Grady is disarmed

Cal was stunned by the sudden discovery: the "bully Grady is really a woman?!" He could clearly see a woman's breasts under her wet shirt.

He lowered his gaze below...nothing... he saw nothing to indicate Grady's masculinity.

Stunned, he sat down on the bank and covered his face with his hands.

A thousand thoughts raced through his head, but he pulled himself together, got up, and covered Grady with his, no, her clothes, which she had hastily thrown on the riverbank.

Leaving Grady out in the cold in wet clothes was wrong. Cal decided to let it be and lifted the girl into his arms.

She was a little heavier than he'd expected Grady's strong muscles gave her weight, though she looked fragile. When he reached the barracks, Cal laid her on the bed, and, after a precautionary wrapping, poisoned himself to look for boiling water.

Grady didn't come to her senses until morning, and many times the brewed tea had time to get cold and unusable.

A worried Cal couldn't rest either, he paced back and forth across the room pondering what had happened. Suddenly a thought, like a needle prick, pierced him.

He hastily threw back the blanket and began unceremoniously examining Grady's arms, legs, stomach, and back. He remembered what Seventh had told him. If poison got into his blood, it would be impossible to maintain his false appearance.

He searched for signs of the poisonous bite and finally saw two tiny dots under his right knee, reddened and swollen. With impotence, he clutched the sheets beneath the lifeless body and became angry at himself for his slowness. Dashing out of the room, Cal rushed to the river.

From what the Elder had told him, he remembered which herbs to brew and which to make a compress of. Afraid of being too late and not being able to thank Grady in person for saving him, he hurried through the dawn to find the right herbs. Fortunately, his intuition led him to the right place.

The riverbank was densely dotted with medicinal plants, and Cal plucked them with both hands without remorse. Once he had enough, he returned to the barracks and brewed a truly therapeutic tea. He lifted the girl, poured the medicine into her drop by drop, making sure not to spill it all, and then made a compress.

In his troubles, he did not notice the old man in the doorway. He had been watching the apprentice's bustle for some time and finally decided to reveal himself.

The old man approached Grady determinedly, taking her pulse and listening for breath.

"Swamp Viper," his voice spooked the silence like a flock of birds, making Cal flinch in surprise.

Then he went through the herbs Cal had brought and, bringing the bowl to his nose, inhaled the aroma.

"There is one more ingredient missing from this medicine."

The old man walked out of the barracks, so Cal looked after him in surprise. Sunlight streamed in through the small window and the man could see the girl lying on the bed. Straight nose, thick lashes, narrow chin, and thin lips she looked detached and noble.

And why hadn't he noticed before that Grady didn't just have a pretty face, but a feminine one as well? Was it because of her awful character?

What was it that made her, by changing her appearance, become a man with a terrible reputation...? Cal corrected the compress and, shoving his hands in his pockets, stood at the door, waiting for the old man. A rustling sound behind him made him turn around: Grady opened her eyes and stared at him.

He rushed to her bed, placing a second pillow so she could sit up.

The girl couldn't change her appearance yet, but the angry look on her face was already back. Cal decided not to play the old cat-and-mouse game and disarmed Grady:

"I won't tell anyone!"

The girl wanted to sizzle him with a look.

"You saved my life when I no longer hoped to see the light of day."

Grady hummed.

"Doesn't that mean I owe you one now?"

"Nonsense..." the girl said in a melodious, girlish voice and covered her eyes, "just don't talk."

Cal sighed. The girl dozed off, and when the Elder returned, the two of them were preparing a new potion. The apprentice suddenly realized that the old man was not surprised by the fact that Grady was not a man.

"Elder, how long have you known Grady's secret?" he asked quietly.

"All my life...she's my wayward granddaughter," the old man glared at him in a way that made Cal involuntarily shudder.

The elder had made it clear to him that he would have his head twisted off or drowned in a manure pit for Grady, and the apprentice had vowed to keep the secret. More questions popped into Cal's mind, but he couldn't ask.

All day long he helped Grady drink the healing potion or went out to run errands for the Old Man, and in the afternoon it rained.

Cal went outside and enjoyed the cool moisture falling from the sky. Ever since he was a little boy, he had loved snow and rain because his mother had once told him a legend.

"Once upon a time there lived a family: a father, a mother, and a little son. They had a happy and peaceful life. The father went hunting, and the mother made crafts from the horns of animals he killed. One day the boy was playing in the yard when evil bandits brought his father from the forest.

