"Conrad, this is a terrible idea," Kurt said, checking the rearview mirror for the hundreth time, his hands grabbing the wheel with knuckle-bleaching strength. The road before tthem was entirely empty, and surrounded by desert in both sides, with its left in particular being cast in the shadow of an elevation of earth that stretched to the horizon, like an elongated hill.

  "You have been saying that every time I make you drive, man," retorted Conrad from the copilot's seat. "And again, this is a great idea. I mean, you do realize we have cut a lot of time off the trip by taking turns, right? Just a couple of days and we are already reaching Phoenix."

  "Sure, but I still don't like it. What if the cops spot us?"

  Conrad snorted. "First of all, you don't really look too young to drive, you tall freak. Second, even if we get stopped, you could still use some Glamour on the poor scmuck and that would be it. Seriously, man, don't you think that it's a bit absurd to worry about the police at this point?"

  "I don't, actually," Kurt said, checking the rearview mirror again. "We have already raised too much chaos in this trip with the whole wyldfae incident, remember? I set a house on fire, one that had a corpse inside, only to then drop off you too in the local hospital while you, in particular, sported some wounds that I assure you no M.D in that place had ever seen. Not to talk about the whole 'let's steal a car' thing which, I remind you, was your idea to begin with." He checked the road before them for a moment before he turned to Conrad. "Dude, I get that this quest is important and all, but we really have to be more careful about keeping a low profile."

  "A low profile?" Conrad asked incredulously. "You do remember about the Veil, right?"

  "And you do remember Unveiled Ones, right? What happens if the next cop that stops us was attacked by a werewolf as a child, or was raised amongst magic like you and me, eh? What good is my glamour gonna be then?"

  "Oh, please," Conrda said, waving a hand dismisively. "What even are the odds of that happening?"

  "More than zero, and that is enough," Kurt's eyes went to the rearview mirror once again, with his gaze falling not on the road behind, but on a very red faced Mila. "Wanna give us your two bits on this, Mila?"

  The girl in question raised a finger in a 'give me a sec' gesture. Then, as the red of her face grew a couple shades daker, she let out a deep breath through her mouth, bending forward as she did so until her chest almost touched her knees.

  "I... agree with... Kurt on that," she said between coughs, her voice coarse. "Gosh, this is hard."

  Kurt and Conrad both looked at Mila with worry, before Kurt spoke. "Maybe you should try and take it easy, Mila. You are gonna hurt yourself if you keep this pace."

  The white-haired girl rose her head, and gave Kurt an unimpressed look. "You do remember that I was there when you were practicing Pneuma, right? We both know you did not take it easy at all, and that was when we were twelve. And you were not in the middle of a dangerous quest, if I may add."

  "Uhm... okay, yeah," Kurt conceded, shifting uncomfortably on his seat. "Fair enough. But sill, this is different."

  "Yeah, and I just told you why it's different, and why it means I should not slack off." She gave a tired sigh, and sat herself properly before gesturing at the driving wheel. "Let me ask you guys something: Why did neither of you ask me to drive?"

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  "Excuse me?" Asked Conrad.

  "Why did you not ask me to drive too, Conrad?" Mila said, slowly and methodically, so that there was no misshearing her. "You asked Kurt, who was not okay with it, but didn't bother to ask me. Why? I mean, Kurt and I are both the same age, are we not? So why did you ask him but not me?"

  "Well..." Conrad said, scratching the cack of his head. "This car is rather big, you know? Quite a distance between the pedals and the driver's seat. Kurt and I are rather tall, so it's no bother to us, but with you..."

  Mila considered his words for a moment before she nodded. "That is a good reason."

  Conrda sighed in relief.

  Then Mila leaned forward, an inquisitive look on her face. "But you just thought that up, didn't you?"

  Conrad's face froze, and for a moment he looked like a dear on the headlights, only to drop his head in defeat. "Yup," he said before turning towards Mila, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry."

  Mila sighed tiredly. "That's fine, Conrad. Just don't lie to me, please." Conrad nodded silently and dejectedly. "You simply didn't consider me for the role at all, right? Possibility didn't even cross your mind."

  Conrad winced before nodding. "Yeah... Again, sorry."

