The lessons on astral projection went quickly, and in the following months became more advanced rituals involving components, and some elemental magic. Zira still attended sparring classes and some of the group magic lessons for the times when Stephen had other responsibilities, but she was becoming impatient with how slow they were moving. Whenever Stephen was not around, she would read and practice non-stop. She had even figured out how to make a copy of the Cloak of Levitation that Stephen wore by adjusting the mandala shield to work more like fabric, and weaving in a levitation spell with it. One of the masters who specialized in metallurgy, a Scandanavian man named Leif, helped her craft a set of linked broaches that she could contain the spell within, allowing her to activate it without weaving the complicated spellwork every time. After a long discussion, she decided to have them crafted into a set of swift wings that would sit just below her collar bone on either side, and would be bound by three thin chains of the same metal that would stretch across her chest. Leif said that the bird reminded him of her: quick but tough. He created them in silver to match her hair, and the first time she attached them to her uniform and charged them, watching the orange-gold cloak flow over her shoulders and down her back was thrilling.

Something that had caught her interest was mixing some medical science with magic. During one particularly intense astral projection session, she noticed that there were a few veins of power coming from what she guessed were other dimensions. When she asked Stephen about it, he said that it was possible she was seeing her connections to other dimensions that sorcerers would pull their energy from.

"What would happen if those connections became severed?" she asked one day as they were cleaning up after a particularly intense sparring session in the yard.

"I would imagine that the person would feel weakened, and possibly die from it depending on how powerful the spell was and how much energy was being funneled through the body and spirit," Stephen answered, putting a staff back on a weapons rack. That just aroused the young woman's curiosity even further.

Zira formed a theory that pulling power from other dimensions created a tie to them, sort of like an artery connecting to an organ. Some self examination found her theory to have some merit. . However, she needed more concrete proof if she was going to convince Stephen and the other masters to allow her to explore that subject further. A quick scan through the library and a more thorough search with Wong brought up nothing on physical science, anatomy, or biology. Zira had to sneak out via portal and snag some books from a university library in New York. She only had to scan them for one night and take enough notes that she was able to return them without anyone noticing...at least, anyone at the library. Wong had given her quite the lashing and some extra chores for using her magic for such purposes. Stephen didn't defend her, but he did secretly praise her initiative. A talk with some of the older students and masters brought up that Stephen used to portal into the Kamar Taj library to snag books from behind Wongs back. The thought of Stephen Strange doing something like that made Zira giggle, and then shock herself at her own reaction to that news.

One evening in the library, Zira was hard at work matching her research from the medical texts with anything she could find in any book. Isioma found her there after returning some books. She was surprised to see the silver-haired girl looking so frazzled. Her hair was pulled on top of her head in a messy bun, and she was developing bags under her eyes.

"Zira?" she said as she approached her friend. Zira didn't answer at first. "Zira?" she called again. This time, silver eyes looked up and Isioma saw just how ragged her friend was becoming. "Zira, you need to take a break," she said.

"Not right now," Zira protested, turning back to her notes. "I've got so much to do if I'm going to have Strange and the other masters take me seriously on this subject." Isioma waved her hands, and on their own, her notes stacked themselves up and the books flew to her hands.

"Help me put these away, and you're coming to dinner, then bed," she said firmly. Zira opened her mouth to protest, but Isioma gave her a look that sparked a very clear memory. Her mother had looked at her the same way once before...on her death bed.

"Mom, I need to give him a piece of my mind," Zira insisted, wanting to go after Dr. Strange. "He can fix you and he just doesn't want to!"

"Zira Stephanie Moran, you will do no such thing!" her mother ordered, her brown eyes flashing. Zira was taken aback. Her mother had never spoken to her like that, even when she was in trouble. She also almost never used the middle name.

"But mom!"

"Absolutely no buts, young lady," Diane Moran said, the finality in her voice clear as day. Zira, who was already halfway out the door, sat down, tears in her eyes. Dianes face softened as she reached out and wiped away a tear that had just started to fall. "Zira, there are some people on this planet who cannot see past their own front doors. You have to be someone that sees the world. I understand that you're angry, and it's okay to be angry. Don't stay angry for long. Be the shining light I know you can be in this world."

Diane died two days later, Zira had her explosive emotional meltdown, and the rest was history.

