Holly snapped her fingers, and a ring of fire consumed the damp, dead prairie grass at the back of the pasture, creating a large circle the size of a train car.

"I assume you know the rules of a sorcerer's duel?" Holly said dryly.

"Of course." Otto rolled up his sleeves, walking to the opposite side of the circle.

"No leaving the arena, no bringing anything from outside the circle to aid your fight, and only the use of magic is allowed," Holly said, tying her skirt up at the waist.

Otto grinned, not meeting her eyes as he watched her actions closely, his gaze fixed on her exposed legs. Robin scowled at his older brother, and protective anger filled his chest. Robin coughed to divert his brother's attention as he hesitantly stood outside the middle of the circle to best watch both of them.

"I said I knew the rules, sweetheart," Otto snorted, tossing Robin an amused glance. "Did you recite them so you could double-check if you knew them?"

"I'm just reminding the audience in case you plan to play dirty."

"You're the one fresh out of jail."

"And I don't plan on going back." Holly smiled coldly, rolling up her sleeves. "Don't push your luck."

Otto snorted and moved to the circle's center, turning his back to Holly. "Robin, count us off."

Holly moved to join him in the center of the circle, and the two of them began taking steps toward their respective edges as Robin counted slowly to ten. His stomach churned with unease, though he trusted they would avoid going too far, for his sake, if nothing else.

The moment Robin shouted ten, they spun. Otto struck first, gray smoke swirling from his fingers toward Holly. Quickly moving two feet before instantly dissolving into harmless sparkles.

Holly smiled, sly and taunting.

Otto growled, flinging his hand forward for more power, but the result was the same— harmless sparkles. Otto sneered in response, taking a step forward and letting out a grunt of effort as he tried for a third time, only for the same thing to happen yet again,

"Oh, Otto, I'm sorry." Holly laughed, her tone mockingly sweet. "You asked me to go easy on you. Want to try again?"

Holly slowly closed her eyes and turned her back to him.

Robin snorted, unable to help himself after seeing his brother's response to her taunts. Otto's face was murderous—Robin had never seen his brother this angry, and he had plenty of years of frustrating his older brother.

Otto clenched his jaw and tried once more. This time, his magic formed into sharp, silver shards, zipping through the air toward Holly's back. However, before they could reach her, Holly lazily turned and waved her arms at the attacks, sending red feathers flying to combat each magic shard aimed at her.

Otto scoffed, sending another round of shards her way.

Grinning, Holly began to dance, her arms now covered in red feathers as she batted away each of Otto's attacks—shards, fire, electricity—all were flicked back at him with a carefree twirl.

"You know she's just doing that to impress you, right?" a voice whispered in Robin's ear.

Robin jumped as the hushed words tickled his ear. Margo was at his side, leaning over to whisper into his ear.

"Wha—when did you get here?"

Margo shrugged. "I was notified of Holly using her magic and came as soon as possible."

Holly flicked another shard back at Otto with a spin.

Margo snickered. "I love this show. As soon as I heard your brother was in town, I've been keeping a closer eye on you guys; and I must say, as much as I hope she wouldn't, I am surprised she didn't give in and beat his ass earlier."

"I'd have knocked him out in thirty seconds if he talked to me like that," Bert chimed in, suddenly appearing on Robin's other side. He offered Robin a handful of sunflower seeds, but Robin shook his head.

Bert chuckled at Robin's reaction before walking behind to stand beside Margo. He poured half of his seeds into Margo's awaiting palms.

As Robin continued to watch, he noticed Holly wasn't launching any attacks, only deflecting Otto's. Despite Margo's claim that Holly was showing off for his sake, Robin couldn't shake the feeling she was also teasing Otto.

While Otto was busy dodging and fighting, Holly was twirling and swaying. Dancing as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"Oh no, that's not—" Margo started laughing. Holly's movements became stiffer, more awkward. Bert joined in, booing her good-naturedly from the sidelines.

"She's trying to do the dance we taught her at the last wipe," Margo said, shaking her head.

Hearing the laughter, Holly embraced the awkwardness, exaggerating her clumsy steps. Margo's criticism amplified as she joined in, performing a much smoother version of the dance. She yelled corrections and cheered at Holly, who laughed along as she multi-tasked.

Robin couldn't help but chuckle, too. Holly seemed more concerned about getting the dance right than about the duel she was currently in. The only one truly focused on the fight was Otto, much to his brother's annoyance.

"You need more practice," Margo called. "You'll get kicked out if you show up dancing like that!"

"What do you think I'm doing now?" Holly yelled back. "Might as well make the most of this time I'm wasting here."

Otto suddenly let out a frustrated yell, swinging his arms open as he let out another massive burst of magic shards.

But this time, they weren't aimed at Holly.

Robin's heart leaped into his throat as he stumbled back into the cold grass. The razor-sharp shards of silver zoomed straight for where he stood. As he fell back into the mix of fallen grass and watery mud from melted snow behind him, the freezing dampness of the mud stinging through his coat and trousers. He was trapped. Another moment of panic shot through his veins as he squeezed his eyes shut, arms raised instinctively, waiting for the impact—

But it never came.

Opening his eyes, Robin saw the shards suspended in mid-air, inches from his face, caught in a translucent shield of feathers. Margo's arm was outstretched, and sunflower seeds were scattered on the ground at her feet. Both Bert and Margo were still, a threatening look on their faces as they glared at Otto.

Otto smirked at them before turning back to Holly.

Holly's face was twisted in a fury, a look Robin had never seen before. She also stood with her arm extended, red feathers bristled from her arm, trembling in rage.

