Martin had to push through the crowd of gathered heroes before he reached the scene. His eyes flicked between the sobbing Jessica, the moaning Leila, and Elizabeth who was straddling Frances.

His eyes picked up the battered staff, the bruises on the former bullies and how stunned Frances and Elizabeth looked. His mind took a moment longer to put everything together. When it did, Martin stared, agog.

However, his knight’s training and the mantra his mother Esther always repeated to him kicked in. It was always better to be doing.

“Elizabeth! Get Frances somewhere private! Jim, Nicole, get Jessica and Leila to the infirmary.”

People started to move, but it was as if in slow motion, and the crowd staring didn’t help things. Once Martin hurried them and people started to move. Only then did he turn back to his friends.

Frances’s eyes were wide, staring aimlessly at the ground. Only Elizabeth’s arm around her kept her standing. Martin swallowed, “Elizabeth, can you—”

“—find out what happened? I’ll try, but…” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Are you going to talk to Jessica and Leila?”

Martin smiled in relief. “Yes. I will meet you later at Frances’s tent.”

“Alright. See you.”

Frances didn’t say a word even as Elizabeth moved her into her tent and sat her down. She just stared straight ahead, a puppet whose strings had been iced.

“Frances? What happened?”

Frances’s lips murmured something and she shook her head. Elizabeth winced. She’d seen her friend blank out, but nothing like this. There were no bruises on Frances, only some foreign liquid on the sleeve of her dress.

Her hands grasping her friend’s shoulders, Elizabeth gently shook Frances.

That seemed to bring some life back into the girl. She finally met Elizabeth’s eyes.

“How… why…I don’t understand why… I did that.”

“Did what? Frances, start from the beginning. What happened?”

Frances was shaking her head. Her arms were pushing her away from Elizabeth, shuffling her to the other side of the tent. “I can’t tell you. You’d hate me. There’s no way you wouldn’t.”

“I’m your friend, Frances.” Elizabeth smiled and knelt down. “I wouldn’t just start hating you—”

“I did what my mom would have done!”

Elizabeth’s smile faded as the story tumbled out from her friend’s lips. The tone was shrill, the words babbled, but she caught enough of them to understand what had happened. She understood enough to stare with horror at the smaller girl in front of her, her friend.

“That… but you couldn’t have meant to send them to take out those cannons.”

Clutching herself with shaking, slender arms, Frances spluttered, “I… but I did mean to! I didn’t want you, or Martin or any of the people who actually matter, to get hurt! I wanted Jessica and Leila to shut up and just follow my orders! And if they didn’t, I wanted them gone! Not reminding me they used me as their punching bag!”

“You… but why beat them up then? Why did you provoke them?” Elizabeth demanded her previous calm all but banished.

“... I… I felt like they deserved it. After all that they did to me, it only seemed right. I… I even talked to Ivy’s Sting about it and we felt we were right. Only, it can’t have been right. How—why did I even think that it was right?”

Elizabeth didn’t know a single answer to those questions. She could see the girl in front of her was sobbing into her knees. That girl was her friend. She had been helpful, fun to hang around with, and so kind and considerate. Elizabeth remembered how overjoyed she’d been when Frances had made her a bowl of kimchi. She extended her hand, wanting to comfort that girl.

But Frances was also the same girl who’d tried to banish two other girls her age by putting them in front of cannons. The same girl who furiously beat up two other girls when they refused to do what she was asking.

Elizabeth’s feet drove her upwards and she turned her back. But before she could leave, Frances grabbed her hand.

“Please, don’t leave. I know I’m useless and crazy and a complete nutcase but please, don’t leave. I’m begging you.”

Elizabeth paused, wincing at the loathing in Frances’s voice. It grated like shattered glass on her conscience. Finally, Elizabeth sighed and turned back.

“I won’t leave, but I can’t… I can’t help you with your feelings.” Elizabeth wiped her eyes. “I don’t know how. You need to call your mentor.”

Frances nodded at first, but suddenly, she stiffened, as if stung, her eyes widening. “What is she going to do to me, though?”

