I know I look the same as I did a year ago. Save for the blue turned white streak in my hair. And, you know, some grime from having missed more than a few showers. But as I look down at my reflection in the water, it just feels off. Every detail of my face that I've seen, like, a gazillion times, doesn't feel like my own. It feels like I'm looking at...her. But that's ridiculous. She's gone. It's just me. I am not that monster. Or maybe I am? I'm sitting here wallowing in my own self-pity while poor Jim's off somewhere probably having another mental breakdown over the fact that he's been turned into a troll. "Ugh!" I throw a pebble in the water. I'm the worst.

What was that? I rise to my feet and inch closer to the treeline. More leaves crunch under something's weight. "H-hello?" A squirrel runs out of hiding and across my feet. I rest my hand on my chest and sigh in relief. Scared of a cute little squirrel? You're losing it, Claire.

"Ha ha!" A raspy female voice cackles from behind me. I turn to see Nomura perched on a boulder by the river. Crunch. Suddenly there's nothing left of the squirrel but a clump of fur stuck between Nomura's fangs. Seriously, ew. It's hard to believe she passed for a human for so long.

"Hey! What are you doing here? Aren't you on guard tonight?"

"I'm supposed to be." She replied. "But I decided to go hunting instead. Why are you here, young witch?"

"Ok, first of all, you need to get back to the camp. You've had your share of rations. If you're that hungry you can hunt on your own time. Also, I'm not a witch."

"Ok first of all," She remarked in a high pitched voice, obviously meant to mock my own. "Jim offered to take my shift so I could get food. And I offered to bring back some for him as payment." She picked the fur out of her teeth and flicked it at the ground beside me. "Oops." She laughs. "Oh, and by the way, how are you not a witch? I was under the impression that you wielded Morgana's scathrun."

"Yeah, for a while but it was destroyed. I can't do magic without it."

"Why would you think that? An artifact of that power couldn't possibly be wielded by a mortal."

"Well, I guess I'm the exception because I've never done magic before all this troll stuff started."

"None that you recognized as such. Perhaps you've experienced premonitions, but once they were fulfilled it simply felt like..what's the human term again? Ah! Déjà vu." She smirked "Perhaps objects would mysteriously fall out of place during a fit of anger? Does any of that sound familiar."

"I don't...but why would I be a witch if my parents aren't?"

"They very well could be. But lack of exposure to magic can stunt one's potential." She jumped off the rock, causing me to trip and tumble to the ground. "I know it runs in your family's blood, Claire. Why do you think your infant brother was chosen for familiar status?"

"Enrique is a wizard!?"

"He could be. One day." She takes my arm and runs her long clawed finger down the length of a scar I've had since the second grade. "Trolls don't naturally possess the ability for Merlin's particular brand of magic. But bounding one's soul to a human wizard."

"What are you-?!" She wrapped her hand around my scar and slammed the other one across my mouth before I could finish my question.

"Tui gratia lovis gratia sit cure" She hissed under her breath. I smack her across the face and reclaim my arm. No way am I letting this chick curse me! But, I quickly realize that's not what she was doing.

"You-" I rub my forearm where my scar had been."You healed it?"

"Being bound to a human wizard can grant a changeling power a regular troll could only dream of. Even with my familiar out of the darklands, we are still bonded."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because," She pulls out a dusty old book from her satchel. "I feel as though it is in my best interests to remain on your good side."

She drops the book into my lap. The Book of Ga-Huel. "Oh no no no." I throw it back at Nomura and scramble to my feet. "Blinky told me all about that thing!"

The changeling rolls her slit eyes."Oh? And what exactly did he say?"

"That it's evil! It's probably like another relic of Morgana or something!"

Nomura forces back a laugh. "Blinkous is knowledgeable in many fields. But magic is not one of them. It's not all his fault though. There are few quality sources." She twirls the book around her fingers as if the thing doesn't weigh as much as I do. "And he's far too hesitant to read any of the ones that do exist." She circles around me like a predator stalking its prey. Is this lady capable of doing anything not creepy? She brushes my white streak behind my ear. "I'm willing to teach you what he won't."

"Why don't I just ask Merlin to mentor me?"

"I was talking about Merlin. He dismembered his last prodigy because he feared she was growing stronger than him. And he's already weary of you since her defeat."

"His last prodigy? You mean Morgana?" There's no way Merlin is threatened by me. There's no way. I'm a trollhunter for crying out loud." She's evil. Of course he was threatened by her."

Nomura stops circling me. Her ears drop and she sighs. "She's not the monster you think is."

"She kicked me out my own body and then used it to try to kill Jim! Completely ruined our date."

"So I've been told. But she only became what Merlin made her. She was barely more than a whelp when they met." She plays with her hair in a weirdly girly way I've never seen from her and stares at the ground. "She wasn't the passive, obedient bride he wanted her to be. So he tried to break her spirit. But she only became stronger. And angrier."

"Whoa whoa whoa. Hold up. Bride? You mean to tell me they were married?"

"Hmm, nearly. The night before the wedding he took her left hand and melted it into the Daylight amulet. It was meant to make the armor more resistant to her magic if she ever became an issue."

