The latch and more than half the doorframe burst apart into a storm of splintered wood. Maya burst through the entry at a sprint, her sword flashing through the cloud of debris.

A storeroom. Racks of bodices, skirts, and corsets were along the walls. There were doors to either side leading into the larger showrooms, easy access for the attendants bringing new garments for the clients' appraisal.

Steel clashed against steel as Tion blocked Maya's strike. He stood in the center of the room. The glow of his eyes was barely visible behind his darkened spectacles, but it was enough for Maya to see that Tion's eyes were wide with shock.

Maya went low and struck out with her heel. It connected with the back of Tion's knee, and he took control of his fall to roll across his shoulders. Pushing off the hardwood floor with one hand, he returned to his feet and reset his stance. Before he had a chance to assess his situation, Maya hurtled through the air towards him. She shouted out a wordless battlecry as she smashed her blade down on him in an overhand strike.

Tion held his sword braced across his palms to receive the blow. Ethersight revealed spells of strength forming through his arms and legs. As their swords collided, the force of Maya's attack passed through his body to the floor, shattering the wood beneath his feet.

Once Maya's boots touched the ground, her blade stabbed out in a rapid flurry of thrusts towards his torso. Tion parried each attack, but the suddenness of her assault had forced him on the defensive with no opening in which he could counterattack or evade. Maya gave no quarter, seeking to end the fight as decisively as possible.

A thrust cut through the sleeve of his left arm, leaving a gash in its wake. Maya channeled her elder magic through the small amount of blood on her sword. An osteomancer was just as vulnerable to crushed bones as anyone else. Unfortunately, Tion seemed to have taken his oren before entering the gallery, so Maya's spell had no effect whatsoever.

Maya didn't see Tion's counterspell spell with her ethersight, but she felt the echoes of it. Switching from offense to defense in the span of a heartbeat, she threw herself to the left just before a sorcerous burst of wind engulfed where she'd been standing. Maya noted the trailing end of her feathered shawl and how it had been sheared through. Tion's aeromancy wasn't to be underestimated. It could form blades from thin air to deadly effect.

Before Maya could resume her assault, a barrier ward formed between her and Tion. He was breathing hard from exertion, and his spectacles had fallen from his face during the fierce exchange.

"What in Hell are you doing?" Tion demanded.

Maya's eyes found the two girls he'd been threatening. They huddled in a corner of the room on the other side of Tion, clinging to each other and whimpering with fear.

"Answer me, Maya," Tion shouted. "Have you taken leave of your senses?"

Maya needed to keep his attention on her. If he remembered he had leverage in the form of two shop girls, ending this without harming bystanders would become far more difficult. She summoned astramancy to her hands and threw it against Tion's barrier.

It wasn't particularly powerful but enough to dazzle his eyes and fill the room with the roar of electrical discharge. Sparks flew off the barrier in a brilliant display, but the ward held firm. Maya didn't need it to fall, only keep his eyes on her. She continued to send a flow of lightning from her hand to the barrier.

Tion took a step back, holding up a hand as he poured his ether into his defenses. Maya's lightning wasn't about to shatter the ward, but it was proving costly for him to maintain it.

"The Cabal got to you," Tion snarled. He spat to his side. "Pity. Your uncle hoped you'd come to our way of seeing things."

Maya bared her teeth. "All hope for that ended when he killed Dashar."

"So you figured that out," Tion chuckled. "Imagine the look on Gain's face when that thing runs him through while wearing the face of his son."

"Not before I kill it!" Maya shouted. Hearing it confirmed, that the Dashar she'd spoken to really was an imposter, made her grief feel as raw as the day she first heard her cousin was dead.

For a brief moment of weakness, she'd had hope.

"Become greater than me, Maya."

The first battle of her war underway, Maya knew that now was the time to fulfill Dashar's hopes for her.

She howled. Her lightning intensified. Its power doubled. Tripled. From one heartbeat to the next, the raw power of her astramancy increased in strength five fold. Tion's barrier held for one moment before shattering like a crystal goblet struck by an iron mallet.

The echo of her spell resonated through the storeroom. She'd held it back just shy of causing a full apotheosis. A restrained attack to avoid drawing the notice of every arcanist in the city, yet still enough to send Tion crashing against the far wall.

