[Terminé] Unknown

"Run, run, run......the farther, the better." A voice consistently appeared in her head.

This was her first time coming to town. She had never seen so many people on the street before. Combining ecstasy, excitement, curiosity and fear, an extraordinary medley of feeling struggled inside her. Everything to her is novel and special. However, from the looks of pedestrians , she knew today's weather was not like her mood- it's more biting, more piercing, more freezing, and more cutting. Everyone seemed to rush home as quick as they could to keep themselves out of harsh weather.

For she was free to pass in and out houses without being noticed. She spent almost a day visiting and enjoyed playing little tricks on people, including sprinkling sand on dished, putting out fire with sand or spraying sand on the floor to watch people fall and so on. Their reactions made her giggle or burst into laugh. After finishing her visiting, it's time for her to find a place to take a rest.

Without any idea, she roamed on the street aimlessly. Suddenly, she stopped at a building. it's a quite plain, normal and a bit dreary house built by stones. She didn't know what made her stop but she could feel the light from the second floor giving her something she had never had, something like warmth. Getting in the house, for her, is a piece of cake. Nevertheless, once she went into it, she realized that there is no wind, which meant she couldn't get out whenever she wanted.

"Hoo co tat pe!"

(How could that be!) she said to herself.

For the first time since coming into this forsaken city, Béhékine felt at peace.
Finally taking a bath to remove all the sand stuck in his fur did wonders to brighten his mood, seriously damaged during his long walk for coming to this place.
The weather, the wind carrying dust and sand, the sideways looks he got from inhabitants, the stench of hundreds of bodies who couldn't afford a bath on regular basis in this arid land...
Even if he used to like the Desert - for its calm and grandiose view of the skies - when he was a Mist Spirit, the now Demon, half-man, half-panther, was reconsidering his prior judgement.

At least he had a whole building almost to himself now, since the innkeeper gave him the "only room available" inside the inn's annex, far away from other customers. The Demon didn't mind being put away like that, especially when it meant having the time to conjure warm water for a long and relaxing bath.
Through half-closed eyes, he could still see the door leading from the bathroom to the main room, and the warm fiery glow coming from the chinmey. Everything was calm, and quiet, thanks to the protective spells he had put earlier on the building, isolating itself further against the cold, the wind and all this damn sand !
He was not entirely sure of the spell efficiency against this last part, though, this was a first for him...

So, he was there, relaxed, cleaned, in his bath, half-asleep really - almost purring like a housecat - when the faintest sound of footsteps came to his ears, making them perk up and jerking him awake. He thought he had only imagined the sounds, but when his keen ears caught some low mumbling, he growled like the beast he so resembled.
Getting up and out of his bath, he used his magic to dry up - making his fur go all poofy in the process - and grabbing his pants, he took them on while walking to the door, finally opening it entirely to reveal himself and see who or what was paying him an unwanted visit !

He instantly saw the small girl in the middle of the room, brown short hair and surprising purple eyes, wearing traveling clothes - although being bare-footed - who was just standing there, looking surprised.
Béhékine noticed that windows and doors were still closed and, while wondering how she got in, he said :

- Wrong room, young lady.

He smiled too, but it was not a warm, welcoming smile : it was a "annoyed in his calm evening" kind of smile, and a toothy one with that.

Anhydre. looked around the room and hardly believed this place was inhabited. Everything coming into view was covered with a carpet of dust and sand. Any gentle blow could raise a huge sandstorm. She put her hands close to the window, to the ground, even against the wall but she didn’t feel any sign of airflow.
Were it not for the fire shouting in the fireplace, she would accept she could breathe without air as true.
Seeing back to the dust laying on the ground, she suddenly realized something- THEY shared the same destiny.

This feeling, this caught-unprepared feeling was like a bird shot by a bullet and dropping into abyss all of a sudden while flying in the sky few seconds ago.
Within living memory, she could go anywhere at will and she thought this ability to her was as normal as breathe to all living things and now, it was no longer belongs to her. The setback drove her entire sleepiness out.
Looking out of the window……

“Wrong room, young lady.”
An impatient tone came from her back and the yucky smell, his shampoo smell, gave her a jerk.

She could see a vague figure reflecting through the window. It looked like an animal but have LEGS. She blinked her eyes again and again to make sure she didn’t see it wrong. Half-man and half-panther would be precise.
From his appearance, she knew he was annoyed by something, she? She didn’t know and didn’t mind if it was her. Exotic as he was, she didn’t take him to heart. What haunted in her mind was how to get out of here.

