Special thanks go to Sorceress Nadira for all the help (especially in grammar, I'm so bad T_T ) and injecting me with inspiration and muse to write, thanks dear :)

English isn't my first language, so I apologize first, if there are mistakes in both grammar and vocabulary. Reviews are much appreciated

Enjoy!


Torgal looked around, trying to find Allan in the crowd. Warrior's Honor pub was always crowded at night, especially on weekends after its place was extended. Couples, soldiers, even aristocrats came here to drink, sing or just chat. Some even considered the pub as a perfect place to find information for a quest and latest gossips, since many people came here.

He was walking, when he almost collided with two men, who were already drunk. He paid no attention to their shouting and kept looking around, until a waitress asked him to follow her to one of the private rooms. Once Torgal came inside, he could see Allan together with two empty bottles of beers and a half-filled bottle of wine. His brother was a strong drinker indeed.

"Hey traitor," he greeted, looking at Torgal's face. "What took you so long to come?"

Torgal sat beside Allan.

"A lot of paperwork to do. And you're as nasty as usual. What do you want, Allan?"

Allan didn't say anything for a long moment, until suddenly he took two glass and poured some wine into them. Then he offered one glass to Torgal, which the General politely accepted. After drinking a sip, Allan began to speak.

"I need your help to ask Caedmon to introduce me to someone."

"Someone?" Torgal asked, his ears moving onwards. This was the first time he had a completely confused look on his face. Allan asked him to ask Caedmon to introduce him to someone? Who could it be? But he was wise enough to ask first.

"If that person is just some skilled blacksmith or client, or someone in Silver Falcons, you could ask Caedmon yourself, couldn't you?"

"If the person was only that," Allan sneered. "I could do it myself, fool! The one I want him to introduce me to, is his sister, who I met in Balterossa last week!"

Torgal now understood the matter. He tried his best to keep a straight face and not to roll on the floor laughing, which was pretty hard.

"Are you in love with her?" asked Torgal, making sure.

Now Allan glared at Torgal and spoke, some anger filling his tone.

"If I wasn't so dazzled at the first sight that I can't forget her, I wouldn't ask for your help!" Suddenly, he realized what he just said out loud, then turned his face to the other side.

"Forget what I have just said. If you don't want to help me, just go!"

Torgal now was really curious what kind of lady she was, to interest his younger brother who in his mind would never have any interest with girls.

"Good my brother, good. I'll lend you a hand, of course" Then Torgal drank all the wine that filled his glass and stood up. "Now, if you excuse me, I will go back to the castle. And don't worry, I will write to Caedmon soon."

Then he left the room and Warrior's Honor and burst out with laughter once he had reached outside.

After Torgal left, Allan hit the table with his fist and murmured to himself:

"Man, how could I say that?"

,,,,,,

Caedmon was sitting on the floor, facing his coffee table. A map with cross marks and list of Silver Falcon's soldiers lay there. Really, many places needed to be taken care of, but the time and amount of soldiers were not enough. He sighed. This month will be a very busy one, again. And that meant he had to find someone to accompany his sister to find the herbs she wanted.

Then he heard the sound of a plate being put on the table. He took his eyes off from the map and looked up. A cup of hot vanilla tea was served on the table. His sister was sitting behind with her legs crossed and holding a tray in one of her hands.

"Tea, commander?" she said with a gentle voice. "But watch out, it's still hot."

"Sure, thanks a lot." Caedmon said. He directly took the cup and blew on the tea inside, then drank a sip. The flavor and fragrance were of the best vanilla tea. "Really sister, why do you call me that?"

"Because you're one," she said teasingly with an innocent grin. It was such a contrast expression. "Brother, take some rest. I will wake you up after a few hours."

"No way, sister. You're the one who should take some rest!" Caedmon said, shifted his position nearer to his sister and patted her head. "You had spent too much energy while cleaning my house, which was really a big mess, and now you accompany me until this late at night. I am really grateful for that, but please, take a rest. You look tired."

She rolled her eyes then looked at the floor.

Caedmon sighed.

"I only have a few things to work on. After that, I will go to bed. Okay?"

She grinned at him.

"All right then, good night brother!"

She started walking to her room, but suddenly she stopped and turned around to face Caedmon

"Oh yes, brother, if you're that busy, you don't need to accompany me to find my herbs. I can do it myself, actually."

Caedmon immediately turned his head, facing his sister.

"No way I would let you go to the Darken Forest by yourself. I'll find someone to accompany you. NO objection."

