It would have been yet another beautiful sunset that day were not for a very cloudy sky. The day fell gloomier even before night came. Lights began to lit the homes of Domina's citizens as Niccolo dropped the two warriors nearby the road that lead to Rhea's house, Fenrir ran ahead already familiar with the terrain.

Niccolo received his share, but not without another argument with Rhea who threatened to lower the split. There were a few other complains from Niccolo, only now he spoke of Rachel who had been having strange conversations lately. Something about 'not belonging there'. Rhea would have to talk to her.

"You live quite the busy life." Escad noticed as they walked to her house.

Rhea shrugged her shoulders, all the while wondering the state of her home. "I like to keep my mind busy. It prevents me from thinking about other stuff."

The holy knight raised an intrigued eyebrow. "I see. I could learn from you. My mind is always thinking about problems."

The two bladed warrior eyed him curiously. "Ah, it figures."

Escad stopped with her smirk. "It figures what?"

She held her next step. "I seem to have a natural tendency to attract problems." Rhea explained while facing him. "Mostly from other people, which I try to help."

The holy knight shot her a critical eye. "I see. But my problem is to great for me to drag others."

She sighed and crossed her arms. "Try me."

Now the knight smiled, though he didn't seem amused. "I am a long time friend of Daena and Matilda from Gato."

Rhea tilted her head to the side. "That much you have already shared with me." She smiled. "I have personally never met Matilda, but still I've heard a lot about her from Daena."

The story somehow shifted to Rhea telling her part, where and how she met Daena, and also became friends with the feline. Escad was taken back by the coincidence but pressed on with his side of the story.

"And did she mention Irwin? The half-demon?" Rhea shook her head in denial. Escad frowned. "I thought so... When I was young, I fell in love with Matilda – the high priestess of Gato." For some odd reason, Rhea found herself blushing. "Only, she fancied this half-demon who was also our friend."

"I'm sorry." It was all she could say.

Escad dismissed such sympathy. "I was a hotheaded child, I'll admit it, but something about Irwin bothered me from the start. One day, he fled Gato and took Matilda with him." Rhea noticed his body tense up with anger. "I managed to follow them to the Ulkan Mines, but I arrived a moment too late... Irwin absorbed Matilda's wisp elemental powers. He defeated me and disappeared. I was sent to the underworld where Olbohn helped me improve my sword skills and granted me passage to the surface to fulfill my longtime wish and kill Irwin."

Rhea found herself shocked and at a loss for words. "You mean... you're..."

"Already dead?" He laughed. "To some extent, I'm only half of what I once was. Guided through this world until my sword pierces Irwin's heart. The demon has done much wrong and my investigation has led me to believe that he is in league with the Faeries."

Now Rhea began to understand his true worry. "You think he is hiding in their dimension?"

"I'm almost positive of that." He walked towards her until he was able to place a hand on her shoulder. He also came a little to close to her face when talking, something that made the two bladed warrior blush. "I'm going to Gato tomorrow to try and get Daena to listen to me. I have a bad feeling that Irwin will come back for Matilda." Rhea felt her heart skip a beat when his hand moved and gently rested on her cheek. "But don't worry, I don't plan in dragging you to our decade old problem."

BOOM.

Apparently the explosion had only been waiting for the perfect cue to ruin the moment. Or whatever strange things Rhea was feeling with Escad's presence. A thick plume of smoke rose from the side of the tree-house, right where the twins practice shed would be. Rhea felt a blood vein in her head starting to pump the blood faster. Was there a way she could ignore that? Perhaps go back to Domina and rent a room for the night?

"For Goddess sake! I'm going to strangle somebody!"

X

Rhea stood in front of the two trouble-makers, tapping her foot. Behind them was a trail of broken fragments, some crisped objects and a very nice hole in the roof for all the ruble to shine the next morning. Elazul stood helpless and cursed his luck by the door. Pearl stood a few feet away from the commotion, but close enough to feel the tension in the air.

"So." Rhea began. "Two days." Her stare was a harsh one, to all of them. "Two days. That's all it takes for you to ruin my workshop."

