This area has been quiet for a longer amount of time than anyone expected, which made some of its inhabitants drop their guard. Others, however, were more vigilant than usual. 

One mother was a part of the second group. She looked for her son, a young boy named Adel, who had left his house to play with other kids. She was restless. 

Seeing her distress, Raajimera decided to sneak out of the village and make sure that nothing bad happened to him or any other child. 

After a longer while of searching, she finally heard the voices of the village kids. Something seemed to be off. 

The woman hid behind a boulder and looked out from behind it. 

Above the terrified group of children, she saw two strange men. Their shoulders were very broad, and they wore red imperial clothing. There's a good chance these two were scouts from the Hazyan Empire. 

It was the first time she had ever seen anyone from there. Raajimera thought of a plan to protect the children. 

All of a sudden, she noticed someone approaching them. It was Seyed, seemingly trying to fight them off. 

“What are you trying to do?” she thought to herself. 

The two scouts appeared much stronger than him, they had weapons, and he was alone. She didn't want the children to be hurt because of his stupid actions. 

Raajimera poked her pocket. 

“Feng? Would you help me here?”

The snake yawned and turned around. “What? Do you want me to attack them? I could, but I don't have any arms, as you can see.”

“This is not the time or place for jokes” she scolded the snake. “How can I scare these two men away?”

“Only two? Why not the third one as well?” the snake tilted its head. 

“FENG.”

“Okay, okay. This situation calls for an illusion.”

“Go ahead.”

“Can you remember what the air looks like right above a hot road?”

“I'm not sure how it's relevant, but yes.” Raajimera exhaled heavily.

“You got to imagine that your life energy leaves your body and flows the same way. Then, focus a bit more and try to push an image from your head into the flowing river of energy. Do you recall several days ago when we saw a tiger in a cage?”

“You want me to put an image of that tiger out?” Raajimera seemed to be confused.

“Yes, but don't stop at one. Shape your energy into two or three, that should scare them away for good.”

In a flash, three scary-looking tigers jumped from behind the boulder and went towards the scouts. 

They sneaked behind Seyed's back very quietly, but menacingly. The imperial scouts saw them and decided to flee. 

Raajimera joined the kids. 

Seyed shifted his gaze towards her. “Oh, it's you, milady! Have you seen how these imperial bastards ran away at my sight? They didn't stand a chance!” he had great pride in his eyes. 

She didn't want to explain what had happened. The only thing that was important was returning home safely with the children. 

Seyed took hold of her hand and kissed it.

“I promise to protect you forever if you choose me as your king, Milady!”

Raajimera felt embarrassed and quickly took her hand away.

“At this moment, I would like you to do nothing besides help me get the children to safety,” she looked at them. “Are you alright?”

One of them nodded. They appeared fine, just scared. 

The entire group retreated to the village. Mothers were crying, and the children were crying too. 

Raajimera saw the chieftain and decided to talk to him. 

“There is something you should know,” she started. Suddenly, Seyed popped up out of nowhere and interrupted her.

“I spotted two scouts from the Empire.”

“I was about to—”

“I think we should ask everyone to get together and make a plan.” 

She was continually interrupted by Seyed. She wanted to punch him in the face, but the chieftain just agreed with him and left. 

The entire village gathered in a stone circle at the village's edge. Raajimera was about to sit next to them when Feng quietly asked, “Can you please take a moment?”

She hid behind one of the buildings and listened to her snake pal. 

“Could you ask them to create a larger fire?” asked Feng.

“Sure, but what for?” She was surprised by the request. 

“Join them now, I will tell you later.” The snake wrapped itself around her arm.

Raajimera sat down on one of the stones and listened to the chieftain. She looked around and saw that some of the athletes she had seen earlier were sitting nearby. 

She asked them if they could make a bonfire for her.

The men agreed. They were very kind and helpful to her. One of them even brought her something to drink. 

The chieftain spoke a lot. He gave an update on the situation at the village boundary and urged his people to remain vigilant. 

Raajimera attempted to listen to him, but the nearby athletes kept trying to get her attention.

Seyed was watching it from a distance. Fortunately for her, but unfortunately for him, he was sitting on the opposite side of the stone circle. He seemed jealous. 

She lost her focus because Feng was also trying to get her attention. The little snake whispered into her ear. 

“Create some crystals similar to the ones you left on the shrine, but make them bigger this time.”

She didn't have any objections. Instead, she sat by the fire and started making her glass flowers once more.

 Everyone was discussing the safety of the village, but she was captivated by her craft. They had a mysterious appeal, she admired them all. 

Suddenly, someone pulled her out of her trance and she jumped in place, dropping a crystal. 

“I'm sorry! The things you crafted are beautiful, I just came to say that. I've never seen anything quite like it!” It was Seyed, who was hanging above her with a goofy smile. She noticed that the meeting had ended and most of the people left. 

“Oh, thanks.” she faked a smile. “I'm quite busy right now”.

“Oh, I'll take care of my business then. See you later.” Seyed walked away.

Raajimera sighed. “I wish I could mind control him and force him to leave every time he tries to tell me something.”

“I don't think you'll be able to do that.” Feng lifted its snout. “But there is plenty of sand lying around. You could always throw it into his eyes and run before he gets it out.”

“Sound like a plan to me. Can you tell me why you wanted me to make more glass flowers?” She turned to look at her companion.

“I decided to teach you another useful skill. Did you know that now that you can create illusions, you can also enchant these crystals to host them? You could create a tiger gem and leave it somewhere. The illusion of a tiger would persist until the crystal is destroyed!” Feng seemed proud of itself. 

“Interesting. Can I make a crystal that draws water out, for instance?” The woman appeared interested.

“Precisely.” Feng nodded. “You can connect most of your abilities to the crystal.”

Raajimera glanced at one of her flowers. “Does that mean I can also create a quicksand crystal?”

Feng agreed. “I think you could make some enchantments that would help this village. I'll explain how it works.” Feng jumped to the ground. “Just before you finish creating an illusion, focus on the crystal and attempt to draw your energy into it.”

After several unsuccessful attempts and a couple of swear words, Raajimera decided to create a much smaller illusion first. She bound a small image of a cricket to her flower and looked at it. 

“How do I make the illusion go outside the crystal now that it's inside?”

“You should simply place it on the ground.” You could see Feng's shrugging if this snake had shoulders to shrug with. 

Raajimera carefully put her crystal on the ground. A small cricket hopped all around her after a short while.

“This is truly remarkable,” she exclaimed. “I would like to share my gift with the world.”

“What…?” Feng was looking at her with its beady eyes. 

“Do you think the chieftain likes crickets?”

A spark of thought popped onto Feng's face. “I don't know. Should we find out?”

“With joy.” The woman rose and quietly sneaked up to the chieftain's house. 

She discovered a suitable spot to hide her flower. “Goodnight, chieftain.”

Raajimera rushed out of the crime scene and began to question her own actions. “Is it going to cause trouble? Given the current state of the village,” she wondered. 

“I don't think so, it's just a cricket. Leave it there, we got to see how well it works.” Feng cheered her up. 

Raajimera sat on a nearby barrel and looked out over the horizon. She had a feeling that something was coming, and she hoped she could protect her people the way they deserve it. 

Regardless of what that means.