Chapter 13

One thing though that really puzzled Senro during the journey to Fleming town and gave him a lot to think about, was the facial expression, Zedd had on her face, when she spoke about the bastard in charge of The Black Moon bandits, Boris Cutthroat. Sure, the guy was a former vice commander in the capital's army and so he should have some level of competency in his skillsets, but Zedd was a complete and absolute monster. He just couldn't see anybody defeating her. Well, except for Mom.

There was a time when he was a bit younger than he was now, there was a particular mission, in which Mom sent him and Sasha, to help backup Zedd. Though Zedd protested, as she preferred to work alone, but due to Mom insisting, she begrudgingly agreed. This mission was to attack a bandit hideout in the town of Drol, just three towns away from their home, which hid a group of bandits numbering up to fifty strong men. He witnessed, to his astonished horror, as Zedd singlehandedly, with just her bare, dainty fists and an evil and malicious smile on her face, beat to death and tore apart every single one of this guys, in less than five measly minutes. He was definite about the time, because she made a bet with him, that she would defeat them all on her own in just five minutes. Honestly, if he didn't witness this himself, he would never have believed it, if someone else had told him. I mean, how the hell was that even humanly possible? That just a single woman, who didn't even have the bodily features of a combatant, as she was very slim and dainty (delicate), would take on fifty able-bodied, strong men, rushing at her from all sides, with various deadly weapons in tow and she would beat the living daylight out every single one of them with just her bare fists; even disfiguring some to the extent that if their own mothers were to see their bodies, they won't even be able to recognize them and she did this, without her even exerting much effort, in just under five minutes?

It was just too astonishing to witness. He recalled vividly that his jaw literally dropped to the floor, as his mouth opened so wide, to the extent that even a thousand bees would be have been able to comfortably build a hive in it. The most he believed he would have been able to handle on his own were maybe eight to thirteen men and that would be on a very very good day and he would need to exert all his effort and concentration. And he was so positive that he couldn't even defeat this eight to thirteen men in ten minutes, much less talk of five.

After that incident, close to a month passed and Senro didn't dare get on Zedd's bad side. Even when she teased and annoyed him, which she constantly did every single day, he didn't dare say a single foul word back to her, as the memory of that event kept popping up in his head, scaring the crap out of him and sending shudders down his spine, every single time he remembered it.

It was only after a while, that Zedd noticed his fear for her, due to him avoiding her and since she had a feeling that it was because of that incident in that mission, she called on him to come see her privately in her room. This startled him, because Zedd had never allowed him into her room before. When Senro finally summoned the courage and entered her room, he found her lounging on her bed and she beckoned on him to come closer and sit on the bed with her. When he did, their conversation commenced as thus;

"Senro, for the past few weeks, I noticed you've been acting weird around me, like as if you are afraid of me. What's the matter?" Zedd asked

"Eh, emm, no- not- nothing." Senro stammered.

"Are you scared of me, because of what happened in the last mission?"

There was no response from Senro. He just kept his head low and stared at ground, intending to avoid eye contact with Zedd. Zedd, then drew closer to him and placed her dainty hand on his, filling his hand with her soft, gentle touch.

"You don't have to be scared. I would never hurt you, nor Sasha. I love you both so much, so please don't be scared of me."

Then, out of the blue, she drew him closer to her and hugged him tightly, placing her soft, dainty body on his. They were in this position for close to a minute, when Senro felt something liquid-like drip on his shoulder and run down his back.

"Aunt Zedd, are you crying?"

"No, I am not." Zedd replied with a cracked voice and after making a sniffle.

"You are definitely crying Aunt Zedd."

"If you tell anyone about this, especially your mom, I will kill you."

Senro smiled and then put his arms around Zedd.

"I love you too, Aunt Zedd."

Though Senro was surprised by Zedd's reaction, but it was in that moment, that Senro felt the love that Zedd had for him. The love that Zedd had for her family. Though Zedd was usually tough with him and Sasha, sometimes acted like a bitch, no scratch that, always acted like a bitch and at times seemed wicked and heartless, she really did love both him and Sasha.

After the hugs and whatever, Zedd explained to him that the reason she and even Mom liked to solo their missions was so as to not scare her companions, especially him and Sasha, with their abnormal strength and combat techniques. It was from that time on that Senro got used to Zedd's strength and Sasha's strength also began increasing rapidly, so he began to get used to this abnormalities.

So Senro was filled with deep astonishment and was startled, when he noticed that she had on extremely serious expression when she discussed about Boris. She made it clear to both him and Sasha and even made both of them swear, that on no circumstance should either of them even attempt to go close to Boris, no matter what. She stated that he was too dangerous and she would take him on, all on her own.

This really puzzled Senro, but he decided to brush it aside and he concluded that Zedd was only being cautious and overly meticulous, as to not underestimate the bastard. There was no way Boris Cutthroat would be much of a threat to Zedd and he believed that too strongly.