"Which she clearly did. We've all been through stuff but we don't all try to destroy humanity. Admit it, Morgana's nothing but a power-hungry jerkface."

"We've all been through dismemberment, huh?"

"Well, Draal did. And he didn't turn evil."

Nomura seems almost startled by my mention of him. But she quickly shakes it off and snarls."I thought you hero types were all for seeing the good in everyone. But if you're so worried about becoming nothing but a power-hungry jerkface like her, perhaps we should start with working on your self-control. Or lack thereof." She mutters that last part under her breath. She returns the book to her satchel and takes out a can of what looks like...coffee? She pops the lid off and shows me the sparkling purple powder inside. Nope. Definitely not coffee. "Go on." She nods expectantly.

"What is it?" I reach in and pull out a handful to inspect it. My curiosity momentarily overruling my caution.

"Your first test." She blows the powder into my face. The dust flies up my nose and before I know what's happening my throat and lungs feel like they're on fire. I cough so hard I worry I'm going to hack up a lung. Every muscle in my body tenses up. And the world around me becomes a red blur.

"How does it feel, young witch?"

My whole body feels like it's on fire. My muscles tense up and everything I see is tinted red. I want to curl into a ball on the ground and wait for the pain to pass. But a voice in my head keeps telling me I can get rid of the pain. All I have to do is beat it into someone else. Nomura smirks. I clench my first and lunge forward. I miss and trip over Nomura's stretched out hoof.

"You'll need to be faster than that." She cackles. Her voice rings in my ears like thunder. I shake my head but it doesn't stop. Why won't it just stop? She leans down to pick me up.

I scramble backward and somehow manage to kick her in the stomach. She doubles over and snarls. I jump up and break a branch off from a nearby tree. Ok, so it's not a magical shadow staff capable of conjuring portals to another dimension. But at least it's something.

Nomura draws her duel swords and strikes. I counter the best I can but it only takes a few strikes to split my makeshift weapon in half. The final blow also slices through my forearm. Blood soaks my sleeve.

"How disappointing. I expected more from the slayer of Morgana."

"No, no." Tears flood my eyes. The anger, the burning throughout my body fades. Replaced by shame. And realization. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." She resheaths her blades. "It shows vulnerability."

"Well? What if I am vulnerable, Nomura?"

"Then don't be. Not if you want to survive."

"You make it sound easy. But I'm...I'm not strong enough." I slip my jacket off to get a better look at the cut. It's so deep. What's Blinky going to think of this? Oh god, what's Jim going to think of this? "And I don't think any amount of….anger dust is going to fix that."

"It's called Grave Sand. And fixing isn't its purpose. Its purpose is to bring out your most primal instincts." She rambles on about whatever the heck it was she gave me but I'm not even listening at this point. All I'm worried about it the smell of my blood attracting bears and other animals I'm apparently too pathetic to fight off. Nomura kneels in front of me. "I just fixed that you know?"

"I know. Do...do you mind doing it again?" I hold out my arm.

"Actually I do. How else are you supposed to learn? Do you remember the spell I used?"

"If I can memorize Romeo and Juliet, I can remember that."

"On with it then."

"Fine." I hesitantly wrap my hand around the wound. "Tui gratia-"

"Wait. I have an idea." Nomura picks up the broken branch I'd fought her with. "Try it on this first."

"What? Why?"

"In case it doesn't go right, you won't lose the arm. And it's also less likely to go wrong if you have a staff through which to focus your power."

"It's a broken stick."

"Just fix it."

"Ugh. You're really frustrating. You know that right?" I hold the two pieces of branch together in my hand. I glance back up at Nomura and she nods. "Alright. Here goes nothing. Tui gratia lovis gratia sit cure." Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I sigh. "See, I told-"

"Slow down. You need to mean what you say. You want to heal. Focus on that want, that need, to heal."

I take a deep breath. "Ok ok. I want to heal." A slowly breathe out. " I need to heal. Tui gratia lovis gratia sit cure." A bright purple light shines through the gaps in my fingers. Veins of light climb up and down the branch then up the length of my arm, stopping at the cut. The light mends the skin back together leaving it, once again, good as new. "Holy shish-kebab! I did it! Nomura, I did it! Look!"

"I know. I have eyes." She peels my fingers away from the branch. "Hmm. And that's not your only success of the night."

"Oh, I fixed the stick too!"

"You also instilled part of your own power into it. In time, it will become a great weapon, worthy of your talents."

"Weapon?"

"A magic staff to rival the power of Morgana's Scathrun. Again, in time. I wouldn't recommend trying anything more than healing or a simple levitation spell right now."

"That's so awesome!..." The veins of light return and a trail of purple sparks follow the staff as I twirl it through the air. This can definitely work. "Oh, oh! Can I decorate it?"

"If you bedazzle the staff, I'm taking it back."

"I mean, it's cool and all but it doesn't look all that imposing. And by the way, I haven't had a bedazzler since I was 10. Maybe I'll carve Shakespeare quotes into it!"

"...I suddenly have a new found respect for Sticklander. The fact that he didn't murder any of his students is nothing short of a miracle."

"So, uh, " I clear my throat and tug at my collar. "Same time tomorrow?"