Isioma was surprised to see tears forming in her friends eyes. She set the books down and went to her.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, you didn't," Zira replied, trying to reassure Isioma. "The last time someone spoke to me like that was my mother when I wanted to go and tell doctor….her doctor off for not operating on her when I knew he could save her. She died two days later. I just...I was just remembering." Isioma smiled kindly and embraced Zira, who was surprised at the gesture and then returned it. A few more tears fell as Zira let out a small sob. Isioma stood her up and led her to get dinner. They talked a little bit about what they had been working on in their respective classes and then on nothing in particular. They gossiped a little bit about some of the boys and even some of the girls, and Zira found herself laughing genuinely for the first time in a while. Her old team used to make her laugh, but she hadn't felt as happy with them as she was feeling right in the present moment. Once they were done, they walked back to their rooms, Zira getting to hers first.

"Promise me you won't astral study tonight," Isioma said, a gentle stern tone in her voice. Zira nodded and smiled. "Say it," she prodded, poking Zira on the shoulder playfully.

"I promise," Zira replied, a slight blush rising to her cheeks. She thought that she had hidden it well. That satisfied her friend, who bid her goodnight and walked away. Zira rushed into her room and shut the doors, exhaling. She braided her hair as she always did before bed, and as she did, her mind traveled back to her research. She felt like she was going to go somewhere with this, and could possibly help seal off some of the more dangerous dimensions and strengthen connections to others. The theory was solid enough, but she needed to do some more in-depth research and experimentation before she could present it.

True to her promise, she didn't astral study, which was the term her friend had coined for her astral projecting and reading when she should have been sleeping. Lately, she hadn't been doing that, choosing to pull a series of all-nighters, often going three to four days without sleep. This was probably the first night in almost a month that she would actually be sleeping.

Studying wasn't the main motivation to her sleepless study nights. She was scared of dreaming. Ever since she had come to Kamar Taj, she had been having nightmares. Each time, they were about someone she cared about walking away from her into danger, and her being powerless to stop it. She was worried that allowing those dreams to take hold would cause her to have another meltdown, like the one she had that almost leveled Metro General, or the one that almost took out Xaviers when she was 10. Just thinking about them made her nervous as she set her own precautionary wards around her small room. With a sigh, she meditated for a few minutes, something that she had become quite adept at, and calmed herself. The day she managed to get through the whole class, Bhikku gave her an approving smile and congratulated her. That was the first class she had been eager to succeed in that didn't take much magically. Slowly, her empty mind finally gave way to her tired body, and she fell asleep.

Stephen came back late that night from a meeting with other masters, inspecting the wards from the rebuilt sanctums and getting reports of any paranormal and multidimensional threats that had or could arise. On a whim, he decided to check in on his apprentice and see if she was taking care of herself the way she was supposed to do. He had already walked in on her astral studying, as she called it, more than once. While he gently admonished her for it, he knew that he didn't have a lot to say as he did the same thing. What worried him was the frequency that she had been doing it lately. She wouldn't share any of her notes with him saying that it wasn't ready yet. Being the crafty person he was, he still managed to sneak a peek at one of her many papers of notes. Just what he had read gave him enough of an idea: she was mixing medical science with mystic arts to strengthen or repair connections to other dimensions for the purposes of spells. The academic in him was more than excited to see where this line of inquiry took her, but he would respect her wishes and wait until she was ready to present her research.

He gently knocked on her door when he found her room.

"Zira?" he called. "Zira, you awake?" He gently pushed the door open and peeked in. Much to his surprise, he found her sound asleep. She wasn't astral studying, she wasn't hiding under her blanket with a book and a light coming from her hand. Zira was asleep. Her legs were folded slightly underneath her as if she had fallen asleep while meditating. Stephen waved his hands and made her blanket pull out from underneath her and cover her. As the blanket settled on her sleeping form, she stirred slightly, unfolding her legs, rolling to her side, and pulling her blanket over her shoulders. Once he was satisfied that she was still asleep, he began checking the wards around her room.

Despite her trying to keep it from him, he knew she was having nightmares, and they had the potential to level the temple if she allowed them to affect her the way they had in the past. He was pleased that she had set her own wards, but put some additional protection of his own where he saw weaknesses in the spells, probably because of how tired she had been when they were set. Since coming here, she hadn't had an incident, but he didn't want to take any chances.

Once he was satisfied that a break was unlikely to happen, he went to leave, but stopped for a moment and looked at Zira. A strange sense of calm came over him as he looked at the sleeping girl. It was a weird feeling for him. He hadn't felt very paternal before, but for some reason, he was feeling it now. He caught himself, and hurried out of the room.