Real smile

Cyan felt angered by Dherek's statement. "What did you say?" She asked in a calm way that scared him a little bit.

"I said you could have told me that you are King Nixon's woman. Then I would have known how to behave around you that will not anger King Nixon." He said boldly. He was aware of her anger which was directed towards him but was very curious and wanted to know directly from her if there was anything between her and King Nixon.

"I wonder how you suddenly, out of the blue talk like a senseless being." She finally said after a few more minutes of glaring at him.

"What? Are you trying to deny being with King Nixon? But...how about when he was staring at you throughout the night? And then the way he looked at me earlier, all because of the position he found him at with you, it says that something is going on. " He told her, giving a little reason as to why he said what he said.

And to prove that he was not talking like a senseless person.

"I have no idea why he did all that he did and behaved the way he behaved but that is his business, not mine. Also, you, mind your business."

Dherek sighed, knowing that he would not be able to get anything out of her even if there was something between her and King Nixon.

"Okay. Well, I have something to ask you." He said to her as he stood up to put on a cloth. Cyan hummed in response to him which he knew as his approval to speak. "What are we going to do here actually?" He asked her. He put on a cloth and sat back down on the bed.

She gave no response to this and he continued, assuming that she did not get his question. "What I mean is, what exactly is the plan? What are we to do here to carry out the mission for which we have come to this place?" He asked as he explained further his question.

"If I may ask you Dherek, what do you think our mission here is?" Cyan asked him in a calm way and voice.

"To help you take your revenge on those who have hurt you?" Dherek replied in a tone that sounded like he was asking a question but he was not.

"And what do you think I mean when I say to you that I want to avenge myself?" She asked him again. "Kill them? Probably...I do not know." He said after he took a guess.

'She probably wants them dead, right?' He thought to himself.

Cyan sighed deeply and smiled at him. He saw that the smile did not reach her eyes. ' Maybe after she gets the revenge that she wants badly, she will be able to truly smile. A real one.' He thought hopefully.

He wondered the type of person she must have been before she was hurt and turned into a shell of her real self. He had no idea who she was before all that happened to her but he could not help but compare her to his father whom she knew.

His father was a good man who abandoned his true position as the rightful Army General of his Kingdom all because he didn't want his wife and child to be caught up in the series of bloodshed and manipulation that would be done to secure the position and not lose it to greedy people who were eyeing the position. His father left the town alongside him (Dherek) and his mother. They settled in another Kingdom and they lived their lives as normal commoners. They were happy the way they were. There was no day that series of laughter would not be heard from their home. However, his mother ended up with sickness. A deadly one that eventually cost her her life. He was devastated but his father was in a much worse condition than the one he was in. His father was angry with life in general because one of the reasons he had abandoned a position that was his rightfully was now taken away from him. Gone! His father wanted no more interaction with fellow men as the only person he longed for interaction with was dead. Dherek's father made himself and Dherek leave the Kingdom and they moved into a jungle. Since then, Dherek had never seen his father smile or laugh.

He wondered if Cyan used to be as happy as his father when his mother was still alive. Maybe even more. He could not help but want to see her happy the same way he wanted his father to be happy.

So he thought that if the revenge is what will finally get her to be genuinely happy, then he would be glad to help her carry the vengeance out.

"That is wrong. I just want them to suffer. So much more than I did. Master was not a very easy teacher, you know." She said. Dherek saw a little flicker of emotion pass through her eyes as she talked about her master.

He could not help but feel emotional as he remembered the man.

"I want them to go through pains. If not more than the ones that I passed through, at least it should be on the same measure as mine." She said as the emotion that showed on her face went away quickly as if it had never been there.

Dherek was once again astonished at how tight her leash on her control was.

"So what do you intend to do to make that happen?" He asked after quite getting the indirect lesson that she was trying to pass across to him.

"Do you remember what we told them that we are here to do?" She asked as a sinister smile played on her lips. Dherek nodded warily. He knew that look!

"To help them win a war." He said slowly. "Against who?" She asked him again as her wicked smile grew slightly wider. "Mocris, I think," Dherek replied.

"You remember what happened with King Fithon's daughter and what I did for her? And then his statement after that?" Cyan asked him and Dherek thought back in time to the moments she was talking about.

And suddenly, he understood what she was trying to say. "Are...are you trying to say...? The war?" He asked her in astonishment. Cyan nodded her head at him. He covered his mouth with his hands with how shocked he was.

This General of his can truly be heartless!