Lanaya was completely lost in her book and it took some time for her to realize that Rylai was standing in the door. The feeling of uncertainty, so different from the contentment before, coming through their connection was what made her look up. And her mouth dropped open.

She was gorgeous. The clothes were a tad too long, the pants dragging on the floor, naked toes poking out, the top long but very tight. It pushed her breasts even more than her own top did, making them look absolutely perfect. The black made Rylai's skin appear even lighter, almost white in contrast. Her blond hair was still a tad wet, tumbling over her shoulders in dishevelled waves. It was a mix of cute as a button and sexy as hell and Lanaya could only stare, her eyes wandering over every inch of her body several times.

Rylai blushed but the uncertainty vanished as she stepped into the room. Instead she smiled again and plopped down in the other armchair.

"That was wonderful. I haven't felt that good for a while now. Thank you."

Lanaya nodded. "You are welcome."

"So, what do you normally do while you are here?"

"I read and train to improve my skills."

"Really? That's all? Doesn't it get boring?" After a few seconds, in whom Lanaya only frowned, she continued. "I get really cranky if I'm not able to do different things every few days."

And that, the Templar Assassin thought, could pose a problem when they were in the Hidden Temple. Because there, every day was exactly the same as the one before. Maybe she should think about something they could do other than reading and training. But she had never done anything else, there, and she didn't know what there was to do.

"What do you do?"

The Crystal Maiden grinned. "I'm totally impressed. You just asked me to tell you something, as if you are interested. Okay, what I do… I meet people. I like all sorts of games, card games, board games but also competitions as long as it's fun. I love snow of course, and everything one can do in snow. And I have a knack for animals. I frequently redecorate my home and before this Anti-Mage thing I liked to visit all kinds of places. I love to build a snowman in the desert or transform a patch of trees into a forest of ice. It is so cool to have winter for a short time in places where it is never cold. Well, to summarize it: I like to have fun. If possible with someone together, since it is boring to do everything alone."

The Templar Assassin stared at Rylai. Those were all thing she had never done in her whole life. All of them. She had fun sometimes but it always involved either killing or learning something new from her books or from someone superior, and the last two things hadn't happened for a long time now. Which left the killing and she suspected that it didn't really count, at least not in the eyes of the Maiden. And it surely was not the kind of fun she meant.

Her life would change drastically with the Maiden involved. But, strange enough, Lanaya was almost looking forward to it. Maybe it was time for a little change. She had been floating around with no purpose for way too long and all those town wars had not really been satisfying. Now she had a goal again and if keeping the Crystal Maiden safe meant she had to adapt her way of living a little to make the ice woman happy, she would do so gladly. Because somehow the 'making Rylai happy' was connected to the keeping her safe. Of course she could do one without the other but it would be as if she only did half of her task.

Rylai sighed and closed her eyes. „But right now I'm totally happy to just sit here. All this town wars have been exhausting and I don't want to do anything right now." She opened her eyes again. "You don't have a book around here that I could read? Something were not already the title is so confusing that I don't understand a word? A romance per chance?"

Of course she liked romantic books, who would have guessed? Lanaya found them boring, predictable and unrealistic so she didn't read them. And one couldn't learn anything from reading them.

"I have to get a few items from a shop anyway, I can see if I find something that is to your liking when I'm there."

"Oh, that would be really nice of you."

That said, the Templar Assassin took one of the teleportation devices from her desk, one that would take her to a bigger town where she had the chance to get a book in one of the shops. She tugged her Hearth Stone in a pocket to get back home. Then she put her shoulder armour back on as well as her mask and with a short nod to the Maiden, she ported out.

She bought the things she needed quickly and then she went to the book store. She would have known where the section for books about energy, physics and all kinds of sciences were. But where did she find romances? And when she had found them, how did she know which were good? Because she didn't want to get Rylai any crap. She stood in the store and scanned the shelves. There were no signs what section was where and the shop assistants gave her the same frightened look as the costumers. They made no move to help her, maybe they even moved away from her in case she would speak to one of them.

