There's a honk and a screech of brakes. She whirls and tries to get out of the way of a speeding lorry.

CRUNCH—

There's - 

- a long moment of something - faint impressions, of being looked at by a small crowd, talking about her - a general sense of approval, and something like love -

- She wakes up lying on a rough wooden bench in a sort of small courtyard/alley between two and three story wooden buildings. They have wooden shutters, no glass. There are a few flowers growing, despite the deep chill in the air.

She has a new body. It feels strong, and is distinctly feminine. And a new outfit. It seems like thick wool, an almost dress-like coat-like garment that goes all the way up the neck*. Solid leather boots. Undershirt and long pants. It doesn't impede movement much, and is even embroidered in colorful designs evoking lightning and wind.

She has a magic lighter, and two slim little cigarettes- Something inside her just knows these are magic, and while lung problems are still something to be aware of, they're less of a concern. And what they're for. The green one is for sustaining the body; It doesn't fix things, but it staves off problems. The white one enhances your hearing and, to a lesser extent, skin sensitivity.

She has a small leather coin pouch and a few silver and copper coins.

And a note that says:

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, but I think you'll be better off with magic in your pocket. Potent, we are. Omni-, we aren't. Trouble's coming from the north. We don't have any big Fate or grand Quest to coerce you into helping, but you're the kind of person who'll help anyway, yeah?

-The Goddess of Whimsy, Sex, Freedom, and Pranks :)

*A mongolian deel.

Bloody hell. She died. She got hit by a lorry.

Something in her tries to curl tight in flash of fear and pain over dying to a lorry she bloody well fixed, but she smooths it out with long practice.

She's in a new place.

She's not a grease smear on the tarmac, so she got healed or re-embodied.

She pats herself down. Right. Re-embodied. That's brill. Ace new outfit? Not something she's familiar with, kind of gives her Asian vibes, like maybe Mongolia or Northern China or something? Wild.

When she gets to the note, she frowns.

"I appreciate the magic and the new body, as-yet-unnamed goddess," she mutters under her breath, "but I'm not best pleased to hear there's trouble. I'll do something about it, though. I guess. Assuming it's as troublesome as you say."

Right. Get her bloody bearings. Up she gets, stepping out onto the main street from the alley and looking around. What people does she see? What languages does she hear?

(She'd try the hearing-enhancer cig, but she doesn't know how much of a pain it's going to be to earn money, and she hasn't had the chance to practice her magic yet.)

Mostly humans! Some rubber forehead aliens- Most of those are just kemonomimi, too. Wolffolk seem common, often moving about in trios or more. The general mood is kind of wary and tense.

The buildings are mostly one to three stories, wood and stone. A lot of it seems like fairly fresh construction. The street is wide, and there are a few wagons and a few animals- Livestock.

She can understand the languages. There are at least three, one seeming Asian, one maybe Russian, and one maybe Swedish or something? She can read the signs too. That one says 'Always Buying White Dot Toxic Pine Sap'. That one says 'General Store'. 

"-Gloria herself in the city, I heard." "What? What could possibly bring her here-"

"-Just four seps each! Seasoned minced meat and fresh bread-!"

"Going south soon. He says that odd things are happening up in the arctic. Superstitious maybe but-"

"-Cossacks actually went into the Patriarchate, one of the disputed border areas. I heard the local noble invited them in." "Gods I hope not, we have enough to worry about already without giving those southern dogs a foothold."

"Bagged a bear! What a glorious hunt, he was so smooth and calm doing it too-"

Hmm. Okay, she can work with this. Some celebrity woman is in town, there's a general store, there are people hunting things...

Hunting might be a decent way to earn a bit of money, if her magic's good for any of that. Probably the goddess who left her the note gave her magic that's good in a fight, so that'll probably work. Also the general store might have suggestions about stuff she could do to make money.

She heads inside.

