Her mom canceled the playdate. For the next six months, her mom spent most of every day helping Nora learn to talk. While most of the words she spoke were still slurred or mispronounced she was now able to speak in full sentences.

“Would you be ok with going on a playdate over at Posie’s house?” Her mom asked, Nora had managed to delay this whole playdate thing for six months but she figured now was the time to just get it over with.

“Ok. Ar we going now?” The words came out less slurred than she expected. Her mom threw a blue thick dress at her.

“Yup. Put that on and we’ll go.” Nora put it on over her thin brown shirt. She was also wearing stockings that went up to her thigh. She was ready now. I wonder if Posie’s kids can talk? I hope so, otherwise, this will be very boring.

“Weady.” Nora said, she had noticed she had a bit of a lisp and was hoping it would just go away as she aged. Her mom was wearing a blue tunic that went all the way to her ankles and had some basic makeup on. Including the blue nail polish. “Can I ave some naiw powish mom?” Her mom looked at her surprised she even knew what nail polish was,

“Maybe when you’re a bit older, ok?”

“Ok.” Nora had grown somewhat used to her mom telling her what to do and while she still didn’t like doing what she was told she was just happy to be able to talk.

Her mom took her hand and led the way outside. They made their way through the slums they lived in and into the marketplace. Stalls lined the street and vendors yelled out trying to sell their wares to the passing crowd. There were fruit stands, weapon stands, clothing stands, meat stands, and even a few toy stands.

Nora had been here a few times over the last six months with her mom and the only stands she was interested in were the weapon ones. They had weapons of all kinds and some of them even claimed to sell magic weapons. Though her mom said they were just trying to rip people off.

They left through the northern side of the market and headed into a wealthier residential district. All of the houses here were two-story-tall fine wood and stone townhouses. The cobble roads were also much better kept. Her mom led her to a house completely made of wood that looked more like a cabin than a townhouse. As they got up to the door her mom said,

“Alright try not to use too many big words while Posie is around. Who knows what she’d think.”

“Ok, I’w be cawfuw.” With that, her mom knocked on the door. Posie answered it with a smile on her face.

“Azealia, I’m so glad you came.” She gave her mom a big hug which she halfheartedly returned. “Come on in, they have been so excited to meet Nora.” Posie led them inside, the home was well furnished and had some art and decorations. She led them into a lounge area where two kids were playing with some toys.

“This here is Leo,” Posie said gesturing to the boy with the same floppy blond dog-like ears and tail as Posie, who looked to be around Nora’s age, “and that is Belle,” This time she gestured to a girl who looked to be a few years older than her, she had pointed ears and blond hair but no dog-like features. Is she an elf? That’s cool. Up until now, Nora hadn’t seen any elves. She wondered what other races were out there. As Posie gestured to Belle she walked over to Nora,

“Hi,” Belle said,

“Hey”

“Do you wanna play with my toy animals?” Nora thought that sounded like a fine idea or at least an idea that would pass the time.

“I’d love to.” Belle led her over to the table where she had been playing. There were easily fifteen different animal toys on the table. Some of the animals she didn’t recognize. Belle grabbed a few and set them aside,

“These ones are special so you can’t play with them.” All of the ones she set aside were animals she didn’t recognize.

“What’s speciew about them?”

“They’re my magic animals. I need them for my army.” This sounded like an interesting game,

“What’s da awmy fouw?” Belle looked at her like it was a stupid question,

“My protection, obviously.” Well, that was rude, she’d forgotten how straightforward little kids could be. Nora sat on the floor and started fiddling with a wooden wolf.

“What does this arwmy pwotect you fwom?” Nora asked, Belle paused and looked to the ground,

“M… Nothing, it’s just a game.” Curious, Nora could tell she was hiding something but she wasn’t sure how to approach getting her to tell her what it was. Maybe she could cheer her up.

“Wanna see someting cool?” Belle looked up from the ground and nodded. Nora looked around to make sure no one else was around. Leo was still here playing with his toys on the other side of the room but didn’t seem to be paying attention. Their parents were gone, probably in the other room. Alright, it should be safe.