The girls scurried away from where Tion slumped against the wall with a blackened scorch mark across his chest. Maya spared them little attention as she stalked towards her opponent, sword raised to drive through his heart and make certain he was dead. She stabbed with her sword, and it met no resistance before it struck the wall behind his body.

An illusion.

Maya whirled around to meet an attack, but it didn't come. Tion now stood by the shattered doorframe, chest heaving but otherwise uninjured. Maya hadn't known his illusions were advanced enough to conjure such a convincing decoy, but he'd managed it in short order.

Decades of experience compounded by the training of a royal assassin. He'd be among the most skilled arcanists Maya had ever faced.

"A semblance step," Maya said in appreciation. "That manifestation was developed by the Ejasta Aleesh, but you've improved it with the simulacrum taking the wound you avoided."

Tion inclined his head to her. "Had plenty of chances to see it first hand when your grandfather led the campaign on Ejasta."

"A glorious victory for Althandor," Maya said with a sneer. "Hundreds of Aleesh children slaughtered. How proud you must be."

"Thousands, you mean." Tion grinned wickedly. "Thousands of slaver spawn who'll never breed. You should be more grateful. You'd be dealing with hundreds more Aleesh knights right about now if their hideouts in Ejasta hadn't been burned out."

Maya could've had hundreds more Aleesh knights kneeling to her in fealty. She wasn't nearly as grateful as Tion seemed to think she should be. However, his boasting at least revealed that Vintus wasn't aware of Enfri's allegiance.

"The Merovech's Cabal has gotten to you," Tion said. "He was always soft on Aleesh, said we shouldn't exterminate the rats. His meddling after Ejasta is what spared the half-breeds we found ever since, and look where that's landed you."

"Don't pretend Vintus isn't supporting his own Dragon Empress. I know about Elise of Eastrun."

Tion shook his head as he panted. "You know nothing. You're strong, girl, but you're just a whelp with less than twenty contracts to her name. You've bested hedge wizards, but I've slaughtered kings!"

"One old man begging for mercy," Maya retorted with a sneer. "Just like you will be."

"I'll not ask for mercy."

"And I'll not give it."

Tion barked a laugh. "We'll see about that!"

He held his arm out to the side, and a terrified shriek sounded out. One of the shop girls was pulled bodily from her feet and flew into his clutches. He held her back to his chest and placed his sword to her throat.

Maya took a step towards them then hesitated. The girl, black-haired with rounded eyes, must've been a daanman for Tion's sorcery to be capable of gripping her directly. She had no ether to shield her imprint from even the most basic of spells.

The second girl, frightened out of her wits, held her hand out helplessly for her friend in Tion's grip.

"Run to your mistress," Maya shouted at her. When the girl didn't respond, Maya sent bolts of lightning to strike near her feet. "Now!"

After stumbling and tripping over herself, the girl finally ran from the storeroom while screaming her head off. It was difficult to a say which royal assassin terrified her more.

Tion glanced towards her escape, perhaps questioning whether she'd bring reinforcements for Maya. "If you don't want to see this girl bled dry, you'll toss your sword to me."

"No."

"You think I won't kill her?"

The girl started to weep.

"You will not," Maya said, trying to keep her voice calm for the hostage's benefit. "Because you know, Tion, how painful I will make your end if you harm any of my people."

Tion backed towards one of the showroom doors, pulling the girl along and keeping his sword to her neck. "Your head's always been too big, girl. You've always signed writs of credit your coffers can't honor. All it takes from me is one word to your uncle, and more horror than you can imagine will fall on this spire."

Maya tensed. A sending was possible for a sorcerer, if difficult and costly without the aid of a spirit. Few assassins bothered learning the manifestation because of how much ether it required. She kept her ethersight trained on Tion in case she began to see the telltale signs of wind essence that meant a sending was being manifested. If Tion tried it, Maya would have no choice but to sacrifice the hostage to stop him.

One life weighed against the potential thousands who'd be put in jeopardy if Maya's war with Vintus moved into the open before the right moment. It would be her and one dragon against the entire battlefield coterie, perhaps others, and likely against her father. No. For now, Vintus had to remain in the dark about who moved against him, no matter the cost.

"All this was a ruse, wasn't it?" Tion angled his retreat towards the showroom door and flung it open with a manifestation. "The Cabal showed too many of their cards with this blunder. Only one person could've given the lies that led me here. But we'll take care of your little bird in the palace. Don't you worry. Heron won't live to see tomorrow."

