Castra leaned closer to the woman.
"Dear," Castra said in a soothing voice. "How do you feel?"
Nairobi's eyes flew open, wide with surprise and fear. She jumped to her feet and scrambled back on the bed until her back hit the wall, clinging to it like a leech on skin, hungry for blood.
Her hand shot out, and with a surge of Mana, a fireball erupted from the palm of her hand, streaking towards Castra.
Isha tensed ready to defend herself, it more of a honed reflex than fear—her master remained cool as ever. The fireball disintegrated into harmless wisps of Mana before it even reached Castra's outstretched hand.
Nairobi gaped at the sight, her fiery attack neutralised with effortless ease.
"Girl, we mean you no harm, we just want to talk. Sit down, and we can have a civilised conversation."
Nairobi responded by launching another volley of fireballs, these accompanied by whips and arrows of flame that danced menacingly in the air. They, too, met the same fate, vanishing before reaching Castra.
"Calm yourself, girl," Castra said. "If I wasn't here to deflect your magic, you'd have burned this whole building down."
Nairobi's eyes were blind with terror that manifested itself as a desperate rage. Her screams echoed in the room as she lashed out with a relentless barrage of fire magic.
With a sigh, Castra waved her hand. The flames suspended in the air sputtered and died, leaving the room unharmed.
"I don't like to use spells to restrain people so much weaker than me, it makes me feel like a bully, but you leave me no choice."
A wave of Mana flowed out of Castra and slammed into Nairobi, enveloping her. The woman gasped as she was lifted into the air, her legs stiffened, and her arms twisted behind her back tied by invisible bonds.
Castra stepped onto the bed, standing face to face with the armoured girl whose eyes bulged like a gaping fish.
"Now listen to me, girl, and listen well. Me and Isha mean you no harm—we saved your life for Naiker's sake. Stop acting like a fool and show some gratitude. Do I make myself clear?"
Nairobi struggled against the unseen bonds that tied her hands and legs and made her float in the air, her body twisting in a futile attempt to break free. She looked like a wriggling worm to Isha.
To Isha's further surprise, Castra leaned in and pinched Nairobi's cheeks with surprising force—they turned red in an instant. Tears welled up in Nairobi's eyes as her face contorted in pain.
"Do we understand each other?" Castra said.
Finally, some sense must have been drilled into the woman's brain, for she responded with a small, shaky nod.
"Good."
Castra released the spell. Nairobi crumpled back onto the bed, gasping for breath and rubbing her reddened cheeks.
Castra sat back down in her chair as if nothing had happened. "Now," she said, her voice back to its usual calm. "Tell us what happened."
Nairobi, her terror and hysteria extinguished, let out a whimpering breath.
"Can I have something to eat first?" Nairobi said, her statement accompanied by her growling stomach.
Two minutes later, Nairobi was devouring a plate of food like a wolf hungry for months. "I haven't had such a good meal in... I don't even remember how long. It feels like months."
"Alright," Isha interjected once Nairobi had somewhat sated her hunger. "What happened to you? You mentioned an alley and fog?"
Nairobi took a deep breath, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I was with my friends; Madison, Mason, and of course, their little runt of a brother, Michael. We were just walking down an alley when… this thick fog rolled in—at least that's what I think it was. One moment we were talking, the next… nothing. I woke up in some forgotten ruins in the middle of nowhere."
"Did you say fog?" Castra said. "That sounds like a summoning spell. I could be wrong though."
"What happened to your friends?" Isha asked.
Nairobi shook her head. "No idea. When I woke up in those ruins, they were gone. The least of my worries at that point, honestly. One minute I'm bustling through a crowded city street, the next… I'm staring at crumbling walls of fucking ruins in the middle of nowhere. Talk about a mind trip. And then I find out I can shoot fire out of my hands! Thanks to some fancy drawings on the walls. Seriously, what's up with that?"
"Fucking? That's an odd name for a ruin."
"I believe that was a curse, dear." Castra said. "Though that is a curse I have never heard before. And believe me, I have been to many places."
"See," Nairobi said, gesturing with both hands. "This is what I mean. You people don't even know what 'fuck' is!"
"What is Fuck?" Isha said, curious. She rarely had the opportunity to learn curse words. Few mild curses she knew had come from her brother.
"Fuck is the most useful word in all of existence. The most universal sentiment. It can be used in any fucking situation."
"We are going on tangents, Nairobi," Castra said. "Shall we continue on with your story?"
Nairobi nodded grudgingly, seeming dissatisfied that she wasn't allowed to continue her explanation about 'fuck'. What an odd woman Nairobi was.
"Where was I? Yes, I gained a practitioner class and learned a few magic spells from the murals. I was not about to pass up the chance to learn real magic, who would? And that's about it."
"So you recently got your class?"
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"No, many people choose to find their right calling before taking up their class."
"Then why are you looking at me like I'm a demon that had just crawled out of hell? Is this about my armour? I did not have them before I woke up in the ruins, you know."
"If we are acting odd, know this, we are sorry. It has nothing to do with your armour. Also, it is common for half-cniad to grow the armour after they have crossed the age of fifteen."
"Wait, I'm a what now?"
"You did not know you were half-cniad? What about your parents? They must have armour like yours."
"They did not."
"That is unfortunate," Castra sighed. "You must come from a diluted bloodline. It must have come as quite a sock when you grew your armour."
"It was."
Nairobi pointed at Castra. "You are still looking at me with those… disconcerting eyes."
Castra looked away with a cough that Isha could tell was fake. "Sorry. It's just that if you recently gained your class, how did your Mana reserve get so large?"
"Oh, that?" Nairobi said, waving her hand. "I found the coral stones described in the mural and crushed it with my Mana. And my Mana turned from that of a single drop to an ocean."
This was the first time Isha saw her master's jaw drop.
How could the woman say that so casually, as if an increase in your reserve of Mana from a mere drop to that of an ocean was the most common thing in the world?
"That must be one incredibly high grade coral stone," Castra said. "I wish I was that lucky."
"You think it was a high grade?" Nairobi did not sound convinced. In fact, she almost sounded disappointed at the revelation. "Was it really? Seemed pretty ordinary to me."
What is wrong with this woman? Isha thought.
"Well then, how were you captured?" Castra said, obviously trying to change the subject from coral stone.