"In their defense." It was Elazul's voice. "They did behave for almost 48 hours... almost"

The two bladed warrior shot him a harsh stare, but said nothing. By now the Jumi had taken notice of the new blonde warrior who approached Rhea and scanned the workshop room.

There was a whistle of amazement released by the holy knight. "You good?"

Bud cleaned his nose with his long sleeve. "'Sup."

"I see you two had a little accident." Escad continued. "Did you hurt yourselves?"

It was Lisa who shook her head slowly. "It shot upwards." Her eyes gazed at the hole in the ceiling. "Some of the ceiling fragments hit us, but nothing too serious." Her eyes went back to the holy knight. "You are?"

"Escad, I met Rhea this morning."

"More importantly." Rhea growled. "If your so called 'accident' shot upwards, how do you explain the broken and burned objects in here?"

"Oh, this?" Bud looked around. "This was yesterday when...mph!"

Lisa forced his mouth shut. Only a moment too late, for Rhea had already understood the sequence of events. If she could pick one person to kill that day, then Elazul was on top of her list. Said Jumi shivered when her enraged gaze stared him down.

"48 hours, uh?"

The Jumi pushed his hair away from his face while sighing in guilt. "Almost..."

The two bladed warrior felt a lot of things. Smack the twins on the head with enough strength to knock some conscious into them and kick Elazul's behind hard enough to knock him into the air. She wanted to hurt them, by the Goddess she really did. Something would have happened, were not Escad to step in.

"Accidents do happen when you're trying to perfect something." he smiled at the twins. "That is especially true for magic. Have you perfected what you wanted?"

Bud's smile grew so wide, it became somewhat terrifying on the small elf's face. "We have!" he got up and moved away from where he had fallen. "Look!"

Everyone did so, even Pearl came closer to witness the white drawing on the floor. It was a large circle, with complex patterns and writings to fill it. Rhea wasn't sure if the moonlight was to blame, but she could swear there was a certain glow to the drawing on the floor.

"What is it?" she asked.

Lisa tightened her ponytail. "It's a teleport gate." she faced the wondering crowd. "It allows us to quickly teleport to other places in Fa'Diel." her eyes searched for Rhea's. "We thought it would help you get around your jobs and come home much faster, Rhea!"

There it was, the guilt. So the two had been working on a teleport gate to help her. Because they wanted her to spend more time at home. Spend more time with them. Be together.

Rhea closed her eyes to avoid the tears from falling. "It's late, I'm tired and hungry. Let's just go home and have dinner."

X

During dinner, Elazul couldn't help but notice how elegant and poised Escad was while eating. Everything from the way he handled the cutlery to the way he held his glass. Every gesture and movement suggested a high education, possibly royal – maybe.

But there was something about the holly knight that Elazul did not like. Perhaps it was the fact that the elf twins were far more impressed with the title "Holly Knight" than a "Jumi Knight". Was it because he made Pearl laugh? He hadn't seen her laugh in a really long time. Or maybe – just maybe – it was because something about Escad made Rhea's cheeks slightly red. His gaze, for the most part of the conversation that took place, had been focused on her.

Why did that bother him? Did it really? Jumi had a hard time processing their feelings in current days. This made it hard for him to figure out what really was upsetting him at the moment. No, he could tell what, or rather, who it was – Escad.

The so called holly knight just showed up and everyone seemed to be interested in him. Now with his luxurious golden hair and near perfect physique. His well articulated words and natural charm. Somehow all of that annoyed Elazul. But not even he could predict his burst of rage that followed.

"Then it's of no inconvenience that I sleep with you?"

The ones who didn't gasp at the words were the twins. Pearl had been the most dramatic, widening her eyes in shock while covering her mouth with both hands. The topic began when Escad asked Rhea where he could spend the night. The host wondered about the situation for quite a while. She knew the library was occupied by Elazul and had a gut feeling not to leave those two alone, the attic was now full with three beds, which left her room.

"I-I..." Rhea's voice trembled with embarrassment.

Of course, when she mentioned her room, her initial thought was to go get hay and make a bed besides hers or something. Not with her, inside her bed!

Two hands slammed the table, grabbing everyone's attention. A body furiously rose from the chair and menacing eyes shot down the holly knight.

"You are not sleeping with Rhea."

