“Heights? I don’t think they’re scary. Are we gonna fly?” The thought of flying sent shivers down Hina’s spine. “Are you gonna make me super?” She looks at her hands, wondering if x-ray vision eyeballs could be arranged.

  Cosmo chuckles. “No, no, I can’t ‘make you super’. What I can do is show you how to use the powers you already have.

  Her eyes light up. “You mean I’m already super?”

  “As super as your heart desires, little Hina.”

  “Yes! I’m gonna get ser eyes!” Hina runs around while making ser noises. “Pew! Pew! Pew! Booosh!”

  Cosmo waves his wing, a gust of wind bursting forth from it. “My silly friend, we must focus. I will teach you to commune with the wind starting from today.”

  She stops trying to burn holes into things with her eyes for a moment to ask about the new word she heard. “What does ‘commune’ mean?”

  “It’s a fancy word for ‘talk’ that I like to use.”

  “Ooooh.” Commune… commune…

  “Okay, so let’s start with trying to focus on feeling your mana. Close your eyes, and try to imagine bubbles coming from your hands.”

  Hina shuts her eyes, imagining she’s the world’s best bubble machine. A warm feeling rises in her tummy, like when she drinks a cup of hot cocoa when it gets cold. She quickly opens her eyes and looks at her hands, pleasantly surprised to see tiny little yellow and pink bubbles falling from her fingertips.

  “I did it! Lookit, the bubbles!” She waves her hands around, pink and yellow tinting her surroundings when they start popping.

  Cosmo ruffles his feathers in excitement and approval. “Incredible work! Now, try blowing on them.”

  Hina does exactly that, and something incredible happened. A great gust burst from her fingertips, shaking loose leaves and sticks down from trees and sucking them into the growing vortex now in the sky. She tries curling her hands, and the vortex compresses into a rge sphere. Excited, she tries making the shape of a flower like how she pyed with the big bubbles, but the wind suddenly scattered and dropped all the things it was carrying, including a very confused and dizzy yellow jackrabbit with the cutest little tan top hat on. She shakes her head, dusting her glossy coat of dirt before waddling over to the pair.

  “My my my! What gusto that particur cast had! Nearly whisked away, too.” She bats her eyes at the confused duo, giggling at her own terrible joke.

  Cosmo shakes his tail feathers, doing tiny excited hops in celebration of meeting a new friend. “Are you here to teach the young girl too? My name is Cosmo, and this is-”

  “Lady Hina, correct?” She takes up the little Witch’s hand, bowing her head in reverence. “To see a Witch so soon into my existence… oh joy!” Her hands suddenly release their light hold on Hina’s, snapping to her side. “Oh how rude of me! My name is Marsha, and I was drawn here by your positively wonderful imagination! You’re quite famous among us magicfolk, you know.”

  “Famous? For what?” Thoughts of her being known as Supergirl fill her mind, her excited giggles giving her assumptions away.

  “It isn’t for being su- wait.” Cosmo paces in a circle. “Is an extremely active imagination that can perfectly visualize magic a superpower?”

  Marsha taps her chin, then shrugs. “It feels super enough to me, don’t see why it can’t be called that.”

  “I suppose. In any case, it’s much too soon for two of us to be present at one time! I mean, I still have so much to teach, and she hasn’t even learned to fly yet…” Hina is currently pying with bubbles she’s blowing around with a simple gust cast from her fingertips. “Nevermind that. Would you mind coming back in say, four of her weeks? I still have much to show her, not that it will take much time for her to absorb everything properly.”

  The now smug jackrabbit sports a devilish grin, one that only plotters and schemers wear in their greatest moments of plottery and schemery. “Scared I may take your precious student? No need to worry, she’ll side with me all by herself after learning some real magic!” She guffaws, spping her knees while stomping one foot.

  Cosmo ruffles his feathers, his voice maintaining the calm and comforting tone it usually has. “Do what you must, but in about four week’s time if you wouldn’t mind. Little Hina isn’t the type to pick just one thing to achieve her dreams. Your little intimidations—if you can even call them that—mean nothing to me, especially not now when we have her to teach!” He flicks a wing towards her. “I mean, she’s pying with spells it took our young multiple moons to learn! Simply marvelous, this one.” His gaze falls to the mana trails her wind gusts leave. “Marvelous indeed.”

  Marsha pats her feathered friend on the back. “That good, huh? Well my feathered friend, it was fun messing with you and meeting a future legend but I need to get back to work. Lessons on fire magic don’t just write themselves, do they?” She turns her back to Cosmo, squatting down as low to the ground as she can get and pcing her hand on her hat. “Catch you on the flip, or here, whichever comes first. See ya, feathers!” Her legs glow a vibrant cherry red as Hina turns around, heat waves radiating from her before she leaps off the ground, fmes chasing behind her as she soars through the sky.

  Hina’s tiny little brain practically explodes while watching the epic dispy of fire magic. “Woah! Was that a super jump?”

