Harmless

It had taken her almost two hours to stop crying. Her hair was messy, her makeup had run down her face, and her eyes were puffy and red. Even now, sniffles escaped her from time to time as she walked by herself down the darkened streets of the mage district. Unused to feeling this way, Malandrae did her best to keep her emotions under control, but the fact of the matter was that she felt somewhat lost.

Her beloved Florinai represented one of the things she feared most in all the world; a person who could touch the minds of others and erase who they were; destroy their hopes and dreams and desires until only an empty shell was left.

The Highborne shivered, pausing on the silent streets and leaning against a nearby brick wall. She felt physically ill and tired, and the thoughts swirling through her mind did not help the feeling any. She'd spent too much time that day practicing magic, despite having just gotten over her illness from using the titan artifact on Chelody's daughter. Her magic reserves were low, and she felt like a hollow shell. Especially now, as she thought about what she'd learned.

Two of the people I care for and trust the most in the whole world are also capable of MAKING me feel that way if they want. One of them has even admitted to doing so to someone else intentionally, while the other has told me that the temptation to do so is always there. How do I ignore that fact, when I care about both Florinai and Silveria so much? It's so hard. I don't know what to do.

And that was the main point of the issue; there was NOTHING she could do. She had to accept that neither of her two close friends would ever use shadow magic on her or around her, knowing how it made her feel. She felt miserable just thinking about it, but there was no solution and she'd been sulking for much of the night. It was time to go home and try to get some rest and maybe she would be able to accept it when she woke the next day.  

Malandrae sighed and shook her head, pushing herself from the wall. The thoughts were not likely to go away, but she could put them aside for the sake of her love for both of the other elves. She had no choice; she couldn't ask them to be anything other than what they were. It was who each of them were that made her care for them in her own special way.

The Highborne smiled at the thought, her affection for both Florinai and Silveria overcoming some of her doubts as she made her way towards Professor Knox's house. As she rounded the corner, her silver eyes took in the sight of three shadowy figures outside of the Professor's home, lingering on the street nearby. She frowned, realizing they were out of place in this part of the Mage District and at this time of night. They likely were up to no good, and Malandrae knew that if she turned and walked away they wouldn't see her in the darkness.

Varenna's voice drifted through her mind, "If you let them do something bad to you, or ignore what they are doing then they are just going to be encouraged to hurt other innocent people. You have a choice to stop that from happening."

Malandrae nodded to herself and took a step forward into the glow of one of the streetlamps. Immediately the three figures turned, moving towards her. She could tell that they were humans; two men and a woman, dressed in black clothing and with weapons strapped to them.

"What are you doing here? This is the Professor's house." Malandrae said to the approaching trio.  None of them responded except to draw weapons, the two men leading holding swords and the woman holding what looked to be a scroll with words written across it.

It was then that Malandrae realized the humans really were there for some foul purpose. With great hesitation she slowly and very reluctantly brought her hand down to her belt, pulling a wand from it and holding it before her. Her magic was drained, but the artifacts and items she kept on her person could defend her in a fight; with deadly results. She was going to have to wound or kill the attackers; it was the worst possible moment for her to have to do such a thing and she had no choice.

The first man leapt towards her, and she focuses on the wand in her hand. To the utter surprise of both Malandrae and the human, a steady stream of bubbles shot from the front of the want and into the man's face. Hundreds and then thousands of bubbles filled the air between them, and the man had to pause to shield his eyes from the flow, knocking himself off balance and into the path of his companion.

For her part, Malandrae looked down at the wand in her hand in shock; she'd picked Kayasi's bubble wand from her belt by mistake! It was a toy, not a weapon! She had little more time to contemplate the situation though as the second man dodge past his flailing friend and right towards her. Malandrae's eyes glowed silver with magic and she pointed the wand again, this time sending some of her own magic into it.

Thousands and then hundreds of thousands of bubbles streamed from the end of the wand like a gnomish fire hose, striking the man in the chest and coating him with bubbles. He slipped and had to turn to shield himself from the non-lethal stream, interrupting his rush towards the Highborne. The battle was far from over though as the first man recovered from the bubbles in his eyes and charged around the spray, moving within striking distance of the elf.