Maya nodded. Heron Algara now acted on behalf of the Merovech's apprentices. She'd wondered if that could be the case after the Krayson told her that her older cousin could be trusted. If Heron and the rest of her coterie hadn't been making themselves scarce, ostensibly gathering intelligence on both Shan Alee and the Horde, Maya would've already spoken with her direct about the subject.

"Are you going to run?" Maya asked. "Or stand there like a frightened rabbit?"

For a moment, she thought Tion would rise to her challenge, kill the girl, and come at her in a rage. He wasn't going to get baited so easily. Dragging the weeping girl behind him, he passed into the showroom and slammed the door after him. Maya could hear the girl's screams fade as Tion dragged her along after him.

Right now, his goal would be to escape and pass word of Maya's betrayal to Vintus. If he was capable of a sending, he'd be manifesting it immediately. Maya would not allow it.

The blood Tion left on her sword was useless for osteomancy, but there were other ways to utilize it. Maya sent tendrils of ether into the blood, strengthening the connection between her imprint and Tion's. His oren would protect against spells targeting his imprint, but strengthening an already existing connection to his imprint was a simple matter. Tion hadn't thought to ward against something so harmless, but a marking spell, most often used to facilitate divination, could do far more than allow Maya to track Tion with a dousing.

Maya closed her eyes and concentrated. From what she'd muddled out from this lost magic since learning it in Shan Alee, it'd been developed by a wizard for wizards. Wizardry was a versatile form of spellcraft, but Maya found that it had a tendency to fall into formulaic patterns that only a sorcerer could push beyond.

Aleesh teleporters connected the imprints of two locations and passed through the bridge they created. Maya altered the spell to connect the imprints of two people. She felt a flash of heat, was aware of the displacing air bursting like thunder around her even if she couldn't hear it herself, and opened her eyes to stare into Tion's gaping face.

She now stood in the hallways outside the showroom. Tion must've been running straight for the front entrance. He still had the girl, and once Maya appeared before him in a burst of lost magic, he put his sword to his hostage's neck once again.

"You cannot escape me so easily, Tion."

She saw his eyes dart over her, trying to catch the last vestiges of her spellcraft. Maya stalked towards him, and he backed away.

"What in the embrace of hellfire?" he breathed. "What is that magic?"

"Something thought lost. Only misplaced."

Tion's eyes widened, and he turned on his heels to run the opposite direction, deeper into the spire. He kept the girl with him. She'd slow him down, but he must've realized Maya wasn't willing to endanger her if she didn't absolutely have to.

Maya pursued at a fast walk. She didn't feel the need to exert herself, and pursuing him too hard would only encourage him to harm the girl. As Tion ran around a bend in the hall, Maya checked her ether stores.

All that lightning, the spells she'd used while tailing Tion, and the teleportation had been a noticeable drain. Nothing of particular cost. She estimated she yet possessed four-fifths of her stores. Maya could practically do this all day, and Tion must've begun feeling the drain on his own stores. He was sweating bullets and probably below half ether already.

Maya unlocked the enchantments infusing her and replaced them, ensuring that the fight so far hadn't negatively effected them. She didn't think Tion subtle enough to alter someone else's bolstering spellcraft, but Maya wasn't about to underestimate him now that he was on the defensive.

She teleported again, arriving in front of Tion. He retreated once again, and Maya allowed him to take a few turns through the halls before teleporting once more. She was mindful of appearing where he wasn't looking to avoid his ethersight. Once that spellcraft was in his repertoire, he'd escape back to the palace in an instant, and the contest would end with Maya as the loser.

Fortunately, teleportation wasn't exactly a simple manifestation. It'd taken Maya hours of practice before she managed jumping a few paces. Tion was more experienced and could likely replicate a spell quicker than she could. Maya needed to limit the opportunities he had to observe her spellcraft.

In any case, Maya had one more gambit to play, and she didn't want any surprises before it was time for her ace in the hole to show itself. Killing Tion was to be her first victory over Vintus, and she'd rather not have to reveal her new favorite manifestation so early into the war.

Maya imagined the look on the Krayson's face if he saw what she planned to do. The thought was far from unpleasant. Smiling in anticipation, Maya continued the pursuit at a stroll.

