"Uh, who are you?" I asked, still looking around, trying to spot the owner of the voice.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." The voice said nervously.

A little girl stepped out from behind the trees. She looked to be about my age. Her skin was warm ivory, and she had pale blond hair that reached the middle of her back, with the tips of her hair hinting at the color of rose gold. Her eyes were notably pastel blue, practically white, but they still shone like diamonds.

"I'm Dalia." She looked up at me shyly, so I shot her a slight smile.

"Hey. I'm Seraph."

"Anyway, I've never seen you before, and I've lived here all my life. I thought there was no one around my age who actually lived in this village." Dalia shook her head and slowly approached me.

"Well, um, that's because..." I didn't really know what to say.

I was sure put into a challenging situation, and my social skills have never been very sharp. That's probably because I never had anyone to talk to, past or present, besides my family, of course.

"I've been pretty unwell my whole childhood, so I only leave the house every once in a while." You could hear the uncertainty in my voice. It was quite apparent I was lying, but luckily I was talking to a young girl who would probably have trouble picking out the truth from lies.

"Oh wow, that's really sad. I'm sorry for prying, but I've never really had many people my age to talk to, so I guess I got a little excited."

Dalia sat down next to me, and I uncomfortably shifted away to put some space between us.

"I come to this clearing every once in a while. My parents dont really worry too much about me because this is a pretty safe town, but I like coming here to relax alone." Dalia sighed and leaned back into the grass, her head propped up on her hand.

"This is the second time I've ever come to this area," I replied blatantly.

"I know. I've seen you train a few times. It was really cool." Dalia beamed. "You dont really seem sickly to me..." her voice clouded with overarching suspicion.

I have to admit, she was quite sharp for a five-year-old. I didn't really think it was a good idea to talk about myself or what I do. Still, I probably would have if I didn't remember my origins. I never really liked the change in my life. It was good to talk to someone else, though, even if the interaction seemed scripted.

"Anyway, Seraph, do you mind if we become friends? I understand if you dont want to..." She looked over at me with pleading eyes. "But you seem like a fascinating person, so.."

A friend. That was an unfamiliar word to me. Typically, either people would ignore me, or maybe there would be a rare person who would walk up and ask me if I was okay. Still, then they would realize who I was and pretend they didn't see anything.

"A friend, huh..." I mumbled.

I turned and looked over at Dalia, who was still staring at me intensely.

"That's fine, but I dont really get out that often so it may be hard." I hoped my words would sway her away from the idea of being friends with me, but somewhere deep in my heart, I longed for that not to be the case.

"I dont mind, silly! I'll just meet you here after your done training! Maybe I can watch you and learn a few moves of my own!" Dalia shot up and kicked at the air.

I couldn't help but smirk.

"I would really like that," I beamed.

I stood up and brushed my pants off, and stretched my arms up above my head.

"My dad is going to be back soon, and I dont think it's a good thing if they know about you for, uh, other reasons."

I flinched at my own words. Did that make any sense? I didn't want to lose the friend I had just gotten. In my past, I wasn't strong enough to keep myself from losing things important to me, but I intended to make this friendship worth it.

"I understand. My mom used to tell me about how her parents were very strict so she couldn't leave the house, so she had to secretly meet her friends." Delia shot me a sympathetic smile.

"Same time, tomorrow?" I asked.

"For sure!" She began running back into the trees. "Until tomorrow," she winked.