1. The new me

The waves beat mightily against the rocks, the sky was dark, a storm seemed to be approaching.

A girl with long, silver hair and eyes the colour of the raging sea watched the scenario from a distance and was seized by who knows what thoughts.

She touched the chain she wore around her neck, a red rose with a golden edge hanging from its cord.

She sighed, closed her eyes and the wind ruffled her hair violently.

Then she began to gently touch every tree in the area, and a thin, semi-transparent barrier came to life around them.

"Juls, come inside before a storm breaks!" a little boy with brown hair and freckles on his face called out, waving at the girl from a distance to get her to return. Next to him was a small shop with a sign that read "Potions and puddles of all kinds from Lily" and further down, in lowercase letters, it read "P.S. only good potions."

The girl named Juls was too busy saving the trees from the storm to pay attention to what she was being told when her eyes suddenly fell on the open sea.

In the distance, a small raft made of shabby wood, roots and herbs was moving towards her, with a hooded person on board.

Juls ran toward the sea and began to shout. "You there! This way!"

The mysterious hooded figure tried to paddle with his hands in Juls' direction, but the wind was too strong and her dilapidated raft kept tipping over.

Juls plunged into the water, swept along by her momentum. Each of her paddle strokes seemed heavier than the last, and thanks in part to one surge after another, she managed to reach what appeared to be a boy with amber eyes.

"Is it all OK?" she asked anxiously, but the boy did not answer, on the contrary, she tried to cover her face even more. "Follow me."

The two tried to swim to the shore, but the waves kept sending them back.

Lightning and thunderclaps and pouring rain filled the sky.

Juls grabbed the mysterious boy by the arm as soon as she saw his friend's freckled face from afar.

The sea began to roar and something majestically large moved below them.

A beautiful and gigantic sky-blue creature with emerald fins emerged from the water and carried them to safety on its back.

"Juls, are you all right? Who is this person?" The freckled face of the boy who had rescued her began to frown.

"It's okay, Yan. I do not know who this boy is, he was on some kind of raft trying to get to shore."

Juls and Yan turned to the boy, who did not say a word and pulled his bonnet off his head.

His long, raven hair reached down his back and a pair of anxious, amber eyes kept looking down, trying to avert their gaze from the other two boys.

"What's your name?" asked Juls in his friendliest tone, but the boy did not answer and continued to stare ahead.

"We are on land!" exclaimed Yan and began patting the creature's head, which responded by spraying water from its mouth onto his face. "Thank you, Hyara."

"This water dragon is part of Yan's family," Juls tried to explain to the boy, who still did not speak. "They are a family of trainers of magical, mostly aquatic creatures."

"Where are we?" the boy finally managed to say in a weak voice, triggering the astonishment of the other two.

"We are in Marea, don't you know this region? We are surrounded by the sea," Juls explained, still wondering why the boy looked so lost.

"You have not told us your name yet," Yan interjected, giving him a broad smile.

"My name is...," the boy paused for a moment and then continued. "... Aiden."

Juls and Yan smiled, then noticed that the boy was all dirty and his clothes were made of rags. "Come with me to my mother's shop, it's right in front of them," Yan suggested, pointing to the watering hole behind them.

The shop door opened with a clang. "Juls, Yan! What happened to that poor boy? " The woman behind the counter hurried toward the boys with a worried expression. Her face was sweet and gentle, she wore her hair in a brown bun, and a birthmark on her face made her stand out.

Aiden immediately noticed the strong smell of herbs, flowers and various plants as soon as he entered the shop. On each shelf there were at least a hundred bottles, all of different shape and colour, with special labels on them: Humorya, Luvity, and so on.

Small plants and colourful flowers decorated the counter, but what fascinated the young man the most was a vase of roses that constantly changed colour and lit up.

"Mom, this boy came out of the sea in a raft, we found him already so battered, then I intervened with Hyara and ..." Yan's narration was interrupted by his mother, who pointed with her index finger to a swivel chair with wheels. The chair began to move toward them and then positioned itself directly behind Aiden.

"Easy, sit down," the woman said, smiling gently at him. "I am Lily, the owner of this shop and Yan's mother."

"What do you want to do, Lily?" asked Juls as he saw the sink approaching them.

"Is not it obvious?" The woman took the boy's hair and dipped it in the water of the sink, taking some shampoo and a special potion to revive the hair. "What haircut do you prefer?"

"What, you want to cut his hair? But will he be okay with it?", Juls asked, looking at Lily in wonder.

"That's for you to decide..." Aiden spoke again in a low voice, expressing his agreement.

"And there you have it, a nice bowl cut!" A pair of scissors began cutting off Aiden's thick cascade of hair strand by strand, while a broom and dustpan cleaned the floor as the hair fell to the ground.

The woman held her hands to Aiden's head, from which hot air escaped. "That's it, we are done. Do you want to see yourself in the mirror? "

Juls held a mirror in front of the boy, who looked at himself in disbelief.

"You look younger with that hairstyle," the woman exclaimed. "By the way, you still have not told us how old you are! Wait, I am guessing... sixteen?"

Aiden continued to stare at the mirror, then nodded.

"So, do you like the new you?" asked Lily with a smile.

"The new me... yes. I like it."

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