Clan Leader Nixie Argenda.

Maya and Kaylus stopped by an enormous metallic double door. The door had various engravings on it. From what Kaylus could tell it was a work of art detailing the legend of Ataru and Nikini.

What appeared to be palace guards flanked the entrance on either side. They didn't move a single millimetre as if they were statues.

So far he hasn't seen anyone around the grounds wearing armour. The armour was dark navy blue with silver edges. Their helmets blocked their face and their design was that of a fox.

Attached to their hips was a silver jewel-encrusted sword. On the end of the sword's hilt was a small fluffy ball one was orange and another was white. While in their hands was a spear.

When Maya and Kaylus were just a couple meters away, the two guards turned on their heels before pushing the large doors open and clicking their boots loudly.

This simple act impressed Kaylus. Not only were the guards extremely disciplined, but they also seemed to possess impressive strength.

He knew this was a world of magic, and even he managed to do something unbelievable. However, Kaylus did not believe he could open a large door like that with a simple push as the guards did.

As the two made their way through the large doors and walked towards the throne room, Kaylus spoke up.

"Your home must be quite the safe place to have only two guards, guarding the clan leader. But I have to ask, what are those little fluffy balls on the ends of their swords?"

Nodding, she smiled and said, "Yes, it is. To be honest, they are here more because of tradition than because my mother requires protection. She wanted no guards around her, but the elders convinced her to a compromise, so now she always has two guards."

"I see… And what about the fluffy ball things?"

"Within our clan, it's a tradition for lovers to craft a small fluffy ball for each other. Just like Ataru and Nikini, they can have a part of each other with them always," Maya replied passionately.

After seeing Maya's cute appearance, Kaylus chuckled, which puzzled Maya slightly. "Heh, I see."

"What's funny?"

Kaylus brought his finger to his lips and replied, "That's… a secret,"

"Hmpf." Maya pouted then the two finished the remainder of their journey in silence.

Maya knocked on the door to the throne room, "I have brought the guest as you've requested"

Just a moment later, they heard a cold voice coming from inside.

"You may enter."

The cold voice sent chills down Kaylus' back. He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head.

In the meantime, Maya pushed the door open, completely missing Kaylus's reaction to her mother's voice.

They walked into the room. As they entered, Kaylus had a glance around. The whole room was fairly wide and rectangular. It looked like a wide corridor more than a room.

The room's ceiling was high. It looked like there was nothing there. Instead, it looked like they left the roof out to make the night sky visible.

Pillars were spread evenly across the room. They were gold, black and red and the top of them looked as if it disappeared into a cloud with a thin layer of fog appearing at their peak.

In the centre of the room, was a long red carpet with golden patterns around the edges. At the end of the carpet, was a throne on which a woman was sitting.

The woman on the throne was a beauty. Kaylus could see who Maya got her looks from. She had plump red lips and fair white skin. Her hair was a dark navy blue and glistened as if they encrusted it with tiny diamonds.

She looked like an older and taller version of Maya yet at the same time; she didn't have Maya's cute and innocent appearance.

Kaylus and Maya eventually reached the throne. Kaylus bowed his head as Maya introduced him.

"Mother, this is Kaylus, the one who saved me the other day."

Kaylus deepened his bow and smiled, "It is a pleasure to meet you, clan leader. My name is Kaylus as you've just heard. I wanted to thank you for your hospitality while I recovered."

Kaylus kept his bow for a moment. He could feel the clan leader's scrutinising gaze all over his body. Then he heard approaching footsteps. As a pair of feet appeared in front, Kaylus became tempted to look up.

To his surprise, the clan leader grabbed his chin, lifting his head and looking straight into his eyes.

Her face was expressionless but quickly turned into a smile. The smile was radiant and beautiful though Kaylus felt her eyes were cold and sinister.

"Mother?"

Hearing Maya's voice, she let go of his chin and said, "He looks fierce. I like him. I guess I should introduce myself. I am the Argenda clan's clan leader and Maya's mother, Nixie [1] Argenda. Now, how about the three of us sit down and chat briefly."

As she spun around, so did her hair. It reached Kaylus, wafting a pleasant scent towards him.

He followed Maya and Nixie into a room on the side of the throne room. Inside the room were a couple of couches around a small coffee table.

Nixie sat down on one side while Maya grabbed Kaylus's arm and sat down with him on the opposite couch.

Nixie snapped her fingers, causing a tea set to appear alongside various treats to eat.

