A few years later...

While each had grown stronger in their own rights, Ellie and Nozel still didn't see eye to eye. Ellie didn't like his attitude, finding it annoying that he treated those different than him as poorly as he did, and as for Nozel? He had a strong distrust in her, despite her never actually giving him or anyone else any reason to not trust her. Ellie didn't pay him much attention, as she was more concerned with making sure that she repaid Julius for everything that he had done for her since the day he had saved her life. She worked hard, did whatever she could to help out around the palace, and even had favor with the king- though she didn't care much for the man.

Ellie felt as though she had done more than enough to prove that she was worthy of becoming a citizen of the Clover Kingdom, but there were times- like with Nozel- where it also felt like it was never going to be enough. Even in those moments, though, Ellie was more concerned with how Julius saw her than anything else. And when it came to her friends, she was content with just going along with whatever everyone else said and did- to keep the peace more than anything else. She still had fun, still bonded with her friends, and still felt as though her life in the Clover Kingdom was becoming more and more stable and permanent.

One day while Julius was attending a meeting with the Captains of the Magik Knight Squads, Ellie had decided to take a nap while she waited and slept comfortably in one of the armchairs in Julius' office. She slept well for a time, however, her peaceful and quiet slumber didn't last long. Soon, images of the experiments she had endured began battering at her mind and she woke with a start- drenched in sweat and panting, her head aching and her heart pounding. She took a few moments and tried to shake the memories away, but they were persistent so she decided to get some training in- hoping to get her mind off of it. She did her best to find her way outside to a secluded courtyard that she frequented when she could get some time away from work, but the memories were having a lasting effect on her body, and moving without bumping into everything or everyone proved to be a challenge.

As Ellie made her way through the halls and outside, the meeting was coming to a close and the captains had begun to take their leave to return to their duties. The Captain of the Silver Eagles was among the last to leave the meeting room and just as he came out of the meeting room, though, Nozel spotted Ellie slipping away to somewhere secluded and decided to follow her- growing immediately suspicious of her movements and not realizing what was causing them. He was sure that he would catch her doing something suspicious, something that would condemn her and justify his mistrust in her. He followed her to a secluded courtyard on the palace grounds and hid in the shadows of the trees, watching her stand in the center of the courtyard- stretching for a few moments.

'What is she doing?' he wondered, but his question was soon answered as Ellie moved from stretches to a martial arts that he had only seen a few times.

Ellie transitioned from her stretches into qigong stances, starting simple and moving slowly as she tried to focus on her training instead of the memories.

As he watched her moving from stance to stance, Nozel was surprised by the amount of mana she can wield- notable as Ellie let her magik manifest and flow like ribbons of twilight sky as she moves through each stance. Nozel found that he was intrigued by her magik and how gracefully she moved, a sense of peace and calm hanging in the air around the courtyard.

As Ellie trained, she could sense that someone was watching her from the shadows and- as a defense measure- summoned a few twilight daggers with her magik. She aimed them at the spot where she could feel the intruder's mana and was surprised to find her attack blocked by liquid metal.

Nozel was caught off guard but managed to block her attack, noticing that Ellie had realized it was him and retracting her daggers.

"Why are you spying on me, Captain Nozel?"

Nozel stepped out of the shadows and glared down at her. "I was suspicious when I saw you slinking off, so I followed you."

Ellie sighed. "The only reason why you don't trust me is that I'm from the Diamond Kingdom originally and you don't know me."

Nozel scoffed. "I don't care to know you."

Ellie came to stand in front of him- standing just over a head shorter than him- and met his gaze. "We can't work together if we cannot trust each other. I've given no reason for you, or anyone else for that matter, not to trust me. The others have had no trouble trusting me. Maybe if you tried to get to know me, you would see that you can trust me."

Nozel fell silent for a moment- unsure of what to say in response- but before he could say anything more, Ellie reached up to pull some leaves from his hair.

Ellie offered him a sheepish smile and walked away, wondering if the Captain of the Silver Eagles would ever come to trust her- even in the slightest.

Nozel was caught off guard and felt a strange feeling beginning to grow. He tried to shake it away, wanting to ignore it entirely, and turned away to start making his own way home.