Misunderstanding

"Eeek!"

Bang!

After a shrilly cry from Mariek, a loud door banged shut. Lucien's hand went still in the air while Yllana was facepalming. Mariek saw that Lucien was sliding off Yllana's robe to expose her shoulder. It was morning. And she saw that scene when she opened Yllana's door first thing in the morning.

"She did not knock," Lucien grumbled as he continued what he was doing. "Most of your wounds have healed. There are no more traces of the poison too. *sigh* I will ex-"

Yllana stopped Lucien from continuing. "Let her be. I want to see how she will react when she sees us later." A playful smile displayed in Yllana's face. This is something you do not see everyday.

When Yllana and Lucien stepped into the kitchen for breakfast, they saw Mariek's beet-red face glancing at both of them. The others kept looking at the little girl with a questioning gaze.

"Mariek," she called out.

"Y-yes!"

The girl's stuttering and red face made Midel all the more curious. "Did that demon of a man do something to you little girl?" Midel's finger was pointed at Lucien when he spoke.

"Oy," Lucien glared at Mariek as if warning her about something. Yllana was smiling all the time while looking at the little show in the kitchen. Mariek could not even speak normally.

"If you glare at all the people like that, no girl will ever have a crush on you," Midel was still pointing at Lucien. He raised one of his brows and poked Lucien's forehead.

Lucien was just sitting across Midel and beside Yllana. When Midel told him about his 'glares', he looked at Yllana. She never cared about his cold 'glares'.

"Let me clear that up, no NORMAL girl will ever have a crush on you, oh dear powerful mage." He spat the words out of his mouth and even glanced at Yllana when he mentioned normal. When Yllana caught up with the message, she cocked an eyebrow too at Midel.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Aren't you two that close?"

Yllana then looked at Lucien. She tilted her head to the side while taking a bite from a piece of bread. She chewed slowly with a crease on her forehead. Are they close? Are they even considered to be friends? When had anyone questioned her about their relationship? How about Midel? Are they friends? Now that the topic has been opened, she does not know what to answer. What is her relationship with them? Why are they traveling together?

She stayed quiet while eating her lunch. Lucien, however, kept glancing at her with a hidden smile on his lips which appears when no one is looking at him. He quickly finished his meal and patted Yllana's head before going out.

The others squinted their eyes at Lucien's back. When his shadow was no longer visible from the kitchen corner, they all huddled at Yllana.

"What?" blinking twice, she looked at them in confusion.

"The demon smiled," Mariek commented.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yllana followed Lucien out of the village. 'He was supposed to teach me more spells, he was keen on finding me a staff and a new sword.'

"Master, the more powerful weapons you possess, the stronger your spells will become. Maybe that was Lucien's purpose." Blue talked to her inside her soul. Her sweet voice rang in her mind.

"The more powerful the weapons, the stronger I become. I only handled a silver sword that was the strongest sword in the north. Is there a stronger weapon?" she took a deep breath and looked at the sky.

"There are much much more, Master." Blue explained.

'So, it seems the world is really a bigger place than I imagined,' Yllana's thoughts halted when she saw Lucien from a distance. But he wasn't alone. She felt uneasy. 'What is this?'

A girl about her height and with the same red hair was hugging Lucien from behind. They looked intimate. Yllana felt a faint stab in her chest that she couldn't explain. She swallowed hard as she approached them.

The girl was wearing a bright orange robe and is sulking. She could hear her small whimpers like a…like a…dog? Weird, it was like she already met this lady but she hasn't met anyone else with red hair aside from her sister and her father.

"Hey-" her words got caught in her throat when the lady in orange robes jumped at her and…squeezed her in a hug. "Uhmm…" She haven't had the chance to ask her a question when the lady spoke in a hurried tone.

