The first rays of sunshine were already bathing the room when Mia woke up. She didn't hurt anywhere, but she felt completely stunned. It took her a few minutes to fight the urge to go back to sleep to remember what had happened before she fell unconscious. The first image that came to mind was of those charred wings and the face contorted with the pain of the young man who had come to her rescue.

The Vila... Why did he save me? I thought he despised me.

Her second thought filled her with panic. Suddenly, she pushed back the cover of her bed and placed her feet on the wooden floor. Dizziness forced her to lean on her bedside for a few seconds. When she came to her senses and regained her balance, noticing that it was only the backlash of her quick rise, she rushed to the small bathroom adjoining her bedroom.

She needed to get to Arry quickly to make sure the young sorceress was still alive, but she held on to her pride and the idea of ​​walking down the hall in the skimpy outfit she'd been given for care and her messy hair with her exploded face did not enchant her.

After cleaning her face, Mia hastened to untangle her blonde hair with the small wooden comb that had been left for her by the sink. She winced when it got stuck in knots and sighed throughout the action. The object was not practical when she was in a hurry.

Sometimes I wonder why I have hair...

When her hair looked disciplined enough to stop torturing her, Mia headed to her bedroom dresser to find her new outfit for the day. She did not even deign to observe in detail the little pastel blue dress. It ended up all looking the same, and anyway, she didn't have time. Her sandals were waiting for her by the door, ready to put on.

The corridor was abnormally quiet this morning. Mia had expected to see the fairies running around tending to the injured and preparing other remedies. It seemed like the hostilities were already over. Heading towards the central hall of the infirmary, she soon came across Lily who was coming out of a room with a tray in her hands. With her tired eyes and purplish dark circles, anyone would have guessed that she probably hadn't slept all night.

"Do you need help?" Mia inquired.

"I'm fine, thank you," Lily answered in a small voice.

Mia cleared her of the empty tray as the little fairy sighed as she walked toward one of the armchairs in the hall. The young human followed her, sitting across from her after putting the tray away in the infirmary's storage room. She looked tired, but she didn't seem particularly worried. Arry was also her friend, and if anything bad had happened to her, she'd probably be more depressed than that.

"Long night ?"

"You can't even imagine," complained Lily, slumping in her seat.

"What exactly happened? How is Arry?"

"Arry is fine. When the miasma subsided, we found her and Oz knocked out in the middle of the plain. She had a few superficial cuts, but nothing serious. Her magician boyfriend had placed a protective spell on them before things got out of hand."

"How bad did it... get out of hand?"

"An investigation has been opened to determine if the werewolf's death was accidental or not, but they are in complete limbo. Nobody saw anything with this miasma. There were a few injuries, mostly magicians who were in the center of the area. The werewolves had time to do some damage before they were pinned down."

"And the fireball?"

"No idea," Lily grimaced. "No one knows who started it and if it was accidental or not. You were very lucky Mia. If Ethan hadn't protected you, you would have died."

Mia nodded as Lily lost herself in thought. She seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep at any moment.

So, his name was Ethan. Lily seemed to know him, or at least enough to know his name. Which hardly surprised her. The faeries probably knew everyone at the academy if there were so many injuries in every tournament.

In any case, it was obvious that the blonde would have died if he hadn't protected her. Now that she was alive and safe, the prospect of having to thank him irritated her. She didn't like him, but he had saved her life, all the same, it was the least she could do.

"What will happen now?"

Lily jumped when she heard the young human speak. The fairy was already dozing, her body completely exhausted from her sleepless night at work.

"Excuse me, I'm really at my wit's end. I spent the whole night applying ointments and making some more. I thought I'd never see the end of it," she explained, sighing with relief at the thought that she could go to bed in a few minutes. "Honestly, I don't really know. This kind of event has never happened before. I assume the headmaster will bring the students and staff together to discuss this as soon as they get a little further along in the investigation."

"Aren't there going to be... repercussions?"

"Repercussions for what? Sorry, I'm starting to lose my focus," she pointed out, yawning until her jaw dropped.

"A werewolf died, don't you think they'll want revenge?"

In any case, that was what always happened in the books she read. The different races clearly did not get along at all, one more argument that led her to think that the story would not stop in this case.

"I don't know. The rules of the academy are very strict, no violence is allowed outside the tournaments. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to go to sleep," Lily announced, getting up from her chair.

"No worries, rest well."

"Ah, I almost forgot. Arry is in the second room on the right by her boyfriend's bedside. I don't think they'll mind if you go see them."

