"Stop it all of you!" shouted Lebi.

"But Lebi..." the one named Yacob called from across the balcony.

"Anyone who lays a hand upon them will answer to me first!"

There was a certain weight of authority in her voice, for a moment there was only silence. Then one by one, the voices in the library stepped out into the light.

There were six hiding, making a total of twelve.

"Violence only breeds violence. I am glad everyone has come to their senses to stand here and talk peacefully."

Lebi's smile seemed to ease everyone's mood, like a mother making sure her children would stop fighting.

"But Lebi," Yacob said, "with your
skills and magic you could take out the entire mob..."

"I agree, Lebi is powerful enough," Jak said. He was in his mid-thirties.

"Do neither of you understand?" Lebi angrily stomped, starling them both. "If any of us uses magic to retaliate, we're only going to raise tensions between elementals and humans. That is basically giving them what they want!" Lebi sighed pressing her hand against her forehead.

"What happens if they come here then? Are we just going to sit here and get-" before Yacob could finish, Lebi cut him off with a sharp voice:

"We do nothing!" then quickly added with a small a voice: "Yes, we stay here and do nothing."

"I agree with Lebi, she is certainly right." Isa stepped up causing all eyes to turn.

"I know you cannot fight back, but we can. Me and fresh meat here." She continued folding her arms.

Lebi weighted the pros and cons for a moment before replying, "Indeed, but how can you be sure the consequences of your actions won't affect us?"

"As soldiers we do not make promises. We simply do our best to prevent that from happening. You have my word."

After quietly nodding to herself several times and mumbling something, Lebi replied, "very well, then how do you plan to avoid the consequences?"

"Is there a surveillance camera on this compound?" Isa questioned instead.

"There are a dozen sight stones covering the courtyard. But there is only one surveillance camera inside the mansion, which is right there." Lebi pointed to the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. "There are a dozen sight stones surrounding the garden and a dozen more inside the mansion. But..."

"Humans don't trust elemental gadgets." Isa finished the sentence for her.

"Indeed." Lebi agreed with sincerity.

"One surveillance camera will be enough." Isa looked up. "If they come, let them in."

"Let them in? Are you crazy? See what I mean? She is defiantly a spy!" Yacob spat pointing at a finger at her accusingly.

"Yacob!" Lebi shouted, Yacob jumped back a step. "Do me a favor and go to the office upstairs, I will talk to you later."

"Lebi..."

"Go." Lebi snapped. Yacob, like a grumpy child who got hustled by his mom. Made every single of his step upstairs clear of his anger, ending with a thunderous slam of what might be his bedroom door.

"I am sorry to let you see this happen. Yacob can be very immature sometimes. I am really really sorry." Lebi bowed in apology.

"No, no, no! It's fine; there is no need for you to apologize." I said, cutting in.

"But..." Lebi lowered her head even more.

"Yeah, plus you didn't do anything wrong. And if there has to be blame on someone it should be on the ones that planned and organized the riot."

"You're right..." Lebi slowly stood straight again. "But thanks again." She smiled brightly.

"No need to thank us, we haven't done anything yet." I smiled back scratching the back of my head nervously.

Nervous from what? I wondered.

"Then back to the main topic, what is your plan exactly?" Lebi asked.

Isa told her then plan.

"It's too dangerous!" Jak protested.

"That's insane!" Nyu objected. Who appeared to be in her mid-twenties.

"It's a risk we will have to take. Do I still have your word...I haven't learned both your names yet?" Lebi pointed a finger at her chin as everyone turned and looked at us.

"This is Isa! She's super badass! She fired a machine gun and made the entire mob fall to their knees!" Mimi happily introduced Isa doing a gun firing imitation. Next moment she was right beside me and was holding up my left arm.

"This here is Kard! He's super cool! He can fire a laser out of his hand!"

They all looked shocked, which is probably the natural response.
Then under the eyes of everyone I managed an awkward laugh.

"How did you lose your arm?" Feberick asked cautiously.

"Oh that..." I hesitated for a moment.

"It's ok if you don't want to say it. I am sorry, I was just curious..."

"It's ok..." I lowered my head slightly.

"A little more than two weeks ago, when the Deathwalker attacked the city, I lost it in the process of trying to save Illyria..." Realizing what I had just said, I quickly covered my mouth and looked to everyone else again. None of them seemed to care what I just said, except for Lebi, who covered her mouth in surprise.

"I remember now! You were mentioned in the news! I just didn't know you were the one who saved Illyria."

"Illyria?" the moment her name was brought up, everyone else seemed to evaporate from plain sight, only the name remained.

"Yes, though she only mentioned being passed out and unable to remember anything..."

So it's not Illyria doesn't care, it's just that she doesn't know...

My heart let out a breath of relief.

"How is she now? Is she doing alright?" I asked as I bombarded Lebi with questions.

"Eh...she's doing fine. She's a member of the student council and the 2nd year student grade rep for IIMT's lower institute."

"That sounds pretty good." I said as the smile on my face grew wider.

"Lebi's not bad either! She's the secretary of the student council..." Jak started, but Lebi cut him off.

"Ex-student council secretary." Lebi quickly fixed. "Because of many reasons, I am no longer part of student council; now I am just a regular student attending IIMT."

"That's still pretty good though, wait do the rest of you go to IIMT too?" I asked as I scanned everyone else inside the room.

"Yacob didn't quite make the cut for IIMT, as for everyone else...no." Lebi paused and looked me in the eye for a moment. "Wait, did you just say you go to IIMT too?"

"Yep, I am currently going to this special program..." I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder, without turning around I knew it was Isa.

"Sorry for asking, I didn't know it was private." Lebi clasped her hands together in an apologetic manner.

"No, no, you really don't have to keep on apologizing." I smiled again as Isa's hand slipped from my shoulder.

"Sorry to break your chit chat fresh meat, but now is our last chance to set up."

Isa sure had a way of dispelling the aura of ease and really, any comfort.

"Indeed. But are you sure we don't have to do anything to help?" Lebi wore a worried expression.

"We're soldiers, it's what we do." Isa reassured.

"Then best luck to you both. Hopefully they won't come..."

"Then we will be ready. Come on fresh meat, we've got work to do."

Q: Do you feel like you say 'sorry' too much during a conversation with a stranger?