Hana's high-pitched, earsplitting screech filled the house as the sun began to shine its first rays over the horizon. Being the only other one awake at the time, Fareeha reached Hana first, cautiously opening the bathroom door only to find the girl stark naked in the tub, twisting around with a horrified expression on her face. "F-Fareeha, what- what- why is there hair coming out of my backside?"

Before Fareeha could answer, Moira arrived, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Hana, it's five thirty on a Saturday morning. What could possibly be so urgent that-" She stopped when she saw Hana. "Oh, dear. You seem to be in quite the state of undress."

"That's the least of my problems right now!" Hana stood and frantically ran over to the two. "Can one of you explain to me why the ever-loving FU- ungus I have HAIR growing out of my rear end? And why is it white? And why is this hair white too?" She gestured to the hair on her head.

"Well," Moira began, "You see, it's quite rare for a human to have a child with a Mythical, so Angela and I didn't know what traits you would inherit from your father, and we really did hope this wouldn't be one of them, but-"
Fareeha put a hand up to silence the other woman. What Moira means to say is, well, your tails are growing in.

"...my what!?"

One hour later, after Angela had finished her first mug of coffee, the four of them gathered in the living room to discuss Hana's predicament. Fortunately, Angela had prepared for this scenario, and already had a plan on how to deal with it.
"What you saw this morning was one of your nine tails. They'll gradually come in as you age, although I don't know exactly when they will, given that you're not 100% Kumiho . They symbolize your strength and control over your abilities and whatnot, although in this day and age there is rarely any conflict in the Mythical world, so now they're basically just an indicator of age." The Witch paused to take a swig of coffee, then continued. "However, like all other Mythicals, you have the ability to adopt a human disguise. Now that your, ah, non-human features are beginning to show themselves, we will be teaching you how to control the shift between your human and Mythical forms. Got that so far?"

Hana nodded. "So, my tails won't be a problem?"

"Yes. I expect it won't take you too long to master it, so it shouldn't interfere with your going to school and whatnot."

The girl pouted slightly. "And here I thought at least I wouldn't have to go to school for a couple days."

Angela stood across from Hana in a clearing in the woods, the faint shimmer of magic surrounding her. "Alright. Shifting is usually the extent of the magic most Mythicals can perform, but seeing as you already have prior experience with magic, this should be fairly easy for you." She motioned for Hana to sit down. "Remember when I first taught you magic and how you pull it out from inside yourself? The shift is the same concept.

"There are two sides to this particular type of magic, your human side and your Mythical side. You're actually more in tune with your human side because of your half-blood heritage, so controlling the shift into your human form from your Mythical form will be much easier than vice versa. Imagine both aspects of your body in a bag. Reach inside that bag, and pull out the form you wish to take."

Hana closed her eyes, trying to envision what Angela had described to her, but to no avail. After a few minutes she opened her eyes and huffed in frustration. "I don't see it."

Angela sat next to Hana and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "That is because you're looking for something that isn't there. You have to manifest the two sides yourself. Calm down. I'd say 'clear your mind,' but that really sounds like something the monk would say." She smiled. "Try again, Schatzi ."

Closing her eyes once again, Hana slowed her breathing to deep, controlled breaths. She reached out into the empty space before her and envisioned her human form, complete with no tails and her normal brown hair. Create it yourself, Angela had said. Reaching even farther with her magic, Hana slowly saw the figure in her mind's eye take shape, and she pulled it close to her.

Standing off to the side, Moira smiled as Hana's hair slowly reverted to its familiar shade of brown. The girl was wearing shorts now, but she assumed Hana's tail was receding as well. She opened her eyes, tilting them upwards to look at her bangs. "Hey, I did it, Angie!" She laughed and gave the witch an enthusiastic hug. Upon Hana's release of the magic, however, her hair turned white again and Hana squirmed as her tail came back.

Angela patted the crestfallen girl on the back. "You'll get the hang of it, Hana. I doubt it will take you long to hold your shift for as long as you wish."

Hana brightened at Angela's reassuring words. "D'you really think so?"
"Yes, Hana, I do."

As predicted by Angela, Hana was able to establish reliable control over her human disguise and true Mythical form. As noted by Moira, however, she had not developed complete control over the shift, as she was prone to sudden and spontaneous transformation when agitated. Until she had it under control, Angela gave Hana a charm to take to school which could help regulate her shift and keep her in one form.

As the months passed, Hana's growth spurt began to wane, and along with the arrival of her thirteenth birthday came a second tail, the last one Angela predicted she would be getting while still in secondary school. She mastered her shift shortly afterwards, and that following summer consisted of Moira taking Hana out into the forest almost daily to learn to control the rest of her quickly developing powers.

While Moira and Angela were busy training Hana, Fareeha flew high up, into cloud cover, in the dead of night, travelling south toward Gibraltar. Landing on top of a building at the very end of the peninsula, she dropped off the side and hovered in front of a window on the top floor. She knocked lightly on the glass, and a tall, weary-eyed man dressed in all black opened the window to let her in.

It was dark in the room, the only illumination coming from the light spilling out of the gaps in Fareeha's body and a small lamp on a desk at the far end of the room. The man motioned to a seat across from the desk, more of a courtesy than anything, as Fareeha really had no need to sit. She sat nonetheless as the man walked around to the other side and seated himself in the leather desk chair across from Fareeha. He reached over and flicked on a brighter lamp, illuminating the both of them in soft yellow light.

She could see him more clearly now, the neatly trimmed beard of dark brown hair framing a dark-skinned face. Set into deep sockets were red-pupiled eyes on a background of jet-black sclera. Jagged scars criss-crossed his face, marking his skin with the remnants of battle. Under different circumstances, the man would have looked almost monstrous. Tonight, however, they were meeting as friends, a fact made clear when the man smiled and reached a hand across the desk to rest on Fareeha's metal shoulder in a gesture of greetings. "Fareeha. It is good to see you again."

Fareeha nodded. Hello to you as well, Gabriel. As per the man's request, over the next hour she caught him up to speed on the events of the past few years, including Hana's appearance in their life. Gabriel smiled softly as Fareeha enthusiastically told him about the girl, about everything from her training with Angela to her dreams and aspirations for when she grew up.

"She'll be entering her fourth year soon, hm?"

Fareeha nodded. Angela would like her to transfer here.

"That shouldn't be too hard to do. Have her e-mail me the paperwork or something, I should be able to get it back to you before the end of summer." He leaned back in his chair, looking at the clock on the wall. "Time flies when you're catching up, doesn't it? You'd best be heading out in case people see you in daylight."

Thanks, Gabe. Fareeha stood. I'll have Angela send it over as soon as possible. She walked back to the still-open window. It is a bit late- I guess we got carried away. She shrugged. Angela might be a bit upset with me, but it is what it is.

"I know what you mean. Angela has her needs too, eh?" He winked at Fareeha, who would have blushed madly if not for the fact that she was physically incapable of doing so. She instead flipped him the bird and, with a certain grace in spite of her bulky-looking armor, leapt out of the window and began the flight back to Eichenwalde.

Gabriel closed the window, returned to his desk, and scratched his beard, deep in thought. "That goddamn fox, Yeon… Never expected him to get involved with anyone, much less one of those humans he considers to be so... beneath him." He smiled. "I guess life does do that to a person sometimes."