Elizabeth frowned and sat back down, facing her friend. “I thought she loved you?”

“Yes, but… I’ve never… done something like this before.” But Elizabeth was right. Edana did love her, and Frances loved her mentor too. She needed to tell her this, no matter how she might react.

Reaching into her belt pocket, she pulled out the silver hand mirror.

---

Martin marched into the infirmary dismissing the orderlies with a wave of his hand. They left quickly because Jessica and Leila were sitting up in beds, and hissing at each other.

“But why were you trying to piss her off?” Jessica questioned.

“Pissing her off? She was out to get us!” Leila shot back.

Coughing into his fist, Martin watched the pair glare at him.

“What do you want?” Leila snapped.

“To hear your side of the story.”

The eyes of the two girls widened at his proclamation. Leila’s narrowed abruptly, but Jessica looked thoughtful.

Leila crossed her arms. “What is there to tell? Frances told us to go on a suicide mission to take out the cannon to get us banished back to Earth. We didn’t want to. She went crazy.”

“Wait, that’s not what happened!” Jessica gasped.

“It’s basically what happened?” Leila growled. “Look, Jess, I don’t get why are you defending her! Not after—after all of that. Aren’t you pissed?”

“What, after she didn’t listen to me begging? After she hit us?” Jessica shot back.

“Yes! Why were you even begging in the first place? We shouldn’t have had to listen to her orders in the first place!”

“Not true.” Martin frowned. “That order… you said Frances ordered you to launch a night assault and take out those cannons.”

Jessica nodded. “She said it was punishment for not completing the previous tasks properly.”

Leila snorted. “She just wanted us banished.”

“Yeah and that pisses me off, but I don’t know if I can completely blame her.”

Martin didn’t think he could be more surprised, but Jessica’s aside made his jaw fall open. He closed it quickly and was unnoticed because Leila was staring agog at her friend.

“Jess, what the actual fuck? You don’t blame Foul Francey for beating us up? Making us kiss her boots?”

Not meeting her friend’s eyes, Jessica grimaced. “Oh no, I’m pissed off. What right did she have to just snap like that? But… we didn’t give her many reasons to like us.”

“That’s separate from all of this! And you know she’s just weird” Leila exclaimed.

Martin frowned as Jessica met her friend’s gaze. “Maybe, but after you refused to do what she asked, insulted her, and literally spat in her face, what did you expect her to do?”

“Back down! Tell an adult. Not go mental!” Leila pointed an accusing finger at her friend. “And I didn’t see you stopping me from doing so. You didn’t expect her to beat us either.”

Jessica blinked and shook her head. “Of course not! I expected her to act like any normal person would act.”

“Exactly! We just forgot how weird Frances is!”

“Excuse me?” The pair’s eyes snapped back to Martin. His gauntleted fists were balled, white teeth grinding together. Every fibre in his muscles was trying to stop the knight from slapping the pair. As it was, he was imagining how much damage would his metal-clad hands could do.

Leila sighed and gave Martin a knowing look. “Oh come on, Sir Martin. I know you think you’re Frances’s friend, but you saw how she went completely mental today and just snapped! You know she tried to get us banished. There must be other stuff you’ve seen that shows she’s just fucked in the head.”

Nodding, Jessica sighed. “Honestly, I get that Frances doesn’t like us. She’s not someone you should be friends with for your own safety. There’s something really off about her, as you can see from today. Hell, we were probably the only ones keeping her in line, keeping her from going mental and shooting up the school.”

Martin lunged forward, his self-control gone. All he heard was the self-loathing in Frances’s own voice, all he remembered was her concern for his safety, all he saw her protecting him from Leila and Jessica in the bar.

Only his pride as the second son to the Countess of Conthwaite finally restrained him, before he could punch Jessica in the face with his gauntleted hand.

“You idiots. You fucking morons. Do you really think you were trying to keep her in line? All you did was hurt a defenceless girl because you thought she was different. All you did was teach her that the best way to fight violence was to use that violence against others. Or did you think it was a coincidence she forced you to kiss her boots?”