It has food (mostly ingredients and produce, plus tea and candy) and housewares (jars and canteens and dishes and cutlery and nails), more magic herbs, not in cigarette form yet (one for infections, one for contraception and aphrodisiac, one for enhancing water magic, one for oh-shit-emergency-adrenaline), and some well-made tools (canteens and knives and hammers and saws and sewing kits), and some miscellaneous items like stationary and books (paperback self-help stuff and novels) garden seeds and candy and some paperback novels.

There are an unusual number of livestock-related and travel-related tools, too.

The technology and spread of goods seems roughly 18XX-something; There's some standardization and packaging, they seem to have typewriters and the printing press, but not that much more. There's a public notice board near the checkout, a bit too far to read from here.

The proprietor is a human guy who finishes checking out a wolf-girl and gives her change, then calls over, "Hey stranger! Let me know if you need help finding anything!"

She's got some translation effect on her, does she? Either that or a bloody pile of downloaded languages. Well, she'll try to match the language he just spoke to her in.

"Good t'meet ya. I'm new in town, gettin' my bearings." She wanders toward him, with an eye toward the notice board as well. "Got anything needs doing? Labor, hunting, or whatever else? I'm good in a fight, and a dab hand with mechanical work."

"Ha, I don't often hire out, but since I'm right on the gate road I get people asking after work often enough that I know who to point them to, if that works for you. Call me Rune. Mechanical work, hmm... There's the skydock, but skysailors are kind of an insular lot, but probably worth asking. And there's Kaeling's rolling plant too, lots of machinery there so probably some of it needs working on sometimes. Do you have any particularly strong affinities? What kind of fighting, bow or blade or spell?"

"Spellwork."

She takes a slow breath, trying to feel out her affinities. Knowing what sorts of things would suit her, the obvious guesses are elemental things, especially wind or lightning. 

She inhales, then exhales, trying to put more presence behind it, trying with what scraps of intuition she's got to feel her way to the magic of it.

A little curl of wind rustles around her as she exhales, playing at her hair.

And with that scrap of experience, she tries to feel the idea of lightning, the electrical potential in everything. She tries to build up just a little positive charge in her finger, a little negative in her thumb, and jump a spark from one to the other. Just the barest little spark. She really does not want to over-do it, she does not want to damage this man's store or stock. Just enough to tell her if it's there.

A tiny spark, just enough to see and hear, jumps between her finger and her thumb.

She grins wryly at the man.

"Wind and lightning, for a start."

"Hmm. Forgive me for saying so, lass, but you seem a little bit nervous. It's not my place to tell you what to do, and I don't know you, and I'm sure you've made up your mind, but... Let's just say there's no need to dive in head first."

He peers at a coin to buy a moment to think.

"Maybe joining an ulu caravan for a trip or two would suit you? All the ulu are excited today, Chambui Gloria is all the way up north for some reason and she's practically Saint Olivia to them, I bet you can find one. It'll probably be a boring few days of walking and chores, chatting, and practicing with the wolfkin during breaks. You know what they say- Start slowly. Like an avalanche."

That's something she hadn't considered. Cost of not knowing the bloody world worth shite yet. The 'just landed' blues.

She hums. "You're not wrong. Caravan work is calm and steady, and practice wouldn't hurt. Got a suggestion for where to start looking?"

"Footrace grounds are right out my door and right at the first major road, just outside the palisade wall, can't be missed. The Milksheep's Revenge is a tavern around that neighborhood but inside the wall, and there are a number of campsites and caravan halls on that side of town too. If all that fails, asking around in most other taverns will get you somewhere. You do look a bit Marian even with that outfit, so you might find certain neighborhoods not entirely friendly. Unfortunately, there are people who judge books by covers everywhere."

"Cheers, mate. More fools them." She lets a smirk stretch her lips a bit. 

Does she want to ask about things only an outworlder wouldn't know? What could a bad reaction do? If there's a stigma, could she be hunted? Yes, but she's used to running from the law, and this body feels fitter than her old one. Arguably more risk asking about this stuff in a caravan, because she has to stick with those people for days or weeks, whereas she can just skip out on this city and never see these people again. Bloody hell, she'll risk it, and try to improvise wind-boosts to her escape if everything goes to shite.

