Nova can tell Haze wants to tell her something. It might not be obvious to anyone else, but between sisters, it is glaring.

Haze is fidgety. Her eyes are darting to her every five seconds. She sees the lightest of purple dust follow Haze’s fingertips.

Once they get back to the castle from the dragon mission, Nova pulls her aside.

“What is it?” Nova cuts to the chase.

Haze doesn’t even hesitate, already knowing what she’s referring to, “You were right. The dragon was under a spell. But it wasn’t by a witch.”

The last part surprises even her. Magic isn’t used by many. Only a select few wield such power.

“By what then?” Nova asks.

There’s something about the way Haze is holding herself. Arms crossed when they’re usually so open.

Like they are protecting herself.

“A wizard.”

That one title sends shivers down Nova’s spine. It takes a lot to rattle her, but this does.

A wizard, just like a witch, should not be crossed.

Nova won’t judge a whole group from a few like many castle people, but the wizards Nova has encountered weren’t very bubbly.

“We should tell Ward and Princess Aziza.”

OoOoO

It’s not very difficult to tell them since Ward has an internal compass for Nova and Aziza has been waiting for them to get back from the dragon incident anyway.

“You look displeased,” Aziza comments, her one eyebrow raising in question.

“Is it about what you said about the dragon?” Ward brings up, pinpointing the source of their unsettleness.

He has a knack for that.

“That dragon, he was spelled,” Nova explains.

“By a witch?” Princess Aziza asks and then quickly covers her mouth with her hand. Nova won’t hold it against her. It’s what most people’s minds would’ve gone to.

At least the princess is aware and regretful that it was her first thought.

“A wizard,” Haze answers, still not totally ok.

Something is still off with her. Nova at first chalked it up to the initial shock, but there is something else.

It takes more than a normal wizard to rattle her.

“How do you know?” Ward questions with curiosity laced in his voice.

It’s always out of curiosity, never from doubt. That nonjudgmental nature of his is something she loves about him.

Haze grapples with her words, stuttering a bit with the inability to get the words out in a way that she wants, “It’s like…there are these magic signatures. Like, like a fingerprint. Witches and wizards are distinctly different.”

“What is this one telling you about the person who cast it?” Nova pushes.

“They are powerful. Powerful much beyond what I am used to sensing,” Haze says with meaning laden in her word.

For Haze to say someone is powerful means that they are. They are someone to worry about. To be afraid of.

This concerns Nova greatly.

Even though she doesn’t care for most of the Oreza kingdom, especially the castle people, that doesn’t mean she wants to see their downfall. Ward and the princess don’t deserve that.

“Do they pose a threat?” Princess Aziza questions. Long gone is the girl that likes Nova’s sister. Standing with them is the princess. Weighed down by duty and responsibility.

Nova deeply respects her. While Nova has only needed to watch after Haze for most of her life, Aziza does that for everyone in her kingdom.

“Well, they cast a spell on a dragon, highly resistant creatures. It isn’t easy to fool one. And there is the question of why,” Haze says.

Both Ward and the princess look to the sisters for answers. Answers that neither of them have.

That doesn’t mean Nova doesn’t have her theories.

Normally, she doesn’t like going off of theories since they aren’t proven. She likes facts. There just isn’t a choice here.

“There are three options I can come up with,” Nova preempts.

“One, they wanted to show off. Give an indication they’re nearby. Just because they can.” This is the least likely in Nova’s opinion. Magic users don’t spell dragons for the giggles. If they wanted to show off, Nova would imagine they would do it in a more definite manner.

Not bank off of a dragon that could have not even gone close to the castle.

She moves on, “Two, it was a warning. To prove they are the real deal.” This has potential. Though it has the same hole in the logic.

There would be no guarantee of the dragon flailing around close by.

Unless the wizard somehow directed the dragon to the castle. Towards the people.

She can almost feel everyone holding their breaths at her last option. “Three, it was a distraction. And their goal was something else.”

Nervousness practically crackles in the air.

“Something else?” Ward echoes.

“Or someone,” Princess Aziza says, glancing up at her castle, her home. Nova gets the feeling that if it’s the third option, someone that Aziza knows may not be safe.

They’re all not safe.

———

(Trust Fall, which is the very first post in this series, won in my college’s writing competition. It placed 2nd! I placed third with my poem Eclipse in the poetry section too (which is also posted on this app)! I just want to thank everyone on here since sharing my writing here gives me encouragement and confidence that I didn’t even know I needed. Thank you! 💜)