“But she isn’t normal! Can’t you see she’s dangerous?” Jessica asked.

“I believe that she’s a good person who got fucked by people like you. She was simply returning all the abuse you heaped on her.” He sneered at the pair. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel like wanting to hit Frances after she lightly smacked you around.”

“Lightly smacked us around? She manipulated and provoked us—”

“And you tortured her for how long? A year? And for what? Because it was fun?” Martin watched as Jessica froze, her eyes dropping to her bedsheets. He watched as Leila glared defiantly back and open her mouth to spew more poison.

Feeling the urge to hit the bullies returning, the knight forced himself to turn his back on the pair. He ignored the vehemence spewed at him and marched himself out of the infirmary.

He needed to get to his friends. The people who needed him and would appreciate his company.

When Martin arrived at the campsite, Elizabeth and Frances were sitting by the far, mugs of steaming tea warming their hands.

They weren’t alone. Baroness Igraine was sitting across from them, rubbing her forehead. “Of all the… Right. I’m rotating Jessica and Leila out of your command replacing them with two other mages.”

“Yes, Baroness…” Frances closed her eyes. “What’s my punishment, Baroness?”

“I will not be the one to punish you.” Frances looked up at Igraine, whose eyes were filled with regret. “Knowing the history between you three, I should not have put Jessica and Leila under your command. Part of this situation is my fault. Because of that, I am not the best person to judge this. You should ask your mentor, Edana and let her know that I am putting the judgement in her hands. Have you contacted her yet?”

Frances gave a slow nod. “We’ve tried, but Kellyanne said that she’s busy.”

“She’ll be calling soon then. Edana would not delay for a situation this urgent.” Turning, Igraine finally noticed Martin and a brief, but sad smile flashed over her features. “I’ll leave you with your friends, Frances.”

The ranger strode from the hearth, and Martin took a seat on Frances’s other side.

“So? What did you find?” Frances asked, morosely.

“Nothing I haven’t taken with a heavy pinch of salt. Some garbled words about how Jessica begged you not to send them to take out the cannons. Then something about how they refused your order and Leila spat on you.” Martin smirked. “Honestly, I’d rather hear it from your mouth. Leila and Jessica are thoroughly unpleasant people that I was tempted to punch. I’m not sure how you kept yourself from blasting them.”

“Martin!” Elizabeth protested.

He turned to Elizabeth, a cold look on his features. “They said that they were justified in beating Frances because she’s fucked in the head and because hitting her apparently “kept her from going mental.””

Elizabeth stared at Martin, her hands balling into fists.

Not meeting Martin’s eyes, Frances sighed. “They’re not wrong, though. I… I did order them to destroy those cannons, Martin, and I was looking for an excuse to beat them. When Leila spat on me… I had it. And… it all felt right. I didn’t even think that it was wrong to do any of it until Elizabeth stopped me.”

Martin blinked and swallowed. “Well… you had a lot to be angry with them about.”

“That doesn’t excuse what I did, Martin.” Frances put down her cup and buried her face in her hands. “I… I thought I was getting better. I mean, I always knew I’ll never be normal, but I had hoped… maybe one day…”

Elizabeth, with a hesitant hand, touched her friend’s shoulder and squeezed it. “Frances, just because you’ll never be normal, doesn’t mean you can’t become better.”

Glancing at her friend, through her fingers, Frances felt herself smile and she nodded. Glad that as shocked her friend was, she was still supporting her.

“Thank you, Elizabeth.”

The silver hand mirror, placed on the ground, started to vibrate and Frances reached for it.

“Would you like us to leave?” Martin asked, tensing himself to get up.

“No. I’m alright if you would like to stay,” Frances said. Martin smiled at that and relaxed, while Elizabeth took her hand off from her shoulder.

Tired, scared, but buoyed by the fact that her friends were still supporting her, Frances picked up the mirror and opened it.

“Hi, Master Edana.”