She paused for some seconds and said,
“No in, no out, wos dor? No queston and anser, wos wrone?” (No in, no out, what’s door? No question and answer, what’s wrong?)
It’s more like murmuring than replying.

Her mumbled response, told without looking at him directly, made Behekine blink several times, both in confusion and indignation. He had a sharp sense of hearing, but he was not cerrtain to be able to comprehend her words, chewed out more than spoken, like she did, with a raspy voice that sounded like it was the first time she spoke aloud in years.
Still, he could feel her confusion - and fear ? - in her voice, which doused his own irritation. Just a little, though.
Maybe she got here by accident, and wasn't figuring out what happened to her. Behekine didn't know either. A burst of magic could happen naturally anywhere, and sometimes act like a perfectly crafted spell by dumb luck, sending any infortunate soul accross the world. That, he knew.

She looked harmless enough, and since he thought he heard her talk about a door, he showed the room's door with his hand :

- The door is right there, you can get out if you want, I haven't locked it.

Keeping an eye on her, he stepped back inside the bathroom to grab his clothes, putting them on and waiting for his visitor's reaction.

Anhydre. was quite surprise at his reaction. It was much calmer than she expected. She assumed he would be in a rage for her ignorance or drive her out by threaten or ask more questions about her appearance- anything but just leaving a statement indifferently.

“Duh!”
She rolled her eyes at his back in the window once he left.
How could I not know where was the door and would I still stand here if I could get out through the door?
Thinking of his words as nonsense, she looked down at her right hand.
A clear image of her first failure to hold things ran to her mind. The lost impression was so vivid that she could even imagine how the doorknob would slip out of her hand cruelly if she went on turning it.
The incompetence was always a nightmare that she was unable to wake up from and thanks to panther-man, he just mentioned the pot that didn’t boil.

Imitating how people opened the door, she clenched and relaxed her fist for several times. The feeling of strength releasing from her palm made her giggle but suddenly stopped….

“Seam cloz...cloz”(Seam closed...closed.)
By repeatedly folding and unfolding her fingers, she was caught in her selflessness, without noticing her mouth opening.

LOCK, four letters came into her mind.

She recalled his saying and digested it over again while staring her fist. Something blurry flashed like shooting star in her head, too rapidly that she failed to jot down the track.
Would that be coincident or INTENTIONAL?
She had no any idea whether he was truly dimwitted or pretended to be but for his calm reaction, she highly doubted he had known something about her.

“WHO ARE YOU?” she said in a cold way.

Béhékine was just getting out of the bathroom, finally clothed and dry when he heard her last words. So she could talk properly after all, even if her voice was still raspy as sandpaper and a bit painful to his ears...
With his irritation coming back, he noticed she had not moved an inch to get to the door.
The Demon walked to the old armchair near the chinmey and sat right in, struggling a little to find a comfortable position in the old furniture. Finally, he turned his gaze to the girl, hoping she would leave soon :

- Just a slave trying to get his freedom back. I won't tell more to someone who just barged in. I'm tired and I'd like to spend the rest of this evening in relative calm, so please show yourself out.

With a flick of his tail - just like any annoyed cat - he pointed in the direction of said door.

Following a sound of disturbance and a chain of words shot in quick succession, Anhydre. turned to and fixed her glance at him straightly. Fatigue and impatience expressed in his eyes seemed to tell her all she suspected moments ago was wrong.

He knew nothing at all.

A mean but harmless stare at her looked like holding palms pleased her to leave right now. Unfortunately, The thought of leaving was put out of her mind as soon as she’d known he was a slave robbed of freedom by someone. She thought: Maybe, staying here would be more interesting and adventurous than roaming on the road aimlessly.

Looking around the house again, she found it was a cozy place actually with simple furniture and silent setting. Dust and sand weren't annoying stuff to her anyway. Further, she looked at the damn door he pointed and  walked toward that direction.
Just when she passed a cupboard, which was high over half of her height; she gave a backhand turn to prop herself sitting on it with one hand, swiftly and lightly.

Stroking a clear line with index finger on the board and blowing the dust off her fingertip gently, she said:
“Need a savior?” meanwhile, she threw a dusted wine glass beside her high in the air with one hand and pointed at the door with the other. Her glance didn’t take off him a second.
“by the way, sir, THERE is no-”
The wine glass vertically dropped in speed through her palm without stopping-
“WAY.”
The last word fell heavily, so did the wine glass, which remained complete but with web slits around it.