"You're toying with him?" Zanda demanded, appearing beside Maya in her human form. She fell into step and matched her pace.

"A little," Maya admitted, "but I have a purpose. So long as he believes I can appear before him at any moment, he won't risk splitting his attention to give a sending."

"It has been my experience that veterans have a penchant for upsetting the most well-laid plans." Zanda frowned. "And to be frank, this plan isn't exactly the most well-laid I've seen."

"Fair enough. I need you to follow him close, but stay out of sight. Don't engage unless he tries a sending."

Zanda nodded.

"What of the perimeter?"

"I've erected a barrier interdiction over the spire, and the circumvention is the death of an Althandi. I thought it a wise precaution, seeing as Lady Claryss appears to exclusively employ foreigners on her staff. You must only ensure Tion doesn't manage killing either you or her."

"He's unlikely to find her dimensional pocket before I run him down." Maya eyed Zanda sidelong. "I didn't sense an apotheosis. I've never heard of an interdiction not causing one."

"Because mortals lack subtlety with their spellcraft. The mighty don't wield magic like a cudgel. I didn't slam all my power into the ward all at once. Instead, I built it up over time. Slower, but far less noticeable."

"And far more costly," Maya said. "You must be spent. Placing an interdiction that way would ethershock a hierarch."

Zanda furrowed her brow. "Apparently not. Even as I pulled ether from the bond to place the spell, you seemed to have plenty. I judged the precaution of an interdiction worth the expenditure."

Maya halted in mid-stride. "What are you talking about? You didn't take ether from me."

"I assure you, I wouldn't have been able to place an interdiction unnoticed if I hadn't. I may be mighty, but I'm not infinite."

"Dragon, I've felt you take ether before. I would know if you drew from my stores."

Zanda was frowning with deep thought. "I have no explanation to give you, Your Highness. I took ether. The only difference between now and previous instances was the amount I took." Her frown deepened. "The amount was... considerable. I worried it would leave even you vulnerable."

Just to be certain, Maya checked her stores again. They remained steady, a little less than before from maintaining the self-enchantments and manifesting a couple teleportations. She'd thought Zanda might have been exaggerating the amount of ether she'd needed, and the drain wasn't as great as she claimed. Enough to go unnoticed in all the excitement. As far as Maya could tell, Zanda hadn't taken so much as a single measure of ether all day.

"Could this be part of the bond?" Maya asked. "You've said arcanists and their dragons sometimes produce odd abilities when their spellcraft combines."

Zanda shook her head and stared thoughtfully into space. "Not that I've heard of. Bonded sorcerers have reported significantly greater control over the essences their dragons are familiar with. There've been no reports of anything like ether appearing out of thin air." Her eyes raised to meet Maya's. "You have always been an outlier, Your Highness. Even among assassins. Could this perhaps be a previously unknown aspect of your elder magic?"

"Impossible to say," Maya said. "If it's unknown, how would I know about it?"

"Only a theory." She gestured towards the hallway Tion had taken. "I suggest you teleport again. Tion must be thinking he's lost you by now. I won't be far behind."

Maya stepped back and prepared the spell. As she did, Zanda became a sparrow once again and flew off. When Maya's sorcery completed, she found herself in a part of the spire that wasn't in the areas a visitor to the gallery would go. The finery of the showrooms was absent. Bare drywall and cracked stone floors lined the hall. This wasn't part of the gallery at all, but an unlit corridor deep within the spire's interior. Civil engineers used such passages to access the structure for maintenance.

"Stop doing that!" Tion roared. He swung his sword at Maya, but it was easily parried aside. His attack ineffective, Tion backed away from her. The girl was still with him, but she must've been exhausted from being dragged through half the spire and was probably slowing Tion down even further than before.

Maya had to end this soon, or Tion would decide the hostage had become more trouble than she was worth.

"Blustering whore," Tion snarled at Maya as he pulled the girl along towards a doorway heading even further into the spire.

Maya's lip curled in distaste. "Hurling epithets already? A royal assassin should have more composure."

"If you're this bored, go spread your legs for ruffers."

"Eww."

Tion barked a cruel laugh. "The whole palace knows you'll go to your knees for any man what asks for it."

Maya could only stare in incredulity. Gossip about her had always been as vicious as it was inaccurate, but if Tion was spouting it now, it must've been because he was trying to distract her from something else. She engaged her ethersight and sought out any essences she might've missed.