That meant she had to find what she was looking for on her own. Lanaya walked through the store and read the titles of the books around her. And sure enough, when she read things like 'All for You', 'Mine to Possess', 'A Kiss for Midwinter', 'Wild and Steamy' or 'Tonight and Always' she knew she was right. Now the question remained: which one to take. She stared at the shelf in front of her and felt completely out of her element and a little overstrained by her task.

One of the shop assistants seemed to have taken pity on her or maybe he had just drawn the short straw. In any case he walked towards her, stopping in a (in his opinion) safe distance. "My lady, may I help you? Are you looking for something specific?"

His voice was only wavering a little and he tried to look confident. Lanaya didn't care if others were afraid of her, the only benefit it brought was that she was left alone wherever she was. She had seen enough men groping at women to know that their fear prevented them from doing something similar with her.

"I'm looking for a romance."

The man blinked. "Of course. A romance. What kind of romance do you prefer?"

"There are different kinds?" This thing was getting more complicated by the moment.

"Ahem, yes. There are romances with only one species, interspecies, fictional, futuristic, male-male, female-female, erotic, whatever you wish."

The Templar Assassin thought for a moment. But it wasn't really that hard a decision. "Interspecies, but with human or human-like creatures, and female-female. It can be a little erotic, the rest doesn't matter. I'm sure you can recommend something."

The shop assistant nodded. "If you would follow me." They went to a different part of the store. The man took a few books out of the shelf and showed them to Lanaya. He explained what the books were about with a few words but it was all the same for the Assassin. She was wondering how there could be so many books with love stories. They involved two creatures, they fell in love, they encountered some kind of hardship or adventure to make it a little exciting and in the end they got each other and lived happily ever-after. And there were millions of books covering these simple actions?

Since she could by no means decide which book was the best she just took all five books the shop assistant had shown her. The man had loosened up a bit and when she had paid for them he even smiled a little as he said 'good bye'.

The Templar Assassin left the shop without another word, took everything she had bought and used her Hearth Stone to teleport directly into her living room.

The Crystal Maiden looked up from the book she was skimming through. When she saw the Assassin she smiled. "Hey, you're back again."

Lanaya just nodded and went to put everything away. The last things were the books. She headed back to the Maiden, stopped in front of her and held them out to the woman.

Rylai's gaze followed every move she made and her smile grew when she saw the books in her hands. "You really got a book for me? Oh, let me see!"

She took them, excitement evident in her whole posture. "Wow, so cool!" she exclaimed as she looked through them, reading the titles. "Those are awesome!" She stood up and hugged the Assassin.

This time Lanaya smiled at the hug and even slung one arm around her waist to hug her back. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the physical contact for a moment. The Crystal Maiden felt nice and she smelled nice, too. And the strangest thing was: it felt as if she belonged into Lanaya's arms. It felt perfect.

Through their connection she could feel Rylai's happiness and excitement about the books. Or, maybe, about the fact that the Assassin had bought them for her. It was a wonderful feeling and Lanaya had the sudden urge to buy her more things so she could fell that happiness again and again.

They parted, Rylai still smiling over her whole face. "Thank you very much." She took the first book, sat down in the armchair and started reading immediately.

"You are welcome", the Assassin said, which earned her another bright smile. Then, before she took her own book again, she walked one round through the field of Psionic Traps around her house to check on them and see if someone or something had made the mistake of wanting to cross said field. They were undisturbed and everything was just as it had been before her absence. She was extremely neat, checking every trap twice while observing the sky as well as the landscape around her for anything conspicuous. She had the Crystal Maiden to protect and she took this job very seriously. Nothing would harm the woman while she was under her watch. The Assassin would do everything to keep her safe, and everything from an assassin was very much.

Satisfied that all was as it should be, she returned to the house.