When he saw her jump on the furniture, showing no sign of wanting to get out anymore, Béhékine felt his irritation coming back full force. He just wanted a calm evening, for fuck sake !
Everything got replaced by curiosity when the glass went through her open palm as if she was just a ghost. The Demon's ears perked up, his eyes now alert went back and forth between her and the glass. There was more to this girl than an annoying trespasser, maybe.
Her words made him chuckle :

- Liking the offer here, but I seriously doubt you have the talent required to set me free. I won't put my life in your hands, if you can't even catch a glass in mid-air... or open a door.

To be sure of what he saw earlier and thought about why she couldn't hold the glass, Béhékine mumbled a short spell to alter his vision, giving him glowing blue eyes for several seconds, letting him see the magical energy in everything and everyone around him.
Turning his gaze to the girl, he saw not an organic body with blood streams and organs pumping heat and chemicals, but an ever-moving mass of pure elemental energy, whirling sand forced to take the form of a girl.
The spell ended, and he smiled while his eyes returned to their normal un-glowy state. She was a Sand elemental.

- You never got any training to strenghten your shape and grab physical objects at will ?

Suddenly, a white cloud of mist appeared around the old-Demon, soon taking the shape of a "third arm" going out of his torso that extended all the way to the fractured glass on the ground. He took it using only mist and restracted to his physical body.
Behekine grabbed the glass in his "flesh" hand and let the mist disappear inside him, idly examining the half-broken object while thinking.

- You threw it in the air, but were unable to catch it. You pulled yourself up on the cupboard, but does not seem to know how to operate doors. And I guess you got in by squeezing through the holes in the wall ?

“Well, let’s see.” She shrugged her shoulder.

As soon as Anhydre. realized what she had done, she was bursting to wrestle herself on the ground, bang her head against the wall or throw herself out of window. She should have been calm and serious, especially in such unfree condition, instead of showing off in front of a total stranger.
From the panther-man’s eyes, however, she knew it was too late. Her inability had aroused his curiosity.
In spite of full regret, anger had soon occupied in her thought once she found he altered his version by changing the eye’s color with murmured words, in order to scan HER.

Spell

She shifted her sight to the window she had passed through. Now, everything was clear. It was magic that blocked wind out.

God knows who the hell did I run into?

Returning her glance at him with cross arms, Anhydre. didn’t reply him a word. she just wanted to see what he could do.
Abruptly, mist with hand shape appeared from the panther-man’s body, floating in her direction. She folded her legs fast to embrace them in front of chest, so as not to touch any droplet. On that spot, seeing his unruffled calm, she wished she had an ability to give him a punch.
As mist held the wine glass up from the ground, she couldn’t help but open her eyes wide. An extremely unbalanced ratio tilted her sight.

“Heavens!”
She didn’t know how to react to such situation. Although magic was not something strange to her on this earth, this scene was definitely an eye opener.

The panther-man stretched out his “flesh” hand and touched the broken wine glass. Just that moment, an ache emerged in her left hand palm. Anhydre. loosed her legs immediately and exerted all her strength to open up the palm but a strong force, like spasm, kept clenching her hand to fist. It’s not like her hand. She couldn’t control it. Trying to against the power by grasping her left hand with right one, she could feel the pain growing stronger and stronger and was about to explode. Through the corner of eyes, she saw the panther-man examining the object idly without knowing what happened. Spell, Wine glass, Palm. Finally, she couldn’t stand the twinge and let the throbbing-like power clench her palm into fist.

BOOM!

Windows blew up, the wine glass crashed and the furniture she sat on broke.
Everything her left hand had touched all exploded.
Anhydre. fell to the ground heavily but smile came on her face when she felt the harsh wind blowing her hair.

The blast took him almost by surprise but, thankfully, he had many experiences of this sort to get accustomed by the idea of things suddenly going boom. Almost soly by instinct, a cloud of mist appeared around him, shielding him from the wood and glass shrapnels flying all around the room. The wine glass still broke in his hand though, and his ears went ringing from the detonation.
It was not a firey explosion, more a shockwave made of compressed wind freed at once.

Béhékine made his mist protection disappear with a small hand gesture and sighed when he discovered the damages done to the window - now more a hole in the wall than a fancy decorative element - and the scraps of wood and glass scattered everywhere on the floor. Even the big mirror on the wall now sported a beautiful crack on its surface.
The innkeeper was going to be quite upset with all this !
The idea made the old Demon laugh after a few seconds of considering it. He could see the girl smiling on the ground, apparently unharmed by the blast, her hair moving around her face thanks to the wind now coming through the broken window.