Elazul didn't notice then, but every single inch of his body evoked fear and the slightest mistake, even with words, would trigger the Jumi knight into a fight.

Escad studied the opposing knight carefully. He leaned back in his chair in a way that suggested he didn't mean to fight, but crossed his arms in front of his chest that suggested he was not afraid. "May I ask why you get to decide that?"

Elazul took a deep breath, releasing his mind from the rage boiling inside of him. "I'm Pearl's guardian. Rhea's room is far to close to where she'll be staying and I don't trust you near any of them."

The tension in the air seemed to have calmed down for everyone. They heard the twins complaining about the 'adult's bad temper' and slowly everything went back to normal.

"I see." Escad smiled. "I too would not trust a foreigner near my guardian. I have read a few thing about you Jumi and how you honor the guardian and knight code."

"Then it's simple." Rhea rose both index fingers in the air and crossed them. "Both of you switch. Escad stays in the library and I'll prepare an extra bed in my room." Her eyes circled the table. "Is this ok for everyone?" A quick nod from the crowd signaled the approval. Rhea smirked. "Good. Otherwise I have a really nice stable for everyone to sleep with Fenrir!"

X

Elazul watched Rhea go down from the attic. He had just finished preparing his bed as well, and during so, he had a lot of time to think about his action during dinner. He knew how it looked like when his anger took the best of him. But he didn't know why he said it the way he did. His explanation saved him, but he still couldn't phantom what really took over him.

"I'm sorry." he said when Rhea approached him. "I should not have acted like that. Not in your house."

Rhea smiled, dismissing such a thing with her hand. "Already forgotten." she pointed to a shinny object near her bed. "Will you help me hang that lantern outside the window?"

The Jumi had wondered about that thing. "What is it?"

"It's a lantern made of faeries light." she explained while grabbing the lantern. "Monique offered me one at Lumina."

Elazul remembered the story Rhea told during dinner. How she somehow learned the Dudbear language in order to sell lanterns in Lumina just so a centaur named Gilbert could 'get it on' with a siren named Monique. The story made everyone at the table laugh, even Pearl couldn't help herself, and he especially had a really hard time to disguise the amusement.

He opened the window near her desk, taking the lantern Rhea offered and carefully placed it on top of the window outside where an iron hook stood. Rhea closed the window and sat at the desk, chin rested in both hands as she admired the soothing blue aura the lantern radiated. Elazul sat next to her. His eyes gazed the beautiful lantern. It was both magical and relaxing, so much so, that neither of the two realized how long they had been staring at it.

"You're leaving tomorrow, right?" she asked.

Elazul faced her crimson eyes. "Yes. I'll start looking for other Jumi starting tomorrow."

She smiled, and Elazul felt his hearth beat a little faster. Something about that faeries light radiating over Rhea made her look different. He felt confused and fought the urge to place an arm around her. Why did he felt like doing that?

He almost got hit in the face when Rhea stretched her arms and yawned. "Well, I'm tired and ready for bed. You?"

The Jumi eyed the lantern once more. "I'm going too. It's best if I leave early."

"Well then, good-night Azul." she giggled while giving him a kiss on the cheek. "See you tomorrow."

Rhea rose and went straight for bed. But not Elazul. The knight swallowed, his eyes staring at nothing in particular while he felt the warmth on the left side of his cheek spread around his face. It took him a long time to process the good-night kiss from Rhea. He remembered his parents doing the same thing when he was a child. As an adult, nobody had ever done that to him. Rhea had referred to him and Pearl as friends before, so perhaps the problem was his for not trusting others. He decided then and there he would make an effort to be friendlier to Rhea. After all, she had more than proven her good intentions. And it would be nice to have someone to call a friend that was a not a Jumi.

He got up and also went to bed. Never knowing that on the other side of the room, Rhea struggled to close her eyes and sleep, wondering of what got over her to be so casual around Elazul. And became thankful that the Jumi was leaving tomorrow so the event would never be mentioned.

A/N: Wow, this took a really long time! My apologies for that, but a lot of stuff was going on in my life. And I do mean a lot! Thanks for being patient with me, and I'll work hard to get the next chapter as fast as I can :)