"I hope the tea will be to your taste."

"Thank you, I am not well versed in tea nor am I picky so it should be fine" Kaylus replied with a warm smile.

'See this? This is how you fake your smile' Kaylus thought to himself.

Nixie leaned back on the couch, "I guess I should get to the point. Thank you for saving my daughter. I don't know what I would have done if I lost her"

This time when she smiled Kaylus could see genuine happiness in her eyes. For some reason, it looked as if she wasn't too happy with Kaylus being here, but at least it looked as if she wouldn't do anything bad to him.

"There is no need for thanks. I just did what I had to." Kaylus replied curtly.

To Kaylus's surprise, Nixie didn't react to his rude reply as he expected. Instead of being upset, it appeared as if she was satisfied with the answer.

"It's good to hear that there are still a few people out there like that," Nixie replied as she gracefully drank from her teacup.

Hearing this reply made Kaylus happy. As he hoped, it sounded like she had misunderstood what he meant. He didn't save Maya out of the goodwill of his heart, or at least not entirely true. He just happened to appear there, resulting in a fight with the enormous Owlbear.

With his mind blank at that moment, he rushed ahead of her without thinking, protecting her body from harm.

This, however, wasn't something he wanted the lord of the clan in which he was currently residing to know. It was better for him if she believed that he battled the beast from the start in an attempt to save Maya.

The three of them spoke for a few minutes, with Kaylus mostly just giving his first impressions of the grounds he had explored so far alongside Maya.

After their brief conversation, Nixie stood up and left after saying goodbye.

With that over, Maya led Kaylus back towards his room. On the way there, they happened to bump into a couple of people.

Unlike everyone Kaylus had seen so far, these two appeared to be human. They were wearing lavish clothing and laughing loudly. When they saw Kaylus and Maya walking in their direction, the two stopped and smiled, immediately walking up to them.

The two completely ignored Kaylus and spoke directly to Maya. "It is good to see that you've returned, princess. Young master Nemo [2] would have been upset if you weren't there to see him win the tournament."

Kaylus looked at Maya to see how she'd react. To his surprise, she still had her cute and innocent appearance, but a fire was blazing in her eyes. It looked as if she wanted to tear those two apart.

It sounded like something was happening between her and the person named Nemo. Yet she looked like she wanted to remove all traces of them even though they were under Nemo.

'Is their relationship not good? Just what are you hiding little fox?'

Kaylus then thought of something a bit mischievous and grabbed Maya's hand, making her jump slightly.

"Maya, would you like to introduce me to your friends?"

With this, the pair of goons finally took notice of Kaylus. The smaller one of the pair spoke up first. "HEY! Who do you think you are to hold the princess's hand like that?! Let go now and young master Nemo might still forgive you once he hears of this."

"Stop this! Young master Nemo has no right to interfere with who holds my hand. And if you must know, this is young master Kaylus. If not for him I wouldn't be here right now. He is the reason why I'm here safe and sound."

"Tch, you have our thanks for bringing the princess back unharmed, however, I suggest you don't get any ideas about her and don't hold her hand any longer." Saying that he walked past Maya and Kaylus with his friend following shortly behind him.

But before they got far he had turned back around and said one last thing. "You won't be able to run away from your fate much longer princess. Soon your fate will become reality. It would be better if you accepted it sooner rather than later."

"We will see about that," Maya mumbled under her breath. The two walked the remainder of their journey to Kaylus's room in complete silence.

They reached the room and Kaylus walked in. Maya stopped at the doorframe.

"I'd like to apologise for my unsightly appearance from earlier. I will take my leave now, I hope you rest well." Maya bowed her head slightly and tried to leave, but before she could Kaylus stopped her in her tracks.

"Maya. Don't you think it's time you tell me what you have been hiding from me?"

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A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter. Sorry for the delay, I will try to post the next chapters ASAP but I make no promises. If you've enjoyed this chapter then please make sure to add it to your collection ^^

[1] Nixie means water sprite. "Nixie as a girl's name is of Old German origin meaning "water sprite". Nixie are usually beautiful, and unlike pixies, and are belligerent toward men."

[2] Nemo is Latin for nobody.

(How do you guys feel about bits of trivia like that? I doubt I will do it often for names as in fact the names are somewhat spoiler-ish towards the characters and story but I would love to do it about other things. For example why I chose to do a certain thing in a chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

-DontLookPls