Of course, the blast also destroyed the spell he placed on the room, the one to stop the wind and sand from coming in or out...
Wait a minute : if she was sand and wind, his spell had trapped her inside ! That was why she told him there was no way out earlier !
Béhékine dusted off his lap the remnant of the wine glass and massaged his ears - the ringing was gradually stopping now - before smiling :

- For further reference, this was too much strength. You're an interesting one, you know that ?

Anhydre. opened her eyes, quite surprised at the scenes she saw. The house was distorted beyond recognition. Almost everything was broken into pieces and lay on the ground silently.
To collate herself, she stood up and hopped. Now, her left hand was not hurt. Pain seemed to be transferred into some kind of strength and release out by explosion. However, she didn’t know how she made it at all, not to mention, causing such horrible disaster.
To panther-man, she felt a bit of guilty, only a bit. Seeing he was safe from the blast, she felt relieved but got annoyed once his word came to her mind.

Interesting?
Is he flattering me now?
"Less interesting than a slave."
She didn’t consider what she said. Words like water flew from her mouth naturally.
Wind brushed her clothes as if it were prompting her to leave.

Leave?

To her shock, she, Anhydre., was asking herself whether to leave. All she waited from start to the end was wind, wasn't she? But why when wind truly came, she hesitated.
She walked toward the broken window. The place she first stood. Whereas, the big mirror hang on the wall caught her attention. A crack like a fierce claw extended from an eye of breaking point. In the mirror, fracture scratched her face into parts.
“Mist might be able to blur the image but a breaker could split it.”
She didn’t know why she said those words.
To him or to herself?
"Failed to give you a calm evening, though a quite night would be alright. Good night.”
Why should I set out in a hurry? But isn’t leaving here all I want?
Anhydre. twisted her heart while facing toward the dark sky. She had no idea what she should do next so she decided to countdown five seconds.
After that, she would hand over the decision to the wind.
5
4
3…

Her words reminding him of his slave status made the amused spark fade away from his eyes, but his smile remained.

- Eh, mist can do so much more than blur... but good night to you too, I guess, if you're not going to help cleaning your mess.

With a grunt, Behekine stood up and walked to a closet, opening it and grabbing the broom waiting inside. He then started to use it to clean the room, casually, paying no more attention to his visitor.
Or so it seemed : his ears were always turned in her direction, even while he was facing away from her.
He used to be a Mist Elemental, after all. He still was one, in a way, even if this body created by magic gave him a permanent shape and was closer to mortals.
Even if he acted like he didn't care about her presence, the old Mist Demon was really curious ; how old was she ? Where did she first appeared ? Why this shape, out of all the ones she could have considering her nature ?
She was the first Elemental he met in hundreds of years, and she looked and acted so young.

5, ….more than blur…
4, like what?
3, ….help cleaning your mess.
2, help?
1, !
Anhydre. tightened herself and stepped back at the last moment. She found it hard to leave as easily as she came. Lots of unanswered questions tied on her mind, like heavy stones, consistently pulled her back and the biggest rock was the one standing far away and was sweeping with his back to her.
All along, she had a sort of feeling she wouldn’t leave, at least not like this, but couldn’t find a reasonable excuse to stay.

Anhydre. walked toward the place the panther-man swept and spoke in a low voice:
“Last question before I go, what if your owner…oh no…master knew his/her/its spell was broken? Will it risk your life?”
by me, two words, dropped off the end of broken. She didn’t know why she started to worry about his life. After all, this disaster wasn’t caused only by her. Be more correct: she was also a victim in this explosion!
“and I thought the one who was too lazy to pick up the wine glass will also clean this mess with mist but to show my responsibility, I’ll do it.”

No way! Even a glass, I can’t hold, let alone the mop,
But that way, I can’t stay here and those questions…..

Anhydre. looked around and tried to find something she could take. Cleaning, to her, was a fresh thing, only seen in other peoples’ house. Now regretting not learning how to clean the house was too late. Suddenly, she was struck by a brainwave as she saw the clothes hang on the chair. To rub the clothes off the chair with her back took her five more minutes. Then, she stepped on it with one foot and kick back to move forward with the other.
Slowly, she collected the glass pieces into a pile.
Just wanting to call the panther-man to weep up, she stamped on one of fragments covered by the clothes without caution and slipped forward smoothly. Seeing herself about to rush straightly to the dustbin, she closed her eyes. Her feet stroke it to the door.

