Koa glanced at her and she nodded, he quickly overpowered Nathan.

He covered Nathan's mouth, "Do you think he woke anyone up?"

She sighed, "Nathan, we'll let you go but you have to promise not to yell again, okay?"

Nathan nodded, "Ok, release him." Koa let him go and Nathan fell to the floor. She glared at Koa, and he raised his hands in surrender "I swear that was an accident."

"Neri," Nathan said looking at her with teary eyes, "Who is this?"

"This is my friend, we both were kidnapped, except he knew from the beginning that he was kidnapped and I barely found out after being rescued."

 Nathan glanced warily at Koa "How'd he get in?" 

She responded before Koa could, "I snuck him into the carriage before we left." 

Nathan stood up and dusted himself off "Neri, you should be careful. What if he was a bad person?"

Koa laughed, "You wouldn't be alive now if I were a bad person." Nathan glared at Koa but still hid behind her.

 Koa was two years older than them, so he was taller.

"Koa stop trying to scare him. Nathan, would you like to hear a secret?" 

He nodded, "Koa is a martial artist and skilled swordsman."

 Nathan's eyes became filled with excitement, "Wow! A martial artist!? I've never seen one before."

She signaled to Koa to do something, Koa stepped out onto the balcony and launched himself into the air using Qinggong's light footwork to jump to the ground and back to the second floor. He reached the balcony and spun his body mid-air landing silently with a bow.

 Nathan jumped up and down in excitement, "That was awesome!!"

Neri held her brother's hand "Nathan, can you keep Koa a secret? I'll introduce him to everyone later, but you have to pretend you never saw him before,"

 Nathan looked at her with curiosity, "Why can't you just introduce him now?"  

"Because he's on a secret mission, how about for now he can be our secret friend?"

Nathan became excited again "Sounds cool! Ok, from now on you are our secret friend!"

A person was approaching, she turned to look at Koa but he was already gone.

 

She tensed up, this presence... it had a very dangerous aura. She could feel the murderous intent radiating from behind the door. She then realized it was the same aura from the training grounds.  It stayed right outside the door for several minutes and then continued walking. 

Nathan tapped her shoulder, she hadn't realized she had put her hand over his mouth.

 She released him, "What's wrong Neri?" She wanted to check it out but she couldn't leave Nathan on his own. "It's nothing, let's go to sleep." 

"Neri?"

"Yes, Nathan?"

"When will Koa come back?"

"Perhaps after winter, It'll be too dangerous if he comes every day."

She glanced at Nathan, he was already soundly asleep. She chuckled, "Sweet dreams Nathan." 

It had been two weeks since she was reunited with her family. She was still trying to get accustomed to how loving they were.  She was used to only having herself to rely on. The only person who would ever truly worry for her was Koa and perhaps her apprentice. Now she had a loving mother, father, and three amazing brothers. Nathan had said she had three other brothers but it seems he counted himself as the third.

The sound of the footsteps approaching her room awakened her. Neri was trained to sense when someone was near and memorize the sound of their footsteps. She could hear several footsteps, among them were Joel, her parents, two older brothers, and someone else... No, it's impossible, that person wasn't there when she got kidnapped, it's impossible to meet them here. 

She decided to pretend to sleep. The door opened as they all walked in "Happy birthday Nerissa and Nathan!"

 Nathan sat up, "It's morning, already?" She sat up as well, "It's our birthday?"

Her father sat beside her, "That's right Neri, you and Nathan are officially 8 years old." 

She stood up from the bed and glanced at the group of people behind her family. "These must be the maids that my mother talked about yesterday."

Her mother jumped up and clapped with excitement "Ah yes, Neri choose one of them to be your personal maid." 

Her maid? It could be a burden if she didn't choose wisely. "Please, introduce yourselves."

One by one each maid came up. The last maid came up, "Greetings Princess Nerissa, it would be an honor to serve you."  Neri extended her hand and the maid knelt as she moved her right hand to her heart, and with her left hand took Neris and placed it at her forehead. 

"What an odd way to greet a young lady-" Her mother glanced at the maid suspiciously. 

Neri quickly budded in "I choose her." Her mother looked up in surprise. "Neri, this maid wasn't supposed to offer her service, as she is still young, new, and has not finished her training."  Neri put on an excited expression "Mommy can I train her!? Then she can know everything I like. After all, she will be my maid." 

Her mother sighed helplessly, not being able to resist Neri's cuteness, "Very well, choose as you please."

She squealed in excitement, "Wonderful! Thank you, Mother!" She ran over and hugged her mother.

Her mother carried her, she glanced at her new maid, "You will have your first assignment. Get Nerissa ready and take her to the globe garden." Everyone left her room, her mother stopped at the door, and she glanced coldly at the maid. "If you fail, you'll be dismissed from this mansion immediately for disobeying your initial order." 

The doors shut leaving only the maid and herself in the room.

 The maid immediately fell to her knees  "Forgive me, Master."

 Neri walked to the balcony and gazed outside, "Did you know today is my birthday... Did you Enya?" 

Enya glanced up at her master, and for the first time, she saw a hint of emotion in her eyes. 

Although her master was young, she behaved very maturely for her age. 

The pause in her master's voice brought chills to her, "I did not."

Her master turned to look at her, her eyes becoming cold again, "You may rise." 

She stood and kept her head lowered.

 "What brings you here, Enya? After my disappearance, I thought you would be more than delighted to try and take my place." 

Enya knelt, "I wouldn't dare defy my master."

Her master's calm gaze pierced through her. 

"So tell me, how'd you get in?"

"It was your teacher, he got me into the list of hired maids." 

When Master was first selected as heir a year ago, she was enraged. It was only after Enya challenged her, that she saw how intelligent and calculating her master was. 

She realized the position as heir was made for her alone. She carried out her mission with no emotion as if she had nothing to lose. 

"Enya, I chose you not because my teacher recommended you, but because I trust you can do your job well. Don't disappoint me."

"I won't. I'll begin now, my lady"