Impulsive and reckless

The glare of the sunlight against my eyelids woke me up. I rose with a groan, stretching my limbs as I felt as though I had been squashed under by tons of weights. True enough, I had found that I had been laying on the rocky ground, with only our packs serving as my pillows. That really had to be uncomfortable.

And I dreamt about that time again. It had been a while.

"You completely passed out."

I lifted my eyes, seeing Lira looming over me with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, hi there," I greeted, letting out one last yawn.

"Slept good?" she asked flatly.

I stood up. "Quite well in fact."

"Earlier, you—"

I cut her off, knowing full well what she was about to say. "I'm alive. That's all that matters."

I looked around, finding Rasvien seated on a log. We'd found ourselves again at the beginnings of Evernight, since we had been basically chased away—more likely banned forever—by the folks of the town for causing numerous damages to properties and public disturbance. It was very reasonable for them to do it, especially when that place hadn't known chaos in a long time.

Even more, it wasn't worth it to stay in that town either way, especially now that Galen had discovered about that townhouse. By nighttime, more of my father's soldiers would come, after Galen had sent a report in advance that he had found me.

And Galen… he had indeed left me alone. But this decision of his wasn't without a catch. Of course, he would not have relented to it if he didn't have some leverage over me. Still, this was enough. Galen promised that he would lie to my father and everyone else, claiming that he had been careless to let me escape. That, so long as I kept my end of the deal.

But I would be worrying about that on a later time.

The sun was beginning to dip behind the green fields, the horizon a canvas of pink and purple hues. Next to me, Lira was fidgeting nonstop. She paced forward and backward, and I thought she was like a kettle that was waiting to explode.

I felt bad for her, so I breathed in and said, "Fine. Go for it."

Lira's inhale was long, and as I waited for her I braced myself for what was about to come.

"You have absolutely lost your mind!" She's finally snapped. "You knew, Rosette, you knew that none has ever survived the Grand General's fiery blade. I do not care for shit if you managed to deflect his flames or whatever with what you pulled up at the last minute! I know how you think, Rosie, and I know that you don't think at all before acting. I know you really didn't know that your magic was able to do that, and that you were merely lucky that you got to live another day. In all truthfulness, that was the stupidest thing you've done so far."

It was as though thousands of needles pricked my chest, the guilt seeping in. I held her hand, and I saw in her eyes that shone with unshed tears the severity of the pain that I'd caused her. "What I did was awful, and it was wrong of me to cause you so much worry. But if I hadn't stepped in, Ras would have surely died."

Lira's gaze hardened. "The captain could have handled himself just fine."

I bit my lower lip. "You're right, I know that. But…" Ras was a Shadow Mage, and such mages wouldn't be feared by Elvira if they weren't powerful, but when I remembered how much his energy ran amok after fighting off the Mirages I had this unquenchable urge to leap to whatever danger so I could save him and possibly stop him from using his magic again. And despite not having any idea how.

"But what?" Lira asked.

I shook my head. "No, never mind. As I said, you're right. It was impulsive and reckless. I shouldn't have done that."

Lira squinted. "Have you learned your lesson?"

I nodded.

She seemed unconvinced still. "Listen to me, Rosie. If you keep being like this, we won't last a month out here by ourselves."

My throat dried up, my fingers tightening around Lira's hands. "I swear it. I won't do things like that again."

Lira breathed, relief easing her features. "Yes, you shouldn't."

She pulled me in and wrapped me in a hug. "I am going to kill you if you die."

I chuckled, eyes wet. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that."