Clatttttter………

All the pieces returned to the ground, plus a cracked wasted bin.
The ground was lined by the scratch of pieces. A long line ended under her feet.
“Oops…”
However, her attention soon was on the broken cabinet she sat before. The remains still lay there.
She pointed them and said:
“The second last question before I go, could you make a skateboard from it for me?”

The pile of debris he was stacking up with the broom got bigger and bigger by the second, but he paused to look at the girl when she worried about his safety. That surprised him, to say the least !

- The spell that was on the room, blocking your exit, you mean ? Don't worry, that was all my doing. I'm here on my own, my "master" doesn't give a damn about where I am, or what i'm doing.

As long as he was working on the mission carved in his slave's chains, anyway. But it was the Pact's doing, and not due to his master's will.
He would endure a thousands deaths before obeying any orders from this man without being bound by a Pact !
Behekine resumed his cleaning, and he had a toothy grin when he added :

- The innkeeper might be a tad bit upset by the state of his room, but I'll manage the details. It'll be worth the entertainment.
And where would be the fun in using magic to clean the room, hmm ? And you could not show this responsible side of yours if I cleaned everything with a spell.

For several minutes, he just kept cleaning, taking some fun out of using his new physical body with this trivial activity.
He jumped a little when the bin hit the door with such force it cracked, and he turned around to see what happened. The apologetic expression on the girl's face made him laugh a little :

- I swear, you're the most entertaining I've come accross in a long while ! You struggle to move clothes around, and in the next moment you shoot a bin like a furious bull !

Her last demand made him stop, and think for a few seconds :

- Hmmm... you should stop your countdown right here, it'll end up longer than your questions themselves.
Anyway... no, I don't think I can make anything out of that piece of wood, except a piece of wood. I'm not a magic crafter, nor a normal crafter for that matter.

That, and the Pact binding him would probably forbid him to try and use a huge amount of magic in a task not related to the mission he was forced to pursue.

Embarrassment blushed her as she found the panther-man notice what her countdown was for. However, a burst of disappointment soon sprang up and darkened the tone.
“Never mind, feed the fire then!”
Anhydre. got closer to those broken and abandoned planks. Nothing showed what the cabinet was used for. Perhaps, it had been dumped already and she was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Thinking the panther-man’s words again, she gave a short laugh.
“Ha, Mist blocked the wind…”
Ridiculous as it seemed to be, saying she wasn’t marvel at his magic was a big lie. Mist couldn’t move a millimeter without the wind but it all made sense if the spell was put by him.
Anhydre. squatted down, watched the panther-man secretly and started to draw an outline of him with her finger stroking the dust on the ground. Sometimes, the panther-man’s gaze would meet hers accidentally. She would pretend looking to other places or turn back toward the floor right away. Curious about who he was and what he had experienced, her thought was full of his words, drifting herself away from reality.

If his master didn’t care about his going and doing, then why he said he was a slave and wanted to get the freedom back?

Freedom, this word, was a totally new word to her. Until she was blocked by his damn magic did she find what it meant and why it appeared, just to compare with captivity, but now she wasn’t sure whether she really knew it or not.

Could it be that his master held something worthier than freedom? Like spirituality or something had nothing to do with the process, only focus on the result in certain period, like mission?or…

Those endless possibilities made her headache. There was no answer and no fancy the panther-man would tell her, the one who “barged” in.
“Ahhhhhh….., forget it.” She scratched her head.
A sudden voice rushed out, popping the bubble of serenity. Until then did Anhydre. realize she was thrown back to reality and another awkward silence was waiting her to speak.
“uh… so you are born with this look? I mean…it’s so mixed.”
Her mouth ran off the question without thinking. It had popped in her mind at the first moment she saw him but she never thought it would be asked in this way.

Gosh, Anhydre., what the hell are you doing?!

Swiping out her easy drawing and walked to a desk near the window, she saw a compass, which of surface had a slit. She moved it to see clearer and found it was not for direction. There were four categories and Rhadamanthe was what the pointer aimed.
“A traveler huh… Have you ever been to the other side of world? I’ve heard it’s a totally different place, more pleasant and I intend to visit there. Umm…..”
She saw the opposite side of Rhadamanthe.
“It seems to be call Mino-”
All of a sudden, a wave of pitch black blocked her mouth up, unfinished words hanging on the air. Everything was given a period. Even the fire was put out suddenly. Anhydre. was shocked out of skin, trying to adapt her vision to the dark but failed.
“P…panther-man?”
She looked around.
Vibrating words were replied by a long

Silence.