"Though, say I don't know who Marian folk are, or why folks 'round here might take exception t'them?"

"-Why, the Marian empire of course. The queens of the seas and skies."

She must have grown up somewhere quite remote. There's probably a story there, but is it his business? Not really.

"They open colonies in as many places as they can, and they don't tend to treat the colonists well. They interfere in outside politics and think their shit doesn't stink. When they do something awful, it's self declared justice, not a crime. Not all of them of course. But many Marians in power. More ulu will have felt the Tsar's lash than Maria's, but not none. They destroyed the Patriarchate's militarized sky navy and forbade our nation by treaty from building armed skyships above a certain size, on pain of invasion. To protect free trade, of course."

"Oh." Just like the British Empire did before a bunch of colonies fought for their freedom and taught them a lesson. AKA one of the reasons she's not bloody well proud to be a Brit sometimes.

She can't help her face twisting into a disgusted frown. "Hate people who act like that. Crime's a bleedin' crime, even if a poncy daft noble does it. Gits like that need a harsh lesson now and again."

"Would that we could all just get along. The world is a big, messy, cruel at times and beautiful at others place. Say, do you happen to be in need of any snacks or sundries before you go?" This is meant as a not too blatant or rude hint that he does have a business to run.

She shakes her head at herself with a quiet huff. "Right. I've been gabbing on and on and ain't bought a bloody thing. Y'don't mind explaining the local coin, I'll buy a sommat t'eat, and mebbe an herb or two and some rolling papers if it turns out I've got enough."

"I don't do much business in rolling paper, that's a novelty, most folks just buy straight from the rolling plant."

Anyway, yes, coins. They're using a fairly chaotic system apparently, with half a dozen types of different precious metal coins in the mix and fluctuating exchange rates and weird nonstandard denominations. Everything she has in her pouch is a mix of Pinsk mercantile minting and Tiormaa coin, plus a few Marian pennies. The Pinsk coins have varying quality and are often suspected of being shaved or cut with cheap metal, the Tiormaa coin is considered more reliable but there's not much in circulation, and Marian money is prized above almost any other type especially by merchants because of how they're the only way to get a reliable and wide variety of foreign goods.

She has about a month's worth of unskilled labor pay in her pouch - the raw income, that is, not what would be left after buying food and lodging.

Well, she'd best get herself some kind of paying work quick-like, then, whether a caravan or somewhere else, before she eats through her savings. 

She'll take some o' that jerky, a couple sausages, a good-sized piece of cheese, and ooh is that shortbread? She'll take a couple pieces of shortbread as a treat.

He checks out her purchases easily enough; All his prices are in Pinsk coins and he has a poster of his standard exchange rate. But she has more than enough Pinsk coins already to cover it.

"Have a great day, good luck finding a caravan!"

"Cheers! Hope business is good."

Off she goes, snacking on a bit of jerky while she eyes the passerby carefully. She makes her way to the footrace grounds first, then from there to the Milksheep's Revenge and the nearby campsites, listening the whole way for talk of caravans, and paying attention to any magical senses that might happen to light up — just in case.

She's especially looking for caravans that look to be heading north, closer to the trouble.

It turns out it's not that big of a town. It's approximately a three-street town at most. She can see both the rolling plant and the sky dock, near each other, from the main intersection she's supposed to turn right at.

The footrace grounds are pretty noticeable; There's a series of marked tracks and a few rolling hills and obstacle sets for more elaborate races- Tall wooden rope walls, hanging bars, and so on. There's some races on! Lots of wolffolks running and shouting and having a good time. It's practically a festival- People are selling food, and there's a band playing. They seem like very touchy-feely people with each other. The campsites are pretty similar- In a good mood, but calmer. Though many of them have a nominal watch.

