranging things?

"Nya?" he called out, expecting an answer. His head felt a bit light and as he tried to stand up, his surroundings blurred and his head began to pound. "Nya." He called weakly as his eyes slowly drooped.

***

Nak sat on the floor, mouth agape while he stared at the burnt floor. Yhra panted slowly, pulling a delusional Fjammi to his feet. The boy had spent all of his energy trying to burn all the Pticas that had plagued them all of a sudden.

Nobody questioned his appearance that was closely tied to the appearance of the Pticas. Fjammi suddenly stood up and disappeared. Nak threw a questioning glance at Yhra but was met with a blank look instead.

"Don't ask you… got it!" he plopped his back to the ground with a huff. Things were certainly getting strange, the sudden attack of the Dies Lucis and the pticas. 'This would have never happened if she was still here' Nak thought to himself.

He sat up suddenly, gazing at the tent with curiosity. Why was her tent up? And the strange figure he saw distract the killer-birds looked awfully familiar but it was not 'her'.

Who was it then? Nak grunted as he pulled himself up. He had never felt so weary before. It felt like he was empty inside as he should have regained his energy by then.

Before he could make it to the tent, something barreled into him. He fell to find an angry Wara rubbing her forehead and purple mist swirling around her.

She looked up and the mist disappeared almost as quickly as they had appeared leaving Nak to wonder whether it was his imagination or not. The one thing Nak could have been sure he was not imagining was her hair.

In the midst of the chaos with the birds, her scarf had been completely ripped off and her hair out on full display.

"Wara?" Nak grunted out. He did not expect her to actually be the woman who was in the midst of the pticas.

She blinked up at him then stood up with fierceness in her eyes. "Where is Zola?" Nak stared at her, completely confused.

"Who?"

Wara did not reply him rather; she shoved past him and stormed towards Yhra. Her eyes swirled with what looked like a dark flame within them. Wara opened her mouth to confront the exhausted lady dragging herself into a tent when she suddenly heard a whimper.

She pushed past a startled Yhra and marched into the tent.

"I am here my heart. I am here." She whispered soothingly into his ears as the child let out silent sobs that racked through his whole body. He held on tight to Wara and refused to let go, not until the sobs died down.

An awkward Yhra stood at the foot of the tent, waiting for when she could get her bed back so she could sleep. She was exhausted.

Zola sniffled once, twice and then pulled away. He stared into the eyes that always seemed to be endlessly filled with affection. The flames burning in her eyes as he stared into them warmed his heart and he latched onto Wara again.

The moving show of affection never seemed to end and Yhra was getting antsy. She shifted from foot to foot with a scrunched up face and when she could not take any more of their affectionate display, she cleared her throat loudly.

Wara turned around to stare intently at Yhra and the woman, who often silenced people with a stare, was forced to speak.

"Can I please have my bed back?" her voice was quieter than normal. Timid, rather than the deliberate quietness it usually had. Nak, who stood outside the tent, had to remind himself to shut his jaw after what he had witnessed.

Yhra was never shy but she had seen a fire in the strange human's eyes and somehow, she had been warned of that fire. She thought it was perhaps the unnamed woman the men greatly feared that had returned.

"I apologize. I had no idea. Thank you for your hospitality." Wara said, picking up Zola and placing him on her hip. "I will be off now; I have clearly overstayed my welcome."

Without waiting to hear another word, she marched into the forest to get her belongings that she had dropped on the forest floor while she was being chased by the pticas.

As she picked them up, Zola tugged on her skirt. "Nya? Where are we going?"

Wara sighed, plopping to the ground with a certain tiredness the child had never seen before. "Anywhere Zola. Anywhere."

***

Nak stared in disbelief at all he had witnessed, the reminder to shut his jaw long forgotten…

"why?" he all but yelled at Sica.

"She is trouble that is why. I will not allow trouble in here. Just a few hours and we almost died. She is not even human!" Sica yelled back, silencing everyone but Fjammi who had chosen to observe as the adult men yelled and the woman tried to calm them down by banging weapons together.

"What do you mean?" Yhra asked. She knew the woman was strange but also knew very well what a human looked and smelled like. Maybe she was a witch.

"There was something strange about her. Did you see her hair? Or the fire in her eyes or the way she moved?" Sica replied calmly this time.

"And she can use magic-" Sica was interrupted by Nak "So can we… I don't see your point."

"Without a cost." Fjammi interfered shutting the men once more. Yhra had gone to sleep as soon as the men had stopped yelling.

"She can use magic without a cost. I saw it all, Spells one after another without sacrificing anything." Fjammi described with emotion deeply displayed on his face. "You both know how dangerous it is at this time of the year but she could confidently use magic without being worried of dying or killing someone by accident. And she could touch my flames without getting burnt" that last remark elicited a gasp from both men.

"She sounds a lot like Z-"

"DON'T!" Sica yelled before Nak could finish but was instead replied with a glare.

"I understand your panic but please do not wake Yhra up. I can't deal with a grumpy half-awake Yhra." All male shuddered at the thought of it.

"To think of it, all the women we have met this past year have been anything but normal." Sica noted with a hand on his chin that had begun to gather stubble.

"What is a normal woman?" Fjammi asked and they all laughed but quieted when Yhra steered. "Perhaps we leave before she awakens." Sica whispered and the three left her tent.

Nak stared at the men with great turmoil in his mind. How could he make Sica see sense and realize that they needed Wara? Nobody was prepared for the doom that was coming this Dies Lucis. They were all going to die if they did not have her by their side. And it did not seem like he could summon 'the lady in the cloak' so Sica would believe his words; Sica was a man of logic, he would never believe without evidence.

It was up to him to find Wara and explain to her that they needed her without it not sounding wrong as women could easily be offended and she seemed more dangerous than Yhra.

Way more dangerous…