Dalzonf shook her head. ‘Your little crush on me must have driven you insane.’

‘I just want to keep her safe!’ Nosderag argued. ‘Her leg is injured.’

‘What does she even eat?’

Nosderag pouted. ‘I don’t know.’ Her hopeful face returned. ‘But we can look it up.’

‘We?’

‘Fine, I can look it up. And feed her. And take care of her. You just keep it a secret.’

‘Yeah, no. I’m giving you my first order as your blackmailer. Put her back.’

‘Can we at least wait until tomorrow? It’s getting dark out.’

‘Fine. But tomorrow she’s going back.’ Dalzonf chuckled. ‘I don’t exactly want the enemy of my people staying too long.’

It took a while for Nosderag to get the joke and when she did she rolled her eyes. ‘Boo. Booooooooo.’ She held the fairy up to Dalzonf. ‘I bet even Marosos wouldn’t hate this Arayonda.’

‘That’s because she’s an easier to deal with version of her. Wait, you’re not going to name her Arayonda, are you?’

‘Nah. She deserves her own identity. Hmm…. Daliki?’

Dalzonf crossed her arms. ‘One sky? Wow, a real imaginative name for an ara fairy.’ 

‘I think it’s cute! And the pun is great.’

‘I don’t think putting two words together is automatically a pun.’

‘You must be great at parties.’

Dalzonf went into the bathroom and came back with a first aid kit. Nosderag started tending to the bird’s broken leg as best she could, applying the last drop of a healing potion to the broken leg and carefully wrapping a bandage around it.

‘On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t be naming her,’ Dalzonf said. ‘Since, you, know, we’re giving her back tomorrow.’

‘A name is useful if one of us loses her.’ 

Dalzonf moved her lips to the side in thought. ‘Alright. Daliki it is.’ Nosderag hugged her. Dalzonf lightly patted her on the back, arching her back as far away from the other girl as possible. After five seconds, she said. ‘Okay, that’s enough.’

Nosderag giggled. ‘Oh, by the way, I have dirt on you too. Your innocent crying girl schtick is just that. And people are more likely to believe me than some love tolxer. How would people react if they knew their suspicions that you’re manipulative and two-faced were right?’

Dalzonf grabbed Nosderag’s cheeks and stretched them outwards. ‘How can you call me those things with a smile?’

‘I learned bitchiness from the best.’

It was Dalzonf’s time to roll her eyes. She patted Nosderag on the head before yawning and getting into her pyjamas, checking every few seconds that the other girl wasn’t watching. She wasn’t, instead focusing on looking up ways to feed the fairy in an encyclopaedia. 

‘Turns out these fairies feed on magic.’ Dalzonf groaned. ‘Oh, but if you feed them the same type of magic for a long time, the magic starts affecting whoever touches them.’

‘Well, we’re sending her home tomorrow, so it doesn’t matter.’

The next day, Dalzonf had to suffer through Nosderag serenading her for the time span of an elevator ride. She had to wait a little until Nosderag was back to normal before leaving the elevator. Before having breakfast, they headed outside and saw the armoury. Which suddenly had guards outside.

Deep purple metal armour covered the entirety of the guards’ bodies. One guard had wings that were also covered with metal. They carried no weapons. Not that they needed any.

A crowd of students gathered to see what was going on. No matter how many times teachers shooed them away, they kept coming back.

One of the teachers gave up on keeping the secret. ‘Some magical creatures have been stolen from our campus. Police will be here any minute to begin their investigation, so we need you all to make way for them. Go have breakfast!’

Nosderag and Dalzonf turned to each other, collectively shitting themselves.