Milksheep's Revenge is significantly more dour; The thing everyone is talking about is that it's time to go east, west, south- Anywhere but north. The gods have given signs. Rumors are flying of strange unkillable monsters, or men in the guise of monsters, or hallucinations, or wild magic, or just bad weather.

At the footrace festival, there's one person showing off! She's casting magic spells that look a lot like Avatar-style Waterbending! They buzz faintly in her awareness... Though it could just be her imagination, it's faint and indistinct...

And then one of the racers takes a bad fall from the wall climb obstacle and she rushes over, leaping and clambering over heads and shoulders, and - holy shit that was a surge of ferocity and tenacity or something, the will to survive, the call to rip and tear, the pounding heartbeat -

-The girl who fell screams and gets up and bolts in a panic, but she gets up where she wasn't moving before. Voices swirl around her almost immediately- Gloria can heal! She just saved that poor girl!

Wow that's a rush. That girl must be the legendary Gloria. She's clearly very magic. 

And then Hailey gets a closer look at her and oh no she's hot.

Not relevant. Just because she got isekai'd doesn't mean she can start having expectations like a bloody story protagonist.

If the goddess of whimsy and sex wants her to focus on the pretty girl, she's welcome to give Hailey a sign. Otherwise she's got practice to arrange.

If nobody wants to go north, can she get a hint which way Gloria's going, or what caravan she travels with? More importantly, does anyone want a new mage with strong wind and lightning at minimum who's eager for tips and practice to join their caravan as another fighter? One who's willing to help out with other things as needed too?

Oh, Gloria's going north, they say. To find out what exactly is going wrong. First to Narak, the edge of civilization and where tundra turns to arctic, mostly populated by hunters and trappers. Then possibly further. Some of her comrades are joining her, but not only does she seem to have standards of some sort, and the rumors of trouble, but it's a remote place and most people have other things to do- Cities and towns in the south to visit instead, family to meet somewhere else. Her camp is the one with the white feather symbol if you feel like trying your luck.

Okay. This is proper sus. The normal thing to do here would be to take some other caravan and just find time to practice, but she can practice on the way north, yeah? And she has to head north and figure it out, because she's not bloody keen on her new world ending or anything.

And the only person heading north is the pretty girl.

Whimsy goddess, was that you?

She frowns and sighs.

Fine. Only shot at getting some bleedin' answers, might as well.

She heads over to Gloria's camp and gives a wave.

It's three wolfkin including Gloria herself, one person who looks more goat-like if anything, and one surly-looking human guy. They seem to have laid an array of supplies out and are diligently checklisting everything.

"Hello there," the goat guy says. "Curious about our plans to fly straight towards the so-called curse?"

She gives him a practiced, confident smile (being a mechanic had some customer service time too). "Curious and volunteering. I've got t'live in this world too, yeah? Got room for a girl who hasn't figured her magic out all the way yet, but has at least lightning and wind and something else too?"

"You haven't practiced your elementalism? It's not a game out there."

The pretty girl looks up and comes over to stare consideringly at her.

"I did what I thought was right when everyone around me said I was too young, that I was not ready. We're going to take a skyship. Show me what you can do with wind, right here. Call up a gust into the trees. If with wind against sails you can offset your weight and the weight of the food and supplies we'll be carrying for one more, I will be glad for more eyes and hands."

Ah. Now this is the kind of challenge she's used to. Never done it with magic before, but this is how she got her job as a mechanic, and how she learned to fight. A grin stretches her face, seeming more honest on her in a way most people present can't spot.

"Cheers, will do."

She inhales, trying to feel the wind the same way she did before, and then on the exhale, she pushes with the same part of her that rustled her hair in the shop, pushes ten, twenty times as hard or more, however bloody hard it takes, while envisioning a strong gust whipping fiercely through the trees.

And a strong gust she gets.

"Lovely! I can feel that- Strong roots, if unpracticed. I'm sure you'll learn quick. Welcome to the expedition... So long as you accept that it really is possibly going to be very dangerous. We'll face hardship and maybe death."

Hailey barks a laugh and grins. "Hardship and death, all the comforts of home."