Thinking quickly, Malandrae remembered the other uses for the wand. She focused the magic, and instantly a large bubble surrounded her, and she lifted into the air as if on a light breeze. She drifted up above the street and the man charging her dashed beneath her, the look on his face comical as he realized his target was no longer on the ground.

That was when Malandrae released the drifting bubble spell.

The Highborne wasn't heavy for a night elf, but she was still far heavier than an average human. Combined with the fact that she fell directly on his head, and that she was wearing chunky five inch heels, the impact drove him to the ground in a senseless heap as soon as she contacted him. For her part, Malandrae landed on the comforting softness of his body, rolling off and back to her feet as the second man ran towards her, blade leading.

This time Kelliana's voice passed through her thoughts, "Fighting in hand to hand is just like your dancing, only instead of working with your partner you're trying to trip them up on purpose."

As if at a ball Malandrae twirled to the side, the deadly blade missing her by a fraction of an inch. Her hands came out and grabbed the man's forearm, whirling him around. Instead of reaching out to take his other arm as she might have done with a dance partner, she continued to whirl, using her body as a weight to spin the man. As she leg go, a delicate leg came out, tripping him and propelling him forward.

The man's momentum and lack of balance lead to an almost comical windmilling as he stumbled across the narrow street. Fortunately, he was soon stopped short by the nearby wall. Unfortunately, his face was the object that ended his forward movement. Malandrae winced at the sound of human flesh hitting brick and then the ground as he was knocked unconscious. She turned to look at the woman who had been with the two men.

The woman screeched, pointing at Malandrae and chanting words of power from the scroll she held. The Highborne's eyes widened in concern as she realized that the woman was going to incinerate her. She brought Kayasi's wand up and pointed, desperate to shield herself. A stream of bubbles flew towards the woman just as fire exploded from her outstretched hand. The two forces met in the center of the street, and the flames burned thousands of bubbles away to steam, but were expended in the process. As the fires died down, the elf and human looked at each other from across the distance between them.

Malandrae smiled, which only enraged the woman. She began chanting again and Malandrae brought the wand up again. This time the woman was encased in a bubble of her own before she could get the spell off. Malandrae winced as she kept chanting anyway, and looked away as a gout of flame exploded inside the bubble, turning the woman into a living candle.

The Highborne reacted quickly, cancelling the bubble around the woman and singing a song. Instantly a blizzard formed in the air around the woman, snow pouring down on top of her and smothering the flames, dousing her and saving her life. Unfortunately the blizzard came with chunks of ice, which pelted the woman into an unconscious pile in the center of the street.

Malandrae sighed and shook her head, staring at her three fallen assailants in dismay. Even as she did so, the sound of heavy footsteps running in her direction could be heard from further up the street. In moment a group of local guards appeared, taking in the scene before them in shock.

They saw a Highborne elf standing in the middle of a snowdrift with three unconscious assailants around her on the ground. In the air around her, hundreds of leftover bubbles drifted in the breeze, creating beautiful sparkling patterns in the lamplight. Malandrae watched them in awe for a time, forgetting all about the battle as she admired their beauty.

As the bubbles began to pop, Malandrae looked down and realized the guards were staring at her. She stuttered out a quick answer to their questioning looks, "T-they were trying to b-break into the Professor's house I think! They tried to STAB m-me!"

The guards looked at each other, their faces grim as they nodded and moved forward, collecting the unconscious humans. A quick search of their possessions uncovered symbols of the Twilight's Hammer cult. Malandrae's eyes widened as she realized what had been going on.

"I-I should tell the Professor about this..." she trailed off.

"Yes Ma'am. They could have been very dangerous," one of the guards replied.

"W-well, at least they didn't activate the wards I put on the Professor's study window," Malandrae replied, gathering up Kayasi's wand and heading towards her home. "It would have taken DAYS to clean them up!"

The guards just looked at each other with wide eyes and then shook their heads. It never got dull working in the Mage District. They watched the Highborne as she made her way to the door, bubbles still stuck in her high ponytails as she tried to find the right key. After what seemed like ten minutes, she found it amongst her things and went inside. The guards sighed and dragged the prisoners off towards the stockades. It would be a long night of paperwork!