She always looked like there was another question threatening to get out of her mouth, but she stayed quiet.
Behekine resumed his cleaning, sometimes catching her gaze upon him. The evening proved to be very different than the calm one he first expected, but his annoyance to see a "stowaway" barging in was long gone, replaced by a genuine curiosity about this young Elemental.
She looked curious too, to say the least, and her question about his appearance confirmed it.
Behekine smiled :

- No, I was not born this way. This body is the proof that you always have to be careful for what you wish for... and choose your words carefully when dealing with magic of old. The rest is quite technical.
And you ? You're made of sand and wind. Why this body, and traits ?

She soon moved over the compass and talked about the other continents. Before he could think of any answer, the fire in the chinmey died, and everything went dark.
Since the night outside was especially dark too, the window was no help at all and the room ended up in pitch black darkness.
Behekine stopped brooming and frowned.
His feline eyes were already adjusting to the absence of light, and the room appeared to him in grayish shades. What happened to that fire ?
The girl called to him, and he looked in her direction to see her petrified in place, her eyes obviously ineffective in the dark looking vacantly into space. Her stance was nervous, still.
The old Demon couldn't resist, he said :

- Afraid of the dark, young one ?

Anhydre. was all hung-up before the first word came to her ear. Somehow, she felt the dark sweeping lights out so suddenly wasn’t a trick or pure coincidence. She could sense in the air there must be something invisible watching them.
“Afraid of the dark, young one?”
Simple words made she relieved but at the same time, she was annoyed by his “caring”. The original purpose of calling him was simply to make sure his safety and to ask him what happened here; However, they were all washed away after the cold water poured by his care.
“Mind yourself, old one.”
In the quietness, the mean tone showed firmer and stronger and the last two words were forced in her unpleasant voice.
Still, she remained a blind, unable to see anything. The place where the panther-man stood only could be positioned by her weak memory. And the memory also reminded her of his asking.
“Do I look weird? I thought I look like humans.”
She paused and said:
“Nobody asked me these questions before and I never think about them, about my appearance and traits. Made of sand is all I know about myself and it’s quite reasonable for what happened to me.”
Thanks to blindness, she talked as if there were no one in the room. If now she could see him clearly, everything would be different and the reply might be ended with four words, none of your business.
Despite of darkness in her sight, she couldn’t stand staying at the same place. She’d like to walk around, precisely, to find out what’s wrong. Without knowing which direction she was toward, she extended her hand to touch things around her.
When she found a pile of books stacked on the ground, a question flashed to her mind.
Unsure where the panther-man was, she looked up to the ceiling and asked.
“Strictly speaking, you should have been my enemy, shouldn’t you?”
Although she didn’t know how elements operated, she knew her biggest feud was nothing but water. Ironically, now she “shared” a room with Mist. At any time, she would lose her life by accident in his breath.
Just then, a little red light spot beamed across her front. Regardless of everything, she chased behind it but losing the track after the armchair.

Anhydre. pointed the fireplace and rushed to it:
“The chimney! Come or stay, it’s up to you.”


(PS. You can choose whether to let Behekine see the red little light spot or not. It's a signal for Anhydre. )

Her answer made him laugh ; she wasn't completely out of it apparently !
Behekine moved closer to the chinmey to inspect it, keeping an eye on the girl every few seconds.
He first thought the fire died because of some ash who had fallen from the conduit, but the wood had no black dust on it. Maybe the blast from earlier killed the fire after a while ?
The fire was already lit when he first entered in the room, and since he couldn't see any matches around, he had no choice but to make fire himself.
He listened to the girl first, smiling when he saw her move around the room blindly, with her hands extended in front of her.

- Hmmm... I was wondering why you had this face, is all.
If you're made of sand, you could be anything or anyone, just like I could before getting this body. But there's quite the training before achieving complete shapeshifting. It's a pain in the ass, basically.
I suppose the body you have here is good. Better than mine to evolve around humans, in any case.

