For most of Jinsoul’s life, she’d had to heal people. A lot of the time, she considered herself lucky for having magic that actually helped.

Today, it just meant she was holding back laughter.

Two people had decided it was a good idea to harass a shark. One of the elves in the sea, who was a self-acclaimed defender of aquatic life, had sent three larger sharks onto them.

No one was missing a limb, but one had a dangerously large piece of his leg missing.

Jinsoul had given Sehun a sleeping draught the moment she’d seen him.

And now she was forming a large bundle of water over the mutilated leg.

“You’ll need to get something stronger,” she told Eunha beside her. “The sigils speed up the worst. They won’t regrow skin and muscle unless I draw twenty of them.”

“What if we split it up?” She looked at her with kind, pale green eyes. “I’ll get two more and we each do fire.”

Jinsoul nodded. “But still send someone out for a witch, or a word to Lay, maybe even a fairy if anyone’s close.” She turned away from Sehun, gave Luhan beside him a sharp look, before cleaning her hands.

She knew it wasn’t fair to completely blame them, but a landed elf messing around in the sea was a terrible decision. At least these kinds of injuries were relatively easy to keep from being deadly. It was just really hard to keep the leg functional and/or aesthetically sound.

And she knew for a fact that this one was really interested in the person he’d gone shark hunting with. Maybe he’d want a scar, but not a missing piece of his thigh.

Jinsoul moved to the water basin, now filled with bloody water.

She tugged on the water, while tilting the dish to the side. Warmth bloomed in her chest. It always did with her magic. The blood collected on one side, while the water drifted to the other. She gathered it in a large ball and started looking for a new basin.

Other than healing, this might’ve been one of the most useful applications of her magic. Having a constant supply of fresh and clean water was beyond convenient. Purifying sea water was possible, but she always got a headache after that. And it never healed as well as pure water did.

As she had the water flow into the next basin, she saw it start to glitter. She was in a tent. No sunlight was coming in.

Jinsoul cursed and her hands into the water. It had turned warm. The moment she touched the light, she felt her frustration ease, but it wasn’t because she’d found inner peace.

The warmth crawled up her skin, making it glow. Jinsoul hated seeing it. She didn’t like how it felt either, both energising and calming. Sometimes, she felt jittery for no reason. That was almost always at night. It barely let her sleep.

Moonlight. Something only a specific group of elves had control of, known as the Astra. While Jinsoul’s people were known to be tied to water, they didn’t just have that sort of magic. The Astra only had people who controlled moonlight. For a long time, those people had been born into the Astra.

Only one other elf who wasn’t Astra had received the ability to use the light of the moon. They’d been forced to join the Astra, both because the magic was a beacon for dangerous spirits and because the Astra hadn’t been able to believe that someone else had gotten their magic. That elf had been trained to use the magic and she fought for them now.

And now Jinsoul was like that too. She had control over the moonlight. The new magic would be dangerous to her family.

The only person other person who was like her was well known. A fire elf. Jinsoul was sure that the number of people they’d killed matched the number she’d healed. She’d even healed some of the people who’d fought the fire elf.

Just the thought of being like them made her feel sick.

Jinsoul pushed the thoughts away. In the basin, the the glow was gone. The water was cool now too.

When she left the tent, she breathed in the scent of the sea. She loved how being so close filled all of her senses, from the sounds of its waves to the feel of the cool wind. She loved how vast the blue was and how she could feel its endlessness.

And she was going to leave it behind. All because of a single orb in the sky.

Jinsoul made a quick walk, just in case someone needed her. No one did. Pretty soon, they’d have to do without her.

She went to the sea next, the sand almost burning her feet. When the tide met her toes, she smiled. Even though she was a freshwater elf, the sea still called to her. Over the years, she’d made it her home, taking on the many trials of its currents, tides, and depths. She’d proven she was strong enough to master it. In return, she’d learned to love swimming within it more than walking. 

But then chatter reached her ears. About a new elf, one most hadn’t ever seen before. They were saying they were crosesh and had eyes the colour of blood.

The few who knew her were whispering to one another hurriedly. Jinsoul just caught snippets.

“She destroyed the front of the western Crosa.”

“—three vampires burned to ashes.”

Jinsoul almost stumbled. This was it. Those with magic over fire were warriors. They could only use their magic to fight. Some took it to the extreme. This person was one of them.

And they were the only other person like her.

“First to go to the Astra, wasn’t it?”

“That was years ago.”

Jinsoul started running. A part of her wanted to go in the other direction. A mass killer had come for her. The burns they caused were the ones she healed. She had healed them.

