"Yes, you can. Turn around and walk away and go home."

"We cannot."

"Ah huh. If it is impossible for you to get Segda then can you?"

"It is not impossible. It may be dangerous, but not impossible."

"Understood. But if it were impossible. Then you wouldn't have to. Right?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Honestly mostly because I'm curious - I think I'm starting to understand how this thing works - but also because I want to know how to keep Segda safe in the future. 

I think there's another way. For people who don't like obeying all the time but have - whatever your thing is. I bet a subtle artist could fix it and even without that if you were just in your own village with someone powerful enough to break up fights - Segda's better since I zapped her -"

"It doesn't matter what they like."

"Matters to me."

"We don't care what matters to you. Stand aside now, we cannot waste time."

Nope. Instead: lightning.

The one she hit falls. The others rush her.

Segda didn't seem to be stronger than a human kid but that doesn't actually mean adult strangers aren't - she has more powerful spells but they're definitely lethal unlike this one which is only occasionally lethal -

- more lightning.

Another falls. They're trying to get around her and at Segda.

Technically better than if they were interfering with her but it's still hard to concentrate well enough to get spells off. You know what would be nice would be to have picked up Sleep. She fails to lightning someone and instead punches them.

One of them has managed to step on the trailing edge of Segda's clothes so it can't run away, and seizes it by the shoulders. It squeals. Another stranger pulls off a scarf on its person and tries to get it over Iris's head so she can't see.

- seeing is not required for lightning so she's initially inclined to let them but maybe they have fanatical programming not to murder kids where humans will see and so actually avoiding the scarf is important. She ducks. She kicks the one holding Segda. She tries at lightning again.

The one holding Segda tries to snap Segda's neck but Iris ruins its leverage. Lightning downs the scarf-wielder.

The first one to be lightninged is stirring.

Iris pulls out a knife. Get the fuck away from Segda. Stab. Lightning. 

The strangers turn out to have knives too, which they didn't pull out till they saw Iris's, but this doesn't help much since they don't have lightning.

The last surviving stranger runs.

Iris heals herself. Heals Segda. 

Segda buzzes to itself.

"Do you want a hug?"

Segda flops in her direction.

Hug. "I'm sorry. We should have talked in advance about what we'd do in a fight so that you knew where you'd be safest and I could use area-effect spells and you'd be safer if we were outnumbered."