Rylai was still reading, her legs tugged under her body, her hair falling over her shoulder and a tiny frown on her face. Her features were so very expressive, the absolute contrast to Lanaya. And the expressions on her face matched the emotions coming through their connection perfectly. The Templar Assassin had met many creatures during her life that smiled when they were not happy or were polite when they were angry so she found the honesty of her expressions refreshing.

Lanaya started reading herself, going through the first book without finding anything that even hinted at how to use her Psionic Energy on others. She took the second book, the third and even the forth one, but she found nothing. It seemed that creatures who were able to use Psionic Energies never wanted to use them to protect others. It was not totally unexpected, since most of them became some kind of assassin and what assassin wanted to protect? They only ever wanted to kill, using their powers to shield themselves but not others.

With a sigh she looked up. And found the armchair in front of her empty. She could feel Rylai through the bond, knew that everything was alright and that she was near. So she simply stood up and tried to locate the woman. It was extremely easy, not only because the house was relatively small. The connection was precise.

She found her looking through their eating supplies. "You don't have something sweet, per chance? The best would be chocolate but I would take something like dried and sugared fruit as well." Rylai straightened and frowned at the shelves in front of her, hands on her hips.

"No. I don't eat things like that."

"Wow, why does that not surprise me?" She wrinkled her nose and took something else from the shelf. "I think I'll survive. Not as if there is chocolate in the town wars, so I'm kind of used not to have any by now."

The Templar Assassin was not sure if the Maiden was actually angry about the lack of chocolate but through the connection she could feel no anger. Maybe something like irritation but that was all. At least she made it awfully easy to know what to buy her to make her happy. From her next trip into town, which would definitely be on the next day, regardless of the fact that Lanaya needed nothing, she would bring chocolate. And maybe some other sweets as well. At the moment she could do nothing because her Hearth Stone wasn't ready again and without it she couldn't teleport back. That was too dangerous and she never left her house when she couldn't come back within seconds due to the use of the stone.

The next day passed like the first one. They both read much, Lanaya desperate to find anything that gave her even the smallest hint how to expand her powers. She bought sweets for Rylai and was rewarded with another hug. When her clothes were dry again she changed back into the blue top but left the black pants on. "They are really comfortable." She said at Lanaya's glance.

On the third day, when the Maiden had finished her second book and the Assassin could feel that she was getting restless, she prepared everything for them to go to the Hidden Temple. She took nothing with her but Rylai had a small backpack with her new books and lots of chocolate in her hand. She had put her things on, though the Assassin suspected that she had tugged the pants in the backpack as well. Could be this belonged to the 'feeling at home' part. Lanaya didn't care, maybe she was even pleased that the woman wore her clothes and liked them. She felt something like satisfaction when she saw her in the Templar Assassin black and pink.

Rylai slung the backpack over her shoulder and took Lanaya's hand. That wasn't really necessary when they used the portal but the Assassin didn't even think about telling her that. It was nice to hold hands like that and she smiled at the ice woman. Then she tugged her mask over her mouth, which she had only done when she had been leaving the house for the last three days, and nose and together they stepped through the portal. It was a direct passage into the Temple, created by some kind of magic, and their feet hit the floor of the temple on the other side of the portal. It was like a door, only that one couldn't see what was on the other side.

It made Lanaya a little weary because she could use her invisibility but Rylai didn't have something like that to protect herself. It was extremely unlikely that there would be a threat at the Hidden Temple and that was the only reason why they went side by side through the portal instead of the Assassin first.

They appeared in a huge hall that was completely empty. The Templar Assassin closed the portal behind them and then she took a look around. This was kind of the reception hall but there was seldom someone here.

Still holding hands, Rylai followed when the Assassin began to walk in the direction she knew she would find the master of the temple. She had been here a long time and though she hadn't roamed the place she knew at least the most important ways and rooms. Like the library.