"Maybe I'll have you kneel for me. We're not that closely related." He prodded his hostage in the side with his sword, drawing both blood and a scream. "Never had two lasses at once. Seems a thing a man should experience."

Maya bared her teeth. Tion was definitely up to something with his vile remarks. She just couldn't figure out what.

Then she saw it. Earth essences pooled at his feet, subtle and easy to miss if she hadn't chanced to look at how his feet were positioned in relation to his hostage's. Tion was goading Maya to approach him and step in the trap he'd set. By the way the essences clung to the floor's imprint, the spell was a transmutation awaiting a trigger.

Maya was grateful for the cowl. Tion couldn't see her eyes clearly and wouldn't know she had her ethersight locked on his manifestation. She detected fainter essences within the trap. Fire, a swift and staccato pulsing along the Weave. If Maya got too close to the trap, the stone would transmute into an incendiary material and get ignited. Phosphorus, most likely, as there were already trace amounts of that element in the makeup of the original stones used to construct the spires.

There was also the matter of the girl. Tion had drawn her blood now. He could shatter her bones at a whim. If Maya overpowered him, she had no doubt he'd kill his hostage just for spite.

Only one thing Maya could think of to do. She brandished her sword and stepped towards him. Her foot landed square on Tion's manifestation.

Tion dashed away, pulling the girl with him. As the explosion rocked the hallway, he dove through the doorway leading further into the spire and forced the girl underneath him. Tion pulled himself to his feet and looked towards his handiwork. He immediately went pale as the blood drained from his face.

Maya stood unharmed in the open doorway. The stones around her were blackened and cracked from the force of the explosion, and patches of transmuted phosphorus continued to burn with sparking flames around her. Maya's wards had required a lot of ether to hold up to the explosion, but her stores were more than equal to the task.

All the subtlety and experience in the world meant little when faced with overwhelming power.

"Winds," Tion breathed. "What... What are you?"

Maya smiled darkly for him. "Your queen."

The doorway led into the deepest part of the spire. It was a large chamber, the ceiling so high above that even an assassin's eyes couldn't see it in the darkness. A massive, cylindrical pillar of metal rose from the floor of the chamber into the dizzying heights above. This was the central spar of the spire, the structure that kept the impossibly tall building from collapsing under its own weight. An all but deafening groan of shifting metal filled the chamber and echoed off the walls. The spar was in a constant state of being bent to and fro, even if it couldn't be seen with the naked eye. The swaying of the spire, from wind or thermal expansion, was difficult for even the most sensitive person on the highest levels to detect, but Maya could see slight shifts in the chamber walls high above. Without the spar, the spire would fall.

Just as it had happened with the Sanguine Tower in Westrun.

Elise and her ruffer knights had attacked the central spar with a pyromantic flare cast in unison link. It'd damaged the spar enough that the entire spire came down, and it took a quarter of Westrun with it.

"Tion," Maya whispered in a deadly tone. "What are you planning?"

"The Cabal has to be close," Tion said. "Even if they're not in this spire, they'll be close enough to keep an eye on what's going on here. In one swoop, I'll remove them and you from the arja board."

"Sacrificing Northrun?" Maya demanded. "Wasn't one district enough? You'll cripple Althandor!"

"You stupid girl. That was always the plan." He grinned, maniacal and past all semblance of reason. He forced the shop girl in front of him. His sword point dug cruelly into her spine. "It wasn't supposed to go down like this, but it's worth starting the doom a little early if the gods lose their last tools in the world in the process. Vintus will be able to make use of a little more chaos. The Horde, the Aleesh, the Jade Empire... Althandor could fight one, but not them all. The Five Kingdoms' era is over. The old masters will take what's left and rebuild it anew."

Maya's eyes met the hostage's. She'd cried so much she had no more tears left to shed. Stark, naked fear was painted across her face. But there was something more. Anger. She couldn't have known much, if anything at all, about old masters and shadow wars, but Maya could see in her frightened and angry eyes that she knew which side she'd choose to align with if given the chance.

Zanda had said Maya was pride. Perhaps that was true, but only in part. It wasn't her own pride that Maya felt. It was that of all others. It wasn't enough for herself to have that indomitable pride. They all needed to have it. They must have it. Maya demanded that they have it.

The pride of humanity was the world's last hope.