She shrugged.

"As you wish, then." Then she darted to her bedroom.

Caedmon smiled as he was watching her. She was the sweetest sister he could ever dream of having. When he was sick or busy, Chivelle would care for him, do all house chores and keep him company even until midnight. Her face and attitude were also charming. It's still a big question why she's still single even though many man had admired her. She had only two flaws.

First, she had a very weak body for a Sovani. Although as she grew up her health improved, she would still get sick easily, if she was too tired. Mostly it would come to asthma or she would black out, but sometimes it resulted in a few days of a fever. Second, when it came to people around her, she would protect them without watching herself. Suddenly Caedmon realized, how the second flaw was really similar to Rush's.

Now, he thought, who he would ask? He wouldn't entrust his sister to some stranger.

Then he caught a glance of Torgal's letter on the table. He recalled that he couldn't stop laughing after reading it. It was rather unexpected for Allan to say such things.

He grinned as he made up his mind.

,,,,,,

Allan waited impatiently at Café Moondust. Where the hell was that Caedmon?

Unlike at night, in the afternoon only few people were inside the pub, so it would be easy to find someone here. And Allan directly took the seat nearest to the door, making sure he was able to see Caedmon.

Suddenly the door creaked and a Sovani in silver armor, followed by another Sovani, entered. Allan stood up, while Caedmon and his sister approached him.

"Thanks for coming, Allan," greeted the Commander with a smile.

"You waste my time." grumbled Allan. "So she is your sister?"

Caedmon stepped aside so now his sister was visible. He looked at her.

"Sister, he is Allan, my friend. I asked him to take care of you on your journey. And Allan," now he looked at the Sovani. "She is my sister, Chivelle."

Allan couldn't take his eyes off her. Like when he directly fell for her, after seeing her once in Balterossa.

Unlike her brother's, her fur was fully white and her eyes were grey. She wore a sleeveless silver metalic bolero jacket and boots, compounded with green dress. Her right ear was pierced with two earrings and on her waist a belt was holding four Camio Dominus.

By the way, why she looked… familiar? Looks like he had seen her elsewhere, but where? And when?

Caedmon cleared his throat, making Allan come back to his senses. Chivelle's ears moved in embarrassment, but she quickly controlled herself. She didn't expect her brother to ask... the handsome man in front of her. Moreover, he kept looking at her just now.

"So Allan," Caedmon began. "My sister is going to pick some herbs in Darken Forest. So please" he patted Allan's shoulder and whispered softly to his ear: "Take care of her, or you won't see another sunset, once you come back."

,,,,,,

"Does that Caedmon really think he can kill me? What a naive thought…" mused Allan.

He and Chivelle were walking together through Darken Forest. The fog was as thick as usual, but the road was still visible for their eyes. All the monsters were easy enough to kill for Chivelle and too easy for Allan. He began to wonder, for what purpose Caedmon hired him? It looked like his sister had no trouble in fighting at all.

Plus, if Chivelle was a mystic art user, why would she use swords instead of staffs? Even though Camio Dominus did slightly support her arts, it was still puzzling

After some time they arrived at the Wanderer's Ruins. Some flowers and grass grew here, quite unexpected to be seen in such humidity and darkness, since almost no sunlight reached the place. Chivelle kneeled on the ground and began picking some of them, then putting them in a basket. She was humming a song to herself while Allan sat on the forest floor.

"Nice song, Chivelle" he complimented. Wait, since when was he giving someone a compliment? He never did that.

She looked at Allan and smiled. "Thanks..." But all of a sudden, she continued in a deeply sad tone: "My twin sister used to sing it, when we played together."

Allan decided not to ask further; seeing her sad face was somehow painful to him. He swiftly changed the topic.

"Did you use to live with the tribe? I feel somehow familiar when I see your face."

Of course she LIVED with the tribe, who else would she live with? "That's a stupid question!" thought Allan, cursing his stupidity. He would have punched his own head now, if only he could do it without making the girl in front of him consider him crazy.

However, Chivelle didn't seem to notice.

"I used to, but I rarely went out because of my weak condition when I was a child," she said, now facing Allan. "I rarely saw you in my childhood. Didn't you live with the tribe?"

Allan gave her a long look. She recognized him, but why she didn't want to tell him where they met or something? Has he done something really bad to her in the past? "Both my brother and I were assigned to a special training, and we'd only come home once in a while."