"Oooh! You lucky lucky girl! I believe you and I will be really good friends! I already like you so much! I like you! I like you! You are so pretty! I have never met anyone who is as pretty as you! Except Mariek of course! She is my master! But you are soooo pretty!" She declared. Yllana felt uncomfortable with the intrusion, add a pout and a pair of big chests heaving at her, she had never felt someone harass her like this.

"Elisha!" Mariek shriek from behind. Her face haven't recovered from the redness she felt earlier in front of Lucien and Yllana's scandal, and this one is giving her another heart attack.

"Elisha? Isn't that your fox's name?" Yllana looked at Mariek in confusion. This was the fox that they chased along with Mariek?

"Tch. Stay away from her." Lucien gave a low growl as he picked up Elisha's collar from behind and threw her at Mariek. He then dusted off the hair that fell on Yllana's shoulders, Elisha's hair. "I don't like her smell on you," He narrowed his eyes as he puffed a cloud of smoke out of nowhere and blew it on Yllana.

"Achoo!"

"Hey! I don't smell bad, you cold nasty demon! I only thought she was you because you smelled like her. Now I'm starting to hate you!" Elisha held onto Mariek's sleeves as if she were a bullied puppy complaining to her master.

She knelt beside Mariek because she was taller than the ten-year-old girl and started sniffling. Yllana was dumbfounded at the scene.

"Elisha, her name is Yllana," Mariek introduced them to each other. "Where have you been these days? I missed you." Elisha immediately gave a serious stare at Mariek. She poofed back into a fox with orange smoke. In her fox state, she was staring at Mariek and Mariek was giving out gasps that everyone else in the area could hear.

"They are talking to each other through their souls," Lucien whispered to Yllana. 'Just like Blue and I,' she thought.

"Are you going to teach me another spell?" Yllana suggested to Lucien.

"Sure," Off they went into the snowy forest. Midel and Larika watched the two of them go. A black figure walking beside the red one. Who knows what the two were thinking as their eyes gazed at the two figures slowly fading away into the distance?

"Your highness, you should already be aware of the dangers ahead being with her." Midel still had his eyes set on the forest.

"I do," Larika answered.

"Being a half-nymph, you also have a keen sense of smell, right?"

"Yes,"

"Then, do you already know who he is?"

"I could tell WHAT he is, but WHO is still a foggy answer. And my idea could be a devastating one so I have to keep it to myself first."

She did not linger around Midel any further. The idea of talking about two powerful people gives her an unsettling feeling, but once she thinks of the girl with red hair and red eyes, she calms down. When she went along with them, she knew the dangers. But aside from the dangers, that little redhead had also become her beacon of hope. It was truly ironic. She seemed to recall Yllana telling her that she was called a Holy One in the North, but now she is being named as an Accursed One. There is a sharp contrast between the two titles, but she owns both.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mariek was still staring at the teacup she in her hands. There was no doubt that she should tell her grandmother what Elisha saw outside the forest. "Kareem,"

They were both inside the cabin, watching the other banned villagers going about their daily lives. Some were fetching water from the well. Some are washing their clothes beside it. And all were young faces with some disfigurement in their bodies. But no one dares to openly tell them of those ugly parts because all of them were the same in that manner. They were all enjoying their peace and quiet within the village.

"Whatever happens, we have to protect what matters to us most. They are just visitors, we already burdened them enough from last time." He sighed.

"Well, what is it? What news did Elisha bring back?"

"Grandma," Mariek instantly stood up from her seat and assisted the old woman to the table. "Elisha saw bodies of halfblood demons near the entrance of the village. I'm afraid the emperor already found out about this place."

"Bodies? Who killed the halfbloods?"

"She didn't see. She just found the fresh corpses lying on the snow. She already disposed of them leaving no traces."

"I see."

Kareem fiddled with his fingers. "Shouldn't we go and find another place to hide Grandma?"

"Again?" the old woman sighed and looked outside the window. "You kids should not be talking about things like these. You should be playing." The scene played in her mind back when they were trying to hide the talented youngsters from the child emperor.