“You did what?”

Bertaut seemed livid. All blood had drained from his face and clear anger was visible in his expression.

“I saved my housemate, I thought that was self explanatory”, replied Keela, a tad cocky.

“No, what you did was inquire the rage of those four men who will likely attempt to destroy your life. You could’ve at least killed them, then I would’ve commended you.”

“Do I look like a murderer to you?”

“No, but you may have to become one if you keep acting this recklessly.”

Keela looked down, unsure as to why she was feeling shame. She thought she had for sure done the right thing.

“It doesn’t matter now, let’s move on to some training”, said Bertaut, dismissing the subject with a wave of the hand.

“What are we doing today?” asked Keela, coming back from the sudden shock of being told.

“I’m going to teach you a spell and we’ll do some outside training.”

“Outside?”

Bertaut turned to a drawer a pulled out some folded clothes.

“Here, get changed”, he said, turning his back to her.

She got into the outfit promptly, which consisted of a set of black tighter clothes for easier movement, a black cloak and a mask to obscure the lower half of her face. When she was done changing, she tapped Bertaut on the shoulder, only now noticing that he had donned a similar attire. Only now could she notice that he was quite the built man.

“Right, so the spell I have to teach you is simple. You need to channel electricity into your muscles to duplicate their performance. I will now demonstrate”, he said, heading for the door while putting on his mask.

Keela followed, leading them both outside. Bertaut crouched next to the wall of the house, closing his eyes to focus. After a second of silence, a very faint crack was heard as he suddenly leapt to the roof of the three story building. Keela couldn’t help but be surprised by this sudden display but quickly steeled herself, adopting a similar position as he had. Focusing on her core, she channeled the arcs into her legs, causing a brief sting. As she leaped, following the sting, she jumped a bit lower than Bertaut who caught her arm as she barely grabbed the edge.

“A bit of practice is in order. You’ll need to learn to gauge it, hence us being outside”, said Bertaut, pulling her up.

Keela thanked him with a nod. Over the next week, she trained with Bertaut, becoming somewhat used to the feeling of the electricity in her muscles, practicing to bring power to all her limbs at once, concentrating to keep the power flowing for a short amount of time. The training often consisted of jumping across the rooftops, learning the movement and getting used to deal with it effectively. She also learned to fight with it, dodging punches and retaliating, working on mastery of the parry style of combat.

After all the training she had experienced, Bertaut offered to go in the part of town where she usually lives, the surfaces there proving to be generally more precarious. As they were jumping from roof to roof, they found themselves in the general area of where she usually lived. Keela interrupted her running, hearing some protest and screams coming from a direction she was familiar with. Rushing the roof of her house, she confirmed her suspicions, seeing the door broken off the hinges, dangling in the frame.

“This is what I was afraid of”, said Bertaut, peering over her shoulder.

“Would you allow me five minutes to check?” she asked, trembling from rage.

“I won’t interfere.”

Keela jumped down, landing in front of the open door frame. She was not ready for what she saw. The lifeless body of Murphy lied in a pool of his blood, sword in hand. Two men were currently cornering Velka, roughandling her clothes. In a seething rage, Keela pulled out her dagger, pulling so much energy to her muscles that when the knife hit the back of the man’s neck, the sheer force nailed him to the wall with a disgusting crack. The second man whipped around in surprise, only to be met with a fist charged with electricity, properly breaking his skull in, causing Keela’s fingers to break from the impact as the crack of his skull reverberated in the trashed room. Velka looked at her in confusion, not recognizing her ears and mask. Keela disregarded the reaction and stormed upstairs, finding the kids safe but scared, hidden in one of the rooms.

“Don’t come downstairs. Are you all safe?” she asked, glancing around the room quickly.

“Yes, but while I don’t know who you are, you are bleeding from your hand”, said Ethan, adopting the tone he usually used with strangers.

“Don’t worry about it, stay here.”

She rushed back downstairs, finding Bertaut taking the pulse of Murph. As he saw her descend, he gave her a negative shake of the head. Keela swore, walking paces in the room, going back and forth between the two unconscious men and the door nervously.

“Calm down, I checked”, said Bertaut, grabbing her shoulder.

She steeled herself, breathing in deeply. Velka interjected, pulling her tattered dress back over her shoulder.

“While I appreciate the rescue; who are you two?”

Keela suddenly, stared back at her, suddenly realizing the implication. She glanced at Bertaut who simply gave her a sigh and a nod of approval. She took down her mask and turned to Velka, examining her at a glance.

“Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?” she asked, slowly coming closer.

Velka stepped backwards, avoiding being too close.

“This is a lot to take in…” she said, trying to process the information, eyeing Keela’s ears and Bertaut in a quick succession.

“I’ll explain this all at some point but for now please tell me you’re okay”, said Keela, holding the bridge of her nose.

“I’m fine… Are the kids safe?” replied Velka, still a bit dazed from surprise.

“They’re fine, I told them to stay up because of… well I don’t have to spell it out.”

“Is he…”

“Yeah…”

Tears started streaming down Velka’s cheeks, the sudden realization hitting her. Keela stared hesitantly, too worried to comfort or approach for contact. She turned to Bertaut with pleading eyes.

“Can you do something about this, Architect?” she asked, using his surname for the first time.

“I suppose I’ve a few connections, I could put the kids and her somewhere but I definitely can’t keep them together, especially if they want to live”, he replied, looking to the side.

“Is this okay with you?” asked Keela, looking at Velka in near desperation.

“I… I guess…” Velka stuttered, processing the information being fed to her.

“You are aware you are incurring quite a debt here, right?” asked Bertaut, looking at Keela.

“I don’t care. I’ll do whatever it takes if it means that these kids get a chance to go somewhere”, she replied, almost cutting him off.

“Go say your goodbyes then, it’s for the better that they never see you again.”

Keela simply nodded and went back upstairs, holding back the tears. The kids hadn’t moved from the room, huddled up together, waiting for a conclusion. Tessa and Bea’s eyes lit up when they recognized Keela, Ethan simply frowned, keeping his distance.

“You’ll go somewhere safe. I can’t keep you safe myself”, said Keela, hugging Tessa and Bea.

Ethan came up to the group, rage burning in his eyes, distorting his young features into an unnatural look to see on a child.

“You were an elf this whole time?” he said, raising his voice.

“Ethan, I get the resentment but I only ever meant the best for all of you and--”

Keela was interrupted by Ethan punching her, causing her to recoil from the shock. The two girls ran behind him, seeking protection.

“Ethan… Listen…” started Keela before being interrupted again.

“Get out of here. You traitor. I never want to see you again.”

Keela nodded and got up, opening the door and leaving behind a sorrowful glare at Ethan who stared at her, fists clenched in anger. She went back downstairs and found Bertaut, explaining some procedures to Velka with his mask off. Velka was simply nodding along, paying half attention with dried tears still on her cheeks. Keela simply passed them, wiping the tears off her cheeks and saddled Murph’s corpse on her back.

“I’m going out of the city to bury him. I’ll be back tonight at your place” she said, putting up her mask, looking at Bertaut.

He simply nodded and she turned around, leaping to a roof swiftly and running off to the exterior wall of the city.