"Ah, I see. Now..." she took out a list full with pictures of plants. "Okay, where are they…"

She walked for a short distance and kneeled in front of the flowers. As she observed them carefully, Allan heard some sound of steps behind the bush nearby him. Making sure Chivelle wasn't looking in his direction, he approached the bush silently and noticed some Hypnos preparing to ambush. Beating them was as easy, as watching them turning into sparks.

When he came back, Chivelle looked questioningly at him. "Where have you been?

"I just looked for something I left..." The white Sovani kept staring at the bush behind Allan. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, I thought I heard something just now..." she gave a tired sigh, then started observing some flowers again. Allan caught a glimpse of her list, Alth Petals, huh?

He began to look closer at some bushes, until he saw a flower of the color of green emerald. It had three petals and was hidden between some leaves which had a very similar color and shape. The Sovani picked it very carefully and handed it to the girl.

She gave him a quizzical look for a moment then her face beamed as she spoke.

"Thanks!"

He couldn't help but smile back.

"It's nothing. I just happened to see it."

"Okay, I think we should go back now. I had gathered all the things I needed".

Chivelle walked first, followed by Allan. In front of them, the stairs on the way back were covered with thick moss. As if the darkness wasn't enough, the moss shined in green light, giving an eerie atmosphere. She was about to take a first step, when suddenly her vision got blurry and her head started to spin. After standing motionlessly a while, the girl took a step.

Unfortunately, she stepped on a slippery moss which made her lost her balance. Allan caught her, and they gazed each others eyes: one with astonishment and another with concern.

"Are you fine?" asked Allan, looking closer at her.

"I'm fine," she said, her heart beginning to beat faster after her eyes and Allan's caught one another. She blinked nervously. "I only need some rest, I guess…"

Allan was about to say they should go home faster, when suddenly the earth started to shake. Then in front of them a giant Feralwood arose as if it came from underground. Its eyes were full of anger and sorrow.

Allan had been in many places before, but he never saw a Feralwood this big. Instantly he and Chivelle drew their swords. One should be a piece of cake, since Chivelle fought really well, despite of the fact she was moving much slower due to her fatigue.

Both of them almost grinned until suddenly, four more Feralwoods joined, one of them being a different color than the others and stood in the center. Chivelle tried to keep calm, but Allan could see her hands shivered and her eyes were full with sorrow and love at the same time.

"I never thought I will meet you again." She said with a sad voice "Sister."

Suddenly all the questions popped out in Allan's mind. Chivelle's sister? How come her sister was a Feralwood?

"Are you going to kill me?" Chivelle approached the Feralwood in the center. "Kill your own sister?"

"Chivelle, step back!" ordered Allan, furious. How could she say such things to a monster? They were in a middle of a fight. And that position would only make it easier for those monsters to kill her in one strike.

And he was right at this part.

Directly the monster opened its mouth and exhaled Natural Gas. In an instant Allan pulled Chivelle back and covered his and her mouths. "That's dangerous! You can kill yourself!" he shouted at the girl, his tone mixed with worry and anger.

Allan would shout even more, if he didn't remember that shouting would make him inhale the gas, which was a stupid thing to do.

He held his breath and shut his mouth. He had to use this chance to run, while the gas was still thick. Defeating one is possible, but not five of them even though one was half-dead. Moreover, he must not expose Chivelle to danger in this condition. He quickly took one of Chivelle's hands and directly started to run.

However the monsters seemed to know where they were. Suddenly they appeared in front of the two Sovani, preparing a battle stance.

"Great, no way out," thought Allan. So a fight till death? But no matter what, he must bring Chivelle home safely for his own sake.

Allan whispered to Chivelle without looking," Get the hell out of here while I distract them." But instead of an answer, he felt the hand he was holding was shivering.

Suddenly Chivelle's body was overwhelmed by red lights. Her eyes changed to the color of the blood. She released her hand from Allan's and ran towards the Feralwoods.

The scene after that was too hard to be explained with words.

She ran to the Feralwoods with inhuman speed and sliced them uncountable times. At the last time, all of her swords flew from her hands and moved towards all the Feralwoods, piercing through them and spread to four points of the compass before they returned to Chivelle's hands.

All the monsters lay on the ground, some juices spilled around them. Surely they were dead with such serious wounds. Allan followed Chivelle silently, while she approached one of the Feralwoods.

"I'm sorry, sister," Chivelle said, her voice shaking as tears flowed down her cheeks. "I'm really sorry..."

Suddenly she fainted, and at the right time Allan managed to extend his hands, saving her from falling to the ground and the pool of juices.