  Cosmo chuckles. “Something like that, dear Hina. Come, we must get some snacks into you so your energy levels stay up. Rest is an important part of learning something new, and food is your body’s fuel after all.” A small tray of assorted cheese cubes and saltine crackers with some grapes y on a stump she wasn’t paying close attention to, but not so little that she didn’t notice Cosmo hadn’t moved an inch from where he was standing.

  She leans in to whisper. “Do you have disappearing powers?” This power is in her top three superpowers, falling behind flying and ser eyes only by a small margin. “I wanna be sneaky too!” Hina waves her hand in front of her face.

  The kind sparrow leans in as well, hiding his face from imaginary onlookers with a wing. “I do happen to have a magic that can make me ‘disappear’, but that tray wasn’t moved using the power.”

  “Then what was it?” She’s practically shaking out of her shoes with anticipation.

  “Wind, my child. Not the wind you’re used to, but one I made to be very sneaky. One day you’ll be able to manage the cast, but today isn’t that day.” He points a wing at the southern treeline, the Sun setting behind it and illuminating the sky a vibrant array of warm colors.

  “Aww, but I don’t wanna go!” Hina folds her arms and puffs her cheeks out, putting on her best pouty face in an attempt to convince the Sun to hold off for awhile, to no avail.

  Cosmo hops up next to her, lightly tapping her back with one of his wings. “Your friends and family await you out there, and we can always meet again in here. I’ll be with you no matter where you go, so stand tall and go back to them knowing you’ll never be alone. Not unless you truly wish for me to be gone.”

  She nods, wiping her runny nose with her sleeve as she ascends to the clouds once more towards her non-magical reality. “I’ll see you ter, Momo!”

  “I’ll be looking forward to it!” He ughs and waves both wings in salutation.

  Consciousness hits like a bucket of cold water, unpleasant and devoid of mana. If her mom weren’t standing in the doorway smiling and waiting for her, this morning would be far less fun than it is now. No warm feeling in her belly, and no bubbles coming from her fingers. What a dump!

  “Hi there, sleepyhead. Have an adventurous dream?” Dorothy waits a few moments before continuing for dramatic effect. “You look a little wild there.”

  “Huh?” She mumbles her words out, still a bit sleepy and hoping she could get more cozy time under her soft pluto bnket.

  She stands back up and walks over to the bed, patting Hina’s hair and helping her sit up. “Why don’t you have a look? I think you’ll understand what I mean if you do, kiddo.”

  Hina turns to her vanity mirror, leaning over the end a bit to really get a good look. A rat’s nest would be a kindness when describing how unruly her hair is right now. Perhaps a brunette tumbleweed would be a bit more accurate. She looks to her mother, who is very clearly trying to hold back a ugh. The little Witch has half a mind to pout and make her feel bad, but decides she would rather have her hair done than be te to school. Her friends are there, after all.

  “Do my hair.” Sass decided sass was going to be the star of the show in her spunky little voice today.

  Dorothy grins and folds her arms, tapping her finger and adopting her best old dy voice. “So you’re handing out the orders, huh? Well buddy, I’ve got news for you, and you’re not gonna like it!” Her mother drops her shoulders, crouching down while stalking towards the giggly little goblin before her. “Tickles for the bossy one until she says please!” She lightly jabs her fingers into Hina’s sides, a squeal of joy confirming her aim was indeed perfect.

  “Mommy stop it!” She’s released immediately, only to be snatched up and held upside down while ughing.

  “Stop what?” She raises an eyebrow.

  Hina giggles. “You know!” This is her favorite part.

  “I’m afraid I don’t, my little giggle monster!” Dorothy shakes Hina around a little bit before plopping her back on the bed to tickle her elsewhere.

  They continue on with this for a few minutes, nearly forgetting that they both have things they need to do today. Her mom pnts a kiss on Hina’s forehead before slipping out of her room, which gives her space to toss on the clothes set out on her desk the night before. She does her very much necessary little spin in front of her vanity before heading out, which gives her the courage to go seize the day with both hands. Breakfast was choco balls cereal, apple juice, and kiwi chunks cut into little stars. Truly a meal fit for a queen. The trip to school is quick and easy, both now semi familiar with the route now.

  Hina meets with her friends on the grassy hill by the door, it now having become their unofficial-official meeting spot. The lesson for the day goes smoothly, shapes and colors being their primary focus at the moment. Easy enough so far. She opts to take a nap instead of go out to recess, yawning and rubbing her eyes as a part of her act to convince Ms. Peaches to let her stay inside while Ms. Mudi supervises. Sleep hits almost immediately as she gets comfortable on a bean bag, the sensation of falling from the sky and passing through clouds confirming she was where she wanted to be. She straightens out and nosedives toward the ground, wind screaming past her as she grows closer to her previous nding spot. Adjusting at the st possible moment, she sms into the ground and a loud boom shakes the trees around her violently. A perfect nding, truly the epitome of cool and super.