If he understood her words, she apparently appeared out of thin air, which was a weird thing to believe. He knew only a few Elemental, but all appeared following great events of magic. Still, magic could be weird in itself. Unpredictable too.
His focus went back on the task at hand - getting some fire back in this chinmey ! - and he let go of his broom before mumbling to himself, trying to remember the spell to conjure a simple flame. He trained with Elemental magic since he got his new body, but went right to explosives concerning Fire Magic. He got a bit carried away with the boost in magic power gained thanks to having a physical shape.
So conjuring a simple flame was not impossible, but he just had to change his usual spell to restrain it to a small one, and not ending with a blazing hellfire who could destroy the room, the building and certainly them in the process.
The next question of the girl broke his focus quite abruptly :

- Your... enemy ? And why would I be ?

He was surprised to say the least. Why did she say that ?
He never got the answer.
She went chasing after a small red dot that moved like a laser pointer around the room. Behekine saw it too, but before joining on the hunt - repressing all his instincts for achieving that - he started casting his fire spell, thinking some light could really help in that moment.
Fire appeared in his open palm, and just as he was being ready to launch it into the chinmey like a small fireball, he saw the girl rush to the spot he was aiming at ! He couldn't stop his move, so he yelled to her, hoping to stop her by his words :

- Stay back !

Wholeheartedly, the red light spot was all she could see and chasing it occupied her mind. Thinking it might be the main reason of blacking the room or something hiding in the room and eavesdropping all along, she couldn’t let go so easily. No matter the panther-man came up or not, she decided to fight it out. Nothing could stop her, nothing……she thought.
Just when she darted into the chimney-

“Stay back!”

A urgent voice came from behind. However, it’s too late to stop her rush. In spite of the emergency brake the sudden voice put on, her foot had carried her away. Front, seeing the red spot was in less than the length of arm to fetch but it’s a strong feeling of something shiny back pressing on her that made she changed her mind and stretched out her left hand behind at the last second after several steps.
Just right, a length of arm at the 45 degree angle, upper left.
Anhydre. had no idea for what she had stopped. The force to resist fast speed gave her hand a sprain. There’s no enough time to turn round but she knew everything paused and seemed to be safe, maybe in few seconds. Following was a great heavy wave sent from the stuff she held. An excessive force pushed her ahead, like carrying a wall on her back.
To see what’s in her hand, she turned herself back fast but the force kept growing that she needed to push it back with two hands. She was freaked out as she saw it’s a “fireball”.

If I wasn’t mistaken, fire is one of elemental. How did he make it?
Damn… magic could explain everything!

Despite of fire, she didn’t get burn. The flame throbbed due to the wind but the weight of it was far heavier than holding ten shot puts. Be more correct, it’s not in her hand but too close to see the gap. Without knowing why, she felt its pressure affected not only a ball size but the whole area it had reached. In other words, The room had been parted into two.
The heavier it became, the stronger Anhydre. exerted. Two auras were deadlocked. She knew she mustn’t give up. If she couldn’t hold it back, she would be the fuel for the fire but she didn’t have much energy either to strike it out. The wooden ground where she stood was sinking down and she even could feel the crack on the floor she made started to split. Another two minutes for her to fight was too much, neither for the ground.
Exhausted, helpless……
“What… are you… FUCKING… (doing)?-”
Doing was whispery. She had used up all her energy for defending and there was nothing left even for her speaking, let alone cursing. All of a sudden, she felt herself became lighter as if she had dropped somthing. Not until she looked down at herself did she find the lower half of her body was gone. Because of lacking strength, soon, all parts of Anhydre. disappeared with the wind blowing.

The fireball dashed to the fireplace, where it should have been minutes ago.

Run, run, run……the farther, the better.
A voice appeared in her head the same as the one sometime ago. Running in the dark, she must find out the entrance before the fire caught up. The sound of burning were chasing behind.
“Don’t say you don’t believe it’s his work.”
“But he tried to stop me.”
“Yeah, by words, not spell.”
“Maybe not enough time…”
“It’s a matter of magic”
“Then why?”
“Don’t forget, he is a Mist.”

It’s all like a dream, a dream of talk between two of her. Opening the eyes, she found herself lying up on the roof beside the chimney. Though her figure was complete, inside her body was empty. Without energy, she couldn’t sit up. Fatigue failed to turn those horrible memories into a simple nightmare. Seeing from the window of houses cross the street, she found the panther-man’s house was lighted and the window was repaired.

Don’t forget, he is a Mist.
“I thought you are different… panther-man.”
In despair, she murmured but still couldn’t accept the reason replied from her dream.

After a few minutes, she whispered to the wind:
“A healing place.”