At least this time she's around people she can probably trust, rather than growing up behind enemy lines. "Seriously, I wouldn't expect anything less. We're the daft gits running toward the disaster, danger is part of the bloody job."

"Why don't we introduce everyone to our newest crewmember?"

There are two more wolfkin, conveniently color coded brownish and blackish; Ajir and Maral. Ajir is kind of twitchy and reading out supplies for Maral, and Maral is doing the checklisting, seems like the organized type.

The goat-like guy is Grumman, and he introduces himself as a "sensory magic expert". Please do not touch his delicate and expensive recording devices. They want readings and proof to show people when they get back.

The last member is a human swaddled up in a thick coat, who introduces themselves as "Graves". He's doing maintenance of some kind on - some sort of heavy suit of armor? And a big ?gun? And doesn't wanna talk.

She gives them each a nod. "Good t'meet you. I'm Hailey. I'll probably wind up specializing toward mobility and direct damage, but we'll see as I practice more. Anything useful I can do for the mo'? Or suggestions for practicing?"

She has a few ideas about how to figure out lightning and wind, and she could try to feel out the other obvious elements that might exist, but talking to the locals is a better headstart than flying blind.

"Let's practice! Real elementalism is- It's like training for sports. You won't get anywhere just reading about proper lifting patterns and muscle groups. But the academic side can help. Grumman, can you come with? We have more than half of the elements covered between us two."

"Where to?"

"Just down towards the lake a bit."

The guy gets up with a shrug and follows as Chambui moves away.

"So, I figure maybe we should give you a standard battery. Try all thirteen elements. Water, Ice, Wood, Fire, Lightning, Light, Wind, Beast, Dragon, Earth, Metal, Poison, Darkness. Maybe we'll see if anything other than lightning or wind are worth trying, then show you through some foundational exercises. Sound good?"

Hailey stretches and smiles, giving Gloria a nod. "Sounds like a plan."

First up is water!

You are a creature of water. You intake and expel it, with every meal and breath. It is the fundamental solvent, found everywhere and mixed up with other things. It flows and moves, never holding in one spot. Here are some basic martial arts forms, loose and flowing. You can and will make the water flow along with you. (Chambui is extremely strong with water, Hailey should not be discouraged if she can't make a stream dance in the air like a snake. Water magic is some of the most versatile! You can drown people with it, or make a water-jet cutter, or put up walls of liquid to muffle attacks...)

Next, ice.

It is not merely the frozen form of water; The name of Ice is chosen for historical reasons, but what it really is is a profound stillness. The silence of stone, the absence of wind and heat, a firm waiting and endurance that will not be disturbed and rarely moves- But when it moves, it does so with immense force. (She demonstrates by making a bit of snow, sapping temperature; It's cool but not frozen outside right now, it being the height of summer, so this is still clearly magic. And then reinforcing it and inviting Haily to punch it- And the loose unassuming snow failing to so much as budge. Ice magic is good for defense!)

Wood... Is odd. Neither Grumman or herself is great at it. But they can describe it anyway and list some of the foundational exercises. The thing about wood is that it is a sort of optimism. It's related to Beast in a way, but more passive. Bending, but refusing to break. Deep roots that will not loosen their grasp, growing slowly but inevitably. It's good for healing of the self, and can affect flexibility, and also manipulate plants such as forcing them to grow faster or bear fruit- Though this doesn't work well with magical herbs.

In and out, flowing gently, she focuses and follows Gloria's movements. Her attempt with water is not very impressive. She can get some gentle flows, some weak little splashes. Ice is a tiny bit better, she can barely condense some snow, and reinforce it a bit.

Wood is worse. She can tell where the grass is and isn't with her eyes closed. The attitude just doesn't come easily to her. 

"Not bloody well specializing in those three, it looks like," she mutters.

"Apparently not! But there's ten more."