The sun bore down on the coast. The sea glittered to her left. She longed to go back there.

“There she is,” someone said, exasperated. Jessica. She wasn’t quite an elder, but she was something very close to it. “Told you she’d be late.” She said it in lightly accented crosesh. Whoever this was hadn’t learned their language.

“I was early.” The voice was slightly nasally, but still sounded kind. A strike against the mass killer. Unless this was a mask that would fall away?

Jinsoul reached the source of the voices. She was greeted by her mother who frowned at her.

“I told you to be ready here an hour ago.” Lanah raised a brow at her.

Jinsoul winked. “My bad.” The pit in her stomach had eased, but not much.

Even as her mother chuckled, there was a flicker of hesitation.

Jinsoul just squeezed her hand before ducking into the hut. It was barely even a hut, its walls only large pieces of linen, but they used it for guests and for foods they didn’t want being directly in the sun.

She didn’t have to look around. Her eyes found the newcomer immediately.

And she was at a loss for words.

The girl wasn’t tall, but she carried herself with an easy confidence. Her hair was blonde, like Jinsoul’s, but held in a high ponytail. She had Eastern features like Jinsoul did. Like all elves, her ears were elongated and pointed. She wore silver earrings. Not typical of warriors, but neither was her beauty. 

And her eyes were red, but not like blood. They sparkled like rubies did, but those gemstones were directly in the glare of the sun. They were brighter than normal elves, but Jinsoul knew that was because of the moon.

“Hi.” The elf gave her a warm smile. “I’m Jungeun.“

“The only other person like me,” Jinsoul said. But also a killer. “Did they tell you why? Why the moon chose you?”

Jessica shot her a look. Watch your tone, that said.

Jinsoul met her eyes once before looking back to the girl. This was someone whose actions didn’t match their appearance. This was someone who’d burned down countless vampires, fairies, and elves. If Jinsoul was supposed to respect that, she might as well have gone on a killing spree herself.

The red eyes didn’t look away or fill with irritation. Jungeun just kept talking. “We don’t have to go right away. I can be further up the coast and wait.” The words were filled with understanding.

Jinsoul didn’t believe it. “You came later than expected. We should go today.”

Jungeun didn’t look phased. “Good.”

“First you’ll be staying for a meal,” Jessica said. “You’ve come a long way.”

Jinsoul frowned. “A long way?”

“She brought a horse.”

What elf rode? They had time enough to walk, and the magic to travel through the earth in mere hours.

Jungeun was just looking between them, her face simply polite. It had to be a mask.

“It is a gift,” the fire elf said. She met Jinsoul’s eyes. “We won’t be riding back.”

So she’d have to walk back with her? Or have to wait to be transported back in the earth, trusting that the elf wouldn’t take advantage of that?

“I’ll prepare my things then,” Jinsoul said. She looked to Jessica then. “I told Eunha she needs to fetch a witch for Sehun. Should I tell the rest not to be surprised if there’s,” she glanced at Jungeun, “another visitor?”

Jessica smiled. “I’ll do it. Thank you.” Her pale yellow eyes were kind, reassuring.

It was such a typical exchange. And Jinsoul wouldn’t have it anymore.

She just nodded and left the tent. It was rude. She knew that, but was she really supposed to care? The Astra weren’t a small people and the elf wasn’t anyone she wanted to associate with. Once she got there, she’d be able to live quite separately from Jungeun. Maybe she’d be able to not see her at all.

Her mother was waiting. She was gnawing on her bottom lip.

“You should give her a tour,” Lanah said in Arcesh.

Jinsoul snorted. “Someone else can do that. I’ll be seeing enough of her.”

They started walking. Jinsoul wanted to go for another swim.

“Are you sure you aren’t being too harsh?”

Jinsoul looked at her. “If those stories are true, I don’t want anything to do with her.”

Her mother gave her a look. “We’ve all fought before, Jinsoul.”

And she never wanted to do it again. “She’s younger than most and has killed more than you or I combined.”

Jinsoul remembered the murmurs that’d spread once, speaking of a young elf who fought with fire. She wasn’t the first, but they said she’d lost control and burned several at once, including people on her side.

And that hadn’t stopped her from fighting. She’d just grown more efficient.

How could her mother expect Jinsoul to respect someone like that? Someone she’d have been happy never meeting?

Why had the moonlight found Jungeun? Why had it found Jinsoul? It couldn’t have been a gift for their deeds. If it had, then the moon wasn’t anything to respect. If it wasn’t, then she still didn’t know why it’d have shone on either of them. They were far from the same. They couldn’t be the same.