  Her lesson with Cosmo goes quite well, the slow mastery of wind moving her closer and closer to her first goal of flying. After a few days of practice, she managed to levitate a few centimeters off of the ground for a couple seconds at a time. She also could fire off a handful of air bullets in quick succession, one of which caught her feathered friend in the back of the head by accident more than one time as she got better with her aim. After about a week of sneaking in naps at school and going to bed early, her spell control was good enough to at least curve bullets away from his head before they made contact. There still hasn’t been any luck in manifesting anything when she’s awake besides glowing a bit after a dream, but Hina isn’t particurly bothered by it. Being super isn’t easy, and even Supergirl earned her stripes and worked hard to get where she got with her powers. So she decided she could be patient, since even the superest of supers had their time backstage.

  Glow squid seems to have caught on as a nickname for her, which ranked number four on her favorite nicknames list when people she liked used it. She sometimes would swing her arms around and make them go wavy like a squid would, ‘inking’ any boys making fun of her that weren’t her friends with a juice box that had way too much in it for how small it was. Serves them right, the little slime balls!

  Pickup time became a daily trip to Olivia’s house, the children crafting their empire from stout blocks and random thick hardback books they found ying around while Margaret and Dorothy ughed at each other’s terrible jokes in the next room over. This was of no concern to the group of righteous rulers, who had more important things on their hands like war and lollipop tree shortages.

  “I think it should be every skittle for themselves, what say you my friends?” Onyx seems unusually well-spoken today, perhaps from his recent obsession with Victorian women and their gemstone adornments. They’re basically just cut and polished rocks, so according to anyone worth their salt it is definitely a certified cool boy thing to like.

  Penelope sighs dramatically, as if the very thought of responding were a detriment to her health. “You got taken over like two moons ago, stink butt. Your skittles are my skittles, so no votes for you!” She sticks her tongue out at him while giggling.

  Olivia stands on top of a book that’s held up by a couple blocks. “My head is closer to space, so whatever I say goes now! No skittles for any of you suckers!” She lets out quite the evil ugh.

  “Why don’t you take your head out of the clouds and have a look around? I’m glowy eyes, so the skittles answer to me!” Hina stands up to show that she can turn the light on and off at will.

  “I vote for fshlight face, the one who sees all.” Hiro lifts a dle to the sky as if it were a mighty bde, capable of cleaving mountains in two with nothing but a thought.

  “I vote for Hina too! No one but the one who glows is worthy of leading our nation. I refuse to accept any other leader!” Mia thumps her chest like the gdiator warriors she sees in her favorite cartoon.

  The newly appointed queen is ushered onto a stack of books that makes her taller than Olivia. “All hail our new ruler!” Hiro chants, his typical shyness nothing but a distant memory in this moment.

  “All hail!” Onyx, Penelope, Hiro, and Mia all dramatically bow to her, barely containing their giggles as they did so.

  Olivia reluctantly bows, trying and failing miserably to hide a grin behind a scowl. “All hail, I guess.”

  Hina almost enjoys this whole ordeal more than magic. Almost. She yawns while stepping down from her throne, eager to find a quiet pce to nap so she can get some more flying practice in. Also, being queen is hard work so surely she deserves this much? “Hey Olivia, can I take a nap in your room?”

  Her eyes light up. “I thought you’d never ask. Sure!” She stands up from her spot on the floor. “Y’all can start the next game, I’m gonna go take Hina to my secret cave.”

  “‘Kay.” They respond in unison, then immediately begin the council meeting on what shape they should make the next structure they build.

  They leave the others downstairs and walk together to her room, which is about as pink and fuzzy as you would expect from a total diva like Olivia. Bubblegum pink wallpaper with white hearts all over it, stuffed animals covering half the avaible floor space and her bed, and quite possibly the most extensive collection of magical girl merch Hina has ever seen in her six years of life. She almost feels jealous, but definitely wouldn’t want this much pink in her room. She thinks hers could use some more, though. Quite a bit more, actually.

  “Wow, your room is so pretty!” Hina marvels at the fuzzy pink mirror frame on the door.

  Olivia smiles warmly. “Thank you! My jammies are in here so you can borrow some if you want.”

  Woah, friend jammies. What an honor! “Okie!” she rushes to try them on; a nearly perfect fit. It’s a pink fuzzy bunny onesie, and she is loving every little bit of it.

  Sleep comes quickly, her desire to see Cosmo and practice magic far greater than her desire to keep staring at the magical girl posters on the ceiling. This time she wakes up on the ground already, fairly disappointed at the ck of superhero nding today.

  “Hello, my dear. Are you ready for flying practice? I do believe your lessons have progressed enough to take the next step.”

  Hina wishes she had some sungsses to put on Cosmo to show how cool he is right now. “Yeah!”

  “Well then, let’s get started, shall we?” He stretches out a wing, offering it like you would ask for a dance.

  She pces her hand on his wing, excitement bubbling up like soda pop in her belly. “Okay!”