Disclaimer & note: A birthday fic for one of my rather…enthusiastic fans & fellow author of WKC stories.

!Happy Birthday littleking9512!

Oh, & I'm borrowing your Avatar for this. Hope you don't mind.

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Sighing heavily as she sat down on the flat stone at the back of her house in Parma, Yulie gazed wistfully up at the full moon taking in the comfort it had brought her whenever she was feeling down.

It was rather strange how she could be like that when, just one week earlier, she and her friends had finally rescued Princess Cisna and brought her back to Balandor. Then again, they had lost one of their friends during their final battle and the prospect of war against an enemy greater than Faria was just beyond the horizon so perhaps she was allowed to search for comfort just not in the arms of who she had hoped for.

"Hope you're not thinking about a certain Knight in oversized armour"

Jumping up as if the rock she was sitting scalded her backside, Yulie whirled round to find a familiar face sitting with his back to her.

"Would it come as a surprise if I told you I wasn't? And that had better not be from Rapacci's special stock, Veral" She added spotting a wine bottle in the eccentric, white haired swordsman's right hand.

Looking around at the girl, the swordsman, who pretty much looked like a slum dweller from Greede given his ratty clothes despite his prowess with the katana resting against his left shoulder, actually did looked surprised for a brief second before bringing the bottle to his lips for another shot of the sweet elixir concealed within before speaking again.

"So there actually are others who have caught your eye" He remarked. "And you are not with one of them, because why?"

Yulie shrugged as she sat back down with her back to her comrade.

"I guess…because of circumstances" She muttered eventually getting a hum from Veral as he took another draught of wine.

"Who were the unfortunates?" He asked although his tone held an ambiguous key to it.

"Well…" Yulie paused not sure how to continue without pouring her heart out to the swordsman even if he was like an older brother to her. "Asides one from Albana who was a full of himself and a jerk to Leonard and another who was too nervous around me, there were a couple who stood out among the jerks who wanted to get between my legs"

Veral just kept quiet although Yulie could tell he was listening intently to her.

"I guess lumping them with the jerks isn't really fair, especially the first one" Yulie elaborated. "When I was fifteen, there was this guy, a travelling mage, who stayed here for a while. Everyone could tell just by the look on his face that he wasn't someone to cross"

"But it didn't stop you, did it?" Veral inquired raising the single eyebrow that could be seen underneath his white mullet.

"Nope. Ran right into him then yelled at him for getting in my way on his first day here" Yulie chuckled smiling at the memory. "He didn't back down and even caught my hand when I tried to hit him"

She reckoned she should have waited until Veral had finished drinking before saying that as the swordsman coughed and spluttered in clear shock. Not surprising as he had seen Yulie knock Leonard upside the head when he insisted on continuing through the tunnels instead of resting up at the entrance for the night and even giving the lad and the new leader of Greede swift kicks to the rump to prompt them to jump down the maintenance hatch.

"After recovering from my shock and calming down, I decided to talk to him. After that, I visited him every day after work if just to let off steam about Leonard's stupidity" Yulie continued. "He was the guy who got me started on magic, showed me the basics for spell casting you know"

"So that's why you seemed to be more accomplished at learning the spells Eldore showed you guys during the trip" Veral marvelled finally knowing the secret to how she was such a natural at the intricate arts of lore.

"Yup!" Yulie grinned before looking down at her knees in sadness. "He eventually left however. He'd only prolonged his visit just to make sure I was sufficient to continue on my own"

"Why didn't you ask him to stay, or just follow him wherever he went?" Veral asked his one eye showing the curiosity to how she had let such a guy slip between her fingers.

"He was…older than me" Yulie replied blushing slightly. "Not older as in old age old, just…well he was in his mid to late twenties give or take. And he told me himself I should find someone closer my age. I was still a kid then after all"

Veral nodded his head in understanding. While some men did not mind their women being young, others like Yulie's crush found the thought of such uncomfortable and disturbing.

"What about the other one?"

Instantly, Yulie felt her sadness dissipate as a picture of the 'other one' filled her mind. The memories she had of him shadowed all of her other former crushes in pure darkness.

"The other one, I actually met him the day after the mage left looking quite the bloodied pulp. He actually stumbled his way into the village and asked if there was an inn before collapsing in a dead faint!" Yulie giggled. "Seeing as I was the only one who knew how to heal magically, I spent quite a bit of time with him. Even after he was fully healed, I would still go and see him whenever I could and we would talk about anything and everything: jobs he had done, the things I had to put up with with Leonard…It was like neither of us were afraid to tell the other things we would never speak about although we did keep some things from each other"

"I'm sensing a but here and not the one either of us are sitting on" Veral noted holding the rim of the wine bottle to his eye to see if it was truly empty.

Just as quickly as it had come, Yulie's happiness left her as she remembered that day a month after meeting him.

"He left in the middle of the night leaving a note saying he was sorry and something about getting someone" She sniffed trying to hold back her tears.

"The guy who murdered his parents" Veral supplied casually for her causing Yulie to whip round to look at him in surprise and suspicion.

"How would you know that?" She asked of him. She had always suspected it to be another woman never once stopping for a moment to ponder if it was someone else, a sibling or friend. Or enemy who did something unforgivable to him.

"Met him a few days ago near the base of the Nordian mountain range. We exchanged a few words, he said he was out to avenge his family, I said he looked nothing like an avenger, he took it as an insult and attacked me so I just knocked him up a bit" Veral elaborated making it sound like he was talking about the weather as he scratched behind one ear. "When I asked if he had a girl waiting for him, your name came up so I told him to come back here, to Parma, and have a family"

"And…that's why you're here? To make sure he arrived?" Yulie asked not even waiting for the reply before dashing off to the northern entrance to Parma.

"I also told him that, if he tried to go looking for revenge again, both me and the mage who beat him up last time would convince him to return once more together. But never mind me, kill him yourself" Veral shrugged seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was now alone with an empty wine bottle.

Stumbling slightly as she ran through the darkened streets of Parma, Yulie stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed the person leaning against the fence looking slightly unsteady on his feet judging by the way his legs held him up.

"R…Ryan?" She asked quietly almost afraid that he would disappear were she to say his name any louder.

Looking up at the girl he had ran from years ago for a rather pathetic reason that two unknown travellers had tried to beat out of him, Ryan managed a small smile as he pushed himself away from the fence and stumble towards Yulie. If he was expecting her to wrap him in her arms, he was sorely mistaken when he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of her fist grunting in pain when his sore back and head connected with the ground.

"I guess I deserved that" He wheezed as he struggled to pick himself up.

"What was your first clue?" Yulie asked sorely tempted to beat him into a bigger bloody pulp but instead opted for pulling Ryan to his feet and hugging him tightly to herself. "I really missed you"

"I know" Ryan mumbled as he hugged Yulie back. " Sorry for just…"

"Running away?" Yulie finished with a scary look in her eye before smiling again. "Come on. Let's get you inside and patched up"

Ryan just let her guide him back to her place knowing full well that he was still in dangerous waters at the moment.

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FIN

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Pat yourselves on the back if you can figure out the cameos of the other men Yulie mentioned. Hope you liked the fic King.

Review if possible & until next time

Watch this space, peace out & Happy Birthday littleking9521