Mia thanked Lily who smiled at her before disappearing behind a door the exact opposite of the hallway from the patient rooms. The fairies had their personal neighborhood, not far from the injured in case of trouble. She got up and started to join her red-haired friend and her mysterious boyfriend whom she had not yet met.

Naturally, Mia headed for the door her fairy friend had told her to meet Arry. She knocked three times, announcing her presence. When she heard her friend's voice telling her to come in, she entered the room. Arry was sitting next to a dark-haired young man lying in bed. He was also awake but seemed slightly dazed. Bandages covered his chest, then the blanket took over at his navel.

The blonde was first greeted by Oz who came to sniff her. She greeted him with a light caress between the two ears. Faithful to himself, after his inspection, he hastened to return to the corner of the room which served as his den at that time. She smiled at the animal's condescension. It was his way of saying hello to someone he tolerated.

Immediately after, Arry stood up to hug his friend with a big smile.

"Mia! Are you okay? Lily told me what happened. I visited you early this morning, but you were still sleeping."

Mia smiled at her friend. She looked fine, and the worry she was showing warmed her heart. She pinched herself for a moment as the image of her Terran friends crept into her mind, but she quickly dismissed it. Now was not the time.

"Yes, everything is fine. More fear than harm. I was worried about you too, we couldn't see anything from the bleachers."

"Yes... it was pretty scary. Well, until I got knocked out," she laughed. "Andrei saved my life with his protection spell."

She gestured with her hand to Andrei resting in his bed. He smiled at the young woman before returning his attention to Mia. He looked like an ordinary, friendly young man.

"Won't you introduce us?" inquired the young man.

"Oh... yes, I forgot," Arry blushed. "This is Andrei, my boyfriend. And this is Mia, my friend."

The young man stood up painfully to hold out his hand. She grabbed it and returned her "nice to meet you" with a smile plastered on her face. Arry had told her about a date the other day, but she hadn't mentioned that they were already together. Or maybe the events of the tournament had accelerated their relationship.

"Arry told me about you, even though your human reputation precedes you, no offense," he said sympathetically.

Mia grimaced in response. She was famous despite herself and would have done well without this kind of celebrity. But at least he didn't seem hostile to her human condition.

A heavy silence followed his words. The two lovebirds looked at each other gravely for a few seconds before Arry spoke again.

"Listen, Mia... We discussed this with Andrei and... you better know."

"Better know what?"

What else was she going to discover? Shivers of anticipation raced up her spine. Judging by the faces they were making, it wasn't news she was going to receive positively. Even Oz had lowered his ears, sensing that a heavy atmosphere was spreading in the room.

"The Vila who saved you... Ethan. He is not well-liked and is a loner. His family is not known to tolerate humans," Arry continued.

"I noticed that," Mia replied sarcastically.

"Have you dealt with him before?"

"Yes, two or three times."

Arry looked startled, but her expression quickly changed to a determined pout as she gave her boyfriend a knowing look. Mia had never said a word to her so as not to worry her friend. It hadn't seemed that important to her, but it looked like she had been wrong.

"What I'm trying to tell you is that it's probably no coincidence that he chose to protect you from that fireball."

"Why? I indeed found it strange too but..."

Andrei decided to take over as Arry struggled to find the words to explain the situation.

"Vilas choose their partner for life. Well... maybe "choose" is not the right word. Their Vila imposes this choice on them when they find it. We call it a curse because they can't do anything to go against that choice. Do you understand what I mean?"

Mia's face fell as Andrei's words raced through her brain.

"You mean... that he would have chosen me? Like a...soul mate?"

The two magicians nodded gravely. Mia felt like someone had just thrown an ice bucket on her head. Why she? It was clear that he had to ask himself the same question since he had ceased to despise her the few times their paths had crossed. She didn't want to be tied to someone who hated her for who she was. Or someone she didn't even know. Nor a creature he had been told to be wary of. Nor to be linked to anyone at all, to put it simply.

"Maybe he has no choice, but I do."

The couple's skeptical look made her want to scream her dismay.

"You'll end up surrendering yourself to him. They all do eventually," Arry announced in a small voice.

"We'll see," Mia promised, determined.

She was not the type to let things go when someone tried to impose something on her that she didn't want. Even for details, she fought ruthlessly when confronted with what she deemed to be an injustice. Her free will was the engine of her life, and she would do anything to defend it.

He isn't born the man, the creature, or whatever who is going to impose such a thing on me. Human or not, Vila or not, I am the one in charge of my life.