“We half demons have a hard time controlling our powers,” Rina explained, “much harder than the demon parents we inherited the powers from.”

“What do you mean?” Hyorin asked.

“It’s our human blood,” the older woman continued, “It rejects the demon powers. That makes them, what’s the word, unstable.”

“Unstable like how?” N asked, making his way over from the back steps.

“Harder to activate and deactivate,” Rina answered, “and our powers can manifest themselves at random times. Like during the fight with that demon who called his power ghost.”

“So can I stop it?” Hyorin asked, glancing down at her hands like she expected lighting to shoot out of them or something.

“No,” Rina smiled sadly, “that can’t be controlled. All I can do is some techniques to help you.”

“How will those help? What are these techniques?” N questioned. Rina glared slightly at him before asking – more like ordering – him to return to the back steps.

“Do you know how demons are born?” Rina asked.

“No,” Hyorin shook her head, “no one does.”

“There are many, many demonic beasts that travel the world,” Rina said, “sometimes, those beasts take hosts. Thus, demons like our parents are born.”

“What?” Hyorin asked, “How do you know that?”

“Do you know what happened to the beasts that your fathers played host to?” Rina questioned, “They now reside in you. Just like my fathers’ beasts reside in me.”

“Then why can’t we change forms?” Hyorin asked.

“Our human blood,” Rina explained, “it prevents them from doing much. It seals them deep inside of us. All they can do it provide us their power. They’re part of the reason for our powers going out of control.”

“What are you talking about?” Hyorin frowned slightly, “I thought you said that they were sealed.

“They’re powers leak out when three things happen,” Rina said, “one, we’re in danger. Two, we feel scared. Three, we’re weak. We’re a lot more venerable than our fathers and if we die, they die. They want to avoid that, so if they think we might be at risk they force their power past the seal.”

“So what do I do to avoid it?”

“That’s what I’m going to teach you,” Rina told the younger female, “I’m going to help you talk to the beasts.”

“Can N and the others help?”

“They can’t know what we’re doing,” Rina said, “I don’t know exactly why, but my beasts told me that full demons can’t know. If they know, they might try to contact their own beasts and that is a bad thing. I don’t know why, but it is.”

“Ok,” Hyorin nodded after a pause, “I wouldn’t say a word.”

--

“You’ll be able to start training her again,” Rina dropped to the ground beside N.

“Huh?” he blinked in surprise at both her words and sudden appearance from the sky.

“Once she’s finished learning the techniques I’ve taught her,” Rina explained, “you’ll be able to take over her training again.”

“Aren’t you going to keep training her?” N asked, “I mean, your powers are flight and ice. Hyorin has both powers, so why can’t you help her with both?”

“Her flight is already fine,” Rina replied, “I can’t do anything to help her with that. As for her ice powers, they haven’t activated yet. Once they do, I can help her. But until then, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Oh,” he looked back at Hyorin.

“You have been doing a good job,” Rina commented, “all things considered, she has come a long way in learning how to use and control her powers.”

“Not good enough though,” N frowned, “not good enough if the incident with Youngjae happened. Not good enough if you needed to come and help her.”

“No matter how well you trained her,” Rina advised, “those things still would have happened. Call it a necessary evil if you will.”

“I think it’s unnecessary,” JB frowned as he joined them, “look at how badly the Youngjae incident messed with her. You can’t tell me that needed to happen.”

“I can,” Rina replied, “it needed to happen because she needed to know just how deadly the powers inside of her are. She needed to realize that any and all steps that can be taken to help her control need to be taken. Even if they don’t completely solve the problem.”

“Unnecessary,” JB shrugged, “Hyorin already knew that.” N nodded in agreement.

“With all respect,” Rina told them, “you were not there to see the fight with Youngjae. She wasn’t being careful. She was reckless with her power usage. That’s why her electricity powers activated.”

“That was Ravi’s mistake,” N growled, angry at the idea that Hyorin was at fault for that incident, “it was his plan for her to use her powers like that. She only listened because she trusted him.”

“Then maybe she needs to learn to place her trust in demons more carefully,” Rina rolled her eyes, “because that demon failed her. If she over used too much for his plan, she could have died.”

“So she should be wary of everyone?” N yelled, attracting Hyorin’s attention, “she trusts us because we’re her guardians. We’ll do anything to keep her safe. You can’t judge us by one stupid mistake Ravi made. You can’t judge him by that one mistake either.”

“I’m not judging,” Rina didn’t spare him a glance, “I’m stating a fact. The fact is that your brother didn’t think and that mistake could have cost Hyorin her life or hurt her. It is a fact that her trust in you six blinded her to the fact that she should have questioned his plan. All he told her was attack Youngjae and she did it without a thought. It was stupid of her. It was a mistake only foolish children make.”

“Shut up!” N snapped, “Shut up and get out. We don’t need you insulting Hyorin like that. So leave.”

“I refuse,” Rina finally looked at him, “Hyorin needs my training.”

“We can train her in breathing techniques and all that,” JB scoffed, “N’s right. We don’t need you if you’re going to insult Hyorin.”

“Fine,” Rina stood, shooting off into the sky, “but I will be back when things fall apart.”

“You shouldn’t have yelled at her,” Hyorin said once the older half demon was gone, “we needed her.”

“We’ll be fine,” N smiled, trying to comfort her, “you have us, Hyorin. Everything will be fine. I promise.”

Hyorin nodded, but a part of her doubted his words. The two demons led her inside, Hyorin muttering that Rina’s teaching wasn’t just ‘breathing techniques’ too softly for either to hear.

A/N: so, is sending Rina away going to blow up in N’s face? We shall wait and see. And, for anyone who read ‘My Twelve Guardians’ and wondered how demons came into being, you have part of an answer! Demonic beasts! How they select a host and why do the hosts not remember their days spent as a human are questions to be answered at a later date.