#Chapter5
/"Wait, how?./" Leona is confused.
/"You knocked him out before you lost consciousness. The Grandmaster himself announced you!./"
Leona can’t believe her ears. ‘I made it?.’
/"Wow… And where am I now?./"
/"This is the palace./" Leona goes pale hearing this. She realises she is naked in front of the maid, thinking how many people know and what will happen to her.
/"Wait, I-- I’m a g--/" she can’t bring the words to form.
Xialing hushes her. /"I know. But no one else does. Even your old Master tried to get it while you were naked, but I made sure he didn’t see anything./"
Leona feels relief as her secret is safe, or not?
/"But why? Why you kept it secret?/" she isn’t sure why she would do that.
/"I’m not sure. I guess, I never seen a woman having these powers and making it till here. You are one of us and.. I don’t want to see you being killed off. I’m also sure this would hurt the Kingdom. But this, this is dangerous./"
Leona knows that too well.
/"I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you kept my secret. But I know how dangerous this is and I’m willing to take the risk. This is my dream. For some reason I was given these powers and so, I will use them. You can have an out if you want./"
Xialing blushes at that response. Having helped her, even for that little, she feels she has an obligation to stay by her side.
/"Alright, let's do this. I’ll help you out./"
Leona gives her a big smile, cause finally, she has an extra ally.
She is done with her bath and Xialing wraps her around a cozy robe. She moves back to her room only to find her old Master waiting there.
/"How did you get in here?!/" Xialing is furious.
/"Not that hard really. You should get better on that/" he says full of irony.
Leona’s body wasn’t fully covered, so the fact that she is a girl could be understood.
/"Get out now!/" Xialing is screaming at him while trying to cover Leona.
Leona taps her on the arm. /"It’s alright. He knows./"
Xialing backs off and looks at his resting face. /"Wow, cool/" she says feeling a bit awkward.
/"Should I get rid of her?/" Yien is joking making Xialing furious.
/"Calm down now, both of you. She isn’t gonna say anything. In fact, she has been really helpful./"
Leona know that even though Yien acts all cool, he was really worried to go to the extremes and break in.
/"You should know, you made us proud. You are the only one that made it from our Academy. Now everyone is rushing to get taught by me.. Thank you./"
Leona is about to cry. Her Master’s words were genuine and came from his heart. She promptly runs and hugs him tight.
/"Thank you/" it was all she was saying making him blush.
/"Uh, alright.. I guess it’s time for me to go. Be a good boy, alright?./"
/"I will/" it’s her answer with tears roll down her cheeks.
‘I made it.’
The hours pass and Xialing is preparing Leona.
/"Look what I found/" she says while showing a long cloth.
/"What is that?./"
/"This is for your chest. It will be comfortable, and you won’t suffocate in this. Not like the ones you wore. I wonder how you did anything with them./" Xialing started putting them on her, and what she said was true; they were truly comfortable.
/"Wow, where did you get these?/" she asks as she was amazed.
/"I have my ways. Now, I have to make you look like a man!/" and they both laugh at this comment.
She puts on a white silk clothes. The fabric was soothing against her skin. Xialing grabs her hair, trying to settle them on a bun.
/"Why don’t we cut them?/" she asks her.
/"I can’t. A dragon warrior should have long hair. Believe me, I’ve been cutting them, but I know I have to keep them long. I can keep them at shoulder length, I guess./"
Leona was always worried that her feminine looks would show.
/"It’s fine. There are actually a lot of handsome men, some of them prettier than women so don’t worry. I’ll make sure that they won’t know,/" saying that Xialing grabs a brush.
She starts coloring her eyebrows to make them fuller and adding shadows on her face to make it look more as a male’s.
‘She is really good at this. I look like a handsome lad!.’
Xialing grabs the last piece of the uniform: the boots. They are long and gold, making her look like she is taller.
/"WOW! Thank you Xialing!/" Leona admires herself.
/"Now, you need to go out and meet the other warriors. The Grandmaster will greet you on the throne room along with the Emperor and his son./"
/"It’s time, huh?/" she feels a little bit anxious.
/"You’ll do great! Good luck, Leon./"