An Embarrassing Situation

"Are you alright, Namgan?" Blink asked Magra. He had just put down his elder sister after carrying her in his arms while running all the way from the monster's lair to his practice spot in the forest—a distance of nearly six kilometers.

At first Magra couldn't seem to find her voice. And when Blink tried to approach her, she took a few steps back to put some distance between them. He was forced to wait until she could regain her composure.

Blink didn't have to wait long.

"What the hell was that thing?" These were the first words that came out of Magra's lips. She still looked pale, sweat shimmering on her smooth forehead.

"I honestly don't know, Namgan," Blink replied. "All I know is that it is far too dangerous for me to let it be."

Blink proceeded to narrate how he first encountered the winged monster. When he reached the part about the human skull that he found which resembled that of a little boy, Magra gasped in horror.

Magra looked at Blink with a complicated expression in her eyes. With her mouth slightly opened, she seemed to be pondering something.

Finally, she asked, "You've been fighting this vicious monster by yourself you couldn't have thought of gathering the men of the village?"

"I did think of that. It's just that I'm afraid it would not end well if I involve a lot of people. Many might die before we could take the creature down. Besides…

Blink allowed a moment to lapse to indicate to his sister that he was about to say something very important.

"I don't want anyone to see the kind of ability I possess."

"Are you referring to those little flames coming out of your hand?" Magra inquired.

"Yes," Blink nodded.

"I suppose it's not something you learn at the academy?"

"It's not. You're the only one who knows about it, Namgan."

For several breaths Magra didn't say anything. She raised a hand to her brows, muttering to herself. She paced to and fro in front of Blink, still mumbling incoherently.

"Namgan?"

"Huh?"

"Is there something wrong?"

Magra furrowed her brow. She regarded her adopted brother with a dumbfounded look.

"A lot of things are definitely wrong here," she said. "For one, although you have the blood of a beastmaster, shooting out flames from your hand like that isn't one of the abilities a beastmaster should have."

"You're right, Namgan, it's not a beastmaster skill."

Blink took a deep breath then gave his sister a serious look.

"It's a wizard skill."

"Wi…Wizard?"

"That's right, Namgan. I'm trying to become a wizard."

Magra's expression soured at that, reluctance clearly etched on her pretty face. She went back to mumbling incoherently to herself again.

"You can't be a wizard!" she finally said. The indignation in her tone could not be mistaken.

This time it was Blink's turn to get dumbstruck. He scratched his head, confused at the turn their conversation had taken.

"Why not?" he asked eventually.

"The noble blood of a beastmaster courses through your veins. How could you stain it with the stench of a wizard's vile penchant for magic?"

Blink furrowed his brow and scratched his head. He usually only did one of either actions when he was confused. This was one of the rare times he did both.

He couldn't think of any acceptable reply at the moment, but he felt like he ought to try. He came up with a lame "I thought being a wizard is cool."

"There's nothing cool about being a wizard! They're always depicted in stories as evil schemers whose hearts are uglier than their countenance, and their countenance looks hideous enough!"

Blink was stunned by his sister's indignant posture. Still, he couldn't stop smiling in spite of her fiery disposition.

"Geez, Namgan, you're making it seem like I brought home an ugly, rotten, and uncouth girl over for the family dinner!"

Magra was taken aback by Blink's analogy.

Not more than twenty days ago she did something dastardly on account of her brother. There was this homely Kasgari girl who had the gall to snuggle up to her and ask her if she may invite her younger brother for a stroll along the river. The girl had a well-deserved reputation as the slut of the village. Anyway, Magra looked her up and down then curtly told her to stay away from her brother. For good measure, she told the girl that an ordinary horse should not dare lust over a unicorn.

Blink pieced the story together through Hegla. The little girl even added that her mother threatened to flip the table "if ever Kraszad brings that slut over for dinner!"

"It's just as well you don't do it." Magra recovered rather quickly. "Wizards are known to work so hard at being rational that they become cold and not care for anyone or anything except to gain more power."

Blink wasn't surprised at all that his sister knew something about wizards. She was quite a book glutton who could devour pages and pages of books all day if you let her into a library.

"You care too much, and we love that about you," Magra added. "I cannot ever imagine you having to become this detached, unfeeling spellcaster for the sake of advancing in the magical arts. It's just so not like you."

Blink didn't answer right away. He understood that his sister was just worried that he would turn into those vicious characters found in storybooks.

"Namgan, I am already a spellcaster," Blink said. "I've been doing this for a while now, yet I'm still the same old me."

At this Magra didn't know how to respond. She laid a palm over one side of her forehead, her expression of one seemingly lost but totally unwilling to yield a single inch.

Blink sighed. He knew it would be impossible to convince his sister against her beliefs, no matter how biased she knew they were.

"Don't worry, Namgan, if I ever find myself become cold and unfeeling, I'll come home not a day later," Blink could only assure her. "Is that good enough for you?"

Magra took a deep breath. "I suppose that will do for now," she reluctantly agreed while taking a long time to reply.

"Besides there is a more pressing problem for me to solve right now," Blink reminded Magra.

Reminded of the winged monster, Magra looked at her brother, sighed then shook her head several times. "You can't help it, can you?" she said with an accusing tone.

Magra knew her brother tended to be hopelessly heroic. She once said that her brother had this huge savior complex that was sure to get triggered whenever someone was in trouble.

"I thought I could kill it within three days," Blink answered with a sheepish grin. He scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Three days?"

"Yes. But it is now the fourth day." Blink hung his head.

"But can you kill it?" Magra inquired.

"Maybe. I'm really not so sure anymore."

"Why is that?"

"For one, it seems to have recuperative powers. I leave it in a lot of hurt at night it could barely walk; only to find it walking about in the morning. But that's not the worst part. What really bugs me is that it's actually smarter than I thought."

Blink paused to let Magra absorb the information. When he noticed that she was waiting for him to go on, he continued telling her about his observations.

"In short, unless I gain considerable improvements in my understanding and use of magic, it might be very tough for me to put down that dreadful beast for good," Blink concluded.

Magra's countenance turned pensive for several breaths. Suddenly, she turned to Blink with a frown.

"Don't you have two books that deal with magic?" she asked.

Blink grew very quiet. A helpless expression showed on his face.

"Er…Well…Those books…Ahmm…" Blink had that sheepish grin back on.

Seeing her brother groping for words, Magra stared at him intently. Meanwhile, Blink kept giving her that silly-looking grin of his while scratching his head.

"You mean you haven't read them?" It was but a moment's thought from Magra. But she ended up asking the question anyway.

"A-ha-ha!" Blink laughed in helpless resignation. "I did, Namgan. It's just that—well—you see—it sounds funny, but I couldn't begin to understand the words written in them."

Blink covered half his face with his large right hand while smiling like a bashful idiot.

"But I saw the book, and it's written in the common language of the old grand kingdom."

"Sigh! That's true, Namgan. But it might as well have been written in a foreign language."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the words are familiar but the way the writer used them is beyond my ability to understand."