Chapter 5

• “Wait, how?”. Leona is confused.
• “You knocked him out before you lost consciousness. The Grandmaster himself announced you!”. 
• Leona can’t believe her ears. ‘I made it?’. 
• “Wow… And where am I now?”. 
• “This is the palace”. Leona goes pale hearing this. She realises she is naked in front of the maid, thinking how many people know and what will happen to her. 
• “Wait, I-- I’m a g--” she can’t bring the words to form. 
• Xialing hushes her. “I know. But no one else does. Even your old Master tried to get it while you were naked but I made sure he didn’t see anything”. 
• Leona feels relief as her secret is safe, or not?
• “But why? Why you kept it secret?” she isn’t sure why she would do that. 
• “I’m not sure. I guess, I never seen a woman having these powers and making it till here. You are one of us and.. I don’t want to see you being killed off. I’m also sure this would hurt the Kingdom. But this, this is dangerous”. 
• Leona knows that too well. 
• “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you kept my secret. But I know how dangerous this is and I’m willing to take the risk. This is my dream. For some reason I was given these powers and so, I will use them. You can have an out if you want”. 
• Xialing blushes at that response. Having helped her, even for that little, she feels she has an obligation to stay by her side. 
• “Alright, let's do this. I’ll help you out”. 
• Leona gives her a big smile, cause finally, she has an extra ally. 
• She is done with her bath and Xialing wraps her around a cozy robe. She moves back to her room only to find her old Master waiting there. 
• “How did you get in here?!” Xialing is furious. 
• “Not that hard really. You should get better on that” he says full of irony. 
• Leona’s body wasn’t fully covered, so the fact that she is a girl could be understood. 
• “Get out now!” Xialing is screaming at him while trying to cover Leona. 
• Leona taps her on the arm. “It’s alright. He knows”. 
• Xialing backs off and looks at his resting face. “Wow, cool” she says feeling a bit awkward.
• “Should I get rid of her?” Yien is joking making Xialing furious. 
• “Calm down now, both of you. She isn’t gonna say anything. In fact, she has been really helpful”. 
• Leona know that even though Yien acts all cool, he was really worried to go to the extremes and break in.  
• “You should know, you made us proud. You are the only one that made it from our Academy. Now everyone is rushing to get taught by me.. Thank you”. 
• Leona is about to cry. Her Master’s words were genuine and came from his heart. She promptly runs and hugs him tight. 
• “Thank you” it was all she was saying making him blush.
• “Uh, alright.. I guess it’s time for me to go. Be a good boy, alright?”. 
• “I will” it’s her answer with tears roll down her cheeks. 
• ‘I made it’. 
• The hours pass and Xialing is preparing Leona. 
• “Look what I found” she says while showing a long cloth. 
• “What is that?”.
• “This is for your chest. It will be comfortable and you won’t suffocate in this. Not like the ones you weared. I wonder how you did anything with them”. Xialing started putting them on her, and what she said was true; they were truly comfortable. 
• “Wow, where did you get these?” she asks as she was amazed. 
• “I have my ways. Now, I have to make you look like a man!” and they both laugh at this comment.
• She puts on a white silk clothes. The fabric was soothing against her skin. Xialing grabs her hair, trying to settle them on a bun. 
• “Why don’t we cut them?” she asks her. 
• “I can’t. A dragon warrior should have long hair. Believe me, I’ve been cutting them but I know I have to keep them long. I can keep them at shoulder length, I guess”. 
• Leona was always worried that her feminine looks would show. 
• “It’s fine. There are actually a lot of handsome men, some of them prettier than women so don’t worry. I’ll make sure that they won’t know” saying that Xialing grabs a brush. 
• She starts coloring her eyebrows to make them fuller and adding shadows on her face to make it look more as a male’s. 
• ‘She is really good at this. I look like a handsome lad!’. 
• Xialing grabs the last piece of the uniform; the boots. They are long and gold, making her look like she is taller. 
• “WOW! Thank you Xialing!” Leona admires herself. 
• “Now, you need to go out and meet the other warriors. The Grandmaster will greet you on the throne room along with the Emperor and his son”. 
• “It’s time, huh?” she feels a little bit anxious. 
• “You’ll do great! Good luck, Leon”.