Fire: Hot temper, aggression, sacrifices, transformation. Feel the heat of your body. Understand the fire within every tinyparticle inside you, how it burns a low and steady flame to drive your muscle and thought and blood. Will that force to flare up and warm you in this evening's chill. Then if you dare, will it to flare out of your fist with a punch.

Lightning she already knows she has some facility with, but there are exercises for it anyway! The central theme of lightning is that it is a force of balance, action/reaction, and of sudden sharp impactful moments. When you open a channel for lightning, you'd best be careful it doesn't go astray. There are some agility exercises for self-enhancement, and target practice in a fireproof area with metal things to interfere with one's control for offense.

Wind is about freedom. The air goes where it pleases, and it can do it fast. It dodges everything, swirling and adding slow resistance to anything passing through it. Your soul will resonate with wind most easily when you feel joyful, free, and exploratory. The wind is never still and neither should you be.

Transformation? Her whole body was transformed. Temper? She has enough bloody rage to make a play at Banner's secret.

A cold smirk twists her face, looking entirely at home there, and she radiates enough heat to warm Gloria just from standing nearby. Then she twists and throws a sharp jab with her left fist, a brilliant plume of flame shooting out over the water.

Then she uses the process of balancing her anger back to its banked embers to bring her focus to balance, and sharp motion. She holds her left hand up, sparks jumping back and forth between her fingers to maintain charge balance between them, before she calms that down too. Her smirk returns to a calmer wry grin.

"I'd try a practice lightning bolt, but I wouldn't call this proper safe for that. As for wind, though."

She always liked dance. Her aunt and uncle tried to beat it out of her, called it girly shite, but motion's been part of her soul as long as she's been alive.

She starts to sway, and the wind picks up and ruffles her clothes and hair. She starts to take longer, almost leaping steps, and the wind carries her farther than she should go, every motion seeming to twirl into the next to an unheard rhythm.

She bounds and whirls around the camp, friendly gusts following in her wake, hints of laughter starting to spill from her lips, eyes alight as she grins at Gloria.

Okay, she's frankly a baby monster.

THREE overlord tier natural affinities. Maybe more.

The rest of the camp makes shocked and impressed noises. Graves is abruptly paying very close attention, too.

"Alright! That's certainly something! Let's just say... I'm glad you're on the side of liberty, Hailey! And we're not even done checking affinities!"

She twirls to a stop back in front of Gloria, grinning still. "'On the side of liberty,' hah! Understatement of the bloody year, that."

She runs her hands through her wild hair. "Is wind always that much of a rush to lean into?"

"Wind isn't one of my strongest affinities, so I'm not sure. Maybe you're just having fun cutting loose, huh?" Wink.

She's in too good of a mood to blush. She'll just wink back. "Been a proper while since I had the chance. Maybe going wild's good for me, yeah?"

"Good for most people once in a while. Ready to move on, or do you want to relax for a bit?"

"Nah, let's try the rest. I'll be too curious if we don't finish the set."

Light: Purity, justice, glory, vision and clear-cut glass, everything arranged just so, precision and grace. It responds well to dichotomous thinking, but the world is rarely so clean in reality... It's great for seeing distant things, and it can attack with lasers. Not visible beams of light but the ones that are invisible in the air and only shine brightly off what they hit.

Beast: Her second strongest. She thinks Hailey will have it- It's about the will to survive, to be alive, what makes us animals. Hunger and lust and love and rage and empathy and rest and yearning and protectiveness and desperate desires. It's a great general body enhancement sort of thing, and you can heal with it- As she may have seen earlier- And it's such a rush, but a wild beast with no control is a menace not an asset.

Dragon: A strange one, named after the great Dragons of old, now long gone. There is little guidance that can be given here. You have it or you do not. And if you have it, will and expectation alone will make the world bend as if it were a story. It is only right that the great beast's scales can withstand such a paltry blow; It is no mere lizard but a force of nature. It is only right that you arrive just in time to save the day; That is what heroes ARE.

Dichotomous thinking, huh? How about the simple dichotomy of hating anyone who'd beat a child? The justice of beating them bloody? The precision of seeing them from far away?