There was silence, so suffocating that even the wind seemed to participate, quietly sneaking amongst the prairie grass as if sensing the tension.

Suddenly, the feathers that had come to protect Robin flew back to Holly, leaving the now harmless shards to fall gently into the grass around him.

"I thought you knew the rules of a sorcerer's duel," Holly said icily, smoothing down the feathers on her arm, the feathers disappearing where her hand touched them. You cannot bring anything from outside the arena into the duel. You lose. The match is forfeit."

"It was a misfire. Besides, Robin was never in the arena."

"By aiming at him, you expanded the arena to include him. That's bringing him into the duel. That's a forfeit."

"I said it was a misfire. Maybe you can actually focus on what you are doing so that you know what's going on?"

In a flash, Holly's arm slashed through the air. Before Otto's shield of gray gas could form, her magic hit him full force, throwing him out of the circle. His shirt had become ignited, and his chest was burned raw.

Otto screamed, the sound wrenching as his skin sizzled under the flames.

"Oops. I misfired," Holly sneered, just loud enough to be heard over his cries.

Margo whistled. "I almost thought you weren't going easy on him for a second. Impressive self-restraint."

Holly snorted.

"Otto!" Robin rushed over, frantically assessing the damage. His brother's entire chest was covered in third-degree burns, with some of the skin having melted away to expose the muscle underneath.

Robin took a sharp breath and knelt in the cold mud beside his brother. The melted snow once again bit through his clothes. He bent over to assess the damage. "It's okay, Otto. I can heal you. You'll be fine."

Otto groaned, half-conscious. "That bitch... almost killed me. A fucking monster." Otto let out another loud grunt in pain, his breath coming fast between his teeth, only to quicken in pace as Robin put his hands on his chest to begin to heal the burns.

By the time Robin completed healing him to the best of his ability, Otto had passed out from the pain. Robin sat back, heart pounding. Had Holly tried to kill his brother? Would Otto have died if Robin weren't here? He had just witnessed her almost kill a man for the second time since he had met her.

Robin's heart pounded in anger and fear as he turned from where his brother lay in the cold dead grass to glance at Holly, who hadn't moved from her place in the circle, standing tall and composed as she talked to a dragonfly that landed on her finger.

"Holly," Robin called, his voice trembling with anger. "You could have killed him."

"I knew what I was doing," Holly scoffed, brushing past his concern as she shook her hand, causing the dragonfly to fly off. "He didn't. You were the one closest to being killed."

"No, Holly," Robin said, frustration creeping in as he brushed his hands through his hair. "He wouldn't have done that."

"Oh, right..." Holly said, her eyes darted between his, and her face took on a look of disbelief as she realized he was not on her side for this. "but you think I would have killed him?"

"No! I just mean... he probably knew you'd save me. He wasn't trying to kill me."

Holly scoffed.

"Holly, he only trying to get your attention since you weren't taking him seriously. I mean, the whole duel, you were just goofing off.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was supposed to take him seriously?" Holly snapped, her voice rising. "After days of your brother taking me, my choices, my power...my life... seriously??"

Her eyes filled with tears, but she kept her voice steady. "He asked me to go easy on him, so I did. He was embarrassed that I did exactly what I promised, and he broke the rules and faced the consequences. The only thing that is unfair here, " She said, her face crumbled into one of despair as she reached out to grab Robin's sleeve. "is that you are looking at me like that-"

"Holly-"

" You are looking at me like... I am some kind of monster when this is the only outcome bound to happen as soon as he stepped into this ring with me. Unless you would have preferred that the roles had been reversed? That he knocked me out of the ring with his silver shards?

"No, Holly... I just think- Holly, you could have killed him with that magic you shot at him." Robin said, his resolve shaking.

Holly sighed.

"Could I have killed him? Yes, but not with that magic I sent at him. Did I make him suffer more than he had to? Probably." She paused, stepping closer to him, her eyes pleading. "And, look, I am sorry for that, Robin. Okay? I know that probably wasn't easy to watch, and I admit I let my anger get the best of me." She took a breath. "but did I kill him? No! I didn't shoot any magic powerful enough to kill this entire duel. But Robin, He did."

Robin shook his head, confused. He lightly shook off her grasp on his arm as he turned away, trying to make sense of her words. "Holly..."

"But while he took a guess that I would save you, I knew that you could heal him." Holly said, her once confident tone now shaking, "And yet, I am the monster here?"

Robin turned back to her to see tears falling from her eyes. That held a look that appeared more afraid than sad. As if he might confirm her worst fear of herself.

"No, Holly," Robin said softly, his voice strained. He reached out, but the words felt hollow. He struggled to figure out how to reassure her when his heart was still tangled with confusion. "You're not a monster. I'm... I'm sorry. You are right."

Holly let out a sniffle as she dabbed the few stray tears from her cheeks, careful not to disturb her makeup, which had lasted the whole duel to be disturbed by her tears.

"I'll send Cookie to help you carry him inside," Holly muttered, wiping more of her tears. Your brother's learned enough. I assume you'll be off soon." Her eyes scanned his face one last time before she turned back to him and walked back towards the house. "Please return the necklace before you leave."

"Holl-" Robin started before letting out a sigh. He needed time to consider what happened and how he could fix this.

He paced in the mud beside his unconscious brother, kicking him lightly. "Asshole. I came all this way for you, and you're the worst part of this trip."

The only answer was the hum of the wind through the trees.

Robin rubbed his temples, wondering what he was supposed to do now.