The ice woman looked around, trying to see everything. The temple was rather imposing, with extremely high ceilings and huge statues of the different gods. They were depicted with the things they stood for and some were definitely intimidating. Lanaya had never before really seen them but with the Maiden slowing her down because she took her time to take everything in, she now looked at them, too.

She knew all the gods by name, from her studies. And so she told Rylai. She even told her what they all stood for, what their powers were and what the most famous story about each of them was. And so, for the first time in her whole life, she talked, really talked, while the Crystal Maiden was listening, a small smile appearing on her face sometime. It took them almost an hour to reach the office of the master of the temple and by then the connection between her and the Maiden was thrumming with energy, having grown stronger constantly.

They only came across a handful of monks on their way and they ignored them. They had ignored her all those years she had been studying here, though she had met some of them several times a day.

In front of a door, the Templar Assassin stopped. She squeezed Rylai's hand and knocked.

A deep voice requested they enter. The master of the temple was an imposing appearance. He was a Tauren, big and with the head of an ox with long horns that were extremely sharp. He was heavily muscles, though those muscles were hidden under the grey robe he was wearing. His hands had only two fingers and a thumb and were easily as big as Lanaya's whole head, could probably grab her on the head and lift her in the air with one arm. His fur was a dark brown, almost black, and he had his sideburns braided into two plaits.

He looked up from the papers in front of him and a smile spread across his face. The Templar Assassin knew that it was a smile but she could feel uneasiness through the bond and Rylai stepped closer to her, their bodies now touching from hip to shoulder. He looked fearsome at first glance but when someone looked into his eyes, they could see all the kindness and gentleness the master stood for in his brown eyes.

The Templar Assassin bowed deeply. "Master."

"Hello little one." His voice was so deep, it vibrated faintly through Lanaya's body and she could feel the Maiden at her side shiver. "You came back. How was your trip to Aiur? Has it been as successful as you hoped? And I see you have brought a guest with you. Hello to you, too, little ice mage."

"It was extremely successful, but the planet was destroyed and there is still more I wish to learn. This is Rylai, the Crystal Maiden. She is under my protection and so I hope you will allow her to stay with me here." The Tauren was one of the very few creatures in the world the Assassin trusted. She had known him for almost all her life and though she would kill many for calling her 'little one', she didn't care with him.

"The Crystal Maiden. You are both very welcome to stay in the Hidden Temple. You room is still empty, little one, if it isn't too small for you both you can stay there. May I ask what the threat to the Queen of Ice is because of which you took her under your protection?"

"Of course. The Anti-Mage, I'm sure you have heard about him, seems to have chosen her as one of his targets."

The Tauren leaned back in his chair. "Yes, I know the Anti-Mage. And I can promise you that you are safe within these walls. Do you need anything else?"

"No. I assume nothing has changed since I was here last." She bowed again. "I thank you very much, master."

"I know you are not very fond of social interactions, but would you mind having a private meal with me later where you tell me what you learned on your journey?"

Lanaya thought about it for a moment, but it was only just to tell the master of the Hidden Temple what Aiur had had to offer in the matter of knowledge. So she nodded. "It would be my pleasure."

She felt a flutter through the connection to the Crystal Maiden and squeezed her hand to reassure her.

The smile on the Tauren's face turned to a grin, showing his sharp teeth. "Then I'll see you later." He nodded to the Maiden. "Crystal Maiden."

They were kind of dismissed and they left to room. As soon as the door closed behind them, Rylai took a deep breath.

"Damn, he is scary." She shuddered.

"Don't worry, he is one of the kindest creatures I know. I have never seen him hurt anyone or even heard him raise his voice."

The Crystal Maiden scrunched her nose. "That's reassuring but he's still scary."

The Templar Assassin tugged on her hand to guide her down a corridor to the room that was hers. It wasn't very big and she would have to sleep on the floor but she wouldn't let Rylai sleep in another room. She wanted her as near as possible.