  Mila waved a hand in dissmisal."It's perfectly fine, really. I'm not mad at you. It's just that this proves my point perfectly. You guys don't really see me as someone that carry her own weight when things get violent and difficult, so you try to protect and shield me at all costs, like you would do with a child."

  "Mila..." Kurt said. "We really aren't trying to coddle you or..."

  "I know," she said, waving her hand again. "I know you aren't making a point of doing it, and I know that, even if you did do it on purpose, you would still have a good reason to do so." She threw her head back on the seat with a groan, and stared at the car's ceiling. "I am weaker than you guys, and quite a bit so. It's... not really something to be mad about, really. Just the consequences of how we each decided to live our lives; you guys are trained, dedicated warriors, and I am not. Plain and simple. Would be pretty stupid to expect that I could handle violent stuff as good as you when I haven't had the training for it like you do. But I'm trying to change that, and I just can't do that unless I hurt myself a bit along the way."

  Without a word, she bent forward once again, her elbows on her knees, and pointed at Kurt.

  "Kurt, how many times did you pull a muscle, or break a finger or whatever while training?"

  Kurt shrugged. "Don't know. I lost count quite a while back."

  "My point exactly, thanks," She turned to Conrad. "Conrad, what his the hand you wield your sword with?" The blond swordsman raised his right hand, palming it once for emphasis. "Mind showing it to us, please?"

  Conrad did as asked, placing his hand palm-up in the space between his and Kurt's seat, letting a ray of morning sunlight that managed to peek over the mound to fall upon it. Without a word, Mila took hold of the hand with her own, much smaller one, and swepth a thumb across the palm.

  "Kurt told me how important callouses can be for a swordsman," she said. "About how good a grip they allow for and such. But developing them sure must have been painful, right? The blisters and abrassion cuts these must have been at one point sure didn't feel good, right?"

  Conrad nodded, and Mila let go of his hand, before locking eyes with Kurt through the mirror.

  "Compared to that, what is some breath training? I mean... if I can't do at least that much, if that meager amount of pain is enough to make me give up, then me being weak stops being a choice and becomes something I am at my core. Just a little, trembling thing that everyone else has to save at the cost of their own well being. Like when Conrad shielded me from that lightning, or when you offered your life to Ruth for the amber and my freedom, or..." She grimaced, her face turning sour all of a sudden, and the way she began blinking rapidly spoke of tears. "...like that old lady from before I became a fae. I just want to be someone that can save others for a change."

  There was a moment of silence that no one knew how to fill, least of all Kurt. So he sure found himself surprised when he heard himself speak.

  "Conrad," he said, turning to his side and drawing the attention of his copilot. "Grab the wheel for a moment, will ya?"

  Conrad nodded, and leaned to his left, taking hold of the steering wheel as soon as Kurt let go of it, freeing the boy's hand to undo his seatbelt (Which he had put mostly for the sake of doing every by the book than for any actual safety reasons. Pneuma made the risk of a car crash a non-issue for him) , which itself allowed him to turn on his seat to face the fae girl.

  "And what makes you think you aren't that already?" Kurt asked, eliciting a curious look from the girl. "That night, in the forest, before everything went to hell a second time, it was you who saved the Hulking Dryad, remember? Me and my ability with the sword, and Pneuma and sorcery would have only allowed me to pummel it to death, making the spirits within it suffer so much more. You and you power and your insight prevented that. You saved them, and you saved me too, because I just know I would have had some type of meltdown if I had had to kill it that way. And when I fought Ruth? She would have completely eviscerated me if you hadn't blocked her powers with yours. And you just kept that seal up all through the fight, no matter what kind of pain you were in," He reached a hand out for her, and she took hold of it with a smile. "So, what I'm trying to say is that you're plenty strong already, both conventionally and figurativelly, and you most definitely can bear the pain that growing stronger entails. Just... try not to force it to the point it becomes counter-productive, okay? We have all the time in the world to work on it together."

  Mila squeezed his hand, smiling demurely and with a little embarrasment. She rose her head to meet his eyes, showing the slight blush of her cheeks, and opened her mouth to say something.

  And then her eyes rose a bit more, and her face twisted in horror. And when something came out of her mouth, it was a scream, one that Conrad immediately matched.

  Kurt didn't even get to turn before he fell the impact.