She realized she had taken too long to respond, "My apologies, in truth I've never had any friends before" 

Lucien stayed silent for a few seconds then responded, "In that case, I'll be your first friend."

Her eyes shot up and met his, she could see how genuine he was being.

'How childish' was what she wanted to say, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Very well Lord-" "Call me Lucien from now on, just Lucien." 

She smiled, "Alright just Lucien, I look forward to this friendship." they both began to laugh.

Lucien stood up, "Do you know how to read and write?" 

She nodded, "That's great!" he ran to the balcony and took out a whistle. A few minutes later a pigeon arrived, "This is a carrier pigeon, we can exchange letters through them. If one of us goes far away we would exchange letters through a messenger."

Killian came to mind, he was her usual messenger. She stood up from her bed, and suddenly her insides began to twist. "Neri?" Lucien ran and caught her. "Somebody-" 

Neri covered Lucien's mouth, "Don't... I'll be fine. Enya get him out of here, don't allow anyone inside."

Lucien didn't move, "I'm not leaving you. Friends don't abandon each other." 

Should she reveal her identity? If Lucien knew, speaking with Killian would be much easier.

After consuming Gehenna, her aura was in chaos. She had to train it or she would lose control of herself and perhaps hurt someone.

She was worried Lucien wouldn't be able to handle it and collapse.

 

She restrained herself, "I'm better now, I'd like to get changed. I saw Orin and Nyx running outside, Wanna go for a ride?"

 Lucien slowly released her, making sure she could stand on her own. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, "Also, please keep what you just saw a secret. Let's consider it a secret between friends."

Lucien sighed, "Very well, I'll get Orin and Nyx ready."

Nerissa grabbed Lucien's sleeve before he left, "Don't touch Nyx. He's not very approachable." 

He nodded and left.

 As soon as the doors shut, she collapsed. "Enya... find Koa."

She had to hurry, she had never seen her master in this state. She would usually just lock herself in the training room. Everyone in the guild knew to stay away from Master when she locked herself in the training building.

 Once she peeked inside out of curiosity, only to almost be beheaded by a piece of flying metal. 

Her Master stood in the center of the arena as everything flew around her like a vortex. 

Koa said that she hadn't even been using half of her power, she could only shiver at the thought of her unleashing all of it. 

Once reached the forest she blew the whistle, Cyr quickly appeared by her side. '𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵,' she thought to herself. 

"Cyr, bring-"

"Looking for me?" Koa's sudden voice surprised her. "Koa! Didn't you leave?"

 He scoffed, "As if. How could I leave, when Nyssa is in pain?"

"You knew?" Enya looked at him in disbelief. Not even she could tell Master was in pain. 

Koa rolled his eyes "Would I still be waiting here if I didn't?"

If they weren't in such a hurry she would have punched the little brat in the face.

"Nyx is distracting everyone at the moment, we have to hurry." she began to run toward the mansion.

"I'll never figure out how Nyx can be so smart," Koa said his eyes filled with amusement as he ran behind her.

Nerissa saw Enya and Koa approaching, she let out a crow-like sound signaling for Nyx to distract anyone nearby.

Once they were inside she shut the doors to the balcony and closed the curtains.

She turned around and encountered an angry Koa.

"You think I wouldn't know you spit out Arcadia?  Just because you're immune doesn't mean you won't have the symptoms. Are you Insane?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Nyssa, I'm trying to have a serious conversation,"

She looked away avoiding his eyes as she mumbled "And I'm trying to avoid it."

"What was that?"

"Nothing important," She responded quickly.

Koa sighed, he could never stay mad at Neri. "Here, I made an extra dose of Arcadia. Drink it, and DON'T spit it out." He watched as she put it into her mouth and made sure she swallowed it.

"Now rest. Don't use your abilities for the next 24 hours, any use of your abilities within the next 24 hours will cause extreme internal pain. If you do use your abilities you will only have an hour and a half before the pain kicks in. With that said, I'll be leaving now." he began to walk away but Nyssa caught his hand. "Already? you just got here?"

He slowly undid her grasp, "As much as I'd love to stay longer, you have a family now. This isn't my home, visit me when you have time. Rest well Nyssa."  he jumped out of the balcony before he asked her to leave with him.

Enya watched her master watch Koa leave. Before becoming her Master's maid, she always believed that her Master had nothing that she cared about. The only time they interacted was when she received orders. She believed that her Master was a cold-blooded monster who would destroy anything and anyone who got in her way. 

However, after observing her Master interact with Koa, Lord Ikar, and her family, she began to see her Master in a completely new light, a different point of view. Now what she saw was a young girl who experienced the pain and evil in this world before the joy and goodness of it. A child who was forced to grow up. A child who turned their pain into power.

"I can't tell if you're pitying me or admiring me." Her master's sudden comment snapped her out of her thoughts. Had she been speaking out loud?

Nerissa couldn't help but chuckle at the puzzled expression on Enya's face.

"Just in case you're wondering, the answer is no - you were not speaking aloud."

"I- I was," Nerissa held her hand up stopping Enya from speaking. "I've seen that expression countless times, no need to explain yourself."

She stood up  "I have to change into the riding clothes. Lucien should be done trying to prepare Nyx."