"Forgive me, Goodwoman," Maya said. "The demons cannot be allowed to win."

The girl sagged in resignation as if the life had already been snuffed out of her. And yet, her jaw clenched defiantly. "Kill him, Your Highness."

Maya nodded. "As you say." She took in a breath. "My Executioner! Strike!"

A rose-scaled claw struck down on Tion from above. As Tion ranted and raved, he hadn't seen the sparrow fluttering overhead, or how her little avian body transformed into mist and became a massive creature of armored hide, razor claws, and powerful muscle. Silent no matter her size, Zanda clung to the central spar and had crept ever closer to her target before lashing out. Her claws raked across Tion's back, and blood fountained from the slashing wounds she inflicted on him.

As Tion went to all fours, Zanda drew her head back. In the last and most desperate instance, she'd unleash her dragon fire and incinerate everyone in the chamber.

Maya charged. The shop girl fell once Tion released his grip on her, and Maya could only hope to land a killing blow on him before he crushed his hostage's body.

She came within striking distance. Her sword fell, aiming for his heart.

Tion moved so much faster than he had before. He spun up from the ground and slashed. His blade found an opening. Focused on ending the battle quickly, Maya couldn't deflect his sword in time. The cutting edged slashed through her neck, tearing flesh and ripping through arteries. She could feel the steel driving deep into the bones of her neck. In an instant and in a single strike, he nearly decapitated her.

Maya dropped to one knee.

A sharp tug pulled the sword free of her neck, tearing her savaged throat further. Tion stood over Maya. She was unable to breath or do anything save watch her lifeblood pour down her chest.

"Useless girl," Tion spat. His eyes darted up to Zanda looming above them before he dropped his gaze back down. "You could've been everything. The Eidolon could have led the servants of the old masters into the next age. But instead, you've chosen to end up as nothing."

Maya's hand struck out and seized the blade of his sword. The cutting edge bit deep into her fingers, but the pain was nothing next to the shrieking agony in her neck. She managed to raise her chin and glare up at him.

"Die already," Tion commanded.

Maya grinned and tasted blood on her teeth. Tion tried to pull his sword out of her grip, but she held firm. Above, Zanda began to pant as Maya's flesh pulled itself back together.

"You girl," Tion hissed. "You wretched, blustering girl! You've been bound!"

Maya's throat healed through the bond. She found her voice. "Althandor will stand," she said, rising to her feet. The cuts on her hand from holding onto Tion's sword healed as fast as they reopened. "Every enemy that rises against her will be crushed back into the dust, because I will become greater than all who came before me. The Dragon Empress and I will stop your demon masters. We'll make them wish they'd never skulked out from whatever cavern in Hell spawned them."

Tion's eyes were wide. Fearful.

"Althandor is the shining sun!" Maya roared.

Tendrils of power flowed from Maya, through Tion's sword and into his body.

"The world will walk in our light!"

Tion began to scream. He pulled futilely to let go of his sword, but Maya's power held him firm.

Maya forced him to his knees as the scent of ozone and charring flesh filled the central spar chamber. "Not because we will drag them into it."

Light shone from within Tion's body. His flesh began to smolder, turning to ash and falling off of him.

"They will follow us, because I will lead them. I will unite them against your masters! We will make Althandor into the world's greatest hope against the darkness!"

"Mercy!" Tion howled in desperation. "Maya, we're family!"

She clucked her tongue. "We're not that closely related."

Maya released the wild energies she'd unleashed on him. Blackened beyond recognition, Tion was nothing but a corpse.

"I told you I wouldn't grant you mercy, thrall bastard."

The task was done. For now. Maya looked up to Zanda, and the dragon crawled down the spar to the ground level and assumed her human form. The dragon looked past Maya with an expression of concern.

Maya's breath caught. She turned, nearly frantic, and saw the shop girl struggling to her feet. Maya went to her to see if she was injured, but as soon as Maya was within an arm's length, the girl teetered over and collapsed again.

Going to a knee, Maya caught her in her arms. The shop girl's eyes fluttered open and she looked up at Maya in awe. Her smile was bright enough that Maya almost thought Althandor wouldn't need to become the world's light. Not so long as such radiance endured.

She dared to reach up and touch Maya's cheek. "My hero."

Maya blushed. Praise from other girls just felt more sincere for some reason.