Nora raised her right hand in front of Belle and focused really hard on it. A few seconds later she felt the familiar painless burning energy in her arm and hand, then a thin dark black line of smoke started drifting out of her palm. She’d discovered she could do this about a month ago and had been careful not to tell anyone. Belle’s eyes widened and she gasped,

“Wow! That’s amazing!” She waved her hand through the smoke and it moved a bit as she did. “How did you learn to do that?” Honestly, Nora had been thinking back to that ritual that her mom did on her and she remembered the smoke that had been coming out of her right arm and hand. So, she tried for days any time she got to figure out how to do it. Eventually it worked.

“I pwacticed. I can make it into wittew shapes too.”

“Really?! Can you make this?” She held out one of the animal toys she’d set aside, it was some kind of dog-cat hybrid with wings. It looked cool. Nora focused on pouring more smoke out and controlling it. She could feel the burning become more intense as her arm and hand strained, her breathing became labored but she managed to get the smoke into the general shape of the toy. Nora smiled. Belle lit up,

“That’s amazing,” Belle said in disbelief, Nora let the smoke dissipate and the burning went away. Her arm and hand hurt like she’d been tensing them non-stop for days and she was having trouble catching her breath. Nora always felt tired after creating the smoke but this time it was worse. She didn’t usually try to shape it into something so difficult. It was worth it though she loved doing this magic stuff and it made Belle happy.

“Pretty cool right?” Nora asked breathlessly, Belle frowned and put her hand on Nora’s back,

“Are you ok?” Nora really couldn’t catch her breath and she felt like her head was on fire. Maybe I pushed it a little too much.

“I’m fi-” Her breath caught in her throat, she gasped over and over but the air wouldn’t come, she started to fall to the ground but belle caught her,

“MOM! HELP!” Belle yelled, her voice frantic, “Just breathe.” Loud footsteps came running into the room Nora only barely noticed. She felt herself being picked up and put onto the couch next to her. Her gasping was more frantic now and her lungs were on fire. Oh my god this hurts, am I gonna be ok? I shouldn’t have been messing with magic when I don’t know anything about it. I’m so stupid!

Suddenly her lungs filled with air. She kept gasping like before but was actually getting air now. Her whole body was aching and every move sent pain throughout her body. She’d finally calmed down enough to be aware of her surroundings. Her mom was there cradling her head,

“Oh, thank the gods.” She kissed her on the forehead, “thank you.” She was crying as she said it. Why was she so worried? Was that normal for a mom? Her mom before never acted this way.

Nora felt tears welling up as she looked around, Posie, Belle, and Leo were all looking at her. Posie looked relieved, Belle was also crying, and Leo looked like he wasn’t sure what was going on. Nora looked back at her mom and could feel her emotions bubbling over,

“I wuv you mom!” She said as she hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face, the motion of hugging sent pain through her back and right arm. Her head started pounding even worse but she didn’t care. Her mom was here and worried and loving. That’s what mattered.

“You shouldn't move baby.” Her mom said with a smile on her face and a bit of a chuckle.

“Just a wittew wonger.” Her mom leaned in and relaxed.

“Ok.” Belle came over crying and joined in the hug too,

“I’m sorry!” Belle said sobbing, does she blame herself for this? It wasn’t even her idea.

“It’s not youw fauwt.” Nora squeezed her, “It’s mine, not youws, ok?” Belle shook her head no, but didn’t say any more. Posie reached over and separated everyone,

“Alright, she needs rest or she’ll get worse.” Posie laid her down, “Try not to move ok.” Why did she have to pull them apart, she was enjoying hugging her mom and Belle. “Can you tell me what happened?” Posie said, looking at Belle. Nora spoke up before she could,

“I was twying to show off my magic and I suddenwy couwdn’t bweath. I’m sowwy.” Every word was a struggle to say, her throat was sore and dry causing every word and breath hurt. But she just wanted to make it clear that this was her own fault and not Belles. Posie and her mom stared for a second glanced at each other then back to her,

“Since when can you do magic?” Her mom asked, Nora loosely shrugged in reply.

“Well, that explains why I couldn’t heal her and why I had to funnel mana into her instead.” Posie said, “You should be careful and let your parents train you to properly use magic. It’s very dangerous to just use it, especially at your age.” Nora wondered if it was normal for a one and a half year old to know magic but the exhaustion and pain were starting to get to her, especially the pain in her right hand. She could feel herself getting exhausted. She didn’t want to talk anymore. She closed her eyes and within a few minutes fell asleep.