Her vision focuses sharply to count leaves on a tree on the far side of the lake. "Got light, yeah."

Beast is stronger than that, for her. She's been desperate to survive her whole life, and she won't stop now. She enhances her body and leaps high into the air, straight up, small cracks in the ground where she took off.

And when she lands, she demands. She drops to the ground in a three-point landing, and expects something to be there when she closes her hand against the dirt.

Though it hadn't been there when she jumped, a flower has blown, unseen, to the perfect spot not to be crushed by her landing.

She rises gracefully to her feet and tosses it to Gloria with a wink. It's her favorite local flower.

Oh my. "Such a pretty lily. Six powerful affinities. So far. How have I not heard of you..."

She can't help but blush at that. Just imagining the kinds of things Hailey can do with a little focus and training... That kind of strength is from the heroes of legend. Something in her is warming up about it. It's twigging the ulu thing... The drive to find the strongest possible mate. A breathy sort of excitement. Oh my.

But she should focus on the current moment, right now.

Four affinities left to test. Earth, Metal, Poison, Darkness.

Earth keys off stubbornness and hard work, very defensive, respectable-solid-boring, and it counts soil as well as rocks.

Metal is somewhat related to fire, but keys off pain and focus, the sense of being refined down to a key point, a lever and a place to stand.

Poison is an unsavory one. Suffering, hate, spite, and endings. All offense, no defense, but occasional utility. Acid is poison.

Darkness is about wishing to be unseen, evasion, obfuscation, retreating again and again and confusing the foe. Fog and smoke.

The best that can be said for Earth is that she does better than Ice. She does just a bit better than that with Poison, the attitude comes naturally, but the magic doesn't fit very well.

Metal, though. She understands pain and focus. It's even a bit stronger than Beast. After a moment of focus, remembering lines of pain burning across her back, she feels it clearly, and tosses her knife into the air.

It whips around her hand when it falls back down, orbiting her fingers and and following her motions. After a minute of that, she catches it out of the air and puts it away.

Finally, Darkness. Black smoke curls around her fingertips, and she senses good spots to get out of sight, and certainty that she could hide very well if this wasn't such open terrain (or even if she was just closer to one of the trees. It's better than Light, but not quite as good as Beast.

Definitely still blushing. Maybe even fidgeting and tail-wagging a bit. The other two wolfkin are watching her in admiration now, too.

"You're going to be absolutely dangerous in a few months. Lightning and metal is a lethal combination, and so is wind and fire, and dragon and beast are excellent supporting affinities, not even going into a little utility support from darkness or poison or light... Gosh. You could be a serious threat with any of those three combos, let alone all. Some people are just - very very magical. I almost want to ask for a serious spar but I'm worried that's a little too forward..."

She fidgets and looks away.

Too forward, eh? Bloody hell, she likes there that thought leads.

"And what if I like it when a pretty girl's a bit forward?" Hailey asks in reply, leaning a bit closer, grinning softly.

"...Then we can run a few miles north so only people who accept the risk are around and really let loose. I'll beat you into the dirt, you know? You're still a greenhand, you know? Don't get too cocky~"

"Good thing I like it rough," she teases back, grin widening. "Not expecting to win, just trying to learn as much as I can and get a right proper workout on the way there."

Chambui - gathers up some water from the lakeshore they're still standing next to, and then shouts, "Race you!" Even as she is already standing and leaning forward on the crest of a little miniature wave rushing along the plain, accelerating fast.

Hailey grins, running after her and then leaping, trusting her intuition, trusting the wind to catch her. Trusting something is a strange feeling, but the wind feels weirdly trustworthy.

She tumbles at first, rolling through the air and improvising something like a half-arsed handspring off the ground, before having the thought to try mixing elements here.

She's the summoned heroine, off to get the practice she needs to beat the bloody tar out of whatever's causing the problems, and impress the girl while she's at it. Stabilizing this flight to keep up with her on the way there is only proper.

That helps balance things, and she shoots closer.