They extorted money and jewels, but the family had no wealth. The angry bandits killed the boy's parents, and he became an orphan.

Wandering around the world, he was caught in the rain one day and heard the raindrops whispering to him: your mother and father are embracing you through us, accept their love.

The boy thought he was hearing things, but the next time he hit the snowfall, the little snowflakes tickled his cheeks and said: heaven and earth are connecting and we bring you greetings from your parents. Accept their love.

So the boy learned the secret that when it rains and snows, the sky embraces the earth, giving it the love of those who have passed away and are pining for their loved ones."

Cal remembered crying the first time after his father died and it suddenly rained. That's when his mother told him about the legend. From then on, his heart could not remain indifferent when "the sky hugged the earth."

For years on end, he would talk to his parents while standing in the rain or snow, and now, too, he habitually uttered a few words, addressing the heavens.

～～～

Cal's punishment should have expired a day ago, but he had asked the Elder to extend it and stayed with him and Grady all month.

Gradually Grady's cold heart warmed and a few timid snowdrops of friendship showed on the surface.

Once at dinner, they remembered that incident in the dining room and were already sharing their impressions with laughter.

"You've got a strong leg kick," Cal recalled.

"No stronger than your sharp tongue," Grady parried.

Cal laughed. Then he dared to ask.

"And Michal, he..."

"Don't," she cut him off, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Do you really hate each other?" Cal continued to corner his victim.

"Ah, no..." the girl suddenly couldn't contain her emotions and her face contorted.

This was something even Cal hadn't expected. Gathering all his sensitivity and intuition together, he cautiously asked Grady:

"You don't hate him?"

"No," sobbed the girl.

"Then... when he was peeking at the girls in the bathing room you..."

"Jealous," a thick blush flooded her cheeks and betrayed her hidden feelings.

"I see," Cal put a finger to his lips, then shifted his gaze to her shuddering shoulders, and he felt sorry for Grady.

But she seemed to have put herself in a desperate situation. Having feelings for Michal, but being a man to everyone, she had provoked him into conflicts to possess his attention entirely, albeit at such a cost.

She considered it lucky when they had to serve their sentences together, as happened during the closing of the rift.

"You said Michal got hurt, what happened?" shifted the focus of the conversation a bit, Cal.

"..."

"If you don't want to tell, don't tell," Cal patted her on the shoulder.

"There's nothing to tell! That chump was competing with me for courage all the time and went out at night on a hunt from which he was brought in wounded. Idiot!" Grady could hardly contain herself.

"I see...but you were hurting his ego and it's okay for a man to fight for his honor."

"I know," the girl mused again, "how do I get out of it?!"

"And what are your reasons for hiding your looks?" - Cal asked the key question.

He expected the girl not to tell or to be evasive, but Grady, pulling herself together, answered:

"Men have a better chance of success. I have the gift of the protector, but I am a woman. If I were a creator, I'd have no problem teaming up with a strong protector or getting a dragon."

Cal was beginning to understand:

"Who would trust their life to a female protector, you mean?"

"Yes," she answered dejectedly, "since birth my parents have concealed my gender, misleading people. Did you know that less than one percent of defenders are women!"

Cal shook his head.

What kind of nonsense is going on in people's heads? How could parents be ashamed of their daughter's gift and teach her that she should have been born a man? And now she doesn't know what to do at all.

"Grady," Cal called out to her, "let's not be enemies anymore?"

The girl looked up at him with her eyes swollen with tears.

"Screw you!" she replied gruffly, but Cal realized that from now on they were, if not friends, certainly not enemies. And how to help her he'll think about it.

As soon as Grady was back on her feet, Grandpa moved her and Cal into his comfortable home. The conspiracy was no longer necessary, so three weeks later, Cal was finally resting in a normal bed.

No one found out about the incident on the river, so everyone only discussed the fact that for the first time in the history of the Academy, a student had asked for an extension of his punishment.

It was about Cal, of course, and one very guilty Head had torn his office apart, either from anger or from love-sickness...

Meanwhile, Cal, pondering, found a way to help Grady. But he didn't tell the girl the details, only asked her to have lunch together and not to provoke Michal anymore.

"It would be great if you could ignore him and especially any provocation on his part. It won't be easy, but I'll support you, okay?"

Grady nodded. Without her solution to the problem, she could only rely on someone else's plan, especially since she had learned to trust Cal, recognizing his life experience and wisdom.