She didn't stop.
The fireball went right for her back, and Behekine didn't want to think about what a small fire would become if hitting a wind Elemental.
Thankfully, she had heard him, and grabbed the flaming orb behind her back.
The Demon sighed, relieved.
But it was short notice, and he really started to feel fear when he felt the atmosphere changing, in tandem with the girl's horrified face when she saw what she was holding.
The fireball was feeding on the wind that composed her shape, and she was obviously trying to push it back by the only way she surely knew, by using more wind to manipulate it. But it was a really bad idea !

- Let it go, you fool !

The atmosphere was becoming heavier and heavier by the second, just like when she blasted off everything in the room earlier, and Behekine wasn't sure he could be heard in the maelstrom now surrounding her side of the room. The fireball was growing, rotating faster and faster, and she was visibly in a lot of pain.
The air suddenly cracked like thunder around him, and he felt the atmosphere pressure augmenting ten folds, causing pain in his ears, eyes and throat.
Everything was vibrating around him, and Behekine saw the girl move her lips, as if to say something. He didn't understand her words, but he could read lips enough to get the general idea.

What he was doing ? He could perfectly ask her the same question !
She was going to make a beautiful firework if she kept going, blowing up the whole room in the process, and killing them both as a bonus !
But now was not the time to argue back at her, and he summoned all his will to get back to his senses, even if the air pressure was still crushing both his inner ears and his eyes back into his skull.

After all, wind was also a part of him. He was Mist, just like she said earlier.
Well, he used to be...
The conditions were not safe to try and cast any spell whatsoever, but waiting was even more dangerous.
He stood upright, extended his arms on both his sides and started to incant.
It took him some efforts, but thanks to his experience, he stabilised the maelstrom of wind surrounding them, bringing back some calm around and helping him breath properly.
He was not able to take back control on the area directly around the girl ; she was too panicked, and the wind coming from her was too strong and chaotic.
The fireball was now triple the size it was when he let it go from his hands, and was still growing.
What would break first ? The fire against the wind ? The girl's hold on it to keep it away ?
It was actually easy to smother a flame with wind - even one conjured with magic - but in her panic, she couldn't put enough wind around the fire to extinguish it.

The thought gave Behekine an idea, and he conjured a "windball" in his hand, carefully, with the intent to throw it to the fireball and smother it that way. Combined with the girl's own wind power, it should be enough.
Or so he hoped, he thought when he saw that the girl had no more enrgy to sustain her shape, and that her legs were no longer there.
Throwing caution to the wind - litteraly ! - he let go of his new spell, aiming perfectly at the fireball.
Right at this moment - because Lady Luck was in a bad mood apparently - the girl ran out of power, and started to disappear. His "windball" hit the fireball like intended, reduced its size back to normal and pushing it right through her to the chinmey where it was first meant to go.

- Crap !

Regretting it was the only thing he could do.
The girl was no longer here. The air went still, the silence was almost painful after the maelstrom.
Behekine almost panicked, and used the same spell he first cast to see her true nature.
His eyes glowed, and he looked all around the room, but no trace of any magic auras...
She was definitely gone.
Was she gone with the wind, by the open window ?
Was she... dead ?
The idea made him nauseous. Him, the old Demon, sick at the idea of a stranger dying in the room he was in !
A stranger that barged in while he just wanted some peace !
A young Elemental that blew up half the room !
A girl that saw him as an enemy !
He really didn't want her to be dead like that !

- Crap !

He looked around the room, surprised to hope for her safety. She was young, and it had been refreshing to talk to someone so cusious, after dealing with people cowering around him or trying to enslave him.
He suddenly felt the urge to move, to get away from here. The room was not comfy anymore.
Not with that hole in the wall, in place of a window.
Behekine put his cape on, grabbed his walking staff, and almost ran to the exit.
Before leaving though, he felt the urge to turn back. With something close to frustration, he used a last spell on the window, with a bit of alchemy, to repair it in a flash.

Not satisfied at all, the old Demon left the room with that.
He left the village in a few minutes. He still had to go to the Aïel Fortress, for his mission.
While walking, his eyes were glowing with blue energy, and he was looking around, as if searching for something or someone...

At the last moment breathing in this demon place, she suddenly remembered…

"Gosh, I forgot to ask the demon's name?…fine, panther-man is panther-man, at least, he has a cute name."


[^^Yeah, we accomplished it  . your ending is too humorous that I cannot burst into any tear  , even a thought of wanting was too hard to make ]